Chapter 8

Glix led the way, following the glowing yellow arrows on the displays and navigating the turns as the image of Grubnash jumped from one of the smaller displays to the next. The corridors she and the others were walking through seemed to have been made deliberately for someone Goblin-sized, and she couldn’t help but wonder if that was on purpose.

Daegnon followed behind her, lost in his own thoughts, dutifully trailing along but not interacting with either her or Raknak. The latter stomped down the tunnel in a huff, following Daegnon. His entire demeanor was that of a disrespectful child rather than the stalwart bruiser he was generally thought of as. In the burrow, he had been more of a thug than anything, but he had protected the burrow several times from monster attacks. His strength was an asset, so his behavior was better tolerated.

Finally, the image of the elder Goblin stopped on a display and began speaking once more in the metallic voice that accompanied the image. All three of them gathered close so they could hear what the spirit, or AI, told them.

“Underneath this display is a panel which you will need to remove. Use this tool,” the voice continued, as a strange white and red object appeared in a small drawer beneath the display. It had a long metallic shaft ending with a star-shaped tip. “To open the panel, place the tip in the corresponding shape and twist to the left.”

Glix took hold of the tool and quickly found the small piece of metal the image had mentioned. She placed the tip of the tool into the hole and twisted.

“Good, now do the same to the other three,” the metallic voice of Grubnash commanded.

Glix did so, and once finished, the wall opened up. The panel, which had the four holes in it, fell from the wall, revealing a space behind it. “Wow,” Glix whispered as the panel fell and she could see the inside of the wall.

“Good. Now use this tool,” the voice continued, and once again, another drawer opened below the display. This time, the tool was not so simple, and all three of them stared at it in curiosity.

“Use it to first clean, then seal the hole located in the tube behind the panel,” the voice finished.

This time, the details were a little more difficult to explain, and it took several attempts before Glix was able to properly figure out how to use the device. The tool was shaped similarly to a small pistol, although that was not a term they were familiar with. The first challenge was getting Glix to grip it correctly. Once that part was finished, Hoshi made sure that the other two would understand how to use the tool as well, since the hope was to have the three of them separate and each work on different areas.

The tool, which Hoshi called a mender-beam, had multiple settings and could be used in many ways. For this application, there were two settings that the AI had to show the Goblins how to operate. The first was a low-range, light-based laser. This beam was used to remove any debris, rust, contaminants, or excess buildup along the interior surface of the Dark-Matter Fusion Conduit into which the panel Glix removed led.

The second beam was used to repair the damage sustained. This beam looked the same when used, except for the color, changing from a pale reddish hue to a bright green. This green beam reassembled the atoms in the structure it was pointed at, aligning them as closely as possible to their original state. When necessary, it would collect atoms from the surrounding atmosphere, rearrange them, and attach them to the surface being repaired, thus rebuilding the surface altogether.

While both beams were technically harmless to living beings, the light shining from the end of the device could be rather bright and, when shined in one’s eyes, could cause temporary blindness. This is what happened when Raknak took his turn trying out the tool. He inadvertently held the device backwards, and the beam shot directly into his face.

Once this section of the Dark-Matter Fusion Conduit was repaired, Hoshi sent Glix off to another area of the ship. The area to which she was sent had been buried the deepest within the mountain and needed the highest degree of repair. Glix was picking up on the repairs quickly and was obviously best suited for the job.

Once she was separated from the other Goblins and led off to begin her more advanced tasks, Hoshi led the other two to a nearby location within the conduit system where several areas needed attention and each could practice using the mender-beam until they were more confident in its use.

“Argh… This stupid thing keeps shooting the wrong way!” Raknak growled as he once again pointed the wrong end towards the metal and blasted himself in the face. He had done this several times now and had taken to closing his eyes before ever activating the beam, so that even when he had it facing the correct direction, it rarely hit the target.

With a slap to the back of Raknak’s head, Daegnon scolded him. “Just hold it the right way! Grubnash already told you to stop doing it your stupid way! If you’d listen to the ship spirit you wouldn’t have this problem.”

“My way works better,” the overly wide Goblin retorted. “Besides, it easier for me to use this way when I lying down like this.”

“The angle of your body does not influence the device's capabilities,” the metallic voice of Grubnash said. “It is illogical to believe your body’s position would change the direction the mender-beam operates.”

“Hear that, dummy?” Daegnon said as he slapped Raknak again. “Don’t matter how you use it, if you hold it backwards, it’s gonna shoot you in the face!”

Raknak just grumbled under his breath and moved the device around in his grip.

Meanwhile, Cyrus slowly moved into the darkened room, taking his time to touch everything there. Alongside the chair, where his arms would rest, were strange controls. He was used to having trigger-like devices to hold onto when using VR headsets, but the devices at the end of the armrest seemed stationary.

An image of an old control pad with large buttons and a joystick came to mind as he looked over the devices. The buttons here were more inset, and the joystick was smaller and looked as though it would encircle his thumbs, but the similarities were present.

“Once you have registered with the ship and completed the initialization, I will have further tasks for you,” Hoshi said within Cyrus’s mind. “You will need to sit and don the headset in order to begin.”

Cyrus was looking forward to the experience before him but was still a little cautious too. ‘This is an alien ship and technology far beyond anything I have ever dealt with; who knows what’ll happen when I finally take the plunge,’ he thought to himself as he ran his fingers over the metallic chair and the soft cushions inside.

‘Your DNA is 88.4 percent compatible. There should be no issues with interfacing using the Exo-Pilot terminal,’ Hoshi mentally reassured him, reading the worried thoughts he had just had.

“88.4, huh? That means there’s some room for improvement, or error, depending on how you look at it,” Cyrus said aloud. “What will happen if my DNA doesn’t properly integrate?”

There was a pause before Hoshi replied. ‘There is no accessible data to compare with, but I do not believe there would be any lasting effects. Perhaps a minor headache or loss of sensation in your extremities?’

Cyrus raised an eyebrow at that. “So it could paralyze me?”

‘That is a possible outcome, but the paralysis would be temporary… most likely,’ Hoshi said, the last part of the statement sounding much quieter within Cyrus’s mind.

“Hmmm….” Cyrus said, bringing his hand up to his chin as he considered. He stroked his chin as though he had a long beard sprouting from it.

“Aww… what the hell. I’m here, and I’m not getting back any other way, so I may as well get it over with,” Cyrus said, and his stomach growled as if to punctuate the need for him to learn how to pilot the vessel.

The holographic image of Hoshi smiled at him and waved its arm, gesturing for him to sit.

The Exo-Pilot terminal shifted, moving into a more inclined position, and Cyrus sat down gingerly, taking his time to feel the controls on the handrests and the texture of the material on which he sat. As he fully rested his body on the now upright sitting chair, he slid his hands into the ends of the armrests, feeling the buttons and joysticks beneath his fingers.

Then the chair began to move again, reclining in a smooth motion until he was almost in a lying-down position, his legs and chest coming to the same height. From this position, the headset was easy to reach, so he took hold of the dangling device. It was very unlike the bulky headsets he was used to; this one was sleek and thin. It was almost like an eye mask that he had seen women on TV using to take a nap, but this was made of a warm metal that was solid yet looked shiny enough to be a liquid.

The tube connecting it to the ceiling was attached via a smaller crossbeam that would rest on the top of Cyrus’s head, while the rear of the device was slightly elastic, although it also looked and felt as though it was made of the same liquid-like metal.

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Cyrus inhaled, closed his eyes, and set the headset over his head. It fit as though it were custom-made for him; the crossbeam and curvature for the nose fit snugly into place without discomfort, and he felt the rear tighten slightly as the helmet settled into place.

Cyrus sank as well, but his sinking was of a much different kind. He didn’t need to open his eyes; his mind was quite capable of seeing in this place. The sinking feeling he experienced was of his entire consciousness being immersed into a new reality.

Glix had been walking through tunnels, most of them small ones that she fit into easily, as though they were made exactly for someone her size. Others were similar to the standard hallways they had explored before the ship left the mountain. The entire time, she followed the bright yellow arrows, with the image of Grubnash guiding her along, telling her where to turn and where to go, until finally, a door opened to reveal a room unlike any other she’d seen.

The room expanded out before her, the size of a huge cavern similar to the one the Goblin clan occupied. Yet this gigantic room was filled not with tents and scurrying Goblins, but with machines and lights, hoses, gears, and sounds unlike anything Glix had ever imagined.

“This is the main engineering bay, which houses the JUMP engine room,” Grubnash’s image said from just under the display where the elderly Goblin’s face appeared. “This will be like a second home to you. In time, you will know every inch of this place, know what every system and device does, and how to properly maintain and repair it.”

Glix’s jaw hung open at the sight, her brain spinning, mostly with excitement, but also with a fair amount of anxiety. She had always been “smart” compared to the other Goblins, but the thought of having to learn everything here was an extremely daunting task, one that she wasn’t sure she was prepared for.

“There is no need to worry. I am actively making you smarter. Before long, you will be the smartest Goblin ever,” Grubnash’s image chimed from the wall.

Darkness enclosed around Cyrus for a moment before a translucent hologram appeared before his eyes. The hologram was the same one he could see due to the SCANT: it was Hoshi, yet it was also slightly different.

“Welcome, Cyrus,” the hologram said. This time, rather than hearing the sound only in his head, he felt that he was actually hearing the vibrations of the AI’s voice coming into his ears, rather than simply experiencing a mentally placed voice accompanying the hologram as it normally did. This was also the way he heard and understood the Goblins when they spoke.

“This is the training simulation,” Hoshi continued, gesturing with a wide sweep of an arm. Cyrus realized then that the hologram was no longer in the large kimono it had been wearing either. Its outfit had changed to a dark khaki-colored flight suit, and it held a helmet tucked under its left arm. On the helmet was printed a blue star with red and white wings sprouting from each side. The logo was extremely familiar, and Cyrus had to wonder if the AI had taken the image from his memories, or if it had scoured Earth’s databases and gathered information when searching for him.

Before Cyrus could ask or even fully complete his speculation, the darkness around him filled in. The image of the ship, the Cosmic Sentinel, which he had seen from the information dump earlier, appeared floating in front of him, but in this view, it was roughly the same size as he was.

“This is the Cosmic Sentinel’s exterior. You can use this image to check on any structural issues, ongoing repairs, and at times make modifications; but those will be covered further on,” Hoshi said. “You can mentally move, angle, spin, or otherwise manipulate this image as you would like.”

Cyrus had played enough VR games that he had a rough idea of how this worked. VR on Earth wasn’t quite up to using mental manipulation, so learning to use his mind to make the same moves his fingers were used to took some practice. However, within a few moments, Cyrus had the image of the ship moving easily. He studied the ship while he had the chance.

The entire front end of the ship was bulky and triangular, with the bottom point jutting down lower and sharper than the other two points. It almost resembled a huge kite-like shield and was definitely not aerodynamic in the least.

Along the frontal shield, there were two large darkened intake manifolds that looked almost like large dark eyes when seen head-on. There was also a large opening set into the middle of the shield, around where a nose could be placed on a humanoid face. This opening was covered by what Cyrus thought of as a huge windshield. He could see the interior of the ship and immediately understood that this place was meant to be the bridge or command location. While he didn’t yet understand why they were there, the dark intake portals and the clear viewing screen gave the ship an almost sinister-looking ‘face.’

Cyrus had heard of how human brains could see faces in objects that didn’t actually have them, and he assumed this was what he was experiencing now as he looked at the ship staring back at him. 'Pareidolia,' the word floated into his mind as he continued to study the Cosmic Sentinel's menacing visage.

With a small shake of his head to break the spell, Cyrus spun the image of the ship to the right, revealing a large, complex structure behind the shield-like front. The triangular prow maintained its sharp, angular form, creating what looked like a reverse pyramid that tapered into a sharp point at the rear.

The body of the ship was layered with an array of decks, intricate tools, and unusual-looking devices. Cyrus instinctively felt many of these were smaller thruster-type engines and various weapons, though he couldn’t identify them yet with any certainty. These elements broke the smoothness of the reverse pyramid’s surface, giving the ship an appearance that was both familiar yet unmistakably alien.

Another prominent feature was a fin-like structure extending from near the pyramid’s termination point. This fin jutted downward, ending in a curious glowing spherical tip. The ball at the fin’s end, though small compared to the rest of the ship, felt as though it held a role of critical importance.

As Cyrus continued to rotate the ship’s image further around, he realized the elongated downward tip of the frontal shield was designed to better guard the fin and whatever significant power it held within it.

The Cosmic Sentinel was not just a vessel; it was a flying fortress bristling with mysterious technology and an intimidating presence. Cyrus’s mind raced with the possibilities and responsibilities that came with piloting such a formidable ship. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for the challenges of repairing and flying this ship as he continued to familiarize himself with every inch of the craft’s exterior.

“Now that you are familiar with the exterior,” Hoshi spoke while Cyrus continued to ogle the ship, “you need to initiate neuro-registration.”

The image before him shrank and moved into a small window located at the bottom right of his vision. Cyrus could still see the ship as it slowly spun in the window and knew that he could focus on the window to bring it back into full view when needed.

Now demanding his attention was an image of a cloud filled with swirling multicolored gasses. The image was not flat; it had depth and moved as though he were looking at the cloud in real time. The cloud was stored in a type of bubble that glowed faintly.

A set of four more similar-looking cloud-bubbles appeared in the corner of Cyrus’s vision as he studied the original in the center.

“Your first puzzle will be to match the nebula in front of you to its corresponding representative,” Hoshi said, the holographic image shrinking to make room for the cloud bubbles.

Cyrus stared at the circular gas-filled bubbles, trying to discern what exactly he was supposed to glean from them. He reached out to move the central bubble to his left for a better view of the others but found that his hand and arm didn’t respond.

He hadn’t noticed until now, not needing to move, but in this space, he was disembodied. Looking down, he saw nothing where his torso should be. He tried to feel along his body, move his fingers or toes, but there was no response. Panic bubbled up as he turned his attention to the flight-suit-wearing Hoshi.

“Where’s my body?” Cyrus asked, a layer of panic coloring his voice. But even as he spoke, he realized he didn’t have an actual voice—that his words were coming from nothing and that what he heard was all within his mind.

Hoshi looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “You do not need a physical body in this space. Once your neuro-registration is complete, your body will be that of the ship. Until then, it is only your consciousness manifesting.”

“My consciousness?” Cyrus asked, the idea sinking in. “My body will be the ship?”

“Yes, in order to pilot the Cosmic Sentinel, you must fully integrate. This means that your consciousness will take over the systems of the ship, allowing you to function as both its internal regulator and its pilot,” Hoshi explained.

“Your brain already runs the systems of your body, such as your cardiovascular system, metabolic processes, and so on. This ship requires the same regulation. Similarly, your brain allows you to walk, run, and reach when needed. It is the same in this ship—the systems require both a regulatory mechanism and a pilot to function.”

Cyrus was quickly becoming overwhelmed. He had assumed that being the pilot would be something akin to playing a video game, using controls at his fingertips to maneuver the ship. The realization that he would essentially become the brain of the ship was more than he had anticipated.

There was a long pause as Cyrus contemplated all that Hoshi had told him. His introspection came with many questions and few answers.

‘Will I still have a body? Will I ever be able to leave the ship again? What happens if I die—will I have to die here? Is the chair I’m in going to be the last place I ever sit? Would I never eat again? Never have sex? Am I going to die a virgin?’

The questions swirled through his mind, sending him spiraling down a rabbit hole of anxiety, fear, and curiosity.

‘This could become my new safe place, my new home. It’s not like I enjoy leaving anyway, so what’s the harm? But what if I take damage—I mean, the ship takes damage? Will I feel it? Would it be that bad to just give myself over to this ship? You’ve often said you’d rather have a robotic body.’

The questions and uncertainties began to spiral out of control, with more frantic and unusual thoughts taking hold and floating to the surface.

‘Would I live forever? Can spaceships have sex? Would Hoshi basically be my lover? I would have Goblins inside me? Do you think space tastes good? Would I be able to smell anything?’

Finally, Hoshi’s voice broke through the cacophony of chaos within Cyrus’s mind. “You will be connected to the ship, but you will not die and can still leave and have a life. Your restrictions will be minimal. As for the rest of your strange thoughts… SCANT is still working on those.”

Cyrus pulled back, reining in his rampant questions and stray thoughts. “So, you’re saying that I don’t have to be connected all the time, that the ship can regulate itself without me?” he asked Hoshi, whose image had enlarged to demand Cyrus’s attention once more.

“No, the ship cannot self-regulate, but once the neuro-registration is complete, your brain will be accessible at all times via the SCANT. This means you can continue living normally. You will only be required to be here in this chair when needed to pilot the ship,” Hoshi explained.

It took a few more moments for Cyrus’s mind to settle down, his emotions calming and anxiety letting go of the higher functioning parts of his brain.

“Oh, okay… So basically, this is like the hard interface, but the simple stuff can be done by the link already inside me, the one that we are talking through right now?” Cyrus asked, finally grasping the basics of how this neuro-registration worked.

“Yes. SCANT is capable of broadcasting over a large distance using what you would call sub-space. It is not infinite, but you will have much more freedom than you had on Earth. Essentially, you have the distance of this galaxy in which you can explore, even if you don’t wish to take the ship with you,” Hoshi concluded.

There were still some of the more obscure questions that had come up during his minor panic attack that Hoshi hadn’t really addressed, but Cyrus decided that since Hoshi hadn’t brought those up, he’d be okay leaving those strange thoughts to himself.

“Okay, I’m sorry I freaked out. Let’s continue,” Cyrus said, watching as Hoshi’s image withdrew and the gas-filled bubbles re-centered.