RCS thrusters activated and made mild adjustments as the Seeker approached the ancient derelict ship. The expedition ship's drill retracted from a hidden compartment as it prepared to dig in and make a breach that would enable an expedition team to conduct an EVA within the derelict's mysterious corridors.
The ship itself was unimpressive. The space faring technology of the 25th Century was far superior to late 21st century Terran Space Force orbital installations and it was common knowledge that the Cosmists were wanting in the space industry compared to Terrans. Mainstream belief said that this orbital superiority was why the Cosmists lost the Artilect War. They were winning on the ground before General Vantus and the rest of the TSA fleet ships who didn't survive the event bombarded the planet from orbit with nukes to spell out the war's finality in December of 2071.
Recent discoveries led to the realization that the Cosmists did have superior cloaking technology, however. This allowed them to place a few orbital installations around the Earth and remain hidden from the TSA. The recent advancements in stealth technology are what allowed astronomers to locate this derelict in the first place. Most of this technology was still confidential as Mars was in a long-running cold war with Ganymede, whose imperial ambitions they believed to extend beyond the Jovian Moons. This, essentially, was information Melbourne had not been able to learn before embarking upon this mission.
Three tiny spherical probes flew out ahead of the Seeker powered by tiny nuclear batteries to run their automated sequences and report back to Arian Horizons. Another followed with simple stealth tech designed to avoid radar systems with a special neural connection to Melbourne Acliate and a mysterious device that Melbourne had scanned in as many ways as he could think of for signs of sabotage. After an hour of finding no signs of bad intentions in the device, Melbourne soldered it to his probe as Victoria had asked.
The derelict had suffered much structural damage in over three centuries of abandonment from micrometeorites. The aluminum hull looked like swiss cheese. It didn't take the probes long to find holes that were large enough for them to enter in through, though they were equipped with cutting torches just in case the structure was made of a better alloy. Melbourne secretly frowned in disappointment when his probes wouldn't get to use those cutting torches.
The probes swiftly performed their official duties and discovered an interior chamber that seemed to be a data bank. This was the place Melbourne needed the probes to access. Arian Horizons wanted the data downloaded and transmitted over an encrypted link to them and purged from the ship before the crew boarded. Melbourne, on the other hand, wrote a special script to save the library of information for himself, having it transmitted into the Aclito's digital library. He had decided to trust Victoria enough to share that information with her as well.
Upon wireless transmission of the data bank into Melbourne's Aclito, he quickly pulled up schematics of the ship and ran a search program for anything related to the "Neural Interface" that the System wanted him to find.
A 3D model in his eyes showed the entire ship as scouted by the drones as a wireframe mode and a central cabin was highlighted based on the search algorithm. As he studied the layout of the ship, he became confused. There was no bridge or pilot's seat. He had studied many diagrams of old TSA ships and they had a pretty standard design that matched modern designs where the command bridge faced the front of the ship.
As Melbourne sent his secret probe to explore this cabin, he realized that it was far more heavily fortified than the rest of the ship. The room he was supposed to find was protected by an unknown alloy that rudimentary chemical testing showed to be an unknown material consistent with nanomaterials designed for long duration space missions.
Melbourne smiled as he realized he finally had a chance to use a cutting torch. The probe responded to his mental commands and Melbourne watched in satisfaction as a hole was burned through the unknown substance. He made a mental note to take a chunk of that home to run chemical tests and discover how it was made. Materials that could survive centuries in space without maintenance or significant degradation would be very valuable. It would be unfortunate that he wouldn't be able to create his own tech startup with it as Arian Horizons would most likely jump on the discovery themselves and claim credit for inventing it. Still, the knowledge of it enticed Melbourne.
Within the room was the component of the ship Melbourne had previously thought to be missing. The bridge of the ship wasn't put in the front like traditional designs but in the center of the ship, heavily fortified. The design appeared to be geared to allow the commanders to survive a direct blast from a nuclear missile if the remainder of the ship was blown up. Melbourne nodded, impressed at the reasoning of the ancient Cosmist architects. It would be impossible for dogfighters or bombers to directly target the command bridge from the outside in a space battle if modern engineers used this strategy for frigate or cruiser ship construction.
Within the room floated several skeletons and the tattered clothes of them. It appeared they had suffocated in space.
In the center of the spherical room was a chair that resembled a commander's chair with straps for anchoring in zero gravity. Upon the chair's headrest was a device unlike anything Melbourne had ever seen before. It was a pair of diodes that appeared to be designed to emit some sort of electrical signal. Electrodes for connecting with a human brain? Melbourne realized this must be the neural interface that the System had set him on a quest to access.
Finally, the long anticipated lurching of the Seeker signaled the beginning of the drilling process. The archaeology team lined up with Melbourne and half of the remaining seven security personnel, all wearing light spacesuits. The only distinction between security officer and archaeologist was that the archaeologists carried briefcases with various apparatuses designed for various forms of testing from radioactive dating to system hacking. The crypto-archaeologists would be disappointed as Melbourne had completed his secret task of purging the data banks outside of their knowledge. They would only get very rudimentary knowledge of how the ship functioned and no data about Cosmist history or any classified information of that nature.
The crew glided single file through the hollow airlock corridor in the center of the drill, the tip of which opened up to create a path for the crew to enter the derelict.
While the archaeology team moved to explore the ship and do in-person experimentation, Melbourne made a beeline for the bridge, taking care to avoid the detection of the security officers.
As Melbourne entered the room through the manhole his probe had carved into the mysterious metal, he pocketed a floating piece of alloy he had intentionally had cut up into smaller pieces by the drone. He then kicked himself towards the suspended chair that contained what he believed to be the neural interface. Melbourne strapped himself to the chair and put his head against the diodes.
A soft, blue light activated instantly, shocking Melbourne.
[Mission Update: Ancient Knowledge
*Find a Cerebral Interface: Complete
*Learn the Secrets of the Mysterious Derelict]
A new screen showed up in Melbourne's mind, shocking him.
[*G.E.U.D.A. Mark 1 Connected
*Verifying \|
*Access Granted
*Welcome, Ally
S.S. Michishio Status:
*Solar Array: 10% Functionality
*Life Support: 0% Functionality
*Nuclear Reactor: 0.001 %... Charging.
*Hull Integrity: 2%
*Engine Integrity: 0%
*Auto-Defense: Passive
*Nuclear Missiles: 1
*Laser Cannon: Offline
*Targeting Computer: Passive
*Front Camera: Passive
*Rear Camera: Passive
*Left Camera: Offline
*Right Camera: Passive
*Lower Camera: Online
*High Camera: Offline]
"Amazing." thought Melbourne. "The ship is actually controlled mentally and my System seems to be the key to unlocking it. I wonder what all I can do with it?"
Melbourne willed himself to access the Lower Camera as it appeared to be Online. What he got was an instant view of the Earth below with a zoom function that allowed him to look at the ground. He got his first real time look at the surface of the dead world, noticing an ancient house in some rural area that looked to have caved in. The lower camera was essentially an orbital surface observatory allowing him to view environments in which he would quickly die of radiation sickness even with the most advanced environmental hazmat suits.
He decided to experiment with the cameras that were "Passive" and discovered he could activate them easily through his will. He finally tried to access a camera that said "Offline" and got a message that wasn't entirely unexpected.
[*Unable to access Left Camera. Please ensure the camera is not damaged and is appropriately wired to the electrical grid.]
Melbourne tried the same with the Laser Cannon and got a similar message in his brain.
Upon activating the Turret Defense option, he got a sub menu with hundreds of different options.
[*Turret A1: Offline
*Turret A2: Offline
...
*Turret A10: Passive
...
*Turret B2: Offline
…
*Turret U4: Offline]
Most of the turrets were offline, but Melbourne quickly realized that the letters corresponded to specific corridors and rooms while each room seemed to have originally had ten turrets.
Upon accessing and activating the passive ones, Melbourne discovered they would give him a first person camera view from the corresponding turret. The interface reminded him of a virtual reality FPS game without the ability to move around. The camera view contained cross hairs and an ammunition count. He could rotate the turrets on servos, but they were stationary defense mechanisms designed for a situation where enemies boarded the ship. The captain could mentally control a massively complicated IoT system with his mind, from piloting the ship to shooting enemies outside and within. Melbourne noticed a few of the archaeology team busily conducting a variety of tasks while security personnel guarded them. After this, Melbourne decided he had better stop playing with the servos.
After a few minutes of exploring the ship's systems, Melbourne received a System notification.
[Mission Update: Ancient Knowledge
*Explore Cosmist Ship: Complete
*Inject Respirocyte Augmentation (optional)]
*Reward: +5 End and unknown
*Locate the S.S. Oyashio base in the Utopian Ocean]
"What are respirocytes?" thought Melbourne as he opened his eyes and took his attention away from the ship's menu.
A compartment in the captain's chair opened and a platform raised to reveal a small syringe reminiscent of the syringe that had been injected into Melbourne's temple that night when he received the Aclito System.
[*Respirocyte Augmentation: +5 End
*Description: Blood Cell mimicking nanobots that gradually replace the body's natural red blood cells over two weeks. Allows the recipient greater endurance and eliminates the need for the heart through self propulsion.
*Note: S.S. Michishio was designated as a carrier of an experimental nanoborg component and part of a project by Professor Galten designed to create cyborgs that can blend in to Terran Society and infiltrate the enemy as a spy. These respirocytes are designed to eliminate their self propelling mechanisms and allow the recipient to pass normal blood tests by actively fooling regular test apparatuses through special designs. The exact architecture of this design is beyond the clearance level of the former crew of the S.S. Michishio. The crew received orders and delivery from the S.S. Oyashio, a secret base set in the Utopian Planitia of Mars. The facility is most likely underwater.]
*Subjects with respirocyte augmentation have been reported to be able to sprint for over 20 minutes on a regular basis and hold their breath under water for hours. Better metabolism results in better overall health and long term increase in all attributes beyond what natural training can allow for.]
While Melbourne had been exploring the IoT of the ship, the System had been autonomously exploring libraries and accessing inventories. Now, the system was actively enticing him to inject another augmentation and further his transformation into some sort of transhuman being. Not only that, but it was pushing him further in this quest by finding another ancient base and sending him to it to learn more information, potentially unlocking another augmentation. While not directly forcing him down this path, Melbourne started to realize that the System was definitely giving him subliminal pressure to seek more augmentations. Did the original programmer have some agenda to fulfill that Melbourne was becoming an instrument for?
Melbourne thought with extreme trepidation about injecting the needle. He had told himself that he didn't want to receive any more augmentations, but his primary reason was that he didn't want to risk being caught. This augmentation offered a lot, however, and it was designed to disguise Cosmists to infiltrate Terran society. This meant he could potentially reap the benefits and still live a normal life as he could with the Aclito. The offer of a respirocyte augmentation was tantalizing to say the least.
***
While Melbourne contemplated injecting a new nanobot serum into his bloodstream, Victoria frantically scrambled to assemble all security personnel and sent a warning message to Mars. The Martian Republic had kept this mission strictly confidential so that no foreign powers would interfere. However, the Seeker's sensors had detected an unmistakable red ship approaching quickly from the outer solar system like a vulture coming down upon its prey. How had they not noticed this before? A Jovian frigate was bearing down upon the Cosmist Derelict and would be in firing range in two minutes.