TO’s chip was properly synced to the ship by the time they got to the second level, which turned out to be the exercise room. The lights came on as they entered to reveal what was just another hallway. It seemed bigger, but TO was certain that it was only because the exercise room lacked all the furniture of their living station. The opposite wall had a screen in it, likely to show a very basic regime for them to follow. There was a set of ankle and wristbands hanging from the wall; the kind with adjustable weight resistance similar to what they had used in training. With slight disappointment, TO realized that they wouldn’t be able to fly while they were travelling.
No simulation chairs, no flying room. There was just enough space to spread their wings and arms out fully.
With a disappointed sigh, TO brought up their checklist on their chip and ran their scans. They checked the screen which was functional and gave them an option through their chip to start their workout. There would of course be no workout today; TO was just checking to make sure that everything was functional. They went through a basic troubleshooting process with the wristbands to make sure they were synced up properly with the screen, then shut everything down and headed to the next floor.
‘We won’t be able to fly.’ TO sent in a message to DH, ‘There’s no space here for that.’
‘I’m sure we’ll find a place to fly on Arkane.’ Came the quick response. TO hoped that DH was right. It occurred to them that, if their wings were on display while they were in their armour, then wouldn’t it make sense that civilians would recognize them out of armour because of their wings?
Wait... no, probably not. There were lots of other species with wings like theirs, and many even draped their wings over their shoulders when they were at rest. Even the lighter blue colour - which on the wings would be mistaken for an almost albino white, was relatively common. There was no way really to differentiate between their wings and-
Wait… for too there was. TO had scars on their wings from their accident several periods ago! What were they supposed to do? They were about to send a missive to Ark-1 asking for advice when they stopped and remembered a piece of information they had been told over the last period. They had been in a training room with DH and several other synths, listening to an Overseer discuss some basic etiquette for most planets and how they were to act both in and out of armour.
“Wings are relatively common either as a natural trait or obtained through elective surgeries. Attempting to hide your wings will bring more attention than necessary. If you’re in a place where wings are less common, then at the very least there’s a masking option on your armour.”
To hadn’t tried on the armour since they had been fitted and as such, they hadn’t mastered the full functionality yet. With some reluctance, they pressed on the bracelet that now hung on their wrist and activated the suit. Once it was on, TO looked through the settings that were available to them; underwater modes, zero gravity or space modes, combat and group defensive modes… and there, near the bottom; Masking mode. They selected that.
It felt like a shiver over their back and wings. It lasted only a second and when TO looked at their wings they saw that they were now covered with a very thin layer of… Well, TO wasn’t sure what. It looked almost like a metallic membrane. They spread their wings and thankfully felt no extra weight or resistance.
One problem dealt with at least. If this job was as important as they had been told, then it would be important to make sure that their identity was hidden when they were out and pretending to be civilians. They’d have DH cover their wings in armour too, just in case.
They touched their bracelet again to deactivate the armour before they headed back into the elevator. At least the stuff around their wings was light. Hopefully, DH wouldn’t mind it so much.
TO went up to the next level, expecting yet another small, cramped hallway. However, they were entirely surprised when the door opened before them. The large, circular weapons room took up so much more space than the other two rooms and had a window that wrapped around the entirety of the circular wall which allowed TO to see out in all directions. A pillar in the center of the room housed the elevator that TO had just used, but the floor was cleared otherwise. The lights were dimmer here when they turned on, a faint shade of blue as the controls on the many panels lit up. Two seats seemed to be connected to a track before the console, set up to be able to glide around.
TO suddenly remembered that they had seen this before; it had been in a simulation during their training. The whole scenario had been boring, but it was repeated several times during their weapons training.
Of course. It made sense that they’d be trained on how to use this. As they looked over the controls they realized that all the weapons were familiar as they had used them in their training. The only difference between this and their simulations was the view. Unlike the large screen in the first level, this window was an actual window and not a video feed; it was probably to prevent any kind of lag that might occur. TO went to the window and pressed their hand against it as they looked out into the ocean of stars that sprawled before them, tinted by the faint light of the geode nebula.
It was so much more beautiful than in the simulations. TO realized suddenly that, unlike any other time they had looked out into space, they now couldn't’ see the nebula’s glowing core! Where was it? Where was the training center? Their home? They hadn’t travelled that far yet, had they? They rushed to the other side of the room and from there they could see the more dense clouds of the nebula, the dots of light moving about, the nebula’s glowing core...
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
And there was the training center. It seemed so small now, that it surprised TO, and made them a little dizzy to think that they had been in that center until just recently.
Their entire life had been in that center; they had been created and lived in that tiny, almost insignificant drop of machinery among the nebula. There were so many synths living and training in that little black egg-shaped station.
TO made a fist and held it up between them and the center. They couldn't see it. They could cover the center with just their fist. Though the ship was running smoothly now, they were reminded that they were in a vehicle that was so much smaller than the training center. and that they were now hurtling through space towards the closest wormhole.
What would going through the wormhole be like? Would it hurt? There had to be some effects of the instantaneous travel that they provided... Would they feel sick? Would it hurt? There were so many dangers in space and suddenly the wormhole seemed to be just one more that loomed before TO. Their stomach seemed to clench as they considered it.
Space was terrifying. At least they were out in the void with DH. If they had ended up out here with 55H75…
Avery.
TO pulled up their chip quickly, and sent off a message. They originally sent it to Avery’s original call number but when it bounced back to them they recalled that Avery had a new number now.
As did they.
As did DH.
“We’re out now; heading to Arkane. Did your departure go well? How are you finding space travel?”
It was simple and to the point. A message didn’t come back right away, and TO realized that they were possibly busy, or not in a position to respond if they were around 55H- wait, no. Hur-13
They turned away from the training center and looked back through the other side. Somehow, looking out into space where they could see nothing was easier. Stars, and the colourful cloudy clusters of the nebula that painted the space before them created a surreal picture that was so beautiful that TO could hardly believe it was something that existed.
Tasks. Right. They had tasks to do. All they had to do in the weapons room was run a quick functionality check; it took a while but as it was all automated it didn’t take a lot of input from TO. Maybe if something had been wrong or something had been broken then they’d have more work to do. Since they had just left the center, everything was fine. Once the scans were done they headed to the elevator again, but stopped and turned back to look out the window. After a moment of gazing out at the sea of stars, they pulled up their chip and turned off the lights.
It was darker now than in the observation deck in the training center. Because they needed to see clearly, there wasn’t the same amount of tinting on the glass that most ships normally had. The colours and light from outside came into the room more clearly than in the training center.
It was nice. DH would like it. When they were done, they’d tell DH how nice this place was and bring them up here. Maybe they’d wait until the training center was properly out of sight; They didn’t know if DH would find the sigh of it looking so small and insignificant as disconcerting as they themself did.
TO wondered if that would be a good time to tell DH how they felt; when they were up in the weapons bay and staring out into space. In a lot of the shows that they had watched- an assortment of serials, plays, and movies from across the galaxy- there was often a moment when two people were alone together in a beautiful place and something big would happen. Sometimes it was them confessing their feelings, or proposing. If -no when- they told DH how they felt, would it be better to do it in the perfect setting like this?
Hypothetically, if DH ended up feeling the same, would they be disappointed if To didn’t tell them in such a lovely place? Did it need to be special?
According to the shows, it did.
Well, if they did tell them here, then they’d want to wait until they couldn’t see the training center anymore at least! That would just be distracting.
TO went into the elevator and headed up to the final floor. The last floor might have had a lot of space originally, but nearly every inch was taken up by boxes that flashed and beeped, by trails of neatly arranged wires, and by strange pieces of machinery that TO didn’t recognize. All this formed a tight series of narrow hallways that TO could hardly squeeze through. They didn’t want to squeeze through the tight passages! They didn’t know what any of this stuff was, or how it worked!
If something here broke, how would they fix it?? TO had brought up this question when they were informed that the maintenance of the ship was the responsibility of the synths aboard. How would they be able to fix complicated problems if they didn’t have proper knowledge about how these systems worked? The answer had been that that whole system was more or less self-repairing and that if they needed to repair anything then the system, or their chip. would lead them through it.
Besides that, so long as they did their checks and performed the proper maintenance then there should be no issues.
TO accessed the scans through their chip and waited as the system ran through everything. They wondered if they’d be able to leave and come back if something came up but the idea of something wrong and their systems failing because of their negligence kept them where they were. They ended up sitting down with their back against the doors of the elevator – all the walls were covered in equipment – and watched the results load up
- levels optimal
-no errors detected
-no errors detected
-no errors detected
-levels optimal
TO watched the scans come back with no issues for what felt like a very long time before all the scans were done. The last scan had involved the ship's artificial gravity system and had taken the longest amount of time. Still, it was all done now.
No errors. No maintenance was needed.
They got up and stretched their arms and legs to work the cramp that had developed from sitting so long on the floor. Their wings spread out, hitting against the equipment close to them and causing them to cry out more in shock and irritation than in pain. They pulled their wings close to their body and hurried back into the elevator. All told, their tasks had taken them just over an hour. Most likely it would take more in the coming days as systems needed maintenance and errors occurred. Today, the tasks were just to get accustomed to the systems and the chores that they had to do. Today, they could take their time to adjust to space travel in this new, cramped ship.
Today… Today was the day for thinking about how to tell DH how they felt. Or… Maybe not. Another to make sure they were well adjusted. Maybe two. Or maybe just long enough so that they could use the weapons room to tell them without the training center hanging in the distance. Maybe today could be a day to just figure out HOW to tell DH.
Maybe they just needed a little longer so that they could get a better feel as to how DH felt. It should be easier now that they were away from the center.