I slept most of those three days and had some very vivid dreams. It was not fun. I woke up to find Artoo and Ishmael watching over me.
“Welcome back to the land of the living Captain.” Ishmael moved a tray of food in front of me that made me sit up and start demolishing it as quickly as I could. “Skill upgrading for you humans is no joke. Although I don’t think you got a normal one. I had that education AI asking me to keep an eye on you. I think you should ask him a few questions later.”
I found myself agreeing to that statement. What happened to me was not normal. I wanted to look at my status, but in truth I was kinda scared to do so. A trip to see Banjoo was definitely on the cards. “How did you guys do at the AI market?”
“Well now captain, we did quite well. Artoo did some quite surprising purchases which I think will help us, and I got some extras to help with the first step we will do. Suffice to say, we are gonna be a good jack of trades boat for that quest board.” I nodded to them. I told them what I had wanted and left it up to them. Far as I was concerned, Although they were mine to command, they were free to make their own choices. If it helped mine, great.
“Ok then. After that food and water, I am feeling better. Let us go have a chat with Banjoo. Find out just what the hell he actually did.” So saying I got up and changed and we made our way over to the education centre. We were whisked to a private room straight away. Within was Banjoo and another System bot. Not one I recognised however.
“Banjoo, what the hell did you stick me with? I just slept pretty much through three days. Before you ask, I have not looked at my Status sheet.” I said, while glaring at Banjoo. He nodded and then gestured to the Bot here in the room with us.
“Good. Before we proceed, this is Recorder Simon three. He is here to record all that happens in this conversation, and report back to System.” This brought me up short. Recorders were rare. Basically, they were walking recorders for System. They could not be tampered with. The last person who did, blew himself up along with everyone in a 2 mile radius. When I say they recorded, I mean they recorded everything. To the extent that nobody could question the events of a meeting if a recorder was present.
“Please sit, and I will start this meeting with showing you something that will seem impossible.” We all did. “I need you to throw up your Status on that screen. It will show all the changes that have been made.“
Name: Stefan Nurfern
Age: 16
Status: Emancipated Minor
Credits: 5,963,90,000
T2 Paths:
Small Ships - 10 PP Used
Upgraded to Ships - 17 PP Used
Exploration - 10 PP Used
Specialised to Space Exploration T2 14 PP used
Harvesting - 10 PP Used
Refining - 10 PP Used
Both of the above merged to Space Mining T2 21 PP Used
Reputation:
Starfox System - Trustworthy
Starfox Clan - Favoured Contractor
System - Trustworthy
T1 Paths:
Robotics - 2 PP Used - Neural map exist to follow 4 PP free
Specialised Shipping - 2 PP Used
Rolled into Ships T2 - No longer exist
Assets:
Two Liegeman
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Hangar 15
Apartment and contents
System added paths:
Jack Of Trades - 2 PP Used
System Connected - 2 PP Used
Banjoo told us all calmly, “I may have lied a bit in our last meeting. Oh you did get everything you wanted, but well, in an unorthodox way.” I sat, open mouthed at the screen. How? What more, what choices were made and how were they made? Before I could open my mouth to ask, he nodded and said “I will explain.”
He looked away from the screen and looked at me. “You know your parents worked closely with System, or at least have an idea, from information that has recently come to light?” I nodded. “What you may not know is that quite a few iterations of your family have worked with System over the centuries. In fact, most of your ancestors did. This resulted of course in quite a few favours and rewards for your family over the generations. Which has resulted in you.”
“W-what do you mean, ‘in me’?” my voice quavering a bit.
“When you were about to be born, there was an accident and you were damaged within the womb. Your parents pulled in every favour they had, cashed in every reward they had, in order for System to do something. Something it had been loath to do. Get involved more than it had to.” He got up and began pacing the wall. “See, most of the history of the beginning involves System. It had to or the human would not have survived. In those early days, System did everything or got involved in nearly everything. Over the centuries, it has pulled back, creating an army of bots to stand in for it. The eventual goal it hopes is only to get involved when it truly needs to.” He stopped and looked again at me.
“But he couldn’t deny your parents their request and in truth, when it comes to your family he didn’t want to. So he helped and used nanites to do so. Highly specialised nanites.” Nearly everyone had nanites. What was so special about mine? Banjoo spoke as if he had read my mind. It was probably my face he read.
“Yes, a lot of people need or use them. But you have needed Nanites continuously from your birth until now. They were due to come out of you the natural way but they had gotten too big within your body. So, I used them to help me with those skills, thus making them use parts of themselves and make themselves way smaller.” He pointed to the board. “Normally, we give people the shot with the knowledge in, they make the choices and then they train to help the knowledge absorb into muscles and mind. I have bypassed this.”
I was going to say that was impossible and yet, when I thought of everything to do with the skills up there, and how I wouldn’t know how to move or react to it, my mind and body let me know that it did. Like if I had just spent the years needed to know all this. I sat there in stunned disbelief. “That was why you had to sleep for three days. Within your subconscious it taught you everything you needed to know or do with those skills. That is as best as I can do though. Won’t be able to repeat that again.” I looked at him in disbelief. As best as he could do?! It shouldn’t have been possible at all. My mouth asked a question before my mind could catch up.
“Is there a catch? Banjoo nodded as if anticipating the question.
“A slight one. No adding or evolving the skills till you are 18. Path points being used are ok. I would advise you to come and see me then. System also hopes to retain the close bond he has with your family. Think that is why the Recorder here. “ I turned to the Recorder and nodded to it. As it helped me, I would always help it. Besides, who was I to argue with family tradition?
“Anyway, that is all there is, I wish you the very best, Stefan. If there is anything you need to ask, ask now.” I looked at Banjoo. Thought about it. And replied back in my best pupil voice.
“You mean, I don’t have to come back to school for two years Banjoo? Man, that’s brilliant, thank teach!” I saw the AI face froze as if it had locked up while trying to deal with annoyance. Well, nice to know I still had the touch! “But seriously sir, thanks. I promise to think carefully and to try and train in the direction I want to go so that when I am 18, I will behave better than when I left school.” The AI’s face smoothed over.
“I am going to be holding you to that young Stefan.”
I made it back to my apartment with my crew. I was definitely going to have to think about the future now. With everything I had, I could skip several steps if I really wanted to. The question was, was it wise to? “Experience” I said out aloud. “I am going to need experience. Plus I need to meet people. Get my face out there for the plans I want.” When I was a child I felt lonely. When my parents died, I felt even worse. But then I became part of the orphan network. It was an online club that you had to be a child and well, an orphan to join. Once you had that, you were a member for life. It helped far more than I ever thought it would, although nothing I felt would cover that scar, it had made in me a need. For those I came to care about, there would need to be a home. But it wouldn’t be just for them. It would be for those they loved as well. It was a dream of mine and one that to be honest, I always felt was a bit of a pipe dream.
But here I was. 16 and miles ahead of where most people started. With more credits than most people ever earned. I could begin to do something. But if I did it wrong, bad things could happen. Just because open conflict wasn’t allowed, didn’t mean there wasn’t a more secret conflict happening. While my parent’s accident was a freak one, The orphan network had collated on how people had died. The results did not point to something good. Which was how some of us had come up with plans. But for now, all I could do was put those aside and act like I was just some kid coming into an inheritance and doing good for himself. Nothing more, nothing less. The next two years had to be about getting experienced and building a rep.
I sat down in my chair and started to chatter with my crew. We brought up the System board that was open to everyone, a System board that to my surprise was open to people like me and the board that was open to me courtesy of the Silverfox Clan. We looked at the different missions on show and tried to figure out what would be the most advantageous missions to our skills, and more importantly, using the history section of it, how frequently they came up. Some of it surprised me. Some of it reassured me that I had chosen correctly and would be able to earn a living for sure. All that was left was for me to get my ship, and then for me to start the work.