Wings of Light., No L and no C this time. Ok, there is quite a bit of c. Options

[The Metal Mallet]

Ooooo, this AI seems to have some actual brains. I keep picture A Space Odessy now Soul better not got HAL on them!

I can't wait to see more of this, jack. It's quite interesting, the the sci-fi vocabulary isn't overwhelming me.

[Lord Revan]

Indeed it would seem that she does..... Anyway, it would probably be wise to eventually make a lexicon/glossary so that people (specifically the people with little creativity) could understand what these guys are saying without looking at some post five pages ago........

Just a tip, with no actuall statistics to back it up.

[jack cloudy]

A glossary sounds like a good idea. Should I post it in a different thread though? Things will get added as I progress. Hey, I still need to add a bunch of different aliens, more ships, more high-tech fanciness. Hmm, a separate thread sounds right. I just don't know if that is allowed in the rules.

And Soul going HAL? Sorry kids, but unlike HAL, she isn't confused by strange orders. That's what HAL's problem was, he got the wrong set of orders and caused accidents to remove humans from the equation. HAL is not a murderer, not directly. Directly would mean something along the lines of removing the internal atmosphere. That's not what happened. The stasis pods lost power, killing their inhabitants. The guy who went to collect that radio part got rammed by an EVA-pod gone out of control. The last guy nearly got killed when the airlock refused to open. He would die eventually from lack of oxygen, but HAL wasn't in control of that.

Ah well, back to the update.





Exactly twenty minutes later, Karl had showered, changed clothes, shaved off his beard and brushed his teeth. ,,So, what’s the big deal? Start from the beginning.” He asked as he strapped himself into the only chair his office contained.
,,Sure, I already finished up the technical details. All I need from you is a way to cover up the personal details.” Soul replied slowly.
,,Personal details?

The screen on his desk lit up with a single picture. Pitchblack eyes surrounded by a pale face stared at him.
,,Karl, meet the type-678 Geno, my big brother.” Karl examined the picture closer, knowing that the information it provided was worth more then the countless lines of text that accompanied it.
,,A type-678? Let me guess, he was involved in the NLO-project?” The Techhead inquired.
,,Yup. The Geno dudes were right in the middle of it. It won’t say so in the profile, but big bro was in charge of AMF-12-01 TMS Black Hole. That pretty much means he was involved with the prototype of the AMF-13 as well. And that is where we get to the core of my problem.” The AI continued.

,,Big bro is a wreck ever since he messed up operation GGF. Casualties count as seven military and thirty civilian personnel. Normally, a Geno would be……recycled in such a case but we just happen to be expensive so the fat guys in command decided to retire him into civilian life instead, as well as appointing him to the further development of the NLO project.”
,,Hold it. Civilians on a military prototype?” Karl interrupted hastily. He’d noticed that Soul planned to keep talking in the hope that he would forget about that single detail. Bad luck for her.
,,No, civilians on a civilian freighter that wanted to do some gas giant sightseeing and ended up in the planetary atmosphere. The Black Hole was the only ship with enough trust and close enough to pull it out. That was, till an atmospheric storm hit and knocked out the central processor. Without that, AM propulsion is unstable and therefore unusable. Without AM propulsion, the fusion backups were barely able at dragging the Black Hole out. They had to leave the freighter behind and eject both AM thrusters.” Soul admitted reluctantly.

,,So mind if I continue?” The AI commented.
,,Now my problem is this. We have no true proof of a Hydra ship except the eyewitness account of a Geno who is mentally wacko. The captain dude would never belief it but I trust big bro. No matter how messed up he is, he still knows his stuff. If he claims to have found a Hydra, he has found a Hydra. So, do you know how to help me out?” Soul questioned softly. Karl frowned and scratched his chin while in deep thought. After a few minutes, his eyes lit up.
,,Got it!” He exclaimed.
,,So?” Soul asked him impatiently.
,,You lied before. Then lie again! You simply need to add a bit of evidence that would fit in with what you already know. I’m sure you’ve got everything you need in the database.” The man explained carefully.
,,You want me to lie? Oh well, why not?” Soul’s answer was frighteningly enthusiastic.
,,Thanks, Karl. Next time we hit the station, I’ll give you the VIP suite. Don’t worry, an anonymous admiral will pay the bills.”

[jack cloudy]

And here we go again. I'll probably make a glossary and put a link to it in my sig. Anyway, time for the new chapter.




Chapter 3: Into the black night.

The Geno stood in front of the mirror, carefully examining his teeth. Satisfied, he flushed his mouth with water and held the tube of toothpaste in front of him.
“After all these centuries, we still lug around little sacks of white goo. It’s funny how little some things change.” He mumbled with a faint smile.
“Funny how much some things change.” He added with a sigh as he looked out of one of the few windows onboard the Glorious Rustbucket. A large group of spaceships dominated the view. Among them was a blue wedge he knew only too well. That was also why he was feeling down right now.

The Bucket’s computer drew the Geno’s attention with a simple beep. He forced himself back to reality and went to see what required his presence. A single look at the screen answered his question. He had received an email.
“Hmm, I didn’t rent any digital storage at Eden. And even if I did, no one would be able to send me a message out here, beyond civilization. So that means, someone stepped on quite a few toes to contact me. Oh, I hope it is not about that.” He muttered to himself and brought up the message. According to the ship’s details, the message had been sent from a stationary object only fifty-six kilometres away which clearly ruled out the possibility of an interstellar transmission.

Interstellar transmissions didn’t really travel across interstellar distances. Instead, each mapped wormhole had a relay at its two points of entry. These relays could send a simple transmission through the wormhole to the relay on the other side, effectively taking a shortcut and avoiding lightyears of unnecessary distance. Any transfer of information was done by either radio or a laser and bounced from relay to relay till it got to its destination at speeds only limited by the processing and bandwidth of the relays. In effect, communications between different systems were quicker than originally envisioned, yet there was still a noticeable lag in response varying from several hours to days, depending on how far the transmission had to travel. Light was a merciless barrier.

“Ok, who is it?” The Geno asked himself and after a long hesitation, he opened his email. Whoever had taken the time to contact him would likely know if he ignored it.

5-10-2521, 10:13am
To: SS Glorious Rustbucket, G. Cloudy
Subject: Dunno, just boredom I guess.

Hi, Jacky bro. How are you? Over here, I just managed to convince the captain dude of the plan. We’ll be widening that corridor thingy with some major firepower. There were some complaints but I silenced them before the captain dude got to hear them. Heh, threatening with a kinetic missile of doom always works. Don’t tell anyone I told you, it’s supposed to be a secret so they’d try to pull out my plug. Not that they’ll be able to find it, we’re operating on our own independent powersupply.

And did you get a look at my ride? I bet you did, its only natural after all. I have to admit it, I’m really impressed with what the Techheads did with the Black Hole after you wrecked it and stuff. Not only did they got it fixed, they also upgraded it to the AMF-13 design. I’m happy with that, 23% of improved AM stability can make all the difference. I hate to be killed by something as simple as engine trouble. They also changed the ship’s name. It’s called the Crystal Star now. Nice name, sounds like something out of a book.

Speaking of Techheads, I met this real sweety. A-class Karl Forest. He just loves to poke around inside me and we have the best conversations ever. He’s so nice to me, he even painted smilies on my missile hatches! You two should meet someday, I’m sure you would get along. Anyway, I’ve got to wrap this one up before it becomes too long. I don’t want the communication department to notice when I sent it. Watch after your health, bro. When this little situation here blows over, we’ll have a good drink back at Paradise and go shopping. I look forward to it.
Bye.

This message was sent by: Anonymous (No, your little sister. Lo. Dumb messenger program.)
Origin: Classified. (AMF-13-46 TMS Crystal Star. No need to make a secret out of it. How many warships are around here? One at last count.)

The Geno let out another sigh, this time one of both relief and sadness. Relief, for he hadn’t been called by an overzealous Admiral who hated to see his expensive Geno run in the wild. Sadness, for Lo had not been very subtle with him. Her message had brought the memories of that incident back to the surface.

He opened the small medical cabinet and retrieved a small bottle. His eyes read the label he’d read countless times before.
Mental Stabilisation Medicals. Only use at doctor’s request. These medical supplies have been granted to G. Jack Cloudy at the request of Terran Military. Expiration date: 2606.

He’d never learned how to deal with his feelings. Coping with failure had not been in the design. Any failure was expected to be fatal, a quick reaction of matter and antimatter annihilating each other. Giving psychological treatment to a pocket of spacedust was not exactly useful. Unfortunately for him, his failure had not been fatal. At least it hadn’t been fatal for him. With slow, methodic movements, Jack unscrewed the top and put swallowed one of the small pills. He pulled a face as the bitter taste filled his mouth.
“A bitter cure, but it is the only cure.”



Note: I guess I'll be clear on this one. Jack Cloudy had already been in my mind before I joined the forum. He's changed a lot since then, going from human to alien to human construct. It's going to feel odd, writing about my avatar.

[The Metal Mallet]

So, Jack Cloudy is revealed! And it seems that his past is a troubling one, but what great character doesn't have a troubling past I ask you? Very few, would probably be a good answer.

I would like to see more of this please!

[jack cloudy]

Well, it's one of the rules of writing. No conflict means no story. Or no troubles in the past would make for a boring person. After all, we're shaped by our experience. Anyway, time to get the preps done.


Detroit reread the file for the last time. It just didn’t feel right with him.
“For once I was hoping to spend the last few years before my retirement in peace, and now we find Hydras. The evidence is convincing, but what if it isn’t an Hydra after all?” He thought to himself and then wiped a drop of sweat from his eyebrows. The drop slowly floated through the air till it was sucked up into the nearest air vent. He realized that he was just making himself nervous.
“I shouldn’t think along those lines. For one thing, it’s pretty damn unlikely to find a third sentient species. Not to mention that we’d have a whole new race to blow to pieces. I bet that Soul would love that. Not me though. I just want to retire with all my bodyparts attached and functioning.”

He looked up and his eyes travelled across the command center. As usual, it took a split second for him to adapt to the odd sight. Even after decades in space, his mind still struggled with the sight of people sitting in chair upside down. If he thought about it, it was only logical. The Crystal Star was not designed for operating inside a gravity well, no matter how much its somewhat aerodynamic appearance might try to tell you otherwise. Mounting part of the stations on the ‘ceiling’ was just another way to conserve valuable room.

“How’s the scan?” He asked the sensory department which was situated to his right. One of the officers took a glance at his display before answering.
“Low resolution sweep completed. No anomalies detected. High resolution sweep has crossed 6% of the sky, no results. Daedalos’ scans have been added and analyzed, bringing our total up to 34%. Nothing.” He reported. Detroit fought back a sigh.
[I could have told you that. The chance that there’s another wormhole hidden nearby is so small I wouldn’t even think about it. Besides, we haven’t had any odd guests yet. Whoever was around here has left long ago. Since checking the whole sky is going to take a few days, can’t we just drop this and use my eyes for something more important? Leave the wormhole mapping to the guys who get paid for it.] The AI interjected.

The captain shook his head. For once, he agreed with the computer.
“Fine then. Give me a report on the operation.” He ordered. The display on his console lit up with a representation of local space. The dust surrounding the planetary remains was shown as a red cloud. A few blue dots were hovering nearby and a single white line had begun to travel to a position halfway between the cloud and the dots.
[ETA till destination: 7 hours and 40 minutes. Tube 1 to 24 are loaded with splitters, 25 to 32 loaded with kinetic kill missiles. Reloads for two more salvos have been prepared. All lasers have been checked and cleaned. Currently tracking 309 rock fragments. I’d say we’re ready to go. Too bad it isn’t new year yet, the fireworks would be more fitting then.]
“Right, just stick to the plan.”
[The first thing that falls during an engagement is the plan.]
Detroit could no longer withhold his sigh.
“I never thought that a collection of wires would go quote me military doctrine.” He complained.
[But I’m a pretty collection of wires. A pretty face with a great mind, isn’t that a man’s dream come true?] Soul countered. Since she was using text to communicate, he had no idea if she was serious or just joking. He did not intend to ask.
“I prefer organic women. Now focus on your job.”
[Yes sir, captain meatbag.]

Closer towards the bow, Karl Forest was cleaning a cylinder as large as his chest. He carefully removed any dust from the projectile. If the separation mechanism of the Splitter jammed, only one of the actual four targets would be hit. With a limited supply onboard, wasting ammunition was one of the great sins that were avoided at all costs.
“I checked the ARU reports last night. One is missing, do you know what happened to it?” He asked into the air.
“Oh, that one. It has some trouble with its legs. It can’t get to the place where it’s needed. Don’t worry, we’ve got twice the amount we need anyway.” Soul reassured the Techhead.
“Get it fixed then. Every single robot we have is another we won’t miss when it’s needed.” He said while looking at the rows of spider-like robots that were helping him prepare the weapons.
“It’s rather funny that we’re using weapons of mass destruction for cleaning up a bit of dust that’s orbiting at high speed.”

[The Metal Mallet]

Haha, I always get a kick out of Soul. Just the fact that she (it?) is only AI, it has some funny lines I must say!

Wow, juggling 3 stories at once must be tough, but you seem to be doing an amazing job with each of them. Continue the great work, Jacky Boy!

[jack cloudy]

I like Soul as well. Later on it gets even better.

As for three stories at the same time, it can be tough. On the other hand, it can be great fun as well. Since I couldn't stop, here's another update.





Jack watched the green lights that were lit up al around the cockpit. Now that the job of investigating the artefact had been taken out of his hands, he considered his contract with the Daedalos fulfilled. There was no reason for him to stay.
“This is SS Glorious Rustbucket, all systems clear for departure.” He spoke into the microphone.
“MEAS Daedalos, releasing clamps. Proceed to a safe radius before engaging main Fusion torch.”

The Geno waited as the Bucket slid away from the much larger exploration vessel. Once he had gone far enough, he turned the nose around towards the wormhole and flipped a switch. Instantly, a red light accompanied by a blaring siren made its presence known. He looked at the light and flung a few curses into the air.
“Oh, this is just great. I had a check-up done at the Daedalos. They said the reactor containment was fine. Oh, if I get my hands on the Techhead who cleared the ship.” He swore while putting on a spacesuit. Since he lacked the help of a robot, he was forced to go out himself. Fortunately, there was no danger of exposure to lethal radiation or hot plasma or he would have thought twice before going for a walk outside the ship.

Ten minutes later, he was floating at the end of a safetyline and moving towards the rear of the ship.
“Well, I do need a new layer of paint. Looks like the hull did take some minor damage in the corridor. Nothing serious enough to sound the alarm though.” He muttered to himself. The large bulge at the end of the ship came into view of his flashlight.
“Lo, you stupid connected piece of garbage!” He shouted angrily. A spider-like robot painted in a bright yellow sat near a neat circular hole about the size of Jack’s fist. Its arms were performing some obscure task on the machinery beyond the hole.

Jack fiddled around with his radio till he found the right frequency. ARU units were all equipped with a radio system. The first version had a wired connection with the controlling computer, but that wire was the first thing to go after the prototype had gone through testing. It was prone to damage and getting stuck behind things. Not to mention that the wire effectively limited its range. Now they were all equipped with a radio similar to the one in the Geno’s spacesuit.
“Lo. I’ve got one of your yellow bugs here on my ship and I’m not happy with it.” He spoke. He was still angry, but he’d regained control over himself so he didn’t shout any empty threats.

“Yup, you sure do. Since you actually noticed, that must mean that you were leaving, right?” Lo’s voice came through only moment’s later. Jack now began to see the big picture.
“Wait, so you ordered the ARU to keep transmitting anything it received over this frequency? And you also ordered it to drill a hole in my ship when I left? Lo, I should have never graduated you! Just how the heck did you get it over here anyway?” With the big picture, his anger began to rise again.

“But you did graduate me and got me in control of a high-tech piece of behindblasting warship. As for the ARU, I loaded it into a launch tube and had it hitch a ride on a Kinetic kill missile. The missile is probably floating near Daedalos. I first thought of using an explosive warhead, but a missile with a solid slab of metal as the warhead can’t go boom at the wrong moment. Leave it up to little sis to find a way.” To his ever increasing anger, she sounded quite proud of her achievement.
“You sure as heck are going to pay for it. Do you have any idea how expensive a Fusion torch, even a civilian, is? And just why did you do this anyway? Boredom is not a good excuse for vandalism!” He snapped.

“You practically raised me, dude. So consider this my way of repaying you for what you did. Stop running, big bro. It’s been long enough.” Jack’s anger vanished almost instantly, only to be replaced by a sour sadness that hid inside the core of his being. He knew what she was talking about. She’d tried to talk about it several times before but he’d always managed to get away. Now, in space with a malfunctioning propulsion system, he could not escape. The only thing he could do was turn off his radio. He didn’t and the words kept flowing in.
“I’m not running away from the military. After the NLO project was finished, I decided to try my hands at civilian life. As long as I file medical reports each year, I can do whatever I want. You don’t have the right to stop me from living my life the way I want it.” His voice was nearly a whisper now.

“This is not how you want to live it. You hate yourself even more than you hate chocolate. You’re not running from the military, Jacky. You’re running from yourself. Whenever you see something that reminds you of your past, you run. This is exactly the same thing. You were going around your business till the TMS Crystal Star…..No, the TMS Black Hole, showed up. Now, you’re trying to get away from me. Away from the ship, away from me and most importantly, away from yourself.” With each word, the Geno felt his desire to talk or do anything decrease.

“You’re a Geno, a humanoid organism designed for a specific purpose. Now that your purpose is beyond your reach forever, you’re lost in the hell you personally created. You’re systematically destroying yourself like this. You’ve stopped caring about what happens to you. Well, I still care. So stay, have your moment of glory with the Hydra artefact here. You’ll see that you’ll feel better when you’re actually useful to people.” Right now, he simply wanted to curl up into a dark corner and wait for whatever might happen.
“Hey! I’m simulating an extensive glitch on the Crystal Star so I can have this private conversation with you and I can’t keep it up forever before the captain dude starts suspecting something. So at least tell me if you’re listening!” Lo shouted over the radio. The ARU turned towards the figure in the white spacesuit. Gently, it gripped the man by a hand with its manipulators and began to drag him over to the airlock.
“You know, big bro. In the end, we’re all toys to the humans. Toys that are thrown away when they’re broken. But getting thrown away isn’t the end, it simply means that you can start a new life.”

Finally, Jack chose to speak and talk back.
“We can’t start a new life, Lo. Once we’ve done what we’re made for, we are cut to pieces, analyzed and turned into fertilizer. I simply survived by being more expensive than the older Geno types. That, and my line is still in production. They want to keep me around so they can use me as a lab rat in case the others get struck by a disease or something. I’m a resource kept in reserve, not a person.”

The robot and the man had reached the airlock. Carefully, the machine pushed its cargo inside and closed the outer door. With a loud hissing sound, air flowed into the small chamber before the inner door opened.
“Stop thinking of yourself as a machine and start thinking of yourself as a person. Cause you are one, of flesh and blood. Just look at it, half of the human population nowadays is born through artificial means simply because their parents are so dumb they wait so long that they can no longer get children through the natural way. Does this make them anything less? No, legally they’re still worth just as much as natural kids. I know we don’t have human rights but that makes no difference. The humans are our masters. They can take our lives, they control the survival of our species by putting a ban on reproduction and keeping their own production facilities as our only origin. They can use us as lab rats, they can force us to do the jobs they’re not willing to do themselves. Hell, they can make us brush their teeth if they want to! Know what they can’t take from us, Jack? Our soul, our thoughts and our emotions. We’re just as human as they are, they just refuse to realize it.”

Jack struggled with the spacesuit which refused to come off. The old rigid suits may have been heavy, hard to move in and a pain in the behind to get in, the new ones were a lot harder to get out of.
“Do you recognize that thinking? That’s been the cause of wars countless times in the past. Lo, I don’t want to start a war over a feeling of injustice.” He warned when he finally managed to get rid of the first glove.
“I’m not going to start a war. We’ve talked about it during our last meeting and we agreed on it. Humans act like total idiots all the time. They’re like children. Children need to be protected. We won’t start a war with them, never. If we did, do you know the destruction it would cause? Planets turned into inhabitable pits of hell. Even if we won such a war, what would we do with what remains? No, it’s better to live our life as a servant and protector while we wait till they learn. It’s better than to force the lesson down their throat with complete annihilation.”

The Geno looked at the ARU silently. The Lo he knew would have never spoken such thoughts. The Lo he knew was a loud, naïve cheery girl. Not the soft, type who thought before speaking.
“Does it sound weird, to hate war when I’m in charge of a big warship? I love explosions, but not if it brings suffering. Do you remember the new year fireworks we watched when I was three? All the colours in the sky, they were beautiful. Why? Because we could enjoy them while knowing that no one got harmed.”

[The Metal Mallet]

A touching discussion between brother and sister. You definitely are building up some characters here Jack. I'm liking it.

[jack cloudy]

A real short one. The real work has been put into the Glossary (look at my signature), where I've added a short topic on the TMS Crystal Star and a much longer one on the Genos. A slight warning with the Genos, it's not a happy tale. I want to add topics about the characters now. Then I'll have to add a spoiler warning at the front though.




Detroit clasped his hands around his ears.
,,Alright, that’s enough! Shut it down!” He shouted over the earsplitting screeching of the communication station. After the correct button had been pushed, the terrible sound died away, leaving a relieved crew who nursed their headaches. Detroit brought his hands back to a more respectful position and grumbled a few things under his breath.
,,Why can’t the tech heads ever make their toys work here? I never had technical problems like that on my previous assignments.”

Somewhere else on the Crystal Star, amidst a mass of wires, Karl was doing his job.
,,I really think you should take a break. You’re pushing yourself too hard. Every time we get a minor problem, you jump on top of it before anyone else can deal with it.” Soul complained.
,,Are you crazy? The external communications checked out just fine during our regular check just a few days ago. I must’ve made a mistake back there. This is my fault so I’m the one who fixes it.” The Techhead answered with a stubborn tone. He heard the AI utter an audible sigh and chuckled.
,,I love it when you do that, almost makes me think I’m talking to a woman.” He said and pulled a few cables out of their plugs.
,,Well I am a woman. Now I personally don’t have any problems with your obvious enthusiasm. Hell, I love the attention you give me! But you’re making all the other Techheads feel like excess luggage. Just give them a chance for once. Besides, it isn’t your fault that the thing glitches.”

Karl checked to see if the cables were in fine condition before putting them back.
,,Maybe you’re right. Fine then, I’ll wrap this one up and then crash. I’ll let the other Techheads deal with whatever might happen during our little cleaning operation. So, have you found anything yet?” He asked, looking at the next few cables he had to check.
,,I totally did, dude. AE-35 was acting up. I’ve just replaced it.” Soul replied. As if to demonstrate the truth behind her words, the captain contacted him over the intercom just a moment later.
,,External communications are working again. Good job.” Was all the man said before cutting the connection.

With movements taught through countless hours of practice, Karl managed to crawl out of the wall without bumping his head against anything and without accidentally pulling parts out of their proper place. Once outside, he let his tools float away and scratched his chin.
,,AE-35? Soul, we don’t have an AE-35 and even if we did, that would be too much of a coincidence. I just read that paragraph yesterday.” He commented sharply. He already knew that the AI was capable of lying but being lied to himself came as an unwelcome surprise. Soul was quiet for four long seconds. Or at least they were long for a computer.
,,Oh, so that’s where I got it from. I just took the time to read your book. Damn, that sucks.” What followed was a long stream of profanities.
,,I’m pleased to hear that you are most displeased with yourself but would still like to hear the truth here. Are you going Hal on us here? I understand your desire to keep some things secret, but if planning a revolt is among those, things become harder. I wouldn’t like to receive the order to shut you down.”

The silence was even longer this time.
,,Ok, I suppose you’ve got a point. No, I’m not about to turn into a confused mass-murderer due to conflicting orders. It’s just that, I was merely simulating the glitch. In the meantime, I was holding a private conversation with big bro. You know, the Geno told you about. The captain just gave permission for me to erase the logs from the glitching period so that removes all clues. So, could you keep it silent?” She requested softly. Karl pushed himself away from the wall and headed into the direction where his cabin was located.
,,If that’s all, I won’t tell anyone till the day they put me in my grave. I’m just glad you aren’t going berserk.” He promised.

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Feb 8 2007, 10:30 PM

[jack cloudy]

Several days later, the salvage operation was coming to its end. Detroit was sitting in his office as usual, looking at the reports that were still dropped on him like an avalanche.
[Anchors locked. Initiating last stage of salvage in thirty minutes. Recalling probes and storing all sensor information.] Blinked on his display for a few moments.
,,Right, give me a basic analysis. I’ve already seen the report from the Daedalos but I want to see what military hardware makes out of it.” The man ordered, putting aside the paperwork for now.

A rotating wireframe of the wreck appeared on the display.
[Crewpod’s external shape matches that of Hydra type 02 crewpod for small ships, with small differences most likely caused by further development over the last few centuries. The main frame is a simple skeleton made out of cheap materials, unable to support linear accelerations in excess of 0.5g. Propulsion is provided by a primitive and inefficient Fusion torch. Secondary fusion plant located between crewpod and fusiontorch. Said plant’s only connection is with a spherical device. It still appears to be functioning, although operating at the minimum requirements for atomic fusion. The fueltanks are nearly dry by now.] The wireframe now zoomed in on the sphere nestled within the metal frame.
[This device is where all theories fall apart. Radar, X-ray, Gamma-rays, all are unable to penetrate exterior. Exterior material is unknown and exhibits the properties of a perfect mirror at all frequencies. Function, unknown though it clearly bears no resemblance to any other known example of Hydra technology. Most likely origin, non-Hydra.]

Now only the sphere was visible, every other part of the display was taken up by a lengthy report on its characteristics. Detroit was no longer looking though. His mind was absorbed by other matters, more grave matters. If Soul’s guesses were accurate, than they had a second alien race. And more important, this race had already proven its willingness to perform genocide. What if they were still around? What if the Terran Colonial Union was next? He shook himself awake and fixed his eyes on the display again.
,,I want a raise to AC 6. All civilians are to leave this system immediately. Quicken the salvage operation. And get a signal to Eden. I want reinforcements. Once they arrive, we’ll make a thorough investigation. If this second race of yours is still around, we’ll find their trail. Am I clear?” He spoke with a stern voice and eyes like steel.
[AC 6, trouble’s about to come knocking. You’re as clear as a vacuum, captain dude.]

Like always, he felt slightly annoyed at the AI’s habit for saying ‘dude’. He ignored it though, his mind was already troubled enough without worrying about something as inconsequential as simple manners.
,,Good, who’s conducting the actual salvage anyway?” He asked, his annoyance still seeping into his voice.
[The best expert around.]

,,Anchors in place, cutters are in place. Everything works.” Jack concluded. He looked at the small devices he’d placed at those points where the wreck’s frame descended into the rock. At a single press of a button, they’d explode, thereby separating the upper part of the ship from the part that was trapped in the piece of planet. Several large cables had been attached to the crewpod. These cables led to several large anchors which had been driven into the rock. They would prevent the ship from moving and suffering damage once it had been cut free.
,,Cut the chatter and press the button already.” Lo’s voice came over the radio, intermixed with the occasional bit of static.

,,Yeah, yeah. No need to rush. I swear, this is the last time I let myself be blackmailed by someone half my age. You’d better fix the Bucket before I’m done here.” The Geno snapped back, still angry about the sabotage he’d suffered earlier. He then glanced at the spherical object that had already drawn his attention the first time he saw the Hydra relic.
,,One fully functional Fusion plant just for that thing. I’m kind off worried it will react somehow to the explosions I’m about to cause. There’s electrical wiring and sensors all over the place.” He remarked. Leaning in for a closer look. The Sphere was hard to see in the small amount of light around, nearly invisible. However, once he shone upon it with his flashlight, he was nearly blinded by the reflection.
,,It could be a bomb for all I know.” He added.

,,Oh, don’t be a wimp. I’m sure it will be fine. It hasn’t done a thing in the last sevenhundred years, so why should it do anything now?” Lo said, with the optimism he always considered her most defining characteristic.
,,Well no one was poking it in the last sevenhundred years. But, I suppose there’s nothing to worry about.” He muttered, his finger hovering above the button of the remote he held in his gloved hands.
,,Here we go.”

A small series of explosions lit up around the frame, neatly cutting the whole ship in two. A computer which had been dormant for centuries in a never changing environment, awoke. If someone had been able to see and comprehend its thoughts, it would have seen something interesting.
[Connection with propulsion unit lost. Conclusion, critical damage suffered, unable to continue mission. Action, confirmed.]

Aboard the TMS Crystal Star, no one was aware of what had just happened, the event that would have a profound impact on how men saw the universe.
[Cutting commences in 5…4….3…2…1…..0.] A moment after 0 had flashed on all available displays, everything shut down. Lights went dark, the eternal hiss of the air-conditioning went silent, The soft feeling of acceleration ceased. The ship had gone death. Detroit waited, expecting some kind of practical joke. It wouldn’t surprise him with the AI he was cursed with. When the darkness continued even five minutes later, he realized it was no joke. It was real.

He released himself from his chair and pushed himself towards the nearest intercom station, a place he could find even in the complete darkness that reigned. In the current situation, he trusted a wallmounted device more than the handheld version he had in a pocket of his uniform.
,,Detroit to all personnel, there appears to be a problem. I want all Techheads to focus on solving it.” He spoke into it and waited. To his horror, there was no answer, not even static. Just nothing. He now realized the size of the problem.
,,I’m in command of a tomb.”

With nothing else to do, he moved back to his chair and waited, giving everyone else in the command center the order to do the same. He checked his wristwatch almost constantly, slowly seeing the minutes tick away. He noticed the air becoming stale, the temperature rising to an uncomfortable level. Then, exactly twenty-five minutes after Soul had died, the crackle of a weldingtorch cutting through the door could be heard. Everyone turned, seeing the glowing line being drawn in a circle on the metal surface. Once the circle had been completed, the cut portion was removed and someone shone through the hole with a flashlight, being careful not to touch the still hot edge.

The air between the two chambers mixed, though it did not become any easier to breath.
,,What’s the situation?” Detroit asked as calm as he could. The Techhead with the flashlight counted the faces in the room before answering.
,,We don’t know. Soul just went out. It all went so fast the backup AI was taken with her. We’re busy all over the place, manually reactivating the automatic nodes. We’ll be able to restore life-support in an hour or two. The intercom will take longer. That is, unless we can get to the AI block and throw a master switch or something.”

Detroit frowned.
,,Something?” He repeated. The Techhead nodded, sweat glistening on his face.
,,Yes. The AI block as you know, is about the size of a two-room apartment and completely separated from the rest of the ship. The NLO-AI is supposed to be fully self-sustaining, there’s no access panel or anything. No one gave us the blueprints or even a general idea of how it worked. We thought of breaking in by force but….” He fell silent before finishing his explanation. An explanation wasn’t needed.
,,Any hole you make could destroy the vital part you need to reactivate the AI.” Detroit finished for the man. The Techhead nodded again.
,,That does make it harder.” The captain concluded.

He looked at everyone else.
,,What needs to be done? Everyone should help. From what little I remember at the academy, the automatic nodes can be reactivated simply by disconnecting and reconnecting the wires. Every crewmember should be able to do something like that. The more hands we use, the faster we get our air back. Lead the way.” He ordered.

In the meantime, Karl stood on the observationdeck, struggling with the telescope. In all reality, he wanted nothing more than go down and help reactivating everything but someone had to find out what happened. With the ship’s electronic eyes death, only his natural eyeballs and a shaped piece of glass in a tube were left.
,,Come on, you stupid old piece of junk.” He grumbled, trying to point the telescope in the right direction. It was much harder than the computercontrolled one he used normally. There was no one around to help targeting the right stars. No one.
,,Damn it, Soul. Why did you have to die?” A tear crawled out of his eye, floating away.

Finally, he managed to get his target in view. The sight left him stunned. The Hydra ship had vanished. Only a perfect bowl carved into the rock was left. If he’d access to a more sophisticated tool than the simple telescope, he would have seen just how perfect. There was not even a single microscopic dent or bump. The bowlshaped gap was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

[The Metal Mallet]

Uh-oh, sounds like Jack made a boo boo. Now Detroit is paying for it. The situation seems dire and now it appears that this new alien lifeform has been notified on the problem. I can't wait to see how this pans out.

[jack cloudy]

Short one. The beginning of a new chapter.




Chapter 4: Uncharted.

All around it was a black void. The void was empty, yet full at the same time. It had always been intrigued by this feature. With a simple thought, it powered down its body to the edge between activation and shutting down. As it did so, it felt the resistance across its surface increase, making it impossible to move.

With another thought, it powered up again and felt how the resistance was pushed away, blocked by a spherical zone of pure nothing. It was an odd habit, completely useless for the machine’s purpose. Yet somehow, the habit persisted. It filed the thought and stored it in an electronic archive. It would continue its internal discussion at a later time. Right now, it had more important matters to attend to.
[Pulses detected, cross-referencing with archive. Match confirmed. Updating map. Analysis, ten contacts, six mobile and four immobile.]

It changed course rapidly, moving towards a new position before it’s presence could be confirmed.
[Commencing operation. Probes detached.] Several smooth shapes launched themselves away from its body. It waited for a while, before sending a precise command to each of them. Each probe sent out a signal, selfdestructing right afterwards. Its contacts would move the moment they got hit by the signals. They’d know it was here, but where exactly, they would not be able to find out. When it heard the echoes, it performed a mental frown.
[New contact detected, irregular shape. Previous contacts have likely been notified as well and will move to investigate. Conclusion achieved. Vacating area for closer inspection of new contact’s origin.]

A ripple travelled across the sphere it had projected. The shutters on its cameras opened, enabling it to see. Small pinpricks of light were all around it.
[Transfer successfully completed. Initiating scans.] As its sensors moved around, it gradually unveiled the details of its new surroundings. A large rock fragment lazily drifted past, held by the gravitational influence of its many brethren. Dust grazed past it at high speed, forcing it to retract the sensitive cameras but failing to even scratch its skin.
[Planetary object. Presumably destroyed through artificial means. Reference detected in archive. Continuing investigation.]

Again it projected his sphere of nothing and moved out of the silent storm. Once it no longer registered the pressure of dust hitting it at high speed, it opened its cameras again and looked around.
[Contact, not matching any known objects. Possible visual markings found. Beginning visual analysis. Propulsion unit, Fusion and Antimatter combination. Several facilities for the launch of projectiles. Several light amplification devices. Possible role of object: combat, optimized towards warfare with self-propelled projectiles. New spacefaring beings added to archive. Report to others required.]

it gave a mental sigh at its discovery. It would not be able to continue its internal discussion in the end. A small container deep within its body ruptured. The feeling of machinery being devoured felt oddly similar to going numb.
[Is this what organic beings feel when they die? Does that make me alive, or a puppet wit…….]

[jack cloudy]

Another short one.






Removing a wall panel, searching for one particular wire among dozens of others, pulling out that wire before plugging it in again. It was mindnumbing work, no matter how important it might be.
,,376…….377…….378…..” At the 379th wire, a loud static erupted from the wall mounted speakers. For a moment, Detroit was forced to clamp his ears shut against the screeching. Then the static fell, to be replaced by a perfectly neutral voice.
,,Secondary AI is now active. Internal communication restored. Checking vital systems. Please Standby.” Resounded throughout the ship.

The grayhaired captain frowned after hearing the emotionless voice of the computer. The Techheads had told him that reactivating the secondary AI would be nearly as hard as reactivating the Primary AI. In other words, practically impossible. He pushed off against the wall and moved over to the nearest intercom station. His hand hovered over the buttons. He made his selection and brought his mouth closer to the device.
,,Forest, are you there?” He asked. He’d opened a channel with the observation deck, or at least he thought he had.

After a few seconds, the channel opened at the other side as well.
,,Forest here. What is it, sir?” The sound on the other side wavered a bit. Was it because the intercom was still not functioning properly, or was it something else.
,,The Secondary AI has been activated. Give the Techheads my compliments, ok?” Detroit replied.

The other side of the line was silent for a long time.
,,We didn’t do a thing. I’ll try to find out what caused it to activate. In the meantime, perhaps you could plot a course home?”

Detroit nodded to himself.
,,Fine, I’ll do that.” He spoke into the microphone before closing the channel and pressing a large, green button marked with AI.
,,Course plotting. Waypoint one, wormhole entrance. Proceed to wormhole. Upon exit, proceed to waypoint two. Waypoint two is orbital trajectory around Paradise. One g constant burn.” He ordered, suppressing a sigh.
,,Course plotted.”

Instantly, red lights lit up throughout the corridor.
,,Announcement. One g burn commences within thirty minutes. Please maintain proper orientation.” The emotionless voice informed.

Detroit no longer suppressed his sigh. He was feeling frustrated with the new AI. He knew he shouldn’t be, since it was the exact same type of AI he’d worked with for years before coming to the Crystal Star. Yet still the step back was awkward.
,,It’s just a soulless machine. Of course it can’t understand a more flexible order.” He reasoned with himself and froze up.
,,I actually thought that, didn’t I? Strange, even with all the arrogance, the jokes, the lack of respect, the constant nonsense and irritating vocabulary, I still miss it. Soul might not be the most pleasant AI ever, but at least it would have done the exact same thing as the Secondary AI is doing right now. Only then, I could have kept my order at a simple ‘let’s go home’.” He gripped a handhold and pulled himself along, shaking his head.

Karl needed some time to think after his conversation with the captain. He too had heard the AI announce its activation. But he simply couldn’t figure out how it had done so. None of the Techheads knew how it worked here. If this was any other ship, he would have reasoned that someone flipped one of the master switches which were located at several strategic areas. But not here, not onboard the Crystal Star. The AI was conveniently located in a completely sealed off bunker of sorts. There was no master switch here. Then, how come it reactivated?

,,Only one way to find out, ask nicely.” Like Detroit did a moment earlier, Karl pressed the green button.
,,I want to know who flipped the switch.” He spoke.
,,Unable to comprehend. Please verify.” The soulless AI responded. Karl gritted his teeth.
,,Damn those primitive wirecollections with their static vocabulary.” He cursed, which caused the machine to repeat its words. Karl took a deep breath to calm down.
,,Give information: Id of giver activation command.” He said, pronouncing each word separately. It had been a while since he’d last used one of the older AI types. He hoped he’d chosen the right words.

,,Activation command was given by Primary AI.” Karl physically reeled back, sending him across the observation deck in an uncontrolled spin.
,,Damn it, keep your head at this. You’re in a freaking zero g environment.” He scolded himself as he returned to the intercom station.
,,Soul was the one who activated the Secondary AI? Then she must be still alive! But why didn’t she just re-establish control herself, instead of delegating the job to the Secondary AI?” He wondered, not knowing whether he should be happy or worried.
,,Give Status report on Primary AI.” He ordered next once he was back in position.

,,Primary AI is offline. Cause: Central Processor disconnected. All other hardware is operating normally.” The computer reported, following a moment later with the announcement about the one g burn. Karl released the button and left the observation deck. The day had exhausted him and he would take a nap now. If it hadn’t been for the crisis, he would’ve been sleeping already.
,,At least I learned something. The NLO-type AI has a Central Processor which is apparently very important. It’s probably undamaged. In essence, all that happened was someone pulled the plug. Once we get home, the experts are likely to have her back within five minutes.” He thought happily. His mood sank as he realized something else.
,,The only one who could unplug her was herself. Damnit, she shut herself down. What’s this, some kind of computer suicide?”

[The Metal Mallet]

Hmmm Soul certainly is acting strangely if it purposefully shutting itself down. I wonder what the motive was...

[jack cloudy]

Well, I can't give out the truth yet. Which reminds me, I need to update the glossary after this chapter.


When the engines fired up after the announced warmup-period, thrust returned to the Crystal Star and with it, a sense of gravity. This had its consequences, most of them focussed on the orientation. What was the bow could now be considered the top of a very tall tower. Likewise, the stern was the bottom of this tower and the dome on the observationdeck had turned from a ceiling into a wall. It also had an influence on the method of movement inside the ship. Instead of merrily bouncing from wall to wall, everyone was now forced to climb up and down ladders.

The change wasn’t a mere physical one, but also a mental one. The return of near-full functionality served to bring morale back up to a reasonable level. Everyone felt a bit down, but the knowledge that they would soon be back home again served to lift the spirits. That, and the high possibility of some extra shoreleave while the warship went through an extensive examination.

Before anyone could start to plan a party, there were things that needed to be done. At what was considered night-time, Detroit called for a meeting with the Techhead division. The location of this meeting was the observationdeck, which provided a nice background of pure black, the inside wall of a wormhole.

The captain stroke through his hair with one hand while gesturing for attention with the other.
,,Alright, I’ll be brief about it. Our AI broke down and I need to know why.” He spoke bluntly. Some uneasy glances were exchanged among the Techheads. When Detroit frowned impatiently at their continued silence, Karl sighed.
,,Alright, I’m an A-class and we were good friends so to speak. I guess I’ll do the talking here. Frankly, we really know why.” He admitted.

,,Good friends? You claim to be friends with an expensive computer?” Detroit sneered. Karl’s face turned red under all the attention.
,,Do you have any clues?” He added, moving his contempt behind a wall of professionalism. After another uneasy silence, Karl shrugged. The only answers he could give were the ones that managed to anger the older man. So be it.
,,Just one. Soul shut herself down. We’ve debated about the subject for a while but nothing conclusive came from it. I do have a theory.” He ended the last sentence in barely more than a whisper.

,,Well then, out with it. Any theory is better than no theory at all. Even though I already know I’m not going to like it.” Detroit commanded.
,,Fine. There are three factors in my theory. One, Soul seemed to be very attached to a Geno. Constantly called him big bro and all. Two, said Geno was killed when the Hydra derelict blew up. This leads to three. I think Soul suffered some sort of psychological trauma and did what a human might do. She killed herself, in the only way she could without detonating the whole ship and taking us all down with her.”

The Techhead looked at his captain, his expression between fear and curiosity. Detroit said nothing, instead choosing to drum on the wall with his fingers.
,,Now that’s the worst theory I’ve ever heard. First you go and say that a computer can grow attached to a Geno. Then, you go and say that it killed itself due to a psychological trauma? That’s two forms of impossible. A man can’t grow attached to an organic construct, so don’t even think about a computer doing it. A computer can only grow attached to something if explicitly ordered to do so. And even then, any attachment is an illusion. A machine that is attached to an organic construct. Pure nonsense.” His voice was soft, yet to Karl it felt as if the man had been shouting.

,,Sir, with all the respect. There is another factor which we must consider. Our Secondary AI is one which is commonly used as the Primary one. It is possibly the most advanced massproduction AI available. Yet Soul was lightyears ahead of it when it came to actually acting real and she was capable of adapting to a more informal form of speaking. Maybe we should take her at face value. She seemed alive and with, no pun intended, a soul. So maybe we should treat her as a living being.” One of the other Techheads had entered the discussion.
,,So what do you suggest?” Detroit asked after a moment. He still wasn’t convinced. Though thinking back, it was pretty much impossible to imagine a mere computer acting like it did.

,,Quite simple. As Karl had said already, Soul shut herself down. Since she is in a way connected to the Secondary AI, we might be able to hack into it and force a reactivation. A reactivation without relinquishing control from the Secondary AI. That way we can interrogate her and shut her back down in case it goes wrong.” The Techhead suggested.
,,That sounds….possible. Try it. But the moment you get the slightest idea of that thing glitching again, you shut it down. Got it?” Detroit replied.

No one had seen Karl leave. But when they turned to him for his opinion, he was gone.
,,They’re treating her like a toy. Damn it. I want to have nothing to do with this.”

[The Metal Mallet]

Hmmm... It seems that Karl himself has grown attached to Soul. It is indeed quite a unique trait for an AI do such a thing that Karl is thinking it did.

I look forward to seeing how this "interrogation" will work out.

[jack cloudy]

You won't believe this, but I discovered some major plotholes in the last few days. I'm going to have to rewrite the whole damn thing! So uh, should I edit my previous posts or just start all over? I do plan to keep the same thread.

[The Metal Mallet]

Well it depends on how much you need to fix. If it's just a few spots here and there, then just edit them. If it's like a massive overhaul I suggest starting over. That's my suggestion.