"Besides, I have a task that I think you'll enjoy," Kira said.
Interest replaced Blue's annoyance. "Do tell."
Same old Blue.
Kira held up the J1N between them. Blue snatched the drone out of Kira's hands, cradling the J1N to her like he was an injured baby bird.
"What did you do to him?" Blue demanded.
"That's not Jin," Kira said in resignation. Raider had been right in that they wouldn't be able to keep the truth from Blue for long.
"Why would you say that?" Blue shifted the J1N slightly behind her as if in doing so she could protect the drone from emotional hurt.
"That's his body but that's not Jin."
Blue's stare held confusion.
Kira sighed as she debated her choices. Few people knew the truth behind Jin's circumstances. That his soul had been attached to the drone when he was a boy. Blue's familiarity with the limits of human science and how far they'd advanced artificial intelligence meant she had to realize that there was more to him than either he or Kira had ever shared. But she’d never asked about it. Content to ignore all the little signs of a mystery she should have been itching to unravel.
"What does that mean?" Blue asked, her expression turning ugly.
For the first time, she looked like she might attack Kira.
"Like I said, that is Jin's container, but the thing that makes Jin, Jin isn't there anymore."
Some of Blue's anger drained away as she looked down at the J1N. "Where is he then?"
"With Elena."
Blue was an intelligent woman. Kira didn't need to say more than that for her to pick up on the obvious.
"He downloaded his consciousness into one of those spawn he made," Blue guessed.
"More or less."
If by consciousness she meant soul.
"And you want me to get his original body working so your enemies don't realize he's missing."
There. Kira knew Blue would get it without her having to go into the nitty gritty details of how and why.
"Exactly."
Horror showed on Blue's face as she tried to hand the J1N back to Kira. "I can't. What if I screw up and ruin something important?"
"You'll be fine."
Blue shook her head and kept shaking it, the gesture growing more frantic as she started to panic. "Do you understand the complexity of what you're asking? The programing Jin installed on this drone is light years beyond human comprehension. I won't do it. I won't fuck up his body. I know you think that I never consider the consequences of my actions. And okay, you may have a point. But Jin is my friend. I won't do anything to compromise his wellbeing."
"That's exactly why I came to you," Kira soothed. "You have the necessary skillset and your relationship with him means you'll be twice as careful. Please, Blue. You're the only one I can count on."
Blue's shoulders slumped. "Just tell me why we have to do this."
"Too many people have started to notice his absence."
"And as Himoto would say, 'to fool your enemy you must first deceive your friends,'" Blue said in a theatrical voice.
"That about sums it up," Kira agreed with a nod.
"I always hated that saying," Blue grumbled.
Kira would have too if circumstances hadn't proven Himoto right time and again.
"Will you do it?"
Blue looked away, unable to hide her uncertainty. "I can get him running. That's not the problem. Giving him a personality close to Jin's—" Blue trailed off and shook her head. "I don't think there's anyone who could do that."
"I'm not expecting another Jin. If all you can do is have him float behind me and keep his mouth shut, I'll take it."
Blue's nod was reluctant. "Fine, I'll do it. But when he returns to his body and gets upset at what I've done, I'm throwing all the blame at you."
"I'll be happy to entertain any complaints he has," Kira said, starting past Blue.
"Hey!" Blue yelled. "Do you have a destination yet?"
Kira nodded. "I do have one in mind."
Blue raised her eyebrows in question.
"Rothchild."
Kira's greatest failure. And the place where everything had first begun to go so wrong.
Kira heard Raider long before she saw him, his raised voice spilling into the corridor. He sounded mad.
It looked like someone had decided not to respect her request to wait.
Kira increased her pace, reaching the galley a second later.
An antique wooden table sat in the middle of the room, its presence seeming right at home given the fact it looked like something you'd be more likely to find in a cozy cottage in the middle of the woods. Not in a spaceship's kitchen.