Maya staggered from the mana core room. The agony of her injuries were dwarfed by the hard won victory. The high from the battle lasted until she exited the room and saw a dozen spider minions in the corridor.
Her familiar companion of fear rose up to stand beside her.
How many times this day would she face death? Maya wondered. How many times did she have to fight against these damn machines?
Maya summoned her trusty crowbar and prepared to fight.
“Let’s do this, you little shits,” she said to the minions.
Red lights flickered and followed her, but the minions didn’t move. After a few tense moments, Maya began to relax. The spider minions of the rogue AI didn’t seem interested in her anymore. They scurried around the corridor, bumping into things or hanging motionless from the ceiling and bulkheads.
Without their grand leader, the mind that controlled them, they were just dumb little robots again. They radiated no threat. They were not looking to fight. They had no purpose. Maya sighed with relief.
Her moment of reprieve was short lived.
She remembered that she had locked the medical room door to prevent the spiders from entering. The only way she had into the room was through the maintenance shaft. The only access panel that lead to that shaft was twenty feet up on a catwalk that was in a room filled with dangerous levels of mana. She also hadn’t seen a ladder or stairs that reached the catwalk.
“Damn it,” Maya hissed.
She glanced at the heavy blast doors, they were still ajar, being far too heavy for her to move. She was still technically basking in the deadly mana glow. She headed down the corridor, the spiders didn’t move so she had to walk around them. They continued to watch her, as if she were the monster.
The Map came in handy again as she began her trek down the dark corridors. She was upon the lower levels of the ship, basically where all the engineering stuff were located. The corridor was twice as wide as those she had seen and also taller. She knew there were maintenance shafts running along the walls and behind doors were machine rooms that had run the ship.
With the adrenaline of the battle fading, Maya began feeling all the aches and pains of her body. Her arms hurt, her back was bleeding, her shoulder ached, and she trembled with fatigue.
A maintenance ladder to an upper level appeared and Maya dragged herself up the rungs. The Map showed her where the nearest access panel was and she crawled into it, groaning as she had to get on her hands and knees again.
The mana glow that suffused the ship began to fade. Maya realize she didn’t feel as comfortable with the flashlight as the sole source of illumination anymore. Her vision was constricted and the yellow light seemed to hide terrors behind every corner.
The battle with the rogue AI had only taken a few minutes, but Maya spent nearly an hour returning to the medical room. Stopping, curling up and sleeping tantalized her mind. It whispered to her, telling her to stop moving. She ignored it and kept crawling. Her eye drooped and her movements slowed, but she kept pushing forward.
If she hadn’t left the access panel open to the medical room, she would have passed it in her dazed state. Maya blinked and saw the familiar glow of Nanaseto filling the room.
“You’re alive,” the medical AI stated.
“You should see the other guy,” Maya said, dragging her bloodied body from the maintenance shaft. “I think I left a snail trail of blood and tears down that shaft.”
Maya lay on the deck, breathing heavily. The cold metal burned her back, searing the barely closed injuries. She had made it back. Now she could rest.
“You still need to claim the salvage rights to the ship,” Nanaseto reminded her. “I have three hours and fifteen minutes of battery life remaining.”
She knew she had been forgetting something. Maya’s foggy brain didn’t want to function, but she pressed forward.
“System!” she called out. “Give me the damn ship already!”
The Hanganathorie has been derelict for 20425 USY. Do you wish to enact System Salvage Protocols 452-784S? Y/N
“Yes!”
Maya Sullivan, Human, has obtained System Salvage Rights to the Hanganathorie. All Tier 2 and lower System Locks have been disabled. The ship is now in your possession.
Although System Salvage Rights have been granted, other legal and national entities may refute such claims and challenge ownership.
“What the hell is that last part?” Maya muttered.
“The System has awarded you rights. Do you wish to enact mid grade, Tier 1 healing?” Nanaseto asked.
“Hell yes.”
“Unfortunately, due to resource limitations I cannot restore your eye.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Rage boiled up in Maya as she pulled herself off the deck.
“After twenty thousand years, many biological samples and cellar organisms have died. Also the my organics supply was used up to heal your previous wounds. I will need to replace them.”
Maya wobbled as she rose to her feet.
“What do you need? Organics, like something alive?” she asked.
She pulled out an apple from her inventory and set it down on the table that kept her standing.
“Will this do?” she asked.
“Unfortunately it appears that this fruit is sterile. There is no biological activity from bacteria within it. It is as if all cellular life has been extinguished within it. Except…” Nanaseto paused for a moment, “it seems that you are shedding living bacteria.”
“Yay me,” Maya said.
“To regrow your ocular organ, I will need a source of living cells. I do not have the equipment to create living cellular organisms. That requires Tier 3 medical facilities.”
“Great.” The world wobbled again and she leaned heavily on the table. “Harvest some from me then. Then patch me up.”
A wall of machinery lit up and from the side of it, a container shifted outward. Maya was too dazed to fully appreciate the functioning machine. Twenty thousand years and it still worked.
“What’s that?” Maya asked, gesturing to the container.
“You must input a biological sample into the container. I shall use my remaining resources to build off of it,” Nanaseto replied.
“Alright, what do you need? Blood? Saliva?”
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“Your biological waste will suffice. It has all the necessary water, organics, and cellular material I require,” the AI said.
“What?” Maya asked after a long moment. “You’re shitting me!”
Blissful darkness held Maya in its oblivion embrace. She floated in darkness and breathed it in. Pain and terror were but distant memories, nothing bothered her in the darkness.
“Awaken,’ a voice said.
Maya gasped and opened her eyes to blinding light. She shuddered as her left eye burned as if a beach full of sand had been dumped into it.
“Aw, my eye!” Maya cried out.
“You may be experiencing a bit of pain,” the soothing voice said.
“No fucking shit!” Maya yelled.
The pain began to recede and Maya blinked again. She stared ahead and realized she had binocular vision once more. She clamped her hand over her right eye and grinned as she could see out of her left.
“I’m healed,” she whispered.
“All major injuries have been taken care of,” Nanaseto said appearing before Maya. “Unfortunately it took more power and resources than I had estimated.”
Maya realized she didn’t feel any of the aching muscles or pains that she had been feeling all day. She rolled her shoulder and there was no pain. Her forearm that had been sliced was healed and as she lifted her leg she also saw the puckered scar on her thigh had been removed.
“This is…” Maya paused. “Why the hell am I naked!”
“Upon further inspection of your physical form, a full genetic cleansing was necessary. The high concentrations of mana had already begun creating cancerous growths and mutations in your genetic structure. If left untreated it would have caused irreparable damage. Unfortunately the organics you contributed were not enough to cover the entire cost of the cleansing and due to legal decree 47812-VBS I cannot harvest material from non-consenting SIL. Fortunately, your clothing appeared to be made from organic materials and therefore was harvested instead.”
“You fixed me up using my clothes?” Maya asked.
“Indeed.”
Maya sat up. She had occupied one of the medical beds in the room. The steel frame of the bed was oddly comfortable, but without clothing the metal was freezing.
“Thanks,” Maya said. Being naked was far better than being a mutant monster. There was no worrying about it anymore, she was alive and that’s all that mattered. It wasn’t as if there were anyone else around to be shocked by her nakedness.
Her arms trembled as she sat up. She might have been healed, but she was still terribly exhausted. Maya blinked as Nanaseto wavered slightly. The AI didn’t look as bright or solid anymore.
“You said you used up a lot of power, how much time do you have left?” Maya asked.
“Fifteen minutes,” the AI said.
Maya nodded slowly.
“I need information,” Maya said, her mind racing. “I need some kind of language module you have. Something that’ll let me read and understand all the alien languages around me. I need to know how to use the knowledge modules that you were talking about. You’re going to have to release all of them to me.” Maya racked her brain again, pushing past her exhaustion and trying to remember the things she had planned on getting out of the AI before it shut down. “I need a full map of the ship too, also a manifest if you have one.“
“I do not have access to the cargo manifest,” the AI interrupted. “I can install a mid grade, Tier 1 language module, it will take ten minutes. The knowledge modules only have to be held in the hand and mentally activated to absorb them. I will also release the full Map of the ship to you.”
“Alright. Will I be knocked out again?” Maya asked.
“Yes.”
Maya lay back down upon the cold bed again, taking a slow breath.
“Let’s do this.”
Maya awoke, gasping. She hadn’t even noticed she’d lost consciousness. The short nap didn’t seem to do anything for her, instead she felt the exhaustion from before clawing even more strongly at her. Her eyes drooped and she felt a bit dizzy.
“You are extremely exhausted,” the AI stated the obvious. “You’ll need to rest and consume nutrients. Otherwise, the installation of the language module was successful. It will take an hour for it to fully map and integrate into your brain.”
“Wait, what?” Maya asked confused. “It’s installed in my brain?”
“Yes.”
“I just had brain surgery?”
“Yes.”
“Of course,” Maya sighed. Losing an eye, poisoned by mana, regaining an eye, and now brain surgery. Today was a strange day.
“I have released the locks upon the knowledge modules I have in my possession, I’ve also updated the Map, including a crew manifest and locations of main storage areas.” Nanaseto said. She was barely a shadow of her former glowing self. Maya didn’t know what to say as she watched the only person she met begin to fade away.
“Can you make food and water?” Maya asked suddenly. “You can grow organs, can you recreate food for me?”
“Although I am not a nutrient processor, I can create edible material that will fuel your body. Although it will be limited and energy intensive.”
“Meaning, I need to get those mana batteries for you,” Maya said.
“Yes.”
“Then, I’ll do it. I’ll find the batteries and replace them.”
“When I am offline, time does not pass for me. I feel that it would be a shame if I were never to know what happened to you,” the AI said. “I may be a Tier 1 AI, but I still wish to re-awaken.”
Maya nodded. “Thank you, Nanaseto. Thank you for what you’ve done for me. You haven’t seen the last of me,” she said.
The AI gave a smile and bowed slightly. Then she vanished.
The medical room was plunged into darkness. Maya stayed upon the cold steel bed and took a shuddering breath. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she silently wept.
She was alone again.
Maya dried her eyes and looked to the small blinking notifications in her vision. She sighed and brought them up.
Quest: The Derelict - Completed!
Salvage Rights to the Hanganathorie obtained.
500 Experience Points gained.
First! - You are the first among your species, Human, to defeat a Boss Level Entity.
Plunder I
10% more damage to all Boss Level Entities
+ 1 to Fortitude
5000 EXP
Tiny Terror - Defeating a Boss Level Entity before Level 1.
+1 to Foundation
5000 EXP
Giant Slayer - Defeating a Boss Level Entity five times your level
+ 2 points to all Physical Attributes.
2000 EXP
[Salvager] Level 1
Derelicts are eyesores, keep the multiverse clean. System Salvage Claim Rights reduced by 10 universal standard days (now 390 days).
…
[Salvager] Level 4
Derelicts are eyesores, keep the multiverse clean. System Salvage Claim Rights reduced by 40 universal standard days (now 360 days).
[Adventurer] Level 1
Monsters, credits, and glory
+ 1 to Physical Recovery
[Lone Hunter] Level 1
Sometimes you just want all the EXP gains for yourself.
+ 1 Mental Willpower
Level up!
Level 1
Level Up!
Level 2
…
Level Up!
Level 8
“Awesome,” Maya muttered and then promptly fell asleep.
***
Name
Maya Sullivan
Race
Human (Tier 1)
Level
8
12,842/25,600
Titles
Stranger in a Strange Land, Lost Soul, Unstable Survivor, First!, Giant Slayer, Tiny Terror
Physical
Tier 1
Mental
Tier 1
Soul
Tier 1
Luck
18
Fortitude
3
Foundation
4
Physical
Mental
Soul
Strength
7
6
2
Endurance
6
2
2
Stamina
7
2
1
Dexterity
7
5
2
Perception
5
4
1
Willpower
8
3
2
Recovery
6
3
2
Channel
4
1
1
Attribute Points
32
Universal Credits
0
Skills
Abilities
Evaluation I
Explorer 1
Intention I
Looter of the Dead 1
Dimensional Inventory I
Tomb Raider 1
Dimensional Awareness I
Salvager 4
Plunder I
Adventurer 1
Lone Hunter 1