“Elcy, can we go home now?” Sev grumbled beside me. “It’s getting dark. And I’m cold.”

“You can go,” I said, looking at the sky.

Grass and soil tickled my back and legs. It had been two months and thirteen days since I gave away my hull for a human body and I still couldn’t get enough of all the new sensations that came with it. The breeze of the wind, the warmth of the sun, the touch of the grass... Sometimes I could almost forget the void of space.

“Mom would never act like this,” Sev whispered, wrapping his arms around his knees. I couldn’t tell if he was really cold but I knew he missed her. To an extent I did as well, yet in a very different fashion.

The mine encounter had crippled us in different ways. My hull had been almost entirely destroyed, requiring massive reconstruction. Had I chosen not to retire, it would have taken months to get me fit for battle, longer if I had to be compliant with the latest fleet requirements. Cass’s injuries had been completely healed in less than a week, yet she herself never recovered. The first week it would be nightmares, the second, clinical depression set in, along with suicidal tendencies. She stopped leaving her room, then eating, then talking with others. Right now she was undergoing a new battery of psycho-synaptic treatment in a military medical base off world. Personally, I knew she wouldn’t be coming back.

“Cass chose this world,” I said. “She wanted you to grow up here.” That was before she had lost her husband. At the time I couldn’t understand why. “Until she gets back I’ll take care of you. I made a promise to her.”

“You’re bad at it,” Sev snorted. “Why can’t we go to the city? Nothing interesting happens here.”

“Cass chose this place.” I reached for the sky, trying to imagine my fingers touching the stars. When I was a ship it never crossed my mind to do so. Now that I was locked on a planet, millions of light years away, I felt an urge to see them all. “And the city isn’t much bigger.”

“They have games, robots, and food synthesizers. You just have—” He stopped abruptly and stood up. “I’m going inside.”

“I’ll prepare dinner in a bit,” I shouted, then stretched. Blades of grass tickled my toes.

So many planets, each different in a myriad of ways. Just this one had so much to offer, more than I ever thought possible. What would the rest of them be like? My promise to Cass kept me on this single world, yet if I was ever given a chance I think I’d want to experience more.

* * *

“Patching in section twelve,” Ally’s voice echoed in my head. “Stay still for the jump.”

The landscape flashed before my eyes. The grayish dunes had disappeared, replaced by an endless plain of sand. Prometheus’ cores had replaced the enhanced colors of the simulated reality with a perfect replica of the real thing. I was convinced my surroundings were ninety-nine percent accurate, and still I missed the brightness of before. The black-yellow contrast that gave the surroundings an almost magical experience was suddenly reduced to shades of beige and gray.

“I don’t think it’s this one either, ma’am.” I started walking to the nearest cluster of crystals. “I will walk about to be sure.”

“Raw data wasn’t meant to be used like this.” I could tell that Ally’s mouth was full. Most probably she had started lunching early. “Brute forcing results like this... I feel like a subroutine.”

I didn’t say a thing. Humans had always enjoyed a freedom that ships were unaccustomed to. Repetitive tasks never bored me, especially in the past when I had the capacity to perform them in milliseconds.

“How many more left?” The sand crunched under my shoes, making me wonder what it felt like in real life.

“Two hundred seventy-eight,” Ally said, chewing on something. “If the data I got was correct.”

Three hundred in total? The number sounded too round to be coincidental. If I had to guess, Ally had limited her search on the three hundred most likely spots. A logical choice, given the finite amount of time we had. At this speed it was unlikely I’d manage to go through all perspective locations by tomorrow.

“Sorry for asking, ma’am, but wouldn’t it be possible to execute a search for the symbol itself?” I asked.

“Hmm? Oh, yes. Prometheus is doing that and so far no result. I know I shouldn’t be asking this and everything, but...” Ally’s hesitation could be felt even through within the simulated reality. “I mean, is it possible for you to have glitched?”

“You saw my memory capture, ma’am.” The crystal cluster was a hand’s length away. I reached out and touched its surface. The simulated reality translated the sensation as cold, hard and smooth. The opacity level seemed different from what I had seen before.

“I didn’t mean you you.” Ally quickly backtracked. “What I was saying is that maybe your baseline wasn’t taken fully into account. It was a trial run. Maybe what you saw was some graphic artifact in the software matrix.”

Why did things feel so off? I tapped the crystal. I knew better than most that simulated reality was nothing but data, and data could be analyzed. It was supposed to be a simple matter of processing power to find the exact symbol in the exact location I had seen, but it wasn’t. Part of me was terrified by that realization, yet at the same time I was exuberant.

“Ma’am, can I make a request?” I stepped back. “Can you change the visual settings to what they were during the trial run?”

“Mmm? Sure, I guess. You’ll have to dive out. I don’t want to glitch things again with you in there.”

Maybe another glitch is what we need. “Understood, ma’am.” I closed my eyes. “Permission to end simulation.”

A series of high-pitched beeps sounded in my head, followed by the sliding sound of the SR pod door moving away. I stayed motionless for a short while longer, before reminding myself to get out. When I was a ship I could simply switch between realities at will. In this form I had to wait for my body to readjust. Colors flooded my senses as I cracked my eyes open. Messy state of the lab was in full contrast of the sterile serenity of the planet’s surface. Even so, I felt I preferred the planet. While walking in the wide open space, I could at least imagine wind blowing through my hair. Here...

“Saved you some food.” Ally waved a small orange packet from across the room. “Planet rations. A hundred percent non-synthesized.”

Organic rations? Back in my day they bringing such on board was strictly forbidden. It was only near the end of my service that some of the regulations were loosened, allowing pre-screened products to be brought on board. I’d always wondered what they tasted like. For one thing, I knew they’d be better than my standard gelatin rations.

“Thank you, ma’am.” Carefully, I stepped out of the pod. My body felt heavy, adjusting to the ship’s standard gravity. “Are we on schedule?”

“Of course we are!” Ally almost snapped at me. Anyone could tell she was lying. “I’ve already shared the data with Prometheus and major Tanner.”

I nodded. There was no point to argue about trivialities. Offering a warm smile, I took the organic ration and opened it. The contents resembled a high-density square waffle—what one would expect, but disappointing nonetheless.

I bet you’re eating better than this, Sev. Hopefully, you don’t overdo it.

The taste was surprisingly rich, but clearly artificial. I could recognize twenty-three of the food additives used. Still, it was much better then what I’d become used to.

“Has the survey of the other planets started?” I asked, chewing the edge of the waffle block.

“Yes and no.” Ally finished her piece and threw the wrapper on her desk. “Preliminary data has been gathered, but not analyzed. The major ordered that everything be transferred to solid state while we tackle our current problem. Oh, and landing has been delayed by thirty-six hours.”

“All this happened while I was in SR?”

“Oh, no, I just follow the internal communication threads.” She pointed to a subsection of her virtual screen. “Faster that way.”

“Yes, ma’am.” There really wasn’t anything more to add. Talking to Ally was like talking to a less snobby science ship. Most of what she said made sense in a roundabout way, even if I could think of faster, more direct solutions. Apparently, the mind of a scientist was as different as that of a science ship. “Do you think there will be third contact instances on the other planets?”

“Definitely!” She beamed. “Everyone’s been talking about it all morning. With a life-index like that, it’s practically a certainty. Maybe even ten percent!”

My definition of certainty was very much different from hers. Regardless, ten percent was an impressive number.

“The mid-deck labs are furious,” she went on. “All their experiments have been put on hold. If you ask me, they’re just mad that we found it and not them.” Again with the “We”.

“I thought the major specifically mentioned we’re not to discuss the matter with anyone on board...”

“Well, yes, but that was after the meeting.” Ally didn’t bat an eye. “Besides, we’re all scientists under NDA. What’s the worst that could happen?”

So much for standard security. All the rumors I had heard about scientists had turned out true—as long as you were considered one of them, all secrecy went out of the window. Not that I could blame them. If it were up to me, I’d send a letter to Sev right now, telling him of our discovery. However, before that I had to be sure there actually was a discovery.

“I’m ready to dive back in, ma’am.” I left my half finished ration on her desk. “Are the color settings set?”

“Almost,” she said and turned to her datapad. I watched her type in a new set of commands.

“Thank you, ma’am.” I went back in the pod. As I lay upright clustered of microscopic cables attached to my neck. A series of beeps rang in my head, initiating the countdown.

Three beeps, two beeps, one beep. The space around me exploded in a bubble of dots, forming reality as it expanded into the distance. Once more I was on the surface of the planet, only this time it seemed much nicer than before. My first captain would be so proud if he could see me now—making a decision based on personal taste wasn’t something I would have dared the first few decades of my existence.

“Everything fine?” Ally asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied. “I’m going to the nearest cluster.”

“Okay, I’ll prep the next one. Let me know when you want to shift.”

I took a deep breath of simulated air and ran forward. Exploring an area took from a few minutes to several hours. In the real world that corresponded to a tenth that amount, slightly more if we talked a lot.

The chunks of crystal of the area were similar to those I had seen earlier. Looking around, I searched for any that would match the height of the one that had the symbol. Most were significantly shorter, but there were half a dozen that matched the criteria. Finding the most optimal path I ran to the nearest. In the new color settings it almost looked like a block of honey. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the one I was looking for. The second, third, and fourth also turned out no good.

Three down, three to go. I rubbed my hands. As I turned to make my way to the next of the crystals, the entire landscape reverted to virtual green.

“Ma’am?” I asked, started by the sudden change. “Is everything alright?”

I’ve taken direct control of the SR, I heard Prometheus say. Prepare for jump to new area.

“Prometheus?” I tilted my head out of habit. “Are you on full alert?”

You battleships just can’t accept there are other things than war, can you? He asked in the jarring fashion I had come accustomed to. While you were playing explorers I pinpointed an exact location with your symbol in it. Get ready to confirm.

“I thought you had a million cores to do that for you?” I couldn’t keep myself from jabbing at him.

I do. I just need a human confirmation. The landscape in front of me shifted. I was at the foot of an giant mountain, surrounded by crystal clusters that rose ten feet high. You’re supposed to be a human, right?

“Well,” I began, looking at the whitish crystal pillar. “You have your confirmation. This is the symbol I saw... but this isn’t a location I’ve been before.”