Chapter 14

Cyrus blinked as he woke, hearing soft grunts coming from somewhere in the room. It took him a few moments to reorient himself. There was a brief moment of panic as he realized he wasn’t in his own bed, but the feeling was much less scary than he had anticipated. Memories from the previous day quickly reformed in his mind, allowing him to understand that the SCANT had several unconscious hours to not only repair and enhance his brain but also his overall physical condition.

Through his new connection with the ship, he had more intimate knowledge of what was occurring—not only with the repair systems along the hull and inside the ship but also within his own body.

Before he even opened his eyes, Cyrus was able to turn on an internal camera and see the Goblins in the medical center surrounding him as they started to wake, making their way to the bathroom, and performing their rituals. He could also see himself still lying on the floating bed.

His body, perceived from this angle, was less bulky than he remembered from when he would see himself in the mirror in his apartment. His arms, which were exposed above the small sheet covering him, looked larger as well.

‘The SCANT has been working not only to improve your mental functions and connection to the Cosmic Sentinel but also throughout your body, improving muscle mass and moving unneeded fats back into your digestive system for removal,’ Hoshi spoke into his mind, reading his surface thoughts.

As she said this, a gurgling sensation began in Cyrus’s colon, alerting him to exactly what the AI had been talking about.

With some urgency, Cyrus threw the sheet from him and, knowing the bathroom attached to the medical center was already occupied from viewing the room through the camera, hustled down the hall to find the nearest restroom.

Once he was finished with his more urgent needs, Cyrus utilized the shower in the bathroom to clean himself off. The shower used water, but it was complemented by what Hoshi described as “acoustic purifiers,” which pushed the water onto him, trapping any unwanted dirt, skin cells, and other microbes into the disposal where the ship cleaned and reprocessed the water for other uses. The contaminants removed were then molecularly remodeled and used to create the nutritional bars, a fact that both impressed and grossed out Cyrus.

As he stepped out, feeling cleaner than he ever had before, even without the need for soap, he found a dark gray jumpsuit waiting for him.

‘Searching through your planet’s databases, I found that many of your space-related programs utilized this simplistic yet convenient form of exterior covering. I hope you don’t mind, but I dressed the Goblins in similar attire,’ Hoshi mentally told Cyrus as he looked over the jumpsuit.

It was relatively simple with an asymmetrical top crossover attachment system and a Velcro-type fly, although he couldn’t see or figure out how the flaps of material were actually attached. The jumpsuit also had a nicely fitting collar with dark blue trim.

There were also a pair of boots that slid over his feet nicely and had a comfortable interior, so he didn’t feel the need for socks.

‘This feels great, Hoshi. Thanks for the matching outfits,’ Cyrus mentally thanked the AI once the jumpsuit was donned.

‘You are very welcome, Cyrus,’ Hoshi said as the AI appeared in his vision wearing the same jumpsuit. ‘There is one last thing I wanted to add, if you don’t mind.’

‘Okay, what’s that?’ As Cyrus mentally asked, a small silver pin began to form on his left chest. The pin was being created by the nanites, and this was the first time he had been able to witness them doing something like this. They worked faster than he would have imagined, creating the pin in a small metallic cloud. Once the pin was finished, the cloud simply melded into the fabric of his jumpsuit.

The pin itself looked like a small representation of the Cosmic Sentinel in a basic design, as though seen from the side. It showed a triangular shape with a wider triangle side at the front and a fin extending downward from the rear and ending in a circle. Next to the circle were four similar, yet open circles trailing behind.

‘That’s great, Hoshi! This is like our ship’s crew’s symbol then? What are the extra circles? Are those like my designation?’ Cyrus excitedly asked.

‘Yes, since you are the pilot, you have the same number of pips as Daegnon. His pips are solid to show his rank being slightly higher as captain,’ Hoshi explained. ‘Glix and Raknak will have three pips, and theirs will also be solid,’ Hoshi added with a smile.

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‘That’s perfect, Hoshi. Great thinking,’ Cyrus said and made his way back to the rest of the Goblins. He had been ‘watching’ them the entire time. He found that his mind was exceptionally adept at multitasking now, and he had kept the camera in the medical bay on, even though he had left.

He hadn’t focused on it, but still knew basically what had been happening in his absence. The information was present nonetheless, although in a very minor way.

‘This whole being a ship thing is going to take a lot of getting used to,’ he thought to himself as he entered the medical center and joined the other Goblins, who were now dressed in their jumpsuits and overseeing the re-awakening of their other three members.

It didn’t take long to wake the three remaining Goblins. It took longer to explain to them what was going on. Then there was another waiting period while they all three apparently showered and dressed in the same bathroom.

Cyrus wasn’t a fan of sharing a bathroom with anyone, but he knew that in most pre-modern civilizations, mutual bathing and restroom facilities were common. So, while it wasn’t something he chose to do, it didn’t surprise him that they all were fine with using the same facilities.

Finally, all the Goblins, as well as Cyrus, were dressed in their matching uniforms and gathered around to find out what needed to be done and where they were to be assigned. Daegnon and Hoshi, looking like Grubnash, had been discussing how to best deploy the new Goblins, and Glix had offered her opinions as well.

Luckily, the three new Goblins—Khibi, Prayda, and Gooniz—had the benefit of the SCANT working on them while they slept, so in some ways, they were further along in their enhancement than the original three.

“Khibi, you and Raknak are back in the conduits,” Daegnon spoke, and an image of Grubnash waved them out the door. “Prayda, you are with me. We’ll start in the halls leading to the command center. Gooniz, you help Glix; do what she says.”

Daegnon looked to Cyrus then, as did the rest of the Goblins. This was the first time Daegnon was going to use his authority over someone other than the Goblins, and they all were curious as to how the confrontation would go. This interaction could possibly set the tone for how the Goblins interacted with the human, be it as equals or as stubborn subordinates.

“Cyrus, since you are too large to fit in the conduits, you can repair the Cyclotron Core before you return to the pilot's chamber,” Daegnon said with some apprehensiveness mixed with a little too much commanding presence, making it sound as though he were almost yelling but in a frightened way.

Cyrus stifled a chuckle and almost began to speak, but he wanted to add a little something else. In all the good military movies, there was always a sign or a salute when given an order, so Cyrus wracked his mind for a second before actually responding. When he did speak, it was in a tone of respect, “Yes, Captain,” he said as he threw a backward peace sign with his right hand over his left chest.

Daegnon saw the two fingers of the human come up and make the impromptu salute and understood that this was a good way to confirm that they were a solitary unit. He quickly mimicked the salute, bringing up two of his fingers to his chest and nodding to the human, a smile turning the corner of his lips as he did so.

The next few weeks proceeded in a similar fashion, with crew quarters assigned to each of them the next day. Khibi and Raknak chose to bunk together, which the Goblins seemed to find humorous but understandable. Cyrus, not understanding the situation, found the bunk arrangement odd, especially since Raknak was obviously attracted to Glix and doted on her whenever possible, even though the female Goblin showed no return interest whatsoever.

The entire crew would meet in the morning, or at least what they were designating as morning since they had no actual sense of day and night now, to discuss the day’s schedule and continue the repairs to the ship. They would eat a single nutritional bar then, and another as they finished for the evening, the feeling of fullness helping to promote sleepiness.

The binary star system they were in provided additional resources and helped recharge and repair some of the ship's systems. The gaseous streams provided rare minerals and molecules, which the Cosmic Sentinel was able to induce and reuse.

Raknak, using a somewhat ill-fitting space suit and his new claw-like feet, which were apparently magnetic as well, was able to conduct repairs outside the ship, greatly speeding up the repair process. The nanites could function in the vacuum, but they were not made with the ability to move in a zero-gravity environment and so suffered great losses when working on the exterior.

There were repair drones designed for exterior repairs, but their manufacturing facility, which was also located on the exterior of the ship, was damaged, so Raknak was tasked with repairing the facility. The repairs to that system were a huge benefit, allowing the drones to once again be produced and contribute to vital repairs.

Glix took to her role as chief engineer faster than any of them had anticipated. She learned the systems in record time and even took and passed the exam that Hoshi had bypassed for her when she was forced to rescue Raknak. When she took the test for herself, she didn’t get a perfect score like Hoshi had but scored an impressive ninety-two percent.

Cyrus, along with performing repairs that would have required the Goblins to use some sort of ladder, also studied in the Exo-pilot terminal and became much more aware of the ship and its systems. He learned how to use the ship's thrusters, onboard tools, and shields much more adeptly, at least in the virtual training. Hoshi had told him to refrain from making any other movements to the ship until repairs were complete, so he was unable to get real-world experience. However, from what the AI had inferred, the virtual space was identical to real-world situations, and over the course of the days, he flew numerous scenarios, even dogfighting in some.

In this way, the crew of the Cosmic Sentinel repaired the ship, bonded as a crew, and prepared for what their new life as space travelers would bring. They learned each other’s quirks and readied themselves for the adventures that lay ahead of them.

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