"Scion Penelope, I feel I must once again question these orders. Without further explanation, they read as a deathtrap."

Violet sticks her tongue out at the captain of the Blackbeard, knowing full well the uptight woman can't see it. Every integrator on the ship has been under her control since the moment she stepped aboard.

"That's because it is a deathtrap, you priggish sow," she grouses from the captain's chair on the bridge. The sausage-shaped dog lounging in her lap barks. "No, Corgia, obviously that's not what I'm currently saying to her. I'm supposed to be sister dear, remember?"

The dog barks again, and Violet glares at it.

"You think I'm not pulling off a perfect copy? That's treason, you ungrateful shit."

"Very good, Scion Penelope," the captain replies, bowing her head slightly. "If the Hammerbearers are waiting in support, then the trap will close just as you've planned. Thank you for reassuring me."

The next bark earns a lifting up in front of Violet's scowling face, Corgia's furnace eyes staring out above a tongue-lolling grin and wagging tail.

"There are foundational inaccuracies in my explanation? Do I need to remind you that your every reaction to a problem so far has been 'deploy my weapon systems'?"

The dog whines piteously, ears drooping. Behind it, the captain marches smartly from the bustling bridge, speaking briefly to several other crisply uniformed figures. In the chair, Violet gives the furry face a snootboop with her own nose.

"No, I'm not upset at you, Corgia, I'm just trying to pass the time. I know your projected responses were within a hundredth of a percentile of my own. The captain would have been fooled either way."

Voices arise on the bridge, a flurry of controlled chaos. The pearlescent illumination is replaced with flashing yellow lights and a repeated warning. Violet regards the commotion dubiously.

"I don't know. This seems a bit much for a simple otherspace jump. These are supposed to be routine. You'd think we were getting ready to prolapse reality's anus."

A muffled bark into a growl.

"Okay, fine, we are prolapsing reality's anus, but it can't be that dangerous. When was the last time a ship failed to emerge from otherspace?"

woof

"Seriously? Yesterday? Are you fucking with me, Corgia? I do not need to hear that on my very first jump!"

woof woof

"...you little shit. That is definitely treason. I'm going to scratch your ticklespot."

The dog squirms in her lap as the ship finishes making preparations for the transition to otherspace. Mind-blanking drugs are distributed to those crewmembers whose turn it is to keep watch, everyone else finding their assigned coma chamber. A clear shield swings down over the captain's chair, and Violet sighs.

"I wish I could see it, Corgia. Even if just for a second."

woof whine

"Yes, I like my eyeballs where they are. I know why I shouldn't, Corgia, but that doesn't change the fact I still want to."

yip

"Do you see me counteracting the coma chamber? Even though I absolutely could?"

A low hiss fills the enclosure with odorless gas. Violet yawns suddenly.

"And that's why you can trust me, Corgia. Besides, if I was going to risk it, I'd do it right n-"

The transparent shield slips open the tiniest bit, a gap no larger than the thinnest hair. The ship enters-

a paradox of incomprehension