“Izz,” Greaves said.
She grunted in response to the AI’s call, teeth gritted. The wrench slipped, and she tightened her grip until it dug bruisingly into her palm.
A sigh, then the disembodied voice cleared its nonexistent throat. “Captain Isabella.”
“Going formal, are we now?” she said lightly. A final tap of her free hand had loosened the bolt at last. Izz caught the storage netting’s frame and eased it onto the ship’s deck along with the tools. Straightening, she eased a hand against her aching lower back.
“Captain, you wished to know when I made a discovery regarding the map you found.”
“Without giving away that you’re an illegal sentient AI to every database in the galaxy, yes.” Izz raised an eyebrow. “And your speed has me concerned about that.”
“Only a sentient AI could detect another,” Greaves said with an utter lack of concern. “Similarly, that’s exactly what I found here. A spot of utter blackness, from which nothing reflected, nothing at all…”
“You interrupted my storage bay repairs to tell me your big discovery is nothing?”
“Multiple forms of nothing,” Greaves said. “Voids all over the map. Voids where gravitational map comparisons say none should be. Voids that a thousand years ago, would have been a pathway to somewhere, although I’m clearly still missing galactic map data. I expect entire planets were excised — I’ll have to extrapolate mere outposts.”
Izz froze. “And no one noticed your comparisons?”
Electronic laughter carried over the ship’s speakers. “I made sure to download several academic papers explaining their existence away with utter purported scientific nonsense.”
She tapped her chin, shifting her other hand to one hip before tugging on her coverall’s zipper. “Where’s the nearest outpost with sufficient supplies to get us to the first void and back?”
“We’re already on our way,” Greaves answered. “Although you’ll have to stop and salvage if you really want a good logistical buffer. And I suggest we shake that pirate who started following you before we restock.”
“Did you say pirate?” Izz’s hip twinged as she bolted for the cockpit.
***
Thanks to Leigh Kimmel for the prompt this week about voids, which fit in nicely with some existing short stories that will helpfully build into something more. My prompt of too many tabs went to Parrish Baker. Check all of these out, over at MOTE, and come join the fun if you like as well!
