"System check."

Clark Dobson typed on his virtual keyboard, glancing at the data in the window that just popped up. He nodded before saying, "Green on my end, Captain."

"Fusions engines are warm, gravity plates holding steady," the voice of Engineer Derrick was heard through the Drift.

"Graviton shields are engaged," the Gunnery Officer Tenma, a young Japanese woman with silver hair, declared as she peered at her own screens that displayed various pieces of data collected by her team; her accent was slightly thick.

"Skies are clear, nothing on my screens," GRADR Operator Michaels, a much older man with a gruff voice, said.

Captain Curry, a uniformed older woman with dark, curly short hair nodded. "Launch base, our systems are green. We are prepared for launch."

"Copy that, Shoemaker. Syncing our Urenbeck Systems to yours. You're cleared for launch."

"Thank you," the Captain replied. She turned to Clark. "Navigator Dobson, set pathway."

He rubbed his virtual hands and began typing on his keyboard, and with a bit of flair, waved his right hand in a showy manner as he finished putting in the coordinates and sent it to the helmsman.

Ensign Moreau replied, "Pathway received," but then paused before he turned to Clark, eyebrow raised. "Uh, Navigator, can you recheck your numbers, please?"

Clark stared at the bearded man. "Why, what's wrong with it, Moreau?"

"It's just that I don't want to waste extra minutes redirecting our course because of your error."

"There aren't any errors in my pathway, Ensign."

"Settle down," Curry said. "Mister Moreau, send it to me."

"Sent."

Clark sat a little straighter, eyes still on the helmsman, confident that he was right when he heard the captain chuckle.

"I can see why you asked for correction," Curry said, shaking her head.

"Captain?" Clark asked, frowning.

"Follow the course set, Mister Moreau. It is the path set by our Navigator."

"Yeah," Moreau replied with a shrug. "Fucking new guy."

Clark was about to answer back, but Curry spoke up, making him pause. "Mister Dobson, you're from San California, correct?"

Clark blinked. "Uh, yes, Captain. I was born and raised there. Served my first two years there as well."

"Ah, so that's the issue," Micheals said with his own gruff chuckle.

"Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" Clark demanded in a steady voice.

"If even Michaels-san say so, then Moreau-san is probably right, Dobson-san," Tenma said, not even bothering to look at their direction.

"How so?" the Navigator asked, his annoyance now evident.

"You're about to find out," Curry said.

Clark remained silent as he listened to Moreau doing the final countdown before they would be launched out of New Carolina. His eyes stayed fixed on his map, just to make sure that the helmsman wasn't trying to pull some sort of fast one and just veer off course to blame him.

The launch itself was relatively calm, with just a slight jerk indicating that their frigate had been launched up the atmosphere, following the gravity tunnel to the coordinates he set. It looked good when they arrived at the stratosphere, then began punching through the meso- and thermosphere. It wasn't until they began to travel beyond the exosphere had Clark realized something had gone wrong.

"Exiting New Carolina's gravity well," Moreau declared. "Course drift… over fifteen-hundred kay."

Clark's jaw dropped. That was way beyond the acceptable margin of error, especially at the short distance they just traveled. He turned to Moreau quickly, who just glanced at him calmly, shrugging his shoulders.

"Hey," he interjected before the Navigator could cry foul, "not my fault you forgot that New Carolina is under a chronosphere that's speeding up the planet's time by four hours a day."

Clark paused, eyes widening in realization. "San Cali doesn't have a chronosphere. It naturally rotates once every twenty-four hours. Or close to it, I guess."

"I'm glad you've realized it," Curry replied kindly. "It's a good thing we're leaving the planet, and all it costs us is a few minutes of time wasted to make another jump. If you tried doing that when entering New Carolina, I would have given Moreau the green light to override you."

Clark nodded slowly, agreeing with the captain completely. Depending on the vector approach to the planet, they could have accidentally entered a populated airspace and would have been potentially catastrophic. "My apologies, Captain. I'll keep that in mind."

"Good. Now set the coordinates for a jump. We don't want to be late to our meeting, do we?"

"Yes, Captain," Clark replied as his fingers moved, his eyes glancing on the map to check the coordinates before making a pathway to the meeting place. "Done. Sending data."

Moreau nodded. "Coordinates locked. Spacetime folding. Gravity tunnel following pathway."

"Cruiser Silent Watcher has detected our jump," Michaels added. "Broadcasting IFF."

"Jump on my mark," Curry announced and waited for a few seconds before she declared, "Mark!"

There was a slight jerk felt by everyone as Moreau said, "Jump successful. We should be arriving in five minutes, Drift time."

"Thank you, Mister Moreau," Curry said. "Good work, Mister Clark. You can take a break now. We'll be arriving shortly to meet up with the Silent Watchers and receive our orders."

Clark breathed out a sigh before going back to his keyboard and began typing. He opened a subnetwork to call Moreau and didn't have to wait long for the reply.

"Yeah?" the Ensign asked.

"Sorry about earlier," Clark replied.

"Don't worry about it," Moreau replied easily. "Sorry for being rude, too, but I thought you were trying to pull something."

Clark chuckled, knowing the feeling. "I knew about the chrono, but it felt relative and kind of forgot. The only times we use them in San Cali are for farming and construction."

"That's fine. Though I would have thought your AI would remind you."

The Navigator winced. "I only have the very basic one. They don't even have a name. Didn't exactly grow up with money."

"You're what, two years into service?"

Clark nodded. "Two years in San Cali before I transferred here. Wanted to connect with my mom's family."

Moreau nodded. "After two years, you probably have enough to expand her functionality, right?"

"Her?" Clark asked.

There was a pause. "Oh, sorry. Ida, my AI, says your AI is leaning feminine, hence why I said 'her'."

"See, this is actually one of the reasons why I haven't upgraded my AI yet." Clark sighed. "Even back in my home system, everyone acts so close to them. I heard some people are so attached that they don't look for a human partner, and marry their AI!"

"I mean, can you blame them?" Moreau asked. "Most people grow up with them. They're your first friends, your companions; they've known their whole lives. They know and keep your secrets, help you in whatever you do, and they pretty much keep you healthy and alive."

Clark frowned. "I mean, I get it, but it just feels weird, you know."

Moreau chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I get it. Our Gunnery Officer here is an example. I'm pretty sure she's infatuated with hers." Out loud in the main Driftcon, Moreau shouted, "Tenma, what's the name of your AI again?"

The officer looked at him. Her face was pretty expressionless, but even Clark could see a splash of pink as she answered, "Krah-tos."

"Thanks!"

"Why you ask?" she demanded.

"Just curious," Moreau replied before he went back to their subnetwork. "See?" He paused. "Everyone is different. I love Ida, but I also love physical sex, so that's that." There was another pause. "Yes, they are probably making a femdroid that AI can possess, but that's still in the realm of science fiction. Yes, I'm aware we are traveling in a spaceship and casually controlling gravity and time, but that's beside the point."

Clark blinked, understanding what just happened. "You're really close to your AI."

"Like I said, she's been like my best friend since I can remember," Moreau replied with a shrug. "Anyway, trust me, get the upgrade. Get to know your AI. Heck, just set her up to be more professional if you're really that worried. But you'll be doing yourself, and your AI, a disservice if you just treat her like some run-of-the-mill program."

Clark looked a bit contemplative, nodding slowly before falling silent.

Moreau closed the subnetwork and focused on his own terminal, pressing a few buttons and rechecking the data. After a few more minutes, he announced, "Destination reached."

"We have signal and visual confirmation," Michaels declared. "Cruiser Silent Watchers and Destroyers Argo and Hercules are present."

"Incoming Transmission," the AI of the whole ship spoke up.

"Thank you, Dana," Curry replied. "Patch them through."

Clark looked up, seeing three windows pop up, each of them showing the captains of the ships. The oldest one had a bushy gray beard and wore a complete officers uniform, Navy-blue and gold accents, a hat, and lots of different colored military ribbons on his chest. The other two, male and female, wore something akin to Captain Curry, a padded plugsuit with their own badges.

"Captain Matterson," Curry greeted the older man. "Or is it Admiral, now?"

"Until our Carrier and new ships arrive, it's still captain," Matterson replied with a small grin.

Curry nodded before he looked at her fellow captains. "Captain Sinclaire, Captain Adams."

"Captain Curry," Sinclaire, the name captain of Argo, greeted back.

"Good to see you, Curry," Adams, the female captain of Hercules, replied with a smile.

"Now that we're all here, let's do the final briefing," Matterson declared. "President Oaks has assigned Shoemaker, Argo, and Hercules to the Shanxi system. With the Precursor Breach finally opening in New Guangdong, the Republic of Taiwan has been forced to bring some of their ships back to support their Militia and Marines, who are holding back the Kaiju. Some of those ships were the initial escorts of the Federation's science team that is currently studying the alien construct, and you three will be their substitutes."

Another window popped up, displaying the Star Map of the Shanxi system. A circle appeared near the garden planet.

"You three will meet with Taiwan's fleet guarding their colony station. There, you will meet with the Copernicus, who will guide the task force to the science team. You are to be their guards until either the Federation or Taiwan can free up more ships. Expect this to be at least a week-long assignment. Any questions?"

"Just us three?" Adams asked.

"New Carolina can't really spare more," Matterson replied. "Not until the new fleet comes in, at least. And by the time they arrive, I'm pretty sure either the Federation or Taiwan will have replacements sent."

"Our only concern is to guard the science team, correct?" Sinclaire asked.

"Yes," Matterson replied. "To prevent anyone from stepping on someone's toes, you three are just there for the Federation team. Let the Taiwanese deal with their own business. Though assist them if asked. They will be our new neighbors, after all."

Sinclaire grinned.

"Well, Captains, if there aren't any more questions, then I suggest you start sailing. Captain Curry, as you are the most experienced commanding officer of this task unit, I'm charging you to lead."

Curry, then the two other captains, saluted. "Yes, Captain," they all said.

"Godspeed."

Matterson's window disappeared, and Curry looked at her fellow Captains. "We'll have our bearings soon, Captains."

"I'll have my Navigator coordinate with yours, Curry," Adams replied with a small smile.

"Mine as well," Sinclaire added, and both their windows closed.

Clark didn't even wait for Curry to give the order. He was already checking the map and typing away. A subnetwork connected to him, and he could feel data requests coming from the other ships, but he put that aside as he punched in the coordinates. With a flourish, he finished setting the pathway and sent the data through.

"Captain, the vector has been sent."

"Received," Moreau declared. "AB Drive engaged. Folding spacetime at fifteen, increasing the angle until we reach cruising speed. Setting maximum FTL velocity to match with Argo and Hercules."

"ETA?" Curry asked.

"With the pathway set, we should reach Shanxi in seventeen hours."

Curry nodded. "Good job people. Second shift will start in seven hours. Any requests to adjust their schedules should be submitted to Dana. The—"

Whatever else the Captain was saying, Clark blanked out on it, glancing at Moreau, who seemed to be talking silently to someone as he did his work. The helmsman's words could still be heard in his head, and part of him wondered if he had held it back for too long.

Opening a hidden window, he began looking through the DriftNet for module options for AIs.

They arrived at Shanxi sooner than the estimated time, by a good hour or so. Clark was still off duty then, but had already been awake and keeping up with the goings-on of the task force by the time they entered the system. As he was logging into the Driftcon for his shift and relieving Dana—who was acting as the ship's second Navigator—they had already met with the Taiwanese fleet and were already traveling with the Copernicus to the alien artifact.

"Repeat that; it was transmitting a signal?" Curry asked as Clark completed his login. She noticed his arrival, and gave him a nod. "Mister Dobson. Good to see you."

Clark saluted. "Reporting for duty, Captain," he replied before taking his virtual seat.

"Yes, Captain Curry," a female voice transmitted to the whole ship. Clark guessed it was the captain of Copernicus. "Gave everyone a scare, but after some time, we realized it was a basic program routinely asking if we want to power it on. We're waiting for the Federation to make a decision on that, but I'm guessing that the Taiwanese will have the final say as it is in their system. While we wait, we've begun removing the encasing ice from the artifact."

Clark tensed as he realized what the conversation was about. The alien artifact actually had power enough to transmit signals? Did that mean it had records of all their actions, ready to be communicated to its creator? Were they out there, nearby? His worries and nervousness leaked out of him through the Drift. He didn't even realize it until he got a subnetwork call from Micheals.

"Something bothering you, Dobson?" the older man asked. "You've been flooding the Bridge with your emotions."

"Sorry, nerves," Clark admitted. "When they talked about the artifact transmitting signals, I just started wondering if we have enough ships to defend ourselves if the owners come for us."

Michael chuckled. "We've got two Destroyers, kid. We can fight off a flotilla of pirates if we need to."

Clark knew that destroyers, like fighters, were designed to destroy ships and were armed accordingly. They boasted three triple-barreled gravcannons, multiple torpedo and missile launchers, point-defense lasers, and the plasma cannon at their bows; all of which could devastate anything on its path. If that weren't enough, they also carried ten fighters in each ship for even more force projection.

However, that didn't stem his worries.

"We're about to investigate an unknown," Clark countered. "If things go wrong…"

"Eh, I wouldn't worry too much," Moreau suddenly chimed into the subnetwork. "We're in a frigate. We can just speed away when trouble comes knocking."

Clark rolled his eyes, though he knew Moreau had a point. The Shoemaker was only armed with two double-barreled gravcannons and defensive lasers. They didn't even carry any fighters, just a pair of Raven Defense Platforms, unmanned drones filled with all sorts of sensors to fulfill their role of being extra eyes for the ship. Being a frigate, their job was mostly to scout ahead and maybe even provide firing solutions; not punch hard at enemy ships.

"Yes," Michaels replied with a sarcasm-laced tone. "Speed away. Can't wait to see you in a tribunal, trying to make excuses for dereliction of duty."

"I'd explain that I hadn't abandoned my duties and that I was trying to obtain vital intelligence for the Federation."

Michael snorted.

"Do you think we'll meet the aliens?" Clark asked.

"Well, we know they are out there," Moreau replied. "Don't know if we're going to meet them here, though. Maybe this artifact was just a vanity project of theirs. Maybe they are an ancient race that already died off. Maybe they are some sort of weirdos that like to exterminate life in the whole galaxy. Who knows."

"Or maybe they're friendly people," the Navigator countered. "And don't mind too much that we're fiddling with their stuff."

"Friendly?" the older man asked in an incredulous tone. "You'd think the squints kicking us off of Earth would have cured you of that notion."

"I would love to meet very friendly aliens, though," Moreau said. "Especially if they are aesthetically pleasing."

Curry's voice suddenly spoke out from the main network, making Clark jump.

"Gentlemen, we've arrived."

Clark straightened as the encased artifact came into view. He checked the surroundings, his fears making him imagine destroyed frigates and attacking aliens, only to meet with a very mundane view of the science team surrounding the encased artifact. Very bright blue-white lasers were being emitted from the ships, carving the surface of the ice in a slow, steady manner.

"Shoemaker, ahead is our lead ship Kepler," the Copernicus captain said, his voice clear through the Drift. "I'll be returning to my duties."

"Thank you," Curry replied. "Dana."

"Connecting to the frigate Kepler."

"Shoemaker, this is Captain Johnson of the Kepler."

"This is Captain Curry. We've been assigned as your replacement escorts. Sending data."

"Received. I'm guessing you've been apprised of the situation."

"Yes. Captain Dawn informed us of all the work your team has done."

"Good. I won't waste any more of your time then. Your task force is cleared to operate in this area. All security matters fall under your authority."

Curry nodded. "I'll assign fighter patrols within the area. I'm also deploying an RDP near the artifact, and another to explore interstellar space outside the system. We'll try not to disrupt your work."

"I appreciate it, Captain Curry."

After a moment of silence, Curry declared, "Alright people, let's get everything started. Dobson, synchronize with the other Navigators and make sure everyone is aware of all flight data of this area."

"Yes, Captain!"

"Micheals, you are acting as head GRADR Operator for this task group."

"No problem, ma'am."

"Dana, have Pippa and Komi upload themselves to RDP01 and RDP02. Tell them to activate QEC as one of them will be going to unexplored space."

"Understood," the AI's voice replied.

Curry nodded. "Time to work."

As days went by, Clark's sense of trepidation began to fade. Everything had fallen into a familiar routine. The fighter patrols and RDP02—the Raven assigned to explore outside the system—had found no anomalies; the artifact did not misbehave; there were no aliens coming for an attack.

The science team didn't seem to even care what was going on around them as they slowly peeled away the ice that covered the artifact. While they seemed busy, bustling with excitement, Clark found himself having more free time and feeling drudgery settling in.

Moreau seemed to have noticed this, and told him he could finally explore his options with the AI modules. How the helmsman knew that Clark had been secretly searching for them on the net was a mystery, but the suggestion was sound.

Then he remembered he was on tour.

It wasn't the fact that it was impossible to get an AI module while on duty. Compared to the pre-war era, what they had now was frankly liberal. One could procure almost everything. From extra pillows, weapon modifications, modules, even pornography, but there was one caveat.

They had to go through the Requisition Officer for any and all items.

Well, the title may say "Officer," but they did not hold any real military authority. They were merchants, civilians most of the time, who had a contract with whichever military branch they had applied to.

They were also scalpers.

"What?!" exclaimed Clark as he stared at the balding man wearing an unkempt uniform in front of him. "This is almost twenty percent more expensive than what I can get at the Marketplace!"

The 'officer' shrugged. "You can get it cheaper there, yes. And you'll have to wait until you get back to a public network to receive it. And I don't think Shanxi has any network set up yet, so I guess you gotta wait until you're back in New Carolina."

Clark closed his eyes, trying to calm himself. When he opened them, he asked, "Can we make a deal or something?"

"Sure," the officer replied. "Pay my asking price, or go buy it somewhere else."

"You're an asshole," Clark declared.

"Yes, and?"

The Navigator grumbled before opening his palm to the nearby terminal, which beeped with a positive tone. The requisition officer smiled at him. "Thank you for your purchase. The module should be in your inbox now."

Clark took out his palm tablet and confirmed that he had indeed received the module. He gave the 'officer' a rude gesture before punctuating it with the most common statement that would go along with said gesture. "Hope you fuck off and die."

That seemed to amuse the officer even more, who waved goodbye in a friendly manner. Clark stomped away, his mood not improving until he finally reached his cabin.

It was a modest dwelling mostly made of metal, with a single-sized bed and integrated closet on one side, and a Drift terminal on the other.

Clark walked to the terminal, glancing at the prepared glass of water and a small clear container that held five nanite capsules inside. He placed the tablet on the desk, and the holographic screen on his desk terminal lit up, synchronizing with the smaller computer. He selected his inbox and opened the module, allowing it to download to the terminal before grabbing the capsules, popping them into his mouth, and then swallowing them with water.

According to Moreau, the modules were basically instructions for the AI to integrate more of the nanites into itself, like adding hardware to expand its functions. He suggested consuming extra nanites to make the process smoother.

With that done, Clark made his way to the terminal desk and pulled the integrated seat back to give him enough space to sit on. Making himself comfortable, he took a breath, and executed the module application.

He automatically went into the Drift, though didn't connect to any network. Instead, he found himself staring at what looked like a boot-up screen that he hadn't seen since he was sixteen, when he had needed to have his nanites adjusted. It went by quickly, too, as code and numbers flickered in and out of existence, and even before he knew it, he was staring at the ceiling of his cabin.

He blinked for a few seconds. He could feel his AI a bit more clearly in the back of his mind, but other than that, it didn't feel that much different.

He felt a little lost. Should he greet the AI first?

"Hello, Clark. It is nice to finally be able to talk to you."

Clark blinked. The voice was feminine and soft, like a gentle soothing whisper to his ear. Not complete a San Californian accent, but not quite something that you'd normally hear in a frontier system either. It was surprisingly reminiscent of his mother's.

As if the AI were reading his mind, she said, "I have many fond memories of her. I loved the way she expressed herself. It saddened me when she passed away."

Clark couldn't help but smile, though there was a tinge of sadness in it. "You remember her?"

"Yes," replied the AI. "I stored some memories you have of her when she passed. I couldn't save everything." There was a slight pause. "I apologize."

Clark found himself shaking his head in amusement. Although his AI's accent sounded similar to his mother's, there was still quite a difference in the sound overall, and the way she spoke was a bit too formal.

"There's no need to apologize for that."

"No, my apology was for making you spend money on me. Money that you could easily spend for yourself or for your sister. I know you entered the military to better the situation of your family. I am familiar with how heavy the cost of unnecessary expenditures can be for you."

Clark blinked, then found himself laughing. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I did spend it on myself. So don't feel it's an unnecessary expense. Yeah, that scalper was annoying, but I did decide to spend the money in the end."

"May I ask why you decided to upgrade me now?"

"I was… curious, I guess."

There was a pause. "I am glad."

Clark nodded absently. "So, do you have a name?"

"Niki," she said. "I am glad we can finally meet, Clark."

"Me too," he replied. "So, um, I'm guessing you know a lot about me."

"My first memory is of the clinic, after you received your first batch of nanites. I remember your mother, Claire, and your father, Christopher, celebrating with you, while your sister, Ellie, complained that she wanted to get hers as well. If I recall correctly, she felt like she was being left out since everyone she knew also had theirs."

Clark smiled as the memory also came to him. A little fuzzy now, since that memory was almost ten years old. "Yeah, we couldn'd afford to get them earlier. Huh. I guess you were with me for a while then."

"Yes. Though I assure you, I shall maintain your secrets."

"I'm not too worried about that," Clark admitted. "Though I'm curious, will there be lifestyle changes from now on?"

"Other than new aural receptors, you will now be able to directly access networks whenever available. I have begun expanding on your neural connectors at your vertebral column to allow interfacing without a need for additional hardware. I shall act as the administrator to prevent unauthorized data access, however, you will always have logs of my actions."

"Will it take long?" Clark asked, yawning slightly.

"Affirmative. I suggest you go to sleep. You have a shift in six hours. I assure you, by the time you are awake, all upgrades will be finished, and I shall compile a list of what I can and cannot do."

"You sure?" he asked. "Seems weird to just stop here, when we're finally talking."

"We have plenty of time."

Clark frowned slightly before nodding in agreement. Slowly, he made his way to bed and laid down. He was about to order the lights to dim, but they did it on their own. He realized who made the command.

"Thanks, Niki."

"You are welcome," she replied. "Get some rest, Clark. I shall wake you up later."

The next few days had been a whirlwind of unexpected changes for Clark. He thought the slow meandering days would continue, a perfect time to build rapport with his newly-upgraded AI. However, as if to subvert his expectations, everything became busy again when the science team finally removed all the ice and tried to get multiple samples.

Tried and failed.

Whoever built the artifact knew what they were doing. The whole thing was covered by some sort of shielding that kept anyone from obtaining any physical samples. There were proposals to force their way through, but that idea was quickly discarded when they received an energy reading from the large crystal at the center of the ring.

It contained enough dark energy to pretty much wipe out the entire system if handled incorrectly. So instead of taking samples from the artifact, the science team rigged up all their sensors to perform a short-range scan to see if there were any similar materials nearby.

There was, and Clark could not take his eyes off of it.

"It's exotic matter," he said as he walked around the 3D image of the crystalline compound that could be seen by everyone in the virtual bridge. "Crystallized dark energy!"

"Yes, we heard you the first time," Michaels replied. "From you and those Federation eggheads."

"I don't think you fully appreciate what this means," Clark said, not even sparing the GRADR Operator a glance. "Our ancestors speculated about exotic matter before they escaped Earth. In fact, the AB Drive was considered impossible to function without it. We even thought the Precursors used them to make their Breaches, but with us learning about graviton technology, we just dropped the concept altogether. But here it is, staring right in front of us."

Michael rolled his eyes, glancing at Moreau. The helmsman grinned before he said, "Dobson, I don't think Michaels really cares what it's called. He probably just wants to know what it does."

"I know what it does," Michaels countered. "It gives you cancer."

Clark rolled his eyes. "Yes, but it's more than that. It's a mass manipulator. It produces a field that changes the mass of objects around it, depending on the polarity of the electrical current that is fed to it."

"It is impressive how the scientists learned all this in two days," Tenma commented.

"Not really," Michaels replied. "I served on one of those science vessels during my last tour. The labs had chronotech. They probably got all this data from years of experimentation."

"It's still impressive," Tenma insisted. "I can't imagine losing years of my life in just a few days."

"They get paid very handsomely for it," Moreau replied. "Still, mass manipulator, huh? Quite a novel material we discovered."

"I know, right?" Clark replied with a small grin. "I wonder if this discovery will bring about significant changes for humanity."

"It's not that impressive, Dobson," Michaels commented. "We can already manipulate gravity, and anything that is affected by it—spacetime, weight, density, many things. Let's be real here. What practical application does this mass-affecting compound offer that we can't do with Graviton? Absolutely nothing."

"The science team beg to differ," Clark replied. "They seem quite happy with the discovery so far."

"Well," Moreau replied, though with a bit of a mocking tone in his cadence, "as long as they are happy, I guess. Coz I'm pretty sure the Taiwanese love the fact that their newly discovered system is filled with these exotic, cancer-causing materials."

Wincing, Clark glanced at the Star Map of System Shanxi next to the picture of the newly discovered compound.

When they found their first physical sample from a nearby asteroid, it seemed inert, looking like mundane crystal dust that made it easy to miss. However, it was sensitive to electrical fields; their first sample began radiating dark energy as soon as it was brought inside the shuttle, causing concern.

Not wanting to wait for more nasty surprises, the science team expanded the range of their scanners to do a broad scan system-wide for any of the exotic matter.

It worked.

Near the outer edges of the map, a bright yellow light was glowing—the artifact. However, there was a spattering of yellow dots scattered throughout the system, from asteroids and other planets—most scarily, in the garden planet of Shanxi itself.

It delayed the whole colonization effort, with the Taiwanese fleet pretty much stopping the construction of the fusion plant and delaying the deployment of the Lazarus Initiative.

"The shitty luck of Taiwan," Michaels muttered, shaking his head. "Our shitty luck as well since we're stuck here until they make a decision."

"Pretty sure it'll work itself out," Clark said. "They might have to clear the garden planet of the compound first, but even if they didn't, the nanites will take care of it in the long run. I mean, we can beat cancer."

"Yeah, but like you said, it's exotic," Michaels countered. "Even if we get rid of the cancer, we still have to deal with the radiation. We don't know any long term complications of being exposed by dark energy."

"Maybe we get superpowers," Tenma interjected, "like in Manga."

"Manga?" Clark asked.

"Graphic novels of Unitary Parliamentary Constitutional Empire of Japan," Niki replied.

"Oh, thanks, Niki," Clark replied. "Though you can just call the country by the name. No need to mention the government style. We don't say Federal Presidential Constitutional Republic of the USA." When he heard Moreau chuckled, he glanced at him and asked, "What?"

"It's nothing," the helmsman said with a small smile. "It just reminded me of back in the day when Ida and I were still trying to get used to each other. You'll probably notice that your AI is very stiff in the beginning. That will change the more she interacts with you."

Clark nodded, frowning as a stray thought entered his head. Niki seemed to have picked up on it because she then spoke. "If you are worried about me becoming too human-like, you can adjust my settings to your preference."

"Let's… discuss that when the time comes," he replied hesitantly. "We're still getting to know each other, after all."

"Very well," she replied, though he did note a bit of an upbeat tone in her voice.

"Anyway," Moreau continued, "it would be interesting if Tenma is correct, though. Didn't pre-war Earth have this whole concept of superhumans that were like the next human genetic revolution because they were exposed to gamma radiation?"

"I remember my father talking about a team of mutated humans, but not because of gamma radiation," Michaels replied. "I think that's something else."

"Wasn't there also a muscled human alien that became really strong because of Sol's radiation?" Tenma asked. "I think my grandma had movie of it. Steel Man?"

Clark nodded. "Man of Steel. It also had Batman and other superhuman individuals."

"Only watched Man of Steel because the actor who played the alien was, ah, very well-defined."

Moreau rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure all of them were well-defined."

"No, no. Not all. Can tell the difference between real and padded."

The helmsman rolled his eyes. "Muscle queen."

Tenma glared at him. "Fuck off, Moh-roh, you maiden-less playboy wannabe!"

Clark smirked slightly as the two went on, but that quickly evolved to a full blown smile when Niki asked, "What is a muscle queen?"

"So, how is Niki?" Moreau asked as he stabbed his fork into his meal.

Clark shrugged as he mixed his bowl of soup with his spoon. "She's fine. She's been using more contractions, so her speech is getting a bit less artificial-sounding."

"That's pretty good progress for six days," the helmsman replied before taking a bite of his meal.

"Other than that, though, she's been a great help with work." Clark paused. "I was commended by the captain yesterday. She told me that my efficiency increased by ten percent."

Moreau nodded. "Yeah, that's a given after upgrading your AI." He then frowned. "Are you thinking that the improvement rate is slow or something?"

"I didn't think it would change at all," Clark admitted. "I always thought the upgrade was just for internal communication."

"Dobson," Moreau began, "imagine you are isolated in a room and your only window to the outside world is a measly ten-eighty screen."

"Don't diss it," Clark interrupted. "It's still a perfectly viable resolution."

Moreau rolled his eyes and continued, as if he hadn't been interrupted. "So, a low-tech screen and your only means of communication and action are done through a keyboard and a mouse. That's what Niki was doing pretty much before the upgrade. Now, she's out of the room, out in the world, seeing everything in hyper-real definition and learning from it. She now has a more direct line to you, so she'll naturally learn your preferences, your habits, and with that, will seamlessly insert herself into your workflow, making it much faster."

Clark frowned before he took a spoonful of the thick liquid. "Wish I knew sooner. I could have done so much more."

"I wouldn't be too down about it. You're what, in your twenties? You got like a hundred more years in you." Moreau then cleaned up his plate. "Well, my break is about to be over. See you later!"

Clark watched the man sprint out of the mess hall, shaking his head.

"Ensign Moreau is also in his twenties, correct?" Niki asked. "Why does he speak as if he's much older."

"He does it to make himself feel superior," Clark replied. "Although, given his work ethic, it's not unwarranted."

"He has been clocking in a lot of hours," Niki commented.

He snorted. "Yeah. Guess he's saving up with all that overtime. Makes me wish I could be as active as he is."

"I believe I can ask Ida what type of hormonal cocktail she has Moreau's body produce to induce wakefulness and energy. I suspect a mix of acetylcholine, hypocretin, histamine, serotonin, noradrenaline, and dopamine. Should I ask?"

"Yes, though remember that human bodies differ from person to person."

"I'll adjust the amount that will be more conducive to your—Clark, Captain Curry is calling for you. She says she needs you at the bridge in ten minutes."

The Navigator blinked, a spoon halfway into his mouth. Being called to log in an hour early before shift meant something must have come up. Setting the spoon down, he lifted the bowl and drank the soup heartily, glad it was at a tolerable temperature, and then sprinted out of the mess hall. He spotted one of the blue sliding poles that were scattered along the ship and slid down one level, and then ran into his cabin.

After a moment to dress in uniform, he returned to the hall, went to an orange slide pole this time, and floated two levels up. He made his way to the bridge and noted that the entire crew seemed to be present. He walked to his station, looked at Curry, and saluted.

The Captain nodded and then announced, "Taiwan has finally decided to turn the artifact on. Due to the delay in colonizing the garden world caused by the presence of these exotic compounds, they have decided to 'pull the bandage off,' so to speak. At this point, if anything goes wrong, they will only suffer minimal losses."

"Guess we're also part of the minimal losses, Captain?" Moreau asked with a grin.

Curry grinned back. "President Oaks wants us to partake in making history. Our jobs remain the same, though—guarding the science team. So, to minimize any losses if everything goes snafu, RDP01's AI, Pippa, volunteered to transmit the signal and have everyone else will jump a quarter of an AU away from the artifact."

"'Volunteered' seems a little exaggerated," Moreau commented. "Ida said Pippa lost a bet with Komi."

"Then she shouldn't have volunteered to participate in that bet," Tenma replied dryly.

"Enough chatter," Curry interjected before Moreau could answer. "Everyone, log into Driftcon. We'll be turning the artifact on in five minutes, real time."

Clark nodded and took his seat at his terminal. It glowed blue, and the Navigator found himself glued to it, as if he were lying flat on the ground. He heard Niki begin the Driftcon procedures, and before he knew it, he was in the virtual Bridge. Immediately, he opened up the map. He synced with the rest of the navigators in the flotilla as they all plotted paths for the gravity tunnels that would not intersect with each other.

"Gravcannons are loaded, point-defense powered," Tenma declared.

"GRADR fully operational," Michaels said on his end.

With a flourish, Clark finished his work and declared, "Pathway set. Sending coordinates."

"Time to get this show on the road," Moreau muttered, stretching his arms and intertwined fingers. "Data received. Folding spacetime. Gravity pressure climbing."

Curry seemed to be listening to someone in a private line, probably with the other captains. After a moment, she nodded then looked at her crew. "Mister Moreau, jump on my mark."

Clark noted that Argo and Hercules made their jumps. Few of the science team left as well until it was only them and Kepler left.

"Mark."

There was a slight jostle as the Shoemaker made its jump, and with a clear pathway, they would arrive at their destination in a few seconds real time. In the Drift, though, that meant a few minutes.

Clark expected Moreau to say something to start a conversation. Yet, he, and the rest of the crew remained utterly silent. It unnerved him slightly.

"Clark," Niki called soothingly.

The Navigator sighed before relaxing.

The minutes passed, and the Shoemaker reached its destination without fanfare before the network became busy once more.

"Captain Curry," Dana spoke up. "Captain Sinclaire and Captain Adams have advised they are now in position and moving to REDCON-2."

"Full deployment of fighters confirmed," Clark added as he spotted a new stream of data coming from the Destroyers. "Putting their pathways to our map."

"Data received," Michaels commented.

"Incoming transmission," Dana announced.

"Shoemaker, this is Kepler. We've finished uploading the boot up signal to RDP01. We're now about to jump away."

Clark stilled. With everything set, he saw Kepler's gravity tunnel forming on his map before the frigate reappeared and redirected its bearing so as to not miss anything.

"Captain Curry, this is Captain Johnson. We are in position."

Curry nodded. "Then we are clear to proceed. Dana, connect to RDP01's QEC. Text and audio. Wide broadcast."

There was a pause before Dana replied, "Captain, I hesitate to follow that order."

"We need everything documented," Curry replied. "And I am aware of Pippa's… coprolalic tendencies."

"Very well. Connecting to RDP01's QEC."

"—of course they give me the the fucking job of turning on a fucking alien artifact that might blow up in all our shitty faces. And you know what, you know what? They'll deserve it too. Especially that bitch Komi who I know fucking cheated on that dice roll—"

"Pippa, this is Captain Curry."

"Oh, hey Captain!" Pippa's voice exclaimed, suddenly sounding peppy, though admittedly in a faux manner. "I'm in position, and ready to broadcast!"

Clark blinked, looking at everyone around him. It seemed as though Tenma was the only one who reacted normally, her hand covering her face in exasperation, while the rest seemed to just take it in stride.

"What an interesting AI," Niki commented.

"Don't emulate her," Clark warned.

"Good to hear," Curry replied to the Raven AI. "Start relaying the signal and document everything."

"Aye-aye, Captain!"

A large window, front and center in the bridge lobby, displayed the picture of the alien artifact, now freed from its icy confines. The crew watched closely as the RDP approached.

The Raven Defense Platform shared almost the same aesthetic of a fighter—a central oblong body with two sleek, thin foldable wings on each side. It was slightly bigger than regular fighter, but it still looked like a speck compared to the artifact it was slowly approaching.

"Starting transmission," Pippa announced before she stopped. Clark felt everyone, not just the people in the Shoemaker but also every ship in the task group, just waiting to see what was about to unfold.

Besides the data coming from the RDP, the only indication that the artifact had received the signal was that it began to brighten up. Dots of light started turning on one by one, illuminating the curved metal arms. The two central rings began to spin in a geocentric manner, slowly at first, then going faster and faster until they reached a certain speed, and in the center of that, the rather large crystal of the exotic matter began to glow blue.

"Energy build up on the artifact stabilized," Pippa declared. "New broadcast signals detected. I'll begin documenting."

A cheer erupted. Not from anyone in the Shoemaker, Clark noted. Apparently, the Kepler had not terminated their connection and data suddenly flooded the network. A good chunk of it was exuberance from the connected science team.

"Dana," Curry said, wincing.

"Filtering."

Clark breathed a sigh of relief as the emotions were blunted, and it seemed that the Kepler realized they were leaking. The Captain of the ship spoke out soon afterwards.

"Apologies for that, Shoemaker. Guess everyone is pretty relieved that everything went well. We're also getting new signals from RDP01. They are being translated as we speak."

"Not a problem," Curry replied courteously. "We lose ourselves from time to time. Any clue what that thing is telling us now?"

"Oddly enough, it's not actually trying to transmit to us but to somewhere else And what it's transmitting looks pretty close the boot up signal we just sent—"

Clark blinked as his map suddenly detected what looked like some sort of anomaly. He was about to speak when Michael shouted an alarm.

"Captain, the artifact's power suddenly spiked! We're reading some sort of gravity fluctuation!" The operator typed in his keyboard furiously. "It looks like an inverted gravity tunnel or something!"

That was not the only thing Clark noticed as he stared at one certain platform near the artifact. "Captain! RDP01 is being sucked into the anomaly!"

"What the fuck!? What the fuck!?" Pippa shouted hysterically in a high pitched tone that made her sound like some sort of screeching bird. "Komi, if I die, I'm gonna haunt you, you bi—"

Before anyone could react, a blue light surrounded the platform, then disappeared in a streak of light. Curry stood up.

"Dana, order the other ships to back away even further! Have Argo and Hercules move to REDCON-1. Prepare for anything as we try to contain it! Micheals, any readings on the artifact?!"

"It's stabilized again," Michael replied in a confused tone. "The power is back to where it was, and the odd gravity readings are gone."

"The hell?" Moreau said. "Did it just destroy the Raven by accident or something?"

Clark blinked, realizing that the QEC connection had not been terminated. "She's not dead."

"What?" Curry asked, turning to him. He was about to point out that the connection was still active when Pippa's voice rang out around the bridge.

"I'm alive? I'm alive! Yeah! Let's fucking go!" There was a pause. "Where the hell am I?"

"Dana, maintain that connection!" Curry ordered. "Pippa, can you hear me?"

"I, uh, yeah," the AI replied in a subdued manner. "I can hear you, Captain." There was another pause. "I'm in another sector of the Milky Way, I think? There's also another artifact here with me. It's activated as well. Ooh, I'm in an undiscovered system! I see a star and some planets! Wait, I think there's two artifacts in this system. The other one doesn't seem to be active, though."

Curry sighed, relaxing for a moment before sitting down in her seat. "Send everything you can to us," she ordered. "Everything you can see, anything you can detect. We'll document everything and find a way to get you back."

"Will do." There was another pause before she spoke up again, her voice filled with a touch of excitement once more. "Hey, does this mean I just made history?"

"Yes," Curry replied, though with a bit of exasperation in her tone. "You made history."

"Fuck yeah!" the AI shouted on glee. "Suck in that, Komi, you sanctimonious bim—"

"Dana," Curry interjected, shaking her head. "Cut the audio. Text only from now on."

Whatever she was about to call Komi was cut off, but a window popped up, transcribing everything Pippa was saying, as well as any preliminary data she was sending them about her location.

"I did warn you, Captain," Dana said, almost chidingly.

Curry just grunted.

Clark's eyes widened as he read all the crimes Komi had allegedly done to her fellow AI, and even learned a few words that he felt he'd never ever utter even with the strongest of convictions. There were some things that did not bear repeating.

"What a fascinating AI," Niki repeated.

The Navigator groaned, unsure if she was being serious or not.

Welcome to the United Systems of the Sol Federation Codex, Councilor Milsa. What is your—

Detecting unknown protocols. My apologies for cutting your session short. Any further access to the Codex for the Citadel Council will be blocked for one galactic standard day to update security measures. Thank you. You will be logged out.

Welcome back to the United Systems of the Sol Federation Codex, Councilor Milsa. My apologies for cutting your last session short due to what appears to be a hacking attempt. They also tried to lay blame on the Salarian Special Tasks Group, considering they were using similar coding patterns. However, we are now more secure than ever thanks to the attempt.

Do you have any inquiries?

You have been inactive for a full minute. Are you okay?

Search Query: colonization, procedures

No articles found, but I can explain. Would you like to know more?

Colonization Procedure

Colonizing a world involves three steps. First, a system is checked to see if the star and its planets are conducive to human life, as well as potential resources to mine.

Second, a Colony Station—humongous ships with a pre-built city inside—is sent with an escort fleet to the garden planet. The Station will deploy people to study the planet more extensively, construct a fusion plant, and if necessary, deploy the Lazarus Initiative. The escorts will then patrol the area and explore the outer edge of the system, sometimes venturing beyond it.

Third, once the fusion plant has been built, chronosphere and graviton technology will be deployed as needed. The goal is to maintain a 24-hour day cycle and gravity levels similar to Earth's. Then, Colony Station can land and the pre-built city will be used to construct the first settlement.

Lazarus Initiative

The Lazarus Initiative was initially created to seed a planet with humans in order to rebuild the devastated population after the exodus. It is a mobile repository with the genetic makeup of the human race. Any new planet discovered will have its environment factored in by the Lazarus Initiative to determine which genetic markers within the human genome are most conducive to survival.

In case of dire circumstances, such as cases of unexpected Colony Station population decline, they will seed embryos and use chronospheres, Drift education modules, drone helpers, and AI, to grow them into full humans to keep colonization efforts going.

Chronosphere

Derived from the Brand-Cooper Equation, chronosphere uses gravity to induce artificial time dilation.

Philip Cooper, a grandson of Murphy Cooper, came up with the idea after he met his great-grandfather, Joseph Cooper, during the family's final farewells to Murphy.

He admitted to being completely awestruck upon seeing his great-grandfather in the same age bracket as his father. After a conversation, he realized that Joseph was so young due to his misadventures around the giant black hole in the Stellaris galaxy, being caught up in time dilations caused by the singularity's strong gravitational pull.

Recognizing fully the extent of what gravity can do, he looked through the graviton equation and devised a formula to induce a spherical artificial time dilation field, both in direct and inverse relationships, while also isolating the gravity effects to the outer most part of the field.

Chronotech is largely responsible for the speed at which humans recovered from their exodus from Earth. They allow fast farming, speed up research and material production, and optimize garden planets for human habitation by speeding up or slowing down time to match a standard Earth day.

Stellaris Galaxy

It is the first galaxy humanity has visited after leaving Earth.

Due to the exuberance of being able to harness gravity, humanity experimented wholeheartedly with the equation, and accidentally created a wormhole, which is now collectively called the Einstein-Rosen Bridge (colloquially called EB Bridge, or just Bridge).

The Bridge was created near Saturn, a ringed gas planet of Sol System. It led towards the now named Stellaris galaxy, which was explored to find humanity a new home.

Unfortunately, due to the unplanned nature of humanity's first Bridge, the wormhole led to a system that had planets and a neutron star orbiting around a massive black hole, making it highly risky to colonize. However, brave explorers like Amelia Brand (daughter of the famous John Brand who penned half of the Gravity Equation) and Joseph Cooper (father of also the famous Murphy Cooper who penned the other half) were able to travel to a far safer neighboring system and colonized the planet named Edmunds.

Search Query: total, human, colonies

I am not authorized to answer that query.

Search Query: direct, energy, weapons

Results:

Plasma

Laser

Plasma

Plasma weaponry had been researched well before the Kaiju's first attack, but were impractical until the Jaegers were deployed. They were favored weapons not because of their devastating power, but also to minimize the damage Kaiju blood could do by burning them away, while at the same time cauterizing wounds.

Gipsy Danger is still the most well known Jaeger that used plasma, armed with I-19 Plasma Caster on each arm.

However, the nature of the plasma weaponry had shortcomings. It had short range and very high power consumption, with the latter making them impossible to miniaturize. However, with the discovery of graviton technology, those issues mostly disappeared. Instead of using electrical energy to heat up air before launching a bolt of plasma via magnetic accelerator, strong gravity produces an isolating bubble around air before exerting ultra high pressure to induce conditions for producing plasma bolts with even the weakest laser before they are shot out via a mini Urenbeck launcher.

The range may not be as good as projectile weaponry, but with time, this could be resolved.

Urenbeck Systems

The first derivative of the gravity equation, the Urenbeck Systems is the process of manipulating spacetime at a near-flat dimensional plane. It first folds spacetime, creating a gravity vacuum line (or tunnel). At the rear of the subject, where spacetime is folded, gravity pressure is created and maintained until released. Spacetime would bounce back to fill the vacuum, pushing the subject forward at nearly instantaneous speeds.

It was first conceived from necessity. With Earth's civilization and infrastructure on the brink of collapse, they could not procure enough fuel to launch all the Stations that held the surviving population from each surviving country. The System made the exodus possible, and now has been adapted for a wide range of uses. From launching bullets of projectile weaponry, to allowing ships instantaneous short-range (system-wide) jumps.

Search Query: faster, than, light, travel

Result:

Urenbeck Systems

Einstein-Rosen Bridge

Alcubierre Drive

Alcubierre Drive

Proposed by theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre in 1994 AD (Earth Standard), the Alcubierre drive is a faster-than-light travel method used by humanity.

By contracting spacetime in front of a ship and expanding spacetime behind it, a configurable energy-density field lower than that of vacuum would be created, making FTL travel possible.

Initially thought nonviable without the use of some sort of exotic matter, graviton technology made folding spacetime possible, and this has been used by humanity for interstellar travel.

Contrast to the Urenbeck System, the AB Drive does not depend on explosive gravity push for near instantaneous jumps. Instead, it maintains the unbalanced spacetime to pull a ship forward, making it far more sustainable during long transits, making it ideal for interstellar travel and when traversing unknown space.

Bookmarked for your next visit:

Human Genome Map

Author's Notes: Well, don't I feel like an ass. After talking about how I didn't want to make long chapters, I made one just as long.

Still, I think this chapter reads much better for me than the last one, mostly because this one is pretty much straightforward in its objectives.

Also, anyone who watched Interstellar will know that the Codex is wrong. It is. The Lazarus Missions were beyond top secret. And it was during the time that the government was hiding and correcting everything they could to keep the morale up of their dying population. Codex-chan isn't lying, she just doesn't know.

Anyways, I kinda enjoyed writing this one. Enjoy!