After making a brief flash back, I suddenly remembered the surprising fact about space when Prometheus showed me to the truth.

And that is…. “Space” is surprisingly very stiff and boring.

What I heard from Prometheus is even though they had television media at their disposal, they only show news about current events and announcements, not a single TV show for entertainment.

The other thing I was also told about is the fact that the highest task that an AI robot could do is to be a cashier clerk.

And since we are talking about robots, this is the most disappointing thing I ever heard from Prometheus was the fact that there are no giant Mechs that you can ride on.

I mean, come on, seriously!? We’re in space, can’t they think of making one at least once!?

And let’s not forget the food; back when I finally got the idea of leaving Prometheus’ secret base at travel the galaxies, I actually got really excited on eating space food . But once again, Prometheus told me the cold hard truth.

Almost all the food of in space is tasteless and has the same shape as a black board eraser.

Due to that, I got confused whether the space age is primitive or advanced. I then stopped asking anything else thinking that I might no longer want to leave the base.

[Apollo] “But I will not live a boring adventure! Not when I’m here to change that route!]

After all, if it doesn’t exist, I might as well make it.

[???] “Why are you suddenly shouting like that?”

Shouting out my determination while raising a tool that is meant to wield a specific metal like a sword, a voice behind me calls out to me.

Clearly knowing who owns the voice, I turn around and find a floating sphere with the same size as basketball, with a green glowing eye at its center and antenna that is shaped like a moth’s antenna.

[Apollo] “Hey April, aren’t you supposed to be at the Bridge?”

[April] “Aren’t you supposed to be there with me?”

That’s right; the one who is talking to me with a demanding tone is the floating ball, hovering behind me. Though she doesn’t have a body and even a face, I could feel that April is a bit upset towards me.

[April] “What are you doing here in the Hanger? A Space Port might contact us and I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t like an A.I. to answer their call.”

[Apollo] “Calm down, we’ve been flying out here for months, and we didn’t even get a single contact from anyone. Well…except for that News Application Add. We didn’t apply for it right? The notifications we’ll get will be annoying.”

[April] “Don’t worry, we didn’t. More importantly, hurry up and let’s go back at the Bridge.”

[Apollo] “Just wait for few more minutes; I’m just doing the finishing touches.”

[April] “Just let the F.D.s (Fixer Drones) do it, you already applied the Blueprints.

[Apollo] “No, this is mine, and I want to be part of making it!”

[April] “364 years old, and you still act like a child.”

[Apollo] *Bleeh*

Yeah, I know, April is only an A.I. and also, she was my very first invention…OK, I did get a bit of help with April’s A.I from Prometheus a bit, but I did most of it.

Anyway, back then April was just a simple A.I. that I made to help me from ordinary day to day chores, like to remind me of my training schedule and lessons or help me clean, but after a hundred of years, her A.I. slowly grew, or should I say, evolved into something more human…an annoying nosey older sister like Human.

Ever since she got like this, she started to nag away about my livelihood, made me clean my room, fixes my posture and even complains about my eating habits.

Well, I guess one of the reasons why I’m still me, even when Prometheus left us, is because April was always there for me. So honestly speaking, I’m really happy to have her with me, annoying or not.

I won’t tell her upfront though; it’ll get to her head.

Seeing as I’m not letting of the wielder grasped onto my hand, her one glowing green eye squints and floats closer to my face, really making her intentions show.

[April] “Apollo …”

[Apollo] “F…fine, I’m going…sheesh, I just wanted to do the finishing touches, but no~ you need go back to the Bridge she says, wait for contact that won’t even come anytime soon.”

*Beep, Beep*

That…would be the notice alarm for receiving signals.

[April] “You were saying?”

[Apollo] “Shut up April, we’re going. Can you ready my suit ready for me?”

[April] “Already out and ready to wear, I even got your weapons ready, just in case.”

[Apollo] “Cool, time to have our outer space debut.”

Putting the wielder back in the tool box, I walk towards the elevator with April right beside me.

Thus, begins my first step to adventure.

After talking to the person on the other side of the signal, I was informed that the signal was coming from a Space Colony that also has a public Trans–Port for long and quick distance travels.

But in order to do that, I need to go to the closest Space Colony’s Public Office and get my ship, The Prometheus, registered so that I can get to use their Trans-Port.

I was excited and wanted to get to their Space Colony fast, but as soon as I got close enough to see their Colony, they quickly contacted me again and said that I couldn’t enter their Hanger since the Prometheus was too big and won’t even fit the Colony’s hanger.

Now that I think about it, I didn’t really know anything about the other ships flying around in space right now, not their shapes nor their sizes. The only space ship I’ve seen is…well, my ship, the Prometheus, along with the smaller Fighter class prototype I made.

Is my ship really considered big? Now that think about it, Prometheus told me that the length is about 685 Meters in Length and 1823 feet in Hight.

[https://i.imgur.com/TDvVGlL.jpg]

I guess that is considered huge. The ones I was talking too did ask is my ship was a drifting Colony.

Oh well, I have another space craft that is way smaller that the Prometheus I could ride, so I guess getting to use their Hanger won’t be a problem.

[Apollo] “April, we’ll park the Prometheus a bit further away from the Colony and ride a Fighter ship there, so keep the ship’s security aware from anything and keep me posted.”

[April] “Already done, if anything even an inch got close enough from the ship, the shields will push it away.”

[Apollo] “Nice.”

Hearing April’s confident reply, I walk towards the elevator again and then head to my own living quarters.

With the sliding sound the door, I enter my room and made my way to a black box that stood almost has the same height as me. Pressing my right palm to the box’s hand scanner, the front part of the box separated in 3 ways and inside is a really, really saggy, slick black suit.

Alright, time to change.

[Apollo] “………………”

[April] “…………………What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Does this AI not understand why I’m staring at her like this!?

[Apollo] “Can’t I have some privacy here please?”

[April] “Huh? Are you embarrassed from showing me your birthday suit? I’ve seen you naked so much, I practically have 1/3 of my memory of you, butt naked.

[Apollo] “Whoa!? Pervert! Go away, you creepy stalker! More like, why do you even have those!? Delete those memories now!”

[April] “You and I know that is not going to happen. I need leverage.”

Seeing as she is still floating inside my room, I grab the pillows of my bed and threw them at her, she easily evaded them all though. I can see how A.I.’s in those old movies go bad, like SkyNet.

[April] “Fine, you sensitive middle school girl, just hurry up and get ready, I don’t want to make those Colony staff wait any longer.”

With the door sliding back close and April waiting on the other side, I once again face toward the black suit and put it on, entering the suit from the neck.

Of course, I won’t be able to walk if I leave the suit like this, since it’s so baggy I’d be steeping on the hems and even trip. So, I pressed a very small sensor form the side of my left waist and the suit deflates and quickly fit to my body size.

It’s a “One size fit all” kind of thing.

But that is not the only thing that makes this suit special, this suit is actually one of my inventions and I made it to protect myself from incoming attacks. Whether it is Physical or Energy based, a thin but powerful silhouette barrier would block it.

The only problem of the suit is that the barrier would eventually brake if the attack continues for a long period of time. I still couldn’t make a small enough power source for me to install into the suit without restraining the body movement, so I just made due with the small one.

But there is a good side for having a tiny power source; I was able to make a powerful and fast charger for the barrier, so if ever the barrier did brake, I could just run and hide, then wait for 5 seconds for the barrier to charge up again.

The other cool thing I invented is the device I placed at the nape of my neck. It has a Neural Control Unite that not only helps me mentally control the suit but makes me see a H.U.D. into my eyes, helping me see a transparent bar showing on how long the barrier could last.

……………it’s an Energy Bar for the barrier, simple as that.

Seeing as this suit makes me look like I just painter over myself, I took out some black cargo pants, and a pair of metal plated combat boots.

And finally, I took out a dark red leather jacket that has gray line going down across my chest. The thing I like most about this jacket is the embroidered tribal design made my yours truly.

I don’t need to wear a shirt since the Suit already looks like a fitted one, and it can also control its temperature to suit the surroundings, so I don’t need to worry about getting hot or cold.

Alright, looks I’m ready to go.

[April] “Hey, aren’t you done yet!?”

[Apollo] “I’m done, so quite nagging!”

Seriously, quite nose picking.

With the door opening, April turns around and I quickly did a male model-like pose full of confidence and I asked her. Place my right hand on the door’s opening and my left hand on my waist.

[Apollo] “So, what do you think?”

[April] “Are you seriously going to wear that god awful jacket?”

[Apollo] “First of all, Ouch, that was uncalled for, second, it’s not awful, it’s Cool.” What do you know about fashion, you’re a floating metal baneull.

I really want to talk about it more, but if I argued with her, we might get stalled even longer, so I’ll just let her unfashionable thoughts pass for now and I made my way back to the elevator. And April, who is floating beside me, opens half of her ball-like body, changing it like the letter “X” and then attaches to my back like a backpack.

[April] “Make sure you don’t embarrass yourself once we’re there, alright?”

Seriously April, quite being such a nag.

Using a smaller space craft, I got in the Space Colony’s hanger and landed it on an empty area, and as soon as I got out, 2 people, a man and a female, in uniform walks closer to me with the female holding on to a tablet.

Judging from their looks, they might be the Colony’s officers.

[Colony Officer #1] “Welcome to Lambda, can I ask you for your name?”

As they came closer to me, I also noticed the male Officer had red skin with orange scales-like skin on his upper cheeks; he also has 4 fingers with black nails.

I’ve already studied about a few races, though not all of them, before I left Prometheus’ hideout. As I recall, this male Officer’s race is called Dra-khans.

This is the first time I get to see another race other than myself and Prometheus, but I can’t let them see my excited reaction, they might label my actions as rude.

[Apollo] “Thanks for having me, my name is Apollo Strauss.”

Giving them a friendly introduction, I stuck out my hand, offering the male Officer a handshake.

Oh no, could it be that there are no Handshakes here in spa…oh never mind, he gave me a proper reply.

[Colony Officer #1] “Apollo Strauss, huh? Hehe, you have the same last name as the sage in those old myth stories.”

[Apollo] “Oh, well, my ancestor was apparently a big story Vid enthusiast, so I guess they just took it to feel closer to the fictional character. Haha, I’m actually kind of embarrassed about it.”

Oh right, all the people in space think that the Oldman is nothing more than a fairytale. I couldn’t blame them for thinking about him like that though. After all things he can do and the knowledge he has, if he wasn’t the one who raised me, even I would think the same.

But then again, I have all the Oldman’s knowledge and even his techniques; does that make me a fairytale-like existence just like him?

[Colony Officer #2] “Excuse me, but could you be the one that contacted the Public Office earlier?”

[Apollo] “Yeah, that would be me. I wasn’t able to land in the Hanger with my main ship, since I was told that it was too…well, big.”

The 2nd officer who was holding on to the tablet has long black floppy ears that look like a pair of flippers and black marks covering her cheeks. If my memory serves me right, I think her race is called the Arcquatis, they kind of reminds of Orcas back in that old animal Holo-vids I used to watch as a kid.

[Colony Officer #2] “Yeah, we get the same complains from time to time.”

[Colony Officer #1] “It can’t be helped though, since the Lambda Colony is floating at far edge of the Krillma Sector, we don’t get many visits from huge ships.”

[Colony Officer #2] “True, but I’ve never seen a ship that huge though here in boonies.”

Oh, so I guess my ship isn’t the only one with a huge exterior. Though, it won’t really bother even if I did stand out a bit.

[Apollo] “Do I need my main ship to be register?”

[Colony Officer #2] “I guess you could always get your current ship registered, but if you want your main ship to be registered and allowed to use the Trans-Port, we suggest that you head towards the Gerraltia Colony, they have a bigger Hanger there.”

[Apollo] “Is it close by?”

[Colony Officer #1] “It’s about 4 or 5 months away from here. So, are you going to be heading out now?”

I guess I could go the Gerraltia Colony now, but I don’t want to rush things and I honestly want to see what this Colony has. And while am at it…

[Apollo] “Nah, I might as well stay for a bit and get this ship registered for now.”

[Colony Officer #2] “I see, then please write your name here and head to the Public Office for you ship Registration.”

[Colony Officer #1] “Oh, and if you have any weapons, please place them on this table.”

Leading my eyes toward the table, I took out my Pistol that is magnetized on April’s legs that is cling under my left arm as well as the belt around my waist filled with bullets as well as my combat knife.

Taking the translucent tablet from the female Arcquatis officer, I start signing my name while the 2 officers check on my weapons.

Though it is dangerous for having a civilian, like me, carrying weapons around with him, it isn’t really that rare. Seeing as there are many dangers around the galaxies, one must have means of protecting themselves.

But even though bringing firearms are allowed, 1 person could only bring 1 small firearm and minimum amount of ammunition, just like the ones I placed on the table.

Oh, but any kind explosives are absolutely not allowed. The officers will apprehend the person if he or she did bring some.

[Colony Officer #1] “Hmm? I’ve never seen this kind of pistol model before; it even has engravings carved into it.”

[Colony Officer #2] “Even the knife has them too.”

Isn’t it cool, those tribal gold engravings?

I could see that the Dra-khans officer’s eyes twinkle as he stares at my pistol on the table. He must find it interesting. After a few seconds, he reaches out his hand and tries to carry it, but to his surprise, he needed his other free arm to life it, due to is weight.

[Colony Officer #1] “Whoa, what the hell, this thing practically weighs a ton. What’s it made of?”

[Apollo] “Haha, I guess that is one of its flaws. I should have made it with a lighter material.”

[Colony Officer #1] “Huh? You made this thing? Won’t it be useless since it’s this heavy? No one will be able to even press the trigger.”

With a bit of groaning slipping through, the Dra-khan officer quickly puts the pistol back on the table. Seeing him carry a bit of an unsatisfied look, I gave the Tablet back to the female officer and took the pistol into my right hand and did a few tricks with it.

Like those old cowboy flicks.

[Apollo] “Nah~ you just need a bit effort when using it.”

After doing a few more tricks like throwing them into the air and spinning it around my waist, I gently put down the pistol back on the table. And while I was doing so, the 2 officers clap in astonishment.

But after their short applause, the Arcquatis officer, finally notice April that was clinging on my back.

[Colony Officer #2] “And what’s this thing latched on your back?”

[Apollo] “You mean this one right here? This is April, my support AI, she helps me out with some of my business. Say “Hi” April.”

Calling out to her, a smaller floating version of herself flouts out of the main body and hovers over my left shoulder.

[April] “……………”

[Apollo] “April?”

[April] “………Beep, Boop, Beep.”

HUH!? Why does she sound like R2D2!? Damn, this is so embarrassing, I even wanted to boast about her and now she acts like a child’s toy!

[Colony Officer #2] “Wow, that’s amazing! A personal AI that can hover right next to you like that; I’ve never seen one before.”

Hearing the female officer say those words, I quickly turn my head towards her in surprise, but I guess I wasn’t the only one since the small version of April also quickly turns her head, or should I say body, towards the officer.

[Apollo] “Umm, sorry to ask this, but what kind of AI normally used nowadays? That is, if it OK to ask.”

[Colony Officer #2] “Oh don’t worry, if it’s just showing you, its fine.”

After hearing out to my question, the officer took out a pink colored translucent rectangle from her pocket, and then calls out to it.

With its light slowly getting stronger, a digital face pops out of the screen and greets the officer and asks her what she wanted. She then held it out to show it me.

[Colony Officer #2] “This is the Model that was released 3 years ago; it can record your schedule, save your contacts and calls them and some other tasks like home management. Some people use voices to input into their AI to make them more interesting, but some don’t even bother and just leave it as is.”

[Apollo] “I…I see…”

Wait a minute, the way she described her AI…………aren’t those the things called “Cellphones” I heard about from the Oldman? I think they were regularly used back then, but wasn’t that…like years ago?

[April] “Pfft…that’s what they call an AI? “*Giggle*

[Apollo] “Shhh~ shut your trap April.”

Making sure my voice couldn’t be heard, I silently glared at April. But even though I said that, April continues her whispering.

[April] “Isn’t that just a glorified calculator…she actually called it an AI, this is too funny, my circuits, my circuits are over heating from holding back my laughter.” *Giggle*

Please April; you can go back from Beeping and Booping, just shut up! I’m starting to feel bad for her! More like, aren’t you being to mean? I could feel your main body shaking so much; it feels like I’m sitting on a massage chair.

Lucky for me, she wasn’t able to hear April’s rude remarks. So, before she does, I need to move along to avoid trouble.

[Apollo] “Umm…d—do you have a map; I want to get to the Public Office as fast as I can.”

[Colony Officer #2] “If your AI can accept the data, then I can give the Colony’s public map.”

[Apollo] “S—she can, April can you get them for me?”

[Colony Officer #2] “Wow, your Ai can even recognize such sentence as an order, that amazing.”

[April] “Pfft~”

Stop it!!!

Finally getting out of the Hanger, I made my way to the elevator and as soon as the elevator door opens, the lights from various shops flash before me.

Though the real place I was supposed to go to was the Public Office, I decided to use the long route to get there. Since I wanted to take a look at the shopping district and see what they are selling.

But before that, the map I’m seeing in my HUD, which is placed at the top right corner of my eyes, is a bit too complex for public use. I can even see the entrance for places that I’m pretty sure that is meant to be a secret for civilians.

[Apollo] “Hey April, this map you got…”

[April] “I hacked into the Colony’s database and took all the info. Was it bad for me to do that?”

[Apollo] “Good Job, April. Good job.”

[April] “Of course, this is me we’re talking about. But honestly though, their defense was too easy to hack into; I’m kind of worried about the safety of the people in this Colony.”

Was it really that easy hacking their database?

[Apollo] “Oh well, since we already got them, I’ll gratefully accept their generosity.”

With this much info, I could get most of the things I need.

But as I stream the info as while controlling the HUD with my head, I notice a few things that can be called “Bad News” if this information was leaked.

Like this extra Hanger, another room that is hidden not only from in sight of the people, but also in this so called “Public Map”. I noticed this was a bit weird since I compared the blueprints of the Colony and the Public Map and well as the map this used by Colony Officers. The whole construction is all off, especially this other room, it’s big enough to have house a dozen of ships, but it doesn’t seem like it built like a Hanger.

What’s it for?

Hmm, maybe I can find the people who know about this hidden Hanger if I check the ID scanner’s log.

[Apollo] “Heh~ so even people of high ranking in this Colony knows about this secret Hanger.”

I wonder what they’re hiding in there.

Now this, this is exciting. So exciting in fact, I could feel myself smiling from just knowing about this secret. Actually, I’ve been really board for so long, this smile of mine isn’t going away, I really need to hide it or else people will think I’m some weirdo.

Since I don’t want to be reported to the Colony Officers, I quickly hid my smile with my right hand.

[April] “Apollo …Apollo.”

With a small voice, April calls out to me, making sure that I was the only one who could hear her.

[Apollo] “W—what?”

[April] “If you think you’re hiding anything, you’re not. You already have a menacing look, but that grin slipping out of your fingers is kind of making you look even worse.”

Ah, now that I noticed it, a lot of people are backing away from me. Crap, I really need to calm down or I might really get reported.

[Apollo] “Oh, that man…”

[April] “Hmm? What is it, what about that guy?”

Following where I was looking, April turns and finds an obese old man with blue skin surrounded by dozens of men looking like bodyguards.

[Apollo] “Go take a look at the info I was taking a look at a while ago, you’ll see why.”

[April] “Alright………………………………………Oh, so that’s why, looks like something shady is happening around this Colony.”

[Apollo] “See, now you know why I’m excited.”

I finally get to do something worth my while. But the question is, how do I approach this while getting a hell ton of benefit from it?

[April] “So what do you want to do? Should we follow them?”

[Apollo] “Nah, I want to go take a look at the shops, but let’s get the ship registered as we go. Even though it isn’t the Prometheus, we still might have a need for her.”

Besides, there’s a big crowd around the guy. If I’m given a choice, I’d rather not cause any trouble to people who have nothing to do with the guy.

[April] “Got it, I’ll mark the Public Office in your map now.”

With a beep, a green dot appears in my map, pointing where I could find the building I’m looking for.

Heading towards the office, I still take small glances around me, looking at the merchandise the Shopping district has to offer.

But as I continue to look around, I quickly got bored looking at the similar bland buildings and just look ahead of me.

[Apollo] “Wow, the Old Man told me just how dull space is, but damn, I didn’t know it would be like this.”

Right now, I’m walking at the part of the shopping district where they sell clothes. And what I see are all the same wear, whether it’s for a Man or a Woman. The only difference is ether clothes’ color is darker or lighter, longer skirt or shorter skirt.

Seriously, can’t they think of something else besides this? Good God, even children clothing practically looks the same! Is there a rule that they can’t mix the colors?

[Apollo] “Their clothes are all so strait laced; it feels like I’m walking down a hallway of a building full of Office workers. Wait a minute; is that the reason why they’re taking glances at me?”

[April] “I believe that your choice of clothing is only half the reason, the other is because it’s just you.”

I’ll just ignore the other half of that comment.

Well, might as well get to the office since there’s nothing else to see here.

[Apollo] “There is no way, I’m paying for that.”

Lashing out a bit of anger, I got out of the Public Office while stomping on the building stairs.

[April] “Th—that price honestly surprised me too, to think it was that expensive.”

They’re making me pay 500,000 Credits just to get my Ship registered with an addition of 200,000 Credits for possible future repairs and Ship energy Refilling!!!

Screw that, I can repair my own ship damn it, and the Prometheus has its own energy, its practically unlimited! You can have your 3rd rate fixers and energy charger shove it back up their asses!

[Apollo] “They’re already shit tons of payments for the Trans-Port, the least they could do is make it cheaper, and what the hell is up with that possible future repair bullshit! Is that even a thing!?”

Asking me for insurance, for a ship that I made myself!?

But still, if that’s the actual price for registering a Fighter Class ship…

[Apollo] “J—just imagine the price if I register the Prometheus.”

[April] “Oh please no, if we did register Prometheus, it’ll be taking 80% of our savings.”

Damn it, if there is an off chance that the price was actually normal, then I’m going to need to make some big Credits fast. But I don’t really know how to get a job nor do I even want to stay here long. I want to see the galaxies and what it’s got to offer!

Feeling down from the shock I just had, I wonder around the city, while thinking on how to get more money for the registry. And as I continue my aimless walk, I notice a stall selling some silver colored stick, about a 12 inch in size.

As I recall, those should be newspapers, or should I say News-Grams.

Since I have nothing else, I have on my mind, I walk closer to the stall paid the somewhat expensive price, but bearable, newspaper.

Pressing a red button thin translucent foil spreads open and then shows words and pictures. While staring and sliding to the next page, I made my way to a nearby bench and sat down. April then floats closer to my left cheeks and also looks at the newspaper with me.

[April] “Find anything that could help?”

[Apollo] “Nothing yet, but I did find provisions bars in half price.”

[April] “Planning to buy any of that?”

[Apollo] “Hell no.”

While refusing April’s offer, I continue to slide the pages and a few minutes later, I eventually found something that might help.

[Apollo] “What about this one. I think we can do it.”

[April] “We can do what?”

I then showed her a list of Wanted Posters, both with the words “Dead or Alive” and the price for their capture and disposal.

[Apollo] “There should be a few pirates and other criminals flying around these parts of the Sector, we can get money from that.”

[April] “So you want us to become Bounty Hunter?”

[Apollo] “Come on, you make it sound like it’s a bad thing. Besides, just take a look at the prices for their heads. If we caught at least half of these guys, we’ll be able get enough Credits for the Prometheus…I hope.”

[April] “Fine, but something about this doesn’t feel right. I mean, aren’t the price a bit too much? I know they’re criminals, but this is questionable.”

[Apollo] “Of course it feels sketchy, its honey trap after all.”

[April] “……………………………What?”

The tone of her voice quickly changes as soon as I said that it was a trap. She’s even pressing her smaller version to my cheeks.

Yeah, she’s upset.

[April] “If you know it’s a trap, why in the world are we heading towards it?”

I won’t be able to say something properly she keeps pressing her body, so I grab April, gently toss her upwards and caught her. Since she isn’t saying anything, I continue to play with her and said…

[Apollo] “We’re not going to get caught because we’ll be prepared for them. And besides, we don’t need to go anywhere, this trap’s mastermind is most likely in this vary Colony.”

[April] “What makes you say that?”

[Apollo] “All the criminals in this poster have something similar. Well, besides being ugly of course, but what makes them similar is?”

[April] “Hmm……………is see, these criminals all operating close to this Colony’s Emergency Operation Area.”

That’s right; a Colony Emergency Operation Area is the range where ships can give out clear signals for emergencies just in case they need their ships repaired or other emergency tasks.

[Apollo] “But in this Colony’s case, they are using it to do some shady stuff instead of helping out. The mastermind must have been using the EOA (Emergency Operation Area) as a communication network to contact his underlings. And this newspaper, I’m pretty sure they took this out to lure people like me who have no Credits to spend, or you know, actual Bounty Hunters.”

I have no idea for how long they’ve been doing this shit, but judging from the lack of Wanted Posters dropping, I’m guessing they’ve been doing this for a while now.

[Apollo] “……………………………………”

[April] “Apollo, what’s wrong? You got quiet all of a sudden.”

[Apollo] “It’s nothing. I’m just apologizing to people for not getting here earlier.”

[April] “…”

Then again, it’s not like apologizing now will get those unfortunate people back. But there is one thing I can do for them.

[Apollo] “Well, time to take down this whole shitty operation they have and crush it right in front of the mastermind’s face. Of course, while making money.”

But even though I said those noble Noble-like words earlier, it doesn’t mean I couldn’t have fun while doing it.

And with that, I decided to go back to the Prometheus to ready all the things I might need.

Just you watch Oldman; I’ll do well with my promise to you and make you proud.

A few Hours later in the depths of the night, a blue skinned, obese and greasy looking old man walks out of his expensive looking hover car along with his bodyguards. And after his bodyguards looks around the ally, making sure that is no one is there or following them, the obese man pulls out a card from his chest pocket and then shoves it into a large pipe. After waiting for a few seconds, the door slides open and the obese man and his bodyguards walk in, the hidden sliding door then quickly close behind them, making it look like an ordinary wall.

But neither did the obese man and his bodyguards know that someone was actually following them, silently watching them from the shadows.

Who is this mysterious man you say?

Well, that man is no other than me, Apollo Strauss!

[Apollo] “Fufufufu~”

[April] “Are you making a monologue in your head?”

[Apollo] “I am the Terror of the Night that strikes fears to those who…uhh…”

[April] “You just ruined it.”

[Apollo] “Yeah, yeah, I know. Anyway, didn’t I tell you earlier, that we’ll see this pudgy guy again?”

[April] “True, but seems like this unhealthy man is not the mastermind you’ve been talking about.”

Nah, it can’t be. The way he moves and the air around him is too plain. Or should I say, it looks like he’s some arrogant pig that only move thing with money, but other than that, he’s just a normal fat guy.

Like the bodyguards, I look around and made sure that no one is there. See that the coast is clear, I jump down the building and softly land on the ground, without making a single sound.

[Apollo] “But you know, I never would have thought I’d be using the attachable Stealth Mods of my suit so early, not that I’m complaining of course.”

I mean, these are one of the inventions I just made recently.

It’s actually Mods that can attach with the first suit I’m currently wearing. Since it’s for sneaking, it’s pretty weak when it comes to the armor department.

I also made a thin armor Mod that deflects the light around the body, turning the wearer invisible. But it also uses the barrier’s energy and charger so it has a time limit. The down side to this Mod is it uses more energy that the barrier, so I can only turn invisible for 1 minute and the charging takes longer too.

I really need to make a better power source for this suit.

But anyway, one of the things that I really like about this Suit Mod, is that fact that makes me look like a Ninja, I even have this dark gray baggy pants that tightens at the knees.

And to make it more ninja like, I made Mods specifically made for the Stealth Suit. I made some Jika-tabi, or should I say ninja shoes that reduce the sound of my foot steps and landing to an amazing degree and also stick to any surface. And as part of a pair for the Jika-tabi, which also shares the same function; I made thin armored gauntlets with sharp tipped fingertips.

Now I can stick to the walls and ceiling. Like that old superhero that has spider powers I read in comics.

And I created a mask the covers my lower half of my head, covering my eyes, nose, ears, mouth and jaws, leaving my forehead and hair in the open. And just like the other Mods, the mask also has its own functions.

The pure white eyes give me Night vision, Infrared vision and by using a sound device I made, which has the same shape and size of a quail egg, I could use sonar to create a 3D map of a limited range of an area, so it’s kind of similar to X-ray vision.

It also helps me breath in case I end up in outer space, or I’m surrounded by poison gas. I’ve also built in a Mic, and by making it so that no voice could slip out of the mask, it will help keep the conversation a secret.

And finally, the Mod on my ears is not only for communication purposes, it can also be used to listen in, by using the gauntlets’ built in hearing device. I can simply point my finger at the direction or placed it over a wall; I’ll be able to hear the conversation clearly.

And all of these functions could be controlled by the Neural Control Device.

But there is one flaw to this, I wanted to wear a scarf to complete the ninja look, but April said it would get in her way and sternly opposed to the idea.

[April] “Hey, how long are you going to stand there? Let’s go in.”

April, who is now in her small version, floats towards the secret passage. A wire then pops out from her side and pierces through the wall and after a few seconds, a single sound beeps out of the wall and the passage slides opens.

[Apollo] “Man, you’re so impatient. If you keep rushing like that you might fry your circuits.”

[April] “Very funny, now hurry up before someone notices us.”

Doing what April says, I made my way towards the entrance, but before going in, I stop at the opening at took a look inside, and what I see is a dim lit staircase going downwards.

I would want to make a mistake at my first step, so I look towards April and ask…

[Apollo] “April, can you pierce through the wiring again and try to find if there are any Security Cameras hidden in here?”

[April] “Already on it, do you want me to record the current vid?”

[Apollo] “Yup, and paste and repeat please.”

[April] “And……done. Now the Security is completely blind, we can pass without any of them knowing.”

[Apollo] “Now let’s see what the layout of this place looks like.”

As I mentioned before, I made a device that could help me with the Sonar Mapping, and with that, I threw the quale egg-shaped device into the deep staircase. I then see a countdown on my HUD indicating the time of the device’s activation.

3…2…1…0.

And with the device’s small sound, echoing throughout the staircase, the mapping completes itself, giving me a 3D map of the area. But as soon as I see the map, I came to realize that I just wasted my effort and device.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

[Apollo] “It’s just an ordinary staircase; it doesn’t even have any traps.”

Well, other than the elevator hatch at the end and the hacked cameras, nothing else seems to be eye catching.

[Apollo] “I’m honestly disappointed.”

[April] “Why, were you expecting something to happen?”

[Apollo] “I thought there’ll be some lasers and trap doors like in the movie. You know, like Mission Impossible. I wanted to try dodging those at least once.”

Well, since there are no traps, I made my way down and got the elevator without any problems.

I’m starting to think that I didn’t even need my Stealth Suite for this.

With April once again hacking into the elevator’s system, the hatch silently opens without any alarm setting off.

Seeing as there is only one button to press, I press the button without any worry and stood still as I watch the wall sliding down.

After a few seconds of waiting, the sight of sliding walls stops and I eventually found the secret Hanger along with dozens of huge ships that seems to have the same white skull with black horns and cross swords painted on the body.

[Apollo] “I guess no matter where and when; the symbol of a Pirate is still the same.”

[April] “Apollo, where getting close.”

Hearing April, I activated the suit’s cloaking and with the hatch opening, I met 2 huge guards on each side of the hatch, seeing as the elevator suddenly opening, the two looks inside while I slip through them without making a sound.

Since I have a minute of invisibility, I silently and quickly slip through their security. And as I continue to pass through the guards, I eventually found a door with a plate that says “Staff only”, obviously my instincts are telling me to go in and see what’s inside.

Seeing as I’m only a simple human, I followed my instincts and told April to silently hack and open the door. And inside, is the room where they record the security cameras’ visuals and 4 Security guards, but what is shown is not only the boring staircase in the Holo-Vids (Holographic Videos), but also the hallways, the Hanger, a place that seems to be a Stage for plays and a dark room, a storage room maybe? I can’t really tell.

Oh well, the Stage looking room seems important and of course the Hanger too, so let’s concentrate on those 2 for now.

[Apollo] “April, let’s leave a Hacking Drone here. Record anything that is happening on the Stage and on the Hanger.”

[April] “Will do. But what about that really dark room, it’s giving me a weird vibe.”

[Apollo] “Give you the jitters too huh? Then let’s go check that place first and decide when we’re there, and if we think it needs to be recorded, then link into the drone and do it.

[April] “Got it.”

Now then, I can finally give my Sonar device a proper use. Its first use was truly disheartening, actually wanted to apologize to it.

Throwing on both sides of the hallway, the device once again releases a sound and the Sonar Mapping once again shows up in my HUD.

Since the cloaking’s energy is about to deplete, I decided to quickly make my way towards the dark room while making sure that no one will spot me.

But to be honest, their security is really lax; I guess whoever the mastermind of this place is very confident that won’t be found.

[???] “Kyaaaa!”

But right after finishing those thoughts, I heard a scream and sound of struggling, coming from the same place where the elevator was.

[April] “We better hide, both of our cloaking just depleted. We might get caught at this rate.”

Just as April said, we need to find a place to hide, but as I look from both sides, all I could see is the room where the security guards doing their job. Since I’m a man who doesn’t want to bother others to receive my own gain, well, at least not now, I need to look somewhere else.

[April] “Apollo, look up.”

After turning my head left and right, April told me to look up and found a ventilation shaft on the ceiling.

[Apollo] “That could work.”

With the help of my Gauntlets and Jika-tabi, I was able to crawl my way to the ventilation shaft and hid inside.

Using the small gaps of the shaft, I peek through and found the reason of all the noises.

[???] “Let me go you creeps!”

I found the very same bulky guards that were at the elevator entrance with an orange skinned, fire red haired woman, wearing huge dark shades, being held by their arms, struggling with all her might while shouting and kicking the ground.

[???] “If I got out here, I swear I’ll expose everything your hiding!”

[???] “Is that so…”

Hmm? I suddenly heard a really deep man’s voice coming from the other side of the hallway. Curious on whom that voice belongs to, I fix my position and peek through the shaft again.

And who I found is a Rohazian, a man that looks like they have a head of a furless Chihuahua, but this one has a few scars on his face with an eyepatch on his left eye.

[Apollo] “Pffft!”

His voice and appearance don’t match at all, I almost laughed out loud. Luckily, my mask cancels out the noise I make.

[???] “I knew it! That uniform, you Red Star Pirates scum really are part of this!”

[???] “Please, at least show some respect, I’m Cpt. [Kodrid] and you are?”

[???] “I’m someone who is going to expose you and your disgusting plans for everyone to hear!”

[Kodrid] “Hmm, if you’re not going to, then…”

[???] “Kyaaa! Where do think you’re touching, you pervert!?”

[Kodrid] “I see, so you’re a Journalist from Lambda Daily. Aren’t you pushing your luck a little too far, Ms. Loren Mildrew.”

Forcefully taking something that seems to be an ID, the Cpt. Chihuahua calls out to the woman with a disturbing grin past to his face. And seeing this, the woman named Loren grew quiet.

[Kodrid] “You, take those glasses off of her.”

[Loren] “What, no! Ghuu, I said no! gnnnh!”

Though she tried to struggle, the two brutes are too big for her to overpower, so try as she might, her shades are taken off of her.

[Kodrid] “Well would you look at this, a Yullian, we seem to have a rare one here, looks like we’ll make some extras today boys. Hurry and put an inhibiter disk on her and throw her in with the others.”

A Yullian? The Oldman mentioned about them in my studies. Their Racial Ability is to be able to see a human’s emotions by color, they can even see if a person is lying. And one of the things that make them very unique, is their Irises are very similar to blue, glimmering Topaz with even a shimmering deeper crystal blue for her irises.

Not saying anything and only nodding their heads, the brutes drag the reporter girl and while Cpt. Pimple-Dimple walks towards the other opposite direction.

After waiting a few seconds, I silently got out of the ventilation shaft.

[Apollo] “Looks like we don’t need to search anymore, we can just follow those guys.”

[April] “I guess your Sonar device wasn’t of any use again.”

……………………………

[Apollo] “April, do the same thing with the cameras like the ones in the staircase.”

[April] “So you’re just going to ignore everything I said huh? Alright, linking with the drone and……done.”

With April telling me that I’m in the in the clear, I quickly follow the 2 brutes. But not even taking a minute, I caught up with them entering a door.

Taking a few seconds to enter, I told April to open, but not completely, the sliding door. And as I peek through, one brute held and tied the Reporter girl onto a chair, while the other held a disk on his hands.

[Loren] “No! Get that thing away from me!”

Looks like watching isn’t an option right now, if I don’t stop them, that disk thing will be planted into the Reporter Girl.

[Apollo] “April, are there any people close by?”

[April] “You’re all clear, apparently they are having some sort of party at the stage before the event starts, no one will be able to hear a thing.”

Since no is going to hear me, I turn off my mask’s mute function and then knocked on the door.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

But even though I knocked on the door, I had April hack the door and made it slide open, and with the 2 goons and the reporter girl turns their head towards me in surprise.

[Apollo] “Sup, I’m here to see the things you guys have been hiding, I heard they’re quite the sight. So, mind if I take a look myself?”

[Goon #1] “Graaaaaaaaaah!”

Without even saying a proper word, the 1st goon, who was holding down the reporter girl, rushes towards me with bother of his large arms spread.

This guy is huge. I stood in 6.3ft but this guy is at least a foot taller than me, and his body abnormally bulky.

But just because he has more muscle mass, it doesn’t mean I won’t be able to take him down.

Before he even got his bulky arms get me, I ran closer to him while still having his hands spread, and punch him straight to his throat.

Feeling a piercing pain, he held his neck with both of his arms. Now that his fully unguarded with his back crouched down, I gave his face a powerful straight kick, directed to his face.

His body then flew into the air, having his head pierce into the ceiling. He then got stuck into the ceiling with his legs swaying, as if he was wearing a noose.

I could see a bit of movement, so he’s still alive.

But seeing his partner like this made the other Goon snarl at me in anger. Hmm? Or maybe I should say brother. These guys look exactly alike, the only difference is that the guy hanging next to me has dark blue skin while the one who is about to charge at me has dark red skin. And I also notice that this guy has dark blue hair; could it be that the one hanging has dark red hair?

[Goon #2] “Graaaaaaaaaah!”

[Apollo] “Sorry, but I strongly suggest for you to just not even try.”

Not letting him do a bear tackle like the blue guy, I took out my pistol and point it directly to his head.

[Apollo] “Now if you don’t want a hole shot into your forehead, you should do what I tell you to and let the girl go.”

[Goon #2] “Graaaaaaaaaah!”

I guess that’s a NO then.

Though I could see a bit of fear in his eyes, the red guy continues to strikes his fists to me while I dodge them easily.

But still, I thought pointing a gun at him will make things a bit easier and make him obedient, and yet this guy, and most likely the blue one, is still attacking me without even hesitating.

Though I’m still wondering why, I still need to get this over with and continue on.

And with that in mind, I activate the N.C.U. (Neural Control Unit) and placed my pistol’s function to “Tranquilize”, or at least what is showing on my HUB right now is “ZZZ”.

*PEFF!*

[Goon #2] “Guhaaa!”

Using one of my gun’s functions, the red guy I just shot on the chest will be sleeping for at least 2 days.

[Apollo] “Good, looks like the silencer is working great. But still, though it’s not set to kill, it still hurts if you got hit.”

And I should know, I tested it on myself out of curiosity back when I was still making its prototype, though at that time the Tranquilizer’s dose was to strong and I fell asleep for a week.

And as soon as I woke up, April scolded me for a whole day without rest.

But I guess it wasn’t all bad, due to my Racial Ability, I am now immune to Tranquilizers and other substance that could put me to sleep unwillingly.

[Apollo] “Oh, but just in case…”

*PEFF!*

I also shot the blue guy that is still hanging on the ceiling.

[Loren] “Umm…”

[Apollo] “Don’t worry, just stay still.”

After making a small and wordless sound, I took out my knife and cut the bindings, after rubbing her wrists, the reporter girl continues to look at me in confusion, but soon after spoke to me in a frail manner.

[Loren] “S—so I was right, you’re not one of these guys?”

[Apollo] “Of course I’m not. Or more like, what’s a journalist like you doing here? You do realize that what you are doing is crazy, right?”

[Loren] “I—I know what I did is—“

[Apollo] “I mean come on, going in here unprepared, are you that desperate to get a story?”

Seriously, what is this girl even thinking?

Loren POV

My name is Lorensly Mildew, I’m a Journalist working under the Lambda Daily, though I said working, the company isn’t really asking me to do any actual proper work.

[https://i.imgur.com/FAZ2j3U.jpg]

But I guess one of the reasons on why the Chief isn’t giving me any tasks, is might be because of my race.

You see, I’m from the planet Gintress, a planet that is about 4 sectors away from Lambda Colony. In my own home planet, my kind is a few in numbers, I’m what the galaxy known as a Yullian.

And why do us Yullians have a hard time communicate with others races other than our own? That is because my race has the ability to see the other party’s intention, or feelings. We can see the color that is spreading out of their body.

Back then when I was younger and full of dreams, I thought I could use these abilities and make a name for myself, so I decided to leave home and pursue my dream.

But of course, my parents quickly refused my idea, but as a young and naive child I was, I didn’t let my parent’s words stop me.

And so, I ran away from home and got on the Space Elevator, took the earliest flight to one of the 3 known Central Colonies within the sector where my home planet is, enrolled to an academy and attended Journalism classes.

Luckily, I have my saving with me and when my Credits isn’t enough, I applied for some part-time jobs that I could do that won’t disturb my studies.

Like I said, the studying and jobs wasn’t the hard part, it was the “Making Friends” part is what’s hard.

As soon as people found out I was Yullian, they started to back off of me. Then, they stared to ignore me and eventually shunned my very existence.

2 years, 2 years of this was my life in the academy.

But I guess after living that hell, I eventually got some blessings, blessing that I would treasure for years. I eventually found 2 real friends that came close to me without a single negative emotion leaking from them.

All 3 of us are of different races, but that is what makes our friendship a bit special. Well, for me at least. And what makes my time with them even more amazing, is the fact that we enrolled at the same academy and the same Journalist class.

Apparently, they were in a different class for the last 2 years.

And after 5 more years of a somewhat happy academy life, we eventually graduated and aimed to become professionals.

But of course, we needed to start off small, so we left the Capital Colony and flew to another Colony. But even then, we didn’t get the chance to become journalists and reporters.

And the reason for that is because my race.

If my friends weren’t there to talk to me and encourage me, I would have run back home to my planet, bawling my eyes out while doing so.

And after skipping Colony after Colony, Planet after Planet, we eventually ended up here in Lambda Colony.

Honestly, my friends and I didn’t know that this Colony even existed. But then again, we were so far away from any major Central Colonies and Planets; one could say that we are in the countryside of the galaxies.

But even then, my friends and I still wanted to become professionals and applied to the Lambda Times, and when we did, to my surprise the owner hired all 3 of us, despite knowing my race.

I was happy, I was really happy.

But…at the corner of my eyes and glasses that prevents my abilities. I saw a negative emotion spilling from the News Chief who hired us.

I wanted to tell my friends about it, but seeing them happy like this, I just couldn’t say anything. I don’t want to see them struggle anymore because of me.

So, I just kept silent.

But after a few months of tedious jobs, I was told, along with my friends, to do a special report and go to Gerraltia Colony. I was finally seen as a real Journalist.

I guess I was too excited and got a headache from staying up too late. But event hen, I don’t want this chance to slip, so I told my friends to leave me and do the report themselves.

They didn’t want to leave without me, but I eventually convinced them, and they, though reluctantly, left for Gerraltia to continue the job.

Waiting for their supposed time of return, with my now healthy body, I ran to the Hanger station and looked for them, and yet those 2 dear friends of mine didn’t come back.

I waited for their return for weeks, which eventually became months. But even then, not even one of them came back.

After panicking for a few days, I eventually calmed down and rack my brain for any clue I could remember, and as soon as I did, I quickly remembered the News Chief’s negative emotion when he gave us the job.

As I recalled, the colors that showed were one for Greed and Lust. He showed nothing but negative emotions when he not only looks at me, but to my friends as well.

Putting 2 and 2 together, I started my secret investigation on the Chief who I work for.

It took me months, but I finally got it!

While getting all the info and clue I needed, I finally got all the proof to get that lowlife Chief was actually part of a Kidnapping ring and even proof that he was working with Pirates!

And not only that, while tailing the creep of a Boss, I found where my friends and the other missing people might be imprisoned!

I know, with so much proof of my boss’s wrong doings, I could go to the Colony’s Security staff and have them catch the bad guys. But while skimming the info I got, I found out that the Director of the Colony Security was also part of the kidnappings.

And so, since there is no one, I could trust in this Colony, I decided to sneak in and get my friends and the other kidnapped victims out of there and escape.

I got too excited and got caught as soon as I step out of the elevator.

But hey, at least I got inside, right?

……………………………………

Who am I kidding, why did I just walk in from the front door of a possible hideout of a criminal organization!?

Maybe I can struggle as much as I can and their grip on my arms might loosen…no, that won’t work. Seeing as the 2 who are holding on to me are Imirians, the only thing that can rival their loyalty towards their saviors are their strengths, durability and agility. Not only that, they are always come in a pair.

So yeah, having the strength of a normal woman won’t be able to help me here.

While being dragged by 2 brutes on each arm, I eventually met a Rohazian that claims to be the Captain of the Red Star Pirates.

That’s wired; I could have sworn that captain of the Red Star Pirates is a woman Raagvul woman.

After introducing himself, I gave him a threat of exposing him and his work, but he simply shrugged my threat and took my Company ID.

And after taking my glasses off, I found out my race and I could see the color of his emotion quickly turn to the color of great greed.

Seeing that, I kept my struggle continue as they drag me across the hallway, but they eventually got me into a room and even tied me down on a chair. And while still trying to get away, one of the Imirians took out an Inhibiter Disk and walks closer to me.

I wanted to cry seeing such a scary device getting closer to me, but before the disk even touch me, a nonchalant knock rings out of the door.

The door sliding open, the 2 kidnappers and I were shock to see a masked man, waving hand as if he is visiting a friend’s house.

At first, I thought he was one of them, but the 2 Imirians grunts out of anger. But the thing that made me sure that he wasn’t one of them, is the fact that the color seeping, no, gushing out of his body was deep dark crimson that is flowing like wildfire.

It was the color of pure Anger and Rage.

I could feel it; I could feel that his anger is directed to the 2 Imirians, this man was angry because of what they are doing to me.

It been a while seeing such pure and straightforward emotion before.

But I quickly realize that reading him isn’t what’s important in my current standing right now.

The blue skinned Imirian charges at the masked man at full speed. Thinking that the man will be crushed, my expectations as quickly flipped.

Not knowing what he did at first, the blue Imirian grabs his throat and without missing a beat, the masked man kick his chin, making him fly and crash into the ceiling head first.

Just what kind of strength does this guy have!? The Blue Imirian that tried to attack him was like 2 times bigger than him, but he just kicked him like he was made out of nothing but air!

And after knocking out the first one, the masked man took out his pistol and points it towards the Red Imarian.

The Red Imarian that leaks out an emotional color of yellow, the color of fear. But since this man is an Imarian, his loyalty is too strong and it won’t back down, even if a gun is pointed to him.

Just like the Red Imiran’s brother, he charges towards the man, but the masked man quickly shoots out a dart and made the Red Imarian quickly falls to the ground unconscious.

[Apollo] “Oh, but just in case…”

*PEFF*

And without even pausing for a second, the masked man shoots the Blue Imarian, who was still stuck on the ceiling with the same dart.

Silence spread throughout the room, seeing something as amazing as that, I didn’t really know what to say but…

[Apollo] “Umm…”

[Apollo] “Don’t worry, just stay still.”

Hearing my mumbling, the masked man walks to me and helps me, untying me from the creepy chair.

[Loren] “S—so I was right, you’re not one of these guys?”

Thank the All Father; I really thought I was going to become a slave to their biddings.

[Apollo] “Of course I’m not. Or more like, what’s a journalist like you doing here? You do realize that what you are doing is crazy, right?”

He’s right; I should have thought this better.

[Loren] “I—I know what I did is—“

[Apollo] “I mean come on, going in here unprepared, are you that desperate to get a story?”

Desperate for a story, is he telling me I snuck in here, just to get a good story for the news?

[Apollo] “I don’t know why you’re so hung on this, which made you do something so stupid, but take my advice, go turn around and leave.”

Wha—what did he just say?

[Apollo] “Go find another story to write in your news.”

That hit the mark.

[Loren] “Excuse me; do you seriously think I snuck in here for my job? Do you think I dove into danger just so I could get a promotion!? Just so I could become famous!?”

[Apollo] “Eh, y—you didn’t?”

[Loran] “Of course not!”

I could feel my tears flowing down my cheeks, but even so, I still spoke out my mind without any restraint. Maybe because of the emotions and stress I built up while looking for my friends and the nightmares I got for months, and let’s not forget about the fact that I almost became a slave.

My mouth was so loose and just spoke out whatever thought came out of my head.

[Loren] “I barely got any sleep for the past 4 months from worrying for my friends and your telling me I dove in here just so I can get to my boss’s good side!? You have no idea how much I’ve stressed myself out from getting as much as info I can, no matter how small they are! So, don’t you dare tell me that I’m only doing this for my own selfishness!?”

While shouting out my thoughts, I walk closer to the masked man and start to hit him like a child in a tantrum.

[Apollo] “A—alright, I’m sorry. I guess I just jump out of conclusions here, my bad.”

After catching my fists, he took off his mask and gently apologies to me, while carrying a face of concern towards me.

As I look up to him, my ability once again kicks in, and the pure crimson aura I saw earlier is now gone and a clear blue color seeps gently out of him, the color of sadness.

This man is honestly concerned about me, another rare sight to see out here in space. And maybe because of his honesty, I started to calm down, but my tears continue to flow down.

After about 30 seconds or so of crying, I came to realize that I was an inch away from his body to his and my face is even pressed on his chest.

Panicking, I quickly push myself away from him.

[Loren] “I—I’m sorry, I was a bit frantic a few seconds ago and…and I didn’t know what I was doing, and...”

[Apollo] “No, don’t worry about. Besides, if anyone is supposed to apologies here, it should be me. I shouldn’t have said those things without listening to your side of the story. Again, I’m really sorry.”

Seeing the blue aura flowing though out his body, I could easily tell that his apology is genuine, but with a single moment, the color of blue quickly changes to a slight fade of red.

[Apollo] “Are you sure? Well, their security maybe shitty, but their reaction time is at least fast enough.”

With a sharp look in his eyes, he stares down at the door where he entered and the red aura quickly turns to deep crimson. And after standing in silence for a few seconds, the man looks at me and said…

[Apollo] “But even though you have your own reasons, it doesn’t change my opinion of you leaving—“

[Loren] “I know, but even so. I still—“

[Apollo] “But that option is no longer available.”

[Loren] “Huh, what do you mean?”

[Apollo] “That guy who took your ID card is heading over here with a few armed men behind him.”

The man who took my ID card? No, is he talking about that man named [Kodrid], and did he just say he has men with guns heading towards us!? Wh—what should we do!?

With fear and panic quickly swelling up inside me, I look at the masked man, hoping for some answers. But as soon as I did, a floating metal ball hover beside him.

[Apollo] “April, the blueprints says that there should be a room here, scan the room and open the door for me.”

[April] “Loud and Clear…found it.”

Hearing a woman’s voice, I continue to stare down at the floating metal ball and then the sound of a sliding door suddenly rings out behind me, and when I turn around, a hidden dark hall appears.

[Apollo] “Hurry up and get in, we’ll lock ourselves in for now.”

As if using the man’s words as a signal, the floating metal ball suddenly emits light and floats its way inside the dark room. The man then placed his hand behind my back and gently pushes me inwards.

Wh—what are we going to do in here?

Part 3: Apollo Strauss

Giving the reporter girl a little push, she, April and I walk, or float in April’s case, inside the dark room. April then activates her flashlight function and light up our path.

But before be move deeper in…

[Apollo] “April, lock all the doors that are leads inside this room, don’t let anyone in.”

[April] “Locking and...done.”

Hearing the shutting door behind me, I walk forward together with April and reporter girl and what we see is a short, wide hallway, a door in front of us and another hallway that leads to the right.

Taking out the blueprints on my HUD and once again having a look at it, the door in front of us is a huge room that has a path that leads directly to the stage I saw from the security monitors.

[Loren] “Umm…excuse me…”

I’ll tell April to lock all the doors that leads to this hallway and the room ahead of us and I also need to watch the bad guys’ movements. Luckily, I still have the drone hacked into the security system so it would most likely take a few hours to get to open the doors.

[Loren] “Excuse me!”

[Apollo] “Huh? Wh—what is it?”

[Loren] “Should we continue walking forward?”

[Apollo] “Oh, yeah-yeah, let’s go.”

I could tell she’s a bit scared from getting stuck in a dark place and suddenly becoming silent made her even more wary.

[Apollo] “Don’t worry; those thugs won’t be able to enter the room easily. I had my partner over here hack their security system.”

As I mention about my partner, I point at April floating next to my right shoulder.

[Loren] “Partner? Oh, I see! Your partner is controlling that drone!”

Oh boy…

[Arpil] “Drone? Did…did she just call me…a—a drone?”

[Apollo] “Quick apologize.”

[Loren] “Huh?”

[Apollo] “You just said something you shouldn’t have, just hurry and apolo—”

[April] “Hey you!”

Too late, I wasn’t able to finish what I was going to say and within seconds, April flew towards the reporter girl’s face and spoke in a furious voice.

[April] “I’m not a Drone, you meat-filled walking hussy! I’m an advance AI, which can do a lot more than a stupid Drone! Are you sure that you aren’t a Drone? After all, what kind of idiot walks straight into a trap like a dolt!? I’m honestly surprised you haven’t forgotten to breath!”

Wow…

[Loren] “Wha—what is wrong with you!? Why are you suddenly yelling at me!? All I’m saying is that the Drone and you are using amazing! I wasn’t insulting you; I was giving you a compliment!”

[April] “You just insulted me again! Seriously, why can’t you try using you brain and try to figure out why I’m angry, you do have a brain, right!?”

[Loren] “Of course I do!”

[April] “Ha, could have fooled me!”

Yeah, somewhere inside me is telling me to not to even try to stop them from arguing, probably some sort of defensive instinct that just kicked in me.

So while the two are shouting at each other, I took out an actual real drone from my pack and let it float and light my way.

[April] “See!? That is a Drone, that mindless, floating empty ball that can’t think for itself is a Drone! It’s nothing like me, can’t you see that, or your just as empty as that thing!?”

Anyway, I’ll go and continue on and try to ignore their shouting.

With the Drone lighting my way, I continue to walk forward and eventually faced a solid looking metal door with a scanner and to my right is a hallway that most likely leading to the ships’ hanger.

I then took out my knife and activates it thermal cutter function and cut open the wall inches away from the scanner. With its wires exposed, cut one of its wires and had the drone lighting my way connect itself to it.

Or at least that was the plan.

[April] “Move over, I’ll show this idiot what I can do.”

All of a sudden, April nudge her spherical body on to my cheeks, pushing me way from the scanner. And after a single second, April forcefully opens the door, without a single effort spent.

[Loren] “Wow, she was able to do that so fast.”

Hmm. I think I should just make it clear for her so that she won’t step on another landmine.

[Apollo] “I don’t know if you’re going to believe me, but April over there is actually an A.I.”

[Loren] “That can’t be true; her speech patterns are just like a real person. I mean, even the most advance A.I. can’t talk like they have their own emotions.”

[Apollo] “Well, that just how April is, an A.I. that has too much sass in her system.”

[April] “I heard that.”

Showing more of her sass, April floats in the room, while the reporter girl is standing next to me, watching April while carrying an astonished look on her face.

[Loren] “So wait, you’re telling me that isn’t a Drone but and AI?”

[Apollo] “Yup, made her myself…well, I guess my Oldman also did a few tweaks, but it was mostly me.”

[Loren] “Wait, you…you made your own AI?”

Was that really shocking? I mean, it wasn’t easy. But it’s not like it’s that rare…right?

[Loren] “Th—that’s amazing, to be able to create such an amazing AI, are you some sort of famous inventor!? No wait, an inventor won’t sneak in a dangerous place with a gun…um, just who are you?”

She only realized that now?

[Apollo] “Apollo Strauss, but you can just call me Apollo.”

[Loren] “Strauss? Isn’t that the name of a character in those old story Vids?”

I didn’t answer her and just held out my hand, she then smiles back at me and we then shook each other’s hands.

[Loren] “Lorensly Mildew, likewise, you can just call me Loren.”

[Apollo] “Oh, and that little floating personality over there is April.”

[April] “Again, I can hear you.”

Giving out a somewhat tired smile me and Reporter girl, or should I say Loren, continue to walk towards the dark room.

But before we even got it, Loren and I took in a rancid scent, leaking out of the door. But even so, we continue to move and eventually enter the room.

But with April’s and the other drone’s light won’t be enough for use to see everything, and since we have this place locked, we can just light up the whole place.

[Apollo] “April, light the place up.”

[April] “On it.”

And as soon as she said those words, the dark room lights up and we then see what was hiding in the darkness.

[Loren] “What are all these people doing here inside cages?”

Loren’s face grew paler and paler as she covers her mouth in shock, but while she was looking around; 2 weak voices call out to her.

[??? #1] “Loren? Is…is that really y—you?”

[??? #2] “B—But how?”

[Loren] “Micha, Kinn!? Thank the Creator, you guys are fine!”

Hmm, must be her missing friends.

Her pale face quickly changes into a happy one as soon as she sees her friends, she then runs towards their cage, but as takes she step closer, the women in the cage started to panic.

I then suddenly hear multiple beeping sounds coming from the cage, with my eyes looking for the location of those noise, I found the girls in the cage has collars with small lights blinking, synchronizing with the sound. And a few steps away from Loren, is a single yellow line, drawn on the ground.

Wait…could that line indicate…

[Apollo] “Loren, wait!”

[Loren] “Huh!? W—what is it?”

Luckily, calling out to her was able to stop Loren form crossing the yellow line. Carrying a worried look, I walk closer to her and point at the line on the floor.

[Apollo] “See that? If my guess is right, that line drawn there is most likely indicates for the goons to stay away from them.”

[Loren] “You mean like...” You break it; you buy it” kind of thing?”

[Apollo] “And since the Auction hasn’t started yet, that rule is most likely for the goons. But even then…”

I could clearly see proof of those scums trying to break that said rule. I could see small burns on their bodies. Luckily, the burns aren’t major. But still, those could still do a lot of damage on their mentality.

[Apollo] “Can’t really have good reunion inside a cage, now can we? Hold on…”

Once again putting on my mask, I used of its function where I can track the power source of the cage’s power.

Good thing I found it quickly, because I could feel Loren’s eyes piercing behind me.

I then bring out my knife and activated is thermal function. Facing a metal circuit box, I cut through its lock and cut the wires without a second thought.

Not like I needed to worry about alarms since the bad guys already know I locked myself in here.

With a sound of static echoing throughout the room, I walk back to the cage where Loren is standing and use my thermal knife to cut through the cage’s 3 inches thick bars, or should I say beams. After cutting 6 beams, I pulled them out, making a big opening.

I could hear a few sobbing coming from the inside of the cage while I was putting the beams down. The relief must have gotten to them.

[Apollo] “There you go, the sensors should be taken care of, but tell them to not remove the collars for now, it seems like it still has a few of it functions.”

[Loren] “O—Ok, thank you so much.”

Right after saying her thanks, Loren quickly runs to her friends and quickly hugs each other.

[Apollo] “Come on April; let’s get the others free to.”

Leaving the reunion of Loren and her friends, I walk towards the cage next to the one I opened earlier and readied my Thermal Knife, but before I even cut the first beam, someone called out to me from the inside.

[???] “You, are you not one of those pirates?”

[Apollo] “Nope, not really into the whole “scheming behind the back” thing.

[???] “I see.”

Since the light isn’t really pointed towards the voice and that said voice is also hiding at the darkest corner of the cage, I couldn’t really see the person very well, all I could make out is a dim silhouette.

But now that I take a good look in this cage, all of the women in this cage look like Elves; the only difference is that they have 2 pointy ears on both sides of their heads instead of only having one.

With a bit of groaning 2 elf women (I’ll call them Elves for now, since I don’t know what race they are.) helps one of them stand up and the 3 slowly moves towards me.

Making April’s torchlight a bit dimmer, we eventually met the person who asked me whether I was a pirate or not.

[???] “Looks like the goddess is still give us her blessings.”

The voice came from another Elf (Again, calling them Elves is only temporary.), but the thing about her is that she is wounded. I see bandages wrapped around the left side of her chest and her now missing left arm, as well as the burnt left side of her upper face which makes her left eye no longer functioning. I think she’s missing her 2 left ears as well.

But even though she has that kind of look, she’s still…

[???] “Forgive me for my grotesque appearance Sir, but if I may. Will you help us escape as well?”

[Apollo] “That’s pretty much a given beautiful. I’m busting you all out of this shit hole.”

I guess that compliment gave her a bit of a shock, her still functional eye looks at me, wide open, but it eventually calms down.

She then gave a loud laugh, surprising everyone around her.

[???] “I never would have thought that anyone would ever call me beautiful again.”

Her not being beautiful is totally wrong, sure she’s injured, but her long fiery red wavy hair that reaches all the way down to her shapely butt, added to her curvy waist and huge ample chest, as well as her bright green eye.

But the thing that stood out from her that I easily took notice of was…

[Apollo] “Are you kidding me? You got this “Keep on, keepin on” aura going on, I’d say that is one of the many attractive things about you.”

Once again giving out a laugh, she shows me a powerful smile and stood up straight without the help of the 2 next to her.

[???] “Oh my, well, it would be very rude to have a man compliment me while not even introducing myself, now would it?”

Now giving out even more enforcing aura, she looks at me straight in the eyes and finally introduced herself.

[???] “My name is Eliza Ventos Galavare, General… or should I say former General of the the Gerraltia Empire.”

[https://i.imgur.com/eYc3lWH.jpg]

Gerraltia? Wasn’t that the place I was planning to get Prometheus registered at?

[Apollo] “Empire? So, the Gerraltia Colony Where Ms. Galavare came from runs on a Monarchy system?”

[Eliza] “Why yes, have you not heard of Empire? It is one of the biggest Colonies in this sector.”

[Apollo] “Sorry, I kind of grew up far out in the boonies. Anyway, let’s not talk while having the bars between us.”

And just like the first cage, I use the Thermal Knight and open the cage. The people inside than slowly walk out and lastly, the former Captain also walks out while having, whom I assumed to be her subordinates help her.

[Eliza] “Thank you again for freeing us, I honestly thought we would be sold off to who knows where.”

[Apollo] “Don’t worry about it, just stay here and rest. You’re going to need your strength if we’re getting out of here in one piece.”

[Eliza] “Heh~ so true. I shall take you up on that offer.”

Walking towards the corner of the room, I ready my knife and head to another cage. But now that I take my time and take a look at the place…

This might take a while, even with April’s help.

Opening all the cages and freeing the people inside, I finally took a second, step back and relax a bit, sitting on a corner.

[Apollo] “Remind me next time to give you thermal cutters.”

[April] “I don’t think you have the time for that.”

As she said those words, April shows me a live Holo-Vid which shows the door we locked is now currently being forcingly opened by kidnappers, not only that, there are a lot of them waiting at the Hanger standing guard.

Hah, alright…time to get up.

Slowly walking towards the center of the room, I inhaled some air and spoke in a loud voice.

[Apollo] “Alright everyone, I know you ladies…oh, and some little boy and girls, I all of you want to take in your freedom right now, but the very same people who was about to sell you off are about to bust in!”

Hearing my words, a lot of them start to panic, some grab a hold to their friends and some even cried, falling to their knees.

[Apollo] “But fortunately for us, you guys aren’t the only ones they were planning to sell today.”

That’s right, while I was freeing the other prisoners, I found some huge crates containing firearms. While having all their eyes towards me, I raise a rifle and continue my words.

[Apollo] “We have these! Now you all have to take a rifle and protect each other while we head towards the Hanger! But those who have experience on firing these things are the first priority to carry them and make sure they keep everyone safe and out of enemy fire! April…”

Calling out April’s name who is now latched on to mt back, the took out 4 smaller floating orbs and levitate around me.

[Apollo] “Now we will split everyone by four, 3 lines to the right will have the task of firing and defending the ones who aren’t able to fight everyone else are to stay in the left side! And as for these orbs that are floating around me will be placed at the middle of each group. These things will be able to protect everyone from the enemy fire, while still able to fire back!”

As I continue to explain, a hand rises up and spoke.

[???] “Um, what exactly do you mean by that, is it some sort of barrier?”

The one that asked was a small girl with a height in about 4;5, or maybe a bit taller. She has caramel colored skin and long silver braided hair and another thing I noticed was when she raised her somewhat large hands, I was able to count only 4 fingers.

And not only that, instead of fear in her red, ruby eyes, I see curiosity and continues to look at the orbs floating above my head.

[Apollo] “That’s right.”

[???] “Really!? Can those things really release a barrier enough for all of us? And can such a small thing have enough energy to produce a proper barrier?”

[Apollo] “You’re sure ask a lot of question despite our predicament. But don’t worry, I’ll still answer you. And the answer to all of your questions is Yes, Yes and Yes.”

After saying that, one of the orbs flew towards the and empty side of the room and produce a blue 15-meter wide and 15 feet high barrier.

Seeing the large barrier spread, the people gasp in amazement, while the one who asked a lot of questions, shouted in amazement while waving her large hands in the air.

[Apollo] “Now this barrier will be able to keep everyone safe, but there is a limit! As you can see the color is blue, but if it continues to get direct hits, it will soon change color to green, then yellow and finally red. And once it turns red, the barrier will break, leaving all of you exposed, so we are going to have to move quick!”

[???] “That’s amazing, to think it could release such a huge barrier!”

Whoa! That honestly surprised me. Anyway, this girl sure is excited. She’s so excited in fact, she ran towards me and jumps up, trying to grab one of the orbs floating above my head.

By the way, since she is so close to me now, I’m able to notice one more thing about her…

[Apollo] *Gulp*

Her chest is damn big.

So big, that I don’t think I could fit one with my palm, and look at them bounce.

[Loren] “Ahem!”

[Eliza] “………”

[Apollo] “Whoa!? Since when are you guys here.”

Damn, I wasn’t able to notice them standing right next to me.

[Eliza] “Hmm, I believe it is when you showed your device’s barrier.”

Oh boy, so it was when I started to look at this girl’s chest dance in front of me. Urk! Loren is looking at me like a complete perv. I could feel a bit of vibration on my back, most likely April trying to hide her laughing.

Damn you April.

[Apollo] “Anyway, be mindful of the barrier’s color and stay with you group! there will be a ship big enough to fit all of you, we’ll use that as our escape ship.”

I better show my good side to make Loren, Eliza and her subordinates forget about what they saw.

An hour has passed and we are now in front of the door that leads to the Hanger, I saw the cams so I already know that there is hell of a lot of those thugs out there, including the now awake blue and red guys.

[Apollo] “OK, once I open the door and the orbs deploy the barriers, go straight to their ship carrier and just go, I’ll follow once everyone is inside and left the Hanger, got it?”

Everyone behind me then nods slowly at my words.

I could easily tell they’re terrified and nervus, but at least they know that they need to do this to get out of this hell.

Seeing their determination in their eyes, I crouched down, took a deep breath and kicked the door, making it bend like a toppled letter “V”.

With a force similar to a speeding vehicle, the goons who are guarding the door got rammed and crushed by the weight, eventually falling and unmoving to the floor. With my pistol set in “Lethal” mode, I shot 4 goons in the face who peeked at the opening.

I then ran forward, shot the other 6 goons who are guarding, killing all the ones who are positioned to guard this area. Making sure I left no other enemies alive; I sent the orbs out and deploy the barriers.

[Apollo] “OK, everyone out and run towards that Carrier ship! GO!”

Using my words as a signal, the former slaves run out while those who have ways to fight back made a defense line. and while everyone is making their way towards the Carrier ship, the other goons, along with their boss, start to shoot at us.

[Kodrid] “Stop them, don’t let any of them get away.”

[Goon #1] “But aren’t they our products? Should we…”

[Kodrid] “It doesn’t matter, we can’t let our business go public.”

The sound of guns echoes around the hanger with both sides continue to fire. Luckily, my orbs are doing their jobs properly and withstanding the fire power of the enemy.

[Kodrid] “Huh? What the hell is that blue wall!? Is that a barrier!? Damn it!”

Clearly hearing the boss’s angered voice, the firing of their guns grew faster and more erratic.

[April] “Looks like they’re starting to panic.”

[Apollo] “Looks like the barriers are holding. April, connect to our fighter ship and send it in front of this hanger’s entrance.”

[April] “On it.”

[Apollo] “Looks like we’ll be able to get out of here without any trouble.”

Well, as long as…

[Kodrid] “Bring out the rocket launcher!”

Damn it! Me and my big mouth.

Ordinary bullets can at least be handled by the orb’s barrier strength, but I didn’t really make this thing to take on missiles and bombs since it’s just a prototype.

Seeing one of the goons preparing the launcher, I quickly called out to the front liners and shout out.

[Apollo] “Alright People, time to hustle, the barrier might not be able to hold itself together if it keeps getting hit by that rocket launcher!”

With a bit of worried reply, the girls look at each other and eventually nods to my words.

I then jump out of the barrier as I continue to fire my pistol. But of course, the goons try to shoot back, but I quickly deflect their bullets with my knife. I need to stop that guy before he fires that thing.

I know I thought it would be easy to stop the guy with the rocket launcher, but more and more goons are getting in my way and even if I try to shoot at it with my pistol, some of them will block it with their shields.

While I continuing retaliating at the goons, I look behind me and I noticed that only a few are left running.

Good, as long as they keep up their pace, they’ll make it to the cargo ship in no…

[???] “Guhack~”

What I thought was wrong…

Between both barriers had a small gap and a bullet from one of the goons slipped through and eventually hitting the neck of one of the captured ladies. She then falls to the ground, quivering. The 2 girls who was running in front of her quickly ruins back to her, closing the wound on her throat.

And without a second thought…

[Apollo] “Orb 3, change priority to high emergency medical operation!”

With those orders, the first orb that quickly flies over the wounded girl, scans her and shoots out a foam, it then quickly hardens, closing the girls wound.

[Apollo] “Carry her in, hurry!”

Seeing the two girls nod at me, I turn towards the goons and shot back. Of course, the first one I shot and instantly killed was the grinning asshole who shot her.

Now most of the people are in inside the ship, I continue to shoot at the goons while I wait for the remaining girls who are still shooting at the goons along with me, I then gave them a signal saying they should also run in the ship.

[Apollo] “I’ll be fine, just get in the ship! Orb 2, change priority, hack ship’s piloting system and follow me!”

With my orders, the Carrier ship starts to float and turn towards the closed hanger gates. But since I still have one of my drones connected to their security, I quickly got the gate to open without any trouble.

The boss of these goons saw the ship where the girls ran to starting to fly out the hanger and started to panic. And with their boss’s orders, the goons desperately charge towards the ship. But I quickly shot them to the ground, and the man with the rocket launcher aims his weapon at me. The boss who is standing next to the man with a rocket, pointing at me with anger in his eyes.

But just as soon as the rocket flew, I quickly shot at the rocket making it blow up, killing the man who was holding it, but unfortunately the boss is still alive, with half of his body burnt and a missing arm.

Seeing their boss in a bad shape, the goons stood still, not being able to think of what to do next.

And with this opening…

(BOOOM!)

The Fighter class ship that I asked April to get shoots at the Hanger’s closed gates. The air enclosed in the hangers then blows out, sucking out the goons.

As for me, I was about to jump out, but the boss of the goons’ shout at me while grabbing hold on to a railing with full of rage in his face.

[Kodrid] “You! You better remember this; this whole thing is a lot bigger than some slave trading. Someone with a higher authority and power will hear about what you’ve done! You hear me!? You and those slaves are not safe no matter where you go!”

Hearing the boss’ threat, I activated one of the suit’s function and my feet clung on to the metal ground without flinching. I then look at the boss straight at his face and said…

[Apollo] “Good, then I don’t need to look for the Big Bad then! Tell your lowlife of a master this…”

Before finishing my words, I raise my pistol and aim at the emergency shutter console.

[Apollo] “Apollo Strauss is going to take him down along with his shit-stained plans.”

Finishing what I wanted to say, I shot the shutter console and jump out using the hole and with my fighter ship waiting outside with its cockpit open, I land inside it and flew off towards the direction of Prometheus.

But what the boss of those goons said was right…those girls won’t be safe anywhere in this sector.

With the Carrier ship following behind me, we eventually got to the Prometheus. We then enter its hanger and I quickly got out and ran towards the Carrier. With its shutter doors opening, I call out to the them.

[Apollo] “It’s safe in here, they won’t find any of you here. But before I give everyone a tour…”

With the former slaves looking around my ship, I slipped through the crowed in a hurry and eventually found the wounded girl. I then carry here in my arms and called out to April.

[Apollo] “April, have you—”

[April] “The stretcher is already here and the Medic Bay is prep n ready.”

That’s my Girl.

But I do have a bit of a problem…

I didn’t really listen that well to the Oldman when he was teaching me about the human body since I thought it was boring. Which reminds me, this girl isn’t even a human or should I say that she isn’t even a Terran\Earthling like me, so even if I did listen, I wouldn’t even know what to do.

I have no choice but to ask, hopefully some here knows how to help her.

[Apollo] “I need some help; does anyone know how to operate on her?”

Slowly putting the wounded girl on the stretcher, I waited for someone to answer and my call and eventually, someone who seems to be reluctant, slowly raise her hand.

[???] “Um…I—I’m a graduate from a Medic University, though I haven’t really operated on a person before.”

[Apollo] “Good. What’s your name?”

[???] “M—my name is Ximon, Ximon Nayli.”

The Woman who just introduced herself was a tall beauty with a very pale complexion. Actually, her skin looks a bit bluish.

I couldn’t see the color of her eyes since their closed…I think and her hair aren’t strands of hair, it more looks like a translucent, pinking cloth.

I wonder what race she is.

[Apollo] “Alright, if you have friends with the same skills or close to yours, call them and follow me. April, lead the rest to the “Evergreen”, I’ll come over once everything is over.”

[Eliza] “If you don’t mind, my subordinates can help you with the crowd.”

[Loren] “I’ll help to, I think me and my friends can at least calm them down.”

[Apollo] “Thanks, honestly that will be a big help for me.”

Now that I have some help for the coming operation, we split up an made our way to the Medic Bay.

Now then, I wonder how many goes to a Medic school like Ms. Nayli?

1…2…3…4…5…6…7…huh, 14…that’s a lot. A lot more than I thought.

Since we are on an emergency situation, a platform from the hallway floats up and when we rode it, it quickly slides to the direction of the Medic Bay.

And after waiting for a few minutes, we made it to the Medic Bay and I place the wounded girl on a medical bed.

A machine then stars up and slowly descend from the ceiling with other contraptions ascending from the ground.

[Apollo] “OK, Ximon come here and sit on this chair. I’ll teach you how to work this thing, as for the rest of you, sit on the other chairs and check on the patient’s condition.”

[All] “………………”

[Apollo] “Come on people, someone is dying here, so hurry it up!”

I didn’t really want to shout at them since they already experienced something bad, but this person is badly hurt and she need to help now.

[Apollo] “Alright, the head Operator here is Ms. Nayli, and the Second one is…”

[???] “Um…I could do it, I’m one her classmates.”

[Apollo] “Alright…Ms…”

[???] “Bray Montress.”

Ms. Montress, the other person who volunteered, is a bit shorter than Ms. Nayli, but a beauty just the same, she has light caramel colored skin, blue small mark under her eyes and has…hair…um, I think their closer to being tenacles, though they aren’t moving, they are swiped to the back.

Now that I think about it…

To make thing go faster, I asked all the girls’ names and get each of them onto a respective sit, after introducing ourselves and preparations, the operation starts.

[Apollo] “OK everyone, place your hands on to the flat surface of your sits…”

Just as I have instructed, the girls, including Ximon and Bray, place their hands on the white surface and a blue fading lights passes through, scanning their hands to know when it need to be switched on. After a quick surprise from the girls, multiple Holographic Monitors float in front of them, including a small device that shaped like the letter “V”.

[Apollo] “Now take that small Device and place it on the right side of your forehead. This will help you quicken your efficiency by reading what you need to do and see.”

[Bray] “A—Amazing, I’ve never seen such an advanced machine before. But…”

[Ximon] “Our Monitors are more extricate than the others.”

[Apollo] “That’s because both of you are the head and assistant surgeon, so both of yours are a bit more complicated than the rest. Now then Ms. Nayli, Ms. Montress, do you see those small holes on you sit? I want you to insert you finger in them.”

[Ximon/Bray] “Hyaa!?”

They should feel a really small spark on their fingertips, and as soon as the feel that…

(VRRRMMMM)

The machine starts along with surgical apparatus.

[Apollo] “You can use those surgical tools with your fingers and thoughts, think of them as your extended limbs.”

They must have thought about the hardened foam around the wounded girl’s neck since one of the tool’s change itself into a small saw. And after seeing that, Ms. Nayli’s thin eyebrows drew closer and now seems to be concentrating.

[Ximon] “Bray, help me take this off of her and ready the needle and surgical strings. But before that, we need to inject her with anesthesia…”

Whoa, she looks nothing like the woman before this. She’s even giving orders to everyone around her efficiently she even asks one of the girls to ready the Anesthesia and had Bray inject it while removing the harden foam.

Well, looks like I’m not really needed here. But I’ll stay and watch just in case.

It took about an hour to finish the operation, the girl was no longer in a dangerous state, but she needs some rest, so she is still bedridden.

I wanted to leave her in the Medic Bay, but I though if she wakes up and seeing she is in a strange place, she might go into panic, so I brought her along with the stretcher following behind me.

[Ximon] “Umm…excuse me…”

[Apollo] “Yes Dr. Nayli?”

[Ximon] “Wha—no, I’m not a doctor, at least not yet.”

[Apollo] “Really? It didn’t look like that to me though, you and the rest of the girls were amazing back there.”

[Ximon] “No, it’s mostly because of those amazing devices. I’ve never seen such advanced devices before.”

[Bray] “I honestly feel the same, we’ve graduated in one of the most advanced Medical University, but not once have we seen such incredible machines before.”

With the conversation going, I look back and found the rest of the girls agreeing to what Ms. Nayli and Ms. Montress just said.

But…

[Apollo] “Well sure they’re advanced, but no matter how incredible a machine is, it won’t be any use without the person behind controlling it. So don’t sell yourselves short ladies, as far as I can see it, all of you are the reason why that girl is still alive. So, in her behalf, thank you Doctors, for saving her.”

And then more than half of the girls then slowly raise their hands and said they we actually nurses.

[Apollo] “Oops, I guess correcting myself now would make me look bad, huh well, so much for my cool speech.”

The girls then giggles as they follow me to the place where I told April to lead them. But I could slightly hear Ms. Nayli thanking me.

After having a short talk, we eventually find the opening of the Evergreen and the girls around me voiced out their astonishment.

The Evergreen is what I call the part of the ship where grass, trees, rivers, lakes and once could even find birds and other small animals roaming around.

The Oldman was very particular and quite proud on making this inside a ship. By using a few DNA samples of plant life and small animals, he was able to create a whole forest.

Honestly, back when he showed me this, I to was shocked, and when I asked him on just how big the area is, he said it was as big as Tokyo. I don’t know how big Tokyo is, but all I know is that it’s the biggest city back when the earth wasn’t messed up.

Of course, that there is no way something as big as those fit in the Prometheus, but he said he created a device called “Space Distortion Device” a device that could expand the space of a room and making as we see now. He even said he put the same devices on all the room of the Prometheus, but it won’t expand as the Evergreen though.

When I heard that, my mind just went blank for a few minutes, sure I dabble with machines and I even made a really advanced A.I., but extorting space itself!? Yeah, I just gave up and accepted it. I mean he even crated an artificial weather system with clouds and rain, even an artificial Sun, well it’s night time now, so yeah…he even made a Moon.

I’m starting to see why a lot of people think that the Oldman was nothing more than a myth. I don’t think I’ll be able to replicate that… I’m honestly scared of even trying. I might make a mistake and make a black hole or something.

As we continue to walk it, we quickly found the rest of the girls laying down on the soft grass, most of them are even asleep.

[April] “Hey Apollo, sorry about this, but they seem to be very tired, so I just told them to wait and rest here for you.”

[Apollo] “That’s fine April, thanks for looking out for me.”

Besides, I couldn’t really blame them, after what they’ve experienced.

But I need to talk to them about something, so even though I don’t want to wake them some of them up, I still have to. But before that, I need to talk to someone who is put together and someone who might agree with what I’m about to say. In other words, I need a backer for the things I’m about to say.

And after separating the Doctors and Nurses, I approach the person who I need.

[Apollo] “Ms. Galavare, do have a minute?”

[Eliza] “For our savior? Of course. Is there something you need from me?”

[Apollo] “Yeah, there’s something I need to tell you…no better yet, I need to show you something. April, show her the data we got when we went through the slave traders’ computer system.”

As they look on the holo-monitor that April projected, Eliza and the girl who supported her from back then, gasped. The girl who stood next to Eliza had a look of sadness and worry, but Eliza looked on the holo-monitor with anger.

[Eliza] “I see, so that’s why you need me. Alright, I’ll be sure to persuade them when it comes to it.”

[Apollo] “Thanks. Let’s go then.”

As the girls continue to rest on the grass, I stood on an empty space with Eliza and her subordinate, then had April live-feed on a huge holo-monitor where everyone can see me, I even had my voice projected.

[Apollo] “Ahem, excuse me everyone, can I have your attention please?”

With murmuring and groaning, I waited for all the girls to wake up. I then clear the throat once more and talk.

[Apollo] “Everyone, my name is Apollo Strauss, and I’m pretty sure you’ve already seen me and freed you all from being sold, but that doesn’t mean we are home free just yet. And that is the reason as to why I need to have all of your attention and talk to all of you. But before any of that, I wish to say this………I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to bring all of you back to your homes.”

Silence covered the whole Evergreen for a good 5 minutes, but then the sobbing and murmuring begins. And after a few more minutes, I could finally hear their angry shouts. Of course, those negative feelings are directed towards and being fired at me in full force.

[Eliza] “QUIET!!!”

But with a roaring voice that surpassed everyone else’s, Ms. Galavare was able to take control of the crowd easily. And with the help of her subordinate, she walks next to me and then explains…

[Eliza] “As you already know, I’m one of the people who got caught and almost got sold like all of you, and like everyone else, I to wish to go back to my home...”

Ah, it looks like Ms. Galavare is having a bit of trouble trying to speak.

[Apollo] “April…”

By just calling out her name, April already knew what needs to be done. She flew close to Ms. Galavare and took out a small device that looks like a small triangle chip, Ms. Galavare then looks at me and I pointed at the spot an inch higher on the collarbone.

And knowing what I meant, she places the device at the spot I was pointing and then she continued her talk, but now with her voice amplified.

[Eliza] “But if we do go straight back, we might endanger our friends and family!”

Those words made an impact to the crowd, they look at one another in confusion, until one person lifts her hand, and this said person was someone I met in the colony.

[Loren] “Why not? Can’t we just go back and tell the Colony Overseer?”

[Eliza] “That is why we can’t…”

Eliza then looks at me, notifying me to show what I showed them.

[Apollo] “April, bring the data on the holo-monitors.”

After taking a few minutes, the data that was shown made some of the people gasp, some even fell down to their knees. I didn’t want to make them feel any worse than they are now, but they need to see and know, so I won’t stop, I need to tell them why.

[Apollo] “this is the date I got when I hack into one of their computers, and as you all can see, these are the list of names of their “Product” they were about to sell, your names! But that isn’t all, each name that is entered here, have their addresses, names of friends, and even the names of all you family members, including you Aunts, Uncles and Cousins! They won’t have any problem finding all of you if you all went back home. And they might even get you friends and family involved.”

I could hear them crying even louder most of them broke down wailing, but I need to help them, I want to do something for them, unlike how no one saved my Oldman, my father.

When my father told me about his past life, I scared, but even more, I was confused as to how no one even tried to save him and how in the world could anyone allow such an act to another life.

When I heard this, I felt like I need to do something, and I think my father knew what I felt, that’s why he made me this ship and prepared me.

And just like my father, I to treasure life…well, maybe not as much as him, but I prefer to see the positive possibility of a one’s life. Doesn’t mean I won’t kill a person who deserved it though.

Call me an idealist you want, but I will follow own path and do thing my way.

And as I see these girls crying, I think they deserve something my father wasn’t able to gain for thousands of years.

Hope.

[Apollo] “I know this isn’t what all of you wanted, and I know you all wish to see you families and friends, to be with them! But now isn’t the safest for all of you as well as everyone else! To keep them safe, you all must stay here. But this isn’t forever, I promise you all this, I Apollo Strauss, will find who is behind this crime ring and I will send all of you back home, even if I have to give my life for it, you all have my word! So please, believe me, trust me that I will help all of you.”