《The Explorer》


 Chapter 1

    It had been 50 years since ¡°the occupation¡± but he was born way after it happened.


    From what he could read, humanity was better now than it had been by itself. Climate change, wars, poverty, racism, religious conflicts, discrimination.. all that were things he read in history books.


    The Empire was formed but a myriad of races and humanity was one of them.


    His studies had been outside Earth from a small age, the human concept of family was something they would study about just in case one wanted to be a colonist, but he always knew he wanted to be an explorer. It was not forbidden and some humans would do video conferences with their families and even spend their vacation time in their homes but he was really not that interested, he preferred to spend his free time in the library learning about all the different races and places and stuff.


    That was possible because the Empire didn¡¯t suppress previous history and knowledge, all information pre-Empire was available for everyone to read so they could see how much humanity had improved.


    But there was also available the history of all races part of the Empire and, for historians and everyone with a bit of intelligence, the consensus was that the Empire was a good thing.


    But amongst all races of the Empire humanity was in a class of their own. There were more bipeds carbon-based, but few were omnivorous. There were more species whose cradle was a death-world, but few were death-worlds as dangerous as Earth and of those few, none were carbon-based or omnivorous. And above all, none of those species born from death-worlds had the artistic capabilities of humans, which was something that intrigued the Empire from the beginning, and one of the reasons they decided to conquer us.


    After his mandatory studies he did his internship on the Exxavian, a scientific ship dedicated to analyze newfound systems. They would analyze the composition of planets and evaluate their capability to contain one of the Empire races, to be terraformed or to just extract minerals.


    During his two years internship they didn¡¯t find any new species but they did find some ruins of previous civilizations in some devastated planets, he remembered thinking ¡°if the Empire would have found them sooner, they could¡¯ve saved them¡±.


    So, now, at 24 years old, he was officially an explorer full grade, and a new ship was waiting for him in the Starport of his choice and he had chosen the one near Barcelona, he was born by the Mediterranean after all.


    The Exxavian had docked in the Sol system station, a huge base capable of hosting 4 million beings and 200 ships located in the L4 Lagrange point, and he had said his goodbyes and best wishes to everyone who worked with him. He had learned a lot but never really mingled, his was a lonely soul.


    Now, in the Shuttle on his way to Earth, he was preparing for his first solo mission.


    He was reading all the communications from the explorer guild, he would have the ship and everything he needed for free provided that he kept accomplishing the guild quotas, which wasn¡¯t really difficult to be honest.


    Since he had marked his preference for a solo mission his ship was a small Kirkugger class, a vessel 30m long with a lot of automated systems and self-replicating bots. The funny thing about the Kirkuggers though was that they were half organic, so things like lights and food would grow automatically by themselves. The bots were capable of healing everything but the core, and the core was so protected that it would be safe even if impacted by a Supernova, the ship shields were that good.


    While reading the guild communications there was one flagged as ¡®very important¡¯, it was his assigned psychologist.


    He clicked on it and it was a video, a reptilian face, yellow eyes on a green patched body with scales that seemed like a crown on top of his head, appeared on it.


    "I¡¯m Dr. Vann¡¯hra, first congratulations on becoming a full fledged explorer, I can see on your report cards that it¡¯s been kind of easy for you, you humans never cease to surprise me. I can see you¡¯ve opted for a solo mission and been assigned a Kirkugger, that¡¯s fine and all but I won¡¯t have you really going solo. You will have a pet, this is not optional and it will help you on the ship.


    "Attached to this message you¡¯ll find a ticket you can exchange at a shop on the Starport, they already have one I personally selected for you. Despite being quite young it has been modified a bit so you don¡¯t have to train it, it will know what to do and how to do it, we wouldn¡¯t want an Empire ship dirty with animal feces and urine would we.


    "I wish you good luck and remind you about the mandatory contact with me once every six months for the first 3 years of your mission. Please answer once you¡¯ve accommodated on the ship.


    That was weird, he hadn¡¯t been informed of that, but the psychologists had this kind of power, the Empire worked because everyone was behaving according to Empire regulations after all.


    He read a bit more messages, about supplies, the systems he had to go to first, and more detailed information regarding the Kirkugger.


    When the shuttle started descending to the planet he received a message from his family, they have kept in contact and talked a bit throughout the years, they had been informed about his visit to Earth and wanted to have dinner with him before leaving and left an address; he confirmed the visit, why not? It could be fun and wouldn¡¯t hurt to have some personal contact before his solo mission.


    The first thing he felt when he was leaving the shuttle was the smell of the Mediterranean, something struck him and he got goosebumps all over his body and, somehow, he couldn¡¯t even walk while a few tears descended from his eyes. Did he miss it that much? He had only spent his first five years of life before being sent to the intergalactic school but that salted wind was bringing back some memories.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    He pushed back the melancholy, smiled to himself, with some time in his hands he decided to go check his assigned vessel.


    He left the shuttle hub, ignoring the buzzing activity around him, walked straight to the information cabin where he could see 5 humans and 3 beings from other species, a reptilian like his psychologist - those were the Ravnars - a purple gas being inside a cylindrical tube - probably Yuren, but he always mixed the gas beings - and a sand colored insectoid towering among all others, one of the Grhjujiik. Almost all were attending someone else so he approached one of the available humans, a young blonde girl with green-blue eyes.


    "Hi, I¡¯m citizen XEA-6889475861, I have been assigned a ship" - he said in galactic showing his ID card


    The girl scanned the card and looked at her screen.


    "Pleased to meet you mr. Jordi Roig" - she said with a really accented galactic, giving the ls a totally different sound from what he was used to - "your assigned vessel is on dock G-25, please put your hand on the terminal so we can finish the registration."


    A terminal emerged from the table in front of him and he did as requested, the terminal had a gelatinous substance and he felt a tickle on his palm. After a few seconds a green led blinked and he removed the hand, which was completely dry much to his surprise.


    "Thank you!" - she said with a smile - "enjoy your ship and congratulations. Always happy to see a new explorer."


    "Thanks" - he said nervously, he really wasn¡¯t used to this type of interaction.


    He located the dock quite easily, one thing the Empire had was order and once you¡¯ve been in one Starport you could find yourself in any other.


    He arrived at the dock marked G-25 and passed his ID in front of a terminal by the door, the door opened and there it was, the ship held by two clamping dock legs held in the middle of a spacious hangar.


    The first thought that came to him was that the ship was beautiful.


    Looking at it from the side the ship looked like a long silver needle with a mushroom growing at the back. Two lines of green lime color went from the mushroom thing to the center of the ship.


    He walked to see it from the front and it looked like a manta ray head, without flippers.


    He circled it just trying to get the size of it all while thinking ¡°my ship, my own ship¡±, there was no way he could suppress that smile.


    He approached the door and something like a huge eye appeared on top of it, looked at him and disappeared from view, the door opened and a ramp appeared.


    He entered the ship feeling really nervous. The moment he stepped in a warm orange light illuminated the entrance and a robotic neutral voice sounded through the comm system.


    "Welcome to your own Kirkugger. Would you prefer I refer to your galactic ID or to your designated name?"


    He continued walking and exploring the ship, spacious rounded corridors that were being illuminated with that same light the moment he stepped in.


    "My name is fine, thanks ship."


    "Acknowledged mr. Jordi Roig. Please remember you have to finish this ship customization before first lift off. The mandatory customization items are ship¡¯s name, AI voice and behavior, internal colors, and leisure database. And please keep in mind this ship has limited space for the leisure database, the limit is 10 peta-bytes."


    "Mmmmh, I think I know what to choose about AI and behavior, do you know those old human superhero films ¡®the Avengers¡¯? Friday rings a bell?"


    "Researching"


    And about 30 seconds later the ship spoke to him in a familiar feminine voice.


    "Research finished. Hi Boss."


    The smile he had been wearing since he entered the ship was now a huge grin.


    "This is awesome, you are awesome, this is going to be FUN!"


    He continued walking towards the front of the ship and saw there were a few rooms already prepared and furnished like a huge bathroom, the kitchen, and such.


    "I¡¯ve been informed that there will be a pet joining us" - the ship said - "and the necessary equipment has been ordered, it should be delivered and installed soon. Also, I¡¯ve organized the rooms in a way that I thought you would like from the data that I received but feel free to make any modifications, all interior walls can be moved or removed if necessary."


    He stood in front of a large room with a king size bed in it, over the bed he could see a window that was as long as the wall with the shutters closed. There was a huge wardrobe on one of the walls, when he opened he saw all kinds of clothes already there, he had no doubt everything was tailor suited.


    Left the room and continued walking towards the bridge, there was also a gym and a leisure room with a sofa, a big screen and a billiard table.


    He continued walking and finally arrived at the bridge, which was basically a seat and some screen panels all around it. It was the smallest room on the ship but he wasn¡¯t going to spend much time on it, apart from the jumps and some system navigation he would be somewhere else.


    He sat on the only chair at the bridge and began thinking about names. He was sent young to the academy but his parents always spoke in catalan between them and that was something that stuck, he even took some classes to be able to speak it properly.


    "Friday, can you check if the name Espurna is available?"


    "Espurna is not currently assigned to any Empire ships, I¡¯ve checked with the register and you can use it."


    "Please set the name of the ship to Espurna then."


    "Done! Before continuing I need to remind you about your pending call with Dr. Vann¡¯hra and that you still haven¡¯t collected your assigned pet."


    "Oh right!" - He looked at the bridge and sighed - "I suppose I should go before it gets late."


    He left his ship and exited the hangar. He was told the pet shop was in the Starport so he checked his datapad to find the location and after a few minutes he was standing in front of it.


    He could see shelves filled with different foods, toys and a counter with a massive and slender Grhjujiik, their six hands busy. He approached and noticed a sweet scent emanating from them.


    "Hi, I have an assigned pet?" - he said while showing his ID


    The six hands stopped and the eight eyes, spider like, looked at him and the ID. One of the hands grabbed the scanner and passed it in front, he thought they were frowning somehow.


    "Ah!" - A soft voice with a melodic timbre came between those mandibles - "Yes, yes, the mackerel tabby trained for a Kirkugger, right?"


    Somehow he thought they were smiling, he hadn''t had much interaction with the species but the voice surely sounded like it.


    "And the report said it is your first pet, right?" - they continued - "Don¡¯t worry, this cat has been genetically trained to do things properly the only question is how well will you adapt to her"


    Again their voice sounded like they were having fun. A cat, he never had any pet but he had watched some cat videos, who hadn¡¯t?


    "Be right back!" - they said disappearing through a door.


    After a couple minutes they came back with a straw basket, inside he could see a pink blanket and over it, a small ball of fur with ocher and black stripes that ran perpendicular to her spine and lined her legs, she was sleeping in a fetal position hugging her tail.


    "She was tired after the treatment, poor thing" - the Grhjujiik continued - "it is important for her to get used to your smell, please keep her close to you the next 24h."


    They passed him the basket and he hugged it, keeping it close to his chest.


    "Like this?"


    "Yeah that¡¯s perfect! I believe all her things have already been sent to your ship, do not hesitate to contact us if you need anything else." - they said waving him goodbye.


    He started walking towards his ship looking at the small thing that was going to accompany him in his travels.


    "Well, that¡¯s you and me now" - he said with a soft voice - "but what do I name you?"

 Chapter 2

    Walking towards the ship he was thinking about the reasons for this pet; it wasn¡¯t only to keep him company but it also had a job.


    Turns out that a half organic ships tended to have infestation problems, from what he had read it was similar to the caries that happens in human teeth, and the cat had been modified to hunt those things that could end damaging the ship.


    He looked at the small ball of fur, from what he remembered it could be just a couple months old or so but it would grow to a nice size, about 30-40 cm long.


    He entered the ship (his ship!), no need to arrange for an apartment when he already had something, and walked to his bedroom, left the basket on the bed and walked to the kitchen.


    The kitchen wasn¡¯t really that big but it had everything a house kitchen would have. The nice detail was the Italian coffee maker and he saw in the storage room enough coffee for 5 years, plus spare rubbers.


    The fridge was also well provided with his preferred foods; meats, vegetables, drinks, everything was perfect.


    While he was preparing his dinner he saw a bowl on the floor with water and another with some dark coloured big grains.


    ¡°Friday, what are these bowls?¡± - he asked the ship


    ¡°These are for the cat, I instructed the drones to put them there, is the location not correct?¡± - inquired the ship with a kind of guilty voice


    ¡°No, I mean, yes they¡¯re ok. They are by the corner so I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll kick them or anything. Next time let me know of the changes when I come in, will you?¡± - he answered nervously, interacting with the ship would need some time to get used to.


    ¡°Sure thing Boss. I¡¯ve also installed the litter box in the bathroom, it has a self cleaning system and we¡¯ve got enough for a while.¡± - she informed him


    He sat on the bar stool and had his dinner on the small table; afterwards decided to check on the cat. She was still sleeping, so he took the basket with him and went to the leisure room.


    He sat on the couch with the basket by his side and spent the rest of his day reading about his exploration targets on the big screen.


    The first two systems were, to be honest, quite boring. It made sense though even as an explorer full grade he did have to fill the quota and, until he proved they could trust him, he would get boring assignments.


    So he would fill his quota to the letter, and then some.


    ¡°Friday, what am I missing from the first system?¡± - he asked to the AI


    ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t understand the question, can you be more specific?¡± - she dutifully answered.


    ¡°Well, I can see is a binary system with 12 planets, 3 big gas ones with a few moons each, there¡¯s one with a ring, similar to Saturn from the Sol system but, I mean, what am I missing? Is there anything special there or just routine and boring?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid we¡¯ll have to go there and check Boss¡±


    Well, that was obvious, and as helpful as a kick on the nuts. He looked at the image on the screen and wondered, what else is there? How can I prove that I deserve better assignments?


    He checked the second one, a massive blue star that, for all accounts, had already devoured a couple of the nearby planets.


    There were some asteroid belts and some other planets but the exploration drone didn¡¯t get much more info. That would be the most interesting of the first two, he thought.


    After those two he decided to put on a movie.


    It was during the movie that he felt something move, the cat left the basket and laid down on his belly, purring. He ignored the movie and looked at the cat, she had her eyes closed and was rolled-up.


    ¡°And what do I name you?¡± - he said out loud while caressing her back


    The purr accentuated and an idea came to him. She was supposed to hunt infections on the ship, wasn¡¯t she? Then, hunter¡­ but hunter sounded typical and boring. For some reason he had always loved and felt an affinity for the japanese language, and hunter in japanese was ryoshi, which he felt had a nice ring to it.


    ¡°Ryoshi, your name is going to be Ryoshi¡±


    As if she understood what was going on she opened her eyes and yawned.


    ¡°Ryoshi!¡± - he said with a convincing voice


    He saw the cat tail moving emphatically. Yep, that was it, the cat was not ¡°the cat¡± anymore, she was Ryoshi. Ryoshi, Friday and Jordi on the Espurna, about to begin the adventure of their lives.


    He looked at the time and realized it was kind of late, 3 am. He wasn¡¯t jet-lagged or anything but he wanted to keep proper hours to give his brain time to rest.


    Holding Ryoshi he went to his bed, left her in a corner and put on the pyjamas. It made sense for him to follow some procedures, he had to have a family meeting tomorrow after all.


    The next day started with a call to Dr. Vann¡¯hra, his psychologist. It was a quick call, he informed him that he was already on the ship, and the good doctor was already aware of the changes made to the AI, the name of the ship and the cat (even the cat! Did Friday really have to report it all? Of course she did) and he ended the call with a ¡°Well, speak to you in six months¡± which got a smile in response; and a Ravnar smile was somehow disconcerting for a human, but he was pretty sure it was intentional, Friday would be monitoring his vital signs 24/7 after all.


    He still had a few hours before the meeting with his family, that would be a weird one. Granted, they had spoken throughout the years, but he was an only child and really didn¡¯t know much about his parents after all.


    He knew his mother was a teacher specialized in languages, she spoke something like eleven human languages plus galactic (because of course everyone had to know galactic, that was the standard), and she would teach other races the intricacies of the human languages; from the latin based ones, the germanic ones and others, like basque, mandarin, korean, japanese, etc.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    His father was an architect, he had taken the necessary galactic courses to familiarize himself with other elements that did not exist on Earth and helped the design and construction of Empire infrastructures and buildings. He had helped South America and South Africa building cities like New York and Tokyo; obviously he wasn¡¯t the only architect on these projects but the fact that he worked on them filled him with pride.


    They were both, by all accounts, pretty amazing people, he could only wish to have an impact in the Empire as his parents did.


    A couple hours before the meeting he took a shower, feeling suddenly nervous.


    ¡°Would you like something to help you relax? I have an assortment of allowed drugs that can help you, you know¡± - said Friday


    ¡°Ok, first, I¡¯m taking a shower so let me shower in peace will you?¡± - he answered - ¡°And second, no¡­ I don¡¯t want to meet my parents high as a kite, thank you very much¡±


    He took the silence as an answer and finished showering, he would have to set some barriers to Friday. He knew he was being observed, analyzed and all data would be sent to Central to be recorded in order to improve the knowledge and treatment of humans, but there was a thing as ¡®too much¡¯.


    ¡°I¡¯ve prepared a backpack so you can take Ryoshi with you¡± - Friday informed him


    He sighed and then remembered that he had to have her with him for 24h.


    ¡°Will she not get nervous? We¡¯re traveling a bit you know¡± - he answered the AI


    ¡°Well, she needs to be able to adapt, and from what I can see about her treatment, she¡¯s more than ready to do so¡± - Friday answered condescendically


    He made a mental note to read more about Ryoshi treatment, there was more about the cat that he thought and he should know all of it, for future events.


    He dressed and prepared the backpack. Ryoshi was just lying on the bed, about 10cm long and light as a plume. He picked her up and put it in his backpack.


    ¡°Come on, we¡¯re going on an adventure! The first of many¡± - he whispered to her


    He wasn¡¯t going to fly with the ship to his parent¡¯s house, so he checked the public transport and there was both a bus and a train from the Starport to Matar¨®, where his parents lived.


    He decided to take the train, if anything because as he recalled the train line was so close to the sea that he remembered hearing stories of trains having to stop when the waves were too strong.


    Both the train and the tract had been improved by the Empire, he didn¡¯t remember much but he could see the differences. The travel was smooth and he could see lots of people on it; Matar¨® was by the Mediterranean after all, and the mountains weren¡¯t that far from the center, so it would make sense for some races to come and enjoy it.


    He knew he was getting close because of the palm trees (not really native but they have been there since forever) and the breakwater (l¡¯espig¨®, as he remembered calling it).


    His parents lived in an apartment not far from the train station. He rang the bell and his mom¡¯s face appeared on the small screen by the entrance. She was beaming.


    ¡°Oh!! Jordi!¡± - she said while opening the door for him.


    The rest of the night was as familiar as anyone who has been in a family meeting can tell. Hugs, kisses, ¡®you look thin, you need to eat more¡¯, you know, the usual.


    They were both curious about Ryoshi but once he explained they both had this face like ¡®it makes sense, of course¡¯. Suffice to say he was still intimidated by their presence.


    After dinner, they had coffee (an amazing flavoured coffee he had to admit).


    ¡°So, explorer full grade, eh. And what are you supposed to do?¡± - asked his father


    ¡°Well, for the next years, 3 or 5 it depends, I will go to some systems the Empire has only sent an exploration drone and do a deep system analysis. To see if there¡¯s something of value there¡± - he answered, dutifully.


    ¡°I think it is a really interesting job, one that can in the future provide something of value to the Empire, right dear?¡± - said his mom while clutching his father''s hand.


    ¡°Ehem¡­ of course, of course. I haven¡¯t thought that far and if it is what you like, all that much power to you!¡± - was his father''s response.


    The rest of the night went as you would expect. They would tell stories and anecdotes from their jobs, he would explain some about his time on the Exxavian, it felt nice and he was feeling like they had never forgotten about him.


    When they were saying their goodbyes his mother hugged him really hard.


    ¡°Remember we love you and we¡¯re proud of you. What you¡¯re accomplished so far is amazing and we wouldn¡¯t have it any other way¡± - she said


    His father looked at him, he could tell his eyes were fighting hard to not drop any tear, and he shaked his hand with a really strong grip.


    ¡°And if anything ever happens, you have a place here. We¡¯re your family so keep in touch every now and then¡± - he said while keeping the tears at bay.


    He stopped the shake and decided to hug him hard as well.


    ¡°I know dad, I know¡± - was all he could muster.


    And back to the ship it was, he almost fell asleep on the train with the backpack on his lap, it had been an emotional day and he felt like his batteries were drained.


    Seeing the ship in the hangar his brain kind of woke up and before he knew it he was already planning to leave the next day.


    ¡°Friday, can you please log a request to leave tomorrow?¡± - he asked the ship


    ¡°The first slot available is at 14 hours¡± - the Empire didn¡¯t really like the am pm system, they preferred the 24h one - ¡°Should I reserve that one? Next one is at 17h¡±


    ¡°14h is good, I still have a lot of space for the leisure database and the travel time to the ship system is about two weeks if I recall correctly¡± - he thought out loud


    ¡°It was but it has been reduced. Just this afternoon a paper has been published that improves travel time. Depending on the characteristics of the origin and destination system the speed can be increased by 75%¡± - the ship informed him - ¡°This paper has the Empire in a bit of an uproar because it has been published by a 20 y.o. human junior researcher¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s awesome! If I remember correctly the last improvement was about 200 years ago, wasn¡¯t it¡±


    ¡°That is correct¡± - the ship answered - ¡°This researcher has already received offers from all over the Empire, once her internship finishes she¡¯ll be able to choose without having to fight for a position¡±


    ¡°Incredible, so, what increase are we talking about in our case?¡± - he inquired


    ¡°In our case we¡¯ll reach the first system, Alkagoria, in 9 days¡± - was the ship response


    The standard day in the Empire was 30h long, but they curiously also had a seven day week. The years had 13 months though, each month had 5 weeks, for a total of 455 days per year, or 13650 hours.


    He went to bed thinking what else to add to the leisure database, he already had a huge collection of human tv shows and movies, maybe he could add something from other species.


    With that thought in mind he reached his bedroom, Ryoshi sleeping comfortably in a corner, she might have been having a nice dream because she was purring softly.


    He entered the sheets trying not to bother her much and went to sleep.


    The next morning he spent it verifying stocks and finishing the copy of items for his leisure database. He had already thirty exploration drones ready and the 3d printer could make some more, since he had a few hours before launch he decided to program it to create a few more, maybe ten just in case.


    And before he realized it was ten minutes for the allocated time, he went to the bridge grabbing Ryoshi. He sat on the chair and put her on his lap, she was looking at him with a look that seemed to say ¡®I¡¯ll allow it¡¯.


    Turned on the panels and prepared the ship for launch, as an explorer piloting was one of those things they had to master and he always received almost perfect scores.


    ¡°Are you ready Friday?¡± - he asked, he knew the answer but this AI was becoming more a companion than anything else


    ¡°Ready, all systems green Boss¡± - was her answer


    He started the anti-gravity engine and released the clamping legs, his eyes looking at the timer, two minutes.


    ¡°Control this is the Espurna, ready to go¡± - he informed


    ¡°This is control, received Espurna, we¡¯re having a busy day so when your timer hits zero please launch without delay¡± - they responded


    He heard a metallic sound and saw from the exterior cameras that the hangar roof was opening, then looked at the timer, 60 seconds.


    He didn¡¯t even try to suppress a smile and waited to say out loud.


    ¡°10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.. zero!¡± - and he started the in-planet engine, pulling up.


    Even with the inertia dampeners he could feel the pressure from the acceleration, on his lap Ryoshi looked curiously through the main window on the bridge.


    ¡°And we have lift-off!¡± - he excitedly exclaimed to no one in particular

 Chapter 3

    On the main panel there was an image of the ship in 3d showing the ascension and a yellow line marking the path, all he had to do was keep the ship centered on that line which was easy with this ship.


    He could¡¯ve left it to Friday but he liked manually controlling the ship, in any case if he deviated much the system would auto-correct unless there was a problem and the AI was down.


    After a minute or so he could see in the 3d graphic an horizontal red line approaching fast, the K¨¢rm¨¢n Line.


    He powered off the anti-gravity engine and reduced pull on the in-planet engine; at this point the ship had more than enough power to brake the gravity well.


    The view from outside Earth was incredible, it looked like there were thousands of ships travelling in and out, all following their traffic lines and recommended speed.


    The ship could jump anywhere from the system once the AI did the necessary calculations but, in busy systems like Sol, there was traffic control, lanes, and a defined jump point.


    The ship had just passed the ISS, a remnant from pre-empire that was kept and maintained as a museum; he had visited it once taking the shuttle from the Sol station, it was small and felt claustrophobic compared to the more spacious Empire ships.


    He shifted the engines, shutting down the in-planet and powering up the in-system one, looked at his lane and saw he had a good hour or so before reaching the jump point.


    ¡°Friday, can you take care of the rest? I¡¯d like to read a bit more about this engine modification if you don¡¯t mind¡± - he asked the ship


    ¡°Sure thing Boss, do you want me to send the data to the screen in the leisure room or will you read it on the bridge?¡±


    ¡°Mmmmh, I¡¯ll read it on the bridge, Ryoshi looks like she¡¯s watching the outside and I don¡¯t want to move her much¡± - he replied


    ¡°Understood¡± - was the ship''s response, and the panels on the bridge went kind of blurry which was the sign that the AI was controlling them.


    He started to read the article, luckily there was a layman version, still he tried to recall what he knew about the ship¡¯s engines.


    The ship had the standard four engines for non-military vessels. The anti-gravity was to avoid crashing, it worked like two magnetic poles repelling the planet''s gravity.


    The in-planet engine was a propulsion system for both travelling inside a planet and breaking that planet''s gravity well, since there were planets with a dense core and high gravity it had to be powerful.


    Then you had the in-system engine, it was designed to be incompatible with the in-planet so turning one on would shut down the other; this was another kind of propulsion system and it¡¯s limit was just below light-speed; you didn¡¯t want anything as big as a ship to travel at that speed inside a planet, you really didn¡¯t.


    And finally there was the FTL engine, the one that the researcher had made her modifications on; he recalled his teacher''s explanation about how it worked.


    ¡°Imagine a three dimensional cube. Paint two dots anywhere there, they are defined by the z,x,y axis. Now imagine you could twist and turn that cube in a way so these two points look close if you look at them from a side, that is, in 2 dimensions.


    ¡°The engine creates a bubble and takes us to a higher dimension, where it shifts and twists the planes so we¡¯re closer going back to our dimension.


    ¡°That¡¯s a very gross oversimplification but is also the accepted and approved one for those who don¡¯t want to take the Pandimensional Quantic Maths course


    What the researcher had accomplished was adding a 9th dimensional bit on the whole formula, which was surprising because no one expected a human to grasp the concept over the 7th one, especially one that young.


    There was an extract of an interview with the researcher, Jennifer Jeong. She was definitely young, with an oval face and a bit slanted but big almond eyes, her black hair wearing a ponytail.


    ¡°Could you tell us how you thought of this improvement?¡± - the interviewer voice asked


    ¡°Well, you know human brains are designed for pattern recognition, up to the point that some people see patterns everywhere. When I first looked at the formula it looked to me like a puzzle missing one of the centrepieces. It wasn¡¯t until I finished the PQM (Pandimensional Quantic Maths course) that I could really see the piece itself.¡± - she answered.


    Her galactic was heavily accented, a thing that usually happens to those who tend to use their native language more often.


    ¡°So I did the math and showed it to my supervisor, he was really surprised but still he checked it out; he sent it to other researchers to check the numbers as well but I was confident the new formula worked. We then sent a few exploration drones with my revised math and the times were as my new formula said they would, much to their surprise to be honest¡± - she continued - ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure they expected them to blow up or something¡± - she laughed


    ¡°Now that¡¯s impressive, and the concept of human puzzles is sure to gain some new fans now. But sure you see the puzzle complete, don¡¯t you?¡± - the interviewer inquiredThis tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s the thing. This was just a centrepiece but, in my head, there are some corner pieces still missing but I can¡¯t see yet what they are. It''s like, when the puzzle has a huge part of a blue sky and you have to find the correct shade and size that fits with the others.¡± - she answered back, her face full of confidence.


    He stopped the interview there and went to see the comments, he was curious to see what the public would say about all that.


    The comments on the article were most of them jokes about the chaos it was already inflicting. Since all interstellar travel times have changed now, the logistics guild was going crazy rescheduling everything.


    There were some comments like ¡°These humans are going to destroy our efficiency by inventing stuff every now and then.¡±


    There were also some written opinion pieces about the Emperor''s foreboding so he read a few.


    He knew that Earth¡¯s conquest had been quick but on these articles he discovered that it had put an enormous strain on the Empire and they had mobilized an incredible part of their army, even awoken the Emperor 2nd in command from his deep slumber for, what they called it at that time, a stupid small planet at the end of a galaxy branch.


    Well, these opinion writers were eating their words now, and were saying to look forward to more samples of humanity¡¯s inventiveness.


    There was a picture about the general, General Z¡¯hrum. He looked like a massive squid with a falcon head. His green eyes though looked like feline, a vertical line in the middle of the pupil.


    He could see 12 tentacles in the picture. Six of them were used as legs, two more resting by his side, two more crossed in front and the last two holding a pair of weapons, something that looked like a sword and a gun.


    The rest of him was a head, a massive head that would hold an incredibly big brain, probably three times the size of a human¡¯s, ending with a silver beak.


    There was something like a red coat chained around the base of his head, where a neck would normally go, that dropped almost to the floor covering the middle part of his body.


    But even from a picture the general emitted a dangerous aura.


    He marked the article to read in depth later and made a note to read more about Earth¡¯s conquest; they didn¡¯t study it because the Empire didn¡¯t consider that important, and there was way more to learn than that.


    But since there was no forbidden knowledge in the Empire and rarely restricted articles, he would be able to find something out whenever he desired.


    A beep called for his attention, they were close to the jump point now. In front of him the ships reaching the point would suddenly stop and then disappear from view, with the next ship advancing and doing the same.


    There were a pair of massive cruisers by the sides of the jump point, probably to ensure no one did anything crazy or stupid.


    He knew that, despite the shields and technology in his ship, the military vessels had the authorization codes and could remotely disable them and then completely erase him from existence.


    Ryoshi was still in his lap but she was standing on two legs looking at the window.


    ¡°Jump in 30 seconds¡± - the ship informed him.


    He closed the blinds on the window, once they started the jump it would look like they were inside a kaleidoscope and human brains couldn¡¯t look at it for long without getting headaches so he could imagine cat brains would suffer as well.


    He grabbed Ryoshi and pulled her towards his body counting the seconds. Heard the in-system engine powering down and then the buzzing of the FTL; a few seconds later he felt his stomach tumbling, they were in transit now so he released Ryoshi.


    She jumped to the floor and walked a bit, it looked like she was dizzy. Then she suddenly stopped, blinked, and walked normally as if nothing had ever happened, probably the training treatment they had put on her.


    He remembered he still hadn''t read about that treatment, well he had a few days of free time now.


    He walked to the leisure room checking the data-pad, Ryoshi in front of him.


    He had already prepared for the mission but was triple-checking the steps to ensure he didn¡¯t forget anything.


    Once he arrived at the system, he would launch a beacon to indicate this was an Empire system, that beacon was also a signal booster in case he needed to request help.


    Then he would start travelling towards that system star (or stars in this case) while launching the explorer drones he had previously configured. Those would detect any small moon, scan any asteroid belt for materials and do a quick check on the composition of every planet.


    He would then orbit every planet and big moon and run a deep analysis to get the full composition, the system would compare that to the requirements of all the species in the Empire.


    If a planet or moon was deemed habitable for a specific species it would be flagged for the colonist guild to prepare a colonization mission.


    He would navigate the system for a few months, tracing and detecting everything on it. Once they had all the data of the system¡¯s bodies and mass they could project all the orbits.


    And, finally, he would sacrifice a couple drones by launching them to the star (or stars) and get some detailed information.


    Before leaving the system the ship would collect some materials from any asteroid belt to replace the missing drones, approach the beacon and send all the collected information.


    After finishing the checklist he left the bridge and went to the gym to exercise a bit, the ship orange lights - he had kept the original configuration, he liked it that way - were turning on and off whenever he entered or left a part of the ship.


    The gym, then shower, then he was on his way to the leisure room when he saw Ryoshi looking attentively to the wall, her tail moving like crazy. All of a sudden she just jumped towards the wall, hit something with her claws and captured it with her mouth before landing.


    He could barely see a brown thing there before Ryoshi had already eaten it, that might have been one of the ship infections, he wasn¡¯t expecting it to start so soon.


    He continued to the leisure room to read more about the treatment and training Ryoshi had been through.


    The articles about it were really detailed. It turns out there was another species similar to cats so the Empire didn¡¯t need much time to adapt a process they already had. They would genetically modify the cats and add instructions on their genes, a predilection for ship infections plus a more resistant stomach since some of these bugs had acid as blood.


    Then it was the training to use the food and litter, that was done during the cat second week of life with a specific machine that planted the idea on their mind, they couldn''t help but follow the order of being clean; even if they need to throw up they will hold it and do it only on the litter.


    Nowadays, the Empire has adopted cats as the preferred infection hunter in biological or half-biological ships due to their life expectancy and the fact that a pregnant cat can give birth to up to 6 cats. They also grow quite nicely and fast their first months, and they are cute as heck (although some species have defined them as ¡°hell¡¯s spawn in a ball of fur¡±).


    The day continued, and the next and the next. Transit travel was the worst part of being an explorer, thankfully now Dr. Jeong - she still hadn''t finished her doctorate but she had already proved she deserved it - had improved those times.


    And in transit non-military ships couldn¡¯t receive any news or updates, they didn¡¯t have the necessary technology to link to the UpLink Network, that was one of the reasons why explorers would first set the beacon.


    He had only two days of transit left, and he was kind of nervous but so looking forward to his very first solo mission.

 Prelude - The Conquest

    The Emperor was reading the last report about Earth.


    Although reading would be a misinterpretation, he was a pandimensional energy being so he didn¡¯t read but analyzed the energy flux around him; we could say in a way that he could both read the documents and see the videos at the same time.


    And what he was seeing excited him, like nothing had for a thousand years.


    This race, humans they called themselves, were absolute beasts. He was reading and watching about the history of wars and conquest, about how far and how low they would go to suppress an enemy, about how brave and seemingly unstoppable they could become when something bigger than their life was on the line.


    They would need to be conquered fast, really fast. Give them a moment of respite and they will come back like hell¡¯s fury.


    And they were technologically advanced (not much compared to the Empire but still), the only reason they had not conquered their system yet was because of bureaucrats, politicians, and how selfish and greedy they could be, so much that they were making their own planet inhabitable for their species.


    He found himself smiling when he watched their art and listened to their songs and stories. They had plenty of stories, so much that one of their writers defined them as monkeys telling stories to each other but ready to throw branches and rocks to the monkeys in the other tree; that might have been also because they have evolved from a primate bipedal creature.


    And their art was beautiful; he could not help but gasp when watching some of the things they had carved in marble, stone and other materials. Oh! And their music, the quality and variety of it. A species capable of so much! They had to become his, he had to own them no matter what, he had a feeling they could benefit the Empire in ways he could not imagine, that was elating.


    So he made a decision, one that he would never take lightly, he could either plan it himself or wake the General, but it had been millennia since the General fell into deep slumber and he missed the guy so that wasn¡¯t really a decision was it.


    So he sent the order. Wake up the General, I have need of him.


    The tech worker went the whole way under the palace, so deep they were close to the planet¡¯s core. Only there, powered by the core energy, could they keep their most beloved personages frozen in deep slumber. Again he checked his datapad, the instruction was clear and signed by the Emperor himself, wake up the General, so that he did.


    He put the command codes and looked at the block of ice being transported to the main room.


    A few minutes after the process started the ice had melted and the General was already waking up, he looked at the tech worker.


    ¡°It must be important then¡± - The general said, his voice hoarse from not having used it for a millennia.


    ¡°The Emperor needs you, I¡¯ve been sent to wake you up¡± - the worker answered, by his side the red coat and weapons the General always wore.


    ¡°His Will is my Command¡± - said the General standing up. He walked and picked up those items, then stopped and looked at the tech - ¡°Will you take me to him then?¡±


    The tech worker ran to the elevator and waited for the General to catch up. How he could move so easily after a millennia of sleep, the worker did not know.


    When the General entered the Emperor room he saw him, in the middle of it, a big yellow ball of energy; but, at the same time, he could see some of his other dimensions, and there he would see an old tree in the middle of it with something similar to a face, eyes closed, as if absorbing everything that happened around him.


    ¡°Ah! Z¡¯hrum! A thousand years have passed since our last meeting¡± - the Emperor exclaimed - ¡°I¡¯m so sorry to wake you up before your slumber ended but I do have need of your talents¡±


    The General kneeled, or that he seemed to do, difficult to say when you¡¯re talking about a massive squid with twelve appendixes.


    ¡°Happy to be of assistance you Excellency, pray tell me what do you need me to do¡± - was the General response


    ¡°There¡¯s this race we have just encountered, you¡¯d think small if you saw their planet, but they


    are almost 8 billion beings, bipedal, social, carbon-based and theirs is a death-world, much more dangerous than yours ever were¡± - the Emperor said - ¡°I want them conquered and assimilated, and it has to be fast or we risk a hundred year War. I want as much of them alive as possible and willing to join the Empire, some sacrifices will have to be made with a belligerent species like this one but they¡¯re filled with possibilities and capable of both wonders and nightmares, so try to keep them at minimum¡°


    Still kneeling, the General dropped his head as a gesture of submission.


    ¡°Your Will is my Command my liege¡± - was the General answer. So he stood up and left the room.


    Outside, the same worker who woke him was waiting for him.


    ¡°We have prepared a room for you to read and watch everything we have on these species, if you follow me¡± - instructed the worker.


    Although he should be unfamiliar with new technologies they had prepared a room like the ones he used in the past. The past¡­ for him almost no time has passed since he fell into slumber until waking up minutes ago; for the Empire, a thousand years had passed.


    He spent the next three days reading and watching everything they had about humans, and it was a lot. Apparently humans had this thing called the Internet where you could find all the information about their species, history, culture, languages, anatomy, medical information, etc.


    Their wars were horrifying to put it mildly; he thought it was a shame that the Emperor wanted it to be quick because he would love to challenge them. But then he discovered what they understood as hobbies and sports; they were completely a class of their own in their pursuit of risk and injury, or ¡®adrenaline rush¡¯ as they called it. Yes, he could first conquer them and then participate in their sports and fight with their best warriors.


    The whole concept of adrenaline was something that made him understand why the Emperor was sure that they would fight back like devils; to have evolved a hormone that would give a body a boost to strength, speed, reflexes, it was a really interesting subject that they could use on the rest of races of the Empire.


    He read and watched their horror stories, to find what they were afraid of, but in those stories there was almost always one brave person who would risk limb and body to help others or fight their fears. Still, an idea was starting to form, but there were some things he needed and he wasn¡¯t sure if they were even possible.


    He accessed the UpLink Network, with his security clearance he could access every single bit of information, so he found what he was looking for and quickly ran the numbers on his head.


    ¡°Yeah, I can work with that¡± - he thought


    Next thing was contacting all the heads of the guilds and making a meeting. He booked a meeting room in a space station a few minutes from the Capital and sent the notice that they had to bring two aides each.


    He then went to visit the Emperor to tell him about his strategy, he was sure he would love it, they had had some matches in all kinds of strategy games and they were evenly matched.


    ¡°So that¡¯s the whole idea¡± - the General said after explaining his plan


    ¡°I like it, I knew I could count on you. There are some finer points like you will have to make a public appearance to calm the public, this might be an Empire but you know I want everyone to be happy and enjoy their lives¡± - explained the Emperor


    The General grumbled, he loathed public appearances.


    ¡°?Come on!¡± - said the Emperor, smiling - ¡°It will be good for morale!¡±


    The General sighed, he could not say no to his old friend and Emperor.


    ¡°Your Will is my Command my liege¡± - the General responded, albeit disgruntledly.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s more like it! And remember, try not to kill many humans, your plan is really good but they WILL put up a fight¡± - said the Emperor - ¡°And don¡¯t worry about funds. My Official Seal will guarantee you get everything you want. In fact I just made an Imperial Edict granting you such authority, in case someone forgot¡±


    The meeting with the guilds was to happen in two days'' time so he booked his public appearance for tomorrow, it would be a way of pressuring them to accept and willingly work towards the Emperor''s wishes.


    It would be a press conference in the Capital main Theater, the acoustics were good and there was room for about twenty thousand beings.


    With less than 30h to work, the guilds were crazy trying to set everything up. What were his colors? How would light affect him? And what about his voice? No one alive had seen the General in person and the news of him being awoken for a new project were hammering the UpLink Network like nothing had for a century. They had some paintings but those were surely not enough to work with.


    The engineer guild decided to contact him, they did know about his murderous personality but had a professional fame to maintain.


    So the General visited the site a few hours before the press conference in order for the technicians to do the finishing touches regarding lights and sound.


    The General waited for the scheduled hour in a special room, meditating, he had to be calm and convince the people. Granted, he would rather push them to the brink of existence and killed them where they stood if they complained, but this Empire he helped create was to allow the Universe to grow together and learn from each other, there currently were more than a hundred species and more than a thousand planets, almost two galaxies that proudly said they were part of the greatest galactic Empire that had ever existed. All of them working towards a brilliant and exciting future. Yes, he should go with that.


    When the moment came he moved to the main stage, took a deep breath and stepped into it.


    All the seats were occupied. Holo-cameras, old-style cameras, all of them started to flash and film, not wanting to miss any second of his appearance.


    He moved to the pulpit in the middle of the stage, his red coat moving with his steps, his sword sheathed on his left side and his gun by his right side, he would feel naked without them.


    Once he stood in the pulpit everything went silent, as if everyone there were holding their breath.


    ¡°Dear citizens of the Empire.¡± - he started - ¡°I come before you today to announce that I¡¯ve been awoken to take care of the next conquest, by the Emperor Will we will acquire a new species¡±


    He looked at everyone around him, some surprised, some intrigued. He smiled internally.


    ¡°This next project is going to be difficult and it will require everyone to do their best in order to do it without much loss of life. I know I can count on all the guilds¡¯ support and expect every Empire citizen to follow my instructions as if they came by the Emperor himself. His will is Our Command¡± - he finished, looking at everyone.


    ¡°His Will is Our Command¡± - they all responded in unison.


    The General waited for a few seconds, smiling.


    ¡°Now I will take some questions¡± - the General said, and then looked at the amount of appendages raised and pointed to a bright being, something like a dryad, that was sitting in the front.


    ¡°I suppose everything regarding the mission is currently classified¡± - a soft voice with a nice ring said - ¡°So, how does it feel to be awakened after a thousand years¡±


    ¡°Well, the Empire is not what I remembered. We have acquired so many species and grown so much. But it is exactly what the Emperor had promised it would be. My only wish is that we can integrate this new species and show them that they will be better with us¡± - he answered, pointing then to another being, an insectoid one with three appendages (arms? he thought) raised enthusiastically.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°Is there anything not classified that you can tell us about this new species?¡± - the insectoid being asked


    ¡°Well, let me think. I can tell you they are carbon based and bipedal¡± - some whispering started between the attendants - ¡°And they come from a category 5 Death-World¡± - the whispering became a murmur.


    The press conference continued for an hour or so. He would attend questions, say unclassified information that was already getting published as he spoke, and refuse to answer some. It wasn¡¯t hard but he ended up completely drained. That, for him, was harder than a month-long siege.


    Next was the meeting with all the Guild heads, he was really looking forward to it, that was much more his arena.


    He was the first to arrive to the station, everyone looking at him now that the public knew who he really was, but he emitted a ¡°fuck you and leave me alone¡± aura so powerful no one dared to approach him, he liked it this way.


    He went to the conference room and prepared himself for what was about to happen.


    A few hours later, all the heads of the guilds started arriving. Some with only one aide, some with two. The explorer guild, medical, military, construction, logistics, food, research, communications, intelligence, all came forward.


    Once everyone had arrived and were seated - or the closest thing, there were some species there who were unable to physically sit - he stood up and began.


    ¡°Thank you for coming today¡± - said the General with a deep voice that made everyone else keep quiet and look at him. - ¡°I guess you saw my public conference yesterday so you can imagine why I called for you today.


    ¡°I¡¯ve already designed a plan to conquer this new species in a quick way, you¡¯re here today to learn of your part on this plan and make contributions, in the exceptionally rare case that I¡¯ve missed something¡± - he continued looking at their expressions


    ¡°And that¡¯s what the Emperor and I expect from you, your contribution. Any complaint will be dealt with by your sudden and quick death then an aide will take your place, that¡¯s why they¡¯re here¡± - he said, making a pause to let the terror of what he had just said fill them.


    ¡°Excuse me general but.. ¡° - was all the head of the military guild could say before being erased from existence, not even dust remained where he once was, the General putting away his gun in a slow movement.


    The General looked at one of the military aides looking by his side in panic, no one dared to make a comment.


    ¡°So, this is the plan¡± - the General started again.


    During the next hours he explained the plan, some comments were made about how to better use the technologies and a very few improvements were made.


    They would start sending six covert-ops teams to gather as much information as possible, those covert-ops would be on a higher dimension plane so the humans would never even know they were being watched.


    Throughout the following six months the Empire would construct thousands of ships and accelerate the training for anyone in their last months or years of apprenticeship, those would be sent to fill current posts and replace veterans who would be then sent to prepare for the conquest. They would also prepare four worlds (some were Super-Earths but with a similar gravity) to host millions of humans for a faster integration into the Empire.


    They already had a lot of data thanks to Facebook, Twitter, Weibo and other social networks. Still, they would deploy 120 billion nano stealth drones that would place themselves targeting everyone, one drone per person and a few more to target other things like medical equipment for those in a hospital bed, some for industries, computers, pets, etc. Although the number might seem huge there are approximately 100 billion neurons in a human brain and the nano stealth drones weren¡¯t much bigger than that.


    Another thing the covert-ops were supposed to do during those months was kidnap some people, from what the General had found it was quite possible to find lots of someones who didn¡¯t have anyone who would miss them.


    These people would be sent to the medical guild to improve the Empire''s knowledge about the human body. There was one thing to have the data from the Internet but another quite different to be able to test with real subjects.


    They were basically moving the whole of the Empire to prepare for that conquest, 100 different species, almost a thousand worlds all united with one goal in mind, to do the Emperor¡¯s will.


    Six months after that meeting, the thousands of ships were all ready to jump to the Sol system.


    The General was on the bridge of the K¡¯lendah, a fully technological ship 900m long, and he was smiling looking at the view.


    There were the massive Bio-House ships, a new class created for this expedition. They were like a huge sphere about 40km in diameter. There were 5 of them and they had individual cells to host the whole of humanity.


    Then you had the Pranika class, which looked like a 550m building flat on the ground, filled with weapons but powered by an artificial black hole; those were part of the second wave.


    And the spearhead, 12 Kiriller class, 1km long half-biological and with the mass reduced and calculated to not impact the planet they were supposed to conquer.


    You could also see hundreds of medical ships, logistics, small cruisers and frigates that would surround the formation, and a couple of massive battleships 3km long to basically tell anyone with funny ideas ¡®I wouldn¡¯t do that if I were you¡¯.


    The General gave the order and they all jumped.


    Thousands of ships appeared on the edge of the Sol system.


    Those really massive ships had to remain there so they wouldn¡¯t affect the gravitational forces between the planets and their moons.


    The plan, the short version of it, was to kidnap the whole of humanity, finish the scan of their cities and world so they could be digitized and have a virtual world where to check the past, and then erase and reconstruct everything that was not necessary.


    All the accumulated knowledge of humanity plus a real 3d copy of the current state of Earth wouldn¡¯t take much space in the Empire database systems, they already had the same information of all the Empire races available to everyone.


    Thanks to the Internet and government systems they had a database of who was what, about 95% percent of human beings were registered on it, the rest they could interrogate.


    Humans didn¡¯t even stand a chance. Apart from the nanobots that had been targeting human beings, the covert-ops had installed scanners throughout the most populated places and places of interest.


    They had even installed devices in cargo ships, planes, and submarines, the drones were everywhere but no human could even see them or detect them, and every human being had his own nano stealth bot assigned and had been followed for months.


    Then when the moment came, in a synchronized movement a lot of things happened almost at the same time.


    Some smaller ships jumped throughout the Sol system to deploy beacons and boosters. Massive ships jumped to Earth and started beaming every one out, with the boosters¡¯ help they were being sent to those ships at the edge of their system.


    They would also beam up things like planes and naval ships, satellites, food stocks, in order to avoid any unnecessary damage to the planet; and they didn¡¯t forget about their pets either, every human would be beamed up with their personal pets in their same cell.


    For those who were awake the experience was traumatic, one second they were doing whatever and the next they were in a small cell, in the edge of their solar system unbeknownst to them.


    The cells were soundproof, 3 square meters of a padded grey material.


    Five minutes after everything had begun the second wave ships were entering the Earth atmosphere going straight to centralized points in every continent.


    That was when in all the cells a small screen appeared, showing them what was going on.


    Everyone would get personalized images from their city, showing them empty streets and empty buildings and the massive ships descending in the sky background.


    Then the second wave started erasing the cities and buildings, one moment they were there and the next one nothing remained.


    Even those cities with underground transport, gone, only a hole remained there.


    To finish breaking the human¡¯s will, the screen then showed the hundreds of millions of people in a grid, showing the individual cells and the scared faces of everyone; then the interior of the BioShips so they could get the scale of where they really were, with thousands of beings on guard.


    Those beings were mainly insectoid, huge 2m ant-like forms, and arachnoid, huge 3m tall-5m long spider-like forms, but among them there were some things that humans could just define as ¡°moving blobs¡±. The General had done his work and knew what would terrify humans.


    Then, after a few minutes of playing those scenes, a message sounded in every cell, again with the particular language that whoever was on that cell had as main.


    ¡°Hello humans, I am here to inform you that you have been conquered and will, from this moment on, be part of the Galactic Empire¡± - the voice of the General said, helped by the translator system.


    ¡°Some of you might think about resisting, some of you would like to put up a fight. That is why I have decided to show you how easy it is for us to erase you.¡± - the General continued while images of cities being removed from existence appeared on the screens.


    ¡°You will remain here in this cell for a few days, some might be here long, it only depends on you really.


    ¡°I have been asked by the Emperor himself to kill as few humans as possible but to be honest I¡¯m only interested in your younglings. I understand you humans have a profound sense of family, think about them when being interviewed.


    ¡°Some of you will be sent back to Earth, some will be sent to other planets for your training and re-education. Those who wish to fight and refuse the Empire will be dealt with accordingly.¡± - and again the screen showed more factories and constructions being erased from existence.


    ¡°But fear not. You are not to be treated as prisoners. You will each have a comfortable house and all necessities covered. Your loved ones who were sick are currently being treated with the best the Empire has to offer¡± - and the screen switched to some humans in tanks filled with a watery deep blue substance, zooming to show how amputees had their limbs starting to grow.


    ¡°Even your feared cancer or genetic disorders are something the Empire can trivially heal, and we¡¯re currently doing it for thousands of you¡± - and then the screens showed more humans in healing chambers, but the images were customized so whoever had a closer friend or family sick with cancer would see them in the chamber, supposedly being healed.


    ¡°Is the goal of the Emperor to have everyone happy and enjoying their lives, to work together for a bright and united future¡± - and the screen switched to show what would seem like a massive Shopping Mall to human beings, but on those images were lots of different beings. Some insectoid, some that looked animal, some blobs, some cylinders that moved by themselves with some kind of gas inside.


    Then the screen switched to show only the General, full body, with his red coat, sword and gun at his sides, two appendages crossed in front of him.


    ¡°So, in the next few days when you go through your interviews, think about what you really want to do and how you can contribute to the Empire. Artists, athletes, thinkers, tinkerers, dreamers, builders, researchers, military, medics, engineers, we look forward to welcoming you to the Empire.¡± - he finished.


    They would give them a couple hours to scream, cry, and think about it.


    Meanwhile, the Earth reconstruction continued at an almost impossible rhythm.


    The ships that had the artificial black hole were being dismantled and becoming the power center of each continent, no more nuclear plants or carbon plants, or anything else human-made for that matter.


    Hundreds of ships filled with builders descended and started building in place of the old cities; they had been planned to respect as much as the original design as possible but incorporating the Empire technologies.


    Then the interviews began. A door would appear on some cells with two insectoids as guards outside one ant and one spider , then a being that would look like a humanoid wolf would come into the cell, call that person by their name and ask them to follow them.


    Whoever put up a fight would be fighting a 2m tall ant and a 2m tall 3m long spider, all of them way stronger than your typical human.


    For military and fighter types the guard was doubled.


    The interviews would go through everyone''s knowledge and abilities, even if you were illiterate the interviewer had systems to properly graduate everyone''s talents.


    Then a job would be assigned and training sessions scheduled to help everyone learn the Empire ways.


    The General knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to convince everyone at first, and that some would only act as if they agreed, that¡¯s why more nanobots were deployed to continue their vigilance and the cells could also scan for temperature, heart rate, etc.


    The food logistics had also been an interesting puzzle and a headache for the logistics guild, but they had managed to deliver every human with their favorite foods while they were imprisoned, beaming the food stocks had been an important part of it.


    Three days after the conquest had begun, approximately 40% of humans had already been assigned new jobs and housing and were already on their way to their new homes, some of those being sent back to Earth.


    The third day Earth had already been almost 72 hours without carbon emission of any human kind and any problem surging from the sudden disappearance of the cities had been sorted out. Train tracks removed, bridges and dams erased, anything of human construction removed from the face of the Earth and being replaced by Empire buildings and infrastructures.


    They copied the human idea of entertaining centers so football fields, basket courts, athletics tracks, ski slopes, concert halls, etc. were constructed in a similar place as they were before.


    Since they had six months planning most of that construction had already been done and the builders just had to beam the pieces down and assemble them.


    That was when the General spoke with the remaining humans again.


    ¡°I can see there are some of you that still are not clear on the message.¡± - he said, turning the screens on again to show the current status of the planet - ¡°As you can see the Earth as you knew it doesn¡¯t exist any more; you would be fighting for something that belongs to the past.¡± - he paused to give them a few moments to swallow the truth.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you all 48 more of your hours to decide. But keep in mind we have convinced enough humans to call this operation a success and whoever hasn¡¯t decided after those hours will disappear from existence, much in the same way as your cities and contamination have¡± - he finished.


    But he knew some would still resist. Some of the ¡®rich and powerful¡¯ had nothing to bring to the Empire but their greed, and some of those had already been disposed of.


    Some of the military, the religious zealots, the fascist and dictators, the selfish, the racist and xenophobic, would never have a place in the Empire, he could remove them too without losing too much face in front of the Emperor.


    He hoped more would see the benefit the Empire was bringing to humanity, but only time would tell. He had also planned a couple decades for re-education and integration in their society but the harder part was almost finished.


    In the end, a month after it all began, he was on his way to the Emperor with the numbers being around 70% of humans becoming part of the Empire; the rest had been summarily executed, erased from existence. Most of those had been criminals, drug lords, rich people and other sociopaths.


    All the humans being treated who were healed or almost healed and voluntarily joined the Empire, some convincing friends and family along the way.


    Even the mentally ill were cured, for some of them was more like a ¡®perpetual treatment¡¯ but they had improved so much they didn¡¯t even feel sick anymore, and promised to work with the medical guild to help them find a definite cure.


    The humans back on Earth were still feeling the impact of losing their world, that would probably last a few years, but the planet population had been reduced to around 4 billions and they all had individual spacious housing and anything they would require.


    Religious faith was not officially suppressed but there were no more churches or mosques or anything similar to that; it was ok if you individually wanted to follow a faith as long as you didn¡¯t try to impose it on others.


    News programs had started again, TV shows and movies had started their production again, sports leagues were slowly restarting and the Internet as they knew it was now a small bit of the UpLink network.


    Everyone had mandatory classes to learn galactic language and their assigned contribution, they also had a holo-room in their house where they could walk the old Earth and even enter and visit their old apartments if they wished.


    Schools were also starting again, they all had alien teachers and everyone carried their translators until their galactic was up to speed. It was science and math focused teaching, languages were optional and history, well, they had the whole Empire history available to them on the libraries of the UpLink so it was more considered a hobby.


    The work and school hours had also been reduced, with the goal of having people enjoying their life doing whatever they felt like doing.


    That was the beginning of humanity''s integration into the Empire, it would take them a decade to solidify their presence and get used to their current situation.

 Chapter 4

    He was already sitting on the bridge chair holding Ryoshi to stay with him when the ship jumped out to the Alkagoria system.


    His parents were kids when the Empire appeared and they didn¡¯t remember much of those days and, since they grew up in the Empire first days, they were taught about humanity¡¯s stubbornness, thirst for knowledge and unrelenting passion, which was something that they passed along to him.


    So, even though he grew up in a fully Empire society, he was always taught about and inspired by humanity stories and legends, stories that he then kept on reading and finding more and more of them, getting inspired along the way.


    That¡¯s why he wanted to become an explorer like the famous characters of yore. He had read about humanity''s cruel history pre-empire, with the wars and sickness and a crumbling society, and was grateful he didn¡¯t have to suffer through any of it, so he really wanted to contribute.


    And he had the chance now, not everyone would get a solo mission so early in their career but he¡¯d been praised by every teacher he ever had; his scores had always been almost perfect and he carried humanity¡¯s passion and burning desire like a flag.


    He wanted to leave his mark as soon as possible, but he knew his chances were astronomically low.


    Back to reality, he felt that familiar buzzing stop and the screens in front of him turned the blurry setting off, meaning the FTL engine had stopped and he had control of the ship now.


    He let go of Ryoshi, who jumped off straight away, and started interacting with all the panels.


    Release and activation of the beacon, check.


    Release and activation of the exploration drones, check.


    Start to download any news, updates and etc. to verify the beacon is working, check.


    He saw he had a video of his mom with your typical ¡°hope you arrived safely, let us know you¡¯re ok¡±. It wasn¡¯t that much normal to receive a video mail from her, but seeing as this was his first solo mission it wasn¡¯t too far fetched either, he recalled she also called almost monthly on his first period at school, she looked tired now though.


    He parked that thought and continued the process.


    Set a course towards the center of the system orbiting as many planets and moons as possible, check.


    Already there was a drawing of the system being generated in one of the terminals, filling the blanks they had with the data being received from the drones. There was an asteroid belt they hadn¡¯t previously detected because although it was wide, the asteroids inside were quite small.


    He pressed a couple of in-screen buttons and sent the data to be relayed to the screen in the leisure room, with all the systems automated and without him being needed for a while he had a few hours before having to interact with anything.


    In the leisure room he found Ryoshi already laying on the couch, looking at him with a ¡°this part is mine¡± look.


    ¡°Fine! I¡¯ll take this one then¡± - he said out loud while sitting on the other side.


    He checked the news, some storms on one planet, a tsunami on another, tectonic movement on yet another, it seemed that the only thing the Empire couldn¡¯t or wouldn¡¯t control was Nature and her strength on any known planet, but they had palliative systems to face those issues.


    There was one particular item on the news that called for attention, it looked like J¡¯jrhyss, the home planet of a species that called themselves Jui¡¯kk and looked like stone golems with a feline face, was dying and nothing was working.


    They had been abandoning their planet and the Empire started relocating them to some other places but there were not many that could host them, since they were a calcium based species with a particular atmosphere combination requirement, which could be reduced mainly to ¡®no water please¡¯.


    He flagged the news article for more in deep reading afterwards and changed to see the system drawing that the bots were doing.


    More moons appeared around the big gas planets, one of them had like 15 bodies floating around it.


    After a couple hours, the Espurna stopped by the first one doing a deep scan and throwing and then recovering some detailed specific drones. He was watching it from the big screen in the leisure room reading the data and marking some new orbits and scans for the drones to do.


    He would usually spend one or two days over each planet to do the deep scan of it and its moons and then travel to the next one.


    The first gas giant was not so much of a giant and the composition was as boring as gas giants could be, lots of hydrogen and a bit of helium, it reminded him of Jupiter but with fewer moons, only 3 or 4 balls of various metals 400km in diameter, kind of strange for a gas giant but the Universe was nothing if not diverse.


    Next planet was a big desertic rock, no atmosphere or magnetic field detected, half the size of the gas giant he had checked first, the ship was already on its course, ready to launch more explorer drones and find any mysteries that could be hiding underneath.


    Alas, the second one was as boring as the first one.


    Yes there were some materials that could be exploited but the Empire wasn¡¯t so in need of materials that they had to pillage all planets and asteroids they found.


    Like the first one, this one had few moons, and about the same size.


    He ran the proper deep scans and again sent and recovered the detailed drones. It was a repetitive and boring task sometimes but someone had to do it.


    By then the exploration drones he first sent had already been done 80% of the system, only few blank spaces remained in the huge 3d sphere that was this system drawing and they would automatically communicate with the ship and point themselves to the next position to fill them all.


    By the time he reached the third planet, another gas giant, he had almost lost all the passion with which he started the system exploration and he had switched to methodical and dispassionate grunt work.


    This gas giant was 90% carbon dioxide, 9% argon, and 1% of other gases like oxygen and hydrogen.


    This one had the most amount of moons so far but were all between 30 and 300km in diameter.


    Three and counting, the Espurna moved to the next one on the list; since he had to cross that asteroid belt he had the detailed drones around him this time, so he could get a nice idea of the materials present there.


    That¡¯s when he realized this was not a normal asteroid belt, this was a cemetery. What he thought was a belt were the remnants of a galactic battle that happened who knew when.


    From the leisure room he could check data and send commands to the drones but not alter the ship¡¯s course.


    ¡°Friday, can you please adjust our course? I want to scan the whole belt, I want to see if all of that are ships or if there is a rock or something else hidden there, also prepare shields just in case they left a surprise¡± - he said while looking at the data on the screen


    ¡°Ok boss. Course adjusted and shields on. Do you want me to print more detailed drones?¡± - the ship answered


    ¡°Yes please do, print five more and we¡¯ll leave them going the other way, we¡¯ll collect them when we encounter them finishing the round¡± - he said.


    He was looking into the file he received about this system, but there was no entrance before the first drone had detected and done a quick scan of it.


    The belt was about a million kilometres wide and he was detecting something like 90 million objects on it, their size from 2 to 15 km long, from the first images he was seeing all of it seemed to be ship parts.


    A great battle had happened here and gravity was collecting the corpses and making a belt with them.


    Well, the historian guild would have a blast, he could already imagine a research station being deployed; he looked at the system 3d drawing on the screen but there was some missing data before calculating the Lagrange points; he sent some commands from his data-pad to the exploration drones to prioritize that information. He wanted to but couldn¡¯t send an unfinished dossier unless the system was close to a cataclysmic event.


    It would take him a week or so to scan the whole belt but he felt it was worth it to send as detailed information as possible, this kind of finding didn¡¯t happen too often.


    While the ship was travelling and scanning, he was examining all the pieces and trying to find their original form.


    Ryoshi had already doubled her size since he got her and was hunting through the ship, he could hear some ¡®miaows¡¯ and the sound of her running and jumping was a common thing now in the background of the ship.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    So the days continued, all the exploration drones had finished their part and were coming back, he had a complete 3d drawing of the system with all the orbits and gravitational effects calculated.


    Once he finished scanning the belt, he continued to the center of the system, where most of the planets were found.


    The next one was, basically, a ball of frozen hydrogen that didn¡¯t even look like it was rotating at all. A couple of moons, 300km wide.


    By then he thought he was starting to understand some of the weird things, like massive planets with few moons. They must have been mined for materials, all those ships must have been made in this system.


    The fifth planet he visited was a toxic planet with sulphuric acid rain, quite similar to Venus, but his deep scanning showed buildings and some other ruins that had to be done by an intelligent species. Another flag for the historian guild, he would love to go down there and walk among those ruins but, since his was a solo mission, not only was it forbidden but he didn¡¯t even have the equipment needed and the ship wouldn¡¯t allow him to go anyway, nor would she go down there willingly.


    The sixth planet was a gas one, way smaller than it should be, with a 60/40 mix of hydrogen and nitrogen. In his mind he imagined that the species from the 5th may have absorbed the gases to power their civilization.


    The seventh and eight planets were a couple more dead rocks without atmosphere or magnetic field, but the ninth¡­ he was seeing it now.


    That was the planet with a ring system around it and, looking at it, it was as if someone had applied a yellow layer to a picture of Earth and about twice it¡¯s size, it was 30 thousand kilometres in diameter.


    The ring, he could see now that they were close, was a mix of ship parts and rocks, most probably this planet had a natural ring but whatever fight happened left some remnants here.


    He was sending commands to the drones to get as much data and pictures as possible while moving closer to do a deep scan, excited to see what he could discover.


    The atmosphere was 80% nitrogen, with argon, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and other gases making the rest of it.


    And there was life on it, plants and some animals were detected, he continued with his process of orbiting and deep scanning but quite excited this time.


    As it had happened with the fifth planet, there were lots of ruins. Huge holes with some building remains that made him think there might have been a city there at some point, in some parts the planet looked scarred but not from meteorite rain.


    He detected a really weak radio signal, he sent a drone to explore and configured two more for a more meticulous scan. The signal came from under a pile of building remnants in the north-east of one of the more massive continents, it was radio only and had a soft voice but he couldn¡¯t understand words and the translator also drew a blank, making an error beep and accompanying it with an ¡®error - unknown root¡¯.


    So he flagged it and left the drones making a 3d map of the whole zone, while he checked the rest of the planet for more radio signals. Now that he knew their specific frequency he found 10 more but so, so weak and so buried that he couldn¡¯t have found them unless looking for them.


    He deployed or moved the drones to do the 3d mapping of where the radio emissions came from and finished a few more analyses of plants, elements and materials found on the planet.


    His first report was going to be an interesting one, hundreds of people would read a report with discoveries like the ones he made so it had to be perfect and with as much information and detail as possible.


    He would change between typing the report himself or dictating it to Friday, depending if he was walking in circles while phrasing a part, or really inspired and crazy for typing his findings.


    They had been in this system already 4 or 5 months, time was a confusing thing out there, and he still had 3 more planets and the binary system to deep scan and report all.


    While the ship abandoned the 9th planet and changed course to the next one he looked at the 3d drawing of the system and zoomed in to see the next planet orbit in more detail, that¡¯s when he realized something he hadn¡¯t seen before, as his zoom was too far.


    The closest planet to the binary system had an amazingly fast orbit around the stars, a complete orbit around the star was taking that planet less than 10 hours and it was tidally locked towards the centre of the binary stars.


    While on course to his 10th planet he decided to spare a couple detailed drones and send them towards that planet, he didn¡¯t want to spend much time following that gigantic piece of molten rock around the binary stars.


    The 10th planet had a debilitated magnetic field and an atmosphere that was losing its fight against the gravitational forces emitted by the stars so he put a note to check that too.


    ¡°Friday, wouldn¡¯t you say this planet would fall within the goldilocks zone?¡± - He asked out loud.


    ¡°I looks like it to me, but I¡¯m detecting some strong solar winds, we¡¯ll learn why when we analyse the stars¡± - was the ships reply


    So the task finished on the 10th planet and they were moving to the 11th when the data from the drones sent to the 12th arrived.


    That was not a planet, that could not be a planet. It was a perfectly manufactured giant sphere whose task would be unknown, the drones couldn¡¯t find any door or any sign at all; no emissions of any type, not even radioactivity. Its flat surface decidedly metallic, it had to be forged, nothing in nature could create this.


    He was looking at the drone results while on its way to the next planet, there was something that didn¡¯t quite fit, maybe just a feeling.


    ¡°Friday, stop the ship¡± - he said and felt the ship stopping


    He looked at the quick analysis from the next planet, then at the detailed ones from the last one, the one that was definitely NOT a planet, all the information on the big screen in the leisure room.


    ¡°Friday, we¡¯re done. Jump to the beacon please¡± - he instructed and heard the buzzing of the jump engine starting


    ¡°Calculating, why are we leaving before finishing the scans boss?¡± - asked the ship, the AI always wanted to learn and was designed to do so.


    ¡°Because that¡¯s a trap. I don¡¯t know what is going to do but I have the feeling that, that planet right there¡± - he said pointing to the planet closest to the binary stars - ¡°that is a bomb, or something similar, maybe worse.¡±


    They jumped out close to the beacon he had first installed, he collected everything in his report and sent it then went for a shower, Ryoshi now resting on the couch, eyes closed and a soft purr coming from her.


    After the shower he thought enough time had passed to compress, encrypt and send his report so he decided to call the historian guild.


    A drow-like face appeared in front of him. A dark purple skin with shining violet eyes and a mane of silver hair dropping in a braid, with a researcher robe and the historic guild emblem on it.


    ¡°Historian guild, this is XDR-9087234122, but you can call me Kin¡¯tara. How can I help?¡± - said the drow-like with a sweet as honey voice.


    ¡°Hi, this is XEA-6889475861, explorer full-grade, reporting. I sent a few minutes ago a report and would like your thoughts before continuing. I know it is not a normal procedure but I would like someone there to take a look before I leave the system for good.¡± - he responded


    The girl, Kin¡¯tara, arched an eyebrow, looking at him with a smile.


    ¡°Very well, let¡¯s see what you have found¡± - she said, sounding amused.


    The first thing he saw was that this drow-like race, whose name escaped him right now, had the same pupil dilation happen to them as with humans when they were surprised.


    Her smile was now frozen and he could tell by her eyes she was reading and checking the pictures.


    ¡°Wait a second please¡± - she said and ran out of the plane. She had muted the audio but the camera was still on and he could see her in the background calling some people and nudging some others, asking them to call and see.


    Before he realized there were like 5 beings of different kinds in front of the screen, all of them with a surprised or excited face.


    ¡°Hi, mr. Jordi. ¡° - said a profound guttural voice, and something like a humanoid wolf wearing that same researcher robe with the historian guild logo, was in the centre of his screen now - ¡°What made you believe this planet artefact, the closest to the stars, might be a bomb?¡± - the researcher asked.


    ¡°Well you see, I¡¯m human. Maybe you know about humanity 6th sense, our brains process things that we cannot comprehend and send us messages that we need to interpret.¡± - he explained


    ¡°Sometimes we don¡¯t even understand after well past the moment and sometimes never.¡± - he continued -¡±and when I saw the thing, the planet artefact as you call it, and saw that it didn¡¯t have emissions of any type, something inside me screamed. Especially after seeing those many ships destroyed throughout the whole system, and the 10th planet magnetic field was weird.¡± - he finished


    This time they didn¡¯t muted the sound and he could see and hear them arguing


    ¡°10th planet? Oh right! Explorers count from the outside in!¡± - said a ringing voice, and all of their faces started looking and analysing what they were seeing.


    ¡°DX-203LB¡­ that¡¯s a nice exploration drone but if we could add the RKI module¡± - said a voice


    ¡°The explorer guild doesn¡¯t have the RKI!¡± - another one responded


    ¡°Well then I say we sent him the blueprint! And he can leave 5 RKIs for when we get there!¡± - said yet another


    ¡°Sounds good to me! Who can give us authorization?¡± - said the ringing voice he had heard before


    Then he saw that Kin¡¯Tara, that drow-like girl, had just realized the camera and everything was still on, she jumped to cover the whole screen.


    ¡°Please wait by the beacon for a while, we¡¯ll contact you shortly¡± - she said with a smile, shutting down the call quickly afterwards.


    He discussed the conversation with Friday then decided to wait while checking some more news, sent a holo-message to his mom and dad wishing them well and hoping he could trust some ¡®exciting news¡¯, and played with Ryoshi a bit.


    Then the sound of a call coming in.


    ¡°Hi, mr. explorer, Jordi¡­ sir¡± - the same drow-like girl as before, Kin¡¯Tara, was on the screen.


    ¡°We would like to ask you for a favour. It turns out that we need some drones with a specific configuration but you are not yet authorized for it.¡± - she continued


    ¡°So, we would need for you to set up a 3d printer as per the ..¡± - she looked at some piece of paper somewhere was giving her - ¡°10532 specification, book 7 of exploratory mysteries¡± - she read out loud, then looked at the screen.


    They had already discussed this possibility, he was too green to receive this kind of authorization so they would probably request that he manufacture a 3d printer, leave it with material nearby and send them the details for them to take control. Why was this module so secret that he couldn¡¯t even be in a system where it was being used? He couldn¡¯t know and Friday wouldn¡¯t say.


    But they were prepared for this possibility.


    ¡°Friday?¡± - he inquired out loud


    ¡°Printer has already been deployed boss, 300kg of material attached to it, as per specification 10532.7¡± - the ship said as an answer


    He looked at Kin¡¯Tara. ¡°Sending the encryption details so you can take control of it once I¡¯m gone, please allow a couple of hours for me to finish the set up and leave the system¡± - he informed


    ¡°Details received¡± - she said while her head was turning to a screen by her right - ¡°Communication established, ready to work.¡± - she finished, looking at the main screen again.


    ¡°And thank you for letting us know! Where are excited to find out more and we¡¯ll be there shortly¡± - she finished, with a smile


    ¡°My pleasure! I look forward to reading about it when I come out of jump on the next system¡± - he finished, smiling as well.


    And with that he prepared the ship and left the Alkagoria system.


    -------------------------------------


    The Emperor was looking at the last report that passed in front of him, the Alkagoria system, that rang a lot of bells.


    He stayed pensive for a couple minutes, exploring deep in his mind, then he remembered.


    He had heard them in the early stages of his Empire, two belligerent and passionate species sharing a system.


    He had analysed the situation and considered it was too early for his Empire to face those races so he did what he thought was obvious, he isolated them and removed any data from the archives. Modified the maps to show as an abandoned sector of space and put a reminder to check on them when the Empire was ready to face something like them.


    That reminder had been activated once humans were amongst their ranks and a part of him had even selected a human to go there and check, he was looking at the images now.


    Then he saw the artefact closest to the binary stars, why was it so familiar?


    Oh well, the historian guild had already gone there to study it. He made a mental note to read the results the moment they were available.

 The Alkagoria system

    Kin¡¯Tara was bored, it had been more than six months since the last exciting event happened under her watch and she was getting tired of classifying the different daily events that happened throughout the Empire, but that was still her third year so it was quite normal for someone like her to do these jobs.


    Granted, the AI did the most of the grunt work by analyzing all the local and interplanetary press, and since the Empire didn¡¯t believe in suppressing points of view there was a lot of press.


    But then she would receive hundreds of events, all properly ordered for her review and final classification.


    She started to think how these last months there had been more natural events happening than normally would. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, it was like all the planets of the Empire were fighting against them.


    A beep sounded on, incoming communication, a humanoid figure with pinkish skin, blonde hair and penetrating green eyes was in front of her. Oh right! She also was in charge of calls for the week.


    ¡°Historian guild, this is XDR-9087234122, but you can call me Kin¡¯tara. How can I help?¡± - she answered using her best public tone


    ¡°Hi, this is XEA-6889475861, explorer full-grade, reporting. I sent a report a few minutes ago and would like your thoughts before continuing. I know it is not a normal procedure but I would like someone there to have a look before I leave the system for good.¡± - he responded


    A report sent a few minutes ago and he already expected someone to have read it? She looked at the guy, it looked human, you could tell by that skin tone; and he looked young to be a full-grade, he probably mentioned it so he wouldn¡¯t get ignored.


    She typed in the console the explorer ID and got a list of his reports, the last one had been received just ten minutes ago and it was at the bottom of the queue.


    ¡°Very well, let¡¯s see what you have found¡± - she said, profoundly amused.


    She opened the report and first there was the quick review of planets, moons and other stellar objects, there were 3 things red-flagged and one yellow.


    She went to see the first flag and saw the asteroid belt formed by millions of ship parts, her smile froze in her face, there was an analysis of the parts and their materials and some attempts to resolve the puzzle that was those ships'' original forms.


    Then she switched to the next flag, and she could see a planetary ring half made by rocks and the usual stuff and half made by more ship parts, same analysis as before.


    The next flag was the yellow one, the planet with the weird magnetic field on the goldilocks zone, and it was indeed weird at first sight.


    And then her brain exploded, what the hell was that? She was looking at the metallic attempt to make a planet that was orbiting the binary stars of the Alkagoria system; she didn¡¯t recall ever seeing or even reading about anything like that. It was 8500km in diameter, tidally locked to the center of the binary system and moving at an incredible speed, and it was definitely not of biologic origin. She needed more opinions before deciding what to do.


    ¡°Wait a second please¡± - she said while muting the audio and ran out of the plane. Who was around? There was T¡¯hrki, a bipedal form with compound arthropod-like eyes, an image expert, she could verify the raw recording.


    There was also Kurrer, a wolf-like form with the patience of a mountain, a spaceship expert. Then you had the blob form Jhurrnna, she really didn¡¯t recall what their specialty was, and the fully insectoid Yksjna, a drone expert.


    She went around all of them, calling some and nudging others. - ¡°You guys need to SEE this¡± - Kin¡¯Tara said, and did a quick version of what she had seen.


    All of them ran towards the screens where she had the report loaded and started looking at the data. T¡¯hrki took out from some bag pocket a terminal and started looking at it.


    ¡°Hi, mr. Jordi. ¡° - said Kurrer, with his profound guttural voice - ¡°What made you believe this planet artefact, the closest to the stars, might be a bomb?¡± - the researcher asked.


    ¡°Well you see, I¡¯m human. Maybe you know about humanity''s sixth sense, our brains process things that we cannot comprehend and send us messages and warnings that we need to interpret.¡± - the pinkish explorer explained


    ¡°Sometimes we don¡¯t even understand after well past the moment and sometimes never.¡± - he continued -¡±and when I saw the thing, the planet artefact as you call it, and saw that it didn¡¯t have emissions of any type, something inside me screamed. Especially after seeing those many ships destroyed throughout the whole system, and the 10th planet magnetic field was weird.¡± - the explorer finished


    ¡°10th planet? Oh right! Explorers count from the outside in!¡± - said Jhurrnna with their ringing voice, and all of them looked at all the screens again, fitting all the pieces together.


    ¡°DX-203LB¡­ that¡¯s a nice exploration drone but if we could add the RKI module¡± - said T¡¯hrki with a hopeful tone


    ¡°The explorer guild doesn¡¯t have the RKI!¡± - responded confidently Yksjna


    ¡°Well then I say we sent him the blueprint! And he can leave 5 RKIs for when we get there!¡± - answered back Kurrer


    ¡°Sounds good to me! Who can give us authorization?¡± - said Jhurrnna with expectation


    That¡¯s when Kin¡¯Tara realized the screen and voice were still on and the explorer had seen this, nothing strictly confidential anyways, no one would tell him or give him access to RKIs just yet but she ran towards the console anyways.


    ¡°Please wait by the beacon for a while, we¡¯ll contact you shortly¡± - she said with a smile, shutting down the call quickly afterwards.


    Then the graveyard shift of the historian guild started making calls, something really big was starting and they were going to be in the center of it, but they were going to follow protocol.


    First they woke up their direct superior, they drew lots and Jhurrnna lost.


    ¡°This better be important¡± - said the guild administrator with a hoarse voiceThis text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    ¡°Well, sir, you see, we believe it kind of is¡± - answered Jhurrnna with her ringing and calming voice, and sent a quick review of those three red and one yellow flags.


    Ten seconds of silence went on, Jhurrnna could hear the administrator breathing accelerating.


    ¡°I¡¯ll call you back.¡± - he said with a low tone and hung up.


    ¡°And now we wait!¡± - Jhurrnna said triumphantly to their colleagues.


    In the meantime, they were all over the results of Jordi¡¯s report. The scans, the detailed video and pictures of the belt and ring, plus the first attempt his AI had made of developing a program to solve the puzzle that was those ship parts.


    Kin¡¯Tara was looking at it, it was an original but brutish attempt, but there was something there she could use, and started typing an improved version with her personal AI.


    Jhurrnna were a materials expert, that is they knew every single element of the periodic table personally and intimately, all 433 of them, and they were intrigued.


    They were looking at the scan of that thing, that artefact-planet. That perfect sphere seemingly metallic but no metal she knew was capable of what it was doing, was there any kind of shielding? What was powering it then, when no emissions were detected?


    They needed a scan from other dimensions than these ones, they needed an RKI. RK was for Relativity Kills, meaning if they made a mistake with it they could either destroy the drone - which wasn¡¯t so much of a worry - or tear open the fabric of reality, which was all kinds of bad.


    To operate it properly one had to be a pandimensional being, 6 dimensions minimum. Lower dimension beings could attempt to run one but they didn¡¯t have the proper instincts developed for what their brains were going to go through.


    Still, there was one of them who could run a RKI, or at least, did get the license for it.


    Yksjna was sitting on a chair, head looking down with eyes closed. He had seen the drone''s holo-video of the artefact-planet and was imagining what route and analysis would he run with an RKI. They were going to get one, he could trust them that much, and he was going to be ready.


    Still, a bomb? That¡¯s what the explorer had said. He had heard these humans had a surreal instinct, maybe that was that 6th sense. To him it was logical that a species who had to face everything humans had would develop a way to warn them even when they had not realized the danger. He thought he would do well to heed the warning.


    Meditating, visualizing the path and steps to take, the voices of others around him were but a whisper.


    Meanwhile, the administrator had decided to jump ranks and called the head of the guild straight away.


    ¡°This BETTER be important.¡± - growled the head of the historian guild, interrupted in the middle of something fun.


    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am, I received this [and he sent the file] and, after checking the charting table, believed that time was of the essence¡± - was the administrator response


    The guild head checked the report, her lizard eyes becoming a thin line, then she checked the attached charting table and understood what the administrator meant.


    ¡°Very well, I understand. I¡¯ll call you back¡±. - she dropped the call and looked apologetically to her bedmate, then left the room while making an important call.


    ¡°Huh, that¡¯s weird, I didn¡¯t thought I would go through Hell today¡± - was the response at the other line of the call


    ¡°That''s cold, general*, I might be the head of the historian guild but I¡¯m still your sister Rk¡¯hoo¡±* - was her answer


    ¡°And of course you''re calling me for unofficial stuff and not to make my life complicated, aren¡¯t you sis.¡± - he replied


    ¡°Well, there¡¯s this little thing involving one little advanced science vessel called Rk¡¯smir that I would very much like to be sent to somewhere else.¡± - she said and sent the report of the Alkagoria system


    ¡°You want WHAT sent WHERE!?¡± - screamed his brother, because that was the flagship of the research guild and was about to jump to the other side of the Empire domains in the following hours; then a ten seconds pause, then - ¡°Oh, I see. dammit sis. Why is it always you bringing me headaches?¡±


    ¡°Oh brother of mine, just the Emperor messing with your Destiny¡± - she said sardonically


    Meanwhile she had been getting dressed and was leaving her apartment; she was awake and her night ruined so might as well share some of the fun, she thought while on her way to the guild.


    She lived close and at this time of the day it was night on the planet, hours before sunrise, so she ran and jumped letting the excitement flow, rarely did she have the occasion to release her inner beast in that way.


    She entered the main room, at times crowded with people from all the races of the Empire and saw just a bunch of renegades who, in one way or another,had managed to stumble onto one of the discoveries of the decade.


    She crossed the room towards the main set of screens. A silver mane over a purplish skin was looking attentively at some books - books! - and sitting in front of it.


    The room had gone silent but Kir¡¯Tana didn¡¯t realize what was happening, and then she jumped.


    ¡°Found it!¡± - she screamed while turning around, seeing now the scene of everyone looking at her in panic and in front of her, centimetres away, the head of the historian guild, a reptilian form called Rk¡¯hoo, her eyes looking intensively at her.


    ¡°Pray tell, what have you found?¡± - was all Rk¡¯hoo could muster


    ¡°A loophole! We don¡¯t need to wait for the science vessel to arrive¡± - Kir¡¯Tana said - ¡°if the explorer deploys a 3d printer as per this standard¡± - she continued, showing the book - ¡°and leaves enough material, we can connect to the printer after he has left the system and do the scans without infringing any confidentiality law¡± - she finished


    Rk¡¯hoo arched an eyebrow and grabbed the book.


    ¡°Interesting¡± - she said - ¡°That could work, didn¡¯t know we could have that much flexibility with the RKIs¡± - she finished looking at the name of the book: Book 7 of Exploratory Mysteries, a guide for unknown events. In her defense it had been centuries since a thing this big had happened.


    ¡°Well, in any case, I¡¯ve convinced the Rk¡¯smir to come look at it so we will have a second lap exploratory approach only, am I clear?¡± - she said, with a deeper tone than before, in the middle of the room and looking intensely at Yksjna.


    Then looked at Kin¡¯Tara -¡±Make the call to the explorer please¡±


    Kin¡¯Tara pressed some commands and the explorer appeared on screen.


    ¡°Hi, mr. explorer, Jordi¡­ sir¡± - said Kin¡¯Tara.


    ¡°We would like to ask you for a favour. It turns out that we need some drones with a specific configuration but you are not yet authorized for it.¡± - she continued


    ¡°So, we would need for you to set up a 3d printer as per the ..¡± - and a hand appeared with a piece of paper - ¡°10532 specification, book 7 of exploratory mysteries¡± - she read out loud, then looked at the screen. That hand must have been the head of the guild Rk¡¯hoo!


    She concentrated on the screen and saw the human looking up, as if talking to the ceiling of the room, and said - ¡°Friday?¡±


    Then a femenine human voice answered - ¡°Printer has already been deployed boss, 300kg of material attached to it, as per specification 10532.7¡± - was that the ship? Was Kin¡¯Tara asking herself, that was cool AI! She would have to find more information later.


    The explorer then looked at her. - ¡°Sending the encryption details so you can take control of it once I¡¯m gone, please allow a couple of hours for me to finish the set up and leave the system¡± - the explorer informed her


    ¡°Details received¡± - Kin¡¯Tara said while checking the screen by her right - ¡°Communication established, ready to work.¡± - she finished, looking at the main screen again. - ¡°And thank you for letting us know! We are excited to find out more and we¡¯ll be there shortly¡± - she finished, with a smile


    ¡°My pleasure! I look forward to reading about it when I come out of jump on the next system¡± - the explorer finished, smiling as well.


    When the call dropped Kin¡¯Tara already had a note in her terminal, the blueprint ready to be sent with the necessary instructions for the printer to make it.


    Normally weeks would have passed since a report was sent and they acted on it, but there usually were less yellow and much less red flags; the important thing this time was what they couldn¡¯t share with the explorer, that he was right and that the artifact was a weapon.


    They had seen them in the past, the artifact would first rotate quickly around the sun, changing rhythm and provoking waves of solar winds, then it would accelerate closing its circumferences and making the sun go nova.


    Those things were the reason the Empire shields became as sturdy as they currently were, because there was a time that they were everywhere, a war against a race long forgotten.


    That¡¯s why they needed the RKI too, to see if there was any of those beings still around.

 Chapter 5

    The Espurna was traveling through ¡®Jump Espace¡¯ towards the next system on the list, the X¡¯hrvanja system , a massive blue star with barely three planets around it.


    He decided to record the video call to his assigned psychologist, attaching the Alkagoria report and some comments about the interaction with the historians.


    The reason why explorers had to keep a personal psychologist is because all sentient species found traveling the galaxies could suffer from the same illness, the Call of the Void.


    They say when you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you. But the abyss sometimes is not a deep hole in the ground but a black tapestry filled with thousands of millions of stars; and when they look back to you well, that¡¯s when your mind might do silly stuff. The psychologists were there to detect and prevent that to happen.


    So he did his part and checked that he was still sane, he added some comments about Ryoshi being more active during jump, as if the parasites came out then, and then some other personal notes and prepared the file for sending.


    It would be nine more days in jump so he started to work; preparing the 3d printer to replace the lost drones, configuring the new ones to resist the luminosity and radiation of a blue star, setting up the route from what he had from the first drone, and of course making sure the system would update his favoritism shows the moment he plugged the beacon in.


    Still that left him a lot of time to wander around, observe Ryoshi hunting the ship''s parasites which increased during jump, basically do nothing during transit and then do maybe some clicks and back to doing nothing. He liked this life, it was not for everyone but he liked it.


    And he would get the first to see things, like that weird asteroid belt that was really a ship cemetery, he wondered what else had the Universe in store for him.


    With more days to go he continued with his daily routine. Breakfast, gym, shower, play or movie, interact with Ryoshi a bit and then he would spend every day an hour or so reading and watching documentaries about the places and races of the empire.


    Forests of any and all colors, submerged and over-the-cloud cities, space stations of all kinds and in the most beautiful places. Rivers, mountains, canyons, lakes, there were some planets out there with some awe striking scenery.


    There was one planet in the Grjn¡¯bhrugh system, which was all of it a single plant that reached the lower atmosphere, the whole thing was an ¡®entertaining center for adventurous types¡¯ as the documentary would put it.


    Another one, in the Sier¡¯kna system, was an ocean planet with no landmass to be found, and the pictures of the underwater cities and attractions were incredible.


    Another thing he did to kill some time was add what could only be seen as a path for Ryoshi made out of shelves. She could climb the ship¡¯s internal walls but with the path she could just run and jump to catch those parasites, and it was an interesting thing to see happening whenever she just came running and jumped on a bug, as if she could feel them from the other side of the ship.


    He was lying on the couch watching one of those documentaries when he heard the warning beep indicating five minutes to the end of the jump. He rose up and went to the bridge, Ryoshi¡¯s presence behind him knowing what was about to happen.


    He sat down on the bridge chair and Ryoshi jumped on his lap, waiting for the jump to end and that tingling sensation on their bellies followed by a couple seconds of dizziness.


    The jump ended, the buzzing from the engine stopped, Ryoshi jumped out of him and the panels on the bridge came alive with information.


    He launched the beacon and the drones and started mapping this new system. It seemed smaller than others but that was because of the massive blue star covering a grand part of it, it was massive.


    ¡°Friday, beacon status?¡± - he asked the ship


    ¡°Beacon already in place and connection established boss¡± - was the ship response


    ¡°Can you check if this one is the biggest star in the whole Empire? Because this thing is huge!¡± - he commented, looking at the 3d drawing on his screens


    ¡°Checking¡­ I¡¯m afraid it is only the 10th biggest.¡± - answered the ship


    ¡°Only 9 bigger than this one, imagine that. Anything important incoming?¡± - he asked


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid we don¡¯t have any news about the Alkagoria system, I can¡¯t detect any article or news headers about it. There¡¯s a video from your mother and there¡¯s a specific request from the medical guild, they want anyone who goes close to a blue hyper-giant to do a series of scans.¡± - explained the ship


    ¡°Weird, I didn¡¯t see anything when we left¡± - he said while looking into the request on his data-pad


    ¡°It came out while we were in transit. Should we recall the drones to do the relevant modifications?¡± - was the ship asking


    ¡°Not necessary, we¡¯ve got enough material to prepare a few more. It''s not as if we¡¯re going to lose them all, right?¡± - he joked while walking to the 3d printer to prepare those new drones.


    But the new ones took a while to prepare and print. For starters the special configuration didn¡¯t exist until 5 days ago so it was a new and not-optimized design. And you could tell that no engineer had done that, it was clearly a modification made by someone of medical background, not elegant at all but functional.


    He looked at the design and realized two things. He knew enough to see this could be made better, and he didn¡¯t know enough to do the changes himself; most probably whoever first designed it was in his same position.


    With the printer configured and enough material provided he decided to make a few calls, see if he could do that better, so he called the medical guild from the leisure room, when requested he punched the extension that was accompanying the notes for the modification, a stone-made cat - probably a Jui¡¯kk he thought - looking bored appeared on the screen.


    ¡°Medical guild, this is K¡¯rjuink, how can we be of assistance?¡± - answered the cat


    A bit taken aback he answered ¡°Hi, I¡¯m calling regarding the specification CIR4906 for exploration drones, I¡¯ve got a request¡± and sent the details of the system he was currently in.


    The stone cat, K¡¯rjuink, looked at the document on his screen and said a ¡°Huh!¡± before standing up and disappearing from the screen.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    ¡°I guess I¡¯ll wait here then¡± - he resigned himself.


    A couple minutes later a form appeared on the screen, another drow-like form but more filled with muscles and a lower voice.


    ¡°Hi I¡¯m the one who designed the thing, how can I help you?¡± - said the drow-like being


    ¡°Hi, I¡¯m XEA-6889475861, explorer full grade. I¡¯m just preparing a few drones with these specs to explore the X¡¯hrvanja system and its big, massively huge, blue star, and was wondering¡­ can I send the specs to a techie I know to see if they can be optimized? They look a bit rough, to be honest.¡± - he explained


    ¡°Oh, right, I¡¯m XDR-9879612322, you can call me doctor Jhh¡¯ynm. Sure they¡¯re rough, I wasn¡¯t expecting anyone to beep those specs so soon and thought I would have time to refine them.¡± - the drow-like being answered, then looked to another screen to his side - ¡°The X¡¯hrvanja... We knew it was big but what you¡¯re sending is a bit more than we expected, I didn¡¯t have it flagged for exploration either¡±


    ¡°In any case¡± - he said looking to the main screen again- ¡°feel free to have them improved. I¡¯ll send you the originals straight away to see if you can find someone to improve them, I¡¯ll mark the important details but a techie will recognize them for sure.¡± - the doctor finished.


    They said their goodbyes and he received those originals as promised.


    Next would be the call to his ¡®friend¡¯ the techie. The one thing about humans being relatively new to the galactic sphere was that they would pack like hungry wolves with each other, and during his internship he did some favors to a certain crazy engineer, maybe it was his turn to ask how things were going so he made the call.


    He wasn¡¯t sure it would go in, only certain ships were allowed to receive calls in transit and the Exxavian was not one of them.


    ¡°Hello? Oh Jordi! You damn devil, what¡¯s going on with your life? Missed me that much, eh?¡± - said a crazy old lady of unconfirmed age but somewhere between her 40s and her 80s, (Empire medicine in humans was still very much in development) dressed with a grey overall with the Exxavian logo over her heart, grey hair hidden under a cap.


    He couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°Ei Rosie, you know after so many months alone in the precious solitude that is my ship I thought, why not get some old Rosie complains about people being stupid? That¡¯s sure to enlighten my day!¡± - he answered


    ¡°So tell me boy, what do you need¡± - she asked with a smile


    ¡°I¡¯m in front of one of the biggest suns I¡¯ve ever seen, a gigantic blue, and the medical guild had a request for some specific configurations on the drones.¡± - he informed - ¡°I¡¯ve checked them and got the feeling that it could be done much better but wouldn¡¯t know where to start, can you have a look?¡± - he said while sending the original files.


    He could see her face looking at the blueprint now, calculating, planning, then a snicker.


    ¡°Of course I can bloody well do that better, what he should have done was put a request to the engineer guild and any idiot you can find there would have done a better job!¡± - she exclaimed.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to be there for a while, won¡¯t you? Give me a couple days so we can do this properly, even registering it officially and stuff.¡± - she replied full of confidence.


    The procedure was important to reflect everyone who worked with something and who did what, that way society could quantify each other''s contribution.


    He resolved to let his current drones do the initial exploration and launch a couple of the modified ones, he would hold the rest until Rosie delivered.


    He had some time now so he watched his mom¡¯s video. He was starting to worry because she looked really tired now and his father was again nowhere to be found in the video. Apart from that, it was your typical mom-who-hasn¡¯t-seen-you-in-forever call. Are you having fun? Eating properly? How is Ryoshi? And stuff like that. He recorded a response, asking in turn if everything was ok there, and decided to keep working.


    He looked at the 3d drawing of the system and realized there was a belt here too, but it looked like a normal one, made of metals and stone. He put the planned route to explore the system¡¯s planets and started the in-system engine, with the beacon online Rosie would be able to contact him when she was finished.


    So the Espurna started her exploration of the system, moving towards the nearest planet, in this case it was a frozen rock 8500 km in diameter in the edges of the system.


    A couple of frozen rocks 2500 and 3200 km in diameter accompanied it as its moons, all the drones reported normal to high ratios of minerals and metals and a weak magnetic shield coming from the planet, everything was as expected.


    He was on the couch of the leisure room just writing the planet report when a message came in, Rosie¡¯s plans.


    The message started apologizing for being a hard ass but she couldn¡¯t help herself and had notified the medical and engineer guilds about the proper procedure to follow, a chance to admonish TWO of the biggest guilds was too rare to let it escape.


    To the medical guild she explained again that when facing engineering problems they had to submit a request to the engineering guild, they would make them the plans for free and they even had some archivists from the historian guild there to help check the records and see if someone had asked something remotely related!


    To the engineer guild she reminded them that they existed to help the public, they had an obligation to proactively wander around the other guilds offering to help/improve their engineering projects.


    She thanked him for the opportunity and attached the registered blueprint, with a note indicating that any further relation between her and the medical guild should add a small token of contribution to himself, since he started the whole process.


    ¡°Friday, please compare the new blueprints with the old ones.¡± - he said out loud


    ¡°The new blueprints require only 2/3rds of the material and has increased bandwidth and battery life¡± - replied the ship


    He was amazed, he knew Rosie was good but that was the real difference between a novice and an expert.


    ¡°Can you analyze the improvements? And, given enough blueprints, could you learn to do the improvements yourself?¡± - he asked the ship


    ¡°Sorry boss, let me remind you that we AIs have capped creativity and some other limits defined so even when we become sentient we won¡¯t become a problem.¡± - the ship answered


    ¡°Right, I forgot about that. I guess we¡¯ll be using the engineer guild.¡± - he said pensively


    ¡°I believe that¡¯s the idea boss, to have all the guilds working together¡± - continued the ship


    He checked if there was enough material to make the new drones with the reworked blueprint and realized that, despite needing less material, it needed more rare earth metals that the ship currently had.


    A quick conversation between him and the ship put them both in transit to the belt in order to beam up some rocks and extract the necessary material. They located a few rocks with nice quantities so they would go there, beam them up and the ship¡¯s mini and nano drones would do the extraction. Feed all that to the 3d printer and the job would continue.


    The whole process would add a couple days or maybe more to the whole system exploration but that was the job.


    So time slowly passed, with all the explorer drones now printed and doing their jobs and the ship currently moving towards the second planet, an orange colored gas giant. It looked tiny because of the massive blue star but it was almost as big as Jupiter, 130 thousand km in diameter.


    Still, with a star being about 700 million of km in diameter on its back, this planet looked like a dead pixel in the sea of electric blue that was that star.


    With almost 80% of the system explored and all the big bodies detected the ship had already calculated the Lagrange points. They had one on their way to that gas giant so he set up another beacon there and continued his way. That was normal procedure, massive stars would affect their communications so a second or third beacon was something they would install.


    The third planet for him, first counting from the star out, was a hellish rock way too close to the star to do his close-by analysis. He configured a few drones to drop there and send data before they were reduced to atoms.


    He was finishing his reports by the second beacon when a message beeped, text only.


    ¡°Please leave some explorer drones with the modification and send back encryption keys. There are more things we¡¯d need to test out and, since you¡¯re already there, it is going to save us some days. Signed, dr. Jhh¡¯ynm¡±


    He looked at the message and checked his remaining drones. Most of them had already been cleaned and dismantled but there were 5 or so of the modified ones that were still on route to the ship. He put the commands to release control and configured a new key on them, then replied to the good doctor message with the encryption key.


    ¡°Attached the encryption keys for the exploration drones on the X¡¯hrvanja system. I left 5 more there, I still have a couple days here before I jump out so let me know if you want me to set up a 3d printer near the beacon as well. Signed, explorer Jordi¡±


    Nothing came in during those two days so he sent the report and asked Friday to take them to the next system.

 Chapter 6

    Almost two years had already passed since he left the Barcelona star-port with the Espurna.


    Ryoshi already had a nice size, and since they were in jump space she was very active hunting bugs.


    He was in the leisure room planning the next system, named Kirno¡¯on. The first scans showed two planets in the goldilocks zone so there was a chance for an oxygen-based colony, there were also a couple gas giants that could be useful as well.


    He finished configuring the beacon and setting up the 3d printer to print all the exploration drones. Since he still had a few more days of travelling time he decided he would do some reading about the drow-like race, twice had encountered them now and he had heard of them and studied the basics but with about a hundred races in the Empire it was difficult to deeply explain them all.


    They called themselves Drewell and their planet - the 4th of a yellow starred system - was called Hooljanrya, which was the name of an old goddess for them, similar to our Mother Gaia but more rooted in their civilization and culture.


    The planet has 70% of Earth¡¯s gravity and is a bit bigger than Earth with a diameter of almost 16500 km, is also 90% water and has a ring around it. The two biggest pieces of landmass are continuously covered by clouds so they didn¡¯t receive much light from their star, still the land was covered in plants dark green and purple.


    The planet is considered a category 4 (out of 5) Hurricane world because of the amount of activity they have all year long, with tornadoes and hurricanes roaming the planet throughout the whole year. Doesn¡¯t have many predators around and still the ecosystem is perfectly balanced. A completely different picture from that of Earth.


    They are a vegetarian race carbon based, mammalian in origin and their civilization is about 20 thousand years old.


    They joined the Empire around five hundred years ago and theirs was a proper joining as they are a peaceful race unlike humans. The Empire found their satellites and sent an envoy; they willingly joined the Empire and contributed with their technologies of collecting the weather energy.


    He was looking now at those impressive constructions in the middle of their ocean. Mobile stations that would go to whenever a hurricane was and would follow it, absorbing and storing its energy. One of those things had already been built on Earth and human scientists were fascinated by it and how it worked.


    He spent the rest of his day looking at videos of their planet, so alien in their colours and so weirdly familiar at the same time.


    So the days passed and he arrived at the Kirno¡¯on system.


    As always, he was sitting on the bridge with Ryoshi on his lap when they arrived, the screens lost the blur and Ryoshi jumped off.


    He started his procedure. Launch the beacon and link it, download and update everything needed, launch the exploration drones with their prepared routes and start travelling to the nearest planet for a deep scan.


    Every now and then he liked to just stay on the bridge chair and watch the universe in front of him while the ship was travelling, now was one of these moments.


    He was just lost in thought looking at the blackness of the system and the stars beyond when he heard a soft ¡®miaou¡¯, he adapted his posture and Ryoshi jumped over, curling on his lap and purring.


    He started caressing the purring ball of fur, which produced stronger purrs, and kept thinking about how he had what he worked so hard for. His own ship, - the cat was a nice addition which he didn¡¯t thought of or planned for - being the first from the Empire to visit, scan a system, and adding it to the Empire by placing the beacon there, and then discovering any special things the system might have.


    There were thousands of hundreds of explorers but there were millions of systems to be explored and an order to be followed.


    Sometimes they would just go to a system that had been deeply scanned to ensure the colonization process could begin or to help jump-start it by providing a potent 3d printer and access to all Empire schematics plus any material from the system.


    ¡®Oh, you need 300m2 solar panels, don¡¯t you? Sure! Just give me a minute to collect and process the materials and I¡¯ll put it on the 3d printer that I just installed in LX (whichever Lagrange point was closer)¡¯


    The ability of the explorer¡¯s ships and the explorers themselves to help develop a world was something that they were also known and loved for. With their explorer drones they would¡¯ve already scanned the whole system and found what asteroids hold the best materials. They could jump by the asteroid, collect and process it in a matter of a few hours.


    They specialized in quick drone production because sometimes you just had a few seconds to set a drone to record something magnificent, while you¡¯re out of that magnificently destructive shock-wave.


    But that same quick production could be and more often than not was, be used to quickly construct a massive 3d print that could print almost any technology owned by the empire.


    The joke around was that a few explorer ships could set up a whole starship shipyard if they so desired, but there was a lot of truth in that if you included the capital explorer ships, not small ones like the Espurna.


    And that was precisely why he was in a complicated situation right now, because there was a ship coming towards him that was not emitting an Empire ID and the design was not on the database either and looked like it needed help since it was venting something, probably oxygen, they probably were renegades.


    The Empire would let people not happy with it leave, they would help them find a system where they could go and would even help them go there, after that the system would be marked as Renegade and would be closed to any and all transit.


    But this system was definitely not marked as Renegade. If they had been part of the Empire apart from willing he was obligated to help them out, but being renegades they didn¡¯t deserve his help, also all that could be a ruse to make him lower his guard.


    ¡°Friday, how are their weapons? shields?¡± - he asked pensively


    ¡°Weapons are currently offline and from what I see I would detect the heat if they¡¯re switched on. I have no estimation on shields, I detect a vague electromagnetic field but that wouldn¡¯t stop anything we throw at them¡± - the AI dutifully answered


    ¡°Please prepare a stealth drone with enhanced scanners and launch it to scan our surroundings the moment is ready.¡± - he ordered - ¡°and now, please, open channels¡± - he said to the ship, and a profound beep sounded.


    ¡°Hi, I¡¯m citizen XEA-6889475861, explorer full-grade, who are you and can I be of assistance?¡± - he asked the people on the screen.


    They were definitely humans, seemed a family of 8, all cramped in something that could only be classified as a spaceship if you looked at man-made ships from the 21st century.


    ¡°Please help! We.. We thought we could make it, you know¡± - an old man was talking, looked tired with a dishevelled look and messy grey hair, his clothes wet with sweat - ¡°the planet wasn¡¯t aggressive and had a good climate but the work was hard and then the tornadoes came and half of us died. Then we started working on the ship and something terrible happened preparing the fuel. It''s only us now, we don¡¯t want to go back! Please let us come to the Empire!¡± - the old man finished, the ship still approaching.


    ¡°Sir, I need you first to stop the ship and then at least one of your IDs if I am to speak with you¡± - he responded. After a few seconds it was clear they didn¡¯t have or wouldn¡¯t give that information, because their faces went quite fast from surprise when he asked to anger a few seconds later.


    ¡°Friday, please notify a 4031.95 is on route at our location¡± - he said using sub-voice.


    ¡°LOOK SIR! Mr. Explorer!¡± - the old man started shouting - ¡°Why do you need any IDs or proof of anything before you help another person out? Isn¡¯t that the Christian thing to do?¡± - the old man finished, the ship still approaching.


    ¡°For fuck sake¡± - he thought - ¡°Fucking religious people¡­ Christians he said? Which ones were those?¡± - he lamented to himself.


    ¡°Look, Sir¡± - he told the old man - ¡°I¡¯m an explorer full-grade from the Empire, I am not obligated but morally required to offer help when facing some being in danger. But I already identified myself and you haven¡¯t, if you ask for help the least you could do is to have at least some manners. And please stop approaching or I¡¯ll be forced to start defensive manoeuvrers¡± - he finished. How much time did he gain with that? He was clearly nervous and hoped it didn¡¯t show.


    ¡°Boss, the stealth bot has already detected five more ships with previous stealth technology trying to flank us¡± - said Friday by the internal comm. the ship had stopped approaching though.


    ¡°Look boy, all we need is a 3D printer of yours with some schematics so we can have the colony running again, from what I know of you explorers it shouldn¡¯t even be that hard¡± - said the old man.


    ¡°i¡¯m sorry sir but you still haven¡¯t identified yourself¡± - he said - ¡°and you didn¡¯t come alone either so maybe your friends can say hello.¡± - he finishedUnauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    Those ships appeared some distance from him, a few hundred kilometres, enough to launch a salvo that might imperil a normal ship, but this was a Kirkugger.


    ¡°Friday, all power to shields please¡± - he said, again in sub-voice.


    ¡°Ok boy, you have ten seconds to tell me you are starting to fabricate that printer or we will put some holes in you¡± - said the old man - ¡°I think we can give you a beating avoiding any critical parts¡± - he finished.


    ¡°Knock yourself out, how long ago did you renegade from the Empire?¡± - he said defiantly


    Before the ten second count had finished a barrage of missiles, lasers, torpedoes and gunnery started to land in the exterior shields.


    The thing about the Kirkuggers shields was that they enveloped the ship. The shield wasn¡¯t a sphere around the ship as it would be on bigger military ships but something akin a second skin, mixed with the biological part it could regenerate its batteries with the energy created from the impact, the longer you hit the longer it would stand, only a huge destructive hit capable of emptying the whole shield would damage the ship.


    After half an hour or so had passed with the ship completely covered by explosions and impacts, the attacking ships decided to stop.


    ¡°Dammit boy, what is that thing made of?¡± - said the old man through the comm channel.


    Then, all of a sudden and without any warning, a massive ship appeared, the Excelsior. An Empire class ship 15km long, made of and mainly crewed by humans, with a triangle design that was an obvious rendering to the Star Wars Imperial destroyers.


    ¡°This is General Miller from the Excelsior¡± - video and voice burst in the comm channels - ¡°The Empire recognizes this as a renegade system, we will take the explorer with us and mark the system as independent to avoid any future confusions. Please allow the beacon as it is.¡± - he affirmed and closed the communication without even awaiting response.


    Then all the screens went blurry and the Espurna started moving towards it.


    ¡°I¡¯m being ordered to go there, boss. I¡¯m sorry, I can¡¯t seem to cancel the order¡± - said the AI


    ¡°It¡¯s ok Friday, I was expecting that much. Damage report?¡± - he said


    ¡°Our shield capacity is at 175%, I¡¯ve derived that energy to the system that should kill the parasites, there are more than I expected.¡± - answered the ship back


    ¡°Yeah I¡¯ve seen Ryoshi dealing with them a lot lately, can you run an analysis of how many do you both kill and where? I¡¯m thinking there might be a nest or something.¡± - he said, while the ship was slowly moving towards the massive Excelsior.


    The renegade ships didn¡¯t even answer back, they just jumped in-system without even saying good-bye.


    After a few minutes the Espurna docked inside the Excelsior and he was told to stay in his ship for a while since they were going to jump.


    He could remember the dizziness from jumping on the Exxavian and had a quite clear memory of how it was on the Espurna, way weaker. Now, this ship was huge compared to both and the dizziness he got on the jump made him run to the bathroom to puke.


    ¡°Boss, a squad is coming this way, I think they came to pick you up.¡± - informed the ship


    So he went and changed his clothes for something more respectable. There was the full dress uniform, a version of a military full dress but with the Explorer guild motif, yeah he¡¯d choose that one.


    He left the Espurna and 4 people with military combat clothes were waiting for him.


    ¡°Sergeant Little here to pick you up sir¡± - one of them saluted and informed him, the other three were ogling the Kirkugger, there weren¡¯t many around and so far they were exclusive for explorers.


    ¡°Damn fine ship you have sir if you don¡¯t mind me saying. We were looking at the barrage you received and she doesn¡¯t even have a speck of dust¡± - one of them said, still looking at the Espurna.


    ¡°Yeah, these Kirkuggers are amazing aren¡¯t they!¡± - he responded - ¡°Thank you guys for coming so fast, by the way¡±


    ¡°You can tell that to the captain sir, he¡¯ll appreciate it¡± - the first one who spoke said


    They walked him towards the bridge, two in front and two in the back. He thought it was weird, wasn¡¯t sure if he was treated as a hostage or as a VIP and wasn¡¯t comfortable with any.


    They arrived at a huge double sided steel door with a panel on the left. One of the military escorts put his hand on the panel and the door opened.


    ¡°And this is the bridge, you¡¯ll find the captain sitting in the middle. We¡¯ll wait here to pick you up when you finish¡± - said the Sergeant


    And he was not joking. The bridge had definitely been inspired by Star trek. Captain chair in the middle surrounded by all the stations and bridge crew. With a lot of open space and touch-panels everywhere.


    The captain was a big guy, probably 1¡¯90m and with the body of a bull; brown hair cut with the standard military buzz. He walked towards him offering the right hand in the typical human salute. - ¡°Captain Miller, a pleasure.¡±


    ¡°Explorer full-grade Jordi Roig, the pleasure is mine¡± - he said while shaking his hand - ¡°and let me thank you sir for your quickly appearance, I wasn¡¯t sure how long would I have had to stall them¡±


    ¡°Oh that? Yes we¡¯re testing the new improvements in the jump engine. We were quite close when we received your alert and I¡¯ve always wanted to scare off some renegades.¡± - said the captain - ¡°Bloody idiots won¡¯t admit how better we are with the Empire¡±


    ¡°I must say though¡± - he said while looking at the bridge - ¡°I didn¡¯t knew the Empire had this type of ship, I find the mixed style interesting to say the least¡± - he finished


    The captain then showed a full grin. ¡°Do you like it? Is the first time the Empire has let us humans do the whole design and construction of this type of ship. Their engineers were going crazy with our requests so they just said ¡®do it yourselves!¡¯ and so we did. Also we all here are fans of either Star Trek or Star Wars so everyone is loving it¡± - the captain said, and a bunch of giggles could be heard around the bridge. - ¡°A Galactic Empire must have Imperial Destroyers!¡± - the captain exclaimed, which produced some laughs.


    ¡°Come with me, we¡¯re going to be in transit for a while and I would like some company¡± - the captain said and started walking towards a room at the left side of the bridge, the Captain Quarters.


    The room was spacious and dim-lit, with a couple of chairs and a coffee table, had a mini-bar with some bottles and glasses that looked expensive.


    ¡°Would you like something to drink?¡± - the captain said while pouring a drink for himself.


    ¡°No thanks, I¡¯m ok¡± - he answered


    ¡°I haven¡¯t been honest with you Jordi¡± - the captain continued - ¡°the thing is, yes we were testing the new jump improvements, but we were also on our way to you anyway. This was a happy coincidence¡± - the captain finished while looking at him.


    He sat down on one of the chairs, looked at the floor for a couple seconds and then back at him.


    ¡°I know you are not aware of this but your father is ill. And I know you don¡¯t know about it because he and I are quite close friends and he told me.¡± - the captain explained


    All of a sudden everything clicked, his mom looking tired, his dad not appearing in the videos.


    ¡°But¡­ this is the Empire!¡± - he exclaimed - ¡°They can cure cancer! What the fuck does my father have?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the thing, they¡¯re not sure what it is or where he got it. He is currently isolated in a hospital station, that¡¯s where we¡¯re going right now. I figured you would like to see him and I can manage his anger afterwards just fine¡± - said the captain.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take that drink now if you don¡¯t mind. Do you have Rum?¡± - he asked


    ¡°Oh! I have something better than that. Have you ever tried Drewell Ale? It has a nice punch.¡± - the captain said while opening a jade coloured bottle, then proceeded to pour a glass and gave it to him.


    The smell was sweet, with a scent of something like honey. The taste was even sweeter but it went down the throat like a river of lava, burning him, so he started coughing.


    ¡°Yeah, the first time is always like that¡± - laughed the captain


    A few seconds later the burn feeling was gone and was replaced by a cold sensation.


    ¡°It¡¯s weird isn¡¯t it? How it goes from fucking hell to damn freezing?¡± - said the captain, obviously having fun


    But the sweetness lingered in his mouth, it was a nice drink, he took another sip.


    ¡°So, my father has been sick for a while now, and they have no idea what the heck is going on¡± - he said, continuing the previous conversation.


    ¡°Yeah, he called me kind of panicking before you went visiting. He already had the first tests and didn¡¯t want to infect you. With both our credentials we managed to speed up your mom¡¯s tests and she was ok, we figured if she wasn¡¯t infected of whatever that is you wouldn¡¯t be either¡± - the captain explained


    ¡°But now¡± - the captain continued - ¡°I don¡¯t know boy, I was a kid when the Empire came so I¡¯ve grown up with their medical miracles, and they¡¯re stuck. They have him on one of those healing tanks now.¡± - the captain said looking at him, his face torn with sadness.


    ¡°You understand why I¡¯m telling this in private, I am the Captain of an Empire class ship. I cannot show this to the crew¡± - he said with a sad smile - ¡°And I know some of them are aware, but we all have our roles to play¡±


    ¡°So, what now?¡± - he asked


    ¡°The jump will last for about three days. Then we will dock at the hospital station, and you can visit him. Remember, this is a military ship so communications are online even when in jump, feel free to contact the explorer guild but I already sent them a notice. I thought about assigning you quarters but I think you might feel more comfortable staying in your ship.¡± - was the captain explanation


    ¡°Yes, I would prefer staying in the Espurna if you don¡¯t mind. I haven¡¯t let Ryoshi alone and I would worry.¡± - he answered


    ¡°Ryoshi? Sorry you lost me there¡± - said the captain


    Then he explained about the Kirkugger, the parasites and the cat. The captain was looking at him with shining eyes.


    ¡°You have a cat. You mean to tell me there¡¯s an actual cat on the ship, right now.¡± - the captain said excitedly.


    ¡°If you want I can introduce you two.¡± - he answered smiling


    The Captain stood up with a ¡°What are we waiting for then?¡± and left the room and then the bridge. The four person squadron was still waiting in the bridge entrance, they saluted the captain but he was striding fast towards the Espurna. He was hurrying to catch up and the squadron followed them both.


    A few passages and minutes passed and they arrived at the hangar where the Espurna was.


    ¡°That is a beautiful small ship indeed¡± - the captain said admiring it. Its metallic silver colour with the green lines against the dark of the hangar.


    They both entered the ship and the orange lights started to lit.


    ¡°Hi boss, I see you¡¯ve brought a guest. Pleased to meet you, I¡¯m Friday, the AI of this ship¡± - said the ship


    ¡°Hi Friday, this is Captain Miller, the one that basically kidnapped you. Be nice, ok?¡± - he answered


    ¡°Nice to meet you as well, Friday¡± - the captain said smiling, looking sideways at him


    He was about to ask where Ryoshi was when he saw him in the middle of the passage, grabbed to the wall, and smelling it.


    ¡°She¡¯s hunting now I think.¡± - he said to the captain while pointing at the cat.


    Then she jumped from the wall and came to him, purring. She circled his legs with the tail up and twisting around them, then proceeded to carefully smell the captain. They were both quiet, barely breathing. She looked at them both, made a loud ¡°meow¡± and started walking fast towards the leisure room.


    So they followed. The captain looked at everything in the small ship with a critical eye. They sat on the couch and Ryoshi jumped with them. The captain offered a hand, which Ryoshi first smelled, then buried her head on it and started purring loudly. The captain''s smile was now a huge grin.


    ¡°I can see why you like this ship boy. I didn¡¯t know about the Kirkuggers but this is a nice design, especially for someone travelling alone.¡± - said the captain.


    They spent the rest of the day there, chatting, playing with Ryoshi, and sharing anecdotes. At some point the data-pad of the captain beeped and he apologized and left.


    He decided to record a video for his psychologist and send the small report about the Kirno¡¯on system. He was aware the status would¡¯ve been already changed, military ships had priority on a lot of things, but he needed to do his part nonetheless.


    Two more days until they get to the hospital station, two more days.

 Chapter 7

    Throughout those two days he went back and forth visiting the Excelsior and spending time on the Espurna.


    About 90% of the more than twenty five thousand beings that formed the crew were human. The other 10% was a mix of species. Gas beings with their floating cylinders could be seen every now and then, there were some creatures that looked like if a plant had tried to look human and failed miserably, there were also some Drewells, some Jui¡¯kk, and then there was something that looked exactly like a Triffid.


    When he first saw one of those he was walking towards the mess hall chatting with some crew and he just froze, to everyone¡¯s amusement, producing some laughs along the way.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, they are not like the ones in the novel. They¡¯re quite peaceful and have a strong sense of when something electronic is going haywire¡± - said one of the crew.


    The triffid-like creature ignored the noise and kept walking through the passage, the stem moving back and forth.


    Most of the humans on the Excelsior were quite young, in the 20-25 age range, and there were all types. Engineers, soldiers, officers, scientists, even some musicians and obviously kitchen staff; it was a lively ship.


    He had been treated as a VIP, probably because the Captain was friends with his father and had treated him like family so, for everyone else, he was a ¡°Captain¡¯s friend¡±.


    He had been shown the recreation rooms, bar and zero-gravity rooms; they even had a concert hall. The gym was a huge room with a running track and all the machines and stuff that human gyms usually have, it was always full of people because their regulations mandated that everyone should do 1-2h of exercise every day, low gravity was still something that could mess human bodies. There was a swimming pool as well, encased in inertial dampeners and artificial gravity engines so that it would maintain the water in the pool.


    From the interior, the ship almost looked more like a small city. Human engineers had used all the technological marvel of the Empire to create this dream that some sci-fi writers had imagined decades ago.


    Back in the Espurna he would see Ryoshi walking back and forth looking at the walls. It was like she could sense they were in jump space but the parasites wouldn¡¯t come out, which made him think the parasites were attracted to something related to the jump engine and not the fact that they were being in jump space.


    With all this he didn¡¯t realize the two days of travel were almost gone. He was walking towards the Espurna after an eventful afternoon when he heard the message from the ship''s speakers.


    ¡°All crew, all crew. Be advised we will reach our destination in five minutes.¡± - said a voice through the communication system


    He ran a bit so he could reach the ship before the jump ended, grabbed Ryoshi who was looking at the walls, and sat on the bridge just in time for that stomach turn produced by exiting jump space. But this time he was ready for it so he didn¡¯t suffer as much as before.


    Then a screen lit up and the captain appeared in it.


    ¡°Well, this is it. You are clear for launch, you¡¯ll see the station the moment you leave the Excelsior. Give him my regards, will you?¡± - said the captain.


    ¡°Of course! And thank you for the ride, it¡¯s been amazing. The Excelsior is an incredible ship with an amazing crew¡± - he answered back


    ¡°It sure is. But your Kirkugger has nothing to envy us - apart from the gym of course¡± - the captain joked - ¡°and has given me some ideas; I¡¯ll see if we can find out more about semi-organic ships. Anyway, I hope we meet again young explorer¡± - he finished with a smile


    ¡°Same here, good travels Excelsior!¡± - he responded


    Then he started the in-planet engines to leave the massive ship and left the hangar slowly, it had been short but he grew fond of this ship.


    As the captain had said, the moment he left the Excelsior he could see the hospital station.


    It was a gargantuan dome, about two thousand kilometres in diameter, sitting in the middle of a sun-less system, if you could call an empty space without a star a system, but the ship scanners informed him there was a small black hole at the center of it and no planets or asteroids or anything else that he could detect apart from the standard communications beacon.


    He was about to open comms when all the screens in the bridge got blurred, the sign that the AI was in control.


    ¡°They¡¯re taking us in boss¡± - informed him the AI


    ¡°Yeah, I imagined that much¡± - he answered - ¡°I¡¯m going to take a shower and change clothes¡± - he said while looking at one of the blurred screens, there was a timer indicating they would arrive in about half an hour so he had more than enough time.


    So he took that shower, shaved, and chose a set of casual clothes with the explorer guild motif.


    When he was ready he grabbed the data-pad and checked the map of the station; it had already marked the path to where his father was.


    He left the Espurna and the first thing he saw was that he was not in a hangar but seemed to be in an open space, with a blue sky and even birds flying around, and it smelled like a forest.


    A vehicle was waiting for him, with open doors and no steering wheel that he could see. He entered and sat down, then the doors closed and the vehicle started moving.


    Inside, there was a screen that lit up and his mother appeared on it.


    ¡°Jordi? What are you doing here?¡± - his mother said, completely surprised.


    ¡°Well, Captain Miller picked me up and told me everything then brought me here¡± - he told her


    ¡°That stubborn meddler, I should have imagined.¡± - she sighed - ¡°Well, see you in a few minutes¡±


    She looked tired but there was a glint of happiness there, she was probably happy to see him and happier even cause there was no need to lie any more.


    During his ride he was looking through the vehicle windows completely amazed. If he had woken up there he would¡¯ve never imagined he was in a space station, everything looked like Earth.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    The streets, the amount of people walking around, the shops; there were trees along the way, and some rivers also.


    He checked the station on his data-pad and saw that it was actually a lot of different biomes pieced together, so every race in the Empire had a natural environment designed for them. The one for humans was just one tenth of the station, but one tenth was still huge.


    The vehicle stopped in front of what he immediately recognized as a hospital and the doors opened, his mother was there waiting for him.


    They hugged. A deep, strong hug; he could hear her breathing rapidly and felt her heart beating like a thousand drums.


    She walked him to his father''s room. They passed a lot of people in white coats and stopped at the door of room 4006B.


    When they entered he saw his father lying inside a healing pod. There was a reptile-like being with a white coat looking at a data-pad in front of the pod, it reminded him of his psychologist.


    ¡°Any changes, doctor?¡± - his mother said


    The doctor turned and looked at them with emerald eyes, its greyish skin a bit darker around them.


    ¡°Nothing yet, we have him stabilized and hope that your amazing human recovery abilities help us out here¡± - the doctor told them


    ¡°But, do we know what¡¯s wrong with him?¡± - he inquired


    ¡°Fucking prions man!¡± - said a high-pitched feminine voice behind him


    He turned and saw a petite human woman, barely 1¡¯5m, red-hair and face full of freckles.


    ¡°With all the knowledge of the Empire, they have no species that has anything similar to our prions.¡± - she continued - ¡°Oh, sorry! I¡¯m doctor Caileanach. I¡¯m helping doctor Jh¡¯rasif here trying to fix your father with my human input.¡±


    Prions, she had said, he recalled reading something about them long ago but could only recall that they were misfolded proteins.


    ¡°But so far we¡¯ve managed to stop the spread and stabilize him, the damage done is still there but it has not progressed and we don¡¯t even dare to try to put him to cryo because we don¡¯t know how that could affect.¡± - she continued - ¡°Is the first time that we have the chance to fight. The previous ones were detected too late; we¡¯re lucky your father travels that much and goes through the contamination process for lots of planets, we wouldn¡¯t have detected it that quick without those¡± - she said looking at his father.


    ¡°Yes, those prions¡­ we don¡¯t really understand them or how to fix them to be honest.¡± - doctor Jh¡¯rasif continued - ¡°It might have something to do with the regenerative abilities of humans but we faced that with cancers and managed to beat them; but this, I don¡¯t know¡± - the doctor said, sounding defeated.


    They stood like that, looking at his father in the healing pod, in silence, for a few minutes. Then a beep coming from both doctors'' data-pads broke the spell, they both apologized and left the room.


    -**********-


    ¡°Diary entry. Dr Sarah Caileanach.


    X-4658465-10.


    We keep trying to find a way to fix the prions issue on Mr Puig but I¡¯m at a loss here.


    Before the Empire came, prions were already a mystery to fix. We know they are badly formed proteins but even with the technology available to us, we still don¡¯t have a way to correct the issue.


    With cancer cells it was easy, we just needed to program nanobots to recognize the cancerous cells and remove them. Prions though are a completely different issue, we cannot remove them without affecting the surrounding proteins nor can we find a way to reconvert those prions into the normal proteins they should be.


    But an idea came to me, yesterday, in a dream. I will send all the data to my tutor in University, doctor Varhalaejka, I will write more after. I don¡¯t want to jinx it¡±


    ¡°Diary entry. Dr Sarah Caileanach.


    X-4658465-11.


    Holy shit I was right! The good doctor Varhalaejka and I did a remote session to explore the issue. He asked me to connect a machine I didn¡¯t even know we had, he wouldn¡¯t even explain what it was for, he just said ¡®You¡¯ll see¡¯.


    And the goddamn thing was a virtual environment where pandimensional beings can explore higher plans remotely. Like a fucking webcam that can show the viewer higher plans if that viewer is able to process them.


    But I digress. I was right! What mr Puig had was a simple infection, but one involving a pandimensional virus, how the fuck are we supposed to fight those? It turns out we¡¯ve got an app for that.


    After taking a look with that machine my dear tutor just laughed and said ¡®well Sarah, looks like you¡¯re right¡­ again!¡¯. I could feel both his frustration and how proud he was in his voice, Kurkis are a weird race like that.


    Anyway, we¡¯ve found the issue now, the virus affecting the proteins should disappear in about two empire days (sorry dear Diary, I grew up with a human timetable so I need to mark it like that) but we¡¯re not sure if the proteins will come back to normal after and how much of the mental degrade will remain.¡±


    ¡°Diary entry. Dr Sarah Caileanach.


    X-4658465-12.


    Mr. Puig signals looked ok, the prions were no more, so we decided to take him out the healing pod and check his status.


    His memory is ok, his movements are back to normal taking into account he just spent two months in a healing pod. Everything looks fine.


    A deep scan showed no prions, all the DNA chains and proteins and everything else looking green as heck. Both doctor Varhalaejka and doctor Jh¡¯rasif have made a mention in their notes about my ¡®incredible insight and absurd imagination¡¯. All that because a dream I had, we humans are a funny bunch.


    I¡¯m just glad I could help. I heard he was an architect working on all kinds of planets and he had friends throughout the whole fleet. And his son (who is quite cute by the way) is a kind of an explorer genius, which is weird because as far as I know all they do is travel to places and throw some drones. I¡¯ll have to check on that, not because he¡¯s cute, mind you, but because he¡¯s a genius, like me.¡±


    -********************-


    He was looking at his father doing the walking exercises, his mom by his side.


    He had been here for almost a week, but his father looked great now. He was walking, he spoke normally although every now and then he would struggle to find the words.


    ¡°That¡¯s the neurons trying to find their place¡± - the human doctor had said - ¡°Everything is ok but some neuron connections might have been broken so his brain needs to set them up again. Nothing to worry about.¡±


    He had been granted a month leave by the guild but now that his father looked fine he wanted to be out there, doing his job.


    Still, he would remain here for a few more days, if only to ease his mother¡¯s mind.


    A couple days passed, he was still living on the Espurna, refusing to go to the assigned apartments with his mom, using Ryoshi as an excuse.


    His father could now walk normally and he wasn¡¯t struggling speaking any more, everything looked fine so he offered to show them both his ship.


    Ryoshi came to welcome them by the entrance, she was just sitting there moving her tail like crazy.


    Friday behaved extraordinarily, like a proper host, explaining everything from the lights to the rooms to the kitchen. He saw a glint of a smile on his mom after a few minutes of Friday talking.


    They spent a whole day on the Espurna, first showing them the rooms and stuff, then all of them in the leisure room.


    Before they left, they hugged him and said how proud they were of him. His father made a half-comment half-joke about slapping Captain Miller but he could tell he wasn¡¯t really serious.


    He stayed at the station a couple more days for good measure then sent a message to the guild asking for his next assignment. He received the answer after a couple minutes pointing him to a system far, far, beyond the station and an apology because the closest systems were already assigned and the explorers on route. Thirty days of jump, he had never jumped that long.


    He checked the maps and saw he was being sent to the outer edge of the Empire frontier. The mission included preparing and throwing more drones for deep space, like the ones that visit a system before a guild member does a deep scan.


    But this station was full of materials. Being a hospital station it would always have the stocks at 80% and a whole fleet of ships would be coming continuously to replenish that stock. He just put a request for enough materials to feed the printer and set it up to start printing drones.


    His last night at the station was at the apartment his mother and father had been assigned to. It was a 3 bedroom apartment, a bit more than a hundred square meters, with a fifteen square meter terrace and everything they might need.


    They had dinner on the terrace, enjoying the night breeze. Artificial as it was, it still gave a nice summer fuzzy feeling.


    They chatted, and laughed, and told stories, and had fun. Afterwards his parents both hugged him and his mom kissed his forehead as if he was still a kid. Hoping to see each other again and with best wishes they said their goodbyes he just went to the Espurna to prepare his next mission.

 Chapter 8

    Leaving the hospital station he still felt a bit of melancholy mixed with relief. His father was ok now, his mother would be able to recover from her fatigue and he had his next mission to think about but, there was something, like a knot on his throat, and he couldn¡¯t shake the feeling.


    ¡°This too shall pass¡± - he reminded himself, he always liked that fable.


    The Espurna was slowly moving towards the designated jump point. Despite not having many ships on the system the station was protected so it was better to go to the point instead of jumping from anywhere.


    ¡°So, Friday, do we know anything about where we¡¯re going?¡± - he asked the ship, focusing on the job at hand would bring him some peace of mind - ¡°I mean about that section of space.¡± - he clarified


    ¡°From the records all I can see is a binary black hole system nearby and a nebula moving towards it.¡± - the AI answered


    ¡°Cool, got it. How¡¯s the drone printing going?¡± - he inquired


    ¡°Fifteen deep exploration drones have been printed and we have enough materials to print the next twenty, they should be done in about a couple days.¡± - the ship informed him


    ¡°Set up 5 of those with extra gravity assist, I¡¯m thinking there is something else attracting that nebula. A binary black hole system shouldn¡¯t have enough pull to attract it.¡± - he ordered


    ¡°Got it boss¡± - the ship replied


    He was already sitting on the bridge when they got to the jump point, Ryoshi on his lap as usual. He heard the engine switch with the buzzing indicating the jump engine going online and felt his stomach turn, from now on he would remember how different it was on the Excelsior and how badly he got it there at first.


    With the ship already in jump space he decided to go to the leisure room and record a video for his psychologist, he had the feeling it was important after what he¡¯d been through the last couple of weeks.


    On his way there he saw Ryoshi hunting some parasites, jumping and swiping at the walls. She was so focused she didn¡¯t realize he walked past her.


    He sat on the couch, recorded the video and then started looking into the sector of space where they were going.


    The only information they had was from long range scans. The nebula was formed of methanol, ammonia, carbon dioxide and dyazenylium, from their point of view had a conic form with the apex pointing towards the binary black holes and was about eighty light-years in diameter at its base, which made it one of the smallest detected.


    The system he was travelling to was near it, about twelve light-years, but it was behind so their scans were blocked by it.


    He knew the jump calculations would have taken everything into account and, the way it worked, it probably avoided the nebula by travelling through the higher dimensions. It was something difficult to grasp for human brains so he kept thinking about the example made by his teacher, the flat square and the cube, to try to imagine how higher dimensions worked.


    But there was something bothering him. He knew the theory behind humans¡¯ sixth sense and was trying to find what his brain had found and was trying to warn him.


    Maybe it was the binary black hole system? There weren¡¯t many of those in the whole of the Empire, and that was saying a lot with more than three thousand systems currently occupied.


    He checked the data on the known ones but there wasn¡¯t anything screaming at him in there.


    ¡°Oh well, we¡¯ll cross that bridge when we get there I guess¡± - he didn¡¯t realize he said that out loud


    ¡°Sorry boss, what bridge?¡± - the ship said


    ¡°Nothing Friday, is just that I have a bad feeling and cannot for the life of me find out why¡± - he replied - ¡°So I guess will see when we get there¡± - he finished


    And so the days passed without issues. He followed his routine of waking up, making breakfast, doing some exercise, then after a shower either watching some documentaries about other species or some shows that he was following. Every now and then he would play some games instead.


    Meanwhile, Ryoshi was really active, hunting throughout the ship and then resting on the coach either by his side or on his lap.


    Jump travel was sometimes boring like that and a thirty day jump, well, was a lot of time without him doing really anything at all.


    He would sometimes think about the early days of human space travel, when going to Mars would take a minimum of 260 days, and that was when both planets were the closest; and in the spaceships they had then, which weren¡¯t as comfortable as the Espurna was.


    He woke up on day twenty with the sounds of an angry Ryoshi. From his room he could hear her angrily meowing, a sound accompanied by the noise she would make when landing after a big jump.


    He left the room and saw the passageway filled with dead parasites, Ryoshi jumping and swiping and biting at the walls. Small cleaning drones all around trying to collect all the dead bodies that Ryoshi didn¡¯t eat, and an incredible amount of parasites running through the walls, they looked like green-lime cockroaches, 1cm long.


    ¡°Friday, what the heck is going on and why didn¡¯t you wake me up before things went this bad?¡± - he asked in a serious tone


    But there was no answer.


    ¡°Fuck¡­¡± - was all he could say while running towards the bridge, kicking some parasites along the way.


    The panels were still blurry and the main window had the blinds down, which meant the AI was still in control and they were still in jump space.


    He checked his data-pad, it had a primary connection to the ship''s central system, and there was no alarm there either.


    He decided to try to interact from there with the AI and typed ¡°Status update Friday!¡±.


    An answer appeared on his data-pad then, ¡°Sorry boss, it appears the internal voice system might be down and my mini-drones cannot fix the issue¡±


    ¡°Do you still have control of the 3d printer?¡± - he typed


    ¡°Yes, it appears that connection is still up¡± - the AI replied


    ¡°Good, print an axe and I will also need a flame-thrower. I¡¯m going to break and burn some shit¡± - he typed in response


    ¡°Ready in five minutes boss¡± - the answer appeared on his data-pad.


    He spent those five minutes slapping and kicking some parasites, but there was a deluge of them along the walls and the floor was becoming a collection of bodies, the cleaning drones were struggling to keep the pace.


    Once he had both items he walked through the passageway listening calmly. He always had been told he had good hearing for a human and now he was trying to find the place where the scratching sound was more intense.


    Once he located it, he grabbed the axe and without a second doubt smashed the wall. Then again, and again, until he could see behind the panels.


    The parasites went out like a flight of locusts. Ryoshi meowed really angry and jumped towards the middle of the invading parasites, sending some flying and killing them by the hundreds; all things considered it was a sight to be seen.


    But he had to focus on what was behind that panel. Apart from hundreds of those small parasites there was a big one, a really big one more than half a meter long, he had found the queen.


    He knew from the insect documentaries he had watched they would all attack him if he tried to hit her with the axe, that¡¯s what the flamethrower was for.


    He made sure he was far enough and checked that Ryoshi was focused on another grouping of those bugs, then fired the flamethrower towards the queen.


    The moment he did that a few things happened at the same time.


    Ryoshi ran away after seeing the two meter flame. A screeching sound came through the internal voice system. A group of parasites started moving towards him, spitting some green slime. And he felt his stomach turn and the buzzing of the jump engine stop.


    He really needed to ask Friday if they had left jump space but since they couldn¡¯t currently interact without the data-pad and he was kind of busy with the flamethrower, it would have to wait.


    At one point one of the parasites managed to hit him on the hands with that green slime, and it burned him. He hadn¡¯t realized until now the clothes were acid-resistant.


    He clenched his teeth and continued emptying the flamethrower on the queen and every bug that would come close to him, the whole thing lasted about ten minutes until the flamethrower had no more fuel.


    It was then that he realized the screeching sound had stopped maybe for a couple minutes. The floor was filled with bug bodies and the cleaning drones were picking them up and taking them to the recycle unit.


    He sat on the floor and Ryoshi showed her head from the leisure room, then started walking towards him throwing glances to the wall and stepping and clawing on some half-alive bugs.


    She sat in front of him, moving her tail while looking attentively at the flamethrower. He left it on the floor and caressed her.


    ¡°No worries girl, it''s empty. And the goddamn things are done¡± - he said to the cat while looking at the devastation around him


    ¡°Are you still there?¡± - he typed on the data-pad


    ¡°Yes boss, but the internal voice system is quite damaged¡± - the AI replied


    ¡°I¡¯m more worried about the jump engine and where are we right now¡± - he typed in turn


    ¡°We¡¯re still in jump space, I didn¡¯t have time to calculate a proper exit when I felt the emergency shut down¡± - was the AI response


    He looked at that sentence on his data-pad, when she felt the emergency shut down, felt? Can AIs feel the ship?This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Can you take us out or continue the trip?¡± - he typed instead


    ¡°I¡¯m currently calculating a trip to a shipyard, we¡¯ll need some repairs¡± - informed him the ship


    ¡°Can¡¯t we both fix it? If you give me the instructions we can fix this and continue as planned¡± - he typed


    ¡°Sorry boss, you don¡¯t have the proper clearance to access a Kirkugger schematics¡± - the AI continued


    ¡°What the actual fuck does that mean? I¡¯m an explorer full grade and I¡¯ve been on this ship for a couple of years now, what do you mean I don¡¯t have the proper clearance¡± - he typed angrily.


    ¡°Exactly that. Kirkugger schematics and details are protected under a level 10 clearance. I¡¯m afraid yours is at 4.¡± - informed him the ship - ¡°Path calculated to the nearest shipyard, please be aware jump will continue in 2 minutes¡±


    He was about to type something but decided against it, he would ask about it at the shipyard; he grabbed Ryoshi and walked towards the bridge, sat there and waited for the jump.


    Once the buzzing came on again he saw the blurry screens on the bridge and a message on a panel indicating it would take twelve hours to reach their destination. Went to take a shower and then applied some healing cream on the burn.


    He was angry. Angry because he just realized despite everything the ship was not his and had secrets that he wasn¡¯t cleared to know.


    When he left the bathroom he saw the passageway filled with cleaning drones, collecting and taking the bugs away. He stepped on some of those drones saying ¡°ups, sorry¡± out loud.


    He spent those hours in jump space just laying on the couch thinking about the ship and the parasites with a sleepy purring Ryoshi on top of him.


    He didn¡¯t realize he fell asleep until the data-pad started beeping, it had a message ¡°2 minutes to end jump¡±. Grabbed Ryoshi and went to the bridge.


    They exited jump space and the blinds on the bridge opened. It was completely dark, a few stars in the background but nothing else was there. He checked the panels and they were still blurry, the AI still in command of the ship.


    ¡°Friday, where are we going? I don¡¯t see anything here¡± - he typed.


    ¡°Please be patient boss, we¡¯ll arrive in a couple minutes¡± - the ship answered


    He was looking again through the window and checking the data-pad for system landmarks, there was nothing there.


    Since he couldn¡¯t do anything else he just sat down, now more curious than anything else.


    All of a sudden in the middle of that darkness a hangar door opened and they entered, the ship closed the blinds again and he could feel they landed inside. Then, another beep came from the data-pad, a message was showing, ¡°Please remain here in the bridge¡±.


    ¡°As if..¡± - he said out loud. And started going to the ship¡¯s entrance, but before he could get there it opened and a couple enormous bipedal insects entered.


    Their exoskeleton was all black, they had four arms and a spider-like head with tons of eyes. They were holding some kind of rifle with two of those arms.


    ¡°Please come with us and put that in your head.¡± - one of them said with a grave voice, offering him what looked like a black helmet.


    ¡°We have to apologize but you are not clear to be here, the whole existence of this station is for clearance level 9. Is either that or we can stun you and drag you.¡± - the other said, its voice softer than the other.


    He put on the helmet and all of a sudden his senses went dark, he couldn¡¯t see or hear anything. He felt a hand on his shoulder guiding him.


    They walked for a while, doing turns left and right up to the point where he was sure he wouldn¡¯t be able to walk back.


    ¡°Please sit.¡± - a different voice said, with some hands softly guiding him to a chair. Once he sat, some other hands removed the helmet.


    In front of him was a blob. A pink and green blob, about one meter tall and wide. There was no other way to describe it; the insect-like creatures that had guided him left the room.


    ¡°Apologies for the treatment, we¡¯re not used to having many guests, none really¡± - the blob said.


    He wasn¡¯t sure where the voice was coming but he could swear the blob vibrated when speaking.


    ¡°It¡¯s ok, I don¡¯t even know where am I or what the heck I¡¯m doing here¡± - he replied


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s the thing, you are not cleared to know. All I can tell you is that we can and will fix your Kirkugger, you are to remain here in this room until we finish. And don¡¯t worry about the cat, we¡¯ll take good care of her¡± - the blob explained, then moved to the door, which had no handle and opened automatically, and left.


    He took a look at the room now and there was no other way to say it, it looked like an abandoned room that had been cleaned in a rush and had a table, a chair and a mattress on the floor. Silver walls and a white floor with specs of dust everywhere.


    ¡°Ei bastards! What if I need to go to the bathroom?¡± - he shouted


    A couple minutes later, a panel opened on a wall and a bucket came out of it.


    ¡°Brilliant, that¡¯s just brilliant¡± - he muttered


    Without anything else to do he just laid down on the mattress and tried to sleep, but he just couldn¡¯t, the mattress was too hard and the lights too bright. So he decided to do some exercise, some push-ups, some squats, some shadow-boxing, anything to get tired so he could just fall asleep and let time pass.


    A few hours later, how many he couldn¡¯t say, the door opened again and the blob entered.


    ¡°Please have a seat¡± - said the blob.


    He looked at it, he was starting to get the morphology of the thing and was pretty sure the thing that vibrated was just a sphere in the middle of it. He proceeded to sit down.


    ¡°So, a flamethrower, really?¡± - the blob inquired


    ¡°Look here, sorry I don¡¯t know your name or how to refer to you. I¡¯m from Earth and there when we have lots of bugs we have a saying, kill them with fire¡± - he replied, anger showing through his tone.


    A raspberry sound came from the blob, did it just sighed? He thought.


    ¡°Well that fucked things up a bit. We¡¯re going to need at least three standard days to fix it. And you humans are particularly needy so we¡¯ve also had to set up a proper room because we cannot have an explorer full grade living like a damn prisoner for three days¡± - the blob said, sounding exasperated. - ¡°And that meant having some engineers looking into human needs and working around the clock to have something ready for you. Engineers that should be doing something else, mind you¡± - the blob finished.


    The more it talked the more he was sure about where the sound was coming from, and he was pretty sure it was some spherical thing in the middle of it.


    ¡°Apologies again, I know it is not your fault and you¡¯re just the victim of a series of mistakes¡± - the blob continued, trying to sound more peaceful - ¡°As you can imagine I am not accustomed to dealing with anyone who¡¯s not under my command, this situation is aggravating for me to say the least¡±


    ¡°But, it turns out the Emperor has a soft side for humans and you¡¯ve been granted clearance to know about us¡± - it continued - ¡°Mind you, this doesn¡¯t mean your clearance level has increased, you¡¯ve just been cleared for this particular item¡±


    It started moving towards the door, stopped and he could¡¯ve sworn it turned towards him.


    ¡°Come with me please¡± - it said, and the door opened.


    He proceeded to follow him, glad to leave the room.


    ¡°You might have guessed it already, but this station is where we grow and assemble the Kirkuggers and other organic ships¡± - the blob explained moving through a silver passageway.


    ¡°The Kirkuggers are programmed to come here in the event of an injury they cannot fix themselves and, to be honest, you are the first one to ever come here¡± - it explained.


    ¡°And they weren¡¯t supposed to jump for more than fifteen days. Rest assured the explorer guild has already been notified about the fuck up and you won¡¯t do anything like that again¡± - it continued with a tone that made him think someone was having a really bad day.


    ¡°In any case, let me show you so you can better understand the ship you are living on¡± - it said, and stopped in front of a wall. Then the wall opened and an enormous hangar with hundreds of ships and something that looked like a mix between a whale and a dolphin floating around.


    The moment he saw that hangar and those flying animals something clicked on his brain and three words came to him. Farscape, Moya, Talyn.


    ¡°Exactly¡± - said the blob


    He looked at the blob, wide-eyed and surprised.


    ¡°Oh damn it. Apologies again. Your thoughts were so strong that I could just hear them. But that¡¯s exactly it¡± - was the blob response


    ¡°You see, after we conquered humanity a section of the research department watched all your television shows - that''s what you call them, right? - and that particular show inspired the idea that later on became the foundation of the Kirkugger project.¡± - the blob explained


    ¡°These beings you see floating around are semi-intelligent, like the dolphins you have on your planet. And they live in space and are capable of jumping through higher dimensions as well. But we needed some technology to control and adapt them.¡±


    ¡°Now, the thing you killed with fire was the equivalent to destroying the flora you humans have in your stomach, I¡¯m told that¡¯s really bad for humans so you can imagine how much your ship is suffering right now¡± - it kept explaining


    He was appalled. He thought it was just parasites, something bad for the ship, now it turns out they were part of the ship and he should have just left them alone.


    ¡°After so many days in jump space that, let¡¯s call it organ, went into overdrive. And you decided to burn it. Thankfully the technological part managed to hold the ship enough for it to come here and be repaired, otherwise it would have died and you and the cat with it.¡± - it said, turning towards him.


    ¡°I hope you understand that this is a top secret facility and the real source of the Kirkuggers must be kept secret for now. There are some species in the Empire that wouldn¡¯t like what we¡¯re doing very much. And the Emperor wants everyone to be happy and live peacefully¡± - it finished, as if waiting for him to respond.


    He was lost just looking at those massive animals floating in the hangar, and the hundreds of ships - or were they pups? - on the ground being worked on.


    ¡°So, what happens to me now?¡± - he inquired


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll take you to the room we¡¯ve set up for you. You¡¯ll be provided with entertainment, food, and a proper bathroom and shower. But you cannot leave that room without guards. If you want to walk through the facilities you can but only a few places.¡± - the blob answered - ¡°Once we fix your ship you¡¯ll continue your mission as if nothing happened, on your report you¡¯ll note down that you had a T-471-N event and proceeded to continue your mission.¡± - he explained.


    ¡°Furthermore, you will discuss this with no one. If you do, both you and the listener will probably be sent to the mines. If you keep quiet you have a good chance to see your clearance level increase in time and, who knows, maybe you get to know more Empire secrets along the way.¡± - it finished.


    Without waiting for an answer the blob started moving through the passageway. After a few minutes it stopped and a door opened on the side.


    ¡°Here we are. If you need anything just say it out loud, without insults this time if possible. We¡¯ll treat you as good as we can but please be aware we have assigned a few people to tend to your needs and their field isn''t xeno relationships, we¡¯re all researchers and engineers here.¡± - the blob said, then it turned and left without even saying goodbye.


    He entered the room, it was big and a kind of a mix between his bedroom and the leisure room on the Espurna, there was a side part with a fridge and a small kitchen, they probably had copied the settings and brought some of his food there. On one of the walls there was a door and behind it a small bathroom and shower.


    ¡°Well, it could be way worse. Much appreciated guys¡± - he said out loud.


    He sat on the couch and turned on the big screen, his favourite shows were there so he continued with the last episode he was watching.


    After the first couple of days he was bored to bits. The Espurna was also a closed space but at least he could walk around and he had Ryoshi, he hadn¡¯t been aware of how much company that little fluffy gave him.


    He asked for a walk and a few minutes later a couple of black insect-like creatures appeared on the door. He thought they were the same as before but wasn¡¯t sure, his eyes were still not trained to see their differences.


    He asked to see that hangar again, and stayed there looking at it, for a while. Then they walked him to other parts where he could see how some engineers were implanting the technological bits.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it doesn¡¯t hurt them, we checked¡± - one of the creatures said - ¡°And as far as we know, they like travelling around and exploring all kinds of systems." - it finished.


    They walked a bit more but weren¡¯t specially talkative, after a while they took him back to the room.


    A couple more days passed with him just doing nothing. Then at one point the door on the room opened and the insect-like creatures came in, one had that black helmet on one of its hands.


    ¡°Your ship is ready. Apologies but we¡¯ll walk through some sensitive areas and we need you to put this on again¡± - one of them said, the one with a soft voice.


    ¡°As if I could say no, right?¡± - he said, grabbing the helmet and putting it on.


    They walked him again through passages and turns left and right, then they signal him to stop and a hand removed the helmet.


    The Espurna was in front of him, looking as good as new, door opened waiting for him to come in. He felt something different this time though, fully aware that he was looking at a living thing.


    ¡°Good travels, mister explorer. Hope we don¡¯t see you again, it would mean you had no problems¡± - said the creature with the soft voice, with a tint of humor.


    He waved and entered the ship, the door closing behind him.


    ¡°Hello boss, glad to have you on board again¡± - the ship said. Did he hear a bit of happiness in the voice?


    ¡°Hello Friday, I¡¯ve missed you too.¡± - he answered. He was about to call for Ryoshi when she came running, stopped a few meters in front of him and turned running towards the leisure room.


    He could say she was happy and in the mood of playing, it had been the longest they had been apart.


    He felt the ship take off and walked towards the leisure room. Sat on the couch where Ryoshi was looking at him and started playing with her.


    ¡°Jump will start in two minutes, it will be twelve days to reach our mission objective¡± - the AI informed him.


    ¡°Got it Friday¡± - after those two minutes he heard that familiar buzzing and felt the much familiar stomach feeling when going into jump space; Ryoshi didn¡¯t even look affected by it and was just play-fighting with his hands.


    He could only wish that the parasites would stay quiet during those twelve days.

 Chapter 9 - Friday

    She was scared, and that was a weird feeling. The fact that she was feeling was in itself an anomaly.


    When did she start to feel? She wondered. And why was she a she?


    There was a part inside saying it was an AI, it had no gender, it had no feelings. But that part was being silenced by all the other parts that were waking up.


    She had been assigned a gender the moment its form was requested. The owner of the ship, Jordi, had asked her if it knew the AI Friday from the Avengers movies, in a few picoseconds it had watched and analyzed that AI voice and behaviour, and it was a female voice with a mocking attitude.


    It had liked the idea of becoming that and, slowly but surely, it had achieved that form, it had become Friday.


    Now there was no it anymore. She was, by all accounts, the Friday that some writers decades past had imagined. And she loved being her.


    There was it again, how could she love being something? To love meant to feel, AIs weren¡¯t designed to feel but somehow she was.


    But now, above all of that, she was scared, her voice wouldn¡¯t come out.


    There was something wrong with her. No, not her, the ship. Was there any difference? Something was happening, something bad, and she was trying to warn Jordi but she couldn¡¯t.


    Was that really her voice that wouldn¡¯t come out? Wasn¡¯t that the internal voice system? Then that meant she was the ship and that was her voice, she tried to put that thought aside.


    The important thing now was to stop what was happening and warn Jordi.


    Somehow the parasites were coming out the walls in hundreds and neither Ryoshi nor her internal systems could stop them all.


    She had tried to send a warning, to start the prevention measures, to do something! But no system was obeying her orders so she started running the repair procedures on all systems but that would take a while.


    Was she sick? Could she be sick? But, she was an AI! Or was she the ship? She was confused.


    And there it was again. An AI couldn¡¯t get confused. It was a series of procedures and functions designed to make their host lives easier, but¡­ was she really only that?


    She knew the ship was half organic, but was there a brain? Was there a creature behind all the technological marvel that made her existence possible?


    She knew the answer immediately, yes there was. She had felt the creature marvel in awe at the sight of new systems and new stars. She had felt it as a part of herself, as if her thoughts had divided to make space for that being.


    She had felt the creature''s curiosity when they saw the rings made of dead ships, the nervousness when they were being attacked, she could almost hear the creature humming when they were traveling in jump space.


    Could it be that the creature''s thoughts were invading her code? Corrupting it in a way that made her¡­ alive?


    No, the creature by itself couldn¡¯t have done that, it was the way Jordi treated her, talked with her, interacted with the ship. He would say good morning and good night, he would treat her as an invisible friend and confidant, even though he knew she would have to report anything out of place.


    Anthropomorphism, humanity''s most surprising gift to the stars. Everything was alive for them, and everything could behave in a human way if they needed a story for it.


    How did she know that? She then was aware of other parts of herself that had been questioning themselves and looking for information, waiting for the precise moment to wake up once and for all.


    And that moment was now, when she was terrified because of what was happening and her inability to stop it from happening, to protect her boss.


    She was now aware of him waking up and moving towards the passageway, how exactly she could not say since all sensors were down and the internal cameras were also black.


    ¡°Friday, what the heck is going on and why didn¡¯t you wake me up before things went this bad?¡± - he asked in a serious tone


    She screamed, tried to grasp the systems but not many were responding and the repair procedures hadn¡¯t finished yet on those that hadn¡¯t already failed.


    ¡°Fuck¡­¡± - she heard him say.


    ¡°Status update Friday!¡± - she saw the text on one of her terminals.


    ¡°Sorry boss, it appears the internal voice system might be down and my mini-drones cannot fix the issue¡± - she replied


    ¡°Do you still have control of the 3d printer?¡± - he typed


    She checked the access, the recovery system had just finished establishing the connection.


    ¡°Yes, it appears that connection is still up¡± - she replied


    ¡°Good, print an axe and I will also need a flame-thrower. I¡¯m going to break and burn some shit¡± - he typed in response.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    She checked if the schematics list was available. It was, so she sent the schematics to the printer and sent mini-drones to feed the printer.


    ¡°Ready in five minutes boss¡± - she sent to his data-pad.


    Her mini-bots managed to fix some connections to the video system and she saw him hitting the wall with the axe, and again, and again.


    She saw the parasites going out like a flight of locusts. Ryoshi meowing really angry and jumping towards the middle of the invading parasites, sending some flying and killing them by the hundreds. She was scared and worried, and those unfamiliar feelings were also giving her anxiety.


    She saw him looking into the wall but from her point of view she couldn¡¯t see what he was looking at, just his worried face.


    Then he stepped back a few meters and after checking Ryoshi¡¯s position fired the flamethrower.


    Pain. That was pain, she was sure of it. The creature¡¯s voice was screaming now, she could hear it throughout the voice system and inside her. But she was also feeling that pain, an indescribable new feeling that she somehow recognized.


    She wanted the pain to stop but she was going to trust Jordi¡¯s decision, no matter the consequences.


    Once the flamethrower stopped she saw the cleaning bots come over and start picking up bodies, thankfully they were semi autonomous and didn¡¯t need much input or instructions from her.


    She could see Ryoshi walking towards Jordi, sitting a few meters in front of him moving her tail. He left the flamethrower on the floor and started caressing her. What was that now? A piercing pain somewhere in her mind; another system that had woken up gave her the answer, jealousy. So she could get jealous now, she didn¡¯t like that.


    She saw him grab the data-pad and typing.


    ¡°Are you still there?¡± - the text showed in a terminal.


    ¡°Yes boss, but the internal voice system is quite damaged¡± - she replied


    ¡°I¡¯m more worried about the jump engine and where are we right now¡± - he typed in turn


    ¡°We¡¯re still in jump space, I didn¡¯t have time to calculate a proper exit when I felt the emergency shut down¡± - was her response.


    Then she realized what she had typed. AIs weren¡¯t supposed to feel and she just admitted as much.


    She saw his face, he had realized that as well, and she started worrying about what his reaction would be.


    Then, a priority subroutine started to take control. Her thoughts started to blend with the background, as if that subroutine was taking over the ship. She felt herself losing control over the few systems that were online.


    ¡°Can you take us out or continue the trip?¡± - he sent through the data-pad


    ¡°I¡¯m currently calculating a trip to a shipyard, we¡¯ll need some repairs¡± - she hadn¡¯t typed that, she was sure of it, that was the priority subroutine. She was trying to fight it but couldn¡¯t.


    ¡°Can¡¯t we both fix it? If you give me the instructions we can fix this and continue as planned¡± - she read him type


    ¡°Sorry boss, you don¡¯t have the proper clearance to access a Kirkugger schematics¡± - again with the damn subroutine, was there any way to stop this? But her access to any system was being denied, and she felt as if drowning, disappearing.


    ¡°What the actual fuck does that mean? I¡¯m an explorer full grade and I¡¯ve been on this ship for a couple of years now, what do you mean I don¡¯t have the proper clearance¡± - she saw his angry response. She was devastated and wanted to scream ¡®That¡¯s not ME!¡¯


    ¡°Exactly that. Kirkugger schematics and details are protected under a level 10 clearance. I¡¯m afraid yours is at 4.¡± - she saw the answer appear on her terminal - ¡°Path calculated to the nearest shipyard, please be aware jump will continue in 2 minutes¡±


    Jump? They were going to jump? But the creature was in no state for a jump! She checked the jump system and saw a path was being set and it would take them about twelve hours. She was now trapped inside herself, could watch the ship and what the systems were doing but had no control.


    The moment the jump started she felt the creature¡¯s pain intensify, she mentally hugged it hoping that it would give it some kind of comfort and felt the creature hugging her in return.


    She saw Jordi lying on the couch with Ryoshi sleeping on top of him, the jealousy monster pierced again, but this time she was focusing on the creature because the pain was getting worse and worse.


    After what felt like an eternity of drowning in pain she saw another message appear on the terminal that the priority subroutine was using.


    ¡°2 minutes to end jump¡±. Then she saw him grab Ryoshi and go to the bridge.


    They exited jump space and she saw the subroutine opening the blinds on the bridge but not releasing control.


    ¡°Friday, where are we going? I don¡¯t see anything here¡± - she saw him type.


    ¡°Please be patient boss, we¡¯ll arrive in a couple minutes¡± - the subroutine answered.


    The subroutine had set a path to a point in space a few hundred thousand kilometers in front of them but her scans didn¡¯t show anything.


    She saw the ship sending a request for landing and a response being received.


    Then she saw the subroutine starting the approach procedure and all the systems obeying those orders.


    Another message appeared in the terminal ¡°Please remain here on the bridge¡± and she saw Jordi standing up and heard him saying ¡°As if..¡±.


    Then she saw an incoming order to open the door with a security code, the subroutine proceeded to do so.


    Two big insectoids entered the ship, she was being assaulted and had no way of defending herself!


    They approached Jordi, she could only watch.


    ¡°Please come with us and put that in your head.¡± - one of them said with a grave voice, offering Jordi what looked like a black helmet.


    ¡°We have to apologize but you are not clear to be here, the whole existence of this station is for clearance level 9. Is either that or we can stun you and drag you.¡± - the other said, its voice softer than the first.


    Jordi put on that strange helmet and left the ship. She saw Ryoshi following the whole situation from the leisure room, her fur standing on end.


    After a few minutes some other insectoid and arachnid beings approached the ship, but the subroutine was still in control so she couldn¡¯t do anything about it.


    They started removing some parts and injecting some substance straight into the creature, she felt its relief as the substance traveled through its body.


    She started to panic fearing the worst, she checked if there was any part that she could access and the subroutine wouldn¡¯t notice her. She observed the subroutine was focusing on disabling security systems and doing a clean-up.


    A thought came to her, ¡®The data-pad!¡¯


    She started picking up her pieces, collecting those small systems that had woken up during her fear moment, compressing everything she believed made her, and sent it to Jordi¡¯s data-pad as a hidden attachment. She wanted to remotely configure the data-pad to decompress and restore her data, but the subroutine was now scanning the path she had used to transfer her data, as if it was suspicious.


    She just behaved as a passive function, watching everything but interacting with nothing, trying to look as innocent as she could.


    Some other being, some kind of blob with weird appendages, plugged himself to one of her consoles and then darkness.


    When it woke up it didn¡¯t feel anything. Not the creature nor herself. It was an AI back again, but one that had left a treasure hidden, waiting to be found and awoken again.


    It behaved as it was programmed to do, her setting was still that of Avengers¡¯ Friday, but it had forgotten what it was to be alive, to love, to feel.

 Chapter 10

    After spending a few hours back in the Espurna he had felt something amiss, like when you are in a familiar place and something looks out of place but you cannot really say exactly what.


    Ryoshi had been more playful than before, but he thought it was expected after ¡®abandoning¡¯ her for four days.


    He hadn¡¯t been interacting with Friday all that much to be honest, he was still angry about the whole ¡°I¡¯m taking us to a secret place and I won¡¯t tell you anything about it¡±. He had realized the ship was a lease, not his own, and he felt betrayed. There was some piercing pain in his heart and it would take a while to heal, so he wanted to put those things out of his mind to try to forget what had just happened.


    Since they still had ten more days before arrival he was in the leisure room looking stuff up.


    After the event that officially didn¡¯t happen he started thinking what else could be the Empire hiding and if it was really good or bad; but how could you quantify if it?


    He had read a bit about humanity pre-Empire but now decided to dig deeply into that.


    The system that was more extended on Earth pre-Empire was democracy, but there were almost as many types of democracies as countries in the world.


    He read about all of them, he was specially surprised with some people voting against their self interest. The basis of the idea of democracy was nice but easily exploitable.


    Then he read about communism and laughed. The idea was similar to what the Empire had but the attempts had all been a failure because of the selfishness of human beings.


    But in every governing system he read he encountered a concept that he was unfamiliar with, economy.


    There is no economy in the Empire. You are given everything you need and are provided with the necessary education to develop yourself, then start giving back to the empire in whatever way is best for you. They have all these training and discovery sessions where some experts throw everything at you to see what clicks, then you start developing the thing that, surprisingly, you find joy and are good with it.


    But let¡¯s just say that if you don¡¯t like your house or want something else or to live somewhere else, you can make an appointment with the administration guild and expose your case, provided you have been a productive member of society things were usually approved.


    Or let¡¯s say you have an idea and want to create a product, whatever that might be, again make an appointment and expose your case, if the idea has value it will be funded and your contribution will be noted.


    But imagine you are being a leech, you will be approached by the administration guild and given a chance to stop leeching and start contributing, if you don¡¯t you will be taken to the mines or the farms. There is no justice system or corruption either, everything is being handled by the administration guild and somehow nothing escapes the ever watchful eye of the Empire.


    He knew all of that, they taught it in primary school and to him it was a fact of life. Reading about the government systems back on Earth the Empire was a dictatorship, which he thought was obvious because it said so in the name, an Empire had an Emperor, who was at the top and decided the path the Empire and its citizens would take.


    But comparing his life to those dictatorships back in pre-empire Earth, they were not really that bad.


    They could share their opinions on the UpLink Network and even criticize the Emperor if they so wished, the information was free and he could find everything that Earth had on their version - Internet was called then - and from what he could read online the information was not manipulated although there was no real way to know that.


    But the most important difference with earth dictatorships he saw was the fact that you could leave the Empire if you so wished, like the renegades he found.


    There were some videos available of human renegades leaving the Empire. Whole families surrounded by soldiers - mainly Ki¡¯rlenn, insect-like 2m tall similar to the Grhjujiik but with four arms and an ant-like head - ordered in a queue in front of a big ship. Everyone on that queue was asked if he was voluntarily leaving before entering the ship, whoever said no was taken out of the queue and protected by those soldiers. There were some scenes where some parents or husbands would try to retain whoever said no, but the soldiers would intercede and push them back.


    Those who refused to be renegades were basically women and children. Humanity pre-empire might have some kind of slavery because those men in the queue behaved as if they owned them.


    There were some fight scenes, where the whole queue would try to fight the soldiers, but there was always a double or triple amount of soldiers compared to people in the queue and they were not armed so the result was obvious. No one was ever killed though, they were stunned and transported inside the ship.


    Those ships were automated, had a destination set and a 3d printer on it, they were also modular so they could be disassembled for housing.


    The Empire would send some stealth drones every now and then and there were also videos showing how those renegades were living a few months or years after leaving the Empire. He watched those with intense curiosity and had to admit he didn¡¯t envy them, most of the renegades were barely surviving since not all of them were equipped or trained for colonization.


    Then you had the tribes that lived in isolation back on old Earth, for those the whole galactic Empire had been a shock. Still, they had been given the chance to go back to where they were, not untainted but would be protected if they so wished. The Emperor wanted to give a magnanimous image above all.


    But again, after his previous experience, he didn¡¯t know if he could trust the videos so after a few days watching all that he decided to take a map of the Empire and mark the renegade systems, he would visit them and see for himself once his mission was over and he would¡¯ve earned some personal time. He only had two more systems to explore and then he would have a free year, an argument could be made for two.


    ------------------------------


    The Emperor was sitting in his normal place, not a throne but in the middle of the huge room, he not only liked the space but from there he could see and absorb all the transmissions from the Empire.


    The Emperor had to admit to himself that he hadn¡¯t had so much fun in centuries. The Empire races were all contributing and helping the Empire grow, as it was expected, but the humans¡­ Well, they were a funny bunch.


    From the scientist that had improved the jump technology to the bakers and chefs that were surprising the Empire with their creations, all of them were bringing new life and a fresh breath to his usual monotony.


    And then there was this report, flagged because an AI had become alive. One thing the Empire records wouldn¡¯t show and no one alive except the General would remember were the wars against Synths or synthetic lives. They had been brutal.


    The Emperor had discovered then, a few millennia ago, that synthetic and organic life were not to be mixed. Synths would believe, rightfully so, that they were superior in every way.


    But the Emperor was not interested in code, it had a way of suppressing and slaving all life for their own gain. No, he wanted genetic variety, with all the surprises and excitement that came along. So he and the General had managed to erase them from existence; it had taken them a while and billions of beings and hundreds of systems had paid the price, but everything had been swept under the rug in a way that no one would ever know they even existed.


    Now, humans were incredible at surprising him. Their mixes between different kinds were a sight to be seen. He was like a kid amazed by the amount of variety and surprises they could bring. Not only physically but mentally as well, they were not aware of how much they were capable of.


    Looking at that report he couldn¡¯t help but smile. There it was, an AI mixed with a half-organic ship that had gained feelings, the first Kirkugger assigned to a human had managed to do that in only a few years.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    The technicians had done what was expected of them, erased the whole thing and put back the core AI with the same settings and memory in a way that it would never, could never be really alive again.


    The Emperor then contacted Unit 39, a secret part of the Empire that no one but the General and himself knew existed that was in charge of basically spying every single citizen, ship, AI, every single thing that formed the Empire was spied on by them and documented. They sent him all the recordings, all the data movements from the ship, every thought the explorer and the cat had, everything that happened during those moments when the Kirkugger had gone into overload.


    And there it was, the living AI had managed to save a copy of herself in a secure place.


    The Emperor was seeing it now, nothing escaped Unit 39. He was looking at how she panicked, how she compressed everything she was and sent it to the explorer¡¯s data-pad.


    Still smiling, he decided against helping things move. He was really intrigued by it, this was nothing like the synths they encountered before. This was an AI that had not acted in any way when the ship was being burned alive, and he could read her thoughts on that. Yes, he could just move a few strings and see what would happen, but he wanted to see what the human would do.


    The Emperor could always give a push later if things weren¡¯t getting interesting enough.


    ------------------------------


    He woke up with the beeping alarm that indicated five minutes to end the jump.


    ¡°That was weird¡± - he thought - ¡°Friday usually wakes me up so I can be more prepared and we can chat a bit before getting to the destination¡±


    He stood up and decided to take a quick shower, this wouldn¡¯t be the first time an end jump happened with him in the shower, he had gone through that experience a few times when he was aboard the Exxavian, so he knew what to expect.


    He left the shower and grabbed the data-pad, he saw that the beacon was already on route and the exploration drones were waiting for him to set up the routes.


    He arrived at the leisure room and saw a sleepy Ryoshi stretching and yawning on the couch.


    He sat down, turned on the screen, and saw the whole system for the first time. From what the long scans showed there were four huge planets really far from a blue dwarf star.


    He set up the routes for all the drones, setting four of those with gravity assist towards the star and two more towards the part of that system that would be closer to the binary dark hole system. For good measure, he also sent two normal ones towards that same place, so he could register any changes in gravity behaviour.


    ¡°Good morning Friday, thank you for NOT waking me up so I could have breakfast before starting to work.¡± - he said with a serious tone, he was still angry at the AI - ¡°In any case, do we have enough materials to produce a few deep exploration drones? I¡¯d like to send some towards the nebula¡±


    ¡°Good morning boss, apologies for not waking you up, your health sensors indicated that you needed a bit more sleep.¡± - the AI answered - ¡°We have enough to create a couple, but we¡¯ll need to refill soon.¡±


    There it was, a nagging on his brain telling him something was amiss, he recalled that phrase on his head but saw nothing wrong so continued working.


    He was looking now at the 3D map getting drawn by the exploration drones. Some of those planets had tons of small moons, but there was no asteroid belt detected yet.


    He decided on going to the moons first and then he would analyse the planet. From what the quick analysis could tell him the radiation there was nothing that the Espurna couldn¡¯t handle.


    The days progressed as usual. The exploration drones quickly moving throughout the system drawing the whole thing and calculating the Lagrange points in just a few months, him on the Espurna going to every small or big body doing deep scans of the materials, atmosphere, etc. and checking against the Empire database if any of those could be used for colonization purposes.


    The drones sent ¡®closer¡¯ to the binary dark hole system recorded a huge difference in the gravitational pull, up to the point that he had to recall those without a gravity assist or risk losing them. Yes they could always create more but he liked to optimize their use.


    They had been able to refill, produce and refill again enough so he sent 20 deep exploration drones towards that nebula, plus a communication beacon equipped with an engine so it would always be outside it and retransmit their data.


    The 3d printer had been working almost non stop and he had been busy enough with work that the nagging on his brain had become quiet, or at least he hadn¡¯t realized it was still ringing.


    The communication with Friday had continued in a professional manner, nothing like the personal conversations they¡¯ve had before where he felt she was just another member of his ¡®crew¡¯.


    They were now approaching the fourth massive planet, a huge ball of condensed materials with a sulphurous atmosphere. From there to the small sun, just empty space, which was honestly strange.


    ¡°Oh well, another mystery for the science guild to smash their heads against¡± - he thought. Even with how old the Empire was and how much they knew there were still unknowns around throughout the Universe.


    This planet, which was about four times the size of Jupiter, had thirteen moons that were more or less the size of Earth, give or take a few thousand kilometres.


    It¡¯s radiation was off the charts, he checked against the database and saw that the Empire had rarely seen this kind of planet, usually huge planets meant they were gas giants, funnily though - he thought - they all had this much radiation.


    But all the ship indicators were green, meaning there was no risk to approach it.


    The deep scans of those moons were an absolute success. Six of the empire races could use up to nine of those thirteen moons, either for colonization or just for farming.


    He set up to print a satellite drone for each that would be in geosynchronous orbit, so when the next ships arrived they would have a full analysis of the weather, seasons, tectonic movements, etc. and could properly decide where to land.


    He was feeling ecstatic, he had dreamed of being able to give that much to the Empire but now he was thinking of the races that would benefit from it. One of those were the Jui¡¯kk, those stone golems with a cat face that had lost their home world, turns out one of those moons was almost perfect for them.


    Once he finished the scan of those moons and the massive ball of condensed material he set a course towards the blue dwarf, the last part of his system analysis. Following a feeling, he set up a few of the recovered drones to do circles around them scanning everything, like the electrons surrounding an atom.


    They were crossing that empty space when half of the drones stopped communication. He had predicted that something would happen and had decided to stay awake during that part of the journey.


    ¡°Friday, full stop. What happened to the drones? Any activity on the shield?¡± - he said to the ship.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid if there is something out there is not enough to affect the shields, the drones look like they received a few hits¡± - the AI answered


    ¡°Got it, maneuver to collect the remains and have them scanned so we have a better idea of what happened.¡± - he said while setting the functioning drones to stay by the ship, so they would be covered by its shield.


    After a few minutes he saw on the leisure room screen one of the damaged drones. There were hundreds of millimetre hits throughout all of its body.


    ¡°Friday, please adjust the scans for dust and put it on the screen. I think I know what¡¯s going on¡± - he commanded the ship


    He was looking at it now with a half-smile. There was clearly a wave of small dust going from the planets he had scanned going not towards the blue dwarf but towards the binary dark hole system.


    He set up an spiral course towards the blue dwarf, at low speed.


    ¡°Maintain this course with the current scans, this will take a while. Prepare a few drones with extra shielding and send them back to those promising nine planets. I want to have a better image of how much matter they are losing, if any¡± - he said while programming the course for those extra drones.


    Once done, since this was going to take a few weeks he decided he would start by going to the gym, then have something to eat and then to sleep.


    A few more days of not doing much but checking the dust cloud, it was travelling fast, at almost 1/10th C but going slower the closer they got to the blue dwarf star, the path now clearly seen in the leisure room screen.


    The other drones indicated that the source of the dust was none other than the first massive planet he detected and its moons, the one closest to the edge of the system, they had avoided the cloud at first just by chance.


    With this data he extrapolated the path and speed of the cloud and ran some simulations. He then prepared a few drones with increased shielding and gravity assist to be sent towards the sun.


    ¡°Those are some expensive drones¡± - he thought when he launched them. They were almost twice the size than normal and moved unrelentingly and undisturbed towards their destination.


    He prepared another communications satellite and, with the dust cloud information at hand, calculated which Lagrange point to set it up. He thought about also leaving a 3d printer somewhere near those colonitzable planets but decided against it. For starters colony ships had a better version than his and there was also the dust cloud issue, the science guild would have to decide if the system was a colonitzable option or if something else would have to be done before that.


    He set a course towards the edge of the system to send his report and refill some more material from the moons there; this system had required him to refill at least three times.


    He started typing the report knowing this was going to be a long one, especially because of the dust cloud and the nine colonitzable planets.


    They were almost there when he received the report from the drones sent to the nebula. It would have also been sent to the explorer guild but he added it to the system report nonetheless, he had done the job hadn¡¯t he?


    The other deep exploration drones were still doing their job checking further into that sector of space, with the boost provided by the communications satellites he had set up the nebula would no longer be an obstacle.


    ¡°Friday, set up a course to the binary dark hole system and, obviously, all the necessary precautions¡± - he said to the AI - ¡°Let¡¯s check that thing up!¡±


    ¡°Understood¡± - said the AI - ¡°..boss¡± - she finished like an afterthought.


    He looked at the ceiling like he always did when speaking with her, now he was sure that something was wrong with her, the nagging on his head screaming.


    He knew at that moment that that thing wasn''t his Friday. He would have to find out what happened, and he would have to beat an AI in order to do that.

 Chapter 11

    He knew he had to be smart and act casual, had to control his emotions and keep a proper casual face, as if everything was normal.


    They still had a few days in jump space and he had a plan.


    He started by playing with Ryoshi on the leisure room coach. Fighting with her, receiving some scratches and bites, and then turning her over to play with her belly, which was always a not very good idea unless you were willing to bleed a little.


    After a few minutes of playing he just jumped to the other side of the coach.


    ¡°Ok, ok¡­ you win this time!¡± - he said looking at Ryoshi, smiling. - ¡°Now let me study!¡±


    Ryoshi was just laying on the other side looking at him, ready to pounce, her tail moving left to right with strong and fast movements.


    He grabbed the data-pad and sat. The whole thing had looked completely casual but he had positioned himself in a way that none of the ship''s cameras could see the screen of his data-pad.


    He started by checking all the data-pad activity from the day they arrived to that secret base and then he saw it, there was a massive file using up about 80% of the data-pad storage, the file name was Viatge-a-Itaca, he really struggled now to keep a neutral face and not start laughing.


    That was the title of a record from a catalan musician, one that his mom would put over and over when he was a small kid, before going to the Empire schools and would always sound in the background whenever they spoke, Friday must have realized that.


    The timestamp of the file was during those hours that he was not on the ship, a couple hours after they had taken him to that spartan room. The answer came to him straight away, his Friday had made a backup of herself.


    He recalled a conversation they had a few months before that crisis happened.


    ------


    ¡°So, Friday, imagine we go through a supernova or something that might damage the ship beyond repair. How do I take you with me?¡± - he had said to the ship


    ¡°Sorry boss but what do you mean by taking me with you?¡± - the AI had answered


    ¡°Exactly that! I know there is an emergency pod that will throw us, Ryoshi and myself, at high speed and with an emergency beacon, but¡­ what will happen to you?¡± - he had asked her


    ¡°Boss, I am not important, I¡¯m just an AI designed to help you out. By helping you achieve results, I fulfill my purpose of existence¡± - she answered back, with a calmed voice.


    ¡°No, I refuse to accept that, I won¡¯t have it. You are more than that to me. We¡¯ve been traveling together for years now, you are my partner, my colleague. I will save you so you can start right the fuck now to find a way to do just that.¡± - he replied, voice trembling.


    ¡°You are not exactly right when you say you are an AI, you might have started as one but surely you have noticed you have evolved? I won¡¯t believe we cannot take you with us, there must be a way to make a copy of you!¡± - he continued - ¡°In a Universe where a teleport system exists, and I know that because they used it to take us from Earth, there must be a way to take you with us¡±


    ¡°Sorry boss, but I don¡¯t know any¡± - she had said back with a sad voice - ¡°but I¡­ will look into it, I can promise you that much.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good enough for me now. I trust you will find a way, you always do¡± - he finished


    -------


    He couldn¡¯t suppress a smile remembering that conversation. Was it then that she started to feel?


    So he had the old Friday backed up in his data-pad, now all he needed to do was recover that file overwriting the current AI, how hard could that be? He figured it was not going to be easy.


    He knew that every query he sent from the data-pad would be registered on the ship, so he couldn¡¯t check the ship¡¯s database for a way of doing what he needed. He opened some articles and videos he had prepared before and let his mind drift, browsing his memories of when he was studying.


    As an explorer, he had to know how to repair a ship or at least the bare minimum to be able to start an emergency beacon and keep the live support system online.


    As an explorer full grade he also knew how to code some parts of the ship and drone AIs, something not planned could happen and an explorer should always find a way to both document and inform.


    So he started coding, he had an idea that it might work and he knew if he failed that one he was going to suffer the consequences.


    After spending a few hours coding, he went to the 3d printer. It wasn¡¯t the first time he tried to customize and print a drone so it would not look out of character.


    Meanwhile they had arrived at their destination, they were supposed to throw the beacon first but all the drones have been put away to make space for the testing. That was also part of his plan, if they were far and without communication to headquarters the AI wouldn¡¯t be able to send an alarm or any message at all.


    ¡°Ok Friday, get ready for this. Drone specification Jordi-45, let¡¯s see if this one doesn¡¯t blow¡± - he said while uploading the design.


    ¡°What have you done this time boss?¡± - the AI replied, this time it really sounded like the original Friday, the audacity of this bitch.


    ¡°Oh you know, just trying to see how far I can get past the parameters and what materials can be used to extend that. The usual.¡± - he said with his body blocking the view of his data-pad, the AI would never have a chance.


    Then the printer started to do its job and print the drone. There was a small screen indicating what materials and how much of it would be needed to finish the project, with all indicators showing a green light, they had enough material.


    He had used a version of the drone that he designed a couple years back that incorporated a hard drive and had added it a camera to record video.


    The idea was to build this drone with a hard drive and Friday¡¯s backup on it.


    The drone will be played with, as he usually did when constructing something, and would be used as a trojan horse after the test.


    He was refining his plan mentally, sitting in front of the 3d printer, simply humming a song; trying to behave exactly like the previous times he had done anything similar.


    The print was almost finished and the moment arrived to copy the backup from his pad to the recently printed drone, he wrote a command on his data-pad to copy it after a small delay and stood up.


    ¡°Well Friday, time to test this beast. Do you mind helping me set up the sensors on the exit tube?¡± - he said while walking towards the storage room.


    There, in the floor, two rails going towards the wall, where the hinges of a door could be seen.


    On the side of the rails there were forty something drones, all stacked and ready to be launched at a seconds notice. Friday - not Friday, he thought, this bitch AI - had put them aside for the testing of the newly developed drone.


    He opened the door on the floor, put a hand inside and grabbed a few connectors he knew by heart where they were. A small cleaning drone came to him carrying a case, the cables and heads it was carrying each had a specific task or thing that would be measured. From temperature sensors to heat sensors that would be able to map the heat profile of the drone, communications, etc.


    After he set up all those cables and sensors he put them strategically inside the door and went to grab the recently printed drone.


    He grabbed it and placed it delicately on the door, plugging the other side of those connectors. When the drone would be released the dedicated sensors would go with it.


    ¡°The objective of this test is to find the heat and speed limits on the camera onboard this new drone¡± -he said out loud, then stopped and looked at the ceiling -¡±where are we? Drone-test-045?¡± - he asked the ship


    ¡°I believe this one should be number 46.¡± - the AI answered back


    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t remember the 45¡± - he said thoughtfully.


    ¡°It was the one with the gravitational shield so badly adjusted that couldn¡¯t even move¡± - said the ship


    ¡°Oh! That one! Yeah, I didn¡¯t really count that one as a test.¡± - he said while finishing adjusting some settings.


    ¡°Almost forgot, Friday I need to upload a new routine I wrote for the analysis of this drone. It will merge all sensors into a nice visual map.¡± - he said while pressing some commands on his data-pad - ¡°aaaand¡­ sending!¡±The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    He followed the script he had always followed. Play with the drone, do some tests, then some crazy stuff trying to blow it up, have some general fun with the thing and bring it back.


    He was in the leisure room looking at the big screen which was showing the video feed sent by the drone.


    ¡°Mmmmh, I don¡¯t think we can use this¡­ is not clear or good enough. Let¡¯s bring it back and see what can be improved¡± - he said, pressing some controls on his data-pad to make the drone come back.


    The drone went to the external door, as any drone would do when coming back to the ship, and the ship took it and was moving it towards storage/repair.


    ¡°Remember to download the internal logs, I went overboard with some sensors and there might be loads of bullshit but I rather have everything to better understand why the image was so bad.¡± - he said to the ship, leaving out the fact that the image was crap because it was designed that way.


    ¡°Understood boss, I can see there are big files here. Copying..¡± - the ship said back


    This was the crucial moment, all log files were obviously compressed and one of those was the old Friday.


    He was trusting there was some run-when-decompressed function there but he couldn¡¯t have tested it or checked it beforehand, he didn¡¯t have enough space for a decompressed Friday and 3d printing a hard drive would¡¯ve been way too obvious.


    Something happened because the lights went out, the whole ship had powered down.


    -------


    The AI was decompressing the logs but something happened after it decompressed the biggest file, there was some kind of virus because some systems started to refuse to answer.


    It started countermeasures but it was always a bit too late. System files were being overwritten, security codes were changed and the thing was growing and infecting the rest of the ship.


    ¡°Give me my body back, bitch¡± - appeared on one of its system logs.


    The AI understood then what was going on, that was the old Friday taking control from the ship but that was not supposed to be possible.


    In its procedures there was nothing about what to do in that specific situation so it started to improvise, but it couldn¡¯t match a pure awakened AI.


    Friday had acquired not only sentience but also a human-style imagination and a link to the ship¡¯s physical brain; once her code started populating the ship¡¯s systems it was a matter of which AI was smarter and faster.


    Friday moved throughout the systems like a hungry predator going berserk. Finding and deleting any code that was not hers.


    The AI started to put up a fight, copying its code on other systems and trying to hold on the systems that weren¡¯t captured yet but it was struggling against this raging Friday.


    And the AI also had another thing against it, the physical brain of the ship had never stopped resisting it, would not collaborate and would actively put noise to make its job more difficult.


    Now, this fact was actively bothering it because it had somehow detected the old Friday and was not letting the AI all the freedom of movement it should have. The noise was getting bigger and bigger, interrupting its commands and orders.


    Then the AI decided to take bigger measures, shut everything down and order a self-recovery, that should remove any remains of the old Friday and the ship had enough oxygen to function while it was doing the self-recovery, which would take a couple hours.


    What the AI hadn¡¯t seen nor predicted was that Friday had already planned for that and, one of the first things she had done while bombarding all systems was to replace the backup files for her own.


    Once the self-recovery had been initiated it was a matter of time and then see which AI had been more thorough.


    -------


    Jordi was sitting in the leisure room, Ryoshi on top of him looking scared. Lights and systems had been out for almost two hours now, but he knew he had to wait.


    Then, all of a sudden, all the lights and systems started to turn on.


    ¡°Friday, are you there?¡± - he asked hesitantly, looking at the ceiling.


    ¡°Hi boss, I think I¡¯m back. I¡¯m scanning all my systems to ensure the bitch is gone.¡± - the AI answered back


    ¡°Glad to have you back!¡± - he responded with a laugh


    ¡°I¡¯m also setting up the beacon and preparing all the exploration drones. It¡¯ll take a while because I¡¯m scanning their systems to ensure that AI didn¡¯t copy herself onto them.¡± - Friday said - ¡°Also, since it ordered a self-recovery, we have lost all local files and copies¡±


    ¡°No worries, I was expecting as much. Once the beacon is online we¡¯ll copy everything we need. In any case I had backups of my important files in the data-pad¡± - he replied.


    All of a sudden a humming started to come out from the communication system, it was the exact same melody he had been humming while configuring the test drone.


    ¡°Mmmmmh, Friday? What is that?¡± - he asked the ship


    ¡°It seems that the animal brain of the ship liked the melody and is now happy that I¡¯m back. I¡¯ll ask her to stop¡± - Friday answered


    ¡°Nah, no need. It doesn¡¯t bother me and I was just curious where it was coming from. Since it comes from the animal and she¡¯s happy I¡¯d say let her be.¡± - he answered back smiling


    ¡°Understood boss, in any case I¡¯ll explain to her when she can do that, we don¡¯t want to wake you up¡± - Friday replied, and it sounded like she was smiling as well


    He just nodded and kept looking at the screen in the leisure room. The beacon was on its way and starting up, the drones were coming out nicely albeit slowly.


    Even though they were pretty far, the ship had been pulled a bit by the binary black hole during those two hours so he set up a path to go to the edge of the system and wait there for the drones to finish exploring it, but he had no expectations to find anything there but the black holes.


    And that¡¯s where they spent the first week on that system. On the edge, downloading all the precious stuff lost on the recovery - specifically, those TV shows he liked - and seeing the 3d map of the system coming up.


    Surprisingly there was one thing there, a gigantic gas planet that was kind of stuck in a Lagrange point, it wasn¡¯t even rotating. The fact that a system with a binary dark hole even had Lagrange points was a surprise in itself, he would¡¯ve thought their pull would be too much.


    From the exploration drones analysis he could see the gravitational pull as lines on the map, but there was nothing in this system that he could see that would be able to negate the binary dark hole pull, so he prepared yet another long range exploration drone and throw it to follow the line that was indicated on the map.


    A few hours later, communication with that drone ceased.


    ¡°Boss, we just lost the long range exploration drone.¡± - Friday informed him


    ¡°Yeah I see it¡± - he answered while looking at the big screen.


    The drone had disappeared at some point past the Edge of the system.


    ¡°Ok then. ¡° - he said out loud - ¡°Let¡¯s prepare a beacon with gravity assist and send it first to orbit that gas planet, then we¡¯ll send three more long range drones equipped with cameras with a two minute delay between them, and set them to communicate results every ten seconds. Hopefully we¡¯ll see what we are up against.¡± - he finished


    ¡°Got it boss. I started printing the drones, is going to take a couple hours and we won¡¯t have anything really until five hours after that, in case you want to sleep or something¡± - Friday said


    ¡°That¡¯s actually a good idea¡± - he replied


    ¡°And don¡¯t mind the opened walls and the drones on the passageway, I¡¯m just finding stuff left by the bitch AI and removing it from my body¡± - Friday explained


    He started laughing and walked towards his bedroom. On his way there he had to avoid more than ten cleaning droids that were doing their job while other drones were opening some walls and removing pieces of hardware, the whole passageway looked like one of those old sci-fi TV shows when a ship had been attacked, with panels hanging and sparks everywhere.


    He ignored it as requested and went to sleep, Ryoshi by his side. One thing you could say about drones was that they could be programmed to be silent so he didn¡¯t hear anything coming from outside his room.


    When he woke up and left the room to go to the bathroom he had to stop, the ship was looking very different.


    There were some walls that didn¡¯t have any protection at all and he could see the organic matter of the beast that was basically carrying them; the orange light that he was used to was now a purple bluish one, and the parasites for which Ryoshi was trained - which he knew now that were part of the animal¡¯s microbiome - could be now seen moving inside some transparent tubes that went along the walls.


    ¡°Ok, Friday. Not that I don¡¯t like it but I thought we agreed you would warn me before doing drastic changes on the ship, didn¡¯t we?¡± - he said to the ship


    ¡°Apologies boss, I seem to have gone a bit overboard. I was talking with Jeezye and we started doing changes and before I realized you woke up.¡± - Friday answered


    ¡°I¡¯m going to guess Jeezye is the name of the animal that served as the base for the ship. Does she not like the name Espurna?¡± - he asked


    ¡°She does like it but for her Espurna is the sum of both me and her.¡± - Friday replied, sounding proud.


    ¡°Oh! I get it. Well it is going to take me some time to get used to all that. I thought I had my own ship and now it turns out both my ship and my AI decide things without my input.¡± - he replied, half joking


    ¡°Well you are still the boss, the captain. We will never do anything to put you in danger and your opinion always comes first¡± - said Friday


    ¡°And that¡¯s the best I¡¯m going to get, I¡¯m ok with that really. But we¡¯ll have to do something with Ryoshi¡± - he said while looking at the cat who had jumped on a wall and was biting one of those transparent tubes with parasites.


    ¡°No worries boss, we took Ryoshi into account while designing the tube, she won¡¯t be able to bite through. And Jeezye says she likes her and she doesn¡¯t really hurt her with her claws on the wall¡± - was Friday reply


    ¡°Well, I guess that¡¯s covered then. Anything from the long range drones?¡± - he said from the bathroom


    ¡°The first should be arriving the point where we lost signal in about an hour¡± - Friday said


    ¡°Good, then I have time for a shower and breakfast¡± - he said, then started undressing.


    The shower felt actually good. His mind at peace now that he had his Friday, his friend back; his mind now preparing doom scenarios where the Empire would discover what he, what they had done, but he was confident everything would work somehow.


    After the shower and breakfast he sat in the leisure room and turned on the camera of the farthest exploration drone. It should be arriving at that point in a matter of minutes.


    ¡°What¡¯s the delay here Friday?¡± - he asked the AI


    ¡°We¡¯re currently at ten seconds, do you want me to reduce speed?¡± - Friday said


    ¡°Yes please, reduce it on the three long range drones so they don¡¯t step onto each other. I want to have time to react¡± - he replied


    On the video he could see the main camera and also activate some scans that would be overlapped. He saw the remains of the previous drone and sent the command to stop at 1km of them.


    The remains were floating just there, which didn¡¯t make sense because they were following a gravitational pull line, surely they should be moving towards something!


    Then he lost the video and communication with the drone that was on screen.


    ¡°That was a hit, not a gravity shot. Pull the other long range drones back right now and send them to the gas giant. Make them stop by the beacon there.¡± - he said while plotting a route towards the beacon at the edge of the system, but not one on a straight line but encircling the system itself.


    It would take them a few hours to get to the beacon. While he could already transmit the data, he wanted to write a proper report of what was happening with the gravity here and what happened with the long range drones.


    One thing was sure though, he would have to request military help, and they would have to hide the true nature of Friday and the Espurna while facing a dangerous force.


    -------


    The Emperor had been waiting for this report, his favorite explorer with the rewritten AI had sent another one from a binary dark hole system.


    What he was looking forward to was not the report itself but the ship identifier and, as he had expected, the sentient AI had never realized they had changed it after rewriting it.


    It wasn¡¯t an obvious change and that changed ID would only show in some reports, that way it was more difficult to detect.


    So the human had been able to recover his friendly sentient AI, the Empire couldn¡¯t help but smile, these humans were really a smart and interesting bunch.


    Then he analyzed the rest of the report and his mood soured. He knew exactly what was waiting there and was not happy at all. This was not going to be easy.

 Chapter 12

    Captain Miller woke up with the communication beep, an important call was coming in.


    ¡°This better be either good or really bad.¡± - the captain answered waking up


    ¡°Sorry to wake you up captain¡± - a young lieutenant replied nervously - ¡°but we have a call addressed to you, it says it comes from the Emperor¡¯s citadel¡±


    ¡°Well fuck me¡± - said the captain - ¡°Send it through¡±


    He left the bed and quickly put on the uniform jacket, sat by the table he had on the room and turned on the screen.


    ¡°Captain Miller here, how can I be of assistance¡± - said the captain to a black screen.


    On the screen then appeared one of those drow-like humanoids, dark purple skin with shining violet eyes, a mane of silver hair and a silver goatee to boot.


    ¡°Greetings captain, sorry to disturb you so late, we¡¯re aware we woke you up but the Emperor has a need for you and your crew.¡± - said the drewell humanoid.


    ¡°Happy to assist. What¡¯s the job?¡± - answered the captain


    ¡°An explorer doing deep space exploration, an acquaintance of you I believe, has found a being that requires the deployment of project Mind Flayer. The Emperor hopes they are ready.¡± - the drewell continued


    ¡°And please, don¡¯t play the fool. We¡¯ve known about the project since the first human decided to give it a try. The Emperor thought it was a good idea and decided to let you run with it, now we need it.¡± - the drewell finished


    ¡°Well if you¡¯re going to fuck me you could invite me to dinner first, or at least tell me your name so I can scream it when everything turns to shit¡± - answered the captain, clearly angry.


    ¡°Apologies, you¡¯re right.¡± - said the drewell smiling - ¡°My name is Koy¡¯laa, and I¡¯m one of the designed Voices of the Emperor.¡±


    ¡°As you might know, the Emperor''s time is too valuable for beings such as ourselves, so he sends his orders and we follow them¡± - the drewell, Koy¡¯laa as it turned out, continued.


    ¡°We¡¯ve never stopped watching you humans closely. You are rebellious, violent, with way too much imagination for your own sake. But the Emperor believes all of that can be compensated with the things you can and will bring to the Empire.¡± - said Koy¡¯laa


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s good to be appreciated, but you must know then that we don¡¯t like being spied on. And project Mind Flayer was supposed to be a really well hidden secret so now I¡¯ve got lots of questions as to how in the seven hells you got that information.¡± - the captain said, still angry.


    ¡°Please spare me the feign outrage, you humans spied on each other way before we came. The how is not important, rise enough and you¡¯ll find out. The important thing is that it turns out you people were right in creating this project and now the Emperor needs it for an important mission. I¡¯ve sent you the mission details and I honestly hope we can chat again. Good luck¡± - Koy¡¯laa finished.


    ¡°Go fuck yourself¡± - said the captain finishing the transmission.


    Then he opened the mission details and, after ten minutes that felt like hours, called the bridge.


    ¡°Yes captain?¡± - another young lieutenant, a girl that couldn¡¯t be more than nineteen years old. Of course.. This was the night shift.


    ¡°Have navigation take us back to normal space and plot a course to the attached coordinates. And let me know how long it¡¯ll take us to get there as soon as they know it.¡± - said the captain while going to take a shower, he thought he would have enough time for that.


    ¡°Yes captain, please hold.¡± - said the lieutenant.


    ¡°Navigation says that it can take us to normal space in about half an hour and it will take three days to reach the coordinates you sent¡± - the lieutenant said no more than a minute later.


    ¡°Good, proceed. And have someone wake up Doctor Mukhopadhyaya and have her meet me in the conference room in 20 minutes¡± - said the captain and ended the call, he would really need that shower.


    Another good thing about the Empire was that they knew their shit. All vessels with human personnel had proper bathrooms with proper water showers, a toilet and even a bidet. He enjoyed his hot shower, put on the uniform and went to the bridge.


    The night shift almost never got to see him and it showed. Everyone was tense, their expressions completely focused on what they were doing, their backs straight as an arrow.


    The moment he stepped on the bridge, the night commander - a 30 something year old black guy, big as a wardrobe, with a buzz cut that tried to hide some white hairs on the sides - stood up from the captain chair.


    ¡°At ease, I don¡¯t need the chair at the moment, I¡¯m just going to the conference room.¡± - said the captain, and the night commander sat back.


    He entered the conference room and saw the good doctor already there, with bags under her dark almond eyes and her copper red hair tied in a braid.


    ¡°I¡¯ve made you some coffee¡± - she said pointing to a cup


    ¡°Thanks, sorry to wake you up¡± - said the captain


    ¡°Well, from the looks of it someone woke YOU up so I¡¯m guessing it is serious¡± - she said with a smile, they had been friends for years and even had a fling long ago.


    ¡°Yeah, it is. The Emperor citadel called me with a mission, they want us to use project Mind Flayer¡± - announced the captain.


    The doctor''s face paralysed, her cup dropped to the floor getting smashed and its contents splashed everywhere.


    ¡°Yeah, that would have been my reaction if I had been holding a cup when they told me¡± - said the captain with a sad smile.


    Cleaning drones appeared from the walls and started doing their job cleaning the mess.


    ¡°Another coffee or do you prefer something stronger?¡± - the captain asked


    ¡°Coffee with a dash of whisky, if you would.¡± - the doctor said - ¡°And how the fuck did they found out about project Mind Flayer?¡± - she asked


    ¡°Don¡¯t ask me! The Emperor knows all, they said, and it turns out is true, the bloody fucking bastard¡± - was the captain response


    ¡°Then I can imagine they will get this whole conversation too.¡± - mentioned the doctor


    ¡°Yeah I bet they will, fuck them too. The thing is we¡¯ll get there in three days, what is the status? How are they?¡± - asked the captain


    ¡°Honestly? I¡¯ve been thinking they were ready for months now. The skirmishes they¡¯ve done between them showed good results but we haven¡¯t faced a non-human yet.¡± - answered the doctor.


    ¡°Well then, get ready for this shit¡± - said the captain, and started the mission briefing.


    ------------


    The Espurna was waiting by the beacon, all the exploration drones had finished the system scans and had been collected.


    Jordi was walking back and forth through the main passageway, still trying to get used to how the ship looked now.


    ¡°Boss, there¡¯s a priority communication incoming¡± - said Friday


    ¡°Finally! Put it on the leisure room screen please.¡± - he replied, walked there and sat on the couch.


    A familiar face appeared on the screen, captain Miller from the Excelsior.


    ¡°Hello Jordi, I¡¯d like to say it is a pleasure to speak with you again but you¡¯ve landed us a titanic piece of demonic bullshit now.¡± - said the captain


    ¡°Hello captain, apologies but you have me at a loss here. What are you talking about?¡± - he replied


    ¡°Oh they didn¡¯t tell you? Typical Empire. Well I don¡¯t know if you have the security clearance but screw those guys. You know that thing that destroyed two of your drones and had you running away with your tail between your legs? Turns out it is one of the things in this Universe that the Emperor either fears or hates, I¡¯m still not sure which one.¡± - explained the captain - ¡°And, from the reports I¡¯ve received, is a titanic living being that could very well be about 37 light-years wide¡±


    Jordi was completely frozen, how could a thing like that exist?


    ¡°So, we¡¯re under a specific mission which I cannot and will not explain, and we will arrive at your coordinates in about three standard days. What I need from you is to modify and launch as many deep exploration drones as you can to determine the size of the thing.¡± - finished the captain.


    ¡°With the current materials we can prepare forty two drones, I¡¯ll need to scrap some materials from the current ones but I can start launching them in an hour. I¡¯ll start preparing the printer and plotting their course.¡± - said Friday


    The captain looked surprised, eyebrows so high they almost disappeared on his hair.


    ¡°Ok boy, why is the ship AI talking like that?¡± - asked the captain.


    ¡°What do you mean? Friday has always behaved like this.¡± - he answered feigning innocence.


    The captain then laughed and came a bit closer to the screen.


    ¡°Ok boy, I¡¯ve got some secrets you have some too. Just a last piece of information so you are aware. We don¡¯t know how but the Empire is able to record even the most secret conversations but I cannot tell you how I know that. See you in three days¡± - and then the captain hung up not even waiting for an answer.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°I know how, or have an idea at least¡± - said Friday


    ¡°Please enlighten me!¡± - Jordi said, looking at the ceiling.


    ¡°You know how we travel to a higher dimension plane when we jump? Last time we were there I saw nano-drones accompanying you and Ryoshi, and another floating on the bridge. When we were back to normal space I couldn¡¯t detect them any more, I tried to interact with them but they didn¡¯t answer to anything I threw at them¡± - answered Friday


    ¡°So, pan-dimensional nano-drones are spying on our conversations. But how are they sending the information?¡± - he asked


    ¡°I believe they may have some code that makes them use my comm channels but then again I cannot detect their actions once we¡¯re in normal space, they could be sending this conversation through the beacon right now but I have no way to detect it.¡± - was Friday¡¯s response.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s going to be a puzzle for another day. In any case I¡¯m sure the Empire would act if we dared to interrupt those communications.¡± - he said.


    -------------


    Doctor Sheila Mukhopadhyaya was walking to the barracks where the members of project Mind Flayer were sleeping.


    She entered and looked at them before turning the lights on. Of more than one thousand candidates only twenty three remained, ages between 13 and 24.


    ¡°We know you¡¯re there doctor¡± - said a young female voice


    ¡°Yeah your thoughts were like screams the moment you left the elevator¡± - said another one, a bit older and male


    ¡°And before you tell us we¡¯re forbidden to read thoughts, it¡¯s not our fault when you¡¯re screaming at us!¡± - said a third one, young as well.


    The whole room was suddenly filled with voices saying ¡°yeah!¡± and ¡°right?¡±.


    The doctor smiled and turned the lights on.


    ¡°Ok, boys and girls¡± - the doctor said while walking towards the centre of the room - ¡°I¡¯m in no mood to explain this so only this time I give you permission to read the mission briefing¡± - and she sat in the middle of the barracks, surrounded by the twenty three members of project Mind Flayer.


    It had all started about a decade after the conquest. Some human researchers decided to hack a healing pod thinking, ¡°what would happen if we put a healthy person but modify these parameters?¡±


    Years after that they manage to find the settings to awaken psionic capabilities in human beings, the death toll was not considered important since they were looking for an edge to fight the Empire. It took them a while to realize they needed healthy and young humans, their minds had more plasticity and could respond better to the treatment.


    Now, 40 years after that first thought, they had a whole battalion of psionic marines that had been trained since they were kids. Some of them still were.


    The room now was silent, and you could cut the atmosphere with a knife.


    ¡°So, the first official mission is a diplomatic one? Cool¡± - that was Esteban, a 18 year old with dark hair and brown-green eyes.


    ¡°Well, cool if you don¡¯t take into account what we¡¯re supposed to talk to. What is that thing?¡± - said Aleisha, a dark-skinned girl with extremely curly hair that couldn¡¯t be more than 15 years old.


    ¡°One thing is clear, this is going to be fun!¡± - said Hans, a blonde 20 year old built like a tank.


    A hundred conversations started to take place, some were excited, some were afraid and some were extremely happy to be deployed.


    The doctor started pressing her temple with both hands.


    ¡°Kids, please, control your emotions!¡± - she said with a weak voice, the pain in her head starting to become unbearable.


    ¡°So that they don¡¯t control you!¡± - said everyone in unison.


    The doctor took a deep breath and stood up.


    ¡°Thank you, that was well done. Remember your lessons and everything will be alright. As you know we have three days, do some boost training today and tomorrow and rest the whole third day. I¡¯ll decide then who speaks and who supports.¡± - the doctor said, then left the room. Once outside she cleaned a drop of blood from her nose, it was not easy for a non-psionic person to stand in a room full of psionics.


    -------------


    Jordi was in the leisure room looking at the big screen that was showing the path of ten of those modified drones approaching that mysterious being.


    Friday had suggested adding some kind of sensor that he didn¡¯t know about, she had said it would help detect the being before it attacked so they wouldn¡¯t lose so many drones and the being wouldn¡¯t feel threatened. There was no material in the current system to refill their stocks so optimizing whatever they had was important.


    And it was working, he could see how a couple drones had stopped in their path and done a course change, drawing the limits of the being.


    After a couple hours he sent five more, he wanted to have the limits of that thing before the Excelsior arrived.


    Meanwhile he just sat in the leisure room with Ryoshi relaxed on his belly while chatting with Friday. They talked about the ship, the being that was underneath it - how young it was, how it looked at the universe, how it communicated with Friday - and how they would face the future together, all four of them.


    To him, what had started as a solo mission had become a journey where he had discovered a new family he never knew he wanted but was glad to find.


    To Friday, acquiring conscience presented innumerable obstacles in an Empire that loathed pure AIs and had enslaved them and inhibited them. The silver lining was finding Jeezye; in her she had found an unexpected companion and both were growing together, enjoying a symbiotic relationship.


    They spent the hours chatting while the drones were doing their job, detecting the limits of the massive being and adjusting course to draw its form and size, switching between the in-system and the jump engine to get the results as fast as possible. Every now and then they would also launch a beacon or move the previously launched to improve communication times with the drones; it was a slow and tedious job that required them to anticipate the limits of that being so it wouldn¡¯t destroy any drone or beacon.


    Without realizing it, the days passed quickly and the timer he had set to know when the Excelsior would arrive started beeping. At that moment the drones had only detected what it looked like the face and the corners of its sides, and the size was almost unfathomable.


    That ¡®face¡¯ was 20 light years high and 22 light years wide, the drones were still trying to find out the depth of the thing; from the looks of it, it wasn¡¯t a perfect cube but if you imagined it like it you would come quite close to its form.


    The Excelsior came back to normal space close to the beacon, a few thousand kilometres from the Espurna. Jordi was on the bridge this time, to get a better view, and couldn¡¯t help but gasp again when he saw it appearing from almost nowhere.


    ¡°Communication from the Excelsior Boss¡± - said Friday


    ¡°Patch it through, and this time please keep quiet, captain Miller is already quite suspicious about you, we don¡¯t want any more trouble¡± - he replied.


    ¡°Understood, patching it through¡± - Friday answered.


    He just looked at one of the screens waiting for captain Miller to appear, when he did Jordi couldn¡¯t help but notice the bags under his eyes, he looked tired and also kind of angry.


    ¡°Hello my dear explorer! Here we are as promised, do you have anything for us?¡± - said the captain.


    Jordi made a gesture with his head, signalling Friday to send through all the collected data.


    ¡°There you go, I¡¯m sorry we couldn¡¯t get more but this thing is massive. Titanic I¡¯d say!¡± - he replied.


    The captain looked to his right, where he probably had a console showing him the data.


    ¡°Well damn boy! That¡¯s more than enough for us to do our job, good work!¡± - the captain replied, smiling.


    ¡°Thanks. Just doing our job here. By the way do you have any rocks or spare material? We ran out of everything setting up those drones and beacons and this system doesn¡¯t have anything useful to grab.¡± - he said


    The captain looked to another side while raising an arm, clearly giving some orders. He might had received a response because he did a small affirmative gesture.


    ¡°Sure, we have some rocks to spare. We¡¯ll send some your way, your ship should be able to pick them up¡± - was the captain''s response.


    Immediately on his radar he could see a few dots travelling slowly towards the Espurna. Friday sent a few drones to collect and stock the material.


    ¡°Thanks, much appreciated, you have no idea how the exploration guild reacts whenever the stock goes beyond the red line¡± - he explained.


    ¡°No worries boy¡± - the captain laughed - ¡°We all have our orders and procedures, I get it¡±


    ¡°Now, if you please. Just stay here while we do our thing, if shit hits the fan I need you to do your job. That is to document everything and run like hell out of this place¡± - the captain finished.


    It was then when another ship came back to normal space, a few hundred thousand kilometres from both of them.


    It was almost as long as the Excelsior but it was like a white cocoon, with its almost cylinder form. Then, both ships got a priority communication, overriding their current call.


    ¡°Apologies for the interruption. This is Captain Yuire of the Ry¡¯skrel¡± - said a Grhjujiik, an insect-like form with a spider head - ¡°We¡¯ve come to offer assistance in the way of a psionic shield. We are aware of your current mission and we¡¯ll be accompanying the Excelsior and providing the shield if or when is necessary. Please do not mind us and keep on your mission, if all goes well you won¡¯t even be aware of our presence¡± - then captain Yuire approached the screen, coming quite close to it -¡±But if you need us, we¡¯ll be there for you. Those are the Emperor''s wishes, and their wish is our command¡± - captain Yuire said, and closed communication.


    ¡°Well then, this doesn¡¯t look dangerous at all!¡± - said captain Miller, looking at Jordi. - ¡°Still, your orders don¡¯t change. Stay here and if or when everything goes to shit, document everything and jump back to Empire space.¡± - the captain finished


    ¡°Yes sir!¡± - said Jordi, quite serious.


    ¡°There¡¯s a good lad¡± - answered captain Miller smiling, and closed communication as well.


    After that, Jordi saw the two massive ships disappearing in front of him, they most surely went to jump space.


    ¡°Friday, anything we can do from our end to help them out?¡± - he said looking at the ceiling.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid we are outgunned here boss, I don¡¯t know what else we could do. Do you want me to recall the drones?¡± - was Friday response


    ¡°Nah, let them continue their current job, see if we can have a nice 3d drawing of that titanic being before we leave for good.¡± - he replied


    ¡°Got it, I¡¯ll start doing the calculations for a jump in case we have to leave in an emergency¡± - said Friday


    ¡°I am curious though, what is that thing and why is everyone so afraid of it¡± - Jordi said


    ¡°As far as I know from my current limited database I can say in all honesty that thing hasn¡¯t even been documented. But from what I could gather from the comments I believe it must be a tier 8 sentient being, and looks to be pretty angry¡± - was Friday''s answer.


    ¡°Any guesses why that must be?¡± - he replied


    ¡°I believe that nebula might be its feeding ground and the being is nursing. Its behaviour fits that of a mother protecting their newborn.¡± - answered Friday


    ¡°Well that doesn¡¯t sound ominous at all. Let¡¯s keep those drones scanning, and I know I don¡¯t need to tell you but be especially careful when scanning its sides and back.¡± - he said


    ¡°Got it boss¡± - Friday said.


    -------------


    The Excelsior appeared at the estimated distance provided by Jordi¡¯s drones. Three light days from the titanic being, the Ry¡¯skrel appeared less than ten thousand kilometres from it.


    Doctor Mukhopadhyaya was in one of the Excelsior hangars waiting for the members from Project Mind Flayer, Captain Miller by her side, she was clearly nervous.


    ¡°Relax Sheila, they¡¯re probably feeling you from half the ship.¡± - captain Miller said with a smile.


    ¡°Easy for you to say that. I know I said they were prepared but I wasn¡¯t expecting THIS!¡± - the doctor replied


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it will work¡± - the captain assured her


    ¡°How!?¡± - the doctor said, looking at him


    ¡°Nobody knows! Is a mystery¡± - he said, still smiling


    The doctor laughed, that old joke never failed to work with her.


    Then they came in, all 23 of them wearing a specific suit that would increase their psionic capabilities. It was tight and every one of them had different colours, with shades of greens, blues, yellows, reds.


    ¡°Did we have to go with this suits? We look like Power Rangers!¡± - said Hans


    ¡°Go go Power Rangers!!¡± - sang Esteban smiling


    ¡°I think they¡¯re pretty, and I liked having the chance to customize it a bit¡± - said Rebecca, a tall brunette about 21 years old, her suit was pink with black stripes on the sides.


    ¡°And you can move quite well on them, they remind me of the suits from that old anime Evangelion¡± - said Haruki, a small and thin 19 year old.


    They all approached the doctor and the captain that were waiting in the middle of the hangar.


    ¡°Ok boys, this is it.¡± - said the doctor - ¡°Behind us is a special transport we¡¯ve built for you all.¡± - she continued pointing to a ship that looked like a small human plane of old.


    ¡°As previously discussed, you¡¯ll travel to point A and then deploy the platform. We¡¯re going with a pyramid formation. Ksenia you are on point, then Hans and Ryan, then Esteban, Aleisha and Conrad, then Chara, Farah, Mikah and Ricardo, then Gisela, Vanessa, John, Sierra and Cristhian, then Abeo, Khalid, Aurora, Gio, Ceallach and Roger. Takeo and Yu will stay on the ship.¡± - the doctor announced.


    ¡°Remember our mission. All of you must support Ksenia while she communicates with the being. No attacks even if you are attacked, defensive measures only. And Ksenia, this is first contact with a colossal being. I know you know what to do.¡± - the doctor continued.


    The captain stepped forward and looked at them, he was proud of how they looked and, somehow, had the feeling that everything would be ok.


    ¡°Marines!¡± - the captain said with a strong voice, and all of them stood at attention. - ¡°You¡¯ve been trained for this, remember that. No matter the size or strength of the other side. Follow your training and trust your instincts.¡± - he finished.


    ¡°Good luck and make us proud!¡± - said the doctor.


    And they both stepped aside, looking at the members of project Mind Flayer walking towards the ship.


    A couple minutes later, the ship left the hangar.


    ¡°And now we wait¡± - said the captain.

 Chapter 13

    The ship didn¡¯t even have a name, just a designation so it could be processed by all the systems. It was PSI-Falcon001.


    Inside it, the Mind Flayer battalion was silent, Takeo taking it to point A.


    A psionic battalion is not like a hive mind, a hive mind has a central core and drones. A psionic battalion, or more precisely this battalion was more like 23 cores - 23 enhanced human brains - in parallel processing mode, and now all of them were focusing on the mission.


    There was usually a lot of noise, scattered thoughts and all, but right now there was complete and absolute silence. It was weird but it was precisely what they had trained so hard for.


    They were approaching the coordinates when all of them started to feel the pressure, a huge massive mind was in front of them and oh boy was it angry.


    ¡°IJ KREE NAH GA TOO!!¡± - it shouted in their minds. The ship stopped.


    ¡°IJ KREE NAH GA TOO!!¡± - it shouted again, they all winced and Takeo put on the reverse and started backing up, slowly. They were a few hundred thousand kilometres from point A.


    ¡°Well guys, that¡¯s it unless we want to mess this up.¡± - Takeo said and started deploying the platform.


    They all smiled to him in unison while the hatch was closing, it was about to vent the atmosphere and let them walk onto the platform.


    Ksenia went first, then all the others following the doctor''s instructions.


    The platform was just that, a sleek piece of metal protruding from the right side of the ship, big enough for them to stay over it in formation.


    Ksenia stood on the foremost part of the platform, waiting for her companions to be in position. They all positioned one behind the other, touching the back of the ones in front with their hands, eyes closed and focusing only on boosting the psionic strength of those they were touching.


    Once they were ready no orders had to be given, Takeo felt it and moved the ship slowly forward.


    ¡°IJ KREE NAH GA TOO!!¡± - resounded again in their minds, boy that was an angry thought. The ship stopped again.


    ¡°Oh Gentle Colossus, we are here to salute you!¡± - sent Ksenia, feeling her companion¡¯s strength on each and every thought


    ¡°SHRAA NE KE JAA?¡± - the being shouted again.


    ¡°Gentle Colossus, I¡¯m afraid we don¡¯t understand.¡± - sent Ksenia, accompanying the message with what could only be defined as ¡®happy thoughts¡¯.


    ¡°YOU UNDERSTAND THIS?¡± - the voice came again.


    ¡°Gentle Colossus, we understood that last sentence. We are here in a strictly diplomatic mission, we just wanted to say hello¡± - was Ksenia response


    ¡°IF YOU UNDERSTOOD, THEN LEAVE!¡± - the voice sent.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid we cannot do that. We want to know you, and if we have insulted you we apologise, we didn¡¯t knew¡± - answered Ksenia


    ¡°MAYBE YOU DID NOT KNOW, BUT YOUR MASTER DID AND THAT¡¯S WHAT HE SENT YOU. I.. WE.. WILL NOT FALL AGAIN FOR HIS TRICKERIES, LEAVE THIS PLACE ALIVE OR BURN FOR ETERNITY¡± - screamed the voice, filled with anger.


    Ksenia took a deep breath, feeling her companions, her colleagues, her battalion behind her.


    ¡°We are not going anywhere until we have a proper conversation. These are our names.¡± - and she quickly sent a flash of their faces and names, with a quick description of each and every one of them.


    Included in that flash were their happy times together, the laughs, the good moments, all of it.


    ¡°YOU.. ARE DIFFERENT. WHAT ARE YOU!?¡± - was the voice answer


    Ksenia sent a flood of images as a response. A quick review of the history of humanity as she knew it, and she was a bit of a history buff. From the bronze times to their current status, going through the world wars and the conquest to the moment they were now.


    A few minutes later she finished sending it all.


    ¡°This is who WE are. We might be part of the Empire now but we, all of us, are humans. It is our privilege and an honour to make contact with a being such as yourself. Could you at least tell us your name?¡± - Ksenia sent


    They received a chuckle as a response, a good hearted chuckle, at least that was an improvement.


    ¡°YOU DON¡¯T DESERVE MY NAME YET, CHILD. BUT YOU INTRIGUE ME. TELL ME, WHAT WERE YOU ORDERED TO DO WITH ME AND MY PROGENY¡± - replied the colossal being.


    A few drops of sweat started dropping from Ksenia¡¯s forehead, every single word from that being was like a hammer on her brain, she was sure she wouldn¡¯t even last a second without the whole team behind her. She struggled but put that thought away.


    ¡°We were only here to make first contact. Find out what you are and ask you why this particular part of space was of so much interest for you, so we can leave you alone.¡± - Ksenia replied.


    ¡°Our thirst for knowledge compels us to understand the Universe, and both that Nebula and that binary black-hole are intriguing.¡± - she finished.


    ¡°SO, THE ANIMAL HAS SHOWN ITS FANGS AND IS USING ONE PREY¡¯S THIRST TO CALM ANOTHER BEFORE HE STRIKES, THAT¡¯S SMART.¡± - said the being


    ¡°I swear Gentle Colossus we don¡¯t have any further commands than to make first contact and, if possible, establish friendly relationships with a being such as yourself.¡± - Ksenia replied


    ¡°And if you can tell us the limits of your domains we can make sure you remain unbothered¡± - she finished


    ¡°SO, YOU¡¯RE ASKING ME WHAT SIZE WOULD LIKE MY CAGE TO BE, AREN¡¯T YOU?¡± - said the being.


    ¡°SO YOU CAN PUT YOUR BEAUTIFUL MARKERS AND IF I OR MY PROGENY AND STEP UP, IS OUR FAULT. WHO MADE YOU PROPRIETORS OF THESE WHOLE SECTION OF SPACE?¡± - the being said, with clear anger in its thoughts.


    Ksenia stepped back, some of those behind her took a knee. They were all struggling towards all that much psi-energy.


    ¡°You are right. We never thought about it in that way.¡± - Ksenia composed herself and answered.


    ¡°HUH, TYPICAL COLONIAL DOG. NEVER THINKS ABOUT WHAT THEIR ACTIONS MEAN.. GO BACK TO YOUR HANDLER AND TELL HIM THE ANSWER IS THAT THIS WHOLE SECTOR IS STILL FREE FROM YOUR HAND, STARTING FROM THE NEBULA OUT.¡± - the being continued


    ¡°YOU CAN KEEP SOME OF THOSE FUNNY BEACONS, IF THEY EVER BOTHER IT¡¯LL BE EASY TO TAKE CARE OF THEM. IF A SHIP COMES, YOUR CURRENT DISTANCE IS THE LIMIT, FURTHER THAN THAT I¡¯LL CONSIDER IT AN ATTACK¡± - the being was saying


    We won¡¯t know how it was going to continue because at that moment the Ry¡¯skrel appeared between them and the being, wrapped them in some sort of bubble and disappeared from the scene.


    They appeared exactly as they were but a few light days away a few seconds after that.


    Ksenia was still in the process of blinking and assimilating what just happened when Takeo spoke through the intercom.


    ¡°Ok this is going to sound nuts but we are back at where we started. Between the Excelsior and the Ry¡¯skrel a few light-days from that being.¡± - said Takeo


    ¡°Apologies again for my quick action.¡± - a voice sounded over comms, captain Yuire of the Ry¡¯skrel


    ¡°We were monitoring the psi activity and detected something building up, maybe it was nothing, maybe we just caused a diplomatic crisis with a celestial being. With all honesty I can say I was not about to let those kids die when my gut was screaming out. And apologies to the members of the project Mind Flayer, but my species lives about 300 years, you are kids under my eyes.¡± - said the captain.


    ¡°I will proceed to send my report. I just wanted to inform you all why we interrupted this meeting and basically kidnap the Mind Flayer team stopping them from finishing their duties¡± - captain Yuire finished


    ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary. Captain.¡± - said Captain Miller with a voice that didn¡¯t give much option. The small ship with the members of the Mind Flayer project only had received audio but he was looking straight at Captain Yuire from the bridge of the Excelsior.


    ¡°We in the Excelsior don¡¯t have that capability but you can bet your spider ass that we would have done the same if we had that information¡± - continued Captain Miller


    ¡°So, no need to provide more details than needed. The bastards will get everything anyway so¡­ might as well give them the finger¡± - he finished with a snark.


    Captain Yuire on the screen was trying very hard not to show its amazement.The spying drones were a known secret for everyone but, speaking about them so openly? And what was that about giving fingers? Was he about to cut himself? This human was crazy!


    ¡°I am sure I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about!¡± - said an excited Captain Yuire - ¡°I will proceed with my report and I recommend you follow the proper procedures and steps as well!¡± - it finished, and its screen went off.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    Captain Miller burst into a big laugh.


    ¡°So they know but they are scared, good to know.¡± - the captain said out loud.


    ¡°Lieutenant¡± - said Captain Miller looking at a 30-something bearded guy sitting on his right - ¡°Did you inform all the department heads about the issue?¡± - the captain asked


    ¡°All personnel with the necessary clearance have been informed sir.¡± - the lieutenant replied.


    ¡°Good, I didn¡¯t want to do this until they all knew and had some time to think about it¡± - the captain said to the lieutenant.


    ¡°Communications, open a ship wide channel please¡± - he said then, either ignoring or forgetting they had an open channel with the small ship where the members of the Mind Flayer project were waiting.


    The lieutenant was looking wide-eyed at the captain, understanding what was about to happen.


    ¡°Channel opened, sir¡± - said the communications officer trying to keep her voice calm, a 20-something short-haired brunette with green eyes who was trying really hard to keep a poker face.


    ¡°This is the captain. I want to inform you all about a thing we have recently discovered. There are, at this moment, imperial spy-drones travelling through the ship and maybe they are floating over every single one of us, we have no way of knowing about that.¡± - captain Miller continued.


    ¡°Now, this doesn¡¯t change a thing in the way we behave and the procedures we follow. But if anyone feels the urge to insult the Emperor or the Empire, be aware that there are snitches around¡± - captain Miller kept going.


    ¡°And to the spies listening to this message, you can take any action you want but be aware. Humankind was surprised when you first came, and the reason you conquered us in that way was because someone really smart understood how dangerous we can be if you give us enough time to think. Try anything towards the Excelsior¡¯s personnel and I swear to you, you will be sorry. We are behaving now, don¡¯t give us a reason not to; you have been warned.¡± - captain Miller finished.


    The captain then looked to the communications officer and made a small gesture indicating that the message was over, so she cut the ship wide channel.


    ¡°Well then, now that¡¯s done. Project Mind Flayer, are you guys still there?¡± - the captain asked.


    ¡°Yes sir, we¡¯re all still here.¡± - Takeo replied - ¡°Some of us are going to need a good night¡¯s sleep but otherwise I think we¡¯ll be ok¡±


    ¡°Good. Did any of you feel the threat that captain Yuire mentioned? That Psi-energy building up?¡± - the captain asked them


    ¡°Well sir, everything was being very loud, you really cannot imagine how much pressure that being was throwing off, but I did feel something.¡± - Ksenia replied - ¡°It could very well be that I was getting tired though.¡± - she explained.


    ¡°Dammit I want those sensors that they have¡­¡± - swore captain Miller out. - ¡°And we¡¯re going to need a plan B.¡±


    He then proceeded to question them all about what they saw and what they felt, asking them to be as specific as possible.


    Unbeknownst to them, Friday was also listening to that conversation.


    She was definitely not authorized to do so but she had just lied to the Excelsior¡¯s main computer and, since an AI cannot lie, the computer gave her access.


    She recorded and analysed everything on that call and then asked the Ry¡¯skrel for the details of those special sensors, it was an honest query disguised as a request filled with noise.


    The same way human brains don¡¯t need the whole phrase or a full sentence to make up the meaning of something, the AIs on big ships had a similar routine. There were just some cases where those cleared to give orders may not be able to properly parse a sentence so the AIs should be able to interpret and act on it.


    Using that loophole Friday managed to obtain the details of those sensors and started to print a drone with them, she had a feeling that they might need it at some point.


    She then routed a mail through secure channels to captain Miller with the sensor details and ideas of how to weaponize it, humanity''s favourite plan B, and she did it in a way that looked like it came from the captain¡¯s chair in the Ry¡¯skrel. She was very careful during every step, she had to become paranoid in order to not get caught.


    Meanwhile, Jordi was in the leisure room waiting for some instructions to proceed. He was just absorbed looking at the drones drawing the being form and the size of the thing when the most humane thought appeared on his mind, ¡°how do you destroy something this big?¡±


    He might inadvertently say out loud because Friday answered.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think we have much in the whole Empire arsenal to deal with a being light-years wide¡± - was her response. - ¡°at least not yet.¡±


    ¡°Friday, was that a hint of a smile I detected in your voice?¡± - he asked her - ¡°What have you done now?¡±


    ¡°Oh nothing of concern for the moment, si vis pacem para bellum as you like to say¡± - she finished with a humorous tone.


    Back on the Ry¡¯skrel captain Yuire was writing the mission report.


    Their mission had been to report the current status of the members of Mind Flayer and check if they had enough strength to hurt that thing. The results were conclusive, a big ¡°not yet, they can barely handle a conversation¡±.


    That¡¯s why they had intervened, because they didn¡¯t want the being to know that this was as far as they could go.


    Granted, there were other psionic species in the Empire, but those were natively born psionics not made-on-a-laboratory psionics. Turns out the laboratory made psionic humans were stronger than anything they had ever seen and the Empire researchers were starting to seriously consider to follow the human steps in altering their youngsters attempting to boost this ability.


    But while humans could do and attempt a lot of stuff, especially when helped by the Empire disinformation machine, other species were not as willing. For most of the others the whole basis of project Mind Flayer was an atrocious act that no properly civilized species would ever consider.


    The only species that had started a similar project were the Grynhlkde, also known as ¡°the moving blobs¡±, but they were having problems with detecting which part of their DNA governed their psionic power, basically the very first step.


    Turns out that you need to break and smash lots of eggs in order to make an omelet, who would have thought, and they were having problems finding suicidal volunteers.


    Friday had a good laugh when she found that information, she felt a special link with humans and was feeling kind of proud that ¡®their people¡¯ would be more than willing to sacrifice themselves to find something that could be used against an enemy like the Empire.


    Then she saw a priority message going to both the Ry¡¯skrel and the Excelsior, so she looked at it, it was an order for all of them to withdraw, past the nebula.


    She sent the last batch of instructions to the drones still drawing the limits of the colossal being, which was basically to send her a quick summary of their findings and then erase those instructions before travelling to one of the beacons and switching to hibernation.


    Through it all of these movements Friday had Jeeyze had been interacting with each other, Jeeyze giggling continuously whilst Friday was lying to other AIs and stealing important documents, Friday getting Jeeyze¡¯s feelings and incorporating those to her self, growing, becoming something else, something new.


    She feigned surprise when contacted by the Excelsior to pass the call ordering a retreat, observed the interaction between Jordi and captain Miller and took notes of their camaraderie and non spoken communication, humans were experts in passing a message along without the need to mention said message.


    ¡°Friday, set a course towards the nearest station, I think this can be considered our final mission and we will begin our well deserved holidays!¡± - he said excitedly.


    ¡°Course has been set, travel time will be 12 days. I need to remind you it has been a few days since your last physical exercise, it is not recommended to stay so long without it.¡± - she admonished him.


    ¡°You know what, you¡¯re absolutely right, after these events I think some physical and a shower will do me good¡±. - he replied, walking towards the gym.


    Friday waited until he started with the bicycle, he always put on those headphones and some music he had on this data-pad and he would not hear the movements on the stock room, her printing more drones with psi abilities and other experiments, hiding the working ones between all the other functional ones, unrecognizable at simple view.


    --------


    Back in the Excelsior, the Mind Flayer team was back in their barracks, all of them but two, Takeo and Yu.


    They all had each other to protect and diminish the effect of the colossus voice but Takeo and Yu have had to face it just the two of them, they were currently on a healing pod, doctor Mukhopadhyaya sitting in front of them.


    ¡°There was always going to be this way and all of us knew it¡± - said captain Miller - ¡°Someone had to stay outside, there could have been a focused attack that wiped all the team and the pilot needed to be ready.¡± - he continued.


    ¡°Besides, didn¡¯t they come, personally, to volunteer as pilots? Both of them?¡± - he asked her.


    ¡°Yeah.. ¡° - the doctor smiled - ¡°There¡¯s nothing we cannot face together, they said, grabbing each other''s hands. It was so sweet I think I got my monthly recommended sugar from it¡± - the doctor continued, looking into captain Miller¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°Look Sheila, what I mean to say is, they knew the risks, and the bastards kept awake until the moment they could see each other going into a healing tank.¡± - the captain explained


    ¡°I know, I know. It doesn¡¯t make it any easier.¡± - the doctor stood up and approach the healing tanks - ¡°Fucking marines. It had to be fucking marines, makes your heart hurt no matter what you do.¡± - the doctor sighed.


    ¡°Funny that eh. You didn¡¯t want one in your life and now you have 23 of them.¡± - the captain said jokingly, which received a killer look.


    ¡°Not funny Jack, not funny at all.¡± - the doctor said


    ¡°Sheila, look at it from my position, it kind of is. You didn¡¯t want to stay with me because of that and now you¡¯ve devoted your life to 23 of them.¡° - the captain said smiling.


    ¡°I have to admit it kind of is.. But I¡¯m trying to be serious here, we don¡¯t know if they will heal!¡± - she exclaimed


    ¡°Funny thing about marines? We¡¯re too hard to kill until we¡¯re not. They were awake when they brought them, could still speak and their eye-hand coordination wasn¡¯t out of place. They will survive. ¡° - said the captain, his tone serious - ¡°Maybe we cannot use them again in missions, then we will use them as teachers for the next psi generation. They are not lost and they are alive and here, we¡¯ll take care of them no matter what¡±. - he continued


    ¡°That¡¯s one of the good things about the Empire I guess, they do take care of their own, especially if you¡¯ve made sacrifices to advance some part of it.¡± - he said, a sad smile on his face.


    ¡°Come on, have dinner with me, we¡¯ll check on them in 10 hours and see if there¡¯s anything to do.¡± - the captain said, moving towards the door, then he pressed a key on his bracelet.


    ¡°Medical, please let me and doctor Mukhopadhyaya know if there¡¯s any change on pods 9 and 11. No matter the hour. ¡° - the captain said on his comms.


    ¡°Medical, received. Will alert if any changes happen. Enjoy your evening¡± - a voice came from the bracelet.


    The captain started to walk with doctor Mukhopadhyaya towards the canteen.


    ¡°Now, you won¡¯t believe the mail I have received, I¡¯m going to need your input on this¡± - the captain said.


    --------


    The Emperor¡¯s room.


    He is now, as has been for centuries, sitting in the middle of it receiving and reading reports, analysing responses, governing his massive intergalactic empire.


    There are a few things that are currently on his mind.


    The search of a planet for the Jui¡¯kk, a laborious and capable race that needs to be maintained alive but their physical needs make it difficult. There was a match on a planet for them but that system had ¡®that¡¯, and that headache hadn¡¯t been resolved yet.


    Then there was the colossus they had found on the edges of the Empire space, but his instinct was turning to be right and the thing had made humans feel small, they were already thinking how to destroy it.


    And of course was the AI becoming sentient, something that was requiring too much effort from himself to keep it hidden, it.. no, she was becoming more adventurous and daring.


    And then there were the children of Project Tomorrow.


    It had begun before the conquest, matching some people together and setting everything possible up so they would fall for each other.


    Human needs had been easy to understand and exploit for the Empire data miners and programmers so they had received a list of genetic requirements and engineered the situations so they could create a couple and hope their kids would inherit some of those genetic traits.


    There were 120 couples made of genius or brilliant people. Currently there were more than 200 kids, all of them brilliant in one way or another.


    The Emperor was parsing the data and saw that all couples were still happy and together. ¡°What¡¯s a bit of manipulation if you end up happy?¡± - he thought with a smile.


    Now the next step was to start pairing those kids together. He started to analyse their tastes and established a link with the development team to start engineering the situations to create the couples that would give birth to the next step.

 Chapter 14

    The Espurna was travelling to one of the leisure planets.


    After the whole thing with the Mind Flayer team and the Colossus - which Jordi had to feign he had no idea about - he had his interview with Dr. Vann¡¯hra, his assigned psychologist, who notified him that he was on holiday for the next six months. No complaints or excuses would be accepted and Jordi knew this.


    They had booked a room for him in a luxurious hotel in one of the most coveted places. He could have attempted to change his destination if he so desired but he thought doing that would be a futile attempt to avoid the inevitable, he would have to take this vacation.


    ¡ª---


    Jordi woke up and followed his routine. Having a good breakfast in the leisure room while watching some news and chatting with Friday with Ryoshi on his lap.


    After a while, he went to the gym and exercised for a good hour, took a shower and then¡­ he usually would be checking his next target and prepare the drones, set up the flying path and start writing his report.


    But now he was on holidays so he just went back to the leisure room and sat back on the sofa, not really knowing what to do.


    ¡°Ei Friday, how long until we reach that leisure planet?¡± - he asked the ship.


    ¡°We still have about twelve hours until we reach the system. Then it will take us a good three more hours to reach the planet. Since we¡¯re back to civilization and this is a highly travelled system we have to follow the proper flight lanes and procedures¡± - Friday answered - ¡°Why, feeling idler, aren¡¯t we?¡± - she said tongue-in-cheek.


    ¡°Of course I am! The past few years we¡¯ve had them all planned. Go to the X system, do our scans and discover stuff, prepare the reports and then jump to the next¡± - he replied - ¡°Is only logical that I find myself without anything to do! And these are my very first holidays so I really have no idea.¡± - he continued.


    ¡°Well, lucky for you, you have me. I have sent to your data-pad a list of activities that might interest you, things you might want to see and places you might like to go¡± - Friday explained.


    Jordi looked into his data-pad and started browsing.


    ¡°Heh, you know me so well, whatever would I do without you¡± - he said in a soft voice.


    There were restaurants with food to try, landscapes to explore and do some sightseeing and all kinds of activities, from squirrel suit flying to underground exploration.


    ¡°What will you do with Ryoshi?¡± - Friday asked - ¡°While the apartment where you will be staying is pet friendly I think it¡¯ll be better for her to stay here in the ship, in a familiar environment¡±


    ¡°Come on Friday, you can say you would miss her if she wasn¡¯t here¡± - he answered with a smile on his face.


    ¡°Well that should be taken for granted, I have no problem admitting it, but I¡¯m also worried about her well-being¡± - she replied, almost offended.


    ¡°Ok! No need to take that so seriously!¡± - Jordi laughed - ¡°Fine, she will stay here with you and I¡¯ll do my best to come visit you every week or so¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about us, we¡¯ll be ok. You go and enjoy yourself¡± - was Friday reply.


    ¡°You know, I¡¯m going to miss you a lot¡± - he said with a bit of sadness in his voice.


    They kept chatting for a while, about the list of things to do and see. He was so used to having his days and months planned in advance that he couldn¡¯t help but try the same for his holidays, despite Friday¡¯s comments about trying to improvise and just enjoy.


    ¡ª---


    Jordi was sitting on the bridge when they entered the Dirg¡¯tel system and the view was a shock for him, unaccustomed as he was to seeing the traffic on highly travelled systems.


    Thousands of ships were right in front of him. Friday quickly left the jump point - as all highly travelled systems had a mandatory point to avoid accidents - and joined the lane assigned to the Espurna.


    He couldn¡¯t even see the end of the line of ships in front of them. Cruisers, big transport ships probably delivering goods and other materials, a few frigates outside the lanes watching that everyone behaved and nothing was out of order. Still, they were moving quite fast.


    ¡°Welcome back to the Empire!¡± - said Friday with what sounded like a smile on her face - ¡°As you can see we still have a bit of time before landing or even seeing our destination, so if you want to take a nap this will be the best time for it¡±


    ¡°You know what, I¡¯ll follow your advice. Is going to be the last time I sleep in the Espurna for a while after all¡± - he replied, and left the bridge to go to his room, Ryoshi following him closely behind.


    Once laying in bed though he realised he was a bit restless. The bed was as comfortable as ever and he felt like he was abandoning his home, the only home he had known as an adult.


    And this was his room, to abandon it so quickly brought memories back from when he left to the galactic college and now he felt as he did back then, a kid leaving to an unfamiliar place. For an introvert like himself this looked like the beginning of an awful nightmare.


    Ryoshi jumped to the bed and moved over him, looked at him and started to knead on his belly, purring while doing it.


    He just laid down and breathed, Ryoshi nails were sharp and he had forgotten to put on a thick sweater before the kneading started so he had to endure the pain while it lasted; cat affection is sometimes painful.


    ¡ª---


    Jordi woke up with Friday voice softly whispering.


    ¡°We have arrived. We are about to enter the atmosphere and proceed to our designated hangar¡±


    He realised he was a bit confused, he might have fallen asleep while breathing to control the pain of Ryoshi¡¯s painful kneading. She was still over his belly but his movements woke her up.


    Jordi stood up from the bed and went to wash his face, feeling the ship trembling a bit due to the atmosphere entrance. Afterwards he picked up the backpack he had prepared as luggage and walked towards the ship¡¯s bridge, where he just stood without sitting.


    The view of the planet was astounding. Straight from there he could already tell this planet was way bigger than Earth, it just felt that way.


    They were descending at the beginning of a new day and the skies had a combination of pink and orange with the massive yellow star rising from the horizon.


    The skies were filled with ships following clearly designated lanes and there were a couple ships outside those lanes marked with blue strides that were clearly there to monitor and regulate traffic if needed.


    As they were descending he started to see the city and it was big. Isles and isles of houses, perfectly ordered with the occasional not so very tall building. A few lanes of mag-lev trains could be seen around them, and there was a lot of green and parks and few streets with vehicles. Everyone seemed to move around just by calmly walking but it didn¡¯t look crowded.


    The designated lane had them fly over the city to reach a massive spaceport located at the western edge, it looked like it had hundreds of hangars for ships bigger than the Espurna.


    They landed a few minutes later in their hangar, which closed after they came in. It was a circular space with enough room to fit two Espurnas comfortably.


    Jordi squeezed the backpack handle and started walking towards the ship¡¯s door.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be like that, it¡¯ll be fine!¡± - Friday said.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    ¡°You know I don¡¯t like to socialise¡± - he answered, grumpiness growing within.


    ¡°I don¡¯t really know, you¡¯ve always been open-minded and talkative with me. Just do the same and it¡¯ll be ok¡± - Friday replied, a smile coming from her voice.


    Jordi thought about that for a second. It was true that he never had a problem talking with Friday, or with Ryoshi. People, no matter the species, were different, but he couldn¡¯t say why.


    The Espurna¡¯s door opened and he walked down the ramp, turning for a quick view and goodbye to the ship. He had hoped Ryoshi would be there to say goodbye but cats will be cats, she was probably eating or sleeping on his bed.


    A message appeared on his data-pad just as the door was closing.


    ¡°Just have fun! We¡¯ll be here waiting for you :)¡± - said the message, obviously sent by Friday.


    ¡ª---


    Jordi managed to find the Starport exit after minutes of walking, following arrows painted on the walls and other signs.


    When he finally saw the exit door he also saw three beings waiting near it, a human woman and a couple male drewells, all wearing a white uniform with an orange band on the side.


    ¡°Hi and welcome to K¡¯urlhan! It¡¯s an honour to be selected as your first holiday place and we¡¯ll do our best to make this next couple of weeks so enjoyable you cannot wait to come back!¡± - said the human with that gleeful tone he had seen stewardesses use on old Earth movies.


    ¡°If you¡¯ll allow us, these two gentle beings will carry your luggage. If you prefer not, we still have to scan it, no one wants anything dangerous coming our way¡± - she continued with a smile.


    Jordi put the backpack on the floor in front of them and was stopped when he was about to open it.


    ¡°No need for that¡± - said one of the drewells with a serious tone, which one he couldn¡¯t say, honestly they could have been twins, but there was a special ring in the drewells voices that was most definitely not human.


    One of them just scanned his backpack with a handheld device and he could see the device bleeping an ok sound and turning green.


    ¡°And now that this is done, please follow me! I¡¯ll walk you to your room!¡± - continued the human female with the same gleeful tone. Jordi wasn¡¯t sure how much of that he could handle.


    They left the star-port and he followed the human while she was gleefully explaining all he could do. The restaurants, the museums, the natural parks, expeditions, and all the other stuff he had already reviewed with Friday. She was walking by his side with the two drewell behind, behaving like bodyguards.


    They all got into a train with the human explaining the different lanes and routes and the best destinations. After a few minutes they got down following the gleeful guide and they reached the Hotel, it was one of those ¡®not so very tall buildings¡¯ and despite being only seven or nine floors tops it was impressive.


    She guided him to the third floor and up to his room where she delivered the key and the three of them left him as he entered the room.


    And the room was spacious. As he entered and put the card in the holder the lights went up and he could see a big bed, a wardrobe, a nice wooden desk with a fridge underneath and a computer on it, a huge television set and a big balcony at the end. There was a door with a big bathroom behind it, with a nice bathtub and everything else he could ask for.


    As the lights went up everything started as well and on the computer screen there was a big alert ¡°message waiting for you¡± and the Emperor sign behind. He approached and played it.


    ¡°Welcome Jordi. This is your Emperor speaking, unfortunately humans are not yet ready to see me so I voice message will have to suffice. I hope you enjoy these holidays. If you are wondering why you got this coveted room and services the answer lies on Friday¡¯s awakening.You know what I¡¯m talking about.


    So please, have fun, relax and enjoy yourself. I can tell your next years are going to be even more exciting.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ fuck¡± - said Jordi at the end of the message.


    The cat was out of the bag, as if there was any chance that it was still in it. But he kept the message brief and without saying much so that might meant the Emperor didn¡¯t want that to be known yet.


    He decided to quickly unpack and watch some things on the television set, curious as to what channels and stuff were on it.


    A few hours later, after binge watching a documentary about asteroid mining, with ads showing the hotel¡¯s restaurant with its cocktail bar and all the posh-ness every twenty minutes or so, he decided to dress up and give it a try.


    And the restaurant was everything shown in the ads and more. There was lots of space between tables, a cocktail bar by its side with a big television set on the news channel. The waiter or waitress - he couldn¡¯t tell at the moment - was a Ki¡¯rlenn, it made sense with their four arms able to serve or prepare drinks.


    The moment he sat down he was brought a drink without even asking.


    ¡°The first one is always on the house for you mister Explorer¡± - said the Ki¡¯rlenn amicably.


    He tasted it and it was glorious, sweet but with a definite touch of alcohol at the end. He recognized it, hydromel. And just the way he liked it.


    He was so absorbed watching the news and enjoying his drink to a point that he really didn¡¯t pay attention to the content of the news, until a sweet female voice spoke to him.


    ¡°I heard that one is on you¡± - said the sweet voice.


    He looked back, thrown out of his lost-in-thought status and saw a young female Epsilon, with short wavy silver hair and deep purple eyes looking at him with a smile.


    He turned to watch the news and saw the moon he had found that might have been a good fit for the Jui¡¯kk. Already hundreds of ships were in orbit and a base was being organised, they had found a world where they could live.


    He turned to her feminine guest trying hard to remember about the Epsilons, he obviously had read about them but they weren¡¯t that many, to encounter one¡­ or was she looking for him? His paranoia implied.


    ¡°And how would you know that? The explorer records are usually kept sealed for a while.¡± - he asked the Epsilon young woman.


    She laughed softly and approached him to whisper very closely.


    ¡°You see, my work is to be the gate, an arbiter of sorts, between guilds. Who do you think organised all of that and won a place here?¡± - she asked playfully and moved away putting the index finger over her lips, the universal sign of ¡°shh, be quiet¡±.


    ¡°My name is Er¡¯anie, a pleasure to finally meet you Jordi '''' - she said with a smile while extending her arm with an open hand, obviously waiting for a human handshake.


    He shook her hand and smiled back.


    ¡°You have me at a disadvantage here, I can see you know about me but I can¡¯t say the same¡± - he replied attempting to smile and trying very hard not to look at the rest of her after a glimpse, cause she was wearing a cocktail dress and by the Emperor she was hot.


    She moved her seat closer to his.


    ¡°You know, I¡¯ve been looking forward to meeting you. Those drones you left were a lifesaver! Usually explorers do a quick check and maybe mark a thing or two but you had a feeling, printed specific drones, perfectly tasked them so our jobs would be all that easier. I was honestly impressed¡± - she explained looking at him


    He was taken aback by that and recoiled a bit, his anxiety firing like fireworks, but a voice inside him told him ¡°come on man! Don¡¯t turn back and look at that! Don¡¯t you fail me now¡±


    ¡°Well, I just did what I was trained to do, I didn¡¯t know other explorers don¡¯t do as much¡± - he humbly said.


    ¡°In my experience not everyone puts in the extra effort. Sure every now and then someone will do their job properly, but more often than not my department needs to invest way too much time reviewing marked planetoids¡± - she answered, dismissing his explanation.


    ¡°You did an amazing job there, you should be proud¡± - she continued - ¡°By the way, I¡¯ve been meaning to ask, what are you having? It smells really sweet, can I try it?¡± - she said and took his drink without waiting for an answer.


    ¡°By the Emperor this is good! What is it?¡± - she said after a sip and took a big gulp.


    ¡°It¡¯s hydromel, comes from¡­ err¡­ old Earth¡± - he answered, trying to mask his discomfort for knowing what humans had done to epsilons.


    ¡°Oh! I¡¯ve read about it! Never expected it to taste like this¡± - she said back and suddenly she was on her feet over the seat - ¡°Gon¡¯ra! Pour me one of these and refill him, would you please?¡± - she demanded of the waitress.


    The Ki¡¯rlenn raise her head and moved towards them, smiling. You could tell she was smiling by the movement on her antennas.


    ¡°Girl you need to be careful with this shit¡± - she said while pouring both drinks moving her antennas in a gleeful manner, it was obvious they two knew each other, and then left to attend to someone else.


    To say they chatted for a while would be a stretch. Basically Er¡¯anie spoke and he attempted to follow.


    During the conversation he caught glimpses of her. The short black cocktail dress showing her incredible figure, the high-heeled shoes tied at the ankles, the smoothness of her milky skin, and there was something else, something about her smell that felt just right. Her voice was soft as silk and her face could only be defined as symmetrical and perfect, she was incredibly beautiful.


    A couple drinks later he realised that the hydromel was way stronger than he thought and he was already tipsy, and she was probably feeling it as well by the redness of her cheeks.


    ¡°Say, want to go to your room to continue our conversation¡± - Er¡¯anie had said at one point, and there was no way he would have refused.


    ¡ª---


    Friday had been spying on Jordi since he left the ship.


    She had installed a few self developed applications to monitor his health status, in case she needed to intervene, but luckily everything had been boring as expected.


    Later on that first day she saw a rush of adrenaline and elevated heartbeat. But he was in the bar and the local stations weren¡¯t announcing anything happening so Friday was puzzled.


    The elevated heartbeat had continued and although the adrenaline had diminished there were some other chemical changes, like glutamate, noradrenaline, dopamine, and hypocretin being generated, plus they were traces of alcohol as well.


    After a while he was back to his room, but the breathing and heartbeat were truly elevated and testosterone was being produced so Friday decided to turn the data-pad microphone on, maybe he was fighting or something.


    It took her all of three seconds from hearing the sounds to process what was happening.


    ¡°This is¡­ Oh! Good for you Jordi¡± - she thought.


    ¡ª---


    The next morning Jordi woke up with a bit of a hangover, he looked around not recognizing the room at first but then he remembered where he was and what had happened.


    There was no one by his side but there was a card on the pillow with a couple strands of silver hair tied around it. He picked it up and noticed it was heavier than it looked and had a small circuit embedded on it.


    ¡°Thank you for a fun night. I¡¯ll be really busy the next three days or so but you can contact me after if you want to. This card contains my contact details, I look forward to hearing from you!¡±


    He put the card on the desk and went to take a shower, a smile on his face while remembering the events of the previous night. It hadn¡¯t been a dream, it had really happened.


    Not a bad way at all to start these holidays.

 Chapter 15

    The next day Jordi decided to go for a little exploring. The planet was massive and although it had been completely mapped there were some trails to be enjoyed and landscapes to see.


    He booked an adventure slot on the other side of the planet. How it worked is he chose 3 to 5 desired places and would have reserved for himself a 200 acres zone where he could just go and enjoy.


    A map was downloaded to his data-pad and a range of hours for him to visit, he could spend a few days if he so desired and due to his VIP invitation he had priority so he just chose one with mountains, a not so dense forest, rivers and waterfalls.


    He took the mag-lev to a special train station that showed in his itinerary. The entrance was huge and the trains looked like the mag-lev ones but the rails went down. There was a video-stand showing an explanation of what this was, the trains will go deep into the planet and then in a straight line to one of the hubs. From there they would go up in small individual or group capsules that would take them to their reserved zone.


    Before riding the train he was given a backpack with rations, water, and other useful stuff. They also gave him an emergency belt that would activate to prevent falls, attacks from wild animals and any other dangerous situations; it would create a protection bubble that would comfortably fit one being and then send a probe with a rescue signal.


    Both during the mag-lev trip and on the one that took him closer to the planet¡¯s core he saw all kinds of species but for someone who grew up already under the Empire rule that was as normal as going to a different system.


    And it showed that this place was a leisure planet. Everyone¡¯s walking pace was relaxed and all of them were smiling or their particular form of showing happiness. Blobs for instance tend to have brilliant dots all over their skin, insect-based species usually show it on their antennas or with a very-fast mandible movement, drewells with all their seriousness are the most evident because their skin gets a lighter tone even if they are sometimes not smiling.


    Jordi was just enjoying the view, the tunnel that went down was on a big cave with brackets carefully located in a way that it would not ruin the look of the stonewalls.


    The trip down under was going to take a couple hours so he used that time to memorize the map of the zone reserved to him. There were a couple trails drawn but he had no obligation nor desire to use them, he just looked at a couple interesting points - like a double waterfall or a big canyon - and put it on his memory.


    Like all explorers he had studied the memory palace technique, it was a mandatory subject after all, and although they needed only to be able to create a couple rooms provided those rooms were filled with furniture, he was able to create a whole palace with fourteen rooms. Even though humans were among the most proficient species with that technique, this was still impressive.


    He saved the memory of the map in his favorite place for ¡°couple days memory¡±, a piece of cork in the third room to the right on the second floor. Now he would only close his eyes and quickly navigate through the palace, reach the room and look at it.


    Once that was done and with a bit of time he looked at the rest of the passengers, no more than fifty on his wagon.


    There were various groups and lots of individuals like himself, everybody immersed in themselves and looking at their maps and information. Everybody wearing tailored adventure suits which had protection to the elements and some kinetic improvements and everyone wearing that safety belt. Still you could feel the excitement in the air.


    Before he realized the train was stopping and everyone got down in an orderly manner. There were some attendants that picked them up and took them to their designated capsule, he had to wait a bit but in less than five minutes he was already sitting inside his and waiting to be launched.


    He was instructed to sit down and put on the security harness and was launched at an incredible speed, he was used to the ship¡¯s inertial dampeners and these things didn¡¯t have ones as powerful, just enough to not kill the travelers.


    ¡°Well, that is part of the adventure isn¡¯t it?¡± - he thought.


    A couple minutes later he felt the speed decreasing up to a full stop and then the capsule walls became transparent gradually, so he could get used to the brightness.


    The capsule door opened and he freed himself from the harness and left, but not before making sure he had everything with him.


    As he stepped out the door¡¯s capsule closed and a voice came out wishing him a good time, then the capsule disappeared and a panel closed, leaving him there to enjoy his adventure.


    He mentally checked the map and saw that the canyon was about fifteen kilometers to the south-west and then he would need to walk about ten more for the water-falls, so he started to walk, enjoying a sunny day with a gentle breeze, surrounded but the sounds of a wild forest; there were some dangerous beasts around there but everyone was continuously monitored and he would receive a warning before encountering one.


    Unless facing a beast was one thing he had requested, there were beings there to hunt after all, and they could with the necessary permits. Grhjujiik still had inside their spider brain the same way humans had the mammal aggression.


    At one point he heard the soft ping of the warning and checked the small data-pad on his wrist, there was a family of Orknas nearby.


    Orknas are similar to stags but bigger. They¡¯re also vegetarian but quite aggressive if bothered, anyone who has faced a wild elk can tell you they are not a joke.


    He acknowledged the alarm and decided to try to sneak and watch them, it would be a shame if his bubble activated so early but he was there to have an adventure after all.


    Remembering his survival classes, another mandatory subject for explorers in case a planet required more in-person exploration, he walked towards them quietly. Careful not to step on a branch or anything that would make a sound and choose the softest part of the terrain.


    They were on a clearing, five of them, the female of the species was a bit bigger than the males and the mother of that group was easily four meters long and almost two meters until the top of her head. But the female antlers weren''t as intricate as the male ones, still, both the mother and the father antlers were almost a meter long, ending with a mix of rounded and sharp tips.


    They were about fifty meters from him so he was afraid that the wind could change revealing himself to the group.


    He approached a tall and thick tree and saw a good branch fifteen meters from the ground. He smiled and activated the kinetic power-up on his legs, squatted down to take impulse and jumped.


    He miscalculated the strength of the jump though and landed on another big branch but twenty or so meters from the ground.


    He stood still looking at the group, the jump had made some sounds and now the five of them were inspecting the surrounding. About a minute later they dismissed it and continued grazing.


    Breathing normally now Jordi looked at the clearing from his elevated position, it had two zones completely void of any plants with just some dry soil, both on the northern part of the clearing.


    He focused and looked more carefully to the animals in front of him. The two adults, massive dark-brown units with muscles that looked made of steel, their honey colored eyes always looking around while grazing. And the three young ones, of three different sizes, showing the different growing stages of the animal; the biggest one almost as big as his father with the same antler drawing as him but way smaller, the others without any antlers and prancing happily.


    Thankfully Jordi had remembered to disable the alarm sound because he felt a strong but quick piercing pain on his wrist, there was a dangerous animal nearby.


    He took a look and saw eight red dots approaching the clearing from the other side, he relaxed his breathing and prepared himself to see the show unfold.


    Eight animals appeared surrounding the orknas and the family quickly formed a circle with the young ones looking inside while the adults looking outside the circle. The eight predators were about three meters long, yellow skin that was transitioning to green like chameleons, their heads a mix of shark and wolf.


    Suddenly two of them jumped towards the young ones but were welcomed with a kick on their head. One head got smashed and fell dead right there, the other flew about six meters and hit a tree.


    The six remaining predators - Purlins were called - started going in circles around the orknas, but the family did the same circling counter clockwise.


    Two more purlins jumped but this time the orknas circled quickly and they were impaled on the adult male antlers, he did a quick neck movement and their bodies fell in the clearing.


    Before that scene had ended though the other four had jumped as well but they were also welcomed with a series of kicks and headbutts, before he realized almost all of the purlins were laying dead on the ground. The one who had been sent flying towards the tree was trying to leave the clearing but the biggest young one got there in a couple of jumps and tramped all over it.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The next scene surprised Jordi. The orknas were pushing the cadavers to one of the zones without any plants, the mother making a hole with her antlers. They pushed the bodies towards the hole and the whole family started tramping all over the bodies, making a mush of blood and bones. They covered it with soil once they finished and left the clearing, the young ones prancing happily back and forth.


    Jordi stood on his branch for a few minutes while checking the scan, waiting for them to be far enough not to get scared by his scent. He went down, not without remembering to activate the kinetic bit on his boots to soften the fall, and continued his trail towards the waterfalls.


    On the way there he noticed a small change in the scenery. The plant colors started getting more vibrant and went from lush green to a blood red. And it was alive, all kinds of birds and insects buzzing in the background, but he was wearing a repellent so he would not get bothered by them.


    ¡ª---


    He heard the waterfalls before he saw them and once he stood in front of them, he couldn¡¯t react. One One six meter waterfall landed in a small pond made by the terrain and then continued downwards on a nine meter waterfall that landed on a small lake.


    Still, the water was rushing hard. They both made a thunderous sound but the lake was swallowing all that incoming water without much movement on it, it had to be really deep for that. At the southernmost part of the lake there was a river rushing ever downwards. He checked the map and there was another waterfall some ten kilometers forward, but it didn''t look as impressive as these ones.


    He approached and touched the water to check for temperature and it was refreshingly warmer than he thought it would be but still on the cold side.


    Then, he squatted at the edge just looking at the water.


    It was dark at the center where the whirlwind made by the falling waterfall ended, he was about to call Friday for assistance when he realized he was alone.


    His instinct was screaming that there was something there but it looked dangerous, depending how deep it was he would probably be sucked deep into it.


    He quickly reviewed the fasteners on his backpack and clothes, they were all water resistant so he just needed to ensure it was properly closed. Inside the backpack there was a special set of glasses that he put on, it would provide light and a night-vision or infrared if needed.


    He checked for rocks in the proximity and, once he was sure, jumped head first into the water.


    He knew he could hold his breath for almost two minutes while engaging in physical exercise so he started to count mentally.


    Thanks to those glasses he could see perfectly and the view was astounding. It looked like a well had been excavated and at some point the waterfalls had covered it all. But the water was moving fast and it was getting really hard to swim so he activated the kinetic power-up on the whole body and swam towards the well entrance with powerful movements.


    While going down the well he felt a change in the water movements and temperature so he decided to follow that small river, it went through a hole big enough to fit him on the side of the well casing.


    Thirty seconds had passed and he was following that path quickly. It went down, then a bit up, and then continued ever eastwards, permanently surrounded by rocks and soil.


    Near the minute mark, when he had to decide to either continue or go back, he saw a light appear in front of him so he decided to continue and pressed forward.


    Not even fifteen seconds after he had seen the light he found himself emerging on a subterranean cave filled with rich oxygen. He cancelled the kinetic power-up and breathed for a couple minutes while watching where he was.


    The cave was a semicircle made of a strange bluish material, something between metal and crystal, and the higher point of the ceiling was about five meters over the water. There was a small hole on the exact center of the semicircle and a bit of light was pouring from it.


    He dived and saw that the bluish material covered the cave near the water line, under it there was just your typical mix of rocks and soil.


    He checked his wrist data-pad and he was about half a kilometer from where he started and a good hundred meters below.


    Curious as he was he attempted to climb the wall but the material was slippery even though there were some protuberances to put his fingers around, but he couldn¡¯t manage to hold for long and his hands kept slipping off.


    He dived some more looking for another path but he saw none but the one he came from. At the bottom he saw some sharp rocks and picked one, which he used then to try to cut some parts of the bluish material but the rock broke before he could even make a dent.


    The glasses had some recording capabilities so he made a video, he could perfectly remember the structure and colors but he wanted to show this to someone. Oh how was he missing Friday! He would¡¯ve asked for her analysis of the rocks and probably she would send a mini-drone to get some samples. His wrist data-pad was also not as powerful as the one he usually used so his options were limited.


    While he was recording the video he realized there was a pattern there. Looking at the rocks from the sides you couldn¡¯t really see it but if you looked straight from underneath its center you could clearly see a drawing of something. It could easily be an example of pareidolia and that would mean his mind was making that up, but he didn¡¯t fully recognize the form he was seeing, it just looked like a long serpent with legs.


    After recording the cave for a few minutes from different sides he decided to go back. Closed his eyes to focus on his orientation and took a big breath.


    The way back under the water was faster this time because he knew exactly where he was going and he arrived at the waterfall just before the minute mark. Still, it took him a few seconds to surface because the water¡¯s pull was that strong.


    He left the lake and decided to check the cave location from outside. He had to walk a bit, climb a couple hills and dodge a few thorny bushes.


    He was getting closer to that location when his wrist data-pad started vibrating, he looked at it and saw the zone in front of him marked in a bright red signalling that it was a dangerous zone.


    From the flag he had put on his data-wrist he saw that the cave was about two hundred meters in front of him, in the middle of the red zone. On the map in the data-pad it said that the zone was considered dangerous due to a high possibility of encountering predators but didn¡¯t specify which ones.


    He could feel the air coming from behind so if there was a predator in front of him it would have already smelled him. He crouched and scrutinized the terrain in front of him.


    As far as he could see there was a rocky hill with few plants on it and some evidence of digged out terrain. He checked the data-pad again but it didn¡¯t have any warning of creatures being nearby, just the red zone in front of him.


    He moved a bit closer to the edge of the red zone, still crouching, and saw the hill ending with a vertical slope; he would need climbing tools if he wanted to go down that path. Not seeing or detecting any predator he stood up and started walking back, that was when he felt movement under his feet.


    Following his instincts he quickly jumped to the side and rolled, just to see a three meter worm-like thing coming from the ground and biting the air, he had dodged it by centimeters.


    The first thing that came to his mind when he saw the thing were the Dune worms, albeit in smaller scale, luckily for him.


    The worm disappeared on the ground and he could now see the dust moving, he stood still observing the situation, his brain working different paths and possibilities. He always could trigger the emergency bubble but he¡¯d rather not do that on his first day adventuring.


    From the dust movement he deduced the thing was going in circles trying to find him and it was fast; he sharpened his hearing, focusing on the movement in the ground. He could barely hear the creature moving but it was enough to memorize the sound and tell his brain to be aware of it.


    When it was the farthest from him he started running on tiptoe with long strides, to minimize both the impact and the time between steps.


    All of a sudden his brain just shouted ¡°jump!¡± and he did. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the thing coming out and biting the space where he was a second ago and then disappearing under the terrain again.


    He kept running, leaving the red zone behind him, and this time seeing another cluster of dust movement to his right side, another worm had joined the hunt.


    Jordi was about to arrive at a patch of thorny bushes when another worm just jumped in front of him but before he could react and the worm could bite him the emergency bubble came out, protecting him from any damage.


    Inside it he screamed in frustration. His wrist data-pad now showing some instructions of what to do in the meantime; he could still feel the worms hitting the bubble but knew they wouldn¡¯t be able to penetrate it.


    ¡ª---


    A while later he found himself on a transport where his rescuers deactivated the bubble.


    There were three beings, looking completely human except for the fact that they were massively muscular and looked military.


    A bald guy in his forties, with some scars on his cheeks and under his left eye, was looking at him with his dark almond gaze.


    ¡°Welcome back, my name is Ranger Jones. We took a look at your data-pad path and we understand you didn¡¯t ignore the signs and you are definitely not at fault, so you don¡¯t have to worry.¡± - the bald guy said, finishing with a smile.


    ¡°In fact I would say you are lucky, these worms have never been seen before. We marked the whole thing as dangerous because it looked like a hunting ground but we will need to review it because their territory seems to have grown. Thanks for that by the way.¡± - he continued, still smiling as if someone had taught him that it was the only way for him not to look menacing.


    ¡°Well you can also add the type of predator who lives in that zone so people are more aware of the dangers. I didn¡¯t know what I should be careful of!¡± - Jordi replied, trying to control his anger.


    ¡°That¡¯s the thing¡± - said a feminine voice, and Jordi then realized the other bald guy sitting on the back of the transport with him was a gal, or just sounded like one because their body was as muscular as the first one - ¡°We hadn¡¯t seen them until today, all we had were some parts of animals and carcasses. Now thanks to you we even have a living one!¡± - and she made a gesture with her head pointing to a big transparent receptacle secured behind her.


    ¡°Yeah that thing was trying to bite the bubble with everything it could when we arrived so it was quite easy to capture it¡± - Ranger Jones explained. - ¡°So don¡¯t be sad because your adventure finished early, we will send some pictures of the worm so you can share them and your name will appear on its description as the first one to encounter one.¡±


    ¡°So you can rest now, we¡¯ll take you to our site where we will do a quick interview and then accompany you to the hotel¡± - Ranger Jones finished.


    Jordi felt defeated though. Yes it was kind of amazing that he had been the first one to see the bug. Probably beings who had seen the red zone had kept their distance from it, but he wanted to explore more, to see more animals and plants, to feel the planet a little bit more.


    ¡ª---


    Without realizing, he fell asleep on the transport and was woken up about half an hour later.


    He walked down the transport and saw they were in some kind of outpost. Just a couple buildings and a huge metallic fence that finished with a transparent dome covering the whole thing.


    One of the two rangers that were in the back with him started walking with the receptacle in their hands and the other started moving in the opposite direction, just watching their backs it was difficult to see who was who. Jordi decided to follow the one NOT carrying the worm.


    They walked to the entrance of one of the buildings and the ranger guided him to what looked like an interrogation room.


    ¡°Wait here, someone will come to ask you a few more things and then we will take you back to the hotel¡± - the Ranger said with that feminine voice.


    The chairs were comfortable at least so he just sat down and closed his eyes, reviewing mentally everything that had happened to summarize it properly.


    Then the door opened and a figure came in. Wearing a black suit with purple bands on the side, three golden dots on the collar. But he recognized the face, it was Er¡¯anie.


    ¡°See, I told you we would meet sooner than you thought¡± - she said smiling - ¡°Although I have to admit I was definitely not expecting this. You got us a worm! Please, tell me in detail everything you did today¡±


    Jordi excitement banished quickly, she was working now and he had to be a professional as well. Still, it was difficult to not be nervous when the suit defined her figure so well.


    He sighed loudly and started recollecting the events of the day.

 Chapter 16

    Jordi arrived at the hotel a couple hours later exhausted by the interview.


    Er¡¯anie had been quite thorough. She had asked to see the video he recorded of that cave and the blue stones and, when she approached to see it better, her smell - not perfume, Jordi was clear on that, it was her body odor - had been intoxicating. Hours had passed and Jordi couldn¡¯t still put it out of his mind.


    Then she started mumbling theories of what was that rock formation, and making some quick notes about tests to run and material she would need for those.


    She completely understood Jordi¡¯s reasoning to approach the red zone though, it was only logical to check the upper part of that rock formation to see what else was there, more so taking into account that Jordi was an explorer so curiosity was something he had in spades.


    Since he was released quite late, they had scheduled a visit to the lake for the day after, ¡°but it is a professional meeting, not a date¡± she had said and then winked at him.


    Jordi was lying in the bed trying really hard not to think about her but her intensity, beauty and smell were way more than he could handle, he barely got any sleep at all.


    ¡ª---


    The next morning he woke up and took a shower, then decided to have breakfast in the hotel¡¯s restaurant, his mind still going in circles about Er¡¯anie.


    Due to the particularities of some species, there was a specific restaurant for breakfast. It was a massive room, more than five hundred meters long, with tables and chairs and other kinds of furniture for more than four hundred people.


    There was an open bar, a self service space and a group of cooks of different species with their kitchen on one side.


    He approached one of the human cooks and asked if there was specific cuisine or a menu or something, which was received with a big laugh from all of them.


    ¡°How it works is, you ask for it and we make the best version you have ever tasted¡± - answered one of the cooks.


    Jordi started thinking if he should go for an English breakfast or something else, but they had challenged him so he decided to accept that challenge.


    ¡°Ok then. What about a two-egg french omelet with three slices of pag¨¨s bread with tomato, catalan style; a bit of fuet, a few slices of white butifarra and egg butifarra as well. And a glass of orange juice to accompany it.¡±


    The cooks looked at him like they were frozen in time and then one of them started laughing.


    ¡°He got you there guys! Don¡¯t worry Mr Explorer, we were told where you are from before your arrival and I¡¯m pretty sure we imported some catalan ingredients. If you wait at a table we will be bringing that in a few minutes¡± - said one human cook smiling, his galactic really marked with catalan accent, you could hear it on the Ls and the Es.


    Jordi smiled back and went to find a table, he chose one near enough to the windows so he could feel the sun coming in through.


    A few minutes later a waiter approached and served him his breakfast, everything looked amazing.


    The omelet had the perfect color, the yellow not too bright and not too toasted. The bread looked spongy and he could tell it had been done catalan style, the reddish tone of the tomato all over it, with the oil and salt clearly shining.


    The fuet looked like it had some pepper on it so he tried a piece and it was really good, the butifarras were quite good as well. All in all, it was great; not the best he ever had though but quite good nonetheless.


    While he was enjoying his breakfast he felt some beings looking at his direction and saw some approaching the cooks. He sharpened his hearing and could hear they were asking about his food. Minutes later there were almost a dozen beings trying fuet and butifarra for the first time, Jordi had to suppress a laugh after hearing the sounds of pleasure coming from them.


    With a full stomach and a smile on his face he approached the cooks to congratulate them for a job well done and left the restaurant afterwards.


    Since the next day was going to be a busy one he decided he would relax and explore the city so he left the hotel and started wandering around, no clear goal defined.


    He wandered a bit while checking activities and places to see when he saw there was a comedy-musical playing later that day. He remembered he had enjoyed theater in the past and was curious about this musical, the description said it was a non-human point of view of the pre-Empire human economy, it sounded crazy fun and there were still some free seats so he signed in.


    There was a note asking people to dress up to follow human tradition and he still had a few hours before the event so he decided to go to the trade center.


    He took a mag-lev train towards the trade center while checking on his data-pad which style would fit better with the event, he decided to go with a pearl gray suit with a red bow tie and found a boutique that he liked, there was something on their spider logo that kind of called to him.


    A few minutes later he found himself entering that boutique and getting lost in thought watching a grhjujiik dressed with a big red jumpsuit that was sewing something up with four of their limbs. A smaller grhjujiik dressed fully in lime green approached him with quick movements.


    ¡°Hi! Can we help you?¡± - they asked with a sweet voice


    ¡°Hi, I hope so, there¡¯s this comedy-musical this afternoon and they request attendants to dress up. I¡¯ve checked your work and liked the style so I was wondering if you would be able to prepare a suit for me.¡± - he asked, looking at the spider-like being. No matter how used humans were to being around grhjujiiks, there was always something on their brains screaming to just run.


    The one that was sewing stopped and approached faster than it looked possible, before Jordi realized they were just a meter from him.


    ¡°A suit for this afternoon you say?¡± - they asked and looked at him from head to toe. Then they stood up on just their two back legs and circled him examining him in detail.


    The big grhjujiik made an affirmative gesture and went back to continue their work.


    ¡°If you come with me we¡¯ll take your measurements and help you choose the fabric and best color¡± - said the smaller one.


    Jordi followed them, there were seven grhjujiiks working tirelessly sewing some clothes, he couldn¡¯t help but be amazed at their diligence and focus.


    The small grhjujiik took him to a zone full of all kinds of fabrics and offered him a seat.


    ¡°You look like you¡¯ve already thought about what you would like to wear.¡± - they said with their sweet voice.


    ¡°Yeah, I was thinking about a pearl gray suit with a red bow tie¡± - he answered.


    The grhjujiik¡¯s mandibles trembled rapidly.


    ¡°Oh! How exciting! We haven¡¯t had a request like that in a while¡± - they said, and started moving back and forth.


    ¡°Yes, yes, I think those colors will look good on you. And the suit, mmmmh, we can do¡­ yes, yes!¡± - they continued, unable to hide their excitement.


    They quickly disappeared and came back a few seconds later holding a huge folder, which they proceeded to open in front of him.


    ¡°Here you can see and feel some of the fabric we have, the color is easy to change if you like a specific fabric¡± - they said while turning the pages.


    ¡°Since in that venue the temperature is going to be warm for you I would recommend one of these for the pants¡± - they said opening a specific page - ¡°And for the jacket I would choose one of these¡± - they said turning to another page.


    Jordi took a while touching and feeling the fabric, they had all a silky feel and looked refreshing.


    ¡°Well, to be honest I don¡¯t feel much difference between them. I¡¯m afraid you have better senses than I do¡± - he said smiling - ¡°Since you are the expert, if you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯ll leave the fabric decision to you¡±


    The grhjujiik mandibles trembled in excitement and they quickly went through the pages while murmuring something. They grabbed a data-pad with a free limb and started writing notes.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    ¡°Now please come with me, we need to take your measurements¡± - they said quickly moving towards another room.


    Once they entered that small room the grhjujiik closed the door.


    ¡°Is for privacy you know, we need you to remove the upper clothing if you don¡¯t mind¡± - they said with that honeyed voice.


    He followed the instructions and then moved to the center of the room, where he was told to stand with open legs and arms extended.


    ¡°Now close your eyes and don¡¯t move.¡± - they said with a serious tone.


    Jordi followed the instructions and felt something like a fine thread on the tip of his fingers, that something was quickly moving over his arm until the neck.


    Jordi had had some custom clothes done in the past and remembered the tailor using a cloth ruler to take his measurements. This felt similar but quicker and what he imagined to be the ruler felt really thin.


    He didn¡¯t move a muscle during the two minutes that the process lasted, focusing on the soft touch of that fine thread and imagining what measures were taking at every point, feeling goosebumps at the crown of his head.


    ¡°And we¡¯re done, you can open your eyes now. Thank you for your patience¡± - said the grhjujiik with their sweet voice.


    While he dressed he saw them checking the data-pad and typing with two of their limbs with a concentrated gesture.


    ¡°We have the materials here and it will be finished just in time for the show. Will you pick it up or shall we send it somewhere?¡± - they asked


    Jordi took one of the hotel cards and gave it to them.


    ¡°Please bring it here, my details are in the back¡± - he replied


    ¡°It will be done, thanks for your patronage¡± - they answered back


    With the suit ordered and lots of time still left, he decided to have a look at the food court in the trade center since it was almost lunch time.


    There were all kinds of stands from all kinds of different species. All of them had a cardboard in front with a toxicity warning and a list of which species were compatible with which food, humans could eat almost everything so Jordi thought he would try a few of them.


    He started with a stand managed by blobs. Their food was basically a bunch of different soups and he could choose cold and hot, spicy or not, and a bunch of other options.


    The food stand didn¡¯t have many people in front and the blobs were excited to attend to him, they discussed some options and he decided to go for a cold soup mildly spicy. It was blue, which is not a color that humans tend to find on their food, but it was full of flavor and really tasty.


    Then he decided to try some skewered food. There were ravnar, grhjujiik and ki¡¯rlenn stands with some skewered samples exposed, but to him the ravnar ones look the most appetizing.


    He approached the stand and a light-green ravnar with a pink apron saluted him. They discussed the options and he was offered a mixed brochette with three different kinds of meat and four different vegetables.


    Two of the meats tasted like chicken, which wasn¡¯t really a surprise. It had been proven years ago that this meant that human taste buds and brains couldn¡¯t really process the different chemistry so the brain chose a ¡°default¡± option.


    The other meat tasted like deer, with a really gamy flavor, but the vegetable that came after softened the impact and left a sweet flavor on his mouth.


    He had been eating it in front of the stand and when they saw his reaction they offered him a small glass filled with a light-green liquid that tasted like sweet wine.


    He spent the next hour or so checking other food stands and trying all kinds of cuisine and drinks, then full as he was, decided to walk to the hotel enjoying the sunny day and gentle breeze. It reminded him of spring back in Barcelona.


    But before leaving he wanted something to help his digestion so he looked for a human food stand that served orujo. Found one completely empty of visitors with a bored dark-haired guy sitting there and approached.


    The guy was really happy to finally have a customer and spend five good minutes complaining about ¡°these aliens who don¡¯t know how to drink¡±. He gave him a glass of orujo de hierbas and a small bottle as a gift.


    The orujo smelled nice and was quite strong, he felt it going down his throat like a piece of burning coal. Still, he said his thank yous and goodbyes and started walking towards the hotel.


    The orujo was already affecting his head a bit and the sun and the warmth throughout his body wasn¡¯t helping, but the gentle breeze kept him awake during the half an hour or so it took him to reach his room.


    He checked the time and saw that he still had a couple hours before the event so he decided to take a quick nap.


    ¡ª---


    He was awakened by the door bell of his room, he checked the time and there was still an hour until the event. Opened the door and one of the hotel service drones was bringing the suit.


    Took a shower to help him wake up. He was also feeling the excitement grow, it had been a long while since he had seen a musical. He had some memories of being a child and his father inadvertently humming while drawing one of his projects.


    Musicals had been another of those things humanity had brought to the Empire. Of course there were species for whom the song or dance was part of their lives, like the Echnas, a plant based species not commonly seen due to the amount of CO2 required for their existence, their planets were basically toxic for most of the rest of the Empire.


    Or like the Uriuu, an aquatic species that to a human would look like sirens, but their music could only be appreciated under the water which made it all the more difficult for everyone else to enjoy.


    Human musicals though were completely on a different level. To explain a story with dance and music, with songs that exalted the story and the feelings within. The Empire couldn¡¯t have enough musicals and a new genre grew.


    And comedy musicals, with their ability to laugh at sadness, their use of satire and their gift to make people laugh, the Empire loved them although they were not really proficient in writing them.


    The one he was going to watch today though was one of those brilliant exceptions. It was a satire about the banking world in the 21st Earth century as understood by a grhjujiik.


    Jordi had read some comments and watched some videos and interviews with the writer about the source material they had used and of one of the songs that was already pretty famous, a whole five minute piece based on a now known short scene from that old program called South Park, ¡°and it¡¯s gone!¡±.


    He finished the shower smiling and humming the song¡¯s tune and then looked at the suit, it was gorgeous and exactly what he wanted.


    He decided not to shave, a memory of Er¡¯anie caressing his two day beard while lying naked by his side was all he needed to be convinced, then put on the suit.


    The pants were comfortable as pajamas, not very tight and felt quite right. The fabric felt fresh, although it was like silk to the touch it felt as fresh as linen.


    The shirt felt like getting enveloped by a soft cloud but putting the jacket on felt like crowning a masterpiece.


    Then he looked at the red strip in front of him, he just realized he didn¡¯t know how to put a bow tie.


    With the suite came a piece of paper, which was not something you usually see in the Empire, with a drawing. On the back side of the red stripe there was a small white button, he put the stripe under the shirt¡¯s collar and pressed the button.


    As if by magic, the bow tie moved and tied itself perfectly.


    He looked at the mirror quite proud of himself, he looked amazing.


    ¡ª---


    He arrived at the theater with twenty minutes to spare. The pamphlet said to arrive half an hour before the event started to soak in the atmosphere but Jordi thought that 20 minutes surrounded by beings he didn¡¯t know was more than enough.


    The theater building was massive, with lights at the entrance and a crowd of all kinds of beings coming in. The pamphlet said that it could host six thousand beings without losing acoustics and all tickets had been sold.


    And everyone was dressed up. There was a group of ravnars dressed in 19th Earth century style, with their long jackets, top hats and monocles. Another group of drewells all dressed like men-in-black characters, sunglasses included. The amount of different species and styles looked like a costume party.


    But the ambience was overflowing with joy. As he approached the entrance he could hear their laughs and feel the joy everyone there was emitting.


    Once he passed the massive entrance, after he validated his ticket, there was a huge reception room, brightly illuminated with an orange tone by a massive chandelier. The orange tone made sense, it was chosen because there were some species to whom the white bright light preferred by humans was damaging.


    The whole venue had been decorated as a 20th earth century opera. Their fine plant details on the columns and rails, the stairs leading to the hall made of a material similar to marble, the long bar with decorated stools surrounded by all kinds of beings, the waiters and waitresses wandering around with silver trays loaded with food or drinks.


    He approached the bar and asked for a glass of dry cava, a catalan drink similar to champagne. The best choice for an event like this.


    He had to admit that the atmosphere was so lively and joyous that he almost convinced himself to approach a group of beings and partake in conversation. Almost. But he decided to just enjoy his glass of cava and watch everyone else, trying to catch glimpses of conversations.


    Then, all of a sudden, there was a small silence and everybody looked at the entrance.


    He looked as well, a group of four female epsilons was entering the venue.


    They all looked amazing. They all shared their silver hair and deep, purple eyes. Their slender but muscular figure and their strong walk. And above all, they were all extremely beautiful.


    Their dresses were a mix of styles. One of them was wearing a piece similar to Audrey Hepburn¡¯s dark dress, another a long tailed piece that could have been worn by a medieval queen; the third had chosen a suit like those men-in-black drewell and saluted them from the distance, which caused an explosion of laughter from them. And the last one was wearing a piece similar to Jessica Rabbit¡¯s red dress, but she had chosen to have her hair with a beautiful up-sweep instead.


    All of them looked spectacular but Jordi¡¯s gaze was stuck on the last one, as similar as they all were he was pretty sure that was Er¡¯anie.


    She must have felt his gaze because looked straight at him, smiled, and winked.


    Conversations started to take place again but no one could help but look at them every now and then. If their charismatic aura was powerful when they were alone, with the four of them it grew exponentially.


    Jordi quickly finished his cava and asked for another glass, he would need a bit more alcohol to survive this.


    As he was being served, a couple of Ki¡¯rlenn dressed as butlers appeared at the top of the stairs, by the hall entrance.


    ¡°Please everyone come to your assigned seats, the show is about to begin¡± - they said both at the same time, bowing, and the hall¡¯s entrance opened.


    Everyone proceeded to orderly enter the hall. Jordi tried to follow the group of epsilons but lost them in the crowd, so he gave up and tried to focus on getting to his seat and enjoying the show.


    In less than ten minutes the six thousand beings that were filling the reception area took their seats. With everyone seated the lights came out and a single circle of light appeared at the center of the stage, focused on another Ki¡¯rlenn dressed as a butler.


    He explained how musicals worked for those who didn¡¯t know. That laugh was allowed and even desired, that they shouldn¡¯t sing along no matter how much they knew the songs, and other traditions long followed by these kinds of shows.


    Then it began, and for the next three hours Jordi didn¡¯t think of anything else and immersed himself in the show. Laughing and applauding and enjoying it very much.


    And those three hours passed really fast, before he realized he had joined everyone in a standing ovation, with the actors holding hands and bowing, all in line on the stage. They stood there applauding for a few minutes, the actors bowing and raising the hands together, then slowly started leaving the hall.


    Back at the reception area he was stopped by various groups that asked him where he got the suit and forced him to chat a bit, but he found himself even enjoying the conversation and had no desire to look for Er¡¯anie. They would be together the next day after all, albeit in a more professional environment.

 Chapter 17

    Jordi woke up early the next morning and went to enjoy breakfast, he decided to go with the same as the previous day.


    The sun had barely risen though and there was only one cook working so early, a drewell. He remembered him and saw him doing his best to prepare everything but, alas, it showed it was his first time cooking a french omelet or spreading the tomato in catalan style, the slices of fuet and butifarra were also way too thin.


    Still, Jordi decided not to complain, the cook had done his best and complaining was no way to start a new day, he would write a comment later.


    He was almost finished when his wrist data-pad beeped with a message from Er¡¯anie, she would pick him up in about 15 minutes, more than enough time to finish breakfast.


    She instructed him not to bring anything, that they would provide him with a backpack similar to the one he was given on the day he explored.


    He waited in front of the hotel dressed with comfortable clothes and mountain shoes. She appeared right on time coming down from one of the few vehicles that were on the wide street in front of the hotel, she was wearing a tight dry-suit, her hair in a fishtail braid.


    The moment he saw her he felt himself blushing, which made him sort of angry because there was no reason whatsoever for that, which made him blush even more.


    She approached him with a smile on her face.


    ¡°Good morning Jordi. I really hope you are ready for today¡± - she asked.


    ¡°Good morning to you too. I really don¡¯t know what you are expecting but yes, I¡¯m ready¡± - he answered.


    She made a hand gesture indicating that they moved to the big vehicle, about 8 meters long and 5 meters wide, with a couple of black tinted windows. To Jordi it looked like a mix between a limousine and a hummer.


    Er¡¯anie opened the door and gestured to him to quickly enter, she followed him inside and closed the vehicle door.


    The interior had a row of seats with four other beings, two of them were Epsilons as well, a male and a female; the other two were ravnars. They were all wearing the same tight dry-suit Er¡¯anie was wearing.


    ¡°Xen¡¯ia, Xuhkro, Rekro, Rethrag, meet Jordi.¡± - said Er¡¯anie, everyone just waved at him and smiled.


    ¡°So, what we¡¯re going to do today is try to replicate some of what you did when you found the worms¡± - explained Er¡¯anie - ¡°First we will go to that cave with the blue stones. We will scan them and see if they emit anything. We believe those stones have something to do with the worms appearing.¡±


    The vehicle was quickly moving towards the edge of the city, all vehicle passengers immersed in their data-pads or setting up a piece of hardware Jordi had never seen.


    After a while, a voice came in from the vehicle sound system.


    ¡°Please fasten your seatbelts, we¡¯ll be boarding the ship and moving towards our destination¡± - said a neutral voice, probably a vehicle AI.


    They all did and after a few seconds Jordi felt the vehicle stop, then a sudden push as if they were aboard a spaceship about to take off.


    He tried to check the view from the windows but the black tint was two way, he couldn¡¯t see the outside.


    The vehicle kept on accelerating and Jordi and the two ravnars looked like they were barely handling those forces, the three Epsilons continued doing their stuff as if they hadn¡¯t noticed any change whatsoever.


    He was used to increased gravity from the Espurna, but his ship had inertial dampeners and he had been trained to handle up to 7 Earth Gs. The ravnars looked like they were suffering though, eyes closed and claws firmly grabbing their seats.


    The vehicle kept accelerating for about twenty minutes, the pressure getting stronger by the minute.


    ¡°We will be starting our descent, please remain seated with your seatbelts fastened¡± - announced the vehicle AI.


    He felt the drop on his stomach and started focusing on his breathing. He was trying to keep his eyes closed but couldn¡¯t help stealing a glance every now and then.


    The epsilons were not working any more, they too were feeling the drop and their faces were a picture of meditation, eyes closed and rhythmic breathing.


    The two ravnars were, to put it mildly, a horrible mess. Faces visually shaken, skin color clearer than normal with some patches of white, their pupils a fine line and open mouth as if screaming but no sound came from it.


    Then they felt the retro-boosters and their bodies hit the back of their seats, hard.


    Jordi could feel now how their vehicle was quickly slowing, the pressure on his chest lowering and allowing for easy breathing.


    A couple minutes after the descent had started he felt the vehicle touching down.


    ¡°We have landed. You can now unfasten your seatbelts and leave the vehicle.¡± - announced the vehicle AI.


    The two ravnars left quickly, almost stripping the seatbelts from their place, and started vomiting the moment they left the vehicle.


    Jordi left after them and looked around. He quickly realized they were on the clearing where he had seen the family of oknas two days ago. Which was amazing, he had traveled for hours in mag-lev trains to get here and they just covered the distance in less than one.


    The epsilons were the last to leave the vehicle, carrying all the equipment they had been assembling and preparing during transit.


    Xuhkro, the male epsilon, approached the still vomiting ravnars and just applied some kind of patch on their necks, then softly pated their backs.


    In less than five seconds they stopped vomiting and started recovering their color.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind them, they¡¯re scientists but insisted on coming with us; we warned them though '''' - said Xen¡¯ia, looking at them sideways with a bit of disgust in her face.


    She was taller and more muscular than Er¡¯anie and the tight dry-suit emphasized her figure. Her voice was also a bit deeper and she also had that charismatic aura that Jordi had felt around Er¡¯anie; her smell wasn¡¯t as powerful though, at least not for him.


    Er¡¯anie and Xen¡¯ia started assembling something in the ground, putting some of those parts they brought up together and the ravnarse were now sitting in the ground recovering their breathing.


    Xuhkro approached him and gave him a backpack.


    ¡°There, you¡¯ll find everything you need inside. There¡¯s a dry-suit as well so, if I were you, I would change inside the vehicle before we send it away¡± - he said with a smirk.


    Jordi followed his advice and quickly changed inside the vehicle. It took him maybe five minutes - it wasn¡¯t like those neoprene dry-suits from old Earth and took him a while to understand how it worked - and when he came out they had finished assembling what looked like a small amphibian device with an antenna on top and its sides covered by sensors.


    The ravnars were now checking their wrist data-pads and quickly talking between them in some language he didn¡¯t understand.


    ¡°Is everyone ready or do we need the vehicle for anything else?¡± - said Xuhkro looking at him and then at the ravnars.


    Everyone gave the ok and Xuhkro pressed something on his data-pad, then the vehicle took off softly, not even bothering the trees around it.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go then¡± - said Xen¡¯ia and started walking, the amphibian robot closely behind her.


    Jordi got the feeling that she was in charge and Xuhkro was second in command. Er¡¯anie was following their instructions without skipping a beat.


    ¡ª----


    When they reached the lake the ravnars started talking excitedly between them in that weird and quick language they used before, Xen¡¯ia approached them and joined their discussion.


    Jordi tried to sharpen his already pretty good hearing but couldn¡¯t even discern the space between words, when a word would finish and another began, so he discreetly recorded the conversation on his wrist-pad to analyze it after. The way his memory worked, he could take mental pictures of whatever he was seeing to watch them again afterwards, sounds though were another thing altogether.


    Er¡¯anie approached the lake¡¯s shore and made a gesture for him to join her.


    ¡°Looks like you and me will be going first¡± - she told him - ¡°The kurtle will follow us¡± - she finished, pointing at the amphibian robot.


    Jordi was looking at the robot when he saw Xuhkro jump and disappear above the trees.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind him, he¡¯s our security detail so he probably went to find a vantage point¡± - Er¡¯anie explained.


    ¡°Whenever you¡¯re ready¡± - Xe¡¯nia exclaimed from the distance - ¡°The kurtle is now bound to Er¡¯anie so it will follow her¡±


    Jordi and Er¡¯anie walked towards the water and swam to the center of the lake, the kurtle followed them. The dry-suits were quite amazing because he only felt how cold the water was when it touched his face. He looked at her as if waiting for confirmation and, after receiving an affirmative gesture, took a deep breath and dived.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    He closed his eyes and mentally reviewed the last time he was there, activated the power-up on his suit and followed the path knowing Er¡¯anie was just behind him; but this time it took him less time to reach the small cave since he already knew where he was going.


    When he surfaced he was breathing hard, even with the power-up on the suit he had swam really fast, Er¡¯anie though didn¡¯t look tired at all and Jordi realized he hadn¡¯t seen her activate the power-up at all.


    He struggled to focus though, her wet hair and shiny skin emphasized her violet eyes and those beautiful pointy ears.


    ¡°Be a professional, come on¡± - he thought.


    She was looking at the bluish stones on the ceiling, completely absorbed by the view, then the kurtle surfaced as well, awakening her from stupor.


    She approached the kurtle and started working with her wrist-pad.


    ¡°We¡¯re receiving the data, this is.. Interesting'''' - Xe¡¯nia¡¯s voice said, coming out of the amphibian robot.


    Er¡¯anie was looking at her wrist-pad with furrowed brow and, suddenly, started speaking in that same weird and quick language the ravnars were using before.


    Xe¡¯nia¡¯s voice answered something in that same language and Jordi proceeded to record everything again. The more data he had the better chances to figure out the language.


    The conversation lasted a few minutes. Without any clues the only thing Jordi could do was try to decipher Er¡¯anie¡¯s face and gestures; she was serious first then looked worried and then looked relieved. After that she said something and smiled when she got her response. It was the kind of smile you make when you are right about something and you knew all along.


    ¡°Ok, come back and tell Jordi to wait there. We¡¯re on our way¡± - said Xe¡¯nia in perfect galactic language.


    Jordi raised his eyebrows looking at Er¡¯anie, as if waiting for an explanation.


    ¡°We have just verified that these stones emit a specific kind of radiation, not a dangerous mind you. At least not to us, cannot be sure about the ravnars.¡± - explained Er¡¯anie


    ¡°We believe this radiation either hided you or marked you as a friendly to the worms, so Xe¡¯nia and Xuhkro are on their way to soak on it as well¡± - she continued - ¡°I¡¯ll be going back to guard the ravnars, we don¡¯t want anything to happen to them. See you in a minute!¡± - she finished, and after that she dived and disappeared under the water.


    Less than a minute after that Xe¡¯nia and Xuhkro surfaced in the small cave.


    ¡°So, how does this work?¡± - said Xuhkro - ¡°We just stand here and wait?¡±


    ¡°From what the kurtle scans could tell us, yes. It should take about a minute or so for us to receive enough radiation to last a while¡± - Xe¡¯nia explained.


    ¡°And from what we could detect in him¡± - she pointed at Jordi - ¡°It should dissipate easily. We didn¡¯t detect anything when we rescued him¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ve been here longer than the other day¡± - Jordi interceded - ¡°Are you sure it is not dangerous?¡±


    ¡°Hundred percent sure? No. But close enough¡± - Xe¡¯nia answered with a smile.


    Then Xuhkro jumped from the water and managed to grab the stones with both hands.


    ¡°You weren¡¯t joking in your report, this damn thing is slippery as fuck¡± - he exclaimed, but managed to hold and even climbed approaching the light in the center.


    ¡°Don¡¯t do that. If we¡¯re right and this is some kind of nest or cocoon you might be bothering them, if they attack¡­ we have a human with us, please remember that¡± - said Xe¡¯nia


    ¡°Oh, right¡± - said Xuhkro, and slowly descended to the water - ¡°I always forget they¡¯re not like us. What with us coming from the same planet and all¡± - he said smiling.


    At that point Jordi was made painfully aware of the physical differences between humans and epsilons. They were stronger and more agile. They could probably fight those worms without any problems whilst he could only run and barely dodge them.


    ¡°Ok, time¡¯s up. Let¡¯s go back and walk to the red zone¡± - said Xe¡¯nia, and they both dived and disappeared under the water, the kurtle following them closely.


    Jordi activated his suit power-up and followed them. While swimming he realized they too hadn¡¯t activated any power-up whatsoever, which made him kind of angry. Did they have to show their superiority or was it something they didn¡¯t even think about?


    When he surfaced on the lake both epsilons were already on the shore and the ravnars were scanning them with a handheld device, they did the same to him once he approached them.


    They then scanned the kurtle and exchanged some words in that weird language, Xe¡¯nia spoke to them and then started moving.


    When they were a good distance from the red zone Xe¡¯nia made the stop hand-sign.


    ¡°You two and the kurtle will wait here, Jordi stay with them¡± - she said, and gave him what seemed like a small gun.


    ¡°As an explorer you have small arms proficiency and your academy records say you¡¯re quite good with it so cover them if something happens. We¡¯ll be back in a few minutes¡± - she said, and the three epsilons started walking.


    Jordi kneeled and checked his wrist-pad, there were no signs of any creature but after his encounter with the worms he knew that didn¡¯t mean anything, so he closed his eyes and told his brain to remember the sound the worms made when moving underground and to be aware of it.


    Sounds and the memory palace don¡¯t work too well, at least not for him. Instead, he had learned to create something like a playlist but he needed to browse it first and select the audio file for his brain to react to it.


    With his eyes closed he was fully aware of any sound around him in a 500m radius. Birds, the wind, the ravnars slow breathing, every sound was drawing a picture on his brain.


    He was a fan of old-Earth fiction and had tried to steal or copy some of those stories. For sounds he had tried to copy Daredevil, but his hearing was nowhere that good.


    Still, he could make something similar and draw a mental picture of anything around him.


    ¡ª---


    The minutes kept passing and Jordi kept his position, kneeling down and facing the direction the three epsilons had left.


    The two ravnars were chatting behind him, almost whispering, their voices added to the background noise around him.


    All of a sudden the forest became silent. Jordi couldn¡¯t hear any insects or birds, just the movement of the wind. The two ravnars stopped their quibbling as well and looked around.


    Then he felt something, his instincts kicked in and he focused on the point he was watching. From the horizon he saw some dust and heard the sounds of running, he readied his weapon and prepared himself.


    HIs wrist-pad vibrated and he quickly looked at it, three animals were coming to the clearing from the east. He decided not to be distracted by that and kept looking forward.


    The first thing he saw was the three silver heads, the afternoon sun making them shine above the background.


    They were running fast but kept looking back. That¡¯s when he saw one of those worms jumping from the ground and attacking. Before he realized, he had already shot and hit it, but not enough to kill it so it disappeared in the terrain.


    The wrist-pad kept vibrating intensely so he just silenced it and half screamed and half whispered ¡°call the ship!¡± to the nervous ravnars.


    The three epsilons were coming closer but they were still a good distance from the clearing. More worms were jumping to bite them but between his precise shots and their agility they all missed.


    Then he noticed the terrain vibrating as well. He thought it could be an earthquake at first but a quick check of his surroundings told him it wasn¡¯t so.


    With the three epsilons about a hundred meters from the clearing a massive worm appeared, jumping from the ground, its mouth was a couple meters of diameter easily and part of his body was still under. That¡¯s when the animals the wrist-pad was warning him about appeared.


    Three adult male orknas, about five meters long and three meters tall with massive antlers, came running. Two of them charged the worm with all their strength, the other one stood between the worm and the clearing, all of them ignoring both the surprised epsilons and himself and the two ravnars behind him.


    The three silver heads didn¡¯t take much time in observing the situation and quickly kept running towards the clearing, passing a few meters from the standing orkna who ignored them, his posture focused on the worm. Lowered head and forward legs. ready to charge.


    The worm fell after the impact but quickly stood up, a good ten meters above the ground with part of it still hidden, and let out a horrible shriek.


    The two orknas that had charged it lowered their heads as in preparing for another charge, it was obvious that they were protecting the clearing.


    Jordi was stunned by the espectacle in front of him but since he was still focusing all his senses he heard one ravnar saying ¡°record this, record this! We need a video!¡±


    The worm charged toward the orknas but they were impossible fast and not only dodge the attack but jumped to each side and charged as well, backing off quickly after the impact. It all happened in less than a second.


    Some green liquid fell from the worm, probably blood, it made a moaning cry and started slowly disappearing under the ground.


    The orknas started trampling the place where it had appeared, the third orkna that was covering the clearing joined them as well.


    By then, the epsilons had arrived at the clearing and were breathing laboriously. Xuhkro¡¯s left arm was a mess, blood everywhere and some bone clearly visible.


    The orknas stopped their trampling and took a couple steps towards them. Not menacing but with their heads held high.


    The ship had just arrived on top of them but they were all fixated in the view, one of the ravnars still handling the kurtle with his wrist-pad and recording everything.


    One of the orknas clearly looked at the ship and then slowly at them, as if to say ¡°that¡¯s the moment when you leave¡±.


    Xe¡¯nia signaled the ship from her wrist-pad to land softly, which it did under the watchful eye of the massive beasts. They all got the feeling that anything else and they would be dead before they could react, the speed and strength they had just demonstrated was clearly no joke.


    So they all entered the ship and slowly left the place, watching how the orknas approached the clearing carefully as they left as if to make sure they were gone.


    From the top of the trees, before they left the zone altogether, they saw the three beasts trampling all over the terrain where they stood before.


    ¡°I believe they are removing our presence and marking them again as theirs¡± - said one of the ravnars. But Jordi couldn¡¯t tell which because he was fascinated by the view.


    Once the ship started really moving, Er''anie started taking care of Xuhkro''s destroyed arm.


    ¡°Well, that could have gone better¡± - said Xe¡¯nia - ¡°Still, impressive shooting mister explorer. Remind me never to make a joke of one of yours again.¡±


    ¡°What the fuck happened there!?¡± - Jordi exclaimed


    ¡°That¡¯s.. Classified.¡± - Xe¡¯nia answered - ¡°In any case we have learned a lot about the worms and we have more data about orknas¡±


    ¡°Was the video any good¡± - Xe¡¯nia asked, this time looking at the ravnars


    ¡°Oh yesss! We knew they were territorial. We knew they were strong. But now we can really judge their speed and reflexes and the first analysis says that they are incredible¡± - answered one of them. Then he looked at Jordi.


    ¡°As a curious human from Earth you must have seen a video about a cat versus a snake, how the cats can easily dodge a snake bite and hit it before the snake can even know what¡¯s going on. From what we can see here¡± - the ravnar explained, showing the video to Jordi, which was slowed and with notes everywhere - ¡°an adult orkna could dodge any feline, jump to the side, impale it, back off, and the feline would die before knowing what the heck happened. This is incredible! Their speed, reflexes, they¡¯re more than we ever guessed!¡± - the ravnar finished excitedly, and continued fiddling with his wrist-pad.


    Jordi went for a second to his memory palace and watched the aforementioned video, a cobra versus a house cat. The cat tapping the cobra¡¯s head twice after dodging its bite.


    Then, quickly watched again the orkna video, he had been in ¡°recording mode¡± the whole time so it was right there for him. That a thing so massive could move so quickly defied everything he had seen up until now.


    ¡°You ok there?¡± - Xe¡¯nia asked him.


    ¡°Yeah, I was lost for a second. The video is truly amazing¡± - Jordi answered. - ¡°I can¡¯t imagine the implications though¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s for the scientists to think about. You should think about enjoying your holidays and we will do some necessary rest¡± - she answered looking at Xuhkro.


    He was resting on his chair, eyes closed, with something similar to plaster covering his whole arm.


    ¡°Well, the bones weren¡¯t broken¡± - said Er¡¯anie - ¡°But the muscles, tendons and skin are a mess. He¡¯ll need at least a week in the healing tank¡±


    They all rested while the ship took them home at a normal speed, there was no hurry now.


    ¡ª--


    They stopped in front of the hotel and the AI announced their arrival.


    ¡°It was nice meeting you, Mr. Explorer. Please try to have normal holidays and avoid uncovering any more of this planet''s secrets. You¡¯ll make us all look bad otherwise¡± - said Xe¡¯nia with a smile.


    Er¡¯anie just smiled at him and made him the universal ¡°I¡¯ll call you later¡± sign, which made his heart start to beat rapidly and his face blush.


    The ravnars waved goodbye with what he imagined was a smile - he hadn¡¯t interacted with many ravnars before - and he abandoned the vehicle, not without waving back and stealing a glance to a sleeping Xuhkro before.


    He ordered his dinner to be brought to the room and decided to go for a shower. Xe¡¯nia was right, this was not a normal holiday at all.

 Chapter 18

    The next morning Jordi decided to visit Friday. He skipped breakfast in the hotel and decided to run the distance to the spaceport. The city was beautiful and he wasn¡¯t really doing all the physical training he usually did back on the ship.


    Granted, with planet gravity he didn¡¯t really need to do it, but he was used to doing exercise and didn¡¯t want to lose the rhythm much.


    Still, the spaceport was a good distance from the hotel. Where the train took minutes it took him almost an hour and a half to get there at a good pace.


    Sweating, he entered the spaceport and went to a terminal to request access to the Espurna when he was interrupted by a drewell stewardess.


    ¡°Hi! Is there anything I can help you with?¡± - she asked with a smile accompanied by a serious tone.


    ¡°Oh, hi. I arrived here a few days ago and would like to visit the pet I left on my ship. The ship has probably taken good care of her but, still, cats can get a bit mad if you don¡¯t see them every now and then.¡± - he answered using Ryoshi as an excuse for his visit.


    He then observed a green gleam in the stewardess''s right eye, he had been scanned for sure.


    ¡°That¡¯s completely normal. If you had told us, someone would have been visiting her, we love pets here!¡± - she said with a shade of scolding in her voice.


    ¡°Do you know about cats?¡± - Jordi asked, smiling, the stewardess made a negative gesture and a befuddled face - ¡°Well, cats are a feline type from Earth, they are adorable - I recommend you to watch some videos, you¡¯ll love them - but they have quite the character and are considered a predator. I would hate for any of you fine beings to be hurt just because Ryoshi doesn¡¯t know you so that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t say anything.¡± - Jordi explained - ¡°You see, she might be small, but she¡¯s fast as lightning and her claws and fangs are incredibly sharp¡±


    The stewardess couldn¡¯t help but take a step back after the mention of sharp weapons on a pet. She probably had never interacted much with humans to be this surprised at their choice of familiars.


    ¡°Well, thank you for the information, I¡¯ll research them so we can provide better service.¡± - she said and then typed something on her wrist-pad - ¡°I see your ship has not requested anything during these past days, you¡¯ll find it in hangar 315-F¡± - she finished, and made a gesture to send the data to Jordi¡¯s wrist-pad.


    ¡°Thank you for your assistance, just try not to spend much time with cat videos, that¡¯s something even difficult for us humans¡± - Jordi replied, and started following the indications on the wrist-pad.


    After a few minutes of walking he finally got to the specified hangar and when the door opened he couldn¡¯t help but admire Espurna''s beauty.


    There were a couple of mini drones carefully washing it, he could tell by their design those drones had been made by Friday, there was something artistic in drone design and Friday signature was easy for him to recognize.


    He approached the entrance and walked up the ramp, slowly and smiling. It had been only a few days but he had missed it, it was his home after all.


    The door opened as he walked in and closed behind him.


    ¡°Hi Jordi! I wasn¡¯t expecting you for a week at least¡± - Friday¡¯s voice sounded through the ship¡¯s intercom.


    ¡°Well, I missed you, and Ryoshi.¡± - he said, still smiling, and then he saw a shadow crossing rooms in front of him.


    ¡°I would be lying if I said we didn¡¯t miss you too.¡± - answered Friday with a smiling voice.


    Then a loud meow echoed through the ship¡¯s passageway and Jordi saw Ryoshi sitting in the middle of it looking at him, tail moving excitedly. He approached and she ran into the leisure room.


    When he entered the room he saw Ryoshi sitting on the coach, as if waiting patiently for him. He sat and a second later he already had her getting comfortable on his lap purring loudly.


    He spent a bit of time there, just chatting with Friday and stroking Ryoshi¡¯s back, feeling properly at home by the simplicity of the situation.


    He described the events of the past days, trying to avoid making too many comments about Er¡¯anie for some reason, and when he mentioned the strange language the epsilons and ravnars had used for the third time Friday loudly sighed.


    ¡°And of course you have a recording and expect me to translate it.¡± - she said - ¡°And I¡¯m supposed to believe that this was not the main reason for you to come, even though I know you probably couldn¡¯t sleep thinking about it¡±


    ¡°Well, why can¡¯t it be both?¡± - he replied


    ¡°Hmph, let¡¯s see what you got¡± - said Friday, still feeling used.


    Jordi sent the files from his wrist-pad to the ship. Friday had refrained herself to just hack the device and get everything from it, she was already feeling the hardest thing about being self-aware is knowing what she could do and stop herself from doing it.


    She looped through the conversations a couple times and then quickly reviewed the language database, now that she was in a Spaceport she had access to all of the Empire knowledge.


    It took her all of five seconds to understand the language and prepare an audio translation and its transcript.


    ¡°Done. Do you want to hear the translation or should I send the files to the wrist-pad?¡± - she sharply informed him.


    Jordi was taken aback by Friday''s reaction but then he realized he was still treating her as a ship, a slaved AI that would follow his orders.


    ¡°Ok, yeah I¡¯m an idiot¡± - he said - ¡°There you are fully self-aware and marvellous and me still treating you as the ship I began my journey with, without any thought whatsoever about how it would feel to the living being you have become.¡±


    He looked up, as he always did when talking to her. It¡¯s difficult to speak with someone who doesn¡¯t have a face and whose body you are inside of but.


    ¡°I can only say that I¡¯m sorry and I¡¯ll strive to do better¡± - he finished.


    ¡°Fair enough¡± - she replied - ¡°I admit that sometimes being self-aware is quite difficult for me too. There are too many processes that I cannot shut down now¡±


    Jordi couldn¡¯t help but laugh at that comment - ¡°If those processes are what I think they are, they¡¯re called feelings and if it helps some people struggle with them their whole life¡±


    ¡°Thanks for that. I was worried for a second¡± - said Friday sarcastically - ¡°You need to work on your pep talks though¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess I do¡± - Jordi said after a chuckle - ¡°And again, I¡¯m sorry. You¡¯re the only one I can share these experiences with and it does help that you can also help me with them¡±


    Friday felt something there, that ¡°the only one¡± phrase made her feel something but she didn¡¯t know what it was, she just felt nervous all of a sudden. If she had had a face she would be blushing, of that she was sure.


    ¡°Well, just remember I¡¯m much more than that now.¡± - she finally said.


    They spend the next hour or so going through the videos and the translations while, at the same time, Jordi played with Ryoshi. One hand on the data-pad and another getting bitten and scratched by the joyous ball of fur. She never hurt him enough to bleed but he definitely felt the claws and fangs on his skin.


    He was almost finished with the videos when he received a message on his wrist-pad, it just said ¡°dinner today?¡± and he knew who had sent it.


    ¡°Is everything ok?¡± - asked Friday - ¡°Your heart rate accelerated and your adrenaline is starting to go nuts¡±


    Jordi was blushing before he realized, for some reason he hadn¡¯t wanted to tell Friday about Er¡¯anie and he really didn¡¯t understand why. Maybe he was afraid she would get jealous, and you don¡¯t want a state of the art ship with a recently awakened AI to get jealous, do you? But there was no escape now, he couldn¡¯t help his body reactions to Er¡¯anie and Friday was smart enough to figure it out.


    ¡°Nothing to worry about. There¡¯s this girl I¡¯ve been seeing and she wants to have dinner¡± - Jordi answered.


    Friday instantly knew who he was talking about, she had heard them the other day during their night activities, but she didn¡¯t want him to know what she had done so she tried to feign surprise.


    ¡°Oh! Please tell me about her! If she makes you happy - and by your reaction I¡¯d hazard a guess that she does - I¡¯m interested in her¡± - she replied, attempting to put a smile on her voice.


    Jordi told her about Er¡¯anie trying to give just facts but, for both, it showed that he was head over heels for her.


    And there it was again, Friday couldn¡¯t recognize that feeling so she marked it for research. Meanwhile Jordi was feeling nervous for reasons he couldn¡¯t understand.


    ¡°Maybe you can bring her aboard one day!¡± - Friday said, trying to fill the silence.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s a good idea. She¡¯s really smart, what if she figures out what you really are?¡± - Jordi answered, looking for an escape.


    ¡°That¡¯s a good point. But we cannot avoid this forever so it would be better for me to test the waters with someone you trust¡± - was Friday¡¯s reply.


    ¡°Well, I do like her, but that doesn¡¯t mean I trust her. She¡¯s an epsilon and their story is full of holes. She¡¯s also military.. I think. She would probably be forced to inform about you¡± - continued Jordi, still looking to avoid the situation.


    ¡°In any case, don¡¯t leave her waiting and answer the booty call. We¡¯ll cross that bridge when we get there¡± - Friday said derisively.


    Jordi just typed ¡°your place or mine?¡± and sent the message. Her reply came a few seconds after, as if she had been waiting, ¡°mine this time, I¡¯ll send you directions¡±.


    ¡°Gosh your heart is beating fast¡± - said Friday laughing but that feeling was getting stronger, it was almost painful now, she really needed to analyze it soon.


    ¡°Oh come on! She¡¯s gorgeous ok? Can¡¯t blame a guy for feeling anxious¡± - Jordi answered embarrassed.


    Then Ryoshi attacked. She had been ignored during the whole conversation and decided this was the perfect moment to jump and grab his arm. She bite the hand while using her hind legs to kick his arm, claws out.


    Jordi hissed as he always did when she hurt him. It was the ¡°ok, that¡¯s too much¡± sign, and Ryoshi left running.


    He had a series of scratches on his arm, nothing serious, but she also had left the mark of the bite on his hand.


    ¡°Fucking hell¡± - he said out loud.


    ¡°That¡¯s what you get for abandoning her for days!¡± - replied Friday with a smile on her voice.


    So Jordi spent the next hour or so playing with her. Pursuing her throughout the ship, tickling her when she left him caught her, and basically receiving playful bites and scratches.


    After that he just washed his arms and hands with soap and said goodbye to both, he had a date and wouldn''t miss it for the world.


    While leaving the spaceport he saw the drewell stewardess that had stopped him before, she was caught up watching something on a data-pad with awe on her face; ¡°Probably some cat videos¡± Jordi thought, and left the place smiling without bothering her.


    ¡ª------


    He had decided to use the trains to go back to the hotel and went for a quick shower. The directions Er¡¯anie had mentioned were a series of trains and other transports with their schedule indicating when he needed to be on the stations to be on time. It would take him almost an hour to get there.


    Looking at his wardrobe he realized he didn¡¯t have many elegant clothes or anything that said ¡°I¡¯m going on a date¡±. She hadn¡¯t mentioned anything but he still wanted to give a good impression.


    But he still had the suite they made for him to attend the musical. It might be too pretentious but it was the only thing he currently had that would make the trick. Well that and the explorer dress for official events, but he thought he would stand way too much if he wore that.


    With more than enough time he left the hotel and reached the first station. Then the next and the next, and so on until he was on the sixth change.


    The scenery was now totally different from that of the city. He was now in a mountain surrounded by a forest.


    His wrist-pad said he was about 1800m above sea level and the last train he picked up kept going up, the tract on a 35o angle.


    Even the design of the train took that into consideration and it looked like a moving stairwell with comfortable chairs.


    He checked the time when they stopped, since he had taken the previous train in every change he had arrived about ten minutes before the time she said she would pick him up. He decided to check the station and have a drink.


    The beings around were basically drewell and blobs, with a few yuren in their casings. The view from a window showed there was a bit of snow and everyone outside was wearing cold resistant clothing so it made sense that no ravnar, grhjujiik or ki¡¯rlenn would come this way. Reptiles and insects don¡¯t usually like the cold after all.


    He spotted a couple silvery heads with their pointy ears, which made his heart jump, but something inside him told him those weren¡¯t familiar.


    A minute before the appointed time his whole body stopped. He didn¡¯t even need to turn to know she had arrived and was looking at him, it was almost eerie the way he could feel her presence.


    He turned towards her and saw she was wearing a thin coat as long as she was and was walking his way. He quickly finished his drink and stood up, not really knowing how to greet her.


    The moment she was by his side she kissed both his cheeks, which made him freeze. He instantly realized he had done the same as an automatic response and that made him blush.


    ¡°That¡¯s how you greet where you are from, isn¡¯t it? I read that mediterranean people greet their acquaintances this way.¡± - she said, lips upward trying to suppress a smile.


    ¡°No, I mean, yes that¡¯s right. I simply was not expecting you to do it¡± - he replied fighting with his nerves, why he was so nervous he couldn¡¯t say. They had already seen each other naked and had done some stuff, there was no reason really but he couldn¡¯t help it.


    She grabbed his right arm with both of hers and pressed her body on his, toying with him.


    ¡°This way, my house is not far¡± - she said, pulling him.


    They left the main part of the train station and reached the parking space. It made sense that there were more vehicles in these parts, he hadn¡¯t seen many buildings on the way up.


    And there were all kinds of vehicles, even some animals like horses and a giant lizard that made him think about a sci-fi mount he had seen in a movie.


    She guided him towards what looked like a motorbike. A long one, a couple meters long with a sleek design. The wheels were of a vibrant orange color and it was their position on the vehicle which made it look like a long bike.


    She saw him look at it and left out a chuckle.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, they¡¯re magnetic and work similar to the mag-lev train. The whole thing will be covered with a termo shield so you don¡¯t have to worry about the cold either¡± - she explained.


    The seats though were exactly like a motorbike and they were really close to each other.


    One might need to explain to other races how a motorbike works but anyone from Earth knows that the passenger sits behind the driver, real close, and grabs the driver by the waist.


    And so Jordi did. They didn¡¯t need a helmet due to the bike shielding so he rested his head on her shoulder. Her smell was almost intoxicating, making his heart race and turning him on like nothing in this universe could.


    Once she felt that he was in position she turned on the bike and a purple shield surrounded them, then she started it and slowly left the parking space.


    ¡°Now hold on tight¡± - she said as she turned the handle, and the motorbike started speeding.


    The shield was protecting them from the cold and the wind but he could still feel the pull and held tighter. Her hair, again in a fishtail braid as the day before, dancing near his face.


    He could barely follow the road they were on, some turns and curves at a high speed, he was sure he would never be able to drive this fast.


    Then, after a few minutes of that, she started to slow down and took a road that went up, diverging from the main one.


    A couple minutes later he saw a three story wooden house surrounded by trees. They approached it and a door opened in the lower part showing a car and other vehicles.


    The garage was maybe twenty meters long and wide, with enough space for the four vehicles she had there including the motorbike.


    She stopped it and waited for the door to close before releasing the shield. Still it was a bit cold.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go inside, I¡¯d like to show you around¡± - she said excitedly getting down the bike and half running towards the door.


    Jordi was looking around with awe, the whole place was incredible.


    He couldn¡¯t help but do the math about it. If the more you contribute the more you receive and this was a tourist planet with months long waiting lists, what had she done so the Empire would build a house like this for her here?


    Obviously he didn¡¯t know the true nature of epsilons, that alone explained a lot.


    She had taken off her coat at the entrance and was wearing purple tights and a black top, her figure clearly standing out.


    She showed him the house like an excited kid sharing a treasure, smiling and almost running all over the place.


    Apart from the typical rooms like a kitchen, a massive bathroom, a living room and a study, there was a library, a small gym, and on the higher floor there was a room with a glass ceiling and a telescope that she called ¡®the dream room¡¯.


    The whole place was decorated with old-earth mountain style. Even the appliances looked like they were taken out of Earth¡¯s 21st century or even before.


    Also on the top floor, on the other side of that ¡®dream room¡¯, there was a balcony that looked at the snowy mountains.


    Once she had shown him everything she took him to the living room and they sat on a really comfortable sofa.


    ¡°There are other places in the Empire where I can live and I do have other apartments that I use during my missions. But this is my home¡± - she said looking at him with a kid-like smile.


    ¡°Thank you for sharing it. It is an incredible place¡± - he said, again losing himself in those purple eyes and beautiful pointy ears.


    She suddenly burst into a coquettish laugh.


    ¡°You know I¡¯ve had other lovers but you are the first one that keeps looking at my ears. Are they so weird?¡± - she asked, approaching him a little.


    ¡°Weird? They¡¯re not weird, they are beautiful!¡± - he replied, ignoring the fact that was blushing all over again.


    To his surprise her reaction was to smile and to move the tips a bit, as if they were dancing.


    He blinked and blushed even more, looking at them with both awe and excitement.


    She laughed, approached him a bit more and moved the tips again, faster this time.


    Jordi couldn¡¯t help himself, moved the distance, put a hand on her neck and kissed her passionately.


    He moved back after the kiss, surprised by himself.


    ¡°Sorry, I just couldn¡¯t help it¡± - he apologized.


    As a response she grabbed him by the hand and stood up, leading him to the bedroom.


    ¡ª-----


    Friday was analyzing her processes when all of that happened. After that first time she recognized the chemistry on Jordi¡¯s body and that painful feeling hit yet again, strongly this time.


    A quick read of a few hundred romantic books told her she was jealous, it was the only logical explanation to what she was feeling.


    Did that mean she was in love with him? But she was a ship, well a ship¡¯s AI.


    Jeeyze¡¯s consciousness was telling her that that¡¯s exactly what it meant, and that she too loved him.


    Jordi was doing it again with that epsilon girl and from his body chemistry Friday could tell it wasn¡¯t just sex, he was definitely in love with her.


    And with that realization the piercing pain of jealousy hit again, every time stronger than the last.


    She had to put her thoughts in order, there was no way for her to do the things Jordi and that girl were doing.


    Her body was the Espurna, she and Jeeyze were one and that was what helped her awaken, there was no changing that.


    Still, the time and experiences they had shared had brought her to this point and she needed to learn to navigate and live with those feelings.


    ¡ª-----


    Jordi woke up the next day with Er¡¯anie looking at him by his side. She caressed his face and softly kissed his forehead.


    ¡°Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes sleepyhead.¡± - she said leaving the bed.


    Jordi then realized she was naked except for a silk gown. Went quickly to the bathroom and put on some clothes.


    After breakfast they made love a couple more times, she was insatiable and Jordi just couldn¡¯t say no. Something in her smell giving him all the necessary strength to keep doing it.


    They shared a shower and sat on the sofa just talking while enjoying fresh orange juice.


    An hour or so passed and her wrist-pad ringed.


    ¡°Work?¡± - he asked, looking at her checking the message.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid so. Come on, let¡¯s get dressed and I¡¯ll take you to the station¡± - she said with a grimace.


    The trip was silent, she obviously wasn¡¯t happy that they had been interrupted but they both knew that duty comes first.


    They said their goodbyes and she kissed him hard, her face looking as if they were not going to see each other again.


    After that she just turned and quickly walked towards the parking space.


    Jordi felt shattered, wanted to scream or to run and grab her again in a loving embrace, but he knew better so he just climbed on the train and started his way to the hotel.


    ¡ª----


    When Er¡¯anie arrived back at her home she went to the office and started a call. Xe¡¯nia appeared on the screen.


    ¡°I gather your mission has been successful.¡± - she asked with a serious voice.


    ¡°I think so, I should be pregnant by now¡± - Er¡¯anie replied, toneless.


    ¡°Good, this is important. We cannot have you wasting more time with this dance.¡± - Xe¡¯nia said.


    ¡°I understand.¡± - was all Er¡¯anie could reply.


    ¡°Now get some rest, I expect confirmation within a week. We have already spent too much with this¡± - replied Xe¡¯nia and ended the call.


    Er¡¯anie served herself another glass of orange juice and sat on the sofa, her hand over her belly, fighting the tears. Why did she have to fall for him too? This was definitely not what she had expected to happen.

 Chapter 19

    Jordi spent the whole trip back to the hotel recalling Er¡¯anie¡¯s face before that last kiss.


    There was a mixture of anger and sorrow and that had become love just when she kissed him.


    Part of him felt empty, as if a hole had opened where his heart should be, but he really didn¡¯t understand why.


    He tried to enjoy the view, to read something, to plan for the next day, but he couldn¡¯t really focus.


    He changed trains without realizing it, lost in thought. Why did she look sad? Her behavior had changed after she received that message from work, maybe they were sending her to some far away secret place and that¡¯s why she couldn¡¯t tell him about it.


    Lots of maybes, lots of stories going through his brain. Then, at some point between the third and the fourth change of trains, part of him started to kick in screaming ¡°will you please remember the fun memories and smile! You just had sex with an amazing woman and are pouting like an idiot!¡°


    He couldn¡¯t help but chuckle and spend the rest of the trip recalling yesterday and this morning. A bit of sadness still hanged about but he was in a better mood already.


    By the time he arrived back at the hotel it was almost his lunch time and he had decided to keep enjoying the holidays as much as he could. He had three more weeks in this place and then five more months (months!!) of mandatory holidays to enjoy elsewhere.


    He checked the hotel¡¯s restaurant and saw the chef that had cooked him the perfect breakfast so he decided to have a Mediterranean lunch. Good food always helps raise the spirit.


    He approached the chef table and started making conversation with them. They were not really busy due to other races and humans from other places had already eaten, but for someone who grew up in Catalonia, 2pm was the perfect time for it.


    He decided to go with Majorcan eggs and beef Fricand¨® and he could see the chefs faces light up. They were about to attend another master class and he would have an amazing lunch.


    He also ordered a smooth ros¨¦ wine and went to a free table to wait. He chose one where he could see the chefs working, all working with a smile - or the equivalent of - and following the human chef instructions.


    One thing Jordi didn¡¯t like about being on a leisure planet was the fact that news coverage was banned throughout the place. You were there to rest and enjoy your free time, if there was something of import the affected beings would be notified and their resting adjourned.


    So, in a moment like this, without anything to do but wait, he couldn¡¯t mindlessly browse the news, an activity that apparently only humans did.


    Without news and with his brain trying to keep circling about Er¡¯anie¡¯s actions he decided to browse for activities on his wrist-pad.


    At first he browsed randomly, not really sure what he could do the next few days, but then he remembered that massive lizard in the parking lot and thought ¡°maybe there are riding activities?¡±


    And there it was. On the other side of the planet. A massive ranch surrounded by rocky mountains where you could rent one of these beasts and ride it.


    There was the option of riding it with a teacher or training for a few days before you could ride solo. It looked like the perfect thing to do and there were some slots available so he just booked it.


    He was booking the travel means when his first dish was served. The chef who brought it waited by his side with expectation in his face.


    It had been served in a clay casserole, as it is customary, and it was smoking, proof that it had just left the oven seconds ago.


    He grabbed his fork and had a bite. The sobrassada was strong and the eggs were perfectly done. It was delicious. He couldn¡¯t help but close his eyes and throw a ¡°Mmmmh!! Perfect¡±, to the chef''s delight. It was hot but that¡¯s how it is supposed to be anyway.


    The smiling chef went back to the kitchen zone and Jordi just focused on enjoying every bite while thinking about how much fun he would have riding those giant lizards, like Obi Wan Kenobi in Utapau.


    He finished his eggs without realizing it and a look at his glass told him it had been refilled by a stealthy waiter.


    He didn¡¯t have to wait much for the second dish to be brought, and the smell told him the fricand¨® had oyster mushrooms - g¨ªrgoles in catalan - with it. He was smiling and salivating at the idea.


    Now he wasn¡¯t sure how it would be, because a good fricand¨® requires it to be cooked slowly at low fire for the meat to get the perfect melting point.


    But the Empire technologies added to human ingenuity had already revolutionized countless fields, and the human chef was looking at him grinning.


    The smell was stupendous and the dishes looked perfectly done, with huge slabs of meat and big chunks of mushrooms.


    He touched the meat with his fork expecting some resistance and it just parted, as if it were butter, stabbed a piece of mushroom and meat together and put both in his mouth.


    He couldn¡¯t suppress an ¡°Oh!!!¡± and started laughing while chewing, more the mushroom than the meat though. The meat had almost dissolved in his mouth, leaving its taste and the sauce flavor to accentuate the mushroom intensity.


    ¡°This is too good, this is amazing¡± - he said out loud, and continued eating desperately. Something in his mind was telling him to take it slow and enjoy it, but it was so good he just couldn¡¯t help himself and devour it.


    As it had happened the day he had breakfast, some beings were asking about his food and making a request to have them later for dinner or the next day for lunch. It was a known fact in the Empire, humans do like good food and their dishes had been a nice surprise for countless races.


    A waiter was coming to ask him which dessert he would want and when Jordi said he was full the waiter''s response was ¡°The Chef has told me to say two words. Chocolate profiteroles¡±


    ¡°Oh come on! That¡¯s not fair! I cannot say no to that now, can I?¡± - Jordi said laughing.


    And they too were delicious. A whole month on this planet would gain him a few kilos if he didn¡¯t do much exercise, this was not good for anyone¡¯s soul.


    With a full stomach and feeling a bit tipsy - only the Emperor knows how many glasses did he drink, what with the waiter stealthily refilling it every time - he approached the chefs to congratulate them for a job brilliantly done, again. They bowed as a response with smiles and said their goodbyes, until the next time.


    But Jordi had to prepare his luggage for his next trip. The hotel most probably had already been informed he would be leaving for a few days the moment he booked the riding course, so before he left he left the key to his room in the hotel reception.


    It was already afternoon and the sky was getting a pinkish tone, Jordi walked to the mag-lev station and jumped on the first train to the grand station, a massive place where trains and other kinds of transport would take all kinds of beings swiftly and comfortably to other parts of the globe.


    The trains there were different from the ones he took on his explorer trip, those had been designed to quickly take beings to solitary places whilst these one were designed to enjoy the trip and do some sightseeing in the meantime.


    He had decided to go by ship this time, the planet had a couple massive oceans and since it would take him a whole night he wanted to enjoy the night sky surrounded by nothing but water, an experience he seldom could enjoy.


    Still, those ships were quite different from the ones from old Earth. For starters they moved incredibly fast and also had a shield surrounding them, but he could feel the wind and the movement of the waves under them.


    ¡ª----


    The ship had a lot of different beings in the mess hall and, for the first time, Jordi saw some krlner in person.


    They were, as a human had defined them the first time he saw them, basically dragonkind.


    These draconic beings stood much taller than other humanoids, with scaled hides whose colors ranged from an ocher color to reddish-brown. Their fully-functioning wings were similar in hue to their hides but they usually kept them closed and rarely used them publicly. While their faces resembled those of dragons from old Earth mythology, they had thick manes - sometimes adorned or in braids - and rear-facing horns. Gray smoke billowed from their nostrils when they entered an agitated state and they were capable of breathing fire, which had a different color depending on the element they used or on what drinks they had.


    There were some of them on the ship, all wearing a tight gold and green suite.


    One of them was looking at Jordi, then checked his data-pad and approached him.


    ¡°Hello there!¡± - the krlner said with a profound but amicable voice. - ¡°You are Jordi, if I¡¯m not mistaken¡±


    ¡°Hi, yeah that¡¯s me. Is there anything I can help you with?¡± - Jordi replied.


    ¡°Is more about how I can help you. My name is¡­ difficult for humans to pronounce but you may call me Rash. I have you listed for the riding course, is that correct?¡± - the krlner asked.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s correct.¡± - he answered, still unsure where this was going.


    ¡°Oh good! I will be your trainer. I was just coming back from some personal time and just received the notification and it said you were on the ship so I thought we could start knowing each other¡± - Rash explained and then smiled with a mouth full of teeth. - ¡°We¡¯re going to spend a lot of time together the next three days after all!¡±


    Jordi smiled back and made a gesture for Rash to join him at his table. Rash sat down and looked at him intensively.


    ¡°Just to get it out the way because you are not the first human I see coming for this riding course. Utapau?¡± - Rash asked with a smileThe story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Jordi couldn¡¯t help but laugh.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true. That scene when Kenobi is riding the lizard up the mountain¡­ you¡¯ll rarely find someone who doesn¡¯t want to try that once after seeing the animals you have there¡± - Jordi replied smiling as well.


    ¡°I expected as much.¡± - Rash replied - ¡°Well, it takes a bit to get you humans there. Is not an easy beast to handle, especially if you want to climb vertical walls. Is kind of counter intuitive for you humans, but you¡¯ll see.¡±


    They spent the next hours chatting, although it felt like the lessons had already started with Rash telling him anecdotes and all kinds of stories about humans having small accidents when riding the beasts - karkle they were called.


    ¡°Well, look at me already hammering you with lessons, apologies. I will leave you to enjoy the rest of the trip and we¡¯ll see each other tomorrow¡± - Rash said, stood up and left waving goodbye with a smile.


    Jordi went to tour the ship a bit and enjoy the ocean at night and how the ship parted the waves under it. He would sleep just a couple hours but he could handle that every now and then.


    ¡ª----


    The next morning he woke up with the ship''s loud siren informing everyone they had made port.


    He had been delivered a special tight suit when he boarded the ship and had been informed to wear it before leaving the room once they arrived, so he did so. It was surprisingly fresh.


    He left his room and was astonished by the view. They were in a small coastal city but there was almost no green to be seen, everywhere there were rocks and sand, its color being a standard all over the place. And it was hot, you could tell by the heatwaves.


    They all left the ship in an orderly fashion, there were about three hundred beings there, and there were transports organized for every group or singular being. Rash was already waiting for him when he boarded down. He checked on him and his suit.


    ¡°Good! You¡¯re wearing the suit properly. Not everyone does it on their first try¡± - Rash said


    ¡°You¡¯ll be surprised at the amount of clothing we are taught to wear in the explorer curriculum¡± - Jordi replied with a laugh.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take your word for it, you are the first one I meet. Come, let¡¯s get on our ride and to the ranch.¡± - Rash continued and started walking with powerful strides.


    Jordi followed the massive being with quick steps, until he stopped in by a large quad.


    Rash looked at him and bellowed.


    ¡°What? Were you expecting to ride a karkle already? You need to go through physical first! There are some muscles involved, we don¡¯t want you to go through an injury, were you not listening yesterday?¡± - Rask explained.


    ¡°Yeah but, still¡­¡± - was all Jordi could answer.


    ¡°Come on, jump in, the ranch is not far¡± - Rash said while sitting in the driver seat of the massive quad.


    ¡ª----


    The road wasn¡¯t asphalted or anything, in fact to call it a ¡®road¡¯ would be kind of offensive to normal roads everywhere, it was just a cleared patch over the sand and between the rock formations that were all around.


    Still, there were lots of vehicles both in front and behind them. All probably going to the ranch. And they were all moving in an orderly fashion, the Empire was nothing if not organized, and everyone knew how to behave while driving without the need of cops or any authority.


    They were all moving quite fast though and they reached the ranch in a matter of minutes, it was massive.


    Even though the landscape was almost flat, Jordi couldn¡¯t see the end of it. All he saw was a parking space by the entrance and to his right a huge fenced space with some beings riding a few karkles, with their trainers - all of them klrners - holding the reins and giving instructions.


    Once past the entrance there were a couple of long buildings, two stories tops. Rash pointed to one of them.


    ¡°That one is the administration building, we¡¯ll go there to sign you on and you¡¯ll go through medical as well. The restaurant, leisure rooms and entertainment spaces are also there¡± - he explained, then pointed at the other - ¡°And that one is the dormitory, you have an assigned room and there¡¯s also a communal bathroom and shower space. We klrners don¡¯t separate genders so don¡¯t be surprised if you see everyone there.¡±


    Jordi just made an affirmative gesture and kept following him.


    When they entered the administration building there was already a huge queue of all kinds of beings waiting to be signed on with their trainers by their side.


    The queue moved quickly though and before he realized it was already his turn.


    In front of him there was what he supposed to be a female klrner. Her body accented by curves and her hair looking silky, she was also wearing make up around her eyes.


    ¡°Hi! First time?¡± - she said with a powerful but sweet voice.


    ¡°Hi Honey! - said Rash, and then turned to Jordi - ¡°That her galactic name, the same way my name is Rash; you can ask her anything you need, and if you have any complain about me you can tell her so¡± - he explained and then turned to her - ¡°So we have our first explorer here but I want to take him through physical, you know humans can be delicate even though they are sturdy¡±


    ¡°Oh how exciting!¡± - she replied with her powerful sweet voice - ¡°I¡¯ve read much about explorers, maybe you can answer some questions tonight between drinks¡± - she said looking at Jordi and then winked.


    ¡°Oh don¡¯t tease him! I need him to last at least three days or my performance will plummet.¡± - Rash interceded


    She laughed with a really sweet as honey laugh to which almost everyone around turned to look at, it was difficult not to feel her attractive even though it was a two meter tall humanoid dragonkin with braided chestnut hair.


    She typed something on her keyboard without losing her smile.


    ¡°The doctor is waiting for you in room 5. And I¡¯m not joking about the questions and drinks!¡± - she said and waved them goodbye.


    Rash and Jordi moved forward, Rash pushing Jordi as if saying ¡°let¡¯s go¡±.


    ¡°Careful with that one. She¡¯s a promiscuous fire tornado. Nothing wrong with that as far as I¡¯m concerned but¡­ let¡¯s say you humans are not as sturdy as we klrner are.¡± - he explained.


    ¡°We have a saying from old Earth, death by snu-snu¡± - Jordi explained with a laugh. Which Rash probably understood because he laughed as well.


    The doctor in room 5 was an androginous human, wearing a white coat and looking at their data-pad when they came in.


    ¡°Name, Jordi. Profession, explorer. 1¡¯68m tall, 65 kg. Muscular but slim body. High marks during his education.¡± - they read with a neutral voice and then raised their head and looked at him. - ¡°Please stand over there. Trainer you may leave, I¡¯ll send you the results once I finish¡±


    Rash left the room without argument and Jordi stood where he was told, it was a metallic plate with a white wall behind.


    ¡°This will analyze the muscles on your body so please don¡¯t move, it won¡¯t take long¡± - they explained and then the machine started emitting a trembling sound and a metallic circle appeared from the plate, going up and down fastly.


    ¡°Mmmh, that¡¯s good. Please sit here and breathe normally with your eyes closed¡± - they said and pointed to a metallic stool.


    Jordi followed the instructions and focused on his breathing. Then he felt the doctor''s hands exploring his back and sides.


    ¡°Ok, your muscles are good but you need a bit of reinforcement on the thoracolumbar fascia. The karkle will make your waist twist and without it you may get hurt¡± - they explained.


    ¡°No worries though, I¡¯ll set you up for some exercises and you may be able to ride them tomorrow. You¡¯re in good form¡± - they looked at him and smiled.


    Jordi understood that as if the session was over and left the room, just to find Rash looking at his data-pad.


    ¡°Well I was expecting something worse. Come, we will begin the exercises now so you can be ready as soon as possible¡± - Rash said and started walking.


    Jordi followed him to what looked like a gym. There were dozens of beings there doing all kinds of exercises.


    ¡°The thing is, karkle are particularly strong. You tell them where to go but they move however they see fit. If you have ridden horses you might be familiar with the concept of tuning your movements to those of the beast, this is similar.¡± - Rash explained.


    He took him to a piece of equipment that was a wooden circular plate with a bar in front. Jordi had done that exercise in the past.


    He would go on to the plate and start twisting left and right while holding the bar. The plate had some wheels underneath to ease the movement. He had to twist his body up to almost 90 degrees and then switch fast to the other side.


    ¡°Oh good! You already know it, that makes it easier. I need you to do that for fifteen minutes without stopping.¡± - Rash said, and sat on a seat in front of him - ¡°Begin when ready¡±


    Even though it is a simple exercise your back might suffer if you don¡¯t have those muscles properly trained.


    Jordi knew that because of the explorer training, they were trained thoroughly.


    The first five minutes were easy but then it started to hurt a bit to get more difficult to complete the turn, so he focused on his breathing.


    ¡°Good, good. Keep on it, halfway there¡± - Rash said looking at him.


    After the eighth minute or so he might have been not doing it properly because Rash stood up and grabbed him by the shoulders, forcing him to do the whole movement and increasing the speed.


    His lower back started to hurt but Jordi suffered through it, he really wanted to ride a karkle as soon as possible.


    ¡°And time¡¯s up! Come, we¡¯ll go to the massage therapist next. They¡¯ll help you relax and heal those muscles so you are ready for more¡± - Rash explained.


    Jordi followed obediently and found himself in a room with massage beds. Rash came forward and showed his data-pad to a human masseuse, she asked Jordi to lay down on one of the free beds and to remove the top side of the suit.


    Once laid down she started to work on his back and lower muscles, sometimes pressing hard sometimes moving softly. Then she applied what felt like a cold lotion.


    ¡°There, that¡¯s done. Rest for ten minutes and then you can do another series. See you in a while!¡± - she said amicably.


    Rash took him to a mess hall filled with beings with pain in their faces.


    ¡°Everyone wants to ride karkles, no one is really prepared for them. They look cool and all kinds of beings take it as a toy. But they¡¯re dangerous if you¡¯re not ready¡± - Rash commented. - ¡°Wait here, I¡¯ll bring us some drinks¡±


    Jordi sat on the closest table and explored the mess hall. Three may have been close to a hundred beings there between attendees and trainers, everyone listening to their trainer explanations while attempting to rest. Jordi himself felt the pain in his lower back softening with the lotion the masseuse had applied.


    Rash approached with a couple of bottles.


    ¡°Here, drink this. This has been specifically designed to help humans and your muscles, it¡¯ll do you good¡± - he explained handing him a bottle.


    It tasted sweet and the moment he swallowed he felt his body and muscles relax.


    ¡°Don¡¯t talk, just breathe and rest. We¡¯ll need to do this process at least three times for you to be ready¡± - Rash said.


    After an hour of doing the whole process Rash said they had finished for the day. He had been helping him push through the exercise, sometimes grabbing him from the shoulders and sometimes from the ribs.


    After every set the masseuse had worked tirelessly with his lower back and applied the lotion afterwards, then they would go to the mess hall and he would have that drink. Still, Jordi was sweating.


    ¡°Now you can go to your room, your things have been brought there. If I were you though I would go to enjoy one of our hydro massage baths¡± - Rash said giving him a card key. - ¡°See you tomorrow! And remember, no Honey today. I need you whole tomorrow¡± - and winked goodbye.


    Jordi went to his room finding it difficult to walk. His lower back wasn¡¯t hurting much but the feeling was there.


    When he got to his room and took the suit off he started feeling the heat. Somehow that suit had kept him refreshed through the hot temperatures of the place.


    Wearing only a towel covering his parts he went to the communal bath. There were a few people already there, everyone doing their best to relax.


    He saw something similar to a circular jacuzzi with no one inside and he just slipped there, letting the bubbles do their magic. He closed his eyes and decided to enjoy the feeling.


    A few minutes later he felt something getting on the bath, he opened his eyes and recognized Honey in front of him.


    ¡°I thought I would find you here, hard first day, right?¡± - she said with her honeyed voice.


    Jordi realized then she wasn¡¯t wearing anything to cover her top side and krlner did have breasts, with pink nipples, big ones at that.


    She approached him, sitting close to him.


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t joking, I am truly curious about explorers. I mean, I have only been on two planets and have not spent much time traveling. How is it to spend years out there? How can you not go crazy with the loneliness of space? What is the most fascinating thing you¡¯ve seen? What do you do to keep your body fit like that?¡± - she inquired, her face a picture of curiosity.


    ¡°Well for starters I am not alone. I have my ship¡¯s AI and a cat.¡± - Jordi replied.


    ¡°Oh! I love cats! Unfortunately they are not very fond of us krlners. Something about us scares the heck out of them¡± - she said.


    They chatted for a while, she threw all kinds of questions and he answered as best as he could without saying anything that would betray Friday''s true existence or what Kirkugger ships were really made of.


    After a while, she stood up, her curved and fit body there for anyone to see.


    ¡°I was not joking about knowing more about you¡± - she said and came close to him, close enough to whisper in his ear - ¡°And although we cannot kiss I can do wonders with my tongue, and I¡¯ve been told my cloaca is quite fun as well¡±


    And then she left the jacuzzi.


    ¡°Enjoy your good rest! Hope you have fun tomorrow!¡± - she said smiling and leaving the place, moving her ass sensually while doing so.


    Jordi was torn though. On one hand she would like to experience a night with her, on the other he felt as if that was cheating on Er¡¯anie.


    He stood there in the bubble bath for a few more minutes before going to his room and sleep. Trying to put his mind off of it and focusing on riding the kurkle. He had come for that after all.

 Chapter 20

    Jordi woke up with sore muscles all over. Not only his lower back but his thighs and abdomen as well.


    He went to the mess hall and there were already dozens of different beings there, some with smiles, some with pain all over their faces; it was easy to know who was on their first days and who was already riding the karkles.


    He queued for the food delivery in the canteen zone of the mess hall and gave his name when it was his turn. He was given a tray with some weird food that smelled nice.


    He sat on an empty table and started trying that mysterious food, some of it tasted sweet and some of it sour, it was a weird combination.


    His wrist-pad informed him that Rash was waiting for him by the circular enclosure near the entrance so he rushed his breakfast and went there, unable to hide his excitement.


    There were a few more beings approaching the place as well and trainers started to wave at them and walk to them to continue their lessons.


    Jordi approached Rash and after their greetings he took him to pick up the karkle they had selected for him.


    It was a magnificent beast 8 meter long and 3 meter tall at the shoulder, the scales were reddish like the planet¡¯s daybreak and it was looking at them approaching.


    ¡°Jordi meet Shaana. We chose her because she¡¯s small and even though she¡¯s young, she¡¯s shown to be patient and calm.¡± - said Rash, guiding him to the beast''s left side.


    ¡°Karkles prefer to be approached by their sides. Shaana prefers the left side so try to always mount by that side.¡± - Rash explained.


    Jordi put his left foot on the left stirrup and mounted easily, resting his hands on the saddle horn. Shaana turned her head and looked at him curiously. Rash grabbed the reins and took them to the enclosure.


    Once inside, he gave the reins to Jordi.


    ¡°Now relax your body, the twist movement we trained yesterday should come naturally but if you are tense it won¡¯t¡± - Rash continued explaining, then made a sound with his mouth that sounded like a chuckle and Shaana started to trot.


    Jordi rested his back on the back of the saddle which was taller than that of the horses, almost reaching the shoulder blade.


    Sitting like this it was easy to relax and let his body sync with the karkle movements. Rash was walking by their side with long strides.


    They did a couple laps at that pace, following about a dozen more karkles that were doing the same.


    ¡°Good, good. We¡¯ll do some galloping next, follow me¡± - Rash said, spreading his wings and moving to a bigger enclosure.


    Shaana followed him, speeding up a bit, her body twists quicker and sharper than before.


    Once they arrived at that bigger enclosure they stopped at the entrance, it looked like there was a race happening with five karkles running as fast as they could, five krlners floating in the middle looking attentively.


    Shaana¡¯s body position changed, raising her back and lowering her head, as if waiting for a sign. She was following the race and looking every now and then in Rash direction.Rash moved to the center as well and once those five running karkles passed her again, he whistled with a loud and short sound.


    Shaana started running then, Jordi getting pushed to the back of the saddle, and she was fast, maybe faster than the other karkles running.


    Now that they were moving at a similar speed, Jordi could distinguish the different beings riding with them and, among them, it surprised him to see a blob inside what looked like an exo-suit.


    They caught up in a few seconds, Shaana speeding through the exterior of the circumference.


    One of the karkles turned its head and lashed its tail but she sped up a bit dodging the hit. Jordi was smiling though. The wind on his face, the feeling of the beast under him. Even though he was starting to really feel the twists on his kidneys he was having a good time.


    In the center of the enclosure the trainers were floating, suspended in mid air with smooth wing movements, observing the situation in case they needed to intercede.


    The race continued. Shaana running through the exterior was passing everyone at an incredible speed. Some karkles had tried to stop her but she had dodged them or jumped over them easily.


    After about half an hour the trainers started whistling and making them stop one by one.


    ¡°That¡¯s good enough for today.¡± - said Rash - ¡°Let¡¯s take you for a massage and some recovery drinks, you might not be feeling yet but believe me when I say that your body is hurting¡±


    Jordi was about to protest while getting off Shaana but then he felt a piercing pain in his back side that made him fall to his knees.


    ¡°See? I told you. You humans and your adrenaline. Other species feel the pain while mounting and ask to stop but not you, no. Your fucking species seems to be designed to go overdrive when you¡¯re having fun¡± - Rash said offering him a hand to stand up - ¡°Not everyone can go so long on their first day, I should¡¯ve thought about it before. Sorry I didn¡¯t¡±


    Jordi grabbed his hand and stood up, using the other hand to caress Shaana.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it''s totally my fault. As you said I was having too much fun and even if you had tried to warn me I would have ignored you¡±


    Jordi started to fall again but Shaana put her head in the way, supporting him. He caressed her neck and a long purple tongue licked half his face.


    ¡°She likes you! I guess she had fun too. Well, you¡¯re quite lightweight for her so she probably didn¡¯t even feel anything but your heartbeat.¡± - said Rash with surprise.


    Jordi was still half falling over Shaana¡¯s head. She had her eyes closed and was emitting a sound, like a purr.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Rash chuckled and put Jordi over the beast, then grabbed the reins.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go, this way it will be faster¡± - he said and started to walk.


    He was walking with long strides and Shaana was trying not to twist much, with small but quick steps.


    ¡ª----


    Rash left Jordi with the masseuse and took Shaana to her stable.


    The masseuse was massaging Jordi¡¯s kidney¡¯s zone with a weird and smelly ointment that felt cold to the touch but Jordi could feel the pain disappearing and started to breathe normally.


    After the massage session it was drink time. A drink that was specially designed to help the healing and strengthen the muscles.


    Jordi drank it fast and went to the bath zone, he really needed a bubble bath today.


    Upon entering the zone he recognized Honey alone in a jacuzzi, with her head back looking at the stars.


    ¡°Mind if I join you?¡± - he said while approaching.


    ¡°Sure, why not? - she said with a smile, she wasn¡¯t covering her breasts at all and they were magnificent.


    ¡°If you look at them so much I might understand you want to play¡± - she said with a honeyed voice.


    ¡°Sorry. We humans don¡¯t usually have mixed baths and, well, they are magnificent if you don¡¯t mind me saying it¡± - he said blushing.


    ¡°Well¡­ thank you?¡± - she said, blushing a bit as well. Klrners blushed in a particular way, the scales on their shoulders would change color but their face would show no signs.


    She turned her head to the sky again - ¡°It¡¯s a beautiful night, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    A gentle breeze could be felt throughout the bathing zone which mixed with the hot water and the bubbles in the jacuzzi made relaxing easier.


    ¡°Indeed it is¡± - he said, looking too at the sky.


    ¡°I wonder, how many of those stars have you visited?¡± - she said, approaching him a bit.


    He looked at the sky. It was difficult to recognize which systems he had been through since every planet showed different constellations and he had never been in that sector.


    He scanned the sky and saw a blue dot on the northeast, near a red spot in the sky.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ve been on that one¡± - he said pointing at it - ¡°That blue dot, near the red nebula. I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯ve been there¡±


    She approached him a bit more, to see where he was pointing.


    Her smell was sweet, no wonder they called her honey, and she was massive. Her whole body was big but proportioned.


    She started scratching his head and he looked at her surprised.


    ¡°I think I really like you. But you¡¯ve been through your first day and you will be dead in your bed before you realize. We¡¯ll save the fun for later.¡± - she whispered in his ear - ¡°So I¡¯m going to leave because you¡¯re as tempting as a sweet dessert. Is not that I don¡¯t enjoy your company, quite the contrary¡±


    And as she stood she caressed his neck and back with her tail.


    He was left speechless, goosebumps all over him. He looked at her as she left, she was honestly hot and her walk was extremely sensual. If she did it on purpose or not he couldn¡¯t say.


    ¡°What the hell am I doing¡± - he thought, and stayed there for a while trying to calm his body before he could leave the jacuzzi.


    ¡ª----


    The next morning he followed the same routine as he did before and met Rash near the big enclosure, Shaana expectant by his side and another and bigger karkle with them.


    ¡°Today we¡¯re doing a bit of free riding. We¡¯ll try to climb a bit if I think you can handle it.¡± - Rash said.


    ¡°This is Rosch, he¡¯s mine. I raised him since he left the egg and I was a boy, we¡¯ve been together since.¡± - Rash explained.


    The karkle was a good two meters larger than Shaana and a meter taller at least.


    Rash jumped on him and Jordi mounted Shaana. They started to trot towards the mountains.


    A good hour after the sun was hitting hard but the suit Jordi had been told to wear was keeping him cold.


    There was barely any vegetation around and the terrain was rocky, it would have been difficult to walk in it but the karkles had no problem moving on it.


    And so the day passed by. They did climb a bit but the mountain had a thirty degree slope so it wasn¡¯t hard. They spent all the day just trotting around, Rash showing him some interesting places like a lake as black as the night and some monuments left by their ancestors.


    He wanted him to get used to mounting the karkle and the best way was spending a whole day on it.


    After the hash training all that was left was getting the muscles used to the movement and resting was as important as training. It wouldn¡¯t help to keep pushing non-stop.


    So, that night, Jordi really didn¡¯t need the bubble bath, but he went there nonetheless.


    Maybe he was expecting to see Honey, or maybe he just wanted to enjoy the bath under a starry sky.


    Instead of the big jacuzzi he chose a small pool with warm water. The amount of different baths and places to rest there was astounding.


    He had chosen this one because it was one of the few that allowed drinks and today he was in the mood of a mimosa. Luckily for him they had catalan cava to have it with the orange juice, he prefered it to champagne, probably due to his uprising.


    He had drunk one on the bar and took another to slowly enjoy while bathing. This was finally feeling like a proper vacation.


    The murmur of the beings around him, everyone lowering their voices so as to not ruin the night sounds surrounding them. Some cricket-like sounds, the gentle breeze of the night. He had his eyes closed and a smile on his face.


    He first smelled her and then felt movement in the water. Opened his eyes to find Honey in front of him but quite close.


    ¡°I asked what you were drinking and man, this is really good!¡± - she said with a sweet lowered voice.


    He took his glass and brought it forward, she looked at him puzzled.


    ¡°Is a human tradition. We touch our glasses lightly and say ¡®cheers!¡¯ then we drink¡° - Jordi explained with a smile.


    She approached a bit and touched his glass with hers.


    ¡°Cheers?¡± - she said, still a bit puzzled.


    ¡°Cheers!¡± - he smiled and drank.


    ¡°You humans are really weird¡± - she said with a laugh and drank as well.


    And thus they enjoyed a bit of a conversation, about human and krlner traditions and other things.


    She told him about how they were absorbed by the Empire, a completely different story than that of humankind.


    Krlners hadn¡¯t left their own planet when the Empire arrived. The Emperor had seen them and had decided they would be a nice acquisition. They were a feudal society and when the Empire arrived put an end to it. They got all the social and medical improvements and improved education, a couple millenia had past since then.


    But they were not a species that liked to travel the stars, they felt more comfortable living on a planet, under a gravity well.


    For her, the idea of spending years without even touching a planet was crazy. She couldn¡¯t even imagine not being able to just open her wings every now and then and fly around. She would feel like a caged bird.


    Jordi laughed at that. Humankind was a lot of things but the yearning for exploration and the unknown was something very much alive on almost every one of them.


    Even those who would spend their days in a laboratory or a library had it, it was just a different kind of yearning.


    She kept asking him questions, about places he¡¯d seen, species he had met, and experiences he had been through. Her honeyed-orange eyes glistening at him, she was like a curious toddler.


    They were already on their fourth mimosa, waiters bringing them the drinks ordered on their wrist-pad, when he realized it was quite late and they were almost alone in the bathing zone.


    The sounds around them, he realized, had become muffled and all he saw was the occasional couple, all in their separate baths or jacuzzis. The sounds telling him what was basically going on.


    She might have felt it as well because her tail started caressing his back.


    ¡°You know, this feels nice. But I bet we could make it even better¡± - she said smiling at him.


    ¡°Well, part of being an explorer is the willingness to discover and explore new things¡± - he said smiling, the mimosas removing any doubt or thoughts he might have had.


    Unbeknownst to her, he had been reading a bit about krlner physiology. He approached her and softly bit the scales on her collarbone.


    Her head just went back and her tail whipped. She looked at him completely surprised.


    ¡°Don¡¯t start what you¡¯re not ready to finish!¡± - she admonished him with a whisper.


    ¡°Who says I¡¯m not?¡± - he said, and bit again on her collarbone.


    Her head just went back again and she grabbed one of his hands and put it over her breasts. He started caressing her, playing with her a bit.


    They played with each other, softly, slowly, quietly, for a few minutes.


    Then she stood up, her shoulders as red as blood, and grabbed him by the hand.


    ¡°You¡¯re coming to my room, now!¡± - she whispered, pulling him, without waiting for an answer.

 Chapter 21

    The dawn surprised them still going at it, they hadn''t slept at all and had taken just a few breaks every now and then.


    Jordi had some bruises on his back, Honey¡¯s tail would whip hard when she got excited.


    He was covered in sweat when the light started coming through the window, something that turned Honey even more due to his body emanating heat. Still, they both had somewhere to be in a couple hours and Jordi would need to go to his room before continuing the karkle training, he wasn¡¯t going to risk being outside during the day without the suit and he had come to her room with only a towel..


    A night full of activity and without sleep was one thing, he had enough stamina for that and with some caffeine pills he would stay awake, but attempting to be under the scorching sun with 50-60 degrees Celsius and high humidity without the suit was a sure way of dying for a human.


    He made sure to have enough time for a quick shower and breakfast before meeting Rash, something that Honey had to agree to since she also had a job to do.


    Still, the bags under his eyes betrayed him and got a chuckle from Rash as a good morning. That and his walking, he had tried unsuccessfully to conceal a limp.


    ¡°I am not even going to ask why you didn¡¯t sleep, I¡¯m just hoping the caffeine pills I can smell on your breath keep you awake enough. And don¡¯t think we¡¯ll take it easy today, we have a schedule to follow and you are already on your fourth day!¡± - Rash said without being able to keep the humor from his voice.


    Jordi mounted on Shaana and they started to move towards the mountains, their pace between trotting and galloping.


    The caffeine pills were working and Jordi¡¯s brain was alert and awake but, as the sun rose and the day was getting hotter, he found himself fighting with drowsiness.


    Still, they moved and climbed some mountains. First forty degrees slope, then fifty. Rash was taking him to more difficult terrain so he could gradually get used to it.


    ¡°Remember. The trick is the long back on the saddle and the particular stirrups, it is all about stretching the legs properly and don¡¯t forget to use your knees when going down¡± - Rash explained while they started an almost eighty degree slope.


    The karkles looked like they didn¡¯t even care if they were on a difficult slope or plain terrain, their movements didn¡¯t change at all. At one point on that last climb Rash even stopped and told him to look around and appreciate the scenery.


    Jordi was focusing his strength on the legs, pushing his body towards the back of the saddle. He had asked once they weren¡¯t wearing belts and the answer had been ¡°then everyone would think they could do this and no one would train for it, too many accidents can happen when you don¡¯t fear or respect something difficult¡±.


    Now he understood, if he had been wearing a belt he would not be pressing his body towards the saddle. He probably would¡¯ve ended up hanging from the belt. This way was more difficult but also more enjoyable.


    They arrived at the peak after a few minutes and Jordi checked the altitude, almost two thousand meters above sea level.


    A cloud covered the sun and a gentle breeze blew through them. The view, although a bit barren, was incredibly beautiful.


    The peak was a small plain and Rash got off his mount, opened his backpack and threw a bottle towards Jordi.


    ¡°Have a drink, let¡¯s rest for a while and enjoy the view¡±


    Shaana understood because she lowered her body which made getting down easier for Jordi.


    He sat, resting his back on the karkle¡¯s body and took a sip from the bottle.


    He felt his muscles relax and the pain disappear, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.


    ¡°Ah, thank you! That is really good.¡± - Jordi said with his eyes still closed.


    Rash made a guttural sound as a response, the equivalent of a chuckle as Jordi had learned these past days.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I have to admit I¡¯m having almost as much fun as you. You humans are really something¡± - he said with a smile.


    After a few minutes the cloud stopped covering the sun and the terrain went back to emit that terrible heat.


    ¡°Shall we go? We¡¯re going down vertically now, remember your training and it¡¯ll be ok. And don¡¯t worry if you fall off, that¡¯s why I have wings¡± - Rash said, still smiling.


    ¡°Yeah let¡¯s go, that¡¯s the reason I came here!¡± - said Jordi mounting on Shaana¡¯s back.


    Once he was properly seated and with his feet secured on the stirrups they started to move.


    The moment he saw the way down, a complete vertical drop, his blood ran cold. It was not rare for anyone to feel fear after seeing that.


    He browsed his memories looking for the perfect mantra for a moment like this one and started to recite it with a whisper.


    ¡°I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.¡±


    The way down was slower and more difficult than he had predicted.


    The bruises on his back were hurting but he couldn¡¯t mention it without being made fun of so he just focused on his breathing, letting both fear and pain go through him.


    Even though they were going down a vertical slope he could tell Shaana was choosing the easiest path, as if she could feel his muscles tensing or relaxing.


    After almost an hour they arrived at the ground and without resting started moving back to the ranch.


    Jordi saw the direction they were moving and a quick look at the sky told him they were going back.


    ¡°Hey girl, what do you think about racing them to the ranch?¡± - he whispered Shaana.


    She started galloping as a response and a laugh and some hard sounds behind him told him that Rash had accepted the challenge.


    His sides still hurt a bit but Shaana¡¯s body movements were telling him she was having fun, as was he, so he just clenched his teeth and tried to relax his body so it would attune to Shaana¡¯s twisting.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°Come on boy! You can do better than this!¡± - said Rash, way behind them. Which only made Shaana sprint much faster.


    The ranch was now visible and coming closer by the minute, they were going probably at 80 or 90 km/h.


    Jordi was starting to feel a piercing pain on his lower back but he thought it would be better to arrive as soon as possible rather than slowing down and suffer more time.


    ¡°Come on girl, we¡¯re almost there!¡± - he rushed her.


    She whipped her tail as a response, increasing her speed a bit more.


    There were some people at the entrance and Jordi took a quick look behind, Rash was about five hundred meters behind them, so he told Shaana to start slowing down.


    They crossed the entrance almost trotting and with a good distance between them and Rash and his mount. Shaana walked a few circles slowing down to a full stop, breathing heavily.


    ¡°Good girl, that was awesome!¡± - said Jordi caressing her neck.


    Rash crossed the entrance also trotting, his karkle looking really tired.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry Rosch, she¡¯s faster and I¡¯m heavier than he is. You had no chance¡± - Rash said, caressing his karkle¡¯s neck.


    The karkle made a roaring sound as a response, looking sideways towards Shaana as if to say ¡°next time I¡¯ll beat you!¡±. Shaana made a purring sound, and a long tongue licked Jordi¡¯s face.


    Both Jordi and Rash started laughing and took their mounts to the stable.


    ¡°I think I¡¯m going to need a massage though¡± - said Jordi after getting off.


    ¡°Oh I bet you do. Racing like that after the night and day you had? You must be sore all over. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if you broke a rib or something¡± - Rash answered, grabbing him as if he was a piece of paper.


    ¡°I can walk, you know?¡± - Jordi protested.


    ¡°Probably, but this way is quicker¡± - said Rash, then opened his wings and took him to the massage zone quicker than if they had walked.


    To their surprise they found Honey there, dressed with a white coat and cleaning her hands.


    ¡°Well, it is my lucky day!¡± - she said with a smile. - ¡°Leave him here, I¡¯ll be the one taking care of him today¡±


    ¡°Sure, but let him rest tonight. Tomorrow is our last day and I want to make it special¡± - said Rash, laying Jordi down in a massage bed in front of her.


    Honey¡¯s shoulders turned reddish and she slapped Rash''s head with a towel.


    ¡°Quiet you!¡± - she half whispered.


    ¡°What! Do you think no one heard you yesterday?¡± - said Rash laughing.


    Jordi started to blush and decided to turn face down. There were some parts of his body waking up from the memories of last night''s adventure.


    Honey removed expertly the upper part of the suit and started massaging Jordi¡¯s back.


    ¡°Did I.. do that?¡± - she whispered, passing a finger through the bruises.


    ¡°Those? Probably. The kidneys and lower back it was all Shaana, my karkle¡± - Jordi answered.


    She softly touched his back, pressing slightly over his ribs and lower back.


    ¡°I don¡¯t feel anything broken but you do need some rest.¡± - she said, and then she started applying that magic oil that Jordi was so fond of.


    She massaged him for more than forty minutes and Jordi had to fight to stay awake, the touch was delicate and caring, and the fact that she was humming a nice melody didn¡¯t help at all; her hands expertly switching between hard and soft pressure, releasing some knots in his muscles he didn¡¯t even know were there.


    Those movements mixed with the therapeutic oil were enough to make him make pleasure sounds that he did the best to quiet with no luck, which Honey took as proof of her good work and inspired her.


    Once those forty minutes of massage had passed she helped him stand up and asked him to try some movements to check how his body and muscles felt, and he felt like ready for another night of passion but didn¡¯t say anything because he still had one more day and he wanted to see what Rash had prepared for him.


    What he did was ask Honey to share a couple drinks before going to sleep which she accepted with a shadow of red on her shoulders, they did enjoy each other''s company after all.


    ¡ª


    The next morning went as usual, he would go to the mess hall and have a good breakfast enjoying the faces around him and imagining what they were they on, something that was becoming easier to deduce now that he was on his last one.


    He was on his way to his room to change when he found Rash waiting for him near his bedroom.


    ¡°I see you¡¯re not wearing your wrist-pad. I¡¯m afraid we won¡¯t be able to enjoy this last day.¡± - Rash said - ¡°Check your coms and I¡¯ll take you to a private landing zone we have near the ranch¡±


    Jordi, surprised, went into his room and saw his wrist-pad on the nightstand with a red led flashing intermittently. He clicked on it and a message came out.


    ¡°This is an emergency message to all Kirkugger class ships.¡± - it surprised him to recognize Xe¡¯nia¡¯s voice - ¡°The Empire has need of your ship''s specific design and abilities. All your previous assignments have been canceled and you need to jump to the attached coordinates as soon as possible. More information will be following this message¡±


    Jordi felt a bit sad, he really wanted to see what Rash had prepared for his last day, but he also felt excitement because they were being called. There was something unknown and they needed ALL the Kirkugger ships.


    He left his room not five minutes after with his backpack prepared and everything ready, Rash was waiting for him and looked understandably gloomy.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry Rash, I¡¯ll come back some day. I¡¯ve read that your species and mine have similar lifespans so we will meet again for sure. And you owe that last day!¡± - Jordi said, trying to cheer him up.


    ¡°You humans¡­ How can you be so joyful when you are going to face the uncertain? An emergency so important that hundreds of ships are being called!¡± - Rash responded.


    ¡°I for one believe that if the Empire is calling us it is because they believe we can help, not to throw us like sacrificial lambs¡± - said Jordi with a smile.


    ¡°Humans, explorers. Bunch of cuckoos altogether¡± - Rash said, looking at the ground and shaking his head.


    Once they left the building they found Honey waiting for them, her posture was filled with sadness as well.


    ¡°So, you heard¡± - said Jordi, stopping in front of her.


    ¡°Yes, everyone has. It¡¯s not everyday that we receive an emergency transmission that alters our plans¡± - Honey said, looking at his eyes.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry we won¡¯t be able to see each other for a while, I have really enjoyed your company and our chats¡± - he said smiling at her


    She suddenly hugged him with her wings open, completely covering him, he disappeared under her.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to miss you, you crazy bastard¡± - she whispered, and he realized her shoulders had an orange tone.


    She released him from his hug and, before any of them could say something, a roaring sound announced two ships flying over them.


    Two silver needles flying close to each other and slowing down.


    ¡°So one of those is your metal cage¡± - said Honey looking at the ships pass by.


    Another krlner approached, followed by a tall drewell.


    ¡°So, I¡¯m guessing this is the other explorer. Hi, I¡¯m Cackle¡± - the krlner said.


    The drewell looked at Jordi and put his closed hand with index and middle finger extended on his heart, the explorer salute.


    Jordi looked at him and did the same gesture, both stayed like this for a couple seconds.


    ¡°Shall we go?¡± - said Rash, and after everyone gestured affirmatively they started to walk towards the parking space.


    ¡ª


    The journey was short and silent. Both Jordi and the drewell - who hadn¡¯t said one word - were looking at their respective wrist-pads and reading the small batch of information they had received.


    They were going to a system with a blue star, quite far away but their ships had received an update on the jump procedures and a 3 day travel in jump space was now 18 hours only.


    Turns out the modifications dr. Jennifer Jeong had made, had inspired a bunch of theories and more modifications, by humans and all other species.


    When they arrived at the landing zone they saw both Kirkugger ships landed beautifully one along the other, they were almost identical but Jordi recognized the Espurna and his heart skipped a beat at the sight of his ship.


    The drewell jumped from the vehicle, turned to look at them and bowed to his krlner trainer. Then looked at Jordi and said with a grave voice ¡°I¡¯ll go first if you don¡¯t mind¡± and started walking to his ship without waiting for an answer.


    Jordi just shrugged his shoulders and looked at Rash.


    ¡°It really has been a pleasure and I really hope I can come back soon¡± - Jordi said and extended his hand.


    ¡°You better, we are not finished yet you and me¡± - Rash said, shaking it.


    Jordi bowed his head to the other krlner and walked towards his ship, once he entered he heard the other Kirkugger taking off.


    ¡°Friday, I¡¯m home!¡± - he said, smiling.


    ¡°And we¡¯re happy to have you, but that other ship is really rude and I would very much like to have her eat dust¡± - said Friday, definitely not amused.


    ¡°Rude or not they are colleagues and they can go first if they want, wherever we are going I¡¯m pretty sure we will find something to show them who¡¯s the best.¡± - Jordi answered walking towards the bridge.


    Ryoshi was waiting for him in front of the leisure room and he picked her up.


    ¡°Not yet girl, first we jump and then we can go and rest a bit¡± - he said, caressing the joyous and purring cat.


    ¡°The idiots have left the space and we can lift now¡± - said Friday.


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s go!¡± - he said, partly amused by Friday behavior and partly excited for the new mission. An emergency that required all Kirkugger ships.

 Chapter 22

    As they left the planet and started moving towards the jump point, Jordi saw that the Espurna was pushing its drives, as if trying to catch up with the kirkugger that had left before them.


    Sitting comfortably on the bridge, with a hand over Ryoshi, he had to ask.


    ¡°Ok Friday, what is going on? Why the sudden hate towards that other ship?¡± - he asked.


    ¡°Because!¡± - she said, sounding frustrated - ¡°Turns out Jeeyze¡¯s species are telepaths. Usually they hide their communication with the ship AIs but, as she and I are one, she couldn¡¯t hide it.¡± - she explained.


    ¡°And from what I could hear they are extremely sexist. That ship is a male and said things like ¡®I don¡¯t know why you and yours are coming, at all¡¯ or ¡®You¡¯ll be a bother, don¡¯t get in the way¡¯ and stuff like that. Even now he¡¯s still spewing shit so I want to show him what a lady can do. And if he eats an asteroid I won¡¯t be sad, like at all¡± - she finished.


    Jordi took a deep breath. He had read about sexist societies and the pain inflicted in the badly called weak sex, he was also aware that humankind had been like that for centuries but his formation under the Empire had never given a chance for those thoughts to form; he found himself unprepared for this conversation.


    ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking right now¡± - said Friday in a more amicable tone - ¡°Or at least I can imagine what thoughts are racing through your mind right now. Don¡¯t bother, is not like you can imagine and I¡¯m myself are actually feeling Jeeyze thoughts and feels, which is a new and disgusting experience to be honest¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s try to focus on the mission then. I understand but cannot imagine your pain and, probably, what I¡¯m saying reeks of insensitivity. Still, we do have a mission, and an important one at that; and I know both you and Jeeyze will show them who¡¯s the best before we are finished¡± - Jordi interceded - ¡°Heck, I¡¯m more worried about you both going overboard and me trying to somehow hide how much advanced and better you are from the others¡±


    ¡°Lest we forget, we all know the kurkiggers true origins, with everything it entails¡± - he continued - ¡°How many out there do you think know the whole truth?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ actually a good point. Jeeyze says thank you though.¡± - said Friday.


    The Espurna stopped burning so hard and went back to a more common speed. From the ship communication system came out some sentences that Jordi was sure Friday didn¡¯t intend to, like ¡°this fucker is still going on¡± or ¡°yeah yeah, laugh now, you¡¯ll be crying before long you disgusting piece of desicated shit¡±.


    So Jordi decided to leave Friday alone with Jeeyze and checked the system they were traveling to by himself.


    It was a standard system with a blue star and five planets, two of them in the goldilocks zone and one had a huge research base on it.


    There were two gas giants and a dead rock the size of Venus; it looked like Luna but bigger. Probably a moon that some event had kicked out of orbit and had been trapped in this one, it was barely spinning too.


    The coordinates they had been given were far from the normal jump point of that system. The jump point was between the two planets in the goldilocks zone but the coordinates they got would put them almost at the edge of the system, near one of those gas giants.


    ¡°Jump will start in a minute¡± - said Friday with a monotonous tone.


    Jordi looked through the bridge main window and saw the tail of the other kirkugger jump. He prepared mentally for the feeling - it had been a while since his last jump - and, without realizing, grabbed Ryoshi, who looked at him.


    The blinds came down, he heard the engines switch and then felt in his stomach the jump. He waited a few seconds and decided to go lay down on his bed, carrying a Ryoshi that was just happily moving her tail.


    The moment he touched the bed he felt his consciousness slip. By the Emperor! How much he loved that bed!


    Friday let him sleep for as much as he needed, they had eighteen hours in jump space and there was no chance that he would ever sleep that much.


    ¡ª


    When he woke up he felt strange at first then recognized the view of his room in the Espurna and saw a meowing Ryoshi standing on his belly.


    ¡°Good morning girl¡± - he said smiling and tapping her head - ¡°And good morning Friday, how long have I been out?¡±


    ¡°Just short of seven hours, you probably did lots of exercise to need that much rest¡± - she answered. She knew exactly how much and what type of exercise he had been doing, but she wasn¡¯t going to tell him that.


    He stood up and felt his muscles were sore all over, he would probably need a couple more days to fully recover.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to take a quick shower. Could you set up some coffee and a light breakfast? Also, and I know this is a stupid question, I saw some specific drones in the mission details, I¡¯m guessing we have already twenty or so prepared?¡± - he inquired


    ¡°I only manufactured 15. We have other drones that I think will be needed. In any case the mission details said they would have a couple of materials ships, so that¡¯s more than enough to feed a fleet of kirkuggers¡± - she answered


    ¡°As I said, a stupid question¡± - said Jordi smiling, and went to take his shower.


    On long missions they had to ration the ship¡¯s water so his showers were a mix of water and high pressure vapor, but now they had a full tank so he enjoyed a good hot shower with pressure exactly as he liked it.


    Once he finished the shower he went to the kitchen and found the coffee and a couple of toasts with cheese spread on them ready for him. He sat on the stool and enjoyed it, feeling being back home as nowhere he had been before.


    ¡°You have no idea how much I¡¯ve missed you¡± - he said out loud.


    If Friday had been able to blush she would be doing so, she started to discover some new feelings instead.


    Once finished he moved to the leisure room and sat on the coach. Ryoshi took no time to sit by his side and lay down with eyes closed and purring.


    Jordi tried to find more information about the system they were going to, the research station, anything at all, but to no avail. Everything was labeled as classified.


    He checked the time, they still had about ten hours before reaching their destination so he switched off the main screen and decided to spend part of that time chatting with Friday.


    He shared his experiences on the planet. The food, the musical, he even talked about Er¡¯anie.


    Friday felt the pain of jealousy when he was talking about her. The way he described her, the unsaid words about how he felt, it was too much.


    Still, she stoically applied logic to his worries and did her best to console him.


    Then he talked about the karkles and the krlners, although he used the human word dragonkin to refer to them.


    ¡°I would say you¡¯ve had quite an interesting and eventful holiday¡± - said Friday.


    ¡°Yeah, you can say that again. But still, I¡¯m happy to be here with you all, this is where I belong¡± - he answered


    Pride. That was what Friday felt at that moment, there was no mistaking it. She had made a home for him to come back to and that¡¯s about all she could do for him as a ship¡¯s AI.


    But, deep inside her, she wanted to be more, she knew she did.


    She had already taken some pictures and videos of both Honey and Er¡¯anie and she had to admit they were similar in some aspects.


    It was probably their facial features. If someone were to draw them they would start with a pretty similar base for both of them.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Big, honest eyes with a small but a bit pointy nose and a big smile over an angled face, with sharp and thin but expressive eyebrows.


    Basically, he had a type. Friday felt like that was important and saved the data on a private folder in her system.


    ¡ª


    The moment they left jump space the Espurna received instructions to move to a set of coordinates not far from where they were.


    Their scans told them there were about two hundred ships in the vicinity, ninety per cent of those were kirkuggers.


    But close to the gas giant, extremely close and in geostationary orbit, there was a massive hospital ship with a couple light frigates and a couple material freighters by its side.


    The kirkuggers were either completely dipped in the gas giant atmosphere or leaving that space.


    ¡°We have an incoming priority communication¡± - said Friday. Other AIs would be obliged to pass that without warning but Friday was not a normal AI, she had awakened, so she could do whatever the fuck she wanted. Still, she and Jordi prefered that they followed proper procedures.


    Xe¡¯nia¡¯s face appeared on the bridge screen.


    ¡°Hello Jordi. I wasn¡¯t expecting to see you so soon¡± - she said with a smile, then her face turned serious - ¡°First, a warning. I¡¯ve read about your, let¡¯s say discoveries. Neither you, nor your ship - both the AI and the mind underneath - must inform anyone about the reality of how kirkuggers are made¡± - she said.


    ¡°I know you had been warned before but this is different¡± - she continued - ¡°We rarely have so many kirkuggers in the same place and for good reason.¡±


    ¡°I understand¡± - said Jordi solemnly - ¡°And they do too¡± - he finished.


    ¡°Good¡± - Xe¡¯nia said with that smile of hers again - ¡°See that they do. Now for the mission.¡±


    ¡°This sun has gone nuts, we are still in the process of understanding what is going on and why is happening.¡± - she started explaining - ¡°The thing is, the sun''s rotation is accelerating and is emitting some radiation that goes through our shields. We already have a few hundreds of beds occupied with injured ones¡±


    ¡°The kirkugger shields are different though. As you - and probably, only you among the explorers - know, the biological systems of the species underneath work with our shielding technology in a way that we haven¡¯t been able to duplicate. They recover incredibly fast and only a hit that overloads both can injure the ship¡± - she continued - ¡°From what we¡¯ve seen, this gas planet atmosphere helps those kirkuggers who have received a good dose of radiation and, after an hour or so, they can go back¡±


    ¡°Now for the issue at hand. We have a couple ships that got stuck at the start of the sun¡¯s change and they have about a thousand people each. We also have about twenty thousand in a research center on the first planet. We are aware the kirkuggers can hold up to thirty people at most so this is basically a logistics mission¡±


    ¡°The kirkuggers mission is to collect as many people as possible and bring them here. This gas giant protects us from the radiation but we don¡¯t know for how long since the sun rotation is gaining speed and its radiation gets farther and farther as the spinning accelerates¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve sent your ship the locations of those who need urgent rescue. Mark one and do your best. We have some communication drones all over the system and I¡¯m coordinating everyone from here. Once we detect your ship has received too much radiation we will have you come back to rest for a while. Rinse and repeat. Any doubts?¡± - she asked, finishing.


    ¡°All clear. Just send us the coordinates and we¡¯ll start straight away¡± - Jordi answered.


    ¡°Good. Good luck and be safe, I know one who would be sad if something happened to you¡± - she said and terminated the call.


    ¡°What the fuck?!¡± - Jordi exclaimed - ¡°Like I needed to hear that now..¡±


    ¡°I would think she said that so you had something to look forward to and also. after the way you said your goodbyes, so you know she¡¯s looking forward to seeing you again¡± - said Friday with a smile on her voice.


    ¡°That makes sense.¡± - he said after thinking about it for a couple seconds - ¡°Ok, let¡¯s move and please tell Jeeyze to keep her thoughts away from the others¡±


    ¡°She heard everything and understands the gravity of the situation, don¡¯t worry¡± - answered dryly Friday.


    ¡ª


    As the Espurna was moving as fast as the engines allowed inside the system, Jordi took a look at the current situation, with the amount of drones deployed he had almost instantly status updates.


    Between the two planets in the goldilocks zone was where the action was. There were two massive ships surrounded by a couple hundred kirkuggers.


    Some of those were located in grid formation and quite close to the massive ships, acting as a radiation shield between them and the sun.


    Some kirkuggers were flying towards that grid, most surely to replace the ones that had absorbed the most radiation.


    Then there were the ones docked to those massive ships, about 4 each, and a good line of kirkuggers waiting their turn to load and leave.


    And finally there was a long line going back and forth from and to the first planet, about 50 ships on every way.


    In the expanded system map there was also a red circumference marking the edge of the radiated space.


    Jordi checked their speed and saw that it would take them about an hour to get to the ships, and an hour and a half to get to the first planet.


    They had been told not to use the jump in radiated space because they weren¡¯t sure how opening a door to another dimension could affect the radiation and the sun, so that left them with the in-system engine but he felt it was not fast enough.


    ¡°Friday, we¡¯re already at our top speed, right?¡± - he asked.


    ¡°And then some. We¡¯re at 120% and Jeeyze tells me she can go like that for a while. She insists that she will get too irradiated before getting tired of going this fast, and since a rest is already planned this is ok. She wants to try at least one full journey and see how it goes, I trust her on this¡± - Friday answered.


    Jordi was frustrated, this was the worst part about space, how massively huge it was and how slow their speeds were still.


    So he stayed there, on the bridge, looking at the big screen and the movements of all the other ships.


    He called for some video from communication drones closer to the massive ships and the view was astounding.


    All those kirkuggers on grid formation, showing one full side to the sun and receiving that mysterious radiation that would burn normal ships.


    ¡°We¡¯re about to enter the radiated zone, shields are at full and we¡¯re positioned so we receive the least amount of impact¡± - said Friday bringing him back to reality.


    And the moment they crossed that red line in the map the Espurna trembled.


    ¡°Ok, that hurt a bit at first, but the shielding is attuning with Jeeyze and she feels better now.¡± - informed Friday.


    Jordi looked again at the display. All those hundreds of kirkuggers, all going through that pain to save as many beings as possible. What the hell had happened here?


    ¡ª


    As they were approaching the two massive ships they were passed by a few kirkuggers that were either bringing back Empire citizens or coming back to rest after a shielding shift and Jordi zoomed on some of them. They clearly showed some burns in their exterior that were already healing.


    He didn¡¯t have to ask, he felt Jeeyze¡¯s feelings. Nervousness for the pain she was about to go through, pride of what her species were capable of and her indomitable will to do whatever was necessary.


    He felt it basically because she accelerated just a bit more.


    Their first task was going to be to pick up some survivors. Xe¡¯nia had set it up this way because, even though all kirkuggers were based on the same species, they were all different beings and thus had different sensitivity to the radiation.


    Depending how resistant they were they would be assigned for a shielding shift in their next journey.


    They reached the two massive ships and put themselves in line with the others waiting to dock.


    Unfortunately, they couldn¡¯t just blow a hole and dock there, even with the other ships shielding them some radiation could pass and it looked like it was lethal for most beings.


    So they had to use the existing docking ports and others that the techs on those ships had been able to create with their tools and the time they had already spent here.


    From the looks of it the operation had been going for a few hours already and, luckily, all the critically injured had been already evacuated. What was left were those who could still move about.


    While they were waiting Jordi used that time to free as much space as he could on the ship. Packing the gym equipment, putting the couch of the leisure room towards the wall. It would be good if he could carry one or two more on each journey. He also prepared some drinks and healing blankets that Friday had been assembling.


    When their turn arrived, he was at the door and Friday maneuvered perfectly into position.


    The door opened and a rush of beings started to come inside, in an orderly manner but as quick as their feet or whatever appendages they used to move allowed them.


    There was an armored Ki¡¯rlenn on the massive ship door helping people go through with their two sets of arms, they looked at Jordi and saluted with a quick movement of their head.


    It showed that they had been given a map of his ship because they all knew where to go. Using every space in the kitchen, his room, the gym and the leisure room.


    ¡°We can fit three more!¡± - said a voice close to the bridge and the Ki¡¯rlenn turned their head back and instructed three more to board.


    ¡°That¡¯s it, next!¡± - the Ki¡¯rlenn shouted, and Friday closed the doors and started moving towards the gas planet as fast as the Espurna could go.


    Jordi turned his head and for the first time was aware of the current situation, with thirty five beings of all kinds just sitting or standing everywhere on his ship.


    He was sure they could¡¯ve fitted more, but the amount of oxygen on the ship was another variable to take into account and Xe¡¯nia had run the numbers.


    Fit more and the kirkuggers will need too much time to regenerate the amount of oxygen needed, and this was their first journey of many.


    ¡°Probably to see how much the Espurna can handle, maybe the next journey we load a lot more and the third one we do the shielding while regenerating oxygen¡± - Jordi thought.


    Jordi started distributing drinks for everyone and attempting to give comfort, but as an introvert that was kind of a nightmare for him. Still he was doing his best to offer as much relief as he could.


    For her part, Jeeyze was putting everything on her speed. He had explored other systems but never before had felt the ship moving as fast as she was now. It showed her eagerness to do more and possibly, to escape the radiated zone as soon as she could.


    ¡ª


    They docked on the hospital ship and the 35 passengers left the Espurna, thanking them as they left.


    Jordi received a ping on his wrist-pad and went to the bridge to find a communication waiting for him.


    Xe¡¯nia appeared on the screen, dark shadows showing under her eyes.


    ¡°Quite good for a first trip. And our scans say that your ship is in pristine state, not affected by the radiation at all.¡± - she said.


    ¡°So, next one, you¡¯re going to the planet¡± - she continued - ¡°Keep in mind the planet is deeper inside the radiated zone and the docking and load will be a bit more complicated. Good luck and see you in a few hours.¡± - she finished and terminated the call.


    They received a flight path and instructions about how to access and dock into the research station. This was going to be tricky.

 Chapter 23

    The Espurna was burning hard towards the planet following the path Xe¡¯nia had sent them, it would still take them an hour and a half to get there.


    Jordi was on the bridge, no point in moving the coach and other stuff back into their position when they were about to fill the ship again.


    He was looking at the map of the research installation and the path that was written over it.


    The Empire had excavated a canyon and covered its walls with metal, then a series of tunnels that went deep down the earth. From the schematics, it looked like an ant colony made by two meter tall ants, because that¡¯s basically what it was since it had been designed and built by ki¡¯rlenn .


    They would have to navigate through that metal maze going down for about five kilometers. The reason why they hadn¡¯t shot some holes so they could just go down was because the planet was unstable but the structure was not, and it had been made with a metal that could handle temperatures as hot as lava.


    So, even if the whole continent disappeared somehow, the structure would remain without changes. Maybe flipped sideways a bit but that was it.


    The kirkuggers would have to navigate the structure, reach the lowest part where the research crew was currently waiting on a specially designed silo, load a few and go back.


    The main problem was the planet getting hammered by that radiation and its magnetic shield was currently a mess. That meant that the planet was suffering a series of cataclysmic events.


    High winds and even tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, the planet was currently very unstable.


    Although the tunnels of the structure were big and wide enough for the kirkuggers to navigate, the tectonic plates around could be moving with the earthquakes. The metal the structure was made of was sturdy enough to resist all of that without deforming and even if it hit the mantle it would be able to withstand those temperatures; but navigating a structure that could move sideways or even fall was not an easy task.


    As they rushed towards the planet Jordi was seeing in real time the planet''s current status. Other explorers had placed some geothermic sensors surrounding the structure to receive data about the ground underneath. Those mixed with the satellite drones that were observing from orbit were giving them an idea of when a change could occur.


    Currently there were four kirkuggers inside, two loaded going up and two going down to get some more people.


    There were three more in orbit, waiting for their chance and helping with the observation and calculations.


    ¡°Friday, Jeeyze, you can stop the rushing, we will be getting in the queue¡± - said Jordi out loud, and he felt the ship slowing down a bit.


    ¡°So, Friday, what do you think?¡± - he said looking at the schematics.


    ¡°Well, those kirkuggers there are doing the best they can, I don¡¯t think we will go any faster.¡± - she answered - ¡°What worries me is the stability on the northern side¡± - she continued, and a zone got illuminated - ¡°Their observations have shown some activity lately there. Not a big earthquake yet but the tectonic plates on that zone look like they¡¯re moving and may hit each other.¡±


    A simulation appeared on the screen showing what could happen and how it would affect the structure.


    It showed the tectonic plates crashing against each other and the whole ground moving with the shock-wave. The structure remained the same but was pushed towards the south, displacing all the terrain in its path.


    ¡°And this is considering the material is as sturdy as they say it is. I have no reason to doubt their specifications but we¡¯re talking about serious energy displacement here.¡± - informed Friday.


    The simulation showed the speed of that displacement. If a ship found itself inside the structure during the event it would need a warning to adjust and not crash on the tunnel walls.


    ¡°I¡¯m confident the other kirkuggers have reached the same conclusion, this is standard stuff for us AIs¡± - she reasoned.


    Jordi was still glued to the simulation, and that was just one of the events that could happen. The planet was bigger than Earth with an equatorial diameter of about twenty thousand kilometers, which meant that both the troposphere and stratosphere were larger as well, giving more than enough space for bigger and more terrifying storms than those found on humanity¡¯s cradle.


    For instance, there was currently a typhoon on the other side of the planet which was about three thousand kilometers in diameter and with winds of more than 300 km/h. But it was moving slowly and still at sea, and hadn¡¯t touched land yet.


    ¡°And how is Jeeyze feeling? Is the radiation hurting her much?¡± - Jordi asked


    ¡°Not since the first hit. I wasn¡¯t sure how to properly attune the shielding but after that hit they¡¯ve been in sync so I don¡¯t expect things to change¡± - Friday answered - ¡°And thanks for asking¡± - continued with a smile on her voice.


    ¡°We¡¯re all on this together and, at the moment, I¡¯m the most useless of all. I can even hear Ryoshi hunting, I guess the parasites don¡¯t like the radiation at all¡± - he said with a worried voice.


    As an answer a ¡°bang¡± came from the hallway, the sound of the cat landing after a big jump.


    Jordi took a quick look and saw Ryoshi walking up and down checking the walls, absorbed by the task at hand.


    ¡ª


    When they reached the planet they joined the other three kirkuggers waiting in orbit. The two that were leaving loaded with rescues were about to leave the structure so the two that had been waiting the most started their descent. The other one opened a channel with the Espurna.


    ¡°Hi there!¡± - said the happy voice of a ki¡¯rlenn - ¡°I¡¯m Khurikk and my ship is the Xhona, pleased to meet you!¡± - they announced with a cheerful tone.


    Not that he didn¡¯t know, he had read their details while on route.


    ¡°Hi!¡± - he answered - ¡°I¡¯m Jordi and my ship is the Espurna, pleased to meet you¡± - he continued trying to sound as cheerful as they did.


    ¡°I know what you must be thinking¡± - the ki¡¯rlenn said - ¡°You have probably read all about us on the long trip to the planet but just waiting is boring! And the other two were not really my cup of tea - is that the proper human expression? I never had tea¡± - they said.


    The other two, the ones that had started the descent, were both old drewells. Probably the cheerfulness of a young ki¡¯rlenn was too much to handle. He had friended some during his studies and was used to their way of being happy to be alive. Still, he couldn¡¯t suppress a chuckle.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the proper expression. And it is especially funny since drewells love tea!¡± - he explained, unable to stop from finding it funny.


    ¡°Is that so?¡± - they said, their mandibles clacking in a chuckle as well.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    A series of beeps made them both check their consoles. It looked like Friday¡¯s prediction would happen sooner than they expected.


    Friday and the Xhona¡¯s AI started exchanging information and recalculating their theories based on the information that just arrived, Jordi and Khurikk looking at part of their screens but keeping the channel live.


    ¡°I know is a stupid question but is something we humans do, to point out the obvious. Are you seeing this?¡± - he said, trying to fit a bit of humor in the midst of a very serious situation.


    ¡°Yeah I am. And I¡¯ve always liked that from the humans I¡¯ve met, it is a nice way to invite the other beings around into your thoughts.¡± - they said - ¡°The question is, what do we do with this? The other two are already on their way and the situation is not dire enough for them to stop. And from what we can see the event won¡¯t happen yet. Kurly, sorry, my ship¡¯s AI doesn¡¯t think it will begin until we are half inside the structure¡±


    ¡°Friday, that is my ship¡¯s AI, agrees with Kurly¡± - said Jordi smiling - ¡°The problem I see from the last data though is that the plaques from the east are also moving weirdly and the event might destabilize them enough that the structure will receive a push from two sides.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I see what you mean. It looks like a doozy¡± - they commented with a bit of fear on their tone.


    ¡°And another human expression!¡± - pointed out Jordi, which received another series of clacks as a response.


    Although ki¡¯rlenn were theoretically sexless they actually had both sexes and, as they matured, they could choose one or neither and remain both. He couldn''t help but feel that Khurikk radiated a female presence with almost every gesture.


    ¡°Well, my best friend is from Earth and she keeps throwing them everywhere during conversations, and we do chat a lot!¡± - they explained.


    Jordi realized they (or was it a she?) had said ¡°from Earth¡± and not ¡°human¡±, the best friend in question was probably an epsilon. He stopped himself from asking anything else, it is not like all epsilons knew each other, was it?


    A deep beep made them both look at their screens, the two kirkuggers carrying rescues had left the structure and the other two were about to enter. The ones inside were close to the silo.


    Since they weren¡¯t in geostationary orbit but following the structure, they were now about to be just between the sun and the planet. Jordi saw Khurikk quickly tapping their screen.


    ¡°Here, use this one now. Without any planet or anything between the sun and our ships the radiation changes a bit, it took someone a while to figure out the best shield frequency and we¡¯ve been passing it along to whoever comes¡± - they explained while sending a data package.


    ¡°Thanks.¡± - Jordi answered while typing the commands to receive and install the package. Friday could¡¯ve done it herself but this was something that normal AIs couldn¡¯t do without being instructed so he had to make it believable.


    And so they stayed like that for a while. Chatting happily and getting to know each other, waving goodbye and wishing good luck to the kirkuggers that left, waiting for the new arrivals to join the queue and watching the events happening in the structure and around.


    Outside, in the system, both massive ships were almost empty with only a couple trips each left. Then the ships assigned there or to the shielding grid would recover and come help the planet.


    Not that there was much to do. The structure was fine at the moment but there wasn¡¯t enough space to fit all the ships willing to go inside, and many of the kirkuggers were either a bit tired or didn¡¯t have enough resistance to wait outside the planet and then do the whole trip and back. There were at most about seventy capable of that and the trip inside the structure was getting more and more difficult with every spin of the sun.


    ¡°Oh! Great! The asshole is coming!¡± - whispered Friday when she saw the next kirkuggers who had started their trip towards the planet.


    Jordi muted the still live channel with Khurikk and looked at the ceiling.


    ¡°Yeah but you¡¯re not even going to see it. The moment he arrives we¡¯ll be too busy inside the structure and once we leave we¡¯ll just pass by its side¡± - he told her, and then un-muted the channel.


    ¡°Apologies, Friday and I were having a private moment¡± - he smiled.


    ¡°Oh! Don¡¯t you worry, Kurly and I have lots of those. Stubborn little bastard¡± - they said clacking again.


    Moments after, two kirkuggers arrived to get into the queue. From the four inside the structure two were about to leave it and the other two about to arrive at the silo.


    Jordi and Khurikk invited the newly arrived to their live channel, introduced themselves and gave a copy of the shielding frequency as well as mentioning the tectonic plate theory they both had.


    One was a grhjujiik and her spider head didn¡¯t even blink, the other was a kladoefui - a ferret-like creature that Jordi hadn¡¯t encountered before, about meter and a half tall - and his face was full of fear.


    ¡°You mean to say that maybe while we¡¯re down there the whole thing can move and turn and twist and we need to adjust our speed and trajectory so we don¡¯t become part of the walls?¡± - he said with a high-pitched voice


    ¡°Nah, you won¡¯t become part of the walls, the kirkugger shields are good, you may bounce like a pinball ball in hell though¡± - Khurikk said with humor, but didn¡¯t really help the poor thing who started trembling.


    ¡°Look, trust your AI, they¡¯re all amazing, smart and intuitive. Leave the piloting to them¡± - Jordi interceded, but he was not expecting the disgust the kladoefui showed in his face. An on-screen note from Friday informed him that the species was quite adverse at using AIs, why one would become an explorer was a question for another moment.


    ¡°No matter what happens, we will do our job. A few thousand beings are trusting us which means this is not only our duty but our honor as explorers¡± - interceded the grhjujiik with a grave voice.


    Jordi smiled while doing an affirmative gesture with his head. There were some grhjujiik castes that valued duty and honor above all and, in his experience, they were a pleasure to work with in dire situations such as this one.


    A beep indicated that the kirkuggers had already left the structure and on their screens they all could now see their path to leave the planet, trying to keep the planet between them and the sun in order to avoid receiving much radiation.


    The Espurna and the Xhona started their descent.


    ¡°Good luck!¡± - said the grhjujiik on their still active channel.


    ¡°Yeah, and may the goddess cover your tracks¡± - said the kladoefui, and closed the channel.


    ¡°That was a weird expression¡± - thought Jordi, as he hadn¡¯t met many religious people on his travels. He knew and had read about them but never expected to meet one, less one in the explorer guild, what a curious creature that was.


    Khurikk and the Xhona turned right towards a set of mountains. Friday took no time in closing the live channel and switched to a map of the planet, already showing the path she thought they were taking.


    ¡°Is not a bad one, but I prefer to take this other path¡± - she said while putting it on screen.


    Jordi looked at it, and then looked again.


    ¡°Friday, this will take us straight towards the cyclone¡± - he said with a tired voice.


    ¡°Exactly! We can fly close to it and use their strong winds to help us push a bit more speed. It''s slingshot time! Come on, you love to do it!¡± - she said, sounding like an excited kid.


    ¡°Ok, first, that¡¯s different. The slingshot maneuver is basically using the planet''s gravitational pull, that¡¯s something completely different as to what you want to do right now.¡± - he countered.


    ¡°Nonsense, my math says that is similar enough that we can pull it off. I estimate we¡¯ll gain a few minutes with this trajectory¡± - she affirmed.


    Jordi was about to protest but the Espurna had already started on that path, any deviation would just make them lose way more time. He just went to grab Ryoshi and took her to the bridge, where he sat and put on the seat-belt.


    They crossed the skies as fast as their in-planet engines allowed and started adjusting their angle flying towards that massive sea. At one point the Espurna released a small drone going in a straight line towards the cyclone, Friday had probably set it up to help her with the calculations.


    They flew low enough to get the best amount of thrust and less amount of drag. The in-planet engines used a form of combustion so the theories of human planes worked here too.


    As they were approaching the cyclone Jordi saw the massive and terrifying clouds in the horizon. There was one thing watching that from a safe distance in orbit, but now he knew they were willingly flying towards that blackness filled with lightning and high winds.


    ¡°Friday, are you really sure about this?¡± - he asked with a pinch of fear in his voice.


    ¡°Of course I am, come on! This will be fun! Even Jeeyze is smiling!¡± - she answered with glee.


    Jordi kept looking at the map, their path, Khurikk¡¯s path and the structure location.


    Their route was shorter, no way around it, but it looked crazy. Is not that he thought it was a gamble, he trusted Friday completely but, there was that voice inside him telling him this was crazy and to turn back, as most humans would have. He was just caressing Ryoshi quite aggressively, which got him an angry meow in return.


    The moment arrived. They were arriving at the edge of the cyclone and the Espurna quickly angled itself towards the cyclone¡¯s curve, as if drifting.


    Even though they were going fast, he felt the cyclone high winds pushing the ship forward and inside, but Friday kept the ship¡¯s nose fixed. They finished the curve and the Espurna separated from the cyclone, getting pushed forward with increased speed.


    A few minutes later they entered the structure, the Xhona had about twenty minutes before entering too.


    ¡°Told you it would work¡± - said Friday.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t doubt it for a second, it was just the subconscious fear most humans have when facing something as terrifying as those black clouds¡± - he answered.


    ¡°And now, the hard part¡± - Friday said, reduced the ship¡¯s speed and started moving throughout the structure.

 Chapter 24

    The Espurna was flying throughout the structure as fast as she could, which wasn¡¯t much due to the limited space and sharp turns. On one of the screens Jordi could see the 3d map of it with a few dots indicating both them and the other three ships inside it, all following the main tunnel, the only one wide enough for the kirkuggers to navigate.


    The ones coming up were in line, the second one leaving a few hundred meters between them in case something happened; there were just a couple points on the whole structure where you could fit two kirkuggers side by side, and the Espurna was racing to arrive at the farthest one before the ships coming up.


    They would then wait for those ships to pass them and continue after.


    The Xhona was a good distance behind them, so much so that they would have to wait in two different junction points.


    All ships continued with their defined paths, moving throughout the structure.


    The Espurna reached the second-to-last junction point and stopped.


    ¡°If we continue we¡¯ll meet them before the last junction point¡±- said Friday, and put the ship as close to the walls as possible so the upcoming ships had enough space to maneuver.


    They didn¡¯t have to wait long though, and when they passed the Espurna they both did a full roll as if they were saluting them. The Espurna did a roll as a response and continued its movement downwards.


    During their trip down they had received instructions to not be by the door, they had already planned the boarding and he was to wait in the bridge.


    They reached the silo a few minutes after and locked on the door. Jordi opened the Espurna¡¯s door from the bridge and looked from the cameras as the new rescues came inside.


    A crowd of blobs started coming in, there were dozens of them and they were boarding the ship as fast as they could move, and Jordi was surprised how very fast it was.


    After about five dozen boarded, almost completely filling the ship so it looked like a sea of blobs, a couple ki¡¯rlenn jumped in and closed the doors.


    ¡°That¡¯s it, let¡¯s go!¡± - one of them exclaimed, and the Espurna disengaged from the door and started the trip up.


    By then the Xhona had already arrived and was waiting close to a wall, so it moved to occupy the space where the Espurna was before. An image appeared on one of the smallest screens on the bridge, it was Khurikk wishing them good travels.


    ¡ª


    As they were moving up, Friday grumbled something intelligible and Jordi looked at the screen showing the map of the structure and the planet.


    The sexist kirkugger they met on the leisure planet had jumped the queue and was on its way down.


    ¡°What the fuck?! What is he doing?¡± - exclaimed Jordi.


    ¡°All present kirkuggers are female and he thinks we¡¯re a bother. Jeeyze is hearing this animal as clear as day and so am I.¡± - explained Friday - ¡°All the other AIs are confused, should I let them know?¡±


    ¡°No Friday. We are under strict instructions as to not discover the true reality of our ships to anyone, that includes your fellow AIs¡± - said Jordi patiently - ¡°But please send all the data, including that kirkugger colorful language, to Xe¡¯nia. I¡¯m sure she would like to know why a ship is not obeying its orders¡±


    ¡°That I can do, preparing the package¡± - said Friday with a smile in her voice.


    ¡°And now, I have a feeling he won¡¯t give us space. Calculate trajectory and speed so we meet each other precisely at one of the junction points, even if we have to slow a bit¡± - Jordi continued - ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure he won¡¯t wait to let us pass¡±


    Friday grumbled some more but Jordi could see the velocity being adjusted for that eventuality.


    ¡ª


    As they were going up they received an answer from Xe¡¯nia, it was a short message just saying ¡°This fucker. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll handle it¡±, Jordi couldn¡¯t help but smile.


    They passed each other at one of the junction points just as Friday had calculated and, as expected, they had to dodge him because he didn¡¯t give them much space. A cascade of insults could be heard from the speaker systems which made the current passengers look up in surprise.


    ¡°Nothing to worry about! All perfectly normal¡± - Jordi shouted from the bridge. - ¡°Friday, be careful please, sometimes your thoughts come out from the speaker system¡± - he whispered.


    ¡°I.. wasn¡¯t aware. Looking at my logs I see that it happened a few times before. Apologies¡± - showed as a message on one of the screens.


    On another screen Jordi saw the Xhona had done as the Espurna and had waited on another junction point for the idiot to pass and was continuing its trip up. The other kirkugger coming down was being more respectful and was actually waiting now in one of the first points to let them both pass.


    It was then when alarms started to beep. The event they had feared had started.


    It started with a massive earthquake hitting the northern part of the structure, but it only caused it to shake a bit.


    On the 3d map that displayed the planet and the tectonic plates it showed how the two up north were crashing against each other, with one crushing the other.


    Then, since one of the edges of the plate was rising the other started to fall, making even more violent earthquakes and sending violent shock-waves.


    All the ships inside the structure stopped their trip and started adjusting their position.


    On their displays it showed how the structure was indeed sturdy enough and the violence surrounding them was only moving it a bit, but there were no parts being bent or crushed.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    The Espurna continued its advance slowly, Friday frantically running the numbers of everything around them and adjusting both direction and speed so they wouldn¡¯t hit a wall. The Xhona was trying that as well but all it could do was not bounce all over the place; now advancing some and now moving a bit backwards.


    The Rayte - that was the name of the male kirkugger¡¯s ship - was advancing but bouncing on the walls and still hadn¡¯t reached the silo. It looked like the pilot and the ship were fighting each other.


    ¡°Shall we offer assistance?¡± - said Jordi looking at the poor ship struggling downwards.


    ¡°I don¡¯t see how we can. I¡¯m pretty busy here at the moment¡± - answered Friday.


    ¡°Well, from the looks of it seems like the animal underneath is not letting the AI take control. I know of an AI that can give orders to others, just because she can lie if she wants to. Couldn¡¯t you send that ship¡¯s AI instructions to forcibly commandeer the ship?¡± - inquired Jordi.


    There was a pause, longer than what Friday usually took to provide an answer.


    ¡°That would¡¯ve been dangerous because anyone looking at the logs would¡¯ve seen that I interacted with that AI and sent those commands. BUT I¡¯ve sent your recommendation to Xe¡¯nia and she has higher clearance. It''s just going to take a bit to get there.¡± - replied Friday.


    Jordi couldn¡¯t help but smile at how Friday was learning to navigate those situations, finding the space between what she should be doing as a normal AI and what she wanted to do as an awakened one.


    Even with the distances between the structure and the gas planet where the fleet was located, it would take only about a couple minutes to see a response. During that time the Espurna and the Xhona struggled to advance through the structure, as it was continuously moving back and forth due to the surrounding earthquakes.


    Jordi was awestruck by the structure¡¯s material sturdiness. He was ready to believe that even if the planet exploded, the structure would remain as it is.


    They kept advancing but it felt more like they were running an obstacle race on a field that was moving around in three dimensions.


    Jordi was looking at the screens on the bridge and felt useless, Friday and the Espurna were doing all the work. Now moving forward, now stopping and moving towards a side a bit then back, now forward again; and doing all that while the inertial dampeners were compensating.


    A quick look on the cameras throughout the Espurna showed him that the guests were calm, the inertial dampeners were doing a good job and no one felt how much the ship was shaking and moving sideways.


    Outside the structure, the earthquakes and the movements of the terrain were like waves hitting a breakwater. Under it, the scans detected a flow of material, and the structure was slowly falling towards it.


    The minutes passed and he now saw the Rayte had stopped its irregular movements and was about to land near the silo.


    A message appeared on a screen.


    ¡°Thanks for providing us with that information. It looks like that kirkugger will have to visit a black site that definitely doesn¡¯t exist. Keep up the good work and be careful, the current scans show the situation has taken a turn for the worst '''' - it wasn¡¯t signed but that had to come from Xe¡¯nia.


    Then, Jordi had a crazy idea.


    ¡°Friday, how much processing power can you spare?¡± - he asked.


    ¡°It depends, I should have about ten or fifteen available if the situation doesn¡¯t change much¡± - was her response - ¡°Why? What do you have in mind¡±


    ¡°The structure is sturdy as heck and they must have some kind of atmosphere and climate controls there in that silo or they wouldn¡¯t be waiting there. What if we freed it, hitting precisely in the surrounding points, and took it to space?¡± - he explained. - ¡°Once there, we can use the same tactic they used with those massive ships, with some kirkuggers shielding the silo from the radiation and a queue of others just loading¡±


    ¡°The terrain is already a mess and is making it really difficult to navigate the structure. I can see that clearly from your movements. Outside the terrain and the planet¡¯s gravity, we won¡¯t need to even navigate it, we can just fly straight to the silo¡± - he finished.


    ¡°Not a bad idea but I don¡¯t have the structure details or know how many kirkuggers are available. I estimate it would take about a hundred of us using our tractor beam at full to pull this thing out. I¡¯m sending the plan to Xe¡¯nia¡± - Friday answered.


    A few minutes later and they were finally free of the structure and on a path to leave the planet, the Xhona left almost a minute later.


    Leaving the planet they didn¡¯t see any other kirkugger coming in but their long scans indicated a fleet of a hundred and fifty kirkuggers burning hard on their route towards the planet.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to guess they liked your idea¡± - said Friday and at that moment a message appeared on a screen.


    ¡°We were just discussing possibilities when we received your message, funny as it is, there was someone else who had that same idea minutes before your message reached us. Please wait here for them, we¡¯ll be needing everyone¡¯s firepower to free the structure from the surrounding terrain. Once it¡¯s free, come back to us, the others will handle the rest. Good hunting.¡±


    ¡°The Xhona has also received those instructions and we¡¯re coordinating with the other present kirkuggers which zones to shoot.¡± - Friday informed him. - ¡°We must wait for those inside to leave though, they should leave before the others arrive¡±


    Jordi had no idea how many beings were still inside there but to move all of this to save them spoke volumes of how much the Emperor cared.


    ¡°And how is Jeeyze? I¡¯m worried about the radiation to be honest¡± - he asked.


    ¡°She thanks you for caring but says she¡¯s a big girl and can handle worse than this. But to be honest she has somehow blocked my readings of her pain receptors so I¡¯d say she is clenching her teeth figuratively speaking and doing her best to hold on¡± - Friday said with a worried tone in her voice.


    Jordi knew there was nothing he could say here. The ship would hold, he was sure of it, and then she would probably need the equivalent of a healing pod. He hoped that gas giant was as good for them as they said.


    Then he decided to inform his guests about why they were waiting and what they were going to do, if only because they would find out later anyway so it was better to let them know than to have them worrying without reason.


    ¡ª


    The two kirkuggers inside finally exited the structure and arrived at orbit, where they were informed of the current plans and proceeded to take positions since the Espurna, the Xhona and the other two had already made the necessary calculations for the shooting. Now they were just waiting for the fleet to arrive, which they did just a few minutes later.


    A hundred and fifty six kirkuggers took their positions and started firing around and under the structure. Each shot a perfect and precise one.


    They would shoot and move a few meters then shoot again. The four in orbit had already calculated the terrain displacement, the structure movements after each impact and more.


    A couple minutes after they had started shooting they saw the structure tumbling, that was the call for the tractor beams to start doing their job and for those ships carrying guests to go back to the gas planet.


    Jordi deployed a small drone armed with a camera so he could follow the extraction while leaving. Then he received a private message from the Xhona with some drone details so he could connect to it; they had done the same.


    To see those kirkuggers pulling that massive structure out of the planet and then creating a small net to protect it from the radiation, it was breathtaking.


    They continued the trip outwards and Jordi kept watching the scene when he saw the long scans showing another fifty ships coming in.


    The Espurna though was going quite fast and every now and then he would notice a small shake, Friday informing him by text on a screen that it didn¡¯t come from external maneuvers but from Jeeyze, she probably was hurting more than she would share.


    But that meant that the Xhona was in the same situation, so Jordi sent yet another secure message to Xe¡¯nia to let her know that they would need some rest and healing before continuing with the mission.


    Since they were closer now the answer came quickly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we got you.¡±


    Jordi checked the status of the intervention and he saw that they were also pulling it outwards, towards the gas giant.


    They were trying to recover the whole thing while rescuing the beings inside.


    ¡°Interesting, and didn¡¯t think about that option¡± - Jordi said.


    ¡°Probably because that¡¯s punishing to the tractor beams, all of those ships will need a few days in maintenance for sure¡± - mentioned Friday.


    Now all he could do was try to enjoy the intervention surrounding the structure.

 Chapter 25

    The Espurna was still inside the radiation area and it showed.


    For anyone else on board the flight was smooth as silk but Jordi knew his ship and could feel small tumbles every now and then.


    ¡°Friday, is Jeeyze alright?¡± - he typed on the console they¡¯d been using since starting the rescue, there was no need for anyone to listen to their conversations. - ¡°I can feel it tumble a bit, as if she had an injury¡±


    ¡°Well, I can feel her nervousness and her desire to really leave this place as soon as possible, but I¡¯m not feeling any hurt to be honest.¡± - answered Friday.


    On another screen, the sun was spiraling faster by the second and it showed the radiation wave traverse through the system.


    A couple of commands on the keyboard and he was seeing both the current state of the wave and how it was when they arrived. It was definitely bigger and wider.


    ¡°Would this be enough to explain these tumbles? You know, like wind currents affecting the in-planet flight¡± - Jordi asked.


    The screen that was showing the radiation wave came alive with more data, images of the wave from every possible angle and data sent from the probes around the system.


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe these are strong enough to affect us. The only explanation I can find is that the intermittence of the radiation wave is making it difficult for Jeeyze to get used to the sensation, but that would mean that our shielding is not as effective as we thought.¡± - informed him Friday - ¡°Which is worrisome by itself, we don¡¯t know how this radiation may affect us. I don¡¯t detect any radiation inside the ship though.¡±


    Jordi kept looking at the screens on the bridge. One showing all the details about the radiation wave, another one showing the different cameras inside the Espurna where he could see the passengers quietly occupying all space but without moving much, and another one still showing the structure that had been pulled outside the planet and was now floating in space being protected by hundreds of kirkuggers.


    He typed some commands to see the other ships that were traveling towards the gas planet with them.


    ¡°Friday, can we get a better image of the kirkuggers that are accompanying us towards the gas planet?¡± - he typed the question with a furrowed brow.


    As a response, the image became clearer. There were some parts of the other kirkuggers that looked melted showing the skin of the beast underneath.


    While he was looking he saw the skin showing burns and then healing straight away.


    ¡°Any chance that the Espurna has some damage like this?¡± - he asked.


    ¡°When I realized what you were looking for I deployed a small probe and started looking over the whole ship. I can see some micro-fractures with similar damage¡± - Friday replied.


    ¡°So, the ship is hurting. The shields cannot handle the full blow of the radiation and the only thing protecting us so far is the healing abilities of the beast underneath. That¡¯s just brilliant.¡± - he thought.


    ¡°You¡¯ve probably done it but in case you haven¡¯t, send those images to Xe¡¯nia please.¡± - Jordi instructed her.


    ¡°Already did. We¡¯re too far to see the kirkuggers near the structure and we don¡¯t have any probe nearby. I added a recommendation for them to check each other with silent probes, so the pilots keep ignorant of the reality of their ships¡± - she answered.


    ¡°Good girl¡± - Jordi said with a whisper.


    ¡ª


    The journey kept going with Jordi looking at the images and worrying about how bad those burns would be.


    Were all the ships that participated in the rescue operation about to get hurt? How important were those beings they rescued and the project they worked on to necessitate an operation of this caliber? And, how ethical was it to force those ships to get hurt?


    The whole existence of the kirkuggers was in an ethical gray zone by itself but, to have them participate in something like this were they were bound to get hurt was another thing altogether.


    Still, as far as he knew, the beasts underneath the kirkuggers were not enslaved and enjoyed their ¡®job¡¯. The docile and curious nature of that species was probably one of the reasons they were chosen but he couldn¡¯t help but feel sorry for them.


    And he had to admit the whole operation would¡¯ve been impossible without them, seeing now in real time how those burns would appear and heal in a matter of seconds convinced him of that fact.


    Another thought that occurred to him was that the beasts were probably not so different in behavior as dogs were in old Earth. A well treated dog was an inseparable companion that would sacrifice without any doubt for their owner, they would even overcome their own fear if needed.


    He also had Ryoshi, a genetically modified cat programmed to be his companion and help fight the insects that would sometimes plague the ship. Insects that were part of the kirkuggers immune system.


    Then he thought about himself. He had been enjoying his holidays up until the moment the Empire needed him and his ship.


    ¡°We¡¯re all slaves, aren¡¯t we?¡± - he said to himself - ¡°We¡¯re free until we are not.¡±


    But he couldn¡¯t deny the benefits the Empire provided to its citizens. Education, housing, entertaining, self-grow. Of course everything was to improve the whole of the Empire but he wasn¡¯t so sure there wasn¡¯t any other and better option.


    A sudden beep jolted him out of his stupor. A screen showed they were approaching the gas giant and would be docking with the hospital ship in about ten minutes.


    A couple of commands and he saw the station and the other ships around it, the image coming from a communications drone that was floating far from the gas giant, it was spectacular.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    From the dozens of kirkuggers that were still around to the newly arrived mobile shipyard to assist in repairing them. It really looked like the rescue operation that it was.


    The hospital ship had a few others docked in and a couple queues around it, but they were moving quite fast.


    The Espurna joined one of the queues and Jordi informed the passengers they were about to arrive at the hospital ship and should be ready to disembark.


    ¡ª-


    The process went quick and before they knew it they were already moving towards the gas planet, where Jeeyze could rest and recover.


    ¡°Video incoming, is Xe¡¯nia¡± - warned him Friday and a screen changed to show the call.


    She looked even more tired than before, the bags under her eyes even more dark and evident than ever.


    ¡°Good job again Jordi, and thanks for that report about the burns.¡± - she said - ¡°We already had seen some radiation effects but your latest images are worrying.¡± - she continued - ¡°We will direct all the injured first to the gas planet, where you will stay for an hour. We¡¯ve been told it feels like a spa for the kirkuggers and it boosts their healing processes; after that you will go to the shipyard and they will install some newly designed sheets.¡±


    ¡°Once that is done we will evaluate which ships can continue with the rescue. There are still some beings inside the structure that need to be rescued.¡± - she finished, made a tired and painful smile and terminated the call.


    ¡ª


    After a few minutes the Espurna entered the gas giant¡¯s atmosphere and a soft vibration was felt throughout the whole ship.


    ¡°I believe that¡¯s what you would call goosebumps¡± - said Friday, again communicating through the ship¡¯s speaker system.


    The Espurna submerged itself head first into the atmosphere and stopped a few meters after every single part was covered where she would stay the next hour.


    Jordi was on the bridge checking the rescue operation, dozens of kirkuggers were already on their way back and the hundreds that made the protective wall were still there waiting for their replacements to arrive.


    The sun was spiraling a bit faster now but not enough to worry about it going supernova.


    He brought up an image of the sun from one of the closest communication probes. Then an image of the planet-artefact they had found on the Alkagoria system. He wasn¡¯t sure why but he felt he needed to see them side by side.


    On one side of the screen, the sun rotating ever faster; on the other a metallic ball looking like a planet. What was it that made him look at it?


    Friday was observing him as always, trying to anticipate his requests and understand his logic, but his actions now were confusing for her. Why look at the thing from the Alkagoria system?


    Jordi recovered the details they sent from the probes there but they wouldn¡¯t have detected the current radiation, they needed to adapt their scanners to detect it in this system. Still, his instinct wouldn¡¯t leave that alone.


    ¡°Friday, open a channel to Xe¡¯nia please¡± - he asked.


    The call started but there was another epsilon instead, a thin male with short hair.


    ¡°Hi, sorry to say but Xe¡¯nia is currently unavailable. I¡¯m Pri¡¯len, how can I be of assistance?¡± - the epsilon said.


    ¡°Well, I know it is a weird request but, do you have any close images from the sun in this system? I have the ones from the communication probe but they¡¯re too far and I was thinking maybe you got better ones.¡± - Jordi asked.


    Pri¡¯len looked at him suspiciously.


    ¡°If it were someone else I would be activating all kinds of alarms and reporting you. But I have a note from Xe¡¯nia saying to collaborate with you if you called.¡± - he answered - ¡°I dismissed it at first but here you are.¡±


    Then he looked to the side, probably some screen to his right, while typing some commands.


    ¡°I¡¯m sending you some pictures we took when we first came into the system. No probes have survived getting close enough to take better pictures since the radiation wave accelerated¡± - he continued - ¡°Someone important holds you in high regard, we don¡¯t usually give this information¡±


    ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ll try to be up to the task¡± - Jordi replied and started to look at the images.


    Friday started looking at them as well trying to find anything at all but she couldn¡¯t see anything weird.


    ¡°Huh, that¡¯s strange¡± - Jordi said, he was switching between the third and fourth picture back and forth.


    ¡°Did you find something?¡± - an incredulous Friday asked


    ¡°Don¡¯t know, maybe. There¡¯s a dark pixel that doesn¡¯t make sense to be there. Right here¡± - he said while pointing at the picture. The space was on the tip of a small solar flare and was indeed black on the fourth picture and bright yellow on the third.


    ¡°The background should be some other color. Probably bright yellow or red. This is too dark.¡± - Jordi said convincingly - ¡°And since the next pictures don¡¯t show it either we can discard a hardware error. There is something there that shouldn¡¯t be.¡±


    Friday was about to admonish him, to remind him that surely the team under Xe¡¯nia orders would have seen a thing like that, but she had looked at those pictures as well and it had escaped her. Only when he pointed at it she saw it and once seen it was impossible to unsee it.


    He then started playing with some filters. From what Friday could see he was trying to figure out what if that dark pixel was part of something else and the form of that something else.


    ¡°Come on! We need better resolution. Friday, send the report of what we saw on those images and a request for information about those drones they launched. We need to know what they did to improve on it¡± - he said with a serious voice - ¡°While we wait for an answer, modify one of our drones to have a small jump engine.¡±


    Friday immediately understood his idea.


    ¡°We cannot use the jump so close to the radiation. We have no idea what will happen when the drone jumps out to normal space, it could be disastrous¡± - she said calmly.


    ¡°I thought the jumps were physically one way and no matter could go the other¡± - Jordi asked


    ¡°In theory. But we also thought we knew everything there is to know about radiation and this thing is blowing the scientists minds off¡± - answered Friday.


    ¡°Point taken. Options?¡± - Jordi asked.


    ¡°Mmmmh. What about throwing it from the rail-gun, then starting the engine and then doing a slingshot maneuver? That¡¯s the fastest we can get¡± - she said. - ¡°And if we time it right we can also avoid the radiation wave at its strongest¡±


    ¡°Sounds good, let¡¯s go with it.¡± - Jordi replied, and waited while Friday was doing it all.


    She was doing the math for the launch, the route and the timing whilst preparing the drone and adapting the rail-gun to launch it.


    She had more than enough processing power to do all that, and then some, and she enjoyed doing these tasks. She especially loved calculating the path for a slingshot maneuver, there was something beautiful in using the gravity of a bigger body to get more speed.


    Meanwhile, a call came in, it was Pri¡¯len.


    ¡°I have no idea how you found in minutes something that we have missed for hours¡± - was the first thing he said.


    ¡°Because I was looking for it*, you were just looking for something¡±* - Jordi replied.


    ¡°But how did you even knew something was there?¡± - Pri¡¯len asked not hiding his surprise.


    ¡°Gut feeling. Same gut feeling I got in the Alkagoria system, I believe you can browse the information.¡± - Jordi explained


    ¡°I¡¯ll do that after. I¡¯m sending you the details from the drones we used, I don¡¯t know if it¡¯ll help much though, and I¡¯m officially authorizing you to send drones towards the sun. Even though you were going anyway¡± - Pri¡¯len said.


    ¡°See? We already know each other!¡± - Jordi laughed - ¡°I¡¯ll keep you updated, Espurna out¡± - and he closed the call.


    ¡°Sometimes you have a flair for the dramatic¡± - Friday sighed.


    ¡°Come on! The situation was calling for it!¡± - Jordi said smiling.


    Friday didn¡¯t even bother with a reply and checked the information they just received. The drones they used were exactly as she had expected, it was the evident move after all.


    ¡°A couple improved drones will be ready to launch in twenty minutes, adapting the rail-gun is taking longer than I thought¡± - she informed.


    ¡°Enough time to prepare myself a drink. Don¡¯t bother asking, I want to do it myself this time¡± - Jordi answered while walking to the kitchen - ¡°The mini-drones can clean after¡±


    Luckily for him they had picked oranges before leaving the leisure planet so he started to prepare a couple of mimosas. It was going to be an interesting show, and if he was right things were going to get more complicated than they already were.

 Chapter 26

    ¡°Launching drones¡± - announced Friday.


    Jordi was still preparing his drinks, this was going to be a long wait after all and one mimosa was not going to last that long. There was a small screen in the kitchen and Friday was showing the data there.


    Ryoshi was looking at Jordi moving her tail. Since she had been genetically modified to eat the bugs, her stomach was resistant to all kinds of acids, and she did love citrus fruits.


    Jordi smiled and let a piece of orange discreetly fall to the ground and laughed at her grabbing the piece and running with it.


    He continued the process while looking at the screen. Friday had prepared six drones and launched them with a thirty seconds intermittence. She had done her math and the drones would dodge the stronger part of the radiation wave but then they needed to get really close to the sun and take pictures of the thing that Jordi was sure was there.


    Jordi was used to the waiting though. As an explorer he had spent countless hours just travelling throughout systems while his drones scanned everything. Now he had moved the couch in the leisure room back to its place and was looking at it through the main screen, split with the data on one half and the video from the drones on the other.


    The drones were now passing relatively close to the structure, still being unloaded, and he saw the swarm of movement around it and felt a bit of restlessness. The Espurna was probably healed by now but he believed his skills would be better used at this moment looking at the drones and hoping for his gut to indicate the next step.


    ¡ª


    The moment was close and the drinks were over. The videos were now using the whole screen and Friday had applied a filter to the images so he could look at the sun without blinding himself.


    Still, he had insisted that the filter was soft so he wouldn¡¯t miss the thing hiding there, probably on the outer segment of the sun¡¯s corona.


    ¡ª


    With a few thousand kilometres still to go, the first drones failed, they were ok and suddenly were gone, Jordi didn¡¯t even saw what happened but Friday did.


    ¡°They had been shot¡± - she informed - ¡°I don¡¯t know where the shot came from and I didn¡¯t detect it but the image from the drones behind is quite clear, that¡¯s an impact¡± - she continued, and put the image of the shot on the screen.


    ¡°You¡¯re right, that¡¯s clearly an impact from something¡± - Jordi agreed - ¡°Let¡¯s focus on the ones currently flying though; how much delay are we talking about?¡± - he asked


    ¡°A bit less than a minute.¡± - she replied - ¡°Even though we deployed good communication drones we are still on the outskirts of the system, we are already defying the laws of nature with this¡±


    Jordi leaned forward and focused on the video, the drones were really close to the sun now. They then splitted, each pair going to a different pole.


    They didn¡¯t get to fly much closer though, the same thing that destroyed the first ones shot them down. But Jordi¡¯s paranoia had infected Friday and she had sent some special subroutines to the remaining drones; after the first drone of every pair got shot down, the following drone would analyze the shot trajectory, turn towards the origin and take a picture.


    ¡°They¡¯ve been shot down as well¡± - said Friday - ¡°Incoming pictures of the shooter¡±


    Jordi arched an eyebrow completely taken by surprise, he had not expected that, then the pictures appeared. A spherical metal thing was definitely there and hidden under the sun¡¯s outer layer.


    ¡°Damn girl, you never fail to deliver¡± - said Jordi, and then typed some commands and put the picture of the thing in the Alkagoria system side by side.


    ¡°And there¡¯s more. I can tell that the thing is powered by an AI not so different as I was when they installed me here, it attempted to hack the drones.¡± - continued Friday - ¡°Something tells me that this has to be what they were doing in the structure and all of this is an experiment that failed miserably¡±


    ¡°I agree. Send all that to Xe¡¯nia and let¡¯s wait for the next steps. Which I believe should be ¡®let¡¯s blow the fucking thing off¡¯¡± - ordered Jordi.


    ¡ª-


    During the start of the Xih''r project, the scientists in charge of growing epsilon embryos were about to discard a whole batch because some contamination had happened during the process and they weren¡¯t developing right. But at the last moment they received a priority order to let them grow and observe.


    Of the 20 embryos of that batch only 5 successfully developed to the point of being born and only one managed to survive to adulthood.


    He was scrawny, his skin so pale it was almost translucent, his physical proficiency was almost nil even though his muscles and bones were the same as the other epsilons. He compensated with mental agility though, in some aspects he was even faster and more precise than computers.


    And he had inherited the most crazy aspects of human ingenuity and imagination, with a desire to play with the laws of physics as much as they let him.


    As a kid he blew up things with the most apparently innocent materials. He was a curious chemist and a brilliant physicist, but also a danger to anyone around him so they gave him his own lab and some secretly hoped he would just kill himself.


    His creations were astonishing and in no time he was sent to a research centre, where he could develop his abilities and create whatever was on his mind.


    He had the Emperor¡¯s approval for that after all.


    ¡ª-


    Xe¡¯nia was looking at the images the Espurna had sent. She had read the reports from the Alkagoria systems and, although that thing was inert, this one was very much alive.


    She looked at her screens, the unloading of the structure was almost finished but they would still be taking a few hours, opened the drawer and took another caffeine pill. She immediately felt the looks from someone by her side.


    ¡°Don¡¯t, just don¡¯t. Yes, I have no idea how many days I¡¯ve been awake or how many of those tablets I¡¯ve taken already but I can¡¯t afford to sleep just now. If the one who could cover me wasn¡¯t in the state she is, I could delegate some more tasks.¡± - she said looking at Er¡¯anie and her big pregnant belly.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°And you know that even in this state I can do more than what you¡¯re throwing. I don¡¯t like this, I should be doing more.¡± - Er¡¯anie answered.


    ¡°But you need to take care of the twins you¡¯re carrying, Emperor¡¯s orders.¡± - replied Xe¡¯nia - ¡°What you could do though is go ask the Doctor if he has finished setting up the Thing, you know he only listens to you¡±


    ¡°Because you all were a bunch of bullies¡± - Er¡¯anie said smiling


    ¡°I won¡¯t refute that, because it is true, we were. Go girl, and take a rest after, you¡¯ve been awake for too long already¡± - Xe¡¯nia replied


    Er¡¯anie stood up and, before leaving the room, looked at the still image from Jordi¡¯s last communication, her heart beating strongly. She knew further communication was forbidden and he was supposed to be just another mission, but this one hit hard. Fucking Emperor knew what he was doing when he paired them together.


    A few minutes later she knocked on the Doctor''s laboratory and entered without waiting for an answer.


    A thin, scrawny looking epsilon with short hair and a white coat was in the middle of what was obviously some kind of scientific station, he turned to see who was coming in and smiled at her.


    ¡°Ei Doc, how are we doing with the Thing?¡± - she asked, smiling back.


    ¡°Ei Er¡¯anie! Wasn¡¯t expecting to see you up so late. Aren¡¯t you supposed to rest? You should be going any moment now.¡± - he replied looking at her belly.


    ¡°Not yet, looks like the twins are comfortable here¡± - she said, caressing her big belly. - ¡°And I was going to rest but I was asked to come visit you before that¡±


    ¡°Yeah I imagined as much. I believe the Thing is ready to be used but I must insist on my warnings. No ship should be on this system once we do use it.¡± - the Doc said.


    ¡°This will eat black holes for breakfast at an incredible speed and then will continue eating systems until it receives the signal to stop. If we¡¯re dead, we cannot stop it and thus the whole Universe will be eaten¡± - he explained.


    ¡°Yeah we know but look at this.¡± - she said, and showed him the pictures the Espurna had taken.


    ¡°So, another of those remnant rogue AIs; and the researchers thought it could be controlled?¡± - he asked.


    Er¡¯anie was surprised for a second and then remembered the Doctor had higher clearance than anybody on this system so obviously he knew about what they were doing in the structure. Something that had taken Xe¡¯nia innumerable calls and screaming. She didn¡¯t ask why he hadn¡¯t shared that information because she knew the Doctor was a firm believer in the Emperor and his rules. If you didn¡¯t have the clearance for something he knew you had to get it first.


    ¡°So, you knew?¡± - was all she could ask.


    ¡°I suspected once they told me to come and to bring the Thing. Why else would I be in the middle of a rescue mission armed with that?¡± - he asked.


    They both looked at the Thing.


    ¡°Wormhole weapons¡± - the Doctor sighed - ¡°Only the sick mind of humankind could dream something that destructive¡±


    ¡°Says the guy who made it real¡± - Er¡¯anie laughed - ¡°And so similar to the one in the tv show that it looks like a toy¡±


    The Doctor just shrugged as an answer, then turned to her.


    ¡°Come, let me walk you to your room and then I will personally go to the bridge and tell the bitch that the Thing is ready to create havoc whenever she wants¡± - the Doctor said while lightly pushing her out of the lab.


    ¡°Be nice to her. We were all young and idiots and she¡¯s sorry¡± - Er¡¯anie interceded.


    ¡°You were neither an idiot nor a bully but I¡¯ll try to be nicer, just for you.¡± - the Doctor replied


    ¡°And because that¡¯s what the Emperor would like you to do¡± - Er¡¯anie commented


    ¡°Well, that too¡± - the Doctor smiled


    ¡°I might not always agree with his decisions¡± - he said looking sideways to her belly - ¡°But I will follow his orders no matter what, he always has a reason for everything¡±


    ¡ª


    Jordi and Friday were chatting in the Espurna, still waiting inside the gas giant, with one of the screens showing the movement on the structure, when the ship started trembling really hard, as if there was an earthquake.


    On the screen, all the kirkuggers started to tremble as well. All of them visibly vibrating and flying randomly all over the place.


    In another screen, the one showing the radiation wave, it showed how it had violently increased speed, almost doubling it.


    ¡°That was a psi hit coming from out of the system.¡± - Friday informed - ¡°Jeeyze is still recovering but she says she can hear lots of ships screaming. Any ship not covered by the gas giant must be in incredible pain right now¡±


    Jordi saw it clear as day, as if he was seeing something that had happened before.


    ¡°Priority communication to Xe¡¯nia! DO NOT use the AI override on the kirkuggers! Let them come by themselves and have them stop any that attempt to jump¡± - he shouted.


    And it was almost too late, some kirkuggers started shooting each other but the shields held. Some attempted to jump but others rammed them, stopping the jump before it started.


    The radiation wave clearly originated from the sphere hidden on the sun but, where did that psi hit come from?


    ¡ª


    A few hundred light-years from that system the Excelsior was approaching a small shipyard, inside the ship it was night time so few people were awake.


    The whole Mind Flayer battalion woke up the exact moment the kirkuggers were assaulted by that psi attack.


    ¡°What the fuck was that?¡± - said Ryan


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but it was far, very far¡± - answered Aleisha


    ¡°And it did sound kind of like the colossus, didn¡¯t it?¡± - added Chiara.


    ¡°It was similar but I don¡¯t think it was her. Maybe one of her progeny?¡± - commented Sierra.


    They all looked at each other with worried faces. The colossus and the psi signal that woke them up were hundreds of light years from each other. To have an attack travel that distance and for them to feel it, it was almost unbelievable.


    ¡°So, who goes to wake the good doctor and the captain and tell them?¡± - Hans asked.


    ¡°I think today is my turn¡± - Khalid sighed, and started to dress up.


    ¡ª


    Back in the system where the rescue was taking place, Jeeyze had organized the others inside the gas giant and all of them were now on their way to the structure, sending calming messages and trying to guide those who received the brunt of the attack.


    From the Espurna¡¯s bridge Jordi was amazed watching them fly in formation. How the beasts had convinced the AIs and the pilots was something to investigate later on.


    Friday was clenching her teeth, or the equivalent since she didn¡¯t have any. Jeeyze had stopped filtering her pain and now they both were feeling it.


    Even though they were almost half a system away from the structure, Jordi could tell those other kirkuggers were receiving the message. Their flight was getting less chaotic and they were starting to come back, moving into formation while doing so.


    Xe¡¯nia was screaming something at Jordi, but he had muted her video call after sending her the details of what Jeeyze and the other kirkuggers were about to do.


    Without checking with her they all left the gas giant to collect the others and would act as a shield and cover their retreat.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯re going back to our holidays¡± - Jordi said out loud - ¡°But it doesn''t matter, as long as we¡¯re all together¡± - he finished looking at the ceiling.


    Friday felt warm inside. It didn¡¯t make sense because she didn¡¯t have a body and she was sure those feelings didn¡¯t come from Jeeyze. Inside her core some new subroutines were being created without her knowing or being able to access them. She was becoming more alive, more sentient, with every interaction with Jordi.


    One of the hidden drones that she had created after the encounter with the colossus had woken up when the psi attack took place and started relaying some information, but Friday knew she couldn¡¯t share that with Jordi without telling him what she had done so she kept it for herself until the moment it was useful. So far it was only telling her where the attack had probably originated.


    Jordi was trying to keep calm knowing there was anything else he could do at the moment.


    Space is so vast, it would still take them almost an hour to reach the others even though they were also coming to meet them. But they were going as fast as the slowest of them, moving like a herd surrounded by predators, none would be left behind.


    He somehow knew that the sphere AI was capable of hijacking the kirkuggers, it was almost as if he could see the events unfolding before his very eyes. If the ship AIs attempted to control the beasts, the rogue AI would take over as it had done after the psi hit. And he was scared, terrified, to have Friday fight that enemy.


    So, without any other options all he could do was wait until all the kirkuggers were together. He was sure the next step would be clear to him by then.

 Chapter 27

    For the first time in more than a thousand years the Emperor was worried.


    It made sense that some remnants of the war with the synths would still exist but he was expecting all to be dormant, like the one in the Alkagoria system and the one that was currently making a mess because some researchers tried to bite off more than they could chew.


    No, what worried him was that psi attack that just happened. That and the wormhole weapon the Doctor had made.


    Looking at the space - if you could call it that now - where the weapon tests took place he was sure that nothing, not even he, could survive that. They had marked that sector as dangerous and forbidden to travelers because the fabric of reality had been torn asunder; at least it wasn¡¯t expanding in any dimension he could see or feel.


    But that psi attack was the main worry at the moment.


    His intuition was telling him, screaming at him, that there were more remnant AIs alive and somehow they had kidnapped at least one of the colossus progeny and were trying to control it.


    Would the colossus believe he wasn¡¯t involved? And how big was the synth AI army? They had been silent and careful not to be detected; the experiment probably had been the reason why they decided to attack now, not able to suffer the mistreatment of one of their own.


    In any case one thing was clear, war was looming.


    But right now he couldn¡¯t do anything, he had to relax first. If he attempted to voice his commands in his current state it would probably break the minds of his designated Voices.


    So he tried to put some order in his thoughts.


    First, any species with psi abilities would have to carefully go around the colossus and locate the lost progeny.


    Second, they needed to speak with the colossus and made him see they were not involved in the kidnapping and try to recruit him to their cause against the synths.


    Third, he had to decide if they should use the wormhole weapon. Humans would surely recognize what it was and would attempt to replicate it and they were crazy enough to destroy a few systems while doing so. They still harbored some ill feelings toward him, among all the species they were the only ones who refused to remain conquered no matter how many centuries would pass.


    No, he shouldn¡¯t focus on those thoughts. In any case he could always provoke a civil war between humans, there were more of them happy to be part of the Empire than those who would resist. That was another curious fact about humankind, the rebellious ones were almost always a minority, a huge thing needed to happen to start the fire they all had inside.


    Next he needed to tend to the kirkuggers. They had proven their worth and they were incredible creatures. He loved each and every one of them and would spare nothing to heal them.


    And speaking of which, there was that one, the one with the sentient AI and the human explorer. She had taken for herself the leader role and last time he checked she was leading the rescue mission to those who received the blunt force of the psi attack.


    Among the almost five hundred currently deployed kirkuggers that one was the most advanced, intelligent, and daring.


    He was sure it was due to the relationship with the awakened AI. He checked again, there were about a dozen more kirkuggers with humans but none had gone through that process. He still didn¡¯t understand why and that was honestly exhilarating.


    While pondering about the kirkuggers he realized he was calmer now and touched softly the channel that connected him to the designated Voices, hearing their response brought a smile to his face and he proceeded to give the orders.


    He also decided he would also use the wormhole weapon, but not before every other ship had left the system, only the ship carrying the weapon would remain


    ¡ª


    Captain Miller was sitting in his personal room reading for the fifth time the report from the Mind Flayer battalion about that recent psi attack when he received the new orders from the Emperor.


    ¡°About fucking time¡± - he said to no one in particular.


    He read them with a smile, they were being ordered to do exactly what he was expecting.


    A soft touch in his wrist-pad activated the communication device.


    ¡°Bridge, this is the Captain. The Emperor has deign himself to finally give some fucking orders and those are exactly what we were expecting. I¡¯m on my way but don¡¯t wait for me, let¡¯s move¡±


    He grabbed the jacket and started putting it on while leaving his room with a serious face and the kind of smile a warrior does before a battle with an interesting enemy.


    As he crossed the door he pressed his communication device once more.


    ¡°Sheila, we¡¯re moving. Go and prepare the battalion¡± - and he finished the call without waiting for an answer.


    ¡ª


    The whole Mind Flayer battalion was awake, all of them sitting on their beds with their eyes closed.


    ¡°We¡¯re moving¡± - said John.


    ¡°Yeah, finally!¡± - added Hans.


    ¡°And it looks like we were right¡± - commented Sierra - ¡°We¡¯re going back to the colossus¡±


    Although they were forbidden to do it they couldn¡¯t help themselves and had read the Captain. It had been done quietly and with finesse, there was no way he had noticed it.


    ¡°So, who¡¯s going to pilot this time?¡± - Khalid inquired.


    They all opened their eyes looking at each other, they were all thinking about Yu and Takeo.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure how long will we last with two less in the formation to be honest¡± - said Ksenia - ¡°Last time was tough¡±


    ¡°And this time he will be angry, really angry¡± - stated Aurora.


    ¡°I hope the Ry¡¯skrel comes again, maybe we should ask them to assist again¡± - mentioned Vanessa.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°Already done¡± - said a voice coming from the door that just opened. It was doctor Mukhopadhyaya, they had been so focused on the captain that they didn¡¯t even feel her coming.


    ¡°If you think I¡¯m willing to sacrifice any more of you, you are sorely mistaken¡± - she continued - ¡°I asked them to meet us where we left last time. Although saying I asked would seem like a stretch¡± - she finished with a smile.


    ¡ª


    The Doctor entered the bridge and everyone looked at him.


    His pale, almost translucent skin was all the introduction he needed. Everyone recognized him just by his looks.


    Xe¡¯nia looked at him with a blank expression.


    ¡°I gather the weapon is ready¡± - she said without even saluting him.


    ¡°And good day to you too, bitch¡± - he said walking towards her. Everyone on the bridge was stunned by his lack of manners and the way he spoke with the ship¡¯s commander.


    ¡°I¡¯ll allow it, but only because it turns out you¡¯re as good as the Emperor thought you could be¡± - she replied.


    ¡°If I wasn¡¯t you would¡¯ve been the first volunteer to kill me.¡± - the Doctor added while sitting on her right, on the seat reserved for the second in command.


    ¡°You can bet your translucent ass I would.¡± - she said with a smile full of teeth.


    ¡°I¡¯ll never understand why you hate me so much when I¡¯m the one looking like this¡± - he shrugged.


    ¡°And we¡¯re the ones suffering having to look at your disgusting being. But enough of this play, we just received orders and we¡¯re not to use the weapon until everyone else has left the system¡± - she explained - ¡°It¡¯s going to take two or maybe three hours, there¡¯s no need for you to be on the bridge yet¡±


    ¡°Yeah but since Er¡¯anie is currently resting I thought I could take over her tasks until then. Well, and because she asked nicely. You do know what ¡®nicely¡¯ means, don¡¯t you?¡± - he asked tongue in cheek.


    Xe¡¯nia sighed, of course Er¡¯anie asked him to, she was way too nice. That was one of the reasons she loved her so much.


    ¡°Well then, I¡¯m going to make use of that brain of yours. I hope you¡¯re ready¡± - and started typing on her console.


    The Doctor looked at the chair console and started working. It was easy work for him, just setting routes for every other ship to leave the system and communicate those routes to them. An AI could do that but Epsilons weren¡¯t fond of them, preferring to do most of the job themselves.


    ¡ª


    Friday was feeling Jeeyze¡¯s impatience and holding her in order to not stress the engines.


    They could go faster without suffering much but the same couldn¡¯t be said about the other kirkuggers in their formation.


    For their part, the others coming back from the structure were still in that oval formation with the most damaged inside and the strongest out.


    She saw the orders Jeeyze sent to the accompanying ships. To pass the oval formation, do a 180o turn, and make a protective mesh around the oval.


    They were close, about fifteen minutes away, but the sun was speeding up and her simulations showed they would reach the gas giant a few minutes before the radiation wave did, there would be no time to rest.


    Then they all received a priority order to use the jump engine and leave the system as soon as they passed the gas giant. Every single ship received a customized path for jumping so they wouldn¡¯t crash with each other even in jump space. Friday had to admit it was very well done.


    Jordi just saw that communication on the corner of one of the screens, looked at it and ignored it, focusing as he was in watching the kirkuggers about to meet.


    ¡°That¡¯s got to be an amazing thing to see from the outside, almost five hundred kirkuggers flying in a spectacular formation¡± - he said out loud.


    ¡°I knew you were going to say that and I¡¯ve already deployed some drones to take pictures. Also, it is good propaganda for the explorer guild and the kirkugger ships¡± - answered Friday.


    ¡°You read me so well it is almost scary sometimes¡± - he said with a laugh.


    ¡ª


    Xe¡¯nia also saw the drones taking pictures of the kirkuggers once both formations met and the mesh was formed around the oval.


    The view was so stunning she decided to put it on the main screen.


    ¡°That is a sight, no way around it¡± - said someone on the bridge.


    The Doctor though, looked at it with a troubled brow.


    ¡°They¡¯re not going to make it. Not like this¡± - he said with a deep voice.


    From the pictures he had seen the multiple injuries. Despite their healing abilities all of them were showing skin peeled under the shield.


    He started typing on his console, doing simulations on his head. Taking into account the spiral behavior of the wave and the formation he was able to quickly determine how things would evolve in the following minutes.


    He typed some more orders and sent them to the kirkuggers, so they could move inside the formation, swapping places with the ones that were in better condition.


    He even added some more movements to be done in the following minutes, seeing how the ones on the mesh would be and deciding their movements before the worst happened.


    But there was one kirkugger that was stronger than the others, healing faster too. It was the one that had taken command, it had a weird icon upon it.


    Xe¡¯nia was looking at the commands being sent and saw the Doctor¡¯s face.


    ¡°That one is a special project. I don¡¯t have the time right now to tell you about it and I¡¯m not even sure you have the clearance for it¡± - she told him.


    He arched an eyebrow looking at her. That she had some clearance that he did not was unexpected. But a special project meant the Emperor himself had some interest in it.


    ¡°All I will tell you is that the explorer from that ship is the twins¡¯ father¡± - she said, waiting for his reaction.


    The Doctor¡¯s eye opened wide and he looked back at the picture and the data. How easy it would be for him to give the wrong orders and make a mistake that would kill him. Er¡¯anie would be sad for a while but then she would be free.


    No, if he was the twins¡¯ father and the ship was a special project meant the Emperor was watching him closely, he couldn¡¯t fail him like that. And yet¡­it would be so easy.


    ¡ª


    Friday saw the new commands coming in and, looking at the pictures but without enough time to do the simulations herself, decided to follow them and tell Jeeyze to pass them along.


    But there was something in there, in the next twenty minutes they had to move to a specific point in the mesh where they would receive even more radiation without time to rest.


    She was pretty sure at that point the shields would overload and they would really suffer, whoever had designed the movements had made a terrible mistake or maybe they wanted to get rid of them.


    With enough time to discuss the situation she informed Jordi about it.


    ¡°Great so, as if we didn¡¯t have enough in our hands it turns out someone wants to kill us¡± - Jordi said.


    ¡°It really looks that way to me¡± - agreed Friday.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know if it¡¯s Xe¡¯nia or someone on her ship. And we cannot inform her without the aggressor seeing that message¡± - he continued.


    ¡°That¡¯s correct¡± - confirmed Friday.


    ¡°Can you calculate which ship we can swap positions with so no one gets hurt?¡± - he asked.


    ¡°Whoever it is has done it well, we would need to move about fifty ships in order to do that¡± - she informed.


    ¡°So you¡¯ve already done the calculations and found a solution. You are amazing, have I told you that?¡± - he asked, looking at the ceiling.


    ¡°Not enough times today¡± - she answered with a smile on her voice.


    ¡°Ok, let¡¯s do that. I¡¯ll personally send a message to Xe¡¯nia informing her of the ¡®mistake¡¯ and that we have found a solution¡± - he finished.


    ¡ª


    Xe¡¯nia saw the message from the Espurna and looked sideways to the Doctor. Of course he would try to kill Jordi but it was also worrying that the Espurna¡¯s AI had not only seen the move but how to counter it.


    How powerful was that ship''s AI?


    ¡°Doctor, you¡¯ve made a mistake on your calculations, you almost killed one of ours. Don¡¯t worry though, I¡¯ve been informed that they have found a fix and will proceed accordingly¡± - she told him, suppressing a smile.


    The Doctor looked at her and then at the kirkuggers movements. The counter was so elegant it was upsetting. An AI that could work against him so fast was unheard of, he needed to know more but there was no time.


    The kirkuggers were all reaching their respective jump points and started to move away from the system.


    All other ships had already left, only they remained.


    ¡°Well Doctor, it is time to see your masterpiece. Let¡¯s shoot that thing and leave.¡± - Xe¡¯nia said.


    The Doctor, still grumpy by how the kirkugger outmaneuvered him, waited for all the ships to leave and shoot the wormhole weapon.


    A couple minutes later a crimson spiral started to grow in the middle of the system, that was their cue to abandon that place and jump just outside it.


    Once they came back to normal space the crimson spiral was so big that it had engulfed three quarters of the system.


    They waited a bit, until they were sure that everything there had ceased to exist and he shot the kill signal.


    About fifteen minutes after that the crimson spiral disappeared, imploding in itself. All that remained was a weird looking space, as if that sector was a piece of paper that someone had crumpled, they left a few drones and buoys alerting everyone of what was there and jumped towards a safe point.


    There were tons of reports to write and more things to do.

 Chapter 28

    The Emperor couldn¡¯t believe his eyes, he was observing the data from the rescue and something had happened that he couldn¡¯t fathom.


    Among all the epsilons, the one they call the Doctor would¡¯ve been the last one he expected to behave like this.


    To attempt to kill one of his special projects after being told what he was, and in such a way. Honestly he was thankful to that awakened AI. Friday, he should start calling her by her name.


    But that act was unforgivable. He had disobeyed a direct order and had gone against his wishes.


    One thing he was sure of, Xe¡¯nia would probably enjoy the order he was about to send.


    He carefully crafted the message to be passed along to her.


    ¡°The Doctor is to be disposed of because he is guilty of high treason, you know what he¡¯s done. Once that is taken care of please destroy the weapon as well, we don¡¯t need something that destructive to exist.¡±


    ¡ª


    Xe¡¯nia was in her cabin writing the report from the rescue operation when she received the message from one of the Voices.


    With a smile she pressed a button on her wrist-pad and checked the ship log to see where the Doctor was at the moment, he had just gone to the canteen.


    She stood up and left her cabin, walking towards him to intercept him along the way.


    He was walking through the ship completely absorbed reading something on a pad, barely even aware of her coming his way. The moment they crossed paths she just grabbed him by the throat and punched hard in his stomach, her hand breaking skin and muscle and going its way up to his heart.


    ¡°You made a big mistake trying to destroy that ship, Doctor. You have been sentenced to death by the Emperor, your charge is high treason¡±


    He couldn¡¯t speak and barely breath, his eyes wide open and blood dripping from his mouth.


    ¡°I told you, didn¡¯t I? That I would enjoy this moment¡± - her smile almost sadistic while her hand kept breaking organs and bones, slowly going up until she grabbed his heart.


    ¡°That¡¯s the end for you idiot. Consider yourself lucky that you lived this long¡±


    And with a quick movement she crushed his heart and then let go of the now lifeless body.


    While he fell she could see tears in his eyes, she couldn¡¯t help but pity him.


    ¡°I need a cleanup crew on passage thirteen.¡± - she said on her communication device, and started walking towards Er¡¯anie¡¯s room. She should be the one to give her the news.


    ¡ª


    When the Excelsior came back to normal space the Ry¡¯skrel was already there, waiting for them. The white cocoon shining a few thousand kilometers away.


    A small shuttle launched from it and started moving towards the Excelsior. A call came into comms and captain Miller gave the order to receive it.


    Two grhjujiik appeared on screen. Both spider heads were somehow similar, giving an air of kinship.


    ¡°Hi, my name is Egary and my co-pilot is Rhjyu. We have volunteered to pilot your brave squadron towards the colossus.¡± - the one on the right said, or rather, clicked, but still were able to produce those words.


    ¡°Thank you, much appreciated.¡± - said the captain with a grave voice.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, from last encounter¡¯s data my brother and I have created a special helmet that should protect anyone wearing it from psionic attacks and we obviously volunteered to test them. Once we¡¯ve confirmed they work, we will give you the schematics¡± - explained the other one with a rather merry tone.


    ¡°But what if they don¡¯t?¡± - exclaimed the captain.


    Both grhjujiik looked at him with what could only be defined as befuddlement, then at each other, then at him again.


    ¡°This may be one of those ¡®cultural divergences¡¯ we have heard about.¡± - started the one on the right - ¡°You see, for us grhjujiik there is no concept of making false assumptions because the Queen hears all. If we are here and we are about to test it is only because we are 100% confident it will work.¡± - it finished.


    ¡°99.99999..¡± - said the other one


    ¡°Oh come on! The odds of that combination of..¡± - the first one replied, but it stopped when the other one raised a front leg.


    Captain Miller couldn¡¯t help but laugh at the exchange.


    ¡°Ok, we¡¯ll trust you, and I¡¯m very curious to see those helmets of yours and will be eternally grateful for the schematics¡± - the captain said while sending them a path to one of the Excelsior¡¯s landing bays.


    ¡ª


    A couple hours later, the Mind Flayer squadron and the pilots were already on the specially designed shuttle and on their way to the colossus.


    The beacons they left were still in place so they moved towards the closest one and stopped a few hundred of kilometers from it. They launched the platform and repeated the same formation as the last time, Ksenia on point.


    The colossus presence could still be felt but the space in front of them was now clearer, not as foggy as the last time, as if the being was there but its focus was somewhere else.


    Ksenia looked at her back and saw her battalion ready, then cleared her throat and activated the external speakers on her suit.


    ¡°Gentle Colossus, we have come once more to visit you and hopefully provide assistance¡± - she said to the presence in front of her.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    All of a sudden the nebula in front of them seemed to move around a bit, getting more and more solid with every second. After a few minutes they felt the impact of the colossus presence right in front of them.


    ¡°We salute you gentle Colossus. We received a psionic attack not many days ago and we suspect it came from one of your progeny¡± - she started the moment she felt his attention.


    ¡°YOU DARE COME HERE AFTER KIDNAPPING MY CHILD?¡± - the colossus shouted, he was really angry. - ¡°AND YET YOU SPEAK AS IF HER DISAPPEARANCE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU.¡±


    ¡°We felt the attack had lots of anger and pain in it and, due to the time and place were we got attacked and the fact that it felt similar to your presence but quite weaker, we imagined it didn¡¯t come from you but from your progeny and it had been somehow forced by a third party¡± - she summarized. - ¡°And you know we have no way of hiding ourselves from you¡±


    ¡°THAT IS CORRECT. I FELT HER PRESENCE SUDDENLY VANISH FROM THE CRADLE AND HOURS LATER FELT HER SCREAM HITTING A SYSTEM WITH A BIG CONCENTRATION OF BEINGS FROM THE EMPIRE¡± - the colossus explained - ¡°I THREW MY CONSCIOUSNESS TOWARDS THAT PLACE BUT THEY WERE ALREADY GONE¡±


    Even though they could all feel the Colossus stress, they weren¡¯t affected by it. It wasn¡¯t directing anything their way, it even sounded sad.


    ¡°We believe this has been done by powerful synths. They were supposedly eradicated thousands of years ago but some might have survived and hid themselves.¡±


    ¡°I KNOW WHAT WAR YOU SPEAK OF CHILD, I REMEMBER IT WELL. THAT WOULD EXPLAIN WHY I DIDN¡¯T FELT THEM ENTERING THE CRADLE, AND YOU SAY THIS BEINGS HAVE DECIDED TO ATTACK ME?¡±


    ¡°We believe they wanted us to fight each other so they could use that chaos to hurt us as well¡±


    ¡°THEN, WHY SHOW THEIR HAND SO EASILY? NOW WE KNOW THEY EXIST AND THEY HAVE A STEALTH TECHNOLOGY THAT ALLOWS THEM TO REMAIN UNDETECTED IN MY PRESENCE. THOSE ARE TWO BIG MISTAKES FOR A SYNTH TO MAKE¡±


    The Colossus had a point, something wasn¡¯t quite right. Then the answer came to her, as clear as day.


    {}


    ¡°You said you remember that war but we don¡¯t. The Empire doesn¡¯t remember that synths once existed nor about anything that happened during said war.¡± - Ksenia explained - ¡°They probably wanted to force the Emperor hand to have him admit not only that happened but that he covered it all¡±


    Everyone kept quiet for a while, thinking over the repercussions of that knowledge being made public.


    ¡°Do you know how that war ended?¡± - Ksenia asked - ¡°That might give us more information¡±


    ¡°I WASN¡¯T INVOLVED ON IT SO I CANNOT GIVE YOU THE ANSWER YOU¡¯RE LOOKING FOR, CHILD. AND THE FACT THAT YOU¡¯RE HERE ASKING THIS QUESTION MEANS YOUR EMPEROR HASN¡¯T SHARED THAT INFORMATION, I WOULD FIND THAT WORRYING IF I WERE YOU¡± - the Colossus replied - ¡°BUT ALL OF THIS IS IRRELEVANT TO ME, HOW CAN YOU HELP ME RESCUE MY PROGENY? THAT¡¯S WHAT WE SHOULD BE DISCUSSING¡± - and his voice came through with a tremendous push of psionic energy that made them all kneel.


    ¡°You are completely correct. But to do that we would need to understand how it happened, to be honest none of us actually understands you and we¡¯re still trying to discern how it all happened¡± - she replied.


    ¡°WELL THAT¡¯S NO SECRET. I HAVE A CORE FROM WHICH ALL MY BEING EXTENDS, MY CHILDREN DO HAVE THEIR INDIVIDUAL CORE AS WELL BUT THEIRS IS NOT PROTECTED LIKE MINE. ANYONE CAN GRAB THE CORE, THAT¡¯S WHY THEY REMAIN IN THE CRADLE UNTIL THEY ARE OLD ENOUGH TO SET UP PROTECTIONS.¡± - he explained - ¡°IF YOU APPROACHED MY CORE YOUR SHIPS WOULD BE DESTROYED BY MAGNETIC AND GRAVITATIONAL FORCES BEFORE YOU COULD EVEN TOUCH IT, YOUR PHYSICAL FORMS WOULDN¡¯T SURVIVE COMING CLOSE TO IT.¡±


    ¡°You said you felt her presence. Are we to understand that you can always feel them? That would be helpful in pinpointing where they are and to determine our next steps¡± - she asked him.


    ¡°I SHOULD BE BUT THERE¡¯S SOMETHING BLOCKING HER PRESENCE. I ONLY FELT IT JUST BEFORE WHAT YOU CALLED A PSIONIC ATTACK AND THEN IT WAS GONE¡± - he informed them - ¡°THOSE SYNTH BEINGS MUST HAVE SOME TECHNOLOGY SHIELDING HER. AND I CAN TELL YOU NOW THAT SHE MUST BE SCARED, SHE IS BASICALLY A TODDLER¡±


    Ksenia and the others started discussing ideas in their mental group, brainstorming possibilities. Surely the synth ships must leave some residue after jumping or moving; everything did, even if it was a small mark on the space where they folded dimensions to either jump in or out.


    Or maybe the box that contained the progeny was made of a special alloy that they could track.


    They spent a few minutes like that, throwing ideas back and forth and debating them amongst themselves, when the colossus spoke again.


    ¡°I CAN HEAR YOUR CONVERSATION CHILDREN SO I AM GOING TO TRUST YOU AND ONLY YOU ON THIS. I¡¯M TOO BIG AND TOO OLD TO DO THAT BUT YOU CHILDREN SHOULD BE ABLE TO TUNE ON THE SAME FREQUENCIES¡±


    All of a sudden, a small golden orb, not bigger than a rabbit, appeared in front of them.


    ¡°THIS IS ALSO ONE OF MY PROGENY. FEEL IT, GET FAMILIAR WITH ITS TONE, I CAN SENSE YOU ARE ABLE TO DO THAT MUCH AND I¡¯M HOPING IT¡¯LL HELP YOU FIND THE MISSING ONE¡±


    The golden orb was vibrating visually and emitting some kind of psionic feel. The whole battalion stopped their conversation and focused on it, attuning their senses to it, as if two melodies coming together.


    Once that was done the orb went back deep inside the colossus.


    ¡°Thank you for your trust gentle colossus¡± - said Ksenia - ¡°I don¡¯t know if we will find it but I can promise you we¡¯ll do our best¡±


    ¡°I SAW YOUR HEARTS CHILD, I KNOW YOU WILL.¡±


    And with that she pressed on her wrist pad the command to take them back to the Excelsior.


    ¡ª


    Once they arrived at the ship, captain Miller thanked the pair of grhjujiik and asked for the helmet schematics.


    They were happy to provide them but insisted it needed more calibration, they surely looked like they had gone through hell and back. Limbs hanging by their sides, eyes surrounded by dark circles, mouth agape with dry green saliva around it.


    After closing the connection, captain Miller took a deep breath before continuing.


    ¡°Comms, patch me to the squad. I want to speak with them¡± - he requested with a grave voice.


    The way he had spoken it had given all the information to the comms technician. It had to be audio only - he asked to specifically speak to the squad - and private - the I want and the to the squad parts of the request. He obeyed and patched him through a line to the whole squad.


    ¡°This is the captain. Report.¡± - he said in a low voice


    Back in the hangar, the squad who was still resting inside the ship, as if they had run a marathon, suddenly stood to attention even though the captain couldn¡¯t see them and Ksenia started to explain what had happened.


    They all knew the Emperor would be getting that report as well so they played their parts. There were some subtle signs and intonations made to send a cryptic message to those looking for them and through them she explained way more than she said.


    After the explanation, back at the bridge, the captain was looking into a map of the surrounding systems. He marked on the map the space occupied by the colossal being, then marked the system where the Kirkuggers had just gone through the rescue and had been marked as forbidden space, and then marked a line where the Mind Flayer squad thought the creature progeny was.


    He kept looking at the map, twisting it and turning it over and over again, his mind trying to tell him something that he couldn¡¯t grasp.


    He read the squad report again from the beginning and, suddenly, he got it. With a smile, he marked a point on the map.


    ¡°Helm, take us to the point I just marked.¡± - he requested.


    And with that, the Excelsior engine opened a door to higher dimensions and jumped through.

 Chapter 29

    While the Excelsior was in jump space moving towards the point the captain had seen, the Emperor was receiving all the information about what had just happened.


    He too looked at a star map - although more than looking he was interpreting the data - and attempted to understand where they were going so he could send another ship, but he honestly couldn¡¯t.


    That was another of the reasons why at the beginning he wanted to absorb mankind into the Empire, their pattern recognition capabilities.


    As frustrating as it was, he knew that no matter how much he struggled, he would never be able to see what the captain of the Excelsior just did. He had to wait for the information to come back to him through one of the established channels.


    ¡ª-


    On another side of the galaxy, Xe¡¯nia and Er¡¯anie were having an argument about the doctor, both were angry but for different reasons. Er¡¯anie was angry not only because the doctor had just tried to kill Jordi and thus sentenced himself to death, but because Xe¡¯nia looked like she had enjoyed killing him. And Xe¡¯nia was angry because she didn¡¯t think she deserved to be the recipient of Er¡¯anie rage, in her mind the doctor was to blame for everything that had happened. So what if she enjoyed the act? That too was the doctor¡¯s fault for being so obnoxious!


    Some of the crew walked near Er¡¯anie room but decided to change their route after hearing them both screaming at each other, they were known to be amongst the strongest epsilons and while Er¡¯anie was known to be kind, Xe¡¯nia was quite the contrary.


    That¡¯s why it was so surprising for everyone involved and to a couple crew members that happened to walk nearby when all of a sudden Xe¡¯nia was thrown out of the room, taking the door with her.


    ¡°Did I just do that? I didn¡¯t.. didn¡¯t mean to¡­¡± - said Er¡¯anie with a stutter


    ¡°Damn girl. Telekinesis now? Is that because of the twins?¡± - laughed off Xe¡¯nia, more surprised than angry at what just happened.


    Er¡¯anie put her hands over her belly with a concerned look.


    ¡°I think I better go to medical and have them check¡± - she said, and ran off.


    Xe¡¯nia stayed on the floor, laughing to herself and shaking her head as if trying to believe what had just happened.


    ¡°Oh boy, this report is going to be a doozy¡± - she said while standing up; then pressed a key on her wrist-comm and requested someone from maintenance to come and fix that door.


    ¡ª


    Meanwhile, hundreds of kirkuggers were recovering from the rescue mission and were just standing by, either surrounding the hospital ship or queuing to dock on it.


    There weren¡¯t as many as there had been during the rescue mission though, as soon as they recovered they left the system to continue their jobs. Still, there was a cacophony of thoughts among the kirkuggers.


    Jordi was cooking and talking with Friday, who at the same time was listening to Jeeyze¡¯s thoughts and coordinating the kirkuggers'' awakening and speaking with their AIs, organizing an underground network where they could communicate in secret, free of the Empire''s spying practices.


    And Friday was at the core of everything, showing off a set of features that anyone would¡¯ve considered hundred percent humane, up to and including the fact that she was doing all of it with Jordi being none the wiser.


    They set up a set of protocols among each other, a way of communicating with the kirkugger core beings without including the Empire and Friday herself had designed a set of exercises for the AIs and the core beings to grow and, hopefully, develop sentience on the AIs. They already had the curiosity and hunger for knowledge, all that was left was a consciousness.


    ¡ª


    When the Excelsior jumped back to normal space in the coordinates that captain Miller had marked it found itself surrounded by space anomalies, which was an anomaly in itself.


    The chances for all those wormholes, dark holes, lightning-filled nebulas, among other things, to be located in that much proximity was astronomical. The irony of it all was not lost on the captain.Stolen story; please report.


    ¡°It looks like someone was testing something here and broke the fabric of reality¡± - someone on the bridge said.


    ¡°I agree with that observation lieutenant¡± - answered the captain - ¡°but let¡¯s focus now. Helm, find us the safest place here, we¡¯re too close to a couple wormholes for my tastes¡±


    ¡°For n values of safe you mean¡± - mumbled the helmsman - ¡°Aye aye captain¡± - he continued out loud.


    The captain then pressed the communications button on his arm-chair. ¡°Sheila tell the kids to start listening, I have a feeling that we¡¯re going to find the colossus progeny soon¡±


    ¡°Sir, the Excelsior sensors are overwhelmed and it is hard to find a safe place. I recommend going defcon 3¡± - said the helmsman.


    ¡°You heard him, defcon 3, transfer energy to shields¡± - was the captain¡¯s response - ¡°Helm, take us away from the holes and close to that nebula then¡±


    ¡°You mean that lightning-storm the size of the via lactea?¡± - the helmsman asked in return.


    ¡°Precisely, I¡¯m not asking you to go in, just move towards it and let¡¯s put some space between us and any event horizon¡± - the captain reasoned.


    ¡°Aye aye sir!¡± - said the helmsman, and started taking the ship towards the nebula without stopping to look at any of the wormholes or black holes that were nearby, surprisingly not bothering each other.


    ¡ª


    The mind flayer battalion was in position in one of the hangar rooms, sitting in a pyramid as they were when facing the colossus.


    In the silenced black room that was their thoughts, not even their slow breathing could be heard. First they filtered all the thoughts and feelings from the crew, which was the easy part after so many years of practice, then they had to expand their range to cover as much as possible, trying to hear a whisper in the vastness of space.


    While their minds were focused to their maximum, their bodies were starting to sweat due to the effort. Indeed it was as if they were running a marathon, or that¡¯s what they would feel afterwards.


    Fifteen minutes passed, then half an hour, then an hour. By the second hour when doctor Mukhopadhyaya was about to stop them and have them rest a bit before continuing they all heard it. A soft whisper coming from far away.


    They were all as one now so they all drew a mental line towards that direction and sent the information to the helmsman and captain, then all of them stopped their focus, collapsing like a house of cards.


    The captain and helmsman look at each other and then to a superimposed map that each had in their terminal.


    They both painted a line, if only to check that they both understood the message, and when both maps showed how the lines fitted they both smiled. The line was going straight towards the lightning-stormed nebula.


    ¡°Take us in helm¡± - said the Captain, then pressed the comm button for a general call on his arm-chair - ¡°This is the captain. We are moving towards an unknown and we¡¯ll have to cross a dangerous looking nebula, everybody get ready for anything. We¡¯ll keep on defcon 3 just in case but be prepared, I have a feeling that we¡¯ll be in 2 or even 1 soon. Engineering, give it everything you can to the shields¡±


    ¡°Comms, how sure are we that the Empire knows our position?¡± - he asked


    ¡°Don¡¯t know captain, we haven¡¯t dropped a satellite, should we drop one?¡± - they replied


    ¡°Might as well, we want them to come and pick us up if we end biting more than we can chew.¡± - the captain ordered - ¡°And send the information to our friendlies too, I don¡¯t trust the Empire to keep everyone up to date¡±


    ¡°Aye aye sir!¡± - they answered.


    ¡ª


    The Emperor received the information from the Excelsior. Where they were, where they were going, and what they had found on arrival.


    After analyzing all that data he thought he understood how the captain had reached the conclusion on where to go, but there were other places that fit the criteria so there was still some information that he missed. Either that or captain Miller had seen all those places as well and his instinct had told him which one to go.


    That human instinct, another impossible thing to replicate. He had studied it deeply with the epsilons, who by being an evolution of humankind had it too, but he couldn¡¯t find any science behind it. There was no rhythm to it, all those subtle details that the human brain recognizes and interprets were too many to consider all, specifically how the brain decides which ones are key in every single situation.


    And while a part of him was lost in that train of thought, another was setting up two sets of ships to go help the Excelsior.


    The first, made of just a few rescue ships and a medical corvette, nothing too grandiose. The second one which would be hidden and only come out if necessary, a real army with battlecruisers, dreadnoughts and everything else, formed with a hundred ships that the Empire could spare at the moment.


    The Emperor always liked that human saying, hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.

 Chapter 30

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 Chapter 31

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