SEVENTEEN

Eden woke up on the floor, though that wasn't the first thing her mind registered. First on the list: her arm was numb because she had been laying on it for presumably a very long time. Next: the deck of Jack's junky ship was extremely cold. Then came the headache. Then the dry eyes—had she been passed out with her eyes open? Finally, there were the people and… the thing.

It was Jack, Kane, and Arissa. At their side was an alien that Eden figured was the Aeokoi they were trying to save. She started to sit up.

"Slow," Arissa said. "How do you feel?"

"I'm…" Eden didn't know how to answer.

"Jack? Could you run and get some water?"

"On it." He left.

"Eden, what happened?"

Words were still failing her. She rested her back against the wall and closed her eyes for a moment, trying to figure out where she should start. She opened her eyes and brought up her hands, staring at them. She said, "sparks."

Arissa looked perplexed, then turned to see the Aeokoi's reaction. It was tough to pair emotions with facial expressions on an alien like Jaeek, but his words said it all.

"We might want to figure out who planted that tracking chip… immediately."

Jack returned with a bottle of water and handed it to Eden. "Not just who they are," he said. "I want to know where they are."

"Oh, yeah?" Arissa asked in a tone that almost guaranteed she was about to unleash some bottled up snark. "Why's that? So we can take the fight to them? Show them who's boss with our space fairing tin can?"

Jack just stared at her, confused by the severity of the outburst, and maybe just a little bit hurt on behalf of the Odin. "What's with the hostility?"

"Sorry," she looked down, brushing her hair behind her ear. "I guess it's been a long day."

"It's ok. And no, I don't want to track them down. I want to know where they are so we can get to the opposite side of the galaxy and stay there. Maybe build a cabin on a moon or something."

Kane groaned. "Awe, come on man. Where's your fighting spirit?"

"I don't know. I must have washed it off - in that prison ship's shower..!"

"If I may," Jaeek said. "For what it's worth, I somehow doubt the galaxy is large enough for you to hide from the people who implanted this thing."

"Wait," Arissa said. "How do you know? Did you already do your trick?"

"No, I haven't done my trick," he replied, a little miffed at Arissa's use of the word. "But based on what I already know about it, the technology is incredibly sophisticated."

"You got that right. It's got the F.A. written all over it."

"If we should be so lucky," Jaeek said. "I fear it might have come from some place worse, but best not to get into that, yet."

"Worse than the F.A.?" Jack asked. "Who could be worse?"

Talia appeared in a flash. "There are roughly four hundred organizations in the known universe that are objectively worse than the F.A., including slavers, drug rings, murder party hosts, and law firms."

"Thanks, Talia. Let me clarify; Who could possibly be a better funded, wide spread, and above-the-law enemy than the F.A.?"

Talia blinked, calculating. She curtly said, "unknown."

"That's what I thought. Jaeek, what do you need to get started with this magic show of yours?"

"I'll need my wizard hat, robe, and wand." The room was quiet. "Just a joke. I can start now if we manage to put the witty repartee to bed for a moment. Silence helps a great deal."

Jack made a lip-zipping motion and took a few steps back for good measure.

"Thank you," Jaeek said. "Eden, would it be alright if I placed my hand on your spine? Above the shoulders, I mean."

"Sure. They already took out the chip, though."

"I am aware." He held out his other hand, palm up. "I'll be needing that, too."

The whole crew looked around, waiting for someone to hand over the device. Jack cut through the confusion. "Guys. Tell me we didn't lose track of the tracking chip."

"No, sorry." Arissa chuckled, producing it from her pockit. "Right here." She handed it to Jaeek.

Eden looked confused. "Can't you just do your thing on the chip? Why do you need me?"

"There will be residual materials in your body. I need to complete a circuit of energy that flows from the tracker, through my mind, and into those residuals. Would that be alright?"

Eden nodded. Jaeek moved to place his hand on her neck, but the stopped him. "Wait. I hate to be a little girl about this, but… is it going to hurt?"

"A pinch, at worst. Okay?"

She nodded again. Jaeek touched one finger to the space where Eden's spine met her skull. He closed his eyes. A minute of almost perfect silence passed, with the only sound being Jaeek's deep and steady breathing. Then, there were two words, both came from Jaeek.

"Oh, no."

"What is it?" Arissa asked.

"It has a defense mechanism. It's—"

There was a series of pops, like the digital version of someone cracking their knuckles. Jaeek jerked his hand away.

"OUCH!" Eden called out. The lights in the room surged, then flickered. A few burned out. One bulb actually exploded, sending a shower of glass and sparks clinking and sizzling to the ground.

Arissa rushed to Eden's side. "Are you ok?"

Eden nodded, then glared at Jaeek. "That was a lot more than a pinch."

"I'm sorry."

"What happened?" Jack asked. "And why did that stupid defense mechanism break my lights? Bulbs for a ship this old are really expensive. Relatively."

"I don't think it was the tracking chip that burned your lighting circuits," Jaeek replied. He gravely looked at Eden. The rest of the room caught his drift immediately.

Eden actually looked offended. Scowling, she said, "What? It wasn't me."

"Perhaps not on purpose, no."

Jack tried and failed to wipe frustration off of his face. "Jaeek, please just share what you learned with the rest of the class. We didn't break you out of jail and save your life so you could put on a light show and speak in innuendos."

"I'll start by confirming this chip is advanced beyond my knowledge. Many of them have defense mechanisms against removal or tampering, but I've never encountered one that is safeguarded against something as passive as EM fingerprinting. It's absolutely stunning, really."

"Admire it later," Kane said with a growl. "What happened?"

"It stored the energy from my fingerprinting process in some kind of atomic capacitor. When it had enough stored power to issue a painful warning, an intense shock was released. It hurt me but I suspect it hurt Eden significantly worse."

The girl was rubbing her neck, wincing at the lingering pain. "You got that right."

"And that brings me to your lights, Jack. It appears that the chip is not the only thing in here with an automatic defense mechanism."

"Tell me about it," Jack smirked. "Arissa gets ridiculously sarcastic whenever she feels threatened or mad."

"Oh, yeah, and you're a total zen master," Arissa said.

Jack turned his palms upward in a shrug to the rest of the room. "See?"

"Friends," Jaeek said. "Please. The repartee."

"Sorry. I think I know where you're going with this anyway."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. The pain hit Eden and it set off her crazy, sparky, super powers. Or whatever."

"Wow, Jack," Arissa said. "Big boy words."

"Language aside, Jack's theory is sound. Eden here does indeed have 'crazy sparky super powers.'"

"No wonder they're tracking her," Kane said.

Eden rolled her eyes. "And we're back to talking about me like I'm not here."

Jack ignored her. "But who are they? Did you at least get that, Jaeek?"

"I could only glean a slight amount of information before the capacitor discharged its shock, but I didn't need much to confirm my fears."

The room gave a collective groan. Talia was the first one to express the sentiment with words. "Someone worse than the F.A.?"

"I believe so. Well, it is the F.A., but there is also a third entity involved. Together, they form a very, very formidable enemy."

"Spill, Jaeek," Arissa said. "Who is it?"

"Have any of you heard of an organization called Bennett Tech?"

Everyone but Talia gave blank stares. The A.I. looked more concerned than she had on the entire journey thus far. "I have," she said. "They created me."

"What?" Kane asked. "How come you never told me about these guys?"

"You never asked." Talia shrugged.

Jaeek seemed wonderstruck. "Bennett Tech created you?"

"Yes. Forty years ago."

"Forty years?" Jack asked. "You're the most advanced A.I. I've ever seen, by far, and they made you almost a generation ago?"

"That is exactly the problem," Jaeek said. "They were decades ahead of modern technology forty years ago. By now, they could be…" He shook his head. "Unstoppable."

"So how come I haven't heard of them?" Arissa asked.

"They pulled out of public and consumer markets a long time ago. Not one new weapon, component, or gadget of any kind has come off of their assembly lines for years. In fact, no one even knows where the company is based out of any more. They went completely silent."

"So what have they been doing all these years?"

"Apparently… teaming up with the Federal Alliance. With the alliance's deep pockets, I can only imagine what the minds at Bennett have been cooking up."

"What put them so far ahead of the rest of universe?" Kane asked.

"I only know a blend of myths and facts. You've heard of the Black Veil, yes?"

"Oh, God," Arissa said. "The Black Veil? You can't be serious."

"What?" Jack asked. "What the hell is the Black Veil?"

"It's what the name suggests. It's basically the darkest corner of the galaxy."

"More bad guys?"

"No, genius. Bad thing."

"That's not necessarily true," Jaeek said. "Powerful, yes, but not necessarily evil."

"Yeah, but in the wrong hands… like the F.A., for instance…"

"Ah," Jaeek said, lowering his head. "I see your point."

Kane cleared his throat, butting in. "Is someone going to tell the rest of us this ghost story?"

A quiet moment hung over the room. Arissa waved to Jaeek. "He knows way more than me." She plopped into the nearest seat. "Let's hear it. Story time."