Finally, after a bit of experimenting and strolling around my ship, I somehow managed to partially grab my situation.
For starters, I can no longer log out, and besides that, most of the game feature still works. I still able to access menus or other game related stuff, but everything associated with stuff outside the game is not showing up. On top of that, the ship was unpowered and thus also unprotected.
At first, I thought that what's happened is a result of some unknown bug or something and that I'll just have to wait until the devs fix that. Unfortunately for me, the game world is simulated at 168x speed compared to real world, that means for every hour outside the game a week passes inside. So I thought I'd have to wait at most few weeks.
Usually, the game should automatically disconnect you if you spend too much time in the game, but I don't think this will be the case. Something tells me that everything that's happening right now is real and I've been somehow transported into a game world. It may sound that I'm already starting to lose my mind, but I noticed that everything has become much more detailed, undistinguishable from the real world and there was also this strange questionnaire about different worlds that appeared moments before I got stuck here.
Well at least thanks to that gaping hole I know that there is some sort of organic life and breathable atmosphere on this planet and if my guess is true, then there should also be an intelligent life as well.
There is one thing that scares me, but it isn't the idea that I'm currently stuck in an alien body in an unknown world, far from my family. Instead, I'm scared about that I feel nothing about these things. Void. Null. It's like I've never cared about them that much.
Is it this my way of coping with this situation? Or did I really didn't care about them?
Anyways there is no point crying over spilled milk, let's just survey the area around the ship and see if there is anything I can do about my current predicament, but first, let's turn the ship's power on.
I went to the bridge hoping that there would be a way to restart the power from there, but unfortunately, the main generator was completely busted. Usually, when the generator is destroyed there is enough power in an accumulator for at least 1 hour of FTL flight, but now it's completely drained, so either I barely made it to this planet, or the ship was lying here for a few years already.
I really didn't want to go to an engine room, so I decided to power my ship using my body as a generator substitute. Because of their bodies made out of energy Novas are the only race that can do this.
I started siphoning the energy out of my body, I did it a few times already, so I knew the procedure, but as soon as it reached the ship, I felt an immense pain, as if something was eating me alive.
"Arrgh!" I screamed and cut the connection.
What was that? It never happened in the game before.
Of course, there was a pain in the game, but it was inhibited to a certain degree, so the game can appeal to a broader audience. Even dying didn't feel this pain.
"Status. Health!" I growled angrily.
Health: 473/500 | 0.1/s
Draining 27 health was already this painful!?
Well, at least I managed to slightly power up the ship. I'd better act quickly before it runs out of energy again.
"Computer turn on the backup generator" I ordered, but nothing replied. I guess 27 hp isn't even enough to power the ship VI let alone the AI.
Damn it. I suppose I have to do it myself then. I opened the control panel. While searching for a backup generator, I took a quick glance on remaining ship systems. The hole going through my ship had only grazed the generator it isn't something that can not be fixed, but unfortunately exotic matter condenser was completely obliterated rendering FTL travel impossible, so even if I'm able to leave the planet, moving to other systems would take too much time.
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"Power up complete. Energy levels at 10%" Said mechanical voice.
"Computer what's the required time to repair the main generator?"
"Estimated repair time 4 days 12 hours."
Since I don't want to stay in this place any longer, I guess I'll just have to go for a walk a little bit sooner.
Thinking about my current situation, I formulated a plan in which I decided that it would be the best course of action to just leave the ship cloaked while also exploring the world for useful materials... Eh, who am I fooling right now? I just want to explore the unknown world. It may be dangerous, but it's still better than waiting here for something that may never happen.
"Computer what's the required time to repair the main generator with a cloaking field enabled?"
"Calculating... Estimated repair time 1 month 2 days" This time it took a little longer for it to calculate the time.
Ok, so I just have to return after one month.
"Computer send a probe to scan the surroundings."
Before it managed to reply, I left bridge so I could pay a quick visit to an armory, hoping to pick up some equipment, while it was busy scanning the planet. Luckily everything was in its place. I took a storage device from the locker and put it on my hand. It looked like a white leather glove with barely visible blue veins going along the tendons. It created a window to a subspace and because of its small size the storage space was limited to 2000 liters.
I've also created and uploaded a few additional disguises onto my multi tool. After all, it's better to be safe than sorry when going into the unknown. Finally, I picked up some weapons, mostly sidearms. Although I could even use heavy weapons, my current class had great bonuses to psionic powers and carrying unwieldy around would be a pain in the ass, especially when I do more damage with my mind.
Of course I could switch my class to something more gun oriented, but still, my race is not suited for that role, and the only reason I leveled different classes was that I wanted to max out my stats.
"Scan Complete." The emotionless voice informed me.
What a perfect timing. I was about to leave the armory and wait for the scan to finish in my room, but now I can go straight to exploring.
"Computer compile the map from the data you've collected and uploaded it onto my multi tool along with heat signature scans. After I leave the ship turn on the cloak and start the repair of the main generator." I ordered
"Affirmative." It replied.
Browsing through the data I received, I've reached the hole and then jumped through it out into the world outside. Usually, I'd use an airlock, but I thought It'd be more fun and faster this way. I slowly landed on the ground and looked around.
So It's exactly as the scans say, I'm stuck in a middle of some alien swamp, which surprisingly looked like an average swamp. Fortunately, according to heat scans, there should be a large cluster of living organisms 34 kilometers to the north. I hope it's a town and not some sort hive.
Walking for an hour made me realize how inefficient it really is, but since we're on a planet, I can't open wormholes freely. If I don't know the exact space coordinates, I may end up stuck in a wall or a tree, so basically, I'm limited to a short distance teleportation, only a few dozen meters at most.
Flying is also no go. If there is intelligent life on this planet, It will make me stand out too much and also close proximity to a planet will make me use up much more psi. I'll just have to grit my teeth and continue this slow and tedious journey.
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The red flashing lights were disturbing the darkness of the night, the fire trucks surrounded an already burnt down house. There was a man who held his crying wife. She cried because it was her son who lived in that house. Unfortunately for her, the firefighter didn't have good news. He approached them, struggling to say what he wanted to say.
"May I have you for a moment?" He asked.
"What's happened to my son? Is he alive?" She answered through tears.
"Unfortunately what you will hear next may upset you. I'm sorry, but your son has been found dead..."
"How did this happen?" The husband asked.
"We've found his remains in a VR capsule. At first, we thought that the fire has broke out while he was inside of a game and due to some malfunction it didn't wake him up. But surprisingly the evidence shows that the fire has started from the inside of a VR capsule. It was as if his body had self combus..." A firefighter stopped after realizing he has already said too much.
"All I can do now is to assure you that at least he didn't suffer." He comforted the family. "I bet he's in a better place now."
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"Fuuuck!" I cursed as I ran.
A huge spider was chasing me while hopping from tree to tree. I didn't know what it wanted from me, but I wasn't eager to find out, it was so disgusting that even looking back made me feel shivers going down the spine.
"Fuuuck!" I screamed as I started running even faster.