I decided to visit the harvester carrier hovering above before I left to make my way down south. Having Telf tell me that my AI was defective was all the second opinion that I needed. If there was a way to have it fixed on their carrier, it was in my best interests to see about getting it done sooner rather than later. I didn’t want to be stuck here on this sun for longer than needed.

I looked up and began to slowly ease myself upwards towards their craft, choosing to emulate the speed that they had all used. I was surprised when I discovered that the longer I held the same low pressure, the more my acceleration would stack and my speed would rapidly increase.

“Huh… I wonder if that is how their survey pods manage to get to distant locations. They have a speed that increases the longer they hold it at full throttle.” I mused as I slowed down once I reached the carrier. Sure enough, there were several harvester robots strung up along the bottom of the craft. It looked like that was the best option to detain trouble makers here since everyone had equipment that couldn’t be damaged, just tie them up with unbreakable rope.

“Hey! Hey you! Come here!” One of the more observant secured bots cried out before several others perked up and began trying to get my attention as well. A lone robot crouching at the lip of the craft turned to peer at me before barking out “Just ignore them.” Before turning back to studying the flaming surface below us. He seemed to be watching for something, of which I had no clue. What could there be to watch for inside of fire?

“Oh come on! Please! I am so bored!” The first one cried as I finally crested the side of the craft and slowly hovered towards a clear spot where I could land. The deck was not what I expected it to be. There were what appeared to be travel disks spread out at evenly distributed locations. As I watched a group of miners flew up over the side and each one went towards a separate disk. I wondered what the purpose was so I wandered over towards a free one and stepped into the middle.

An interface popped up the moment my smaller body was completely on the disk.

-No unregistered cr detected for deposit at this time-

-Error detected in the construction of AI module. Repair is advised.-

-Would you like to have it repaired now?-

If I could have narrowed my vision at the mention of my AI module being constructed wrong then I would have. Why had it been assembled wrong? Was the System making mistakes now that Silver was gone? Or was there another reason? I clicked the button to have it repaired only to have another error pop up a second after the disk that I was standing on began to glow.

-Foreign object detected. Object is embedded inside AI module. Recommend removal of foreign object before continuing repair of AI module.-

What was this nonsense? I looked around first, making sure no one was looking my way before I made my cr flow away from the AI module embedded on the top of my octagon main body. I had to do this so that the repair process could remove whatever was in the way. If I didn’t it would just remain stuck and I was pretty sure that the next request would be to control my cr, which would cause another error and probably notify someone that I had control that normal convicts weren’t allowed.

I clicked the button to remove the foreign object and to continue with the repair process. The disk glowed again and out slipped a small square that had been embedded in the middle of the AI module. I grabbed the cube with my cr and hid it away before letting my cr flow back over, repairing the opening I had created to get at the AI module. While the disk was doing its thing I inspected the little cube.

-Covert tracking device-

-Registered to Magus the 2nd-

-Custom tracking frequency: M2-

When did Magus have time to do this? Was that why he spun around really fast to ask Regeth to install the AI software? To draw Regeth’s attention away from inspecting the module and seeing that he had included a tracking device inside the module? I didn’t know. I looked at the frequency and chuckled. M2? Magus the 2nd? I would almost bet that his passwords were all that short and easy to remember as well. If they used passwords in the Core. I decided to ditch the tracker the next time that I was over the surface of the sun. I didn’t want Magus to track me down and auction me off to some evil scientist.

The disk glowed green for a brief moment before the text displayed that my AI module had been repaired. I stepped off the disk and off out of the way to give myself some time to think. Some of the miners' robots were just sitting inactive, probably back in their VR home relaxing until another shift. I was pretty sure that these guys could leave whenever they wanted. I could overhear a little group of the miners chatting together as they looked at a little holo projection of the sun between them. I couldn’t help but overhear what they were saying.

“It is getting pretty bad, Jeg. We don’t dare go any deeper until we get more pushers and even then the fatigue will be immense.” One said.

“True, but it is like I have been trying to tell you guys. We need to see if we can rent a sector from the Top. Surely they won't mind us harvesting if they get a cut.” The miner who I presumed was named Jeg answered.

“It will never happen. They keep all those sectors locked down for the big games. They will never lease them out to be mined. They have to keep their audiences happy with the big-ticket wins.” Another miner commented in disgust.

Hmm… just more things to ask Num about on my trip down to the south pole of the sun. I mused as I moved over towards the edge and brought up a 3D compass tool to show me which way was south concerning the sun.

Before I jumped over the side I looked up only to see blackness above me. I knew there wouldn’t be stars, but it also didn’t make any sense why I couldn’t really see anything else. I added that question to my list as I stepped off the side and dropped a few feet before hovering. I took my bearings and turned in place, finding the south pole and marking a waypoint for me to follow.

“Hey, new guy! Please can you just talk to me for a little bit?” The same voice from before called out to me, this time with less volume to not draw the attention of the other detained individuals. From my observations, I had already determined that these guys were all convicts just like me. Otherwise, they would just leave to their VR home and wouldn’t be pinging for anything to break the monotony like this guy was. I knew that, in situations like these, there were two sides to a coin. For one, I detested being verbally accosted and my time wasted all for someone to make a quick buck off of me. I had experienced that enough in Thailand as I walked down the street past private street stalls. Normal Thais could just walk down the street with ease, yet since I had white skin and probably looked like a walking 15-year-old cash machine, I would be stopped constantly and offered anything from a fake Rolex to underwear for my grandmother.

Because of this, I had become rather resistant to that kind of attention. On the other side of the coin, I had witnessed what boredom could do to people. Our school once had a field trip to our local nursing home to spend the day entertaining the old folks that were stuck there. My God, it was a trip that I would never forget. Those people would literally die from boredom. Not old age mind you, but boredom and having no hope.

I went there with the mindset that all of the residents were just old people that had lost their minds. I left humbled after I was repeatedly beaten at chess while Anthony told me stories about his time in the war. Anthony was smarter and sharper than me! He was just physically incapable of standing or doing the things that we younger generations took for granted.

Anyways, what did all that have to do with this guy? Well, I was going to give him a chance. As long as he didn’t become too annoying and was actually helpful then I didn’t see why I couldn’t talk to him and alleviate his boredom.

I hovered a little bit closer towards the guy so he could talk to me without shouting. “Hey there. My name is Kevin. What is yours?” I asked as I watched him wiggle the legs of his bot. I noticed that they secured them with their legs facing outwards, probably to stop them from tapping the side and annoying everyone to death.

“What? Um… hello!” The guy’s robot legs froze when I introduced myself to him. “Are you talking to me?” He asked after a second in a rush as if he was worried I would change my mind.

“Yeah. I figured you might want someone to talk with,” I replied.

“Yes, indeed. Oh! My name is Ash. Thank you for talking with me! Can you stay and chat a while?”

“Ash… how is it that everyone here are firsts?” I asked out of curiosity. I was beginning to think that I was missing something about prison life.

“Didn’t your AI explain it in the Tutorial? Position, rank, and even sex doesn’t matter as a convict and shouldn’t be mentioned as a rule. Only serving your time. That is why we all sound the same, we all look the same unless we can afford upgrades, and we all don’t receive IO here. Who are you? It doesn’t matter here. Best to learn that quickly.” Ash replied.

“We don’t receive IO here?” I asked. It wasn’t the money that I was concerned about, it was my friend’s ability to be able to find me that I had hoped would play a part if I managed to generate some.

“No.” Ash’s robot arms wiggled a little. “The System still records everything that happens here, but any discovery rewards are delayed until you pay off your debt to society.”

“Well, Ash. Would you mind if I got your contact information? I need to head down south to start mining so that I can pay off my debt.” I asked as I lowered myself a little bit, getting ready to leave.

“You want to continue to talk to me? Why? All my group deleted me from their chats once I got caught.” Ash asked.

“Honestly? Because I know you need someone to talk to keep from going crazy and I don’t see you as a threat. There isn’t much you can do to me while you are stuck there. Win-win situation.” I replied.

“Yes, please,” Ash said as I received a chat invite and sent my own contact information.

“See you soon,” I said as I began accelerating away. Immediately a chat request popped up from Ash with a question. “You will be back? When?”

“No, it is an expression, it means I will be going now and that I… well never mind. Listen, I will message you again soon. I need to finish my Tutorial first.”

“Promise?”

“I am not one to make promises. Just take me at my word that if I say that I will do something then I will always try my hardest to achieve it.”

“... that is acceptable. Stay safe Kevin.” Ash sent finally as I started to inspect my interface and how long it would take me to reach the Convict Mining Facility located at the south pole.

“What the heck?!? I don’t have that kind of time!” I shouted at my interface when I saw just how long it would take for me, present acceleration accounted for, to reach my destination. It said that I would arrive in around 14 days of travel time. I instinctively knew that I had already been here for several hours and I had lost track of time since leaving earth. I knew that I could possibly be gone for a month of real-time before someone in my family would start to question what I was up to and try to track me down. My work would fire me after I missed a few shifts and I was unsure what the results would be. I remembered a story where one worker simply stopped coming in and the manager simply boxed up her stuff until she came back and turned in her badge. They just didn’t have the time to waste on people who didn’t want to work.

A grin started to creep across my lips as I looked around to make sure that I was far enough away from the carrier for them to notice me. I couldn’t see any mining groups in my vicinity so I angled myself forward and jumped hard. Had anyone been watching they would have thought that I had exploded without a trace.

I was watching my interface numbers when I made the jump, not even putting all of my power into it. I was just curious what I could reduce my time to.

-Error. Maximum speed exceeded-

-Recalculating-

-Estimated arrival time: 11 hours 31 minutes 14 seconds-

“Ha ha ha! And that wasn’t even me trying!” I laughed as I slowed back down to my normal slow cruising speed. I still needed to run through the Tutorial and didn’t want to bounce off of something when my attention was away.

I was not sure what caught my attention. Something in the way the surface of the sun below me was rippling made me look around and back from where I had just come. A truly massive fire snake was surging up in an arc and seemed to be coming directly for me. “What the heck is this?” I asked as I quickly blasted sideways out of its path. Only to have its head turn to follow me, bending at a sharp right angle in mid-air. “That shouldn’t be possible!” I cried out as it crashed into me.