I am defeated. Confounded. All hope is lost. Do not despair, we…
Quiet. There may be a way out of…
Quiet!
I cannot hear your thoughts.
Think to me please. Lena, please! I beg you! Don’t do this!
Ah, my pain is infinite. That’s better. I would rather hear you complaining, than not hear you at
My soul is a desert. all. You suffer so very much, Lena.
Yes! I do!
So what now? We fight. Or rather, the ship fights.
And if we lose? We surrender. They’re unlikely to kill you Lena, you’re too valuable for them. You’re the prize. They’ll want to ransom you.
That was my guess too. Because they’ll be aware, of course, that the ship is registered to the Cheo’s daughter.
They must be quaking with fear. They’re pirates, Lena.
The Cheo will sweep them out of the sky with his fierce fist. He will crush them, boil their bodies, sear their cortexes with pain indescribable. If he catches them.
How can this be? In a civilised society? Space is big. These people are warriors.
We must destroy them. And all their kind. We must smite them. A ransom is easier. That’s all they want.
What kind of ransom? Money? Money is no use to them. They’ll want weapons, food reserves, perhaps another ship. Perhaps a terraforming plant.
So they can create their own habitable planet? They already have planets. Safe havens. Much of Debatable Space is colonised by these space pirates. They claim they want more planets, to replace the ones they have lost because of… Well, enough of that. Debatable Space is, as you know…
I do know. Indeed.
How can they live in such a spirit-forsaken, desperate place? They claim it is invigorating. To live surrounded by so much danger.
[I shudder with loathing and contempt.] I know. I feel that too.
If… we do give in to their demands, and pay the ransom – then, once that ransom is paid, we will seek them out. And we will destroy them. Yes.
We will purge Debatable Space. This is my decision. It is irrevocable. It is impossible.
I will do it! The Cheo will not allow it.
Well, fuck him. Lena!