Your Wings Will Betray You

Chapter Six

Kiri, apparently, had owned a place in Iruta at one point. It was the family business, but she'd wanted to actually make the droids instead of cobbling them together from broken parts.

The planet Iruta had once been the colony of Iruta, a mass of Earthen settlers that had eventually rioted against the Magnus Barlow Corporation by blowing up the satellites, cutting off all communication, and destroying any scout ships. Thus a new black market was born, and in exchange for not attacking any more MBC ships, everyone was left alone.

The Magnus Barlow Corporation had swallowed every company that made spaceships it possibly could, like Blue Origin, SpaceX, Boeing, and Hoshikuzu Aerospace, though the last one had mostly freed itself from the Corporation's hold.

MBC had also eaten most technology companies, whether they were well established or promising startups, and began churning out androids to replace specific parts of human labor on exploration ships. Paika was certain she had the company logo somewhere on her endoskeleton, if not on every individual piece. They were definitely egotistical enough to do that.

Paika followed Kiri as she deftly weaved through crowded streets, a destination already in mind. The location was a well-kept wooden building with glass windows allowing passerby to see androids composed of loose parts displayed there proudly.

"Excellent handiwork," Paika commented as she was pulled through a swinging door.

"Don't say it so loud, it'll go to my brother's head," Kiri muttered. Then, louder, she said, "Kia Ora! Is anybody home?"

A young man with a ta moko face tattoo poked his head out from behind a row of shelves and grinned. "Kiki! You're home!"

"Hey, Tai," Kiri said, and was swept up into a tight hug. "Paika, this is Taipo, my brother. Tai, this Paika."

Tai dropped his sister gracelessly. "Paika?" he repeated, adding extra stress to the second syllable.

"P-A-I-K-A, not P-A-I-K-E-A," Kiri said. "Pronounced pretty much the same, though. Funny coincidence, right?"

"Who's Paikea?" the android asked, always interested in learning something new.

"He's a figure from our traditions," Tai explained. "His name was Kahutia-te-rangi and he took the name paikea- whale- when a whale saved him from his half-brother's murder attempt. It's a whole thing. Kiki can tell you later, because I'm assuming you're here for something?"

"Yeah. Paika here, she's a droid. I want some emergency parts in case something gets busted, you know?"

Tai appraised Paika for a moment, then nodded. "What generation are you? Fifth or sixth? I heard they started using scanned human faces in the fifth generation for better realism."

"It was fourth gen, actually, since that's what I am," Paika corrected. "My face belonged to a petty officer killed in a conflict between her squad and cargo jackers."

"She's stardust now," Kiri said. "That's your face. No one else is using it. Man, you weren't kidding when you said you were an older model, huh?"

"And in such pristine condition," Tai said, pleased, and Paika made a note that his accent was much stronger than his sister's. "That's sweet as, man. But I do have a bin full if you want to check through and see if anything's salvageable. I was just going to melt it all down, so feel free to pick through. Uh, Paika, would you mind if I asked you a few questions?"

"Tai, leave it alone," Kiri said, and made her way further into the shop, disappearing through a heavy-looking steel door.

He waited until his sister was out of sight before turning back to the android. "Iruta works on the barter system. You get your parts, I get my information. Why haven't you been trashed yet?"