26. Maid, Catgirl, and Smugglers

“Assimilation of Freighter: 100%. All systems functional,” Abby sent out a notification to Abyssal. A notification that could be heard all over the ship.

“Finally!!!” Abyssal yelled out as she celebrated in glee. “I’m a proper space ship now… I can finally explore space for real!”

“Nyaa! Congratulations Abyssal!" Meica who was next to Abyssal applauded her.

“Congratulations, Master. Today is indeed a great day,” Kuon gave her congratulations as well.

“Thanks. But this is only just the beginning! There are still a lot of things that we need to do and so many more things to look forward to! We need to keep trying harder! We can’t let this small victory get into our heads!!”

“Yes, you are absolutely right, Master. We should not get too complacent with our recent achievement here. Best to keep a cool head and proceed with a rational thought,” Kuon said.

“Yep!” Abyssal nodded and the celebration died down. Meica who heard this nodded as well, giving out a serious look.

Her tail still wagged left and right in excitement though.

“Now that the celebrations are out of the way. Would you please explain why there is a Nekomi loose in the ship, Master?” Kuon asked with a stern voice, her drone facing towards the catgirl who eyed the two drones with a curious gaze.

“Oh? You know what Nekomis are, Kuon? Tell me more!”

“Ahem. Please don’t dodge my question, Master.”

“Uhhh….” Abyssal scratched her imaginary head. She then looked to the sides. “Well,  you see…”

….…...

“Master… forgive my insolence… but are you stupid?” Kuon said with a sharp tone.

“Urk!” Abyssal flinched at her words.

“You revealed yourself foolishly and then released her for no other reason than you don’t want her to be caught in your plan?

“Urk!”

“What if she was dangerous? She could have destroyed you on the spot! Please think of yourself, Master!”

“Urgh…”

"What is she even doing here with us right now? I propose we lock her up in a room until we can properly ascertain her intent," Kuon said to Abyssal, not fearing that Meica would hear it.

Kuon kept on reprimanding Abyssal when suddenly Meica came in and hugged Abyssal, putting herself in the middle of the two drones.

“Excuse me? Will you not interrupt my business with my Master. She needs to be taught a lesson.” Kuon said.

“No bully Abyssal! And Meica not a bad person! Meica just wants to know more about ship-drones! Kuon is bad ship drone.”

“...” Kuon didn’t say anything, only stared at the nekomi with her night-vision camera. Meica replied back with her own scowl at the maid.

The two looked at each other for what felt like minutes, imaginary sparks could be seen at how intense they were glaring at each other. Abyssal was a little worried that if this goes on, the two might actually start duking it out with each other.

“Now, now, you two. Please don’t fight. I’ll be more careful next time alright, Kuon? ” Abyssal said with an apologetic tone.

Upon hearing this, Kuon looked away and let out a small sigh. "... if you say so, Master. I won’t pursue the matter any further. Please know that I am only concerned for your well-being.”

“See, Meica? Kuon here is not a bad person. She just cares about me. You two get along now, alright?”

Meica looked at Kuon before turning her blue eyes towards Abyssal. She then turned to look at Kuon again. She gave a small nod before letting go of Abyssal. “My name is Meica, nyaa. Nice to meet you,” she said with an unhappy voice.

Kuon gave a respectful bow towards Meica. “I am Kuon. First Mate of this ship. I am pleased to make your acquaintance,” Kuon said while emphasizing on the word First Mate as if showing off her superiority in rank.

The two girls, once again, stared at each other with hostility.

'Geez, why is she so hard on Meica? Is she perhaps… jealous of Meica?' Abyssal thought to herself.

Abyssal went in between the two in an attempt to make them stop. "So Meica! What's your story? How did you get aboard this thing in the first place?" Abyssal asked, effectively shifting their attention to something else.

"...Meica was hungry. Smelled food and followed smell. Got shocked by something. Next thing that I knew, I was in the cage with the collar on my neck," Meica explained, holding her two hands over her neck to symbolise an air collar.

"..."

"..."

Both Abyssal and Kuon stayed silent as they listened to her story. They didn't say anything, thinking there was more to the story.

There wasn't.

"Nyaa..?" Meica let out a confused voice at their actions.

"Huh? Wait, what? That's it?"

"Umu, that's it."

"No no no. There has to be more! Which planet or system are you from? Your backstory? Your life before on this ship? You must be hungry because you are poor or something, right? What do you plan to do in this situation?" Abyssal asked numerous questions to Meica. Kuon nodded at the questions asked, wishing to know more.

"I'm not interested in planet stuff or politics. I don't remember the name of the planet. Meica not from a poor family. Meica is an engineer. Was working on a plane when the clock struck twelve. Lunchtime. Meica didn't eat breakfast so I was extra hungry," Meica replied before keeping quiet.

"...and then?"

"Meica smelled food and woke up on the ship."

The room went silent for a moment as the two ship girls tried to make sense of her story.

"Interesting. A person who is even more clueless than Master."

"Aren't you being a little too mean here, Kuon? I'm not that bad… "

"I will respectfully disagree until proven otherwise, Master."

"You have a venomous voicebox, you know that," Abyssal commented.

"It is simply within your imagination, Master."

Abyssal gave a deadpan look at Kuon before looking away "... So Meica. What are you going to do now? I haven't fully explored the functions of this ship yet, but I'm sure we can drop you off somewhere or even your home planet in the futu—"

"Don't want," Meica gave a quick reply, interrupting Abyssal.

"Huh?"

"Planet is boring. Everyday is just fixing planes. I want to explore space!"

Meica stood up and went over to the nearest control panel on the small Fierca class. More specifically the newly acquired radar. "Meica is more interested in spaceships! How does this work? Looks like a mapping device?"

She then briskly walked away from the component and moved towards Abyssal.

"What is Abyssal? Ship-drone fascinating! Can control the entire ship via 'assimilating'. Tell me more!" Meica grabbed Kaon and started to rotate her around, looking at the drone from every angle.

"Ack! Okay okay! I'll tell you, just let me go!" Abyssal pleaded and Meica let go of Abyssal before sitting down in place, waiting for an answer.

Abyssal heaved a sigh of relief at having been released. She regained her bearings before looking at Meica. “Alright. The explanation… You see Meica we ar—”

“Just one moment, Master. A word please.” Kuon interrupted Abyssal before moving closer.

“Hmm? What is it?”

Once Kuon deemed she was close enough, she turned away from Meica and started whispering: “I do not trust this Nekomi. Back in my days, Living Cores were not well known outside of the military. I suggest we do not divulge our secrets until we can really trust her. If we must, then keep our identities as Living Cores a secret.”

“Ehhh… aren’t you being a little bit sceptical about this? She’s not that bad of a person.” Abyssal whispered back, making sure that Meica could not hear her. “At least, I think so.”

“I cannot say why… but I got a feeling, a tug within myself, telling me that she is hiding something from us,” Kuon said with uncertainty, not knowing why she felt that way despite the lack of information given to her.

“Oh? Is that what your instinct says?”

“Instinct…?” Kuon asked, wondering if the feeling within her core was that. “Yes… I guess you could call it that. My instincts say that there is more to her than she is letting out. I think that she may even be lying about her story."

“Hmm,” Abyssal let out a hum and gave the matter a little bit of thought.

It's not every day that you see Kuon voicing out her inner concerns like that. Unlike Abyssal, she usually makes decisions based on facts, not emotions— just like a machine. There was some merit in her telling this to Abyssal. She too felt like something was off in Meica's story.

Abyssal took another look at the Nekomi, Meica, before giving a nod to Kuon.

"You see, Meica. We are actually a collection of sentient nanomachines! Our job is to explore space and maybe one day find the person who created us!" Abyssal told Meica a made-up story, hiding the fact that Abyssal and Kuon were Living Cores— ship girls. It was a story close to the truth, and yet, far from it. It was also a terrible made up story. Abyssal mentally facepalmed at not having told a better story.

"Ooohhh. So Nanomachines control drones and ship?" Meica said out in excitement.

"Yep, yep. That's how I was able to control this drone as I please and free you from your cage," Abyssal continued, unable to backtrack now. She would just have to go with it.

"Indeed," Kuon nodded in agreement, supporting Abyssal's made-up story. "The nanites are what makes us. It is impossible to kill us without destroying all the nanomachines," Kuon added another lie to the story. If one paid more attention, one could hear a slight disappointed tone in her voice.

Meica who heard this only clapped her hands excitedly. It was like watching a kid seeing a magic trick for the first time. At the very least, she bought their story.

There was a chance that Kuon may be wrong about Meica, but Abyssal will rather trust her First Maid over someone she just met.

* * * * *

The two previous owners of the freighter were now within an enclosed room. It was located near the far end of the freighter with no way for them to enter or exit the room. The only opening in the room was slit near the bottom— a slit that Abyssal or Kuon will use to deliver food and water to them.

As a side note, Kuon was kind enough to install a bathroom to the room. It wasn't anything fancy, just a hole with a button that will send their waste into space. Interestingly enough, Kuon also made the hole big enough for them to fit through, should they wished to jettison themselves out into space.

"Food delivery! I hope you two barbarians are doing fine!" Abyssal said out loud to the two captives in the metal room, sliding a tray of food and water under a small hole near the bottom of the room.

The moment she did that, a hand reached out beyond the hole in order to grab Abyssal. The attempt failed as Abyssal was using a large construction drone instead of her personal drone to deliver the food. Said arm was just shrugged off.

"Let us out!" Smuggler A said.

"Dammit you b*tch, I'll bloody beat you to a pulp once we get out of here," Smuggler B said right after.

"Good luck with that, gentlemen. Bye!" Abyssal said without care before leaving the place.

“Master…” Kuon who was right next to Abyssal called out. She was also controlling a construction drone.

“Yes, my dear maid?”

“Why are we letting these filths live? They are criminals harbouring the ‘blue devil’ and are also an accomplice of slavery,” Kuon said to Abyssal.

The ‘blue devil’ referred to the blue powder that was within the crates in the cargo bay. Packaged contrabands. It seemed that Kuon immediately recognized the powder for what they truly are. Her rage, when she found out about it, was spine-chilling. She was very close to just sending them to an early death. It was only due to her respect for Abyssal that the two smugglers were even alive.

‘Ahh, I knew I should have jettisoned those crates when I had the chance…’ Abyssal thought to herself.

“That detestable drug has destroyed millions of lives!” Kuon raised her voice, dissatisfied with her Master’s decision to let them live.

“Ca-calm down, Kuon. These two will be brought to justice, I promise!” Abyssal said in a soft tone, trying to calm the raging Kuon.

“If that’s the case, then why aren’t we serving them justice now?”

“Well... ”

“If you don’t want to dirty your hands, then let me do it,” Kuon said before moving towards the room.

“No! Waaaiiit! Stop!” Abyssal went over to stop Kuon. “You can’t just go around killing people because you hate them!”

“We will not kill them. We will simply put them into a pod and eject them into space.”

“That’s worse than just outright killing them!”

Indeed. Leaving someone to drift in space to slowly die was a fate that Abyssal would not wish upon the worst of enemies. Being stranded in space is no joke.

'Ahhh… what am I supposed to do now? How am I going to stop Kuon!?' Abyssal yelled out internally.