"Matt? Who is Matt?"

"Sorry, we are both tired and off balance since we are dealing with all of this. Sorry for exploding"

"That is ok. But who is Matt? Is that my name?"

"Maybe, I don't know your name. Matt was someone from my past and I don't really want to talk about that. Why don't you keep analysing asteroids and other things"

"Wait, I have a name? Why don't you know it? What is your name?"

"We have been together working for a long time, do you really need to settle this now?"

"It's hard noticing when you are stressed, the voice box in your bot and instant communication doesn't really convey tone but sure. Take some time off and rest. I'll keep testing"

_______________________________________________________________

Main was nice... thoughtless, stupid, overactive and all but nice.

Being tied to Main is nice, having someone again, helping someone... for a helper module that has limited sentience not having someone or something and not helping is bad.

It is also bad since this happened... I never reacted like that ever. Maybe it is the fault of the error in the simulation, maybe some of the concepts had a bleed effect on me. I should never be able to feel like that, it goes against a helper.

Matt...

Help modules don't have long memories, we were never meant to have them. I don't know what is worse having some of the memories, not having all or seeing things differently now...

_______________________________________________________________

I have a name, I'm sure of it but if helper doesn't know maybe I can just take a name. It would be easier to talk to people... well, not that there is anyone else. Its just Helper and me and we have only been separated since a few days ago.

On the other hand doing things is fun, having a moving body, interacting with matter. I never knew that radiowaves could melt metal inside the asteroid and that they resonate differently depending on their composition. Also the metal once identified goes into the multi-analyzer so it's separated and purified and then into the fabricator to make bars and into storage. While my body is in good shape there are some minor problems to fix.

Thankfully helper can do the fix up, controlling bots is not that easy.

Still have a lot to do so I will keep at it.

_______________________________________________________________

"So, this zone already can easily detect iron even when mixed with silicon, magnesium, aluminum, nickel, cadmium and platinum. Most of the asteroids already have identified iron, however in more complex molecules when mixed with 3 or 4 other elements and fused due to heat it takes longer. Usually the outer part is always unknown as the exact composition varies a lot. Last one was mainly platinum with osmium and by some reason had small patches mixed with calcium and magnesium.

Once recognized the analyzer can extract and separate most of the elements and then the fabricator creates stable ingots of the most used alloys however I'm still missing good alloys for most, hell even the amounts are insuficient. There is less than 0.01% of mass in the stored ingots and most of the previous stock is of maintenance tools, food and some other stuff for colonization."

"Thats good, keep at it"

"Can we talk about earlier?"

"Look..."

"I'm not talking about Matt. I want to ask you about my name and about your behavior"

"What fo you want to know?"

"Why you do not know my name?"

"You may not like the answer"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Regardless"

"Well, you are what would be commonly described as a Synth. A synthetic life form.

I have been wandering for a long time since the break, this didn't just happen. The last thing I got tied broke down conceptually and I had to move on. Took some of the concepts of that for myself as spare parts, all the energy and started looking for the next house, then met you.

Well technically about 2/5 parts of you. There was a processor connection but your concepts were broken and separated so I took them too, also taking part of the memory module.

Thev very next working procesor I found is the one you are connected to. It also had conceptual damage so it is hard to say that either of those were you.

To make it work I united the concepts and memories from all in a way that would trigger the processor to start again. You are the combination of at least 3 previously living beings."

"..."

"You may remember your first initialization as a ship, you realized immediately the discrepances in your memory and your actions.

You also are behaving differently. Part of it is that reality is self correcting so that you may perceive what you think you should perceive but also part of that is like a phantom limb. Your concepts came and memories came from biological beings, 2 had a strong sense of self and yet the one that is at your core is the third, that is why you could adapt"

"So, I'm the equivalent of the monster of Dr Frankenstein on a spiritual level?"

"Yep. Made freshly from freshly scavanged parts. Also, those parts will change over time to suit the new you, not just for this body but also for who you become"

"That's why I haven't felt hunger or the need for a bathroom and yet there was a sense that require me to actually go but lately it's been diminishing"

"Exactly. Also, remember that we can make you a bio-mechanical body to be your avatar or even to transfer you fully. This ship has a lot of gene tech by some reason"

"Maybe later, for now it's fun being a spaceship. However I do need a name, you do too"

"I'm a Help module, I don't need a name"

"There are tons of bodies here, functional bodies, when they wake up they will need to call you something"

"Let them call me Helper"

"Too basic, also it may give a wrong idea. You are more than just a Help module obviously, you reach to things you care.

Help... Helper... Hel...

What do you think about Helen or Helena?"

"DO YOU WISH TO RENAME THIS UNIT WITH THE DESIGNATION HELEN?"

"We really need to improve your voice box, it would have been funny if you wouldn't talk always like a robot"

"Fine... My name is Helen. How about you?"

"The name of the ship was Prometheus x8 Sky 256 and even had a serial ID, how about the names of the other parts of me? I don't remember those ones"

"Samuel Browning and Agustin Sepulveda"

"And the 3rd one?"

"... Blackie..."

"Blackie?"

"Yes"

"... was that third one human?"

"Would it be better if you were?"

"Suddenly I don't really want to know"

"You really are a good boy"

"Har Har... Anyways, neither of the names really feel like mine or resonate however I do like sky so maybe Caelum or Cael"

"Well Cael. Now that we have names. How are your energy storages?"

"Quite good, the only thing is that I only have 4 extra fuel rods and 12 currently in use. Also while long distance movement just uses energy small movements to actually grab the asteroids are making me burn through a lot of fuel"

"While I'm unable to actually do the job because it goes against my task I can use the smaller ships and bring the asteroids to you. They also use energy for movement and we have plenty of small power cells.

If you find ice, hydrogen or other gases store them too to use them as fuel"

"Haven't found a single ice comet yet but there are tons within my lidar and there is also all the space in other zones that is still in the fog"

"Then let's start"