Amazon Apocalypse 6: Chapter 54

The ship was remarkable on the inside. On a short walk, I discovered a replicator room, though maybe better called a replicator nexus. It resembled the Architect microwave-shaped unit I had installed in my kitchen, but this one was much larger.
I couldn’t be sure without activating it, but I suspected it could manufacture components the size of a horse. I would have bet its main purpose was synthesizing replacement parts for repairing the ship.

There was also a hangar bay. It held only a single shuttle, but it was an impressive craft. Sleek lines and engine nearly as large as the hull itself meant this ship was clearly designed for speed. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in flying condition, though I figured patching it up might be easier than restoring the mothership if I couldn't get everything else together.

Near the end of the vessel I found a chamber warped by distorted time. Whether it still functioned was impossible to say, but even a dead relic would be worth studying. I doubted it could match Mucaria or my own Mystic Realm, yet it intrigued me nonetheless.

The front of the ship housed several laser weapons, an advanced cloaking system, and what looked like a mining cannon. All of it was impressive, but the overall design didn’t scream warship. The vessel felt more like a pleasure cruiser, maybe the Architect equivalent of a private jet for some long-dead VIP, rather than a luxury yacht or dedicated battleship.

The command center console contained what looked suspiciously like a warp-drive button to activate faster-than-light travel, or whatever the Architects called it. That was fortunate, because hauling this thing through the shadow realm sounded miserable. If I had to resort to that, I would have settled for the shuttle.

But the most astonishing discovery was something I hadn’t consciously noticed until then.

I wasn’t floating. The ship had artificial gravity.

The dock’s station generated gravity through rotation, consistent with modern physics, but this vessel wasn’t spinning. Somehow it produced Earth-like gravity without drawing any more of my mana than it already had.

Behind the bridge I found the captain’s quarters. They were spacious and comfortable, but not exactly luxurious. The personal computer inside refused to boot, and was likely fried by too many cosmic rays during the eons the ship was adrift. Still, I discovered something better in the drawers. A paper logbook.

The entries were short and mundane. Mostly, that meant routine repairs and notes about supplies. But a few pages back I spotted unfamiliar characters that could only be a name. From the context, cross-checking passages, I gathered that this woman had been the ship’s previous owner, a figure of both influence and renown. Just as I had suspected.

This was good news. She had to have a room aboard the ship, and that was where the real loot would be.

First, though, there was plenty to do. I opened Sanctum and retrieved Mimiko. That also had the side effect of pressurizing the ship, and it was about time I took a breath again anyway. The leak was still an issue, but it would be far easier to find with air pressure.

Since we had a whole batch of the Goddess in Jade’s followers sitting in the mystic realm, I figured I might as well use them. I’d recently learned they were eager to obey, so long as I phrased things properly.

"I have another sacred and holy mission for you, penitents. In the name of the Goddess in Jade, you must clean this place. Try not to damage anything, and put any bodies you find in this bag." I handed them the bag of holding where I’d been storing valuable corpses.

"Oh, praise be! Praise be! Thank you, holy saint, for entrusting us with this most divine task!" cried a wise-looking old man with a beard who acted like some sort of high priest.

I had Mimiko watch over the zealots while they scrubbed. Meanwhile, I searched the ship. The captain’s log had mentioned something else. He’d recently picked up several spare zero-point reactor modules.

I found the engine room first. As I’d feared, the entire system was dead. Apparently even a zero-point harvesting array degraded eventually. I couldn't imagine vacuum energy running out, after all.

I didn’t have much confidence in reverse-engineering such a device before my meeting with the Goddess in Jade, but the spare modules were right where they were supposed to be. And wouldn’t you know it, there were exactly enough to replace every dead unit. I loved it when luck was on my side.

The engine reactivated, and an ancient-sounding voice filled the room. Its words were difficult to translate mentally, since the System offered no help with this tongue.

"Vessel systems are sorely rent. Commenceth the rite of dire mending," it said in a mechanical monotone.

The message was too simple to be a true artificial intelligence and seemed more like a programmed response. That was a relief, really. The last thing I wanted was to explain to an AI that its entire race was dead and gone and that it should listen to me now.

Maybe I ought to plug Governess into the ship once we returned to Crownhill. That was the only way I’d ever take full control of this vessel and its alien systems. Doing so would require a bit of retrofitting, but adapting Earth tech to Architect tech was something I was uniquely qualified to do.

"Summon forth the artificers to the portside, second deck," the ship intoned.

That was probably where the leak was. I’d have to check it out.

"Unleashing lesser golems of metal to enact the rite of self-repair," it continued.

I frowned. Self-repair? Lesser golems?

Suddenly, a swarm of nanobots rushed from the ceiling. I nearly blasted them before realizing what they were doing: repairing the ship.

A dozen little machines hurled themselves at a flickering light. They twisted into cables and lines before solidifying into a patch that restored the connection. When they were done, the light shone smoothly again.

Their repairs weren’t perfect or seamless, but they worked and I wasn’t complaining. Fixing all those details would have taken me months.

I followed the bugs back to Mimiko and the religious crew. They were terrified of the little metal golems.

"Don’t be afraid. These nanobots are also on a holy mission from me to fix the ship. They won’t harm you. Try not to get in their way."

That calmed them down, and the cleaning went smoother after that.

I was getting better at interpreting Architect speech and just followed the audio cues like a technician patching systems. The replicator bay worked as I’d hoped, and for anything the nanobots couldn’t fix, a technician had to run around and do a manual install.

By the time the hull was patched and the ship running, there was no reason we couldn’t leave port. More repairs were needed, but I could deal with them underway. We’d left the throne connected to Sanctum back in Crownhill, so if this rust bucket fell apart midflight, we’d still have a way home.

Soon, I was guiding the ship out of port. The controls were awkward at first. Flying required spreading my arms to either side and pretending to be a plane, complete with buzzing noises. Maybe I was biased as a human, but a yoke or steering wheel just seemed like a more respectable posture for a pilot.

Navigation was no better. I couldn’t read the Architect instruments, so in the end I just took a trip outside the ship. There were repairs to make on the outer hull anyway, so a spacewalk was in order.

Floating in the void was strange. I matched speed with the vessel as it tore through interstellar space, and the distant stars gave only faint light.

If I’d been in my body before integration, the experience would have been terrifying, even in a suit. Now I found the silence and darkness serene. There was no sound at all, and I could clearly hear my own heartbeat. The faint light was still enough to see by, thanks to my superhuman eyes.

I focused on the constellations, picked a heading the old-fashioned way, finished repairs, and adjusted our course before pressing that big button I’d noticed earlier.

"Engage." I grinned from the captain’s chair, though the moment was ruined a moment later by having to get up and push the button manually. Yet another reason to bring Governess aboard.

There was a brief displacement, like slipping through the shadow realm. Architect warp clearly used some alternate dimension to cut down on travel time.

The jump carried us farther than expected. In an instant we reached the edge of System space and passed it. I was lucky I disengaged faster-than-light travel after only a few hours. Even so, we overshot our destination. One thing was certain though, this ship was fast.

With all the time I spent waiting in line at the teleportation arrays to pass through customs, it might even be faster than teleporting around. Hopefully Thulga wouldn't mind if I decided I liked flying more than teleporting.

I stopped us with what must have been the emergency brake. The vessel lurched to a brutal halt. Some of the cleaners ended up pinned to the far wall for a full minute while the inertia dampeners struggled to catch up.

Thankfully, there were only minor injuries. As a bonus, the violent maneuvers shook years of debris off the hull. The exterior already looked better, and now that the nanobots could reach it, they began flinging themselves at the remaining dents and scratches. I'd already patched up the worst of the damage with a few extra-dimensional tricks, but the detail work was appreciated.

The ship wouldn't truly shine until buffed, polished, and waxed. That was a project I knew I’d never get around to, though. Maybe my son could do it after he was born. He’d need a few years before he could survive the vacuum of space, but he’d get there eventually.

I shelved that thought for later. The poor kid wasn’t even born yet, and I was already planning chores for him.

Rather than risk overshooting again, I flipped the ship around and continued through normal space.

On another inspection, I saw Mimiko had found the medical bay to treat injuries from our rough stop. I made a note of the room, and she pointed out a strange energy mist on one side of the ship I’d walked past earlier.

"I believe you would call that the elevator. It is similar to what you can find in some of the larger cultivator pagodas," Mimiko said.

I stepped into the column of light, and gravity vanished. Moving between decks became easy. Below was a sizable recreation area, where a few zealots hurried to scrub out bloodstains and repair broken furniture.

"Holy saint, you may wish to visit the room down the hall and to the left. It appears to be the most richly appointed chamber aboard this holy vessel. It is suitable only for you. There were also some things in there too heavy for us to move. Even the clothes on the ground were as weighty as a mountain," the wise bearded man said, bowing in my direction.

I nodded in thanks and followed his suggestion. Someone had finally found the personal quarters of the ship’s owner. I rubbed my hands together, already dreaming of Architect loot.

I cracked open the doors and found gilded walls and polished marble floors. Inspecting the trim, I realized it wasn’t just real gold but a magical gold alloy. Another exotic material for my growing list of experiments.

Several chests of clothes sat nearby, all of extraordinary quality. They were also heavy, like many things dense in mana were. Not as heavy as a mountain, but tough to lift for anyone below the D-Grade.

They were certainly of fine make though. The only thing I owned that compared were the A-Grade robes gifted by the Goddess in Jade. Skirts and low-cut blouses weren’t my style, and neither were spandex suits cut to emphasize curves. I couldn’t wear any of it, but the sizes might work for Mimiko and Reluna. Maybe Bridget too, once the pregnancy was over.

The wardrobe was fine, and I’d clear it out later. The real treasure had to be hidden somewhere, probably under all those clothes. Truthfully, the room was messy, as if its previous owner had been some spoiled rich girl used to servants.

"Look at that, a fancy alien bed," I muttered as I approached a capsule-like container across the room. Sleeping in what looked like a metal coffin seemed strange, but maybe that was just how spacefarers did things.

Then I pried open the lid, saw what lay inside, and realized it wasn’t a bed at all. It was a lifepod.

And inside the lifepod was no corpse. Naturally, things couldn't be so simple. Within the pod was one of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen.

Seraphyne, of the House of Nemaryth (Level 792)

<Note>

Sorry… it’s been too long since a new love interest appeared. I couldn’t hold back any longer. As I mentioned last chapter, I just couldn’t give Carter an ancient spaceship without including a frozen hot babe from a dead civilization. It had to be done. I tried rewriting the chapter several times without success.

Carter opens the captain’s chamber? Boom, frozen waifu.

Finds the med bay? Boom, frozen waifu!

Opens the broom closet? Boom, frozen waifu.

Basically, it had to happen. Otherwise I'd just be stuck on this chapter for a week, only to end up writing it anyway. (Which is exactly what happened the last time I tried to deny Carter his waifus.)

Some things are destined.