Whether it be in her personal life or at school and work, Alexa always thought she did a good job taking her problems as they presented themselves. There was a first time for everything, including problems that seemed impossible at the beginning. The next time they came around, she would always be ready. No matter the blood, sweat or tears she shed, she would come out with something to the monument of her effort.

But that only applied to things that she could have reasonably predicted would become hurdles, and the experience of personal teleportation was nowhere near the top of that list. As soon as both she and Aerin had agreed to a talk, the Stateship agent’s hands had touched their shoulders, and then they were elsewhere. The restaurant, the people staring at the odd intrusion, the smell of food in the air…all of it was ripped away in an instant, so quickly that her mind constructed wholly new spectres of its own in the wake of the visual shock. What they morphed into were a tiled stone floor, a concrete pillar, and a series of metal bollards in front of an blinding, iridescent glass door-

Alexa doubled over, her stomach electing to eject all the food she had just eaten onto the stone floor and the row of bushes off the side of the entrance. The chili burnt as it came back up, making her eyes water as she stumbled blindly, hoping to grab onto a bollard to steady herself.

Aerin, on the other hand, simply stumbled against the concrete pillar and just looked pale, trying her best in her daze to avoid the stream of Alexa’s vomit.

The glass sliding doors opened once they stopped being so overwhelmingly sparkly in Alexa’s vision, and a whole host of people rushed out, many in blue nurse’s uniforms and one in a white lab coat.

The agent stepped in between the medical staff and Alexa. “She’ll be fine. Nausea is a common symptom of poor spatial displacement adjustment.”

Alexa’s eyes finally focused once she wiped her tears away, and she saw the words EMERGENCY in large red letters above the doorway.

A hospital. The agent had taken her to a hospital, and one she recognised. Crown Meridian Medical, she thought. She was no stranger to the perpetual antiseptic smell in its lobbies, the hum of the vending machines that the staff used more than any visitors, and naturally, the concern on the nurses’ faces that had transitioned bit by bit into pity with each subsequent visit.

And there was one she recognised now, behind the doctor, her blonde locks curling around her face. Alexa shook her head, and the nurse stepped back. “I’m fine.” She straightened herself up. “I just…that’s a first.”

“Tissues,” the blonde nurse said, waving at her colleagues.

One produced a large roll of thick paper towers, and Alexa ripped some off, wiping her mouth and chin. “Thanks.” She looked over to Aerin, whose complexion had returned to normal. “How come you’ve done this before?”

“Nu-uh. Not this.” She scowled at the agent. “My first time with spatial displacement was taking a shunt vessel getting off of Mars.”

“Clean yourselves up,” the agent said, flashing something small in her palm towards the only doctor present. “We’re here to see Kurt Armitage.”

It was the doctor’s turn to go white. “A-Alright. He’s stabilised now. Will…any more be coming?” He looked around nervously.

“A guard contingent will arrive soon. Make sure they’re not impeded.” She stepped past him, not waiting for his guidance.

Alexa wiped down her mouth again for good measure, and then staggered after the agent, with Aerin trailing behind both of them. She handed the dirtied towel off to a passing nurse, and gasped for the cool air inside the emergency department, which even through the acidic stink that stained her upper digestive tract, smelled sharply of some particular brand of cleaning fluid.

The beds were mostly unoccupied - not uncommon for a smaller hospital outside the city centre - and that made it easier for Alexa to ignore the few closed curtains they passed by to one where shouting was coming from. The agent, on the other hand, was nonchalantly striding over to the bed she was looking for and yanking the curtain aside.

“Ow ow ow ow!” Kurt was shouting, with one nurse holding his left arm while a doctor had both their hands intertwined, powering a spell to straighten his hyperextended index. As soon as the segments of finger were aligned, the nurse slipped on a black fabric sheathe, which quickly constricted, preventing it from moving.

“There,” the doctor said. “Don’t even think about taking that off, Mr. Armitage, especially if you want that to work aga-” He turned and found the agent towering over him. He blinked. “Are you the one who called?”

“Is he in need of any other immediate treatment?” the agent asked.

“...no.” The doctor sighed. “I won’t get in your way.” He motioned to the other nurse, and both left.

Alexa and Aerin stepped in as the agent threw the curtain closed again.

Kurt, his face covered in small cuts and with a patched of singed hair above the nape of his neck, grinned at them. “Oh hey! Didn’t take you all for the type to care about me this much.”

“What happened?” Alexa asked, sweeping her eyes over him. The top of a long purple bruise painted his right collarbone, peeking out from his gown. Only a seatbelt did that, from what she knew. “Car accident?”

“Good eye,” he said. “What about this?” Kurt lifted his right arm, but its range of movement was restricted by the shiny steel handcuffs that locked his wrist to the bedframe.

“Where are the cops?” Aerin poked her head outside of the curtains.

“It’s not their jurisdiction anymore.” The agent stepped up to Kurt. “You were attacked.”

“I didn’t see the guy properly if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I’ve seen the car. Two guns at the scene, only one of them yours, and not in your hand. Everything indicated a close quarters brawl that ended when you engaged a hard break and sent your attacker out the windshield. Am I wrong?”

“No…do they have to be here?” He looked at Alexa, and then Aerin. There was pleading in his eyes. “This has nothing to do with them.”

“It does when you’ve involved them in a project and put them in danger they aren’t aware of.”

“It was just some guy who hid in my car and tried to rob me.”

“Then why are you protecting him?”

Kurt was silent.

Alexa shuffled uncomfortably in place. “Kurt, is this something to do with the car I’ve been seeing outside my house?”

He made a face. “What car? No this was just some guy…” He trailed off once it clicked for them that weren't budging, and he slumped onto the pillow. “Please just leave me alone. I’ve had a long day.”

“That’s it,” the agent said. “I have sufficient reason to believe you’re intentionally obstructing an official investigation by House Ix. If you continue to refuse cooperation, you’ll be transferred offworld to await arbitration.”

Kurt’s eyes widened. “Whoa, whoa, hold the fuck up!”

Alexa hadn’t heard the term before, but she had heard the stories. Denizens of the core vanished into thin air, like they never existed. With the kind of teleportation technology she had just experienced, it was unfortunately not hard to accept. She took a big step away from the agent.

“Your continued lack of cooperation is noted.”

“Wait, wait, okay!” Kurt threw his hands up, as far as he could. “Okay! I’ll tell you!”

The agent tilted her head. “Identify the one that attacked you.” 

He took a deep breath. “Would you believe me if I said it was Pariah?”

The agent blinked. “So he is alive after all.”

“Who?” Alexa blurted.

“Some old assassin,” Aerin said. “Before the Shogunate switched to making those big Ronin puppets, they dabbled in synthetic augmentation. Killed a lot of people in the process  so the next Shogun came and wiped it under the rug.”

Alexa must have given her a confused look, because she continued:

“It was a homegrown Baekho program. Only learned it in our school system.” Aerin looked at Kurt. “Pariah was made a long time ago though. Before the return of magic. I don’t care how augmented you are, humans don’t live two centuries.”

Kurt’s expression hardened. “You really know nothing, do you?”

Alexa narrowed her eyes. “And you do?”

He moved his left hand up to one of the cuts on his face and pinched the skin together, holding it for a moment, before he let go. There was a ridge for a moment, and then the wound was gone. No redness, no scar. “Trust me, you don’t want to live this long.”

Alexa felt her jaw drop. “What the hell!?" She reached over to his face, but felt only smooth, unbroken skin. “How is that-”

The agent's cold, dry hands grasped her wrist, pulling her away from Kurt. “It is, from my understanding, a form of paranatural cellular regeneration. The source is unknown.”

“More like destroyed,” Kurt muttered. “The Federation made sure nobody else could have it. Point is, he drank from the same place I did, so he can in fact be that old.”

“This is insane,” Alexa breathed. 

“There’s a god buried in a spaceship and you’re haunted by a three thousand year old ghost,” Aerin said. “I actually don’t think it’s that far out there.”

“What does this Pariah want?” the agent asked. “Records indicate you have a sorted history. Is this revenge?"

“Is that what you call it?” Kurt scoffed. “See this is what I hate about you skinsuit fetishists. This ‘history’ you’re talking about has always been me trying to stop him, you nitwit. You can’t even see that he blames you for-” Kurt pursed his lips and sighed. “It’s not me that he wants. It’s that god. He’s going to kill it to spite you people.”

“That is…a curious motivation.”

“How so?”

“Most would weaponise that sort of power.”

“You lot would, yeah. Maybe he doesn’t want to win. Maybe he just needs the Stateship to lose, how about that? He just wants to pile up all your failures and slap you in the face with it.”

“I have to investigate further. Stay put, Mr. Armitage.” The agent vanished into thin air, causing a slight gust from the displacement.

Aerin stepped up. “So…now that he failed to kill you, is he coming after us?”

Kurt hung his head. “Don’t know.”

“What does that mean?”

“He seems to want just the god. You two haven’t been there in a week. I don’t see why he would.”

“How reassuring,” Aerin spat, and ducked through the curtains and out of sight.

Alexa watched her leave, and then turned to Kurt. “Any chance you could be wrong about that?”

Kurt shrugged.

“Are you even taking this seriously?”

“I know the guy, doesn’t mean I can read his mind. And he’s getting more unstable. I’ve never seen him this spiteful. Not since…ah. It doesn’t matter. Hatred always leads to more hatred.”

“What else are you keeping from us?”

“Not much. Sven…the Pariah, he said something about the attack on Eden-II. My guess is it was something to do with Stateship that our spook doesn’t have clearance for. I don’t know if that matters.”

Steven. She could no longer tell if it was a relief that one particular planet wasn’t under threat of invasion. The thought sapped every iota of energy from her, and it wasn’t even two in the afternoon yet. She pulled the curtain aside.

“Where are you going?”

“Home. Hope you get better, Kurt.”

Alexa found Aerin back outside, standing in the shaded part of the overhang outside the entrance. She was on her phone, furiously tapping in numbers and holding the device to her ear, only to abort after the first couple of rings and try again.

“Hey.”

Aerin didn’t seem to hear her, try yet another number.

Alexa stepped around to her front. “What’s wrong?”

Her girlfriend looked up, the skin around her eyes puffy, but there were no tears. Yet. “I didn’t sign up to deal with an immortal psychopath.”

“Neither did I. You think we need to bail?”

“What I need is to get the hell off this planet.” She held the phone up again, to no avail. “Shit.”

“You’re…leaving?”

Aerin paused, looking up at her. “I…I don’t know. This stuff is getting all kinds of you fucked up. You could come with me.”

“What about the ghost?”

“If we get far away enough it might dissipate. If it doesn’t, I know people who can perform an exorcism.” She tapped in another series of numbers.

This time, Alexa saw it wasn’t just digits, but letters mixed in. It was unlike any Q-net identifier she had seen. “Who are you calling?”

“Nobody that cares, apparently.” After that too had failed, she pocketed the phone and stepped out into the afternoon sun, following the road.

“Where are you going!?” Alexa called after her.

Aerin didn’t reply. 

As much as she wanted to follow, and as much as a part of her wanted to be mad, she couldn’t muster the effort. A few hours ago, everything had made perfect sense. Now, it felt like a thick haze had settled in her mind, preventing her from thinking properly. Once the wall of lies was torn down, there were gaping holes left in reality itself. It was a rot that ate through the structural integrity of everything, and all she wanted to do was nothing at all. She slumped against the cool glass of the ER entrance, bathing in the all-too-familiar feeling. This too would pass. Whether or not Aerin felt the same way was a problem for her future self.

“Alexa?”

She turned.

The blonde nurse stood there with a large paper envelope in her outstretched hand. “I was expecting you last week.”

The sight dumbfounded her for a second, but she came to her senses and gingerly took the envelope. “Sorry, I’ve been busy. Did I even transfer…?”

“Not yet.”

“I’ll get it done today. Promise. Mari, are there-”

The nurse crossed her arms. “Not yet. No progress.”

Alexa nodded, biting her lip. “Normal time next month, then.”

“Don’t lose hope.” Mari walked back through the doors, and they slid shut behind her.

Alexa found her gaze drifting back towards where Kurt was. The curtains had been pulled closed once more.

She turned and began to walk down the side of the same road Aerin had taken. There was a station not too far away, and it would be half a dozen stops to the bank she used. Then only two problems remained: how to convince Jerod to clean up her lab work, and whether her shoulder bag was still in the restaurant. A restaurant that she just realised she never paid for.

Fucking Stateship, she thought, already bracing for the headaches to come.