Well, how should I put this? Hmmm. Awkward perhaps. Unexpected, certainly. Misunderstanding? Yep. I think I’ll stick with awkward.

Yes, this is awkward.

Standing in front of me is a woman. Brown hair, brown eyes, pale complexion. Five foot and eight inches tall with a lithe and athletic build. Good looking, if she weren’t covered in mud and muck, and her hair is a frazzled knotted mess.

She’s also wearing a duty uniform with officer tabs on the shoulders. Lieutenant ranking, grade 1. Then another tab with a sunburst design designating her as a comm specialist. All right and proper for shipboard duty, except torn in some places.

And she’s staring at me as if she’d seen a monster. Which is understandable, given I’d just introduced myself to her face-to-face for the first time. No longer being a human in form, this is incredibly awkward.

“Um… hellooo?” I cannot help but call out, trying to break her out of that wide-open-mouth-staring fugue of hers. It seems to work, as she suddenly jumps at my voice and does a little cute squeal thing like a little girl.

“Oh my god! How did this happen?! I’ve seen the specs for the AI Pod, this should be impossible!” Yep, now she’s really excited and bubbling off. I can almost see the froth coming out of her mouth at her thousand-mile-per-hour speech.

“No clue.” I finally say, cutting off her questioning. “I was seriously injured when the Clarke hit that hole in Hyperspace and was slammed up against the AI Pod. Engineering Specialist Thomas Adams was in the process of activating the AI Pod when I blacked out.”

Okay, so maybe there is a touch of grievance in my tone. I have a clear recollection of the memory, and that bastard didn’t even try to help me. He was too excited and stood right over me while I died. I push the complex feelings away before I cause an accident.

“By the time I woke up, I was ‘stored’ in the AI Pod’s memory with Administrator access. The pod had already landed in the valley here. As for why I’m active in this state… No clue. Some sort of ‘Ascension Program’ activated and here I am.”

Okay, so my story is full of holes and gaps, but there isn’t much I can do about that. I have no clue about anything I don’t have information on, after all. I have all of my memories, as far as I can tell, as well as the original AI’s databases, but it’s program code is totally wiped. I was part of the engineering team that built the AI Pod, but I wasn’t involved with writing the code for it.

I cannot claim to be that good with programming to begin with. Past a couple hundred lines, and I go all cross-eyed in annoyance. Ugh. But I still lay it all out for the Lt.

Still, I cannot tell what she’s thinking cause her hands have come up to hold her head as if she has a headache. A frustrated groan comes from her lips which seem like they’re going to pout.

“Gah. Okay. So you claim to be Engineering Specialist Alfred Homis. You have all of his memories, and even remember you're supposed death. This is fucking confusing.” She finally breathes out, before shaking her head.

“Whatever. I’m just a comm specialist. I assume the eggheads back in the Directorate would love to have the chance to take you apart, but that’s beside the point. We are stuck here anyway.”

Good thing she seems to be a realist. Not sure if that’s a personality trait or just a sign of mental fatigue. Not that I’m complaining. She hasn’t taken her laser pistol to me yet. Heh.

“Yep. Just another sunny day in a barren paradise.” Okay, so I can’t help but poke a bit at her, although I’m not sure my satirical tone gets through. No matter.

Oh, right on time one of my rover drones rolls up carrying a hemp-like bag full of the tubers the natives were eating. I’d had my drones busy with piling up the bodies and collecting the spoils. I figured the good Lt. could use something to eat.

“Spoils from the fight. They’re some sort of tuber, and I haven’t had the chance to analyze them yet. Give me a few minutes and I’ll see if they’ll edible for you. Should just be able to roast them over a fire like the natives did.”

Yep, totally trying to change the subject, and doing a good job at it. At least I believe so. Lt. Kristoph doesn’t seem convinced by that look she gives the drone, but whatever. I don’t have to eat, so it wasn’t something I had put into my plans.

“Okay… You do that. I’m going to take a nap.” She finally says after a moment, and I can totally dig that. She looks like hell, to be honest, and I doubt either of us are in a chatty mood now that things have calmed down.

“Sure thing Lt.” I reply as my drone tosses one of the tubers into my nano furnace. Snap shot, goal! Heh. At least I can amuse myself easily enough.

Still, it only takes a few moments before the nanites eat through the vegetable, providing me with a full analysis of its makeup, fertility rates, nutritional content and more. Running an analysis is a bit different from just breaking down resources, by the way. It takes longer and requires specialized software to pick through all the data provided.

Still only takes about ten minutes though, which is fine by me. My new cave-mate, heh heh, has already curled up in a corner. I have no idea how long she’s been awake, or even if she has slept at all since the Clarke crashed. It has been over a week now since we came into this universe though, so I assume she had to nap at least sometime.

No matter, my take on time doesn’t really work right anyway. Never has, and now with this un-living body, it probably never will again. I’m not too bothered by it, but I doubt my new companion is of the same opinion. I’ll have to ask her later.

In the meantime I have some farming to do. The soil, moisture and other requirements for the tuber, which is surprisingly similar to a potato, are easy enough to deal with. And I have a whole lot of available compost. Going to have to chop ‘em up to put them through my furnace for processing first though… That could get messy. Better do it outside.

Thankfully I can make some simple tools for my drones without much hassle. Nothing like those in the schematics database, but designing something for digging, cutting and more are simple enough. And I have plenty of iron in which to make them out of. Titanium would probably be better, but I have to hold onto the good stuff for now. Not sure when I’ll find a titanium deposit.

Speaking of which, I have not been slacking in my endeavours. Until the uninvited guests showed up, I’d been keeping my excavator (digger) drone quite busy. Already my cave has expanded into a network of tunnels reaching out like fingers to the nearest collection of ores. Plenty of iron and copper have been collected, and I’ve been digging toward a tin deposit.

Thankfully the digger drone doesn’t really care what it eats. All of it is compressed into neatly arranged blocks that it shits out anyway. I’ve simply been letting it go at it until I feel that there’s enough raw ores before moving it to the next location. The only problem is that it is slow going with only one digger drone.

I have a plan to fix that soon though. An external Drone Bay will let me control several more of the buggers. Mwhahaha! Come, my minions…! Okay, yes, I’m still having delusions of grandeur. But even an AI needs a hobby, ya know?

Five minutes later and my replicator is chucking out improvised farming tools of low quality steel. Pure iron is too brittle for long-term usage, and I have plenty of carbon to spare. Sadly I don’t have easy access to metals like nickel, chromium, or manganese. If so I could make some really impressive steel.

Bah. Moving on. I assign one of my rover drones to go outside and start digging. It isn’t really part of the drones’ mandate, but it should work regardless. At the same time I have my second drone start chopping up one of the goblinoids bodies for analysis.

Gruesome and cruel, but whatever. I got use to the sight of blood already. Although the thought of putting something like that in my stomach makes me kind of queasy. I’m just not going to think about it. And I’m definitely not going to watch my hacksaw-imitation do the deed. I really don’t need that mental picture on top of the horrors I’ve already had to watch.

On the other hand I am interested in the bodies themselves. While I wasn’t really paying attention, my sensor logs showed that upon death the bodies released a concentration of that pervasive unknown radiation into the atmosphere. Killing so many within a short period of time actually raised the radiation concentration by 0.24 percent within the valley for about two hours.

While it may not sound like a lot, it is actually quite significant. Just how many gallons of air do you think there are within the valley? Or liters, for that matter. I’m not even going to bother with the math. So pumping up the radiation level by almost a quarter of a percent is big.

Then there was something else I caught sight of after going back through the logs. That radiation didn’t all just get released in a free form. Part of it was actually passed to both myself and the Lt., in a convenient little packet form. A condensed droplet of radiation, as it were.

The principles for such a thing utterly escape me though. There is no known type of radiation that does anything close to what I witnessed. From a scientific standpoint, it should be bloody impossible.

Yet it does correspond with the last message I received.

[User has killed 52 primitive goblinoids. User has indirectly caused the death of 37 goblinoids. User has gained 8.9 EXP points to spend. User’s ability Hyperfocus I has leveled to Hyperfocus II!]

There, that. 8.9 EXP points. Utterly ambiguous yet oh-so enticing to anyone who’s ever played a roleplaying game before. It’s also roughly worth 0.1 point per goblinoid, which directly corresponds to the amount of radiation I received after their deaths. The same could be said for the Lt., although she only received 4.4 points in comparison. Just under half of what I did, rounded down.

I’ll have to ask her about the specifics to make sure once she wakes up though. Still, if my observations hold true, then I’d have gained my first major point to understanding this radiation. Something to look forward to, right? Hehehe.

Since I’m already on the subject, I might as well take a look at my profile.

[User Profile:

Name: Unknown.

Age: Unknown.

Race: (AAI) Ascended Artificial Intelligence.

Racial Rank: D.

EXP Available: 8.9.

External Stats:

Structural Integrity (HP) - 7.1/10. (Accumulated impact, shrapnel, and weathering damage.)

Movement Speed (Spd) - 0.1. (Immobile.)

Internal Stats:

Focus (CPU) - 18/100. (No problem.)

Power Units (pu) - 112/500. (No problem.)

Fuel Load - 156/1000. (Low fuel warning.)

Storage Capacity - 250/1000. (No problem.)

Drones (4 of 4) - 1 Hover Scout Drone (M), 1 Excavator Drone, 2 Rover Drones. (No problem.)

Feats List:

All-Seeing (limited); Ascended; Expandable; Eternal; Accelerated Thought; Crafting Meister; Learned; Otherworlder.

Abilities List:

Hyperfocus II, Energy Domain I.]

Hmm. Some of the details have changed, but the main thing I note is that I gained that EXP. What to do with it though escapes me, so I focus on that to bring up the information on it. A nifty ability, to say the least, even if they were decidedly unhelpful with my Feats.

[EXP points are gained by performing actions that result in the death of other living creatures, or through cultivation. They can also be gained, to a lesser extent, through training of abilities that use mana. This option is unavailable to the User. EXP points may be spent on increasing external and internal stats, resulting in the increase of strength and rank.]

That… that… Shit. I don’t even know what that is! It really is just like those damned roleplaying games. Obviously more on the freeform side, but definitely recognizable at a glance. Ugh. Just what the hell is up with this universe?

Still, there’s no way I’m going to try to test any of this out by myself. That means I need a test subject. I throw my gaze to the Lt., but she’s still asleep. And I really don’t want to wake her up right now. Hmmmmm.

Ah, one of my rover drones comes rumbling in holding the bloody arm of one of the goblinoids. That’s good. I wait for it to toss the dismembered appendage into my furnace before concentrating on the drone. Not sure if it’s going to work right, but I don’t have anything better to do.

[Name: Rover Drone #2.

Class: Golem (minion).

Subclass: Utility.

Rank: F.

EXP Available: 2.

External Statistics:

Structural Integrity (HP) - 4.8/5. (Accumulated weathering damage.)

Movement Speed (Spd) - 1.5. (No problem.)

Internal Stats:

Focus (CPU) - 0/0. (Non-sentient.)

Power Units (pu) - 43/50. (No problem.)

Carrying Capacity - 0/100. (No problem.)

Feats List:

Handy, Resilient, Eternal, Expandable.

Abilities List:

Carrying I, All-Terrain I.]

Wow. I had no idea my drones had profiles of their own. Or that they could have abilities or feats. I almost want to hit something for not having checked sooner. Gah!

Still, it also has EXP, which I am glad about. I can actually test out spending it! Woohoo! Why and how it has EXP is something I’ll have to look at first though.

[Golem (minion) Class: There are all sorts of golems out there, in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some are made for labor, others for companionship, but they are all tied to their creator. A golem gains roughly one fourth of the EXP their creator receives. A golem is limited to Feats and Abilities of their subclass.]

Oooooh, that explains that. Good to know! And convenient, being the first thing I looked at.

Hmm. The rest of it is pretty standard in comparison. The Utility subclass just states that the golem is used to move things around and is able to build things under direct supervision. Basically a catch-all for anything non-specific.

The Handy Feat just means it has mobile arms, which is another blatantly obvious thing. Resilient on the other hand shows that it doesn’t go through much wear-and-tear. Good to know.

The abilities on the other hand are somewhat interesting. Carrying actually increases the possible carrying capacity as it levels up, while All-Terrain is an ability that supports its movements in anything outside of water. Leveling that up increases movement speed.

Now onto spending that EXP! … Or I would, if I knew how to do so. Ugh. Why can’t there some damned tutorial or something? Don’t tell me I’m going to have to go through all the options to find it, damnit all.

And of course I end up feeling like I should just facepalm myself. It was bloody easy. Le sigh.

[Structural Integrity: 4.8/5.

EXP Options:

+1 Structural Integrity; Cost 1 EXP.

+1 Reinforcement; Cost 1EXP.

Movement Speed: 1.5.

EXP Options:

+1 Speed; Cost 1 EXP.

+1 All-Terrain Ability Level; Cost 5 EXP.]

Whoa! I can even increase ability levels by spending EXP. That’s cool. No doubt it makes leveling the ability up by itself harder though. Or something.

[Focus: 0/0.

EXP Options:

+1 Autonomy; Cost 25 EXP.

Power Units: 43/50.

EXP Options:

+10 Capacity; Cost 1 EXP.

+1 Efficiency; Cost 2 EXP.

Carrying Capacity: 0/100.

EXP Options:

+1 Arm Strength; Cost 1 EXP.

+10 Capacity; Cost 1 EXP.

+1 Finesse; Cost 2 EXP.

Expandable Feat:

EXP Options:

Chassis Modification; Cost 10 EXP.

Treads Modification; Cost 10 EXP.

Arms Modification; Cost 10 EXP.

+1 Arms; Cost 15 EXP.

Size Modification; Cost 25 EXP.]

Okay, that’s a lot more options than what I had thought. And even one of the Feats can be boosted with EXP. But those options seem like I can do so physically as well, so they aren’t really worth it as far as I can tell.

That said, this makes choosing hard. Options, options. Oh, fuck it all. Eeny, meeny, miny moe… Yes, leave me alone. I’m making a choice this way. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe…

[User has spent 2 EXP on Rover Drone #2! +1 Power Units Efficiency gained!]

[Name: Rover Drone #2.

Class: Golem (minion).

Subclass: Utility.

Rank: F. (3 more EXP spent for F+.)

EXP Available: 0.

External Statistics:

Structural Integrity (HP) - 5/5. (No problem.)

Movement Speed (Spd) - 1.5. (No problem.)

Internal Stats:

Focus (CPU) - 0/0. (Non-sentient.)

Power Units (pu) - 43/50. (No problem.)

+1 Efficiency. (0.75 pu cost.)

Carrying Capacity - 0/100. (No problem.)

Feats List:

Handy, Resilient, Eternal, Expandable.

Abilities List:

Carrying I, All-Terrain I.]

A white light suddenly shines out from the Rover Drone, before disappearing a moment later. Revealed a moment later, the difference is obvious. Where there was some weathering on the chassis and some dings and nicks before, now the drone is as pristine as it was the day it came out of me. Like it had been reborn or something.

More than that, spending the EXP caused some obvious changes in the drones’ profile. The added Efficiency actually reduces the power cost, which is good news in my book. Less I have to recharge the drone. Heh.

The last change is on the rankings. Having spent the EXP, it actually tells me how much more I need to spend to increase the drones’ rank. Not sure what that means, but if it is like any other game I assume it is a measure of how strong the drone is. It’s lower ranked than I am, and I’m pretty sure I’m at the bottom of the totem pole to begin with.

Which says something about my predicament, I’m just not sure what.

Still, there isn’t anything else to do about it. I’m quite happy to have finally cracked the EXP hurdle. At least on how to spend it. How to get it? That’s something else entirely. I’m not really looking forward to shooting living creatures again.

On the other hand, I can’t gain EXP for training my abilities, because I don’t know how to use mana. By the way, mana, really? Couldn’t it have chosen a better name like ‘positrium’ or something? Shit. Way too fantasy for my taste. Fantasy has a distinct lack of spaceships and LASERS, which I do not enjoy.

That said, on to the main treat! I can finally spend some of that EXP for myself. Mwhahahaha!

[Structural Integrity: 7.1/10.

EXP Options:

+1 Structural Integrity; Cost 1 EXP.

+1 Reinforcement; Cost 1 EXP.

Focus: 18/100.

+10 Capacity; Cost 2 EXP.

+1 Speed; Cost 2 EXP.

+1 Accelerated Thought Ability Level; Cost 5 EXP.

+1 (New) Parallel Thought Ability Level; Cost 2 EXP.

Power Units: 115/500.

EXP Options:

+10 Capacity; Cost 1 EXP.

+1 Efficiency; Cost 2 EXP.

+1 (New) Secondary Storage; Cost 2 EXP.

Fuel Load: 156/1000.

EXP Options:

+10 Capacity; Cost 1 EXP.

+1 Efficiency; Cost 2 EXP.

+1 (New) Organic Fuels; Cost 5 EXP.

+1 (New) Secondary Storage; Cost 2 EXP.

Storage Capacity: 250/1000.

EXP Options:

+10 Capacity; Cost 1 EXP.

+1 Nano Furnace Efficiency; Cost 2 EXP.

+1 Nano Furnace Nanite Efficiency; Cost 5 EXP.

+1 Nano Replicator Efficiency; Cost 2 EXP.

+1 Nano Replicator Nanite Efficiency; Cost 5 EXP.

+1 (New) Secondary Storage; Cost 2 EXP.

Drones: 4/4.

EXP Options:

+1 Drone Bay; Cost 25 EXP.

+1 Recharge Efficiency; Cost 5 EXP.

+1 Energy Domain Ability Level; Cost 5 EXP.

All-Seeing (limited) Feat:

EXP Options:

+1 Efficiency; Cost 5 EXP.

+1 Expanded Array; Cost 10 EXP.

Expandable Feat:

EXP Options:

Learned Feat:

EXP Options:

+1 (New) New World Common Knowledge; Cost 5 EXP.

+1 (New) New World Common Languages; Cost 5 EXP.

+1 (New) New World Common Materials; Cost 5 EXP.

+1 (New) New World Common Monsters; Cost 5 EXP.]

Holy shit is that a whole bunch of options. Most of them are similar to my drone, but many of them are completely new. They really make my eyes water trying to choose. Yet the ones at the bottom under my Learned Feat really draw my attention. What I’m lacking most of right now is information on this world and this universe.

Shit. I really just need to choose, don’t I? Here goes nothing...