The demon woman stealthily entered the bridge of the massive starship, her face aglow with hate and anticipation. She snuck behind the lone female officer on duty, drew her blade and stabbed the air just behind the officer's back. The officer's face momentarily lit up with surprise as her torso ripped open in an explosion of blood and gore. She slumped down in her seat, expired. The demon woman ran out of the bridge before her dark work was discovered.
"Quickly, look in the practice rooms, she's got to be somewhere," yelled an authoritative female voice. It wasn't long before the demon assassin was discovered, hiding in one of the small rooms. Using the brief moment of surprise, the demon dashed out of the room past her pursuers and took off down the corridor, dodging people as she ran desperately for the elevator. The doors shut just barely in time as the demon woman frantically tried to get the elevator moving despite being unfamiliar with the controls. Finally she felt the inertial shift that signaled a descent. Whichever floor she arrived at, she knew that she'd need to use the stairs to throw off her hunters; it was too easy to track the progress of an elevator.
After a time, the lift slowed to a halt and the doors opened. The demon woman sprinted out into the corridor and down a short flight of stairs, zooming past a tall, mechanical woman with a long pointer in her hand.
"She's going awfully fast," remarked the mechanical woman. The demon looped around a circular hallway and again passed the mechanical woman, slowing herself so as not to attract further attention.
"I like to get exercise," explained the demon woman.
The demon woman became Bender, a robot.
Bender's frantic escape soon lead him to an enormous indoor chamber. It looked like the central gathering area for the ship's thousands of inhabitants, complete with plants, water fountains, and tables. Hundreds of apartments extended upwards from the ground level, where businesses plied their various wares, and the whole space was abuzz with people on the go, giving the area a mall-like atmosphere.
The most impressive and eye-catching feature of the space was a monstrously big sculpture situated in the center. Giant, polished metal girders extended across one another, forming a lattice that supported floors and stairways all the way up to the skylight in the roof. This main hub was at once artistic and functional, providing a sense of grandeur to the people who used it daily to ascend and descend.
The most important feature for Bender was the stairway. He immediately started climbing as fast as he could without drawing attention, painfully aware that the authorities were on his trail. Eventually he started climbing the girders themselves, knocking over the small stone placards that had been meticulously slotted into the metal. Upon reaching the top of the sculpture, he started pacing back and forth, looking down at all the people. He hoped he'd be safe here for a bit.
A call came in. "Hello?" said Bender.
"You're not doing enough," said the man on the line. "Start destroying, start bending. Make a ruckus."
Bender hesitated only briefly before he realized the man was right. He started to descend the giant structure, knocking down placards and bending rods as he went. At the bottom he grabbed a hold of the biggest black girder and bent it like it was paper. He ran into the corridor from where he'd entered, grabbed a shower head and started spraying what he thought was a reactor core. When nothing exploded it became apparent that he was just spraying a hearing test room.
"Now we can't test our hearing," said a disgruntled man.
Bender rushed back into the giant chamber and continued his rampage until his pace slowed from fatigue. All around, people stared at the strange robot that had ruined the enormous space. He cast his gaze slowly over the slightly mangled sculpture. Its beams were bent at odd angles, and the silent crowd lined its railings, staring down at him.
Maybe the artist won't mind so much, Bender thought hopefully, but the more he stared the more he knew that wouldn't be the case.
"I can bend it back," said Bender lamely, and he began climbing the sculpture, trying to reset the damage he'd done. Before made any progress, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and was greeted by the icy stare of a tall woman. It was the authority that had initiated the chase back on the bridge. He knew he was beat.
Bender became Jack.
The woman, Juna, led Jack toward one of the many crowded hallways branching off from the main hub. The formerly silent crowd, realizing that the show was over, went back to their business. As Juna led Jack to a check-in table, they passed two small children. Jack started crying, slowly at first, but shedding more and more tears as he thought about the child that Juna had lost. Juna looked at him oddly.
"Why are you crying?" asked Juna.
"Because..." Jack sobbed, "...you, your - "
He was overcome by a wave of grief before he could explain. Jack wept profusely as Juna continued leading him down the hallway, though it became apparent that she too was crying somewhat. She knows why, thought Jack.
Finally they reached the check-in station. Juna and Jack sat down at the table across from an impatient-looking woman. She handed Jack a mauve envelope.
"You need to mail this," she said. The inconsolable Jack continued crying loudly. The woman looked at Juna, who only returned the stare.
"Do you know how this works? How to mail this?" said the woman. Jack looked down at the envelope through his tears. He did not know how it worked, but he was too overcome to communicate this to the woman.
Neemstoa walked up and put his arm around Juna, and the two walked a short distance away from the forlorn Jack before they doubled back and went inside a closet behind the check-in table. Neemstoa handed Juna a small, white stick, which she pocketed, and they both began drinking from large bottles of cleaning chemicals. Jack looked at them with scorn before leaving the table to begin the search for his room. It would be a while before he found one; there were many, many people here.
