“There it is.” I pointed at my ship.

“It doesn’t look like a ship to me. How are we going to get it to water?” Asger questioned.

The side door opened automatically. Asger stopped just outside the door.

“It won’t bite.” I jokingly reassured Asger.

“Are you sure?”

“Should I go in first?”

Asger put me down, letting me walk into the spacecraft. Asger walked in behind me, Doom and Gisbert still on his back. Jack came in after us, still looking out for any knights or angels.

“Aal, how’s repairs going.” I felt relaxed, finding a piece of unfinished furniture to sit on.

“Repairs have gone smoothly. All systems are once again fully functional.”

 Jack, Asger and Gisbert were surprised by Aal’s disembodied voice, drawing their swords in caution. Doom seemed more curious to the AI’s presence.

“Prepare the ship for take-off into orbit.” I commanded Aal.

“What was that thing? It doesn’t seem to have a physical form.” Jack demanded an answer from me.

“That was Aal, an artificial intelligence. Think of it as humanities attempt at creating life.”

“How can it live it has no body?”

“Its primary processing unit- Its brain is part of the ship. Speakers litter the ship, making it so that he can speak with you no matter where you are on the ship. Aal fully controls and operates this ship, making the entire process automated.”

“So, your ship Krevar is artificial?” Doom chimed in.

“Yep, that’s the A in AI. What? Are your ship Krevar someone’s brain uploaded onto a computer?” I teased.

“That is exactly how I know ship Krevar to be. I also find it interesting that your artificial intelligence as the ability to speak.”

“Don’t tell me, ship Krevar can’t.”

“They had no need to.”

“This hurts my head.” Asger complained.

“AI work similar to how your angels work.” I simplified.

“So, your ship is a divine?”

“Not quite.”

The ship’s engines whirred to life, lifting off the ground. Jack, Asger and Gisbert were surprised by the movement. The ship accelerated forward, the wings unfolding, and steadily climbing, getting further from the ground.

“Incredible!” Gisbert exclaimed. “How does this ship lift itself off the ground?”

“It’s a mix of thrusters and lift generated from the wings.” I started ranting. “The wings help in in-atmosphere flight but become obsolete in space. The thrusters are used to generate thrust both in atmosphere and in space, but uses fuel from internal tanks in space, due to the lack of external fuel. The Calmi family use a long-forgotten method of storing fuel, making our ships last longer in space than other models.”

Gisbert looked more confused than he was before.

“I’m so sorry.” I apologised profusely. “None of that would have meant anything to you. I just went on a tangent without realising. To simplify, the wings keep the ship in the air, keeping it from plummeting, and a component that pushes it through the air. You don’t need to worry about falling in space, so the wings are useless.”

“We have reached orbit.” Aal informed me.

“Set orbital speeds for Earth. We’re continuing the journey we started.”

As we left the planet’s orbit, it started to fade, disappearing from view altogether, almost as if it never existed.

Jack looked through the observatory window, touching the display. “I have never seen anything so beautiful before.”

“It’s a shame your nights are starless. Back home, I had a window that would look out into the starry void. Its chaos has a strange beauty to it.” I couldn’t even imagine what looking at the stars for the first time would be like.

Doom approached the display as well. “One thing I have noticed among any race that exist in this universe is that no matter how far they deviate from another race’s thought, they all agree that the stars are beautiful. The only ones who don’t say so are those who cannot see them.”

“There are races who can’t see?” I was confused by her statement.

“Our Reykree pilots use a form of radar to see. They call their race Buloopullupillu.”

Jack, Asger and Gisbert were surprised when the slipstream warped around the ship, pulling us into it. Their surprise turned into awe as they were enamoured by the churning and mixing colours.

“Exiting slipstream now.”

Just outside the observatory was Earth, the blue and green planet shinning like an opal. CSB flagships dotted the planets orbit.

“A flagship is attempting communication. Shall I accept?”

I rushed up to the flight deck. “Accept. Main coms.”

“Pilot of the Kyōsō Model Crew Ship, you are an unscheduled arrival. We require you to dock in the nearest flagship to you for a quick, thorough inspection and identification check.”

I sighed. “Aal, dock onto the flagship.”

The ship drifted through space, towards an orbital defence flagship. The ship was Calmi made, usually equipped with flak cannons and ship-to-ship combat cannons, with both plasma and physical ammo, class 3 kinetic shielding, cargo scanners, short range life detectors, and Geiger-Mülle counters as well as being able to hold a division of androids and drones.

I rushed back to the observatory. “Everyone, I need you to come with me.”

I took them down into the engine room, the small space being just big enough to hide them.

“The ship has been docked.”

I rushed back, heading down the stairs. The stairs ended at a ladder that led down into the flagship. Inside the flagship was spacious, leaving room for the soldiers to operate the equipment to scan my ship.

“Are you the only passenger of the ship?” A soldier approached me. He was dressed in a blue button-up shirt and navy-blue pants.

“Yes.”

“Do you remember your identification?”

“B-15022336-SC357-C.”

“SC357? You don’t see folk from space stations very often.”

“Sir.” A drone spoke to the soldier. “The cargo scanners are having a tough time scanning through the ships shielding. We will need to perform a manual inspection.”

The soldier turned back to me. “I hope you don’t mind, but a few androids need to board your ship to manually inspect it.”

“It should be fine.” My first gamble paid off.

“Sir.” The drone returned to the soldier. “This identification has only been active for less than a month now.”

The soldier replied. “Of course it has. Space station ID are usually impossible to read by our machines.”

The androids that were sent to search my ship returned down the ladder. “Thorough inspection complete. Please inspect our report.”

The soldier took his time reading over the report. “What about the engine room?”

“Kyōsō Model Crew Ship blueprints specify their engines to be closed shut, inaccessible to anyone but the producers themselves.”

My second gambled paid off.

“Identification checks out, and the scans came up negative. You’re free to go.”

I turned back to my ship but was again stopped by the soldier.

“Keep in mind, weapons aren’t allowed outside your ship.” The soldier informed me while pointing at my holstered pistol.

I got back onboard my ship.

Whilst I approached the engine room, I ordered Aal. “Resume our course down to Earth.”

“Do you have a preference to location?”

“I don’t know much about Earth.” I replied while pulling the others out of the engine bay.

“Would you like me to take you to a recommended location for tourists?”  

“That would be good.”

The ship disconnected from the flagship. The ship hit the atmosphere, causing the air to burn around us. The wings caught lift, giving the ship more altitude control. We slowly descended to the planet’s surface, towards a small continent surrounded by ocean. We approached a large city, down to an airport that rested next to the sea. The airport didn’t have any cruisers, the parking all being dedicated towards crew ships and smaller tank class ships. On an artificial island just off the coast was a port holding a Calmi Arrowhead Flagship.

The others were staring at the city in amazement.

“Keep the ship safe. I’m heading out.” I said farewell, taking the data bank with me.

The sun beat down on me with a large amount of heat, the soft breeze being my only respite. I took a look at the data bank. It displayed the location of client who sold the modified mother board. The location was not only on Earth but surprisingly close to me. It was a few kilometres away, but the trip pales in comparison to the journey on Venus.

I entered the airport’s office, the cool breeze from the air conditioning was relieving on my skin.

“Oh! Welcome.” The hostess had a calming, gentle voice. “Which model is yours?”

“Kyōsō Model. The white crew ship that has the folded wings.”

“ID?”

 “B-15022336-SC357-C. How much is it to stay for around a day?”

“As long as you don’t stay for more than three days you should be fine.”

“I see.”

Earth came as a culture shock to me. Most public services, like public transport, were free to use.

I arrived at the location displayed on the databank. It was a small pawn store on a street corner. It didn’t seem to have much business. I headed inside.

“Hello?”

A droid came out of a door behind the counter. “Ah, another Calmi has arrived at my doorstep.”