"Mr. and Mrs. Theraphosa, your privacy booth is ready."

The attendant smiled as the couple rose from the waiting area seats.  His uniform was crisp and sleek.  On one shoulder was the Elements Services emblem,  the other read Earth Conglomerate, Communications Division.  Five feet from him was a pair of series 4 security constructs.  They scanned the crowd, weapons on standby.

"Mr. Theraphosa?"

"Yes."

"I will need to scan your federation chip.  I apologize for the inconvenience, but the entire grid is on a level 3 security alert."

"Level 3, is it something we should be worried about?"

The attendant leaned forward.

"I hear a group of transports were attacked by pirates."  He lowered his voice.  "Authorities don't want another Singapore Incident."

Mr. Theraphosa removed a pair of UniCard from his back pocket, and handed them to the man with an apologetic wince.

"It's our first time off world.  My wife and I are visiting her uncle."

"Wow.  Don't see a lot of these nowadays."  The attendant scanned both cards.  "You might consider getting chipped.  It makes security checks faster, and streamlines transactions."

He shook his datapad, and tapped the screen.  One of the security constructs noticed and took a few steps toward them.  His low-face scowled.

"Is everything okay, Gary?" the construct inquired.

"Yeah, West-22, my datapad was acting up.  Probably just time for a software update."  Gary, the attendant, returned the two UniCards, and gestured to the archway behind him.  "Sorry to hold you two up, go right in.  Cubicle F is on the left."

Mr. Theraphosa smiled and nodded.  He took his wife's hand and led her into the Elemental Services establishment.  The security construct watched them walk past with a stern expression, but he nodded when Mrs. Theraphsa waved.

"Software updates, Gary.  Fucking software updates..." the machine said as it moved back to its post.

The lighting inside Elemental Service's communications boutique was far dimmer than that of Capricorn Station propper.  The hall was silent, and the carpeting seemed to swallow the vibrations of their footfalls.  Together it all created a sense of privacy which was what Elemental Services was selling.  Gridports were notoriously public places with millions of people from all over the Federation of Galactic Governed crammed into a small city-sized space station.  With the prying eyes and ears of fellow space travellers, and the scrutiny of galactic governments it was nearly impossible to find a moment's peace.  For those willing to pay, companies like Elemental Services provided privacy booths and secure audio/video transmissions.

A second attendant, a large canamarian with imposing arms, stood in the doorway to Cubicle F.  He eyed the couple suspiciously as he stepped aside.

"The booth is yours for the next two hours.  Lavatories are down the hall.  Do not disturb our other patrons," he growled.  His expression softened as Mr. Theraphosa cringed at his tone.  "If you need anything, press the service button on the call panel."

The canamarian attendant left, and the cubicle door closed behind him.  The space was ten feet by ten feet with a display screen dominating one wall, and a couch taking up the opposite.  A chair hovered in the corner, its armrest housing the controls and call panel for the room.  The dark room brightened at the two stepped inside, and a prompt appeared on the screen.

"That was close," Mr. Theraphosa said as he dropped his duffel bag beside the chair.  He examined his UniCard.  "These scramblers seemed to work better when Renegade programmed them."

"Didn't you do the programming yourself?"

"Exactly.  Clearly I missed a step."  The two shared a nervous laugh.  "Hopefully we'll only need to be scanned a few more times... maybe I should try and tinker with them a little more."

"We should probably leave well enough alone."

"You're right."  He pulled out his datapad and did a partial sync with the data node in the ceiling.  "I hope Raven and Ivory have better luck."

"Liam, I notice you're using everyone's callsigns.  Should I call you Spider?"

"No."  Liam shook his head.  "Right now I'm Lee Theraphosa, and you're my wife Tiffany."

"Tiffany.  I've always like that name."

"I remember.  You told me a few months ago when we were clearing out the abandoned living quarters back home."

Taylor-06's cheeks reddened slightly.  Liam bit back the flirty comment on the tip of his tongue.

"So, we have a number of calls to make.  I'll do most of the talking, but I know almost nothing about most of the things on our list so I'll need you to help me out."

"Okay."  Taylor-06 pulled out her own datapad.

Liam watched her.  This was her first mission.  She hadn't been on his short list of operatives, but it wasn't because he didn't trust her, because he did.  Patricia believed in her, and he trusted Pepper completely.  No, it was because she was untested and untrained.  The low danger level should have made the job ideal, but Patricia was depending on their success.  He would have taken someone else, but no one understood Patricia's notes like Taylor-06.  She was the foremost authority on the experimental procedure.

Liam punched in the call target and the necessary credentials for the connection.  He settled into the chair as it moved into position before the display.

"Should I sit anywhere specific?"

"Stay on the couch.  I'll put up an image mask to obscure you and the rest of the room."

The lights dimmed, and a hum filled the back of the room.  An image filled the display.  A loading dock appeared, buzzing with activity.   A few dozen workers scrambled to load and unload cargo.  Liam recognized the ship models, but no other identifying features were visible.  A tall man stepped into view.  His neck was long, his head round, his eyes bright and bulbous.  A scar shaped like the rake of large claws ran down the left side of his face.  Liam cringed.  He'd hoped the wound had healed better.

"Mr. Theraphosa," the raiel sang.

"Pi, it's good to see you again."  Liam forced himself to smile.

"My brother and I are always eager to do business."

"How is Pornim?"

"My health remains strong, Mr. Theraphosa."

The second of the twin pair stepped before the camera.  The raiel were identical except Pornim was bulky for his naturally thin species, and Pi's face had been marred by the savage strike of an enraged felarnian.  The duo ran a blackmarket organization that supplied EC and Raiel space.  They were expensive, but operated on the kind of time table the team was working with.

"Where is your partner, Mr. Theraphosa?" Pi sang.  His voice had taken on a harsh tone which filled Liam with dread.

"We tried to track him down, but were unsuccessful," added Pornim.

"He and I have parted ways," Liam said, deciding on a half truth over a lie.  Raiel could detect a lie in the vibrations of a person's voice.  "I was under the impression that the credits I transferred by way of apology were accepted in good faith."

"You are not the one who needs to apologize, Mr. Theraphosa."

"I speak for my colleagues."  It seemed Liam had been wrong in thinking the underground merchants would care more about money than vengeance.  "What if I told you Blue was sorry?"

"If you said such a thing, I would become angered," warned Pornim.  "Blue is warrior caste.  If he apologized to my brother it would mean he saw Pi as beneath him.  I would become very angered indeed."

Pornim's anger rode his singsong voice through the audio transmitters to surround Liam.  The air was charged and light years away Liam felt as if he were being attacked by biting insects.  Being fully aware that the sensation was the result of raiel harmonics he tried his best to ignore the buzzing in his ear.  He grit his teeth and sat still.

"Lee?" Taylor-06's confusion was evident in her tone.

Subconsciously Liam thought it funny how aware of audio cues he became when interacting with raiel, or The Skinnies as they were called behind their backs.

"I'm okay," he whispered.  "I thought your people didn't hold grudges," he said to the twins.

"While our own culture has no room for such things as grudges, we have come to keep them when they matter."

"I'll keep that in mind... but can we get to business?"

Pornim ceased his angry song, and sat down beside his brother.  Liam's skin stopped crawling and the phantom buzzing faded.

"Let's talk business.  We looked over your list.  We can get you all of the lab equipment, but most of the chemicals are stored too far away to reach you within the given time frame."

Liam was disappointed, but he'd expected as much.  The Song Brother's weren't the only traffickers he'd reached out to.

"Okay, I'll take what you have."

"100,000 credits."

"That's four times the market value of the entire shipment!"

"Yes, it is," sang Pornim.

"We've decided working with you comes with considerable risk," Pi explained.  "Risk comes with its own price tag."

"75 thousand."

"95."

"80."

"92 thousand, or maybe our ships are unable to reach Dullah Station in time."

"Fine... send me the account number.  You get half now, and half when my operative, Hitman, gets the supplies."

Pi typed into his datapad, then nodded confirmation.

"Hitman.  We will arrange the delivery immediately."

Liam sent the funds and ended the transmission.  He never liked the Song Brothers, but they were reliable and their influence was long reaching.  Some of the other black market merchants on his list would be more willing to help knowing the Songs were making a profit.  A few would deal out of solidarity, but the larger groups would want to undercut the competition.

"That couldn't have gone worse," Taylor-06 observed.  "They're robbing us."

"Actually that went better than I thought.  I'd heard rumors The Song Brothers wanted Scott and I dead.  Our lives for a few extra credits is a fair trade."

"A few?"

Liam laughed bitterly.

"Okay.  A lot, but the sentiment remains the same."

The pair spent the next hour shortening the list and making arrangements with sellers who wished to stay under EC radar as much as Eagle X.  Eventually they came down to one final ingredient, the artificial isotope halifluerix.  Liam was unfamiliar with the substance, but he learned the hard way that none of his suppliers could get their hands on it in such short notice.  It was the only active ingredient in Patricia's experimental cure, and the only one out of reach.

"Halifluerix.  What is this stuff?  I've never heard of it."

"It's the fluid that runs through a super thinker AI's core nexus.  It acts as the data pathway for their higher level computations."

"It's the brain juice of a building AI system."

Taylor-06 laughed.  "Don't call it that."

"That's what it is...no wonder no one can get it for me.  We'd have to crack open a cor..."  Liam's voice trailed off as an idea occurred to him.

He sat down on the couch beside Taylor-06 and scrolled through his notes.  He checked the local star charts, and cross referenced it with the grid map.

"You're wearing that smirk you get when you're about to say something that pisses someone off."

Liam looked up from his pad, eyes soft and smile gentle.

"I am?"

"Somehow that innocent expression makes you look as harmless as an airborne omega virus."

Liam found it hard to hide his concern.

"Airborne omega viruses?"

"The war was before your time.  The EC used insect-like drones to deliver digital packets which caused our processing chips to misfire."  Her eyes grew distant and her face became pale, as if the memories were replaying before her.  "It was as if entire teams suddenly went insane.  They'd attack allies and enemies with equal aggression."

He leaned forward, taking hold of her shoulders.  He gave her a cautious shake, a jolt to jar her senses.  Just as Dr. Ho suggested.

"Tiffany."

The focus of her eyes returned in a flash.

"Liam!  I mean Lee."

He stared into her eyes from inches away.  The light within made him think of a galaxy, thousands of individuals combined to make one glowing whole.  He imagined it was her soul peeking through.  Many would label him a deviant for seeing any form of humanity within a construct, but he knew what he saw and what he felt whenever they spoke.  Liam didn't see that light in many people.  He knew it meant something.

"Lee, stop.  You're making me blush."

Liam pulled back, his own cheeks growing hot.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to stare."

"No, it's okay," she assured.  "I liked it."  The last bit was a whisper which Liam pretended not to hear.

He returned to the hovering chair, and punched in a new call target and accompanying credentials.

"I think I know a guy who can get us halifluerix."

"Another smuggler?"

"No, an old friend of ours."

An unassuming business office appeared on the display.  Sitting behind the faux wood desk was a middle aged man enjoying a sandwich.  The desk was covered in data cards, and datapads.  Red rimmed bags hung under the man's large and expressive eyes, and he looked like he'd slept in his suit.  He'd grown a beard since the last time Liam had seen him, but the smile beneath was the same.

"Kent, did I catch you at a bad time?"

"No, Lee.  I'm just looking for some documents.  I think we're about to be audited."

"Audited?"  Liam made it sound like a four letter word.  No company wanted to be audited by the EC Audits Bureau.  Companies larger than Duffy & Norman had crumbled under the weight.  "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Not unless you can speak to," Kent put down his lunch and scrolled through one of his datapad.  "Mr. Krillian Brown.  It was his inquiry that has my accountant worried."

Liam wrote the name down.

"Do you want me to lean on him?"

"Lean on him?"  It took Kent a moment to catch Liam's meaning.  "Lean on him, no!  I don't think that would be a good idea."

Liam laughed, and shook his head.

"I was kidding.  I'll look into him if you'd like, but nothing more than that.  He's a government official.  They're notoriously hard to get close too, and extremely dangerous for a wanted criminal to be near."

"Wanted criminal?"

Liam pointed at himself, and again Kent took a moment to understand.  Kent Duffy was a good man, he was just bad at abstract thinking.

Taylor-06 cleared her throat to get Liam's attention.  She showed him the time on her datapad.  They only had 15 minutes of privacy left.

"Kent, this isn't a courtesy call, though one of those is past due.  We need your help."

"Anything, Mr. Theraphosa.  The universe might have no idea, but I know what you do, and I'll always be appreciative."

"Thank you."  It was surprisingly rare that someone outside of his people at homebase acknowledged his hard work.  "I need to get my hands on halifluerix, and fast."

"I think I can help you.  How fast do you need it?"

"Within the standard week.  Earlier if possible."

Kent was already typing at his desktop.

"How fast can you get to Capricorn Alpha Pi Substation?"

Liam looked over his shoulder at Taylor-06.  He grinned with confidence.

"I'm actually at Capricorn Station now.  It's a short jump.  An hour, I believe."

"Good, you're close.  Catch the next shuttle, and I'll meet you there."

"That's perfect, Kent!  Just a heads up.  My wife will be with me."

"Your wife?  I didn't r-"

The call ended abruptly, and the lights rose to full brightness.  The cubicle door slid open, and the two attendants barged in with the security construct in tow.  Liam jumped to his feet.  He had to fight highly tuned reflexes not to draw the pistol hidden in his belt.  It was only good for three shots, but it would have been enough to even the playing field.  Instead he backed towards the couch, putting himself between the intruders and Taylor-06 like a dutiful husband should.  Plus it put him closer to his duffel bag where his bigger toys were stashed.

"Wha... what's the meaning of this?" he asked, forcing his voice to quiver.

"Travellers, present your UniCards for scanning immediately."

"West-22!"  Gary, the attendant, had the grace to look apologetic, though he did unlock the cubicle to allow the construct entry.  "Elemental Services is sorry for the inconvenience, but there was an issue with your security clearance."

West-22 approached, his metal and plastic hand outstretched.  Thankfully his rifle remained on standby.

"My security clearance?  See, honey.  I told you this would happen."  Liam grabbed Taylor-06's hand and pulled her to her feet.  He wanted her on her standing if they had to fight.  "Give me your card."

Concern lived on Taylor-06's face for only a moment before being replaced by the appropriate level of surprise.  She turned to her bag and handed over her card.  Liam noticed, not for the first time, she barely utilized her right arm.  There wasn't time to think about it, but he was curious.  He took her UniCard and handed the pair to West-22.

"I'm sorry.  My wife insisted we travel with extra power cells.  I read all about the risk to our save-state devices, but I thought we could risk it."

"Those are unsubstantiated claims of power cell interference," the construct said.  He handed the UniCards to Gary, his Low-Face watching Liam's every move.

Liam judged the distance between himself and the construct sufficient for if he had to act fast.  He could feel his muscles grow tense under the security guard's intense scrutiny.  He willed himself to relax, but his adrenaline was pumping and standing down was the last thing he wanted to do.  West-22 narrowed his eyes.

"Is there a probl-"

"Honey, sit down.  You're making me nervous!"

Taylor-06 shoved him down on the couch and plopped down beside him.  It was so sudden he hesitated for a moment.  Again he resisted falling back on reflexes honed through years of combat training.

"What are you d-"

She cut off his words with a quick kiss.  His protest evaporated as his mind tried to hold on to the feeling of her lips.  Liam didn't miss the irony of that weird moment.  He'd been shot, shot at, bombed, and electrocuted without once losing focus on the task at hand, but Taylor-06 tripped him up with a simple kiss.  She watched him as she pulled away, studying his eyes, searching for something.  He smirked, falling into character rather than dealing with the questions he saw in her eyes.  Questions he wasn't ready to answer.

"Honey, now is not the time."  He said with an apologetic shrug towards the station staff.  He planted a kiss on her neck.

She giggled and pulled away so fast Liam almost fell.  The look on her face was one of shock and embarrassment.  She'd reddened all over, and Liam realized she wasn't acting.  He'd found her spot.  Despite how deceptively human Taylor-06 could look, the thought that she had a spot never crossed his mind.  Part of him wanted to kiss her again and see how she reacted, part of him wanted to ask her were all series 3s designed the same.  All of that was eclipsed by the five foot, seven inch machine standing in front of them.

"See, it's happening again," Gary said to his coworker.  "I'll scan hers."  He scanned the second card, and with a frown scanned it a again.  "Ma'am, this isn't your UniCard."

Taylor-06 pressed her hand to her neck, then examined her hand.  The look of confusion only deepened.

"Ma'am?"

"Honey?"

Taylor-06 looked up, awareness of her surroundings returning in a rush.

"My UniCard?  Yes, my UniCard.  I'm so sorry."

Taylor-06 pulled her UniCard out of her pocket and exchanged it with the card she'd handed Liam.  They were similar, but Liam caught a glimpse of a small yellow house cat stenciled on the side of the one she secreted into her bag.  It was Patricia's cracker symbol.  Liam furrowed his brow, and made a mental note to mention it later.  He looked up at the construct, and got back into character.

"There aren't a lot of constructs back home.  My neighbor has an old series 1 that helps him around the house, but that's about it.  He has a big chrome head, says it was modeled after an old Earth 1 actor.  What about you?  Who's your head modeled after?"

"Sir, I-"

"You look a lot like that Grav-Ball player, Masters... Masterson... Mastrone... Mastrone!  That's who you r-"

"Sir, I-"

"Honey!  Doesn't he look just like Mastrone?"

"What's going on now?" growled the canamarian attendant.

Gary tapped his scanner screen repeatedly, and, when that didn't work, he shook the device.  His colleague snatched the scanner, and went through the same process.  He growled and shoved the device back into Gary's hands.  Gary stared at the scanner nonplussed.

"What's the problem?" West-22 asked.

"I'm not sure.  My scanner just started a hard reboot."

"Fucking software updates..." grumbled the security construct.  "Sir, ma'am, enjoy your trip."  West-22 shook his display monitor head and walked out of the cubicle.

"Ummm... we apologize for the inconvenience.  Elemental Services is devoted t-"

"You said that already, Gary. You interrupted my session with nearly 20 minutes left.  Are we going to be reimbursed?"

"Yes, of course, sir," answered the canamarian.  "I'll go get you a voucher code immediately."  He elbowed Gary hard in the ribs, dropping the man to his knees.

The canamarian left Gary gasping.

"Is... is there anything I can do to make this up to you, Mr. Theraphosa?"

Liam looked at Taylor-06's bag, curious about the strange card which got them out of a tough situation.  He gave her a questioning look.  She turned away without meeting his gaze.  She rubbed her neck and buried her face in her datapad.

"We're in a hurry to catch a flight to Alpha Pi Substation."  Liam smiled at the distraught attendant.  "If you can help us get into the queue, all will be forgiven."