As I sat uneasily in Unity’s cabin, I was acutely aware of the eyeless sockets of the skulls on their shelf. It was as if their souls were staring at me from beyond the walls of space and time, judging me.

  The sound of the door opening snapped me from my trance. “Sorry about that,” Unity said as they strolled in. Their appearance hadn’t changed a bit since I last saw them on the day I arrived. “I see you let yourself in, as instructed. I trust you haven’t been snooping.”

  “I wouldn’t do that,” I asserted.

  “No, I suppose you wouldn’t yet,” they said thoughtfully. They seemed almost disappointed.

  “Yet?” I raised an eyebrow. They were probably looking for an excuse to void my contract, and I wasn’t about to give them one.

  Unity took a seat opposite me, then opened up the bottom drawer on their desk, and retrieved a notebook and a pen. “For note-taking,” they explained. “I won’t need another signature yet.”

  “Right,” I said skeptically. The second yet was somehow more sinister than the first. “So, I’m sure you felt the acceleration earlier.”

  “Yes, of course. I hear you had something to do with that.” Unity frowned, and scribbled something in their notebook.

  “Are you... disappointed by that?” I asked, craning my neck to see what they were writing. I couldn’t read the script.

  “Not at all,” they replied. “You appear to be learning quickly. It takes most engineers revolutions’ worth of training to acquire the skills you’ve picked up in just a quarter.”

  I nodded along with their words. “Right. So, I did good, right?”

  “Well,” Unity corrected. They scawled something else.

  “Okay, I’ve been doing well. So, I thought that, maybe... maybe we could talk about a raise? I’ve been pulling assloads of overtime, and I’ve barely made a dent in my debt.”

  The enigmatic enby smiled serenely. “And why would you receive a raise?”

  “Because I fixed the fusion thruster? Because I’m more skilled than I was when I got here? Because I’ve kept out of trouble?” I counted off the reasons on my fingers.

  “So, you believe you deserve more pay based on merit?” Unity summarized.

  I hesitantly nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

  They began scrawling line after line of mysterious shorthand.

  “What exactly are you writing?” I asked.

  “That you’ve picked up swearing, at the moment,” they replied.

  I gulped, my tail lashing anxiously. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

  “Me?” Unity asked, as if the notion were ridiculous. “No, I don’t offend easily, dear boy. I apologize; I’ve written a fair bit more than just that. I simply wanted to see your reaction.”

  I chewed my lower lip, suppressing my irritation. “So, about that raise?”

  “Oh, no. Most certainly not, I’m afraid,” Unity said firmly. “Raises must be approved by the captain.”

  “Maybe you could put in a good word for me,” I suggested.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “My good word is the only reason you’re not a frozen corpse drifting through space, dear boy,” Unity said genially. “I can do no more for you.”

  “Can, or will?” I challenged.

  “Fair distinction to make.” They appeared to think it over carefully. “I suppose technically I could try something, so ‘will’ is the more apt word choice.” I was beginning to get sick of the sound of their pen.

  “People are afraid of you, you know,” I said, folding my arms petulantly. “You should hear the rumors.”

  “I’ve heard them,” they replied in a remarkably blasé manner, then set down their pen. “Why do you think I’m meeting with you today?”

  I squinted at them, as if I could discern their motivations if I only looked hard enough. “Clearly it’s not to reward me,” I finally said.

  “Process of elimination would take more time than we have, I’m afraid.” Unity set down the notebook and pen, steepled their fingers, and leaned in attentively. “Why do you think I care about you?”

  I scoffed. “I don’t know, maybe you think I’m pretty?”

  They hummed thoughtfully. “No, that’s not it. Let’s try something else. What does Nova want from you?”

  I was momentarily taken aback by the question. “Nova? Um, my best work, I guess?”

  “And what does Laurie want?” they asked without missing a beat.

  “My help with tidying up,” I answered.

  “And Medina?”

  “To convert me, probably.”

  “Taumiel?”

  “To bully me.”

  They sighed heavily, shaking their head. “How have your dreams been?”

  “Fine,” I replied quickly.

  The way they looked at me, eyes full of such disappointment, it made my skin crawl.

  “Shitty,” I admitted, squirming uncomfortably in my seat. “Why do you care?”

  “You’re on a dangerous path,” they said solemnly. “I know you can tell that.”

  I couldn’t stop a growl from rising in my throat. “What do you want from me?” I demanded. “This would be so much easier if you could just give me a straight answer!”

  Unity stood up abruptly, and slowly walked over to their false window. “I had this loop designed to simulate the city in which I was born,” Unity said fondly. “I barely remember it now, but something about the sight fills me with warmth.”

  I got up from my chair to stare into the cityscape with them. From the top of the tower, it was hard to make out the cars and pedestrians on the street below.

  “I never had to work as a young man,” they reminisced. “My father was a pioneer of the tech world. I inherited his wealth, his company, and his patents early on. I was never told no, never reprimanded, never made to figure anything out on my own.”

  “Is that what this is?” I asked. “You punishing me because you had an easy childhood?”

  Unity chuckled lightly, clasping their hands behind their back. “You’re so young, so spirited, so... passionate. You could be great in this galaxy.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose, fighting off a stress headache. “You’re not making any sense.”

  “The events of our lives shape us, and we shape the events of our lives,” they said unhelpfully. “How have you shaped your life this quarter?”

  “I already told you,” I said evenly. “I learned everything there is to know about the fusion thruster, then figured out how to fix it.”

  “You’ve been learning, yes,” Unity mused, “and you believe that acquiring new skills and knowledge will change your situation?”

  “I guess I did,” I admitted. “I thought I was doing a decent job.”

  “You’re doing a great job. You’ve saved the federation tens of thousands of credits by fixing that thruster with the components on hand.” Unity turned from the cityscape to look into my eyes seriously. “Now what?”

  “Now, I... I guess I go work on something else?” I was feeling increasingly unsure of myself. The pride I had felt in my achievements when I walked in had all but disappeared.

  “Pay attention to those around you,” Unity said, turning back to their window. “The important ones, I mean. Those with power, those with influence, those who shape your life. Find out what drives them.”

  “What drives you?” I wondered aloud. “Why do you care about me? You never said.”

  “When I was a young man...” they trailed off into silence. “This story can wait for another day. We will have six more meetings. I hope you’ll be more prepared next time.”

  Feeling defeated and unsatisfied, I trudged out of their cabin. Their words replayed in my head as I searched for meaning or motive. Why had they saved my life? Who even were they? Asking others aboard the clover had so far yielded negative results, so my best bet seemed to be to play along, and come up with better answers.

  I still couldn’t believe they weren’t impressed at all by my accomplishments. I couldn’t understand how they could expect more from me. I was already pushing my body to its utter limit just to get ahead. How could that not be enough?