After just a few minutes passed, Ludo now found himself standing on the surface, looking down into the steadily rising pond in the crater below.
"I just climbed that…"
Even now, he still felt a little dumbfounded by it.
He could only look down at his still shining metallic arms speechlessly, having underestimated their might.
The sight of that steep drop made his stomach twist. From up there, it looked enormous, like the earth had an open wound.
Subconsciously, he took a few steps back, slightly worried he might fall back in again in his shock.
Ludo flexed his metallic arm experimentally. It didn't feel cold like when other metals touched his skin; in fact, it almost felt like it was a part of his body now — there was no distinction between him and the Galactic Terminal; this he was sure of now.
They were one in the same.
"Guess I'm not exactly… normal anymore."
He caught a glance of himself in the reflection in the pond below.
If he didn't know any better, he might have mistaken his appearance for a particular pop culture robot from a movie series in the 80s…
The thought of his body having changed with no way of him knowing what kind of side effects it might bring should have terrified him.
But strangely, it didn't.
Beneath the shallow fear and confusion, much stronger emotions of curiosity and excitement surfaced.
He raised his hands again, waving them in front of his face.
Now that he was relatively safe, he naturally had to inquire more on just what the Galactic Terminal could do.
"What are you capable of?" he whispered to himself.
As if it had been waiting, the Galactic Terminal's mechanical voice appeared in his mind again, with the visual output from his hand following it.
[Please customise the settings to your preferences.]
Ludo recognised this prompt from earlier; it was the same one it had offered to him when the Galactic Terminal first made itself known.
It was only now, though, that he had a chance to actually see what this customisation meant.
Deep down, Ludo was hoping that the customisation the Galactic Terminal was talking about included its appearance on his body, because… he wouldn't know what to do if he had to go around in society sporting two metallic-looking arms the whole time!
It would for sure turn quite a few heads and invite questions that he definitely wasn't willing to answer.
Especially if those questions came from the government.
'Yeah, lets be cautious.'
Taking a look at the holographic screen that had been waiting for him to interact with it, Ludo didn't delay any longer.
After tapping at the air, the interface quickly changed before his eyes.
Now, some options were presented to him.
[Customise Appearance.]
[Customise Language.]
[Set Location / Set Civilisation.]
[Please note: The first two customisation options are optional and are not required to be changed, but the setting of your localisation is mandatory and irreversible.]
Ludo didn't even think twice before tapping the first option, immediately being presented with all sorts of options and presets to change the appearance of the Galactic Terminal, and in turn, his own appearance. Thankfully one among the many presets just happened to be exactly what he was looking for — a 'stealth' mode, where it just returns him back to his original appearance before obtaining the Galactic Terminal.
This was perfect for Ludo, just what he needed.
He chose that option.
The changes took place immediately, with the metallic sheen of his arms gradually receding and fading away before returning to their original pale white appearance.
'Although they looked cool, they're just too eye catching in this society.' He lamented, though he didn't doubt that in the future he might not have to worry about such things.
A slight idea of what the Galactic Terminal might allow him to do had already developed in his mind, and it was beyond his imagination.
Noting that the option to change the appearance was still there for him to choose again at any time, he moved on to the next option.
'Choose language? Its already in English though?' He mused, wondering why this was even an option.
Still curious, he tapped the option just to see what was available.
[Please choose your preferred language; the current setting is: Automatic. In Automatic mode, everything is translated in real time from the Universal Standard Language, USL for short, using sensors detecting intent from your brainwaves to present back to you in your own language.]
[Warning! This setting is highly energy inefficient and will drain the Galactic Terminal's energy reserves at a 500% faster rate than optimal! Current recommendation is to turn Automatic mode off.]
Ludo's brows rose, glad that he had decided to let his curiosity take its course and have him investigate this option.
If he had chosen to ignore it, he might have drained the Galactic Terminal's energy reserves unknowingly.
And god knows how he would be able to charge it again, or if Earth even had the capacity to do so!
'Lets see here…'
He started browsing the seemingly endless list of incomprehensible symbols, secretly marvelling at all the alien languages that were available, but found no option for English, or any of Earth's languages for that matter.
"There's a search bar, let's try that."
[No entry for 'English' found in the databank. If you would like to choose this language, please connect the Galactic Terminal to a local data source to upload it to its databank. If you wish to scan the language directly from your brain, you have to accept the risks associated with it. It is advised to connect to a digital device to do so.]
[Note: Contributing new and unknown Languages to the Galactic Terminal will reward a varying amount of credits, determined by the complexity and level of said languages.]
"Oh? Now we're talking!"
Ludo didn't know what these credits were, but considering it was something the Galactic Terminal was offering, he guessed they had to be valuable.
"Luckily, I parked my truck back at the end of the trail, so it shouldn't be too affected by the impact last night."
If it were any other meteor strike, Ludo wouldn't have such hopes, but upon arriving back on the surface, he realised that other than the 40 metre wide, 20 metre deep hole in the ground, the rest of the surrounding area was seemingly unaffected.
'I had my phone on me, so thats a goner, but my laptop should still be in my truck.'
He immediately began making his way over, eager to solve his energy inefficiency problem and earn some credits in the process.
The idea of uploading the language straight from his own mind wasn't even considered. If the Galactic Terminal said there were risks involved, he sure as hell wasn't going to involve himself with that!