EPISODE 4: 00001110:FOURTEEN

    Lilli turned the handle letting the water rush out of the faucet. She cupped her hands, splashing water across her face. She let it drip off her as she stared at the running water. Once the drops ceased, she turned her eyes slowly to the mirror. Her eyebrows were parted in concern, her eyes were soft and gentle as she took in the detail of herself. She stared deep into the reflection of the mirror in front of her. She stood naked. Her clothes had been taken for repairs by a polite housekeeper who maintained the guests' quarters of whatever ship she was on.
   The harsh light of the bathroom highlighted her pale skin. The pale skin that remained flawless aside from the small red mark that streaked across her shoulder. Though the red liquid had stopped draining from her arm, the cut still stood out as the single flaw on her entire body. She ran a finger gently across the streak, feeling the rift that separated the top layer of her skin. She had been damaged. She moved her soft eyes back to the mirror. She took short soft breaths as her eyes danced around her own face, her own body, her own self - taking account for herself. Taking an account of her place. Taking an account of her own state of mind.
   Her eyes slowly fell to look blankly at the countertop in front of her. She stepped towards the towel rack that hung on the wall just opposite of the mirror, taking a towel to wrap around her. She looked back at the mirror from where the towels hung. She was now further away from her reflection, allowing her to take in a bigger image of herself. She looked at her white-wrapped body behind the soft towel that clung to her. She gave an exaggerated shake of her head, flinging any remaining droplets that clung to her across the bathroom.
   Her eyebrows sharpened, she clenched her fist. She let her own determination stare her down. She stepped towards herself, bringing the image of herself closer to her so that she could take in the small details again. She gave a small, innocent smile to herself. She nodded her head. Her eyes lit up (metaphorically) with an equally innocent joy that was brought by her innocent smile.
   She lifted her hands to the top of her head, her palms flat. She cocked her head as she looked at her handmade bunny ears in the mirror. She turned towards the exit of the bathroom, jumping - one cautious jump at a time as she let her rabbit 'ears' flop with each playful jump.
   Jump. And...
   Jump. And...
   Jump.
   The door to her room slid open.
   Lilli stopped, poised for another jump, as her eyes lit with surprised delight.
   A foreign woman, who Lilli assumed was close to her age, stepped in. She was funny looking to Lilli. She had long, pointed ears that hung low. The foreign woman's skin was also soft yet glistening. Her eyes were exotic and coloured a deep amber. She looked like the other people Lilli had seen, but, yet, she didn't.
   The young woman set the clothes on a nearby chair before turning to look at Lilli.
   "Jack has been taken into our custody."
   Lilli stepped closer to the woman.
   "The young master you brought is under the care of our medical staff."
   Lilli's head tilted a little more with each step as the curiosity filled her eyes.
   "You and the young master will be free to go once we are certain the injuries he sustained have been mended prope-" Her professionalism paused.
   Lilli's bright eyes (literally and metaphorically) stared with excited anticipation as her finger slowly approached one of the foreign woman's long ears. She gave it a single poke right on the tip of the ear, making it twitch.
   Lilli reeled back with delighted surprise.
   "What are you doing?" the woman spoke flatly with annoyance.
   "Usagi," Lilli whispered through bated breaths.
   "I'm not a rabbit," the woman stepped back from Lilli.
   Lilli nodded as her eyes dimmed to sincerity. "Yes. Only Little Rabbit can be my rabbit. I am not ready to take on the responsibility of a second rabbit yet."
   The woman cleared her throat as she recomposed herself back to her professional demeanor. She gave a single respectful bow towards Lilli. "I would like to welcome you to Solar Corp-Two's Seraph, the guiding wing-" She stopped as she looked at Lilli who had sat on the floor just in front of the professional woman. Lilli raised her hand in the air as she stared intently at the woman with innocent quizzical eyes.
   "What?" She tried not to break her professionalism.
   "Who is Jack?"
   "Jack is the dirty, stupid, idiot, jerk -" she pounded her fist into her hand (any air of professionalism, quite obviously was gone) - "jackass, cheating, ungrateful bastard -" her teeth grinded together as she took in a massive inhale. And then...release. Immediately bringing back the air of professionalism, "that you have probably come to know as some other alias since he doesn't like to use his real name."
   She cleared her throat again, taking another respectful bow. "Welcome to the Seraph, the guiding-"
   Lilli raised her hand again.
   "What?" She attempted not to break her professionalism to the best her patience would allow.
   "Why is Filth a dirty, stupid, idiot, jerk, jackass, cheating, ungrateful bastard?"
   "When have you ever met an intelligent piece of garbage?" She muttered under her breath. "The grievances brought on by Jack are solely the concern of Solar Corp-Two. We request you refrain from any interaction with Jack from this point further. This request is to further ensure your own safety."
   Lilli cocked her head.
   The woman took yet another bow, this time rushing her words. "WelcometotheSeraph, theguidi - WHAT?" Her patience finally ending as Lilli raised her hand yet again.
   "Why?" Lilli looked deeply into the woman's eyes.
   "'Why' what?"
   "Why do you want to be the only ones concerned with filthy Jack?"
   "It is not that we want to, it's that it is our responsibility. This matter is none of your concern, please stop asking."
   Lilli nodded. "Okay."
   The woman gave a sigh of relief. "Good. Then," she bowed again continuing at a relaxed pace. "Welcome to the Seraph, the guiding wing-" She broke, "For the love of - What!?!"
   "Do you like Filth?"
   Her eyes looked away for a moment. "I can't say I have ever had any sort of affinity towards trash." She shook her head. "My feelings towards him are complicated."
   "Complicated?" Lilli shuffled on her knees closer towards the woman.
   "Yes. Now if you don't have any other questions, I will be going."
   Lilli shook her head. "No, I don't think I have any other questions. But I think you like Filth. You call him by his first name. That means you like him."
   The woman shook her head. "I don't think that is how it works."
   Lilli leaned forward in her seat with determination, "Yeah-huh! You only call someone by their name when you really -" she stretched her arms out to accentuate the grandness of her sincerity - "like someone. Filth is Filth to everyone else. But Filth is Jack to you."
   The woman's eyes paced around the room. She took a step backwards before composing her professionalism again and taking yet another respectful bow. "Welcome to the Seraph, the guiding wings of do-" She let out a heavy sigh of exasperation as her head drooped into the palms of her hands. "What is it now?"
   "Where is the veterinary office? I want to see Rabbit."
   The woman's eyes only stared annoyed back at Lilli. Not a single response was given. She bowed again. "Welcome to the Seraph, the guiding wings of dominion." She turned around and stepped out of the room. Lilli had jumped behind to the door and held it open as her eyes watched the woman walk away, following her as she walked down the hall.
   The woman pulled out a pair of thin glasses, bringing them to her eyes as she tapped her watch. She looked over her schedule. She had admitted the young master to Medical. She had welcomed the strange blue-haired woman to their ship.
   She shook her head, taking the glasses off. Next was Jack.

    The man tapped his fingers across his podium as he lazily leaned a cheek into the palm of his hand. Once the boredom of tapping his fingers settled in, he stroked his well-kept grey beard. His tired eyes stared exhausted, annoyed, and impatient with Filth. Filth faced away from the man, legs crossed. He ignored the heavy stare he was receiving from the old man. He couldn't care about whatever type of sincerity that man was trying to push onto him. Filth was far more concerned with whatever speck of dust or dirt or whatever it was that was trapped underneath a fingernail.
   The man let out a grunt. "Any plans on leaving today?"
   "I already ordered some take out, thought we might make it a sleep over." Filth jabbed his words at the man, then jabbed his pinky up his nose.
   "You're in our custody now. So unless you have a good explanation for your actions, I can only hope the overnight bag you packed has plenty changes of clothes. Any other smartass remarks to make?"
   Filth unplugged his nose, wiping the 'nose boulder' on the table before raising his middle finger up towards the older man.
   "I see you haven't grown up in the least," the man remarked as he tidied some papers on his desk.
   The door to the hearing room opened as a young foreign-looking woman stepped in. "Captain Lorie," she saluted the man.
   The man's heart dropped for a minute. Perhaps he hadn't drank enough coffee that day. Maybe his blood sugar was low. Or maybe it was that he hadn't looked at the docket sheet to see who the representative of the hearing was supposed to be. "Miss Yuritan," he spoke in an agitated gruff. He stroked his temple. "I look forward to the whirlwind you two will drag my ship into."
   She stepped towards the captain giving a respectful bow. "You don't need to worry, Captain. I'll take it from here."
   The man shook his head as he stepped down from the podium and left the room. It was hard to make out, but surely it wasn't the draft of the room that muttered "this will be a disaster" as the captain stepped out.
   Filth looked towards the ceiling. The only sound he could hear was the sound of his pinky scraping some clingers off of the walls of the nostril caverns that he had started his mining operations in. He could hear the tapping of some agitated footsteps. Footsteps filled with angry remorse. Footsteps filled with guilty bitterness. Footsteps filled with a disgusted infatuation.
   An aggressive slam of (probably) case documents came to the table just next to Filth, but he wasn't interested. He kept his eyes towards the ceiling and his finger rammed up his nose.
   "Jack." A harsh, soft voice attempted to pierce Filth's ears. But it was to no effect.
   "Jack!" The harsh, soft voice turned harsher and harder. But it was still to no effect.
   "Jack!!" Yet harsher and harder.
   Filth's eyes widened with surprise as he moved his gaze south. He had been dredging for so long, it seemed he had already exhausted his supply of "escape boulders". Fortunately, there were two caverns.
   He pulled his dredging equipment from his nostril, examining it. It was too dirty for reentry. It was time to bring in the backup equipment. As he lifted his left hand in preparation for excavation, he moved his dirtied set of equipment to the woman, wiping it on the woman's uniform. She reeled back in disgust.
   "Jack!!!" The harshness now accentuated by the staccato of two angry fists slamming into the table shaking the various objects that rested atop of it.
   Before the excavation could even begin, Filth lowered his tools and gave a look of surprise toward the woman, "Oh, Silje! When did you get here?"
   "I really shou-"
   "The answer is still 'no'. You'd think after the last pair of soiled panties I had to send back to you that you would just take the hint. Look if I can't let you down easy then I just have to-"
   "Shut. Up." A bitter acid dripped from each syllable she spat towards Filth. Her eyes danced back and forth between Filth's eyes as her breaths were heavy and short. She realized that she was falling for the traps he had intentionally set up for her. He had bated her to get angry. She shook her head and stood up right. She took one large inhale, and then a slow exhale. "You shouldn't be asking me when I got here. I should be the one asking you that."
   Filth laughed. "That's kind of a stupid question, you know. You are the one who pin cushioned my poor, precious little jet."
   "I?" She shook her head.
   "Yes, you, Silje." He jabbed a finger, "because I know you're always the one to shoot where it hurts most." Filth clenched his fists and gave an unconvincing weep, "the poor little girl just got fixed."
   "That ship isn't even yours. Unless you joined the G.I.E. Though, that wouldn't explain why they are chasing you." She shook her head. "We used the force necessary to ensure you wouldn't run away from us again.
   Filth crossed his arms as he leaned back into the chair. "News flash, I was already flying towards the Seraph."
   "History has told us otherwise."
   "Look," Filth collapsed the feet of the chair back to the floor with a heavy thud as he leaned over the table to jab a finger towards Silje. "The kid was hurt. I couldn't risk -"
   "You are a liar," she spat. "You've never cared about anyone but yourself."
   Filth leapt out of the chair in a swift motion, knocking it to the floor, "You're projecting. You are the one who is selfish."
   "You're the one who risked the integrity of the entirety of the Solar Corp-Two fleet when tensions between us and the G.I.E. were already escalated. You disobeyed orders, you stole a vital asset -" Filth's eye twitched - "and because of you, you nearly risked starting a war between Corp-Two and the G.I.E. And all for what? Some stupid piece of software?"
   Something lit inside of Filth. A flame that he wanted to let it burn bright. His eyes danced around the room. Perhaps it was his conscious or maybe just his imaginary friend, but a voice convinced him to let the fire dwindle.
   Filth's shoulders relaxed a little. "Do you like rabbits?"
   "I don't see how that is rele-"
   "Do you like rabbits, Silje? I got just the kid for you."
   Silje rolled her eyes. "I've met him." She spoke flatly.
   "You want -"
   "No," her voice far more neutral than before, "I don't want him."
   "What'dyou think of him?"
   She shook her head, bewildered, "he's cute, I gue-"
   Filth leaned in a little towards her. "You sure you don't want him? I can smell the mommy pheromones radiating from those childbearing hips."
   Silje took a short deep breath, retaining her neutral demeanor. "Yes, I'm sure. I know what you are doing. Stop trying to change the subject."
   Filth rested his stomach across the table as he leaned in towards Silje's crotch. He stared at it for a moment while Silje stepped back from his devious prowling. His eyes looked up at Silje. "Still dry down there, huh?" Still lying across the table, he rested his head in the palm of his hand. "I guess that's why you decided to try to integrate with us filthy – some relation – humans instead of actually trying to fill the shoes your parents wanted you to fit into."
   Her neutral demeanor had mostly broken down at this point. A hard, aggressive, heavily agitated grimace crossed her face as she held her head in her hands. "Jack," she spoke soft, afraid that even the slightest raised volume might set loose an avalanche, "where is-"
   Filth grabbed his ears, pulling them outward as he crossed his eyes, "dry ovaries bring much dishonor to Telkian family," he mocked.
   Silje slammed her fists on the table again. "Dammit, Filth, tell me where -"
   "No." He interjected with sincere eyes.
   "Tell me where -" She leaned forward.
   "No." He leaned forward.
   "Just fucking tell me-"
   He leaned into her face and belched loudly, making sure to blow any remaining gases into her face. "I said 'no'. Don't say her name. You have no right to."
   "That software was not your," emphasis on 'your', "project to take home. It was developed using Corp-Two resources on Corp-Two's clock. You have no right to have stolen her source code."
   Filth gave a single aggravated shake of his head, pulling his watch out of his coat before aggressively shifting the table out of his way, knocking some of the supplies that rested on it to the ground. "First of all," he tapped on his watch, "I'm doing great, thanks for asking." He slammed his watch into Silje's, "And if money is your only concern, then consider my debt repaid."
   Silje pushed Filth's arm away from her. "You can't afford the..." she paused as she looked at the alert on her watch. She couldn't believe the number she was seeing. She was obviously misreading it. She pulled her glasses out. She shook her head, her jaw hung open in disbelief. "How did you get this money?" her disbelief constricted her voice. "We can't accept this money if it came from unethical, immoral sources."
   "So first you want reprimands, but you don't want just any reprimands? It has to be up to the Corp-Two standard? Who cares? I've repaid my damages."
   "You got this through blood."
   "There is no way to prove to you it was earned through an honest day's labor, nor would you believe me anyway, so just accept it, shut up, and let me go free."
   Silje sighed. She tapped her watch a few times, fiddled with some papers in a folder on the table. He wasn't going to be obedient no matter what she said, and she knew this. She let her emotions settle as she cleaned up around the room.
   It was after setting some of the debris back onto the table she relaxed. She raised her head letting her soft concerned eyes meet his defensive gaze. "It seems the drinks have been treating you well."
   Filth's shoulders relaxed as he stood straight. "So we are moving on to jokes?"
   Silje shook her head. "No, I just -"
   "Good, then we're done here." He swiftly turned toward the door.
   "The problems concerning Diva were entirely your fault, you know this, right?"
   Filth turned back around to face Silje. she stood her ground as the fire had reignited inside of him. It was a fire that no matter how convincing whatever voice it was – whether his conscious or an imaginary friend – would ever be able to extinguish the heat inside of him.
   He kicked the table up into the air, sending a flurry of papers and desk debris across the room as Filth slammed the legs of the table against the far wall, pinning Silje against the wall in the process.
   "I told you, you have no right to say her name." His voice harsh, yet barely audible enough to cross the barrier that separated him from her.
   She breathed heavy, her breaths coming out in short staccato gasps as she tried not to show any fear, though the aggression Filth had displayed had successfully shaken her confidence loose.
   She guarded herself from him, but kept one eye watching him. She could see the different shades of red in his irises, the different iris shapes with different patterns. She wanted to feel like she was the one who was right. But the anger Filth held towards her still to this moment made her feel like perhaps she hadn't made the right choice.
   Filth watched her shaken confidence. Her hands trembled. It wasn't really the fear of injury that scared her, and he knew this. She was looking at his anger, and she was shaken. He let go of the table, letting the damaged piece of furniture fall to the floor with a clang - the legs of it completely bent. The top of the table caved in. Scuffs, dents and even a small hole in the wall marked where the table had collided with the wall.
   He turned, walking towards the exit, his coat flowing behind him.
   Silje dropped to the floor as she collected her breath, staring across the room. The papers, pens, cups, and coasters scattered amongst the shattered glass and broken chair. Her eyes stopped as she looked at Filth moving towards the door. She pulled herself to her feet.
   Lilli jumped as the door opened. Not wanting Filth and the foreign woman to know she was eaves dropping, she quickly turned around to try and act like she was lost, but wound up tripping and falling to the ground.
   "Ah-ha!" She exclaimed as she inspected an imaginary spec on the floor in front of her. "I was wondering what I did with the..." she's trailed off as her eyes followed Filth who swiftly stepped over Lilli, his jacket swept her hair over her face, "...rabbit food."
   Lilli stood up next to Silje who had stopped just outside of the door. Silje had gone back to building the wall of professionalism around her, though her construction was still flimsy in its unfinished state. She tried to remain neutral as she watched Filth walk away in an angst filled haste, but concern broke through as her eyes reflected the void of resentment he had felt towards her.
   "Huh," Lilli tilted her head as she stared down the hallway Filth had walked through. "I didn't know Filth could be sincere."
   "Filth and Jack aren't the same person." The words barely came from Silje. "At least," a pause to try and patch her construct, "not to me."
   Lilli shifted her gaze to Silje who still had her gaze locked to where Filth had left. "I think they are the same person. And you know this. Filth is Filth to everyone else, but Filth is Jack to you."
   Silje moved her focus to Lilli.
   Lilli looked back into her eyes. Silje's eyes had softened. The stability of her professionalism was eroding.
   "I-" she paused as she looked away from Lilli, "I need to file my report," the softness of her concern made her fumble her words as she turned back to the room filled with the devastation that the whirlwind had brought.
   Lilli returned her gaze down the hall Filth had left. Her eyes filled with a determination as she stepped forward.
   "Filth." The soft voice spoke with curiosity as he could feel her blue eyes penetrate him straight through his back.
   "Filth." The voice spoke again after not receiving an answer the first time.
   Filth ignored her further as he hastened his pace. His eyes focused on the sign ahead pointing towards the metro, counting down each step as he got closer to leaving this ship.
   The clicking of Lilli's heels sped up until she was able to grab Filth's shoulder, allowing her to pull herself around him to face straight into his eyes. Her eyes truly did penetrate deeply. Her quizzical stare. Her parted eyebrows.
   "Filth." She still had not raised her voice at him.
   "What?" Filth broke his pace.
   "Are you leaving us?"
   Filth's eyes danced from Lilli's eyes to the floor, then the ceiling. He scratched the back of his head. "Well, yeah, that was the plan."
   Lilli shook her head. She moved herself in front of Filth so that she could stare directly into his wandering eyes. "No, you can't." She let a concerned cry out.
   Filth placed a hand on Lilli's head. "Yes, I can," he gave one pat on her head making her tense up briefly. Brief enough to miss him step around her and continue his pace towards the metro. "Maybe someone on this ship will teach you how to tie a bow."
   Lilli turned around. His words echoed through her as she turned to look at her reflection in one of the exterior display monitors that lined the hall. Through the dim glossy reflection of herself, she saw the limp and tangled ribbon hang loosely in her hair.
   She shook her head. That's not what is important right now. She quickly moved to catch up to Filth. "Please." She grabbed Filth, stopping him again so that she could move in front of him. She had hoped he would see her sincerity. "You're important to us." She stepped forward hoping he'd see her concern more clearly. "I don't want Rabbit to lose his purpose!" She bowed grandly in front of Filth, "Please!" She begged as she tightened her eyes, hoping her prayers would reach Filth.
   She didn't hear a response. She bowed further. "We need you."
   Lilli stayed in her bowed position with her eyes sealed tight. My, how the seconds almost seemed to be minutes. Certainly by now he should have responded. Maybe he was deeply moved by the sincerity of her display. Maybe he was confounded in how to respond to being such an integral part of the crew. Whatever the reason might have been, she held a certainty that her message had reached him. Though, that certainty began to diminish on an exponential curve as those seconds turned towards those oh-so long minutes.
   She lifted her head in hopes of meeting Filth's eyes, but instead she only met the empty air and a staff member further down the hall who stared rather confused at the blue-haired 'pop-idol'.
   Filth looked at his reflection in the safety glass that created the barrier between him and the pathway of the high speed transit vehicle. "You're never going to be able to sneak up on anyone with those ridiculous shoes." Filth turned around seeing Lilli approaching hastily, tears streaming down her face.
   Filth shook his head. "Crying?" He shrugged. "You're not going to manipu-" WHAP.
   Filth stumbled backwards, colliding with the barrier as vibrations rippled down the panels of safety glass across the entire platform. Others waiting at the platform turned their eyes from whatever distraction they held to the man who was recovering from an emasculating punch that left a bright red mark on his cheek.
   Lilli sniffed as she lunged forward giving much weaker hits against Filth's chest. "I don't want him to lose his purpose." A right fist pounded against his chest. "I don't want him to lose his purpose." A left fist pounded against his chest. "He needs this." A right fist pounded against his chest again. "I need this." One last limp fist pounded against Filth as she sobbed.
   Filth pushed Lilli away. "You really are crying?" He spoke surprised.
   She sniffed, nodding as she wiped her own tears with both hands.
   "Okay. What is it you want?"
   "You made a promise to Little Rabbit. It's important to him."
   Filth scratched the back of his head. "So," he paused, "you're saying you want me to take you to INTAL?"
   Lilli punctuated her nod with a sniff as the tears diminished.
   "Am I the only person who realizes how stupid that is?" He cocked an eyebrow. "You understand that you are INTAL's property right? They are looking for you. They aren't discerning enough to care whether it's the G.I.E. or some street vagrant who returns you to them. They are likely to imprison us until whatever development project they were trying to do with you is complete. They aren't going to run a little tune up on you then put you back on your way with the kid and I."
   Lilli's tears were mostly dry at this point, though her eyes still penetrated deep into Filth. "I don't care. You promised."
   Filth rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I'm starting to regret that promise."
   Lilli sniffed as she looked at Filth. He seemed to have relaxed mostly after she had hit him. She raised her arm, raising her tightly clenched fist over Filth.
   Filth threw his arms over his face. "Okay-okay-okay." He guarded himself from the potential incoming wrath, "I'll try to take you to INTAL."

   "Captain Lorie," Silje saluted the gruff elder man at his desk.
   The man stroked his temples as he motioned Silje to relax.
   Silje bowed before taking a seat as she folded her hands into her lap.
   "I don't suppose you came here to tear up my office as well, right?" His eyes rolled to Silje from beneath the shadow cast from the hand that attempted to massage the headache away.
   "I came to file the rep-" She was interrupted by a single silencing hand (the hand that was not stroking his temples).
   "I'll see the report when I check my inbox. There is no need for discussion of the events."
   "Sir." She bowed her head. "There was some development on the case. I believe Jack has paid off his deb-" Another silencing hand.
   Lorie lifted his head heavily out of the hand it rested in. The massaging hand went from massaging his temples to massaging his beard in short yet slow strokes. "Yes, the money."
   "Sir. I believe it's an adequate amount to appeal the case on Jack."
   He gave a choppy, condescending laugh as he shook his head. "When we parted from the G.I.E., the tensions between us were already at stake. Yet, your 'boyfriend' was not only negligent in his handling of those rising tensions, but, in fact, antagonized tensions further. What is the price of our diplomacy? Do you know, Miss Yuritan?"
   "Yes Sir." She bowed her head again.
   "Between being the rarely cocked sidearm of the Federation, the Lotus's own private defense force, all while keeping relations with the G.I.E. balanced; this money doesn't do anything. This hasn't changed the G.I.E.'s relation with us. This doesn't settle the Federation after whatever assailant stirred their pot recently. Nor does this diminish the paranoia of one of the colonies with the fewest aggressors in the whole of the Terran alliance."
   "I understand, Sir."
   "The case filed against Jack will remain unchanged." He leaned in and narrowed his eyes, a heavy sincerity settled over him. "You are to have him hand the stolen source code of Diva over to the G.I.E. and have him pay the reprimands for the damages. He is your responsibility and therefore it is your responsibility to settle this dispute. Do I make myself clear, Miss Yuritan?"
   "Yes Sir." She bowed her head again, brushing a few hairs out of her face as she bowed. "Shall I take my leave?"
   "Permanently until the dispute is settle." The weight of his words weighed against Silje. Her tight shoulders sagged - only a little. She felt the muscles in her face constrict, though she fought against it. Perhaps she misunderstood him.
   "Sir?" Was all she could manage without her voice cracking.
   "I've given more than ample time to resolve this dispute, yet you have failed at every turn. The moment we have finally recaptured the man, you let your emotions get the better of you. If you cannot resolve this dispute by the time we solve it for you, then I can only hope the money Mister Verne paid you will cover all of your expenses while you find a new home and a new job."
   She did her best holding together the frame of her professionalism, biting her tongue in hopes of focusing her mind on the pain rather than her shaken hands from her exceeding heart rate. She bowed her head politely in hopes of hiding her flickering blinking as her eyes rushed to each object to try and help her maintain a sense of place even though the world grew distant around her. Like the focus of every particle suddenly shifted its eyes to Silje as she desperately held together this construct of professionalism - this tower she had erected around herself. "New home, Sir?"
   "That's is correct, Miss Yuritan. You are nothing but a liability on my ship, perhaps my entire fleet. I'm giving you twenty-hours to vacate my ship. Hence forth consider yourself banned from the Solar Corp-Two fleet until you resolve the dispute. That is, if you can resolve it."
   Her tower collapsed. She tried to lift herself from the chair but found it difficult. She had to move her entire mental capacity to a single arm to give it the strength and balance under her throbbing heart to grip one arm of the chair to give herself one arm of support. It was finally after she was able to grip both arms of the chair that she finally was able to lift herself from the chair.
   She took two shallow steps away from Lorie's desk before turning to face him. Her eyes couldn't look at him. Even in her desperation, under the rubble of her collapsed tower, she clawed at each bit of debris as she tried to retain whatever might have remained. She could not look at him. Her eyes looked at some object on his desk (doesn't matter) before she gave a deep bow, "Sir." She spoke in a soft whisper to mask the hoarse of her disparity.