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Mia sat on a chair... one made of wood... real-feeling wood... in awe. The structure surrounding her was of an old design; the room akin to a box, unlike the homes now found on Earth, which were all curves... as a straight line is not as strong. But that was not what held her attention. It was the explanation of this place "So... everything here...?"

"Yes. Everything form that chair, to the air is comprised of nothing more than information."

"... just... ones, and zeros?"

"And negative ones too. Don't forget that qubits can have a negative value."

She leaned over the table, also polished wood, on her elbows "How...? This should be against the laws of physics, I think..."

"In a way." She heard claws clicking on the tiled floor, and Scarr appeared behind her to hold her "I am not sure how it works... but it does."

"I... I can hardly believe that this is a manifestation of the electronic systems on your ship..." A thought occurred to her, and her eyes lit up gleefully "Wouldn't the Hermes have something similar?"

"Most probably... but it would be far less structured. The conditions could easily be fatal to both of us."

"I... I see..." She leaned back to feel his scales against her skin more "... Do you know if we've docked yet? It couldn't take this long..."

"No. Time runs differently here... my computer's speed is extremely high, so only a few seconds could have passed by the time we go back... We could probably spend several days here, and the ship still might not be docked."

"Several days... but spending too much time here... wouldn't that age us?"

"No. Many natural laws are suspended... such as, we do not need to eat, or... excrete."

Mia giggled "Stop being so delicate... So, I couldn't take a shit here?"

"Obviously."

"But... can we have sex? Or is that another thing that doesn't work here?"

"Yes, we certainly can..." He bit her neck, making her shiver in appreciation "And things can still come of it... in fact, those things are accelerated..."

"A-... Accelerated? What do you mean?"

His claw rested against her stomach "What would take months in the physical universe, would take little more than a week here... two weeks, possibly..."

"Oh, yes..." She breathed, putting her hand over his and squeezing tightly "I want to stay here as much as possible then... but how does that work?"

"That is easy to answer, actually... In the physical universe, it can only take what your body gives... but here, it can absorb all it needs from the entire 'universe'. The only reason it takes time to grow here at all, is because all the new material needs to be organized..."

"What does the organizing?"

"Your DNA... your code... whatever you want to call it."

"So..." She looked out a window set into one of the walls wonderingly... somehow viewing a grassland with a few sparse trees, the sky relatively clear. She had never actually been on any planet, having been born on the Hermes, so it was entirely new to her... "If I stay here, until I... I could..." She giggled suddenly "My dad would freak out."

"I imagine he would... not knowing any of the details." Scarr's hand left hers as he stood up properly "Your clothes should be dry by now, if you want them."

Mia smirked "Heh... as fun as being naked is, I think I want to have something on when we go back aboard." She pushed herself out from the table, the chair sliding along the floor, and got to her feet "Lead the way."

"Naturally." He nodded, walking out the building through a door next to the window "I always enjoyed the architecture from Earth around the twenty-first and second centuries... They are pleasing to my eyes..." He commented.

"Yeah..." She followed him out, the grass tickling her feet, taking the opportunity to look around "So is this what living on a planet is like? I mean, is this accurate?"

"Exact." He grinned "I was not entirely sure if you would be able to take the gravity though..."

"You would have just loved it if I couldn't have even stood up, wouldn't you?" She shoved him humorously without effect.

"Indeed... Perfectly helpless..."

"Keep talking like that and we'll get all messy again..."

"Maybe I would like that." He smirked slightly... but faltered somewhat "... Mia, may I tell you something?"

She stopped abruptly "What about?"

"... all the races came from one place... a central planet... it was populated, heavily, by a four-legged species quite similar to your own... the technology they used spawned a multitude of digital realms not unlike this one. That is where a whole sub-universe developed... soon, the boundaries could be broken by the strongest of the beings to exist then... and all the races you saw on the station came to the physical universe... We boosted the race that the planet belonged to into space, and even further."

Mia sat in the grass, watching a cloud. She knew what they were, but still... "That's a great thing..."

"Yes... but they were spoilt, arrogant beings... Their own world was almost completely ruined. Near uninhabitable... They spread into the galaxy like a disease. Destroying everything... Wars left entire solar systems barren... Other, developing races were discovered, and made into slaves... They almost had total tyranny over the galaxy we know. And they held it religiously for millennia..." He said morosely "But we fought them; drove them right back to the trash dump that had been their home world... And, there, the remaining few billion have been trapped for the last four thousand years..."

"So they're near enough the definition of evil?" Mia looked up at him "I don't see how they can all be like that."

"They wouldn't be if it wasn't for a 'breakthrough' that allowed them all to link each other's minds directly. It was a great thing, but it opened the way for whoever had the strongest will to dominate their entire species..." Scarr huffed slightly "Naturally, it's almost always the heavily combatant of them to have the strongest will... they became an entity only interested in domination and war."

"Why are you telling me?"

"... We think Humans are growing to be just like they had been, Mia... Your race is rapidly progessing to that same critical point just before the breakthrough. It has been agreed that your race will be stopped from colonizing any other worlds... except if your own world becomes uninhabitable, or some disaster forces a mass migration... in which case assistance will be given, of course."

"So... the reason that the first colony ship sent to another planet hasn't attempted contact... It's been destroyed, hasn't it?"

"Their guidance system was covertly altered and they were hit by a rogue asteroid while they were all still in their cryostasis tubes, yes... I heard about it some years ago."

"... what about the Hermes? And me? What's planned for us?"

"I don't know." Scarr said agitatedly "But I think the Cruiser that attacked me was actually after the Hermes. They had contacted me; demanded my reasons for being in that sector..." He looked at Mia "I had just detected a thin stream of exhaust radiation while observing a rogue gas giant that was too close to my flight path for comfort... I chose to look into it, as there was no transponder signal from where it led... I had absolutely no idea you were out here."

"... Scarr... who exactly want us dead?"

"It's a unified council... it has no real name... but it's in charge of all the major decisions that may affect anything beyond local matters..." He stopped, uncertainly looking at his hands "Hermes will be attacked... doubtlessly... by a far superior force next time..." He scowled "I know I'm bound by the agreement made so long ago and I approve of it myself, but I cannot sit idle. You, at least, are protected from it by being my mate... but I don't wish for your father and the others to be killed."

"But what can you do... your ship is amazing, but it's nothing compared to what I can imagine the... council... sending next." Mia watched his tail snake back and forth through the air.

"... I think I can protect you from that..."

"What?"

He turned away "I enjoy designing vessels, and building them here... the components can easily just be copied from libraries and manifested appropriately... But they will need enormous amounts of energy to materialize physically... more than I can obtain..." He glanced to the sky, his tail waving as he thought "The conversion module I bought is customizable... I could simply upgrade the Hermes' shields and weapons through it... but that's only a short term respite before a Capital-class ship is called..."

"Capital-class?"

"Massive ships... the largest being four times the size of your planet; Earth... They operate as mobile military-run colonies..." He laughed bitterly "At least we won't have to worry about pirates attacking us on top of this... we don't have anything of significant enough value to attract them."

"Pirates...? Might they help us?"

"No. Unless we can give them something they need... which we can't."

She stared at her feet "You need to talk to the captain..."

"... yes..."

A moment of quiet passed between them. Mia smiled "Hey, can I have a look at some of the ships you have?"

"Sure..." He smiled back "I am especially proud of the station... it's larger than any other in existence... and four times as well defended... Took me more than ten years to build it; which I did by hand."

"Ooh, can't wait to see that..." Having forgotten the more serious subject for the moment, she stood, brushing off the grass clinging to her backside "It is...?" She pointed upwards to get her point across.

"Oh, no. The layers of the digital realms work very differently to actual worlds..." Scarr draped an arm over Mia's shoulders "Think of them as inside-out planets; as we are actually on the inside surface of a hollow, spherical shape."

"How can we get there then?"

"I could say something ridiculous like 'magic', but that would be inaccurate." She grinned at him "It's a simple matter of shifting data from one storage device to another."

"Sounds exciting..."

"It isn't really." He waved a claw, and spoke to the air "Station, simulation one."

"Wouldn't 'abracadabra' be more appropriate?" Came the voice of his computer, along with a soft tittering noise.

"Abracadabra. Happy now?"

"Quite."

Mia giggled.

Zak beat his head against a metal wall for the fourth time in anger, being painfully reminded of the bullet hole in his skull. His ears were too sharp... he could hear too much... Why did he have to listen as well as know!? Why did it have to be happening in, near enough, the next room!? He could hear all the noises... Why couldn't he go in there and stop it? Why not? He couldn't understand!

He groaned, and slumped into a corner. It was hard enough to deal with how he felt, but yet something decided it wasn't hard enough, and piled his own body's reactions on top! What was wrong with him? How could the thought of it generate such a response? Did he want a turn as well? He couldn't! Not with Sollina... no, no, he needed to practice calling her something that would be more fitting for a child... Sol. Yes... yes... her small hands touching-... He jerked himself upright, and smacked his forehead against the wall again. The fifth time.

He twisted his mind around to another topic; running away from the thoughts he hated, and somewhat feared. The ship... yes... It was something out of a science-fiction addict's most pleasing dream... a... Scout-class, according to his father... who was mere meters away doing something intensely disgusting. Zak hissed, resisted that thought. The ship was a good twenty meters long... smooth metallic panelling covering the entire vessel. Those plates had gaps... from which the shields were projected. Strange, how fiction is closer to the truth than some scientific theory...

There was no visible propulsion... but yet it had still rose from the ground as if it weighed nothing when his father had started some automated pilot program... How the scientists that had been experimenting on him would have loved to get their hands on it! They'd forget him in an instant over it, most likely... The interior was, in a single word, comfortable. The walls, despite being bare metal, were curved outwards... giving every space a 'tunnel' feeling. The floor was made of a curious, springy rubber-like material that his claws couldn't get a hold on, yet he could grip exceedingly well with his soles... He felt it again with a finger. The pale blue surface felt slippery... completely gripless. But, when he tried to slide his foot across it, the friction made it impossible to move.

Intelligent rubber aside, the lighting was... simply eerie... the air itself was glowing... and it seemed to follow him; being brightest where he was standing, or sitting. Though, when he laid down, it faded out almost completely. He blinked up at the blackened ceiling, having rested back to test it again. Eerie indeed...

A scream rang in his ears. He froze. What was happening? Had his father hurt Sol? His claws unsheathed themselves, but only made harmless dimples in the flooring. He would tear the bastard apart if he had dared!

It was silent. What was going on? Had... Torque... finished? Zak shuddered at the thought... but there was no other explanation for the sudden absence of sound. His ear twitched.

It was, perhaps, almost half an hour before he caught the soft hissing hum the doors dotted between rooms and corridors make. He sat up, the light coming back as he did.

"Zak... Are you willing to talk?"

His blood was boiling, but he nodded calmly "Yes... but hurry up. I won't listen for long."

"I have... only a vague insight of how this must look to you. Perhaps I should explain; the social rules of my race are very lax when concerning familial relationships... this is very commonplace, Zak..."

"..." He said nothing, his eyes firmly on his hands. That may have been so, but he wasn't raised that way...

"And... she needed it terribly. You saw how she was behaving on the way here..."

"... why?"

"I do not know what was done to her, or her code, but she has begun her first cycle very early... I know you could not have done anything for her, considering your human upbringing, so I had to do what I did... She would have been driven out of her mind, otherwise."

"Code? Cycle?" He glanced up. His father was standing just inside the doorway. Zak wished he hadn't looked... his father was still evidently aroused, and his fur about... that area... was clearly wetted down. Zak sharply diverted his sight with a grunt "Ugh... you could have at least cleaned yourself up..."

"Oh... I apologise... I have not been around humans for some time, and certain trivial things have slipped my mind."

"Trivial!?"

"That is how it seems to me, Zak. Such modesty is not necessary among my people... ... As for your other questions... Code is meant in a genetic way... ..."

"... what did you mean by her 'cycle', then?"

"... Females of my... our species... have periods of heightened sexual appetite, which forces them to find a male..."

"You mean... like some animals have heats?"

"Yes, precisely. Except... it is far more powerful for our race; it has been proven that the build-up of hormones can easily drive a female into insanity... So, as you can see, I had to preserve your sister's state of mind... and, no, it is not an excuse; if I had wanted a female I could have picked one a week ago when I was patrolling the station I had been assigned to." Zak kept silent, feeling perceptive eyes examining him "We are affected as well. A single female often rouses dozens of males... Even if she is your sister, there is no shame in being... interested."

"But... why would I be interested? She's my sister..."

"You are male... she is female... it is inevitable, Zak. You only need to accept the fact."

His nostrils flared. His sister's scent was so heavy, and thick... it was definitely driving him mad... perhaps his father was right? "Torque..." He faltered at the name, unsure of how it was supposed to be pronounced.

"Your mother always insisted on calling me 'Torce'... she believed it was more normal, more... flowing. You may call me that, if you find it easier."

"Mum had good sense..." Zak coughed... he needed a moment alone, as much as he hated to admit it, even to himself...

'Torce' could, seemingly, read his mind... "Her scent is affecting you..."

Zak let himself slump back, laying "... obviously..." The light around him dulled out. Staring straight up, he saw his father's personal glow illuminating the room. It was growing brighter. Before he could even turn his head, he felt something... a finger... touch him. A hot shiver incapacitated him for a moment, but when he recovered... he found himself lacking the will to do more than groan. With a surprising tenderness, the fingers' brothers joined it in encircling Zak's rigid endowment. Despite how weird said action was, it felt extremely... good. A slight tug, and he flinched, muttering "What the fuck do you think you're doing...?"

"Relieving your tension, for now."

"But..." He tried to protest, weakly.

"I gather that you do not wish to return to Earth... if so, you must acclimatize to our races' ways."

"T-This...?" Zak could barely groan as the front of his jeans were opened, and the touches met his excited length.

"Yes... It is customary to assist others should they be in a predicament like yours... and gender is irrelevant for such." An appreciative murr "Impressive size."

He loosed another soft groan, somehow still lacking the strength to do anything else "Aw, shit..."

"I know the sensation, Zak. It is deeply ingrained in all of us to submit to the wishes of those stronger than we are. My wish is to relieve you... so you are instinctively complying with my actions."

"But..." He stifled a moan... Oh, what the hell, it wasn't like it would hurt "Argh, fine... but is my sister alright...?"

For a moment, the paw stopped it's incessant motion "She is sleeping... I would not hurt either of you; you are my offspring."

"Oh..." He was, at least, a little relieved by the assurance. After a moment of silence for him to gather courage to speak again "Father...?"

"Hmm?"

"... relieve me, please..." As soon as the statement had left him, he realized that he felt... okay with it. Or, at least, less anxious than before. If being as free about sex as Torce was a requirement for him to fit in with the race that he wanted to join, then he would gladly swallow his 'human' pride. It wasn't even a second before he felt wet warmth envelop his faintly throbbing extension... and it merely felt good. Great, even. Without his human ideals clawing their way into his mind and ruining the experience. He sighed, relaxing on the rubbery floor... until he felt his father's tongue began to lash with broad, sensual strokes. He gasped, feeling himself be treated with such skill. He didn't want to think of how his father could possibly be so good, but... "Ohh, shit..." He could feel the stirrings of something in him... but it wasn't his climax. Before he could think, he had both hands firmly holding Torce's head as he quickly pushed his quivering flesh into his father's throat. There was no hesitation in the tongue bath his dick was receiving, and soon his mind hazed over as it always did.

Robbel sighed, leaning on the console he was monitoring. Not having Mia around, being so incredibly happy, had left him feeling empty... He was far from alone, as was obvious if he would just look up... But he didn't want to.

The Hermes was almost completely out of fuel now. As an engineer, it was his task to somehow keep the ship moving, and to keep all systems running as they should. It was a pity there was no way of doing so, which meant... everyone on board could be dead within a few weeks. The computers would shut down, artificial gravity would fail, and structural integrity systems would lose their ability to hold the ship together. Life support would never be a problem, thanks to the algae farm recycling the air without any intervention beyond feeding with the excretions of nearly a thousand people. It was the radiation present in space that would kill them all, should the huge magnetic coils deep inside the ship cease functioning.

He glanced at a side console set into the wall. He had been watching the alien's ship dock with mild interest. Although he afforded the lizard some measure of trust, if he had done anything to Mia...

"Robbel, why don't you go meet your daughter at the docking bay?"

He flinched, having been woken from his dismal brooding "I should..." With a blink, he turned towards the person speaking; a woman called Christine, another engineering officer. Idly, he contemplated what her response would be if his death was announced. She would be next in line for his particular post. Not that anyone expected the alien to turn hostile; no one on board was a complete idiot, he could have wiped them out easily the second he was on the ship. Long before then, even.

"I'll cover for you here."

Her expression was knowing. Robbel almost groaned aloud. Already, every single person on board knew that something was going on between his daughter and the alien... He was thankful that, at least, only he and the doctor knew of his daughter's pregnancy. That would cause an outright uproar, if the muttering going around was any indication "Thank you... but it isn't necessary; my shift ended a few hours ago. I'm just chewing over system efficiency."

"Oh... well, I'll take a look at them myself when I have an opportunity."

He nodded, and walked from the control room; the air-tight hatch leading to a corridor only slowing him by a few seconds. It hissed as it closed behind him, leaving him completely alone in the cramped space of the boxy walkway. He began the walk to the docking bays.

Without a focus, his mind was able to wander as he walked. That alien had told the captain he was leaving to get fuel for the Hermes... but the behemoth ship would require hundreds of tonnes. There could be no way for that tiny ship to carry that much... could there? The alien... Scarr... it was obvious he was a veteran space-farer...he must know what he's doing...

Robbel grunted, having almost walked directly into the airlock to the bay. The light above the heavy hatch was green, indicating that there was an atmosphere with adequate pressure present; and would be present for several minutes in future. But before he could turn the hatch lock, it did so of it's own accord. He blinked, and stepped aside to allow it to open.

It did so with the loud noise of the vacuum lock mechanism releasing. Mia came through as soon as it had ponderously swung open. She was looking behind herself and talking, but Robbel wasn't really listening. It took no time at all for her to spot him standing next to the hatch "Dad!"

He managed a weak smile as he crouched down to receive her hug, and give one as well "Hey..." For an instant, he felt happy. There had been a small part of his mind that had never let up, spewing what ifs into his consciousness. He glanced up, catching Scarr smiling at them as he walked out of sight; heading the way Robbel had come.

"Dad, you wouldn't believe the things his people are capable of..." Mia said softly.

He looked at her questioningly "What do you mean?"

"His race can do things we can't even dream of... their technology is incredible."

Seeing her eyes lit up with wonder took him back to the first time she had seen a navigation map. She had only been around eight at the time, but she had no problem grasping the intricate and dynamic galaxy displayed on the console. He could remember watching the navigation officer showing her how to correct for gravitational interference, detect anomalies, identify new objects in space... She had that very same expression then. It brought a smile to his lips.

Scarr knew in the most primitive parts of his psyche that he shouldn't delay. He thought it prudent to avoid startling the humans, but that just wasn't possible with his sense of urgency pushing him to hurry. It took only a minor concentration for him to instantly find himself on the bridge of the Hermes. The human behind the console he had arrived beside lost balance with his arrival, giving a startled exclamation.

The captain of the vessel was watching a navigation display set into the far bulkhead. Scarr made his way there, giving the human that had fallen from surprise an apologetic glimpse.

The clicking noise of his claws on the floor panels, and the noise the crew member had made, caught the captain's attention, and his aged eyes glanced back "You must have moved very swiftly to get here so fast."

"Indeed." Scarr gave the navigation chart a brief look "How are your fuel levels?"

"Less than four percent. The last hole in our tanks let particulate matter enter them; our systems can only run for a further day or less before we lose power entirely."

Silently, he made a calculation. The upgrade module he had picked up would take several hours to finish work on the Hermes... it would required more power than the colony ship could spare. "I think I have a solution to that problem."

"Did you find enough fuel for us?" The human turned to face him.

"No." Scarr's muzzle creased slightly in a frown "The type of fuel your ship uses is illegal in most systems, but I have found a better alternative."

The captain put a hand to his forehead tiredly. "Which is?"

Scarr put the cylinder he had been carrying absently next to the controls of the terminal the captain had been working on. "This is a conversion, or upgrade module. They are generally hard to come by." Delicately, he depressed two buttons on either side of the top, and turned the handle. It came away in his hand easily, showing a basic connection port.

"What does this module do, precisely?"

"It uses nano-molecular machines to convert materials, rewire circuitry, 'create' new devices and recycle old ones. They are used throughout the galaxy as a means of outfitting and repairing ships when there are no docks nearby."

The human leaned over the device, peering into the slot that would connect to a power supply to jump start the mechanisms contained within the tube. "How long would it take? Are there any requirements we need to consider?"

"This module is an older, but more reliable version... so I would assume eight hours. All it requires is a burst of energy to activate the onboard power supplies of the nano-machines and network unifier."

"I see."

Scarr watched as the human mulled. It was clear that he wanted nothing more than to jump at the chance to save his ship, but yet... "I can give you a summary of the changes that would probably be made, if you need it."

"Yes... allow me to assemble the senior officers; we all need to be informed."

It had taken mere minutes for the main personnel of the Hermes to report to the economic lounge that served as a meeting hall. Scarr watched them talk among themselves as they each proceeded to their designated seats... but he remained standing in the corner. There was nothing wrong with his legs, and neither was he tired.

The chatter stopped rather quickly when everyone was seated, and all eyes were on him. That was his cue to begin speaking. "Your captain has requested that I tell you all of what will be happening over the next several hours; should this meeting end positively." The module, which he held in his right hand, met the metal table top with a faint chink "I am sure certain people here need to know specifics."

The captain raised his wrinkled eyebrows slightly "That can wait. Our current fuel crisis is all that worries me for now. What can this... module... do to remedy the situation?"

"It will install a new source of power, of course."

An engineer sat up straighter "Without a dock? I don't see how such a drastic change can be made in flight."

Scarr answered that question by putting a small, black block on the table next to the module. The humans peered at it, dumbfounded. He sighed "This is the backup energy generator from my ship. It's constant output provides approximately four thousand terawatts, for up to ten years, with no need for fuel. It is compatible with almost all energy systems in the known universe."

"No fuel?" A scientist said incredulously "I apologise, but with no source for the energy..." She shook her head "It's impossible to create energy out of nothing."

"It's happening all the time." Scarr said "Gravity is creating energy at an enormous rate at all times. For instance, look at one of the moons of the largest planet in your solar system; Io. It is under constant pressure from gravity, which is creating both heat and kinetic forms of energy."

"This generator taps into gravity as an energy source?"

"Precisely." Carefully, he removed a panel on the front of the generator, allowing the delicate-seeming mechanics inside to be revealed. "This particular model uses the antimatter-matter flux found in all regions of space to create a small singularity. From it, the microscopic systems leech the energy generated and feed it into several adaptor circuits; to allow it to be used by any ship system you can think of."

There was a couple of seconds before the humans burst out with their excited babbling, but their captain spoke over the noise "Is it safe?"

"Quite. The technology is in use throughout the galaxy, but there have been no reported accidents directly involving these generators." Scarr shook his head slightly, and spoke to the engineers and scientists present "Listen, this technology is far beyond what you can understand without rewriting everything you know. While the generator is safe under anything from low power conditions, to combat, I cannot guarantee that if anyone has been tampering with it. A single broken component could result in a cataclysm."

One engineer glanced at Scarr "Cataclysm?"

"It's the name given to an event in which the singularity of one of these devices collapses. The ripples in the fabric of space have been known to tear ships apart from several light-years away. As for anything in the epicentre of such an event... " He shook his head. "You just wouldn't want to be there."

"So that can be used as a weapon?"

Scarr looked around, but couldn't identify exactly who had spoken. "It could. But all ships have systems that constantly search for damaged power generators. The last attack made in that fashion failed; people saw it coming." He paused to look at the small black box. "Of course, to make it a weapon, you would need to disable every built in failsafe. Every component has at least twelve. And there are more than four thousand nanomolecular components. And even then, you need to somehow find a way to counter the stabilization fields large ships use to protect themselves against gravitational anomalies like that. All small ships are capable of riding the pulse of energy to safety."

The captain stood up. "I think I have heard enough. The sooner we can have one of these generators, the better. That one from your ship can be used to power our systems if need be?"

"Yes. From the calculations I made while I was on my way back I found that, even with the near 34% drop in efficiency due to the power system you use, the device can supply your systems with more than eighty times their requirement." Scarr reattached the panel when a raised hand caught his attention. He looked up questioningly.

"What other systems will your module upgrade? Will our weapons and shields be improved?"

From the colour of the man's uniform, and his hardened expression, he could tell he was most likely a security officer. "Yes. The graviton cannons your ship is currently equipped with will gain a significant boost, as well as new weapons being installed at ideal locations. Your shields will be replaced completely though; harmonic shielding offers nearly no protection against most popular weapons."

"Replaced with what exactly?"

"Considering the size of your vessel, the module will most likely select a type of plasma based shield geared for ships with plenty of space for extra shielding."

"And the new weaponry?"

Scarr twitched his tail in agitation. This one person was unnervingly warlike; it was clear how humans got their reputation. "I can't say for sure. This module designs weapons for each ship individually."

The officer sat back in his allocated chair, appearing satisfied with the answers. The captain coughed. "Are we all in agreement here?"

The humans around the table gave their accent by nods, and a few murmurs.

"Good. Scarr, what changes will be made first?"

Scarr paused to think. "I would guess the first changes will be to your hull. A direct hit from even the weakest precision weapon will cut straight through it as it is."

"Very well then..." The captain stood. "Meeting adjourned, for now. We cannot wait any longer or our current problems may escalate."

He watched them all leave, orderly, out the single doorway. He turned to go himself.

"Scarr?"

"Yes?"

"... I hope you are taking good care of Mia."

"I am... I love her." He watched the captain scrutinize him for a few seconds, before the human began leaving himself. "Wait..." Scarr called quietly "There is something that you must know."

It was pleasantly silent in the crew's cabins. Though uniform and bland, each was filled with comfortable fixed furniture; a table, two chairs and bed large enough to hold two people set against a wall. All made of a silvery, cheap, light metal alloy. Excluding the foam mattress on the bed, light covers on top of that and the cushions attached to the chairs... of course. The roughly six by eight foot room was lit by a dim chemical strip light set into the ceiling; a special technology that took very little energy, but outputted light far more efficiently than any other similar device.

The quiet, however, was broken. "Wait, Mia, start again... what did he do?"

Mia giggled at her father. She could blame him for disbelieving what he had heard. "Scarr literally pushed his hand into a cube of metal and reformed it. It was like he could force it to melt selectively on touch..."

He stared. She could almost hear the gears grinding in his head to process the information. "... Mia... that's impossible..." He watched her for a second. "Did he give you anything before then...?"

She shook her head. "He wouldn't do that, Dad... We haven't even eaten together while we were gone." She dropped her voice to a whisper, and winked. "We were far too busy having wild sex all the time to even think about it."

He coughed. "I... It's my job as a parent to be suspicious of him, Mia... I know you don't appreciate it, but..."

"I know." She leaned on her father slightly, smiling. "I really ain't an expert on people, but I know he really does love me..." Giving a mischievous grin, she added "Of course, I think he was more interested in sex right at first. The greeting he gave me when he came aboard was a little beyond what it normally is."

"... oh..."

There was a footstep from the side. "Ah... I hope I have not interrupted anything."

Mia grinned slightly as her father's head first snapped to Scarr, then the closed door, and after a few seconds back to her... mate. "How the...?"

She giggled. "You wouldn't understand at all, Dad..."

Scarr shook his head impassively, although a slight grin slipped out onto his muzzle. "You missed an important meeting."

"I did?" Robbel blinked, forgetting the impossibility of her mate's unnoticed arrival. Realization, however, quickly appeared in his expression. "Oh... yes, I should apologise to the captain about that... I thought it could wait."

"It does not matter. I can give you a summary of it later, but for the moment I am going to need some help."

Mia waved her hand in the air, gleefully enthusiastic. "Can I help too?"

He nodded with a smile. "Of course..."

Her father was quiet, but spoke up unconfidently before the silence could become awkward. "Alright... What do you need me for?"

"I have found a solution to your current fuel problem. I will just need assistance to set it up." He placed the silvery cylinder he was carrying on the floor to draw attention to it "Then I will need help to interface this with your computer."

Mia watched her father blink at the module. He tried picking it up, but found to his apparent surprise that he couldn't. For a moment, he struggled with it. She giggled behind her hand. "How much does this thing weigh?" He eventually asked, breathing harder than before to regain his breath.

"By human measurements, a little over one ton." Scarr picked it back up effortlessly.

"A ton!?" Robbel's eyes near popped.

"Yes."

Mia whispered to her father from her position next to him "As an amusing fact, he can lift up to forty tonnes with one arm. Around ninety with two."

"Ninety three if I also use my tail, Mia." Scarr smiled. "I think we should get started. This region of space is very quiet, but I don't like leaving anything to chance."

She watched her father start towards the door "What do you need access to first?"

"Your fission reactor."

"I'll have to see about taking the hazard suits from storage then..." He glanced at Scarr, and back at the door he had just stopped in front of. He blinked at the blank wall "What...?"

Mia laughed, stepping around a large coolant pipe to stand by her mate "That was evil."

"Maybe, but walking has always felt so slow to me." Scarr noted as he pulled open the first heavy door leading to the ship's main power source. He handed the small black box he had shown at the meeting with the high ranked officers to Mia "There's a plug on one side. I need you and your father to set up a bypass for the reactor, just push an end of cabling into the socket when I say."Ok." Mia held it carefully, assuming it to be delicate. She glanced at her father, who was still looking around dumbfounded, and giggled.

Scarr glanced at the man as well, letting himself grin "It'll take me a moment to get the reactor ready."

Robbel heard the reptile-man mention the reactor. His attention clicked back into focus on something other than the impossibility of being instantly transported, pushing that matter aside. He looked in amazement to see Scarr stepping into the airlock "What are you doing? It's more than three thousand Kelvin in there!"

The lizard paused for a moment before answering "My race is a durable one. I can survive in a star's corona without protection for almost an hour. I can go without breathing for several. I can even survive half of my body being blasted off, or my heart being severely punctured. I'm certain I can walk into the main chamber of this reactor without any adverse effect."

"But, the radiation..." He began to argue. He left it hanging for a few seconds, painfully aware that the regulations that demanded him to prevent anyone entering that airlock without a hazard suit was clearly obsolete for a creature that hardy... "How is any of that even possible...?"

"There are other races you would find even more incredible. Such as Kazkramon; they have the unique ability to alter the flow of time, or Invisimon; who can reshape their bodies at will." Scarr began pulling the hatch shut "Or even Metemon; creatures with bodies made completely of metallic compounds."

The hatch, once closed, locked with a loud thunk. Robbel rubbed his forehead, abandoning trying to reason anything about these races. Clearly the model of physics used by humans did not cover everything as the scientists that worked on them believed... He turned his gaze on Mia, who was removing a panel covering the main conduit from the reactor "Mia, be careful."

She put the panel against the wall beside her, poking her head into the space it had hidden "I know. Dangerous levels of power, limited insulation, bla-bla-bla."

He shook his head. The floor, walls, and even ceiling in this section were isolated. The chance of an accident was near zero "What are you doing?"

"Making a high capacity bypass to the power grid through the main reactor conduit."

He contemplated telling her to step back and let him do it... but quickly abandoned that idea. She was more than capable of doing it herself; she had gone through just about every engineering VR simulation with a more than satisfactory score. In fact, if it were not for her age, she would have been a fully qualified multi-specialized engineer long before now. Her improvisations even ended up dominating the 'scoreboard'. If she were not his daughter, giving him the excuse to be proud of being surpassed by her, he would be humiliated. For sake of being involved, he started talking "Where is this bypass going then?"

"This." She nudged the little black box Scarr had been holding before "It's a generator that can take over from our own one."

"What is it?" He looked at it curiously. He had no doubt about him that it could, indeed, provide all the necessary power... human technology was obviously far behind the norm, that much he knew by gut feeling.

"It's a perpetual gravity energy production unit. Or Gravgen for short. It uses an artificial micro-singularity to generate energy with the difference between the zero gravity in the dampener and the amount of gravity produced by the singularity."

He processed the information quietly. For such a thing to work, it would require the creation and destruction of energy to be possible.. which would make a lot of physics theory defunct. That thought made his heckles rise uncomfortably, the laws of physics had always been something he thought he could rely on implicitly. He watched her reel out a short length of inch-thick power cabling and cut it with a plasma cutter, both acquired from a locker across the cramped corridor. One end was easily coupled with the main conduit by melting partially with the cutter. He watched her fit a flow measuring unit; a simple piece of exposed electronics with an interface plug for a computer "I see you've learned a lot from the VR programs..."

"Yeah, some of them are a lot of fun. Did those three times each at least."

With the bypass to nowhere complete, she sat back and examined it. From behind her, he did the same... as expected, it was flawlessly done. She stopped working, looking at the airlock "... what now?"

"Scarr said to wait for him to say when to plug in the generator..."

"I doubt he can do that from inside the reactor."

She opened her mouth to say something, but a loud thump interrupted her. Without pausing, she pushed the dead end of the bypass into a small hole on the side of the black box. The light above his head flickered for a second. Looking at his PDA, something all active officers carried as a means of communication and enhancement of their work, he noted the alert informing him that the reactor had performed a hot shutdown... meaning power output had dropped to zero almost instantly from normal operation. The power grid, however, was still running at optimum levels "Was that it?"

"Yes. You'll be able to enjoy infinite power production from now on." Scarr said, his claws clicking on the floor as he walked past to check on what Mia had done.

Robbel flinched "How the hell did you...?"

He just got a wave of the hand from the lizard. Mia looked up at him "How did I do?"

Kneeling beside her, Scarr took the small box from her. He tugged the thick cable once and, seeming satisfied after glancing over the circuitry, put an arm around Mia "Not perfect, but very well done."

She giggled, leaning into him "I'm guessing it won't matter too much anyway soon enough, right?"

He nodded, helping her to her feet as he stood himself; leaving the small black box next to the wall "This section of the ship will most likely be drastically restructured."

Robbel broke in before his daughter could reply, rubbing his temples to ward off a building headache "Wait, wait... restructured? Do you mean we are going to dock... somewhere, and have whatever it is done?"

Mia answered first "No, nothing like that dad. The cylinder Scarr has is a conversion module. It uses billions of nano-machines that can recycle stuff to make new devices."

"It will also improve your hull, and virtually everything else as well." The lizard added.

Robbel stared for a long while, and pressed a hand to his forehead "Geez."