The Record of Unusual Creatures

Since Hao Ren and gang had once explored the central control station on Terra Firm, they found the central control station in no time. Both ships had similar external structures, and the central control station occupied roughly the same location on them.

The control station looked weathered. Old equipment were covered in dust. Miscellaneous items were scattered about the floor. They must have gradually found their way there as the ship’s artificial gravitational failed repeatedly. Beside the main console in the room, Hai Ren found a body. Unlike on Terma Firma, this sanctuary still maintained a normal temperature and an atmosphere, so the body he found had already rotten all the way to the bones.

The deceased wore something similar to the old man on Terra Firma. Since the artificial gravitational field had failed many times before, it was now difficult to ascertain the location and circumstances of this captain when he died. Hao Ren carefully pushed the skeletal remains aside and brought the main console to live like he used to (the key was found inserted in the control panel). As expected, there was backup power here. The ancient IDT was still operational at least. A mechanical humm filled the air, and the lights turned on in the control station. The other equipment around them were activated as well.

Since the life support system on this Ark was still working for the past few centuries despite the explosion in the reaction, there must be some systems here that were still linked to the IDT. Hao Ren would like to take a look at these systems to find the casualty reports from the reactor incident and the crew’s response to the event. He searched through the data archive and soon found a schematic of the entire central control station, which indicated the various parts in this large facility.

According to the schematic, the central control station was divided into four parts. The first was a huge fusion reactor, located at the center. The reactor was buried in the deepest parts of the facility, hidden from view from the residential area of the Ark. It was a power source for the residential area of the shelter, but the power did not come directly from the reactor. Instead, power from the reactor was first directed to the second part of the facility, which was a series of huge power generators. These power generators were located underneath the structure of the Furnace of the Ancestors, which was visible from the residential area. The third part in the facility was the smaller metallic pillars surrounding the Furnace of the Ancestors. These were part of the Ark’s life support system.

Finally, the fourth part was the control center, where Hao Ren and his friends were. It was located at the edge of the Furnace of the Ancestors.

Hao Ren felt better after checking the different locations of the Ark’s systems. The explosion happened at the outer shell of the Furnace of the Ancestors, where the main power generators were. Losing the power generators was serious trouble, but it was better than having an explosion at the center of the fusion reactor.

“Here.” Hao Ren pointed at the facility’s outer shell on the screen. “Underneath this are the power generator circuits. If we can fix them, the shelter should be able to run for a while more. I have some autonomous bots with me. They can handle this simple task easily.”

“And after that?” Nangong Sanba asked smoothly. “The main thing here is to have a long term solution.”

Hao Ren nodded. “You’re right. We can’t let these ships float about in space, so we have to find a place to ground them. I’ve ordered Nolan to take apart the Terra Firma, and to try and decrypt the navigation systems of the other wrecked ships. If all goes well, she will be able to fly the ships. After that … We’ll move them to a more suitable planet.”

“Io or Tannagost?” Lily asked.

“The atmosphere in Tannagost is poisonous to the humans on the ships. Besides, its native ecosystem is incompatible with human life. On the other hand, Io has no land …” Hao Ren scratched his head. “Let’s put this aside for the moment. I think it’s better to fix the reactor first.”

He looked out through the thick glass window of the main control station. From here, he could see the internal structures of the control deck. Old pipes and machinery were visible in the dim light. A shroud of dust lent an air of filth in the deck. Hao Ren opened his dimensional pocket and retrieved a few globular autonomous bots with many tentacles. After he gave them the schematics of the power generators, the little machines cheered enthusiastically and rushed out eagerly along the old and dirty pipes towards the generators.

He then looked at Vivian and asked, “Can you still sense the location of the Divine Artifact?”

“There’s nothing.” Vivian frowned slightly. “I can only guess from what I sensed earlier, that the Divine Artifact is probably located in the deepest parts of this facility, right about … Here.”

She pointed at the screen on the main console, which showed the schematic of the main control center. Her finger pointed right where the power generators met the fusion reactor, deep in the facility.

Hao Ren studied the schematic for a while before determining a route to that location. “Lets go have a look … What are you doing, Terminal?”

He saw the IDT hovering about the captain’s corpse, scanning the bones with a blue laser.

The IDT replied while scanning, “Oh, it’s nothing, I’m just checking the cause of death. This person must have died of an illness. His bones show signs of gradual erosion, probably due to a chronic disease.”

“Chronic disease?” Hao Ren took a longer look at the body, and felt bothered by the discovery – the last captain of this ship had died because of a chronic disease, and not from some kind of accident as they had assumed earlier. This seemed to suggest something they had yet to uncover.

Nevertheless, there was only one corpse here. It was not enough to prove anything. He was unsettled by the news, but could not deduce anything meaningful from it.

“Let’s leave him here for now.” Hao Ren nodded at the corpse, and then moved towards the exit of the control station. “The autonomous bots are fixing the power generators. In the meantime, we should check out the Divine Artifact that Vivian sensed earlier.”

The group left the control room and headed towards the fusion reactor. Meanwhile, outside the ship, a huge and intense operation was underway.

After Nolan got her orders from Hao Ren, she acquired some engineering drones from the Swarm and put these high efficiency “labourers” to work on the ships. The silverish drones appeared in the darkness in space, and shot their way towards the massive ships like hungry ants gunning for their prey. The drones sawed their way through the old hulls of the ships. The dark and heavy hull plates sparked in the darkness, like a weird fireworks demonstration in outer space.

Only ships that were confirmed to have no signs of life were dismantled. Since there was no concern of casualties, Nolan could hack her way forcefully through the ship’s structure and figure them out. As the first ship to be searched through and cleared, Terra Firm was the also the first to be completely dismantled.

The 130-kilometer long starship was now fully deconstructed. Nearly a thousand drones had removed a third of Terra Firm’s hull plates. At the bow, complicated mechanical structures were exposed. There was also a neat row of rooms. These rooms were connected to each other by corridors, probably designed for the humans inside. Based on these structures, it seemed that the ship’s crew had initially manned the bridge. However, the long journey in space eventually made them lose hope. In the end, all the crew members retreated to the shelter inside and left the higher level systems to the ship’s intelligent mainframe.

Petrachelys circled around Terra Firma curiously, taking pictures of the ship. On the bridge of Petrachelys, the little devil Y’lisabet idly pulled Rollie by her tail, ignoring the cat girl’s weak retaliations. She mumbled, “What are you doing, Sister Nolan?”

“It’s a memento.” Nolan replied casually, “As a ship myself, I have now dismantled a member of my own kind that’s so much larger than me. Don’t you think that is worth remembering?”

Y’lisabeth gave that a moment’s thought. “… But, don’t you think it’s more like you’re a maniac who takes photos of someone you just stripped naked?”