Here is new chapter for you. Enjoy. Like all chapters before if you have some suggestion don;t hessitate and write me.

Proofread by aeval. Thank your for time aeval.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I was currently siting inside the infirmary and waiting for my test results. I was a little nervous even though it was only a game. I invested a great deal of time into the game and I wanted to make my character great. Also it was fun to be back among people even if it were just a couple of them.

“So, there is more than I thought there would be or much less in this case.” Said Eleanor when she got the results.

“For a start we can measure psychic powers or a predisposition for them.” Started Eleanor but I interrupted her with a raised hand, “I don’t understand what that has to do with me. I know I don’t have any psychic powers.”

“But that’s the thing. Every living being has some or better said they have an aura which is specific just to them.” She explained then said to me, “And that’s the thing you don’t have, not even an ounce. From your captain’s implants, I got the secondary data and those showed your psychic readings.”

“It wasn’t as precise, as my probes weren’t calibrated for it, but still you clearly had some aura. About the same as a normal person. But after our little adventure, I can’t measure anything inside. Considering the biggest changes that happened to us, I would say it was caused by the singularity. You said so yourself, you feel different after the event. So it could explain your loss of psychic Aura.”

I just sat there in silence while she continued, “I don’t know what this means and the effects it will have on you, but everything else seems to be normal. For now it would be good to pay attention to any changes or strange events that happen around you.”

Finally I said to her, “So we can't do anything for now as we really don’t know what’s wrong with me or even if there is something wrong.”

“Yes all in all, that’s about it.” She answered.

“Ok. If I can’t do anything about it, I shouldn’t worry for now. If there is nothing else, I’ll go and look into the city.” I said while being slightly distracted.

“No, there isn’t anything else to discuss. You’re in a good condition overall so you can go. But before that, did you think about those other adjustments I told you about? The Augmentation, implants and other kinds of enhancements.”

“Yes, but I’m still not too sure about them. Let me have some time to think about it for now and I’ll tell you after I come back from the city.” I said.

“Oh and one more thing. There is a small camera on your headgear. I’d like to use it to look around when you are in the city.” She said shyly.

“Of course you can. Hook up with the camera and we can go.” I said and extended my collar so it covered my whole head. Then I went into the city. While mapping the tunnels, I found one more way to the surface that didn’t require me to go through the mine.

That was good news, as the mine was probably being watched right now for anyone entering and leaving right now. Anna and the others used this tunnel too as they didn’t want to be attacked based on a misconception.

“While we’re walking. Can I ask you something Eleanora?” I started.

“You know you can ask me anything.” she said.

“I know. But this is a little different. You know I live in another world at the same time as here. Do you not?” I asked cautiously.

“Yes I know. I would have to be deaf not to hear you talking about it.” She told me like I was slow child.

I laughed nervously, “Well I’m building a Spaceship in my world and she’s almost the same as this one but the materials are of low quality compared to yours. I would like to ask if you can transfer files about this ship and a replicator to me somehow.”

“Hmm it should be possible, as I saw you sending pictures and videos back to your world. I’ll try to place the data into a video stream for you. But it would take some time. About half a day.” She said.

Then she asked sheepishly, “What about your AI core? Do you have an AI already?”

“No and I don’t know if it would be possible for me to get one. In my second world it’s difficult to get an AI.” I explained.

“Well you could take me.” She suggested then explained her plan, “You would have to make a suitable core first and then make a better connection to your world and connect the device to your ship.”

I thought about it, but I already knew my answer, “Of course I want you. When we come back from the city we’ll think of something.”

“Yay.” She said cheerfully, “You won’t regret it. I’ll work as much as I can.”

“It’s enough that you helped me as much as you did until now. I want you on my ship because you’re my friend not because you’re AI.” I said to her.

“Thanks.” She said.

We were almost at the city. I could survey it from the ship as I flew over it. It was divided into five parts. They were formed in circles around one another with a Military ward making the outer ring and the Royal palace located in the middle. The wards went from outer to middle in this order. Military, Common, Trading, Noble and Royal.

This order of Districts was established since the ancient times. The Whole city was built on top of the old one and incorporated into it. I didn’t look at it so much while I was here last time, but now with enough time I walked around the city and I had to admit it was beautiful. The new was tastily incorporated into the old buildings which in turn made something new and pretty.

I was so engrossed into looking at the buildings, that I didn’t see a couple of players following me until they had me surrounded.

“What do we have here? Someone who has lost their way?” said the biggest of them, who I just decided to call Muscle.

“And look at her. She’s hiding her face. That’s not very nice.” Said the skinny one from behind me, which gets the nickname Bone. The other two were Nose because of his giant nose and the last one was Weird as he was some sort of alien race I couldn’t identify.

I knew I was in trouble. I looked around me and there was no patrol. I have to convince them to let me go. I should have been more cautious and not look around at the city.

“How can I help you gentlemen?” I asked them politely and started to record everything that was happening. Maybe I could use it to send them to jail in this world.

“Haha gentlemen, I like the sound of it. For start you should show your face to us.” Said Muscle with smile.

“Sadly I can’t do that. My starting race has prohibited me to show my face to others. I would be excommunicated from my Species.” I tried to explain to them.

“But that’s only for NPC’s. You could always talk with the players. so take it down.” Said Muscle once more.

I knew I would have to defend myself because they came for blood and won’t retreat without spilling it. I activated Adrenaline rush and could immediately feel everything slow down. In close quarters it was better to use the nanoblades as it would give me the element of surprise.

I made a step forward and pretended to stumble. Muscle who was before me tried to catch me so I let him, but at the same time I run him through using the nanoblade on my right hand. He stood there confused for a while before he looked down.

“How did this happened?” he said and collapsed, but I was already moving towards my next target. With a backhand slash I attacked Nose, who was on my left side. I slashed him across the face which killed him instantly.

By now the other two should have their weapons out, so I jumped back to take down the one called Weird behind me. What I didn’t expect was that he would just dodge me. That left me sprawled on the floor with both of them aiming their weapons at me.

“Now that wasn’t nice.” Said Bone and he shot me in the leg.

This was the first time I had a more serious injury inside the game. It hurt a lot, but I could manage. I squirmed a little and tried to get to my weapons. They saw what I was planning and shot me in both arms. Now I was defenseless against them.

“What to do with you now. You killed two of our comrades. You’ll have to pay for it.” Said Weird with a laugh.

“Stay strong, help is almost there.” Said Eleanor.

I was thankful to her for helping me. I knew I underestimated them when I attacked them but what could I do? They were already going after blood. They were just looking for an excuse.

I could hear sirens coming closer while they were arguing over what to do with me. Before they agreed they were interrupted by a policeman. They with one look could tell what happened here.

“Stay where you are and don’t move.” Shouted one policeman at them.

They finally noticed them and looked at me first, “If we have to go, we’ll take you with us.” And they started to aim their weapons back at me.

If they didn’t tell me that they would kill me aloud, they could probably manage to do so. As it was, the policeman could hear them and started to fire at them before they managed to aim their weapons at me. I don’t know what weapons they use, but it took only one shot from each cop to take them down.

After killing both of them the policeman rushed towards me and injected me with a healing serum. It repaired most of the damage in an instant. What I learned later was that I had to pay for the serum. A total of 10 000 credits at the police station. For now, I was just glad that I was ok once more.

From then on I took care and looked at my surroundings taking note for any suspicious people. I went to the pub where I met Anna to let myself off the hook for a while. I was exhausted by constantly looking for someone who would attack me. I thought that this period that I had was already over.

On my way to the pub, I could hear people talking about the real me and it wasn’t very flattering. Even after more than a year, I don’t understand how everyone could hate me so much. Even if I did what they said I did, it was just too much. They should have forgotten about it already, but to me it looked like they hated me as much as the times after the court decision. I’ll have to ask my team why they hate me so much.

I had to get away from the city. I changed my direction from the pub towards the scrapyard. There I should have peace away from everyone. I wanted to visit Greg and spend some time with him. For now even Eleanor was silent, as she sensed that I wanted to be alone.

On my way I thought about what to do after I get back to ship. The more I thought about it, the more I was decided on some issues. I wouldn’t hide. I’ll make sure that I can walk without any problems and go anywhere I would want to go, but for that I would need to get stronger. Much, much stronger.

As I contemplated about my future, I arrived at the scrapyard and could see that my friends and teammates were going over it. I walked straight to Greg’s house and knocked on it. I could hear a crash of some dishes and loud swearing.

“Who is it this time? I don’t have a minute for myself.” I could hear Greg grumbling.

As he opened the door I jumped at him and hugged him. “Hi Greg, how life treating you?”

“What? Who?” he started then looked down at the smiling me and hugged me back, “so my lost child returns. Where have you been all this time? How are you doing? How can I help you? You have to tell me everything.”

I laughed and immediately felt much better, “Slow down a little. I’ll tell you everything just one thing at a time, but before that I would like to introduce you to someone.”

“This is Eleanora, my ship’s AI.” I said and waited for Eleanora to greet him too, “Hi my name is Eleanora. It’s good to meet someone Leya likes so much.” She said from my collar and I was embarrassed by her admission.

“Hi, I hope you take good care of Leya.” Said Greg.

“As much as she let me.” Said Eleanor.

“Guys I’m here and I can take care of myself.” I said and could imagine Eleanor rolling her eyes.

We went inside and for the next two hours I told him about our adventures. He was most outraged by the other spacers who attacked me even after I saved this planet. Both he and Eleanor made their opinions pretty clear. I didn’t want to dwell on it and asked him to talk about something else. So we moved on to other topics. We talked about his plans now that more people came to his scrapyard.

He told me about his plans to open more scrapyards in other cities. Then if he makes enough money he’ll try to expand onto other planets. Then he asked me about my plans, so I told him about the Director and that we planned to find his base and attack it. I told him about my dilemma with my Ships license.

Problem with it was that I would have to reveal my identity and in the current situation it could prove to be a problem. I wanted to avoid this problem, but couldn’t see any other alternatives.

When I told him this he looked thoughtful for a minute, then said to me, “I could buy it in your name, if you want. If you trust me, you can place me as your Guardian and in such a case I can make the decision for you.”

That could work. But even if it was him, I don’t know if I have that much trust in me. I was furiously thinking about what to do. He saw me thinking and placed his hand on my shoulder, “We can make the Guardianship with a time limit on it for one day and focus on getting your licenses. After one day it will expire and I can no longer make any decisions for you.” He said kindly.

“Yes I would like that and sorry. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I can’t let someone have so much power over me.” I tried to explain it to him.

“Don’t worry about it. I was in the city and heard what they said about you. In your place I too would be wary.” He said to me.

That was one thing that I didn’t want him to hear. He should have been someone who know me without any prejudice. Now even that was no longer there.

“Don’t worry about others, I know it’s not the truth and most of the people know it too. It’s just these spacers that talk like that.” He said then stood up, “Let me print the documents and I can go buy you all your licenses.”

All the paperwork was finished in just ten minutes. With the paperwork done Greg went to buy the license for my ship, weapons and general crafting licenses for any equipment. The whole package should cost about 60 000 credits, which was not that much all in all. On the other hand it was all the money I owned. I even got a new window from the contract.

Guardian contract: LeyaCaretaker: Greg

Ward: Leya

This contract enables the Guardian Greg to make decisions for the ward Leya. This decision can be only for the purpose of acquiring licenses.

Expiration time: 1 day

Before he went, he told me to pick whatever I want from the scrapyard as all was paid by the influx of new customers. I had to upgrade my gear, so I went looking for new parts. Now that I had more time. I looked longer for the parts and took mostly the new ones. I took more than I would need, as I could experiment with them later.

Eleanor helped me to pick out some that I didn’t recognize. They were the counterparts to some I knew but with a better specification. We loaded it all onto a cart and wheeled it before his workshop. I would make my equipment on the ship, but I wanted to place it somewhere before I would pick it up.

I didn’t know how long I was looking for parts, but it was long enough for Greg to return with my licenses. He brought them all. Master pilot license, Plasma weapon license, Laser weapon license and General crafting license. What surprised me was that he handed me my money back with a small message.

Hi,

My name is Catherine Lorna III, The Royal princess of planet Sorok. I would like to meet with the savior of our planet. You can take these licenses as a reward for your services to our planet. I know the danger isn’t over and we would like to discuss what should be done to prevent the planet from getting taken over.

Yours, Catherine Lorna III.

I read it and looked at Greg who just shrugged. I didn’t know if I should go or not. It would expose me to the others if they saw me, but on the other hand it wouldn’t be bad to help them and learn some new information about our enemy.

“Should I go?” I asked Greg and Eleanor.

First to speak was Eleanor, “It’s your decision, but we could get new information about The Director and his company.”

“Like she said. I know there is the danger from spacers, but they can’t enter the Royal district without permission.” Said Greg.

In the end I had to go as we almost knew nothing about the Director. Without more information we can’t defeat him. With the decision done I said goodbye to Greg and went towards the Royal district.

After I let the guards at the gates see my letter, I was immediately taken to Royal garden where I was expected to wait for the princess. At least she didn’t let me wait too long and came in five minutes. When I saw her, I curtsy in a clumsy manner upon which she laughed.

“You don’t have to. It’s should be me who curtsies to you.” She said and pointed towards the chairs before a small pond, “Come and join me please.”

I sat across from her and waited for her to start. She was small with long black wavy hair. She had high cheeks with a slight blush on them. In whole, she looked petite and weak, but just one look in her blue eyes told me something else. No one should underestimate her. There was intelligence and ruthlessness in her eyes. She would do what had to be done without consequences for her person or others.

“First, I would like to say a big thank you. I wanted to make it a big event but from what I heard in the city. I didn’t know if it would be a good thing.” She started explaining, “There could be an unexpected interruption which could be a danger to you. so I made arrangements for a private meeting. I hope it doesn’t anger you.”

“No I’m glad it’s like this. I don’t like big events. I’m always nervous at them and like you said there are elements that would hurt me if they could.” I said with a bitter smile.

“Don’t worry, we’re working on it. Spacers who said bad things about you, should already see the consequences of their actions. Our citizens don’t like it when someone badmouths our hero.” She said while smiling.

“Thanks, but you don’t have to do it.” I tried to protest.

“Oh it’s not me. I didn’t order them to do anything. It’s their decision to do so.” She explained to me.

I squirmed at my seat. I didn’t like so much attention, “Thanks, but we should move to another topic. One for which I came here.”

“The Director.” She said the words and then looked at me silently for a while, “I hope we can trust you more than him.” She said finally.

I don’t understand what she meant by that. Since I never did anything to lose their trust in me.

“First, my family didn’t want to involve you into this business because you are a spacer, but I think you should know as much as you can if you were to help us.” She said, but still I didn’t understand.

“Second, the decision not to tell you was based on the information about The Director. He too was a spacer like you. My father didn’t want to trust another spacer, when one had already betrayed him.”

“He called himself Radev Logan. We don’t have much information about him, so I can’t really help you there. We’re still trying to find out if there are more people like him. What I can tell you about him, is that he’s extremely dangerous. While escaping our battleship, he took down twenty of our best soldiers. We also know that he’s wealthy. He bought a mine and still tried to buy more property on our planet. That tells us there is a huge capital behind his actions.”

The information was not good news. If he was a player, he would just respawn after he was killed. What I needed to do, was expose him to everyone so he couldn’t do anything inside of this game. The second best option would be to destroy as much of his property as I possibly could.

After that we talked about the defenses of the planet. I suggested Greg to help them there as he was the only one who I could tell that was trustworthy. I promised to send them some plans of defense turrets and plans about defending planets from the PALADIN database.

With that, we said our goodbyes and I returned to my ship. I went to the scrapyard for my parts and returned to the tunnels. I logged out after that and went to sleep. I would have to start upgrading my gear the next day and start working on my ship.