Some fifteen minutes later, she steps out of the shower and shakes her wings dry. After raising her eyebrow at how effective the action was, she tries with her whole body- and moments later, she’s completely dry.
“I guess I won’t be needing a towel,” she chuckles, before refolding her wings. It had taken significant trial and error, with more than one painful fall, before she’d figured out how to control them properly. Then she glances back at the shower, and looks up towards the ceiling. “Why did he hold the flight?”
“Lieutenant Commander Sta’leen ordered the hold upon receipt of a requested update on Unknown Energy One. The situation suggests he wished to be awake when the flight arrives.”
“Okay. What about now?”
“He and the rest of his flight are currently asleep. Forced rest, by the transformation process, ended approximately forty-three minutes ago on all members of the flight; however, extreme exhaustion effect remains, and transformations are not complete. Simulations suggest such effect will remain until transformation is complete, approximately ten hours.”
Blink. “Is he aware of the transformation effect?”
“Negative.”
“Did he tell anyone about Unknown Energy One?”
“Negative. He has, however, made decisions based on information about it.”
“Ahh… So the flight coming in, uh, sometime, hasn’t a clue what to expect.”
“Affirmative. Crew flight landing expected in twenty-one minutes; all passengers, including pilots, are on the submitted crew roster and will be remaining aboard.”
“Submitted crew roster?”
“At the time of your departure towards this vessel, a full crew roster was submitted to this vessel. At that time, Command authority over this vessel passed to you.”
“Ahh… Okay.” She glances towards the door separating her bedroom from her day quarters. “Wait, who will greet the new crewmembers?”
“At this time, no present crew are prepared to greet additional crew.”
Blink. “Ahh… and I bet their transformations aren’t complete either.”
“Affirmative. First current transformation completion expected nine point three minutes before current final transformation completion, in ten hours.”
“Shoot. And I can’t do it because they’ll think I’m an animal. Um…”
“This vessel is equipped with a neural interface and multiple refaceable humanoid androids. Simulations suggest full compatibility between pony brain and neural equipment designed for humans; expected sensor analysis time to verify is nineteen minutes. Expected time required to reface an android to appear, under your control, as your previous form, fifteen minutes. Estimated time to crew flight arrival, twenty minutes. Do you wish to initiate this course of action?”
“Uh, yes. Do I need to be somewhere specific for that analysis?”
“Affirmative.”
“Where?”
“Any Neural Lab. Analysis equipment is stored with the interface equipment.”
“Nearest one?”
“Neural Four.”
“Right. What’s the route?”
“Distance, one point three miles. Distance with lift usage, zero point three miles. Simulations suggest negative experience with flight capability. Confirm?”
She pauses in the doorway out of her bedroom. “You say that like you have something faster.”
“This vessel is equipped with energy transporters capable of effectively instantaneous transport over extreme distances. Comparable to fictional devices termed ‘teleporters’.”
Blink. “Use that, then. Jump me over there.”
“Confirm request: Transporter jump to Neural Four?”
Nod. “Confirm.”
“Energizing. Transit in Three. Two. One.”
As the countdown reaches one, she feels a sudden surge of energy from somewhere. She’s not sure what it is, nor how to describe it; she’s never felt anything like it before. It seems to build up in an invisible ring around her before, at zero, it collapses instantly in on her and her vision turns white.
Her vision clears almost instantly, and she finds herself standing on a cloud. She blinks a few times, looking down at it…
Oh, it’s not actually cloud- it’s some hard and flat surface, just visible in the warm light. It just looks like cloud, probably helped by the clouds drifting through it. It seems to go on forever.
She looks around. Other than a strange-feeling mist floating everywhere, that’s it. “Athena?” she asks.
No response.
“Is this that Neural Four?”
Again, no response.
“Hello?” She takes one step forwards- before letting out a scream and leaping in the air.
Something had just started speaking in her head… Oh, wait.
“Emergency communications established. Transporter tunnel interrupted by an unknown source; attempting recovery. Please hold your current position.”
She blinks. “Wait, what? You’re in my head now?”
“Negative. Your current position is beyond remote physical, visual, or auditory projection range, but within Psycho Suite telepathic transmitter range. Your current position is beyond telepathic receiver range, but within medium-fidelity active sensor range.”
“What about passive?”
“This vessel is not equipped with passive sensors capable of detecting events across the worldwa-- Inbound!”
Her eyes widen briefly, before she whips her head around, searching for whatever the ship detected. At the same time, she lowers her stance and loosens her wings.
Then she spots it. A momentary white glow, and there’s suddenly a large, white… pony standing in front of her, wearing jewelry and decorum, as if… Yes, that’s a crown.
The white creature hesitates for only a moment before its already huge eyes go even wider as it lets out a yelp- sounds like a word, but she doesn’t understand- and steps backwards, as if shocked somehow.
Then, her world turns white again, for another moment- and she collapses to the floor, breathing deeply. The silver-grey, textured, steel floor.
That same voice- the one that had appeared in her mind- sounds from the walls somewhere. “Recovery successful. Transporters locked, pending further analysis, systems tests, and re-evaluation. Transporter shields online. Additional transformation detected during the event; simulations are in progress.”
She lets out a groan, and slowly opens her eyes, rising to her hooves and looking herself over. She doesn’t see any difference. “Ugh… Um, okay. I hope this new transform isn’t a problem.” She spreads her wings, giving them a quick search- nothing changed.
She sighs, and looks around. “Alright then. Is this that neural room?”
“Affirmative.”
“Let’s do that analysis thing.”
“Confirm- suspend form ability analysis in favor of neural interface compatibility analysis?”
She blinks a couple times. “Uh, yes.”
“Orders confirmed.” One of the high-tech chairs folded against the wall shifts, sliding out and unfolding itself. “To begin, take a seat and lean back against the headrest.”
“Ah, yes.” She scrambles up into the seat, performing the named action.
“Beginning analysis.”
She lets out a little sigh. “Do you know who that was?”
“Negative. Visual match has been identified in records from when this vessel encountered Unknown Energy One during testing; recording is one point three seven seconds long.”
“What did she say?”
“Lingual match failed, translation impossible.”
“... Okay.”