Cole was led through the blast doors of docking bay 77, he followed behind the two NPCs while his mind was little preoccupied with what Tiana had just told him. Perhaps he was being a little paranoid but, if Chief Scientist Brogan Bizet is a human/AI from a digital universe trying to work hand in hand with Sierra Corp to ease earth into what is most definitely a hostile takeover, then it stands to reason that there are perhaps other AIs in the game right now up to other things that perhaps wouldn’t be to the advantage of anybody else, it was all just speculation on his part, he had no idea what to think, but his gut was telling him that there was more to Tiana’s relationship with the revenants than what has been shown so far.

There was a small enclosed tunnel, with a few turns that ended opening up into a massive dock. And right in front of him was a ship the size of small yacht. It was about twenty to thirty meters long and just about 15 meters wide. It was shaped like a woman; however but none that was laying prone with her arms by her side. It was matte black with golden highlights and seemed to almost gleam as Cole got closer to it. This was what it looked like in the game, he would be getting something similar in real life…..or perhaps it would be the same thing.

Plus this starship can grow larger than this if he spends enough time and money into evolving it. Right now it was a skimmer class, after that are cruisers, then Gunships, then Frigates, then destroyers or battleships, then finally mother ships that can be just as large as the space station they were currently on to perhaps twice to 10 times it’s size. Cole had no need for a ship of that size if he had to be honest.

“Please place your hand on this electronic pad sir, it needs to take your DNA sample to register you as it’s new owner.” The female NPC spoke, sounding even more robotic in the process as Cole went forwards and placed his hand on a panel on the side of the ship.

[New User Detected! Verifying New User’s Identity…..Identity Verified!]

[Registering New User As Owner, Analyzing Biological Samples! Analyzing Energy Signature! Storing Results In Ship’s Black Box…. Unlocking All Facilities And Connecting To Identified Private Network!]

[Connected To Private Network; Night & Sons Industries! Personal Virtual Assistant Identified! Retrieving Assistant From Home Server M.O.T.H.E.R!]

[Uploading Assistant…..100% Complete! Expanding Neural Networks, Establishing Private Home Server, Uploading And Downloading Internal And External Memory Packets….35%….66%….85%…..100….% Running System Diagnostics Check…..All Functions Are Green! M.O.R.G.A.N is Active]

[Hello Young Master Cole, or would you prefer I call you captain now?]

Cole shook his head with a smile, as he turned to the NPCs, but they were gone, almost as if they were never there in the first place. Cole shook his head and turned around, it wouldn’t do to think too much about whatever the fuck is going on, if they wanted to be freaky then they were allowed too, as long it didn’t cause him any harm or got in the way of him taking care of business. “Open the doors Morgan.” Cole ordered as he turned and watched the side of the ship open up with a hiss and he walked up the ramp into it’s cargo area.

The interior of the ship was as sleek as it’s exterior, and while the area he came looked bare, he could see access ports that led to various sections of the engine that ran the entire length of the ship. Standing in front of him were 5 robots, 3 of which were spherical like we sort of egg and floated a few feet off the air facing him, while the other two bad arms and legs that ended up in point points. These were the autonomous drones that were responsible for looking after various parts of the ship and could be evolved just as the ship could also be. However these drones were a whole other different aspects, rather a product that was attached to the ship but not a part of the ship, so he could put their engineering skills or maintenance skills to work on another project.

[Master I believe naming as soon as possible would be imperative, but I also think we should fit in them and evolve their hardware and software enough that they can house more sophisticated Virtual Assistant AI. I will put up their collective stat sheet for observation.]

<Iron Rank III Autonomous Maintenance Drone Hive>

<Evo Points: 0>

1. [Basic Aeronautical Engineering] [Hive Processor I][Basic Tool Vault]

2. [Basic Chemical Engineering] [Hive Processor I] [Basic Lab Vault]

3. [Basic Mechanical Engineering] [Hive Processor I] [Basic Tool Vault]

4. [Basic Computer And Interstellar Navigation Engineering] [Hive Processor I] [Basic Nautical Vault]

5. [Basic Weapons Engineering] [Hive Processor I] [Basic Tool Vault]

It looked like a simple lists, and one that Cole understood well enough. Evo Points were gained from pretty much just gaining materials that can be used to improve on the ship or in this case the drones. By having those available he would be able to evolve certain aspects of the drones, and it would go beyond more than just knowledge as perhaps once he has gotten them to a high enough level even their physical forms would be changed.

Be went past the drones and followed the path forward, coming up into the cabin were only three rooms were available on the ship. But the Mona Lisa is a luxury star ship so it’s facilities were above the norm. and what laid beyond was the cockpit. Like most skimmers it was just a single pilot ship, in fact the cockpit wasn’t large enough for more than three people at a time. Cole liked it that way, this was his ship, and it was meant for a single person, he would happily have it remain that way.

“Morgan fire the hip up and bright up it’s diagnostics and stat page. I want to see what I’m working with…. Also change desigation of the ship to <MORGAN I> congratulations on the upgrade buddy, you get to play the game with me.” Cole said as screens popped up in front of him.

[It is my extreme pleasure young master Cole.]

VEHICLE: STARSHIP <SKIMMER CLASS>

LEVEL: IRON I// GRADE: RARE

DAMAGE GUAGE: 1000// ENERGY GUAGE: 1000

DEFENSES: IRON V TRI ROTTARY PLASMA GUNS

ENGINES: IRON V DAVINCI NUCLEAR GENERATOR

STATISTICS: ATTACK IRON I(0/10) DEFENSE BRONZE V(3/5) SPEED IRON I(0/10)

EVO POINTS: 0

In the end there really wasn’t anything that special about the Mona Lisa, it was a luxury item, whether it was in the real world or the game as even it stat page was showed that it was just a fancy looking ship without much power. But never the less it was a way out of this place and as far as he was concerned Cole did not have anything else that he had to take care of here, it was time to move on and look for this path to the second floor.

[Firing Up Engines and deactivating gravity stabilizers, disengaging landing gear opening docking bay blast doors! Hang tight young master.]

The ship gave a quick shudder as Cole felt his belly fall away, the Ship lived up into the air with multiple lights flashing over it’s control board. At a glance Cole knew exactly what every single one of the buttons he was seeing did, guess the aeronaut skill did come in handy after all. He grabbed a hold of the controls, a massive throttle to the side to increase and reduce the ship’s speed and the wheel that he grabbed, taking a deep breath as glint of excitement quickly crossed his eyes. But he held on, this was his first time flying and he would very much not like to scratch his paint job.

As he placed his hand on the wheel, they split into two different halves, the full wheel would only be needed when he was flying straight and without need for any complex maneuvers. Cole pulled backwards, keeping on of the wheels stable while the other caused the ship to lurch forwards. While it was at the lowest speed setting, it was still fast enough to drive Cole back into his seat as he left the Docking a few and flew out into the vastness of space.

“Morgan check the navigational chart of the current star system, are there any peculiar wormholes, or star Gates that are out of the norm or any weird planet in the vicinity.” Cole asked as he turned the ship around,. Moving always but at the same time perpendicular to massive space station as he got a good looks at it from it exterior.

It was an ugly looking thing as hundreds of thousands of neon signs and billboard hung outside of it advertising the games and competitions held in the coliseum, and all of the prizes willing participants could win. It was like Las Vegas and ancient Rome had a baby and this was what it came out looking like. A spoonshaped space station the size of a small City, hanging out in the vastness of space.

[Master based on your description I have found a peculiar looking stellar entity.]

“…”

[I found a star young master Cole.]

“Oh! You should have led with that, what’s wrong with this star Morgan.”

[Well Sir it’s…it’s…it’s shaped like a donut sir, a very large one I might add and very much on fire. However right in the middle of that donut I believe is a wormhole with stabilizers built around it to serve as a jump gate…. I do believe Master…That you have found the path to the second floor….what are your orders?]

“My orders Morgan? Well….TO INFINITY AND BEYOND”.