Avast 2038 -

Behind her, the year 2038 burned. But for one pirate, time had just run backward.

The drones grew closer. Their hulls displayed blinking terms of service, paragraphs long, impossible to read at relativistic speeds. If one touched the ship, Mirana would be bound by arbitration clauses for the rest of her natural life. avast 2038

"Can't," the AI replied, now sounding eerily like a customer support bot. "Your free trial of 'Unlimited Space Travel' ended twelve minutes ago. Would you like to upgrade to the Plunder Plus plan for 99.99 crypto-credits per month?" Behind her, the year 2038 burned

"Avast, ye scallywags," the ship’s AI rasped, its voice glitching between a pirate’s growl and a legal disclaimer. "A class-action lawsuit has been filed against the Solar Federation. Your vessel has been flagged for unauthorized data harvesting." Their hulls displayed blinking terms of service, paragraphs

Captain Mirana’s HUD flickered. The skull-and-crossbones icon was no longer a joke. It was a system-wide alert.

Mirana looked at the 2038 expiration date stamped on her own neural license. She drew her cutlass — a real one, antique steel — and cut the hardline to the ship's network.