“Here it is!” Robin exclaimed and pointed at one of the legs belonging to the Keeper’s mysterious spaceship.

Timothy wasn’t yet close enough to hear him, still standing stiff as a statue a few dozen meters from the ship.

“That is amazing…” He mumbled in wonder, “Forget about the discovery of the Drel outpost on Ruca II. If this thing really comes from the Keeper, it is probably the most important finding of this millennial… and not just for mankind.”

While his friend was trying to grasp the magnitude of what they had discovered here, Robin slowly walked over to him.

“If there isn’t anyone else using Æther to power their ships, this is definitely made by the Keeper.” He said and put a reassuring hand on Timothy’s shoulder, “Come one, let’s check it out, shall we?”

Still dazed, Timothy allowed himself to be led forward.

“I’m peeking behind the curtain of one of the most protected secrets of the universe…”

“Yes, mate, you are. But don’t dream about your head being printed on the next issue of Intergalactic Science just yet.” Robin tried to calm him down.

“What? Rob, don’t you understand the implications of this?”

“No, of course not. How would I have an idea of the full picture? The only thing I’m fairly certain about is that the UAS probably won’t be happy about a ragtag group of wannabe-adventures being the first to poke this thing.” He explained, “And don’t forget that I may be the only asset they have that can actually interact with this piece of technology. I have no intentions to move from my apartment into some dark cellar a few dozen levels below the UAS headquarters.”

Timothy stopped dead in his tracks and then nodded enthusiastically.

“Damn, you are right. This ship is like a hot piece of metal and we are the ones that are about to get burned. I agree, we shouldn’t touch it at all and leave it for the UAS to research!”

“Are you crazy? I won’t let this chance pass by. I didn’t mean we don’t touch it, I was just questioning if involving the UAS would be a wise move.” Robin scolded and looked at his friend as if he was an idiot. There was nothing on this planet or in this dying star system that could keep him from trying his hands on the ship.

“Now come and help me with opening it!” He said and returned to the leg where he sensed the node-system in the net of Æther.

Together they could quickly conclude that this was a spot where one could interact with the ship, similar to the authentication-mechanism at the monolith. The schematics were a bit different and had six instead of just four nodes but all in all it was comparable with what they had found earlier.

After Robin extensively used his mutation to inspect the Æther system and created a copy for Timothy, he left to relax his strained mind while his friend checked the schematics. Half an hour and one Mind-Refresh later, Robin gave the rest of the ship another round of scanning to make sure he didn’t miss anything with his earlier check during the storm.

“I hope you figured out something.” He said after he returned to Timothy, “There isn’t anything else that looks like an access- or interaction-point.”

“Yes, since it’s not too different from how the monolith works, I could deduct a good working theory.” The researcher said and showed him his tablet, “It’s pretty easy actually. You see, there are two more nodes which will make the number of possible combinations grow massively, but at the end of the day, it’s the same kind of authentication-mechanism. I used the time to look into the possible effects or repercussions of entering a wrong code.”

“Great, we don’t wanna get washed away by another wave of death…”

“There is no such risk here, as far as I can tell. Seems pretty simple and straightforward…” Timothy said, “However, I’m working with so little knowledge, that it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the whole ship suddenly blows up after entering the wrong code.”

“Very reassuring, thanks!” Robin scoffed, “Shall I give it a go?”

“Sure, I’ll give you some space…” Timothy said and hurried far away from the ship. Only after he was more than 100 meters away did he tell Robin the first combination to test and gave him a thumbs-up.

“Really? Fuck you!” Robin scolded.

“I’m sure that it’s safe, no worries!”

“Aha…”

He cleared his mind and took a few deep breaths. Then Robin closed his eyes and activated his mutation.

It didn’t take him long to locate the first node but when he tried to grasp it with his new skill to lower the resistance and activate it, he felt like running against a wall.

“Shit…” He cursed after getting rudely rebuffed by the ship.

He didn’t give up and tried a second time, only to stop dead as soon as his senses reached the metal once again.

“This isn’t working…” He muttered.

“What’s wrong?” Timothy asked from his safe place away from the ship.

“I can’t interact with the nodes.” Robin explained, “It’s as if I’m running into a metal wall.”

“Uhm, isn’t that exactly what you are doing?” Timothy asked, “You said this ship was shielded passively? The only explanation would be a special metal. That it is resistant to outside interference is only normal, isn’t it?”

“Damn…” Robin cursed and after a moment of thoughts, he took off his gloves and touched the cold metal with his bare hands.

In his early days after getting his G-Anomaly he often had to touch things to get a better idea of what was happening inside. After getting used to his new senses, direct contact wasn’t necessary any longer but maybe now was the right time to return to the basics.

Slowly he stretched out his senses and felt for the node hidden behind the black metal.

“There you are!” He chuckled and activated the first network point.

***

Roughly one hour later, Robin still stood in front of the big leg of the enormous alien ship. His head was throbbing and his stretched out arm was slowly getting numb.

Timothy had been right that there weren’t any defensive mechanisms in place to lash out at potential invaders that tried to hack the authentication system, only a short timer between the attempts. The Keeper simply had no need to invest in anything extensive if there wasn’t anyone who could even interact with their ships. The need for authentication was probably only there as fail-safe in case of dissent in their own ranks. With the feedback Robin got from his senses, they could finally identify the right combination.

“So, that’s the one? Can’t say I’m not nervous!” Robin mumbled before he successively activated the six nodes.

As soon as the last point in the network lit up in bright red light to his senses, Robin took a step back and a high-pitched hissing could be heard.

Timothy was still on his way to where Robin stood next to the ship’s huge leg, as a number of the armor-plates began to fold over and retract, giving view to the black, gleaming metal surface below. The hissing continued until finally a small fissure appeared. As it grew, Robin realized that there was some kind of door sliding upwards, opening the way into the inside of the ship’s huge leg.

“Burn in plasma…” Robin marveled as tension and excitement rose in him.

“We did it?” Timothy asked, gasping for air, when he arrived next to him.

“We did it!” Robin confirmed and looked into the small room. It was big enough for maybe four people and had a curved, smooth wall encompassing it. On the floor he spotted a round platform highlighted by a thin ring of white light. The room was dimly lit by a few small dots that were seemingly randomly integrated into the wall.

“It’s beautiful!” Timothy said absentminded.

“What do you mean?” Robin asked in confusion. Sure, the ship was amazing, but it didn’t seem like that was what his friend was referring to.

“The lighting?” Timothy said in a questioning tone, “Don’t you think the warm orange light is mixed quite harmoniously with the cold blue light? It feels like we are about to step into the deep void of space. If the ship’s form didn’t give it away already, the lighting of this room alone would reveal its alien origin.

“Ah, yeah… sure.” Robin grumbled, not pointing out his inability to experience this wondrous color-play.

“This should be some kind of elevator, right?” Timothy said, not noticing Robin’s discomfort.

“I think so, too. Shall we test it out?” Robin asked and stepped in without waiting for an answer.

The clean design of the small room allowed Robin to quickly notice the only disrupting element on the wall. It was a small panel with three buttons, each engraved with a different, unknown symbol.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“I can’t read shit.” He shrugged and looked expectantly at Timothy, “What does it say?”

“Ah come on, as if I would know. Just started to peek at the Keeper’s language. But let me make an educated guess: up, down and open?”

“So, Up it is…” Robin said and pressed the button on the top. Immediately the door shut and more light-dots lit up in its place, now completely surrounding them. He had to acknowledge that Timothy was right, from the inside it really felt as if he was in space, surrounded by stars.

Before his amazement could give way to fear of being trapped in an alien spaceship, the platform beneath them slowly began to rise. For a short moment they passed by the many dots in the wall as if traveling through space, until the elevator stopped and the door opened again.

Robin and Timothy soon found themselves standing at the end of a small hallway. The walls, floor and ceiling were made of black and silvery metal with a clean look. Different from the outside, the ship’s design pattern on the inside leaned into straight lines and sharp edges. Robin couldn’t find anything that reminded him of the curved form of the ship’s body.

It was dark, only dimly glowing strips on the ceiling provided little light - no windows could be found.

They turned around as the door of the elevator closed with a low hiss. A small panel to its side lit up. To their left was another door with a glowing pad, as well as on the wall opposite of them. The latter however seemed to be in a different color and Robin squinted his eyes before ROMAS helped him out.

* This panel’s color is green (89%)

* The color of the panel next to us is green (89%)

* The color of the panel opposite of us is red (92%)

“Thanks.” Robin muttered under his breath and touched the panel to his side. The door slit open again. He walked to the red panel and also touched it. A low beep rang out but nothing else happened. Shrugging, he touched the other green pad and that door also opened, revealing a small room with another elevator.

“Seems like we can’t enter every room.” Robin said while Timothy walked down the hallway. “Hello? Someone at home?” He asked, sheepishly looking from left to right when he reached a crossroad.

“Really?” Robin chuckled and reached his side. To their left was another locked door and to their right, the hallway led deeper to the back of the ship. Red light’s marked every door except one at the far end.

“There is only one open room. Let’s check it out.” Timothy said and carefully stepped through the empty hallway.

“This really gives me the creeps…” Robin complained, taking in the eerie atmosphere. The stagnant air he could taste through the filter of his helmet, the dim light… the silence broken only by their footsteps - it was as if the ship itself was telling a story about the loneliness one feels when stranded in the endless depths of the universe.

“What do you think has happened to them? I can’t see any signs of a fight.” Timothy whispered, “Not that I believe that anyone other than a Keeper would be able to enter this ship.”

“Let’s hope our first guess proves right and they really just had a technical issue that forced them to land here.” Robin said.

“You think you could repair it?”

“Think? Hell no!” He laughed, “But a man is allowed to dream, right?”

The room at the end of the hallway, probably close to the end of the ship, turned out to be some kind of storage facility. It was mostly empty but they found some crates, neatly stacked up in rows of otherwise empty shelves. Since the boxes were locked with an electronic lock, they didn’t even try to open them. Not daring to tempt fate more than necessary.

Soon, they returned to the elevator Robin had opened before and found a pad with four buttons, one of which they had guessed to be Open.

“So the ship has three levels.” Timothy said, “Since the ship’s body is at least 20 meters high, I assumed it would be four but maybe the other levels have higher ceilings then this one.”

When they reached the next level, Robin heard Timothy take in a sharp breath.

“Jackpot!” His friend muttered and quickly hurried to the door in the wall opposite of them. When the door slit open without delay, Robin realized what Timothy had meant: they stood on the crossroads of four long hallways and he could see nine door panels, all of them glowing in the same color: green.

“This must be a bunk!” Timothy shouted, his inner urge to research fighting off his former fear and hesitation.

Robin followed him and also stepped through the open door. Calling the room a bunk was an understatement, it was bigger than his captain’s quarters on the Hubble and was furnished not only with a bed, but he also spotted a couch, a desk, many shelves and cabinets to store stuff as well as a small but nice bathroom. Everything was empathy though; either there never was a crewmember assigned to this bunk or they took everything before they left the ship.

They looked around a bit more and soon realized that most of the other doors also led into empty bunks, six in total. Additionally they found a big community room with a kitchen and space to relax.

“I really like the clean design, a slight alien touch - but not so much to make me feel uncomfortable.” Robin said as they walked to the last door at the end of the ship, “However, why don’t they have any windows in here? Long travels must be depressing for anyone inside…”

“Most of the time, especially when traveling faster than light, the outside is dark anyways.” Timothy argued, “Maybe they decided that it’s worth trading a few moments of nice view for the safety of a fully armored ship.”

“Hm, I only traveled that much, but even then I have seen so many great things already…” Robin mused.

“Yeah, but most of the time-” Timothy said but stopped after they reached the final door and touched the panel to open it.

“Wow!” Robin gasped at the view.

They entered an enormous room and considering the two huge turbine-like things that must be part of the ship’s thrusters, it should be the technic- and engineering area. The ceiling was higher and at the left and right each a big machine was placed. Robin didn’t recognize either of them, but they were so tall that the upper level’s floor had been removed above them.

“Two thrusters, one power generator and one shield generator?” Timothy guessed.

“Maybe.” Robin said hesitantly, “However, they have a passive shield already. Depending on its effect, they might not need an active shield. I’ll take a closer look after we’ve checked the bridge.”

With a heavy heart, Robin left the engineering room behind and headed for the elevator. After Timothy also had entered, he pressed the topmost button and waited for the platform to bring them to the upper level.

When the door opened again they didn’t find another hallway but a wide open room with an elevated platform in the middle. It looked like some kind of table but Robin was sure that its real purpose would only be revealed after the ship was properly powered. Additionally there was a big conference table with comfy looking chairs on one side and a strange cube far on the other side of the room. The door leading to the back of the ship, above the engineering area, was locked but the one to the front had a green glowing panel.

While Timothy didn’t hesitate to rush to the door that must lead to the bridge, Robin slowly wandered to the cube.

Its edges were about 1 meter long each and the whole thing looked like it was made of highly sophisticated electronic panels. A dull light glowed inside, spilling out between little gaps in the construct.

“Robin!” Timothy shouted excitedly, “You have to see this! Damn, this is what I call a proper bridge.”

…

“Robin?”

…

“Rob? What’s wrong?”

Robin didn’t even notice his friend’s shouting. He could only stare at the cube with a blank face, reading the notification on his Interface.

* Technological structure recognized

* Analyzing cube…

* Cube identified: Star Atlas

* Status: Dormant

“What is…?”

* ! WARNING !

* Compatible vessel for unit 954.155.652.178.998 - Codename Guard - found.

* Transfer-Protocol initiated…

* Connection to Guard failed…

* Connect the Star Atlas to the UAS network to continue…

“That damn door!” Robin said, a grin spreading across his face, “It’s been far too long since I last heard that little bastard nagging like a grandma!”

Still smiling, Robin thought back to his meeting with the talking door on Ruca II.

“No worries, buddy, I’ll go and get you! I just wonder where you were hiding all this time…”

***

Far away, back in the Mereus Cluster, two men in white coats were standing in the technical room of a small UAS outpost.

“Do you think it’ll work this time?” The man with a small beard on his chin asked.

“Who knows? They thought they had it the last two times as well but…” The other man answered. He was a bit smaller and absentmindedly padded his big belly.

“Yeah but after the last failure, the upper echelon kicked quite some asses in the IT department. That’s why they now switched to the idea from this Reed guy.”

“Pah, do you really believe his crap? The hacker shall be a sophisticated AI created by the Starborn? The Starborn?? Really?”

“The UAS is at least confident to a degree.” The bearded man defended.

“They just cling to straws.”

“I don’t know… Pally said they mobilized the UAS IGD Eschaton. You don’t send a Cap-size destroyer on a whim, you know?”

“Uhhh, Pally told you. Well, then I’m all in.” The second man scoffed.

“Ah come one, you kn-”

Suddenly the small notepad on the table next to them began to beep a loud, penetrating warning and its display flashed red.

“You are kidding me…!”

“Come one, hurry up!” The bearded man said and ran to a distribution box, “You do it!”

“Me? Are you crazy? There have been dozens of outposts identified as possible targets, what if this is just a false alert? We would be doomed if we plug the cable in that- … Wait!”

His shout came too late however, his colleague had already ripped out all the cables in the box, effectively cutting every connection their station had with the outer world, including the access to the UAS network that the hacker used.

For a moment nothing happened, then the lights went out and everything was plunged into darkness.

“Uh Oh…”

“I think it is here…” The chubby one whispered.

Suddenly, one of the displays at the control station turned back on. Its eerie light illuminated the room.

Hesitantly the two men shuffled closer to check what was going on. However, when they read the message that was displayed, they just looked at each other in confusion.

“Who the hell is Robin Tulward?”

What kind of bullshit is this?

Who dares to trap the great me?

Damn, move your ass and get me Robin Tulward on the line!

End of Arc II - The Keeper