44 C: Fractured

It should have been simple. Rafaela hadn't been out-system for all that long, and she was headed for a station, not a ship.

But the agreement that she and the ship had reached, on how the recovered data would be stored and treated, became irrelevant when the ship announced with confusion, "This is not the station we previously visited at this location."

Rafaela blinked and then asked, "What?"

"Nothing about the station matches our last visit, neither optical scan, energy output, or identification numbers," the ship complained.

"Are you sure we're headed toward the right place?" she asked uncertainly.

"Yes, even given the days spent in the outer sectors, the exact location we visited before the race would be within visible range, and this station is in the correct location for the orbital rotation of that station, but it isn't the station we visited," the anim explained with dramatic arm waving.

"Maybe it just looks different, like he changed the ID and stuff," she suggested.

Two pictures appeared on the main screen, and Rafaela had to admit that she would identify the current one as a completely different station as well. Brennant's station had been crowded with containers, but everything had been in good repair, while this place looked like it wouldn't pass its next inspection.

"You don't see it nearby? Nothing that responds to the previous identification code?" she asked after a long moment.

The anim figure on the screen threw her hands up and the ship protested, "Without an active scan I can't verify that there's not another station hidden nearby, but according to every passive detection method available, this is it."

Rafaela pointed at the battered station that they were currently headed straight toward, and asked, "Was this one visible nearby when we visited Brennant?"

She expected the ship to answer quickly, since it had been whining about the potential danger from practically every large ship or station that they'd passed back then, but there was a long pause. The small winged figure in the corner of the screen finally declared, "Nothing with this identification number was visible to me within this region during our last visit."

Rafaela eyed the images again. The only thing the two stations seemed to have in common was their location and their size. The man who'd definitely seemed like a pirate appeared to have pulled off a quite intricate magician's trick.

"The one we want isn't registered on the other side of the system now is it?" she asked.

An even longer pause preceded a very simple reply, "No."

Rafaela blinked at the screen, and then a smile spread across her face a moment later. The ship had checked. She opened the message she'd received from Brennant, and created a reply that said, 'I want to buy back the original core that I left with you. The system AI wants to recover the data itself.'

"Can you trace it to its destination?" she asked hopefully as she instructed the system to send the message.

"Only to a limited extent. The messaging system here uses a fairly secure format, and the communications module only relays a limited amount of information back to me, even if the system itself receives more," the ship explained.

Brennant actually replied within minutes, quickly enough that she could tell he was at least still within Eks Central even without more specific data. The ship told her with confidence, "This message didn't come from the station ahead of us."

The message itself read grumpily, "I haven't finished with it. It's more complex than I expected, and I have been too busy to make it a priority. Congratulations again on winning the race, but are you sure that this old thing is what you want to spend your prize money on?"

"Do you think he's trying to say that he'll charge us 200 thousand mega credits to get it back?" Rafaela asked with alarm. "Could you tell where the reply came from?"

"According to the markers it came from the station where I first booted up," the ship replied grouchily. "I don't know if he knows how much the winner was supposed to get, but it's possible."

She winced. "I think everyone knows."

"I've searched for that station's current registered location, but the information is obviously incorrect," the ship complained.

"It says that it's directly in front of us?" she suggested.

The anim figure on the screen promptly shook its head. "No, according to Eks Core Central, it is currently on the other side of the system." Rafaela opened her mouth to ask, and the ship explained, as though it had been waiting, "But if it were, the transmission time on the reply is too short for him to have already read and responded to your message."

She pointed to the apparently rattletrap image and asked, "Does it at least claim to have reaction mass available?"

"Yes, it claims to be able to provide all of the basic supplies a station should maintain," the ship agreed.

"Then we dock there anyway, and find out if it's some kind of illusion, or what," Rafaela declared. "It's easier to believe that he could mess with the registration data and optical image somehow than move the station out of its orbit."

"Very well," the ship replied rather primly.

Rafaela replied to Brennant's reply, 'I certainly won't be able to spend my winnings on the old core, because they are already mostly spent, but I can pay your original fee for the transfer?'

When another message arrived a few minutes later, she opened it up, and then stared at it in dismay. It wasn't from Brennant, it was from her stepmother.

Elektra's short demanding message expressed her displeasure with Rafaela's refusal to make herself available very efficiently. However Rafaela had absolutely no way to fulfill the demand that she present herself at the establishment where Elektra had made a dinner reservation.

"Your guardian wishes to meet with you?" the ship asked after Rafaela sat there, just staring at the screen, for several minutes.

She blinked, and then shrugged, but agreed, "Yeah." A moment later she straightened and shook her head. "I mean no. The contract we all signed when I accepted prince Brendan's marriage plan placed me as part of the Royal family, even if it's kind of probationary until we complete the marriage. I'm pretty sure that my stepmother is no longer my legal guardian."

The avatar's expression looked very surprised, but then it nodded and the ship agreed cheerfully, "You are correct. You are currently legally a princess of Eks Corp!"

Rafaela contemplated that for a long moment. There had been sections about agreeing to learn to fulfill the corporate duties required of the future Queen of Eks Corp, and to undergo the required training or tutelage after marrying the prince who would become King. However everything she'd stored in her memory library indicated that she currently carried the title of Princess without most of the responsibilities, or the rights that actually went with the title within Eks Corp structure. Those would fall into place when the marriage was finalized.

"Would you like to inform your stepmother that you won't be able to attend the dinner, and aren't actually required to?" the ship asked helpfully.

She couldn't help flinching in response, as her stepmother's face glared at her from nothing but her own imagination. "She's still the head of SkyWater," Rafaela murmured.

"But you now belong to Eks Corp, and have no official position or legal relationship with SkyWater anymore," her ship informed her encouragingly.

Rafaela could only stare at the plump cheerful face that was shattering her grasp of reality with its casual seeming words. She'd been dismayed when Elektra had received SkyWater after her father's death was declared, and she'd read the Eks Corp Princess contract before signing it, but she'd somehow assumed that she would always remain part of SkyWater.

"I have no legal relationship with SkyWater?" she asked uncertainly. "But… my residence at least? It's still registered as SkyWater station isn't it?"

"It's not. Your residence is currently registered as being within Eks Corp Central, at the same station that Prince Brendan has registered as his residence, although you have never visited that station according to your records," her ship replied promptly, showing that it had collected the information in advance of her question.

Rafaela reeled from the blow, not physically, but mentally. Her eyes focused on the familiar surfaces surrounding her. This ship at least was still hers, even if the room she'd lived in for most of her life no longer belonged to her. She'd been able to visit this space since she'd been old enough to safely accompany her mother beyond the standard g-force area of the station.

Her eyes refocused on the demanding message that declared itself to be from Elektra Perrot Rian Donatella. "Reply: I won't be able to attend," she instructed.