When Celeste brought us out of subspace, there was that same burst of light and movement, and we were in a new star system. Though, she had slowed us down considerably before dropping out, to make sure we landed as close as possible to the planet. When we emerged, we could just barely see the yellow planet in the distance. “This planet doesn’t match one of the ones from my records, so I can’t tell you anything about it. Most likely, it will be colonized some time in the future, and its terrain shifted to be more friendly for the inhabiting species.”
“However, from the scans I took while in subspace, it meets all of the atmospheric requirements to have the burning mind flower grow on it. Unfortunately, those same requirements make it a harsh planet for either of you to move around on. The temperatures can get as high as eight hundred degrees during the day, but rapidly cools at night until it get under a hundred below zero. Either of these temperatures would prove fatal to an elf or human.”
Sharon furrowed her brow after hearing Celeste explain. “Then how do you expect us to go down and get this plant?”
“I don’t.” The Deus Ex smiled. “I’ll take the ship in and scan the surface as we do a flyover, and then if we find it, I’ll go down myself. We do have exploration suits for the both of you, and they are enchanted to resist temperatures far exceeding these, but it would still be better for me to go myself.”
I nodded my head at that. Aside from her, the only other person that could likely survive out there without special gear was Yo… and I didn’t trust Yo to pick a flower without eating it. “Alright… Let’s see if there is anything else on this planet that could prove useful.”
Incoming call from Jordan and Marion Hulett.
….
….. No seriously, what? I know those names, naturally, but them appearing now is impossible. Right? “Hello..?” As I speak up, Sharon looks towards me with a confused expression. Celeste, however, leans in and whispers into her ear.
“Ah, it worked!” I heard my dad’s voice over the call. He should still be in the game, and his name should be Dravin, not Jordan. Unless they found a way to pull them out of the game?
“What’s going on…?”
“Hmm? Ahh, sorry, explanations. Right. So, exposition time! After you left, and sent that information out, various governments used the star charts to make plans to hire an expedition in NeoLife to check out Earth. Of course, a few normal players went along as well, so that even if they all died there was a way to report back.”
“When they arrived at the ‘Cradle of Life’, the crew was both overjoyed and terrified, because nobody had ever made it back. One of the players there was a druid, and recorded the scene on a camera to relay back to Earth. The planet was barely recognizable anymore. Although the solar system confirmed that we were in the right place, the continents had shifted and shattered, becoming islands scattered across the world.”
“Unwilling to send any men in to test, the captain sent down an unmanned probe to scout the area. The first thing they found was a big city, and going by the layout we think it was Dallas, Texas at one point. However, all of the buildings were covered in blood red vines, the streets covered with monsters fighting each other. It was hard to believe, especially when a flight of dragons came in and destroyed the bunch of them, only to have them reform a few minutes later!”
“Anyways, seeing that convinced people here that sticking around might not be the best solution. We only have so many weapons that can take on dragons, and there were at least twenty of them in that one city alone. We don’t know how old those dragons were, but they could be spawned anywhere from next week to a week before the footage was taken. Man, that still sounds weird. Right now, the people in the virtualized communities are being given the chance to download into mass produced androids, and your mom and I just had our turn. Say hi, Marion.”
“Hi, Marion.” My mom’s voice came over the line, followed by a brief laugh. “Good to talk to you again, honey. We were worried that the friends list would not work after we were downloaded. After all, we no longer have anything like levels. Thankfully, we were able to call you.”
Processing, processing. Okay… long story short, the starmap came in handy, the government found out Earth became uninhabitable in the future, and now my parents are robots. Well, this has been a weird five minutes. Also, apparently the friends list is not hindered by any amount of distance, because there is no way that they are anywhere near me. “So… I take it they’re going with Operation: Abandon Ship?”
There was a chuckle from my dad as he heard that. “That’s right. Colony ships are already being created in orbit. Though, we’re not sure if it will be in time. Another dragon spawned last week, and wiped out half of the U.K. before they managed to put it down. Here in Oakland, some nasty sharks have started to grow legs and run around on the beach eating people. As part of the robot workforce, your mom and I are going to head out and help make the ships so that we can speed things along.”
“Well…” What all could be said about that? I faintly registered as Celeste left the bridge, presumably to head towards the airlocks while we flew over the planet. “Any idea where they’ll be going when they’re done?”
“No clue, they don’t let us know stuff like that. But there are a lot of ships. If nothing delays us, the first one should be ready to launch in a year, with a capacity of over a hundred million passengers. Though, there are other people that have been leaving with private ships like you did. Not everyone wants to stick around and take a chance at being monster chow.”
Thinking about something, I furrowed my brows and asked. “Any idea if Manchester was caught up in the attack on the UK?” When I said this, Sharon’s interest was piqued again, and she looked over at me with a trace of worry.
“Just a second, let me check…” There was a pause for a minute or two as he went to look up the information. “Ah, here it is… let’s see… about eighty percent of Manchester was destroyed by the dragon, and the ion cannon finished off the rest. It was a tough call, but nothing else was making a dent in it. Ultimately, they made the call to fire the cannon before the dragon could grow even stronger.”
“Ah…” I sighed, shaking my head as I heard the news. Sharon, who had been watching me for an answer, saw it on my face. Various conflicting emotions flashed across her face, but she settled on grief. Everyone that she’s ever known outside of games is now either dead or on this ship. Though, that also meant her ass of a boyfriend is dead too, and I won’t mourn his loss. “Just curious, but do you still have your abilities from the game?”
“No, we lost all that when we were downloaded. They told us that there was a possibility for robots to gain souls, and thus gain levels again, but that still wouldn’t give us our former racial powers. Though I think it’s fine being an android. It can be kind of fun, like a whole new adventure.”
“I see… Well, we’re on our way to the elven world now to help them adapt to the new changes. Don’t even know if they have classes yet, so fighting off monsters would be even harder for them.”
“Oh? Well, that sounds like its own kind of adventure. I’ll have to find out where you are when the ships are ready to leave, see if I can find one heading your way for us to meet you again. Must be pretty lonely out there all by yourself.”
“Ah… well… uhm… I’m not exactly by myself…” I said as I glanced over towards Sharon. It occurred to me that my parents never knew about the girl I brought with me offworld. Or my animal companions that have evolved into attractive women as well…
“Ohh…?” I could just hear a grin forming on my dad’s face. “Now this is interesting. Come on, son. Tell your old man all about it.”
“Huh? What was that? Sorry, you’re breaking up. Solar interference, talk to you later!” I quickly ended the call, my face starting to heat up. A few moments later, I received another message from him.
Jordan Hulett: Friends list calls don't get interfered with like that. I'll have you spill the beans next time!
;)
Gods above save me from a nosy father… Looking over to Sharon, I saw a faint blush on her face as well. “So.. Home’s all gone now, huh?” I nodded my head slightly at that. She took several deep breaths, and then let out a long sigh. “Well… I had already given up on it, anyways. Besides, I’ve got a new home now, right?” She let out a soft smile as she gestured towards the ship. “And more friends in this small ship than I had on that large planet back home.”
“Maybe your own parents will give you a call once they get their robot bodies.” I tried to console her, but she just laughed lightly.
“Not likely. Not that they wouldn’t, I just don’t see my dad giving up virtual immortality to live in a robotic body. No, he’ll stay virtualized, and either stay in NeoLife, or go with them on a digital server until a better option comes along. I could see him wanting a body like Celeste, but anything less would be worse to him than staying in a virtual prison.”
I could only raise my eyebrows in response to that. Her dad must be pretty crazy, if she’s talking about him like that. I mean, not being able to talk to your only daughter again, and the only cost being downloading into a physical body. Then again, he probably has his own reasons, too. “Just to make sure, but coming along like this wasn’t just some rebellious decision to run away from daddy, was it?” I smirked slightly as I asked that, and she puffed her cheeks out in response.
“No… It sounded like fun. How often do you get invited to go along on a real space adventure with a cool guy? Though, I could do without the harem situation, to be honest.” She teased back at me, and I suddenly felt the urge to curl up in a corner.
“...I keep saying… it’s not like I wanted that…” It’s not my fault! I’m not even that attractive! Then again, aside from Sharon, all of the women around me are with me because they were either my AI companion or my animal companion. Sharon’s the only one that actually came with me without having to be evolved from something else. I looked at the girl, and did my best not to suspect that she was secretly the evolved form of a bunny or something. That would just be the cruelest of fates.
Chapter 12 - Promises Kept
Shortly after I got off the call with my dad, I felt the ship stopping above the planet. “Alright, guys! Found some stuff, but we’ll need to be quick. I picked up large monster readings just below the surface. Not really sure what type, just that it is big and full of mana.” Celeste called out over the intercom before diving out of the airlock.
A holographic screen appeared in the bridge showing her project, and next to it a sort of radar that marked her position, as well as a vague reading beneath the surface. As of now, the reading appeared to be several kilometers away, but it was moving in her direction. “Why is it that we didn’t get a bigger gun for this ship for when things like this happen..?”
“Because I don’t have the materials to synthesize nano-wiring capable of passing large amounts of mana into a cannon. Otherwise, we could get a really nice cannon.” Celeste’s voice answered over the intercom as she landed on the planet. “The nano-wiring is actually an essential part of most of the higher-end ship features, but they also require a much more powerful generator than what we use. If I get the materials, it would be just a matter of time for me to upgrade the ship, or build a better one. Granted, maybe a lot of time, but still.”
I watched as she landed in a small patch of flowers and began picking them carefully. The majority of them were bright red with three long petals, but there were also two that were green with black spots. Celeste picked one of each, before the mysterious monster signal started growing too close for comfort. “That’ll have to do…” She shook her head and started flying up, just as the thing beneath the sand revealed itself.
With a giant three sided mouth, a worm nearly fifty meters thick began rising up from the surface. “Celeste… fly faster!” As I spoke, the ship’s two turrets lined up and began firing red beams of death. Though… as the lasers impacted, they proved far less deadly than I had hoped, not even knocking the worm back as it continued rising up. Ten meters, twenty meters… Its mouth was drawing uncomfortably close to our Deus Ex companion, and the turrets were doing nothing to stop it.
I considered rushing out to help, but by the time that I got suited up and out the airlock, she’d either be back in the ship or be worm food. All I could do at this point was watch. Suddenly, the lights on the ship flickered, but at the same time Celeste’s speed drastically increased, leaving the worm behind as it tried to get a robotic snack.
As soon as Celeste was back in the airlock, the lights returned to normal and the ship began moving away. This worm was nearly as thick as our ship, and likely at least a couple kilometers long. We did not need to have it take a bite out of us!
“Celeste…” I had a strange sense that something was up, and wanted to ask her about it.
“Yeah, yeah. I know. Splitting my processing to so many instances makes it harder to use any of them to their full potential. I was only built to handle a single companion bracelet, remember?”
“So.. doesn’t that mean that the ship can’t be used properly?” Sharon looked up at the screen curiously as she asked.
“No… well yes, but no. If I can get you two trained, either of you could take over the ship in emergency situations, or at least part of it to reduce the strain on my processing abilities. But for just casual usage, I can handle my own body and the ship fine. I doubt either of you want to be behind one of those consoles all the time to run the scanners and such.”
I nodded my head at that. Only one of us would want to be behind a console that much, and that was Yo. Unfortunately, her reason for being at the console was not to learn how to fly the ship, but to play games. “Well, start teaching, then.” Celeste has a direct link to give me whatever information she sees fit, so might as well use it.
“Huh?” Sharon looks over to me curiously, and it occurs to me that I never really told her just how much Celeste is able to do in my head. After I finished explaining, her eyes went wide. “Could you do that for me and Jeeves? I don’t want to take the bracelet down to the planet when we arrive, because it might get broken, or lost if I die.”
I thought about it… and I didn’t really have a reason to refuse, as long as we did this right. “Okay.. but I’ll only do it on a clone body. That way, if something goes wrong, the damage won’t transfer over.” This would also give me the chance to begin experimenting with modifying the auras of others. Sharon nodded her head eagerly and immediately left to go to the medbay where the clone controllers had been set up.
“Get back here, young lady.” Celeste called out as she reached the bridge, and passed me the two flowers to put in my grove. “Strap in for FTL first. We don’t know how long this procedure will take.”
A few moments later, I saw Sharon walking back into the bridge, sulking slightly as she sat down in her seat and strapped in. Celeste took her own seat, while Yo stood up and waited eagerly for what came next. Sure enough, once we went to subspace she was splashed all over the floor and wall again from the brief force.
Shaking my head, I got up and followed Sharon to the medbay, where there were two clones sitting side by side. By now, we had each activated one, and made sure to put them in clothes this time. Sharon sat on the far side of the room, putting on her headset and activating her clone.
When she sat up, Sharon’s clone body happily went over and laid down on the medical bed. Celeste moved over near us, but not enough to get in the way. “You’ll want to put her under first.”
I nodded my head, and used my Alchemic Sleep spell, which I had not used in several weeks, to put Sharon out. I watched as her eyes grew heavy, and then finally closed with her head tilted slightly to the side. “Go call Yo in. Might as well take care of everything in one go.”
Celeste nodded, and walked out of the medbay, while I placed my hands on either side of Sharon’s head and closed my eyes. I was rather counting on the boost from my Amateur Brain Surgeon title to h
elp me out here as I began placing the aura for an AI interface around her brain. It’s amazing how much easier this is when I’m not feeling the pain of doing this to myself. Then again, I was injecting my own mana into her body, and making it adapt to hers so that it wasn’t rejected.
Time passed slowly, minutes feeling like hours as I tried to get all of the proper connections. And this time, I made sure to get the runes just right, so that Jeeves would not have the same level of freedom over her body that Celeste had on mine. While it was handy in some situations, I would not want to make others go through it without express permission.
I wasn’t sure how long I worked, but eventually I had the final connection in place. Next, I made the same connection between her brain and her wrist where the companion bracelet rested on her main body. That way, when she ‘logged out’, her AI would be able to upload itself to her new implant. I considered giving her a Cybernetic Adaptation like I had on myself, but figured that’d be better left for after I got permission.
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