Chapter 9

Renn waited for Opal to stop laughing before he started to ask her some questions.

"How did you end up here?" Renn asked her.

"The pirates attacked our ship and captured me. My parents… I think everyone else was killed." Opal said quietly clearly upset by the memories.

"I could sense you on the ship before we met, do you know why that was?" Renn wanted to know the answer but was cautious of making the girl too upset.

Opal shook her head before replying "No, I was trying to call for help before you came but I don't think anyone would have heard me though."

Renn Thought about it for a moment before deciding to talk to Sapphire about it later as she might have a better idea about what happened.

The droids had backed out of the cell when the children had started talking so now it was just Renn and Opal sat there together. A silence had descended on the room with neither child knowing what to say next before it was broken when Renn asked.

"Is there anyone we could take you to where you would be safe?"

Opal just shook her head again. Her only family she had had been her parents and they were gone, both she and her parents had had friends back on Mirial but no-one who would be willing to take care of an orphaned girl.

The uncertainty of her future began to dawn on her. She may now be safe from the pirates but what now, she was only seven, she didn't know how to look after her self or do much of anything on her own.

Her internal panic had reached such a level that she missed what Renn had said next.

"Sorry, what did you say?" she asked the green skin of her cheeks flushing slightly red as she looked at him with a mixture of confusion and embarrassment.

Renn scratched his check slightly awkwardly before repeating himself.

"I asked if you wanted to live with me and my family then."

Renn had a smile on his face as he held out a hand to Opal who stared in shock for a moment before taking the hand while nodding with a small smile.

-

"This is Opal, she is going to live with us from now on."

Renn stated to Alpha and the other after he exited the cell with Opal following behind him. Opal hid herself behind Renn as the three droids looked at her with interest.

"Very well little one, if that is your decision. Its nice to meet you little miss Opal." Alpha said after studying Opal and Renn for a moment.

"Nice to meet ya little humanoid." Spark said in greeting while Scythe offered her a wave.

Opal still slightly hidden behind Renn gave a small wave back to the droids as well as a quiet, "Hi."

"What would you want us to do with this ship little one? We are in complete control of it, and I have Earl and Crow searching it for anything interesting." Alpha asked Renn wanting to his decision.

"See if there is anything onboard that we can use then activate the ships self-destruct. It won't be able to be used to hurt anyone else then." Renn told Alpha.

"As you wish little one. We will see to it now, Scythe will escort the two of you back to the Speedy while Spark and I help with dealing with this ship." Alpha said before motioning for Scythe to help the two kids back to their own ship.

-

"Wow" Opal said amazed as she looked around the Speedy Vagabond in awe. The interior of the Defender class corvette was different to any ship she had ever been on, granted up to this point she had only been on two other ships, the cramped budget interplanetary passenger ship she had left Mirial on and the scary pirate ship.

Despite her limited knowledge of different ships, she still thought that the speedy was amazing, it seemed so nice and comfortable inside, but she could also guess from how easily it defeated the pirate ship that it was powerful as well.

"Hello Opal, Alpha Said that Renn would be bring someone new over."

Opal screeched in surprise and jumped behind Renn as a blue holographic woman appeared next to them.

"Don't be scared this is Sapphire." Renn said to Opal trying to calm her down.

"s-sorry you surprised me. Err, what are you?" Opal asked Sapphire curiously.

"I am an A.I. I control this ship and look after Renn as well as just being generally brilliant." Sapphire told Opal while in her opinion being quite modest.

"But A.I's aren't supposed to be like this?" Opal was confused, she had grown up thinking computers and droids could only have basic intelligence.

"Says who?" Sapphire asked with a curious look on her face and tilt of her head and when Opal looked to Renn she saw him looking at her with a similar expression and head tilt.

Sapphire and A.I's like her were only able to be made on Aruum by the master technomancers of house Dredd so Opal who had never seen anything like the advanced technology of the lost planet was understandably confused. But the little girl decided to just move past it to try and preserve her sanity.

"I err don't really know, people who don't really know any better I guess." Opal said in answer to Sapphire's Question.

Sapphire smiled happily at Opal's answer, "excellent, well I'm sure Renn can show you around and if you have any questions, you can say my name and I will be around to help." She said before disappearing again.

"How is she able to do that?" Opal asked Renn.

"Sapphire is integrated with the ships systems at the moment, she essentially is the ship. She can project her avatar anywhere on board the ship, using holo-projectors built into the ceiling, but its more, so people are more comfortable around her. With her essentially being the ship, she can see and hear everything the ship sees and hears which lets her monitor the whole ship but she only passively monitors private areas so people can have some privacy while also letting her help if there is an emergency." Renn explained to Opal.

"Oh, cool" Opal replied still wrapping her head around now living inside an A.I that was living inside a ship.

"I am, aren't I" Sapphire's voice came over the ships speakers, completely missing Opal's internal struggle.