Following Proper Procedure

Back on Planet Origo in the Centrum System, where Hikyaku and Ako first started their journey, Omne watched from her window as civilians flee the city. Her thoughts began to linger as she stared deep into the black dot in the starry sky. An old conversation crept up in her mind:

She looked much younger, sitting in a laboratory across from another scientist.

“Another day in eternal paradise.” She said, fiddling with a laser printing machine.

“I don’t know what kind of paradise you’re talking about. But swimming in a sea of reports might be someone’s idea of a good time.” The woman replied, tinkering with her spherical contraption.

“I highly doubt your little robot will be thinking the same way.”

“It’s called AKO: Autonomous-Kinesthetic-Orchestrater! Besides, in an age of rapid communications, who would even want laser printed scrolls to send out information?”

“In an age of misinformation, this is the best reliability we have. Our ancient ancestors did the same thing, you evolve far enough and things will go right back from when they started.”

“Thank you for the lecture, Omne.”

“And thank you for being a good listener, Mitera.”

Someone busted through her office door, bringing her mind back into the present. It was Striphor, panting and out of breath.

“Omne! I’m sorry to barge in during your break but I need to ask you a question.” He said.

“Go on.”

“The Hubbler Interstellar Mining Company’s workers are leaving in droves. We won’t be able to finish our full analysis at this rate! What do you think we do?”

Omne looked through her desk, finding old crystal scrolls from decades ago. Amongst the stuff inside, she found a stored photo of some woman in a military uniform.

“Dr. Striphor, you remember how we started off making this company?”

“You were weaving together practical messengers to send universally. Or by finding a reliable material to etch data onto.”

“Not just that, money! We secured our funding dozens of times over, allowing us to do the things that we do. We had all the time in the world back then, more time than people’s entire lives. And now look at us, at the mercy of something beyond us.”

Striphor noticed that Omne’s body looked completely normal, a direct opposite to how he, Hikyaku, and Ako saw her weeks before.

“We’ll figure something out, Striphor. We always do. Even if it means getting our hands dirty. For now we have to stick to the plan and follow proper procedure.” Omne gets up from her seat.

“I also heard Hikyaku and Ako got into some trouble on Planet Rufus. I’m glad they made it back safe. It could’ve ended up worse than that incident.” Striphor mentions.

“The two of them are very special to me. I trust that their resourcefulness will carry them through the end of their job.”

“Here’s hoping. Sadly we couldn’t hire any bodyguards for them.”

“Well, it seems the two managed to find themselves a personal guard. Dalain Oron Zai, space privateer and scam artist. Having been arrested and served time under the Kuiper Law Enforcement, she’s turned a new leaf.”

“So we’re working with criminals now?”

“I mean it’s no different than what we’re doing now, no? You’ll either hire people you can bully on, or people you can relate to.”

“You’re right.”

“Now, all we have to do is follow proper procedure.” Omne once again says.

Back on the Ricther starship, Hikyaku kept tabs on the navigation while Ako was fiddling with the autopilot. Dalain was doing routine maintenance as per her unpaid overtime.

“I’m curious. Hikya, what exactly did Dalain steal from you?” Ako asked.

“Never call me that again. It’s a stupid nickname she gave to me and has stuck with it ever since.”

“And I’ll keep saying it till the moment I die, which is not that long.” Dalain sarcastically stated, her smile quickly fading as she realized the weight of her words.

“She took a wristwatch that was precious to me. I had some good memories with it, it’d be nice to see it again.” Hikyaku’s response quickly led to an awkward silence in the cockpit.

“I’m sorry… I really am… I’ll make it up to you before the world burns out, I promise.” Dalain let out a sincere apology.

“Though I can’t help it, we can’t keep thinking about the past.” Hikyaku mentions.

“It makes us content with ourselves, not allowing us to change to be better. We cannot let those, how would you call it, comfort-memories eat us alive.” Dalain adds.

“You stay too long in hot water even a drop of warm water will feel like ice on your skin.” Ako says.

“Yeah, maybe you are right.” Hikyaku responds with a broken smile.