Jason studied the bronze object. It looked almost like a tablet, with a curved portion at the top that a ball could rest on; but more likely was made to rest against a forehead for a scan. "Helmet, mute. Are you hacked?"

A soft buzzing sound as he examined the tablet, and words displayed on the screen. ~My external speakers have been partially disabled; I can still speak, but not emit sufficient volume to damage auditory equipment; but otherwise I am intact. I am currently running at 78% on-helmet capacity for processing; however, my ability to store data and process it has been largely compromised. Most of my memory storage and processing capacity was in a drive in your dimensional storage space. This drive is still intact as of your retrieval from the ship, and is currently on this world.~

He slowly turned it over. "Then I guess we should grab it. What am I looking at?"

~A Data storage device and scanner. It looks for the brain structure of the person holding it, and then provides access to data storage based on the scan result.~

Jason looked over the two aliens both watching him expectantly. The male... Chaif.. coughed. "If you wouldn't mind, this is important. The scanner on the device will determine whether the two of us can handle your case, or it needs to go to someone else."

Jason nodded slowly. "Can you hack it so I can read everything?" Hopefully the aliens couldn't hear what he was asking; the external speakers were also part of the sound-muffling function of the helmet.

~Place it against your head while wearing the helmet.~

He lifted it up; and after a few moments, the bronze device gave a few beeps; a series of lights running down its sides; and a screen appeared floating over the apparent tablet surface. The two aliens both looked... shocked, and watched as Jason scrolled through the options. A simple, intuitive interface which showed two primary categories... historical data. Technical specifications.

Each of them was subdivided into layers; apparently, the scan results would determine how much information you were allowed. Jason glanced at the two. "Mind if I hold onto this for a bit and look over the historical data? I'm not from around here and it could be useful."

The two both blinked; an interesting phenomenon for a six-eyed form. The female stepped up. "Ahh... actually, neither of us can take it from you at the moment. We're both tier one. You're... a tier zero. We need to get a tier zero administrator to adjudicate your case, and that device is currently accessing information we aren't authorized to view."

She glanced at the male. "If I may give you some advice. The fur on your body gives a poor impression, though I'm sure it was given to your species to help survive cold environments. You'll need to remove your helmet while speaking to the administrator, and... removing the fur would give you an improved... appearance."

Chaif nodded dramatically. "Of course. A tier zero with hair will... draw eyes. We will contact the administrator immediately. He will want to see you... soon."

Jason tilted his head for a moment. Apparently, his helmet AI had managed to dump some of his supplies without him noticing before he'd ruptured the two dimensional apertures; as a notice popped up. ~Your electric razor and some of the clips for your 10mm handgun are among the objects left behind. Unlike the hard drive they do not have a locator~

"Many of my own kind have a certain dislike for... 'fur' as well. Different members of my kind like to style it in different ways for aesthetic purposes, or remove it entirely. I actually had a tool for removing it on my person. Obviously if I'm about to go on some sort of trial with this administrator this is unlikely, but could I ask for a few personal items to be retrieved? One of them was a 'fur' removal tool, and another was a information storage device. There's also a primitive handgun that has significant sentimental value; it's useless without ammunition, and even if you remove the ammunition or otherwise render it inoperable, I'd like to keep it."

The two slowly nodded. "Assuming you are merely imprisoned for life, and not executed, your personal effects will likely be returned. For a tier zero, imprisonment is... a very different affair from lower-tier individuals. I can have them retrieved for you, but not before you speak with the administrator. Ahh... perhaps, if you're willing, I can have the doctors do it for you here? I can't emphasize enough how much of a difference having visible fur will make."

Jason gave a low chuckle. "That's fine. I suppose I'll feel a bit cold, but I usually keep it shorter than it is because I wear the helmet all the time. It gets... irritating and sweaty."

Chaif gave a short nod. "Of course. I shall have one of the Hargoyan medical staff come in to assist."

***

The next few minutes were... strange. Jason laid back on the bed reading from the tablet about the history of Andromeda as a metallic bronze-skinned four-eyed woman in a white and pink outfit not too unlike a standard nurse's garb from earth came in; and started to use a strange sonic device on his arms and legs. Whatever it was... the hair simply fell out after it passed by, leaving him too distracted to really understand the text about the 'Founders', or the 'Merick'. She didn't even need to remove the clothing; though it did leave piles of loose body hair inside the simple white pants.

"Ahh... could I get a shower, and some replacement clothing, for after this?"

The woman smiled; she was short, but cute, despite the bizzare skin; and the four eyes, but considering his own looks he couldn't judge; and nodded. "Of course! I must warn you to be fast. The administrator is already on his way. Could you remove the helmet?"

He inhaled; slid it off. And the device passing over his head... felt intensely strange. The most odd feeling when his nose-hairs fell out, and the strange feeling of his head just... the hair cascading down his head was more ordinary; he shaved his head due to the helmet every few months. The rest...

The woman pulled back to her feet, and set a small white bundle on the end of the bed. "New clothes for you, sir. The shower is here." She tapped a button on the smooth white wall; and a transparent rectangle pressed free.

Jason watched her leave; and then stepped into the shower. At first, he looked around for controls; but as soon as the door sealed, comforting, warm water cascaded down, with excellent water pressure; and he almost started to panic at realizing he had forgotten to remove the prosthetic; but it seemed to be waterproof.

Stepping out afterwards, and finding a complete lack of towels, he re-dressed in the soft white clothing... and picked the tablet back up, focusing on the words this time.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

In Founder's year 0(351,206 years ago), the great plan began; the Founders, then known as the Shubamarick, having searched the universe and found it barren, expanded out, seeding it with life; their children, flesh and blood remade to better thrive on the new worlds they found themselves on. [Tier 1/0 access only. The Shubamarick found numerous worlds with life on them, in addition to terraforming new worlds from scratch, and created altered versions of themselves to live on them all. If a species arose with no Shubamarick genetics on their world, it can be assumed they eradicated the Founders children, and as such must be exterminated for their crimes. All Tier 0/1/2 have at least some recognizable Founder DNA and are to be guided and protected. Tier 3 species should be handled on a case by case basis, while Tier 4s should be eradicated on location.]

Jason blinked. This... was this their equivalent of the bible, an old religious text? Hopefully they didn't take this sort of nonsense literally. The few he'd spoken with so far certainly seemed friendly enough.

***

Administrator Chism looked up at Chaif and Charis, frowning. He was stooped over with his many centuries weighing down on him in this world's irritating gravity, and rarely left his half-G altered compound; the call for someone to handle a Tier 0 criminal was virtually nonexistent. Usually Enforcers and Shields just talked it out, decided what to do, and the criminal went on their way; or into a grave. He didn't wear armor; but rather a fine, sleek, green suit, with a teal robe over it; and his face was so tightly stretched it seemed a miracle he could close his eyes. He looked through the wall-screen at the somewhat beige-colored, three-eyed humanoid laying on the bed examining a datastore with a silver helmet laying on his lap.

"Ugh. Enforcer. Lay out the case."

Chaif coughed. "Ahem. The subject was part of a team of other Tier-0 individuals from his home... galaxy... formed to hunt down and kill an exceptionally dangerous Tier-4 creature, ruler of an entire race of hostile Tier-4 creatures. They lured it in, and the subject, named 'Jason Bennet', was responsible for dealing the killing blow; with a dimensional weapon that apparently launched him, by mistake, to our own galaxy. I suspect the tier-4 individual was fleeing at the time."

He looked down at Chism, meeting his gaze. "His entry to our part of the universe, while both accidental and in the pursuit of a goal that the Republic would find laudable, resulted in the performance of the high crime of dropping a dangerous projectile over a populated area. If not for the quick work of our orbital defense network and civil engineering, casualties could have been catastrophic."

He smiled. "The law, in this regard, is clear; the punishment is execution. The law explicitly includes accidents, so his lack of intent is a non-issue. If a pilot were to trigger his FTL drive and slam into a planet by accident, and somehow survive, he would still be executed... even if someone else averted the impact."

The Administrator sighed. "Very well, Enforcer. Shield?"

Charis glanced at Chaif. "We had conflicting opinions on this with our roles, Administrator, but I believe that has changed. The creature he was hunting was fleeing into our galaxy; and if he had not slain it, we would be fighting it even now. As important as it is to ensure no-one performs experiments that hazard population centers, this was not a predictable outcome of his own weapon usage, and likely only occurred due to the monster's own course. I recommend he receive a twenty-year sentence, and be offered a shorter one if he either enlists in the Navy or assists us in utilizing technology from his own world."

The smaller creature slowly shook his head. "Cases like this are why we grant our Shields, Enforcers, and Administrators so much lattitude. Do we have an estimated lifespan of the alien?"

Chaif frowned at the question, and lifted up his wrist, tapping a few buttons. "Just a moment, administrator, I will determine this. Hrukan. This is Chaif. Have we got any details that might give us the lifespan of the alien?"

All six eyes blinked... before he turned to the administrator. "Ahhh.... the corpse's helmet has roughly five hours of video recording. One of the conversations seems to imply that our subject, as well as the recently deceased victim, would not perish due to age, and while they are not invincible, obviously considering the missing hand, are biologically ageless.... and that it's not a natural state for the species, but something artificially induced."

The administrator backed away a few steps. "....That. The sentence is a life imprisonment. Make sure its a comfortable one. I'll.... be speaking to my superiors. I suspect we'll be taking your approach and offering him a reduced sentence in exchange for technological aid."

He frowned at the two. "All information is to be strictly quarantined going forward. Give him his personal effects, but copy any data you can. Anyone tier two or below who knows this is to be removed, and the tier one or zero personnel who know of it are to be ordered into silence. Once he is setup in his residence, I have no doubt our superiors will be en route to negotiate."

He started to step away, swiftly; his stooped posture fading as the energy seemed to return to the pale form.

***

Jason was still laying on the bed, reading from the tablet, when the trio had finished speaking; using the helmet to record page after page as he skimmed technical documents and historical ones. From the looks of things, the locals were more advanced in some ways, less in others; amusingly enough, from what he could tell, Ascension was still the most advanced AI he had yet to learn about; and Ascension was built using Soviet-era, pre-Jotun technology made by some mad scientist metahuman. The locals had limited manufacturing and combat AIs that required rigid local control so as not to go off the rails; and were remarkably easily hacked.

Encryption had advanced after the development of quantum computing, post-Jotun, but it had simply reached a point where cracking an encrypted database was effectively impossible without the right key. And this local stuff.... maybe their shields and... something called a 'Pulsewave Cannon' outshined milky way technologies, but when it came to computers and AI, good old Terra was king.

When the door opened, he schooled himself not to stand before it did; best not let them know he could predict their arrival; and rose to his feet on the cheap plastic shoes, nodding at the two. "So... the administrator?"

Charis stepped forward. "Has heard your case, and issued a ruling. The death penalty has been taken away; you are sentenced to a lifetime of incarceration at our Tier-Zero facility in orbit. Your personal effects will be delivered there; a listing of the contents of the object you arrived in has been tallied. Would you like to review them for other objects of import?"

Jason blinked. "Ahhh... Life imprisonment?" That.... he was effectively ageless. This.... well. Okay then. He would either need to bargain for his freedom, or escape. "...If I could see the list please, yes. Technically, everything in it belonged to me, since I paid for the ship and all the gear aboard, but likely most of it is irrelevant."

She smiled. "Of course. I have also retrieved all of the 'Ration bars' that were aboard. I take it that these, plus water, contain all you need to survive?"

He hadn't even realized how hungry he was until she mentioned it. "Yes. Can I... have one, please? Honestly, I could probably eat half a dozen right now."

"Of course. We have tested their components, and determined that you can survive using existing Republic food by blending nine parts of our orange-type with one of our red." She extended a foil-wrapped bar; Jason had the wrapper torn away and was already devouring it before he even realized what he was doing.

She chuckled. "Now. If you would please select what objects are important enough to you to have delivered, and accompany me to the shuttle, we'll take you to your new residence."

Jason studied her... and looked at the door into the hallway. He had yet to see anything of this world beyond the hospital... and was about to go to a prison. His odds of escape would drop dramatically once he was there... but on the other hand, if he could get that drive, he would have access to a truly ridiculous amount of data from home that could prove useful.

Not to mention a full copy of Ascension, not his limited helmet-bound AI. Besides; if they were letting him have his personal effects there, the prison couldn't be too bad. He accepted the smaller tablet; and started reviewing the list; of all the objects from back home that had been scattered about during the process of destroying the two dimensional spaces... and the Emperor's brain.