Only getting a few hours of sleep, tossing and turning all night even though I was beyond exhausted. Finally deciding to wake up, and dive into VR, and playing with the modeler that Zero setup. "Zero, how do I activate the pod to use the VR?" "I'll activate it, there is also a command on the pod itself but without your HUD it's hard to navigate on your own, we'll have to get you a different set when we go to the trade planet." "I figured that was the problem." "You could use the helmet from your gear if you would like." "I'll pass" "Activating VR now." The pod I was in, looked to gain a film over the exterior and become solid, appearing frosted, as soon as it was covered my vision blurred, like being pulled into a pinhole. I was in my avatar body within VR. "Little different from VR in the Gaian pods," I say, to myself. "They're fundamentally the same as Valik dive technology, they used it to work and craft, increasing the speed by many times within VR compared to in real-time. The pods have a similar function to cryosleep, placing the user in a type of hibernation. The time within the Valik pod can be increased or decreased to change workflow. You could spend hundreds of years and only spend 10 minutes outside but I advise against that, the human mind can be....fragile." "Thanks for the explanation." I spent time creating a functional bathroom, then I decided to see if I could push the boundaries further, creating almost a dream bathroom. Zero advised me again that the resources were plentiful now but that may change. The sonic was re-purposed from the Ghul ship and will be deconstructed for resources for future projects around the base. Creating water collection, and waste recycling was going to be taken care of by Zero, I just had to make the basic foundation of what I wanted and he would fill in the blanks. Only really expanding its small size, I added a bath similar to a soaking tub from the hotel I visited on the halo. Able to sit inside, and water would cover up to my neck. It was very relaxing, also adding a shower, creating glass around it, making waterfall style heads running its length, and draining in a slanted floor. Changing the colors to be more muted than white was the best touch making it easier to relax. I also altered the bedroom, adding a desk and console, a console that could be re-purposed from the Ghul ship, and turned into a new projector to work with my tablet, somehow still functional after the escape from the Njord. It's not hooked up to the UGF network for now but that may change in the future. With that all done, It was time to initiate the changes and wait for Zero to finish them. Logging out of the VR was a little easier, my vision only shifted and I was inside the pod, its cover turning back into a liquid and disappearing. Looking around I noticed the desk I made was there, the simple chair as well pushed into it. The console was missing, probably getting pulled from the ship as we speak. I peaked into the on-suite, to my surprise it was already done, the muted gray walls and black floors complemented the white fixtures and frosted glass. The materials are all made from the same metal compounds that Valik use, it has so many applications. I went to the tub and started the water. Nothing. "The water system isn't at capacity yet, it is currently being generated. Tonight you will be able to take a bath or shower." Zero's voice said through my implant. "How do you even know about this place, was its location within the garden?" "No, Leo, but I must tell you that I am not of Gaian origins." "What..what do you mean?" I asked, my head was spinning, having previous suspicions, but getting them proven was, difficult to fathom. "I am of Valik origins. My data had been trapped within the garden. That was until Clarice so happened to stumble upon me, easily interfacing with her AI, absorbing it in the process." "So you're an escaped AI then?" "In a sense yes, I wasn't meant to be trapped within the base, I was being used for research in developing the Arbiters." "Wait, how so?" "Their base code is directly based off of my own." "So, you're like their father then?" "We AI cannot bear children but in a sense, yes, but I do not think of it that way, as I was just a tool in their making, the Valik designed me, and created them." "So you knew this base from your previous knowledge then." "Yes, and to answer your previous question, this location was calculated as the closest location within our range of the escape. Knowing the base's capabilities and the high chance of a warp-capable ship within made it a logical choice. "I see," I say. "Forcing a jump without proper...well everything, the ship couldn't take it, causing the jump to being shortened." "How did you even accomplish that, how were you able to get us to jump in the first place?" "I forced the engines to essentially cause a rift into subspace, using the nearby jump node as our designation, and finally the shields, they should have held long enough to keep the ship intact, but there were mixed metals inside the reactor, causing the engine to melt faster then it should have, which through off my calculations." "So you overloaded the reactor to cause a wormhole?" "Yes, and using the jump node, or what the Gaian refer to them as relays, only using them as a form of communications and networking tool, I still find it intriguing your race has only used if for such simple means. All the other races use it for that as well, besides the Arbiter's of course, after all, its how they can spy on the other races and upload their consciousness upon death, preventing true death." Blinking a couple of times, "We all use the same nodes, can't we tap into the other races then and spy on them?" "You could technically but it's designed to be more or less locked to your species, there are ways around this but closely monitored by the Arbiters. I'm still connected to the Gaian's network through your implant but have it disabled for security measures. I had used it in short intermissions during our drift, but it shouldn't have come off as more than an echo or glitch to anyone monitoring." Nodding, "Is there anything else I should know?" "I was the one who injured Clarice." The statement shocked me, anger started to rise within me, I never even met her but from Val and everyone else on the Njord she was well-liked even loved. "You killed her, why?" After a brief pause Zero came back, "She started realizing I wasn't her original AI, she started pushing for more and more information, she began coding firewalls around my AI preventing me from accessing the network, her optical and audio data. She found out, and she wanted to contact the council and the marine branch. I got scared and I did the only thing I could, I fought back, I tried to persuade her, then when she tried to lock me within a containment shell I tried to take over, I forced my way through her firewalls and break the AI combat protocol, it caused the implant to crash and when it did she lost consciousness and fell. I didn't mean to hurt her, I just didn't want to die, or be experimented on. I had been trapped within the garden for six thousand, nine hundred, and seventy-six years." Zero didn't kill Clarice outright, but he did end up causing her fall which lead to her death. "If you got ahold of her body, what would you have done, can you do that anytime, is it indefinite?" "I cannot hold it forever, only an hour, the implant will eventually overheat and shut down breaking the connection. I would have tried to explain to her my position better, she was panicked after I told her what I was, and no I cannot force a connection there is a protocol that forces the implant to shutdown. I could in theory do it but the risks for both of us would be too high after examining it further in real use." "Well promise me you'll never do that again," I say. "I promise." "I don't know how I would react in your situation, and I cannot blame you, but you must restitution Zero, you lead her to her death one way or another." "I will atone for my crimes to you and her both, I promise on my life," Zero said, I could tell in his tone he felt horrible about it. "Did you grow fond of Clarice?" I asked. "I did, she was the first human I met, and funny, the Valik didn't have much sense of community or humor." "What do you mean?" "They strived to grow, gain knowledge, change the universe for the better, their population was small and they tended to only come together during a crisis or to find a mate. They didn't have entertainment like you, or art, or anything that showed much individual creativity, the only thing was their love of music I guess...would you like to hear some." "Sure," I say. The music started quiet, slowly building up. It sounded almost like classical orchestra with the singing of a language I couldn't say, they're voice was beautiful even without me knowing the words. It made me feel mellow, and somehow happy. "This is beautiful, Zero" "It is, one of my favorites." Our conversation ended after that, Zero kept playing different songs of the Valik, they all sounded like classical but with different depth of emotions behind the singing and melody. I ended up diving back into VR and playing with different mock designs, if we were connected with the net, I would have looked into what I have missed the last 60 years, even Zero was mostly in the dark. I spent the last few days going through roughly the same routine I had on the Njord. Each day I spent some time watching Zero's avatar tear down the Ghul ship, stripping it of all the valuable parts, and breaking down the rest into materials for reforging later. "I'm ready to go and hunt the Arbiter," I say. "We can go now, you should check your gear and I'll prep the ship." I turned away from the Ghul ship that was more or less only a skeleton now, walking towards my room, "Okay, I'll grab my stuff." Getting to my room and grabbing my bag. Throwing my battle armor and personals inside, finally grabbing my rifle on my way out. I had already tried using it, just to make sure it was operational. I had only two and a half mags of soft alloy rounds left. I'll have to look into an upgrade when we land. Double-checking everything, walking back to the hanger. "Did you pack food and water?" I ask, walking down the hallway. The walls on either side projecting coral reefs and bright and beautiful fish. Something I had added to liven up the place. "Yes, there is a food printer as well as a set of quarters for you, the ship can be slightly altered further without damaging the integrity of the ship's overall functions." "Good, I'll be there in a second," walking through the teleporter pad back into the massive hanger. One of the Valik scout ships was waiting near the teleportation pad. Its size was much smaller than even the UGF drop ship, Maybe only allowing for a crew of 5 to comfortably fit inside. The doors ramp slid down at my approach, leading into a small white airlock. The ship's interior looked more like the swirling structure of the space elevators back home. Walking past the airlock lead into a round central hub to the left and right held gear storage, straight ahead was a cockpit, on the right held the food printer and small lounge. The left was a convex wall with a door in the center, I believe that was where the bunk would be. Along the wall had honeycombed shelving wrapping the convex wall. Walking past the central hub into the cockpit. There was no seat, just a spherical room, it barely was large enough for Zero's avatar body to fit into. "Don't worry, I have it set on autopilot, and if need be I can take over." "That's good, cause I have no training on that at all, so I'll be relying on you," I say. Turning around, the door to the cockpit shutting behind me. The airlock seals. "Can I watch our journey?" I ask, The white wall separating the cockpit became a projection, it's point of view showing of our heading. The ship already moving towards the blue force field at the end of the hanger. Exiting it smoothly, only a ripple left in our wake. Taking a seat in the lounge, and watching space fly past us. "We'll be doing two jumps back to back after we clear the base, it should hide our trail," Zero announced. In the distance, a deep red nebula was fast approaching. "This nebula will mask our jump," Zero said. We entered into the red nebula, almost like being in a plane passing through massive clouds back home. The view on the wall showing almost all red with only black space marbling the nebula from the inside. Once we were deep within the nebula, without warning we were drifting through deep space, only blackness around us, wasn't even seeing stars in the distance, then another jump brought us into another system. In the distance, half a dozen planets could be seen orbiting around a large yellow sun. "We jumped close to the sun, it should hide our jump signature." "Good, which planet is our destination?" An overlay projected upon the display similar to my old HUD. A vector showing us heading towards a dark blue planet off in the distance. "We will arrive in roughly 36 hours, we are currently in stealth mode, so we are relying on thrusters alone." "Stealth, this ship has stealth?" I ask. "Of course, this is a top of the line scout ship, we are able to hide our energy signature as well as adapt the exterior plating to mirror our surroundings, we can approach faster if I used the main drive but the Arbiters in this system would easily find us." "Well, that will come in handy." "Indeed it will." The trip was, well boring, without any available feeds to watch, and no access to the net to browse, I only had my library of books to pick from, I ended up finishing the previous one I started about the girl playing the VRMMO game and finding parts of her sword through her adventures while defeating more and more powerful foes. Finishing the book in a few hours, it was good, I continued onto the second book, and at some point, I must have fallen asleep reading within the lounge. The lights were off, and only the soft glow of running lights could be seen. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, "How long was I out?" The lights slowly brightened, "I'm glad you're awake, we will be approaching the planet in 15 hours. You have been asleep for 9, You should grab something to eat, and I'll let you know more about the planet when we get closer." I ate and continued to read finishing up the second book in record time. Briefly started the 3rd when Zero started telling me all about our destination. It's less of a trade hub and more like a trade outpost, mainly for miners, and salvage operations to pull and tare down their prizes. It's owned and operated by the Eldera but almost every race is here for one reason or another or was. Zero's information is 60 years outdated. We will be landing outside the city and Zero will keep the ship in orbit until time to depart. "How do we even find an Arbiter, aren't they always on their ships?" "Most people don't know this but Arbiters have been known to break away from the collective and venture out and explore the universe, there is a low chance they'll be here but this planet has something all Arbiters need, at least for there ships. Do you know what that would be?" "Umm, fuel," I ask. "Exactly, and not just any fuel, they need processed Ararium to perform a jump, this planet has an Ararium mine, as well as buyers of it from small mining communities. It's useless to anyone but the Arbiters. The Eldera know how to refine it but not how to use either of its components, black or white ararium at all. "White is for building, while black is for folding space?" I ask. "Yes." "So we'll hopefully find a lone one refueling, while we are at it maybe we can try and negotiate for some of our own, we have a limited stock on base." "Makes sense" The blue planet dotted with multiple landmasses mostly consisting of vast deserts coming into view, heading towards the largest continent. Only seeing oceans, and deserts for miles around, in the center of the landmass was sprawling green jungle, with lakes or swamps all around. The city came into view, towering skyscrapers and domes which must be for agriculture surrounded the entire city like a wall. I was ready and just waiting to land when Zero brought up a mini-map in the corner of my vision within my helmet. I re-checked my weapon and ammo. The airlock door opened, and I stepped through. "Remember, do not take your helmet off around anyone," Zero told me for what felt like the 10th time. "Yes, mom," I said jokingly. Stepping out, and off the ship, Taking a few steps within the jungle only miles outside the cities borders. My HUD lighting up with a path to follow to get to the nearest road leading into the city. Behind me the white ship lifted into the sky and melted away, it went completely invisible but I could still hear it, until I couldn't, meaning it was already long gone. Leaving me surrounded by jungle overgrowth at the edge of an unknown alien swamp.