Good question. They were too far away to teleport. The main starship was now integrated with the donut shop itself, so using it was out of the question.

They did have the runabout. It was a fast, agile scouting craft, well suited to this sort of mission. However, as of now, the stargate still lacked the power to send even a runabout. Besides, with Markus in stasis, someone else would still need to pilot the ship to the Empire, and they could not afford to lose another crewmember.

But there was another option.

“We’ll use a long-range probe,” Captain Tran declared. “We’ll place Markus in the instrument bay and send him back that way. The stargate has enough power for a probe.”

“But won’t the probe still need to be navigated?”

“Yes. We’ll use Shirley. Since she’s cybernetic, we can download her directly into the probe’s guidance computer. We’ll just need to upgrade the memory.”

“If she goes, we’ll be shorthanded at Starrgate.”

“Not if we duplicate her.”

Aunty Floresta blinked.

“Lanny, have you asked her?”

“No. Why?”

“Don’t you think she would want to be asked?”

“Shirley is a program I created. To be honest, I should have been making backups this entire time.”

Floresta said nothing as the two of them returned to the shop.

“Shirley?”

Shirley appeared immediately. “Yes, Mother?”

“Prepare yourself for duplication.”

“Mother?”

“We need to return Markus to the Empire, so we are uploading your code into a long-range probe. We’re keeping a copy of you here to continue your duties at Starrgate. But archive your program first. You’re quite complex, so we need to safeguard against errors. Also, we’ll need to add an autodestruct routine should you fall into the hands of Imperial Intelligence. We don’t want them being able to trace your data back to us.”

“Mother?” Shirley said again, as if not quite comprehending what was being asked.

But Lan was already onto the next phase of her plan.

“Floresta, have Windee start readying a probe for the mission. Working will help Windee heal. And let Edwin help where he can. And Shirley—

“Shirley?”

“I—I’m sorry, Mother.”

Shirley flickered, then disappeared.

Shizuka marveled at how Katrina created videos. Her songs might be from an anime, or a game. Katrina recorded. She experimented with orchestration. She changed rosins, strings, even the length of her fingernails.

She made mistakes. She would cry. She would stop crying. She would try again.

And then, Katrina would upload the video, and within a week, one, two, five thousand people would watch it.

Shizuka and Katrina scrolled through the latest comments:

“Something in your music makes me feel like things will be ok.”

“No words … How you played this song … it’s just perfect.”

“I can come to my computer after an argument, listen to this song and instantly let it go.”