My Bad Boy Werewolf Quadrillionaire Space Lord

Prepare for the Moon

"Never mind birdbrain." Luca shrugged indifferently and gestured widely with his arms. "It's not like that motorized iPhone is secretly working with a cabal of vindictive billionaires to ruin me and claim Mars for themselves. Izzy's metal familiar is probably just pondering the nature of the universe while hiding in a tree."

Isabella's eyes were somewhat transfixed on his arms, and she only nodded along in agreement. Luca suspected he could have told her he was giving Mars to her and she wouldn't have noticed. His mother though, who had just stepped out onto the porch to join them after finding Isabella real clothes, shot him an amused frown.

"That was a curiously specific example you chose," Alcuard noted. He leaned forward in his chair and stroked his chin. "BIRD might have accused you of blatant foreshadowing."

"Catch me up here," Lito said. He set the stack of legal documents down with a swift swing of his wrist, and the sound it made was remarkably similar to the last time a hedge fund manager had been slapped during a pool party. "This robot of yours, BIRD, it's a roving memory backup device, isn't it?"

"Yes," Isabella said. "Newest model. Most of them are just propeller drones that hover about ten feet away from you."

"So BIRD has constant access to remote servers in order to back up information. And since I believe someone said you're a freighter captain, BIRD must work in space."

"Yep. Even worked on Mars," Isabella said proudly. "Best damn purchase I've made. Only cost a few hundred dollars."

At that, Luca frowned. If there was one thing he knew nearly as well as the uplifting effects of plastic surgery, it was business. And there was simply no way that a self-actualized artificial intelligence with a direct connection to remote servers could be that cheap.

"BIRD was a plant," Luca said.

"I didn't know you believed in reincarnation," Isabella said.

"What? No, like planting a bug."

"Why would you plant a bug? They aren't seeds."

"You're fucking with me, aren't you." Luca cringed and rubbed at his eyes.

"Language," Lito said idly, not really putting any feeling into his rebuke.

"Okay, so BIRD was sold to Isabella for a reason," Luca thought aloud. "And because BIRD worked on Mars, we can probably safely assume that it has some kind of quantum entangled networking device. Heck, it's entirely possible that BIRD is actually a hyper-intelligent AI running from somewhere else entirely, and just uses BIRD like a kid using a remote-controller car."

"Again, an oddly specific and narratively convenient bit of conjecture," Alcuard said. "Yet it sounds very probable, I cannot fault the logic. BIRD struck me as oddly unfocused and far too clever for the limited space its chassis would allow for a neural network."

"So birdbrain's brain isn't in its body," Lito said, and he smirked derisively. "That almost writes itself. But for the moment, I don't want anyone to do anything about this new problem. Until we have the breathing space to focus on BIRD, it can wait."

"Agreed," Anna said as she sat down next to Lito. "Tonight's going to be risky enough without any complications."

"What time is sunrise?" Luca asked.

"Six-fourteen," Lito answered, turning to Alcuard and Isabella. "He will be a werewolf from the rise of the full moon until the rise of the sun, which tonight means about seven hours. So until we can see the sun, the wolf will attack any person or animal it can see or hear."

"I take it you can't lock him up or cage him? I imagine you've tried it before," Alcuard asked.

Anna shook her head. "We have. Even when we managed to contain him, the poor boy nearly killed himself trying to get out. So far, our best option has been to keep him here, and keep him focused on Lito during his transformation."