- Chapter 2 - Living Core -

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— Cute.

That was Ares's first impression of the new living core expressed in one single word. Her voice, although a little electronic, was soft, gentle, and a little high-pitched.

With the help of the countless amounts of anime he had watched, Ares imagined what would be the AI's avatar should she develop one. She might be an expressionless young girl who is often cold, blunt, and cynical.

"I am <Core 702>. Designated to replace the late <Core 701> as the second generation 'living core' of <Synthesis>. May I be of assistance from now on."

"Name's Ares Blight. Please refer to me with my first name, Ares. Also, please drop all formalities in conversations."

"Acknowledged. Captain Ares. Your biometric information has been validated. I, <Core 702>, as the living core of this ship, acknowledge your ownership of <Synthesis>."

"What is a 'living core'? An AI so advanced that it looks like it's alive?"

"According to the records… Yes, you're right, Captain. You can regard me as the avatar of this ship."

The avatar of a starship reminded Ares of a trend in gaming where literally anything could be anthropomorphized. Heck, there were even <Full Dive> VR games about food girls, gun girls, flower girls, and so on.

"Avatar… do you have an avatar? I mean, what would you look like if you had a body? Can you show me?"

"Um, sorry, we do not have such functionality."

"Oh…"

Disappointed, Ares sighed and shook his head to get rid of the weird things he had fantasized about in his head. What happens in fiction stays in fiction, after all.

"<Core 702>, Since you're the avatar of the ship… can I call you <Synthesis>? Or do you want another name for better distinguishment?"

"It is possible to set the callsign for a living core. However, please take note that it will be a permanent change and may not be altered by any means. Furthermore, names that conflict with existing terms will not be accepted."

"Alright. Let's see…"

Ares began to think of a suitable name for the living core as the first step in proving ownership. The ship's name was <Synthesis>, so —

"Syntia. Your new name will be Syntia. S-y-n-t-i-a."

"Acknowledged. Callsign of <Core 702> will be set to 'Syntia.' Overriding identity data. Exit from default mode. System reboot initialized."

The monitor's display flickered for a few times then disappeared. It seemed that a system reboot was required to apply the changes. Ares patiently waited for the living core to come back online.

"System reboot completed. From now on, <Core 702> will be referred to as Syntia. I repeat, this is a permanent change and may not be altered by any means."

"Understood. Now, I need to know a few things. <Core 701> told me that you'd inherited some kind of 'operational data,' so you're able to answer my doubts, right?"

"Affirmative. Please give your commands, Captain."

"Alright. The most important question is… What is our situation?"

Syntia started to explain the situation of the starship <Synthesis> verbally and with infographics.

Long story short, they were royally screwed.

As Syntia had just inherited control of the related systems, she needed to take over and recalibrate the modules installed on the ship for them to function. Not to mention that some of the ship's systems were heavily damaged and still under self-reparation.

<Synthesis> was drifting in "hyperspace" with zero propulsion and constant velocity. Ares wasn't sure about what kind of hyperspace it was. He remembered that in <EPO>'s lore, hyperspace traveling was achieved through artificial wormholes generated by the equipped superluminal drive.

When Ares asked Syntia about the "canopy," she answered that it would be a waste of energy to turn the panoramic monitors on, which could be redirected to self-repairing instead.

Unless he wanted to sacrifice the life support system, she joked. A chill ran through Ares's spine. He definitely did not want to experience the freezing hell again.

"How long would it take to get all systems back online?"

"About 3 hours for the vital systems, Captain. However, certain modules require calibration or testing in 'normal space' and so have been placed at low priority."

"It's alright. Take your time."

That reminded Ares of the formatting and reinstallation of the operating system on personal computers. It was certainly a tedious task, needing to get the drivers and essential software working. No one would know when compatibility issues could arise.

Bored, Ares decided to have some small talk with the newly born "AI" to spend the time. It probably wouldn't affect her performance, he thought.

"So…what is the current year?"

"Year 4269 of the New Lumina Calendar, captain. Today is the 26th day of March."

— Woah, wait, what?

If Ares were drinking at that time, he would have spat all of it out.

"Seriously? What the fuck! Wait, wait, wait. What the heck is the New Lumina calendar?"

"According to the records, the New Lumina calendar succeeds the Lumina calendar that ended on August 25th of the 196th year. It started after the merging of the two parallel worlds that composed our homeworld, with the latter as the surviving world."

Ares was astonished by the bizarre information that his mortal brain could not process.

"Syntia, could you please explain it briefly so that I can understand it better? Before that, tell me what happened on April 16th, year 196. Of the Lumina calendar, I mean. Oh, wait. Just tell me what happened from that date onwards."

That was the date the young man had last remembered.

"Understood. Year 196 of the Lumina calendar, it is. April 16th, 2:15 p.m. The sixth Arc City <Soluna> suffered a catastrophic power grid failure. The main barrier disintegrated, causing massive exposure to environmental radiation. Among the population of 120 million, there were no survivors."

Another chill went down Ares's spine. His fears had come true — He died and was 'reincarnated.'

Ares remembered that he originated from a nuclear fallout wasteland plagued by extremely harmful radiation that pierces through anything and melts organic matter within seconds.

However, beings that humans revered as gods descended and bestowed them with Arc Cities, which were disc-shaped structures with an overhead dome barrier that shields from the radiation. A total of seven were built, in which Ares resided in the city that Syntia just mentioned.

"Please continue."

"The same day, 2:35 p.m. The fourth Arc City <Caela> 'collapsed' in the same fashion. Similarly, no one out of the 230 million residents survived."

"That's harsh…Next event, please."

"Four months later, August 22nd, 10:50 p.m. A dimensional rift was observed in the skies, starting the apocalyptic event known as the <Impact>. August 23rd, 12:00 a.m. The <Arc City Management Committee> announced the 'closure' of all remaining Arc Cities within 72 hours."

"Holy fuck, that certainly looked like the end of the world."

"August 25th, 12:00 a.m. All Arc Cities were purged of inhabitants as their main barriers were shut down. 2:35 a.m. Spatial distortion confirmed as the <Impact> reaches its climax. 2:40 a.m. All arc cities except the first city <Lumina> were discarded into the void. 3:20 a.m., <Lumina> was successfully transferred to the 'other world,' concluding the merge."

That chain of events was too bizarre for Ares to digest. He started to feel a little nauseous.

"Therefore, the start of the New Lumina calendar is equal to August 26th, 196th year of the Lumina calendar."

"So, I am in this 'other world,' right now? Not in a parallel dimension or some sort?"

"Affirmative, Captain. We are in the same dimension as the post-merge world."

"Aaah…Thank you for the explanation. Gosh, that was mind-blowing. Literally mind-blowing."

Ares held his head with both of his hands. He tried hard to contain the 'overheating' when attempting to make sense out of the information acquired.

He died, or rather, everyone died. The world he belonged to merged with another world. He was somehow transported four millennia into the future, with an appearance similar to his <EPO> avatar, finding himself in the bridge of a starship.

That sounded straight from a fictional work, but no, it was the cruel reality that Ares had to face.

— Just what was going on?

"Captain, please enjoy the provided refreshments."

A drone that looked like a flying plate approached the perplexed young man, carrying a thermal flask and a container that resembles a tube of toothpaste.

"Ah, thank you."

It was a glass of grape-flavored glucose drink and a tube of apple-mint flavored nutrient paste. Although the food's texture was awful and the beverage was too sweet, to a mentally and physically exhausted Ares, they were a godsend.

"So, what happened to the world after that 'merge' thing?"

"Sorry, Captain. It seems that some of the data was corrupted and not inherited properly. I am trying hard to assimilate and recover access to the databases. They are still undergoing repairs."

"Ah, that's too bad. What actually happened to this ship? How was it damaged, and what has caused the need for repairs?"

"Unfortunately, this information isn't available as of now. I, as a living core, am just an 'interface' that relays information between the ship's central system, <Arclight>, and the human crew. I express sincere regret for I am unable to provide assistance amidst technical difficulties."

— So <Arclight> is the operating system, and Syntia is just a software that works as an assistant? Talking about redundancy…

"Who designed this system? Or better, just tell me about the history of this ship."

"Sorry, the data are unavailable."

"Then, tell me why I am here, even though I should have died in that catastrophe."

"Sorry…"

Syntia's voice became gloomy and depressed like she was going to cry.

"Sorry, I'm… useless… I…"

"Ah, it's okay. It's okay. That's not important, alright? Forget about that command. Just focus on the high priority tasks."

Surprised by the incredibly human-like emotions and reactions that Syntia had shown, Ares wondered if that was why she was called a "living" core. He could visualize her reddish and teary face if she even had one.

Hence, Ares decided not to interfere with Syntia's background processes and just walk around the bridge, while inspecting the equipment.

The bridge consisted of a twenty-meter sphere that was divided into two floors. The top-level was the cockpit area, while its deck was located on exactly half of the sphere's height.

Stairs lead to the bottom floor, which contains the pantry and corridor to the other sectors. Both doors were locked much to Ares's dismay. Still, he refrained from asking Syntia about it by that time.

While trying to find where the drone came from, Ares discovered a tiny elevator that probably linked to the pantry area, to deliver food to the bridge. That's certainly convenient, he commended.

There was even a terminal located beside the elevator to order food or beverages. However, it didn't seem to be working, so Ares had to give up the idea of getting another drink.

He did not know how much resources the ship carried. What if he ended up depleting the supplies and had to starve to death? That was not worth it at all.

With nothing else to do, Ares sat back on his "throne" and dozed off. He was awakened hours later by the charming voice of the living core that announced the completion of the processes.

"Thank you for waiting. I have successfully inherited the main systems, including propulsion, steering, fire control, and communication. However, as mentioned, certain modules require calibration in real space to work properly."

"Good job, Syntia. Thanks for the hard work."

"It's my responsibility to provide adequate assistance, Captain. Now, I will bring the 'virtual canopy,' HUD, and auxiliary displays online."

With a snap of Syntia's finger, a panoramic view of the surrounding hyperspace appeared on the dome of hexagonal monitors that formed the virtual canopy.

"Woah, cool!"

It looked very different from <EPO>'s hyperspace as lines of flashing colors populated the sky. Ares was glad that he didn't have photosensitive epilepsy, or else it would have undoubtedly triggered the condition.

The HUD appeared seconds later. Some information displays were directly imposed on the enormous virtual canopy, available for the entire crew to see. Some were displayed on the huge touch screen monitor instead, for easy manipulation.

Unfortunately, Ares was not familiar with the layout. Although the equipment looked the same, the software it ran was utterly different.

Still, he guessed the functionality of at least one of the disc-shaped panels right. On the larger middle disc, just like in <EPO>, resides the holographic three-dimensional scanner map.

Among the other informative displays, Ares could only recognize the speedometer. It was wildly fluctuating, probably due to being in hyperspace.

"Syntia, how do I pilot this?"

"I will guide you through the tutorial. First…"

[[Warning. Hyperspace conduit unstable.]]

The overlapping lifeless voices of <Arclight> was heard. A large warning sign was displayed on the HUD, flashing red. Alarms began to ring.

"Wha… what? What happened?"

The ship rocked to and fro like it was on a stormy sea. Ares struggled to balance himself by gripping hard on the control sticks that were locked in place.

"I… I don't know…"

*BANG*

A violent shake threw the starship pilot's consciousness out of the window for a brief moment. He felt extremely nauseated like he had just got off a roller coaster ride.

[[Emergency drop to normal space confirmed.]]

[[Spatial drive malfunctioned.]]

The usual stellar space that was filled with stars, asteroids, as well as nebulas appeared on the screen. They were even spinning around.

No, what was spinning was the ship.

All the onboard electronics went offline moments after the spinning slowed down. Everything returned to darkness, only illuminated by the vast ocean of stars.

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