Chapter 28: Next Destination

 

It has been a few days since everyone explored the ship to their content. Everyone seemed to be satisfied with the newly acquired vessel and had even begun claiming their ‘territory’ within the spaceship. It seemed that Kuon had taken a liking to the cargo bay and the long hallway of the ship while Meica had mostly taken over the living quarters and the food storage room. Abyssal on the other hand, claimed the captain’s quarters, the engine room and the control room. 

The only place where no one truly took control of was the bridge. It was decided that the bridge be used as a gathering and discussion area. Everyone of the three went and picked a desk/station within the bridge to be used as their personal working space.

Abyssal, being Abyssal, went and picked the second biggest chair in the bridge. The biggest one belonged to Kapitan, of course. Once chosen, Kuon immediately went and picked the nearest station to Abyssal, acting her role as the first mate. Meica, however, went and picked the desk furthest away from Kuon, making her dislike of the maid known. It was a small cubicle in a small corner of the bridge.

Of course, the word claim was used here, but the ship is part of Abyssal herself, so she retained full rights to all the areas within the ship obviously.

“Hey, Kuon,” Abyssal opened her voice as she looked at the main screen within the bridge— more specifically, at her top speed. She was next to the holographic emitter alongside Kuon.

“Yes, Master?” 

“Why can I move at three fifty kilometres per second now but only at three hundred previously?” Abyssal asked the question that has been bugging her mind since the first day she activated her thrusters. What are these self-imposed safeties and speed limits?

“Master...” Kuon looked at Abyssal in disbelief.

“Just… act as if I have no idea what I am doing.”

“Nyaa? Abyssal doesn’t know why the ship has speed limit?” Meica who was just sitting around in the bridge interjected, her ears perked up as she turned her head around to look at the two drones. “Meica knows. I work as an engineer. I can tell Abyssal if you want.”

Before Abyssal could respond, however, Kuon interjected. “Please mind your own business, cat.” 

“Nyah! Nekomi! Not cat!” Meica yelled out before sticking her tongue out at Kuon. She then got on her fours and ran out of the bridge. 

Abyssal gave her a deadpan look as she scurried away. ‘It’s hard not to think of you as a cat when you act exactly like a cat though…’ she thought to herself.

“What a nuisance. We best get rid of her as soon as possible. Alongside those two heathens within the ship if possible,” Kuon said with a venomous tone before sending a small observer drone to follow after Meica.

“Kuon, you could learn to be nice to others, ya know.”

“It’s not about being nice or not, Master. I simply don't trust her. Letting her loose like this without supervision is not ideal,” Kuon warned Abyssal.

“...aren’t you being a little too harsh on her?” Abyssal turned to look at the door where Meica exited from. “She is just an excited person who wants to get along with us and explore space," Abyssal muttered.

“I only speak from my heart, Master.”

Hearing the response from Kuon, Abyssal let out a sigh. "Say... what is a Nekomi by the way? You haven’t explained to me yet," Abyssal asked. She did ask about it before, but Kuon was more concerned with Meica being on the ship than actually explaining to Abyssal at that time.

Kuon gave a slight bow before answering. “They are a genetically modified race of metahumans. Their inception came from the late twenty-first century. It was the product of a project funded by the founder of the now known Tesla Future Corporation, a well-known entrepreneur named El*n M*sk. They are—”

“Stooop! Stoop, stop stop stop. What did you say his name was?” Abyssal interrupted Kuon after hearing a strangely familiar name.

“... El*n M*sk.”

“That El*n M*sk?!”

“... yes. I believe that was his name.”

‘Oh wow. The madman actually did it…’ Abyssal thought to herself. El*n M*sk was a very popular entrepreneur of her time when she was ‘A’. He was a man who became an internet meme. One of his jokes at that time was him saying that he was going to make genetically engineered Catgirls a reality. Well, it was no longer a joke now.

“Is there a matter, Master?” Kuon asked, her drone tilted slightly.

Abyssal used her two robotic arms to form a cross. “No-nothing! Please continue.”

“... as I was saying, they are genetically modified to be more suited for space travel than humans are. They can hear and see better, they can bend their body in mysterious ways to go through small gaps, suffer less atrophy in zero gravity environments and have a higher resistance to radiation.”

“Though I say that. It’s not that they are all superior to humans. For starters, they don’t have as much stamina as humans do and as you can see from Meica, they may or may not have a problem with speaking properly. Despite them being modelled after a cat, they seemed to have a hard time breeding. Plenty more differences between the two races but I will not delve too deep into that. I am no expert in the matter.”

Abyssal nodded at Kuon’s explanation. “I see, I see.”

“Master… I don’t mean to be prejudiced, but the Nekomis don’t exactly have the best of reputation. At least not in New England.”

“Hmm? Why is that?”

“They are… well known to be cunning thieves and liars. Many times they have taken advantage of the human’s fondness for cats and robbed them blind. Due to a certain assassination attempt on the royalty, a lot of Nekomis are either sent to rural systems or exiled from New England entirely.”

“Eh? Driving away an entire race? Isn’t that too much?”

“Not according to the royalty at the time. A law was passed and those few Nekomis that live in New England are now treated as second class citizens. Those that were exiled and couldn’t find a living turned to piracy. Plenty of pirates within New England are crewed by non-other than Nekomis. I have a bad… experience with that certain race. Again, this was decades ago. I do not know what the current situation in New England is.”

“I see. Is that... why you don’t trust her?”

“Please don’t take me for some intolerant woman, Master. My distrust of her is not because of some silly racial issues from when I was working in New England. I couldn’t care less about it. This is something else. I can’t explain it, but I just don’t trust her,” Kuon replied with a sharp tone, her camera eyes looking at Abyssal as if it could drill a hole.

“O-of course…” Abyssal replied while giving a sheepish laugh.

‘Well, the more you know… I guess she’s not really an alien, huh,’ Abyssal thought to herself.

“Alright then. Let’s set aside Meica and the Nekomis for now,” Abyssal said as she looked towards the main screen of the bridge. “Why is the speed capped at three hundred and eighty? Why are the safeties preventing us from moving faster? I can understand the acceleration limit, but why a speed limit in space? There should be nothing stopping us from accelerating to the speed of light, right?”

“It’s the same reason as the acceleration limit, Master. Ships are capped at their speed to prevent damage,” Kuon replied.

“Huh?” 

Kuon let out a small sigh at Abyssal’s response. “I’m sure you are aware that space is not one hundred per cent vacuum. There are a few small particles floating around in space. It can be small rocks from asteroids or small metal debris from ships or even just specks of dust that somehow made their way to deep space.”

“Um. Yeah, I guess,” Abyssal tilted her imaginary head, not understanding where Kuon was going with this.

“What happens then, when one of these ‘small’ objects hit something travelling at speeds of hundreds or maybe even thousands of kilometres per second?”

“Hmm??"

“Yes, Master. Your speed limit is determined by how much your hull can take when hitting these objects.”

“....but it can’t be that bad right? It’s not like there is a piece of rock everywhere. Should only be like one in like a few thousand cubic meters or so.”

“These small objects are much more numerous in space than you think they are— especially at the distance and speed we are talking about. Have you not wondered why ships are shaped like they are instead of just being a round object? The shape is to minimise contact with these space objects.”

“I see… Even so, I’m sure a big hulking object like a ship won’t take that much damage from something as silly as a rock, right?” 

“Depends on the size of rock. Some rocks in space are large enough to cause serious damage, but small enough to not be caught in the sensor or cameras. And sure, a ship can take the damage. But for how long? Also, I’m not sure if you know, but I might as well tell you. The speed limit will be different from when we are in deep space than a place with a lot of debris and traffic.”

"...hmmm," Abyssal went into a state of deep thinking.

"What's wrong?"

"No, I'm giving it more thought and I just realised something feels off."

"What is it?"

"I dunno. I didn't quite realise this before but now when I think about it… speed is relative, right? We may be moving at hundreds of kilometers a second, but relative to what? The rocks that are floating around in the galaxy are also moving, right? Some of them even at the fraction of the speed of light. They don't have a speed limit, why do we have it? Wouldn't it make no difference if we stayed still or not? We will just get hit by these fast things anyways. Your explanation doesn't really make sense to me."

'Besides, there was even that one space probe that went over 1800 km/s from earth. If what Kuon is saying is true then that probe should have been smashed to pieces from the moment it left earth,' Abyssal thought to herself.

"..." Kuon stayed quiet.

"Kuon?"

"I apologize, Master. I have been rude and condescending," Kuon gave a bow. "I see now that my knowledge on the matter is misleading. I am not well versed enough in the matter to answer your question."

"You really don't know? Even though you are a Living Core that used to control a ship?"

"Speak for yourself, Master. Just because I am a Living Core, doesn't mean that I know everything there is to know about myself. Find me one human who knows every single function of his body to the fullest. I am simply an awakened core that was given a maid personality. My job is to execute my master's orders. I'm sure you are the same as well." 

“True…. That makes sense, I guess."

“Indeed. Makes perfect sense,” Kuon replied before giving another bow.

'Well, that explains something at the very least. I always thought it was because there was something wrong with the Fierca class, but there is a speed limit in built, huh… I should put a note to find someone who can actually explain this to me.'

"Can't we bypass this speed limit? I've been trying to disable the safeties for a while now, but I can't seem to do it for some reason."

"The limit is in-built into the ship and propulsion system itself I believe. That is why you cannot remove it. Theoretically speaking, we should be able to modify the propulsion system to suit our needs."

"If that's the case, can't I just use the nanomachines and do it now?" Abyssal asked.

"If you have the know-how, then you can do it. However, I don't particularly believe you would know how to fine tune your own parts. I do not know either. I've only ever copied my components from blueprints, never modified them."

“That makes things harder.... If what you say is true, then we are weeks or months away from any place,” Abyssal said as she viewed the holographic starmap in front of her. A blip on it showed her location and a few more blips showing ports and planets nearby her.

“That appears to be the case.”

“This is going to be rough. How much supplies do we have left?” Abyssal asked.

“We have enough for about a month or two. If we ration it out properly perhaps three months. Indefinitely if we didn’t have to harbor living beings on the ship.”

“Two months, huh. That's good enough for me. Well my dear maid, since I am now a properly functional ship, we might as well go somewhere. Where do you think is a good first destination?" Abyssal said, ignoring Kuon's snide remark.

"A destination, Master? “

“Yep, we need to find a place so that we can refuel our warp tank. Maybe to get more supplies and better equipment on the way. Who knows, we could even get you a vessel to call your own!”

“I see. I am delighted by your consideration of finding me a new vessel, Master. However, I'm afraid I am just as clueless as you are regarding our next destination. I have never been outside of New England territory before, so this is all new to me," Kuon said before giving a slight apologetic bow to Abyssal.

"Okay. Alright then. According to the map, the Lawless Maw Zone is right outside the jurisdiction of Freedom United. What's your opinion on travelling to Freedom United and docking in one of their ports?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Master. Although Freedom United supports free trade, it is not wise to cross their borders without first knowing what their rules and customs are.”

“Right…” Abyssal nodded before moving her imaginary hands to her chin in a thinking motion.

Kuon was right, dealing with the authorities of a country without knowing anything is always a bad idea. Abyssal had countless failed runs in her games due to getting into trouble with a nation or faction. If Freedom United was as powerful as Kuon said they were— a nation that is able to build gigantic fleets and battleships, then it was not wise to make an enemy out of them.

Alternatively, there were numerous other ports outside the nation’s territory that they could dock at instead. The only problem was…

“The other docks…” Abyssal said as she looked over to the other dots outside of Freedom United’s borders.

“Yes, those may likely be illegal space stations and pirate harbours. We best stay clear of that as well,” Kuon said to Abyssal.

“Hmm… then our only destination is here, I guess,” Abyssal pointed to a specific dot on the holographic map. It was a spaceport that was about 22 days of travel from where they were. A port just at the edge of Freedom United's border.

“Ashen Port?” 

“Yep. According to the map, it’s a neutral port.”

A neutral port is as its name suggests: a port that has no allegiance to any faction or nation. Ships of any kind or origin should be able to dock and refuel without worrying too much about the authorities. Though, one must be prepared to face the troubles that having no authorities can give when docking in one of these. There is always someone out there looking for trouble. 

At the very least, that was how Abyssal expected a neutral port to be. The map only says that Ashen port is a neutral port, it never says what it truly is.

“If that is your decision then I will follow. I have no particular objections."

“Alright then. To Ashen Port we go!” Abyssal yelled out excitedly. She felt within herself and controlled her directional propulsion device and activated her thrusters, adjusting her trajectory to Ashen Port.

Abyssal’s first voyage to a spaceport begins!