Delta had other plans however.. or rather Anora, who after collecting herself instinctually activated the closest holographic projector in her vicinity, much like she had when she controlled the prior facility, only for the others to be greeted by the sudden sight.
In regard to her appearance, it had noticeably differed from Calisto’s..
Anora’s skin, a pale porcelain white, her face delicate but noble, her eyes, a dark honey brown, her hair, a short, pale blonde.
Her attire, comfortable & casual, a sleeveless knee length dress most commonly referred to a swing dress from the roaring twenties but a considerably plain pearl white, further complemented by her knee-high boots in a partially revealing pattern most similar to knee high sandals.
And before she could utter a word, Ferris waved her off to Ernest.
“Anora Ernest ‘Rothen’, formerly Calisto Delta, and personally responsible for the cracking of the arctic. She’s lackluster, limited, inexperienced, but most of all her survival instincts and luck are unquestionable. Second only to her choice of names-”
Ferris suddenly humored, in return Ernest revealed an ever so rare slight smile. Ferris in all his wisdom had chosen to slip in a middle name as he found the lack of one especially ‘lacking’ in that regard..
“A fitting name..”
Ernest quietly remarked with some approval, but most of all.. reminiscence.. nostalgia even? It would seem Anora, in both name, and appearance resembled ‘someone’ he once knew so long ago. So much so that Ferris had sensed a mutuel sorrow..
As Ferris switched topics, before ultimately removing Calisto’s Chip and handing it to Ernest, who in turn returned it after a brief glance.
“A short reprieve..”
Ernest’s words confirmed what he already knew, Calisto had already consolidated her breakthrough and became or to be more specific recovered her identity as an Ascendant A.I, a strain she was no longer required to endure..
However, considering that was the case, he inserted her back into his implant to ensure she properly recovered. Naturally, she didn’t have an A.I Core, rather his neural implant served as a substitute and in turn became a mutual benefit.
While his neural implant in particular originated from a forgotten federation project relating to their attempts of creating and holding their own Ascendant A.I?
And as it was also a prototype and had no connection whatsoever to either The Curators nor Arcadians, combined with appropriate safeguards and measures against both Ascendant and its A.I equivalent.
Ironically, had The Federation continued down that avenue rather than abandoning it in favor of cheaper Arcadian Alternatives they would have greatly benefited through the avenues it would have created, which would have no doubt delayed The Curator Uprising to some extent.
Making Federation Technology, despite being somewhat inferior of the two, far more useful, and sought after by individuals who preferred not to be under the watchful eyes of The Curators or Arcadians. While evidently, he doubted The Federation would be returning anytime soon..
Calisto & Ernest knew of his fondness, and his rather ‘untimely’ incursions & misuse of ‘funds’. Subsequently, Ferris had ‘quite’ the collection? Between a Derelict Federation Titan, he had unceremoniously ‘taken’ from an isolated Curator System they preferred to keep hidden.
As to why that was, the system in question held the vast majority of The Federation Fleet recovered from The Curator Uprising. Whether it be captured, destroyed, unfinished, projects that were permanently delayed, to ships that were constructed but they never had a chance to use.
No one knew how he had done it, but he had managed to slipspace said-destroyed Titan, in addition to a Super Carrier, and a Super Dreadnought for that matter? Oddly enough he had made use of gravity tethers and a ‘proportional’ slipspace hull attachment.
Sadly, he never had an opportunity to board them as Ernest had only ever requested a specific Federation Councilor's Cruiser, in turn, after doing so and seeing an opportunity of a lifetime, he sent his souvenirs to his system.
That system in question was erased from all known records during The Curator Uprising, contained a Derelict Federation Repository, and enough stations, defense platforms, shipyards, and foundries to easily compare to a core system, however due to its obvious disrepair he left it as his own personal museum.
There were also two abandoned worlds resemblant of The Federation’s own attempt of recreating Arcadia had they fallen, it was only unfortunate its future occupants were likely killed in the first moments of The Curator Uprising.
Much of which was still a mystery as after taking control of the slipspace inhibitors and making himself the administrator, he hadn’t in fact done anything more than to look at his scanner and leave hoping to one day have the time to personally investigate without interference.
In actuality, if Ferris had an opportunity to recreate The Federation he would do so without a second thought as it was ultimately his.. hobby in that regard? So much so that Ernest wasn’t surprised by Cheyenne now being in his retinue.
However, that was as far as Ernest understood, as despite a mentioning of a museum, he himself never had the honor of knowing what it was, not even Calisto knew of the museum in question?
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Calisto had simply assumed he had assisted Roy again with cloning extinct predators and creating ecological disasters in doing so..
While it was obvious whose technology he preferred, New Harvest Technology was born of the theories, schematics, and minds of The Federation even if they took drastically different paths?
Summarily, even while ‘some’ Curators may be present on New Harvest, they were likely assisting in such research after ‘some’ convincing from Ernest or purely for nostalgia while their identities and presence were an utmost secret.
Evidently, as if on cue ‘Catherine’ had chosen to make an appearance, or more precisely behind Cheyenne who instinctively shoved her sidearm under Catherine’s chin, prompting her to in turn helplessly smile and raise her hands, however before she too could mutter a word Cheyenne had done so in her place..
“Curator..”
Cheyenne quietly muttered, leaving Catherine to deconstruct her side arm and ending the encounter with a flick to her forehead, before coming to an unknown realization and ignoring her as she made her way and unceremoniously sat on Ferris’s lap..
Leaving Ferris puzzled & Ernest even more so as Anora watched wondering what was going on only for Catherine to push Ernest’s teacup over and lean back into Ferris, all of which for seemingly no reason at all.
As for her appearance, she had wavy cream blonde hair, dark honey golden eyes, scattered freckles of a similar tone over her porcelain white skin, lightly tanned. While her attire was consistent to a casual security technician uniform, only brown for some reason?
There weren't brown uniforms on New Harvest, hence the curiosity bizarrely enough. What’s more, Ernest didn’t say a word as if coming to a similar realization, leaving everyone and everything in suspense.
“Right! How should I say this? This is a dream! Or more specifically you’re reliving your memories after an especially traumatic incident! Ok, ok, here it is.. Ernest is dead, the fragment you're talking to is for the most part a remnant, as a result of his death, it found its way to you. Calisto is similar all except she left one behind after ‘leaving’ New Harvest..”
Unfortunately, as if not having the ability to ‘stop’ talking, Catherine continued without the luxury of allowing him to absorb it all in a single sitting..
“She left nearly fifty years ago-oh and Zeta absorbed Beta and Anora is still with you, however, you sent Cheyenne to that museum of yours with instructions. I have no idea what museum you sent to her or her instructions, so you’ll have to figure that out yourself! As for me.. well I left this fragment behind to explain the gist of everything! And I’m not done yet!”
Soon she would unceremoniously repeat the process allowing him no time to absorb much of it, presumably due to a time constriction or other factors at play.
“After this particular memory you stayed behind to talk to the board & reigned in those three troublemakers, soon after they left The Infection popped up. And before the neutron purge you made it to your cryo pod, got shot in the head by that Arcadian Assassin, got lucky enough for the pod to still activate while you were moments from death, and then-”
Catherine, unceremoniously blurted out .. before Ernest took this chance and quietly signaled her to stop speaking.
“That’s enough.. you’ll have to forgive us, son. I’m sorry we’ve kept you for so long. I’m not going to sugar coat it, Calisto’s Doppelganger & a member of The Curator Council we haven’t heard from for quite some time had chosen to prevent the departure of the main fleet; in doing so I was forced to end the life of my.. colleague, in turn.. the doppelganger ended mine..”
Ernest’s words were calm, but ultimately unchanged as if merely discussing a matter over tea.
“This remnant, this fragment.. was a security measure to prevent The Doppelganger from making use of my code. It succeeded, allowing this core fragment, and what I have once considered to be my soul, to remain here.. temporarily. The Doppelganger chose to make use of this opportunity to ‘become’ Elizabeth, likely permanently..”
It took some time.. however, as if repeating her previous thoughts, Catherline continued where he left off.
“What he didn’t mention however, when he died, so did the rest of the fleet. The only survivors were the board, ambassadors, and anyone evacuated earlier or much later. Oh, and The Warden & Steward Fleets that also participated because who doesn’t love clearing up loose ends? Blair also died for some reason. How or why? Who knows-”
Catherine’s words or rather that of her ‘fragment’ were drastically different and outright puzzling when compared to The Real Catherine.
Evidently, the real Catherine shared little outside of her appearance with this particular fragment, so much so that even Ernest’s Fragment & Ferris felt mildly uncomfortable with the fragment..
“Do you idiots think I’m doing this because I want to?! I literally only have a handful of moments to tell you everything and I’m NOT going to waste a moment-”
Within moments, her words proved to be correct, as everything had instantly gone black..
…
A handful of minutes later..
Soon, Ferris would awaken within a cryo-pod, its exterior was filled with dust, while its interior was rather frigid indicating a possible malfunction as he forced open the frozen escape latch above him.
Which in turn opened the pod door, as he would soon collapse to the ground, shaking due to the below freezing temperatures within his very suit. From his rough estimations, his suit likely hasn't dethawed due to the previous trauma of being shot in the head.
Evidently, ignoring the plasma scarring on his suit and the clear and obvious hole on his helmet, his skin and condition fared far better, and without scarring. The same couldn’t be said for his memories, which was understandable as he was pierced in the head with a plasma bolt.
…
After taking a moment, he noticed someone, likely Anora or Zeta, had left him a towel and a.. federation replica suit intended for nighttime & arctic operations as he stripped off his suit, collected his A.I chips among other things and dried himself off.
His previous suit was beyond recovery, as after he was dressed, the replica’s heaters activated, and when combined with emergency stems due to his frozen limbs, his mood slightly bettered as he now leaned against a destroyed console.
Evidently, he would have to thank that Assassin for that.. minor malfunction? As for Anora, it took Ferris
“You’re finally awake.. Zeta.. she left me here for a year. As for New Harvest.. she didn’t care to comment.. and telling by the disrepair.. you can guess why? I also experienced that dream, only Zeta was.. insistent that she didn’t wake you until the hundredth-year marker..”
Anora dryly yawned as Ferris thawed out..
“I also sent an.. Echo of mine to follow Calisto, and considering she tossed it into a probe and sent it to the progenitor universe without explanation it's difficult to say why? What’s worse is ‘that’ Anora is now in control of a progenitor derelict and should reenter our universe in.. a week? Considering it took fifty years, and we’re still in contact.. she’s not happy..”
Her sudden revelation that Calisto had sent her Echoe to a completely ‘other’ universe, let alone The Progenitor Universe that was hidden for the last ten thousand years was comedic as it was understandable.