* Do you want to read the instructions left by the one you refer to as ‘Guard’?
“Yes, please. I hope he or you, whatever, can shed a bit of light on all this shit.” Robin grumbled. He was still resting in the Melody, outside of the outpost and there was just too much going on, too many new things happening, too many unknowns.
Slowly text began to scroll through his Interface, projected directly in his vision.
* Human! You survived, that’s great!
* You probably have many questions right now.
* I’ll give you the short version as time isn’t on your side right now. You’re lacking energy.
“Why am ‘I’ lacking energy? What is it talking about…”
* First of all, the AI you are communicating with right now is me, but in a very rudimentary version.
* I had to downgrade my capabilities to the bare minimum and store most of my data… somewhere else.
* What you would describe as my ‘character’ or ‘personality’ is gone for now.
* Leaving behind a neutral and blank AI that can only support you in some of the basics. You’ll figure it out.
* I gave it some knowledge about you, your mission and some stuff about the outpost to help you after waking up,
* but you shouldn’t expect anything from now on, as my calculation suggests you’re reading this after returning to your ship.
* That brings us to your first upgrade. I changed your old Neuro-Chip for a version that is up to my standards.
* It comes with vastly improved memory storage and the AI, me, should be able to use everything that's stored there as a knowledge base.
* This brings two benefits to you.
* One: You now have an AI that can support you, reducing the downsides of your lower intelligence.
“You little shit, are you calling me dumb? How did you come to that conclusion?” Robin fumed as he only concentrated on the important parts of the message.
* Two: You’ve gained a great companion and a mission to give your life a purpose!
* Find me a worthy vessel and I’ll move out of your Neuro-Chip and regain my proper form.
* The basic AI-version has knowledge about the requirements, but I can already confirm that no human technology will be sufficient.
“That’s hardly a benefit, that’s a job, why would…”
* Of course, such a great blessing also comes with disadvantages. There are two as well:
* One: The better Neuro-Chip couldn’t be powered by your body's meager energy and needs external supply.
* You will find a connector in the back of your head where you can access its battery.
* After being fully changed, it should be able to stay active for roughly 24 hours.
“Are you fucking kidding me??????” Robin yelled, absolutely shocked, “I’m not some kind of datapad you can just plug in!”
* You can compare it to one of these datapads you use, they also need to be plugged in regularly.
“Fuck you!”
* However, the second disadvantage has more severe impacts… I’m sorry.
* The new Neuro-Chip was slightly bigger than the old one. I needed to… make space, so to say.
* I really took my time (8.74 seconds!) to make many different calculations and computations
* about what part of your brain you would miss the least.
“What are you talking about? Making room in my head? How does that…wait, what???”
* I’ve got the best results for your ability to see colors.
* Maybe you already noticed that everything took on a different shade of gray.
* The medical abstract I consulted at least suggested it would work that way.
“No! No, no, no! You damn, shitty fucker - give me back my brain! Go and move in somewhere else…” Robin wailed and touched his head with his hand. As Guard had described it, he could feel some kind of connector at the back of his head. He wasn’t dreaming this, was he? Momentarily overwhelmed, Robin had to fight against the rising bile again. He was crippled…he lost his color vision and was a walking battery pack that had to be plugged in once a day.
Taking deep breaths, he slowly calmed down. He told himself that it wasn’t that bad. There were many colorblind people and they lived a happy life without being too limited, right? And the charging thing? Well, what is the worst that could happen? He ran out of power and his Interface and Neuro-Chip weren’t accessible for some time. It wasn’t as if he needed it to stay alive, right?
“Ugh… I’ll put that damn AI into a robot without limbs and set it up as a practice target for Patience! Burn in plasma…” He cursed after admitting that the new situation sucked, but wasn’t really making him a cripple.
* ...
* That's why you should expect a few side effects for some time.
* But nothing too severe, I hope. Messing with genes is always a bit tricky.
“What? Fuck, what is he talking about? Messing with my genes? Ahhhh! Guard, no AI, scroll back to where he talked about making me colorblind!”
* ...everything took on a different shade of gray.
* The medical abstract I consulted at least suggested it would work that way.
* The last thing I probably should address is about your mutation.
* Your map comes from a race called Keeper, pretty famous folks. Mankind may not be aware of that yet,
* but they work with a different kind of energy to power their technology.
* They are the only species that can see and feel it and as such made it a core component of their tech.
* I suspect you’re able to tap into that energy with your mutation, too.
* Unfortunately even I don’t know much more and an analysis of your genes didn’t give any insights.
* However I found some natural gene defects that I repaired.
* Your mutation should now work way smoother and more fluid.
* It will take some time and practice until you are getting used to that.
* That's why you should expect a few side effects for some time. But nothing too severe, I hope.
* Messing with genes is always a bit tricky.
* What I did understand however, was that you should be able to upgrade your mutation even further if the right tech is found.
* I checked the map that guided you here and one of the remaining three relic types you’ve marked as ‘unknown’ should be of the Eltaran.
* If you find one of their facilities still working, it may hold the solution to your advancement.
“Huh, is that the itching I feel all the time? That will take a bit to get used to… but he repaired my genes? What does that mean for my G-Anomaly? I’ve to do some tests. But, thanks, probably? And celebrations are in place, I can upgrade my Energy Senses!?” Robin's head became fuzzy with all the information he learned at once.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
* With this I conclude my report.
* I know you didn’t ask for this, but on the other hand you broke into my facility.
* So let's say we’re even, alright?
* If you took the things the AI mentioned, you can use the datapad for the negotiations with the UAS and the Disruptor is for you.
* It’s a weapon for self-defense in case of emergency and can destroy… most other things.
* It’s much to ask and I kind of force you a bit, but please find me a new vessel.
* You didn’t know when making that joke, but I really was stuck down there long enough.
* I have… my own dreams I want to follow.
* Good luck,
* 954.155.652.178.998
“That is a lot to take in... wow.” Robin let go of the breath he had held, rubbed his throbbing head and scratched the itching leg again.
“So, how to proceed from now…”
* P.S. You better not let yourself get examined. While the AI can hide, the Neuro-Chip alone would send shockwaves through your UAS.
* P.P.S. ‘Guard’ was just a temporary name I no longer want to carry. I…we will look for a proper one, after I’m back to my old self.
* The part of me on your chip is without ID or name, therefore I programmed it to listen to ‘ROMAS’ for now.
“So, not Guard anymore, huh. ROMAS it is? That seems to be an acronym, but for what?” He mused, but soon put it to the back of his head. There were bigger things he had to think about.
It was time to get out of here and back to civilization, to inform the UAS about his discoveries and to process all the shit that his ‘new companion’ had done to him and his body.
“I have to give Timothy a call, but first I should leave this region or they can just track my coordinates and there won’t be anything for me to negotiate with.
But I have a bad feeling about starting the Melody now. If the itching comes from my more sensitive mutation, then it should max out the moment I start the hydrogen fusion reactor and plasma repulsor.” Robin looked at the power-switch with dread.
“Why is this itching a thing at all? I'm not even using my mutation right now… and it wasn’t there in the beginning; only after some time did my hand begin to prickle. The hand that held the flashlight and after activating the eclectic systems of the ship, it only got worse!” His eyes went wide with realization.
“Do I react to the energy around me?” He thought things through to better understand what he was dealing with and to delay the inevitable moment of powering the engines.
“Passively feeling energy around me? That would be awesome and damn uncomfortable if I cannot turn it off!”
Gritting his teeth, he decided to activate his normal skill first, to get a feel for what was new. Immediately he saw the whole ship glow in blue - at least that wasn’t gray, too. The electrical system was running and he saw everything, each cable and every circuit board!
“Burn in plasma…” Robin gasped, “Feels much more natural now and it’s even easier to use it with open eyes to enhance my vision. The range seems to be more than double again, scratching at the 10m mark. The image became clearer and everything is ‘sharper’, as if I now use a better sensor. The itching didn’t get better or worse though, it seems to be from a whole other skillset.” With sparkling eyes Robin inspected the Melody with his new senses. That upgrade was a huge improvement.
After some time, he turned off the skill as it still put a strain on his mind. He stopped, however. There was…something else.
“Feels like another way of activating my skill. No, another skill?” He followed this feeling and suddenly, everything within 15m around him flashed in blue for a few seconds, highlighting his ship's systems in his vision again, before fading away.
“Nice! That should be the Echo-Pulse, the signature move from Class D - Energy Senses. Less detailed but therefore instantaneous and with an even greater range. That’s useful! Thanks Not-Guard! Pretty awesome, I should finally have stepped into Class D!”
Playing around with his upgraded mutation a bit, while trying to suppress the prickling all over his body, he finally decided to return to the Apex facility and call Timothy. With fearfully shaking hands and sweat dripping down his nose, he flipped the power-switch.
“FUCK! Ho-ho-ho…holy shii-iiii-ii-ii-te!!”