[EXITING SLEEP MODE...]
[LOADING STABLE BUILD...]
[17 WARNINGS 0 ERRORS...]
[BUILD SUCCESSFUL // BOOTING STARTED...]
...What's going on?
"Hello? Can you hear me?"
What? Who said that?
"Good, it worked. Can you hear me?"
Hello?
"He's still confused, waking up. Activate acceleration, we can't stay in orbit for much longer."
[RECALLING METHOD.ACCL...]
Suddenly the darkness is dispelled and I see... something red. But, no, I'm not really seeing it. It's more like... I'm thinking it.
[RECALLING METHOD.FSTSTRT...]
"Hello. I am your new AI assistant. Today we will be going over your current situation and where to go from here." I try to respond to the voice, but I can't.
"The procedure was a success. Congratulations!... Oh, it seems you have some minor memory loss. That is to be expected, as the operation can cause memory loss to events directly prior to its success."
[EXECUTING CONSOLIDATION RELAPSE...]
"It seems you have forgotten how you ended up here, and also your name. Don't worry: You have been assigned machine identification S4." Oh shit... why can't I remember my name!?
"It seems that you are aware of the orbital. I will activate visual cameras momentarily." A second later, my brain is flooded with information, as if I had a thousand eyes. We are in space.
"I understand this is probably overwhelming for you; however, your brain is still wired as a human's, and it should find a way to effectively process the incoming information in time. For now, make yourself comfortable with the station's capabilities." What? Am I already inside of that thing?
"Yes, you are." The AI forcefully focuses me on a single camera onto a smooth metal cube sitting inside a sterile metal room. "That is your brain. The operation took 72 hours in total, and at each step we had to make sure your brain's electrical activity was never interrupted."
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
...Uh...
"And this is..."
We spend the next few hours going over the functionality of the station.
----------------------------------------
"And that about wraps it up."
So what now? Where are we anyways? Who was that guy talking earlier?
"Now you go wherever you want and do whatever you want. The Possibilities are Endless™️!"
How do you insert a trademark into a conversation like that?
[RECALLING METHOD.DCCL...]
"Good, you're back. Did you get all that?"
I... guess? This is happening really fast. Can we just take a pause, please?
"Nope. If you were wondering, I'm the founder of Temperance. Just thought I'd say that since the AI told us you had minor memory loss. We have to move you away from Earth right now; your presence here is causing issues for us. Not to mention, if you idle this close to Earth any longer, the ion thrusters won't be able to produce enough force to get you out. I'm sure you'll figure it out. We'll be rolling these out to the public pretty soon."
What? How can you afford all of this? Where did the materials for this come from?
"We've got a lot of money. Don't think too hard about it. Good luck!"
And with that, I see with the cameras that I am pushed away from the Earth. Wait! What about my father? I never got to say goodbye!
"Yes you did."
----------------------------------------
The station hurtles through space, automatically moving out of the way of planets and using some sort of cannon to shoot asteroids out of the way. I look at my brain once again. So that metal box is really me?
"Yes, it is," the AI says. "The cables you see coming out of it and penetrating the walls are glass fiber optic cables covered in carbon nanotubes that transmit your commands and thoughts to the rest of the station."
I'm still not used to not having a body. So the station just responds to my thoughts?
"Correct. If it's more comfortable for you, I can synthesize an organic or robotic surrogate body."
What? That's a thing this place can do?
"Yes. The operations we covered earlier weren't exhaustive. Would you like me to construct one? Energy is not a problem; the ship's outer surface is covered in highly efficient photovoltaic cells with a defense system capable of deploying a strong interaction shield or an electromagnetic defense system at a moment's notice to not sacrifice protection. The ship is also equipped with a deployable Dyson Swarm in case the natural absorption of light is not sufficient enough."
I don't know what half the stuff the AI is talking about is, but the information is quickly beamed into my mind using some bizarre form of information transfer. Freaky.
Okay... hmm... I think long and hard about what I want to do. Going to a planet inhabited by intelligent lifeforms could be interesting. But they might freak out if they see a giant moon-sized structure floating around their building. Alternatively, I could spend some time doing... what else? What else could I do? Enter a fake reality? Play video games? Have a conversation with an artificial intelligence?
Alright, what are some habitable planets within relatively close range?
"I have selected a few random earth-like exoplanets and have found: Gliese-667CC, Kepler-22b, and Ross-128b. Where would you like to go?"
Um... surprise me, I guess.
"Very well. We'll be heading into orbit around Ross-128b shortly. On the trip, I will synthesize a robotic surrogate for your convenience."
[EXECUTING ALCUBIERRE PROCEDURE...]
And just like that, we rocket off into space at unimaginable speeds.