Carson’s Cafe had a vibe that reminded Nessa of the Akron restaurant scene. He’d even used a home ship structure: hexagonal body with twin engines in the back. Classic, but nothing like the logo that was advertised on the sign.
Her implant blipped. The geolocator markers from the nestmates had changed from correction jumpsuit orange to fire ship red. And the holospace icon was at full bars. 775. 776. 777. 778.
A new geolocator marker followed the travel boundary toward the others. 782, she read.
She raised her eyebrows at no one in particular. Then it appeared on the local networks for holospace. She put her holospace and geolocator on stealth.
“Sorry, Maz,” she lamented. “This is not a good place for data breaches. And your friends - they need to see you first. Not me first.”
She jumped when she heard young creatures laughing into the afternoon breeze.
“I’ll get there first,” a tall, pudgy boy challenged the others.
A boy and girl, much smaller, chased after him. In they went, followed by an adult male and adult female. Meanwhile, a black-haired, almond-eyed boy glanced in Nessa’s direction. They made eye contact for a dread-filled instant. He clung to an adult female. The boy pointed at Nessa’s ship while gazing at his mother. His mother wore a blue Area 51 uniform.
“Can I ride the ride?” He asked.
The mother found “the ride”, and Almond Eyes stirred. Nessa perused the controls, hyper-aware of the precious time that escaped her as Almond Eyes got closer.
There! As Almond Eyes punched the transparent hatch, the log-drive screen flashed Invisibility panels activated. Synced with implant code 886. User “Nessa” and ship “Kommer’s ship” now invisible. Tap “deactivate” to undo.