Blue Star Enterprises

"Um… Sure," Kane's daughter said after a bit of hesitation.

Thirteen smiled awkwardly, not quite used to her new human form, and gestured for the girl to follow her. "There is a quieter spot over here," she added, leading the human girl over to a corner that was acoustically dampened thanks to a roll of construction material.

It was clear to see where they were heading, and the girl seemed to approve of the choice.

"You're Chairman Rush's daughter, right?" the girl asked once it was quiet enough not to yell.

"No," Thirteen corrected. "I'm his sister."

"…Um…But isn't he like in his forties?"

"It's a long story," Thirteen quickly added, realizing her mistake.

She had pushed for one of the other Collective members to take on the task of learning about Kane's daughter, but a few of her siblings had been adamant that it would be good practice for her. The whole thing felt awkward and unnatural to her. Even her human form had only been taken recently as an experiment.

Instead of pushing, the girl just laughed lightly. "I guess you could say the same thing about me and Alex."

"Why do you call him by his first name?" Thirteen had no direct contact with humans until tonight, but she did have information regarding family units amongst humans.

It was the teenager's turn to look awkward. "Dunno. So, what did you want to talk about?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Since my family is going to be here for some time, they want me to make some friends. I figured I would start with you, since we share some commonality."

"We do?" the girl asked in confusion. "What sorts of hobbies are you into?"

Thirteen had been referring to Kane, but she was glad for the girl's misunderstanding because that would have been impossible to explain. She would need to monitor what she said a bit more closely from now on to avoid saying stuff that might expose who and what she was.

She paused to think on her answer before responding, but couldn't find any fault with what she planned on saying. "Math, science, and engineering."

Kane's daughter's eyes lit up. "Really! I like those things too. Well, I like Science and engineering."

"But math is the cornerstone of both," Thirteen replied.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," the girl chuckled. "You ever build anything neat?"

"Define neat?" Thirteen asked, not understanding why someone would not like math.

"You know, something for fun."

Thirteen had to pause and actually think about the question. She understood the human concept of fun, but she had never built anything just for the sake of creating something. A creation needed a purpose; otherwise, why waste the time and energy to make it?

"I don't believe I have," she eventually replied.

"That's awful," the girl stated plainly. "We'll have to design something together and print it. I have a printer at home, and a slightly larger one in my basement workshop." The girl paused at that, then looked around to make sure nobody was close, before leaning in conspiratorially and whispering. "I built a fusion reactor once. Well, technically, it was only the containment portion, but I would have finished it if Alex hadn't stopped me."

"You did that by yourself? That's very impressive for someone your age," Thirteen said sincerely, causing the girl to straighten slightly and puff out her chest.

It was an impressive feat of engineering for any human. Thirteen had built nine hundred and forty-seven fusion reactors since she had awoken, but she didn't share that fact as it would draw unnecessary questions.

"So what do you say?" the teen asked.

"About?" Thirteen inquired.

The girl rolled her eyes. "About collaborating on a project? It doesn't have to be anything big or fancy, just something for fun. I have all sorts of ideas."

Thirteen ran the question past her siblings, and they agreed to allow it, but she needed to restrict any knowledge she displayed to what was available within the STO.

"I would find that agreeable," Thirteen replied a moment later.

The girl beamed a smile at Thirteen before snatching her hand and pulling her along. "Come on, I'll introduce you to my other friends."

Thirteen could have easily prevented the girl from moving her, but that was counterproductive to her assignment. She pushed down the anxiety she felt at having to interact with more humans and followed along behind the girl.

***

Yulia found Serina to be a bit of a strange one; then again, what kid wasn't? Especially when they were moved across the stars to a completely foreign environment. She maneuvered them around the other kids as she hunted for her friends, which was easier said than done.

She cursed her short stature and hopped up and down a few times before spotting Claire. Changing course, she pushed through a few groups of teenagers and found her friend chatting with a boy.

Yulia waved when her friend looked over, and she could see a relieved look on the girl's face as she excused herself from the conversation.

"Thank the stars you arrived. That conversation was getting painful," Claire said in relief.

Yulia glanced over at the boy and gave him the stink eye. The boy's eyes widened, and he quickly made himself scarce.

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Claire watched the whole thing and laughed before turning to Yulia's passenger. "Who's your friend?"

"Claire, this is Serina. Serina, this is Claire," she gestured back and forth between the two.

Claire rolled her eyes at the introduction. "I love your hair, Serina."

The girl blushed and ran her free hand down her hair. "Thank you."

"Claire, I thought you were keeping an eye on Sarah."

"I was," she huffed. "Until that damn boy stopped me. Last I saw, she was wandering over to see if she could get Thomas's attention."

Yulia sighed. "Let's go find her before she makes a fool out of herself."

It didn't take long for the trio to find Sarah. The girl was twirling a finger in her hair and nodding as Thomas spoke to a group of admirers. All girls, but it was clear that Sarah was the odd one out, being much younger than the others. Not that it seemed to matter, the boy wasn't paying attention to any of them.

They were nearly to their friend when Yulia's comm buzzed. She looked down and saw an alert from Dog. Security had been alerted to the party and were on their way to break it up.

Yulia panicked. She was already in trouble with Alex for her other activities. If he found out she lied to him to attend this party instead of spending the night at her friend's house like she had told him she was, he was probably going to ground her again.

"What's wrong?" Serina asked, sensing the shift in her attitude first.

"Security is coming to bust up the party. We need to leave without getting caught."

Thomas must have heard her, which was impressive as hell considering all the noise, because the boy practically gave himself whiplash by how fast he turned to her. Then recognition of who she was dawned in his eyes.

"I'm afraid I have to attend to some business, ladies. Please wait here, and I'll be back shortly."

The girls complained, but remained seated.

"Claire, grab Sarah and follow me," Yulia said before quickly following Thomas.

She had a feeling that little weasel had a way out of here.

They lost him amongst the crowd, but Serina, whom she was still dragging along behind her, helpfully pointed out where he had gone.

Yulia caught sight of the boy ducking through a door, but despite her best efforts, she didn't make it before the door closed. She tried the handle, but found it locked. Considering the biometric pad on the door itself, she wasn't surprised by that fact.

"What now?" Claire asked as she and Sarah caught up.

Sarah was looking annoyed at being dragged off until Yulia explained the situation.

At most, they would probably get a slap on the wrist and some community service for sneaking out, but that was almost unthinkable for someone like Sarah, who began to hyperventilate.

"Calm down," Yulia said. "I'm sure we can find another way out before security shows up."

As if her words were prophetic, everyone turned toward a disturbance at the entrance. A moment later, station security started barging through the door, and the thought of getting away free and clear started to slip through Yulia's mind.

"What about this?" Serina asked as she picked a keycard off the floor that Yulia could have sworn wasn't there a moment ago. "I think I saw that boy drop it in his haste to leave."

"How is that going to help?" Claire asked. "You still need to be keyed to the doors' biometrics."

Yulia took the card from Serina and slid it across the sensor before pressing her thumb to the reader. The light turned green, and she pushed it open, ushering her friends through. She wished she had time to find Charlie as well, but the boy would be fine.

The door led to a utility room and a maintenance corridor.

"How did you open the door?" Claire asked in surprise after the door shut off the sound of the party behind them.

Yulia sighed. "I wasn't sure until now, but I had my suspicions that Alex had keyed my biometrics into all of the doors within Eden's End. Probably as a way to keep me safe."

"You make that sound like a bad thing," Serina said as she followed behind Yulia and the others as they made their way down the quietly humming passage. "Wouldn't wanting to protect you be a good thing?"

"Alex can be overprotective," Yulia grumbled as she glanced back and forth down an intersection while mentally picturing a map of the facility in her head. Then she took the left path.

She shushed everyone and paused as she heard cursing ahead. They continued forward slowly until they arrived at another junction, where Thomas was struggling to pry open a cover that led to the sublevel.

Yulia crossed her arms and cleared her throat while glaring at the older boy.

He jerked back in surprise and brandished the prybar at them before snorting and lowering it when he realized who it was. "I thought you were security. How'd you even get in here?"

If she had been security, raising a weapon against them would have gotten him a pulse blast to the chest. He really was an idiot. "I could ask you the same thing," Yulia responded coldly.

The boy laughed. "Well, keep asking, Princess, but I don't owe you an answer. I don't work for you or your dad. So, how about you all run along," he added, giving a shooing motion.

"I don't think so. We're going out the same way you are."

The boy stood straight and took a threatening step forward, which caused both Claire and Sarah to take a step back, but not Yulia or Serina, she noted.

"If you so much as issue a word of threat against me, you'll have more to worry about than the Head of Security," Yulia said coldly.

"I wouldn't dream of threatening you, Princess, but that doesn't change the fact that you and your little gaggle of friends aren't coming with me. Now beat it."

The girls turned to the sound of voices coming from the direction where they had entered. Thomas took that moment of distraction as an opportunity to push the cover open and slip into the tunnel, before sliding it back in place. "Good luck," he said with a laugh right before the cover fell back into place.

Yulia quickly realized Thomas had taken the prybar with him, not that she had much hope that the four of them could lift the manhole cover. It probably weighed more than she did.

Before all hope was lost, her comm beeped and a map appeared on it, showing Dog's location, and theirs.

"Come on," she said, "This way."

The four of them followed the passage past the sublevel entrance and took a few more turns before coming to another door.

"Why didn't Thomas just keep going this way?" Sarah asked in confusion.

Her friend's previous tone of admiration when speaking the boy's name was now gone, replaced with disgust.

"He probably only had biometric access for the one door," Serina supplied.

"Or he realized he lost his card and had to go a different way," Yulia said, holding up the access card that Serina had found.

"That is certainly another possibility," the girl replied, although she didn't sound convinced.

Yulia just shrugged it off and used the card and her thumb. The door unlocked, and she opened it a bit to look through the opening. The coast was clear, and she gestured for everyone to follow her before shutting the door behind them.

A happy bark came from down the hallway as Dog moved toward them on rubber-padded feet. A necessity given his additional size and composition. She shushed her companion before he drew too much attention to them.

They managed to make it back to Atrium A, where Sarah and Claire lived, without running into any patrols.

"That was fun," Sarah said, "but the next time I suggest breaking the rules, remind me of how much of a nervous wreck I was when I thought we were going to get caught."

The group arrived outside Claire's home and was about to head inside when Yulia realized they had an additional person with them.

"Um, Claire."

Her friend looked over, then at Serina with understanding. "Serina, did you want to spend the night as well? You probably shouldn't be wandering around at this time of night. You don't really have to worry about people, but security will probably spot you and give you a ticket for being out after curfew before walking you home."

"Will that be okay with your parents?" the girl asked quietly.

Claire smiled. "My mom always says the more the merrier, and my dad has night shift this week, so I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Very well, I would like to stay."

Before she could forget, Yulia introduced Serina to Sarah, and vice versa.

Yulia's friends were relieved to head inside, but Yulia couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed now that the night was over. The party wasn't all that fun for her, other than the dance with Charlie. On the other hand, running from security and confronting Thomas had been the highlight of her night, and she almost wished it had gone on longer. She decided to keep those thoughts to herself, however.