“Stavoe?” the demon asked.

In a day of stupid mistake and horror, the creature that stood before her didn’t garner much fear in Maya. She was done, she had screwed up, and for her mistakes she was probably going to die. If the demon that was before her was seeking to kill her, Maya would thank it.

“And who the hell are you?” Maya asked, leaning heavily against a table. “Just make it quick, pal. I’m so over this place.”

The creature was short and thin, wearing a long sleeveless robe of light blue. It was definitely one of the creatures whose bones she had come across. The demon’s eyes were a vivid yellow, it’s skin a scaled blue that moved toward black, and when it spoke, its mouth was filled with small sharp teeth.

It took a moment before Maya realized that light was coming off of the demon. She only had her flashlight and that was lying on the floor beside her, but the demon was emitting its own light, brightening up the room. Maya looked at the demon again and saw that it seemed to fade out as it reached the deck. She blinked, realization slowly began to dawn.

“You’re a hologram?” Maya asked.

The demon continued to speak, pausing as Maya spoke. It made a gesture that Maya didn’t understand.

“What are you?” Maya asked again. She reached forward toward the demon and she could pass her hand through it. There was no resistance, there was no feeling of it being there, even if it looked solid and real before her.

“So weird,” Maya muttered. She waved her hand through the hologram, letting out a painful laugh. “This is cool, at least.”

She leaned back against the table again, feeling exhausted. The demon spoke again.

“I don’t know what you’re saying, buddy. I don’t think you mean me harm, so that’s cool I guess. I don’t know if holograms from your species can do that or not, but hopefully not.” Maya sighed. “I shouldn’t have come here. I should have stayed in the truck.”

Maya held back the tears. She’d cried enough and she wasn’t going to keep it up anymore.

“Fucking hell, man,” she muttered. “I’m tired.”

The demon kept saying something, but Maya wasn’t listening anymore. A part of her knew she should be excited or thrilled to see something alien before her, but her mind was becoming fuzzy. She was exhausted and all she wanted to do was sleep.

Pain woke Maya up. It wasn’t the stabbing or cutting pain she had felt from the spiders, but it was a hot burning pain that seemed to sear through her entire body.

She opened her eyes and gasped. She couldn’t scream or move. Bright light burned her eyes, blinding her.

Blind panic was setting in when the pain evaporated. Maya gasped again, this time she could feel her body and her eyes began to adjust to the light in the room.

“Am I dead?” she muttered. She could feel that she was lying on something cold and hard, definitely not heavenly, fluffy clouds. She felt a tingling sensation moving through her body. The air was stale and reeked of copper and sweat.

“You are not dead,” a voice said. “You almost died from your wounds, but I was able to attend to them.”

The voice was soft and melodious. Almost angelic.

Maya lay there for a moment, still adjusting to the light.

“Shit,” she finally said. “I’m still on the ship, aren’t I?”

“Yes. The Hanganathorie,” the voice said.

Maya could make out the ceiling now that her eyes were adjusting. She saw aged metal and what appeared to be corrosion marring its metallic finish.

“Did you heal me?” Maya asked. “How?”

“You were dying, it is my duty to heal and care for those injured. I am Nanaseto, the medical AI.”

“Holographic doctor. I am in a Star Trek horror remake,” Maya muttered.

“Under System Charter 585-52310P, all lifeforms in need of emergency medical assistance are allowed Low Grade, Tier 1 medical treatment free of charge.”

“Basic universal healthcare.” Maya let out a laugh. She felt pain as she got into a sitting position.

“Unfortunately, due to resource restraints and legal obligations, I was unable to administer Mid grade, Tier 1 medical treatment. Further treatments will have to be approved by Captain Huvano or by the Tozenreli Exploration Commission.” The hologram continued.

“How do you speak English?” Maya asked.

“This medical unit is equipped with a standard universal translator, although your language was not recognized, I was able to extrapolate from the given context and usage before you lost consciousness.”

“But I didn’t speak much. Yet you sound like you’ve been speaking English your entire life.”

“The Tozenreli Exploration Commission was generous to supply a high grade, Tier 2 translation module for this expedition.”

Maya leaned against the table and sighed.

She took in the demon, no Nanateso, and smiled “Thank you for healing me,” she said.

“It was in my programming to offer medical assistance.”

“Yeah, but still. Thanks,”

Maya looked down at her body and saw that it was covered in blood. She wasn’t one to get sick or woozy at the sight of blood, but seeing her clothing covered in it. Maya was disturbed by it. She picked where the spider had stabbed her thigh and saw beneath the drying blood and cloth was a puckered scar. She frowned, but then chuckled.

“Ah, I was such the beauty,” she said, running her hand over the scar. “Is there someplace I can wash up? This blood is… kinda creeping me out.”

“Unfortunately there is no organic or chemical resources to produce water at the moment.”

“Great,” Maya replied. She realized she could only see out of one eye, the blood from her head wound had covered her left eye and Maya sat up straighter to begin clearing up the mess.

She moved her hand along her scalp, feeling a scar beginning at her hair line and running down the left side of her face. The blood was still tacky and she began wiping it off.

It was a few minutes before she cleaned the gunk away from her eye and then horror dawned upon her. She couldn’t see out of it.

“What’s going on!” Maya cried, waving a hand before her left eye. She couldn’t see anything. “My eye!”

“Unfortunately there was major damage to your ocular organ. The bleeding was stopped and healed, but due to a lack of resources and legal obligations, I was unable to complete the restoration procedure.”

Panic and fear began welling up in Maya. She could deal with the scars that the healing left behind, she could deal with the fact she was on an alien world, she could deal with talking to an alien hologram, but losing an eye… she gasped and pushed down the panic that was rising.

“No,” she muttered. “You’re alive, that’s all that matters.”

This is what you get for being an idiot. This is what happens when you do dumb things.

She took a breath and looked at the hologram again.

“What can be done to fix the eye?”

“The procedure has to be approved by Captain Huvano or by the Tozenreli Exploration Commission,” the hologram stated.

“Have you looked around lately?” Maya said. “Your whole ship is dead. It’s filled with these spider robots that nearly killed me. I don’t think your captain is still around and I don’t think the Frozen Relish company is going to get the company email.”

The hologram paused for a moment and gave a human nod. “I am detecting what you are saying is true. My records indicate that an automatic emergency beacon was activated 20000 universal standard years ago.”

“Holy shit, you’ve been here for twenty thousand years?”

“There has been no acknowledgement that the signal was received.”

“So they couldn’t come and find you or you were abandoned as is,” Maya said. “If there’s no captain and no Commission to approve of fixing my eye, then what else can be done?”

“The only option that seems available is to claim this ship as salvage. System Standard Rules state that a ship that is deemed a derelict for one Universal Standard Year can be claimed as salvage by anyone. Once Salvage Rights are awarded by the System, then all Tier 2 and below locks are disabled and possession of the vessel is granted.”

“So I can claim this ship as mine?” Maya asked.

“Yes.”

“How?”

“The System will give you a prompt.” The hologram stated.

“Uh…” Maya looked around. “I got nothing.”

The hologram gave a shrug.

“Right…” Maya looked around again. “System! I want to claim salvage rights upon this ship.”

The Hanganathorie has been derelict for 20425 USY. Do you wish to enact Sytem Salvage Protocols 452-784S? Y/N

“Yes,” Maya said.

Denied. Rogue AI AZNI45 has taken control of the Hanganathorie.

“Shit.” Maya asked. “It’s saying that a rogue AI has taken control of the ship. What am I supposed to do?”

“Rouge AI are not considered System Identified Lifeforms and they cannot legally lay claim to salvage. They are considered an infestation. To fully claim the salvage, one must remove or eradicate the foundation AI that commands the drones.”

“Kill the boss AI?” Maya asked.

“Yes.”

Quest: The Derelict

Remove or destroy Rouge AI AZNI45 to gain salvage rights to exploration ship Hanganathorie.

Rewards: EXP and Salvage Rights

“Well, that’s new,” Maya muttered.

Maya stared at herself in the mirror. Panic and fear seemed to be her state of being for the last day and as she stared at her scarred face, she pushed the emotion away. A long puckered scar began from above her hairline, down her forehead, nicking her left eye enough to damage it, and then ending in the middle of her left cheek.

She’d belatedly remembered she had an inventory and had brought along food and water with her. She expended a bottle of precious water to clean her face.

“I’d look badass in an eyepatch,” Maya said, feeling that constant welling of fear and horror. It was unreal. Damage this extensive would have taken weeks to heal, it would have been a big damn deal, but barely an hour after she had received the injury it was healed.

She was still trying to process it.

Tears and sobbing weren’t going to regrow her eye, but killing whatever was controlling those drones would. A smoldering anger replaced her fear and Maya turned toward the medical hologram.

“Where would this rogue AI be?” Maya asked.

“Unknown.”

“Give me some information, Nan. Where I come from, we don’t have killer AIs.” Maya said.

“Rogue AIs are as they sound, they are not built by System Identified Lifeforms nor are they controlled by any SIL. They are self replicating, self creating, artificial intelligences that either arise from programing in contact with high levels of essence and mana or are programs that have been allowed to manifest without oversight.”

“Are we talking Skynet style supercomputers here? Or thinking machines that are people smart?” Maya asked.

“No. Most rogue AIs do not have the resources to evolve beyond Tier 1. They are neither sentient or sapient. To evolve to Tier 2 and full consciousness, they must have a large amount of external resources available to them. They are analogous to animals, albeit with the same size and danger variations.”

“Yeah, could be a rat or a grizzly bear,” Maya sighed. “What are they after?”

“Unknown.”

“Well, it has to be something. They didn’t seem to be bothering me until I got scared and attacked them.” Maya said. “They were following me as I was making my way through the ship.” Maya sat for a moment thinking. “What happened to this ship and why are you here?”

“Where is here?” the AI asked.

“We’re on some alien hellscape of gray dirt and cracked colorful skies. There’s no life, there’s nothing but trash piles and these robots.” Maya said.

“Emergency Protocols allows me access to the ship’s log and external sensor array, but I am picking up nothing. The logs end twenty thousand years ago as Captain Huvano began the transition from normal space to dimensional space.”

“Dimensional space?”

“When new universes are Integrated into the system, there is some dimensional instability as it merges with the System Multiverse. These instabilities are a great curiosity for many of the higher tier civilizations. They believe it holds great treasures and may be the heart of the System itself.”

“So you all were trying to enter this dimensional instability?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I was struck by some black lightning and transported here,” Maya said. “The System awarded me a title called Unstable Survivor. According to the flavor text, there was a one in a billion chance of surviving it.”

“My programming does not include how or what the dimensional cross would have entailed, only that it was being initiated.”

“Could it have killed them all when they crossed over?”

“Perhaps.”

“Are there other AIs onboard, besides yourself?”

“There is the rogue AI.”

“Well, besides that one. You’re from a high tech civilization, I’m sure you all have all kinds of back up artificial intelligences ready to swoop in if things go awry.”

“There is also an Emergency Navigational AI, and several Emergency Engineering AI. All whom were to activate if the ship and crew suffered catastrophic damage.”

“Can you get a hold of them?” Maya asked.

“System and legal limitations disallow me direct contact with other AIs.”

“What’s that mean? You can’t talk to other AIs?”

“Yes, direct communication between any tier of artificial intelligence is strictly prohibited.”

“Why?”

“Universal Protocol 4X13-412Z. 80 percent of System Identified Lifeforms fall under the category of Tier 2 or lower. Rogue sentient and sapient AIs are dangerous to Tier 2 and lower lifeforms. Direct communication between AIs is severely hampered.”

“Even with rogue AIs? I mean can’t they just reprogram themselves?”

“No. The System disallows it.”

“Well, that’s good I guess,” Maya replied. “How can you communicate then?”

“As a SIL would, in person. Data transmission can be verbal or via external data storage devices.”

“So, talking or USBs,” Maya pondered. “Can you move around this ship?”

“Unfortunately, due to the amount of damage to the ship as a whole, I am unable to use the local holographic projections.”

“Great.“

“Well,” Maya said as she ate a sandwich. “I’m drawing blanks on what to do now. The System gave me the quest to kill off the Boss AI, but my fighting skills are pretty shit.”

Nanaseto just watched Maya.

“Advanced civilization, don’t you guys have any implantable skills like in the Matrix?” Maya asked.

“Skills cannot be implanted, they must be learned,” Nanoseto said. “There are knowledge modules that can teach you component maintenance.”

Maya could hear the bold and capital letter in the word Skill, but the knowledge modules caught her attention.

“Knowledge modules?” she asked.

“The ship was equipped with a library of Tier 1 modules. Introductionary and low grade courses that would allow the crew to expand their skill base.”

“So like books? After twenty thousand years, I don’t think they’ll have survived.”

“No. Knowledge modules are downloaded directly into the mind of the recipient. They are stored in a crystalized state that would have survived the last twenty thousand years.”

“Well, now. That’s what I’m talking about,” Maya grinned. “Gimmie!”

“Due to legal obligations, I am currently unable to dispense current stock of knowledge modules. Release of current knowledge modules must be approved by Captain Huvano or by the Tozenreli Exploration Commission.”

“Of course. What about salvage rights?”

“System granted salvage rights would also allow for releasing of current stock of knowledge modules.”

“Back to killing the Boss AI,” Maya sighed. “What’s the one thing that rogue AIs need? I mean, like food, power, or what? Is there a special mineral or element on your ship that’s making it stay here? There are no predators outside to fight it and there’s no flora or fauna to give it competition.”

“Mana,” Nanaseto said.

“That word’s been tossed around a bit lately. What is mana?”

“Mana powers everything. Essence makes up everything,” the AI stated. “Mana is an external power source that infuses the multiverse. There is currently no sound theories as to where it originates or why it exists.”

“So magic power from beyond?”

“I am currently running on emergency mana batteries as I cannot access the main mana core for power. There are SILs that can manipulate mana to produce combat or crafting effects.”

“Awesome,’ Maya said. “How do I learn to toss a fireball?”

“An apprenticeship to a Tier 2 or higher mana specialist is the usual route.”

“An if there are no specialists to teach me?”

“Skill Books. Or experimentation. Recently Integrated universes are usually awarded Foundation Skill Books by the System, which are highly prized as many great houses have risen from having Foundation Skill Books.”

“System? Gifts please?” Maya asked.

Nothing.

“Okay,” Maya sighed. “How do-“

“I must inform you,” Nanaseto interrupted. “I am running off of corrupted mana batteries and current diagnostics show that I only have six hours of power remaining.”

“Is that all the power you have left? There aren’t any spares?”

“It is all the power I have left and there are no spares.”

“Great. Now there’s a ticking clock. No pressure at all.”