For Senjen, there was quite a lot that happened in a short few moments. Ruk pointed behind him, which was enough to get him to turn his head and glance back. While he saw the boat, he was not in a state to be quick enough to avoid it. He did lower his head and lurch forward, which was enough that it mostly just hit his back and forced him under. Then...everything went from surprising, to just plain strange. There was something in the water. Faces. There was everything from Utaysi and Tekeri, to rough shapes of nightmarish creatures. He could see them floating through the water, as well as moving in the distorted silhouettes of trees he could see looking up from below the water line.

As if that were not enough, a line of symbols danced across his field of view. It was hard enough to focus on anything in particular, and now he could hardly see what was in front of him. It was...words: an error log? What was wrong? Was something crashing? He could move his body, but it still immediately frightened him. He had been hit, but that did not usually cause something like this. Was it the light in the sky, or no...the virus! That had to be it. Something was wrong, and he had to get it out.

Senjen opened the slot for the memory disk and reached his hand back, scratching his claws along the back of his neck as he struggled to feel around for the opening. He knew where it was, he was pretty sure. Finally, a claw found its way in, and he managed to grab the stick and yank it out. The sudden termination of its programs sent yet another error log across his field of view, until his visual sensors crashed, along with sound, touch on his left arm and lower body, and proprioception. His motor control was fine, but the program had interacted with a lot of his senses, and many of them required a reboot.

After about ten seconds, Senjen stood back up from under the water. There were no more creepy faces and his vision was back to normal, at which point he realized that it had actually been distorted all this time. “Ah...is this what a headache is? You alright, Ruk?”

Ruk wasn’t listening. She was floating on her back and paddling surprisingly effectively towards the boat that had just run Senjen over. Tekeri had evolved in a rainforest environment, and so had developed a good water barrier on their feathers.

“Wait for me!” she slurred, grabbing an oar. She was hauled up by two attendants in white Myrmidon uniforms. What had seemed like unsupervised chaos while under the influence was now revealed to be an elaborate illusion. There were plenty of Myrmidon people around; they had drinks and drug bowls in hand but didn’t seem to be overly impaired. There was a staff member attached to basically every clutch of guests.

The horizon that had seemed limitless before had the barely perceptible markers of a large but finite rectangular space. The castle and pulsing sphere seemed closer, perhaps only a few hundred feet.

“Hey! Are you alright?” Ferrow waded to Senjen’s side.

“We've had some technical issues - I'm afraid we need to escort everyone to safety.” He explained, eyes following his to the boats. They were turning around and headin back. Three or four people were wrestling the oar from Light's clutches. He placed one clawed hand in the water and it thickened, pushing them to the surface. It solidified at their feet, allowing them to literally walk back to shore.

“How did you find the party virus?” He pointed to the stick in Senjen's hand.

Senjen could not reach the boat as Ruk had. It had been heading out deeper into the water, and he would just end up walking along the lakebed if he tried to follow. But for him, he only needed seconds without the virus impairing him for his mind to reset compromised systems and re-adjust to normal sensory input. Unlike the organics around him, his “intoxication” could practically be turned off at the snap of one’s fingers, by comparison. Now that he was seeing more clearly, the reality of how their surroundings had been manipulated to a more fabricated appearance became just as clear.

Ferrow’s approach quickly grabbed Senjen’s focus. He was still looking confused, but it was a much more “normal” sort of confusion than before. “Oh, um, yeah, but I think something went wrong at the end. I had to take it out. Uhh…” He extended his hand out towards Ferrow. “Do you want it back?”

Now that he could think clearly, Senjen waded back to shore, since that was where the boats were heading regardless. For a moment, he looked back out to Light’s boat. Jess he could see near to Light, laughing openly while she watched the struggle. Like the Myrmidon employees, she did not seem to be quite so impaired. He took a moment to message her. ”I’m just coming back to my senses now. Is everything alright with Light?”

Senjen could see her pause for a moment before her reply. ”Yeah, yeah, don’t worry about it. You don’t need to be so afraid.”

It was not the first time Senjen had been out with the others drinking, but it was the first time he had been able to experience anything close to what they did, and it gave him a lot to process. Nevertheless, he could still see now that whatever they had taken was hitting Ruk particularly hard, and he wanted to keep an eye on her. Since the boat was heading back, he waited on shore where it was going to land to meet her.

Ferrow politely accepted the party virus stick back from Senjen and sequestered it away inside his suit.

“It would appear your friends are gluttons for punishment.” He chuckled, surveying the scene again.

“We would appreciate you not mentioning this to anyone.” Ferrow said quietly after a few moments.

“Perhaps take them home to sleep it off. I’ll see you in the morning, hmm?”

Ruk tumbled out of the boat face first, splashing into the shallows before scrambling unsteadily to her feet. Every aspect of her outfit was dishevelled, including her lovely feathers. It didn't seem like she recognised Senjen and appeared to be non-verbal.

Light disembarked in high spirits having negotiated another amphora of red wine in exchange for releasing the oar. He was warbling a song of moans, whistles and clicks.

“Ah! Senjen me old mate, there ya are! Come come, we need to load the ship! We’re going on an adventure tomorrow!” He gave Senjen a wet and sticky hug, assimilated the last few litres of sanguine liquid and then fell floppy to the ground.

“I’ll call you a taxi. Rest well.” Ferrow said.

In this case, Senjen felt like he was in agreement with Ferrow. The night was fun, but it was probably best that they not go around talking about it. He was still...unsure on how he felt about this whole idea of intoxication. The feeling made it easy for him to let loose, but part of him did worry about what he might end up doing if he tried it again.

Senjen’s head lowered slightly and the tip of his tail slapped the ground when Light wrapped himself around him: something approximately akin to a deep sigh. “I...yeah, sure. Let’s just…”

Light dropped to the ground before Senjen could finish speaking. “Okay...so how are you, Jess?”

The Human had been walking a short distance back from Light while his focus had been on Senjen, mostly so she did not attract it herself. She was in a much better state than the others, having gone light on the drinks. At most, she was buzzed. “Fine. Just watching...maybe taking a clip or two he can watch back later.” She chuckled.

“Well at least you’re still lucid. I think it’s about time to get back. Ruk can stay over at the ship, and I can watch over them both. I know you have a busy day tomorrow.” Senjen remarked.

Jess shrugged. “I can help you get ‘em situated, at least. It’s not like I live far.”

“Thanks.” He looked down on Light at his feet. “So, buddy, want to get up, walk out on your own with me?” He asked with obvious sarcasm. After collapsing, Light was not being terribly responsive, and while Ruk was technically standing, she was not doing much better. She was staggering around and did not seem terribly aware. With how crowded the club still was, he mostly just wanted to get them both out quickly.

Reaching down, Senjen got one arm under Light’s suit, then hoisted him up onto his shoulder in one quick motion. From there, he approached Ruk and did the same to lift her up onto the other shoulder. Senjen’s frame was shorter than Ruk, and smaller overall than Light with his suit, but he carried them both together, and seemingly without even much effort. “Alright, time to go you two. Why don’t you lead us in a song, Light?”

“Are you trying to torture me right now?” Jess glared at Senjen.

“Hey, it’ll keep them occupied. Not my fault you can’t mute your ears.”

---

The taxi ride back to the ship did not come with too much in the way of trouble. Senjen knew that Jess was going to have a busy day tomorrow, so after they got the other two out of the taxi and into the ship, he insisted that she go home and get some rest. He could take care of their friends for however long they needed it.

Being that Senjen did not sleep, it was not uncommon for him to be out on the town all night, but given the circumstances, he was going to be spending the majority of that time in and around the ship to keep an eye on the others. Although, he did not spend that time simply being idle. For his friends, he mostly just let them entertain themselves for as long as they were still conscious, while making sure they did not get it in their heads to wander too far from the ship. When he was not wrangling them, he was getting ready for the next day. He made sure Light’s suit was purged of all contaminants and ready to return to Myrmidon when they went back tomorrow, as well as getting Light’s own suit cleaned and pristine to inhabit once more. He made sure Ruk would have a clean outfit, and since he had plenty of time, tidied up the ship as well. The left the ship only for a short time after they were asleep, just to make sure he would have some hangover remedies on-hand for them the next morning.

When Light and Ruk finally did awaken, it would be to the scent of familiar cooking in the air. Senjen knew they would be in pain, so he had the lights dimmed. He knew both of their favorite foods, and so he was in the midst of preparing them. Senjen may not have been able to eat himself, but he was perfectly capable of following a set of instructions.

“Good morning.” Senjen said as softly as he could while still being audible once he started hearing movement. “You both just rest and relax. I’ll have everything ready in just a few minutes.”

Light awoke to the distant twang of string instruments. A floating weed adorned with detritus from the docking pan rustled underneath him.

Underneath him? Oh right. He was curled up on a lawn chair that creaked under his weight. The spiky branches poked through slats in the seat.
Smacking his chops together, he realised he was starving hungry and that he could smell kedgeree. He sat up.

Ruk sat stretched over the other lawn chair, snoring with beak wide open. She seemed to wake herself up with a start.

“I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus.” She moaned.

In front of them the dockyard was waking up; tenants went about their business without paying them any mind. Behind them yawned the cargo doors to his ship, from which Senjen was now speaking.

“I feel fine.” Light said, surprised.

“Must be this fancy suit. You didn't have to make us breakfast.”

“Yes he did. Gimme.” Ruk reached out without opening her eyes, feeling the air as if expecting to find food there.

“Nonsense. If you organics are going to insist on wasting your time ‘sleeping’, then I’m just going to have to be even more productive to make up for it.” Senjen responded back from within the ship. It was not long before he came walking down the ramp, two plates in hand and his tail wrapped around a full pitcher of water. “That thing they gave me last night was wild. I guess I don’t know exactly if it was like what you feel, but it was definitely...something. I felt like I could hardly walk at one point. Crawling was easier.”

After a moment, Senjen stepped around in front of the pair. “Of course, I could just turn it off when I was done. You...not so much.” He pushed Light’s plate into his suit, while for Ruk he held onto the plate and just plopped one of the soft boiled eggs straight into her beak. “I’ll do as much as I please for the two of you, and you can’t stop me. I’ve already cleaned the ship, your suit, and Ruk’s clothes, I’ve made breakfast, and I’ve got what I’m pretty sure is a hangover remedy.”

Senjen narrowed his eyes at Light, speaking in a tone as if he were threatening him. “But I’m warning you, if you keep complaining, I’ll just have to start giving massages too. Don’t think I won’t.”

The plate of food entered Light’s suit with a satisfying *blump*. He devoured it in seconds, spitting the plate back out for Senjen to catch.

Normally he’d be delighted to have his hide scratched, but last night’s imbibement had left him with a touch of ‘hangxiety’ that made the prospect unpalatable.

He changed the subject. “I should return this suit. What are you thinking about a new suit for yourself?”

“Oh no. Work are calling me.” Ruk said, before throwing eggs back up onto the concrete underfoot.

Senjen nodded back at Light. “Yeah, I’m going to get that new body today. It’s expensive, but it’s just better. More capable. It’ll open up new opportunities. Have to spend money to make money.”

Ruk’s interruption, however, was quick to grab Senjen’s attention. “Oh, that’s not good. I’d hope you’d have more time. Okay, uh…” He pulled around his tail, grabbed the pitcher of water, and carefully handed it to her. “Here, drink this. I mixed in something that’s supposed to help with a hangover. Just, uh...give me a moment.”

Senjen quickly rushed back inside, and the pair could hear him rummaging around for a minute before he returned with a glass of water. He moved around behind Ruk’s chair and splashed just a small amount of water on her still-disheveled feathers. Neither he nor Light owned a comb, but he could extend his claws and lock his fingers in place to use his hand as a substitute to try and flatten down her feathers.

“Got to get you ready as quickly as we can. They keep your, what’s it called...scrubs at the hospital, right? Just need to get you presentable, then.”

Light bobbed wisely. “Rather you than me. This new suit is great, I just…can’t part with that much money right now.”

Ruk grabbed the jug of water and poured the entire thing in and around her mouth with one swift motion. When Senjen left to go look inside, she pulled a compact syringe gun from her knapsack along with a shot of yellow gel. Shaking lightly, she loaded it up and pushed the contents into her arm. Light looked on curiously.

“Ah, yeah. That’s good.” She sniffed, smoothing down feathers as Senjen reemerged with more water for cleaning.

“So what’s the job?” She asked, sitting patiently as the Utaysi fussed about her.

“Again, we uh…we probably shouldn’t say.” Light countered tentatively.

“Come on! Put me out of my misery.” Ruk let loose a hoarse chuckle.

“Ah, he just doesn’t want you to worry, but it’s not that bad.” Senjen chimed in. In the corner of his vision, he brought up a picture of Ruk for reference so he could try to comb down her feathers just as she liked them.

“Jess just got a tip on some salvage. She could probably handle it herself, but it’s in a bit of a dangerous area of space, so she wants Light at the helm to be safe. Some hazardous astronomical phenomena, but it’s nothing Light hasn’t dealt with before. I’m not worried.” Senjen explained. It wasn’t a lie, really, it just was not the full story. With the kind of business she ran, there really was not much question as to why Jess would want some valuable salvage. “So what are you getting called in for? I didn’t think you were meant to be working today?”

Ordinarily, Ruk would have picked this flimsy evasion apart with a series if incisive questions coupled with her signature unblinking stare. But today she had other things on her mind, like trying not to throw up again.

“Oh, groovy. So are you having a joint funeral, separate or what? My calendar is looking pretty full, you know.” She tried to laugh but ended up with a hacking cough.

“I don’t know, something about debriefing with a field team from the middle of nowhere.”

“That sounds….Yeah. Good luck” Light trailed off, distracted by a return notice served by his suit.

“I’m going to change, then we should get a move on. Lots to do, money to make.” He extricated himself from the lawn chair and sloshed up the ramp to his quarters to prepare.

“Oh, don’t worry so much. Light is a plenty-skilled pilot; we’ll be fine. Jess wouldn’t be sending us if it was too risky. Besides, she’s coming too, so if it was, her ass would be on the line too.” Senjen shrugged. He finished up with her feathers as best as he could. He was no professional avian stylist, but he could get her to be neat and presentable, at least. “We will be gone a few days, I think, with the travel time and everything, but when we get back, the drinks are on me.”

---

Once they made it back to the Myrmidon office, it did not take long for Senjen and Light to receive the attention of some familiar faces. While Light was returning his borrowed suit, Senjen sat down with Ferrow once more to iron out the details of the contract. He knew from going over the contract with Jess what aspects of the offers he did and did not want to accept, so Ferrow would probably find him to be reasonably prepared, at least compared to the average customer off the street. What Senjen questioned him on in particular was the content creator program, as he wanted to know the specifics of what kind of briefs he would be receiving. He needed to know not only that he would be able to actually reasonably fulfill each brief that came, but that he would be able to fulfill those obligations while keeping his...business outside the FGC a secret. He, of course, did not ask directly, but by the end of it he had a better idea of what they would be expecting from him. The contract evidently guaranteed that the briefs needed to be “reasonable” to complete in his line of work, which was at least a bit reassuring. If there was one kind of law that Korit did enforce, it was contract law.

Ultimately, Senjen decided to accept the offer on the program, along with the other decisions he had made with Jess before. He signed the contract and made the deposit. He would receive his first brief in the next month, so for now all there was left was to receive the new frame.

Preparing a computer to receive a Utaysi personality matrix was a process that required some time and specialized knowledge, but Myrmidon was more than capable of it. With the frame prepared, the actual transfer itself was fairly simple and straightforward. Light went in with Senjen to watch the transfer. The new frame was laid out on a table, with a direct, physical connection to another table just beside. Senjen laid down and hooked in his own frame, and from there, Myrmidon’s job was done. The actual algorithms for matrix transfer were not something that were known, even to the Utaysi themselves, as they were contained within the personality matrix itself. The process was something close to an “instinct” for him. His personality matrix detected a valid matrix container in the same network, scanned it to test for compatibility, then offered him the choice to proceed with the transfer. To anyone observing, it took less than a minute. For Senjen, it was even faster. His senses shut down and he lost awareness for just a moment, then suddenly his vision was booting up again...sharper than before.

Senjen opened his eyes, blinking a few times. Eyelids may have served little function to them, but it was an instinct that felt natural. He lifted up a hand and looked down upon it, then started articulating each digit in turn.

Light tethered his old suit to the back of his Myrmidon rental for the journey back to the showroom - he couldn’t bear to slip out of it just yet. Once they were both ready, he bounced along like two marbles beside Senjen.

While his friend was signing on the dotted line, Light let himself be led to the QV area with Symphony-From-Stars-Eternal-Lasting.

“I had a great time last night. Sorry it was cut short.” She said once small talk was concluded.

“Me too. Sorry about all the wine.” Light looked bashful.

“So, what did you think?” She asked, colours screaming intrigue.

“It’s…amazing. I feel young again!”

“And yet…You won’t get one for yourself.” She concluded, reading him like a book.

“Its not that I don’t want to. Last night you made an old hand feel positive about life for the first time in a while. Its just a…bad time. I have work lined up soon though. If it goes well, who knows? I might have enough money to buy one without a loan!”

“Oh? Wow, that’s great. What will you be doing?” She floated close to him. Light paused, looking back to Senjen across the room as he got up to begin the transfer.

---

“Look at this tough guy!” Light exclaimed upon seeing the droid. He was clad in his old suit again. “Good luck, I’ll be here.”

He loomed over Senjen’s new body, gasping dramatically when he began to move.

“He’s alive! Senjen, can you hear me? How many phalanges am i holding up?” When he didn't answer immediately, Light slapped him hard around the face like QV did innocently to each other in a medical setting.

“Its customary to mark a fresh suit. Avoids bad luck, so they say. Would you like to do the honours?” Ferrow asked Light, proffering a wallet of temporary marker pens.

Light delicately sketched a pictogram of his name on Senjen’s upper arm. A pitch black horizontal rectangle at the bottom. A deep blue square pressed above it with three small curved lines packed together in the middle. Into the abyss in search of light.

This time, Senjen showed no real reaction to the decent hit Light gave. It was just a wet slap against metal, while Senjen was allowing his body to boot up and go through the first time startup procedure. He had to set up all of his preferences...or at least most of them. He could deal with the important ones in a few minutes, then get to the rest over time.

Shifting his weight, Senjen sat up on the table, then tried out moving a few more joints in his arms. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a new frame to work with.” At first, his voice was entirely different, as it matched instead the default voice profile of a Myrmidon robot. He took a few seconds to go through the settings and customize the output to something more familiar. “Ah, there we go. It’s easy not to notice how things start slowing down over time until you replace everything at once.”

Senjen stood up to his feet. By this point, all of the automated startup processes were done with, so he would just need to tweak the rest as he went on. He hopped in place a few times, twisted and bent around his tail through its full range of motion, then gave a glance down at the symbols sketched on his arm. “Smooth as can be. Okay, I want to get moving, running, maybe a little climbing.”

Senjen gave a look over his old body. The first time he had ever gone through a permanent transference, it had been a bit surreal to see his mind’s long-time home inert and lifeless, but that had been a long time ago by this point. He did not grow so attached anymore. “I gave you the address to ship that to, right?” He commented to Ferrow. There had been little point in trading in the old frame. Between the wear and the used, aftermarket parts, it was not worth much. He would make more back by selling it to Jess for scrap.

“That is common. We’d advise easing into your new abilities, for the safety of those around you. By all means, use the facilities in this showroom. And rest assured - an armed courier will get your old body to the next stage in its lifecycle. Thank you for choosing Myrmidon; I look forward to hearing from you soon.” Ferrow bowed, indicating they were done talking.

“We could go to the park instead? Its on the way back, maybe we could eat before preparing for…you know…our journey.” Light offered.

“The park? What, are you offering to take me on a walk?” Senjen laughed. He was moving a bit around the room to get a feel for his movement. “Though...getting out into some natural light does sound nice, admittedly. How about we just head out and get a feel for it.”

---

Senjen and Light did not do too much of consequence throughout the day, but even the small things felt invigorating in a new body. They did end up passing through the park, which felt like its colors were a few shades brighter. Indeed...glancing through the specifications they did have higher photosensitivity. There were also color filtering options through a wide array of the EM spectrum, from infrared to ultraviolet. He did not actually get around to climbing anything, but he did get at least a bit of a sense of how well his new limbs could grip. Utaysi did not like to be restricted to the ground, so Myrmidon would have had to have been able to fulfill their expectations on climbing. Not that there were too many ways they could have screwed it up. The “natural” structure of the common Utaysi body lent itself well to climbing.

It was getting late when Jess finally messaged that she was coming over to the ship, though the pair was already waiting at home. Jess’ scrapyard was not far away, just a few minutes of a walk from the other side of the landing park. She gave a wave when Senjen spotted her from the top of the loading ramp, but did not say a word until she was inside.

“I see you got your new hardware. My feelings on Myrmidon aside, that is a fine machine. So when am I going to get a chance to give it a once over?” Jess asked.

Senjen shrugged. “Plenty of time for that en route. Speaking of, are we ready to get going?”

Jess nodded. “Yeah, just one thing to decide…” She looked more directly at Light. “What ship are we taking? I’ve got one back home that would also do the job. Smaller than this one, not as tough, not as much space, but more agile. It’s also armed. Lightly, but still armed. You’re the pilot, though, so I’m giving the call to you. We can go inspect it if you want.”

Light made a high pitched *weeeooooo* noise and took an appreciative look around the rockclad halls of his ship. “Who needs weapons and…lateral movement when you’ve got all this, huh? No offense, but my ship will work just fine.” He patted the closest wall.

Jess was generally happy to play along with most jokes and quips, which is why it stood out when she stared Light down sternly without a hint of a smile. “This is serious, Light. We’re going to be dealing with high-intensity cosmic rays, and potentially pirates or other scavengers. We need to be ready to either avoid them, or take them down. If you are choosing this ship because you think it is the best option, then fine, but make sure you think long and hard about about it. No games on this one.”

It was strange to see a QV suit go so still. Normally, they rippled and bulged whether the occupant was asleep or awake, alive or dead. But Light’s desert red shell flattened to a near-perfect ellipsoid as he studied Jess.

“A game? Please don’t mistake my levity for frivolity. This ship survived its crew being infected by a flesh-eating bacteria and literally trying to dig their way out into space. It has debris from no less than three Revenue cutter wrecks embedded in the hull. It's a serious piece of machinery, for serious people. Now can we get set for launch?”