Chương 1: Part 1

Jesri shifted in her chair, trying to find a comfortable way to rest on the bare metal. Harsh lights shone down from above, deepening the far corner of the room in shadow that cloaked the trio of Kitan customs officers. Although their faces were indistinct, their whispered conversation carried quite clearly to her ears.

"Is there anything in the tertiary codex that covers her case?" one asked worriedly. Another shifted his weight rhythmically between his front and hind feet, scrolling through a lengthy chunk of text on his tablet. He worked silently for a long minute before disgustedly tossing the tablet at the third Kita.

"I can't find anything," he trilled in frustration.

"No case to handle her, and no exception policy for unhandled cases!" The two others bobbled their heads in irritation before leaning further into their hushed conference. Jesri sighed. She was used to some degree of confusion, but Kita were notoriously obsessed with protocol. If she had known they had purchased this station she would have gone well out of her way to dock elsewhere.

"Excuse me, gentlemen?", she inquired, at which all three officers flinched as if struck.

"Will you be much longer? I have a schedule to keep, so I'd prefer to be on my way." A split second of hope colored their faces, quickly replaced by returning frustration.

"No, no, no! We have to classify you in the biological threat matrix before we let you board. The first question in the assessment, as you are aware, asks whether you are a carbon or sulfur-based life form." He fixed her with an annoyed look.

"You are neither." She grinned at him.

"How interesting. Does your codex say that unclassified life forms must spend the rest of their days stuck in customs?"

"No!", he buzzed back, stalking to and fro manically.

"It gives no guidance. The classification questionnaire had questions for every lifeform - until today." Jesri shrugged.

"Obviously not every lifeform." She waved away his retort before it could form and forged onward.

"I'm aware of some Kitan codices as well, you know. There's one that I particularly like which states that no sentient being may be held in government custody for longer than three arcs unless criminal charges are filed." The customs officer stopped pacing and turned a pale shade of puce.

"Well, yes, of course... But the codices also say that no life form may enter the station without going through the biological assessment."

"What a conundrum," she murmured, the corners of her mouth twitching.

"This is serious!", raged the officer, stalking towards her.

"If the codex is flawed, then so is our security. If our security is flawed..." His mouth worked at words that never came before he slumped down. Looking back towards his comrades and finding no offered help from that quarter, he turned towards Jesri and straightened up.

"Please, ma'am - do you have any information on your classification that could help us?" Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. A direct question. Damn. Do not lie.

"Yes," she said through gritted teeth. All three officers goggled at her, but she offered no clarification.

"Well?" said the one holding the codex tablet.

"What information do you have that will help us?" Not even by omission.

"You're looking in the wrong section," Jesri muttered. Frustrated, the officer flipped through the index.

"Do you have any idea how big the codex is? What section are you listed under?" Not even if it puts you at risk. Jesri shot an annoyed look at the inquiring officer.

"Section 46, Subsection 1039 - Ancient Devices and Artifacts." The looks on their faces almost made this whole affair worth it, she decided. The three officers conferred around the tablet for several seconds more before falling silent.

"Well strike me," said the one holding the tablet. He held the tablet up to show the entry he had found. A passable image of her face was at the top left, with lines of Kitan script flowing down the screen beside it.

"Jesri Tam," he read, "Human-form Biological Construct." His eyes widened.

"The date stamp on this record..."

"Human?", sputtered the officer nearest her, cutting him off." The Humans?"

"Yep," she said, giving him a bland smile.

"The very same. Builders of the Cygnus Gate, architects of the transit networks, creators of one increasingly late trader. Did you think dogs were the only life they left behind?" Kita didn't have a very good face for expressing annoyance, but this officer was certainly trying his best.

"Dogs are a standard carbon-based spacefaring species, certainly no outlier. I understand dogs. Why are you so different?" Tell the whole truth, always. Jesri resolved to find a planet where direct questions were considered extremely rude and move there forever.

"Human biological engineering discovered the concept of scaffold-assisted growth at around the same time their computer systems were using photolithographic nanoscale silicon networks. There were experiments to develop improved biological constructs that incorporated their traditional computing architecture as a growth substrate. I am the end result of a very, very long line of research in that technique." The codex officer stroked his eye ridges thoughtfully.

"Silicon-based biochemistry has never been observed - present company excluded," he added with an apologetic nod to Jesri.

"That would certainly explain the classification discrepancy." Jesri flashed him a bright smile and stretched theatrically.

"Well, gentlemen, I'm glad we solved that mystery. Does that mean I can be on my way?" He shook his head, tapping furiously at the tablet.

"No, we should gather some more information to refine the biological questionnaire-""Won't matter," she interjected hastily.

"The codex doesn't permit classification of unique specimens into the questionnaire, they all go under artifacts. This isn't the first time I've had this conversation." All three officers blinked.

"Of course," said the codex officer.

"That makes perfect sense. In that case, ma'am, you are free to go about your business pursuant to the regulations of this station for a duration not to exceed 40 arcs."

"Thanks!", she chirped, popping up from the chair and gathering her things.

"But if I may ask," said the codex officer hesitantly, "Are you truly the only one of your kind?" Do not lie, except…

"Yep, just me," she said, tossing them a wave as she strode out of the room.