Vagabond Adoption Agency

Piani finds a vagabond taking pictures of the Swan Song

Detailed Summary
The current date is somewhere around February 20th, 3201.

A Meeting with Rajani
For the first time in a long time, the crew doesn't have anywhere that they need to be. Piani mentions that she'd like to do more research into her eye, figure out why she is getting these weird visions. The crew settles on going back to Vinaya in order to talk to Doctor Singh, the man who had originally installed Piani's eye. Once the ship is fully repaired, it takes four days to get from Kamna in the Mualimi System to Vinaya in the Geaxi System. Upon entering the system, the crew receives a message from Rajani asking for their presence so that they may talk about Doctor Singh.

Rajani informs the crew that an organization known as the Carswell Combine are responsible for taking Doctor Singh's research and that they had bribed the police so that they could take it for themselves. She explains that the Carswell Combine is a research group that investigates growth through psychic technology, and that it was once connected to Anaximander University before recently breaking off and becoming independent. Before leaving, Higgins tells Rajani the location of the ice-mining vessel, as well as Pitcairn Station, for the promise of future payment. Rajani then mentions that the crew's capturing of the Purity Initiative member did not go unnoticed, and that a bounty hunter from Andoni is looking for them. When Alpharius takes a look at the bounty hunter's ship, he recognizes it as the Fulminate Blade, flown by an Antaro Bowman.

The scene fades into an open plaza. Standing the middle is a large piece of abstract art containing a hovering, blue globe with holo-fish swimming around it. The plaza is crowded with young people, many of which are carrying bags. A couple people can be seen playing holo-frisbee off to the side. Sitting on a stone bench is a young man wearing a polo-shirt, a leather book-bag is set next to him. He has his arms around a girl who is crying. Attempting to comfort the girl, he says, "You only failed this time. You have another shot at it. It's going to be fine." The female pulls her face out from under the man's arms and the audience can see that it is Piani's face, but with a different hair-style. The scene fills with static, and when the sky suddenly blinks, it is replaced by the roof of Rajani's bar. The bench that the girl was sitting at occupies Piani in the same posture, but is replaced with a bar-stool.

Higgins notices Piani staring at him, but he is interrupted as Alpharius comes over and sits down next to him. Alpharius tells him that Bowman's ship is considerably more well-armed than theirs, and that they'll have to deal with him on the ground. Higgins ignores Alpharius and says to Piani that he thinks Pi should get off the ship because robots, "shouldn't be all weird" and instead, "should be absolute." Piani tells him that, "Just because it's artificial, doesn't mean it's not intelligence." Piani then tells Higgs that she is going to presume that this will be the last conversation that they will have about Pi leaving the ship. She then finishes the rest of the drink that Higgins bought for her, drops it on the ground, and then walks out of the bar. With uneasiness in the air, Erik leaves and Alpharius walks on-stage and performs karaoke.

Taking Pictures of the Swan Song
As she walks up to the Swan Song, Piani notices a vagabond who is seemingly taking pictures of it. When she tries to confront the man, he turns and runs, but doesn't get too far as Erik uses 'complex manipulation', causing him to trip and fall, his camera sent flying. After some light interrogation, the vagabond reveals that someone had paid him to take pictures of the ship and that the camera is set up to send the pictures automatically once they are taken. Being the jack-of-all-trades with technology that she is, Piani creates some fake files that will trace the location of the download source whenever someone inevitably decides to download the recently uploaded pictures of the Swan Song.

In the Swan Song's mess hall sits Erik, Piani, and a very skinny man in his 50's whose mouth is blue, teeth are black, and clothes are even worse looking. While the man scarfs down some food in front of him like he hasn't eaten for weeks, he intermittently talks about his past on Majid. About how he has a daughter who is slightly younger than Piani, but that he hasn't talked to her in years. After some more small talk, Piani finally brings up the topic of payment for his picture-taking job. The man says that tomorrow afternoon in a public square not far from here, someone is supposed to bring him a package with some money in it.

Piani Buys Drugs
Alpharius decides not to sleep for the night. Instead, he is sitting at the table of a local bubble-tea restaurant. Close by, a group of girls wearing bright clothing are sitting down, sharing an audio player and laughing. Around him are people playing various holo-games. The entrance bell to the café suddenly rings and in walks Piani who comes over and sits down at Alpharius' table. In a serious voice, Piani asks Alpharius if he would like to accompany her for a job that she has.

As Piani and Alpharius walk through the slums of Vinaya, Piani comes across a woman sitting underneath a bent-over sign, poorly shielding herself from the downpour of the rain. As Piani gets closer, she notices that the woman's pupils are largely dilated and takes specific note of the empty vials scattered along the ground. Before she is able to get too close, a woman standing nearby approaches Piani and asks for her not to bother her customers. After Piani tells the woman that she would like to be a customer, she brings her and Alpharius into a nearby alleyway.

Post-script
Higgins can be seen pacing back and forth in a penthouse suite, an alcoholic drink half-empty in his hand. Next to him is a completed message, newly-typed on his terminal. Higgins quickly finishes his drink, hits enter on the keyboard, and heads off to bed.

Crew Status

 * Crew:

Ship Status

 * Hull Integrity:

Criminal Activities

 * New Crime:

Business

 * Credits Acquired:
 * Credits Spent:
 * Jobs In Progress:
 * Jobs Completed:
 * Debt Increased:
 * Debt Paid Off On Swan Song:
 * Current Debt On Swan Song: