Chapter 1: Waking up

I woke up with the feeling of sun caressing my face. I felt its warm embrace and I wanted to snuggle deeper into my bed. Instead of fluffy cover my hand scrapped along something hard. Surprised, I jumped up and looked under me. Instead of bed, I was sleeping on a cold hard stone floor. I looked around me and found out I was in some sort of cave. I tried to recall how I got here, but I couldn’t find any memory of me going here.

I tried to focus on my last memory and then it hit me. My last moments. I was going down with my ship with the bomb I planted in it. I looked incredulously at my hands and around myself. I shouldn’t be here. It was impossible to survive blast from collision of two black holes. Not that someone tried it before, but I was pretty sure nothing like that was possible.

Last thing I remembered my mind stranded in an AI core next to the power source which blew up. If the ship was whole, I could use helmet to transfer myself across the blackhole to my other ship but without it, I didn’t stand a chance. I thought about what could happened to me that I survived, but came up empty. There wasn’t any chance. I shouldn’t have survived, but somehow I did. I was interrupted from my musings by something on my hand.

My right hand was different from my left hand. It had gray metallic look to it which reminded me of robot arm, but as soon as I looked down small wave went across it and my skin changed color. Now both were same, normal human hands. I thought about how it looked before and it changed back to mechanical arm. I look at it in wonder. That was different from any technology I came in contact with till now.

Next couple of minutes I experimented with it. First, I thought to it that it should change into normal state which I wasn't what it was. It changed to mechanical one and that wasn't most thrilling thought. Quickly I thought about human hand and it changed. I tried it with left hand and it too changed according to my thoughts. When I had human hand, I couldn’t distinguish it from normal human hand. I touched it and couldn’t feel a difference. I tried other parts of my body and I had my whole body made from same material as my hands.

I found out that I’m either mostly machine or all of my body is machine. I could change color as I want, but my default color was grey metallic color. My skin was some sort of liquid metal or something like that. I would have to find out more about it later, but needed to find out if there is more surprises in this body. I was little surprised that I was taking it so good. In the end, it was still better than being dead and it's not as though I hadn't had a mechanical arm before. Still it was as though I had my feelings dampened in this regard.

I tried many things before I heard small ping in my head, “So you managed to activate my recording.” Said woman voice in my head. I immediately knew this voice and when I heard it, I knew how it was possible for me to live and part of how I got here finally made sense.

“I hope you remember me. I prepared you for your part in destroying both blackholes and in saving all those people. I'm sorry for all hardships you encountered, but it was all needed. From the first meeting with you I prepared everything so you can finish what I never could. I knew you would probably lose your life, but I didn't have any other option. Still when I got opportunity to save you, I had to take it. I made this body and transferred you into it same way as you transferred yourself inside the ship. Now to slightly different topic. This world where you woke up. I won’t tell you anything about this world, because it would take away from you the wonder of discovery and I don't want to influence your decision. You are now free and everything that you find in this cave is yours. Now I’ll let you enjoy your new life. Farewell Leya. I hope you won’t hate me for what I’ve done.”

I sat on a ground confused. It was Virtua. I don’t know how, but she survived and build this body and saved me. She prepared everything in my life after I joined game, just so I could close both blackholes. Every single thing in another universe and even in my own was to make me prepared for a final fight. When I thought about how I felt about it, surprisingly I found out that I was glad. I was glad that I could save my friends. They were the only family I had left and if I had opportunity to go back I would do the same thing.

She told me that everything in this cave was mine and besides me and clothes I had on me I didn’t see anything at the first glance. I stood up and looked around. Hid in shadow of one corner I found a metal chest with a biometric scan for the hand. I placed my hand on it and I could feel it scan me. It wasn’t feeling of touch. No, it was same feeling I got from sensors when I was directly hooked to the ship. Strange, but with this new body nothing surprising.

I focused back on chest when I heard silent pop and lid slowly opened. There, neatly stacked were two pistols, riffle and a coat. They were familiar to me and when I took them out I knew why. They were pistols I made in my home. These looked to be made from better materials, but configuration was same. There was the inscription on pistol grips and rifle butt. Three words, “Punch”, “Pat” and “Fist”. I stroke them as they were first familiar items I found. I picked coat and put it on. I could see shimmering in air around me as the shield automatically turned on. That took care of defenses.

I looked around little more but there was nothing else to find. I was pretty sure about that, because as I was walking to the darker part of the case my eyes adjusted and I could still see without problems. As it turned out I could do much more. With little experimentation, I found out I could use thermovision, energy vision and couple others.

For the rest of the day I experimented and at the end of it I had pretty good idea what my body was capable of. I had a mechanical body that was far stronger than normal human body. From my tests, I could tell I was faster and even reacted faster than my previous self. I had sensors on my body that could tell me about air consistency, signals going through it and even a small radar that I could use to feel surroundings around me. I should be overwhelmed by all the inputs, but my new brain could work on different things at the same time.

I had the nanobots in my body, which for now I couldn’t control them. Their function was to take care of my body and repair it. There was something like blood going through my veins. It was used to deliver nanobots, materials and energy across my body. Where my heart was before, now I had power source which if readings were truthful, would last hundreds of years before I would have to power it.

Besides these, I had gyroscope in my body or something similar which told me how my body was positioned compared to planet. Combined with my sensors I could always tell my position. As I found out later, it was great improvement for my movement. It enhanced my capabilities in fight tremendously and it would be great in fight where I could use it to dodge attacks from enemies or attack from almost any position. Either in air or on ground.

Next thing I found out, when night came, was that I didn’t need to sleep as much as before. I could feel small fatigue but I could work two or three days more before I would need a sleep. In emergency I could stay up more but that would have to come with the experience.

On the other hand, there were also problems. I was still new to this body and because it was slightly taller than my previous one I had slight problem moving. I stumbled sometimes or tripped on a rock. Luckily this body was sturdy and I didn’t hurt myself with my falls. The strength was great, but I would have to learn to use it with care.

Experiments finished, I thought about my next move. I didn’t know anything about the planet I was on and even in which universe I end up. First thing would be information gathering and second would be to make some money because I would need to go and find my friends. That would count for both universes. I was sure I didn’t find out everything about my new body, but that would have to wait until I could move normally with it and when I will be more comfortable in it.

I went before the cave and looked around. I was pretty high in some mountains and I could see far around me. There just wasn’t much to look at. In every direction I looked was barren land and only here near the mountain were some trees. As I looked around I spotted a city in the barrens. It wasn’t big city but it wasn’t a village either. I could also spot a small spaceport situated near the city.

I memorized way to the city and started to climb down from the mountain. It took me almost five hours, but mostly because I was still adjusting to this body. Once more I thanked the nanobots for repairing me as I was constantly falling on a ground.

When I got down away from the forest, I headed straight for the city and based on my speed I calculated it would take me somewhere around day or day and a half to get there. I sighed and started walk towards it. I could still go without a sleep for some time so I decided to continue. I will sleep when I get to the city.

I was walking for half a day when I heard the vehicle moving from my right side. I look at what kind of vehicle it was and in distance I could see big vehicle moving across barren in a direction of the city. With an idea in my mind to hitch a ride I pulled the Punch and fired three shots in the air.

At first nothing happened but then I saw the vehicle changed direction and headed to my location. When it got closer I could see that it was a big hover truck full of food, junk, broken equipment and things I couldn’t even identify. It was dragging two trailers behind it. One was full of junk and other things while second looked more like caravan where you could live.

I used my sensors to scan it for the weapons and I got only small firearms and one rifle at caravan. There was one man in track and besides him there were two other people. From the thermovision I could tell they were one male and two females, one small like a child and one tall so probably the parent.

As they got closer he popped the window on truck and stopped next to me.

“Hi there. What are you doing here alone? Don’t you fear the Lerks?” he asked.

I checked him over and I found out he was aiming a gun at me through the door. That meant there were probably some bandits on the planet who liked to ambush solitary trucks. He was about thirty years old with long beard on his face. Currently he was scowling at me with his brown eyes, but I could see wrinkles near corner of his eyes and mouth that came from laughter.

“I don’t know much about the planet and I certainly don’t know what the Lerk is.” I said.

“They’ are a big armored bugs that could cut through the metal with their pincers like it’s a paper and you still didn’t tell me what you’re doing here so far from the city.”

I looked at him and decided to tell him truth, “I woke up in a mountain cave” I pointed at them, “and I started to walk to only city I could see from there.”

He looked at me dubiously, “So you walked this whole time from the mountain and you still look this fresh?”

“I have a shield so I was partially covered from the sun.” I said.

He still looked at me with a mistrust and was thinking evidently what to do with me when I heard loud bang from the caravan.

“What are you thinking so much about? If you’re thinking about abandoning her think once more or you’ll have to cook your meals yourself.” Scowled the woman that sat next to him. She was tall about same as me with long bright red hair. She was slim and pretty. She wasn’t beautiful in standard terms, but there was a grace to her that I could immediately see. Behind her was hiding small girl that was almost same as her with only difference that she had cat eyes and ears. That would make her Gorian.

I smiled at her and she ducked behind her mother.

“Darling come here, we’ll take you to the caravan.” Said woman.

I looked at man in a truck who looked worried. ”It will be better if I go in the truck. I could help if there is some problems along the way. I think that would be better for everyone.” I said.

“Then go and sit down in the truck. Don’t worry about Harry. He won’t hurt you. Am I right? She looked at Harry who just grumbled in agreement.

He looked at me and sighed, then chuckled. “At least you’re not looking like a bandit.”

I climbed up in the cabin and set on the opposite side of the cabin. When both girls went back inside, he started the truck and moved towards the city.

“Now that were both stuck in this cabin it would be good to know one another. I’m Harry and I apologize if I came out in a bad light, but I have to protect my family.” He said.

“Don’t worry about it, I too would do a lot to protect mine and my name is Leya.” I shook my hand with him.

“Now that we have some time you can tell me more about how you got here and how you came to have such weapons.” He said looking at my rifle and pistols.

“Like I said before, I woke up in some cave and these weapons were there. I took them and when I spotted the city I went towards it. I really don’t know anything about this planet and its dangers.”

“Ok then first thing you should know is that you can’t go across the barren on a foot. There are animals that would hunt you down and eat you. There are Larks which are biggest danger because of their numbers, but there are other dangers. Kiliak hides under a ground and pounces on his unsuspecting victim. Then there’s Huruk that uses camouflage to hide from others and kills his victims in a sleep.” He said.

Then he continued to tell me about other animals I should steer from or which were edible. He even told me little about this planet which was called Shatar. There were big contrasts on a planet, because of the wars. Some areas were destroyed in the wars and were uninhabitable to people. Others were spared and now helped cities like Hurum, which was one where we were going. It had one of two remaining spaceports on a whole planet, but it didn’t have any means to produce a food for themselves. Before the wars planet specialized on food production but after wars they had just enough to feed their inhabitants. Now after some years they finally started to export some of their goods to other planets and for that they needed a spaceport.

But this brought the pirates and they didn’t have too many ships on Shatar. This proved difficult and they were forced to transport the goods on a merchant ships. Because of this they were being underpaid in every deal. Still as it was their only option, so they took it.

I asked him about wars and he told me they came after the Great Merging. According to what he heard, two universes collided and merged. Luckily no planet was destroyed, at least that’s what he heard. Whole universe expanded and there were changes in neighbors, which was one of reasons for war. Enemies that were far from each other were suddenly neighbors or planets that relied on defense from others were suddenly without one. That happened to Shatar which relied on protection from others before the Great Merging. Now it was without defenses trying to survive in this shattered universe.

This was probably done when we closed both blackholes. He told me it was twenty-five years from the Great Merging and there were still wars going in parts of the galaxy but most of them were finished. What he told me after that made sense about his hover truck. A lot of technology was lost in the wars. At first they built new and better ships but as the wars were progressing and people dying they used worse and worse ships and technology on them was too going down. War took best people and grind them to dust and what left, struggled without knowledge how to operate and repair some machines and technologies.

I was contemplating about what I heard from Harry when I heard loud screech from my side of truck. I leaned out of the window and spotted some big bug that was moving swiftly towards us. It was covered in chitin and it was moving faster than the truck. Based on the numbers, they had to be the Larks Harry was talking about and based on their speed they should catch up to us pretty quick.

“Take wheel and I’ll cover us with my pistol.” Said Harry but I could see him shaking from fear and look at the rear mirror all the time.

“Drive I’ll take care of them.” I said and leaned out once more from the window, but this time I was carrying Fist with me.

I steadied myself with my legs and sighted first Lark. Truck was shaking but I found out that I had a built-in stabilizer. It wasn’t perfect, but it was much better than if I shoot from running truck. I fired instantly as he moved before my crosshair. There was a powerful discharge and laser hit front Lark strait in the chest and went right through him. It hit even one behind him in a front limb and hurt it.

“What was that?” shouted Harry.

“My rifle.” I said simply. “I took one of them down, but there is still too many left.”

I sighted on others and continued shooting. Some shots I missed when we rode across hole on the ground but I still took five of them down which left me with eight more.

Everything was going fine when we heard scream from the caravan and sound of firing from a gun. From the sound it was some sort of projectile rifle. When Harry heard them he went for a gun and started to slow down.

“No, I’ll help them, but you need to drive. If you stop we’re death. I can already see more of them coming in a distance.” I looked him in the eyes and held them.

He was slowing down, but them he looked down and pressed the accelerator, “Ok, I’ll trust you. Go and save them.”

I nodded and pulled myself out of the window on the roof of truck. First thing I did was aiming at the two closest Larks and take them down. Now that they were closer it was easy to take them down without much aiming. I tossed my rifle on my back and run for the caravan.

I passed a first trailer pretty quick and I was already moving for the caravan. I could see the hole in it going from the roof to the back of it.

“It’s a friend, don’t shoot.” I shouted and jumped down to the caravan. There I landed on a corpse of Lark and fall down on the caravan floor. I quickly pulled myself up and looked around myself. Caravan was made from two rooms, and one I was standing in was bedroom from looks of it and it was completely destroyed.

“Is there anyone?” I shouted.

“Here. Help us, my mother is bleeding.” Shouted child voice.

I moved towards them and I could see that Lark got one swipe on her mother before she took him out. She was holding her stomach and she was almost white. First thing first I would have to stop bleeding.

“Where was she cut?” I asked her daughter when I crouched near them.

“He got me in stomach.” Said her mother weakly.

That could be bad. I placed my hand on her stomach and did a quick scan. From it I could see that luckily it was a flesh wound but he cut one of her blood vessels. I would have to cauterize it before she bleeds out.

I pulled Pat and lowered its power to minimum. With quick burst it should work like welder on her stomach. Her daughter looked at me with fear in the eyes as I pulled the pistol and jumped before me.

“Don’t hurt my mother.” She pleaded.

“I’m not going to hurt her I just need to stop her bleeding.” I said but she wouldn’t move.

I didn’t know how to convince her so I took Pat and fired at my arm. I winced, but there was just sizzling and it burned my arm but nothing more. “You see, I need this to stop her from bleeding out.”

She looked me in the eyes and were weighting what I would do. Finally, she let me go to her mother. I crouched next to her and quickly found the broken vessel and fired at both ends with Pat. She screamed and I had to hold her down so she won’t hurt herself. I closed wound and after second time I fired, she blacked out.

“Will she be alright?” her daughter asked.

“I think so. You have to stay here and protect her.” I said and hand her Punch. “If something goes here without saying it’s a friend, shoot it.

She just nodded and I hoped she would be fine. I had to go look back at our situation.

I went around the Lark in the bedroom and looked out from the hole at the back. There were almost on us and some of them were going forward after Harry. I put laser shot in couple of them before they focused on me. I took crouching position and shoot them as they came. For next five minutes I remember only shooting from the riffle then switching to the pistol as I let the rifle recharge from my body. After these stressful five minutes they stopped coming at us and retreated.

I don’t know how many of them I took down but I could see line of death going behind us. I used radar and scanners to look around and it looked like they really retreated back for now. I tossed one in the caravan out, and called “friend” before I went to check up on girls. Small one was standing before her mother and pointing pistol at a door.

“You can lower pistol, they retreated.” I said and slowly took the pistol from her. Her shoulders slumped and she started crying. I crouched in front of her and hugged her.

“There, there, don’t worry they won’t hurt you anymore.” I said and wiped her tears. I took my coat and place it under her mother’s head so she’s more comfortable.

After a while her daughter too falls asleep and I went back to look for another attack. Only when I was sitting there it downed on me that I wasn’t moving like it wasn’t my body. With all this danger and adrenalin, I no longer had time to think about how to move in my new body and just moved. No matter, it should have taken me more time. On the other hand, danger always helped me learn faster. Or maybe it was something placed in my body that helped me adjust. Whatever it was I was thankful for it. I just didn’t have enough information about my body to tell more.

I thought about my friends and if they too were in one of those wars and if they were alright. I thought about all lives lost because I tried to help and didn’t look for another way to save them. Because of my decision countless lives were lost and I knew that this guilt would stay with me forever. I could tell myself I did what was best decision at the time, but maybe there was other way to close the black hole and white hole without plunging universe in wars.

I sat there for about an hour after fight thinking about this new world until we came near the city and Harry stopped the truck. He didn’t come to check on her until now and drove until we were near the city. He wanted to get under its protection in case of troubles.

When he got in the back his eyes were sunken and there was worry written all over his face. I helped him climb from back of the caravan and pointed him towards his family. He stopped before doors and looked back.

“Don’t worry, they’ll be fine.” I said.

He nodded and went inside. I could hear sounds of crying and laughter behind me for a short while. He wasn’t there for long before returning.

“Thank you, Anie my daughter told me what you did and I know that you saved her life. If you need anything, call and I’ll help.” He said and placed his hand for me.

I shook it and smiled at him. “It’s ok. I don’t need anything. I didn’t do it for reward.”

“Doesn’t matter. If you need anything contact me and I’ll help.” He said and went back to the truck.

We continued towards the city and stopped once more for inspection at the gates. They first controlled truck and trailer. They moved on caravan as last. It was two guys around fifteen years old, both carrying an old assault rifle. From the looks of the weapons, they were both projectile weapons and both in pretty bad conditions.

They whistled when they saw the damage done to the caravan. One of them pointed at me, “Who are you?”

“I’m just passenger.” I said.

“I don’t think so, not with all these weapons. You’ll have to come with us and hand over your weapons.” One of them eyed them greedily.

“Let her be. If it wasn’t for her, me and my family would have died.” Said Harry.

“We’re just doing our job.” Called one who eyed my weapons.

“You can do it, but then say good bye to anything I brought here.”

They looked at each other and greedy one pointed his hands up, “We were just teasing her. Nothing more.”

“Don’t worry, I was protecting you, not her. She took down more than twenty Larks.” Said Harry.

Both of guard looked with awe at me, “You’ll have to tell us what happened later in a pub.” Said one who looked uncomfortable with previous conversation.

“Ok, but I need to take Em to the hospital first. One of them got her good across the stomach.”

Both grimaced when they heard it and they waved to guy who operated gate control, “Go, but don’t forget to tell us what happened.”

“I will. Look me up at the Golden Well, but now I need to get into the hospital fast.” Harry shouted as we drove past them.

While we were driving, I looked around the city and tried to make a first impression of it. It was dirty and there were problems on every corner with power grid, wires and network. I tried to use implants to connect to the network but it was full of a viruses and it was sluggish.

From what I saw most people living in the city were humans, but I saw here and there aliens. Aliens were moving in a groups and I couldn’t see even one of them going alone. That wasn’t good, that meant that they were bullied in the city.

As we went further to the city, streets became cleaner, but there was still a lot of dirt. Here in the center, I didn’t see any aliens. I would have to ask Harry about that later.

We stopped before a rundown building with big cross above the front entrance. Harry shouted from the truck and personal came out and took his wife inside. She woke up and tried to stand up, but nurse forced her back down.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. We’re going to help you.” She said and turned to Harry, ”Who did the patch job on her stomach? Was it you?”

“No, it was the stray we picked up.” He pointed at me.

I smiled and waved at them on which she snorted, “Good job, you saved her life.” She said.

“Did what I could.” I said.

They moved into the hospital, while I stayed outside. Harry turned back before the entrance and shouted at me, “Go to Golden Well and find Johnathan Well. Tell him to give you room and put it on my tab.”

I didn’t even have chance to respond before he went inside. I contemplated about what to do, but I was getting tired and even one night of sleep would be enough to get me by for next couple of days. For now, I decided to take him up on his offer and went to look for this pub.

I asked some people on a streets and they pointed me towards it. From the looks, it was one of better establishments in the city, if not best. I walked inside and I let my eyes adjust to the smoke inside. I stopped first waiter and asked for Johnathan. She pointed me at the bar and I walk towards it.

There were only two empty seats and I took one.

“What can I get you?” asked bartender.

“Are you Johnathan Well?” I asked.

He narrowed his eyes, “Why do you ask?”

“Harry sent me. I should tell you to give me room and put it on his tab.” I said.

He looked suspiciously at me, “Are we talking about same Harry, who rather die them give money away? What did you do that he’s willing to cover for you?”

“I saved life of his wife.” I said.

He stared at me then smiled, “Then ask what you need and also, you have my thanks. Without her, he would lose his soul.”

I smiled back, “Like he said, I just need room for one day. I’ll look for job tomorrow.”

He looked me over, “Ok, you can take room four. We’ll talk more in the morning.” He said and tossed me a key.

As I turned he asked me, “One more question. What kind of job are you looking for?”

When I looked back I saw him eyeing my weapons, “I would prefer engineering or repair, but if I can’t find anything else I can work as a guard or bodyguard.”

“I’ll ask around. Come in the morning and I’ll tell you if something came up.”

“Thanks, I’ll look you up.” I said and headed for my room. As soon as I walked there I locked the door and fell on a bed. Before I hit the pillow I was sleeping.