Chereads / The Edge of Space / Chapter 2 - The Worst Situation

Chapter 2 - The Worst Situation

He started to walk back in shock, almost afraid that the vastness before him would swallow him up. He tripped on his own foot and fell on his behind. He landed with a thud and his back hit the floor. He began to groan but only a wisp of wind left his mouth. He laid there for a moment. He then began to speak.

"..." Nothing. No sound had left his mouth.

His eyes widened. He touched his throat instinctively, making sure there was nothing wrong. There was something missing. He had no adams apple, and he had now started to notice that his throat felt different then before. He dismissed it before only because his entire body felt foreign. Almost as if it were planned he heard the robotic voice begin to speak again.

"Ding. Due to the incompletion of your reconstruction, you are missing biological items vocal cord and left arm. To compensate for your vocal cord, please head to fabrication station." The robotic female voice spoke. The man listened intently, feeling that he had no choice but to do so. He had woken up here, being healed or reconstructed, whatever that meant. What he knew at very least was that whoever put him here didn't mean to harm him. He could only assume that anyways.

He got up from where he had fallen and looked up to see the trail lights blinking. He went on to follow them. He looked around the ship as he walked through the short hall. He had never seen a space ship with this design before. It was unlike anything on earth, though he had seen something like it in comics. It of course was a short trip to the fabrication station considering the small size of the ship.

He entered a tiny room that couldn't possibly house more than too people before becoming cramped. There was a machine in the center that had a square bottom that went into a round curve becoming smaller, before rounding out into a bigger circle shaped like a hopper. On the side appeared to be buttons written in some kind language that the man didn't recognize. On the front at the bottom of the machine was a tray where he noticed a collar with what appeared to be a glass screen. He picked it up abs observed it. It looked like a normal collar except for the screen.

He assumed this was the compensation for his voice. He brought it up to his neck and wrapped it around. It was a bit of a taxing task considering he was missing and arm, which still bothered him inside. Finally as soon as the two ends stuck together the man felt a jolt through his entire head.

"Damn what the hell?" A deep and robotic male voice rung out.

The man almost fell back again as he turned around quickly, thinking some kinda of robot might be attacking him. Then he realized, the voice said exactly what he would have. He calmed down and took a deep breath. The ships voice then spoke.

"Ding. Voice acquirement acknowledged. Passenger, what do you wish to be referred as?" The ships voice said.

"O'shae. Where am I?" The man said, adjusting how he felt about the voice. It would have to work for now.

"Ding. O'shae added to database. Current location unknown. Ship unnamed."

"Damn. So what are you suppose to be?"

"Ding. I am a basic A.I. I am here to assist you in any way I can. At the moment I may not be of use to you, but as I learn my intelligence will become more sophisticated."

"Well shit." In all honesty he had no idea what to ask. He seemed composed on the outside, but he simply had a natural poker face. That's just how he was. Anyways he had n-.

"That's how I am?" He thought to himself silently. He looked down at himself as he held a palm out. His body was... unfamiliar. He didn't feel as if it were hit. Not only that, his mind gave him a feeling that he couldn't quite place.

"What happened to me? Did someone do something to my body? Did someone hit me in the head while I was sleeping?" He said out loud to the ship.

"Ding. O'shae, it appears that while I was reconstructing your body to maintain your life I had made a mistake. You have already experienced this as your voice is missing, as well as your arm."

"Oh thanks, I actually hadn't noticed."

"Ding. Reassessing intelligence."

O'shae sucked his teeth at the final response. He couldn't be mad though, knowing that the A.I was very basic as it had said.

He realized that the short lived talking had calmed him. It still raised questions though. For example, why was he here? Is anyone else on the ship?

"Ding. Please follow the path to the nearest terminal." The voice rang out out of nowhere.

The terminal was just across the hall. From the room. It didn't take him more than a few steps to reach the terminal. Before he pressed the button on the side which he assumed was the power button, he noticed that he could see his reflection. His skin was a brown caramel that complimented his hazel eyes. His hair was curly with a jet black color which didn't reach beyond his ears. His body seemed to be a bit skinny. It wouldn't be wrong to call him frail even. His face was without blemishes and scars, different from his original face. He would have said he was good looking before, but this face was even more so. No matter how handsome this face though, it felt like he was staring at a stranger.

He was interrupted as the screen turned on and hit his eyes with a bright light. He squinted harshly before opening his eyes back up as he readjusted. Blinking a few more times he finally looked down onto the screen. At the top of the screen in large letters was the word "Necessary Information". Scanning the screen he could see that it seemed to attempt to mimic a normal computer. He pressed a finger against the screen and swiped up. Folders all titled with things like "Last Bio Report", "Language", "Ship Info" were all listed. He reached out to crack his knuckles, but was left with a disappointed feeling remembering he lack a necessary hand to crack his knuckles. Well, it's time to get down either way.

....

After about a relative hour of reading he leaned against the wall and slid down to sit with a breath of air. He had stood there the entire time. He had learned some things that were useful, and at the same time learned he had less than enough information.

For example, he had learned that his distance from his own memories was due to being put in stasis for 500 years and being reconstructed. His memories would now feel slightly like he didn't experience them. If something were to trigger a memory though, they would become more vivid. Another useful piece of information was that he in fact had no information. He found out that english was only a language spoken on his planet, meaning that any life forms he encountered would be someone he couldn't communicate with. And to top it all off, he only had about a relative month worth of food and water on the ship.

"Damn!" He yelled out in frustration. He turned around and punched the wall behind him. There was a light thud and he yelled out again in pain.

After some time to calm down, he finally decided to see what he could do to help himself.

"Yo! Is there anything I can do to not die!" He yelled out to the ship.

"Your safest option is to send out a distress signal during the time that you are alive. There is a possibility that you will receive a response.

"Tsk, do it then." He said as he helped himself up off the floor.

"Ding. Starting Process."

"This is the worst situation to leave someone in!" O'shae said frustrated.

O'shae had nothing left to do but wait for some type of alien go hopefully come save him. Hopefully saving was on their agenda anyways. Well, maybe he didn't just have to wait. There one more piece of info he had from the ship. It attempted to download all available knowledge from earth. Maybe he wouldn't be so helpless after all.