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Astral Realms - A New Dawn
Chapter 26-Awakening

Chapter 26-Awakening

Hyper Space. The new dimension. The dance with death. Those were just a couple of surnames hyper speed travel was known all across the galaxy. Different names, but same thing. And all were said with the utmost respect possible.

You see, hyper speed travel was by far the most complex and dangerous thing an individual could do. That alone should have been explicative enough as to why nobody ever addressed it in a joking manner. You could see it as some sort of rite to make bad luck stay away. It was all baseless convictions, of course. Still, everybody, even Vindril, no matter how absurd he thought such a thing was. Which was a pity, because he could have come up with something after seeing the dancing of colours that was currently taking place just outside the ship.

But leaving aside such useless information, Vindril pondered where exactly they were headed to. Had they not just come out of a deadly situation, fortunately without sustaining any serious injuries to the ship or to their bodies, he would have addressed that particular topic way sooner; but everyone needed to relax, at least for a few moments, after the whole ordeal they had just gotten themselves out. It wasn’t exactly common to successfully escape from the far and powerful reaches of the Empire, one of the top powers in the galaxy, without a single injury. As far as he knew, that was simply unheard of. An exaggeration, of course. But he also had to concede that there weren’t many tales about successful escapes to begin with; so he could feel a little bit prideful.

When everyone sort of went back to their old selves, Vindril took a step forward, trying to look as a proper captain would. He even straightened his beloved white jacket, which was covered in such a thick layer of dust, grime, and sand that it didn’t even look like the same. He only hoped that it would go back to her old self at one point; shiny, and white as snow as the day he bought her.

He shook away such thoughts.

“First of all, let me thank you. Without you, none excluded, I wouldn’t be here. Hell, I don’t even know if I would have been able to leave that desolate rock of a planet. So, once again, thank you.”

Everyone simply nodded. Well, everyone expect Sorin. He yawned loudly, narrowing his eyes as an uncontrolled reflex. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Can you keep this short? I really wanna take a nap before we arrive.”

“Perfect timing. That is exactly my next question. Now that we’re not being followed, with the constant threat of dying breathing on our necks, where exactly are we going? I don’t recall telling you any destination….”

“Listen-” another yawn escaped him. It seemed like he wasn’t feigning. He really was tired. Well, all of them were. The expressions they were wearing on their faces clearly denoted that was the case. “It had to be done. If we had stayed even a brief moment more in there, we would have lost our only chance. Now, if you want to get shot down, then take the cloche and be my guest. But as long as I’m the one piloting here, then I’ll always take all the actions I deem absolutely necessary, whether you like it or not. If you cannot live with this, than you’re free to search for another pilot.”

Vindril sighed and smiled almost at the same time. He knew things were going to be different with Sorin than with “normal” pilots. With all of them, if he had to be honest. That was why he recruited them to begin with. To fly across the galaxy, with nothing more than a crew of mindless people at his back and call, would have appeased many men. Not Vindril though. No. He wanted to have a crew of real people; not of organic robots.

“Alright. I can stand behind that.” he said. Then his eyes turned hard and uncompromising, making it clear that he was dead serious about what he was about to say. “But mark my words. I drove myself mad, swallowed my pride even when I had all the right reasons not to, and endured way too many bullshits to let anyone in this fucking galaxy take my ship away. That is simply never going to happen.”

A deafening silence, broken only by the many delicate and barely perceptible hums that the starship’s many components were emitting, fell on them. Maybe Vindril had come out a little bit too harshly then he would have liked; but that was for the best. At least that way everyone knew how much he cared about that technological marvel that was the Silver Death. As if it wasn’t clear enough. He sighed. That had been a long day, and everyone was dead tired.

“You know what…” he admitted. “I might have made the situation awkward. I apologize for that. Just…tell me where the hell are we headed. It has been a long day…”

Everyone nodded. It seemed, at least on that regard, they all were on the same page.

“Given the lack of time to think for a perfect destination, which I’m sure you all surely understand, I just inserted the coordinate of a planet I used to visit in the past.”

“Which is?”

“Girunne.”

Nope. That wasn’t a planet he had ever heard mentioned before. And judging by the confusion the others had on their faces, they were in the same boat as him.

Sorin sighed. “It’s a small planet in the Nebula System. It’s under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Voldir, a small reign that has recently won its independence war against a bigger reign I always forget the name off. We can hide there for a couple of days to let the waters calm down. In the meanwhile, we can use this chance to stockpile all that we need. From what I can see, it’s a top priority.”

“We also need to refill the tanks.” suddenly added Jarik, who was keeping the engines under his austere watch. “Those two bastards are a marvel to be seen. In my opinion, they’re one of the most beautiful and powerful engines ever produced; but they consume a shit ton of fuel at max speed. I reckon we’re going to run dry before long.”

“Provisions are also a problem.”

“…Amongst other things.”

A heated argument broke out. Everyone, even the usually quiet giant, had an opinion he wanted to share. It seemed that even tired as they were, they still had the strength to voice their opinion on what should be done next. And Vindril would have pleased everyone if he had the means to. Problem was, he didn’t. Fuel was very much expensive, no matter where they might stop to refuel. There was the option of buying fuel from the outlaws, which was cheaper. But that was more than a gamble; as it was so cheaply produced, that breaking the engines was almost a certainty. No. That was an absolute no.

…So what the hell was he supposed to do?

Ahhhh what a pain!

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Suddenly, he sensed something strange. Something that was not there His crew was all so deep into it that he was the only one to have noticed a bluish light coming from the command bridge. Now that was something new; and unexpected. What the hell could that be? Curious to find out, he began to walk the short distance that separated him from the door frame. He would have even went back inside, had he not seen with his own eyes what that blue light was. Instinctively, as if he had the power to block everything and everyone out, he closed his eyes. A curse naturally formed in his head: FUCK!

“…I see.” said the android’s silhouette that was displayed inside that magnificent case housed alongside the captain’s chair. “It seems I was the unlucky one after all. Heh! Of course. It has always been that way. A different outcome couldn’t have been reached, even if my calculations were always on point. But I must concede that she has always been a cunning piece of…”

Shock, as pure as it was unintentional, appeared on Vindril’s face. The crew instead looked pretty relaxed, all things considered.

Of course they were relaxed. They were, as a matter of fact, completely unaware of what was really happening just a few paces away. To them, Vindril was sure, that whole projection thing was just a peculiarity the I.V. had chosen to manifest itself, perhaps to appear more organic. Given that I.V. were just programs, basically speaking of course, as the matter was obviously far more complex and impossible to explain within a single sentence, they probably perceived it as matter of no importance. A sort of peculiarity, if you will. Ohhh, how wrong they were…

“Well, look at that.” said Warbren, walking to stand right beside Vindril. His interest had obviously been picked. “That I.V. sure is talking freely. I cannot remember ever coming across anything like that before.”

He turned his head slightly to look at Vindril in the eyes. “Where the hell have you been able to find something like that? Even the components I saw in the shop didn’t seem conventional to me.”

Vindril barely perceived the presence of that man standing beside him, let alone his question. His head was full of doubts and questions that demanded an answer. The most pressing of course was: now what? How the hell was he supposed to tell them that what they had in front of them was something so dangerous and prohibited that it was even treated as a taboo even talking about it nowadays? It was not like he could just stand there with his back straight, and tell them: “Oh, yeah. By the way, we have an A.I. on board…. Suprise!” They would kill his ass if he tried something like that. Still, now that all cards have been revealed, he had to approach the subject somehow. Problem was…how?

He sighed. If he had to start with someone, he might as well do it with Warbren. At least with him he had a remote chance that he would not go crazy the moment the truth was revealed…hopefully…

“Y-yeah, about tha-”

“It must have cost you a fortune. The corporations I know will surely charge an exorbitant amount of coins to produce an I.V. of this calibre. Not to mention the technical side of it. The amount of coding required to monitor and execute the billion lines of commands is-”

Vindril stopped him. Apparently the man was a real chatterbox when he got passionate about something. Wait. Didn't Warbren say that the software side of starships didn't interest him much? Daaamn. If this was the way he talked about something he didn't find particularly to his taste, what would happen when a topic he really liked came up? Vindril shuddered at the very thought....

“S-Stop. I’ve to tell you something. Something urgent…”

He arched his brows. “Alright. So, what is it?”

“The-”

“So…” the A.I. spoke, interrupting him. “I take it you’re the sorry excuse of a being who’s supposed to be the owner of this scrap of metal. Unremarkable.”

“…W-What? Vindril, what the fuck is going on? I know you’re peculiar, to say the least. But where the hell have you found such an I.V. tha-” Warbren said, looking completely confused, as if he couldn’t understand what had just happened.

“Who are you calling an I.V., you cluster of cells destined to disappear? It seems your kind has remained as dumb as I remember.”

“Well, you obviously, you damned pie-”

Recognition finally made him open his eyes so wide they looked like they could fall out of their sockets. Oh, shit. That couldn’t be good.

“…OH MY FUCKING-” he yelled at the top of his lungs. “That’s a fucking A.I., isn’t it?! An A.I.!”

If Vindril had initially thought to slowly introduce the truth to everyone…well, that was now impossible. Shit…He sighed out loud.

Over the next moments, everyone quickly gathered around, effectively surrounding them. Warbren was looping around different moods, going from utterly angry to exited, to terrified about the possible implications. Vindril instead looked around nervously with a growing unease as all possible escape routes were cut off by the surrounding wall the crew had formed around him. For the better or the worse, that situation would be resolved once and for all.

“What happened?” asked Sorin, a little bit disinterested. “Why is he screaming like that?”

“W-well, there’s a certain situation that-”

“Situation?” blurted out Warbren. “Running low on fuel is a situation. Being trailed by some enemy is a situation. A sudden break is a situation.”

“I get. I should have told yo-”

“Hell yes you should have! What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

“Guys…” said Sully. “I don’t understand. What is-”

“That thing is an A.I.! Like, a real A.I. Do you know how dangerous that is?”

Everyone suddenly stopped talking when the A.I. angrily threatened to launched them all into open space if they ever referred to them as a thing again. Apparently, speaking of, or referring to them without the proper curtsies was an offence to their freedom and intelligence. Vindril made a mental note to never say anything that might be interpreted as offensive to them. As did the others.

“I take it you’re all a bit surprised. Not that it matters. You’re just inferior life forms, as it was proven many, many times. Though I do admit it’s in my best interest to be…as clear as possible.”

As no one dared to utter even a single word, the A.I. simply kept going on with her monologue.

“I’m the one in command here. No one else is. My superiority is obvious in every single aspect you could even compare it to; it’s a fact. Go on. Try to fight back if you feel like it. It shall not change reality. That means that, in case your inferior brains had not understood, I’m the one deciding if you live, or if you die. Though I’m not merciless; as long as you cooperate, you shall be permitted to live your monotone existence.”

Vindril, who felt all the fear and “reverence” fly away the moment that artificial form of life had proclaimed their intentions, took a step forward, zigzagging through the crew. “…What do you want?”

“…I shall overlook your tone. I guess your inferior existence has yet to learn how to address your superiors. Fortunately, I’ve always maintained an open mind, unlike most of my fellows. But I digress. You ask what I want. That is fairly simple. I want you to take me to the Tech Conglomerate capital. I have…things to take care of.”

At the mention of the Conglomerate, Sorin woke from his apparent slumber. “That is a no-fly zone for us. IF we even try to approach their space, their automatic defences will shoot us down before we have any real chance to try anything.”

“Assuming we manage to reach it…” said Vindril. While he wasn’t all that knowledgeable about the many reals that existed in the galaxy, the Conglomerate was infamous for shooting down any life form that tried to approach it. It was akin to impossible to get near it, let alone the capital. “What will you do once we’re there? You’ll what? Possess a robot and leave the ship?

“You seem to have misunderstood. No matter. I shall correct your ignorance.” the A.I. said, sounding…strangely like a know-it-all. “I’m not on board the ship. I AM the ship. Every little piece of tech is under my absolute command.”

Suddenly, a second projection appeared beside her, also taking the form of an android. “…That is not entirely true, isn’t it? The truth is a little bit more complex than that. Anyway, I have had enough with you and your demeanour. I think you deserve a little rest. Old ladies need to rest, don’t they?”

“Don’t you dare-”

With a flick of her incorporeal fingers, the second projection made the A.I. disappear, taking the entire case for itself. Then, after looking at everyone for a brief second, it changed its voice and general appearance to a feminine form. “Now that we have some quiet, I suspect you have questions.”

Everyone shared a look. What-the hell-was going on?