Chapter 13: The First Test

2182 Words
            “I still don’t understand what I’m supposed to do.” She said, staring at the weird, black hull of the ship. The Spacer Bay was quiet and empty. There were no other spacer ships other than the black one that Swallow used.             A novasapien in a researcher’s coat sat on a little cubicle by the bay while human workers surrounded the vessel like ants. The novasapien in question had similar bodily augmentations like the Chief Sectorate. Most high-ranking officials had augmentations, so she could only assume the man was a very important person. She stared at him from afar. He seemed a little…eccentric? Crazy? Few loose screws, maybe?             The Chief Sectorate then patted her head, “I’ll let the head researcher explain everything to you. Why don’t you go to him right there?”             Winter nodded and walked over.             The man inside greeted her with a wide, almost adorable smile, and shook her hand excitedly. “Ah! You must be the Subject 02! I’ve been dying to meet you!” he said, like a puppy greeting its owner.             Are researchers supposed to be this… informal?             “Subject 02?” Winter asked.             “Yes, Winter Elin Swan. Subject 02, the first contactor of our homeworld technology!”             Winter’s brow raised, “Homeworld technology? What?”             The man’s eyes widened, as if he said something he shouldn’t have. “Oh, err, nevermind.”             “Go ahead, Dr. Raven. She’s cleared to know up to Class C level classified information.” The Chief Sectorate walked in.             “Dr. Raven!?” Winter’s jaws dropped, though keeping her composure, “You’re Dr. Raven!?”             “Yes.” He then turned to the Chief, “Koripo’ dei Zionous?” the researcher asked.             “Pai.”             “What?” joined Winter.             “Ah, that makes sense. It seems like this girl is due for a deeper dive into novasapien history.”             Winter’s ears perked up.             She only knew so much from novasapien history. What school taught about her own species’ evolution and history was a matter she cared little about. Her great grandmother had already taught her everything she needed to know about humans, but not aliens, not novasapiens. School taught a brief summary about the history and the explanation of the alien species’ origins, but it was rumored that important details have been redacted. Even the newer generations of novasapiens in the planet has no idea about their true origins. It bugged her a lot as a child. It mounted her suspicion to their sudden appearance.             She lived her whole life totally suspicious and indifferent to the novasapiens. It was mostly due to her grandmother’s ramblings as a child, but… maybe, just maybe, the novasapiens weren’t’ as shady as she deemed them to be.             And now, she was about to find out the whole truth.             “Take a seat while the droppers work, Subject 02. Your part of the experiment happens after they’re done.” The researcher said. “Let’s partake in a history lesson.”             “Dr. Raven, she’s not an object. Call her Ms. Swan.” The Chief Sectorate asserted.             “Ah, forgive me then.”             Winter nodded. She didn’t mind being called Subject 02 though. She sat down beside Dr. Raven, looking at a large screen as he typed in variables in symbols she didn’t understand. The symbols of the screen disappeared with an input, and suddenly, the screen projected a 3D space. It showed a picture of a small orb.             “This is Novaien, our homeplanet just a couple decades ago.” Dr. Raven started, “We left it for the very reason the school tell you—we left it because it became too damaged for our kind to safely live in.”             With a flick of his wrist, the screen enlarged, sending them deeper into the planet.             “However, that’s not the complete story. You see, like humans, we also had our different ideals and beliefs, and we’ve waged war with each other because of it too.”             The projection showed a digitalized version of the landscape of the planet, each bearing symbols she couldn’t understand. They were countries, Winter assumed.             “Ah, don’t try to read it. The countries and continents themselves are irrelevant now. Anyway, our race was in the peak of evolution and technology, and in that blissful summit of thrivation, two ideologies suddenly emerged from long standing political beliefs.”             The countries within the planet was suddenly filled with either blue and red colors.             “I will not bore you with the details, Ms. Swan, but to summarize, Novaien was suddenly split into two political factions because of the ideals, there’s the Corpi, and the A’vin. The two sides quarrels were at first just harmless, but serious debates in online communication platform for country leaders, but eventually, it grew too serious. It grew too violent. Soon, the tension broke, and a war devastated the surface of our planet, and the A’vins, who were first to seize most interstellar launch sites were the first to leave the planet, and eventually, we wound up back to the planet we originally left. That planet is this one, Terra.”             The projection showed rockets and spacecrafts leaving the planet and ending up in another orb, then turned off.             “I don’t get it.” Winter said. There were too many loopholes, too many things that didn’t fit together. “Is this not the complete story?”             “Yes, it’s not the complete story.” replied Dr. Raven. “But, you’ll know soon enough. Actually, we were curious if linking your head to the ship would show you our full history, and if that ever happens, then we already prepared-“ The Chief Sectorate raised his fist. Dr. Raven stopped. His eyes widened again.             Winter scratched her temple.             Prepared what?             Her suspicion rose again, though she tried to hide it.             “Hmm,” she said, pretending not to mind, “So I just have to get into the spacer ship, right?”             “Yes,” said Dr. Raven, “But we’re yet to find its entrance. After reviewing the video footage from the surface city attack, the entrance seemed to be on the bottom of the ship, but our droppers haven’t found anything any sort of entrance yet, and the damages that it suffered from that one railgun strike seemed to have completely regenerated! It’s fascinating, is it not?! I thought we’ve reached peak technology development back in Novaien, but to think they’ve created something as transcendental as this. It’s very fascinating!”             “Of course, we don’t know what to expect from this ship, and we don’t want to put important people at risk, so that’s’ why, Ms. Swan, we’ll need to wait until the droppers find the entrance.” The Chief Sectorate joined in.             Winter clamped on her thighs, “So, the droppers are just fodders, huh?”             “You can’t blame us, Ms. Swan,” said Dr. Raven, “It’s in their job description that they’ll be in danger in certain experiments. This isn’t in any way shape or form morally wrong since they’ve accepted the job knowing full well of the consequences.”             Winter wanted to say no. That what he just said was wrong. She didn’t know any passable information and evidence to debate it, nor any courage to speak against it, but she disagreed still. It was wrong. The fact that lives to them were just disposable, and that names were just data on a computer, was just… completely unacceptable!             And to think she just bowed to the Zionous the other day… to think she was happy to have the praise of many novasapiens and government officials. It made her sick.             But what could she do?             “It’s okay. I understand.” She said.             “Dr. Raven, we found something!” a male voice said.             The eccentric researcher beside her leapt out from his chair and rushed out the cubicle. He hurried near the ship like a drooling dog, spouting, “What is it, what is it?!”             “Please, forgive him Ms. Swan,” The Chief Sectorate said to her, “That man has lived for a really long time. He has long abandoned the fear of death and the concept of time. You may even say he’s ancient.”             “Like the Zionous kind of ancient?”             “No, but he is significantly older than I am, though he does not look the part due to his augmentations. He is a very important individual to the novasapiens. However, he’s old, and augmentations can only do so much for his brain. He usually talks incomprehensibly, and blabber of things that does not make sense.”             “I understand. It’s like old humans in a way too.” replied Winter, though still suspicious.             “Ms. Swan, your presence is highly, desperately, absolutely required!” he heard the Dr.’s voice call out.             She sighed and came out of the cubicle, following him.             She looked on the spacer ship and found a small opening on the center lower hull. It also glowed red on its outlines, a red that she wasn’t comfortable with.             “What’s up?” she asked.             “This, Ms. Swan, is a biometrics scanner!” Dr. Raven pointed on the opening, “And we need you to put your hand in.”             “W-what? How do we know it’ll open with mine?”             “Because you’re linked to this ship, are you not? It’s sure to recognize you! Either way, I don’t like how that red glow looks like.”             “W-why?”             “It would self-destruct if the wrong person put their hand in the scanner, maybe? It’ll go berserk, willy-nilly in a couple seconds if its spacer doesn’t get in in time. who knows? Just do it!”             Dr. Raven walked behind her and gently pushed her forward.             “Okay, okay! Jeez, I did say I’d cooperate.”             “Good. Good.”             Winter took a deep breath and lodged his right hand into the biometric hole. A second later, the red lights outlining the ship turned blue and let off a relieving ping. A man-sized hatch then opened from the hole, revealing two configurator chairs—one on the inside, and on the hatch lid itself. The inside of the cockpit, or at least, was full of perfectly lined wires drawing inwards, like a thicket of vines. There was no interface, no button, not even a panel.             Dr. Raven’s eyes widened and his jaws dropped, like seeing a pile of gold, or rather, a vat of pure core materia.             She snorted, thinking of Jordan cracking a joke right about now.             Jordan…             He would have probably said something like ‘that guy must having the biggest nut he has ever had’.             He wondered where he was, or what he was doing…             Would he be jealous if he knew she was in here? The guys has always had this big fascination for the novasapiens, as if he saw them like they were gods, or a species better than humans, or something.             Wait, what am I thinking?             “Ms. Swan,” Dr. Raven said, holding in his excitement, “W-would you please proceed in?”             “Okay, but Swallow said something about the ship needing two pilots to function properly or something bad will happen or…”             “Swallow? Oh, the uncaught Corpi—Subject 01. Don’t worry. We just need to confirm if you have a direct neural link to the ship. We only need you to activate it, not pilot it. That will be for tomorrow’s procedures.”             “I’m going to pilot it tomorrow alone?”             “No, no. From what I’ve heard, two voluntary partners are already in place for you tomorrow.” replied Dr. Raven.              “Who?”             Dr. Raven tapped his cheek, and from his oculars projected a panel visible only to him.             “Ah, a male and a female human. I shall name them Subject 04, and Subject 05! Their names are Jordan Heron, and Rori Moa, and they seem to have unique variables that may prove interesting.”             Winter’s eyes widened. A smile crept into her face.             “Wait, wait, you’re serious?!”             “Yes, yes, Subject,er, Ms. Swan. Now, get in the ship.” He started pushing her again. He was a little too excited, it seemed.             She climbed up one of the chairs, and the hatch then closed in on her.             “Ms. Swan, can you hear me?” Dr. Raven’s voice echoed from outside.             “Yeah, I can hear you.”             “Good. Now, do your thing. Activate it for now.”             Winter looked around, trying to find whatever was needed to activate it. She remembered what she did to exactly ‘pilot’ the ship. It was just gut instinct telling her to touch his horns with her forehead, and like that, her senses were filled with white light. But there was no horn she could touch now.             She imagined the controls must be telepathic, so she calmed herself down and willed for it to activate. Wires rose from the ground and from behind her suddenly, and they burrowed deep into her skin. It didn’t hurt, but she did feel it touch her veins, though no blood came out. She exhaled and willed for it to activate again.             White light suddenly filled her senses. Blinding, hot, painful light. It was burning her eyes and screeching into her ears. She screamed, willing for it to go away, but something came into her head, like carried flowing through muddy water. It was static and murky. She only wanted it to stop.             Her ears rang, but she heard a faint voice calling her name, “Ms. Swan, Ms. Swan, can you hear me?!” then fading out.             Two silhouettes briefly appeared from in the blinding light, but disappeared shortly after.             Then, total darkness.                          
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