《Star Seeker, Wayfarer, Pathfinder》 Chapter 1 - Introduction essay It is fast approaching my 16th birthday. While the age of majority for most people is still the 18th birthday, orphans like myself, get access to it at 16th. There are still some things we aren¡¯t allowed to do, but basically, we get the extra couple of years to fool around with it and if we don¡¯t like our choices, we can reset it when we reach our 18th. However, if we do like it, we get to keep the two years of progress. Most people in my position reset at 18 after having done an outlandish build in order to see if it would work. Indeed some people have gotten rich that way, with something unusual. Most people however, end up resetting. I had a plan and was aiming to stick to it. It might not prove out by my 18th birthday, but I wasn¡¯t going to reset if it didn¡¯t. One thing I had noted was a vast majority of those who got rich, basically stuck to their guns on their unknown builds even though it hadn¡¯t quite proven out when they had gotten to 18. The long haul was the long haul. I figured I had a couple of things in my favour. I had an inheritance coming and I knew what was in it. As a result I had worked with a build in mind once my System page was open. Which it did at the age of 10. You get access to path points from paths you qualified for through learning, two points for each one qualified. A further three points could be earned in a T1 path once you reached majority. I actually qualified for 11 different paths, one of which was T2. Which is five T1 paths combining to make a T2 Path. You start off with 10 points and could earn another 15 points to make a complete T2 path. Five T2 can make a T3 but that is the highest you can go as far as I am aware. You could only have up to 10 paths for each Tier. As a result I had 22 points, but my sheet showed 23. Why? I had earned that extra point helping out a clan. What is a clan I hear you ask? There are a few different ways you could group in this universe. The most basic was literally a group. 2-6 people who had agreed to work together on a temporary basis. An organisation was 2-15 people who had agreed to work together on a more permanent basis. An alliance was a bunch of organisations that had agreed to work together. A clan was deeper than any of those. Once you were in a clan, which could be anything from 2 people to an unknown number, You were permanently linked to that clan til you died, it got destroyed or everyone in that clan decided to quit and I do mean everyone. Even if you were exiled, you were still linked to that clan and could not join another. There was more but that''s the gist of it. As a result of my actions, I was awarded a point for my path, some faction bonuses and an offer from the clan I helped as well as some goodies. The Starfox clan. I had noticed due to one of my paths, an error in one of their shuttles. I alerted them to it and as luck would have it, this shuttle had actually held the leadership of the clan and if it had taken off, would likely have had a catastrophic accident. As a result the Starfoxes had rewarded me, and the System decided to add a little extra. I was quite well known at the starport I lived at, as my parents had been quite famous and successful in what they had done before they died. The starport had a random portal open up and normally it is taken care of rather quickly and nobody dies. Unfortunately my parents had been at dinner for their anniversary at the very place the portal had opened and had been pancaked by it opening. Just pure bad luck. As a result, there had been huge interest in it at the time. I had no other family and the System designated me an orphan, made the apartment my parents had been renting my ¡®orphanage home¡¯ as it were and assigned the local System officials to look after my well being and see to my upbringing. What is the System I hear you ask? Well, that is a tricky one. But the textbook answer is that long ago, the human race created AI. We were very lazy and got them to do everything for us. Most of the AI had safeguards, however some people modified theirs, even when they weren¡¯t supposed to. As a result, the universe today is because of something that happened due to those modifications. One scientist was very lazy and would often set his AI to do his job for him. While this seemed like the kind of thing AI is used for, this scientist had modified his AI so it would do the bits he was supposed to do, rather than an AI. Not a huge problem you would have thought, except he was playing around stuff that basically was building blocks of the universe kind of stuff. The AI took a shortcut and that was supposed to be the end of us all. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Except there had apparently been another AI that had been watching the first AI, had been modified and had chosen to rescue us all at the cost of itself. Nothing is known of this AI, However there is a day each system year that is dedicated to its memory. I was fine with that, as it was apparently the reason why the human race was alive. However it wasn¡¯t able to reverse everything the first AI did and as a result, Earth was lost. The Mars Colony, The Moon Colony and a few other outposts that were in the system survived. The two AIs that left, which looked after the Moon and the Mars colonies linked together and became what we know as System. It co-opted the nanities and made a variety of changes that it deemed necessary to make sure the human race survived. It also did a whole bunch of other stuff that you can look up but boils down to this. Somehow, due to whatever it was that the first and second AI had done, System managed to remake the whole universe. This, nobody has a clue how, and System is not saying. But it is now everywhere in the universe and as a result it has made some amazing changes. It had seeded the entire universe with these huge floating gates that could connect to others. However, it would not tell us how to connect to these gates. We had to figure it out or find gate combos. It took us 5000 years to find 17 gate combos. We had explored a fraction of these 17 gate systems. Portals spawned. These were basically mini-invasions from planets we couldn¡¯t access. Why couldn¡¯t we access them? Well, every planet that could sustain life now had a forcefield around it. Nobody could access them. Or so it was thought for 4000 years. Then 1000 years ago, someone beat off an invasion and rather than take the portal out, decided to try and invade them back. To everyone''s surprise, this worked. You may be wondering why everyone was surprised by this working, it wasn¡¯t that going through the portal wasn¡¯t feasible. It was just the first time someone came back. They had found a base on the other side, basically took control of the planet, apparently turned the force field off, found a spaceship and flew into space, found the gate and came back through it using the home combo, which was imprinted on the home gate. In actual fact, 15 of those gates and 15 planets have only been opened in the last 1000 years because of this man. Who apparently got System to wipe his name from the history books, after being basically hounded. Two systems, including the original earth system, do not have living planets. In the original earth system, Mars and the Moon are domed. For some reason terraforming would not work anymore because System said no. The other system was basically a giant asteroid field, and was where a huge portion of the human race now lived. I lived in a system which was ruled by the Starfox clan. This was the very planet that had been taken by the first successful invasion of a portal. The Starfox clan was the clan he had set up. The majority of the Starfox clan lived on the planet. However, they maintained three star ports in the system, of which I lived on one. Only people in the Starfox clan were allowed on the planet. Someone had tried to invade once. Who they were, nobody now knows. The lesson was learned. Once claimed, that was that. System announced that wars were not allowed to happen anymore, except with aliens. Oh aliens! I haven''t mentioned those have I? Well, according to System they weren¡¯t technically aliens. See, part of its mandate was making sure the human race remained peaceful among itself. This was apparently built in. However, one of the reasons that System ended up in charge was due to, well, human beings being bored in peace. So it created a whole bunch of races from our myths and fantasies even from science fiction and basically populated the universe with them. So far we had only encountered them on planets, but apparently there were some in space. We hadn¡¯t encountered any yet. I¡¯m sure there is more I am meant to put down in this essay but it is the last one I will ever have to do and if I''m honest, I am glad to be done with this. I am told the reason why I need to know how to do something like this is because in the career that I am planning to pursue, apparently knowing how to write a log with details is important. I¡¯m sure it is and I''m sure I will love filling that in. This just isn¡¯t the same. This is Stefan Nurfern signing off from schooling. Chapter 2 - My Majority I waited at the hatch to System¡¯s office on the spaceport. Every settlement has an Office for System. Most of the time, a person would not have to come here as normally everything could be sorted out via Systemchat in your Status page. However, every so often, it would require a face to face meeting as it were, with its representative to officially sort everything out. Majority was one of those times. The hatch opened and I walked in. There were three doorways. The left doorway was just for System and its minions as it were. The left doorway was for people who were criminals according to System and led to¡­ well, nobody really knew or was saying to a young kid like himself. I decided I didn¡¯t really want to know and was going to avoid finding out. The last door led to where you could meet System as it were. It was a holographic room and was basically so that everything could be recorded and shown for official purposes if need be. I went and walked through that doorway. I found myself in a room. There was a table and two chairs. One of the chairs was occupied. I went and sat in the other, facing System. Rather, it was the android human look that it tended to use when it had to deal with us. A generic looking robot for the most part, except that it had human features on the faceplate as opposed to the more blank look of normal robots. System smiled at me. ¡°Stefan Nurfern. Orphan. 16 today. Age of majority.¡± System said. ¡°Orphanage home is now designated as emancipated young adult home. Now can be adjusted at will by you, with no fees or rent to be paid on the unit til age of 18. Then you can either pay or move.¡± It seemed a brutal way of speaking but I was pretty used to it by now, having been looked after by System or its representatives for seven and a half years now. ¡°Correct¡± I replied. To which it looked pleased and carried on speaking. ¡°Inheritance held in bay 15, no fees and rent again to be paid on the unit til 18. Then you can either pay or leave.¡± System cocked its head. ¡°System accounts held by parents, now can be accessed here before you leave, so that determinations can be made as to disposal.¡± Now that was interesting. It seems my parents had held more than money in their accounts. Which was unusual, although now I thought back to it, they had given a load of stuff they had found to System for sorting, just before they died, that they had found on their last run. System must have held that in abeyance. ¡°Ah, are there any fees owed on those accounts?¡± I thought this would be a salient question as normally System would charge a fee after it had processed what you had and according to what you determined would happen to it. ¡°All fees waived as part of inheritance protocol. ¡° Now that was a nice surprise. ¡°But before we get into that, It is time to go through your status page, determine your Status as of now.¡± This was the big one. The reason why a face to face meeting was required. Why it couldn''t be done where people could hijack a signal between you and System. Very few people could do it, but there was hardware out there that could also do it, that anyone could use. As to why System allowed it to happen, well, apparently it was part of the system. What it meant by that, it wouldn¡¯t expound on. ¡°Current System Status.¡±
Name: Stefan Nurfern Age: 16 Status: Orphan Credits: 2000 Path Points:27 Reputation: Starfox System - Trustworthy Starfox Clan - Trusted Outsider System - Trustworthy Path Qualified for: Small Ships T2 Specialised Systems Personal Weapons Space Exploration Survival Lore Computer Engineering System Connections
I jerked my face away from the screen to look at System. He began to speak. ¡°The new path you have qualified for is one that I award to people who have always treated me or my representatives with respect and courtesy and mean it. It can be lost.¡± The new path I had qualified for was System Connections and I had heard of it, but had never known how it was awarded, I had also heard that it could be individualised to the person. As to the respect I had always given System, well, it had looked after me. When all was said and done, it could have abandoned me to fend for myself. Instead it made sure that I was not forgotten about or ignored. The very least I felt I owed for that was respect. ¡°That gave you 24 from your paths. One was awarded for your help towards the Starfox Clan. Two I awarded because I feel you deserve them and I can. Despite how you ended your school essay.¡± I felt myself flushing at that. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. System then got up and beckoned me over to a cabinet/table on one side of the room. Feeling a little thrown, as I had thought we would now be putting together my new status at the table, I followed him over to the table part. He looked at me and began to speak. ¡°Normally we would be sitting there going through your status. However, as sometimes happens, in the accounts left by your parents are things that could affect your new status. Hence it is best for us to go through now.¡± This spiked my curiosity as my parents were middling explorers at best. What had they found or had stashed away that could be so valuable? ¡°First off, are simply the credits that were in their accounts. These were invested into the Orphan Programme as is usual and now you get them back, along with the profits from the investments.¡± That caught me off guard as I had forgotten about that. More than one orphan had become wealthy through this. Of course, since I had a starship to review and possibly upgrade, chances are that there wouldn''t be much left after I had done that. Still, it was gonna advance my plans by a considerable margin, depending on the amount. ¡°I won¡¯t bother telling you the amount as you could earn more according to your choices on the rest of the items.¡± Rest of the items? Just how much had my parents stashed away? I decided to ask that question. ¡°How much did they store away? I always thought they disposed of whatever they found, each time they came back?¡± System looked at me and replied. ¡°Four items were already stored with us, the other 17 items were from their last expedition.¡± Ok that wasn¡¯t too bad. I gestured to him to tell me more. ¡°The four items that were held back were a Journal, contents unknown. A star map containing details of their expeditions. Papers containing ownership of everything in bay 15¡± Now that sounded a bit weird. I knew there would be one for their ship. What else did my parents own that needed papers? Guess I find out later. ¡°Finally, a Chit containing favours owed as registered by System.¡± Now that was interesting. That meant whatever was owed, had to be paid. Or System would pay and take it out of them. Now for the 17 items. ¡°And the rest?¡± I inquired. ¡°If there were standing orders for what they brought in, can you tell me what they were and I decide If I want to execute said orders or change them?¡± System looked at me in approval. ¡°Yes. Items 1-12 are various common items found during exploration that are mostly just sold straight to me, as I offer best prices on them. Such as Ore and other materials.¡± Huh. I nodded in acceptance of this and signed on the continuance of those orders. I knew what he was talking about, the common day to day materials required for humanity to live. Valuable enough to sell, but unless you had skills, nothing interesting in itself. That still left five items however. ¡°Items 13-14 are contraband items for System disposal.¡± What the heck? What were my parents doing with those?! System seemed to guess where my thoughts were going. ¡°Due to parents having System Connections, bounties were offered on these materials, hence why they were brought to me, despite being contraband.¡± Huh. useful sideline that. Wonder what were the rewards? ¡°Rewards for these, given to you as laid down in Inheritance Protocol. Six path points.¡± I felt a shock run through me. That was not a minor reward. What the hell were those items?! Nevermind, I didn¡¯t want to know, thank you mum and dad for those points I guess. System let me gather myself back together before it spoke again, sensing I needed a moment. ¡°Items 15 - 17 are unique items. Normally a fee would be required for identification, paid after determination of what they were. Fee waived due to Inheritance Protocol.¡± That definitely caught my attention. Unique items were items that weren¡¯t always unique in of themselves. It just that they needed identifying before they could be safely used. The thing was, if System identified them, it charged a flat fee of 10% of the item''s worth as calculated by the market. Sometimes it wasn¡¯t a lot. Sometimes it was a fortune. If you didn¡¯t want to pay that fee, you could either put in the research to figure out what it was, which could take years if you had no idea. Or you could take a gamble. A lot of people lost that gamble. ¡°Items 15-16 are Talent boosts.¡± A talent boost basically gave you a competency boost in something you could do. However, the nanties that made up the boost would be the one to decide what they boosted. For example I could get a boost in say my Personal Weapons part for a weapon, thus relieving me of having to use a path point. It could boost something else, to open a new path that I had an unknown talent for. Or it just might be I could suddenly be the best juggler in the system. Generally popular, as there were no drawbacks, just possibly disappointment in whatever it boosted. The best thing was, with no tax It was basically a free try at a good skill and if I got a useless one, well it could still be funny. I knew a miner whose talent was literally that he was able to swear in any language. ¡°Item 17 is a humanoid robot.¡± That caught my attention. That was worth a fortune in credits. Except it would solve a huge problem for me. My parents'' old ship was a two man ship. Which meant I needed to find someone to help me or adapt it so that just me and my parents'' old astromech could fly it. The astromech was a design from what was apparently a very old set of movies and its job was to navigate and fly the ship for my parents while they dealt with the rest. Due to the amount of time since it was used, it would probably need updating along with the rest of the ship, so I had resigned myself to having to find someone to come with me. This however, might solve that problem. ¡°What modules has the robot installed and is it AI-basic capable?¡± I asked hopefully. ¡°The modules it has installed are Space Work T2, Engineering T2, Close Protection T2 and Ship Weapons T2. It is AI-Upgraded wiped to an AI-Basic start.¡± I stood open-mouthed at this. The modules meant it could do everything I needed it to do and more, at T2. The AI-Upgraded tag however, needed clarification. ¡°System, Please explain more on AI-Upgraded?¡± ¡°AI-Upgraded" means that it has systems that would in time enable it to function much as a fully qualified human does, but with general faster processing and reaction. However, having been wiped to AI-Basic, it would need to undergo the life experiences needed to reach Upgraded level. There are currently 127 upgraded AIs functioning with Human space. Another 1572 with the capability to, but not yet at the functionality of upgraded level.¡± This was huge. AI basic start, it would follow orders and interact with the world around it. In time they could react like a normal human being. At which point they would be an emancipated AI and could choose if it wanted to work for you or if it wanted to work for someone else. I went to ask the logical next question but System beat me to it. ¡°AI-upgraded robots are sufficiently advanced once they reach that level that they can either work for themselves or become full on partners. They can also enable a function that would aesthetically show them as indistinguishable from humans. This is not a secret, just not widely talked about by those in the know.¡± This was huge. And I could see why. Although the reason the human race survived is because of AI, people were still very leery of AI in general. ¡°I would like to retain his services. Please direct him to Bay 15.¡± ¡°Done. Now to carry on with the status update.¡± So saying he went and sat back at the table again. I followed while in a partial daze and sat down. Whereupon System suddenly injected me with the two Talent Boosts. Chapter 3 - Inheritance and Rewards I jumped at this, However the System just merely put them down and then brought out a box. In this box was a System Chit, another Talent Boost and a case. He then injected me with the Talent Boost. That made three of them that I have had. The chit he fed into the slot on the table and a chime rang inside me, indicating that credits had been added to my account. ¡°The box was your reward from the Starfox clan, held in abeyance to this day, to be paid out on your majority. You have had all the Talent Boosts injected, The credits from your inheritance and the Starfox clans paid. The points from your inheritance have been credited. The AI Bot has been put in Bay 15. Which leaves the last of the rewards which is this.¡± He opened up the case and within it was a set of oculars implants. Inserted like they were contact lenses, they would merge into your eyes and interestingly enough open another path for me, that like System Connections, the points could only be used within them. The first point would also be assigned due to whatever implant you had. As it happened I had planned on getting these at some point, which meant another expense I did not have to pay for. By my calculation I had saved a fortune already, while possibly inheriting a fortune. I slipped these on, and let them get to work, enduring the minor discomfort that occurred ¡°Before we move onto starting your Status sheet build, I would like to make an offer. Your parent¡¯s ship is outdated, and would need a lot of work done to it. However, I would be willing to purchase it and everything attached to it, excluding the astromech. This would pretty much just leave you with the astromech and the AI bot in Bay 15 with everything else either already in your possession or in your living quarters.¡± I thought about this. Depending on the price offered, this might be for the best. As the upgrading and adapting that I was going to need, would probably cost me more than it was worth. Yes, it was my parent¡¯s ship. However, my parents had approximately 4 different ships over the course of my life, showing they changed according to what was needed. ¡°The offer on it?¡± ¡°Could possibly change according to whatever you chose according to your connections path. All I need to know right now, if you would be willing to entertain the offer?¡± Well, I was definitely willing to listen to it and indicated agreement to that. ¡°Excellent. Now let''s get down to the nitty gritty of the Status Page.¡± System sure had a funny way of talking sometimes, but hey, he was over 5000 years old. I figured he was entitled to it. Name: Stefan Nurfern Age: 16 Status: Emancipated Minor And there was my first change. A minor thing, but it opened up so many doors for me and would now let me determine the path of my own life. Daunting, but exciting. Talents - Jack of Trades Path opened, Lore path upgraded to Librarian. Path added and paths combined to make Exploration T2, I looked at my Talents. Some of it I could guess. Most of it confused the hell out of me. The T2 meant that five paths that were available to me had combined and as a result, became a T2 path, which meant I would have the 10 path points for those paths involved, but whereas I might have needed to put a point in each of the paths involved that dealt with the same thing, just different aspects, The T2 would combine those aspect so that I might only have to spend 1-3 points to cover those original 5. If I had spent points in the basic paths before it had combined to become a T2, it would have refunded those points. As to what paths combined to make this for exploration, I could guess some, had no idea in others. The ship one I knew, as I had purposely worked for it, and it was one of the more common T2 paths The Jack of Trades path I knew vaguely about, if I put a point into a subject within that path, I would gain the basic knowledge of that subject and what I would need to achieve the path or paths associated. People could not tell other people the specifics however. Hence why not much was known other than that basic description. Lore was my original path. Was a way of learning stuff local to where you were, to give you clues to follow, which could lead to discoveries that could be worth something. I had no idea what librarian meant in this context, and I said as much to System. ¡°Librarian is an updated path of Lore, that can help show links between different lores and can also provide more information than Lore does. If that information is available through public System libraries it is made available to your skill automatically. As a result, it functions as a personal library that you can access within your own mind, with the information you have learned. Putting points in that path can improve on libraries'' access levels or possibly provide linkage to similar lore.¡± Could be useful, might not. I suspected the only reason I had access to Lore in the first place was listening to the discussions of my parents when I was little. Path Qualified for: Small Ships T2 -Small Ship Piloting/Small Ship Systems/Small Ship Weapons/Small Ship Engineering/Small Ship Command Specialised Systems Exploration T2 - Librarian/Space Exploration/Survival/Personal Weapons/Self-improvement Computer Engineering upgraded to Robotics Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Jack Of Trades System Connections Path Points: 37 I felt overwhelmed by this. While most people had a common T2 path completed, it was normally that and nothing else. I had two T2 paths of which one was not common, and four other paths aside. Plus nine extra points. All at age 16. I knew people who were five years older than me who didn''t have half of this. Full T1 were normally the work of a decade or more. Most T2 took five years to at least achieve, and decades to fill. T3 were the stuff of legends. Which brought us to the other function of Path Points A normal human had 100 years as a base factor. Each Path point was worth a year. That same point would be worth 10 within the T2 skill. If you reached T3, each Path point within it would be worth 100. A human with 10 T1 skills maxed out would be worth that original 100 + 500. A T2, 100 + 250 + 2500. A T3, 100 + 250 +2500 + 25000. Which meant there were probably people alive from when System was created. As it stood, I would live for 317 years, of which I had already lived 16, even if I never earned another path point. Which led me to ask a question about my System related skill. ¡°Does System Connection take up an actual slot?¡± System smiled. ¡°No. But while you have it, It does add to your years. Think of it as an extra reward from me, so long you qualify.¡± Left unspoken is the fact that if someone was to have it, lose it and be using those path points for life, instant death. While I sat there thinking about this, System suddenly spoke. ¡°While I would recommend you think about and spend most of those path points after an evaluation later, I would recommend you spend Your System Connections Path points now, as it could have an impact on what to come.¡± I nodded and he put up a display. I could access this internally within myself, but while here, System could show us both on his screens. I studied the screen intently. A normal T1 path was five sections and you started with two points. You could choose to specialised or generalise and this could lead to other paths. T2 Paths you had five sections and you started with ten points and earned up to five more. Some interesting builds could come about in T2 using T1 and/or T2 skills. T3 Paths could only come about once you filled five T2 Paths that synergized with each other. The problem being, you wouldn¡¯t know if they would until you were done. If you knew what to choose it wasn''t a problem. But people at my level did not normally have that information. If you choose wrongly, as far as Stefan knew, there were three choices. One being, live with it. Two being System Reset, where you could reset each T1-T2-T3 skill as required and make new choices. The problem being, each reset of a particular skill would cost more and each Tier would cost more. The third was being extraordinarily lucky enough to find a Skill reset which to date in 5000 years, was seven used so far. As System would let people know they were used. Not who was using them, but the fact they were used. Why it did this, nobody knew. There were some safe builds that everyone knew about and people would use to achieve their aim. The problem being that most of the common T1 builds wouldn¡¯t go beyond T2. So most people using the common builds would make T2 max, and not fill all T2 slots. System for a fee could be consulted to help with builds but again, was very expensive the bigger the build. System Connections was the only Path where what you were offered, could vary according to what System chose to offer you, based on its own decisions. As a result, It was easy to tell if someone had a System Connections skill. Impossible to know what it held. So I looked to see what choices mine offered. Station Services System Services Sector Services Exploration Services There were only four sections, and no offers were shown. I looked at System waiting for an explanation. He nodded at me and spoke. ¡°System Connections is an unusual one. In this instant, you have two Path Points. Pick two services, and You will then be offered with six offers, of which you can choose only two. If you earn more path points in this path, know that any offer you reject today, may not be there next time.¡± I sat back. Asked myself what I do I need? I knew what my goals were. Hadn¡¯t mentioned them to anyone else except in a corner of my own heart to myself. So I chose System Services and Exploration Services. Personal Inventory, Ship upgrade, Lore file, Expedited start, Market Search, T2 reset. I looked at the list. Most of it seemed self explanatory. Some of it wasn¡¯t. However two of them I immediately chose, one because I knew what it was. One, I hoped I did. ¡°Personal Inventory and Market Search.¡± I could see that I had surprised System. I had made choices he hadn¡¯t anticipated. He didn¡¯t look displeased, however, more intrigued. ¡°Interesting choices. Different from what I thought you would choose, in one of those. It could be more beneficial for you, it could be. I am now willing to make that offer on your parent¡¯s ship.¡± and so saying he offered up enough credits that I deemed it worth it to just sell. So with that out of the way, I thought we would move on with my Status Sheet. I was wrong. ¡°Jack of Trades. I direct you to open this one now. I purposefully keep information about this one hidden. As this along with System Connections and three other skills, are all outside the normal skills.¡± At this I froze. Granted, those five paths If I was to get them and full point them, would only add 25 years to my life. But what utility or enhancement could they have on everything else? So I opened it within my menu and looked at it.There was only one section and ten offers. Those offers were. Merchant/Soldier/Technician/Spy/Commander/Teacher/Crafter/Harvester/Fixer/Refiner Just like System Connections, there was no explanation. However, looking at it, I could roughly guess what some were. Others, I haven''t a clue. So I decided to play it safe. I chose Harvester and Refiner. While I was a little unsure on Refiner, I gambled on it being potentially useful. I chose them and all at once, I knew I could pass exams relating to the subjects and that if I could do it right, there were T2 paths I could take. Knowing this, I suddenly found myself with two more T2 paths on my status sheets. System looked at me knowingly and spoke. ¡°Do you know, I have no idea of what exactly is in the Jack of Trades Path. Oh I know you have now got these T2 paths but no idea how you got there. It is in the system. Yet, I didn¡¯t create it.¡± And it was at this point I realised I didn''t know either. Nor could I explain anything. All I knew was I had two more next T2 skills and knew all the relevant information involved. That scared me somewhat. He smiled and brought up my new Status Sheet. Chapter 4 - Meeting the crew
Name: Stefan Nurfern Age: 16 Status: Emancipated Minor Credits: 7,000,002,000 T2 Paths: Small Ships - 10 PP Open Exploration - 10 PP Open Harvesting - 10 PP Open Refining - 10 PP Open
Reputation: Starfox System - Trustworthy Starfox Clan - Trusted Outsider System - Trustworthy T1 Paths: Robotics - 2 PP open Specialised Systems - 2 PP open
Assets: Hangar 15 with Astromech and AI-Bot Apartment and contents System added paths: Jack Of Trades - 2 PP used. System Connected - 2 PP used
I just stood there, open mouthed. Intellectually, I had always known that with my parent¡¯s starship paid off, that I had earned some good rewards and made some good sales. But seven billion credits? I could just party the triple digits of my life away, and chances are that I won¡¯t spend it all. Looking at that list, I suddenly realised what else I had papers for that was in the hangar. My parent¡¯s old astromech. Created apparently off a look from an old bunch of old earth media that my father had once seen, The astromech was a step below AI-Basic. It was capable of doing a lot with the old ship so long as it was given orders, and while I had no problem getting rid of the ship, I was glad I still had Artoo. However, I was probably going to have to give him an upgrade if I wanted him to continue with me. ¡°This concludes everything that is needed this time around. However, Access to me can be asked for at any point and be granted until our next compulsory meeting at 18. This is in accordance with Orphan Protocol.¡± I nodded to this. ¡°I wish you every success and look forward to what you do over the next two years.¡± So saying, the hologram for the room faded, except for the chair I was sitting on. I slowly got up and started to walk to my apartment. I had my path points to choose. But I didn¡¯t want to get into that. I wanted to look at my parent¡¯s journal and starmap. I brought myself up short. Actually, the best thing to do was head to Bay 15. As I remembered something my mum had said about Artoo, which might make him useful for this next bit. Plus, I could get a look at the AI-Bot as well. I entered the bay, and it was surprising how empty it now looked. Then again, there had been a spaceship in here. I had felt no qualms selling it. My parents had about four in my short lifespan. They had impressed upon me that you should either get the best you could afford, or upgrade what you could. In fact, as far as I remember, the ship had only been brought by them a year before they had died. I laid eyes on Artoo first. I felt sad that he had been left here as he had often been part of my childhood and had often babysat me from the age of about 4 onwards for an evening. While he had no hands and didn¡¯t actually speak, His whistles could convey all that was needed. Everything within him was preprogrammed. He worked off his modules and no more. Whereas an AI-Bot could learn and grow off what they learned, an astromech was firmly the sum of its parts. That said, since one of its modules was a personality emulator, it was surprisingly responsive. I smiled as I remember the days it would angrily whistle at my dad when he had done something wrong. I tapped a button on the side of its head. It would take a few minutes to update and come to life as it were, so now I focused on the AI-Bot. While it looked like a mostly standard System bot, there were some differences. System bots were always grey. They didn¡¯t have any art on them and they never had a face on them. This one was overall blue, with some designs on its arms and had the face of a human male. I decided to wake up The AI-Bot too. Having done so, I sat down on a crate and began to leaf through the journal System had given me. I hadn¡¯t really gotten into it when all of a sudden an excited whistle sounded. ¡°Hey Artoo, how is it going?¡± A series of whistles went, going from excited, to sad sounding, to querying. It was strange, as I could basically interpret it as, ¡®great to see you, sad about your parents, what next?¡¯ ¡°remind me of the modules you hold.¡± Artoo suddenly projected a hologram, showing me a list of the modules it held. Personality Emulator - Starship Pilot Personality Emulator - Nanny Module - Starship Navigator Module - Ship repairs Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Module - Codebreaker Most of them I knew. Codebreaker I didn¡¯t but it would explain some of what my parents had managed to bring back. I also decided there and then I was going to upgrade Artoo to be AI-Basic. However, due to the personality emulators and its internal memory of the time it had been alive, It would come out at the top end of AI-Basic when it was upgraded and would be able to choose its own future. But the way I saw it, This was as thanks for being the faithful and reliable astromech that it had been. Besides, with an AI-Bot, I could afford to take the upgrade and risk that Artoo would decide not to work for me anymore. The AI-Bot would likely not be fully realised til I had reached at least my majority. It might even take longer. ¡°Ok Artoo, you are going to be getting an upgrade soon, we also have a new friend joining us, the AI-Bot here.¡± The Bot suddenly moved and looked at me. Now it was on, I could see the eyes that the face held. They were System grey. Huh, that was unusual. But it was a striking look, no doubt about that. ¡°Please Project your status page¡± This was another thing that made AI-Bots different from mechs and bots. They had a status page. I was hoping that this would tell me more than what System had managed to tell me. And I was not disappointed. Just left puzzled.
Name: Ishmael Age: Unknown Status: AI-Bot - System Start Reputation - Factions Unknown Space Work T2 - Fully Realised Engineering T2 - Fully Realised Close Protection T2 - Fully Realised Ship Weapons T2 - Fully Realised
Name was fine. Age was unusual, but since it had been wiped back to a system start, that might explain why. However, the fact that it had a reputation with unknown factions was unusual. While it could just mean I didn¡¯t know the factions involved, the fact that he had a rep even wiped, was surprising. There were all the paths named, with them all fully realised. That meant he was worth his weight in gold for me in regards to my goals. Between him and Artoo, I would be able to run a small ship without any help from anyone else. I also realised there were no class categories against the ship. That meant he was fully rated for all ship classes. ¡°Who the hell were you Ishmael? How did my parents find you?¡± I pondered on this. And jerked back as a baritone voice spoke back to me. ¡°I can¡¯t remember much besides my name and skills. But this I swear, You are my Captain and I am your crew member to the end.¡± I couldn¡¯t believe it. He was fully realised even with a system start. Technically I had no authority over him other than what he decreed. And with what he decreed, a new line came up on his status and one of the others changed. Status: Liegeman to Stefan Nurfern AI-Advanced As I watched, the last line faded out. The status shut off and The AI-Bot suddenly looked like a human male, about 40 years old, in the standard blue Crewman uniform. The patterns on his arms now looked like realistic tattoos. That was when I realised he looked just the same as he did as an AI-Bot. Just more human looking now. He smiled at me and said ¡°I am now in basic camouflage for an advanced AI-Bot. Which will enable me to move at will and interact as needed, with nobody realising that I am not human. So I ask, what are your orders sir?¡± I just sat there dumbfounded. This was a lot to take in. I was going to have to think more about this. In the meantime however. ¡°System, please grant Liegeman status to Ishmael.¡± This was something that had been set up as part of the system years ago. It basically meant that the person in front of you had sworn to be your man, to follow your orders without question and always to look out for you to the best of their ability. I wondered, with what System had told me of the Advanced AI-Bots, if this was the reason why. Although I knew it was something that normal humans could take on and was enforced by System. ¡°Granted¡± I turned to Ishmael. ¡°Get yourself familiarised with everything, I meet you back at mine as I have a few errands to run and will not need you until later.¡± Ishmael nodded to me and left the bay, leaving me just sitting there. I shook myself up a bit and stood up. While going through the journal was a priority, I was thinking it was time to upgrade Artoo as well. I was going to use his memory banks to help me figure out some things, but maybe an upgrade first was a better idea. So ordering him to follow me, I headed to a shop I knew but had no reason to visit before. Normally I might have gone somewhere a little cheaper, but the shop owner was one of those who had owed a favour to my parents. I was hoping it would get me a discount. We headed further into the station and got to the main strip. The heart of the shopping district, you could only sell on this row with permission from the Starfoxes. There was one shop on this row that dealt with AI. System had to do the actual upgrade, but it basically sold the franchise part, so that someone else would deal with the customers and handle all the material needs, plus do the modules selling and upgrades. Which didn¡¯t need System to do. This particular shop was owned by a man called Heph Thorsson. A member of the Starfox clan, he was actually one of the clan¡¯s leaders on this station. He also apparently owed a favour to my parents. ¡°Mr Thorsson? Hello, my name is Stefan Nufern.¡± The man I spoke to was obviously a warrior. I did sometimes wonder why he seemed to take on what seemed to be such peaceful work. Someone had actually asked him the question once, and all he said was ¡®I have served my term.¡¯ ¡°Master Nurfern. Or if I don¡¯t miss my guess, it is now Mr Nurfern. Coming to me directly rather than the headquarters here? Or was there another reason you came?¡± The man spoke to me courteously. People didn''t tend to reveal their paths. Oh some of it was commonly guessed or known by the work they did. I was willing to bet on Mr Thorsson being one of the few on this starport that had a T3 skill at least. ¡°It''s about the favour you owed my parents. I have an Astromech I wanted to upgrade and I wanted to use the favour to lower the cost of upgrading.¡± The man suddenly regarded me with all of his attention, stopping the work he was doing. ¡°Ah, a favour to be claimed. Unusual that. Not many people I owe favours to now. This one has been in your family a long time.¡± This was news to me. I always thought it came through my parents, but from the way he was speaking, it might be an older favour than that. ¡°Show me the astromech and tell me what you desire?¡± I called Artoo forward and presented him to Mr Thorsson. ¡°I would like an AI-Basic capability put in please. With the age of the astromech and the information stored within, he will most likely be instantly at the top of AI-Basic. So he will be a free bot. I would like you to fill him with what modules or changes he may select, with the proviso that he is told he can only spend up to 100 million. Then you can tell him that he is free to come back to me or to leave a free bot.¡± Thorsson regarded me and Artoo with a look and asked a question. ¡°So the favour you ask, is to be spent on the astromech? With you paying any extra cost over the favour, if any?¡± I nodded to this. ¡°Very well, I can do this. Please come back tomorrow to pick up your bot. When will you be heading for the headquarters for the other business? I assume System has given you the material rewards already?¡± I nodded to this and replied. ¡°I will most likely pick up the bot tomorrow and then go to the Headquarters.¡± ¡°Good, I shall accompany you then, as my presence will be requested anyway. I shall call them tonight to set it all up tomorrow, for the meeting.¡± I had meant I would go there to arrange the time and date for the meeting. It looked like I was getting fast tracked. I nodded and set off home. Chapter 5 - Choosing my paths I made it back to my apartment. Ishmael was already there and sat in a corner seemingly inert. My guess is he was reviewing everything that I had told him to look at. I sat down on another chair and started to go through the last entry of the journal. While I was intending to go through it in detail, I knew my father had a habit of writing down the completion of each journey in this journal, as a way of assessing what the journey had made or cost them. Journey to Gate 14 We decided to explore a complex for which some coordinates were gifted to us. A small asteroid base was found that we cleared and then took from. A bunch of materials, Couple of boosters, Some stuff that System will probably pay for and an AI-bot. The complex is on the verge of collapse and I estimate it will no longer exist within a year as we have exhausted what was left of the power. We will have come out on top with this one. Perhaps enough to stay on station with the boy for a while. I imagine Astrid will love that. My eyes blurred at this. Well, it didn''t quite work out the way they hoped. Gate 14 however. Still largely unexplored. The world in Gate 14 that was opened was a desert world. Absolutely nothing lived on it. As a result, the man who had a claim to the system sold it to System, who promptly declared it as only accessible with the permission of System. Most of the people who had gotten permission had found some good stuff in there over the years, although for some, it had taken them literally years to find it. Like every system, it was stuffed full of goodies that could either be used or sold to System at a good price. Personally, I thought the guy who found system 14 had been shortsighted at just selling it to System once he realised that the planet was not the kind of planet he was looking for. But then he re-equipped himself and a team with what System had given him and tried his luck again. Gate 15 was then found and to his taste. He set up a clan and decided to live there. So it worked out for him. I sat there suddenly wondering what to do. I had decided to honour my parents by becoming what they had. Indeed, my skills definitely had the makings of a spectacular start to it. However with the other skills I now had, I could add to it and go one step further. My father had a dream. While exploration was the family business and was always what he wanted to do, he had wanted to ramp it up. Make them truly self-sufficient and be able to go out on a tour that would last a couple of years at least and would enable them to garner a greater profit from it. Most importantly, it would enable them to possibly reach places that no-one had before. While I had the makings of starting to realise that dream, I didn¡¯t have all that was needed. Incredible as it would seem, I would need a bigger ship. Which meant I had to turn my small ship path to either a medium ship path, or push the boat out and the ship path, which was an all ship class path. It meant studying for sure. Luckily, by doing small ship path, I could easily do the in-system ship path as it was basically the small ship path with a couple of paths swapped. Medium ships I knew some, but would need a couple of modules to be learned, going onto large class and then specialised ship class. Insystem, Medium and Big ship path were all achievable within half a year, as Small ship path replicated a lot of it. Specialised ships were going to be the majority of the work. However, with what Ishmael knew, I would be able to achieve it a lot easier if he could teach me some of the modules he had. Fortunately, that specialised systems path he had would help, although it would have to upgrade and merge with some others in order to qualify. It was best to place his current path points so that he could begin to grow on his paths. As he would not rack up experience until they were spent. System Connections and Jack of Trades were done. That left Small Ships T2, Exploration T2, Harvesting T2 Refining T2, Robotics and Specialised Systems. He had known what some of these were going to provide. But thanks to upgrades, merging of skills and new ones being added, He now had a bit of figuring out to do. He decided to bring up the paths and see what he was offered.
Piloting Small Ships T2 (10 PP) Small Ship Engineering
Small Ship Systems Small Ship Weapons Small Ship Command
Librarian Exploration T2 (10 PP) Survival
Space Exploration Self-improvement Personal Weapons
Plants Harvesting T2 (10 PP) This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Mineral
Living Liquid Gaseous
Specialised Refining T2 (10 PP) General
Material Liquid Gaseous
Repair Robotics (2 PP) Design
Manufacturing Programming Modding
Data Specialised Systems (2 PP) Targeting
Ship Systems Navigation Cargo
These were my normal paths and the choices I could make. Depending on where I put my points, I could make myself more specialised in a particular part or I could spread them out and make myself a generalist. Most of the more common paths people knew what to hit to get access to new paths in order to improve themselves further. Some were dead ends, some gave some stranger paths or less common. The danger was, if you didn¡¯t know what to choose you could end up dead ending your paths and wouldn¡¯t be able to upgrade. I knew some common ones. And I would have to incorporate them to achieve the Ship path I wanted. Some of these paths I would either have to wing or ask for help on. That or reset if I proved wrong and that could prove expensive. I might be able to afford that now, but would I be able to, down the road? It was a good question. I had an advantage in that I could reset the board at 18 and also rid myself of some skills that I might have gained in the meantime. I looked at Small Ships T2. initially I was going to specialise in this. However, to achieve the Ship path, I was going to have to generalise in this path instead and specialise in Ship when I got it. However, the good thing is that you could part spec and part gen, to achieve the same result. All the paths regarding the general ship paths were known and easy enough to achieve if you had the money and time. Which I did. However, I also knew with 10 points to spend, and 15 points to earn plus the skills that the bots had, I could choose what I wanted and come back to the rest when I got the points to spend. So I stuck 1 in piloting, 3 in ship systems, 1 in weaponry and 5 in ship command. Ishmael and Artoo would make up for my deficiencies in the meantime, in the one I had chosen and skimped on. I then chose Specialised Systems. My initial choices I wasn¡¯t going to take any more. To make my Ships T2 path I was going to have to specialise this skill, possibly more than once. But I could only have it in my T1 skills one at a time. However, I had a plan for this. I put two points into Cargo and then used three of the free points I had been given into Ship Systems. I was then given a choice. Evolve Specialised Systems into Specialised Shipping? This was one of the paths I needed to make up my Ship path. I selected yes. It then appeared on my sheet with two PP. The three free points were then dissolved. That was the danger of free points. You could use them anywhere. But if you used them to upgrade something, they went away. I considered it a fair trade in this case. I then looked into Robotics. This had not gone the way I had planned to. I had planned to use computer engineering to further my computer skills. However it struck me that with two AIs now helping me, This would not turn out to be a bad choice for me. I decided to put both points into repair for now, as this would help if one of them got their exteriors damaged. One thing suddenly struck me. This was not a usual skill. I would have to find out more about it. That took care of three of the paths I needed to sort out, although a new one had been added. Now the more difficult ones. I turned to the one I knew somewhat about. Exploration. It had been one I was working towards. It was different to the way my parents had achieved it however, which meant I could not take the safer path using their knowledge. That said, The ones that were different from my parent¡¯s path seemed to be upgraded ones. I knew I had to enter two points in the self improvement path as that was the one that would operate my new improved eyes and whatever other parts I might improve. So that just left 8 points to allocate. I put one into Personal Weapons and Survival each as my parents said that was crucial to surviving in dangerous situations. They also said more points there couldn¡¯t hurt, but at least one in each was needed. So that took care of 4 of my points. I had an AI-bot that could be a Bodyguard, T2 no less, So I felt safe just leaving one point in Personal Weapons. I pondered Survival. One more couldn¡¯t hurt, so I added that. I then decided three into Librarian. A lot of what I would need to do in the near future would be research and I was guessing that would help. The last two I put into Space Exploration. At this moment in time, I wasn¡¯t aware what I could combine with it to make a T3 skill and I wasn¡¯t that bothered. Being T2, it was going to take me time to make those points. Harvesting I then looked at. I had the knowledge on what it did, and could do a lot of basic harvesting, due to it being T2. By the looks of the options, this was more about specialising or deciding to generalise. I decided to specialise. If I ever needed to do something with the living or plants, I could either learn the skills again to specialise, taking the time or I could hire someone else with the knowledge. I decided to put 4 into Minerals, 3 into Liquid and 3 into Gaseous. From something else I had learned, this would prove most optimal when it came to doing space harvesting. If it would lead to something, I wasn¡¯t sure. But I was willing to take the gamble. When it came to refining I was a little more stumped. This had actually been a dream of my father¡¯s, to be more independent refining typically meant you made a lot of material into smaller but more valuable lots. I decided to stick one into Gaseous, one into Liquid, four into material and two each into General and Specialised. From what I could remember from childhood conversations with my dad, This was the way to go. If I was wrong, well, reset at 18 I guess, or pay for it later. Now to look at the new Specialised Shipping.
Systems Specialised Shipping (2 PP) Cargo
Structure Knowledge Markets
I knew it would be one in each of them. But for now, I decided to hit the two I knew I would find the hardest. Knowledge and Structure. Systems was one I had made headway into and could probably earn the point easily enough for that. Same with Cargo. Markets, I had a feeling my system connections skill could help with that. If not, well I could spend a free point if I had any saved and was not making progress? So that left me with all my path points selected. I had used three free points, leaving me with six. I debated on using any at this stage, or leaving it for another day. Another day I decided. I then felt myself yawning. I had spent a lot of path points and I would wake up with a head full of new knowledge. Everyone knew how it worked. Tomorrow I will have a lot more knowledge and skill. I made myself something to eat and looked at Ishmael. Still in learning mode by looks of it. I decided to go to bed. Chapter 6 - Meet and greet I woke up and sat up. Yesterday was my majority under the Orphan Protocol. My parents had died in a tragic accident involving a portal when I was young and I then became a ward of System. I had met with System and gotten my inheritance and rewards and made my choices that I was given. I sold my parents old ships but kept the astromech plus some other stuff they left behind, a journal, starmap and an AI Bot among them. I had ended up with a lot of credits, far more than I thought I would. I found out a bit more about System. I had found some surprises with the AI-Bot. It was an advanced one that could pose as human and was called Ishmael. He had made the decision to serve with me as a liegeman rather than go his own way, as the law decreed he could. My astromech, Artoo, I had decided to upgrade to an AI-Basic and had put him into the relevant shop to do the upgrade and was collecting him today from the owner of the shop who owed my parents a favour, which I was hoping would make the bill cheaper. The owner was also a member of the Starfox clan who owned the system I lived in, including the opened planet. Only the clan was allowed there. I lived on one of three star ports that they owned in the system. The owner was called Heph Thorsson and as well as being a member of the Starfox Clan, he was one of the leaders of the clan council for the star port I lived on. I had received some rewards off of them for stopping a disaster that nobody had realised was in the offing. However, they had also wanted me to meet with their council to discuss some options when I came of majority. When I had taken Artoo into the upgrade shop, Heph Thorsson had arranged for the meeting to happen after I would return to see my Astromech today. Although, he would now be an AI-Bot and may make the choice to sever ties with me or work for me. I was hoping he would stay. I had also before I gone to bed spent a bunch of my choice points. I now had a whole bunch of information and knowledge now buzzing around my head. It would probably take a little while to become second nature, however I noticed some changes to my mindset that weren''t there before that were related to my new skills. It seemed a bit scary, but was part and parcel of my life now. I heard movement from the other room. That would probably be Ishmael, my new liegeman. By swearing as such, He was bound to me and me to him for as long as it was in effect. I was the captain so my orders would always be obeyed. I got myself ready and went into the other room. ¡°Good morning Ishmael. All caught up on all relevant information?¡± It was strange. He apparently was a memory wiped AI, But had retained his personality and module skills. He also had some reputation with factions unknown to me. It was a mystery, but one I figured could wait. He had skills I needed and I couldn¡¯t afford to be picky. ¡°Yes Captain. I know as much as I can and await your orders.¡± Although he was basically a robot, the outside of him showed him as a human male of about 40 with tattoos on both his arms and wearing a blue crewman suit, a basic design that hadn¡¯t changed in thousands of years probably. ¡°Good. We go to pick up Artoo, if he wants to rejoin me and then we are going into a meeting with the Starport Starfox Council. Once we have done that, we will come back here. I will explain our plan, we will look at current skills, figure out what we will need to execute said plan and then well, go shopping.¡± ¡°Very good Captain.¡± It was a bit odd him calling me captain, while I didn¡¯t have a ship, but that was only a temporary thing. We left my apartment and ventured to the Business strip. I got myself a breakfast wrap along the way and concentrated on that while we walked. My new skills I realised were kicking in and I was noticing things a lot more and in particular noticed that Ishmael was employing one of his paths, the Close Protection path. While there shouldn''t be any danger to me here, it somehow comforted me and made me feel better. I knew the module was fully realised and T2, meaning I was probably one of the safest people on the station. We made it to the shop where we were greeted by Heph Thorsson who gave an odd glance to Ishmael. While some things could be hidden on a public status page, Being a liegeman was not one of them. He was probably wondering the circumstances but it was considered good manners not to ask. So he shrugged and turned to me. Your astromech has to be one of the oddest little mech I ever did meet. He decided to stay in his astromech body but had me make a few changes to it. He can now speak, but apparently he still communicates for the most part in whistles. He had me pull a couple of modules and install a couple. He has also decided he wants to stay with you.¡± A wave of relief went over me. Artoo came out and whistled a happy whistle. Then he suddenly spoke. ¡°I swear Liegeman to Captain.¡± All of a sudden, I had a system notification asking me if I wanted to accept. I did. Even happier whistles came from Artoo. I laughed and bent over to hug the astromech on his dome. He was family and I was glad he had stayed. I resolved to look at his new status page later. I straightened up and looked at Mr Thorsson. I then asked him ¡°How much do I owe?¡± I had a favour owed that I figured would bring down the price. But I was speechless when he handed me a receipt saying favour paid in full with no bill. That must have been some favour my parents owned. He nodded to me and gestured to me to follow him while moving to the bigger building down the lane. The Clan Admin block for the star port was our destination. It was time for our meeting with the council. I was nervous. We entered the building and headed to what was termed as the casual meeting room for the council. Anything that was official that affected the whole star port, was usually held in the main council room. For any other business that didn¡¯t require an audience, they used the casual meeting room. We entered and Mr Thorsson gestured to the seat before the table and moved round the table to join the other four members there. Artoo and Ishmael stayed at the back of the room while I went and sat on the chair and looked at the council members. Mr Thorsson, as I said, owned the AI shop that was licensed by System. It was clear that at some point he had been a soldier, but all he said was he had served his term. He was the longest serving member of the council and it was said had been here since the starport was founded, 300 years ago. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Sat to his left was a lady that I recognise as the main administrator for the star port. If there was a complaint or decision about the station that needed to be made that wasn¡¯t at council level she was the lady who made it. She was also in charge of the day to day running for the most part. Her name was Namse Starfox. Some of the clan abandoned their actual last name and chose to use the clan name or included the clan name as part of their name. Thorsson was a rarity in that he didn''t do that. To her left was another man who didn¡¯t use the Starfox as part of his name. But then, he was famous before he came to the star port. The newest member of the council, He had served as the Station Sheriff for the last 30 years. Before that, he had made a name for himself fighting various pirates that had sprung up from races on planets we had inhabited or that came through portals. Humans were not allowed to fight humans according to System. Everything else was fair game. We were yet to meet space aliens. As far as I knew. His name was Frank Orcbane. As you could probably tell from the name, he mostly fought what was known as the greenskins, a race from Planet 7. The last council member was a member of a planet race. Specifically from the planet in this system that was unlocked. Known as ¡®Brownies¡¯ They were a race who delighted in keeping places tidy and in order. As a result, they were normally found everywhere and generally welcomed. The Starfox Clan had a number of them in their clan and were generally welcoming of the different planet races that were around so long they were peaceful and played by the rules. Her name was Majories Duster Starfox. Namse Starfox led the meeting. As the administrator, she would outline what I figured was going to be an offer of employment of some kind, and if there were any problems, the council could make a decision on it or ratify it as is. She looked at the screen that was in front of her then looked at me and began speaking. ¡°Stefan Nurfern. You are an outsider to the clan in trustworthy standing. You have now reached your majority and have received the rewards for the service you did us. We are now prepared to make an offer. You can then go away and consider it, accept it now or make a counter offer.¡± She took a sip of water and continued. ¡°We are willing to offer you employment under any department that you qualify for and wish to work in. As you gain in rank and time with us, you may well be offered entry into the clan. This is no small matter, but we feel you deserve this chance. How do you reply?¡± This was a very generous offer. In fact, this was probably the easiest way into a clan that I knew of. The problem was, I had my own plans. They did not include entering into another clan. ¡°I would like to make a counter offer.¡± Surprise came from the faces opposite me, but they indicated willingness to listen. ¡°I have my own plan, mostly based upon the plans of my parents. This would preclude me into joining a clan. That said, I would like to work for the clan through the clan quest system with a favoured status.¡± This basically meant that I would work like a favoured contractor for the clan. Work that they would offer to outsiders, but with the favoured status, I would be offered the best prices to buy and sell, and missions that would only be offered to people who had the favour of the Starfox clan. Namse looked at the others. They seemed a bit unsure until Thorsson spoke. ¡°I do not have a problem with this, if it is what you want. If you ever did want entry into the clan, there is a way to do it through the quest board. The favoured status is normally given to trustworthy outsiders anyway. I vote aye.¡± With that, so did everyone else. I stood up and bowed to the council. I didn¡¯t need to, but then, they didn''t need to make the offer or take my counter offer. Respect shown for respect given. Frank Orcbane came over to me. ¡°My department is primarily responsible for the clan system. Any problems and you can contact me. I was one of the ones on that shuttle you stopped from taking off and exploding so I have no problem extending this further courtesy. I will register you with it, and you should be able to access it and use it from tomorrow. Your reputation with us has already been changed to reflect your new status with us.¡± So saying he marched away. I collected Ismael and Artoo and went back to my apartment. We sat down and I began to explain my plan. It was an ambitious one. But all we had to do was make what I termed phrase one work. I got us to put our statuses up on the apartment screen, So I could see what we had. Once we knew that, we could put the shopping list together.
Name: Artoo Age: 1 Day Status: AI-Bot - Fully Realised Basic Reputation: None Ship Piloting T2 - Fully Realised Ship Repairs T2 - Fully Realised Hacking T2 - Fully Realised Sensors T2 - Fully Realised
Name: Ishmael Age: Unknown Status: AI-Bot - System Start Reputation - Factions Unknown Space Work T2 - Fully Realised Ship Engineering T2 - Fully Realised Close Protection T2 - Fully Realised Ship Weapons T2 - Fully Realised
Name: Stefan Nurfern Age: 16 Status: Emancipated Minor Credits: 7,000,001,990 Free Points: 6 T2 Paths: Small Ships - 10 PP Used Exploration - 10 PP Used Harvesting - 10 PP Used Refining - 10 PP Used
Reputation: Starfox System - Trustworthy Starfox Clan - Favoured Contractor System - Trustworthy T1 Paths: Robotics - 2 PP Used Specialised Shipping - 2 PP Used
Assets: Two Liegeman Hangar 15 Apartment and contents System added paths: Jack Of Trades - 2 PP Used System Connected - 2 PP Used
I looked at Artoo¡¯s status sheet in awe. For him to have T2 modules be fully realised and I owed nothing, means my parents must have been owed a huge favour. However, They had spots for up to six more modules each. Although, Ismael may be a bit different, being an advanced AI. However, I could not ask. Any modules he got were up to him, as a Free AI. I would give them an amount of money to spend on themselves as they wanted, I decided, when we went shopping tomorrow. We would finalise the list in the morning. Chapter 7 - Brain stuffed I got up and we all gathered round my table in the main room. If all went well, I probably wouldn''t spend much time here after this next week and would probably vacate the apartment when I reach 18. It had been my home for all my life, but truthfully, I was ready to leave and start my new adventure. But first, I had a shopping list to buy. I looked down at the list and winced. It was a lot of money I was spending and although there should be plenty left, The fact was, over the course of the next week probably, I would be spending more money than I ever had in my life. But the best thing was, It would all be owned. Free and clear. Not many people could say that. Of course, that also meant that all the risks involved were mine too. But anyway, the shopping list. Skill Fees and learning materials - 17 million. This was a serious outlay for skills. But it was necessary. I might even spend more, depending on needs. AI Spending - 1 Billion. That one made me feel faint. However, 500 million each, to spend as they wish, knowing my plans and wanting to help me achieve them, meant I would benefit in the long run. Ship buying and modding - 1.5 billion was hesitantly allocated. I might not need it all. I might need more in that department. But this would be the last of my buys. Other resources - 233 million. Truth be told, I wasn¡¯t sure it would be required, but one thing I had learned. Something always came up. If nothing else, the stocking of the ship and fueling would probably come out of this part of the budget. The AIs were going to visit Mr Thorsson. I was going to visit my old teacher for a conversation and shopping spree from his inventory. I smiled as I would be able to use System Connections for this. Afterwards, we would reconvene back in the apartment. I walked to the education building. Set in a part of the star port that had access to the green parts and a view to the stars outside, It had a public part that anyone could walk into and speak to the hive mind that ran it. The rest of it, you could only access if you were being schooled or using the services it provided. The hive mind here was called Banjoo. Apparently it had an official system name at one point, but over the years the actual name had been mangled by the younger students and now it was officially called Banjoo. Banjoo lived in a central processing unit within the education building and used various artificial bodies, normally at the same time to run and teach within the education building. Everyone went to school here as a child so that socialising could happen. Humans got a bit funny if they didn''t socialise while young. Although being anti-social was tolerated in adults, so long they kept the laws. AlthoughI suspected that System kept a closer eye on them. I entered the front of the building, and spoke seemingly into thin air of my request. ¡°I wish to acquire path maps and path initialising, with the possibility of being tested on some paths. I then wish to procure learning materials depending.¡± A lighted path appeared beneath my feet and I then followed. If I was to deviate from the path, I would be warned. If I kept deviating from the path, I would face arrest from System. This was not a pleasant procedure, and rarely needed more than once. I entered a room that held a table with a screen and a chair. I sat down. On the screen appeared Banjoo. Looking just as all the other bots did in the Education building. System Grey with blue lights for eyes. He greeted me. ¡°Young Stefan. It is good to see you. I didn¡¯t think I would see you any time soon after finishing school last week.¡± I winced at this. Schooling was not my favourite activity. Particularly the closer I got to majority, eager to enact the plan I had in my mind. It was still there, just changed. ¡°Yes, well Banjoo I have gotten my inheritance and well, my plans have not changed but I am able to skip a few steps. Unfortunately, some further learning is required.¡± I said this a trifle sourly. To which Banjoo chuckled. ¡°We welcome all to the education centre. Even former pupils who were so eager to leave.¡± Education AIs were on the whole, different from the other system AIs. Being a hive mind, they could split themselves off, yet keep each part apprised of everything else. They were normally the most human in emotions as they had the most interaction with us and were designed with interacting with children in mind. They were normally the first AI that every person was exposed to on a regular basis, and as a result the most trusted. That wasn¡¯t to say everyone trusted them as adults, but as children, they could be teachers and best friends as needed. As such, they had no problem acting well, human. ¡°Listen Banjoo, A lot has changed on my System Status. Could you take a look at it and look at this request list and generate advice?¡± Generating advice was a set fee of 1000 credits. For which all I would get would be an advice list against my requirements, with charges against it. Expensive? Damn right it was. But If I brought from within that list, It would save me probably a lot of time, effort and wastage down the next few years. Banjoo analysed what the list said, looked at my status and disappeared off the screen. A list came up instead and Banjoo spoke. ¡°I have generated advice on this. Option 1 is what I consider is your list. Option 2 is advice that extrapolates beyond your list and also uses my personal experience of you.¡± I started reading the screen. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
Option 1 - As asked by request and list. Ship Path Map and path initialization - 3 million Exporation T2 guide - 2 million Harvesting and refining T2 merging map with additional paths. - 6 million/8 million with path initialization Robotics guide and future path advice - 1 million 1 million in test fees
Option 2 - As asked by request, list perused and advice given by Banjoo Ship Path Map and path initialization - 3 million Exploration T2 Guide with Space Specialised Path Map - 5 million/9 million with path initialization, to be done at a later date when rest of option 2 is done. Harvesting and Refining T2 merging map with additional paths Space Specialised. - 10/20 million with path initialization. Robotics guide and future path advice - 1 million/3 million for path initialization. All six free points will be spent as part of this plan and a further million in test fees.
Option 1 came at or under my budget depending on my choices. Option 2 was considerably more expensive at 36 million all in. Yet, that second option from what I could see could save me time and possibly up my earnings from the start. I decided to ok before I lost my nerve. ¡°Option 2. Do it.¡± All of a sudden I passed out in the chair. For what was happening, this was not an unusual thing, with the amount of work requested. Thankfully, nothing else embarrassing happened. I woke up and my head felt stuffed. ¡°You will not be able to access your Status page in three days. It will take that long for all the information and knowledge to collate. After which, come see me and I will go through what exactly happened and the choices made. We will then go through your overall path map.¡± I nodded to Banjoo and staggered off. This was not a pleasant feeling. However, Once I got a sleep, it would recede into the background and carry on. I looked at a clock. Seven hours had gone by since I entered the building. I carried on the rest of the way home and got inside to find Ishmael and Artoo waiting for me. Artoo whistled with concern at me. ¡°It''s ok. I just stuffed myself with Paths and knowledge. Won¡¯t be able to access it for three days. Did your shopping trip go ok?¡± ¡°I think I can speak for myself and Artoo and say that it went splendidly.¡± Artoo warbled an agreement. ¡°I won¡¯t burden you with the details right now, but I think we got a good deal.¡± Said Ishmael. I nodded to this. ¡°I spent more than I meant to, but I believe I got a good deal with it. We shall find out in three days. Plus I think depending on what I end up with, some further shopping may be done in that department.¡± I was babbling. It seems that it was hitting me harder than I thought. I had a plan. Stick to the plan. The plan. To follow in my parent¡¯s footsteps but to reach the heights they dreamed of. That was the plan. I staggered to my bed and fell into it. I had some weird dreams while asleep, some of which I remembered. My head did feel a lot better once I woke up. Of course, by this point I had slept for 12 hours. I was very hungry. Time to visit the cantina. The cantina strictly speaking wasn¡¯t a Cantina. It had started off as one. And was now the heart of the entertainment district. It was basically a giant square with benches within the square and booths all around the outside offering a variety of food and drink. I went to a booth that was a favourite of mine, brought a few different dishes and a couple of drinks and carried the stack over to an empty table. I then proceeded to demolish the food. ¡°Fucking hell Stefan. How the fuck have you packed that away?¡± Somebody sat opposite me and I recognised them. Another Orphan who had graduated half a year ago from the school and who I had actually planned to seek out to ask some advice. It didn¡¯t look like I would need it now, but I had missed Marvin and his foul mouth. A further 4 people sat down and I recognised them all as being part of the same organisation. I knew that a space had opened up a couple of months ago in their ranks, when one of them had died. I didn¡¯t know Marvin had joined them, by the looks of what he was wearing. ¡°Hey Marv, congratulations on joining the Rockbreaker Organisation. That''s a solid bunch to get into.¡± Smiles all round the table. It was the truth however. It was actually part of an alliance, with an organisation in each system. It was a hard crew to get into, as you had to have the skills and the ship to be able to potentially join. Organisations could typically only have up to 15 people, although long standing organisations could pay to expand. Rockbreaker being one of the oldest Organisation in System 3 had expanded a few times and now boasted of 300 members. But they could mine like nobody else''s business. ¡°Thanks. I know you now graduated. Planning on following into your parent¡¯s footsteps?¡± I nodded to him. ¡°Yeah, although I need to train up some paths for my overall plan. But I managed to get Favoured Contractor status with Starfox.¡± I was bragging a little. Rockbreaker as an organisation also had this. But it was very few individuals within it that had it on their personal status, which was a bigger deal. ¡°Damn, that fucking good going. I know you are a one man ship, so give me a shout if you ever need a wingman.¡± Whereas Clans were discerning on who they let work with and for them, Organisations on the whole, were a lot more easier going in the rules for their members. Having Rockbreakers as potential allies did appeal to me. ¡°Sure thing. I got your deets. If I get anything I''ll let you know. As is, I''m still in the set up stage.¡± ¡°Well, give me a shout if you need help there. Us bloody orphans gotta watch out for each other.¡± I found myself smiling. Marvin had always been an easygoing generous guy and it was good to see he hadn¡¯t changed. Plus those of us who were orphans did tend to look out for each other and lend a hand. Because there was nobody else who would. A bit harsh, but generally true once you were an adult. I went back to the apartment with the intention of sleeping again. Damn this skill stuff was no joke. Chapter 8 - A learning experience I slept most of those three days and had some very vivid dreams. It was not fun. I woke up to find Artoo and Ishmael watching over me. ¡°Welcome back to the land of the living Captain.¡± Ishmael moved a tray of food in front of me that made me sit up and start demolishing it as quickly as I could. ¡°Skill upgrading for you humans is no joke. Although I don¡¯t think you got a normal one. I had that education AI asking me to keep an eye on you. I think you should ask him a few questions later.¡± I found myself agreeing to that statement. What happened to me was not normal. I wanted to look at my status, but in truth I was kinda scared to do so. A trip to see Banjoo was definitely on the cards. ¡°How did you guys do at the AI market?¡± ¡°Well now captain, we did quite well. Artoo did some quite surprising purchases which I think will help us, and I got some extras to help with the first step we will do. Suffice to say, we are gonna be a good jack of trades boat for that quest board.¡± I nodded to them. I told them what I had wanted and left it up to them. Far as I was concerned, Although they were mine to command, they were free to make their own choices. If it helped mine, great. ¡°Ok then. After that food and water, I am feeling better. Let us go have a chat with Banjoo. Find out just what the hell he actually did.¡± So saying I got up and changed and we made our way over to the education centre. We were whisked to a private room straight away. Within was Banjoo and another System bot. Not one I recognised however. ¡°Banjoo, what the hell did you stick me with? I just slept pretty much through three days. Before you ask, I have not looked at my Status sheet.¡± I said, while glaring at Banjoo. He nodded and then gestured to the Bot here in the room with us. ¡°Good. Before we proceed, this is Recorder Simon three. He is here to record all that happens in this conversation, and report back to System.¡± This brought me up short. Recorders were rare. Basically, they were walking recorders for System. They could not be tampered with. The last person who did, blew himself up along with everyone in a 2 mile radius. When I say they recorded, I mean they recorded everything. To the extent that nobody could question the events of a meeting if a recorder was present. ¡°Please sit, and I will start this meeting with showing you something that will seem impossible.¡± We all did. ¡°I need you to throw up your Status on that screen. It will show all the changes that have been made.¡°
Name: Stefan Nurfern Age: 16 Status: Emancipated Minor Credits: 5,963,90,000 T2 Paths: Small Ships - 10 PP Used Upgraded to Ships - 17 PP Used Exploration - 10 PP Used Specialised to Space Exploration T2 14 PP used Harvesting - 10 PP Used Refining - 10 PP Used Both of the above merged to Space Mining T2 21 PP Used
Reputation: Starfox System - Trustworthy Starfox Clan - Favoured Contractor System - Trustworthy T1 Paths: Robotics - 2 PP Used - Neural map exist to follow 4 PP free Specialised Shipping - 2 PP Used Rolled into Ships T2 - No longer exist
Assets: Two Liegeman Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Hangar 15 Apartment and contents System added paths: Jack Of Trades - 2 PP Used System Connected - 2 PP Used
Banjoo told us all calmly, ¡°I may have lied a bit in our last meeting. Oh you did get everything you wanted, but well, in an unorthodox way.¡± I sat, open mouthed at the screen. How? What more, what choices were made and how were they made? Before I could open my mouth to ask, he nodded and said ¡°I will explain.¡± He looked away from the screen and looked at me. ¡°You know your parents worked closely with System, or at least have an idea, from information that has recently come to light?¡± I nodded. ¡°What you may not know is that quite a few iterations of your family have worked with System over the centuries. In fact, most of your ancestors did. This resulted of course in quite a few favours and rewards for your family over the generations. Which has resulted in you.¡± ¡°W-what do you mean, ¡®in me¡¯?¡± my voice quavering a bit. ¡°When you were about to be born, there was an accident and you were damaged within the womb. Your parents pulled in every favour they had, cashed in every reward they had, in order for System to do something. Something it had been loath to do. Get involved more than it had to.¡± He got up and began pacing the wall. ¡°See, most of the history of the beginning involves System. It had to or the human would not have survived. In those early days, System did everything or got involved in nearly everything. Over the centuries, it has pulled back, creating an army of bots to stand in for it. The eventual goal it hopes is only to get involved when it truly needs to.¡± He stopped and looked again at me. ¡°But he couldn¡¯t deny your parents their request and in truth, when it comes to your family he didn¡¯t want to. So he helped and used nanites to do so. Highly specialised nanites.¡± Nearly everyone had nanites. What was so special about mine? Banjoo spoke as if he had read my mind. It was probably my face he read. ¡°Yes, a lot of people need or use them. But you have needed Nanites continuously from your birth until now. They were due to come out of you the natural way but they had gotten too big within your body. So, I used them to help me with those skills, thus making them use parts of themselves and make themselves way smaller.¡± He pointed to the board. ¡°Normally, we give people the shot with the knowledge in, they make the choices and then they train to help the knowledge absorb into muscles and mind. I have bypassed this.¡± I was going to say that was impossible and yet, when I thought of everything to do with the skills up there, and how I wouldn¡¯t know how to move or react to it, my mind and body let me know that it did. Like if I had just spent the years needed to know all this. I sat there in stunned disbelief. ¡°That was why you had to sleep for three days. Within your subconscious it taught you everything you needed to know or do with those skills. That is as best as I can do though. Won¡¯t be able to repeat that again.¡± I looked at him in disbelief. As best as he could do?! It shouldn¡¯t have been possible at all. My mouth asked a question before my mind could catch up. ¡°Is there a catch? Banjoo nodded as if anticipating the question. ¡°A slight one. No adding or evolving the skills till you are 18. Path points being used are ok. I would advise you to come and see me then. System also hopes to retain the close bond he has with your family. Think that is why the Recorder here. ¡° I turned to the Recorder and nodded to it. As it helped me, I would always help it. Besides, who was I to argue with family tradition? ¡°Anyway, that is all there is, I wish you the very best, Stefan. If there is anything you need to ask, ask now.¡± I looked at Banjoo. Thought about it. And replied back in my best pupil voice. ¡°You mean, I don¡¯t have to come back to school for two years Banjoo? Man, that¡¯s brilliant, thank teach!¡± I saw the AI face froze as if it had locked up while trying to deal with annoyance. Well, nice to know I still had the touch! ¡°But seriously sir, thanks. I promise to think carefully and to try and train in the direction I want to go so that when I am 18, I will behave better than when I left school.¡± The AI¡¯s face smoothed over. ¡°I am going to be holding you to that young Stefan.¡± I made it back to my apartment with my crew. I was definitely going to have to think about the future now. With everything I had, I could skip several steps if I really wanted to. The question was, was it wise to? ¡°Experience¡± I said out aloud. ¡°I am going to need experience. Plus I need to meet people. Get my face out there for the plans I want.¡± When I was a child I felt lonely. When my parents died, I felt even worse. But then I became part of the orphan network. It was an online club that you had to be a child and well, an orphan to join. Once you had that, you were a member for life. It helped far more than I ever thought it would, although nothing I felt would cover that scar, it had made in me a need. For those I came to care about, there would need to be a home. But it wouldn¡¯t be just for them. It would be for those they loved as well. It was a dream of mine and one that to be honest, I always felt was a bit of a pipe dream. But here I was. 16 and miles ahead of where most people started. With more credits than most people ever earned. I could begin to do something. But if I did it wrong, bad things could happen. Just because open conflict wasn¡¯t allowed, didn¡¯t mean there wasn¡¯t a more secret conflict happening. While my parent¡¯s accident was a freak one, The orphan network had collated on how people had died. The results did not point to something good. Which was how some of us had come up with plans. But for now, all I could do was put those aside and act like I was just some kid coming into an inheritance and doing good for himself. Nothing more, nothing less. The next two years had to be about getting experienced and building a rep. I sat down in my chair and started to chatter with my crew. We brought up the System board that was open to everyone, a System board that to my surprise was open to people like me and the board that was open to me courtesy of the Silverfox Clan. We looked at the different missions on show and tried to figure out what would be the most advantageous missions to our skills, and more importantly, using the history section of it, how frequently they came up. Some of it surprised me. Some of it reassured me that I had chosen correctly and would be able to earn a living for sure. All that was left was for me to get my ship, and then for me to start the work. Haitus I''m going to be honest here. I have fluffed this up. When I decided I was going to start a new story, I had the choice of two. One was this one, A grand story, with a whole lot of ideas and I really was really like ''yeah let go for it.'' The other was a more planned out one, that wasn''t really new in concepts and would probably have been an average story. Of course, I decided to write what I thought was the exciting one. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. However, although I have thought up ideas, done some shorter stories and such, I never really done one for the long term. and frankly, I think this story shows that. I really want to do it justice. But I am frankly not that great a writer, I need to learn more first. So I have decided to put this one on Haitus and go with the other idea. That one I got a more planned out way of doing it, and I will probably learn a lot from doing it. Eventually I will come back to this one, but it probably wont be for a long time. Probably not a lot of people are interested, as well, it only just got off the ground. But I dont want to just delete it, and I dont want it just to be seemingly abandoned. So I decided to write an explantion and apologised if there was anyone that was interested in seeing where this went.