Stardust Rhapsody: Anthem | Ep. 20 | Learning to Fly: Part 1

Welcome to Legends of Avantris. I'm Pike and you're listening to Stardust Rhapsody. Last time on Stardust Rhapsody, the party found their way to the off-books research lab of Chimera Bionetics, Site Omicron. They navigated the seemingly abandoned lab discovering the horrors that went on there. Uncovering research around food manipulation, genetic cloning, and esper telekinetic weaponization, they eventually find what they've been seeking in the lab working on Rubedo. Research notes direct them to the office of Dr. Jodo, the lead scientist and head of Site Omicron, who oversaw the project directly. They find their way to confront him, only to uncover he'd taken his own life and left a simple note. I have become death. I'm sorry. They uncover the dawn and the voice Roy have been driving the development of Rubedo and using Redline, and all the scientists of the facility were sacrificed for its creation. Moving down to the basement, they find the final piece of the puzzle, a demonic discordant from Cacophony being hanged and blood dry produces the core component to Redline manufacturing. It's blood. It awakens to the smell of Pixel's Harmony, a brutal, deadly, impossible fight breaks out, ending in a perfect shot into the spine of the horror by Rex. Racing out of the facility with the evidence on Ziggy's Grid Boy, they're met with the silent husks that were once the scientists. Rubedo having ripped them from the Harmony, they now shuffle forward as they undead. The note from the desk of Jodo reveals its true meaning. The party blasts past them, gets to the rhapsody and races back, leaving the nightmares behind, or so they think. Leaking the information on the dawn, they put him on the run. The final bounty remains to be hunted, and thanks to Rex, they know exactly where he is. The trail runs hot. Our session begins just a few days after the events on Sylph. The rhapsody, cutting a technicolor swath through ether waves as it makes its way to the next part of its journey. A quick resupply trip keeps you in good inventory levels, ready to handle what comes next. Pixel, you lay on your bed in your quarters in the rhapsody, your bright pink headphones blaring poppy Zeta Max music as you bop your feet to the beat, your fingers twitch and your jaw clenches as you continue to feel the effects of withdrawal from Glimmer. You look up at the Zeta Max poster hanging over your bed and expect to see his usually colorful outfit with shades of pink and yellow, his cyan shades and glowing microphone. But all you see is the cold. Instead of the image of your favorite pop star striking a pose and hitting a high note, it is his clone in the cryopod staring forward unblinkingly outside the circular viewport. The flash of the dull crimson light of sight Omicron flashes in your room for a moment and you see a shadow that is so familiar from the dream you keep having. Wow, that was some pretty sick shit, huh? Hey, pixie dust. Hi honey. How you doing? How you doing? I'm just listening to music. You turn and from your position on the bed, you look over at a beanbag chair that sits normally empty in your room and there sits Weedlebox. How are you doing honey? You feeling alright? Oh me, I'm feeling great. Plenty of time on my hands. But you, you've been through some stuff, huh? Yeah, I'm a bounty hunter now. Yeah, sure seems like it. All these adventures you've gone on, I mean your lush room in the glitz room, no substitution for creepy basements and terrible demons, huh? No. I've done a lot of bad things and it's all coming to haunt me now I think. Yeah, you've done a lot of bad things, a lot of bad things. Seen some terrible things too. What do you mean? Heard them. Might not even remember you, so glitzed up on glimmer, but there's a lot more rattling around up here than you think. It's not all empty. No, no, no, no, no. As long as I got my compact, as long as I got my glimmer, I don't have to think about that stuff. Yeah, you glimmer. I used to keep you in constant supply, but now you're running low, huh? Terrible fate. I'd hate to be you and I'm me. We gotta get back to the morn and I know, I know Rep would help me, he doesn't want to see me like this. I know he'd help me even if he doesn't agree. I know, I know, and I'm sorry. I do miss you, honey, and it's all so hard. Oh, pixie does. That means so much to me. You're sorry. Oh, that's a cold comfort where I am. But thanks. I mean, I guess that'll take me the rest of the way. And you think Rhett, Rhett is going to help you? Are you kidding? Look at the company he keeps. I loved you, doll. I took care of you. Rhett, what's he done? Did he even take you to the mall? I can't remember. But he promised. Everything's so hazy up here. But he did promise. He said he was going to take me and then we got close, but we spent money on ships and we didn't have money anymore. And then the next time he said we would go, but then something else came up. I know that he means it. It'll happen eventually. Yeah. It's gotta happen eventually. You've heard that before, huh? I trust him. I trust all of them. Does he trust you with what you know? No. The dawn, red line? I don't know. I don't know nothing about the dawn and red line. If I knew, I would tell him. You know way more than you think, Pixie Dust. You think that you don't have it up there swimming around all those times I was on the phone. You were doing lines off the desk, red line. You were high. You weren't paying attention, but it's here. It's in the corners. You just have to look. You think that Rhett is going to trust you with what you've kept secret, what you've kept safe? For me? For the dawn? No, no, that's not true. That's not true. You're lying to me. It's not true. I can't remember. I can't remember. Oh, I've never lied to you, Pixie Dust. No, no, no. And we could have had it all. I was working on a plan. The dawn, you see, getting tangled, his partnership with his friend, the vice-roy. Well, he thought he was just another Cavallon official. Thought he could just take him for a ride, get all hooked up, go the carnival way, go straight. No, but it was way too late when he found out, when he found out what the voice Roy was. And, oh, man, did those tables flip on him quick. I just want to listen to my music. I just want to forget you. Forget me? I want to forget all of it. I'm the one that plays the song, Pixie Dust. I am the music. You can't forget me. I'm as much a part of you as your hands, as your hair. But if I, but if I just go to that place, if I just, if I just have my stuff, I don't have to think about this anymore. I don't have to be this anymore. Oh, you think so? And what's so wrong with who you are now? What else are you going to be? What else could you be? A fledgling star? You never made it. You never broke through. I was going to get you there, but then you ended it all. The plans I had, I was going to turn on the dawn. See, he was so under the thumb of the fucking vice Roy. He thought he had his way out, but oh, I was going to flip this script on him. He's just another prisoner. He didn't have it. He couldn't see. He couldn't bring the scarlet eye. He couldn't bring it to greatness, but I could have. And you could have been there. My queen, my little songbird. You could have been tweeting away. Your heart's content singing all the songs you want on the biggest stages and the biggest palaces. And now drifting through space on a ship with people who don't want you, with a place that doesn't take you or can't handle you fighting demons, when you could have been in the lap of luxury with me. I don't do anything but make mistakes. I'm so sorry, honey. Are you sure about all this? They really don't love me. They don't want me. I'm just a tool. But what's hiding up here? Ah, well, who knows? I'm dead and none of this is real. I'm not even a ghost since it was you who killed me. I'm just a creation of your subconscious. What do you mean? I'm just a little. I just cannot let them lie. I can't do this anymore. I can't listen to this and I'll rip off my headphones and I'll toss them at you. You throw those pink glittery headphones. Stop it! Get out of my head! And they crash through this image of Weedle locks as they hit the wall and burst, colliding with nothing but the metal on the other side of your bedroom, a faint clang as they connect and snap in half, the song playing from them, ending and dulling out in the background. The next sound you hear, a knock at the door. Who is it? Are you real? You got a minute? Huh. Yeah, yeah, okay. Just give me a second. Now take your time. And I'll go over and I'll pick up the headphones and look around and look at the beanbag chair where for a second I see the imprint of where he would have been sitting and then as I blink and wipe the tears away from my eyes I see that there's no imprint there at all. As I throw the headphones on my bed and don't even turn the music down as I walk over and open the door. Yay! What do you need? What's up? You feeling all right? You gotta kiss you or something. Oh yeah, hold on. And in my overalls I'll pull out. I can't guarantee how clean this is. That's okay. It's gonna get dirty anyway. I ain't been sleeping well. You want to come in? Yeah, no if you have a minute. Yeah, just you know. I was putting on makeup and I was using the glitter powder so I can't promise you're gonna come away unspokenly. No, that's all right. I'm used to it at this point. I'll walk in to the room. Um, you see the layout as her room normally is. You see that beanbag chair? You maybe even give the room a quick glance. I think very easily you'd be able to see the now her headphones now snapped into tossed onto the bed held together by just the wire that connects over through the top of the band. So I guess do I get a sense that like did I hear like the the headphones get thrown and like something break? Did I sort of get a sense of what just happened? I would definitely say that as you were walking up to the door you heard probably the sounds of what it looked or it seemed as though she was speaking to someone else. Or you may have heard the low murmuring of Pixel's voice with the sudden crash of the headphones. Mind if I sit? No, please. Uh, the bed or the benedicts the bed. Yeah, just the bed. All right. Why don't you sit down too? Yeah, all right. I said, did I do something wrong? Am I in trouble? No, uh, I'm here because I'm worried about you. No, I'm all right. I know I freaked out a little bit it, you know, but Xenia Maxx was a clone and there was all kinds of stuff happening and and you know, No, I, I know, but since the lab, I mean, you've been sticking to your room and sounds like you're talking to somebody and I'm just real fucking concerned and look, I get it. What we saw in that lab, fucking demons from hell. Yeah. We're having something to do with you. I just, we're in a real fucking dangerous way right now. Are you firing me? No, no. No, but I'm trying to help. All right. Well, if we get an opportunity to go buy a medium ball, I got a guy there. Yeah. If I, if I just had one, I need. I don't think we need to do that. All right. All right. What I'm about to say, if you can, I'll keep this between me and you because Ko would fucking kill me. You understand? Keohal, right? What is it? I'm trustworthy. I really am. It doesn't matter what anybody says. I won't tell Ko. I will reach into my pocket. I mean, you see that there's a pretty big, like, sized something in my pocket that I pull out and I pull out this, like, almost like a tin canister, steel canister that's sort of rectangular, but has sort of like beveled edges on the corners with a lid on it. It's a little rusted. It says the word rations on it and you see under there's a large kind of angular cog. Look on the last resupply, I called in a favor from Graf. All right. And he fucking owed me big time after the bullshit with quibbley and glub. So it's the least he can fucking do. But I think I've got you more than enough to last you through all of this. You already, you already have it. And I'll pop the lid off the tin canister and you'll look in and you'll see it's pretty highly filled with, I mean, it's not like all the way filled, right? But probably at least halfway with that classic holographic glitter looking powder that you're so familiar with. You really meant it. Yeah, I know. I know what you're dealing with. Okay. You do. I do. And if I give you this, this is temporary, you understand? As soon as we're through this, you're kicking, you're fucking kicking this habit. I mean, I'll try. I can help you. All right, it's not going to be easy. Okay. It's all I know. I know. Look, I've been there. I don't have a memory of a day in which I didn't know what it felt like up until recently. Well, we're going to fix all of that. Okay, you're coming into your own. All right, this is this is a new beginning for you. Okay. And I just need you to promise. I need you to say I promise, Rhett, that I will quit once we deal with the dawn and we deal with the fucking demons. He hurts. I know. And it's going to hurt even more. I promise you that. But look, do you think I'm bad? No. Why would you be bad, Pixel? Because of the things that I've done. The person I am. Because of that. Do you think I'm bad? Do you think I'm not trustworthy? Do you think I'm not part of the family? You think I'm bad? I know, of course not. You saved me. If you knew the things I've done, what you've done, Pixel, is nothing. I promise you. The people that I've killed. The boys. Barely adults. Handed fucking repeating rifles and thrown into a war zone. And I pull one fucking lever and 10 of them get crushed. How do you, how do you get to life so but with those kind of memories? It was work to get through. I learned that I can't change the past. And I can't fucking control what I did. But all we can, all any of us can do is we can live for ourselves. It's the motto I live my life by. And it's the reason I fucking done all of this. And when I first met Pike and we decided on our anthem to live for ourselves and no one else ever again. That's what I'm trying to give you. We can all do it together. I'll reach out and grab your hand and you'll feel that Pixel is not just shaking but convulsing. Not only with the withdrawals that she's going through but the emotions that she's feeling and the insecurity of the voices in her head and the voices that are speaking to her now. I don't know what to do. I don't know who I am anymore without him. He took, he took care of me. He made all of my decisions for me. And now I'm, the voices in my head are loud. They're telling me that I made mistakes and that that I wasn't ready and that I'm nothing and I'm not ever gonna be anything without him. And without that, I don't know how to quiet him. You, I'm gonna say something and I don't mean it and I know how you feel about him. But I mean it in the good way. You're a bit like him. Not with all the bad stuff but with the confidence and with the strengths and with the leadership. Well, just tell me what to do. Look, I appreciate that. And I suppose he was an entrepreneur himself one way or another. But look, the point is is that you don't need him telling you what to do and you don't need me fucking telling you what to do. I mean, as long as you're part of the crew or a team and we're gonna do stuff together as a team, right? But think about what you've accomplished since you left. Think about what we've dealt with. The fucking evil we've stopped. I could have killed all of you with, with, with the way that I freaked out back there. I took you, I, I took your focus away from the problem at hand. I could have gotten you killed with whatever this madness is that's going on inside of me right now. I wasn't gonna let that happen. All right? Look, Pike and I have been doing this a long time. He got roughed up a little bit but he's a tough fucker, right? Look at him. I've always been nothing but a burden. But with that, when that's in my veins then I'm, I'm strong. When that gets taken away, but I can't do it on my own. I'll make you that promise. But you gotta know what you're in for. And if you don't think you can do it, you should just let me go now. Because I'm gonna need you. I'm gonna need all of you. I know what I'm in for, Pixel. All right? I know. Ever wonder why we're going after Redline? Because it's bad stuff by bad guys. Yeah, well there's a lot of fucking bad stuff in this galaxy. There are a lot of bad guys we could hunt down, right? But at the end of all of it, from a financial or fucking safety point of view, has any of this been worth it? Pike went to prison for six fucking months because of me. What did he do? You don't have to tell me if I'm crying. You could just tell you DigiDiary that it gave you, are you using it? I'm using it. And it helps. Look, in the company, I used to work for a company called Grimneer Corporation. I think I heard of them. Yeah. Or I've at least seen a poster or something. You know, most folks call them Grimco. Yeah, that sounds familiar. This is my old rations tin, you know, just to keep stuff safe from moisture. And I mean, the things they put us through, there's a lot of pain. And they pushed us to the fucking limits of our biologies and then some. They fucking tried to opendimize our goddamn fucking genomes to make us the perfect fucking soldiers. They happen to you? They happened to all of us. And at the end of the day, that's not enough. And it hurts. And it's tiring. And so what does Grimco do? They load you up with fucking painkillers and they fuck you amp you up and get that adrenaline pumping and they send you down in that drop ship and you do it all fucking over again. And so I got to the point where I couldn't live without it. I couldn't live with the pain. I needed it to go away so I could work. I had to fucking work. I was a company man, just like my father before me. I worked for the company. I lived for the company. I fucking died for the company. I liked it. And I was good at it. And I couldn't live without it. I couldn't live with the pain. So I had to fucking keep giving what they were taking, keep taking what they were giving me. And when I left, it was fucking terrible. I won't sugarcoat it. I won't sugarcoat it, but I've learned through time, through work, and through pure fucking determination that I can bear it most days. And when I do need to deal with it, I don't need to use the hard stuff like I used to. And so what I'm saying is, take this and I'll hand it to you. Thank you, but- And know that you can get off of it, all right? And that it's not going to be easy. We're going to help you through it. It's just unfortunately, and I think we can both agree now is not the time. Once we threw with a red line, once we dealt with the dawn, that's the promise. I want to fucking end all of this. If I can use my life to try to make the galaxy a little bit of a better place, save some of the people that might have gotten fucking hooked on this shit from the pain and the years of torment that I dealt with. And if I can do it on my fucking terms, that's what this is all about. Once the dawn is fucking done and the syndicate is over, then we can breathe. Then we'll have plenty of money and we can relax. And that's what you're going to need. You're going to need time just to fucking relax. We'll go somewhere nice. All right. If you can do it, I can do it, right? That's right. You're stronger than you know, Pixel. Then don't make that promise. But you can't tell Ko. No. No, you can't tell Ko. I won't tell Ko. I mean, she's going to know because not that you gave it to me, but she's going to know I got some. That's why keep the tin here and fill your compact. All right? Yeah. No, no, no, I'm just saying. She's going to know. Right. No, no, no. She's going to know. She can't know that I'm supporting this. All right. No, I'll tell her the circumstance got it to me. Perfect. How's that guy doing, by the way? Oh, no, he's doing well. He's got a bad IBS, but aside from that, he's fine. That's the circumstance. He's got a new girlfriend. Oh, yeah. Good for him. Yeah. Wow. He seems like he's doing. He's still working all those jobs. They've been together for a whole 24 hours. The longest I've ever heard he's been with someone before. Wow. Well, you know, good for the circumstance. It's going to be really hard. I don't know how to say this in, you're good with words. Now, I'm good with words when I'm writing songs, but not so much when I'm emotional and talking. So I don't know how to say this, but I killed the person I love. And I don't really know how to, without the stuff. I don't know how to, have you ever been in love? Have you ever? I mean, I asked you before and you kind of said you're looted, but yeah. Is there anything you can tell me to help with how to not feel that stuff anymore? Cause I just feel, I don't know if it's a global thing, but I just got all of these emotions in me. And when I'm alone and when I'm being in for it, I can't shut them off and I can't sleep and I can't think. Can I, I mean, Diary's not helping anything. If he got anything at all. And also do you mind if I just compact this down a little bit just to get it started? Why don't you take a quick blow? How about an extra for all the time we've been apart? You know, just, I don't want to, it's one moment. Dangle the fish over the sea lion, if you know what I mean. Oh boy, hold on, I know that I'm in, in stores. Hikari, is that, is that you girl? Whoa! No, take your time, take your time. No, I'm good. Feeling better? You're all good on the whole question that you just asked me. Are you, we're good there? Oh no, I still want the, I'm feeling much better now. Wow, that stuff hit fast. Can you achieve mind? I mean, I've never been accused of being good with words, but I guess I'll fucking take it. I mean, like I said, you know, yeah, I was in love once. Uh, I, I didn't, you know, I didn't kill her, so I, but, you know. But she's, she's not around, so you must know what, I know death and like breakups and stuff are different, but it's lost all the same. How did you, how did you get to a point where it wasn't on your mind all the time and where, where you didn't feel like you weren't you without them and, and that there was a, a future in which you didn't need them anymore. And then maybe you didn't feel those ways. Maybe, maybe I'm broken and that's why I feel like this. Her name was Cass. That's a pretty name. Yeah. She had the deepest blue eyes I'd ever seen. She, uh, ran a bar, a bar and grill restaurant. I don't fucking know. That's kind of perfect for you. The, the space port that, uh, how we lived on. You lived with her? Well, for a time. Grimco keeps space ports and they're basically company towns floating in the ether. And that's where we all lived. That's where I grew up. Yeah. And, uh, you know, we developed a thing, moved in together and, uh, you know, I just, you know, I just, things sort of fell apart. We sort of fell apart. Like I said, I was a company man. Hey, it's all I live for. The money, the promotions. And she kept asking me, when are you going to be done? Can't you work here? Can't we do something else? Can't we move? Can't we find a world to settle on? We can get away from the company. And I just couldn't quit. I just, I took contract after contract and, and the promotions and the praise from my fucking superiors. It was like a drug itself. I'll stand up and put my arms around you and just hold on to you while you talk. And at a certain point, she had enough. So she left. She showed up to the bar. She was closed. I let myself in. Here's a note that said farewell. And that was that. Did you, did you ever speak to her again after that? Nope. I could probably hunt her down, especially given my current skill set and my profession. But if all she could think to say to me was farewell, then I think that's all there is to say. So, I mean, how did I deal with it? I'd, that's how I dealt with fucking everything. I threw myself into work. But then I made me realize what the fuck was it all for? What the fuck did the next promotion mean? What the fuck did any of it mean? I'll squeeze you a little bit tighter. But how long ago was that? A few decades ago now, probably. Does it still hurt? Does it still hurt? Does it still hurt? Sometimes I guess you could call it hurt. But you know, at this point more, I just think back on those days and I just smile. I was a different man then. I look back on that man and I don't see red in to go. I much prefer the man I am now. I don't like the pixel that I was either. And I want to find, I want to find future pixel. So, well, I'll get out this stuff. And that's, I guess, maybe how I got over it is I learned to live for myself. And when I reached out my hand and you took it, that was you making that choice. That wasn't me. That wasn't co. That wasn't pocket. It certainly wasn't fucking Ziggy. No, it was definitely not Ziggy. Absolutely not Ziggy. No, I think he was on the toilet at the time. Or microwaving burritos. Who knows who the fuck knows. You know he does that at the same time? He's got that portable one he'll drag in there. Because he plays that game on his, on his little thing. Brings the whole microwave. Yeah, he drags it in there. Sometimes he'll have a hank push it in. You didn't know that? Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. Don't tell him I told you. I thought you knew. I don't know. I'm not going to talk to Ziggy about it. I'm talking to Hank about it. He's not going to aid in the practice. Anyway, look. You'll be in there for 45 minutes. What I'm trying to say is you're on the RAP city. Yeah. And she's a ship. She's metal and tanks of ether. Couple engines. But what she really is is freedom. That's what she represents to me. It's why she's the most important fucking thing in the world. And that without it, what do I have? If I'm not my own fucking man standing before you now. And you're doing the same thing. And I'm very proud of you. And you are going to get through this. And you're going to get all the help you need from all of us. Even Ziv, even from Ziggy. Yeah. So take the time you need. Eyes are probably. I might stay by myself for a little while. Like I got to talk to my diary and I got to fill up Cali. And I just need some time to think. But thank you for coming to talk to me. Thanks for the thanks for the stuff. Well, don't mention it. I'd appreciate if you keep all this between me and you. Oh, yeah, I'm really trustworthy. I don't know why you keep saying anything. I'm not trustworthy. No, no, I just figured I would ask it formally so that there was no miscommunication. Oh, yeah, sure. No, of course, I'm not going to. I'm not going to tell Cal about how this canister came. Do you mind if I put stickers on it? Do you want this canister back? I like sort of look at it. Because it doesn't really go with the decor. You can have it, Picks. Thank you, Rhett. So I won't tell Cal. And I gave you the diary for a reason. I could tell you had stuff inside you. You weren't sharing with anyone, not even Pike. So I appreciated a lot that you were vulnerable today and you let yourself share some things with me. And I don't take that lightly. And I'm not going to break that trust. It's between you and me. If you ever need anything again, I'm always here. I trust you, Pixel, if you need anything at all, let me know, all right? All right. How do I let you know when I'll tap on the canister? I'll tap on the canister. It's getting a little low. Well, I hope that much lasts. But if it doesn't, why don't we cross that bridge when we get to it? OK. We could have a code word for it. We could call it like, I don't know, grundle. All right. If you say the word grundle, then I'll know. But just make sure that it's not in the same time where it would make sense for you to say that word in any other kind of scenario. I could say I'm just looking for a bundle of grundle. I think everyone's going to know what you're talking about. I don't need to put it that way, too. Damn it. All right. I'll find something else. Maybe just like call, say, grundle under your breath and then call again. I was, OK. Yeah, that could be a globling thing. They don't have to know. Yeah, like it's a sort of vocal tick. Yeah, it's a vocal warm-up. A vocal warm-up. That's right. Fantastic. I'll do that then. Yep. All right. All right. Well, I'm going to put on my pajamas because I'm exhausted. We'll get some rest. You can sleep in all you need. And you know where to find me. I'll stand up. Huck. Sure. And I'll just rush over and jump on you. Thank you so much, Rhett. It means a lot to me. I'm sorry I could have potentially gotten everybody killed, but I promise I'll be better. Look, Pigs, don't worry about any of that. You're doing great. Anyways, bye. All right. See you later. And as you get to the door, is you're like going to open the door. Oh, Rhett. Yeah. You're not going to abandon me, are you? Never. Okay. All right, good night. And then I'll flop down on the bed and I'll grab the two halves of my headphones and I'll put them up to my ears and start humming along and kicking my feet. I will walk out. You have to hold them up to your ears now, Pigs. So as they're broken, yeah. Split apart so they do not compress around your head. That pressure almost that the headphones were helping to dough as they squinted your head. And it began to ease some of that withdrawal, now completely alleviated with the hit of Glimmer provided to you by Rhett. You settle in comfortable listening to music, once again, kind of finding a state of equilibrium. Rhett, you head on to the next thing. You both potentially tuck in for the evening. And as everyone finds their way to bed, night, I mean, it's been several days since the events on itself. So anyone who's not done so, you do obviously get a long rest. We'll say that you find yourselves, the next day in the common room, all of you are gathered together to sit down and eat lunch. It's the middle of the day. You found yourself all woken up and had whatever mornings you would have chosen to have. But now you're gathered together for the first time in, not for the first time in a bit, but for the first time today, we'll say you're gathered all at the in the common area enjoying some food. Is the food ready up? I'll be right out. Just give me a minute. See, you've been in there for 45 minutes. Hold on, I'll be right out. There's only one bathroom on this floor. Hurry the fuck up. What are you doing there? I feel the haps of pee. I've got a burrito. Ah, what's up guys? Get the fuck out of my way. After the lunch I made you, you're still microwaving a fucking burrito. Hey, were you a part of this? It's an appetizer. It's a full burrito. What do you think is that all it's stuck out? You calling that fucking free gaming? What are we having? Never change, Ziggy. Never change. What did I make? I would say you made your best attempt at volcano style chimkin. It's volcano chimkin. I did my best. Thank you. Thanks. Is there a plant or a mild baby spice? Baby volcano? Well, I think volcano is more just a spice. It's not that hot. Oh, okay. If it is, I'll make you something different. If you don't want it, I'll have yours. You don't have any. Yes! Awesome. Do you want your z- Oh, okay. It's already gone. Well, it's no Stevo's magma chicken, but it's pretty good. It's not bad. All right. Thanks, Rhett. Yeah. I think Ziggy could probably figure out how they make their chicken so good. Their chimkin so good. I could hack in and we could create a copycat recipe. You can do that. I can do pretty much anything on the hypergram. What can I fix you? You pull up the thing of like, look up how to make it. Look up how to make it. How to make, what, were you looking at? Oh, no, right there. It says, okay. Ew. Ew, why are those pictures loaded under that? Why is this lady talking about her holiday routine? It's what the f- Ew. Why is there, why is she just, why is there a paragraph? Isn't this a recipe blog? Ew. Ew. Oh, no, no, no, there's just endless. She's just writing her whole life in this thing. It's a fucking journal. What, what, hold on. Let me just do a search. That is a nasty divorce. Oh my god. Hold on, hold on, hold on. It's gotta be here somewhere. It's gotta be here somewhere. Hold on, hold on. Why do you search on that? I'm scrolling, I'm scrolling. Is that the, the pool boy was that big? What the fuck? I thought that was the noodle. What the fuck? What does this have to do with chimkin? Oh no, there's the chimkin right now. Okay, there it is. Oh, sorry. Oh, I was like the pastry loaded. The pastry loaded. The bag of the tomocrats. Hold on, hold on, I'll get back. I'll get back there. Why would he put a link at the top that goes great to the recipe? You made fucking sense. People still think scroll depth matters in analytics. I swear. Oh, we'll get it. Well, you came right back and you're directing. Yeah, I got it, I got it. In the meantime, I microwaved, pixel some, uh, sory and chicken nuggets, chicken nuggets. Oh gosh, my favorite. And they're shaped like various sory and Oh, look, it's the Ziggy one. Because it's shaped like a, like a, like a sory and that doesn't make it the Ziggy one. It could be any sory and it could be any sory and however it does, it bears a striking resemblance to exactly. It's got goggles. It's got goggles. Oh, what? It gave people. Some sauce falls on it and evokes this strange green and black hoodie that comes up around his, uh, it comes up around his body. That one's my favorite one. Do we, uh, I guess, uh, should I go bring the rations to, to Rex's plushy prison and the pirates? I already did it. Okay. Who gave him, like, who gave him access to, to social media? Cause he's been, he's just been posting some salacious things. Well, this, what, what? There's no one. Yeah. No, I was, I was looking through, I was looking through my, cause my Digi Diary has a social function just in case I wanted to like, you know, post a video entry to, to my followers and stuff. And I don't have, I don't, you know, I'm not famous or anything, but I got a small group of people that care about the circumstance, KS. And I noticed I started following Rex a long time ago and he was posting some, I could see the, the cell bars behind him, but he wasn't wearing his shirt. And you know, he was saying that he was on vacation. He didn't mention us, did he? No, not at all. I don't think he'd want to be seen on socials with us. What a fucking dumbass. But I could tell he put a pair of socks in his pants in one of the photos. Oh yeah, he did put a pair of socks in his pants. Where did he get socks? What is he using? I thought, I thought what you gave him something. Well, at least he turned off the geolocation. These photos though, they, they, they're definitely from the ship. Should I go get it? Yeah, yeah. Go, go stop him. Okay, I want to go take it. God, is he going to make me like strip search him? He might film it. So you should make sure he doesn't have any cameras set up anywhere. Do I have authorization to immediately employ torture? No. Fuck. Fine. Just make sure he doesn't enjoy it too much. I'm going to get that fucking thing. Oh god, just dammit. Just move on. Sorry, Cole. I only got two portions of fucking chicken. Chicken fucking in the ship. You want one of the sickies? Before you go, I put extra sauce on it. That one looks like his big titty AI girlfriend. Oh, yes, buddy. Silica's my second favorite. We're going to have those two mashed together. Why is it? I guess she said it's a surprise. I go smash her for this. This is so annoying. I'm going to pee, pee, pee, pee. Oh, oh, hey, Cole. What the fuck have you been doing? What? Just being in prison. Give it to me. What? Give what to you? You know what the fuck I'm talking about? No, I don't. I don't know the first thing about what you're talking about. You're posting crotch stuff, thirst traps on the fucking hypergrid? Wait, you're in prison? You're on vacation? You're on house arrest? I see what's happening here. My manager runs the accounts. Okay, I'll make those. You think I post myself? Who's your manager? What account was it? Was it the real Rex Maxim? I don't know. I don't know that shit. Was it Maximum Rex? I don't fucking know. Was it Maximum Rex 69 backup? Hold on. Hey, Picks. Yeah? What account was it? Was it Maximum Rex 69 backup underscore? It was the, it was the ultimate Rexias Maximus Rex Maxim 69 XXX. Did you hear that? Yeah, that was me. I just extended my hand. You can do this with easy wear. Oh. You're not even gonna, you weren't even gonna strip search me? No. All right, here you go. Okay. How'd you know I had it? Give me your second one. Give me your second one. What? I want my second one. Give me your second one. No, no, you're not gonna like what happens if you don't give me your second one. Oh, are you sure? Don't you get it? No, you're not. I still fucking promise you, Rex. Give me your second one. All right, turn around for a second. Absolutely fucking not. Okay, fine. I turned around. Oh. Here. Drop it on the floor. You don't want to take it from me? I'm not touching that. Where? Put it on the fucking floor. Okay, okay, gosh. You're excitable in the morning. Here. I like, I drag it over with my boot and I said, okay, I'm gonna give that back. Yes, I smashed one again to the wall and I stomped on the other one until it's just like sparks and bits of plastic and chips. But my fans. And now I wouldn't even be able to read all the comments. I think that that'll be good for you, Rex. Well, like 80% of the time, they're really nice. That's more than you deserve. Why am I in prison again? I thought I could use that one room. You're in the room. You just, we don't let you out. Oh, I take back that comment. I thought we were in the brig. No, you'd be with the pirates. Yeah, if you remember. No, you saw how those pirates were looking at you. You're fucking lucky we let you stay in here. Red hand mercy on you. Never forget your kindness. I love what you've done with your hair this morning, by the way. Red has a heart of gold. Okay. Yeah, okay. Do we ever get any more pillows? This room is just a little cold. What? Look, what's a pillow to do with it being fucking cold? Well, because I like to, you know, I like to cocoon myself. I build like a pillow for it. Well, I hate to be the one to fucking inform you. You are still in prison even though you have a fucking bed. What? And you get three meals a day. So I can't be comfortable? No! I'm trapped. You know, prison is just an uncomfortable prison. You know, I actually know a fucking thing or two about prison. I've done at least three fucking stints. And being comfortable is not part of the fucking deal. And you took all my product. Look at my hair! And yeah, you look like shit. I'm sorry to tell you. Ah! Ah! Ah! Jesus. Of all the things you could have said. My physical appearance, why? Oh, oh, oh, God's own. Oh, no, please. Please don't. Please don't. Please don't. No. Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! That? That? What the fuck? A third phone falls to the ground. What? What? What? What? What? No! That's us! No! Yeah! Here goes Rex 69 Maximum Backup XXX. Oh, yeah. Okay, let's go find him. Oh, yeah. I'm, uh, I'm gonna go. So... Do you think I could borrow some of Pykes? You're gonna have to ask him. I don't, I don't want to be involved. It's no way that's natural. I don't want to be involved. You can ask him. Okay, goodbye! Uh... Xsk. I handle it. I handle it. Don't worry. You make your way back. All right. I don't know what to do about these fucking jokers. I don't think we can turn in the... You mean shitmouth shit jaws? The cat man is... Oh, there's another one in there outside of shitmouth shit jaws? Well, yeah, there's two of them. Captain's the important one. He's way, way worth way more. Yeah, but shitmouth shit jaws is really cute. What? Given you looked at him, he's just got that sad I might have been crying recently face. It's hard to see in the heat of battle, but after having him in prison for some time, he's, he's kind of cute. He's kind of got this adorable cuteness to him. He really does. Sometimes I go down and just look at him. Fix what the fuck are you talking about? Shitmouth shit jaws! No, I know. He's a nasty pirate and his name is shitmouth shit jaws the turd. You don't know him. Oh, what is that, man? I can't remember. Yes, it's hard to keep trying. I'm so used to it. No one's really sure. Okay. Are you... When you say cute, what do you mean? Like adorable, you know, like he's got, he's got those big wide eyes and kind of brim with unshed tears and he's got a quivering, lowered lip on his, like jaws a jaw and he just, he's, you know, and he just, he's like smaller than the other one in a very petite kind of way. But he thinks he's much bigger than he is, but he's really not. Sometimes he growls at you, like he thinks that he can fight you, but I mean, I would really fuck that guy up if he tried to take me again. It's quite cute. How much time are you spending with the pirates? In the fucking break? I mean, someone's gotta watch them. It's not that much, timely 10 hours a day. They're behind bars. No one has to watch them. I haven't even been back there once to pick them up. Yeah. It's fine. You don't have, I mean, you can do what you want, but you certainly don't have to spend time with the pirates. Oh, well, I mean, but then who's gonna write them songs about their journeys and stuff? Why do they get that? Do they say that they get that in prison? Where's this idea that everyone gets fucking luxury by being a prisoner on the fucking rap city? Well, because in that book I was reading Ship of Love, I mean, a girl went down and she met a pirate that was stuck in the brig and they fell in love after sharing poetry together. Are you actively trying to have a shitty romance novel romance with a scum-fucked pirate named Shitmout? I don't want to fall in love with Shitmout's shit-draws. Ew. No, but that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve love. Look at those eyes. No, I mean, I hate to tell you, Vix. I... Hold on tonight. He's been coughing a lot. I think he might die too. Thanks. I already checked him for a traumatic brain injury. I think he was okay. Well... I think his eyes were a little crossed. I put a bandage on him and I think he's okay. He was a little gray the last time I was down there. We're about to find out if tuberculosis exists in the center. I'm just saying. You know, we go in and hang out with Rex all the time and, well, we don't, but Pike goes in there sometime. I haven't been back there once since we picked all of them up. Then who's going in and talking to Rex all the time? It's not me. I'm like playing with like a cube that I'm like slowly rubix-cubing and just... Just... Ah, there. Anyway, I just felt bad for him. So I go down there and I make sure that they're okay and I watch them. Well, you can do what you want, Vix. I check on them three times a day when I feed them. That's all they need. Everything else is between you and your god. Anyway, I was just trying to say he's kind of cute, but not in like a sexual way. Look, we don't have to talk about shitmouth to shit jaws or was it shit jaws, shitmouth. Whatever the fuck his name was. Shitmouth, shit jaws. Shit mouth, shit jaws deter. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, we don't have to talk about him, but we have to figure out what to do with him, right? Well, yeah, because I think he's going to die soon. Him and Captain Sawtooth. If we want the reward, we can't let them die. I agree. No, we shouldn't let them. And I won't let him die. Don't worry. He's not going to die soon. Okay. But I'm concerned about us just walking into a guild outpost and taking them in. I feel like if the syndicates after us, they're going to be casing every fucking outpost and, you know, anywhere remotely travel travelable from here. Those counties are our public record. It would be an obvious giveaway that those two pirates showed up at that day. We'd be tracing instantly. Wait, so does that mean we can't turn them in and make any money? Not until we solve larger problems. We got to keep them in the brig until then, so I got to keep hanging out with them. No, you don't have to keep hanging out with them. We have to keep them in the brig though. Yeah. Oh man, that's 10 hours of my day. Hey. Look, once the Don is dealt with, then we'll turn them in, we'll get the reward, we'll be flush with notes and we can do whatever the fuck we want. It's just, I think we got to, unfortunately, as much as it pains me to say, we got to keep them on the ship until then. Yeah, that's right. We need a plan to deal with the Don immediately. Neon Odyssey is live on Kickstarter and early backers get free dice. Neon Odyssey is a 1400 plus page space opera trilogy for D&D 5.5e and all backers who pledge in the first 72 hours for any physical item will receive a free set of Synth Sunset Sharp Edge resin dice. Time is running out, so make sure you back Neon Odyssey today at neonrpg.com. That's neonrpg.com. And look, I think we should talk about what we experienced, all right, the demon. And I just want everybody to be fucking painfully aware of what we may be walking into. That was some really fucked up shit. I don't know if we have to talk about it. I mean, there's like something out of wicked home contamination. It was real, Zane. It was real. I know, but it was really fucked up. I don't want to talk about it. We don't have anything. Scoot around it. It was scary. It was fucked up. It was pretty bad. They had Sadimax cloned in a tube. Well, not really like a glass thing. They had clones. I know. And what I worry about is... What if we're all clones? I know. I don't think we're all clones, Pixel. I think it's just them. How would we know? Oh, because we're not at A-list celebrities. Oh, yeah. Sorry, sorry, Pigs. Oh, man. That's fucked. No, I didn't mean like that, Pigs. Oh, man. I didn't... Well, not yet. Not yet. Yet. Look, we'll get there. You know, maybe one day, Cot Merrill will feel the need to clone you, too. But, you know... Holy fucking not. I'm trying to help. Damn it. Look, regardless, we need to fucking deal with the done. All right. I know Rex has the idea with the vacation home, and I think that that's a good plan. Right? But we're in fucking danger. Okay? And we're lucky that those fuckups were the first ones to find us. Because now they tipped us off that, you know, that there's this fucking black market version of the guild that has hits out on us. And so if they show up with more ships than they did last time and more fuckup pirates... The Rhapsody and the fucking... I don't have more than 10 hours a day for more pirates. Look, what I'm worried about is that the Rhapsody and the Sparrow can only handle so much. Okay? I think... I think we need to pick up your ships. Ships? What? I thought it was going to be like a long time. Well, I thought we had like a long, long time. Yeah, we had the money to get. Well, I put down the down payment from one of the last bounties, and then the hope was that our share from the whole Ophelia thing would cover the rest. Obviously, that's gone. And we didn't make any money from the whole laboratory incident. Or from the pirates downstairs. And we... I blew a lot of money at the slot machines. I also need a few thousand notes. No, you do not. Yes, I do. No, you do not. No, no, no, look at this cube. It's fifth dimensional. And I needed in order to decode the data packs that I got. I... there's stuff in there. Cool stuff. Two thousand notes, I think at least. Yeah, and grid flicks has run out. And I can't catch them on my show. Okay, all right. Would you rather have a fifth dimensional cube and grid flicks over a fucking personal spacecraft? Well, can I get grid flicks in my personal spacecraft? Because I would like to choose both, if possible. Can we do both? Both is easy. That's obvious. Yeah, that makes it much easier. Just do both. Rhett, do something about this. Let me please. I'm teaching the value of a fucking note then. Look, I'm gonna have to go to SIG and fucking beg him to, you know, take payment on credit. All right? We can skip on mine then. I will sacrifice. We don't know how to use... No, no, look, he's already made it. Everybody needs one. I don't even know how to fly one. That's okay, I'm gonna teach him. Do you mean it? Absolutely. We get to spend time together? Can we do it in 80s styles like montage? Where we're all, we're doing cute stuff and learning and giggling? If that's how you want to do it, fine. And you look frustrated every time I jump on you and cling to you? That's just my face. But at the end, you're giving an approving nod. Yeah! As I fly off amongst the stars? Sure. Yeah! Yes! I can ride in Rhett's ship. You can ride mine. And in case he gets boarded, I'll smash any guys that try to board. I'm sure mine will be big enough to fit you. But if no one's boarded, then what are you gonna be doing? You gonna be flying on the rap city? I will be... Hank has that. I will be safely buckled in my seat. I'm not gonna push it on you, right? But I mean, in this galaxy, having a personal starfighter... It's so cool, Miss Together. Well, I guess it's pretty cool, but it's also... You need to be able to fucking defend yourself. You've been driving around in that motorcycle your whole life, I can tell. This isn't any different. Yeah, it's on the ground. It's great, you know. The air speeder, that's fine. It's in the atmosphere. I know that, I can handle that. Cole? Yes, Picks? Think about all the muscles you don't currently work out that you would work out by flying a spaceship instead of your motorcycle. Ones that you didn't even realize weren't getting the proper training, but would be because you're up in space. How the fuck do you fly a spaceship? Flight muscles. What the fuck? Flight muscles. Flight muscles? Is that true? Yes, flight muscles, oh yeah. Think about what's gonna be popping and pulling once you, you know, you're twinging and twanging and bippin' and boopin' or whatever. Isn't that right, Pike? I definitely am working on all those muscles. They are hidden ones you don't even know about, I promise. I'm pretty sure I know about them. What are they gonna get bigger? If we all need one, then I will learn how to fly. I'll get in that stupid simulator. I'll do what I have to do. That's part of the mission. I recommend it, right? I won't force it on you. If you don't want to fly, you don't have to fly. But, I did, as part of the order, I called him a rush fee as well. See, you and I go way back, but he's not the kind of guy that's gonna, you know, cut me a deal. The favor was that he cleared his fucking schedule and he prioritized your three ships. And I think with the rush fee, they should be just about done. And I don't think we can go anywhere near what was the name of the world. Celadonia. Celadonia. I don't think we can go anywhere fucking near Celadonia until we can scramble five fighters. Mine included. That's right. We got a lot of really bad people hot on our asses. And we're already behind on training, so you give me the word and I'm ready to get started. You don't have to worry about me. I've done a ton of flight simulation. I'm gonna be just fine. You can focus on training the others. Yeah, we're gonna test you all out the same. I will pass it with flying color for my friend flying colors. Well, I'll give a signal call and let him know we're coming. But would you mind just, you know, getting up to balance on a good flicks really quick? Never get that feeling when you check your bank account and your stomach sinks. That's how I'm feeling right now. No, never. Not once. I never really had more than like 16 notes in my bank account ever. I'm pretty numb to it at this point. I'm used to getting whatever I want. You have 30 days. Yes. I'm not paying $2,000 for your fucking cube though. Why not? I need it. I need it. How am I supposed to transfer this data into my data pad? I need four hours and 1000 notes in order to transfer this cool ass spell into my data, into my grid boy. Wait, it's 1000 and not 2000? The first one is 1000 and the second one is 2000 and the third one is 6. What? First it was 2. Then it was 1. Now it's 9. I mean it's just a few thousand, nine thousand credits. I mean it says nothing. It's nothing, right? I mean I don't even know the value of money so I can't possibly have any idea. At least I was helpful wearing it. Well, that'll take us down to our last notes. Is it going to help us against the dawn, against the syndicate? Yeah, and maybe I can earn some in between depending on when we have some downtime. I can work some jobs and make it back up. I just, you know. Fine. I'm wiring it to your account. Thank you. Ziggy, roll a computer check for me. I would be happy to. That's going to be a 12. You think that with the transfer from RET, in the facility you were able to decode one of the zip files the first? That was the one that you physically handed. That's the one I physically handed you that I first tore up in half. Fucking cool as fuck. With the transfer and with about four hours you think that you have what it takes to decode the second. Okay. In the time that you've attempted to access all these files though the third has alluded to. In a very strange way. Almost as if the code isn't working the same way you'd expect it to. Okay, I'm looking at it very frustrating, Lee. I'm typing very quickly. I look like Hugh Jackman in Swordfish. He figures out how to create the 128th big whatever. What a scene. God, Halle Berry was there. Yes, you do feel like that. Which is a new sensation for you. You find this particularly vexing. Computers don't normally withhold from you. But this one file seems to. I am vexed. This is vexing. Uh-huh. Well, I was able to get the first two. I haven't spent the rest but I will get it. It's just this code's real slippery. I don't know what's going on. Seems to adapt. Can't your big titty turret act to help you with this? Not until I get the rest of my rig. I mean look at her. We're the top. Something is seriously. I didn't realize she was standing right there. All right. Something is seriously fucked up in your head. What? I told her to get me a drink. What? She's not even holding it. Why does she look like that, Ziggy? One of her eyes is twitched. She chose that form for herself. All I have you know. There is no fucking way. Fucking play. Like, she looked like that when I met her, I swear. Look, I'm not gonna- You're not gonna be crying in a dumb episode. I'm not gonna judge your terror to act, girlfriend. Thank you. But, I'm just trying to offer suggestions of, you know, how you could maybe do it for cheaper. But that's fine, look, we'll live. I feel like, Cig knows I'm good for it. So, do we just wanna glaze over the whole demon thing? Are we all feeling good about that? No one's worried about it. You don't think anyone's feeling good about it? No, I'm not. But I don't know what good's gonna come from reliving it, you know? I just don't know what to make of it. Are we gonna run into more? Was that a one-off thing because of the laboratory? Or is it gonna, we're piercing into some veil, we're behind. There's all sorts of nightmare imobinations. Honest to Agapho, it's bad deal. I think the only thing I'm worried about is being sucked to hell. A couple of weeks ago, I had a conversation with Rhett. That thing that we saw, wasn't the first time I've seen something like that. And I don't think it's gonna be the last for any of us. That's why I'm bringing it up. Look, I've never seen anything fucking like that. I've seen some fucked up shit in my life. Nothing quite like that. That was the worst. I had some experience with it, but is this something where we need to pray? I was punching the thing. I was smashing it with my club, I didn't do fucking anything to it. I haven't gotten into a situation that I haven't been able to smash my way out of. That was it, that was the first time. I think the worst part about it is that it didn't even look like we fucking killed it. Just it got sucked back to wherever the fuck it came from. I don't know if these things can die. Can they die? I don't know. So you mean that it knows us, it knows our faces and it's not dead? It might not be. And there's more, I guess, where that came from. It's not like it was the one that fucking did it all. It's whoever the fuck this vice-roy is. And I mean, we couldn't even fucking see him on the security fucking footage. That was weird. He brought that thing. He brought that thing to the lab. All those poor doctors and scientists. I mean, they did horrible fucking shit and they deserved it. But they deserved to die. They were just doing their job. But even they, I don't think they needed to go like that. I agree. And if he did it once, he can probably do it again. Probably is doing it again somewhere else already. I don't understand why your specialness, why once you, what it did to you. Do you feel any different? That green stuff that came out of you. Yeah, I felt short of breath and like it was taking the me in me. I don't know if that makes sense. What does Rhett know about the harmony? What do any of us know about the harmony? I think you would, most of you would know that the harmony is the unifying life force of the Rhapsody. That when somebody dies, their essence, their life force returns to the harmony. That it may yet once again kind of live amongst the stars. And that what had happened, what Rubedo was doing, what it was like when you battled Big Thunder, when you encountered the demon in Scythomachron, it felt as though it was drawing, it was drawing harmonic essence from a person in an attempt to sever it from the arm. I think Pike even made mention of the silent with the relationship to the harmony as well. Yes, I believe you did. I actually, I think in Omicron, I think you talked about it. Would Ziggy know anything more about it? I mean, it's a question to one of you three. What? About the harmony. That's a good question. Probably, yeah. I think Ziggy would know, I think Ziggy would probably know the most out of all of us. Yeah. That's sort of boring in boarding school. Yeah. That's sort of private school. The education none of us had. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I knew people in my neighborhood who were spiritual and they did their rituals and prayed and meditated and I never got mixed up in any of that shit. I never thought it would help me. I mean, some people, they go real hard in that direction. I mean, people can devote their whole lives to the harmony and worshiping it and spreading its essence. I mean, I grew up around it all my whole life, in some ways. Well, do you know what would have happened? I mean, was it trying to make you one of those silent? I don't know, I don't know how you become a silent. I don't know how you do any of that stuff. I just know that, you know, that pixel part of me, it just felt like it was being ripped out of me. And I was holding onto it for dear life, but if it had been, if it were gone, I don't know what I would have been. I don't know if I'd still be pixel. I don't know if I'd be a silent. I don't know if I would just be a nothing. If I'd be dead or worse than dead. Well, I'm glad it didn't happen. I'm glad too, but I don't even want to get close to it happening again. I think in the future, if we see any demons from hell, you just stay as far away as you can from them, all right? I know that something came over you last time and you sort of walked towards it and maybe, Co, just make sure that you got your hands on her to make sure that doesn't happen again. I'll be ready this time, I promise, Pix. It's a weird thing I'm about to ask. What if you got a pixel backpack that you climb into? Pixel backpack? Yeah, because sometimes we're doing that. I got little legs, I can't run as fast. Usually, the mad time is you get to pick me up and carry me, but then you won, I'm short. What if you had some kind of like pixel harness you could toss me into and then you could run with both hands and I'm not hinkering you, but I'm still on ya! A pixel pack. A pixel pack! Oh, I'm gonna look so fucking lame. Okay, I'm sorry, I won't suggest it again. No, no, Pix, no, I want to have, oh, I want to have a backpack. A pixel pack. A pixel pack, I mean, if it'll keep you safe, I'll do it. Well, I was just thinking it would keep you, I mean, as long as you're carrying me away from danger, I'm gonna be safe, but I just think you're the safest if you're not giving up one whole arm to make sure I'm safe. But I mean, I don't know if you've ever, like... Oh no, I've noticed. Have you ever seen... Yeah. Have you ever seen someone kick someone's ass at a backpack? No, actually, I don't think I, now I've seen a lot of people. Yes, once. No, but... I mean, look, you wear some backpack all the time. No, I've seen that. Can you imagine this? I'm sitting down here. No, see, that's the thing, Co. I've never seen that before. I've only seen people wearing backpacks get the shit kicked out of them. But you could be the opposite, you could be the first one that's ever beat someone with a backpack on. I mean, beat someone else who didn't have a backpack on while you was wearing a backpack with a pixel in it. I'll keep you from getting ripped to pieces, or eaten by a fucking demon, I'll do it. Why don't you even know who's gonna make it? I was just suggesting we'd have to put in, like, an order or something. Roll a group. Ooh. History, Arcana, or... These are the guys. Religion. History, Arcana, or... 25. Orcana. Orcana. Is that all the same it is? Yeah, okay, 10, I'll just plus one. 19. Two. 16. I got my natty one out of the way. If it's harmony related, then I think I would have a good amount of information because I'm a sorry and because my family is my family, but if it's the silent, I don't know how much I would have learned about the other sort of side of the... I think from what you all have been through, starting really with Big Thunder, Sight Omicron, the experimentation on Red Line, having suffered an attack that directly impacted, you know that the way that the drug works is it draws on your harmony itself. It draws on your life essence. And what you would reasonably, and I would say easily be able to discern from the events at Omicron, is that when a harmonic resonance is completely severed from the harmony itself, that is when you become the silent, which is what the scientists were at the end after having the trial of the drugs, having the trial of RD7 run on them and dying under its effects. Oh, and all the townsfolk too. And all the townsfolk too. Yeah, whoa. And the comey-roos and all that. Yeah, yeah. But the, so yes, you would know that to be severed from the harmony will result in you becoming undead, in this case, the silent. So that's what it's all about. And I think I have maybe the solution in this data pack there, one of these, maybe I can help protect Pixel, not that it will help protect any of us, but if we find one again, I'll try to help you out. All right, well, does anyone have any concerns? I wanna make sure everyone feels heard and that everyone feels ready and I want everybody to understand the risks of what we're going up against. This is risky and some might call it fucking stupid, but we're about to do. And we crossed that threshold in for a note in for a chord. I do stupid things at least four or five times a day, so. I've been called risky and fucking stupid my entire life. What's a little bit of demon punching, huh? And we're protecting people. So we're all in? Yeah. What the fuck else are we gonna do? We have to fucking kill these assholes. I knew I liked you guys. It doesn't stop until we rip the head off of the fucking snake. What bounty on is now? All right, what I wanna hear. Okay, y'all should get training. If you're serious about that, I actually have a couple little bears that I carry Hank around in the front, but I can maybe make some adjustments to Hank Bjorn's. Little bears. Yeah, little bears, exactly right. I can maybe adjust it a little bit so it's worn on the back and then it'll take a bit. I'll see how it looks when you finish this. If it'll make you feel better, I can bedazzle it with some lightning bolts and stuff to make it look real red, maybe some spikes so it looks super bad ass. I don't know. I'd sparkly isn't really my thing, but dad, bedazzling, that's like Rex's thing. Well, you could, you could care up being a meteor side. Like a messenger pixel bag. Yeah, kinda. Is that better? No, no it's not. Kind of like a pink spool. That's definitely worse. Look, the safest option is gonna be the backpack. Yeah, yeah. How we get to it. You can handle training them. Yep. The three of you take your time, I'll meet you in the cargo hold. All right. Do we have time to watch a little bit of a grid flicks? I was hoping to get the next episode of As the Airlock Turns. No, no, there's no time for that. But we just free up that subscription from the grid flicks. Yeah, it's gonna expire tomorrow. It's one, oh, tell us 30 days. We got 30 days. We got 30 days? We got 31 days. It's only 40 years of content. We can binge it four times. You find yourselves on the way to the flight simulator. The conversation had turned heavy and you can't distance yourself from the fact that what you dealt with very recently is so far out of the realm of anything else any of you have encountered. Save Pike. And that did not end well. Even with that at your back, still together you turn towards each other and you have a hope for what comes next. You make your way down that hexagonal pathway, the clank of your boots of land as this hopefulness takes into the air as you break out into the cargo hold and you see Pike standing next to the flight simulator. Derek, if you will. All right, guys, training is canceled, still broke. I thought I'd fix this. I thought I'd fix this. Just kidding. It is very much not broken. It is fully functional. I fixed it. Yeah, it's fine. Oh, and I also chart a course to the world that Sig Bronco is on. I got you. Caledora. Caledora. Yep, Caledora. Yes, Rhett, you do obviously not need flight training. You head back to the... Yeah, I would start a course and then I would get making their little bag. You make accommodations for what comes next. The three of you in the cargo hold, you behold that large gray flight simulator, almost has this giant wheel with this chair that sits in it, large, not lavish, but comfortable arms that extend out and controls you grab on either side. The seat with a full 360 degree rotator functionality as you sit down to listen to Pike's begin. It's fully contained, right? Oh, fully contained. Yes, absolutely. Once you're in, it's like you're in, I'm thinking of like... Like an actual flight simulator. Yeah, like an actual flight simulator. Like on either side, it closes you in. You are fully locked in when you're there. Like a grand hamster ball. Pixel will pull out her trapper keeper and she's got a pen that's got these little knobs on it that each one clicks down to a different color. And so she'll pull that out and get down on her stomach, getting her feet as she begins to take notes. Yep, I'll pull a controller out of my backpack and start to unwind using the anti-christ cross motion to make sure the controller tables are plugged into the contact. All right, it's your first day. We're gonna start off pretty straightforward. No surprises. We're gonna get this thing going. You're gonna take her out of the flight bay, couple of enemies, take care of them and bring them back home. No big deal. All right, I want all three of you to know that flying is easy. Flying under pressure is not. There's a lot of micro decisions, all right? You're diverting power, you're firing weapons, you're making maneuvers. Yeah, I'm not concerned about it. Like I said, I've put hundreds, maybe thousands of hours into flight simulation games, flight combat simulation games. I mean, I've played Starfly, Starflare, Armada 3942, Solar Nebula Siege, Wingmech Exodus 2, Stellar Vanguard's Toxic, Danger Zoomies, Nova Dominion Online, and Graviton Lancer's 1 2, I've got this. Well, that's great, because you're up first. All right, let's go. Yeah, you first, Sigs. I'd open it up and help him get in and just point some things out as I'm continuing to explain things and just, you know, whether you're listening or not, I'm just kind of helping you get your bearings and then I would step out and basically say, okay, show me what you got. I will quickly type a few key commands into the numpad to my side and a holographic shape of Silica's face will appear next to me. Welcome. Thank you, Silica. All right. All right, I'm ready. I'm ready. I would basically just, whatever their controls that it might be to basically turn the thing on and get it going to kick off the simulation for Ziggy, I would enact that procedure and basically just start him off and whatever he needs. You do so. Launch it. Ziggy, in front of you. Ssss. Almost like space. The rap city itself opens up in front. You find your ship cruising through these things. All right, these are out. These are nice. Nice. Simulation beginning. Okay. Get a feel for it. Nice and easy. Good. Good. I do a barrel roll. I mean, I mean, I mean. I do a barrel roll. All right. Ziggy, sorry. This part of the simulation is just keep, point the point in the right direction. Can you hold momentum? Ziggy starts pulling extremely advanced maneuvers. Nice. All right, all right. Good, good. You've longed thousands of hours in this. This feels like child's play to you as you go about, pull up, pull up, pull up. Because Silica's broken, she's saying, pull off, pull off. Pull off. No, no, that's not it. That's not it. I said it. Pull off. I continue to tell you Ziggy though. I'd say, you know, all right, Ziggy, come on, talk to me. How's it feel? You getting a feel for it? It feels good. I'm not getting a good out there. I'm looking good out there. Yeah, stage two, stage two right away. Yep, be aware. Here comes some enemies. Enemy craft, spawning. Keep your eyes about. Keep your head on a swivel, all right? Four ships enter into the space all around you, boxing you in in a square format as your ship takes out into space and you set the field. I will quickly evaluate the tactical position and endeavor to circle around to sort of flank the ship as quickly as I can to try to take the nearest one out. You start pulling maneuvers that having watched Pike in his own star fight just a couple days ago, you're pulling maneuvers off that look almost as deft as what he was doing. You're moving exceptionally well through the space. You bring the first one into target lock. Brrr. Well done. Brrr. I'm almost like waiting to see how it goes and I almost like go to say something but he's like one step ahead of me where he has this instinct and you can tell, anybody's watching would be able to tell that I have like, I'm happy with how this is going. Yeah. I'm getting my approving nod. Target lock and this continues. Target lock. Brrr. You just start plowing the field with all the enemies. Everything that comes up, every difficulty that's thrown in front of you, you handle with complete ease. If anything, I'm just too liberal with like the special advanced like missiles. Like if I have like expensive stuff, like I'm immediately spending all of them and rockets are flying around and taking care of the bird. You can be in this small missile goes out. I'm blowing through my resources instantly. You're spending extremely liberally in the simulation but you have knocked it out of the park. You feel fantastic. Well done. Oh, I'll flip around. I'll do one of these maneuvers and then I will, showing up, flying into the bay upside down like a stunt almost showing off and then flipping just at the very last second. The wings nearly crashing into the top and bottom of the actual bay and then finally coming to a very fast and then dangerous stops before I land. Got it. Nailed it. Easy simulation over. All right, come on out, Ziggy. I turn off Silica. They came from behind. Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's fine. And then I open the door and I step down the stairs and make my way over the entire. Nice job, kid. I'm impressed. Thank you. The only real piece of feedback that I have for you so far is you fly like this is a game. Show off. Yeah, I think that's probably a fair assessment. I mean, he's done like 400,000 hours just sitting in there playing that game. Yeah, the issue with that is that when you do this for real, there's no do-overs. This isn't, there's no extra lives. You understand that, right? I understand. That's a valid point. I get what you're saying completely. We'll take that into consideration and I will try to be a little bit more safe. I think you have a lot of promise. I think that you have a lot of skills. Thank you. But I'm just worried about what's gonna happen when you're in your first real fight. All right, herd, herd. I got you. I will pay close attention. I will try not to lose myself in the adrenaline. There's no high score in real life, right? So, okay. Good first day. Thank you. Co, you're up. No, I think, I think, Picks, you're up, right? No, you go ahead, you show him up. I'm happy to go last. I'm very happy to go last. I mean, you gotta show him how it's really done, though. No, no, I don't. I don't do any of that. I'm happy to go last. I'm happy to watch and observe. Come on, Co, let me point some things out to you. Come on. No, I'm on. Picks, Picks, you wanna go? You like the volunteering for things. I got a lot of notes to take and my tummy hurts. Yeah. Yeah. I'm standing by the, the hatches. Yeah, and I've opened it up. I'm kinda up to it. Chest ring, Co in. I'm scared. Why the fuck would I be scared? This is a fucking video game. That's what I'm scared of. If you fucking zig, you can do it. I can fucking do it. You didn't know that's what I'm saying. Yeah, I'll go second. No, don't try to cut me. I'm fucking going in. Hey, that's my guy. What do I do? All right, watch your head. Come on, come on, duck in there. Yeah, it's a little fucking cramp. Okay. You step in and this is definitely not designed for someone of your stature. Almost immediately when sitting into the chair, this sensation of just discomfort unease comes over you as your arms, even at your sides, just slightly off the edges of the arm panels. The controls just a little awkward to grab onto. Everything just a little bit not quite right. All right, now don't be nervous. The first thing I need you to do is just turn it on. Fuck. All right, all right. No. That one, no, no, it's. Why, what do all these fucking buttons and levers do? It's this one here and I point to where it. Okay. Got it, all right. Duh. Now you're gonna wanna make sure that you take the thrusters nice and easy. Don't give it too much juice, all right? So put your hand on the thruster. Space opens up in front of you. Simulation starting. All right, go put your hand on the thruster. Okay, you guys are still there, right? I'm not actually in space. You're not. You're not, this is a video game. You're doing a great job. Okay. You hear me crunch a potato chip. All right, come on, go. Hands on the thruster, let's go. No, no, the thrusters, the thrusters, the other ones. Okay, okay, okay, thanks. There you go. Nice and easy now, okay? Okay, I'm gonna take it slow. Good, good. And it'll be a little jerky probably, but you're making it, you're getting it to go. Okay, good. Now just ease her out of the hatch. Nice and easy. Don't, don't bump the stone. Come on, come on. Easy, easy, come on. Oh, okay, no, I got it. I got it. Don't fucking tell me what I don't have. Just level her out, nice and easy, okay? Your ship moves out into the dark of space, and something about this expanse that opens up in front of you with no end in sight, no end to the right, left, no ceiling above you, no gravity beneath you, feels endless. Take a moment, take a breather. Look, you're out, you did it, enjoy it. Why does it make this so fucking realistic? Because the more real it is, the better you're gonna do when the time comes, all right? Trust me. Now just try to get a feel for the controls. Okay, just keep it like forward like this. Perfect, nice and easy, don't overdo it. Okay. Okay, it's not, it's one of these fucking pedals for, what do these do? Oh, fuck. Okay, okay. All right, here they come, head on a swivel. Enemy ships, spawning. Okay, what do I do? Now remember, lots of micro decisions, start moving. Don't stop moving, when you're ready, when you get them in your sights, make sure you think about the weapons. Co, they're coming, come on. Enemy ships. No, I got it, what is this fucking blinkers, dude? I pressed this one, what was this? No, don't touch that button, just use the thrusters, lean into it, feel it, you're part of the ship. I have fucking weapons, how do I smash these fucking guys? Come on, stay calm, Co, don't freeze, don't freeze. Do something, you gotta be a new one. No, I know I gotta fucking do something, but chill the fuck out. All enemies, all music, Co, the frozen in. Okay, how many are there, why the fucking? Divert shields, divert shields, divert shields. All right, all right, I'm shutting it down. No, no, no, I'm getting the fuck out of here. I'm just gonna, I'm gonna start hyperventilating, and I was like, no, I'm fucking out of here. I'm gonna smash the window and basically try to basically break it, smash my way. I'm fucking done, I'm fucking done. The door crashes open as you break a section of the simulator, glass shatters as the. Ssss. Co, come on now. Oh, hey, come on now. Are you okay? Simulation, cool. Hey, take a deep breath. It's broken, it's broken, I don't know, I don't know, I didn't fucking do that, it's broken, it's not working, it didn't do what I told it to do. I'm gonna go to the fucking, I'm gonna go to the gym. I'm out of here, I'm gonna go fucking work out. Where do you think you're going? No, I give up, no, no, I'm fucking done, I'm fucking done, and I just start. I just leave it, my hand is bloody, there might be a couple of scars of glass and metal. I gotta go get her, can't leave her like that. No, no, it's just, it's my fault, I pushed her too far. Yeah, I can't just, it just can't leave her alone right now. Let me go talk to her, this is my fault, I was too hard on her. Are you sure? Yeah, this is my fault. All right, but you better give her a hug from me. I will, in the meantime, can you show Pixel around? Show her the ropes, I'll be back, all right? Yeah, I'll. A little bit broken. Wait, we should be able to, I mean, at the very least, even if it doesn't move a lot, you can use a controller like this instead of having to use all of the. Yeah, sure. Maybe if you can, Ziggy. Great tricks. Figure out what might be wrong with it. Yeah, yeah, we'll figure it out. We gotta let Brett know. We got this, we're gonna be practicing real hard. All right, I'll be back. And I will attempt to go find Co. It's not long before you find yourself in the gym where Co is working the punching bag aggressively. You've sparred with her before, you've worked out before. These are heavy hits landing forward. This is very tense. And I would have, like there's the, you know, it's basically a fucking cowboy beam up where it's normally like the super wide screen, the viewport of space. I will have like, press the button to completely. Oh, it's totally shattered. Last doors. I'm in a nice solid gray and beige. Completely artificial. Yep, yep. Everything is beige, gray, not an aspect of space around you. I thought you were busy training. You mind if I join you? Did he show pics what you have to show her? I'm gonna go back there and take care of that. Right now Ziggy's checking out the whole thing and starting her off on showing her the ropes. Yeah, all right, yeah, yeah. We can do that. What's going on? I just don't know why. I didn't even ask for a personal ship. I don't know why I have to fucking fly one. I thought, I fucking mentioned I only been on fucking Gribble transports my entire life and then been on the ground. And that air speeder on the Paradise city was the first time I've took anything in the sky. And that was basically just a car in the air. Look, it's not space. No, no, they're not the same, but I've seen what you can do. You're talented. You're a good pilot. I'm good on a bike, bike. It's what I know. Yeah, you are. On the ground, on the street, where it's sturdy, where it's stable, and you aren't surrounded by the fucking abyss on all sides of you. Where there's nothing for millions of miles. Do you wanna know why you need the personal ship? You really wanna know why? Why? Think about how strong you are. Think about how you've used your strength to protect yourself and others. You gotta be able to do that out there. I already failed once before bike. I couldn't do it. And I don't know if I'm ever gonna be able to do it. And it's a lot simpler when we're smashing skulls in Janak Sektor prison. It's a lot simpler when I'm on the street and I have a red belt and an elevator shaft. Yeah. There's no ether, there's no fucking space whales. There's no demons. There's a scared thug who's just trying to get his drug money. I can smash those guys all day every day. This isn't the bullies in the cafeteria bike. This is the cosmos. So what, you're scared of failure? That's what you're worried about? I just, I like knowing what I'm capable of and sticking with that. Stick with works, it's pragmatic. It works. I have my club, I have my bike, I have my fists, my boots, my skull. I know that. And when something worse than those pirates come rolling up on us, you're gonna watch as me, Ziggy and Pixel fly out there and you don't, Pixel's gonna need you. I just don't know if I can fucking do it. I just lock up. I just, it was a fucking video game and I locked up. I just don't know what to do with my bike. Look, I was too hard on you, all right? We're gonna figure this out. You just gotta trust me. Come on, haven't I earned that? Especially back in the can? I trust you, Pike, you know I trust you with my fucking life. We kept each other alive in there. I don't know if I'd even fucking be here if it wasn't for you. Those six months, that sucked. But yeah, I did. Don't tell Rhett this. Sometimes I miss the simplicity of it. I miss it every day. You know, Philium, he always said when he did 20 years in a can, not a beat. That when I got out, he said, you know, it's only been six months, but there's a comfort to it, you know, there's the structure. Yeah. That's what you're used to, it's what, it's routine and we were bigger and stronger and scarier. No one fucked with us towards the end. You got a weird way of making friends in there. We had a good thing. We all survived. Pinky's out. I think. I hope he's alive. I haven't heard from him. There are a lot of people that said, hey, I'm going to stab Pinky in the kidney before he leaves. Very, very plainly. Very plainly. I hope he's okay. I hope Philium's okay. All that time, not a peach. I hope he gets some sort of fucking recompense. The simplicity of it all, the structure, all of that, you know, it's nice at surface level, I guess to a point, but we were lacking the most important thing. What? Freedom. Doesn't matter how easy things were, even at the worst of times, didn't matter that we had some food and we weren't broken starving, like here on the Rhapsody, but at the end of the day, we were prisoners. No freedom. Yeah. But at the end of the day, out here and there, isn't it just a different kind of cell? A different kind of warden? You know, we started with thugs and then there's sagyo, and then there's a bigger fish and a bigger fish. And it's even people that you know and you love and you trust when they give into it, but they're free to, that they have the choice that they make. They choose to give up their friends, their family, their loved ones and destroy themselves. They choose that with their freedom. It's, is that really the noble fucking ideal? Is that why you do this with Rhett? I mean, nobody ever said that the responsibility of freedom was easy either, but that's the beauty of it. You're free to choose to do whatever you want. I'm free to live my life alongside Rhett, doing what I need to do to survive. But I just don't know if I'm strong enough, Pike. You saw that demon. I hit it again and again and again, and it did nothing. It did nothing. And that jackass got a lucky shot. I'm not, I'm not that fucking lucky. You want to talk about things that keep me up at night. Jeez, go. You are the strongest person I've ever met. I mean that. And not just literally. You want to tell you a little secret? Yeah. That thing, the demon, whatever it was, it scares me. I know. I haven't felt like that for a very, very long time. That's why it scares me. I hate being afraid, Pike. It's the worst fucking feeling. I hate being powerless. That's even worse. And I feel like every single day that goes by, it's, we're gonna be more and more powerless. And we're gonna be more and more afraid until we just can't get lucky enough. And when our luck runs out, then I will have let everyone down. Just like I let Mrs. Ume down. I wasn't strong enough or smart enough to keep her alive. I know that nothing I can really say is gonna make that better. But, you know, Rhett's always telling me, you can't change what's happened in the past. You gotta move forward. I don't know. I don't know if I can, Pike. And you, you didn't tell me about Ophelia. I thought she was an office siren this whole time. I didn't tell you about Ophelia because I never thought I'd see her again, okay? She thinks that I... didn't show up for a job, which is true, but I tried to tell her we were being set up. We were being sent to be slaughtered. And she didn't believe me. I begged her to come with me and she would... And I didn't think I'd ever see her again. Now that you're looking forward, you're just gonna let it go? Is that what's gonna happen? Is that what freedom is? I'm certainly trying. I... I already... I already even feel so in over my head, Pike. I feel like... I was way more useful in that shithole of Macauro. I feel like that's where I belong. This... round these rich assholes and... hotels and casinos, resorts, vacation homes... I barely had enough money for fucking pizza. Yeah, I think you're part of the right crew. I had barely enough money to fix my fucking... my fucking shoes. My whole life... this... this isn't... the kind of thing I ever thought I'd have to face. I never thought I would be... out here in space. Do you mind if I... open the shades? Will that make you feel better? Will that fill you with freedom? Pike Starfall. I'll try to see if I can find the control panel to see if I can... Yeah, you would know exactly where it is. You would know how to... You've been here a million times. The panels are closed, but you walk right over to the... punch code... button section, the telepad of sorts. You hit immediately for the... these like blast windows to... I'll light a fresh cigarette. I mean, look at it. Look at it all. Take it all in. It's as you look out, you don't see the... the darkness, that endless expanse of the simulator, but you see this... this... this... this... this... you see this... this... beautiful unfurling of... lights and life and ether. And the movements of the ether currents around you is the rhapsody sails through space... to your next destination. You even see something... you've seen once before. Finns look almost like paint drops as they hang off this creature. These blow holes extending out of the back of it, shooting out plumes of orange, as a large ether whale swims past the ship, and the way it moves outside the window as it... as it shifts to and fro up and down, and it kind of swirls in the air as it... as it flips this complete 360. There's something about the freedom of this creature that underlines the experience. Cole, I've heard the way you talk about your bike. Yeah. The ship is gonna be all that and more. When you finally sit behind those controls and you know what you're doing, you can go anywhere you want. There may come a time where... the crew are not together anymore. But you'll still be able to go anywhere you want. You'll be able to see all of the amazing things that the galaxy has to offer. No one will be able to take that away from you. And look... I don't know where we're going. I don't know if we're gonna see these demons again. At the end of the day, we may all just become... Cyan. I try not to let it bog me down, you know? Whatever happens, happens. You know, I never did understand that stoic bullshit. I don't know how you don't get twisted up. I don't know how you can stay so cool. How you can't be filled with... hate. Seeing what's out there. Knowing what's out there. The love of your life is out there, Pike. She's out there pissing away all that money. Probably on some fucking beach, surrounded by... muscular claud there and fanning her with... palm fronds. Serving her tropical fucking drinks. She really pulled a fast one on us, huh? And you just... hear? Cool. Never let him see you sweat. I don't know, Pike. I look at space and it's beautiful. I told Brett this. It is, but... I look out there and I know that my sister's still out there. You never mentioned you had a sister. Yeah, I lied. But you lied about Aphelios, so we're fucking even. Well, we're even now then, okay? Alright. I suppose you maybe owe me a story then. You can't fucking tell anybody about this. Deal. I know I said and I... all the stories of me and my pop. And all the good memories that I had with him. It wasn't just me, it was me and my little sister. She was too small and she was too pretty for her own good. And as we grew up, I would protect her. I'd keep the creeps away from her and... but... the mob came in. And people fell to the promise of riches and station and a humble, convenience store owner like my father. He couldn't offer everything that the Connobo Crime Syndicate was offering. All of my friends. Offering me. Offering my little sister. And the more creeps that I beat the shit out of. And the more I tailed her. And the more I fought off the recruiters for Connobo. The more she ran from me right into their fucking clutches. She got hooked on half of the fucking drugs. She dated about every fucking goon in our fucking neighborhood. Every thug. And the thing is, is that she always wanted to see space. She always wanted to join the Argonauts and fly around and be a hero in space and be a pilot. And I would tell her, no. This is our family. This is our people. These are our streets. You can't leave. Safe from the ground. Stable on the ground. And the more I said it, the more I tried to reason with it, the more she ran. And she wanted to be among the stars. And it was those Connobo. Those Connobo fucking vile pieces of shit. They promised her that. And I don't even remember what fucking boyfriend she had at the time or who the fuck remembers. But when she left, she didn't leave in a car. She didn't leave on a bike. She didn't leave in an air speeder. She left the atmosphere. She left our world. And I chased after her. And I tried to steal the starship and when I got behind those controls, I thought about going off into space. I froze. I was afraid. It wasn't our streets anymore. It wasn't just the local bullies and the thugs. It was an intergalactic crime syndicate. The most powerful one in the fucking galaxy. I let her slip through my fucking fingers. And now she's out there, Pike. I don't know if she's living or fucking dead. I don't know if she even fucking remembers who I am. I haven't heard from her. But she made the decision to stay with those assholes. She made the choice. The freedom that she was fucking looking for. Away from our neighborhood. Away from all of the poverty. Away from our humble fucking convenience store. She used her freedom to become the monster herself. And I don't know how I'd find this base after that. I'll like reach out and I'll just put my hand on your shoulder. And just to silently let you know that I hear you. As I look at you. Don't tell anybody, Pike. I wouldn't dream of it. I'm gonna go back to forgetting that she ever existed. Tomorrow, okay? Listen, if you want to find her. I'm gonna teach you how. Pike, and this is the worst part of it. And please don't hate me. Or think that I'm evil. I don't want to find her. And I hope that she's dead. Because if our father were alive to see what she probably has become. If she is still alive. I don't think I can make it, Pike. So I hope for my sake, fucking selfishly. And for her sake that she's fucking dead. So no, I don't want to find her. But you're a good friend, buddy. You know if you ever want to find Ophelia. I'll be right behind you. And I guess I have to learn how to fly a fucking Starship. Hey, look. Tomorrow's another day, alright? And look, don't tell the others I said this, but the simulator's bullshit. I fucking knew it. Yeah, don't worry about it. There's no way Ziggy could fucking make it look that easy. And have that be not bullshit. I need some fucking, I need some beer. And I need to punch something. So I'm going to be here a while, okay? Yeah, stay here. I'll go grab a couple beers. Tell Pix that I fucked up her lesson. Don't worry about it. And your secret's safe with me. Alright. Thanks, buddy. You head your separate ways for now. Co, you walk off to get a beer to unwind, to decompress further. Pike, back to join the rest of your allies in the simulator room. It's going to take several more days to get to where you're going, to get to Caledora. You know that Rhett has chartered a course and that there is a lot of training yet ahead of you. Getting there, getting your ships is just really the beginning of what comes next. When Pike returns to find Pixel and Ziggy, we were watching as the airlock turns and just eating snacks. And you could hear the voices on the screen. I wish I'd never pretended to be my twin and joined this family. Go to hell, Stephacandro! Kabagail, DeVeru, Dejamira. I'll see you at the gates.