The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 121

Chapter 121: A Long Way from Home

Living room. Home.

Nangong Wuyue and Y’zaks were standing on Hao Ren’s left and right respectively like the sentries at the Tower of London. Vivian and Lily checked their luggage for the last time to make sure that everything was in order. Everyone looked dead serious like the crew at a space shuttle launchpad.

“Two sets of clothes—checked. Biscuits—checked. Mineral water—checked. Dry food—checked. Tools—…” Like a competent daughter-in-law, Vivian checked Hao Ren’s suitcase—just a small one, an overly large suitcase would be too cumbersome. And she rechecked everything that Lily had checked before. “Just give me a buzz when you get there. Your MDT has that messaging function, isn’t it? Okay, be safe. Don’t touch anything that looks weird, it might be poisonous. Come back as soon as you finish the job. While you’re out there…”

“Okay, okay.” Hao Ren was overwhelmed by the fervent concern from the oldest vampire on Earth. “Why do you sound like my mom?”

Vivian raised her leg to kick him. “I’m just trying to give some treats to the hands that feed me. Do you really think that any Tom, Dick, and Harry would get such a special treatment from me? I just want to make sure that I can keep staying here and won’t have to worry about where I’m going to get my next meal. If you’re dead I’ll have no where to go.”

Nangong Wuyue looked at their interaction with amazement, thinking they were sort of an interesting ‘family’.

“I feel sorry about this, lady. I mean you’ve just arrived and before you can even settle in, we have to go on a mission.” Hao Ren thought that the siren was getting impatient as her eyes were darting around. “You know how Raven’s temperament has always been. When she wants it, she wants it right then. Normally, it isn’t as busy as this but you’ll have to put up with it this time.”

“No, it’s all good!” Nangong Wuyue waved her hands frantically. “Actually, I’m happy to be able to go out there, traveling and seeing places. No problem at all. I’d love to live a life like that given the chance. I think I made the right choice coming here. You people are so interesting and everything is so fascinating here—I never imagined that I would be traveling to places 800 light-years away. It’s simply beyond any sirens’ dream!”

It seemed like the siren was a real travel freak. She did not resent the sudden errand that was thrown at her at all. It was good of her.

“It’s 9.30. It’s time to go.” Lily inspected her watch as she finished checking the luggage. “Have a pleasant journey, my dear landlord. Don’t forget to get me some nice food on your way back…”

Hao Ren waved goodbye to Lily and Vivian as he gave an order to the MDT: Begin teleportation.

A blinding white light enveloped the three of them as the space around them started to warp and rolled up into a crystal sphere. Seconds later, they were gone and everything returned to normal.

“They’ve finally gone…,” Lily said. Her ears appeared lackadaisical. “…and left me alone here.”

“Next time, baby.” Vivian tried to comfort her. “What do you say I make you some noodles in the afternoon? Well, speaking of which, why am I feeling like I’m your nanny lately? Like we’re friends now?”

“Stop the crap. In case you haven’t realized, I’m the one who’s going out to find the money to feed you while our landlord’s away!” Lily’s tail almost stiffened up. “Go and find the money yourself if you can. Now, go and feed the kittie while I go inside to do some write up…”

“Are you trying to tell me that you’re in charge here? Don’t forget, I’m the only one who can actually cook here! You can’t even cook a packet of damn instant noodles properly!”

“Alright, my bad. I’ll feed Rollie but could you do me a favor by accompanying me? I’m afraid of Rollie—he might scratch me.”

Vivian was at a lost for words.

It would have been interesting to know how the two super chicks got along with each other while their landlord was away. However, as always, time was a good healer; they would turn out just fine. So, let us move away from here and see what has happened to the trio who just left.

When the white light subsided, Hao Ren woke up in a daze and found himself standing in an enormous space just like Raven 12345 had described—the place was nothing like the depiction in Hollywood movies—it was awesome on an entirely new level.

A hundred meters in radius, the oval hall was more like an indoor piazza. The walls were actually hexagonal with six silver surfaces. The hall itself was divided into two sections; one section was where they were standing at. The floor was covered with glowing blue circles which were so orderly arranged. Hao Ren was standing right on top one of them. The other section was completely empty except for a few pillars which rose from the floor to the dome, more than 10 meters above the ground. As Hao Ren’s eyes climbed the pillars, he saw 1000 streams of blue light on the dome. He recalled having seen such a thing before in Raven 12345’s mansion—a Crystalline Conduit System used in large structures for energy conduction.

It was the very first thing he saw since his arrival at Kuiper Station.

“Are we in… outside the earth?” For some reason, Hao Ren could not cough up the words for where they were. He just could not believe his eyes and he jumped for joy. “It feels earth-like here—the gravity, the air, the temperature and everything’s just so familiar. Except, the air is fresher than back home.”

“Stop acting like a bumpkin.” The MDT sounded in his mind. “Come on, you’re an inspector, servant of a goddess and the ambassador of an empire. You’re the face that’s representing a high and mighty civilization. If you keep jumping like that, you’re going to drop me out of your pocket.”

Hao Ren knew that the MDT was only concerned about that last part. The rest was just crap.

“The empire’s standard environmental parameters apply here. Most species from the empire have no problems adapting to this atmospheric environment. There are a small number of exceptions who must undergo temporary, physical alterations or carry a small atmospheric device. “Not forgetting its duty, the MDT explained everything patiently. “It’s okay if you can’t grasp the idea. Just think of it this way: most people on Earth have no problem staying in this temperate region but, people from Africa for example, would have to wear wadded jackets all the time if they’re here, sort of.”

“… It’s idiot-proof. I’m speechless.”

“Artificial gravity, artificial atmosphere and a self-sustaining ecosystem are what the space port needs.” The MDT sneaked out from Hao Ren’s pocket and led them using a holographic arrow. “Although it’s just a transit point, this space port is enormous. After all, God placed a teleportation point on earth. This place is undoubtedly heaven’s communication room. Now, follow the arrow and leave the teleportation platform. If you guys hog it or sway into the other one, it’ll put unnecessary pressure on the diversion host computer. While it may not cause any major problems, you have to lead by example. Be civilized. And do not hog the system. Everyone here is looking up to you.”

Hao Ren felt a little pressure because the PDA sounded dead serious. “Am I really that important?”

“Well, yes and no,” the MDT replied. “In the eyes of normal species, an inspector is special, dependable, respected, resented, feared or of any other qualities. Sometime you would be treated like a savior. Other times, you would be cursed to hell, with every single intelligent being within the vicinity of a few hundred light-years wishing you dead—you really don’t know what you’ll get into. But, don’t worry about that. All you got to do is mind your own business. Being the inspector you are now, I bet you won’t be meeting them.”

Hao Ren nodded continuously as he listened. Nearby, Nangong Wuyue had no idea what was going on. She did not care as she was captivated by the strange and silver, white hall. Despite being a little amazed, Y’zaks was totally cool. Obviously, he had seen all these things before. Due to this, he had a more thorough observation than Nangong Wuyue could have. The trio left the teleportation platform. As they moved on, Hao Ren noticed that the circles around them would occasionally glow brighter. The cylindrical space within the circles would warp for a very brief moment and then, some blurry images would flash across the illuminated circles. However, no-one appeared from it. He was curious and asked, “What’s that?”

“It’s teleportation transit,” the MDT replied. “The sole relay node between the Dan-Dwyn Civilization Sphere and Morbec Civilization Sphere. It’s also a relay circuit to World’s Gate Starfield. This relay node lessens the load on the teleportation equipment and eases the workload of the Space Administration. Many travelers transit through this place in a flash, like what you’ve just seen. You three may be the only travelers to transit in-station today. In fact this space port is rather deserted. Despite it’s enormous scale, most zones run on automated systems. In fact, the volume of traffic here isn’t low in any sense. Most are just in-transit or on short-stops. Few crew are needed here. Don’t be surprise if you can’t see anyone here. As massive as this space port is, all it needs is just a few hundred personnel and all of them are situated in the central control tower.”

Hao Ren tried to wrap his head around it but, he understood none of it.

Chapter 122: Kuiper Station

They followed the directions given by the MDT. Hao Ren’s eyes were busily darting about like some country bumpkin. Yet, he managed to keep his gracelessness unnoticed. After they left the teleportation platform, they moved to the other section of the hall where the silver, white columns stood. In front of every column was a floating, round crystal plate which emanated a bluish, white glow. The glow would intensify every time Hao Ren came closer to it. As he did, he would hear a crisp sound like that of a wind chime in his head.

“Focus your mind on the plate,” the MDT suggested. “It’s interface is limb-free and brainwave-activated. It was designed with species that have no hands and legs in mind.”

Hao Ren did not care about how things worked around the place. He was not interested. He just went along. As he focused his mind on the plate, the sound of wind chimes resonated at an even higher pitch, like his phone ringtone. Then, the column before him lit up. A light curtain popped up. It warped and flickered a bit before a tall and slender young lady emerged from it.

She was a fair-skinned, tall, slender and beautiful lady. She donned a strange-looking, light green dress which was probably made of smooth leather.

“Hi, how are you?” The young lady was very polite as she bowed to address Hao Ren. “I’m your guide at Station No. 10. Are you Mr. Inspector?”

Hao Ren was in a daze. “Ehh.. ya! By the way, I was wondering, you look like a human!”

But he quickly realized he made a mistake; he was being rude. The MDT kept nudging his arm however, he was sincere. He was curious about this lady: he heard about Kuiper Station being manned by some alien species. His mental picture was that of little, green people roaming around in their little spacecrafts. But, she was nothing like of them. She was almost human and best of all, she was beautiful. He was totally blown away. Where were the little, green people?

“I come from the Mosa Morbec Civilization Sphere.” The young lady was not offended. She kept a professional smile as she introduced herself. “We do share a similar look with humans in the solar system but then again, don’t most intelligent beings have the same kind of look?”

The MDT quickly spoke into Hao Ren’s mind, “Haven’t you realized that Madam Raven also looks human? I tell you what, it was the result of information disturbance. The original one who existed in the void had the exact same image. After that, information disturbance spread over to subsequent universes which came after it. More than half of the intelligent beings evolved into humans or humanoids as a result. The legend that man was made in the image of God originated from this. So, for the same reason, werewolves, vampires, sirens and even demons have a complete set of limbs.”

Out of everything the MDT said, only one thing stood out. “What’s information disturbance?” Hao Ren asked.

“It’s something beyond your understanding.” The MDT sounded cocky but still, it kept on explaining, “In simple words, it’s the Extension Theory of the Grand Unified Theory. According to the Grand Unified Theory, everything in the universe is constructed out of information. There is no boundary between material and energy, abstract and tangible. Information is the raw ingredient of materials, quality, temperature, density, hardness and colors which forms things. Everything from a molecule to an entire universe is a holograph. This is the Grand Unified Theory. Based on this theory, an information disturbance powerful enough, could exert a surreal influence over an entire universe or even several universes. Think of what would happen if you have a high powered magnet in the field? When the oldest celestials chose their appearance, more than half of the world was influenced. Since then, the human template became widespread. Feeling dizzy? Good. Let’s get back to business.”

Hao Ren nodded but his mind went blank. He thought it was best not to delve into the topic anymore. Aliens could have whatever appearance they liked. After all, it was God who decided everything including their skin color for free but, without consultation…

The guide was waited patiently as Hao Ren’s thoughts drifted into space. Then, she broke silence. “Now, shall I bring you to your connecting flight? We have a space vessel docked and ready for you at Connection Port No. 4.”

“Oh ya, let’s go.” Hao Ren nodded as he began to return from space.

The guide smiled as she raised her hand and made some weird gestures. Suddenly, Hao Ren felt a sense of weightlessness. His surroundings began to warp and wrap around him before he reappeared in a long and wide corridor.

“Whoa, that was amazing! They even use spatial shifts to move around here.” Nangong Wuyue sounded really impressed.

“Not really. Only for cross-zone movement,” the guide explained. “Kuiper Station’s a discreet space port which was built along the asteroid belt. It’s divided into several zones. There once was a huge asteroid but it disintegrated for some unknown reason. The remnants of the asteroid which stayed closely together became the perfect base for the space port. The space port complexes are scattered on some of the bigger chunks and connected via guide-beams or connecting walls. You’ll see them once I open the shutters. You’re now walking on the external corridor, where you can glimpse at 60% of the space port.”

As the guide explained, she touched the corridor wall slightly with her hand. A very minor but discernible vibration could be felt under their feet. Then, the alloy wall slowly came down. To Hao Ren’s amazement, there was another transparent layer of barrier behind the wall. It was not solid but more like a kind of energy shield.

But before this happened, something else caught Hao Ren’s attention. “Do you two understand each other?”

He was in awe as he pointed at Nangong Wuyue and the guide.

He was sure as hell that the guide was not speaking any earth language. Since Nangong Wuyue had just arrived at his home, it was unlikely that she would have any translation plug-in with her. Nonetheless, somehow the two were able to communicate. He was flabbergasted.

“What do you think Madam Raven was doing when she appeared in Nangong’s dreams for half a month? Just to say hello and goodnight?” said the MDT. “Because the siren was such a laggard, Madam Raven had to make alterations on her by appearing in her dreams. To the goddess, this is just a small feat.”

“Oh, my god!” Nangong Wuyue held her head in horror. “What did you guys do to my head?”

Hao Ren was startled. He knew Raven 12345 was reckless but, he did not expect the goddess was such a kamikaze. No normal human being would be able to comprehend her sense of logic.

For Hao Ren, the real fuss was: why did he have to lie in the bioenhancement coffin when clearly, Raven had such an efficient way to achieve the same thing?

“There’s nothing to worry about.” Seeing that Nangong Wuyue was on the verge of tears, Hao Ren moved closer and tried to comfort her. “She just implanted some foreign language skill in your head. Hey, you’re so much luckier than us, you know. We all laid in that casket just to get some gadgets like yours.”

Nanyong Wuyue was puzzled.

Suddenly, a broadcast interrupted their conversation. “Attention, please. The corridor shutters are about to open. The corridor shutters are about to open. Those with kids please, hold on to them. Those who have heart disease please, have your medication on standby. Those who have a phobia of open spaces please, turn away from the lookout window. Thank you for your cooperation. We are only a small time business. We will not be able to respond to any kind of complaints.”

Hao Ren was left speechless.

“Well, the station master is a funny guy.” The guide smiled awkwardly. “He likes to prank people.”

Hao Ren did not say a thing. His eyes were on the view outside.

The boundless, deep space was just outside the window. Kuiper Station was scattered throughout several zones and floated around in the dark. Just as the guide had described, the space port was built on asteroids which were close enough with each other to form what looked like a group of islands. The buildings were alloy structures of silvery white or silvery grey but, no two buildings were the same. Every single one of them was custom-built based on the size of the asteroid. The remnants of the asteroid belt would have drifted away into deep space on their own if not for the bright guiding-beam or gigantic alloy wall which held them together, forming a loose structure.

Kuiper Station dotted the space like an island chain. It was bigger then what Hao Ren had imagined.

“The dock is just behind us, shrouded by a protective, alloy shield. So, it isn’t visible from here.” The guide touched the lookout window and the shutters rolled up slowly, closing the window. “Let’s move. Your departure is soon approaching.”

Hao Ren knew he had to leave and he would have another chance for a revisit. He dragged Nangong Wuyue, who was still clinging onto the lookout window along with him and followed the guide closely. They hustled past a long stretch of corridor with many twists and turns before they arrived at the dock, Connection Port Number 4.

“Holy moly…”

Despite a conscious effort not to overreact, Hao Ren could not hold himself back when he stepped into Connection Port Number 4.

“This place is absolutely massive!”

The connection port was rectangular in shape. Everything there was in a mammoth scale. Hao Ren had a hard time gauging how long, how high or high wide the dock was. The whole dock was constructed of silver, white alloy. There were pieces of large equipment at one end where a gate and personnel platform were at. Whereas, the other end stretched outwards towards the open space where millions, if not billions, of bright stars could be seen. It did not take long for Hao Ren to realize that the open end was actually shielded by some kind of protective barrier before he could worry about being sucked out into the void.

Waiting on the dock was a light blue space vessel.

Beneath the spacecraft, people were busy at work. Hao Ren let out a long sigh for at long last, he finally saw the little, green people.

Chapter 123: Spacecraft Number 883

A gigantic space ship floated at the dock. The scene was so surreal, Hao Ren reckoned that he did not have to watch Hollywood sci-fi movies anymore.

It was rather hard to measure the enormous scale of the ship with his eyes alone. Its total length was that of a mountain range. The ship was adorned with a sky blue emblem. Beneath it, a faint, base coat of grey and silver was visible. Hao Ren was not sure if the spacecraft was already originally like that or it was the result of many rounds of modification and refitting. The ship itself was shaped like a wedge. The tapering of its body was smooth and along the body, one could see converging lines that demarcated the different parts of the ship. Much like the catamarans on Earth, it had four parts instead of the usual two. The larger body of the ship was facing the connecting pier of the dock while the smaller part was facing the exit. Beyond it, a sea of stars glittered brightly. A series of light nodes were flashing across to broadcast messages. Against the dark space, they appeared like fireflies dancing about in the night.

Under the belly of the spacecraft, four massive, metallic beams connected it to the dock (Hao Ren was pretty sure they were not steel.) The platform on the beams were made of some translucent, crystalline mesh. It was almost like those see-through glass bridges, only this was in space. Faint glows emanated from the beams as though they were interfacing with the outer body of the spacecraft.

“Those are gravitational docking equipment.” The guide explained as she could tell this was probably the first time Hao Ren had seen this sort of thing. “The beams are part of the equipment to hold docking ships in place. They also serve as accelerator catapults or docking navigation aid for older types of ships. As you can see, there are not many civilizations in this universe that have advanced spacefaring technology.” Her explanation was concise and as professional as one could get.

Hao Ren nodded and returned his gaze to the entry or exit way of the dock. He then caught sight of other ships slowly making their way towards the dock. The guide also noticed his gaze and added, “This is a large, interstellar relay station and the ships you see are either leaving or entering the dock. The dock is manned by highly advanced A.I and you can see hundreds of ships passing through every day.

Hao Ren gasped. He pointed towards the spacecraft in front of him. “How big is this actually? It looks like a … space fortress…”

“Actually, it is not big at all.” The guide smiled. “It’s a civilian, dual-use transport craft. Among the ships registered, it is considered a medium-sized ship. The total length of the ship is 3.2 kilometers and it is equipped with a basic extended cargo hold. For some of the early civilizations, this could be considered a giant spacecraft but… for you people, is it really that big?”

Hao Ren was stunned for a moment and he could not figure out what “for you people” actually meant. It took him a good few seconds to realize his position: An employee of the Xi Ling Empire’s Space Administration. While he was still a newbie, this was only apparent within the organization itself. For outsiders, there were no differences between a newbie or veteran inspector. The guide probably saw Hao Ren as an important person from the Space Administration. It then dawned on him that his duty to preserve the Empire’s name was a big one and he nodded solemnly. “Yes, but of course, I’m not comparing it to the ones in the Empire…”

The MDT rumbled in his head, “Keep the act up, will you. You probably haven’t seen anything from the Empire that can fly aside from me.”

“I have. Raven 12345’s manor. Not only can it fly, it can do so upside down.”

The MDT kept silent.

By then, the guide had taken out a device and activated it, probably to send a signal to the other workers in the dock. She beckoned Hao Ren to follow her. “I’ll be taking my leave after you see the captain.”

Hao Ren followed the guide. He looked down towards the docking area and saw a bunch of people on the platform. They seemed like dockworkers from where he stood. The small group there pretty much encapsulated Hao Ren’s imagination of aliens. There were humans like him in the group and also hairy, dwarfish creatures. There was one with a weird, glass helmet on. In it was some form of aquatic being while another two, were gnomish creatures with dark green skin. He took a deep breath upon seeing them. He finally met aliens from outer space. He could not grasp the feeling of actually stepping into the vast galaxy until now…

While the bunch of people looked all weird to him, Hao Ren noticed that all of them donned a similar jumpsuit with a triangular emblem embossed on the chest area. It was the same emblem that he saw on the spacecraft he would be traveling on and surmised that they were probably the crew. The guide led Hao Ren to greet them. After that, they stood before a giant man with a playful grin on his face. “Captain, I’ve brought your guests here. I’ll leave them in your good hands.

“Right,” the captain answered. He was a big person with a squarish face which matched his frame. His shirt looked like it would rip apart at any time. He seemed to be very familiar with the guide as he smiled at her. “Tell old Lavaer, I’ll be coming back with a better bottle next time and tell him to prepare his wallet for a beating.”

The guide giggled as she bowed. As she turned around, a slight distortion in space occurred and she was gone.

“So… you three are the guests, huh?” The captain looked at the trio. “Uh.. may I know who is Sir Inspector again?”

Hao Ren had never been called “Sir” in his entire life and was taken aback by it. He quickly nodded. “I am. So… is there any pre-boarding procedure I need to follow?”

“You are on duty so, once you have verified your ID, we can do without all those pen-pushing nonsense,” said the captain as he raised his hand, signaling the crew to allow the three to board. In his other hand, was a device which had a blue glow on its screen. “Scan your ID here…”

Before he could finish, the MDT flew out of Hao Ren’s pocket. “I’m here. Lets get on with it.”

Hao Ren could not even react as the MDT made its way to the captain and hovered over the scanner. A loud beep rang out a moment later to signify that his ID was verified.

Now that’s a first; a self-collecting, self-verifying ticket!

“Ahem, so Sir Inspector and his assistants, welcome on board.” The captain smiled as he showed them the way towards the boarding platform. “Interstellar Express Company Spacecraft Number 883 wishes you a pleasant journey.”

Wuyue was the first to leap onto the platform. “Come on!” She waved at the rest.

Hao Ren simply followed the crowd in a daze after completing his pre-boarding verification. The platform then ferried them into the entry way, located at the underbelly of the ship. After floating about in a maze of pathways and storerooms for a while, they finally came to a wide, empty room. There, the captain mouthed his orders into the communication interface, “Alright, send the signal to the control tower. We are taking off!”

“How long do you reckon we’ll take to get there?” Hao Ren just realized that he did not ask about the duration of the journey. He had no idea how 800 light years would work in terms of space travel. It finally registered that he was about to travel at light speed for the first time in his life. “It may sound odd to you but, this is the first time I’m boarding a spacecraft…”

“Oh, that’s fine,.I heard of it from above,” the captain said as he shook Hao Ren’s hand with a mighty grip. The latter’s bones could clearly be heard popping under the grip. “Will take you about a day. You can just rest in your cabin until we arrive. This girl here is one of the best beauties you can find in this part of the galaxy; seven years running. Oh right, you can call me 883…”

Hao Ren’s dumbfounded face said it all. “… 883? Isn’t that your ship’s name?”

“I named her after me, silly.” The captain named 883 laughed. “It’s a tradition where I come from. A man should have his own ship with his own name. Our life is on the boat and the boat is our life, much like a second wife.”

Hao Ren was at a loss for words.

He thought that the captain had something misconstrued at first but, he knew that different societies have different traditions that wildly differ from Earth and he left it at that.

The three of them were then led to their cabins by a member of the crew. To Hao Ren’s surprise, it was almost like a studio suite with four bedrooms. Even though the interior design and the items in there were odd by human standards, Hao Ren could pretty much guess their usage from a glance. His conscience bit at him and he asked gingerly, “Don’t think these rooms were specially prepared for us ,yeah?”

“No, this is your standard first class cabin.” The crew member who was led them spoke. The man was a dark skinned, dwarf-like alien youth with a very serious look on his face. “This ship is a both a passenger and cargo craft. The starboard area D6 to D17 is purposely built for carriage of passengers. We also have a few luxurious suites for more discerning passengers. In fact, a good number of rooms were built for your typical carbon-based life form…but somehow, the cap’n derped out during the license application. So, we haven’t had a passenger before, much less a passenger service department but, at the very least, please believe me when I say that the rooms are more than adequately equipped…”

Hao Ren could only look on in silence.

Chapter 124: An Interstellar Journey

Hao Ren had a gut feeling that he should not be putting his trust in Raven 12345 to arrange a proper interstellar journey. However, Wuyue and Y’zaks clearly did not share the same sentiment. The great demon and the siren quickly selected their places to bunk and dumped their luggage there. They approached Hao Ren to discuss what to do next. Y’zaks had a fine idea of playing Landlord, a game he just learned about recently…

Neither Hao Ren nor Wuyue really wanted to spend their first interstellar voyage playing a card game so, both of them turned to the MDT. “Recommend something nice for us to do now.”

The MDT then connected itself to one of the data ports in the cabin and generated a holographic image. “You can see what’s going on outside before we jump into light speed. We’re still within the asteroid belt for now. The ship will soon be turning into an area clean of debris. There will only be the darkness of space after that.”

Hao Ren noticed that the hologram showed the outside of the spaceship. The images must have come from the various cameras and sensors outside the ship. He caught sight of a gigantic metal platform being deployed on the far side of the asteroid belt. Whereas, the ones originating from the dock were being retracted back into the station. Two big pillars of light then beamed out from a pyramid-shaped tower along the side of the ship. According to the MDT, it was a navigating beam used to guide the course of ship.

“I thought the asteroids would be much, much closer to each other,” Hao Ren said as he stared at the vast space at the edge of the image. “Why aren’t there any near the station at all?”

“The galaxy is a very, very big place and the distance of asteroids is similar to the vastness that comes with it,” the MDT explained. “In most circumstances, two asteroids would be at least tens of thousands of kilometers apart from each other. Unless there is a celestial body nearby that went supernova, you won’t see asteroid fields like the ones you see in Star Wars, where the space fighters weave in and out of the asteroids. Kuiper Station was built after the fragmentation of one of these celestial bodies and it used the asteroid field as a foundation. Outside of the station however, it’ll definitely be an empty space. Stray asteroids or space debris would be removed from time to time. With the station being a busy place as it is, what do you think would happen if a ship runs into a stray rock?”

Hao Ren realized that he had much, much more to learn and nodded as he listened intently. Wuyue who was staring at the scenery outside then asked, “Why didn’t we feel anything when the ship accelerated?”

“Internal Inertia Stabilization my dear.” The MDT was surprisingly patient this time around. “All ships that can accelerate up to light speed come equipped with some sort of inertia stabilization device. This is to maintain a bubble that is separate from the outside world or as some means to absorb the inertia. Simply put, your position now is pretty much in a separate dimension or else, all of you would be meat paste when the ship hits light speed…”

Wuyue happily nodded. “Oh, didn’t understand a thing though.”

“What the h*ck are you so happy about then?”

At this time, Hao Ren spotted another bright illumination from the edge of the image. The cameras quickly panned over to the same direction. He saw another wedge-shaped spacecraft come out from a nearby dock. Her heat vents were slowly turning red. It was rather obvious that she was going into hyper-acceleration mode soon.

Hao Ren had yet to digest the volume of traffic that the station processed when he heard Captain 883’s gruff voice from the speakers. “Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls and our most honored guests, please turn to the camera in Zone C-15. The spacecraft there is from the Fairy Void Corporation: the high speed cargo craft, KN-03. She’s our top most competitor in this part of the galaxy. She seems poised to do a short-range hyper-acceleration and engage her hyperspace engine to let us eat dust. Please, hold on to your children tightly right after this broadcast. We are going to beat them!”

“F*********ck!” Hao Ren exclaimed.

Just as the word left his mouth, the cabin shook violently. It was not the kind that happened during normal acceleration but, more akin to an earthquake. Clearly, the entire spacecraft structure was straining under the stress. Hao Ren did not dare imagine what sort of contraption that meatbag of a captain had activated. From the holographic projection, he saw multiple flashes of radiant light and the heat vents underneath the ship screamed a hot white. Such was the heat and tremors that the whole thing started to turn blurry. At the bottom of the projection, Hao Ren could see that the spacecraft was hurtling towards a red trail of light at almost light speed. A trail of red and blue light shimmered in the horizon.

Finally, another loud crash followed the spacecraft. The illegal acceleration had come to an end. The monitors now showed only darkness outside and the ship’s hyperspace engine was engaged, creating a dimensional bubble for the ship to travel at light speed. The time it exits said bubble, they would have arrived at their destination.

The speakers ranged again. “Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls and our most honored guests, the hyper-acceleration has been completed perfectly. We have once again proven Spacecraft Number 883’s superb capabilities. Now, I will be passing the controls to the main autopilot system. I wish you a pleasant journey. At this point, I will be going into a 24 hour solitary confinement as per the law and pay the fines from the Imperial Hyperspace Travel Authority. Good bye, for now.”

Hao Ren, Wuyue and Y’zaks stared at each other for a good while before bursting into laughter. The MDT also quipped. “Why do I only come across weirdos after meeting you?”

Hao Ren had no response to that and followed Wuyue to fiddle around with the weird contraptions in the room.

It did not take long for him to get bored of it. Advanced technology naturally led to things being simplified. Even the high-tech MDT of his could be operated by Lily or Vivian through thought alone. Most of the gadgets in the ship were also operated by highly advanced AI with an extremely simplified guiding principle. Most of them could be operated by thought alone and even the more complicated ones could easily be explained by the MDT. The fun of tinkering disappeared rather quickly.

“It’s a craft for civilian use after all,” Y’zaks said as he beckoned them towards him. “I heard that every universe has many intelligent races and with the vastness of the void, the way one race perceives things would definitely differ from the other. As such, those in charge of creating and researching tools for daily use would try to simplify things. Some even come with tutorials, hands-on at that. Some are even more advanced; you just tell it what you want and it’ll do whatever is needed.”

The MDT suddenly sprang out of Hao Ren’s pocket and it’s voice beamed with pride. “Yes, yes, I’m just like that. But, my access is limited to civilian areas or decommissioned military items. Anything more advanced would not be so simple.”

The three of them were bored by then and Wuyue wanted to explore the ship to see how an alien spacecraft actually looked like. It did not take more than 30 minutes for her to be sent back to the room. Not because she had went into an off-limits area. The poor lass got loss the moment she stepped out of the passenger cabin. The inner parts of the ship was almost a labyrinth, with odd signs here and there that lead to nowhere. If it was not for some personnel who were stationed at important parts of the ship, the siren would have probably walked into the boiler room and turned into dried fish.

…Guess you could call it a wanderer’s ability?

For the sake of doing something during his maiden interstellar travel as well as Y’zaks suggesting it for the second time, the three of them started playing Landlord…

…Until the ship entered the orbit of an Earth-like planet.