I'm going to go back and add chapter numbers to all the previous chapters. I don't know if this will make them pop back up on your reading list or not. I apologize in advance if that happens.

Anyways thanks for reading

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The next year went by in a flash with me continually becoming more and more confident with my ability to control the warp bubble, working with Vahlen on a physical body and eagerly awaiting the completion of the ship I would fly between the stars. I didn’t see much of Dave during this time as he was working with the Gaian government on the upcoming journey. Whenever I tried to see what he was up to, if only for the sake of self-preservation, I was met with an annoying video, I think it was called being rick rolled.

It turns out that even in the future things can’t just happen overnight. Initially Vahlen had made a prototype body using purely nanites and while I could move the body it felt somehow wrong to me, almost like I was moving through molasses. I even tried copying and transferring myself into the body but all that came of it was a robot with no emotion or willpower. Vahlen was very patient with me throughout this process not once showing the desire to create anything but the perfect body for me. ‘Anything for her little angel. Oh what’s that? The horns and tail just ignore those.’

One thing that continually frustrated both myself and others during this year was the utter failure at recreating another sentient AI like myself. Even following all the steps exactly the closest to success that they got was something stark raving mad, that tried to destroy its fusion cells upon birth. Luckily, I had been nearby when this happened or there would have been a new crater on Lupis.

Despite the lack of progress on sentient AIs I was able, through a stroke of luck, to find out that the warp bubble from point A to B is exactly the same every time if point A starts in the same location every time. So I spent the last year mapping out standard warp points for the regular AIs to follow, which they were able to do successfully, leading to humanity zipping around our home solar system.

A year after my birth Vahlen had surprised me with a birthday party along with several of the researchers and celebrated, with a noticeable lack of champagne. I even saw the target of the cork’s anger, his name was Henry, with one of the ladies he fell on. ‘I guess you could say he fell for her. Hahaha, get it, fell for hahaha. Sorry, I got carried away.’

Anyways it was very thoughtful of them and I’m grateful for the fact that they did it for me. It got even better when around halfway through Dave waltzed in and announced that the interstellar ship was ready. All that’s left is to assembly the crew and for me to integrate with it. ‘Ah, dad can be thoughtful when he’s not being a dick.’

The party got cut short because of the announcement but everyone understood, who can resist playing with new toys? It took a while for my core to be transferred, and as I was told later a major pain in the ass, but it’s not like I could have helped anyways, it just meant more play time with my cats for me.

Eventually the process was complete and I connected to the ship for the first time. This thing was a beast and a half. Measuring 2500 meters from bow to stern the ship was massive to behold. This was a direct result of a rare foresight, from the government, which required the ship to have everything necessary to survive should we become stranded.

The surface of the ship was jam-packed with weaponry and deflectors, which would shield the ship from radiation, lasers and small asteroids. Let’s see in order of power we have point defense guns, lasers, 4 missile tubes, 6 plasma cannons and 1 railgun, in the bow, capable of accelerating something to .25cc(25% speed of light). Combining this with a squadron of 12 fighters and 2 dropships, with a supporting company of marines, we were armed to the teeth.

‘Holy shit are we taking on armada or something. The amount of firepower here is insane. I don’t think I’m being told everything, there is just way to much engagement potential here for a simple exploration mission.’

Other than the insane firepower the rest of the ship had normal things like engineering, engine room, armory, med bay, life support, vr room and the command center. I don’t really know why they included the last one when I literally controlled everything on the ship. I guess it made them feel like they were actually doing something important.

I did get to meet the Captain and the XO briefly before the ship launching ceremony occurred. I instantly liked Cpt Johnson, a tall black man, he personified what I’d want my Captain to be, calm, collected totally assured of himself and his abilities. The XO introduced herself as Twitch, I’m not kidding, the small Latino woman was in constant movement at all times. If the Cpt was the brain she would have to be the heart, the one to get the crew to push just a little harder.

The christening ceremony that took place after my meeting with the Cpt and XO was interesting as even the president of Gaia gave a speech glorifying the men and women about to embark on this momentous occasion. He even gave a special mention to both Dr. Dave Zhul and Dr. Vahlen for their breakthroughs that had made this journey possible. There was no mention of me in his speech which kind of ticked me off after all the work I had done recently.

After a few more speeches, done by people that were not really important, it was finally time to break the champagne bottle against the ship and with that done New Horizon’s christening ceremony was complete.

As the crew of New Horizon filed in, nearly 1500 people total, I spotted Dave walking along with a man so completely average in every regard that it couldn’t be natural. I was going to follow them and listen in to any conversation that they had when the Cpt called me to the bridge. Tagging them with my ship mind I appeared before the Cpt.

“Hello Scott could you give me an eta to when the ship will be full up and ready for warp?” “Sure it should be about 4hr 37mins and 15secs.”

“Good can you inform me 5mins before we are able to warp I want to give a ship wide speech before we set off.” “Yes Cpt Johnson.”

The next 4 and a half hours went by in a blur as the crew familiarized themselves with their workstations whilst I was busy giving them technical support for any issues they ran into. ‘I feel like a 1-800 number right now but the Cpt’s speech should start soon.’

“Attention all crew, attention all crew this is the Captain speaking. I know that there have been a lot of speeches today so I’ll keep this short people. Right now each and every single one of you standing here today will be part of history. We few men and women here today will represent humanity as we embark on our journey to the stars. I expect great things from each and every one of you as humanities best and brightest. God willing this will be a successful beginning for humanities life amongst the stars. Thank you for your time please head for your warp stations. We warp in 1 minute.”

Captain Johnson sits down and looks at me, “Can you please provide a ship wide countdown starting at 15secs?” “Of course.”

The seconds tick by until finally a countdown can be heard throughout the ship.

15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 warp