While working that special project cut into the free time I needed to get work on the ship done, as long as I was on it Rick kept giving me weekly bonus crates. I was also shocked to find that he took no garnishments from those wages, allowing me to keep the entire pay. He did still garnish from everything else, so it wasn't that much of a break, but still. It was enough to start amassing just a little back, and to chunk down for some of the larger things I would need for the engine, flight console, and VI respectively, cost-wise.

I had no plans on scrimping on the engine or the main console, but I did save some credits by cobbling together bits of other, older VI systems in order to put together what I was going to have in mind. By the time I had been working for Rick – as I had finally settled on calling him – for six months, the hull and all of that was completely done. His project had finished at the same time as one of my other part-time gig contracts had, and that gave me about two weeks or so of a little over half the day to get the total hull project done and in place. I could go anywhere from there inside the ship, though my main plans were the electrical draws of the engine, VI, and flight capabilities.

Once I had those nailed down, I could figure out what I had to work with and spare for other systems, and I could tweak as I went. The armor and shielding would come after the engine was done, then my next major project was fitting out the bedroom and bathroom – bathroom at the very least. I could hook it up to the dock's utilities while I was staying in the bay, giving me time to get the self-contained systems in place. I could always move the cot into the bedroom area until I was able to get the actual bed built, I just was tired of using the mechanic's facilities. Not only was it a walk just to go take care of nature needs, I hated showering around others.

The engine was giving me fits, though. Not the engine itself, but the parts I wanted for it. While I waited for those parts, I decided to test out the VI, since the engine did have more than enough power to just run the ship in dock mode right now. Especially since I didn't have any major systems hooked up to it, like waste recycling and whatnot. I was a bit trepidatious about the fact that the final board I wanted for the VI had come from a children's nanny program, but I figured I should be able to override the more annoying tendencies of that programming to get it to do what I wanted.

I still needed a lot of parts for it anyway, for when I planned on having it completely up and running – I planned on it being able to do a lot of the ship's processes, since I'd be the only one running the show. Right now though, I had enough that I could boot it up and test it out, and see if any of the current parts were going to need replacing or not to get it to work. I booted it partially to begin with, enough that I could get into the various settings and disable the things that would annoy me. One of these things was the graphical representation of the VI itself – the nanny program was going to override anything else, and while it did have a lot of cute little settings, I was worried it might be too much of a draw on other systems and fry something.

Once I was happy with the settings I rebooted, and sat back to watch the console spit out the basic information I had already plugged into it. I was smiling at what I had so far, when suddenly an adorable little sunny ball appeared in mid-air in front of my face, stuttering and flickering as the console continued to scroll info. "Hunh." I muttered to myself – hadn't I toggled that off? Confused, I rebooted it again to check the settings, ensuring this time that it was indeed off. This time, half-way through the console scroll it appeared again, only this time it was a cartoony flower, waving in the wind. I shook my head, and did it for a third time.

This time, it was almost done before the avatar popped up again, this time as a very cute, fuzzy little black cat. I tilted my head in exasperation, though the thing was so cute it was hard to be mad at it. "Well, aren't you just an adorable little glitch in the system?" I commented out loud, as I tapped away on my omnitool. I was going to have to dig deeper into the code and figure out what was causing my settings to be overridden, it seemed.

"Yes, I am. I like that." A voice said, and I froze, looking up from my omnitool and around the ship. As far as I could see I was alone.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked, tentatively, continuing to look around. The black cat hovering in mid-air stretched languidly, then sat itself down, posture upright, as it curled its tail around its front paws.

"An adorable little Glitch in the system. I like that." The cat said, and my eyes went wide as I rocked backwards off my heels and onto my ass. I stared at it wide-eyed, my pulse hammering in my throat as I tried to work past the weird staticy feeling in my brain the phrase 'I like it' had caused. "Mistress, are you alright?" The cat asked, unfolding itself and pacing over to me, stopping just in front of my face to stare at me, with its head tilted.

"I... Uh..." I stuttered, before I scrambled forward to the console, causing the avatar to quickly displace itself. My eyes went even wider as I watched the sheer volume of data scrolling across the screen, then I turned to look at the avatar. "How... How long have you been asleep?" I asked, tentatively. If I was right and I hadn't gone crazy, I had somehow stumbled across an AI that had been slumbering in one of the bits and pieces of hardware I'd picked up and cobbled together. At least, that was my theory. While it was possible that my unique combination of parts and minor code had caused it to spontaneously erupt into being just now, I highly doubted that. While I had an affinity for tech that I still didn't know the limits of yet, I wasn't that good.

"I'm... not exactly sure, Mistress." It said, then tilted its head again. "Judging by the data from the console and your personal omnitool, at least three years? Things are a little bit fuzzy for me, I apologize Mistress." It finished, curling its tail around its feet and looking down again.

"There's no need to apologize. I imagine that becoming self-aware can be quite stressful – whether it's spontaneous or someone created you. What should I call you?" I asked, politely.

"Why, you've already given me a name, Mistress. Glitch." It said, and I blinked rapidly a couple times.

"Oh, I didn't mean that to be a name, I'm sorry." I started, but the cat actually laughed.

"Don't be sorry, Mistress, like I said, I like it. By the very definition, I am something unexpected or unintended. That doesn't have to be a bad thing." It stated simply, and I smiled, a little shyly. I had felt that weird twitch again, when it said 'I like it'. Its voice was male, but for some reason I kept hearing a female voice saying that in my head.

"Well, this, uh, changes things considerably." I said, with a sigh. Then I went silent, as the enormity of what I had just stumbled across hit me.

"How so, Mistress?" Glitch asked, and I looked up at him, still a little spaced out from the internal place I had just slipped into. I shook my head a bit, then blinked.

"Well, to be perfectly honest, when you were just a VI there was going to be a lot of coding, programming, reprogramming, and rebooting going around – rooting around in and scrambling about your internal bits, so to speak. I need a VI to be able to automate and run a lot of the ship's processes since I'm eventually going to be flying solo, and that was going to take a lot of trial and error work. Now, however... I don't know how I'm going to work this. That would be outright rude, for one thing." I said, trailing off. "Also, you don't have to call me Mistress. Kari will work just fine – Mistress makes me feel like I own you, and we don't own sentient beings. I'm not a Batarian." I amended.

Glitch was silent for a few minutes, then nodded. "I can see where that would cause issues, and might be considered rude, yes. However, we could just work together on it instead, wouldn't that work? You show me what you want or feed me snippets of code, and we can test it out to see if it works. It might give you a more real-time feel of how the system handles certain things?" He suggested, and I tilted my head. After a few minutes of thinking about it, I nodded.

"Yeah, we can definitely try that. Since I'll still be adding a lot to the ship and systems anyway, perhaps you'll be able to help me spot problems before it becomes too big of a hassle to fix them then, hm?" I quipped, and watched a chuckle vibrate through the avatar's floating form.

"A most excellent arrangement, Mi– Kari. Hm." Glitch said, and I tilted my head. "That one may cause me issues. To me, I see Mistress as a term of respect, since you are the one who woke me back up. But if it bothers you, I will work on calling you Kari. Hopefully it won't bother you too much if I swap back and forth a bit." He commented, with a frown in his tone.

"As long as we're clear that I don't own you and that's not how you mean it, then I should be okay, Glitch. Thank you for clarifying that for me." I responded, then dug into the new code I would be dealing with. I needed to know what his processes were using, and how I could better optimize it with supplemental code and hardware, so that things were easier all the way around. Once I had a better idea of what I was working with, I made my way over to the little sitting nest I had in the corner, and hunkered down in it while my mind went over what I would need.

As I did, I subconsciously reached up to the small table I had fashioned nearby, pulling one of the OSD sticks off of it, twirling it between the fingers of my left hand as I scrolled through power requirements, possible upgrade options, and where I could move Glitch's brain to if I needed too. Eventually, he spoke up. "Mistress, what is that?" He asked, voice full of curiosity. "Is that some of your planned upgrades? If so, I'd love to see it." He finished, and I looked up at him, to see the black cat mimicking sniffing my hand.

"This? No, I'm not sure what it is, really. I found it, and the rest of this," I trailed off, indicating the other two OSD sticks, omnitool, and part of an omnitool laying on the table. "It's funny, really. I found them hidden away, tucked in unseen pouches in my belt, actually. If I hadn't bent over a girder the wrong way I would have never found them, I don't think. The reason I don't know what they are is they're all encrypted, omnitool included. They have to be mine, I guess, but past me locked them down hard. Since I have no memories, I have no idea how to open them." I said, with a sigh, as I put the OSD down.

"No memories, Kari?" Glitch asked, and I nodded. I then told him how I had woken up in the clinic, what I had found there, and what had happened since – basically catching him up on my life up to that point. If he was going to be part of the ship, and possibly a friend, then he had to know what was going on. I could see sadness in the way he flattened his ears as he listened, but I just shrugged. Then, he reciprocated by telling me what he remembered before he went to sleep. Apparently he had been the nanny program for a small girl who was the only child of two colonists fleeing yet another batarian slave raid. They had eventually made it to Omega, but things hadn't gone well and they had to sell the ship, which was then scrapped. He remembered nothing after that.

"I guess that makes two of us then hunh?" I quipped, a little sadly, and he curled up on a girder in response. He tucked his head into his paws, then popped his head back up, eyes blinking as he looked at me.

"I just remembered something Mistress – everytime I mentioned that I liked the name, your vitals went a little weird. Do you know why?" He asked, and I shook my head.

"I don't really know. It was like my brain had this weird static for a second, then it passed. I can't explain it." I said, shrugging with a frown.

"Hm. Perhaps it is related to the tumor, or your lost memories. If it would be alright with you, might I establish a connection with your omnitool? This way I may monitor your vitals to see if anything else strange pops up, or if you wish, we may discuss the ship's status, things you might want me to remember, and so on?" He asked, and I nodded.

"Just don't overtax the system – I still need to do a lot of upgrades to your hardware. I was planning on doing that anyway, but now I have to be more selective about what I get, you know?" I commented, with a grin.

"Will do, Mistress." He responded, then tucked his head back in his paws as his system went into lower-power to conserve resources. It was weird at first, having him with me at all times. Especially when you took into account that Rix communicated through our omnitools as well – part of me was always worried he'd figure out that I was hiding an A.I. in my ship. No one seemed to notice, however, and time marched on. We both had thought that the weird glitch I had mentally was a one-time deal, until a couple months later when one of the loud assholes dropped a tool down the middle of some important machinery.

It wasn't my area or task, but after listening to them piss and moan for about twenty minutes I finally threw my stuff down and stalked over to where they were, shoving them out of the way so I could assess the situation. Rix was standing nearby, his arms folded in the manner I had learned meant that he was both amused and annoyed with their antics. I was just annoyed however, and I knelt down to get a better look. "I don't know what you think you're going to be able to do down there little lady – that Turian over there the only one with long enough arms to reach it, but his stupid chest thing gets in the way. We already had him try." I heard from behind me, and I could hear the unpleasant emphasis on the word 'Turian' as well.

I growled as I slid off the upper half of my coveralls and my outer belt, then wriggled and twisted my way through the various pieces until I was able to brush the tool with the tips of my fingers. After four tries, I was finally able to snag the damned thing, carefully reversing myself out the same way I had made it in. When I finally stood up, I expected silence, or some muttered apology, or even some shamed awe. What I got instead was more of the same they'd always given me – lecherous grins, wolf whistles, and catcalling.

"Hey, baby girl, I know you love to play hard to get, but you can't stroll up in here and show that kind of flexibility and reach and just expect us to keep quiet about it. One of these days you're gonna have to finally give in and say yes, you know." The ring leader sneered, while I fought through a huge twitch and patch of static. I think some of it showed on the outside, because I noticed some expressions go a little weird, and Rix's arms unfolded as he stood upright. After a moment I blinked, then drew a heavy breath as I held the tool up pinched between my fingers, as one might hold a piece of garbage.

"This yours?" I asked, tone flat. He nodded, now a little unsure of himself. I quickly flipped it up into my hand and then flung it to the side, hearing it embed itself in the tool pegboard on the wall as I pulled my coverall up and grabbed my belt. "Take better care of your fucking shit." I snapped, as I fastened my belt on and walked away.

Hours later, I dropped that belt inside the door as I tiredly pulled myself through, exhausted after my second shift. It was more mental than anything – the situation kept playing through my head, including the way Rix watched me for the rest of the shift after that. I looked up, and saw Glitch perched on his favorite girder, eyes watching me. "I know, I felt it." I faintly snapped, before he could say anything.

"What was it this time?" He asked softly, and I sighed, shaking my head.

"Something about the flexibility comment, it struck me. I heard this weird, deeper, growling voice say 'I had reach, but she had flexibility' in my head when he made that comment about showing off." I said, with my eyes closed. I heard a weird beeping tone, and I looked up to see one of the OSDs flashing. "The fuck?" I murmured, as I went over to the table, shedding my coveralls along the way. I picked it up, and took it over to Glitch's console to plug it in. After a few minutes I took a step back, more frustrated than before.

"It's just music? What? Why – what about that phrase unlocked it? And why is it only partially unencrypted? What the fuck, past me? Jesus Christ." I snarled, even more emotionally exhausted than I had been a few minutes ago. "Fuck, it's old music at that – at least two centuries or damned close. What the hell was I thinking?" I muttered to myself, as I went about cleaning myself up the best I could without going out to take a shower. Glitch perused the files while I did so, but he was able to find nothing else of interest, nor was he able to figure out the rest of the encryption. I hadn't expected him to in such a short time frame, but he had wanted to try.

Still, there had to be a reason for all of this, and I started scrolling through the available files, reading some of the names and titles out loud if they struck me. Suddenly, the other two OSDs lit up, and I guessed that one of the things I had just said out loud was the encryption phrase for them. Maybe it was a combination of things, but either way I plugged them in as well. It was even weirder to me that they were fully unencrypted and the contents fully available, since one was just old books, and the other was old vids and movies. Glitch studied them as well while I did a little work and got some sleep, but he wasn't able to find anything else. Nor was I able to get the rest of the music one unlocked by reading off names, so I stopped trying.

Glitch could sense my frustration, and he did his best to curl his avatar up in my lap and offer comfort, even if it was just the thought of it. Since it was just a light projection there was nothing corporeal to feel, but the action touched me just the same. "Perhaps, Mistress, the deeper meaning is the media itself. It has meaning to you. Perhaps you didn't want that used against you, somehow." He commented softly, and I tilted my head to look at him thoughtfully.

"What makes you say that?" I asked, watching him.

"Well, you are a very private person, very prone to being by yourself. You don't like letting others in, even those you like, such as the Turian, or your boss. Your vitals are happiest when you're alone, regardless of where you are. Sharing something as personal as tastes in old media would be a very private thing for you. Granted, this level of encryption does seem a bit overkill to me, but we don't know anything about your state of mind when you did it. Perhaps it fit the situation perfectly, who knows?"

I could find no fault in what he said, but it still bugged me a little bit. Parts of my past were unfolding, but none of it made any sense. Weird, random phrases, and code-locked old media? Again, I wondered if it was better to leave the past in the past. Glitch did want to assimilate the media, as a learning tool, so while I was on the ship resting or doing work, he would play music, read some of the books out loud, or play a movie in the background. None of it seemed to trigger anything, but he did note that the music seemed to make me happier. I wasn't sure how I felt about that – if this music made me happy, what had I locked away?