In Space, We Don't Abandon Innocence

by David Silver

12 - Roll Call

A different dragon faced them. Female, if her voice was any indication. "Second Talon Smolder, nice to meet you." She leaned in towards the camera. "Hope GarGar wasn't too big of a jerk. He's like that. You're not setting off every alarm we have, so you get to talk to me instead of him."

Roger chuckled at that. "Garble doesn't strike me as someone with a lot of friends." He watched as Smolder leaned back, shaking her head at that. "But we aren't interested in starting fights. The Earth Alliance sends warm regards to our new contacts. Do you have a name for your people and their organization?"

Smolder smiled warmly. "We call ourselves Dragons, and are united under the banner of the Dragon Empire." She brought a claw up to rub at her chin. "This is our first time meeting a race we've never encountered before. Well, since we got into space, anyway." She shrugged at that. "Anyway, hi. As Garble surely mentioned, this is our turf. Stay off it. You do that, we can talk."

Roger inclined his head. "Indeed. That much was clear." He flicked a hand, motioning off screen. "I have a suggestion, if you would hear it?"

Smolder gazed at Roger curiously. "Go on. But since we're talking, you know what I am." She pointed at Roger. "What are you?"

Roger put a hand to his chest. "Human, from Earth." He made a broad gesture. "We hail from a planet approximately twenty thousand lightyears from here, but well behind where you are now. We are peaceful explorers, and we mean no harm."

"You mentioned that." She smirked, seeming to draw far more pleasure from the presence of the humans than Garble had. "You had a suggestion?"

Roger pressed a button on his armrest. "Twilight, please report."

A moment later, Twilight appeared on the bridge. "Reporting as requested." She cleared her throat, then noticed who they were speaking to. "Oh!" She inclined her head left and right. "You... have grown up quite a bit since I last saw you."

"Hm?" Smolder considered the holographic pony curiously. "Wow, it has been a few ages, hasn't it? Headmare Twilight! Is this what you ran off to?"

Twilight pranced in place, tail twitching. "I'm so happy to see you, and that you are safe and doing well." She pointed to Roger. "Please be nice to him." She frowned with thought. "But, um, I left because I had to. You know that. You were there."

Smolder hissed softly. "Yeah, that ain't something I'm forgetting anytime soon. We knew ponies were kinda soft, but I liked that about them." She sagged against a hand. "They didn't deserve that."

Twilight perked. "They're still alive!"

Smolder inclined her head slightly. "What? Teach, I saw them die. I saw Sandbar die, in my own hands. I just said, not something I'm going to forget." She shuddered with those memories. "I'm glad you made it, sorta?" She arched a scaled ridge. "Are you even alive?"

Twilight looked up towards Roger. "Well, er, complicated? It's nice to see you, Smolder. This isn't the best way to have to meet again, but it is good to know that some of my old students are okay." She took a slow breath, despite being a digital construct with no need for air. "How are the others? Are you in contact?"

Smolder nodded once. "The yaks closed up and aren't talking to anycreature, hardly surprising. The minotaurs act like they have the right to charge everycreature whatever they'll pay, also on brand. But if you're asking about students, most of them, you know, don't live as long as dragons, so, yeah. I'm the last one standing."

Twilight sank slightly at that. "That is disappointing, but not unexpected." She spread her forehooves. "But that just means we have even more in common!"

Smolder made a gesture. "I'm happy to see you, but that doesn't get you inside dragon territory." She brightened. "On the other talon, if you were coming with some trade goods we cared about, then you'd just be another merchant vessel."

Roger jumped in on that. "What sort of goods would interest you?"

Smolder chuckled gently. "Look, captain? I'm pretty sure a ship made for exploring isn't stuffed with stuff to trade."

"Of course not." Roger rubbed at his chin as he considered the idea. "But we can play a merchant vessel. We have raw materials, if you give us a clue. We can make what you're looking for."

"Huh." Smolder sat up at that. "I'm blaming Twilight, but part of me wants to see where this goes. Alright. I'll send a list of some things I know they'd want. You come up with those in stock, and maybe we can move ahead."

Twilight glanced to Roger before looking back to Smolder. "We can probably manage something. How about the list, and some contact information? Maybe we can talk more later?"

Smolder paused as she considered that. "Alright. What's your prefix, frequency, whatever?"

Twilight spread one wing as the computers chimed around her. "Sent. Did you receive it?"

There was a pause, then a nod. "Yeah, saved. Good. Now we can talk like civilized people. Smolder, out." The screen returned to a field of stars.

Roger let out a long sigh. "At least that was less hostile than the first time. But, you knew her?"

Twilight nodded, coming over to sit beside Roger. "I did, yes. I still do! I hope." She rubbed at her cheek with a hoof. "Time has changed things, but that felt like Smolder. If she is like I remember her, she will be a staunch friend once we earn that right."

Roger scratched at his chin. "Alright. We're trying to find your Equestria, or friends of yours. Getting along with the Dragons might not be a bad place to start."

"Exactly." Twilight put a hoof to her chest. "Thank you for keeping friendship at the front of your thoughts. I know this is a tricky moment." She vanished without a sound.

---

"Sunset!" Susan bounced over the line leading into the library. "Is my favorite librarian in?"

Sunset darted around the corner, smiling at Susan. "Right here!" She bounced in place as Susan drew closer. "What can I help you with? Not that I'm complaining about seeing you, of course."

Susan paused just in front of Sunset. "Good, because that's why I'm here. I was digging around, inventorying, and I found something." She drew out a little thing that looked like a pin of sorts. "Wear this, and accept the pairing request."

Sunset snatched it up, gazing at it curiously. "It's glowing." She moved to put it on her chest, only to pause. "Where?"

"Pick a spot. Doesn't even matter." Susan rocked in place with a grin. "You'll like it!"

Sunset affixed the device to her dress over her heart. It stuck fast. She ran her fingers over it, discovering it had no edge, or even feel to it. "What is it?"

"It's a little micro-emitter." Susan wriggled her fingers. "So long as you have that, you can be anywhere! Even off the ship, so long as you're in communication range of it. I saw this and giving you some freedom was the first thing that came to mind."

Sunset cocked her head. "Off the ship?" She considered Susan. "But, then, why do I still need a link?"

Susan gestured towards Sunset. "Because you still 'exist' in the ship, the computer. No computer, no you. So you need a link. Other than that, it means you can go to a lot more places. If I'm called on an away mission, which I might." She hiked a thumb at her badge. "I am security. If I am, you could come with me, if you want."

Sunset puffed out her chest. "A way for me to get off the ship without getting in trouble?" She flared her wings, which she hadn't had until that moment of giddy realizations. "I could see all sorts of things!" She laughed with building joy. "You are the absolute best!"

Susan smiled warmly at that. "Glad you like it." She offered a hand, which Sunset took with one of her own. "So? Anything you'd like to see first?"

Sunset gently squeezed the hand she held. "Susan, it wasn't even an option a moment ago. Give me a sec. Still, if you're sent down, you call me. Besides, I can't be hurt, really? What's the worst that'd happen?" She pointed at the new pin. "This gets busted and I vanish back to the ship. That isn't really getting 'hurt', even if it still would suck."

Susan thought about that a moment. "While you have a point, I'm security, not you. You come along because you're awesome, and know a lot about a lot of things. You're the data specialist, keep doing that, and be my friend, and you're doing it right. No fighting."

Sunset lit up with an idea. "Yeah! If you see something, I can run it through all the databanks to figure out what we're looking at."

"Exactly." Susan pulled her hand away to reach for Sunset, only to pause and stop. "Sorry." She rubbed at her cheek with her freed hand. "It's hard not to pet you when you look like this."

Sunset's pony features vanished with a pop. "Sorry! Ugh, hanging all out there." She shook herself lightly. "But thank you for not going for a grope. Seriously." She rolled her eyes, a smile developing. "This is really sweet of you." She tapped her new pin. "Wait." She stepped outside the room and remained a human. "Check this out!"

Susan came up beside her, smiling gently. "Cool trick. You get to be a human whenever you want, now?"

Sunset looked down at herself, feeling her own face with her hands. "I think so. So long as I'm transmitting to this new pin, I'm not technically leaving the library. I get to be whatever I want." She did a twirl, becoming half pony, half human, with pony legs and tail but clothed human from the hips up. "Or both? Both is an option."

Susan gazed curiously at Sunset's shape. "Half pony, half woman? Is that, I dunno, uncomfortable?"

Sunset thumped her pony hoof on the floor before bursting into joyous laughter. "Only in the 'I am a human, thanks.' kind of way." She waved down at her legs, returning them to their human normal. "There we go."

Susan offered her hand, which Sunset took again. "I'm glad this is working then." She threaded her fingers with Sunset's. "Enjoy it."

Sunset beamed as she walked through the ship, Susan guiding her to the best places.

"It's funny." Susan gazed up at a display screen, Sunset beside her. "When I first got here, I thought the crew were all robots, and that's why they weren't even around until you needed them." She pulled Sunset closer to her side. "But they aren't. I know that now, and sorry for ever thinking that."

Sunset beamed as she looked up at Susan. "They're real people. Even me." She tilted her head slightly. "Glad you've escaped that misconception. Even the ponies, silly as they look, are people. Fuzzy people. You met ponies back on Earth, right? Living ponies?"

Susan looked down at Sunset. "Yeah. Some of my friends were ponies. But a living pony and one that only pops up when you walk into a room, and doesn't have to breathe? Hardly the same. It took me a bit." She squeezed at Sunset's hand. "I got used to it. They're people, just, you know, different people."

Sunset chuckled gently. "There's lots of different kinds of people out there. Part of our job, as a ship, is finding even more kinds. If holograms blow your mind, wait until you see what the universe has cooking."

Author's Note:

Progress is made in two fronts, I think.

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

If a holobead can generate hard light holograms, then it can generate hard light fields of extremly high electric fields to feel like matter. How much pressure can that electric field resist being altered by if the entire body form is focused down to the size of a bullet, or a point? It iss an optical illusion, it affects light. Change the refractive index of the air in just certain ways, how powerful a laser can it mirage to the side etc? If only half the hologram is generated, how much protection can it give to a person immediately behind?

What class of communications does it require if the holobead is essentially a projective dumb terminal for that subset of the ships computer?

[dlambchic]

Oh no! Susan is a Security Red Shirt. Bad things always happened to them on Star Trek.

[Okie Brony]

Sunset now has a portable holo-emitter, kinda like the doctor's from Voyager. Nice.

[PiMan]

11927082
Nah, she's a TNG-era yellow shirt. Very few of those met permanent harm.

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

11926682

Logical. Perspectives change a lot when the physicality of media is no longer a necessity.

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

Solving more mysteries, little by little.