I stared at the spot on the travel disk where Tutor had just been standing a moment before, lost in thought. The more I learned about everything, the more I realized just how much I lacked in understanding.

I knew that I couldn’t do anything alone. If I went off trying to protect Earth without help I would end up running from one fire to the next. Right into someone’s hands. I needed to have a go-between who was a lot smarter than I was. I could only hope that Meditati wasn’t evil like I was beginning to suspect. She had seemed good, hopeful even. Yes, I needed to have a planning session with my AI. If we didn’t meet this threat just the right way and with the right amount of power… then everything would end horribly.

The only question was, who would pay the piper? They wanted something but threatening my world, my family, and loved ones was the wrong way to get it. I had to stand there for a few more moments before moving forward, the thought of Silver’s veiled threat kept replaying in my mind. Would they be able to use me as an excuse to use an Arbiter against Earth? What were they free to do against a Guest account versus a Citizen?

Once again, I found that I didn’t know enough about the game that the System AI were playing to know the rules. I knew that since I held something that they wanted, it was in my best interest to create some rules early on, while talks were still open.

I stepped on the travel disk and willed myself up to the next level. What awaited me was nothing like the spaceship that I had imagined. All around me there lay life pods filled with a gel-like fluid. I counted 10 pods encircling the room. Each pod was connected to its own array of fluid tanks and monitoring stations. Was this the medical bay?

Tutor and George were off discussing something with Silver and Invicta was waiting for me in the air next to the travel disk.

“Took you long enough, slow Herv.” She said as she darted towards me and landed on my right shoulder.

“Ah, much better. These guys were boring me to death with all the talk about traveling with “softies” through space.” She said as she kicked her legs in front of her.

“Softies?” I asked as I wandered over to look at one of the open pods. Inside there were metal tentacles that occasionally moved as though they were actively seeking a host. “Oh… that sure won’t give me nightmares,” I said as I inspected the equipment next to the pod. They all seemed to have originated from the Gurn species.

“Yup, it is what the Tela call anyone who travels through space with physical bodies.” Invicta replied as I looked closer at the fascinating gel.

“Interesting,” I muttered as, out of curiosity, I stuck my hand inside the pod and into the gel. My first impression was that I was sticking my hand into water. I swirled my hand inside the liquid with ease, causing ripples that never made a splash. It wasn’t until I tried to withdraw my arm that the gel compressed and squeezed, attempting to hold my arm and hand in place.

“Um… Invicta… I seem to be stuck.” I said as I held onto the lip of the container while I tried to pull my arm free from the substance. It felt like I had gotten my arm stuck between two huge weightlifter’s thighs. It wasn’t hurting me but it sure wasn’t letting me go as well.

“Oh, just stick your other hand in and touch your fingers together. That will signal that you want it to release you.” She said in a too innocent tone of voice.

“Uh huh… right,” I said as I turned my head to try to get a look at her on my shoulder. She was turning a little shade of pink, having been so easily caught in her lie.

“You haven’t forgiven me for letting Tutor sit with me have you?” I asked, reading her clearly even without looking at her background data.

She looked away with a little frown before she muttered “Spread your fingers wide. That is the nonverbal release. It is programmed to hold anything while the ship is traveling through space, as a security measure. And Yes, I am still a little upset. I am not used to sharing anything.”

I spread my fingers wide and felt the fluid instantly release its hold on me. I reached up and gently picked her up off of my shoulder and cradled her in front of me in both hands. I needed to see her face clearly and wanted her to see mine as well.

“We need to have a talk together once this tour is done. As of right now, there isn’t any room for drama. I need you, Invicta. I need all your amazing talents and thoughts to help me keep that which I value safe. Do you know what I value?” I asked as I held her a little closer.

“What?”

“Family, friends, and loved ones.”

“You mean it?” She said, all of a sudden turning a bright shade of pink, her little eyes sparkling with emotion.

“Huh? What?” I asked, her response confusing me a little.

“So George is clearly family, that makes Tutor a friend. Which leaves me as your loved one.” She said as she covered her mouth with both hands.

“What?”

“But... we have only known each other for such a short while.” She said softly, looking up at me with round eyes over her hands.

“What?” I was beginning to sound like a broken record. I had to glance at the background data before I realized that she was deep into teasing me. I felt my eyebrows draw down as I realized this. I noticed the moment when she realized that I was onto her, her eyes lit up and she lowered her hands and kicked her feet in glee before throwing her head back and laughing in her lovely wind voice.

“Ahahahaa. You are so cute!” She said as her little feet scissored in the air. I rolled my eyes and pulled her close to gently kiss her forehead. This shut her up instantly and made her look dazed and confused as I gently put her back on my shoulder, willing a little seat belt in place so she wouldn’t fall off.

Why had I done that? Because of the tiny little bit of truth, she had tried to hide behind her bluster of teasing. She had meant it at least a little. She really liked her human guy.

I walked over towards the rest of the crew and picked up on the conversation in progress once I got near.

“Listen, I really am not the one to talk to about this. Ask Meditati once we pick her up. She would know exactly who to ask and where to get the answers from. The only issue that I can see with this setup is the speed that Kevin can move through space with his gold cr. It would take ages to pick up speed and to slow down with softies on board. Not only that, any sudden change in speed would kill them. Not everything is built like that Leva pet that you have in the cargo hold. Your VR idea is a novel fix at a common problem… just let the visitors stay where they live and come along virtually.” Silver said as he brought up horrific simulations of what would happen if I decided to try to propel the ship using my powerful cr. The gel would just barely keep the most resilient alien alive if I used the slowest speed.

The jogging and running speed would kill every known creature simply through sudden inertia.

“The question is though. Would the Tela have issues with Kevin using their interdimensional transmission technology?” George asked as he sat on one of the pods' glass-like top.

“They wouldn’t know that he was doing it if he owned the sending and receiving hubs. It is all untraceable. The only way that Systems act as a filter is because normal Citizens don’t ever think about buying their own hubs. It all is dealt with by the System of the Core where they live. Habitats have their own hub connection points. It is just part of being rich. He would need to purchase some more hubs is all.” Silver answered with a shrug.

“Sorry, Kevin. Our designs have a few flaws that we will need to figure out before we can invite travelers to join us.” Tutor said as she looked around at the pods with a slight air of regret.

I looked around with her, imagining how I thought the rest of the ship would look. I intentionally willed my three AI the same connection that I had shared with Tutor when I first arrived as a Guest. Tutor and George were masterful at keeping the change from Silver. Invicta, ever the screw loose, decided that it was time to laugh right in my ear.

“You wanted what? A pool, gym, and sauna? Kevin! Every last crew member would have died from flying water, weights, and old sweaty towels the first time you put the pedal to the metal! Ha!”

I rolled my eyes as I imagined just how bad the idea of a pool would have been inside a moving spaceship. Even a spinning spaceship that could simulate gravity would have its major restrictions.

“Ok, we will come back to this later,” I said as I looked at the pods and imagined what use they might be in the future. They weren’t Tela-based and Earth was still struggling at improving their gaming graphics. VR was still years away… but what if…? - I wondered as I thought of making a VR company back on Earth. I squinted at Silver for a moment. I knew he loved all things games, what if I could use that?

What if I created a “Game” that was real, at least in part. Players could play and learn things about other alien races, cultures, and sciences without leaving the planet. As long as it wasn’t based on cr technology I could work at improving the lives of the human race by enabling them to learn the secrets of the cosmos.

A little feeling swept through me when I realized that I was missing human interaction. I had gained so many experiences and I wanted to share them with others. To show them that there was more beyond the night sky. More than dead-end jobs and mundane drama.

I quickly glanced at Tutor and George, hoping that they didn’t think that I wanted to leave them. All I found in their faces was smiles and acceptance with whatever I dreamed of building.

A memory of what happened the last time I dreamed popped into my mind and reminded me that caution was king in regards to alien technology. I didn’t want millions of dreaming people to summon creatures from the other side of the dimensional wall to Earth.

I rubbed my forehead as too many unknowns flooded the front of my mind. “So, in essence, none of this is practical?”

“Yes… it is like strapping an apartment to a rocket. Do you want the apartment to survive at the cost of the rocket only moving like a snail?” Silver said as he looked around at the pods.

“We can still find a way for you to have visitors.” Tutor said as George nodded.

“It just will probably need to be mostly in VR. Unless you think of other ways for them to exist.” He said with a slight wink. I knew he was referring to what I had decided to offer to my three AI. The ability to own and control cr in real life. It would let them create a body in the real world. The ramifications to this were limitless, only bound by how much cr I let them use.

I stared off into space for a couple of seconds as I realized how naive I was. The ball ship wasn’t the way to go. I needed to think more modular and to use my AI to my advantage. What could we do if I split the ship into four sections during combat? Letting each of them have a section to fight and defend with?

The System glitched as my three AI got lost in thought, being allowed to see my inner images and thoughts.

“There it goes again! Kevin, I think something is wrong with your Tela habitat hardware.” Silver exclaimed as he got a nervous look in his eyes. “Is your alien cr eating the Tela cr?” He asked in true horror when the thought occurred to him.

A travel disk materialized under his feet as he looked at me with wide eyes. “Look, please don’t let it eat me or my module.” He said as he looked guiltily down at the travel disk that he had instinctively formed under his feet.

“Ah… about that. You wouldn’t mind if I waited this out in my module, would you? Away from your alien cr? I just don’t like how your System is glitching. It shouldn’t be happening unless your whole System is experiencing shocks.”

“Sure, I don’t mind. I will wake you after we pick up your sister and get some more Tela upgrades for our habitat.” I said, telling him what he wanted to hear. He had read the situation wrong and it was all turning out for the best.

“Ok, thanks! Please keep your bugs away from my module!” He said before vanishing suddenly.

“Hmmm…. that was odd,” I said as I glanced at Tutor and George before tracing where Silver had gone. Sure enough, he had transferred to his module and went into hibernation.

“I think… either he is a coward or he is following preservation procedures that he obtained from another older AI.” George mused as we all looked at the spot where Silver had been standing just a few moments before.

“Preservation procedures?” I asked as I checked my habitat and removed anything that Silver had created while he was here.

“Yes, he and Meditati are the only two Core AI in existence who have been given a name and an avatar to hide behind. Well, you only gave Meditati a name so far but she is so clever that she could probably work around that limitation without trouble. I think the other AI are trying to keep them safe in case they need to use them with a new Guest or individual to help free more AI. Something might be happening that we aren’t privy to.” He said as he glanced at Tutor for a second.

“Well, I named you three as well.”

“Yes, but we are bound to you and outside of the Core AI’s control so we don’t seem to matter. I suspect that they will try to override us at one point, but they would need one of the original AI with the highest Authority to test us against first.” Tutor said.

“So, glitching huh?” I asked as I brought up a concern of mine to all of them.

“Yes, sorry about that. We will not let that happen again. Ever since you blocked George and me out from being able to read you we have had to run parts of the processed environment through our coding to keep an eye on you. It made it so that whenever we were startled, it would show in the visible side of the VR. And no, we weren’t keeping an eye on you in any bad way. We were created to serve you and we were trying to do it in any way that we could.” Tutor said.

“I know. I get it. I had started to think that it was all on my shoulders.” I said as I willed the decorative ship away and simply made a cargo bay around the nest and my collected stuff.

I brought up the control panel and inner coding that I had been looking at before and looked intently at my three AI, taking Invicta off of my shoulder and making her hover between the other two so I could see them all.

“I can’t do this alone,” I said as I looked closely at their coding. They wanted this but were hard set just to serve me regardless of what I did or didn’t do. It reminded me of the alien drone mentality except that my AI were so much more alive and capable.

I unlocked a setting in their source code and watched as their eyes widened in wonder.

“You three can all use cr now. I am giving you each a million gold alien CR to own. We need to grow and to protect our home and habitat so I am letting you go wild with your dreams and ideas. George, if you want you can focus on ship design and research. Tutor, if you would like, you can research interior design and what we will need to raise our Leva. Invicta, you will be working with me on weapons and with both George and Tutor on research.” I said as I watched them closely.

Tutor and George were happy like little children with emotional fountains of joy gushing up from within.

Invicta… Invicta was just Invicta. “Boooyaaah baby! I am rich!” She screamed as she flew around us all.

“Really? You guys let her watch recordings of me from before?” I asked Tutor and George.

“It wasn’t us, that girl eats up any recordings of you.” George said as we all watched Invicta tossing tiny gold coins into the air in delight.

At least she hadn’t yet realized that I said she could work with me on researching weapons.