Andrix nods, although his own expression has gone stern.
“The Trident was the last resort. Even beyond the Imperial-class shielding array. A super-carrier colony ship. As armed and armored as we could make it. But it isn't a generation ship. Instead, it would house nearly a hundred and twenty thousand Drune Rex in state-of-the-art cryostasis pods. Not the cryo-sleep you were put in, but the real deal. Almost complete biological stasis.”
He stops and reaches up to rub his chin, looking at me with a dark gaze I cannot fathom. Just what is running through this guys head?
In the end though, he cracks a slight smile and reaches out to type a few keys on the console built into the desk separating us.
I get a message saying that my suit has downloaded something. I arch a brow at Andrix even as I put on my helmet to check it out, feeling better doing so instead of using the monitor on his desk.
Holy freak...
What comes up is a complete, detailed schematic of Archon Station and the Trident.
It is not the rough thing me and my crew up there have been working out, either. It’s the full construction and project details. Hell, even Trident's specs, which I look through quickly, surprise me as much as the station itself.
It’s a giant freaking jump gate. And not just any warp gate, either. They tend to have limits to only a couple of hundred light years. And have to be tethered on both ends, creating a revolving door system that is logged and opened every time a ship passes through after sending its destination coordinates to the gate itself.
Archon Station uses something different. It creates a stable connection without a tethering gate. Up to almost 5000 light years. Almost a twentieth (1:20) of the entire distance of the Milky Way Galaxy in length.
Not only that, but the station itself has the drives to potentially become mobile in space. At slow speeds, admittedly, but still... Damn.
Andrix must have seen the look on my face even through my helmet, cause he starts laughing at me.
I shake my head and pull off my helmet, setting it on the desk so we can continue speaking.
“A massive ship, a giant freaking jump gate. A moving battle station. The last resort against the Drex taking the system?”
Yep, I cannot help but ask. I'd just been hit over the head by something mind boggling, but I still have enough sense left to question it.
“Heh. Yeah. Not just the system though. We always feared that the Drex would move out into the rest of the galaxy. And they did. Archon Station and the Trident were meant to give us enough breathing room and time to figure out how to stop them. But that was five hundred years ago, and our needs are more pressing now.”
I nod to that.
“From what your crew has managed to see and the information they've sent back here from every computer system they've managed to reactivate and retrieve information on, the Trident wasn't damaged very much during the fighting. It has its own power, life support, engines and shields. And weapons. It held its own better than the rest of the station did. But it went dead just like the rest.
“We need the Trident, Allec. That means boarding and reactivating the ship. To do that though... You need to deal with the Archive first.”
He stops, and I stare at him. I hadn't been that curious about the Archive. Well, I take that back. I have been curious. But curiosity has a way of killing the cat that tries to break into it. And I've had far too much to do.
“Okay... I'll bite. What do you mean?”
He grimaces at my question, and leans back in his seat, once more staring at the bare rock ceiling of the office for a moment before letting out a sigh.
“The Archive isn't just a repository of vast amounts of information. It’s a sort of quasi-collective consciousness. It learns and responds and grows all on its own. It is sentient. More so than most A.I.'s in fact. Organic growth. Maturing over time and experience. I told you before that it was here, either under the Site or at least still on the planet.
“I lied. The Archive was used as the core component of the Trident. We reversed engineered enough of the technology to allow almost seamless integration into the ship itself. It became... Well, the ships computer. Except it was much, much more. Far more powerful than any computer system. We wanted to make sure that no matter where we ended up, we'd be able to keep the thing that allowed us to thrive on this planet, and out in space.”
Now I could see the entire picture. Why the Drex attacked the Archon so fervently, then seemingly went crazy when they couldn't breach the defenses. Bombed the entire planet into radioactive ash. They knew, and they were wanting it. It was retaliation of the most brutal kind.
After that... I could easily imagine them searching every single star system they came across, hoping against all hope to find another Archive. Or some other form of advanced technology. Their own genetic manipulation tech was based on faulty, incomplete science.
They didn't have enough data to move forward, or to figure out a way to fix the problems that came up as they tried to push forward anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if someone said that the modern Drex are no longer a sentient species at all.
Driven by instinct or something even more unfathomable.
That thought was not very encouraging. Not at all.
“Here, take off your glove and hold out your hand, palm up.” Andrix says then, having reached into the front pouch of his own suit and pulls out what looks to be a flat, oval jewel. It’s a brilliant green color, so bright and yet dark at the same time that it instantly draws my gaze.
I do take off the glove on my left hand though, and hold it out to him palm up, as instructed.
He looks at my hand and the jewel a moment before pressing it against the palm of my hand with two of his fingers. Then he jerks his fingers away. That should have proved a major clue to what was to come; but I was too busy looking at what had been pushed into my hand.
At least until the pain started. A burning pain that raced up my arm and shoulder and straight into the base of my brain. Totally unexpected and unprepared. I scream. I couldn't help it. It was as if my entire hand was being speared with a red hot poker. Hotter, actually. I could feel my skin crisping around the thing and it set every nerve in that arm on fire!
The pain simply makes it seem as if it lasted forever. As if someone was hammering away at my brain non-stop, washing away reason and thought itself.
I'm not at all ashamed to say that I fainted right then and there, my throat having gone raw.
I wake up a short while later, after having somehow felt a sting in my throat and the remnants of pain is washed away in a drug-induced haze that clears up rather quickly. I sit up and grimace. My hand from the wrist down was utterly numb.
I'm almost afraid to look at it, so I turn away and accept the straw that someone was pushing against my lips. Drawing a drink, I find my parched and somewhat sore throat is in serious need of attention, so I down the drink in several small, rapid gulps. Aaah.
Finally regaining myself, I find Andrix still seated where he had been, with a wry and somewhat guilty look on his face, while Silene is standing at my shoulder, holding the bottle I'd just drunk from.
“... Thank you.” Damn. My voice is coarse as all freak, and simply trying to speak makes me flinch from the grinding in my throat.
“Don't bother speaking just yet, Allec. Andrix utterly failed to tell you what that was, so you were in no ways prepared.”
Silene's stern tone could cut through metal, and even Andrix pulls back from the words and the glare she shoots him before sighing herself.
“Still, it is perhaps better this way. That jewel is the 'Key Gem' to the Archive, Allec. Somehow or another it attaches itself to the nerves of the hosts body and ties itself directly to the brain. It'll allow you to access both the Trident and the Archive itself.”
Her tone had gone soft, and for a moment I see a rather startling look of relief and then guilt as well. She sees me looking and gives me a rather forlorn smile.
�
��That said... The Key Gem won't accept just anyone. Its been over a hundred years since we last tried to give it to anyone. Failure to accept the host means death. There isn't any other options. We've never been able to connect it to a machine. None of our scans work on it. Whatever it is made from, and its exact purpose has eluded us for millennium.”
Ah. That makes much more sense, and why it seems that Andrix is looking more than a little contrite at the moment. If it hadn't had worked, I'd be dead right now. Huh. I wonder how that'd work, given that I'm a player. I decide to take it with a pinch of salt and simply nods, although I grimace as a flash of heat runs up my shoulder and into the lower part of my brain through my spine.
Ouch.
I curse; or rather try to, but my throat is so damned sore that only a pained groan escapes my lips.
Silene puts her hand on my shoulder and gives a somewhat rueful chuckle.
“It'll hurt for a little while longer. Its part of the integration process. It will heal up rather quickly though and the pain will be gone in about ten more minutes or so. Your hand may be stiff and numb for a while longer though.”
Well, at least I will be able to use my hand again, although now the green jewel is buried half in my flesh. I can move my fingers a little with a bit of effort; and it seems all the bones and joints and muscles work just fine. However it works, it doesn't impede anything.
Except being able to feel it 'in' my hand is rather odd. Like having a rock lodged in your leg that you can feel against the bone. It doesn't hurt, or seem out of place. Just really odd. In fact, as I slowly work my hand closed, all I can feel is the oddly smooth and slippery surface under my fingers. It’s almost like water. Fluid, almost.
I 'umph' in understanding before looking at Andrix with an arched brow. He tries to smile sheepishly and fails, before shrugging.
“Sorry, Allec. But you need it, and no one else would bother trying to accept it. Or rather, get accepted by it. I was actually worried that I had killed you as soon as you fainted, but thankfully you were only just unconscious from the pain.”
He turns his head, and I can finally see the rather red hand print spread across his cheek. It seems Silene had reached the limits of her patience with Andrix's antics in this case.
I almost feel sorry for the guy.
Almost.
Not.
In a very real sense, he just tried to kill me. If it hadn't accepted me, I'd be dead, and he and all of his people would be dead within days. They'd have had to have tried everyone to get the key to work. And either died one at a time that way, or killed for whenever the Drex... mold escaped into the rest of the shelter.
I do not envy him for having made that choice.
I just hate being used as a guinea pig without my permission. That shit just rubs me really raw.
In the end, I blow out a breath and then cough with another grimace.
“Fu...k.” I manage to mutter.
“Anyway. Now that you have the Key Gem, you can enter the Trident as you please. Any of the hatches or sensors in the ship will recognize it, even through gloves or suits. Also, you may want to check out the Suit Workshop here before you leave. They've been working on something for you ever since you let them have a full scan of your Mobile Core. It could use a little more work, but I think you'll find it well worth it.”
Andrix was trying to appease me, but I simply give him a glare and look at Silene with a raised brow. A question, one she gets almost instantly. Ah, the look is so much more effective here than it is in my real life, where the motion is barely a twitch.
“Heh. Yeah. You can go. You should have most of the feeling back, and be able to speak softly by the time you get there, Allec. We've already started working on our end. Packing up everything is going to be a hard thing, but so long as the life support holds out, we'll work until it’s done.”
I nod and stand up, grabbing my helmet and getting the hell out of there as quickly as I can. I don't even get the door closed all the way before I hear Silene yelling at Andrix. Apparently not for the first time, given the looks that everyone in the control room is giving the office.
But before, where everyone looked at me as one of the guys, with respect for doing my damnedest to save them; now they look at me with something like... well, awe. As if my reputation had suddenly jumped through the roof. Huh, odd. I hadn't received any notifications at all lately.
Not even for the change in the quest.
I even go so far as to check myself. No change.
Hmmm. Well, no matter.
I start off through the large shelter and finally make my way back to the workshop I'd been brought to before. Everyone is hard at work, this time no longer caring about all the little details. They were rushing, trying to make as many suits as possible that could survive in cold space for only hours.
It’s obvious that there is a lot of anxiety and fear going on. And fear pushes people to desperate acts. But these guys aren't so overrun by emotion that they aren't doing a good job. There's just only so much you could do with suits that were never meant to go through what we need right now.
Along the way I had regained feeling in my arm, and my hand was mostly free of numbness now; although my fingers were stiff and every now and again I'd get a bolt of pain spiking into my brain if I tried to move it too much.
Yeah, trying to mess with the body like that is a bad no-no. Even I can get the hint.
One of the guys look up from his workstation when I walk through the hatch, and he stops and gives a sharp whistle that carries over the machines and talking, or rather cursing people who are hard at work. They all stop and turn to face me almost as one. Really creepeh, that.
“Ah, you're here. Silene sent word that you'd be stopping by. I could even hear Andrix cussing in the background.”
The one who'd spotted me first calls to me, and I nod before walking toward him.
“I was.. told that you have something for me.”
Getting the words out still hurts, but my throat is no longer so raw, and I can swallow without pain now. I have been sipping on my own water supply though, trying to sooth it even faster. Being unable to talk brings back too many bad memories for me.
“Yes, we do. Bring it out here, boys!” The man calls, looking over his shoulder and flashing a grin to those who'd been hard at work only moments before.
What is brought out is a personal crate, the sort used to store things, like a chest would be in other settings. Small enough to fit into tight traveling spaces and yet still big and secure enough to hold a number of things before becoming too heavy to move.
It’s dropped on the leaders worktable, and he opens it with a flourish.
What is inside... takes me a moment to recognize.
It’s a new suit. Or rather, it’s an overlay to my space suit and a complete add-on for my mechanical suit.
I reach out, although I stop before getting a nod from the man, and start pulling the parts out.
In short, it’s armor. Except not like the heavy battle armor you'd expect for a mechanical exo-suit. No, this is lightweight, flexible... I'd call it Explorers armor. The sort of thing an adventurer would want instead of a knights heavy steel.
It’s also fully outfitted, as well. Like, it covers almost every metal rod of the mechanical suit, and is pulled almost skin tight against the space suit beneath. It has... well, I'd say dozens of pockets, pouches, and spaces for extra storage. Including a large backpack that I'm told can carry six compressed bottles of air along with three batteries in the pouch beneath it. That part actually goes over the Mobile Core, so it’s out of the way and yet still allows me to move.
But the gadgets! Shit. An upgraded comm extension on the collar, that plugs into my existing comm unit. Longer battery life and boosted signal. An equitable touchscreen computer unit on the left gauntlet. New tools of all sorts, neatly stashed and folded into their own individual pockets or pouches.
A utility belt with a brand new coil of extendable magnet
ic rope, like I have been using; except better. A small sized medkit, outfitted for in-space use. A nano-Forge and Assembly Plant. Just all sorts of stuff.
Oh, and a new mapping program . Built into the brand new helmet they'd designed for me. It’s sleek and open-faced, like the old one; except its software and sensors are several times more powerful.
And a laser pistol on the hip. It’s like an all-in-one survivors suit. The sort of thing I'd have a wet dream about if I ever restarted somewhere all alone again.
“Just... How did you guys...?”
Yep, I'm totally not able to express myself right this moment. There's just too much shock. Even the fabric is ballistic and laser resistant while still being lightweight and flexible. All told, it doesn't add that much bulk to my existing suit.
Universe Online - Enter the Game: Complete Edition Page 24