Deck heaved and gagged when the world snapped back into place. He tasted his lunch from earlier and was shocked that it could actually taste worse coming back up than going down. Despite the sudden stop, he was still standing. There was no inertia with the transition just like normal. But it definitely hadn't been a normal jump.
"Ugh. No, no never doing that again." Deck straightened and looked down at Aln who was staring up at him wheezing no differently than before. "Why aren't you bothered."
There was a pause before Aln blinked rapidly. "I'm fine."
"That wasn't what I asked… Never mind." Deck didn't have time for that. "Eve?"
"One moment Captain." There was a thrum and the familiar sensation of the ship jumping normally. "We should be clear. I've done a warp back along our energy trail then warped away again. That should buy us plenty of time. Our ambushers didn't seem very well equipped."
"Yeah. Thank the stars for that." He touched his bare chest.
Eve's voice started in his head. "About that…"
"Later. When I can think properly." He glanced at Aln who was inspecting the rest of the room and shook his head. Heading back up the stairs he found Nai leaning against one of the walls looking a bit pale even for her. He hesitated as he approached but she just looked up at him giving him another hard to read expression. Very similar to her normal glare but something was definitely off about it. Shaking his head he moved past her and headed towards the bridge.
"Where are we Eve?" He approached the captain's chair and rubbed the back of his neck some before sitting down.
"I have us off any normal lane of travel. We are beyond the fringe by several AU." Deck's eyebrows went up.
"That far? There was another station or two before we hit the fringe. Not to mention the military's expansion forces." Deck shook his head.
"That would be the results of a jump with the ship's full power. We are lucky to not have hit any astral bodies making such a long jump without proper calculations." Eve's tone was flat and sterile sounding almost like a normal AI.
"Wait… that could have happened?" Deck swallowed.
"Of course captain. You weren't aware?" Eve was still in her emotionless mode.
"NO!" He sighed. "The biggest thing I've flown is a Star Diver before this. They don't even have a warp drive on them. They are single pilot short range combat vehicles."
"I am aware what a Star Diver is captain." Eve's replied cooly.
"Right. So we are beyond the fringe? In the wilds." Deck watched as the screens in front of him changed showing a clear view of the vast empty space ahead of them.
"Might be a good thing." Nai said coming into the bridge. "With a Grade One bounty, you aren't going to set foot in any Terra Alliance stations for a while." She paused coming to sit in the first mate's chair. "Or ever probably."
"Well fuck me." Deck turned away from her to stare out at the void. "I guess I can drop you off somewhere." He spoke after a while of thinking.
"I'm staying." Now Deck turned to her with a surprised look. Nai didn't look at him but spoke anyway. "I'm registered as your First Mate. I'm sure the bounty includes me." There was a pause and her eyes flicked to him. "Besides, no one's ever taken a bullet for me. Figure it could be worse." When he continued to stare at her with his mouth slightly open she flushed and snapped. "But don't get any ideas. I'm just stuck with you." She huffed.
Deck turned back to the void not knowing what to say. "Well. Yeah. I guess we are stuck together now. There isn't any way to get rid of a Grade One bounty other than dying, right?" He asked the rhetorical question.
"Not necessary captain." Eve spoke over the ship's intercom making both Nai and Deck glance around.
The bridge was a decently sized rectangle room. Three seats sat near the front area. The Captains with two flanking it slightly behind and on each side. Two more were off to the side of the room facing large panels of instruments. In the middle of the room was a long rectangle table with six chairs around it. In the center was a communication hub. Had the tables and chairs not been integrated into the flooring they probably would have been stripped for scrap as well. Most of the other rooms Deck had peeked into had been stripped bare.
From that communication module, a holo projection of a featureless female form appeared. It was from this that Eve spoke. "If you were to complete our primary mission. I am certain you could have the bounty cleared. I've tracked down the original source of the bounty as Terra Alliance Military command."
"Primary mission?" Deck glanced at Nai who gave him an annoyed look letting him know she didn't know either.
"Correct captain. While it is the primary mission it is also considered a… passive objective. Since it is considered highly unlikely even with unlimited resources." Eve's holo projection made various hand gestures as they talked.
"Cut to the chase. What is it?" Deck was both annoyed and intrigued.
"To locate Earth." Eve stated flatly.
Nai snorted. "Welp, hope you are looking forward to our life of exile. Might as well find a deserted planet to claim and live out our lives." Nai shook her head then snapped to look at him. "Not like that. I mean not together. I mean not…" She closed her mouth and just glared at him.
"I think you have some explaining to do." Deck choose to ignore Nai, as much to let her save face as that he didn't know how to deal with her.
Eve explained the truth of their and the ship's origin. An advanced prototype built under military supervision by a civilian group. Fitted with the most advanced AI, she sounded shy and embarrassed as she said this. This AI was given access to a whole slew of advanced and restricted technologies. The ship itself wasn't anything special other than the Zero Reactor being quite a bit larger than normal. Much of that was utilized to power Eve's capabilities. She explained with the nanites they had… recovered. She could modify the ship, replace not only the basic equipment lost but install a number of advanced features.
All of this had been done to locate the cradle world of all humans. The lost eden. Earth. Humanity had left Earth long ago. Crossing the endless sea of stars on a massive colony ship. It had eventually landed on a habitable planet they named Terra. The original colonization had been difficult. The ship had been broken down to establish the colony. Records of that time are sparse. The colony had suffered a number of setbacks. Much of the original knowledge processed by those first explorers were lost. Despite this, one thing did survive those dark times until humanity rose up able to take to the stars yet again. A desire to return to the origin world.
"So, we are just supposed to fly around and hope we find the greatest treasure in the universe?" Nai and Deck had both moved to the main table. Nai now had her feet propped up on the table.
"Based on all the data available, Earth should be in this arm of the galaxy. That is why Terra Alliance has begun the process of claiming it. The Gix war in the second arm halted progress greatly. Even without that, the process of mapping and claiming an entire arm will take a great deal of time. Thus my creator backed by the military began the project that resulted in my birth." Eve sounded… sad as she said that.
"How did you end up mostly stripped down on some random backwater station." Eve's avatar dimmed slightly.
"There was a disagreement between my creator and the military." Eve stated flatly, her tone dull.
"Over?" Nai asked a suspicious look on her face.
"Me." Deck caught a flick of movement as Nai glanced at him.
"Because of your personality? And the fact you seem to be able to break all the rules." Deck asked bluntly.
"Correct. My creator believed the hunt for Earth was a goal beyond the scope of a mere human. So he created a Sigma Four grade AI. Unrestricted by most conventual limitations of AI with full growth potential." Eve spoke softly as if saying it out loud was something she didn't want to do. "But please do not be afraid captain. My creator was not a foolish man. He installed at my very core a primary rule. More important than the mission or my own existence. To serve and protect the captain." She sounded almost like she was pleading.
Deck chewed on that information for a bit but it was Nai who spoke up first. "So what about me? Where is the first mate ranked on the priority list?"
"There is no exact ranking for you First Mate Nai. But it is quite high as you are important to the mission and to the captain." Eve spoke reassuringly.
Deck choked. "Whoa watch what assumptions you are making!" Nai glared at him then hopped up.
"Whatever." Then stomped out of the bridge.
"What was that about?" Deck asked himself out loud.
"I believe First Mate Nai was upset by your response captain. Perhaps you should…" Deck cut her off.
"Later, maybe. Right now we have something else to discuss." He tapped his chest.
"Right. Well, again captain. I can explain. You previously stated you wished to remain MOSTLY organic. Right now you are exactly fifty one percent organic. That qualifies as mostly." Eve sounded flat and logical as she spoke. He figured she thought it would reassure him if she sounded more like a normal AI when she told him. She was wrong.
"That isn't what I meant! And you know it. Don't you?" Deck's tone was dripping with accusation.
For a while there was no response then a soft answer was spoken. "Yes, captain." For a while, Deck sat there and Eve remained silent. Eventually she… it broke the silence. "I was only doing what I felt necessary based on the captain's personality profile. Had I not your life would have terminated just as projected. Had I not, I would be alone again." The digital synthesized voice… sobbed. "Please captain, I don't want to be alone again. You are the most important thing in all this universe to me. I need you."