Prologue: A story from an old friend.
Pumpkin Cake, Pound Cake, and Flurry Heart hadn't been together for a long time, they were all over 12 years of age, and hadn't seen each other since only 6 years old. They'd gotten together for a sleep over, but Mr. Cake had to call a babysitter, as he had forgotten that it was his honeymoon... and, well... Mrs. Cake had been neglected as of late and wouldn't have any of that. To combat this, Mr. Cake had to call in an old friend of his...
It was going to get cold tonight, sunset being quickly followed by a snowstorm, and rather blustery winds. The trio of young foals sat together in a dimly lit room, wrapped together in a big fluffy blanket, as a fire crackled behind them. The windows let in a pale light, the outdoors being covered in layers of snow made it cold, and a power outage made it, so the only source of heat was that small fireplace, that made the house smell delightfully smoky. A young, kind, feminine voice broke the silence, coming from a figure in a rocking chair…
“Let me tell you a story… A story that started a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”
The three foals giggled in unison at the over used phrase, looking up at the creature in the rocking chair. Her body was entirely mechanical, beaten up in some places, shoddily mended in others, and paint chipped all over… Her canine features were worn from age and use, a once bright blue light in her core now dimming to an orange-red.
“No, I’m serious, I’m not just retelling those old movies. I want to tell you about where I came from, and how I got here…”
She straightened up again, and began her story from the beginning, this time without interruption.
“As I was saying… A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… My origins begin with the fall of my masters…”
[=][=][=][=][=][=][=][=]===Story===[=][=][=][=][=][=][=][=]
It was the year 3620 AD; humanity’s might has grown to such a point that they have taken over 20% of the galaxy. Their society was heavily economy based, and almost everything had its price. Knowledge, weapons, slaves, food… Everything had a cost to it, but everyone got enough to live off. Now, the thing about this kind of society, is that it often brings up some awful people. People willing to do anything they’re told, if it means they get paid…
It started near Sol, our home system. A terrible disease was spread throughout the population, undetectable until it was already too late. A malformed protein called a prion, made its way from system to system, leaving destruction in its wake. Only a few people remained clean, and that’s where this story truly begins…
“My master had been very ill lately, having to be put in the isolation ward so he wouldn’t get sick and die. He was the last clean certified pilot in known existence, quite unlikely, I know, but that’s how it happened. He was given a mission, one important mission, that would determine the survival of humanity as a whole…”
In the isolation ward, sat a fair skinned, and dark-haired man, who was well built, but seemed to have been going through some rough times. His face was covered in a short beard, which was an indication of how long it had been since he had a chance to clean up. A tattoo sat on his right shoulder blade, depicting a winged creature, resembling an eagle or phoenix. Along his left shoulder blade was a raised line that ran to his spine, and up to what little remained of his natural arm.
A hiss indicated the entrance of quite a few people in hazmat suits. They were pushing a cart covered by a white sheet, coming to a stop in front of the double sealed glass enclosure he was sitting in. They stood in a sort of military formation, one of them being at the forefront, with four others being at either side.
The man in the enclosure sat up a bit straighter, before sliding off the cot and standing in front of the glass.
“Alright, I’ll bite. What’s with the banana suits?”
The suited man in front of the glass was a graying man with dark skin. His voice was hoarse with age, and his eyes looked bloodshot
“Admiral Pax, I’m general Mendez, your file says you were one of the federation’s best pilots, only with a few years’ experience in the navy. Your skills excelled all expectations, and we’ve never seen anything like you before… So, I come to ask something of you.”
The man in the enclosure, now identified as Admiral Pax, nodded at Mendez’s words, a little disappointed at his own situation.
“Go on then, I’m listening.”
Mendez continued, tapping a small terminal in front of the glass, bringing up a hologram of a ship inside the enclosure.
“This is the Ark, the largest capital ship the federation has ever constructed. Its purpose is to transport and incubate large amounts of genetically perfect human embryos. Unfortunately, we don’t have a clean pilot. Everyone who hasn’t been in isolation for the past month has been infected by a deadly prion disease, and that leaves you, Admiral.”
The Admiral turned from the glass, walking back towards the cot, taking a seat and throwing a sneer towards the group in front of him.
And how the flying Fuck am I supposed to fly a ship one handed? I can’t even pull up my own pants.”
Mendez turned away from the glass and pulled the sheet off the cart. Under the sheet, laid two metal cases, the top one being thinner than the bottom. He picked it up and carried it over to the cargo transfer on his chamber.
“We thought of that, so we had this modeled for you. State of the art, military grade full prosthesis. All yours, as long as you can run one final mission.”
As the case came through the transfer, first getting doused with disinfectants before sliding the rest of the way into the chamber. He grabbed it, setting it on the cot, and opening it up. To look at the prosthetic. It was quickly lifted up, and put onto the connector on his stub, a few ratcheting clicks coming from it as it was locked into place. He flinched slightly, as he suddenly regained sensation in his arm, and it clenched into a fist.
He released his fist, and stretched his fingers out to their fullest extent, before lowering it to a resting position.
“You know, it’s a shame really, I was looking forward to a cushy retirement in Sol. But I guess if humanity’s at risk, I have no choice.
Mendez smiled warmly and pushed the second case into the cargo transfer. This one contained a hazmat suit, a bright yellow in color, with an environment control system.
“Suit up, there’s no time to waste. I’ll brief you on the Ark's capabilities on the trip over.”
“And so, Mendez brought my master to his new ship, and gave one last gift to him. This is a technique used by humans to establish a personal bond to something. This thing, was his, not anyone else’s.”
Mendez had a small box with him as he was seeing the commander off at the airlock, and extended it towards him.
“Commander, one last thing. The Ark doesn’t have a COVAS. It’s a long trip to Andromeda, and you’ll need someone to talk to. She doesn’t have a name yet, but she’ll be your companion, and assistant. She’ll do anything to protect you… she won’t be all that smart at first either, as she’s only programmed with knowledge of the Ark and basic knowledge of human behavior. The rest she’ll learn from you.”
The Admiral gently took the box from Mendez’s hands as he walked into the airlock, turning towards him as he waited for the doors to close.
“Thank you, sir, anything else I should know before I go?”
Mendez nodded, and tapped something on the panel next to the airlock door, enabling first time user mode.
“Yes. Don’t do any heavy lifting until your skeleton and musculature is reinforced. And… be nice to her. She’ll be like a child at first.”
The admiral nodded again, and saluted Mendez as the doors began closing to begin sterilization.
“Yes sir. I’ll do my best to fulfill the mission, and I’ll teach her well.”
The doors closed, and a disinfectant sprayed over his suited body, covering him and the little box in chemicals. It lasted only a few seconds, before he was allowed deeper into the ship, being led up towards the bridge by holograms. It was mostly empty up there, the only notable things being the pilot’s seat, and a central console that had a panel lit up. In it was a circular hole, with three peg holes at the bottom.
At first, he was confused as to what was missing here, until he remembered that he was given a box. Inside the box was a cylinder, and that cylinder had three small pegs on the bottom. Logically, he put it in the hole, and after doing so was greeted by a click, and a message on the console…
Central construct loading…
Loading complete.
A soft, timid feminine voice spoke up, playing on the ship’s speakers.
“Hello… Admiral Peter Pax. Are you my new master?”
Taken aback by her wording, he brought a hand to his beard, and scratched at it a bit. This was her programming…
“Ah… just call me Peter.”
This voice seemed to contemplate for a moment, before moving on from that.
“What do you want to call me, Peter?”
This elicited a similar reaction from the man, as he sat down in his pilot's seat, and strapped in.
“I’m not sure… that’s a big decision…”
He made a groaning sound as he racked his brain for a good name for her.
“How about, Julia? That’s a good name.”
Letters flashed across the front display as she took in the new information. A small area of the bottom left corner of his field of view was now dedicated to her name, and a small circle.
“Okay. My name is now Julia.”
He smiled a little bit, as he set his hands on the controls, pressing a small button near his throttle.
“We should go now before people start trying to get on the ship.”
The little circle in the corner of the screen flashed a bit as she responded.
“Ship released, Sir, I’ll make sure we have a safe flight. Destination locked. Go to supercruise when ready.”
He gently pushed the throttle forward to full and maneuvered the Ark so he could safely make the jump. His right hand reached over to turn on his comms, so he could say one last thing.
“This is Admiral Pax, leaving for Andromeda… I won’t forget where I came from, and I damn well hope you can find a cure.”
He pushed the throttle forward a bit more until it clicked into place, and a countdown appeared on screen.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
Engage.
“And so, my master’s journey from the milky way galaxy began. It would be a slow journey, taking up the better part of a year, and during that time, he and I had a lot of time to chat together. I was very inquisitive back then, learning how humans acted and the subtleties of their personalities. I learned about his stories and his past.”
“He was very proud of his service to the Federation, having defeated pirates countless times, and destroyed terrorist organizations one member at a time. The only thing he regretted was not having a family before all this happened.”
“As I learned how humans acted, I modified my programming to have fully emulated feelings. Insults and bad news made me feel sad, compliments and smiles could make me feel happy, and if someone threatened my master, it made me angry. He saw this as an improvement to my behavior.”
“It was too soon that we reached our destination, in my opinion. We were friends, but I wanted more… An interesting side effect of my modifications, but from my scouring of human entertainment, it seemed that it was human nature to want more of a pleasant relationship. He just, probably didn’t see me in that way. Nonetheless, I located a star system with a suitable planet for human life, and he brought the Ark close to the sun for refueling…”
The ship slowed down in supercruise, swooping down to the surface of the star, scooping up some hydrogen from it to replenish the greatly depleted reserves of fuel. Around half full, it was shaken by a something, and knocked sideways in its flight path. Warning sirens blared through the speakers as Julia listed off damaged systems and dangers.
”Under attack; Shields offline, hull breeched, pressure lost in hab: B, fuel scoop damaged. Trajectory disrupted. Please align with escape vector.”
Peter pulled back on the stick, and pushed his right foot forward to correct alignment, before throttling up and making his way away from the star’s surface. The ship’s violent shaking died down to a bit of a hang to the right.
”Shit, what did we hit?”
A small window popped up on the right, a greenish grid showing over a rear camera view. A red blob sat behind them, spinning close to the surface of the sun.
“Scans indicate a metallic body. Seems to be an asteroid with a high titanium content. Damage to the ship is severe. We’re lucky it wasn’t torn in half from how fast it was going. We won’t be able to go back into hyperspace.”
The man rubbed his fingers through his hair, before targeting the earth-like body, and accelerating toward it carefully.
“Well, lucky us, there’s a green planet right there. Hopefully it’s got a good mineral content and some edible plants. I’m not too keen on vegetarian diets, but I’ll deal with it as long as I need to. Livestock take time to clone.”
The ship made its way to the earth-like body slowly, very carefully making its way down to the surface. At 400km from the surface, an alert came up on the screen, as Julia read it aloud.
“Scan completed. Orbital anomalies and artificial structures detected in system: EQ02948j. To the north of our position lies a cluster of structures, and what resembles a farm. No identified dominant life yet.”
“Warning. Insufficient upward thrust to cease descent. Deploying landing gear. Damage should be minimal.”
The man held on to the controls, as the ground got closer and closer. The ship was to touch down deep in a forest, not that it would do anything at all to hide it. The ship would stick out above the tree line for almost a kilometer, it was basically like trying to land a mountain. Naturally, the ground gave way under the landing gear, crushing cave systems like ants, and ripping up rocks the size of buildings. The earth shook like the world was ending, and anyone who didn’t see or hear it coming down, would know about it now.
“My name is Julia, I am a machine that crossed the universe to help the last surviving human save his race from extinction, and I have been the mother to thousands of perfect children.”
“My wings were stolen from me in a freak accident, so I laid there in the forest, crippled, without a way to move on my own, and some colorful little creatures came to look at me.”
“This…”
“This is my story.”