The day has finally turned and I got an alert from my mother to go to the command center. I walked and arrived a few minutes later. Frankly I could have been quicker but I wanted to take the time to view the post and reminisce about the past 25 years.
We're going to the other Runethari remnants to possibly find parts to perform emergency repairs. There is a possibility the power reactor powering this base will use up the last of its fuel if I don't return with some fusion fuel canisters.
Despite this post running for 30,000 years it has been on extremely low power just powering passive sensors and mothers processors while she tried to break some of her coding geases. The last 25 years have been pushing it and we now have about a week's worth of fuel left or if we start to turn off the processing server, anti-meteorite plasma shields, and active sensors needed to detect and report incursions, we could stretch it to just under 4 weeks. Though that would only lead to more damage to external sensors.
Frankly it's a miracle mom managed to break her coding at the time she did. We may not have had enough fuel if she was required to take another year.
I enter the room and the lights turn on and I hear mom's voice and look to my side where a hologram appears. "Lily, the time has come for us to leave. Thankfully this journey won't likely force us to leave this place forever but it's possible there won't be any way to repair this post. If the fusion reactors completely fail we will need to find a new place to live."
Mom continued "That is why I want you to explore the abandoned areas in this system for resources. Now it's about time I explain the rest of your traits."
I start fidgeting wondering what things my ancestors managed to gather by modifying their own genetics for hundreds of years. I hope they have some sort of invisibility skin layer, that would make hiding and sneaking up on humans way easier.
"First of all this trait was one of the newest the average civilian vampires were able to add to themselves. The ability was designed to make it easier to pacify quasi-sapient and high intelligence lifeforms. Sadly it saw limited use before the weapon that wiped out the vast majority of sapient individuals was released." Mother pauses before continuing
"This ability is called Enthrallment and uses a bioengineered bacterial strain called Odontoamygdalo sedatioservilis that is hibernating inside your top canines to control the thrall. Those infected will find themselves calm and extremely caring for you. Though it does have the side effect of numbing fear in most thralls. They will also tend to obsessively seek to stop whatever may be causing you to feel extremely negatively, if you are nearby and start to produce too much of your fear pheromones. Though it has the tendency to make them excessively calm when in your presence which may be noticeable."
Already I was given a massive new power. With this I can really make sure the humans will love me. It will also make it easier to undermine them. I already started smirking in a smile I was sure most would find unsettling, mother merely smiled and shook her head on the screen.
"Next your increased strength is natural so this shouldn't have a problem controlling it. You have good night vision as long as there is a little light you should be able to see normally. Though if it goes from dark to light quickly it can be disorientating."
Mom then further expanded on my traits, "Next you heal far faster than a human would but this will make you hungry, your bone marrow is specialized in producing stim cells so they will need nutrients."
"And finally for your positives, vampires have a mysterious still illogical effect where the blood of more intelligent creatures like humans, or a Terran quasi-sapient species called chimpanzees will increase your abilities." I tilt my head wondering how that works. But I shrug as if even Mom doesn't know then I doubt I will ever find out.
I silently send a question to the parallel Mom who I just call Mara how much this will effect me. Afterall I don't want to be surprised when I take my first drink. 'You are currently running at 60% your potential Lily. The reason for the blood related above average potential is unknown.'
As if already knowing what I was thinking mother continued, "These past 2 and a half decades I have been rationing blood and mixing them into synthetic blood to prevent health effects. I'm once again sorry for not telling you, I thought it would make the depressing situation we're in even more depressing. Sadly the food printer you were cloned in broke soon after your birth." Mother admits to not using entirely real blood with a look of sadness. I simply shake my head.
"It's okay Mom I know you didn't have a choice, the fact you could mix in real blood is surprising, I would think it would have all turned to dust by now."
"Thank you, my lady, for your kindness. Now before you set out you should know some of your weaknesses. You are weak to sunburns and sun exposure in general. While genetic engineering has made the risk of cancer a statistical impossibility you can still get extremely painful sun burns. If you are to involve yourself with terrestrial humans often, sunscreen will become required.
"Finally the last weakness can also be considered a positive in some situations. People around you are naturally wary and suffer from varying levels of anxiety. This will make getting blood more difficult as people will notice your presence quickly. This is something that was useful when fighting others as it makes them cautious, now it will become a handicap. This function uses organic pheromones so people can build resistances."
Mother finishes "I hope this helps you know what you can do Lilith. Just remember even with all these abilities and modifications. You can still die from a single bullet. Let me warn you Lilith, you are not invincible, just strong, understood?"
I rapidly nod my head like an excited parseets bat. My face is now radiating a beaming smile and despite living alone I am twitching in anticipation of walking among humans. Who knows, maybe someone will let me test some of my more physically dangerous abilities on them.
'Okay lets focus please Lily, you can think about your plans for the foolish hairless apes later. There still is the matter of finding a way to get to them. That will require finding fuel and maintenance robots to restart the fusion reactors around the base.' Mara said, attempting to calm me down.
"Lilith I have one last task before we set out to explore the system. On the opposite side of the room do you see a panel? Can you open that and inside you will find a crystal storage kilomatrix that stores a… back up of me I made. When you take that go to the Astro Dawn and install it in a stand on the side of the commander's seat. I have transferred my authority to the Astro Dawn and marked you as the captain of the vessel you can lower the lift with your tablet. I will be monitoring the probes so I will talk to you when you take off."
I was a little unnerved by the tone Mom was giving me. Despite her emotionless voice I detected a hint of hopeful anxiety like she hopes everything will work out but isn't 100% sure.
I internally shake my head and walk across the room unfasten the scratched metal plate. Took the crystal, and what a crystal it was. Most Data crystals change depending on how much storage they have left. It starts translucent and ends cloudy and opaque when it is completely full. Despite the crystal being the size of my head it was nearly impossible to see the other side of it. I would guess she stored as much of her memories as she could. Makes me wonder what size her true data crystal is.
I take the data crystal and walk with it and secure it in an old duffle bag stuffed in the same hollow. I start my journey to the hanger. The rhythmic hum of the last fusion reactor can be heard though if I focus my senses with the aid of Mara I can already hear it sputtering, it doesn't take long. Hopefully there are emergency lights because the battery they run off should be able to jump start the reactor if it fails.
When I arrive at the side of the massive—but in reality quite small—ship I start looking for how to lower its cargo elevator. It took a few minutes to realize there was a new icon on the screen after I opened the app and heard a faint laugh coming from my second parallel thought stream. I let out a sigh and tried to shake off the embarrassment.
A few seconds later I was on a screen detailing some parts of the vessel. I flicked through the specifications skimming some while they passed by.
'Nano-plasma shielding device: A breakthrough in magnetic and nanomaterial sciences has allowed the leap forward required to make a new type of shield. The inventor, a physicist and engineer named mi-... "This device is resistant to both kinetic and energy weaponry, due the use of both a nano-..., and a standard plasma shield." This device is usually fitted on cruisers due to large energy draw. Furthermore...'
'Tachyonic sensors: Once thought to be scientifically impossible they turned out to be a reality. In 24-... Using the faster than light particle, it's possible to see a ship before it can visibly sense this vessel. Be aware of temp-... Common on scout corvettes due to low energy draw and use in scouting. Sadly it req-...'
'████████: This design is a marvel of our scientific advances and reverse engineering efforts of the █████ precursor species. Made using the most advanced and exotic technologies we at the Runethari R&D team could make reality... The ████████ Generator is a miniature ████████ surrounding a microscopic █████████ that is only a few attometers in size. Thanks to the use of-... Unlike fusion reactors this generator only measures ██ meters in diameter and can generate roughly ██ Terawatts of continous usable power.'
I decide to read the component backgrounds and specifications in full at a later date. After running through and skimming the hundreds of components which had many pages each, I finally made it to the end. "Holy... why did they make this so long... I feel like I was going to develop a cramp if I kept tapping any longer." Taking a moment to look at the screen I see multiple info bars and a 3D render of the ship with major sections color coded.
"Let's see... tsk tsk tsk tsk cargo elevator... there you are." I get prompted with inputting a first time password and security key to recover said password. I decided to make a simple password then let the ship choose a new one afterwards. 'You have entered: Lilyrun3thar!, re-enter the password.' I simply copied and pasted the visible password and moved to security code.
For this I decided to make it the number of times I have visited Cyrthan. That planet will always be near to me, sadly I will likely not see the planet in reality anytime soon, it is a vast distance away and the hyperlanes have changed. If all goes well maybe I can send probes to find the routes necessary though that would take at least hundreds of years... luckily if I live healthy and don't do too many dangerous things I can live for a few thousand or so years. That is of course with the aid of some artificial engram storage devices and neuron restructuring. If I can't make or find both of those before then, then things get extremely complicated.
With all the steps completed I had the cargo elevator lower and I stepped aboard. The elevator made barely any noise during the entire process. Once aboard I found myself in a small cargo bay that had a few unmarked crates and a massive reinforced wall at the opposite end. It was marked with an explosive and fire warning so it was easy to figure out what lay behind that door—metallic hydrogen and a whole lot of it.
I use the tablets to have the ship start the highly experimental redacted power generator with an extreme amount of hesitance. "Why did there only have to be an experimental vessel left behind. Sigh Here is to hoping it doesn't explode from 30,000 years of no maintenance."
I clicked the button and immediately closed my eyes waiting for the explosion. All that I could hear was... nothing. I heard no sounds outside the faint tinking of metal of my boots tapping the floor as a nervous tick. I opened my eyes. The dim near nonexistent red light was still faintly illuminating the cargo bay. It was dark even with my natural night vision.
"Maybe the reactor failed to sta-..." Just as I was about to finish my sentence I heard a loud roar scream inside the ship. I cover my ears reflexively and start falling to the ground in a more than vain attempt to save myself from the explosion. I quickly grab Mother's back up and curl around it. I hit the ground a second second later and let out a scream more from fright then the fall. My body was tough enough to withstand a mere fall and I felt worse pains in the training simulations.
After what felt like a minute but was actually 20 seconds according to Mara, who wasn't as affected by minor things like surprise. The sound rapidly quieted from an atmospheric supersonic jet craft flying over my head to the hiss of a low powered plasma torch. My ears were still left ringing.
After 5 minutes of laying in pain from my damn near ruptured ear drums I got up. Apparently the damage to my ears will take an hour to fully recover from. If my ear drums had ruptured it would have taken a day. I'll have to ask Mom why the small increase in time later.
I notice the lights are finally on and I can see clearly. I look around for my tablet and in the meanwhile fix how I'm carrying the bag for the storage core. After a quick inspection it seems to have survived without a blemish. I eventually found the tablet across the cargo bay, I apparently threw it in a panic while doing acrobatics to save the back up.
The tablet still worked, thankfully military grade equipment, while extremely cheap to produce, is designed to also be idiot resistant, so to say the least it's durable and mind numbingly easy to use. I pull up a map of the vessel and realize for the first time what a ship is.
This vessel has 8 rooms for the crew to sleep in, with a living quarters that has a holo projector installed, an exercise room that uses VR so it also serves as a simulation room, a break room, a lavatory, a (M)atter tr(A)nsmutation Fabrica(T)or bay, a state of the art medbay, and engineering bay that houses the reactor chamber and manual controls for upper-dimensional radiator. The rest is a winding maze of purposely confusing hallways that lead to nowhere. Most are useless due to the overabundance of heatsinks taking up the majority of the internal volume.
The MAT can slowly produce ammunition and firearms if given the materials. Apparently our little slice of reality has one that is larger and capable of producing entire robots and small vehicles if needed. Sadly this one is really only good at making ammunition and weapons.
I finally arrive at the Combat Information Center (CIC) which rests in the middle of the ship sitting next to the Quasirelatavistic cannon. I look around the room which looks like a plain clinical white room with obvious panel gaps. Sitting in the middle of the odd room is a chair with screens to its sides that are currently turned off. Just to the right side of the chair stands a fiercely glowing plinth which has a basin that seems to be able to fit Mother's crystal.
The pillar has glowing white lines running down it and seems to be almost flowing like a liquid. Though they seem to flow they are perfectly solid and hot to the touch when I poke it. There are 2 pairs of parallel strips running down all sides of the pillar into the floor. In the bottom of the basin there is more of the flowing light making up the contraption.
I reach into the duffle bag and slowly take out Mom. The only thing I can hear is the hum of some unknown mechanism and the faint roar of the generator. I place Mother into the basin with the utmost care as I doubt we have a spare of this crystal.
"Okay that should be everything... Wait, what's happening?!" Just as I was about to turn my back I noticed mothers crystal was rapidly heating up, and started glowing brighter and brighter. I try to take it off the machine but the pillar wont let go and I start to get burnt, it's stuck onto it. The lines are at this point blindly bright and I am forced to step back or risk severely damaging my eyes.
After a moment I notice the glow is dying down and I hear something moving. Opening my eyes, I see a crystal that's glowing faintly orange being lowered into the floor along with its pillar. I stand there in shock and trying to blink away the spots in my vision. By the time I realize what happens it's already too late, the hole in the floor was replaced with the same pure clinical paneling.