| "Ah….now you see," Sigin sighs, looking down sadly at his young charge.
"It…can't be," Solomon whispers hoarsely, horrified by it all. "I….can't…."
"Ah, still a bit of healthy skepticism?" Sigin nods. "Well, tell you
what….."
Solomon feels something like a weight lift from his shoulders as he
hears the tearing of vellum behind him. He sighs as the….need….leaves him.
"I release you from the your foolishness," the demifox mage smiles down
at the confused looking ensign. "See, this whole exercise was to…..open
you up to the truth. Don't take my word for it, and don't expect me to
FORCE you to believe….though with that compact…I could well have done it!
"Go out….do research," Sigin Vulpine smiles as he magically cleans the
mess that Solomon had made of himself. "Do remember….don't jump to conclusions.
This exercise should teach you….to be wary of preconceptions."
"You'll see….that the Golems aren't quiet the way they appear at first
blush," the mage says. "If you feel like actually being my apprentice….the
offer stands…with only a handshake instead of a magical compact!"
"And please don't try to hack into our net again," Inquirer says, coming
in for her daily magical lessons. "The shuttle Probe and my friends were
on…..the one who's computers you used to hack into our computer systems….nearly
destroyed itself!"
"You….didn't try anything else in the way of cyber vandalism…in any
other ships….like the OTHER shuttle?" the female AI/golem asks suddenly.
"No….you and your AI buddies made it abundantly clear….that any further
attempts like that….would be futile!" the demifox Star Fleeter says in
a droll voice.
Stress scans, of the magical and scientific kind, of Solomon reveals
total...honesty.
"Resistence is futile." Inquirer says in an eerie imitation of the Borg,
making Solomon's fox tail stand up on end in fright. Inquirer smiles, and
then nods down at Solomon.
"Well, let's hope we never need to meet the Borg!" she chuckles. "It
would be…a most….challenging encounter."
"Borg"….it DOES sound Swedish, Inquirer chuckles to herself.
"AS for the rest of the Military….well," the female golem/AI chuckles,
and then says in a deep, resonant voice (shades of Darth Vader from Star
Wars). "…..they'd find that those like Sterndeck…..aren't as forgiving
as I…."
-
 Meanwhile, after
Probe is given an account with the session with the demifox Federation
member, he makes one last adjustment to the ship….and they're off again!
Go Back
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