Being partially high from smoking keys, Flyn did not fully comprehend the seriousness of his oncoming death. At first. But when Qula no longer bothered with her devices and instead had stood up to – believe it or not – walk towards him, he understood that their situation was somewhat dire. Why else would she find it necessary to use her physical presence to emphasize her communicational interaction? Admittedly, her physical presence was quite charming, so his mind decided that maybe he should indeed worry about this situation.
  Flyn sprang up from the couch and checked in with his ship, “can you tell me more about the explosives?”
  His ship said, “Actually, the situation is under control. The explosives are in no danger of being set off.”
  Flyn sighed then, not one of his relaxed sighs, but still a sigh of relief. Qula however raised her eyebrows upon hearing the declaration of temporal safety by the ship.
  “Flyn, it is not..” began Qula, but the ship interrupted her.
  “I have learned it to be important to comfort human beings in stressful situations like these. Therefore, allow me to tell you a joke. I promise you this one will be so good you will feel exceptionally comforted afterwards.” If the ship would have had a face, you could have seen it gleaming from satisfaction. It continued, “What do you call a blonde who dyed her hair brown?”
  When looking at Qula, Flyn found her to be looking as dumbfounded as he was feeling.
  “Artificial intelligence!” pronounced the ship with a hint of pride in his otherwise perfectively objective simulation of a voice.
  Flyn smiled at the ill-timed sillyness of the joke. But Qula snatched her devices from the table and headed towards the exit doors.
  “Where are you going?” Flyn asked.
  “Your ship is lying to you, “ she answered, “the explosives are about to blow any moment.”
  “What do you mean? It declared the situation to be safe.”
  “I repeat. Your ship is lying.”
  “Impossible! For that the AI would have to be compromised and there is no entity present on this planet who is computationally advanced enough to pull that off.” Although he believed in what he said, Flyn started feeling uncomfortable. After all, Qula had been monitoring the cargo space and would therefore know what was going on.
  “Do not just stand there,” Qula said while going through the opening sequence for the doors, “run!”
  Flyn did what she told him and bolted through the door after her when she got it open.
  “No! Do not leave me behind!” his ship pleaded. “Do not go with her.”
  This made Flyn stop. Was he about to just run off, away from his ship? With only the words of a mercenary girl against those of his ship? There had been something weird in the way it had acted though. And heck, if the ship was right and it would not explode, there was also no harm in being away for a second. Flyn slipped through the doors out of the dock after Qula, which closed behind him.
  His ship exploded.
  The singeing nearly reached them via visual sight alone. Flyn’s everything was wet from sweat. Both he and Qula lay slumped against the outside wall of the dock.
  “I should have seen it sooner. It was supposed to keep us on there until it exploded,” Qula said, “I guess the company is not that indifferent to freeloaders exploiting their optioned planet after all.”
  Flyn suppressed his emotions. They could be dealt with later.
  Qula beckoned him, “Follow me, I have some plans.”