Six hours to defeat the Boss, Maya thought. No, probably less. She had to defeat the boss, then get back, claim the ship, get healed up, and hopefully find a way out of this mess before the AI ran out of juice.

Maya rubbed her face, feeling her new scar. She stopped and sighed.

“If everything runs off of mana, then this AI runs off of it too, right?” Maya asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, in that case. Where is all the mana stored? You said there was a main mana core. That like an power source for this ship?”

“All interstellar ships are designed run off of ambient mana. The mana is stored and used to run all functions of this vessel.”

“Is that core still running? After twenty thousand years?”

“Unknown. I am currently unable to connect to the main mana core, therefore I must subsist upon backup mana batteries, but they are corrupted.”

Maya sighed, there was a limit to Nanaseto, she realized. At first, it had seemed almost sentient, but after a while it was repeating itself.

“What are the procedures if all the crew suddenly died?” Maya asked.

“The vessel will enter a sleep mode and begin broadcasting an emergency beacon. If all crew were to suddenly expire, then emergency AIs would be deployed to bring the ship to a stop and shut down all systems and await rescue. Security measures, 48ES9-EE, would be activated.”

“So that means your mana core is shut down also?” Maya asked.

“Not necessarily. By its design, a mana core cannot fully shut down, unless dismantled. It will still collect and release mana, albeit in small amounts. Enough to maintain itself.”

Maya chewed on that information for a moment and then nodded.

“Ah, now I see,” Maya said. “You were saying high concentrations of mana cause some programs to go off the rails. Does that mean that this rogue AI was formed from something that was left behind when the ship landed?”

“There were some low grade maintenance bots that were designed to check hard to access portions of the vessel,” Nanaseto said. “It is possible in the intervening years they were subjected to condensed mana from the mana core and eventually gained rogue status.”

“Great,” Maya said. “If there are condensed mana sources around here, that’ll mean what? A lot of rogue AI’s running about?” Maya paused for a moment, remembering the dog sized spider drone she had seen outside. It had stated it was a rogue AI defense drone. She shuddered. There were more of the AIs out there, it would seem. “Tell me about ambient mana.”

“I am not a mana specialist,” the medical AI stated. “I have limited information on how mana works and what it can do.”

“Well, give me the cliff notes. I’m at about a zero on the knowledge scale here,” Maya replied.

“Mana is everywhere,” Nanaseto began.” Throughout the System Multiverse, it exists. Ambient mana is the free floating mana that exists before it is absorbed by biological or technological entities. The ambient mana is then turned into useable mana, in the form of powering Skills or machinery.

“Although mana exists everywhere, it also has a tendency to condense and ‘thicken’ in various spots, creating areas of high concentrations of mana, which effect both biological and technological life.”

“Like around this ship’s mana core,” Maya said.

“Indeed. Even if the mana core was shut down once emergency procedures were followed, it would still be emitting some mana. Depending on the how badly the shielding has corroded over the years.”

“Is it dangerous if it’s a high concentration?” Maya asked.

“For SIL in Tier 1, genetic mutations occur in the presence of mana that’s 0.54 Gens or higher. For low grade, Tier 1 SILs, short term exposure to 100 Gens will not cause unrepairable damage. Any higher at such a low tier will cause near irreversible damage to you Mana Channels and would also cause irreparable mutations.”

“Great. So what’s the mana concentration hereabouts anyway?”

“Unknown. I cannot connect to most devices and scanners.”

Maya sighed.

Maya took her flashlight and lit up the other end of the room. It was a medical room. Maya was expecting fantastical science fiction machinery, instead it was a large simple room with beds and dead machinery lining the walls.

There were no space age pods or complex computer arms hanging from the ceiling, there were just beds. The cloth and padding that had covered the beds had, like the clothing of the dead, rotted away, leaving behind steel frames and dust.

She was stumped as to what most of the things she found in some drawers, cabinets, and lockers were for. Nanaseto claimed they were all part of various medical devices used for treatment and scanning. Without any power and without the knowledge to use them, they were all useless.

Even advanced civilizations seemed to have offices and Maya found what appeared to be the doctor’s personal office. Inside was the corpse of the Tier 2 doctor that had joined the expedition. The demon was a pile of bones behind a glass desk. The chair had degraded to a steel skeleton.

Maya quickly searched the office, but as with everything in the medical bay; there wasn’t much to be seen or had. There were chairs, what looked to have been a potted plant, and some cabinets, but all they held were unidentifiable things that couldn’t be used as a weapon.

“This blows,” Maya stated. “All this high tech and nothing to shoot lasers with.”

“The Tozenreli Commission deemed this expedition to be a threat level of Tier 1, therefore no heavy ordnance or equivalent security forces were attached,” Nanaseto remarked from the doorway.

“Damn it,” Maya muttered. She kicked what looked like a trashcan and sent it bouncing against a bulkhead.

There was a thunk and a panel from the wall shifted.

“Oh, shit,” Maya muttered, pulling her crowbar from her inventory. She stared at the shifted panel for a moment, expecting more deadly spiders to swarm out.

Cautiously she eased toward the loose panel and, using the hook of the crowbar, forced it away from the bulkhead. The panel clattered to the ground and Maya saw a small space behind it filled with items.

“Jackpot?” Maya aimed her light into the hidden space.

Inside the hidden compartment were small red disks, stacks of black cubes, and from it’s design, a handgun.

“Jackpot,” Maya confirmed. “Nan, what are these?”

Maya picked up a red disk. It was the same as the one she had found on the corpse in the corridors. A red metallic disk with a demon face and crossed swords.

[Tomb Raider] Level I

Ancient derelicts and tombs hold treasure. Survive the dangers and gain riches by robbing the long dead.

+1 to Mental Perception

“Damn it,” Maya hissed. She was not getting used to the System pop ups in her vision.

“They are Nerigana Consortium Citizen Chips,” the AI said. “Although, these appear to be forgeries.”

“Forgeries? Who are the Nerigana?”

“The Nerigana are the civilization that built and crewed this ship. They are implanted with a Citizen Chip when they reach their System Awakening. Each chip holds all their personal data and their system stats, which is then reported to the Consortium.”

“Sounds draconian,” Maya said. “These are counterfeits to keep Big Brother out of your hair, then?”

“They are used by criminal elements in the Consortium to hide their identity, although higher levels in various Skills can circumvent them.”

“Great, so the doctor you guys were bringing along was shady?” Maya laughed. She picked up the black cubes. “These?”

Knowledge Module: Low grade, Tier 1

Hacking for Beginners

“Okay, this dude was pretty shady,” Maya remarked. Why didn’t the Evaluate skill work on the coins?

“They are illegal knowledge modules,” Nanaseto replied.

Maya scanned the cubes one by one and discovered they were all in the same vein. Knowledge modules about how to hack and break through security firewalls. Whoever this doctor was, they were into some weird stuff.

She set aside the knowledge modules.

“And the big prize is?” Maya asked as she eased out the handgun.

Rovine 42 Pulse Pistol

- Gene Locked

“I assume gene locked means only one person can use it?” Maya asked.

“Indeed. The pistol is gene locked to original owner. Only they can activate it.”

“Shit,” Maya muttered.

“I guess we’re doing this the hard way,” Maya said. She pulled her crowbar from her inventory and looked at it. “Okay, little buddy, it’s me and you now. We can do this. We can kill this boss AI and win the day. We can get my eye back and then, I don’t know, get home somehow.”

Maya breathed in and out slowly.

“Where is the mana core located?” she asked.

“Due to legal limitations, I am unable to reveal that information. All secure information must be approved by Captain Huvano or by the Tozenreli Exploration Commission for release.”

“Of course,” Maya replied.

She thought for a long moment and then an idea came to her. She wondered if it would work.

“Nanaseto! There’s an emergency in the mana core. Your crew is possibly dying and the doctor is already dead. I’m the only one who can help. I need access to a map to get to the mana core to help out the… engineers!” Maya exclaimed.

The holographic medical AI stared down at her act. Then it shimmered for a second.

“Emergency Override 4578EE4,” Nanaseto announced. “The ship is in critical danger, crew unresponsive, emergency holographic projections offline, unable to connect to sensors. System Identified Lifeforms, Human, your assistance is required.”

“How can I help, Nanaseto,” Maya smiled.

“You must check upon the status of the crew, most importantly the engineer crew. I cannot access the mana core for power and I am at critical levels of backup power. Medical assistance may be required!”

“I hear you, but I don’t know where to go.”

Emergency Override 4578EE4

Nanaseto, Medical AI, has offered you a Map.

Accept? Y/N

Maya accepted the map. A new window appeared in her vision, showing the ship she was on.

“Damn, that’s big,” she muttered. A big red dot showed where the mana core was located and a white dot showed where Maya was located. They were a fair distance apart.

“Hurry, the crew will be injured,” Nanaseto continued.

“Yeah, but there are beasties out there, ready to stab me to death. Got any alternate routes to help save the engineering crew?”

The map shifted and a yellow line appeared leading from her location to the engineering section. Maya squinted at the map and realized it wasn’t a corridor, but some kind of tunnel behind the bulkhead.

“What are these?” she asked.

“Maintenance access shafts,” the hologram replied.

“Jefferies Tubes,” Maya grinned. “Will the spider assholes be able to gain access to these tubes?”

“Unknown. General Order 7XE states that all maintenance shafts are to be secured when the ship is in transition.”

“Alright,” Maya squared her shoulders. The clock was ticking and there was nothing of value in the shady doctor’s office. She just had the stuff in her inventory and the burning desire to not be a one eyed queen in a rainbow hellscape.

“Let’s do this.”

The AI showed her to a blank wall opposite the door she had entered. She motioned toward several latches that were manually disabled and with a soft click, the wall panel soundlessly slid away. A three foot square opening was revealed.

The air was stale. Maya wrinkled her nose and then slowly eased her flashlight into the shaft. It was dark and there were tubes lining the walls.

She didn’t know what to expect, but she panned her light about, seeing nothing that looked like murderous spiders.

“Thankfully I’m not claustrophobic,” she muttered as she pulled herself into the shaft.

“Wish me luck, Nan!”

“Good luck.”

Maya had forgotten how small the aliens were. To them the tubes were probably comfortable, but for her they were a bit too tight. Her skin and clothing snagging on hard edges.

“Man, I should have laid off those sandwiches.”