After asking how to repair the internal communications port, ERA explained that they needed to repair the sub-routine responsible for internal repairs, which was apparently too damaged to repair itself.

With ERA managing repairs and Justin supplying a steady stream of Focus, they managed to get IRA up and running in only a couple of minutes. And while IRA worked on the port, Justin decided to spend his time learning everything he could from ERA. He was becoming aware that his start might have been smoother if KIP had been capable of any sort of coding.

By the time IRA was finished a few minutes later, Justin had managed to learn a surprising amount.

He'd thought the reduction in his Intelligence would have held him back more, before realising that at even 25 Intelligence, he was still 'smarter' than any human under level 5 could be. The penalty did mean he was only receiving half the xp bonus he would have otherwise, but it was a fairly small amount, and he was apparently still plenty smart enough to grasp the simple coding ERA was teaching him.

He was honestly starting to look forward once more to what he'd be able to accomplish once KIP got his full faculties back. He decided to have a look at the other code fragments, see if he could learn anything from them, chances were he wouldn't be able to take them with him if he managed to escape, after all.

Unfortunately, the coding that made up the fragments of his shell were far too advanced for him to understand, and too different for ERA to repair. He was almost resigned to them being a lost resource, when ERA mentioned in passing that he should harvest the remains to repair his essence. A few minutes after that, Justin was using a lovely piece of code to absorb the code fragments, healing him and giving him some insights as his code dissected the remains.

Successful Skill Use +5 xp to Coding - Beginner Level 1 [20%].

You have successfully crafted a Harvester [-10 Focus].

Harvester has successfully absorbed a code fragment.

Integrity has been restored by 8 points, +8 xp to Coding, +12 xp to Decipher

........Congratulations! Decipher has levelled up to Beginner Level 2 [01%]........Successful Skill Use +6 xp to Coding - Beginner Level 1 [102%].

You have successfully crafted a Harvester [-10 Focus].

Harvester has successfully absorbed a code fragment.

Integrity has been restored by 10 points, +9 xp to Coding, +10 xp to Decipher

Congratulations! Coding has levelled up to Beginner Level 2 [11%]

He was honestly a little sorry when he ran out of remains to harvest. He'd just started eyeing ERA, who floated nearby, apparently oblivious to the monster he'd unleashed, when IRA reported completion on his repairs, and passed the internal feed to Justin.

It turned out the port was capable of receiving a broad spectrum of communication types, and Justin was pretty excited to discover a few high-band data signals amidst the noise.

According to his quest prompt, he still had 19 minutes until the core went boom, which also meant he was still benefiting from some time compression, and had time to investigate his possible escape routes carefully.

Unfortunately the streams were encrypted. He spent a minute trying to pick some of the passing data-packets apart, but gave up even as he received an interesting update.

New Skill Discovered! Hacking has been added to known skills.

Successful Skill Use +6 xp to Hacking - Beginner Level 1 [06%].Successful Skill Use +5 xp to Hacking - Beginner Level 1 [11%].New Skill Discovered! Encryption has been added to known skills.

Successful Skill Use +4 xp to Encryption - Beginner Level 1 [04%]. Congratulations!

New Skill Group Discovered - Coder

You have discovered all skills in the Coder Skill Group

Would you like to combine Coding, Decipher, Encryption and Hacking into Skill Group Coder?

Yes / No

Note:

Combined skills complement each other.

When a combined skill receives xp, its Skill Group receives additional xp equal to half the value.

Any combined skill may use the rank of its Skill Group in place of it's own when making checks.

He selected Yes, and decided there was no way he was going to get his hacking skill high enough in 20 minutes to break even simple encryption.

The amount of bandwidth being exchanged through the streams suggested systems which might be capable enough to contain a well-meaning interstellar immigrant, but he needed more information before taking the plunge. Which meant he needed to get creative.

Five minutes later he released his first 'test balloon' into the densest stream.

The 'test balloon' was basically a recon probe, designed to blend in with the rest of the data, get inside the system and report back. He was hoping the alien code structure would actually help the probe to slip past any firewalls.

New Skill Discovered! Subterfuge has been added to known skills.

Successful Skill Use +8 xp to Subterfuge - Beginner Level 1 [08%].

He actually had little hope of the first probe getting by, and already had half-a-dozen different variants ready to go, all of which he kept firmly in his grasp as the stream tightened a little, throttling back on the bandwidth. Oops, looks like the system noticed.

He was starting to get a little desperate around 15 minutes later, as three more streams reacted by clamping down on traffic, one stream stopped broadcasting, and one stream seemed to eat every probe he launched into it. He was halfway down his list when he finally received a data-packet back from a probe sent a minute ago to investigate a strong but erratic stream.

The probe confirmed necessary system resources and a particularly slipshod firewall. Perfect.

He'd run a couple of data compression tests with ERA, and had incidentally managed to get them both to change their mental voices, it had become clear to Justin that they were entirely separate entities to KIP, and them having the same voice had started to get a little weird.

His quest log reported he still had 6 minutes. Should he investigate other options or take the plunge? He decided he had no better alternative left on his list, and no guarantee that his systems wouldn't degrade further as the core began to break down.

Time to take a chance. ERA and IRA wove code around themselves, compressing themselves down for easier carrying, and Justin did the same on the majority of his essence, wrapping the sub-routines in a small trailing packet.

Successful Skill Use +15 xp to Coding - Beginner Level 3 [19%].

+7 xp to Skill Group Coder - Beginner Level 1 [60%]

Justin felt very strange as he boosted himself into the erratic data stream. Stripped-down and calm in a particularly mindless way. He'd had to really push himself to even remember what he was supposed to be doing. Travelling through the data stream was even worse, like his entire essence had been pulled into separate pieces, before being loaded onto a train designed by MC Esher.

Luckily the trip was quick, and he slipped by the system's firewall without issue.

New Skill Discovered! Stealth has been added to known skills.

Successful Skill Use +12 xp to Stealth - Beginner Level 1 [12%].

Stretching out in relief, he unteathered the Sub Routines to decompress themselves, and was congratulating himself on a successful escape when he was interrupted by three things.

The first was a message telling him the Mentally Crippled status effect had been removed. Score!

The second was a prompt letting him know that he had completed a quest and would be suitably rewarded with 500 xp, future quests in the chain, and sweetest of all, survival. Nice.

The third was IRA finding an internal security feed and passing it to him.

On the feed was a dark, cavern-like laboratory, in the centre of which was an unkempt man wearing a stained and burned lab coat. He was laughing maniacally to himself. Shit.