"So what?" "And?"

That sentence alone made no sense. They were in deep space so a couple of asteroid could be called lost so what made this thing special?

For Rein, he thought it might be because of the floating hologram in front of him, which could be commonly found in his original home planet, Earth

Technological advancement in almost all sectors were improved to the point where almost all people were wealthy.

Yet even with that, wars were still waged across countries, putting a huge toil to the planet which eventually led to the planet's demise.

But luckily, they already terraformed, saving almost 1/4 of Earth's population.

The people that manage to get shipped to mars were composed of professionals and experts that could help regain stability on Mars, Rich guys and a bunch more.

You could already now how all of that resulted. World-wide rebellion torn each and every country apart, forcing them to depart quickly to Mars.

While all of that happened, Rein just enjoyed his retirement in an old farm he managed to buy back when he was still a liutenant in the army.

Rein was a formor general back on Earth and he was supposedly selected to shipped to Mars. But he rejected the offer instead and gave the chance to his daughter together with her happy family.

He insisted that the future of humanity rested on the young ones.

He was embarrassed that their problems which tehy should have solved on their on were carried along to the younger generation.

He didn't knew hot to solve the problems that thier ancestors manage to pass on them, so he simply shrugged it off.

Rein rem i nis cence about his past brought tears to his eyes. He wiped it off as he exhaled a long sigh.

For Sentinel, the memory banks inside him once whirred again to life as a memory came to life.

Memories of his world came gushing in as the hologram gave him bittersweet memories.

Even though he was an AI, he was formorly a human until an accident placed him in the ICU.

The doctors did everything they can do to save his life, yet it still wasn't enough. He was placed on life support and had a nurse to check on his vitals. That was until the doctors collectively made an offer to his parents.

They explained to them that he had 50% chance to live within the next year, 45% another year and so on. And even if he did manage to return to a relative safe boundary, he was in a coma. The news broke his parents heart that they had no other choice but to hear what the doctors had to say.

Through a series of surgeries, they could replace parts of him into a mechanical part. Almost all of his vital organs were on the verge of failing. The only thing that manage to survive was his heart and lungs, while his brain had already failed. This surgery was still a theory in essence and the chance of failure was 70%. Essentially, he was going to die no matter what decision was to be made.

His parents, disheartened and depressed, agreed to the surgery.

After a greuling series of surgeries, multiple close-ins with death, and his heart almost failing to recover, he was saved.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Yet he was in a comatose.

Years later, he was still alive but his parents were already dead.

And year later, he miraculously survived.

He woke up, facing a floating hologram. Bewildered by the unknown room he was in, he tried to get up, only to accidentally look at the mirror and saw his monstrous figure.

And the rest was history.

The two of them came from different planets from different galaxies, yet fate manage to mash them up together and threw them on an endless life and death cycle.

While both of them were dazing, the blue hologram flickered again.

[...]

[...The lone asteroid is a floating treasure...]

After the blue box mentioned the word treasure, Rein's eye practicality popped in trepidation while Sentinel released a rumbling inside of him. It was a suprise to know that something like this was floating in space so they were obviously excited about the prospect of discovering something intriguing.

However, Rein held his composure as he calmly spoke to the blue box in earnest. "Tell me, blue screen... box... What kind of treasure are we talking about?"

The blue box flickered again as it showed an answer inside it's hologrammy body.

[A treasure of unknown power and unknown existence!. A treasure that bows to no one and shall serve no one! A treasure that will surpass the lifeline of this universe!]

"Huh?" This time, Sentinel started to question whether or not this floating blue screen was malfunctioning or something. Speaking of something that will surpass this universe was somehow impossible within the realms of reality.

Yet his experience with his life and death cycle made him doubt if the realms of reality was a fluke or not.

"Then what the hell are we gonna do about a treasure that doesn't even serve someone? Aren't they supposed to just stay still?" Rein questioned such logic.

If the lone asteroid was a tresure that did not bow to no one or serve some one, then what use would that be? He'd rather rely on a traitor that use such treasure.

[Ahem. It's seems that i've gone a bit overboard with the introduction. It's been a few millennium since we last had visitors]

The blue box spoke through text as it vibrated for a while before it subsided. It seemed that what the box had said about the lone asteroid outliving the universe had some proof about it.

[If you will, please place your hands on that smooth surface. And for your friend, he can simply input a usb cord or anything that achieves the same.]

The box ushered them as it hovered over a smooth slab of stone. It looked polished enough for it to be mistaken as a porcelain surface.

They placed their 'hands' on the smooth slab. Another rumbling occured as the slab suddenly retracted, causing Rein to stumble for a sort while before regaining his posture whilst Sentinel got yanked forward as the cord tightened.

"Hey! Could you be much more carefu- AGH!" something pricked his hand with a sharp object, causing it to bleed. He tried to pull back, sensing a trap from withing activating, yet he couldn't budge his hand no matter how he tried. It felt something was sucking his hand as blood slowly covered a portion of the slab, showing intricate designs.

It captivated him but forced himself to focus as he looked at how Senty was faring.

He expected Senty to reboot again or at least spark up in protest, yet that did not happen. Instead, Sentinel was calm just like his usual self.

"Senty? You alright bro?"

Sentinel slowly spun around, it's dimming red eyes or screen focused on Rein as he spoke

"We... huh? Oh yeah i'm ok... but all of it is just strange... haven't you seen it Rein? Then you should know what i'm talking about."

Perplexed by the sudden question of Sentinel, he was scratching his head at what he would mean by that. He hadn't seen anything, atleast to his extent.

He was about to ask him again about it when visions, no, it was more akin to memories.

It felt like something was mushing his brain matter with a lot of things at once using a spoon to mix it up to form something unknown.

It was a jarring experience for him. Memories of a desolate land stretching for miles and miles, drained oceans that was once full of the deep blue sea color, the lifeless sky as it was painted in grey to emit a lonely feeling.

It came to halt.

It was weird.

He looked at Sentinel who was taking it like a champ on steroids, while he was groaning and clutching his head with both hands.

He slowly but surely stood up as he held onto the rock.

"Hey... Blue box, what was that about? It felt like being crushed you know?" He complained as he glared at the box.

[That was the introduction about the lone asteroid! It looked great, right?]

"Introduction? You meant that deathly pale land was a great introduction to your treasure? No wonder..." He muttered under his breath.

[So?] The blue box urged him to answer it's question. He felt shit right now but he knew he had to. So with a weak voice, he said "yes... It was great... but it would need a new concept for it to actually work great..."

[Hmm? I thought i did great. That was my best effort! You should have atleast gave some compliment!]

The box flew all over his face, still flashing him with words.

"Ahh fuck off."

[Hmp!... Hey, how's your friend doing? He's been silent for a while]

The blue box was worried about Sentinel, so was he. It was quite unusual for him to be quiet for a long period of time, except for some moments where Sentinel have to charge his battery.

"Leave him be. It's been a while since i had some quiet times. Ah, hello silence my old friend, i come to meet with you aga-" before he can continue his heartful narrative, a monotone voice echoed behind him.

"Hmmm. That was strange. I kept seeing the same thing again and again. The same old wasteland, the barren seas, emotionless skies, corpses, craters and some weird holes. Anyway, how about you Rein?" Sentinel faced Rein as he inched closer to him. Facing his 'eyes', Rein can't help but squint his eyes a bit. The light from the screen hurts a lot. "Well, it was fun till it lasted... Oh me? I'm fine" Rein replied

"Hmm? What did you say earlier?"

"Nothing. Now where were we?" He scratched his chin as he thinkered about his question.

[Deep in space] "Deep space"

Both Sentinel and boxy blue box replied.

"Huh? No, that's not what i meant." He raised his arm towards the two of them, shaking his head in frustration.

"What i meant was where did we last left the conversation." He cleared his intentions as he cleared hid throat.

[Ah! About the introduction. But enough of that now, there's more things to be explained and there's more of your questions to be answered. So shall we contine this somewhere?]

Boxy blue box questioned them, to which both of them nodded in affirmation.

[Oke! Now let's go!]

A blinding light swallowed them whole as it disappeared a second after. Leaving the lonely asteroid hurling through space once again.