A sharp shriek echoed around the dimly lit cabin, as Aiyalla sat up, drenched in sweat, her hands clutching her chest, breaths shallow and frightened.  It took only the briefest of moments to realize the scream had been hers… and the nightmares had come back.  Shivering, Aiyalla lay back down on her bunk, her large, golden eyes searching her tiny cabin.  No, it was all in her mind. They weren’t here.  They couldn’t find her here.
           Sighing, she threw aside the thin blanket and stood up, her bare feet making no noise as they crossed the cold steel floor, and into her private bathroom.  That was the only real benefit to being a first mate, she thought, chuckling softly.  It wasn’t much, but at least she didn’t have to share with the rest of the crew.  Men, in any world, could never keep a tidy bathroom.  It was genetically impossible.  Aiyalla paused in front of her burnished steel sink, and splashed some cool water over her face, still unnerved by her sleep visions.   She peered into the mirror, allowing small, cool rivulets of water to stream down her neck.  Her golden eyes stared back at her, searchingly. 
      “What’s wrong, Aiya girl?” she whispered to the reflection.  “Are you still afraid of the dark?” 
        Sighing, Aiyalla ran her fingers through her short, dark hair.  It had only been a few months since she had awakened, and already her raven hair was brushing her shoulders.  She preferred it longer.  In the Matrix she had a wealth of long, luxurious hair that reached down to the small of her back.  Of course, she kept in neatly in a bun, but it was all there.  
           Turning from her mirror, Aiyalla walked back into her cabin, glancing at the ship’s chronometer.  It was only 0430.  She didn’t have to be on duty for another three hours.   Sighing, she sat down on her bunk again, running her fingers through her hair.  She knew sleep wouldn’t come, and it was pointless to even try.  
           Aiya pulled her legs to her chest, resting her head gently on the arms that folded around her knees.  It had been a week since she had been made First Mate.  A week since her and Irons had taken over the “Dynasty,” and renamed her “Stargazer.”  It had been a full week since the love of her life had stolen her heart, and crushed it to oblivion.  
           “At least he had the decency to leave me a note, and not leave me at the alter,” she thought grimly.  She hadn’t had the nightmares when HT had been there to hold her at night.  She had thought herself completely safe.  And then, with a single, curt farewell letter, Aiya found that she was more vulnerable than ever.   Closing her eyes against the sudden sting of tears, Aiyalla stood, shaking her head firmly to banish the melancholy that threatened her every morning since awakening to the empty cabin.
           The air in the ship was cool, but had a stale, musty smell, the odor of recycled oxygen.  Barefoot, she padded down the corridor, silently, listening for sounds of life.  Irons would still be asleep, as would Deathcomes.  She wasn’t too sure about Aidenn, though.  The woman never seemed to sleep, always staring at the codes of the Matrix.  Aiya never really asked her what she thought of, watching the unawakened.  Aidenn was a freeborn, and Aiya wasn’t quite sure how a freeborn even thought.  Sure enough, she was there, sitting before the softly humming monitors, gazing idly at the screens.  Aiyalla regarded her silently for a moment before stepping into the room.  
           “Morning, Aidenn, sweetie.  Don’t you ever sleep?”  Aiya forced a cheerful smile as Aidenn turned in her chair.
           “Rarely.  Too much to do, Aiya.”  Aidenn’s smile was warm, even as her eyes searched questioningly toward Aiyalla.  
           Aiyalla averted her gaze from Aidenn’s penetrating one.  Somehow, she felt that woman could see to her very soul.  It was a disconcerting feeling, to be sure.  Instead, she turned her attentions to the green codes floating across the many monitors.  
           “People watching, Aid?”  Aiya grinned as she saw a flicker of a bluepill’s lifecode.  “They’re so adorable, aren’t they? 
           Aidenn turned to regard the monitors solemnly.  “Adorable wouldn’t be a word I would chose.  They’re little figments of their own limited imaginations.  Trapped, ignorant, and pathetic.”  Aidenn shrugged, sitting back further in her chair.  “you going in, Aiya?”
           “Not yet.… I think I’m just going down below for a bit.  I’ll be back in a few, okay?”  
           As she walked back through the quiet corridor, Aiyalla pondered the other woman.  She knew Aidenn didn’t buy her forced cheerfulness, even if the rest of the crew and fleet did.  Centi certainly didn’t, Aiya thought, but she had been there at Club Sphinx the night Aiyalla had single-handedly put away two thirds of a bottle of whiskey.  Oh, stars, that had hurt.  Aidenn, in her infinite mercy, had interfered, coding the whiskey into water about half way through.  Aiyalla winced at the memory of that particular exit from the Matrix.  She had become violently ill, Irons having to carry her back her quarters to “sleep it off.”  Yeah, it wasn’t real, but her soaked rsi’s mind couldn’t comprehend the sudden exit.  It hadn’t been fun.  
           Turning on her heel, Aiya marched back into the control room, Aidenn’s eyes narrowing in surprise at her sudden return.  Aiyalla slid into her terminal chair, smiling at the woman’s expression.  “I changed my mind.  Jack me in, please.”  
           
        Aidenn turned to her controls briefly.  “where to, Aiya?” 

************************************************************************
         The green code gradually faded into the sights, smells, and bluepills of the Matrix.  Aiyalla, dressed in her now favorite black pants and shirt, looked around reflexively for any sign of trouble.  Bluepills could see the damndest things, and never think twice about them.  She guessed it had to do with denial of reality, whatever that was.  Chuckling to herself, Aiyalla walked quickly toward a nondescript building, opening a side door, she slipped inside.   
            Her cell beeped, and Aiya quickly silenced it, lifting the receiver to her ear. 
           “Aiyalla, here.”
           “So you are.”  The sarcasm was never far from Flood’s voice.  “I have an assignment for you, if you can manage to do something above and beyond your normal mediocrity”
           Sighing, Aiyalla rolled her eyes, her own irritation vivid in her voice.  “Just tell me the assignment, Flood.  Honestly… if you keep going like that, I’ll start to think you don’t adore me.” |
           “Perish the thought.  I want you to go meet a certain someone at club Sphinx this morning.  Try not to drink too much.  It’s not five yet.”
          Aiyalla pressed her lips together, biting back her own acidic response.  
           “Certainly, Flood.  Can you give me any information about my contact?”
           “No.  He’ll contact you.”
          Aiyalla allowed herself a brief string of obscenities as she hung up with Flood.  That had to be the most irritating, self centered, egocentrically natured program in the entire Matrix.  But, then again… she had only briefly met the Frenchman, too.
          Thirty minutes later, Aiyalla was sitting in the empty lounge of the Sphinx.  The room seemed huge without the normal crowds that danced in the later hours of the evening.  There wasn’t a soul around, as the club wouldn’t open for several more hours yet.  Aiyalla walked behind the bar, selecting an empty glass, and filled it with water.        
           She almost dropped the glass at the sound of his voice. 
           “I’ll have one of whatever you’re having, miss.”
          Aiyalla looked up quickly, assessing the face of the voice that had startled her.  He was only slightly older than herself, a man who although seemed young, carried himself with the grace of a warrior.  He wore a neatly tailored dark suit, and his shoulder length black hair was tied back at the nape of his neck.  But what struck her most of all was the shade of his luminous blue eyes.  They were ice blue, and seemed to dance with amused mischief.  She knew he had his blades… and she knew firsthand just how sharp they were.  Casually, trying to reconnect her thoughts, Aiyalla filled another glass with water, and stuck a cherry amid the ice.
          “One water, straight up.”  she smiled, as the gentleman sat down in front of her.  “I’m sure this is one hell of a story… Just how did you find me here, Trey?  I left you years ago after you told me my uncle was gone, and to stop playing with my silly computers.”
          She sipped her own water, regarding the man sitting before her.   He smiled, picking out the cherry she had impishly placed in his glass, and held the stem out to her.  She impulsively bit it from his fingers, smiling. 
         “Let’s just say, you were right, and I was wrong.  Happy?”  He grinned at her, his eyes brushing her features like a soft caress.  Aiyalla scowled, swallowing the sweet fruit.  
         "No, actually…  But, knowing you, that’s all I’ll get.  How did you get involved with the Merovingian?” 
          He frowned thoughtfully, setting the glass on the bar gently.  “I was looking for your uncle, Aiya.  I heard a rumor about him being somewhere in Zion, but that didn’t make much sense for Jack.  Honestly, Aiya…those people are impossible!”  He frowned, brushing away an invisible dust on his perfect shoulder.  “I don’t know how you can stand them.” He shrugged, watching Aiyalla’s eyes widen and her cheeks pale.  
          She allowed her eyes to drop, her trembling hand setting the glass of water down on the bar.  It was a moment before she trusted herself to speak.
         “You know where he is, Trey?  You know where my uncle is?”
        “I’m still looking for him, Aiya.”  His voice was gentle, as he reached over to take her still trembling hand.  She nodded, and for the first time, he noticed how young she really was.  Little Aiya, he had called her back then.  She had been barely fifteen years old, and already hacking into a code that baffled the brightest and best in the government.  The RSI code, is what they had called it.  Not knowing its origin, they had assumed it was simply an ambient code filtering through programs.  Until, a few years later, Aiyalla had hacked into her own, disappearing one day from the world without a trace, her computer found melted into a solid lump of metal and plastic.
       But he knew.  Trey knew where she had gone.  She had gone to find Jack.  Led by the programs so carefully laid by her beloved uncle, Aiyalla had spent four years hacking into her own RSI code. Until, one day, she found her “redpill.”  Trey smiled, as he regarded the girl before him.  She was still one of the biggest fighters he knew, and one of the most stubborn, and determined women in his life.  Sighing, he withdrew his hand, and smiled, taking the last of his cherried water, and finishing it off.
           Aiyalla sighed, brushing her hair back from her eyes, and gazed thoughtfully up at the man she never expected to see again.
           “Will you be around?  I mean… will I still see you, or will you be looking for him?”
           He shrugged that maddening, casual lift of his shoulders he knew she detested.
           “The Merovingian has offered his help in locating Jack, Aiya.  You never know… he may turn up soon, he may not turn up at all.  You never know with Jack.  But,” He paused, laying a strong hand on her shoulders, “he saved you, Aiya.  The company was starting to get a bit edgy with Jack gone.  You were on the blacklist, sweetheart.”  Trey smiled, cupping her chin in his palm.  “I’m off, Little Aiya.  You watch yourself, okay?”
           Aiyalla smiled softly, his touch gentle, and reassuring… and deadly.  
           “I will, Trey.  You too, okay?  Don’t cross the Merovingian.  Whatever you do.”
         She watched his retreating figure, following with her eyes as he walked gracefully up the stairs.  Reaching the top, he paused, turning back to her, and winked… and was gone once again.
        Aiyalla let out a breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding.  Her mind reeled with the news of her uncle, and seeing Trey had startled her into a confused stupor.  He was still alive… Jack had saved her… they were going to kill her.  This was certainly not what she had expected this early in the morning.  And now, she was exhausted, her emotions turning cartwheels inside her psyche.  Sighing again, she dialed Aidenn.  
          "Operator…?”
          “Bring me home, Aidenn.  Can you patch directly to the...” the phone on the bar began to ring.   Chuckling, Aiyalla slapped her phone closed, and answered, her code spinning back into her still form on board the StarGazer.  As she opened her eyes, Aiyalla could see Aidenn watching her intently. 
        “What happened in there, Aiya?  I couldn’t see a **bleep** thing!  Your signal was completely blocked.” 
         Sighing, detaching herself from the long cord, Aiyalla sat up. 
         “Don’t ask, Aidenn… and please don’t tell Irons.  Promise me?”
         Aidenn frowned, a quick retort poised on her tongue.  But, seeing the serious expression on the young woman still sitting on the chair, she nodded.
        “It was personal, Aidenn.  Nothing was wrong.  I just don’t want the others to worry.  They worry about me enough as it is.”
        Aidenn watched Aiyalla walk slowly back down the hall to her quarters.  Irons would be awake any minute, and she really wasn’t sure if she should report this or not.  Better be safe than sorry, she thought.  A quick report, in the stack of e-mail she knew Irons never read… that would do.  And, if it ever came back to her, well, she had done her duty to both Irons and Aiyalla.  Smiling, satisfied that she had squirmed out of a difficult decision again, Aidenn turned her attentions back to the dreams of the bluepills crossing the screens before her, their green codes dancing in her pale eyes.