Page 29 of Treasured By the Hunter

It took me a moment to register Pip’s outrage. How was I a traitor? “What do you mean?”

“You’re going to Sanctuary. They are the enemy.”

“Hey now, my group has been trading with them for years. They aren’t Xarc’n friendly, but they're not all bad people.”

“They are! They’re all monsters.”

I was taken aback by the venom in Pip’s voice. If I ever doubted that the AI had feelings, this alone would sway my beliefs. Even if it wasn’t real, Pip sure emulated hate very well.

“Not everybody in Sanctuary are bad people. There are tons of normal, regular people in there. And kids. And…”

“Are you here to steal Harb’k’s shuttle?”

“What?” Now I was a little pissed. “No! And I haven’t given you any reason to think that.”

“Except you’re going to join the enemy after!”

“I’m meeting my friend there. I don’t even know if—”

An emoji showed up on the screen with hands on either side of its head, covering his ears.

“Blah, blah, blah,” Pip shouted over me. “I’m not listening.”

Then he was gone.

“Well, fine,” I huffed. “Be that way.” I didn’t know why I even bothered trying to explain to a shuttle. What a mess!

Harb’k’s shuttle was still around, though. “According to my records, Pip’s hunter was held against his will for many months at this Sanctuary location.”

Oh shit. I’d known about it, too. I just didn’t put two and two together.

The shuttle continued speaking. “Currently, Pip is asking why I am still here with you.”

“Whyareyou still here with me?” I asked. I wondered if it was because he had no choice and couldn’t leave like Pip had.

“I will tell you the same that I am telling him. My programming insists that I do all I can to help my hunter. You are currently his ally, and I already knew that you were heading to Sanctuary after. You have already told Harb’k, and he is not concerned. Therefore, I will continue to help you as per my programming. PIP models make errors in logic. He has a flaw called ‘emotions.’ I do not have such a flaw. I only emulate emotions, so I do not suffer such errors.”

“I see. Thank you, Shuttle, for staying. I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome.”

I was just zooming in on the container to locate the attachment points for when Harb’k got back when the image of the blonde woman we’d spoken to earlier appeared on the screen. Her name, Sam, was in bold under her image.

Before I could ask Shuttle to pick it up, it did so for me.

“Hi, Sam. Harb’k is out grabbing some cables so we can transport the Object of Doom,” I said.

She wrinkled her nose. “Object of Doom, I guess that’s as good a name as any. But what’s Pip going on about you being a traitor?”

I blew out a breath. Great. Pip was going to make everyone hate me before we even met. “I accidentally told Pip that I planned on going to Sanctuary afterward.”

“Oh, boy.” Sam rubbed her temples.

“Harb’k’s shuttle explained my error to me already.”

“Yeah, Pip is still a little sensitive about that. He likes Heather because she helped Kan’n escape, but everyone else from Sanctuary is trash in his book.”

“I know Heather. I met her when she used to work in the kitchens. I’m glad she’s safe with you guys now.”

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