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In this episode, Anri discovers a strange box orbiting an ocean world.

Embrace our future home beneath the tides
Soon we will be one with our new ocean world
Time without an end, life without a care
Allow yourself to sail beyond the fringe of time and reach out for eternity

---

Whenever the Amber would stop for extended periods of time to perform a planetary scan or investigate anomalies of possible scientific interest, Katel had taken to eating breakfast with Anri most mornings. He couldn’t pinpoint the exact day it became regular and expected, but at some point in the past two months it had. That morning the two were taking breakfast in the Amber’s forward observation lounge. Katel sipped his coffee as he gazed out at the planet they were surveying. It was a world of mostly water, of interest to the ASD for its teeming microbial life. “Beautiful.”
“Hm?”
“This world… it’s so pretty.”
Anri cut into her gloutcake. “Indeed. Like a giant sapphire. Still, I’m getting tired of looking at it.”
“Already? We’ve only been here a day.”
She chewed pensively. “The ASD’s surveyed this planet hundreds of times. I’ve surveyed it about a dozen. You see, this world and the life on it is constantly changing, and the ASD has it in their heads that if they keep coming back to study it, at some point it’ll spit the key to immortality at them.”
The sun began to catch a patch of choppy water dazzlingly. “You don’t think so?”
“No, but what do I know, eh? Dr. Gan is the microbiologist.”
“Hmm… must be boring.”
“Maybe a little.”
“It reminds me of Earth, in a way.”
“Oh? You’ve been?”
Katel smiled at the memory. “Oh, it’s a beautiful world. The damage shows but from orbit the oceans look… well, like that.”
They both gazed out the window at the planet. “I’m a bit jealous. Atriea looks so inhospitable from orbit. I’d take our world over Earth any day, though.” Anri muttered.
“I would too.”
As they watched the sun sparkle on the surface of the ocean, Katel stole a few glances of Anri’s face. He wasn’t enjoying this assignment he himself had arranged, but at least he had good company. He grinned to himself, and was about to make a remark when Anri furrowed her brow and sat up. “What was that?”
“Hm? I wasn’t looking…”
“It passed right in front of the window. It looked like an artificial satellite… I swear if someone set up an observation post here without consulting me!”
She stood and stormed down the hall. “Come on! I might need you to yell at someone for me!”
Katel wiped his face quickly and followed after her, his grin widening.

Most of the off-duty crew were taking breakfast in the mess hall. Sella, Galya and Prax found themselves sitting at the same table. Galya was telling some long-winded anecdote to Sella, but she wasn’t listening. Galya noticed this. “And then… Sella?”
She didn’t respond, so Galya continued. “Uh… yeah, and then… rhubarb… one one-thousand… rhubarb…”
Sella stared, oblivious to the nonsense she was listening to. Galya glanced at what she was staring at. It was Prax, or more specifically, the data pad he was writing on. Galya grinned, then pinched Sella’s nose. “Ow!”
Prax glanced up, but returned to working. Galya laughed as quietly as possible. “I have never in my life seen anyone more… enthralled by a man writing in a data pad.”
“W-what do you mean?”
“You were just staring at Prax!”
“Shh! Uh, I could use some more coffee, come on.”
She sprang up and crossed the room to the coffee machine. “Uh, excuse us.”
Prax wasn’t even listening, he himself being absorbed in something. Sella wasn’t even getting coffee, she just stood in the corner looking incredibly tense. “So… coffee.” Galya said casually.
“I’m sorry for zoning out.”
“You weren’t zoning out, you were mesmerized.”
Sella turned away, which of course prompted Galya to dodge in front of her. “Sella~ Are you hiding something from me?”
“I dunno…”
Of course, Galya had already guessed at what was going on, but she wouldn’t deprive herself of the fun prying it out of Sella would bring. “You’re red! Do you have a fever?”
“Fine! Fine, just be quiet! I-it’s just that I have a little crush on him, that’s all. It’ll go away, so I don’t see any point in talking about it!”
“Why do you say that? I love the topic of love. For, what is life without someone to share it with?”
Sella’s eyes began drifting back over the mess hall. “Stop quoting romance novels…”
“Sorry! I’ll be serious.” She tapped her chin. “You might have picked a better guy.”
“W-what? You don’t think he’s cute?”
“Waha! I didn’t say that! He’s just all gloomy and stuffy.”
Sella gulped as she watched Prax write. “I find it… o-oh, never mind, I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
A large group began lining up between them and Prax, so Sella turned and headed for the door. Galya followed. “Hey, didn’t you mention you dated a hyena before? Do you have a thing for hyenas?”
“No! Just a coincidence!”
“Haha! Sure!”
They exited the room.
Prax reached for his coffee, then thought of something. “Say, Galya… huh?”

~~~

Far off, on the far side of the ocean planet’s moon, a pre-war Solar Federation light combat cruiser hovered low on the surface. Aboard were two women and one man, each staring intently at the tiny viewscreen. “It just went past?”
“Yeah, I’m sure of it.”
“I didn’t see anything.”
One of the women looked between the two others. “If they don’t detect it this time we’re just going with my plan.”
The man scoffed, not taking his eyes from the grainy image of the Amber and Exile. “You were the one that insisted they wouldn’t even show up. Trust me, these Atrieans are too curious for their own good.”
“Usually he’s an idiot but this time he’s right, Jen.”
“Right!”
Jen rolled her eyes and watched the two. Though she had only been working for them about a month now, she guessed she had them figured out. A real Bonnie and Clyde, the two married when they were 19 and 20 and ran less-than-legitimate freight for extralegal brokers for the next ten years, never once being apart. Mike was an impressive sight, being built like a hovertruck and commanding an air of intimidating fortitude. His face was framed in a short beard and short hair, which he was constantly picking at. Desdemona was the woman’s name, and unlike her husband, she was rather slight and unassuming. Not skilled with weapons or intimidation like Mike, she was an expert pilot and had a solid head on her shoulders. Her aura was more comforting, but her personality was difficult to get used to. Of the two, Jen herself was probably closer to Mike in skills. She was once a member of the Solar Federation Military; the Mechanized Infantry, to be exact. She was also tall and muscular like Mike, but wore her hair long. She did possess something neither of them did: an intimate knowledge of Atriean military procedure and technology, gained from her experiences during the war. This was something Mike and Desdemona needed dearly for this operation, and so for the past month the three of them were working together tirelessly. Nerves may have been somewhat frayed, but their goal was close. That much was clear. Jen shot her arm out at the screen. “I see it now!”
“Yep, that’s it. Des, patch into their comms. Give me a live feed.”
“Done.”
Chatter from channels all over the ship played over the tinny intercom. All three listened intently.

~~~

When Katel caught up with Anri (who was faster than Katel thought) she was staring into a scanning screen, which was tracking a tiny object that orbited the planet. “It’s still far off…”
“Anri, what did you find?”
“Well… It’s definitely a machine of some kind. It is composed of plastic, metal, rubber and some common elements. Look: the sensors read a faint electrical charge. It… was operational. At some point.”
“And now?”
“Now? It’s a piece of junk. I want it.”
Katel laughed. “Something a little more exciting than studying a planet for the 13th time, eh?”
“You know me too well. Oh, Katel, do you think-”
“Don’t worry, I’ll have Carril retrieve it for you.”
She gave him one of her signature smiles. “Thanks.”
“I’ll be right back.”
He stepped from the room and took out his communicator. “Hello, ready room?”
“Jolan here. What can I do for you, sir?”
“Carril is on duty right now, yes? I have an assignment for him.”
“Yes, he’s here.”
After a moment and the sound of shuffling, Carril answered. “Sir?”
“Anri is tracking a small object orbiting the planet, and she’d like someone to pick it up. Be careful not to damage it, please.”
There was a short pause. “Is that all, sir?”
“Yes. Go right away, please.”
“Yes, sir. Carril out.”
Katel nodded in satisfaction, then returned to Anri.

Carril rummaged around in his locker. Jolan sat on the couch thinking. “Did he call Dr. Vasel ‘Anri?’”
“That’s her name, right?”
“Yes, it is. Humf. None of our business anyway.”
“It could be a coincidence.”
“They have breakfast nearly every day.”
Carril pulled the tight sleeve of his flight suit over his uniform. “Okay, maybe you’re right. Come on, be my co-pilot, I need someone to track the thingy before I scoop it up.”

~~~

All the three aboard the combat ship needed was “small object in orbit” before they started celebrating. Mike laughed and kissed Desdemona on the cheek while Jen couldn’t help grinning. “Well, they’ll have it soon enough.”
Desdemona stood and stretched. “Yep. All we have to do is wait. God, my back is killing me. Come on Mike, give me a massage.”
He stood quickly. “Duty calls. Take the controls, Jen. Holler if they crack it open before we get back.”
“Alright.”
The two retreated to the back of the ship. Jen sank into the leather seat and took the controls. The two had been trusting of her enough before, but this is the first time they left her in control of the ship. “I must be making progress.”

~~~

A few hours later, Sella was on duty in the magazine. She ordered two petty officers around as politely as possible as they prepared to degauss the accelerator coil. “Hied, don’t put that case so close to the coils, you’ll magnetize the tools.”
“Lieutenant, the computer just finished.”
“Good, I’ll call someone.”
She went to the door and called engineering. “This is Sella, we’re ready now.”
Vik’s voice boomed over the intercom. “Ah, good! I’ll send Isran, he isn’t busy. Isran!”
The line cut. “Alright you two, let’s unlock the case.”
One of the officers handed her a tool and she plugged it into the case. After inputting an access code known only to her and a few other ranking staff, the case popped loose. Isran wandered in a moment later. “Hello, Lieutenant. Have a good morning?”
“Stressful, but yeah. And yourself?”
They got to work, Isran slowly removing the coil. A delicate process that could result in injury if not performed properly, the degaussing would take a while.

Anri cut Katel off mid-sentence as Carril came in lugging a large box. It trailed a wire behind it. “There it is!”
Carril struggled with the thing’s bulk. “Rrg… where do you want it?”
“Over here, on my scanner, please…”
Once the box was on Anri’s large, multipurpose scanning table, she marveled at it. She had spent the last half hour retrieving and attaching different modules to the bench, getting more excited by the minute. Now, she seemed to boil over. “Oh my! Katel, do you know what this is?!”
“Erm… a satellite?”
“It’s a computer! A very, very old computer… oh, this is incredible! I have to call Mr. Lance right away…”
Anri scurried to the intercom. Katel watched her, smiling to himself. He found her enthusiasm for her work to be one of her more endearing qualities. “Um, sir?”
“Hm? Oh, Carril… That’s all we needed, thank you.”
“Aye.”
He left with a backwards glance at Katel. As Anri conferred with someone, Katel studied the computer. It was bulkier than any computer he’d ever seen, save of course the city central computers in his home city. He noticed some lettering on one side and, after trying to remember his English lessons, he said: “Dell. I wonder what that means?”
“I’m not sure, but it confirms this is of Terran make. Let me run a few scans.”
Anri chattered (mostly to herself) as she worked, typing at her computer faster than Katel was ever able to. Shortly, a Human man with a wide girth and bald head entered. He gasped. “A Dell computer! Anri, where in Christ’s name did you find this?!”
“It was floating in orbit. Katel had it brought in.”
The man immediately stepped up to Katel and grabbed his paw. “Good for you! This is an incredible anthropological find! It could contain data from before World War Three!”
“Do you think…?”
“Well, what do your scans say about its age?”
Katel raised a paw, but the two were deep in conversation. “Er…”
“Just over three hundred and fifty years…”
“Well, it very well could have been on an early deep space craft, from before the war. Let’s look at the trace-”
“Ahem! Excuse me for interrupting… but I don’t quite understand why this is important.”
Anri looked shocked. “Katel! I’d think you would have learned a thing or two from our breakfasts together! You see-”
Mr. Lance cut in. “You see, when the major powers of Earth decided to blow themselves up back in the 2030s, the resulting electromagnetic and nuclear shock-waves destroyed forty percent of all human knowledge, most of which was stored digitally. This computer appears to have originated from around 2007, and was either launched into space before the third world war, or kept on a clean continent until… well, until someone brought it here, I suppose.”
Katel snapped his fingers. “I see! So, this may contain knowledge lost to your people?”
“Just between you and me, I hope it’s art. Much of the scientific data we collect from old machines like this is obsolete, but art… art is irreplaceable.”
“And you collect these?”
Mr. Lance puffed out his bulbous chest proudly. “You’re looking at a proud member of the Ancient Culture Recovery Project! It is my main goal in life to recover lost cultural artifacts such as this.”
Anri nodded. “That’s why I called him. No one in this sector knows more about old computers than him!”
“Oh, do go on…”
Katel held up his paws before they could resume their gushing. “Shouldn’t we turn it on and see what’s inside?”
Anri looked at Mr. Lance, who looked at Anri. He shrugged. “I don’t see why not. Hang on, I’ll need to get some data and power converters.”
He rushed from the room. Katel extended his paw. “Well, Dr. Vasel, it seems you’ve done it again. Congratulations on your discovery.”
They shook. “Thank you! Er… h-how much more time do you have?”
“Today is my day off, in fact.”
“Ah, well, I don’t suppose…”
Katel raised a paw. “I wouldn’t miss this for anything! I’d much rather stay here than just read in my cabin.”
Anri turned abruptly and sat at her scanning table again. “G-good! I’ll scan for damage…”

~~~

Jen watched an indicator flash rapidly on the dash. “Hey, guys! Our bug is being scanned… by their MultiMax. Huh, I guess you were right!”
Desdemona came rushing in. “I told you they had a MultiMax… They aren’t suspicious?”
“They’re still scanning it, so I’d say no. It won’t be long before they crack it open.”
Mike lumbered in next. “If we can trust the abilities of Mr. Lance, that is. You’re sure this guy won’t break the box?”
Jen shook his head. “He’d die before ruining such an exciting find.”
“How can you know what he’s going to do? Ever met him?”
“Nope. But you’ve gotten this far on my information, why stop trusting me now?”
None of them could argue with that.

~~~

As Isran gently ran a tool over the exposed accelerator coil, Sella took the opportunity to rest. The coolant system wasn’t very effective here in the magazine, and it was always a few degrees too hot for comfort. She sat by the door and loosened her uniform. “Whew…”
Someone walked in as she fanned herself. “Lieutenant?”
She shot up and saluted. “Captain!” she said, a little too loudly.
The others stopped their work. Isran walked over and scratched his head. “Good morning, Captain. We’re degaussing.”
He was about to speak, but furrowed his brow. “One moment. Lieutenant, are you alright? You look overheated.”
“It’s very hot in here, sir!”
“Stuffy is more like.” Isran said.
It was one of the only times Prax had ever come down to the magazine. He furrowed his brow. “It is unusually hot down here. Any idea why?”
Sella shook her head. “I’m not an engineer, sir, I wouldn’t know.”
The two petty officers started chatting as Isran speculated. “Well, I’d guess someone forgot to adjust the coolant system to run harder down here. We only have one gun, though, so the heat isn’t dangerous…”
Prax found this somewhat disturbing. “This isn’t good. I can’t have my crew suffering down here from something so avoidable. Lieutenant, why have you never brought this up to me?”
She gulped. “W-well, I didn’t want to bother you with a couple degrees…”
He leaned down slightly. “Keeping the crew happy is one of the most important tenants of command. I’d like to know about things like this.”
He smiled, and the room suddenly got hotter. “I’d probably hate my Captain if I had to work in a room this hot! So, how’s the degaussing coming along?”
Sella didn’t really know, but thankfully Isran answered for her. “We’re halfway there, sir. We’ll have weapons back in half an hour.”
“Good. If you don’t mind, I’d like to observe. Officer Frog, I’ll spot for Isran, you go add the coolant system down here to the repair backlog.”
“Aye, sir.” Frog said, wiping his brow as he left the room.
Prax gestured to Isran, and he took his tools back to the exposed coil. Before following, Prax whispered. “Fix your uniform, Lieutenant.”
“Oh! Yes, sir…”
As she buttoned her uniform back up, she realized Prax could have easily embarrassed her in front of the petty officers. She allowed herself a guilty smile as she flattened the front of her uniform. She watched Isran for another few minutes, then noticed him making a small mistake. She stood and walked over to correct it.

As Mr. Lance hooked up the adapter to the ship’s power supply, Anri performed a structural scan of the computer, comparing it with a schematic of this computer model, provided by Mr. Lance. “Well, it seems to be in one piece! Everything’s in the places they should be. Aside from how… inelegant the design is, I don’t see why it wouldn’t boot normally.”
Though he spent little time with scientists or their work, Katel found himself easily swept up in the excitement of this discovery. Mr. Lance scurried over with a long, thin wire with a long bar at the end. He connected the Dell computer’s loose wire to the bar and flicked a switch on it. “Alright, now we just need to connect a screen…”
He produced a comically long plug that seemed to be connected to an Atriean wireless transmitter. “We’ll connect it to the main screen in here.”
He plugged it in, then Anri and Mr. Lance entered a strange staring contest. “You do the honors, Mr. Lance.”
“Please, you made the discovery, Dr. Vasel.”
Katel leaned over. “Is that the power button?”
“Yes- hey!”
Katel pressed it. Anri started laughing and Mr. Lance was about to protest. Before he could, the computer started making a lot of noise. A fan began whirring, and they could hear the ancient disk hard drive spinning up. “Oh my… it’s working!”
After a few moments, the screen showed a loading bar and a large logo. “Oh! Oh my, it isn’t corrupted! Anri, you must record this!”
“Yes, you’re right! Katel, would you…?”
Anri pressed a compact video camera into his paws. He fumbled with it. “S-sure…”
“Mr. Lance! A keyboard!”
“Oh, right! I nearly forgot.”
The computer was taking an ungodly amount of time to boot. It was on the second loading screen by the time a confusing English keyboard was connected. Mr. Lance took the keyboard, but could not sit; his excitement was too great. There was a blaring noise as the computer shifted screens again. “Aah! Are all old computers this loud?!”
“Just Terran ones… Oh, well.”
Prax wasn’t sure what he was looking at, but Mr. Lance and Anri did. It just looked like a picture of a field to Prax. “Quick, check the C drive…”
“Right.”
Mr. Lance used the keyboard to shift through a few folders on the computer. He pointed out a few things of interest as he explored the data. “Ah, here are some games! Old Earth card games. They came pre-installed on most Windows operating systems.”
“Interesting… are they any fun?”
Anri and Mr. Lance looked at Katel as though they had never even considered that before. Mr. Lance coughed. “Well, I assume so…”
“Look, that folder is full of images!”
“Let’s see…”
The screen shifted to a collection of image thumbnails. The moment Katel realized what they were, he lowered the camera. “Ahem! Mr. Lance, is this a joke?!”
Mr. Lance laughed heartily. “No, no! Hahaha!”
Anri joined in, Katel crossing his arms. “But… those are Atrieans! You told me this computer was ancient!”
Mr. Lance selected the first image. “This is a well-documented phenomenon, my dear man! Though, we don’t usually find material this, er, lewd.”
Taken by some morbid curiosity, Katel stepped closer. “Hang on, that shouldn’t be there… These aren’t Atrieans at all!”
Anri nodded. “Far from it. No, this type of art seems to be a genre that Humans took quite a liking to before the war. It’s a coincidence that they look so much like us. But, as you noticed, the… anatomy is not Atriean.”
“Huh. I never knew.”
Mr. Lance moved from the folder. “In any case, it is nothing new. I’ll… oh, hang on!”
He came to a screen with a small amount of information and a few folders. “Look, there’s a CD in the trey!”
“A CD? What’s a CD?”
“I believe it’s akin to an Mdysk. An old data storage method.” Anri said.
“Ah, I see… does it still work?”
Mr. Lance didn’t even bother trying to run the disk. “Probably not. It’ll need to be restored before we can extract the data on it. We’re not equipped to do that here, but I know some people. Ah, this looks interesting.”
The lone file was labeled “init” and seemed to be a video file. “It might be a home recording… let’s see.”
He selected it. Nothing happened on screen, but the computer began to make more noise. So did Anri’s scanning table. Her computer was trying to warn her about something. She hurried to check. “I’m reading… what?! Mr. Lance, there’s a frost battery in the Dell that just activated!”
“What?! Impossible, that’s an Atriean power source! Humans didn’t discover Fisolite until the late 2200s, at least!”
Anri pondered a moment, then froze. “Oh, shit! Shut it down, now!”
Mr. Lance froze, but Katel reacted quickly, ripping the plug from the computer. It was too late. Seconds before the lights went out, loud sirens could be heard blaring from the halls. As soon as he heard the rhythmic slamming of emergency bulkheads Katel dashed for the door, only to have it slam in his face. “Dammit! Anri, what’s happening?! Where’d the lights go?!”
“I detected… A-a transmission, traveling through the computer’s power cord. I wasn’t sure what it was, but… it looks like the Amber’s been infected by a virus.”
“What’s it doing? Can you stop it?!”
“I don’t know! I’ll try…”

The armory was still stifling, but with the work almost completed, the anticipation of a break was also palpable in the air. Prax wiped his brow as Isran ran the tool over the coil once more. “Careful…”
“Captain!”
Isran’s paw slipped, and he nearly brushed his glove against the coil casing. Prax stood and nearly growled at Galya, who had just burst into the room. “Lieutenant, we’re in the middle of a very delicate procedure!”
“Er, I know sir, but we just got an emergency transmission from the Amber a few minutes ago! Their bulkheads are malfunctioning!”
“What?! Why didn’t you call instead of running all the way here?”
“Er, well, seconds later our comms went down. You’re needed on the bridge right away!”
“I see. I’ll sort-”
Before he could finish, the bulkhead slammed shut behind Galya, nearly clipping off the end of her tail. “…this out.”

~~~

A transmission from the Amber displayed on screen. It read: “TASK COMPLETE.” Mike laughed. “There we go! She’s ripe for picking.”
Desdemona leaned back as Mike stood. “You two have fun.”
“Oh, no, Desdemona, you’re coming with us.” Jen said as she quickly checked over her gun.
“What?! But I don’t lift things! That’s Mike’s job!”
“There’s a lot of things to lift.”
Mike nodded. “She’s right. Come on, this is the fun part! It would be a shame if you missed it.”