Rika Coronated by M. D. Cooper

Author:M. D. Cooper [Cooper, M. D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Wooden Pen Press
Published: 2019-07-03T16:00:00+00:00

* * * * *

The three women sat together long into the night, eating and laughing and drinking. Eventually, Chef Froz insisted on them eating a real meal and prepared a four-course affair that had them stuffed to the chin by the time they were done.

The hour was ticking over into the next day when Rika finally rose from her chair and bid the other two goodnight.

“You sure?” Kelly asked. “There’s another platter of wings coming.”

“Stars, woman.” Rika shook her head. “If I never see another wing again, I’ll be a happy mech.”

“Liar,” Silva winked. “Get your beauty rest. Tomorrow’s the last day before you get coronated.”

Rika cocked an eyebrow. “Is that the right word? Shouldn’t it be crowned?”

“The crowning is the event where you actually get the crown placed on your head. The coronation is the whole ceremony. Hence, when it is done, you’re coronated.”

Rika was tired and a bit past buzzed, so she decided not to argue with Silva.

<There’s actually some debate about that word. It’s pretty ancient though, you can just claim that someone once used it that way, and we’ll be good.>

<I wasn’t really going to stress about it one way or another,> Rika replied as she took a deep breath and walked out of the kitchen.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Kelly called after her, and Rika waved a hand at the mech before turning down the hall.

<I suppose I should try to sober up before turning in.>

Niki sighed. <You have ISF nanotech. You can sober up in an instant.>

<Yeah, but where’s the fun in that? Besides, it’s almost impossible to get a good buzz on, I’m going to enjoy it while it’s here.>

The AI made a sound that Rika took to be acquiescence as she wandered to a lift, which she rode up to the upper levels. Few people were around, and while most were polite and deferential, none engaged her in conversation, which was fine by Rika.

She reached a balcony that faced east and stared off into the deep, starry night, watching the light of starship engines and stations as they moved across the sky. In the distance lay the stars of the Praesepe Cluster, further away than she’d ever seen them before.

“I wonder if they’re still building that ring around Pyra,” she whispered into the night, then remembered that the light she was seeing was hundreds of years old.

<I imagine they are,> Niki replied. <From what I’ve seen, the ISF tends to finish what it starts.>

“I’ve noticed that, too. We’re too far away to make out Albany, aren’t we?”

<It’s there, next to that blue giant,> Niki highlighted the star. <You can just barely see it.>

“And to think, all this started there when Leslie pulled me out of that pod.”

Another star was highlighted on Rika’s vision. <Caulter. Technically, everything started there—at least for Rika the mech.>

“Why not go all the way back to Earth?”

<For what?>

“For where it all started.”

Niki sent a soft laugh into Rika’s mind. <That’s where it did for me, you know.

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