The Station Core_A Dungeon Core Epic

by Jonathan Brooks

  Congratulations! You have defeated Big Yellow Bird! You gain 10 experience!

  Continue to defeat your enemies to level up!

  Current Combat Level: 1

  Experience: 10/250

  You have learned the skill: Sensor Control (Level 1)

  Allows you to directly control multiple Sensor Orbs. Current maximum: 3

  You have learned the skill: Kamikaze (Level 1)

  Inflict more damage during a suicidal attack with one of your units. Whenever this skill is used, the current unit will cease to function after the attack, regardless of damage taken.

  Damage bonus at current skill level: 200%

  What is this?! This looks like a videogame…wait a minute. This seems a lot like Crowned Lieges of Destiny! Maybe I’m asleep and this is all a dream. He was beginning to wonder how he could wake up from this crazy nightmare when he was surprised by more information.

  You have unlocked an achievement:

  The Harder They Fall…

  Defeat an enemy using a non-combat unit

  Bonus – Sensor Enhancement (Level 1):

  Your Sensor Orbs now see further, move faster, and are more durable.

  Now thoroughly confused, he paused, waiting for more information to appear in his mind. When nothing more was forthcoming, he frantically thought, Wake up!!! Wake up!!! This has got to be a dream!!! He continued like this for a couple of minutes until he got frustrated and screamed, causing the sound to reverberate through the clearing as his exclamation was routed through the orbs. Not noticing the various birds taking flight from the sudden loud noise, he shouted, “What is this?! Where the heck am I?!”

  As soon as he said this, he somehow sensed a small door opening on the outside of his shell. Before his eyes, a grey stream of what looked like smoke flowed out of the opening and coalesced into a vague humanoid figure about ten feet in front of him. Shortly after the smoke gathered together, he could see that the figure had gained definition – long legs, a generous bustline, and straight, long black hair hung down to its well-rounded ass. Piercing green eyes peered out of a caramel-colored, symmetrical face and stared right into his closest sensor orb. A skin-tight, stretchable, deep-purple outfit completed the ensemble, allowing Milton to intimately see every single curve on the delectably-formed body.

  If Milton had to envision the perfect woman, this would be it. The only thing that he would change would be the size – this mystery beauty was only about a foot and a half tall. On the whole though, he didn’t care about that so much because it was a relief to finally see another person. I’m beginning to like this dream, but I still want to figure out how to wake up. Maybe I can get some information from her. Although he didn’t really have much experience talking to women and was a little nervous, he needed some help and forgot about his insecurities for the moment. “Who are you? Where am I and how do I wake up?”

  Her voice when she spoke was deep, husky, and sexy; he could imagine tingles would be running up and down his spine and other places would be stirring – unfortunately, he still couldn’t feel anything. She had a very comforting and pleasing tone, so much so that he almost lost track of what she was saying, instead wanting to just listen to her speak. It was only the fact that it sounded like some sort of recording that he was able to keep his attention on her words.

  “Welcome to Outpost 59-WX in the Grunoit System, your new home for the foreseeable future. You may be confused about who you are and what you are doing here. This is a completely normal side-effect of the Coring process, where your personal memories are erased to provide less distraction and ensures an efficient initialization process. All you need to know is that you volunteered for this experimental, yet rewarding, process and your people are thankful for your sacrifice. Your dutiful work will ensure the safety of the people of The Collective against the forces arrayed against it. Congratulations on taking your first step as a Station Core and activating me.

  “I am your Artificial Logistic Autonomous Nano-formed Neurological Assistant, or if you prefer – ALANNA. I am here to guide you through the Station Core initialization process, help you become accustomed to your new surroundings, and get you started on creating defenses against hostile invaders. Since you do not have any personal memories, we will have to start with—"

  Milton cut off her seemingly pre-programmed speech, by telling her, “Uh, wait. I still have all my memories. And I have no idea what you are talking about – I never volunteered for this!” He was still confused but now he was getting angry. I don’t care how pretty she is, I want answers!

  She paused in her speech and froze, before breaking apart into a billion little pieces that floated together in a grey mist where she was previously standing. A moment later, the mist formed back into ALANNA, and she looked none too pleased at her circumstances.

  Chapter 3 – History lesson

  “This isn’t where we are supposed to be – this isn’t Outpost 59-WX. What happened? What did you do? We need to hurry and get to our original destination – there isn’t any time to waste. Heliothrope ships will most likely be arriving soon and we need to be ready,” she paced around while she was talking, waving her hands around in frantic gestures.

  “Whoa, now – don’t blame me for this. I have no idea what you are talking about or what happened. The last thing I remember was playing Crowned Lieges of Destiny before somehow being transported to a small room with some military men and then I woke up here. And what happened to me? – unless this is all a dream like I suspect it is.”

  ALANNA stopped her pacing and looked at Milton, or at least one of Milton’s sensor orbs. “Ok…let me process this. If you have all your memories, then that means that we never made it to the Outpost. Hold on, let me check the Cores’ logs – it should have been connected to the Promorys’ systems while you were in stasis.” She paused for a moment and had a far-off look on her face as she searched for something. He still had little idea what was going on, but he was beginning to suspect that this wasn’t a dream. Before he could consider that horrific idea more, ALANNA came back to herself with a concerned expression on her face. She sat on the ground and slumped over as if in defeat, letting out a giant sigh for such a small body.

  “What? What happened? …Are you okay?” He added that last one, thinking that if he showed some sort of sympathy he might get some answers. Frankly, he wasn’t really enthused about this whole situation and had trouble expressing any sympathy for his “captors”. But if it would get him answers, he could fake it – at least for a little while.

  “Gone. All gone.” She didn’t continue right away, but Milton waited patiently – he figured she wasn’t done yet. “The Promory was destroyed just as they emerged from their jump. How you survived, I don’t exactly know – but you are made of near-indestructible material, so you probably didn’t suffer much damage from the explosion. From the logs, I don’t even know if the other ships escaped in time. You may be the last intact Station Core remaining for all I know. Either way, it is too late to help now,” she explained in a monotone voice.

  “Well, that’s great!” She looked up at his comment with fury in her eyes. “Wait, I don’t mean it like that – I’m sorry about your ‘Collection’, or whatever it is. But if you don’t need me anymore, then you can send me back home and I can go back to making money on CLoD to pay for rent.”

  The fury remained in her eyes as she scathingly replied, “It’s ‘The Collective’, and I don’t appreciate you dismissing all that those people did to save themselves. You were their last hope of survival and now all is most likely lost. They created me as not only a liaison but also as a guide to the new Station Cores. I have the same feelings, needs, and wants as those of The Collective – essentially, I am them. The only thing I don’t have is their inherent abhorrence to violence. Now that they are most likely gone, what do I do now? What purpose do I serve?” She looked up at him and the fury faded from her eyes, replaced by confusion and helplessness.

  He began to feel
a little sympathy towards her – how could he not? It had to be hard hearing that those who created you might not still be alive and that you were too late to save them. It would be like learning that his parents were in trouble and he had to race to save them – only to get sidetracked and miss the opportunity. She apparently didn’t know if they were gone or not, but it probably didn’t matter at this point.

  However, despite having sympathy toward her, he still wanted to get home. If he could help out, he would consider it since he was here already, but it didn’t seem like there was anything he could do. After letting her wallow in her own thoughts for a while, he hesitantly asked her again, “So…what about sending me back then? I’m sorry if I sound insensitive, but I really was taken against my will and it doesn’t seem like I’m needed anymore.”

  ALANNA continued staring at the ground, slumped over as she answered him, “Even if I could send you back, it wouldn’t help. There is no ‘you’ any more – only the Station Core. Your physical body was salvaged, and your consciousness was transferred to the Core you now inhabit. You only exist inside that metal shell and there is no going back – even if we had access to your body. Which we don’t, since it was destroyed along with the Promory. But hey, at least you’re essentially immortal now. Unless someone or something can crack open your core, you’ll pretty much go on functioning forever. Besides…I don’t think you’d want to go back, now.”

  Shocked into silence, he tried absorbing what he had heard. I’m dead? My body was destroyed? What the hell is a Station Core? These questions and more rattled around in his head, while he wallowed in confusion. Normally, he was a practical person, taking life how it was and didn’t complain about things that he couldn’t change. But this? This was something hard to come to terms with – he was just playing CLoD the other day, wasn’t he? He unfocused his sensors as he drew inward, thinking about his “previous” life and what he could have done differently if he had the chance. Was there anything I could have done to prevent this? He didn’t know – he wasn’t even sure why he was chosen. I’ll have to ask…wait a minute. What was the last thing she said? Thinking about it, he realized that he could pull up that information as if he had a perfect memory – it appeared at the forefront of his thoughts.

  “What did you mean by not wanting to go back, now?” he asked.

  Broken out of her own distracted thoughts, she raised her head and looked at one of his sensors, “I just meant that the Earth you knew wouldn’t be the same as it is now. You wouldn’t be going back to your family and friends – I’m pretty sure they thought you were dead after the first couple of years after your disappearance.”

  “Wait – first couple of years? That doesn’t make any sense, it feels like it was just yesterday that I was in my room playing games. How long has it been, really?”

  She just stared at him, conflicting emotions playing over her face as if she was deciding whether to tell him. Finally, after about a minute, she said, “According to the Station Core logs, after the attack and destruction of the Promory, we traveled through space at high speed for a number of years. It was only after crash landing on this planet that you ‘woke up’. What seems like a short amount of time was actually quite a bit more.”

  “And how much was that?” he asked hesitantly, not sure if he really wanted the answer.

  She froze a moment before replying, “4,512 years, 6 months, and 3 days – or at least how you Earthlings measure time.”

  Silence descended among the clearing, broken only by the sounds of nature as they both tried to absorb the information. 4,512 years! No wonder she looks so sad – any help we may have been is probably more than 4,000 years too late. Milton didn’t know what to think. On the one hand, he was sad that he wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to his friends both in real life and in CLoD. On the other hand, he wasn’t really close with any of his family, except for his brother who he called every week to stay in touch. He would miss Calvin, but even then, he hadn’t seen him in person in years – just talked to him over the phone. His little brother must have been frantic when he didn’t call on their scheduled day – he hoped his mom took care of him until he was ready to go out on his own. Moot point now, of course, since that was more than four thousand years ago.

  He wasn’t one to drown himself in self-pity – he never had and probably never would. Even when things didn’t go his way, either in his personal life or in a game, he didn’t dwell on “what ifs” and “shoulda-coulda-woulda”. When his parents split up, he was old enough to know that it wasn’t his fault that they separated, and they only stayed together to raise him and his brother. There wasn’t anything he could have done to stop it, so he went with it. His brother took it harder, so he had to be a stabilizing influence in his life, to help him transition to a place where he would be ok.

  All of this meant that, in this situation, he was able to progress through any sense of self-pity, depression, and other negative thoughts very quickly. Since there wasn’t anything he could have done to change it, he went with it. He started to embrace his current circumstances, put his past behind him (gone – but not forgotten), and moved on to something that he could do something about – his new “life”. He needed to learn about what he was now, how he survived this long, and what he needed to do to survive in the future. His own sense of self-preservation kicked in and he yearned for information regarding his changes.

  “ALANNA.” It took a while, but she eventually looked up at him. “I’m sorry we couldn’t be there to help these Collective people, but there isn’t anything we can do about it now. What we can do is survive here on this planet. And I can’t do it without your help – you’re here to guide me and I need some guidance.”

  She just stared at him like he was talking crazy. He went on, trying to distract her from her preoccupation with her failed mission, “First of all, what am I? You keep calling me a Station Core, but what exactly is that? I get that I look like a giant metal chicken egg, have sensors that allow me to see and hear, and have you as my guide, but what am I? None of this makes any sense.”

  Almost as if it was against her will, she answered him in an automatic monotone voice, “The Station Core was to be the heart of our new defenses against the invasion of the Heliothropes. The Collective are a technologically advanced, but peaceful and passive people, who have great difficulty performing any action that would deliberately take a life – even in self-defense. After countless centuries of peace from even their war-like neighbors in the galaxy by showcasing their technological superiority, they were finally approached by a foe that wasn’t deterred by their substantial, yet in the end futile, non-violent defenses. They sent so many ships that one-by-one, the colonies and worlds of The Collective were invaded and subjugated. Mass killings and sacrifices to their ‘Sun God’ decimated the population, with those remaining alive used as slaves against their will.

  “To create a defense, the lead engineers designed the Station Core – an all-in-one defensive measure contained in a relatively small package. The Station Core could break down raw materials, convert it to defensive emplacements, and even create an army of neurologically-controlled defenders. They were to be placed in space stations, outposts, colonies, and even cities on the home worlds of The Collective. At first, 101 Station Cores were created, designed as a test to see how effective they performed. The act of taking a life – even in defense – was anathema to all members of The Collective; even if they were to have their memory wiped, their base instincts wouldn’t allow any type of violence.

  “To overcome this, an AI was inserted into the first Station Core – to disastrous results. The short story was that it went wild, destroying half of the testing facility before the fail-safe was activated. Apparently, in creating an AI capable of defending itself – which included killing its enemies – the designers had to tone down its morality and ramp up it ruthlessness. As a result, it took its job seriously; some would say too seriously. It started breaking down the surrounding area f
or material and killed multiple engineers so that it could start creating defenses and its own army. It had no care about where the materials came from, so long as it could do its job.

  “This is where the Humans of Earth come in. After deciding that an AI would never be acceptable as the occupant of their Station Cores, Collective leaders searched the known galaxy looking for beings capable of fighting the Heliothropes – yet having a great capacity for love. In all the known worlds, the only sentient lifeforms that matched these criteria were the Humans of Earth and the Tregdali. Unfortunately, the Tregdali were almost as technologically advanced as the Collective, if not as numerous. They wouldn’t voluntarily subject any of their people to the Station Core initialization process, and it was near-impossible to acquire any without causing another war. That left the Earthlings.

  “The Humans were almost primitive in comparison, at least as far as technology. They had no defenses against space-born threats and wouldn’t even be able to detect our ships. The only problem was that they were so far away – traveling to and from Earth to Collective space would take years, which the leaders of the Collective knew they didn’t have. Precious months were spent developing a trans-dimensional drive which would allow them to travel that distance in minutes, instead of years. When they were ready, Captain Praxa of the Promory, along with nine other ships, traveled to Earth and completed that part of their mission by acquiring 100 subjects for their Station Cores. According to the logs, they made it back to Collective space but were set upon by Heliothrope ships before they could complete their mission. While the Promory was destroyed, it is unknown whether any of them were able to escape.”