Stellar Survival Quest

by Jalf Whitemage

  Nathan took her silence as assent, “So I’m thinking I’m going to call you Buffy. I used to watch this vampire slayer show and well she was hot…”

  Nathan froze mouth half open, the words from Bubba echoing in his head, rape… “On second thought maybe something less sexy... More kid friendly…. How about Boov?”

  Boov did not respond or move. It took her a few moments to realize she need to breath and it was expected for her to blink too.

  Nathan watched Boov’s eyelids flutter up and down rapidly like a humming birds wings for several seconds, then turned his head away disturbed. “Ah yeah so anyway. Did you hear the milestones?”

  “Yes, master.”

  “Good any idea or suggestions?’

  “No, master.”

  Nathan frowned, “Fuck alright. So….” He gnawed on his lips for a minute then continued, “What can you do? You were walking around out there like the Vacuum does not bother you.”

  Boov shrugged, “yes and no, master.” Feeling he expected more of a response she explained. “The longer she stays in this form the more she settles and the more it will affect her. Still fully settled this one will not be as vulnerable as you are. She has no internal organs to decompress. Nor does she need to breathe as often as you do. Her air pocket will hold enough air for her to go perhaps 3 Earth hours between breaths. For now the cold does not effect this one much, but later it will.”

  Nathan took this information in, “You said settle. Could you change forms and keep from settling? That way you keep your immunities?”

  Boov shook her head, “No master settling is part of the bonding process. This one took your DNA and her body is adapting it to her own. Making her body more like you. Soon this one will need to consume biomass and expel bio wastes as you do.”

  Nathan did not want to cover her need to shit. Instead he ignored that little piece of info like men have done for ages when a woman spoke something they did not want to hear.

  “So you’re an Engineer model? Does that mean you’re…” he trailed off unsure what to ask.

  Instead of answering Boov moved over to the console and tapped the Bio icon to reveal her information for Nathan.

  ***SYSTEM MESSAGE***

  Bio

  Biolifeform Level:00%

  Engineer Level:320%

  Skill Level:102%

  Stats/Skills/Equipment/Property/Milestones

  Name: BoovRace: Biolifeform (Homosapian Imprint)

  Age: 0GUGender: Female

  Height: 1.97GMUweight: 2.00GMUStyle: Artificial Biomass

  PHY: 0.4 / 1.0Ner 0.80 / 1.0PER: 1.0 / 1.0

  IQ: 0.60 / 1.0GRT: 0.40 / 1.0App: 0.40 / 1.0

  Skills

  Primary Engineer Skills:

  Electrical Engineering:(H)

  Programming: AI:(H)

  Mechanical Engineering:(H)

  Maintenance: Biological:(H)

  Maintenance: General:(H)

  Secondary Engineer Skills:

  Mathematics:(H)

  Programming: Micro:(H)

  Environmental Engineering:(I)

  Robotic Engineering: Micro:(I)

  Structural Engineering: Large Void:(I)

  Maintenance: Structural:(I)

  Unassigned Skills

  Language: Human: Earth: English:(H)

  Equipment

  None

  ***SYSTEM MESSAGE***

  Nathan looked the screen over a few times. “This says you’re not even a year old yet.”

  “Of course not, master! This one was born yesterday!”

  Nathan frowned but went on, “And you’re an Engineer with some freaking high ass skills! I’m not totally sure how the system measures the levels, but the best skill I have is an H rank. You have H’s all over the place.”

  Boov nodded, “yes, master! She was created with the knowledge to be a highly valuable worker. Although as a Biolifeform her ability to learn new things will slow greatly as she gets older. Near her expiration date she will be unable to create new neural pathways and will be locked into patterns, unless, ordered directly by you.”

  “Uh huh… So… If I wanted to work on fixing this station. What would you suggest we work on first?”

  Boov bit her lower lip. A human mannerism of thought.

  “This one thinks she would suggest you go and claim the small transport pod you arrived in. The QOBOP Battery storage will be key until you find more. In addition, that keeps someone else from claiming it as salvage. Boov should start working on the outer hatch. If master wants to do anything with the station having that hatch functioning will be vital.”

  Nathan nodded, “sounds like a plan to me. Do you need anything to do that?”

  Boov wobbled her head, “Not sure. She will have to see the hatch to determine what is wrong with it. It could be as simple as no power. In which case she can use manual controls to work it open and closed as needed.”

  Slapping the counter with excitement Nathan did not really feel he exclaimed, “Then let’s do this!”

  A couple minutes later they were both at the airlock. Nathan had gotten on his space suit and placed his normal clothes over it. The suit kind of felt like long johns and did not bother him like this. Boov had gotten the small tool kit that Nathan had salvaged.

  Boov also held a device in her hand.

  “Take this master.”

  Nathan looked at the two small devices. He recognized it as the scanner and tablet he had gotten from the store. He looked up into Boov’s grey eyes questioningly.

  “This is a good scanner, master. It will give you critical details about items that you may not be familiar with. Better models can even tell you if an item is functioning or any issues it may have.”

  Nathan just nodded and strapped the wrist tablet to his arm then placed the hand held scanner in his jeans pocket. With a last look around he pulled on his face mask and turned on the air.

  Boov hit the button to start the cycling process.

  As Nathan reached the cargo bay’s floor he looked toward the open hatchway leading to the docking pads. He recalled why he had not wanted to go out there now. Too much open space, death by speeding sand and lots of room to get lost if something went wrong. Still though he supposed he should man up. It would just be nice if his boys had not decided the best thing for them was to try and hide in his body...

  Taking one last breath he did the odd shuffle step that allowed him to move in a controlled fashion out the hatch and on to the open walkway.

  He had not noticed the stars before. When he stepped out the sight took his breath away. There was so many! And they were so clear and bright! In the distance he saw what he thought of as two miniature suns. He was not sure how far away they were, but from his vantage point they were the size of his closed fist and oddly colored. He thought he knew enough about Epsilon Endi to recall that it was a Trinary star system. So those must be the two brown dwarf stars Epsilon Endi BA and Epsilon Endi BB; that are locked in an orbit with one another on their larger orbit of the systems primary star.

  He looked around to see if he could see the systems primary Orange-Red Dwarf Star Epsilon Endi A but it wasn’t in the sky where he could see it.

  “Must be behind the station along with any planet or moon that I’m near.” He mused to himself.

  He could not recall if Earth Astronomers had ever discovered any planets in the system. Or, if the game designers for that matter would even follow that if they had.

  “I’m delaying…”

  Carefully and more slowly now Nathan moved toward the landing pad with the ball shaped ship on it.

  “Wow that thing looks so small! … That’s what she said!”

  …

  …

  …

  “Well shit… that is not so funny if there is no one around to hear it. Maybe I’ll tell Boov later.”

  Nathan approached the ship or pod. Hell he still did not know what to consider the thing. Cautiously he looked it over. The hatch had been left open
in his rush to get to safety. Oddly enough though he didn’t see any damage. Whatever had punctured the hull had been so small it wasn’t visible to his Mark I Eyeballs.

  As he stepped into the dark interior sensors noticed the movement and the pod came to life.

  “Okay Boov said to claim this pile of useless…. So let’s see.”

  Nathan turned to the terminal beside the hatchway. Placing his hand on it the screen lit up.

  He navigated to the Control Panel and quickly found a few interesting options.

  First was the IPX092-QI Elixnox Personnel Transports ship details.

  ***SYSTEM MESSAGE***

  IPX092-QI Elixnox Personnel Transport

  Type: H Class Small Craft

  Class: Emergency Transport

  Manufacturer: Elixnox

  Serial: IPX092-Qi

  Owner: None [Salvage]

  Status: Damaged[DETAILS]

  Specs

  Crew: Automated

  Operational: 87%

  Engines: Nox Thruster MKXIx4

  Max Speed: 0.00001 LS

  Power plant: NONE

  Battery: GenTech J Class Smallx1

  Hyper Drive: NONE

  Warp Drive: NONE

  Sub Space Drive: NONE

  Atmospheric: 30% max power, 5 GS

  Loadout

  Weapons: Nox Light Pulsarx1:

  Armor: Nox MK-IX0.002 GMU

  Shielding: Nox Heat Sink MK-IX

  Hull Details

  Length: 4.32 GMU

  Width: 4.32 GMU

  Height: 5.68 GMU

  Tonnage: 7.32

  Date Commissioned: Unknown

  Date Decommissioned: In Service

  {Modification Details}

  ***SYSTEM MESSAGE***

  With a quick tap of the screen, a retinal scanner pulsing into an eyeball and some cussing about blinding a fellow the transport was his.

  After viewing the details, for a bit he discovered the transport was capable of short distance spaceflight, and atmospheric entry. It had been upgraded from the standard model in a few key ways. The standard battery was changed out for a 5 QOBOP battery, which was currently 98% empty. The extra life supports had been removed and replaced with external storage areas, which now held various odds and ends. But most impressive was the turret placed on the top of the sphere like ship. With the power so low, it could not be activated, but once power rose to at least 10% the turret could be turned on and it would not only give the ship a weapon but also project a low energy electro-magnetic shield capable of deflecting space debris and most light weapons fire.

  Smiling Nathan hit the hatch control. With a grin he hit the controls and began to issue in commands to the transports auto navigation pilot. With a shutter the small ship lifted off the pad and began to move toward the stations entry. Nathan had decided once he saw the ship could still fly even with its damage, that he would move it in to the station. The open hatch door was barely big enough for the ship to fit inside. He wasn’t sure if he had to pilot the ship if he could thread the tight needle. However, the ship had no manual controls and its navigation program was up to the task.

  Sadly, the auto navigation was slow. It took the ship nearly three times as long to fly the distance to the entry as it did for him to walk it slowly.

  “Well there goes my thoughts of flying this bad boy all over the Galaxy. I would die of old age before I got anywhere important. Maybe there is a faster travel speed for open space?”

  Nathan examine the ships details again while it maneuvered into the cargo bay.

  “Ah there is the issue. The ships computation power is too low to fly quickly when around objects. So straight lines, in open space should be okay. But no combat maneuvers for this bad boy.”

  Using the ships exterior cameras he decided to land the ship to the right entering the cargo bay. The habitat was left and the large crate of … stuff was straight ahead. He could always move the ship later if needed.

  Deciding this he gave the command and the ship began to move. Then a warning on the screen appeared scrolling on the bottom of the screen.

  *** Warning *** Power levels critical 1% remaining.

  “Wow that short trip took a full 1%! This bad boy is an energy hog!”

  With a dull thud the ship settled on the deck. Without anything else to do Nathan opened the hatch and began to gather the supplies he had left inside during his rush to escape.

  For the next hour Nathan gathered items and moved them to the habitat. Boov worked on the main hatch the entire time.

  After that Nathan opened up one of the Transports exterior storages and smiled when he used his scanner on the tightly packed equipment inside.

  ***SYSTEM MESSAGE***

  Iangiww Frog series solar energy collector

  Type: J Class Small Powerplant

  Class: Floating Solar Array

  Manufacturer: Iangiww

  Serial: Frog

  Owner: Nathan Rogers

  Status: Un-operational[DETAILS]

  Specs

  Crew: Automated

  Operational: 0%

  Engine: None

  Max Speed: None

  Power plant: Frog J Class Std Solar Cellx8

  Battery: None

  Power generation Rate: 0.015625 / Hour

  Atmospheric: None

  Frame Details

  Length: 0.24GMU

  Width: 9.48GMU

  Height: 4.74GMU

  Weight: 10.8 GMU

  {User Manual}

  ***SYSTEM MESSAGE***

  Selecting the manual he began to read the information.

  “Ugh user manuals are as dry and hard to understand out here as they are on Earth.” Nathan complained after 15 minutes of reading.

  Finishing up skimming the text he turned back to the storage locker and began removing pieces. Using the lights from the ship he began to arrange the frame.

  Although the collector would not make him rich. It would draw in power to recharge the ship and allow the habitat to run pretty much indefinitely.

  After arranging the first frame, Nathan went to Boov to collect the plasma welding torch.

  Picking it up Boov caught his eye. She pointed at the torch and shook her head. With a frown he flicked the switch on and nothing happened.

  Nathan looked at the Grey woman questioningly. Boov pointed to the habitat and moved her hand mimicking a mouth opening and closing. Nathan nodded and jumped toward the habitat, followed by Boov.

  After cycling through the entrance Boov let out a great big gasp of air and took in many deep breaths. Nathan removed his mask after shutting off the air tank.

  “Were you really holding your breath the whole time?” Although genuinely concerned Nathan’s eyes never left Boov’s heaving chest.

  She noticed and smiled as she watched her master’s eyes. It pleased her to see him desire her. “Yes, master. And it is rather cold out there too. This one likes it much better in here where it is warm.”

  Nathan tore his gaze from Boov with a force of will. “So… ugh… about the torch?”

  “Oh yes! Right! It is dead.”

  Nathan gave Boov the “no shit Sherlock” look. But it was lost on the alien woman. So with a sigh he asked the obvious question, “Why is it dead?”

  “Umm because Boov used it to clear off the track for the door. Then it died due to using all the power it had in the batteries.”

  Nathan slammed his palm into his forehead. “So, how do we charge it? Was there a charger in the tool kit?”

  Boov nodded energetically, “Oh yes! There is a wireless charger. We just need to attach it to a power port and then sync the frequency. Easy to do.”

  “Great! Let’s do that!”

  Boov bounced once in place clapping her hands! “YAY! Where are we going to attach it?”

  Nathan squinted his eyes at the woman. “Um there isn’t a port in the habitat, is there?”

  Boov’s smile did not falter, “Master is so smart! He did not
even have to look around to know there is not a port!”

  Nathan plopped his butt on the ground. If the gravity was higher his antic would have bruised his tail bone. As it was he landed with a soft cushion of air.

  “Fuck… fuck… fuck… fuck… fuck…”

  “Boov read the term is used to indicate reproduction. If the Master would like to reproduce with Boov. She is happy to oblige.”

  Nathan stopped his tirade, “Ugh, no Boov. It is also used as a curse word to show displeasure.”

  “Oh,” Boov’s smile disappeared. “Would the master like to destroy this one, for failing him?”

  Nathans jaw dropped, “Wow that escalated fast. No I would not like to fucking destroy you. I’m issuing a command. You have to listen to my commands right?”

  Boov did not look up, her gaze firmly on the ground.

  “Good. Now you will not let anyone hurt you.” He paused and added, “Unless it’s something you want. If anyone tries to hurt or kill you, you will do everything in your power to stop them.” He paused again, “That is everything that does not endanger other innocents.”

  He shuddered picturing this grey woman blowing up a space station full of people because some lunatic threatened her with a knife. Feeling he had avoided that he spun on his heels.

  “I need duct tape…”

  Boov stood there silent and unmoving as Nathan went into one of the rooms used for storage. After a bit of searching he found some adhesive tape. Grabbing it and what his scanner told him was the Plasma torches charger he emerged. Without speaking to Boov, Nathan donned his air mask and left the habitat.

  He knew the transport pod had at least two power ports. But with the onboard power so low he did not hold much hope to get a charge. He needed to charge the batteries.

  For that he needed to complete a solar panel. Plugin in the charger, he went to work rednecking the crap out of the solar arrays.

  Some two hours later he stepped back. With a bunch of cussing, some redneck ingenuity and a full roll of tape the array was assembled. It looked like utter crap and probably would not be working at 100% efficiency. But, his limited knowledge about electrical systems told him it would work. Picking it up he plugged the lead power line into a small converter and the converter into the transport. After securing the connections he shuffled out the main hatch.