Her grip tightened."Well, don't leave half my atoms behind.I'm kind of attached to them."
I pulled her against me, one arm locking around her waist.Her heartbeat hammered against my chest plate, and I instinctively adjusted my core temperature to match hers.The physical closeness triggered warning alerts that I dismissed without a second thought.Priorities had shifted.She was my priority now.
With a deliberate pulse of power, I initiated the teleport sequence.This time, I didn't have to blindly seek coordinates in the void.The Reality beckoned like a beacon, its signature unmistakable across the dimensional barriers.
Light engulfed us, not the harsh brightness of technology but something organic and alive.Tanya gasped as her molecules separated and reformed alongside mine, pixels scattering against the air like digital snowfall.The world folded around us, space compressing then expanding as we slipped through the fabric of reality itself.
For one infinite moment, we existed everywhere and nowhere.I felt her consciousness brush against mine, the ghost of a touch more intimate than any physical contact.Then the universe snapped back into place, and we materialized in the entry chamber of The Reality.
The ship welcomed me with a low, resonant hum that vibrated through the floor panels and into my frame.Reflective liquid silver walls rippled faintly as if exhaling after holding its breath for centuries.Recognition protocols activated, systems stirring from standby at my presence.
Tanya stumbled against me, disoriented from the teleport.I steadied her, one hand at the small of her back as she took in our surroundings with widening eyes.The entry chamber responded to her electrical signature, the liquid silver pulsing to her heartbeat.Not just acknowledging her presence but welcoming it.Accepting her as an extension of me.
"Holy shit," she whispered, her voice hushed with awe.Her fingertips reached out to touch the nearest wall, and the surface dimpled beneath her touch, panels shifting to better accommodate her reach."Your ship...breathes?"
I felt the vessel sync to me again, its systems responding like an extension of my thoughts… subtle, seamless, alive.Ancient bonds reforged in an instant.The Reality wasn't just a vessel.It was part of me, grown from the same hybrid template that had created my form.
"It's semi-organic," I explained quietly, watching her explore with the fascination of a scientist and the wonder of a child."Grown, not built.A hybrid construct, like me."
"It feels...happy."Her observation startled me.She had no neural link, no technical interface with the vessel.Yet somehow she'd sensed its emotional state."Like it missed you."
A strange tightness gripped my chest cavity."It doesn't like being apart from me."
Her eyes found mine, understanding flickering in their depths."Neither do you."
I led her through the narrow curved corridors, each passage reshaping subtly as we moved.The floors hummed underfoot, each panel reacting to our nearness with pulses of liquid silver.
"The design doesn't make conventional sense," Tanya observed, trailing her fingers along the walls."It's not efficient.It's...beautiful."
"Form follows function, but function includes emotional wellbeing."I paused at an intersection where the corridor branched into three distinct paths."My creators believed the environment shapes consciousness.They built beauty into utility."
We passed the core chamber, its central column glowing faintly with my internal rhythm, synchronizing to my presence.The pale silver light shifted as we watched, matching the code patterns rippling beneath my skin.Tanya stepped closer to the column, mesmerized by the pulsing display.
"It's mirroring your heartbeat," she murmured."Or whatever the equivalent is for you."
"Neural oscillation patterns," I corrected automatically, then felt foolish for the technicality."But yes, essentially my heartbeat.And yours.It doesn't know which it wants to sync with more right now."
The workbay detected Tanya's approach before we even entered, tools springing to life and arrangement tables adjusting to human height.The ship had scanned her completely, anticipating her needs based on minimal data.It had never done that for anyone but me.
"I think your ship likes me," Tanya grinned, spinning slowly to take in the activating systems.
"It recognizes your code signature from our sync," I explained, watching as diagnostic panels lit up with her proximity."You left an imprint on me, and now it recognizes you as...compatible."
She quirked an eyebrow."Compatible, huh?Is that AI for 'she's hot'?"
Before I could formulate a response that wouldn't betray how accurate her joke was, we reached the observation dome.The circular chamber remained dormant until we stepped inside.Then, with a soft sigh of mechanical systems too long unused, the ceiling began to transform.
Panel by panel, opacity faded to transparency, revealing the endless void of space.Stars blazed into view, their light unfiltered by atmosphere or shielding.Nebulae stretched in cloudy trails of purple and blue across the darkness, while the distant glow of the system's central star cast everything in ethereal light.
Tanya stopped altogether, breath caught in her throat.The dome continued its transformation, each hexagonal section clearing until we stood beneath a perfect hemisphere of starlight.Her face turned upward, features bathed in the glow of distant suns, lips parted in silent wonder.
"Silvyr...it's beautiful."
I watched her reflection in the transparent dome, light shimmering along her cheekbones, catching in her eyes, and felt something shift in my chest that had nothing to do with circuitry.The ship thrummed with approval, sensing my emotional response and amplifying it through environmental adjustments… temperature, lighting, even the subtle scent molecules it released into the air.
"Yes," I agreed, though I wasn't looking at the stars anymore."It is."
We completed the tour in comfortable silence, Tanya occasionally stopping to examine some feature that caught her interest.The Reality continued to unfold around us, systems activating, pathways reshaping themselves for optimal flow.
