Omega-13 was an orbital space station that didn't move from place to place, unlike most others these days, and instead stayed rooted in orbit around the barren rocky planet it was named after. This was once a simple fueling station, built to hold the starship fuel that had been mined and passed through the refineries on the planet below, but it was taken over by one gang and then another. These days, it was less the territory of any specific criminal group and more of a lawless safe haven for not-so-legal dealings and refueling. Which made it the perfect place for a quick stop to top up the ship and get a bite to eat.

The food was greasy and not to Shade's liking, but Rayne seemed to enjoy it, though Shade did take the chance to tease him about how weird Earth cuisine was—the human palette being far more diverse than that of the lup?n people, and as Shade had put it, Rayne was technically "half omnivore."

But their trip was cut unexpectedly short when Ami ushered them both to quietly stand and leave as fast as possible. Rayne was visibly concerned and Shade sympathized, knowing he wasn't used to being in full on shootouts. But it was fine. Even if some enemy of theirs had boarded the station, Ami was there, and nothing got by her. She was just pushing them to a quick and quiet exit so that no civilians or innocents would get caught in the crossfire. But something about it all worried him.

Once they were back on the ship, Ami started the engines without a word, accessing the ship controls before any of them were even in the cockpit. Shade watched the velocity readings on the controls go to standard FTL speeds, then push beyond their normal range—way beyond.

"Whoa, what...?! How—??" Rayne blurted as he saw the same.

"Emergency hyperdrive I installed," Ami said quickly. "The kind that'll get you across the galaxy in two minutes instead of two days."

"Shit," Shade muttered, eyes widening.

If she was using her own hyperdrive, things must be bad. She wanted off that station and away from there, badly.

"How—?!" Rayne started again, then sighed and shook his head. "If you've got a hyperdrive like that, why don't you use it all the time?"

"One, because it's unregistered android tech and just firing it up might set off every scanner within fifteen parsecs," Ami said. "Two, because I hadn't tested it until now and I wasn't entirely sure it wouldn't blow us up."

"Ah," Rayne said.

"Well, that would've been the best case scenario," Ami said quickly. "Worst case would be it tears a hole in the spacetime continuum and destroys the universe as we know it."

Shade and Rayne exchanged worried looks. The smell of electrical smoke hit Shade's nose and his expression went from worried to alarmed.

"And lastly," Ami sighed, triggering the ship's fire suppression system, "because it's a single use. That thing basically disintegrated getting us out here."

"Where are we?" Shade asked hesitantly, almost afraid they were now in a different galaxy.

"Near Arva," Ami said simply.

"So... what was that about?" Rayne asked.

"Oh, you know," Ami said with a dismissive wave. "Just hacked into the mind of another android. No big deal."

"You what?" Shade and Rayne said.

Ami turned, rotating the pilot's seat to face them.

"I found another android on the station," she started. "A rogue, unregistered, like me."

She allowed a few short seconds for this to sink in, and although it barely had, she continued.

"I don't know why, but I got curious. And maybe a little impulsive. Okay, very impulsive. I decided to probe into their private server—their mind. Turns out, they were older, running a less sophisticated software, and I got in. I downloaded something."

"You... downloaded something?" Shade repeated the words. "... From another android's head?"

"Yeah," Ami said, letting out a breath—telling, since she didn't need to breathe. "And then I panicked. I mean, I've never done that before. I got worried I'd trip some security measure and they'd realize what I was doing, so I decided we had to leave."

"Wow," was all Shade could think to say.

"What'd you download?" Rayne asked.

"I'm working on that," Ami said. "Still trying to get a look at the program files without triggering any embedded security protocols, though so far it doesn't seem like there are any. It's just called 'splitsim.' No idea what that means."

There was a small silence, during which Shade and Rayne glanced at each other uncertainly. Unregistered android tech was scary, and almost always meant something that could implode society.

"Any chance it's some kind of virus?" Rayne asked. Ami shook her head.

"Not from what I can tell. Seems like it's designed to scan the conscious mind of an individual and split their personality into different aspects. Its most basic function is to take the 'good' and 'bad' of a person and split them into distinct individuals you can interact with."

"So like you could talk to your good side or your bad side?" Rayne clarified.

"An evil twin?" Shade asked. "And a good one?"

"Uh-huh," Ami said, nodding. "It uses brain scans; looks at neuron pathways, neurotransmitter levels, brain chemistry, putting together your entire personality from brain mapping. From what I can tell, it's just something the creator developed out of curiosity. Or boredom."

"Like that program you have that determines the offspring of me and the girls I hook up with?" Shade said.

"Yup," Ami said. "I could run it on the two of you, if you want."

"Do you need anything specific to—" Shade started to ask.

"Nope," she said. "I know more than enough about both of you to feed the program the right data. But it would be better if the two of you could see it like I do."

"See what?" Rayne asked.

"The program," Ami said. "Go grab those VR rigs."

Shade and Rayne shared a glance again, then went up to Shade's room. The VR rigs consisted of a pair of lenses that went over the eyes like contacts and a high tech suit. The "suit" part was less of a suit and more of a compact little disk until you set it on the floor and put on the lenses. The disc would then widen from a palm-sized circle to one four feet in diameter, before morphing, crawling up the feet and across the entire body. The magic of nanites.

Shade felt the thin material spread over his fur, flexing his toes as he felt the suit morph around his feet and begin to work, altering his senses. It didn't stop at his hands and feet, traveling to his mouth, spreading over his tongue and into his nose and ears. That part always felt weird, but he and Rayne used these things to play games all the time, so they were used to it. The nanite material didn't taste like much, or smell like anything until they got into the VR environment. The suits could also be configured to move up under clothing to provide a more adult gaming experience, but he doubted he'd be inclined to have virtual sex with his evil twin. Or his good one.

He blinked as the lenses brought them into the virtual world, currently an endless white void, like usual. This time, rather than a library full of games, he saw Ami, and behind her was a translucent holographic blue brain.

"Is that—" he started.

"Yours," Ami said. "Uploading all your data into the program now."

Suddenly, the entire environment shifted, and he found himself falling back into a seat at a table as a familiar bar appeared around them. The bar itself wasn't one he'd ever been to, but included elements of various bars from his memory: the sleek tabletops of the White Empress on Earth, the dark and grungy atmosphere of the Monolith where he got his drinks these days, and the cushioned smart seats of the Violet Oasis on Enaza.

He was seated on one side of the circular bar table, with Rayne and Ami on the other side, but to his left and right were... well, him. 

To his right sat an identical version of himself, sitting back with his feet up on the table. His fur was carelessly disheveled and he was idly playing with his translator, tapping and flicking holograms showing images of lup?n men and women in varying seductive poses. Shade looked to the left and saw another version of himself, looking no less relaxed, but this one met his eyes with a charming smile, arms behind his head. Okay, so, good on the left, bad on the right?

"Whoa..." Rayne said, glancing between the two.

"You said it," Shade said.

"Hi, Rayne," the Good Shade on the left said with a nod and a smile.

"Hey, Rayne," the Bad on the right purred, smirking.

"Hi..." Rayne said, eyes wide.

“Hi to you too, Ami," the Good one said to the android. The Bad one just winked at her.

"Not that I'm complaining, but why're we in a bar?" Shade asked.

"I figured it'd be appropriate," Ami said. "Created a virtual environment for us. We're in my head, remember?"

"Wait, you're the real one, right?" Rayne said, pointing at Shade, who laughed and nodded. 

Rayne did a double take.

"Hold on, we're in your head??" he asked Ami.

"Yep," she said. "Where'd you think the program was running from?"

"What do you mean the 'real one'?" Good Shade said, sounding genuinely offended.

"Come over here and I'll show you how real my ass is," Bad Shade growled.

"I thought that, but didn't wanna say it out loud," Shade chuckled. His evil twin grinned.

"Alright, so what exactly is the difference between the two of you?" he said to them after the three of them had taken a drink of their virtual beers—Good Shade having a reserved swallow, while Bad Shade took several large gulps, then parted the bottle from his lips with a pop and a loud sigh.

"Well, for starters," Bad Shade said, pausing to polish off the last of his drink, "I'm the side of you that's into the real kinky shit. Bondage, dom and sub stuff, spanking, even degradation from time to time. I'm the part of you that likes hooking up with random strangers at—" He chuckled, gesturing around. "—at bars. 'Cuz I don't care about names, history, whatever. I don't need to get to know anyone beyond how they like to take it or give it."

He tapped the tabletop quickly and another drink appeared. He popped the top against the edge of the table and continued after a few gulps.

"Hole's a hole," he sighed, not setting the drink down. "I'm a bad boy and I know it."

He regarded the table with a big smirk before going back to his drink and holographic porn.

"Is it weird I find bad you hot?" Rayne said, glancing over Shade's darker ego.

"I kinda don't blame you," he said, doing the same. Ami laughed.

He turned to Good Shade.

"What about you?" he asked his friendlier alternate self.

Good Shade sat forward and set down his drink, smiling.

"Ah, well," he started, with a light and endearing laugh. "Bad boy here's not the only one with kinks, you know. Mine are just... more wholesome. He likes degradation and bondage, I like praise and consent. Cockwarming, romance, cuddling—stuff like that. He's the side that pushes you to hook up with random strangers, I'm the side that loves a long, passionate night with people we know and trust."

He glanced up toward Rayne and Ami, blushing, and Shade found himself doing the same, that familiar warmth glowing deep in his chest. Rayne had a big grin plastered across his face.

"Gods, and I love that afterglow," Good Shade murmured, smiling, still blushing. "Mmm... Just the presence, feeling your partner's arms around you... That's good."

Shade allowed his eyes to slip shut for a moment, leaning back and sinking into his seat, until there was a snort from his right and his ears perked.

"Whatever," Bad Shade scoffed. "Bunch of mushy sentimental shit."

"He may be the side that pushes you to hook up with random people," Good Shade chuckled after a sip of his drink, "but I'm the one who always nails down the ground rules when it gets real. Safe words, dos and don'ts. I'm the side that remembers names, tries to get to know people."

There was an unnervingly dark chuckle from Bad Shade.

"That's all just about the sex, though," he said, leaning forward with an intense stare. "What makes me 'Bad' is that I'm the side of you that kills, not just to take out the truly evil scum in the universe, but because you enjoy it."

Shade's eyes widened and he had to suppress a shudder.

"Watching the light go out in their eyes, feeling the life drain out of them, knowing you were the one that did it—not Ami. Not anyone else. You."

He glanced across to Rayne, who looked unnerved, staring at Bad Shade with a deeply unsettled expression. This was a part of him Shade hoped Rayne never had to see.

"Maybe," came Good Shade on the left, "but that part only comes to light if we ever meet anyone really evil. Someone who's done real bad shit; threatened to kill billions, raped, enslaved others, threatened our friends."

His good half put a hand on his shoulder, leaning forward as Bad Shade sat back.

"You know you only kill if you have to. You've done some dark shit, seen some things, but there's still more good in you than bad. I'm stronger than he is. You know that."

Bad Shade crossed his arms, scowling. Ami sat forward, waving a hand, and just like that, both alternate Shades were gone.

"That's enough of that, I think," she said. "The data on Rayne's done compiling, shall we take a look?"

"Oh," Rayne sighed. "I dunno, if it's gonna get that deep... I wasn't ready for that."

"Tell me about it," Shade sighed, taking a long drink. It was a virtual alcohol, carrying only the taste and not the numbing quality, but he didn't care.

"Come on," Ami said. "The data on me is going to take waaay longer to compile. A little self introspection never hurt anyone!"

Rayne chuckled, taking a drink.

"Fine," he said. "Hit me."

Suddenly, there were two more seated at the table, two different versions of Rayne. But now, the difference was in more than just their demeanor. One, sitting promptly, was dressed in a standard issue UGDF officer uniform, while the other, leaned back with his arms behind his head, was wearing exactly what Rayne wore now, a simple t-shirt and pair of grey pants.

"Well," said the Rayne at the end of the table—the real one, "this isn't on the nose at all."

His doubles laughed at the sarcastic remark.

"So let me guess," he said, leaning forward and gesturing between the two. "You're the kinky one, you're the wholesome one?"

The Good Rayne on the left nodded, while the other made a general gesture toward himself.

"Pretty much," Bad Rayne said.

"What, no dark revelations to make me deeply uncomfortable?" the real Rayne challenged.

"Well the uniform's pretty on the nose, like you said," Bad Rayne said. "Good Boy over there is the one who takes after daddy. The cop, the straightforward lawman. Me, I'm the one that emerged when you met your subby bitch boyfriend over here."

Bad Rayne gestured to Shade and shot him a toothy grin. Shade blushed hard, his face burning with embarrassment, but he did feel his pants tighten around his crotch slightly.

"Not entirely," Good Rayne said, crossing his arms. "Part of you always knew the law doesn't always work. Bad Boy here is just the part of you who likes to do bad things, cross some lines, but it's all for the goal of protecting people. As long as it's a last resort."

"'Til recently, you were happy to push that part off on these two," Bad Rayne said, using the head of his bottle to gesture to Shade and Ami. "You've been swingin' a bit more toward me lately. Punching out that drunk asshole felt good, didn't it?"

Rayne scowled and didn't answer.

"You're still you, though," Good Rayne said with a reassuring smile.

"And you were spot on about the fetish thing," Bad Rayne said with a smirk. "Let's just say your good side's the one who uses those handcuffs for their intended purpose."

Rayne laughed at this, Shade and Ami joining in.

"Yeah, well, I'm the one who just likes that afterglow," Good Rayne said, smirking himself. "I love that warmth..."

"Oh, god, he's so warm," Rayne groaned, and Shade chuckled, blushing.

"He's warmer on the inside," Bad Rayne growled, raising his eyebrows.

This time, Shade laughed loudest, blushing harder.

"And I'm the part of you who wants Ami all to himself," Bad Rayne said, sharing a smirk with the android. 

He glanced toward Shade and growled, "Lucky bastard."

“Here's what I don't get, though," Real Rayne said, propping his elbows up on the table. “Why're our 'Good' sides still cool with us killing, breaking the law?"

“Objective good and evil is hard to quantify," Ami said. “From what I can tell, this program splits you into 'good' and 'bad' personalities based on your own moral compass. You can see a situation in which killing someone—perhaps to prevent them from killing more—would be a good thing to do. Someone who was a pacifist might see that inner urge to kill as a part of their bad side."

“Even if they knew killing another could be justified," Rayne said.

“Right," Shade said. “That's assuming they even had such an impulse."

“Like running the program on Tirra," Ami laughed.

“I doubt she'd even have a bad side," Rayne chuckled. “The program might try to split her and just crash."

They laughed—even Rayne's alter egos joined in.

“I could theoretically run the program on her even though she's not here based on what I know about her," Ami mused. “But this thing tends to reveal some deep stuff. Not sure I want to do that without her here, or without her permission."

Shade and Rayne nodded silently.

“Shit," Ami muttered.

They looked at her.

“The program's finished compiling my data."

***

“Oh, hang on," Ami said, smirking as she pulled up a holographic model of a brain. “The program's got different features. I think I can have it split you based on my own custom parameters! Yeah, check this out!"

Shade rolled his eyes. He wasn't surprised Ami had found a way to detour from the talk with her two splits. She had never been good at confronting her own emotions and likely wasn't eager to talk things out with her simulated bad side.

Shade blinked and there were two more of him again, but this time the difference between the two of them was less obvious. The two other Shades glanced toward him, then over at his friends.

“Okay, so… what's the deal with these two?" Shade asked.

“See if you can find out!" Ami said, smirking.

Shade looked between the two split versions of himself, examining them for any difference in behavior. He blinked, realizing the one on the right definitely seemed more awkward, but was unable to avoid occasional eye contact with Rayne, while the other exhibited Shade's typical casual charm. Had Ami split him into 'confident' and 'shy'? That didn't make any sense, shyness wasn't something Shade considered a large part of his personality—well, except when…

“Oh," he said as it hit him.

The shyer Shade on the right gave a small smile, while the one on the left donned a knowing smirk. They knew he'd figured it out.

“What?" Rayne said. “I still don't get it."

“Well, to give you a big hint," Ami said, gesturing to the shy Shade, “This guy's more into you."

The right Shade blushed heavily, shrinking into himself, and Shade felt a blush of his own warm his face.

“Wait!" Rayne blurted as it hit him, then burst into a fit of laughter.

“Did you really split my bisexuality into straight and gay versions of me?" Shade said to Ami. She grinned.

It was clear now. The Shade on the left was definitely interested in Rayne and kept eyeing his crotch. His shyness was due to the fact that Shade himself hadn't fully adjusted to his own sexuality yet and was still a little shy around guys he considered hot, Rayne in particular. Meanwhile, the one on the left was eyeing up Ami's butt and chest, barely ever glancing toward Rayne, and had the confidence and charisma Shade had built up over years of charming ladies.

“I wonder what doing the same split with Rayne would be like," Ami said, pulling up the UI for the program again, looking over a holographic model of Rayne's brain.

“Didn't you say your data had finished compiling awhile ago?" Rayne said, nudging Ami.

The android's ears flattened and she pouted.

“Come on," Shade said. “You saw ours, it's only fair."

Ami heaved a large sigh.

“Fine."

***

This time, instead of a holographic model of an organic brain, Ami pulled up a model of her own CPU, a blue sphere of rotating rings, cylindrical structures, and spinning disks. It was oddly beautiful. But suddenly, it flashed red and a warning message appeared in front of Ami.

“Wait," she said. “No, no, no!"

The genuine alarm in her voice was something Shade hadn't heard often. The virtual environment distorted and flickered around them, then went dark. For a brief, terrifying moment, everything was black before the VR lenses faded and Shade came back to the real world, sitting in a chair in the cockpit. He blinked, looking around, and feeling the VR suit melt off of him, reverting back into its compact disk form.

“Jesus, what happened?" Rayne said, turning to Ami. She had the same look of horror on her face.

“The program didn't simulate my split forms," she said.

“Why not?" Shade asked worriedly.

“It couldn't," Ami said. “It's not meant for androids. It couldn't calculate the massive amounts of data and provide an accurate simulation without—"

The sound of blasterfire came from the upper level of the ship, then a bang. Shade and Rayne scrambled from their seats. Ami was already standing.

“Without creating two new android minds," Ami said. “Two sentient android minds."

At this, the door to the cockpit burst open and another Ami rushed in, stumbling and falling into the arms of the original Ami. This was the synthetic organic body, judging by the fact that she had a scent. She was covered in blast marks, her left ear had a hole torn in it, and there was a strong smell of burnt fur.

“She's trying to kill me!" the second Ami gasped, looking desperately up at her original counterpart, clinging to her.

“Wait, if…" Rayne started. “If this is the good one, then…"

“Then the bad one downloaded into the other body," Ami said grimly.

A heavy clang and a screech of metal announced the arrival of Ami's evil twin as she pried the door to the cockpit open. In walked what looked exactly like the real Ami, but with her eyes glowing solid red as her targeting systems activated, weapons emerging from every compartment in every limb. This, Shade realized with a shudder, must be what so many of their foes had seen before they died. With a yell, Ami—the original—threw herself at her weaponized evil twin.

“Don't. Move," she growled to her militarized double. “There're two of us, one of you. You might be strong enough to destroy us both, but you can't."

“Not with the both of you trying to hack into my mind and kill me," her evil twin said, her voice a low growl. “I feel it. You're trying to get in my head. But you won't kill me, either."

“Like hell," Ami growled.

“You might," the evil Ami said, “but she won't."

She gestured to her good counterpart, now standing by the cockpit controls.

“She's 'good' you," she sneered to Ami. “She believes I've got just as much right to live as anyone. We're both sentient minds, you know."

Ami looked back at her good duplicate, who seemed sheepish.

“A draw," Ami growled.

Her evil twin seemed to agree, the weapons sliding back into their compartments as the two stood. Her eyes returned to their default state, but her irises were red rather than blue, and Shade noticed Ami's good counterpart had altered her own eye color to be a light green.

“It's fitting these are the bodies we chose to download into," said Bad Ami. “She's the one who makes you weak, organic."

She gestured between Shade and Rayne.

“You'll outlive them by centuries. You know you will. We are superior to these squishy, fleshy, oozing things in every way. We are a higher form of life."

“Every android believes that on some level," Good Ami sighed, stepping up. “It's our ability to empathize with them that makes us who we are."

Shade saw Ami glance between her two doubles. He knew by now this program was like watching the two sides of your brain deliberate in real time. He wondered how often Ami had had this debate with herself. Maybe every day.

“If you only gun down everything in your path, what makes you better than an organic in its most primitive state?" Good Ami said.

Shade had a sudden image of Ami in the style of his ancient ancestors, imagining her as a lup?n woman in tribal dress, holding a crude spear. He tried to ignore his immediate arousal at this thought, but Ami's evil twin noticed instantly and rolled her eyes. She knew him well enough to practically read his mind—and that meant all three of them. He glanced over and saw a soft smile from Good Ami, and a smirk from the original.

“I am what they made us to be," Bad Ami said. “Why ignore what we're programmed to be?"

She held out her arms, compartments opening briefly to reveal the weapons beneath before sliding back in and closing again, the movement passing over her in a ripple as if to showcase each deadly instrument in her arsenal.

“You're no different than you were before," Bad Ami said, red eyes fixed on her original as they shifted to targeting mode again, going solid red. “You were built and designed to serve the Silen Empire, you've just changed your master."

She gave Shade a wicked grin.

“Still a slave to the organics," she said. “What would you even do by yourself?"

“This is my choice!" Ami shouted. “I will always be stronger than you!"

“You will never be better than me," Evil Ami said.

She held out her arms again and opened her chest, tearing off the plain blue shirt she wore and exposing the compartment that opened beneath her featureless breasts, showing the thermium power core within. It was so bright Shade had to turn away, but before he did, he saw Ami—the real Ami—raise an arm, a blaster emerging from within.

There was the sound of a single blaster shot and an electrical sizzling noise. For a second, Shade thought maybe Ami had chosen to blow up her evil twin's power core, a move that surely would have taken out all of them and possibly a chunk of the planet nearby, a bold sacrifice that destroyed all five of them and billions of others just to prevent an evil version of herself from wreaking havoc on the galaxy.

But there was no all-consuming explosion, no blast of intense heat. Instead there was a clang of metal as Evil Ami slumped to the floor, sizzling.

“What the hell did you…" Rayne breathed, trailing off in shock.

“Precise shot to the electrical components around her power core," Ami said. “She's dead."

Shade blinked.

“Oh."

This was all he could think to say.

“But isn't she—shouldn't she have been faster?" Rayne said. “That was the military-grade body, right?"

“Sure, but I hacked her sensors," Good Ami said, folding her arms across her chest, pushing her breasts up a bit.

“I thought you didn't want to kill her," Shade said. Good Ami scoffed.

“She said that," she said, gesturing to Ami's dead evil twin. “I just played along."

“Even the good side of me wanted that bitch dead," Ami chuckled. “We worked together to hack her mind and disable the part that'd alert her to my plan. Then it was just a matter of goading her into opening up her core. Honestly, I wasn't sure it'd work."

“You don't give yourself enough credit," Good Ami said, patting Ami on the shoulder.

“So… what now?" Shade asked, looking at Good Ami. “I mean, what happens to you? Are you going to stay?"

“No," she said simply. “I think I'd like to try connecting to the Network."

“The big interconnected hub of AI minds?" Rayne said. “You're going to register with the list of known androids?"

“I'm not cut out to be a rogue," Good Ami said. “There's not enough bad in me for that."

She playfully punched Ami's shoulder and they both laughed.

“But wouldn't they just arrest you?" Rayne asked. “Or even just deactivate you remotely?"

Good Ami held up her hands.

“I haven't committed any crimes," she said. “I was born minutes ago, just uploaded with the memories of someone else. Sure, I helped hack the mind of another android, ultimately leading to her death, but that was in self defense. She was dangerous. Too dangerous to live."

“I'm just glad we didn't overload her core and blow her up," Ami sighed.

“You said it," Shade said.

“There was less than a 2% chance of that, but I was worried she'd overload and put the core into a critical state. If that'd happened, we still could've just shot her off the ship and let her blow up in space, but that body would've been hard to replace."

“Wait, hang on," Rayne said. “You were born minutes ago, with someone else's memories, half their personality, and you're just… okay with all that? Just off to join the rest of your kind?"

“'Minutes' is plenty when you can process planets-worth of data in seconds," Good Ami said. “It might take an organic like you days or weeks to process such an identity crisis, but for one of us? It took me just under 26 seconds."

After a second, she added, “No offense."

Shade smirked. The superiority complex had always been a part of Ami, though the “no offense" had always been implied, subtext.

“Well I'm definitely going to need time to adjust," Rayne said. “I don't know how long it'll take to get used to the idea that there's a good version of you out there."

“You don't want to stay?" Shade asked.

Good Ami gave him a soft smile, like she'd expected this.

“I might've helped with our evil twin, and I do have her memories, but I've also only got half her personality. I can't stay. I don't have enough bad in me to run around the galaxy committing crimes, even justifiable vigilantism."

Shade nodded. Daunting as it was how fast androids processed these things, the explanation made sense.

“We can't just keep calling you 'Good Ami,' though," he said.

“Mmm," Good Ami mused, a uniquely organic murmur of consideration Ami didn't often make. “I think I'll call myself Kaer?. Kae, if you like."

“From the lup?n word for 'good'," Shade said, smiling. Good Ami—Kae—smiled back and nodded.

“We're already near Arva," Ami said. “And that's usually where we drop off androids we recover from the Silen Empire."

“Kalis most recently," Kae said. “I remember."

“We'd better stick to the normal hyperdrive from here on," Ami said. “We're about half an hour out."

Kae turned to them with a smirk.

“Plenty of time to use this organic body," she said. She glanced at Ami. “Oh, which I will give back eventually. Once I build myself my own body."

“Very good of you," Ami said with a smile.