Before Sera could squeeze the super bouncy cheeks of the adorable baby butler, the warning bells rang in mecha's cabin.
[ Please do not manhandle Baby Black Butler. ]
[ Baby Black Butler put in medical coma to recover from stress. ]
' Nooo ' Sera screams internally, and turns around to catch the little baby. A wooden tentacle came from one of the side pillars, and put the falling baby butler into the hole immediately.
' Damn. ' Sera cursed.
It seems the mecha still has some fail safes.
' If only Microsoft had this fast response to resolving problems ! ' .
Sera cursed inwardly, thinking of her cheap windows laptop that crashed on her during the last minute of her thesis preparation.
All the same, despite declaring itself to be the ultimate organic machine, her Mecha is too good at dealing with all sorts of inorganic material.
Now, only her pod's hull remained embedded in the ground. Only bare frames of various electronic equipment remained in the clutter. Messages showed up asking her whether these devices should be absorbed and integrated.
[ Storage tablet could not be used upon the integration with antenna. ]
[ This integration can not be reverted. ]
[ Proceed with the integration ? ] ( yes ) ( no )
The message showed up again.
Sera paused. Once this is done, if her mecha is trapped, she would be trapped too. She is trapped here for at least three years if the future changes. If the future does not change, she will be trapped here till her father dies. That's ten years.
' Let's live first. ' Sera decided.
Her mecha was designed to travel space in the first place. It had not had an opportunity, because no one knew how to. Since she does know what to do with it, it's better to rely on her mecha.
' yes '
Sera made her decision.
[ Solar cell units recovered ]
[ Alluminum sheathing recovered. ]
[ Pulsar gun cartridge recovered. ]
[ nanofiber fabric recovered. ]
[ Clear glass recovered. ]
[ Fiber class recovered. ]
[ Hydrogen cylinder recovered. ]
.. ..
The list continued, it's all basic materials.
[ Assume shelled form for re-design ? ] ( yes ) ( no )
The message popped up.
" What about the baby butler ? " Sera asked.
[ The baby butler is in the medical bay. ]
[ Butler's integration will be reprogramed during redesign process. ]
Sera chose yes.
[ Please exit out of the mecha. ]
[ Place mecha in mecha tablet for redesign. ]
Sera wore her silver space suit, then exited the mecha as asked. She placed it in her mecha tablet.
Calvin also walked out after ten minutes.
" We are all set to go. " he told her.
They are both going to the earth inside the junkyard to recover the seed bank.
" how are we going to transport the materials back ? " Sera asked just to be sure.
" We will separate the piece of land the seed bank is on, then tow it to a safe area using a gravity tractor. You should get the seeds that you absolutely want in your own hand, but the rest could be left in the seed bank till we tow it to the asteroid. "
" Alright. " Sera agreed. It sounded fantastical in her mind, but since Calvin said so, it must be true.
The leviathan left the asteroid, entered the magnetic river, on the opposite side of bazinga's maw. It's a roundabout way of reaching the gap they have seen, but it's more comfortable and less energy consuming for the leviathan, because it will be swimming with the current.
Sera ate and slept alright on the first day.
During the night of the second day, she dreamt of AI sera.
" You ! Who are you ? Get out of my body. I don't want to give Lance to that bitch Charlene. Hey ! come back to your original place. " Sera screamed.
" Wait ! Can we switch ? " Sera asked.
AI sera stopped at that question.
" Isn't it you who went into my body ? " AI Sera asked.
Sera shook her head.
" No. I opened my eyes, and I was here. I thought it was transmigration that happens only in novels … but … you think it's a task that can be accomplished with science ? " Sera asked hesitantly. It sounded too fantastical even in the age of interstellar.
AI Sera paused.
" It's something I only heard of in the rumors. It is said long long ago, one of the earths has accomplished a way to preserve the soul through use of cortical stack. However, that world was lost five thousand years ago. No one knows where it went. Wait ! I heard that even if they change bodies, the person whose body was lost should have had the device, and I don't have any. " AI sera said.
" Where should this device be ? " Sera asked.
" Back of neck ?! " AI sera answered doubtfully.
Sera touched the back of her neck.
There was a bump, but it only felt like the 'Tech Neck' type of spine displacement rather than an operated kind of bump.
" hmm.. Doesn't feel like it… Or.. do you think it's shadow shifting ? " Sera asked jokingly.
" Shadow shifters were isolated and killed. The energy source is now fused with the tesseract, which powers the star network. Don't you know even the basic history ? " AI Sera asked waspishly.
It's Sera who was shocked.
" Wait, Wait ! What do you mean shadow shifter's are killed ? You mean that story about ice stones is true ? " Sera was shocked.
" Where did you come from ? Era of ancients ? It's not called an ice stone, it's called an elemental source stone. There's not only ice, but all the elements. … Wait ! Why am I giving you a history lesson… no matter what it is, give me my body ! " AI Sera screamed at her.
Sera was pissed at her attitude.
" You are really a selfish little princess, aren't you ? Come and take your body if you can ! Ha ! You can't , can you ? Can you ? CAN YOU ? " Sera was pissed in return.
AI Sera was miffed, but she couldn't do anything.
They both stayed silent as their tempers returned to normal slowly. At this point, Sera's ridiculously fast brain worked, and she came to the conclusion that her coming to this planet was probably not a fluke. There is some kind of logic there, it's just that she doesn't have the necessary information.
" Let's call it an accident. " Sera said.
" Truce accepted. " AI Sera answered snootily.
Sera held back her mocking answer. Except for having the same name, there's nothing matching between both of them.
" So, other than these two, you don't know about any other ways to shift bodies ? " Sera asked.
" It can not be said either of the methods did not survive in secret. As long as the heirs of such secret arts did not go mad with power and misuse these technologies, there's no way to find them. " AI Sera opined.
Sera had to agree this girl is not an airhead. It's just that she seems to be a love brain.
" Any other strange rumors ? " Sera asked.
AI Sera shook her head.
Sera was about to ask her more questions, but the place where they are in started to disintegrate into nothing at visible speed.
" Hey ! Run .. " Sera said, running away.
As she took her next step, she fell down the abyss.
Then, she woke up with a gasp. She was on the leviathan going to the earth inside the junkyard.
" Are we there yet ? " She asked Calvin.
" No. " Calvin replied patiently.
" What's the time ? " Sera asked curiously.
" hmm… in which star calendar ? " Calvin asked.
" Let's go with the earth we returned from. " Sera answered.
" It's not even in the same universe. " Calvin grumbled.
" How do you know ? " Sera was curious.
" Well … I was a star captain before. " Calvin answered lightly.
He seemed to not like thinking about this part of his past.
" so, what's the time now ? " Sera asked.
" Four in the morning. If we go by your biological clock, " he answered.
" Now, that's even more strange. How do you know that ? " Sera asked.
Calvin shook his head, before pointing to the indecipherable dots above her head.
" Dustwoods are from Drea. I set the clock for Drea and Chalcot. " he answered.
Sera looked at the strange clock that resembled the QR code more than a clock.
" You are saying this is time ? " She asked.
" Yes. " He answered.
' System, did you know this ? ' Sera asked.
[ Yes. ]
' You can read the clock ? '.
[ I have the ability to read and remember clock times of all 4304839 planets in the galactic system. ]
' Then what's the time here ? '
[ With a deviation of one month and five hours, the time is four hours thirteen minutes and twenty three seconds, with a relative error of ten seconds. ]
The system answered.
' From now on, as soon as I wake up, inform me of the time in hours and minutes format. ' Sera ordered.
' hey wait ! Why is our star captain up? ' Sera thought.
[ Star captain Dark knight is an interstellar criminal. Please apprehend him immediately. ]
The message popped in front of her.
' Are you kidding ? Do you think I have the power to do anything to him ? ' Sera snarked back.
[ I, the battle assisting system will be your perfect back up. You can reach for the stars as long as you try. ]
' Forget reaching for the stars. '
' What is the probability of my death if I try to apprehend him ? '
[ 100 %. It is an honor to lose your life for the galaxy. ]
The twisted system answered.