Chương 114: Chapter Ninety-Eight - Gossiping for Itchy Feet

Ivil wasn't usually privy to the gossip and hubbub travelling around. She didn't care much for media things, and ever since she discovered that she could just order MINT to record her soaps for her, she never really had to interact with the extranet at all. However, she now found herself making an exception to that self-imposed rule. After all, she was hungry for gossip and now had people worth sharing it with.

Which is why she found herself in the living space of the Sappho, lounging back on a sofa with her boots off and a small tablet held up before her face. The only others in the room with her now were Pixie and Sonic Spectre. The Tech Maid was posted by the doorway, hands folded over her waist and back straight. She was staring out ahead and was entirely impassive.

Ivil knew that she was currently communicating with someone outside of the ship via some internal cores, but all of her communication was directed to that pocket cruiser parked outside of the station. Pixie, on the other hand, was sitting in an armchair. Every few seconds she would shift and change position. One moment sitting properly, the next sitting with her legs tucked under her, the next slumped to the side. Then back. All the while she was reading through some documentation on a tablet of her own.

"Do you always have such restless legs?" Ivil asked.

"Not that it's an issue of any sort. I'm just curious." Pixie blinked, then looked around as if to make sure Ivil was actually talking to her.

"Uh, yeah, I guess. It's not always, but... yeah. Before a fight, or even just a normal mission, I get the urge to move around. It's usually whenever something's going to go down. I think it's almost a sixth sense kind of thing. A nervous tic I get whenever trouble's coming." Ivil tilted her head and stared at Pixie for a long moment. She did have a few cores, some of which were active now. Most were simple things, and Pixie wasn't even out of the D ranking. Most of those cores were simple.

Reinforcement for her internal organs, one that helped regulate blood pressure, and two cores in her brain. Ivil squinted a little. One was definitely tied to her nervous system, a little core that made her reflexes sharper and faster. Useful, and rather common. The kind of core that had been duplicated a thousand times and passed around a great deal. There was another attached to it.

"Did you ever get a clairvoyance core?" Ivil asked.

"Ah, maybe?" Pixie said. She shrugged.

"I got two that I don't really know about."

"You used unknown cores on yourself?" Ivil asked.

"It was early in my career. I shot down this pirate freighter during a mission. Then I came back a few days later to check into it for... you know, booty? Technically I had first rights to it. Usually that just means selling the wreck to a scrapper, but I was new. And it turned out that the captain had two cores. They were just... floating next to his body in the cockpit. So I grabbed them."

"Interesting," Ivil said.

"No downsides?"

"Uh, no, I don't think so. I thought they were just for piloting? I know I have one that acts on my blood somehow, and I figured the other was something similar." Pixie blinked.

"I'm clairvoyant?"

"Hardly," Ivil said.

"It looks like the core is merely making you twitchy before an active or violent event. It's very weak as far as farsight goes, and you might also misread it if you eat too much sugar or drink too much caffeine."

"Ah," Pixie said. She blinked, then looked at her tablet again before looking up.

"Well, now I'm not sure if I should be nervous or not." Ivil made a small, dismissive wave.

"No, there's no need for that. I'm certain everything will be just fine. Your cores seem very well settled, overall. You could, if you were looking for income, split all of them off and sell them for a pretty bounty."

"Yeah, but that'd leave me weak for much longer than I'd like. It was kind of part of my retirement plan, though. If I ever got to that stage. Bounty hunters that specialize in pirate extermination don't get a nice cushy retirement more often than not." Ivil nodded. She was familiar with that kind of mentality. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

"So, I'm looking at flight paths and navigational data. What are you studying?" Pixie asked.

"Gossip," Ivil said. She turned her tablet slightly so that Pixie could see. A short video of a local Jovian talkshow was playing. Three pundits around a table arguing about current events.

"Really?" Pixie asked.

"Uh, not that I'd question you." Ivil stared.

"You know, if you want to be my girlfriend, you're more than welcome to question me. I think that's part and parcel of the title. It's a luxury few people get, so I'd profit from it as much as possible, were I in your shoes."

"Uh," Pixie said. She hesitated, then shrugged.

"Why are you looking at what looks like the cheesiest talkshow in the system? I've seen that one. It's trash."

"Because even if it's trash, it's commonly regurgitated trash. If something comes up on this kind of show, then it's mirroring the opinion of at least a percentage of the population."

"The less educated, stupider population, maybe," Pixie said.

"So the majority." Pixie blinked, then giggled. It was a very pleasant sound.

"Okay, fair," she said.

"So, what's the gossip?"

"So far, nothing too interesting. Some celebrity scandals that I don't care about. Cecilia made a showing as she apparently snubbed one of the diplomats from Neptune to show up at that dinner party, and now he's quite irate. He complained about it on social media and apparently that's a scandal all on its own."

"She's got a reputation for being a hardass," Pixie said.

"She'll shrug this right off. Anything about the League of Free Moons' fleet?"

"No, but there was mention of the government buying out a lot of bounty hunter contracts all of a sudden. The hosts think that the recent pirate troubles out of Ceres, combined with the number of diplomats and emissaries in the system, is making Jupiter look bad. So they suspect that the League is planning on making a big crack-down." Pixie hummed and tapped her lower lip.

"I can poke in the bounty hunter networks I'm part of. They tend to be on the ball with that kind of stuff. But I doubt that this is anti-piracy stuff. They're probably hiring anyone that's available for this rush to Uranus."

"Likely. Mercenaries are expensive, but in the short term, they're cheaper than a standing army," Ivil said.

"If there are going to be any ships lost, I imagine the League would rather they be bounty hunters and guns for hire than the few ships they have."

"Yeah. You know, this might be the start of a fourth intersystem war," Pixie said. Ivil nodded.

"Yes. It might be the end of one as well. The League is a smaller power bloc than either Earth or Mars, but if it starts to fight with Earth, then Mars will supply it with ships and weapons, and might even be willing to bloody Earth's nose if the opportunity arises."

"No love lost, huh?"

"Not even a little. Obviously, I'd rather avoid all of that."

"Yeah. A lot of people would die," Pixie said.

"Hm? Oh, no, I don't care about that," Ivil said with a dismissive wave.

"I had planned on having a long dating extravaganza that features visits on four planetary systems. Can't have that in the middle of a war."

"Ah, yes, of course," Pixie said.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're strange?"

"And lived?" Ivil asked. She grinned.

"I'm kidding. I'm certain you could get away with accusing me of such." Pixie shook her head.

"I guess. You're not a bad sort, but I feel like... huh, I guess it's weird. I'm not usually the one with the better morals in any given situation. Maybe we should leave that part to Twenty-Six?"

"Not Aurora?"

"The politician?"

"Fair point," Ivil said.

"But I feel like Twenty-Six also has her own somewhat skewed view of things."

"Does that leave me as the final arbiter of good morals? Because if that's the case, I can't imagine anything good coming from it," Pixie said. Ivil shifted in her seat a little.

"That seems fine to me."

"My legs feel itchy, Ivil," Pixie said.

"Mhm. Maybe study up some more on... morals, or whatever. It might come in handy." Ivil supposed that she didn't have much time for that, however. In a few hours they'd be departing, and then it would be a short hop to Uranus to pay an old adversary a much overdue visit.