CHAPTER 3 - ET TU, MELTING SPACE STATION?
“Well, how about we start with not dying. You not being dead means I’m not dead. I didn't trap myself for a couple of millennia just to get strapped to some suicidal asshat.”
Ignoring her verbal attack he said, “We? What do I even call you, anyway? It's not like you’ve actually told me anything. I am in a big fortress that’s falling to pieces, on the edge of the galaxy, and there is eternal war all around me. No one knows this place exists except for the few poor bastards that stumble on it and get vaporized. Is that about right?”
“Uh… yeah. That’s accurate, but-“
“No. No buts. You're some artificial construct that has essentially hijacked my mind. You’re a squatter. A mental squatter. In my brain. Fuck. You tricked me into giving you access to what makes me a person after explaining that the thing before you was going to turn me into some mindless meat puppet,” Reeve sneered.
“And yet you expect me to trust you, so you can turn me into some wanna-be Lord?” He felt the AI forming a response but cut it short again. “Right. Totally believable. Now, to top off this ridiculous situation you prod me forward with statements like, ‘let’s not die’, or ‘please survive and find me’. Goading me into courses of action that are beneficial to you without giving me anything to work with.”
The squatter was about to make a comment when Reeve cut it off yet again, “No. I will not trust you. I will not rebuild this place. And I sure as hell will not become a Lord over the ‘look-at-this-shiny-decrepit-pile-of-shit’ fortress until I learn more about what the actual fuck is going on.”
He paused, considering his options. “…at this point, I would get up and storm away but you’re kinda in my brain. So just imagine it.”
“…That’s fair. Also, I am totally imagining you storming off. Very believable. Uh, I don’t really know what to say. You're right. Completely right, actually. Okay, I’m going to level with you.”
The voice paused and Reeve got the distinct impression it didn't want to broach this topic.
“I am not artificial. Well, not completely, anyway. The body in that chair was mine. I died. As far as I know, I was the last person alive on this station. I violated everything my people valued and uploaded my mind into the AI core here. Then everything shut down and I got trapped.”
“You got scared you were going to die and tried to find a way out of it,” Reeve spat.
“That's… definitely not how it happened! I had a duty to continue… I mean, I was the only one left so… yeah, okay, I was scared. So what? Shut it. Who would want to die willingly? I mean, come on!”
The not-AI raged inside of Reeve's brain.
“We had the technology, we had the ability, we had the means! Why condemn everything we had worked so hard for to the void? For our pride and vanity? Our fear of AI? Seriously. Whatever. My people were brilliant but shortsighted.”
“Gotcha. Young officer, fearing death, performs a rite that is taboo by her people in order to become effectively… immortal? Wait, does that make you some kind of lich? Is my fucking brain your phylactery?!” Reeve began probing his bead for any odd bumps or protrusions. Phylacteries were normally heavily enchanted objects, so he should be able to physically feel them…
“What is a lich? A phyla-what? What are you doing? Is something wrong with your head?”
Reeve finished inspecting his head before sighing and plopping down in a nearby, thankfully unoccupied, seat.
“How would a lich not know what it was, or even what a phylactery is? I mean, the amount of Mana needed for such a ritual is by no means small. And you would have to do it on purpose. These things don’t happen accidentally… well, not very often and never like this,” he explained.
“Okay, I think there is a serious disconnect here. And it probably has something to do with where you are from. A cultural difference, maybe? Ritual? What’s Mana?”
Reeve froze at those last words. What is Mana?
“What is Mana?” he repeated aloud. “Mana is everything. It is the building block of reality itself. It permeates and infuses existence. How can you not know what… wait. I haven’t seen any magi-tech here. No enchantments. I haven’t sensed Mana outside of myself. That energy you mentioned, the stuff that killed everyone… is it... Mana?”
“Mana… I suppose it could be. We never figured it out before, well, everyone died. A strange, powerful, and thoroughly fatal energy to anyone who comes into contact with it that isn’t you. I am not sure what you mean by enchanting or magi-tech. This base is powered by several advanced fusion reactors. Same stuff as the stars themselves.”
The concept boggled Reeve's mind.
“The stars?” he asked. “You don’t use magic to power everything? Even my… what did you call them… my nanites?” He got a vague sense of wordless agreement from his mental passenger. “Right, even my nanites recognized my Mana. I apparently have way more than I should and I was able to charge that pistol with a single unit… but if you don’t use magic… what do you use?”
“I don’t know anything about magic, aside from children’s shows. Our race used technology and science to discover the secrets of the universe. To power our civilization. To build our wonders. We mimic the natural events around us and then change, convert, and improve upon them to open new fields of study and research.”
“Amazing,” Reeve mused. “A non-magic society built around concepts of the mundane.” He felt more than heard a sense of irritation from his passenger. “By mundane I mean non-magical,” he expanded.
“So, I am assuming no one could do this?” He summoned mage-fyre around his hand. “Yes, I did create fire. Mage-fyre, to be exact. But not from nothing, no. You can never create something from nothing. That’s not how it works,” Reeve explained.
He continued, “This is what most of the people back from my home would call a spell or magic in layman's terms. I take Mana from the world and use it to power my spells. I am a living converter of Mana. Others are able to imbue Mana into objects and power them. That process is called enchanting while the result is referred to as magi-tech.”
“Fascinating. So while my society was built around science and technology, your society is centered around this Mana energy?”
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“Well, yes and no. Before I woke up here there were breakthroughs that were making magi-tech more accessible for the average citizen, but it remained expensive and was still mostly a Mage or Noble thing,” Reeve explained.
“Enchanting and rituals were entirely different, though. Enchantments are physical spells inscribed on objects with runes that pull Mana from the surroundings to power themselves.” Reeve said resolutely. He had trained mages in the past and knew all about Mana and its uses. “Most enchantments can only be used by those who are trained to use them.”
He continued, “Rituals are… perceived as darker things but are still essentially the same kind of process. People turn themselves into undead such as liches and vampires in pursuit of immortality. Rituals can also summon demons as servants or to fight for you. They can also be used for Grand Workings.”
“Your magic sounds every bit as complicated as our science. But far more versatile within the concept of its use. Science usually requires much more… build up.”
“Yeah. Anyone could learn to use even a small bit of it,” Reeve agreed. He sat there in silence with his thoughts. The awkwardness grew until, finally, he asked, “So, what now? Do you have a name or something? Where do we go from here?”
“Ah, right. Well, you probably can’t pronounce my name. See the weird characters? That’s the nanites trying to translate, and they just can’t. Our names were verbal and never written. The system can’t translate something it has no reference for. So... just call me Red, I guess? Same color as the medal on my, uh… corpse. That works well enough.”
“Alright, Red it is. I am Reeve. Nice to formally meet you.”
“The same. As to what we should do, well, your earlier claim was not wrong. I do want something, too. I want to be free. The galaxy is… well, it's new. Once the Annuvi were gone I am sure the other races went berserk before settling into a new normal. I want to explore that. Besides, there’s plenty out there I don’t know about.”
“That’s fair. Well, I suppose we need a way to travel, and money. I know how to make the money, but I am not so sure about the travel,” Reeve responded. “Any ideas?”
“You’ve been awake for about three days and you already know how to make money? I find that difficult to believe.”
“It’s the same in literally any society you are in. There are three guaranteed ways to make money. Commerce, sex, and war. I don’t like to get fucked on my way to the top. I prefer to do the fucking,” Reeve explained.
“No,” he continued. “Instead, we can make money through war. Something I am exceedingly good at. I was a mercenary, so I am well versed in everything that came with the profession. That includes logistics, recruiting, training, and combat operations. We could raid others or sell services related to combat or protection. Easy stuff. Everyone needs more military strength.”
“That is pretty well thought out for a seemingly unsophisticated barbarian. I would contribute to the manpower front but, you know, no body. So either option is out for me. I suppose I could supply information?”
“You can help for sure. This is all new to me. I have zero reference points in regards to your science and technology. Nothing on or about this new world. Fuck, I don’t even know what a galaxy is, other than we’re going out into it. So the information bit is going to be very important. You be the guide and I’ll drive. Just like a wagon,” Reeve vented.
“A… wagon. Right. Let’s go with that. Okay, so first step, then. We need a ship. You said you saw Orkin, right? They got here on a ship. We can take theirs. And since I am with you now, you won’t have to walk back. We can take the tram, I think. The second step is to learn more. Like I said before, uneducated barbarian.”
“Not walking is good, but those assholes were seriously armed. If there are any left…” Reeve trailed off.
“Right. Well, if there are, just roast them with your fire. There is one other option as well.”
“What would that be? Build one of these ships here and charge off into the sunset?” Reeve scoffed.
“…Piss off. But yeah, in a nutshell, you aren't wrong. Seriously, every time I have thrown an idea or concept at you, your thought process has been close enough to have been considered either correct or at least in the general area of correct.”
“I'm smart for an uneducated barbarian. And you aren't telling me to go fuck myself. So my willingness to think outside the box for your sake is a bit greater than before,” he replied.
“Why? Did the AI say that? Was it really that crass?”
Reeve got the mental equivalent of laughter. “I could bore you with our many conversations, but I don’t want you to go insane.”
“Your consideration is appreciated, but it’s too late for you. Your brain waves indicate you are a seriously unhinged person.”
“Can you read my mind?” Reeve asked.
“No, but brain waves don’t lie. Certain areas of the brain tend to be used for different things. At least for species who have one. Yours puts you right on the border of learned scholar and murderous psychopath.”
“I’m taking that as a compliment. So, about building one of these ships? Why do we need a ship, anyway? Is this fortress surrounded by the ocean?” Reeve asked, genuinely curious.
“Oh boy. You never left your terrestrial world, did you?”
“Of course I did. Planar travel was common. Particularly via a portal. I have also been in many ships, from ocean vessels to military airships,” Reeve retorted. "I can't tell you how many things I've killed on other worlds."
“Yeah, okay. So you have a small idea of what you’re talking about. Reeve, you need to understand something. Your working knowledge of where you are at now is akin to that of an infant’s. A smart, and very dangerous, murderous infant. This fortress is orbiting a world nearly six thousand miles above its surface. We are in a region collectively referred to as space, the void, or the empty area between objects with mass.”
Reeve froze. His mind went into overdrive as he attempted to quantify the information he had just gotten. If there was a place above the world… that meant that the sun was a fixed point. And planets… revolved around them? Perhaps… yes. It had to be.
“There is no Mana here. You said the energy around me was fatal to others and spread, correct?” He reasoned out loud, feeling the agreement from Red. “Oh gods, I’m a walking ley line.”
“A what?”
“A ley line. A natural phenomenon that produces Mana. A ley-line generates Mana based on matter intake, by absorbing the material around it and breaking it down into pure energy. In most cases, they are nestled deep within the earth of my world, or worlds similar to it,” he explained.
“However, I have heard that some extremely powerful beings are able to generate small amounts of Mana by themselves. Mana is attracted to living beings, it seeks them out to be used. If your people were not attuned to it… or if I am putting off raw Mana…” Reeve trailed off, closing his eyes.
“Then it would naturally be fatal if they attempted to absorb it. Similar to radiation or a poison that someone doesn’t have a tolerance to.”
“I don’t know what radiation is, but the poison analogy is good. Very much like poison. However, if I am generating raw Mana then… oh gods. Raw Mana is lethal to everything. Red, bring up that screen that shows my name,” Reeve said, panic evident in his voice.
Red did so, and he stared at it.
DESIGNATION: Reeve
RACE: ‘DATA CORRUPTION’
‘DATA CORRUPTION’
PHYSICAL: Healthy
MENTAL: Disbelief
‘DATA CORRUPTION’
ARMOR: None
WEAPON: None
MANA: 1,513,820
CAPACITY: ‘DATA CORRUPTION’
“I don’t know how the energy conversion works here, but a single unit of my Mana charged this laser weapon,” Reeve said, taking the item out of his pack. “Can you do the math on that?”
Red was silent for some time before she responded.
“Yeah. The math was easy enough to do. Right now you could power a small fleet by yourself. If you’ve been awake here for, let's say three days, you generate around 500,000 units a day. If I convert that to its raw energy equivalent… well, it’s a lot. Enough to power a small fleet or city easily. Daily. You're a walking reactor.”
Reeve ran his hand over his face. “What if I overloaded?”
“Well, you would definitely die. I would die, too. If it happened now you would take everything with you for about, oh, I don’t know... half a million miles in every direction? So yeah, don't do that. It would suck.”
He was quiet for a long time before he asked, “Should I even leave?”