Everything started with a sharp breath. The man opened his eyes to pitch black, which didn't help his nerves. He tried to reach out with his hands, but he could only barely bend his elbows till he felt his hand press down fly on a smooth metallic surface. It was the same with both sides and what he could feel with his bare feet.

He began to scream.

He screamed and thrashed in futility till his throat was sore and limbs were battered. Seeing that, no matter how much he tried, he didn't get a response it left him one thing to do: think.

He was currently trapped; the metal container he was in only gave him about 2 inches of wiggle room on all sides forcing him to lay on his back. Despite all his moving about earlier, he wasn't out of air, so it was being piped in, and finally he had to figure out how he got in this mess.

He thought... and thought... but he had no clue. He only remembered two things: his name and his occupation. His name was Brecca, no surname but considering it was the only one he remembered, no complaints. The other bit of info he had was a bit odd. He was an engineer, did he know how to work with machines?

He was drawing a blank.

Brecca was about to begin another round of thrashing, when he began to feel his ears pop. The right side of his supposed casket began to slide up, the air rushed out into the growing portal, and the sudden exposure of light blinded him. He felt a chill brush against his skin, which told him he completely naked. The soft buzzing of the lights were pervasive to his ears. Disoriented and sore from the panic thrashing earlier, he shimmied his way out of the opening and when his eyes finally adjusted, what he saw astounded him.

There were thousands of them; holes that Brecca could only assume were just like his that lined the sterile white walls. When he poked his head out to look down, he was further amazed that he was not even close to the ground. He was about 70 to 100 ft above what seemed to be the floor. The most unsettling about this place wasn't its massive size of the complex, it wasn't even the fact that it was looked like a sci-fi rendition of a beehive. It was The utter quiet; if a pin dropped, it would probably have sounded like thunder even drowning out the light buzzing of lights and machines.

He was completely Alone.

He was working out the best way to get down, when something began to flash in the corner of his vision. It was a small, red box with an exclamation mark that blinked in and out of the corner of vision; it would stay in that same corner no matter where he looked. When focused on, a translucent red box appeared in midair with bold text filling it.

E N G I N E E R B R E C C A , Y O U H A V E B E E N R E L E A S E D F R O M

Y O U R S T A S I S C A B I N .

P L E A S E F O L L O W T H E H E A D S U P D I S P L A Y T O T H E Q U A R T E R M A S T E R D I S P E N C E R Y T O A C Q U I R E Y O U R O C C U P A T I O N

G E A R A N D S K I L L S C R Y P T.

"What the hell...?" Was all the confused man muttered before the text box turned into a red ribbon that flowed down the wall and onto the floor below. Well, it was the only thing that showed a way out of here and it beat rotting in that coffin.

Turns out that each hole acted like a steep ladder rung, so getting down wasn't too difficult. The earie silence broken up by his echoing foot falls till Brecca finally hit the cold ground. with slowly steadying steps, it was a good thing that he had this weird H.U.D. thing showing him where to go, because after the large people storage room was a labyrinth of hallways and ducts. The same lifeless silence continued to fill... Whatever this place was. It still had power as he walked down the dimly lit corridor. little ceiling lights showed walls covered in dark smudges and rust spots. It was a steep contrast to the futuristic room he woke up in; like it too was lock away from the passage of time.

This place was making all of Brecca's hair stand on end as he quickly followed that ribbon. His paranoia making him look for something to jump out at him. When the ribbon quickly zipped out and formed a downward pointing arrow that sat in front of a doorway. The lack of a door evident since it had been torn off its hinges had been unceremoniously thrown down the hall a good couple of yards.

‘… I hope that was a one-time thing…’ Brecca thought as he crossed the threshold.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

The room itself was just a squarish, lined wall to wall with these blocky machines and a caged off desk in the center. A shiver ran over his naked body as Brecca saw the series of gouges and scratch marks that pocked the floor and floor; like a pack of animals had gone wild inside. There wasn’t much time to ponder further as the H.U.D. ribbon zoomed past him from its point at the door. It floated around the room as if it was trying to find the best perch, only to flitter into one of the better looking devices. With a spluttering of light and an electric hum, it came to life. At the center of the device was a clear panel that showed that there was a single capsule the size of a small dog (the fuck is that?). The central chamber began to spin with a loud clunk, the capsule fell into an open shelf.

Brecca looked confused at the spheroid thing for a moment before picking it up. The shining letters of the HUD appeared circling around it spelling out:

O P E N? Y / N

“Well yeah, isn’t that why I am here?” Probably with a bit too much annoyed snark than necessary but the command was understood. A seam appeared down the middle of the Sphere and with a pneumatic pop it split in two. In one half was an airtight packaged Mechanic’s Jumper, a set of metal souled boots, and solid black block. The other half had what could be called a thin crystallin sheet that glowed a soft blue.

E N G R A V E S K I L L S C R Y P T? Y / N

“Engrave…?” Brecca question before suddenly, the HUD ribbon floated over and contacted the sheet. The soft blue light coming off it became an active green that shot into the man’s eyes. It felt as if that light was carving itself into his very bones, each moment feeling like a lifetime of experience being pumped into his being. After about 5 seconds the light went out of and a new screen appeared before him, but instead of red it was a dark green.

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E N G I N E E R B R E C C A , Y O U A R E 1 , 4 8 7 S O L A R C Y C L E S

L A T E F O R R E P O R T D A T E . W E L C O M E T O T H E C R E W O F

E X P L O R A T O R V E S S A L L E O P A L D ,

P O P U L A T I O N : e r r o r

S T R U C T I O N A L I N T E G R I T Y : e r r o r

L I F E S U P P O R T : 2 7 %

N E T W O R K I N T E G R I T Y : . 0 0 0 0 3 %

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S E A R C H I N G F O R L O C A L H I E R A R C H Y . . . e r r o r

S E A R C H I N G F O R D E P A R T M E N T L E A D . . . e r r o r

L O C A T I N G M O S T S U I T A B L E C R E W M E M B E R . . . . . .

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S E N G I N E E R B R E C C A F O R Y O U R

N E W L Y A T T A I N E D R A N K O F C A P T A I N ! D U E T O

I N S U F F I C E N T T R A I N N I N G , C A P T A I N P R I V I L A G E S H A V E

B E E N L I M I T T E D T O M I N I M A L A C C E S S , T O U N L O C K F U L L

P R I V I L A G E S C O M P L E T E F O L L O W I N G T A S K S :

C R E W S I Z E ( m i n i m u m ) : 0 / 6 0

S T R U C T I O N A L I N T E G R I T Y ( m i n i m u m ) : 2 5 %

L I F E S U P P O R T ( m i n i m u m ) : 3 5 %

N E T W O R K I N T E G R I T Y ( m i n i m u m ) : 2 5 %

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S T A T U S : B R E C C A

O C C U P A T I O N : E N G I N E E R ( r a n k : F )

C A P T A I N ( r a n k : L I M I T T E D )

S C O R E S :

C O N S T I T U T I O N ( r a n k : F )

D E X T E R I T Y ( r a n k : F )

C O G N I T I O N ( r a n k : C )

P S I O N I C S ( r a n k : N / A )

S K I L L S : S U M M O N T O O L B O X ( r a n k : F )

B A S I C R E P A I R ( r a n k : F )

B U I L D C O N S T R U C T ( r a n k : F )

A D M I N ( r a n k : L I M I T T E D )

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T R A I N I N G T A S K : E N G I N E E R 1 / 2 0

* C r e a t f i r s t h e l p e r d r o n e w i t h B U I L D C O N S T R U C T

A S C E N S I O N T A S K : C A P T A I N

* C R E W S I Z E ( m i n i m u m ) : 0 / 6 0

* S T R U C T I O N A L I N T E G R I T Y ( m i n i m u m ) : N / A o u t o f 2 5 %

* L I F E S U P P O R T ( m i n i m u m ) : 2 7 % o u t o f 3 5 %

* N E T W O R K I N T E G R I T Y ( m i n i m u m ) : . 0 0 0 0 3 % o u t o f 2 5 %

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As the information flowed out before him and the last of the light finally finished infusing him, Brecca looked up to the ceiling of the room, fell backwards, and fell into passed the fuck out.