“You wonder if your consciousness is genuine or just an impotent analog,” Naecia said. “That’s why this isn’t a stalemate, Aptat.”

“Look who suddenly thinks she’s a psychologist to the flesh construct set,” they said, throwing their weight to one side and doing a kick with the opposite leg. “Here’s a question: Where did Aptat tuck away that Switch?”

Bum buda-buda bum-bum, bada bum-bum, bada bum-bum.

Bam.

Aptat charged again, so quickly that Naecia barely registered the sudden movement before she was flying through another pile of cargo staged for shipment.

Aptat’s voice came through the com, now parroting a version of the lyrics, “Naecia are you okay? So, Naecia are you okay, are you okay Naecia?”

“I have armor this time,” she grunted, rolling away from the spilled equipment. Effortlessly, she picked up a motorized dolly, spun it around, and flung it. Aptat ducked in time to dodge it and burst upward as it came overhead, punching it impressively away. Finishing the move, the stringhunter tilted their head down, grabbed at the brim of an imaginary hat, put one foot up on tip-toes and wiggled a knee.

Naecia tore off again.

“I’m tiring of this and the Scythin really are going to be here very soon,” said Aptat, moonwalking after her.

Naecia had already ripped a huge pipe from a rack running coolant, sending a gusher of the stuff skyward. “Sorry to hold you up!” she said, launching it like a spear.

Aptat leapfrogged it with some effort, then sprinted after her. “Do you know how I killed Mother?” they asked, chasing her around a corner, heels clapping to the rhythm of the song’s chorus.

Naecia plucked a railing from the wall and swung it. Aptat sprawled, avoiding the hit. “You melted her face with the magmafier,” she answered, changing direction.

They sprang up, executed a heel spin. “But do you know how I was able to get her mask open?”

“Oh, so she knew you were trying to kill her?” Naecia drew herself beneath a massive satellite suspended by a crane and directed the melee limb at the straps holding it in place.

“She did, actually, yes.” Aptat picked up a canister of gas and threw it like it was a small stone. Naecia narrowly dodged.

Her melee limb fired, breaking the satellite free. Rather than run to escape it, Aptat did a pelvic thrust as the machinery crashed down upon them. That made Naecia stop. The satellite had been as big as some of the ships in dock.

Aptat emerged from an access panel in the side of the wreckage, punctuating their appearance with a hee-hee! taken straight from the song.

Naecia began to panic. The simple physics should have turned Aptat to paste, regardless of the suit. She’d underestimated it.