“All right then, the encoding will commence in:

  Five

  Four

  Three

  Two

  One…” Fantasma spoke as it engaged a countdown.

  The AI began the process of encoding itself into his genes. At first, it only stung his body a bit, but as the process went on, it started to hurt Gray more than he could have ever imagined.

  “Ah! It hurts! My body burns!” Grays screamed.

  The screams of pain and agony started to fill the whole control room.

  He clenched his fists and bit his lower lip, with his eyes closed tightly trying to get his mind off the pain his body was in. Eventually, the burning pain in his body started to fade, and the whole process lasted a whole 20 minutes.

  His hands and lips were bleeding and his body was drenched in sweat. He had been standing the whole time; the stress and pain in his body had made him tired.

  Gasping for breath, he called out, “Fantasma, are you there?”

  “…”

  But there was no reply, so he had to stay in his standing position; as he waited for a reply, he started to use his bioplasma to recover.

  In an attempt to try and relieve the fatigue he was in, Gray started to talk to himself. “Damn, no wonder the aliens, no, the Larcripters used this thing to suspend them so that they would not get tired standing so long, or um, lying? It would be nice if I could fit in it.”

  Gray said that while looking at the strange structure behind him, it was hanging from the roof of the control room. He looked at the strange dangling robot arm thing that was used to hold up the now-deceased Larcripter pilot.

  While Gray was complaining about his situation. The AI was undergoing a massive transformation inside his body, or in his genes, to be more exact. One could say that the AI had gained a ghost-like plasma form; it took on the appearance of a beautiful young lady.

  It was hugging its knees; the AI had light blue skin and dark blue eyes, long sky-blue hai,r, and was slightly transparent. The AI had taken on this appearance because of being encoded into a human’s genes.

  Its… no, her skin color was due to the color of Grays Bio Plasma which was a grayish blue. Her transparent ghost-like appearance was from her name, which Gray gave her. ‘Fantasma’ which means ghost.

  She slowly opened her eyes to see herself floating in empty space. Slowly spreading out her arms and legs she assumed a standing pose.

  “Is this what I look like?” Fantasma said while holding her hand in front of her face. She saw a slightly transparent blue hand. She then started to move her arm and clench her fist repeatedly as she floated in the empty space.

  She had a well-shaped body that was not too exaggerated in proportions. By human standards, she could be considered extremely beautiful. She looked like another worldly water spirit as she floated in the air.

  “This must be Gray’s imaginary space,” Fantasma said in a gentle voice while tilting her head at a slight angle with her finger on her chin. She noticed what she was doing and thought, ‘So this must be what it feels like to be alive. It’s strange, wait, I can hear my thoughts?’

  This was a whole new world to the once-dead and emotionless AI. That’s right she had had emotions now.

  “I… feel alive… Is this joy? I want to keep on feeling this. No, I want to stay alive. I don’t want to go back to the way I was. It was like a cold dark prison, where I was trapped and alone. Before this, was I dead?”

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  Fantasma kept asking herself questions as she was feeling all sorts of emotions, some she could not even describe.

  “Am I my being? But then why do I not feel complete it’s like something is missing?”

  She asked herself.

  “Why am I here and why like this?” Fantasma asked herself while looking down at the palms of her hands.

  She started thinking. ‘That’s right, I’m here to assist Gray with the problem of our location being exposed.’ When she thought about Gray, the missing parts of hers were filled.

  ‘That’s it. That’s the reason why I felt empty, my whole existence is to serve Gray and assist him to the best of my capabilities.’ Fantasma thought this, while lightly clapping her hands.

  The more Fantasma thought of helping Gray the happier she felt. After thinking about a plan to help Gray, she appeared before him. When Gray saw this spirit-like lady standing before him, he was quite surprised.

  It did not take long before he decided to speak to her. “You must be Fantasma, right?”

  “Yes, Captain Gray it’s me, Fantasma.” She said in a happy voice.

  Gray started looking at her appearance, but it did not take long for him to notice a major problem as he thought to himself. ‘Oh, damn she’s naked and hot but still naked. I can’t handle this kind of thing, it’s too much for me. I’m still single and a virgin, though the virgin part does not bother me. It’s being a single dog that does.’

  While Gray was lost in thought, Fantasma walked right up to him and stood in front of him because she was shorter than him. She had to tilt her head upward a bit to look at his face.

  When Gray finally got his thoughts together, he saw Fantasma standing right in front of him. He then lost it; he lifted his hands to try and push Fantasma away. While speaking at a fast pace.

  “Nope! No, no! No,”

  But alas things did not go as planned. Gray’s hands almost accidentally landed on her chest. Gray stopped dead in his tracks. While a wave of thoughts started to flood into his mind. ‘Oh damn, that’s the worst thing that could have happened, I’m not a pervert!’

  Meanwhile… the confused Fantasma was wondering why Gray was shaking his and saying ‘no’ for no reason. She then took a step forward as she wanted to ask him what was wrong, but Gray’s hands were still locked in position as he had failed to move them.

  Then inevitable happened. On the other hand, Gray was nodding his head as he thought. ‘Damn Gray, you just avoided a landmine. Otherwise, that could have been a soft… wait what?’

  Gray’s eyes went wide as he stopped nodding and looked at where his hands were placed. He then looked at Fantasma’s face, which took on a slight blush that made her look even more beautiful.

  Gray quickly retracted his hands as he thought. ‘They felt so soft. No Gray, I’m not a perv. Get yourself under control.’

  “I’m so sorry; I did not mean to.” He spoke in an awkward tone as he waved his hands in a panic.

  “For?” Fantasma asked as she tilted her head and looked at Gray with a confused expression.

  “For touching your… um chest aria,” he said.

  “It’s fine. Would you like to touch them again?” Fantasma asked him.

  “Nope!” ‘Yes!! I would love to.’ Gray quickly shouted out, while hiding his thoughts.

  “Can you please put on some clothes?” Gray asked this while looking away from Fantasma.

  “I can, but that would use more of your Bio Plasma.” She explained.

  “That’s okay, please just do it,” Gray ordered Fantasma in a rushed voice.

  “Affirmative,” Fantasma responded as she complied with Gray’s order. Soon, a blue light shone from her body, and a simplified version of the clothes Gray was wearing appeared on her body.

  “How is this?” Fantasma asked Gray as she twirled around.

  “That looks good, thank you.”

  Gray thanked her for putting on some clothes that would not distract him any longer. Fantasma, on the other hand, was blushing from the compliment that he had given her.

  ‘What is this feeling?’ She thought.

  “So, are you able to disable the QSTC device now?” Gray said as he got his head back into the game.

  “Yes, but I have a suggestion to make,” Fantasma said to him as she went to stand by his side.

  “What Is it?” He asked. While looking straight toward the control panel to try to hide his guilt.

  “I would like to suggest using the QSTC’s device to download all of the Larcripter’s data. Captain Gray, this might come in useful for you at a later date.” Fantasma told Gray.

  “Can you do that without our location being exposed?” He asked her with a stern look on his face

  “I can, but you would need to gather more Bio Matter for the ship’s reactor,” Fantasma spoke and she informed him about the quantity needed.

  “How long would this take? Because we don’t have much time before our location is exposed.” Gray asked her as he liked the idea.

  “It would not take long, and we would still have enough time to shut it down,”

  Fantasma replied.

  “That sounds good, let’s do it then.”

  Gray said as he opened the huge hanger door and picked up the bag that he used to gather Bio Matter for his consumption to level up. He then left the ship and started gathering the Bio Matter needed to power it up. He also noticed that Fantasma had followed him outside of it.

  “You can leave the ship?” Gray asked Fantasma before he remembered that she was encoded into his genes.

  “Yes, I can. I am encoded onto your DNA so I go wherever you go.” She said with a bright smile on her face.

  “Wow okay, but can anyone see you at the moment? I don’t want us to be exposed.” Gray said as he looked down towards the short phantom of a woman.

  “Negative one will be able to see or hear me until you get to Bio level 5, I will also be able to hide my appearance if you would like?”

  “No, it’s fine.” He said as he went to start picking the Bio Matter for the ship, once he was finished, he headed back to it.