C: And So It Begins

Before the race actually started, Rafaela made her own inspection of her ship. She examined everything that she'd brought aboard carefully, and then examined the interior of the scout. It took her longer than it had taken the two Eks Corp Security officers, and she felt a little shocked when she actually found something.

One of the drawers had a nearly transparent sticker stuck to the bottom of it. The scariest thing was that the only reason she was absolutely certain that it didn't belong there, was because this was a beyonder ship, and the tiny numbers printed on the sticker were drawn in her own system's style. Something so small wouldn't be able to do much, but she didn't have any way to tell what it was intended to do, so she stuffed the entire drawer into the single large containment locker that lay between the cabin and the drives.

Perversely, the fact that she'd actually found something made her feel certain that there were markers or transmitters that she hadn't found, even though she didn't know what the sticker contained. She wondered if she ought to warn her stepsisters to check their own ships, and consult with Bellamy and Schmidt.

Rafaela walked over to the main display, and then hesitated. If she notified anyone about it, whoever had placed it there would probably know that she'd found it. She didn't have a lot of personal experience with such things, but even a corporation as small and isolated as SkyWater had experienced a few incidents of smuggling, and even a little bootleg espionage.

Her eyes finally focused on the flashing prompt above the standard items on the display screen, and then narrowed. The question was simple, 'Restore conversational mode?' It wasn't the only new item, there was also a much smaller option that read, 'System integration report.' There was also something missing, the spinning star that had always been in the corner was gone.

After another moment of indecision, she tapped the prompt that was visually screaming for attention. She could always turn off its conversational mode again when it got too annoying.

"Conversational mode restored," the ship's system announced calmly.

When it didn't add anything else after a moment, Rafaela asked, "Why is the spinning star missing from the corner of the main display screen?"

An image of the star in question filled the center screen, as the ship explained, "If you mean this icon, it is used to display the progress of system changes. If you had selected it, an estimated percentage and time to completion would have been displayed. Full system integration has been completed, and there are no ongoing updates in progress, so the icon is not being displayed."

Rafaela blinked as the main display returned to normal. "I see," she replied a little slowly.

The ship suggested diffidently, "An interactive avatar icon is available for this system, and there is currently plenty of spare processing power, would you like me to activate pixie mode?"

"Sure," Rafaela agreed warily.

In the corner of the display that had been occupied by the little spinning star since the system installation had finished, a plump humanoid figure appeared with a flourish of sparkles. It was wearing a hooded robe that should have interfered with the small glowing wings on its back, and its movements were synchronized with the voice of the ship. When Rafaela tapped on it, it expanded to fill the entire screen, looking as though the ship's core system were a fairy elder trapped inside a glass box.

The fairy waved and a flower uncoiled and bloomed beneath it. It sat cross legged on the floral cushion, as the ship said seriously, "Pilot descended from pilot, in following your instructions to take authorization levels from this system's official traffic registrations, I have determined your exact age. Is there a guardian among your own people who may also lay claim to this ship?"

Rafaela protested, "I have passed the tests required to pilot a ship on my own, and this ship belongs to me now that… both of my parents are gone."

It was difficult to actually say those words, and the small figure nodded kindly, rather than replying verbally. The gesture subtly reminded her of her mother, and her throat tightened further. She tilted her head, it was a she Rafaela decided, and the gesture indicated curiosity.

"Who speaks for you?" the ship asked.

The question felt oddly formal, but Rafaela frowned and told it firmly, "I speak for myself, you already accepted me as your pilot, and we have a race to win."

The little fairy nodded again. "You are my pilot Rafaela Donatella, currently registered as a SkyWater entrant under the alias Cinderella. Does the entity known as SkyWater not speak for you?"

"I speak for…" Rafaela hesitated. Technically SkyWater now belonged to her stepmother, and she didn't actually know if she still had any status within the corporation other than as a registered entrant. "I guess that I can no longer claim that I speak for SkyWater in any official capacity, but neither can SkyWater speak for me." She was certain of that much at least, and added with a grimace, "I do require my stepmother's consent for contractual obligations, but I've passed my Rep5, so she can't form any contract that involves me without my consent either."

"Then your stepmother, Elektra Perrot Rian Donatella, acts as your guarantor?" the ship asked.

Rafaela grimaced, but nodded toward the figure on the screen. "Essentially, I guess," she agreed reluctantly.

The fairy hesitated visibly, even if it was just a simulated emotional reaction, and then said a bit critically, "You chose not to transfer the records from the previous installation of this system, while providing incomplete data from uncertified sources, and have prohibited me from performing active scans. Many of my data libraries are still empty, but I have calculated that obtaining equivalent stocks of recommended educational and entertainment media will be possible if I have the authorization to purchase them from the station that I am currently docked with."

Rafaela blinked. A wry smile curved her lips, as she explained to her ship, "We don't need my stepmother to authorize my data purchases, but I don't have the money for it. And I chose not to transfer the data because the old core reported that it was damaged. It said it was unable to recover, but the technician who helped perform the transfer said that he'll send me a copy of whatever he can recover from it."

She wondered if she ought to have kept the original core aboard the scout when the ship replied primly, "If the old core is reconnected, I can now salvage whatever remains of its data."

Rafaela could only shrug and reply, "I kind of traded it, and even if I could get it back, we don't have time to go back for it before the race starts."

"May I ask why you've improperly stowed a storage drawer in the cargo compartment?" the ship asked next.

"I'll tie it down properly," she promised guiltily.

The little fairy figure put its hands on its hips and declared, "The pilot must be able to trust her ship, and the ship must be able to trust the pilot! I asked for your reasoning."

"Oh. Someone put something on it," Rafaela explained dryly.

"The female security officer, Captain Moira Ellis, placed the small ID repeater on it while you watched," the ship informed her just as dryly.

Its conversational mode was still a little annoying, Rafaela decided as she placed the drawer in its proper slot a few minutes later. The ship couldn't tell her why the security officers had added a tiny ID repeater, but it insisted that it was simply repeating the ID assigned to them for the race.

--

The scout ship's core system advised waiting in place as the other entrants began to streak away from the starting coordinates, and Rafaela fidgeted impatiently. She distracted herself by calling Schmidt and Bellamy, even though she didn't mention the incident with the sticker, or the green eyed stranger.

"Last minute jitters?" Schmidt asked cheerfully.

Rafaela shrugged. "How's the delivery to the depot going?"

Bellamy snorted and suggested, "Our Cinderella has watched a few too many dramas? This little repair shuttle is simply a manned drone under the control of Eks Corp Central's traffic system."

"We're the ones who are watching too many dramas," Schmidt protested with a chuckle.

"At least data is cheap here in Central," Bellamy replied complacently.

"What are you watching?" Rafaela asked, but her attention was on the display that showed the position of the other ships that were registered in the Princess Race. The three ships in the lead had to have boosted with chemical drives, which she didn't need her ship to tell her was a waste of reaction mass since their top speed still couldn't exceed the restrictions of the traffic system until they cleared the orbit of the third planet. Or perhaps they could, and they planned to simply pay the fines, she corrected herself a few minutes later.

The scout's drive didn't activate until all of the other entrants had raced away, although one other ship had also waited calmly until the others were well away. They must also have calculated that avoiding collision sensor range would save enough fuel to make up the lost time later, outside of Central's rigidly controlled traffic patterns.

The race had already begun when Cinderella's Spaceship finally began to move.