Occupants neutralized.
Initiating molecular scan.
Singular occupant found compatible.
Initiating SCANT (Symbiotic Cellular Alteration Nano Technology)
Integration complete.
Initiating Revival.
Cyrus slowly cracked open one eye, then the other. Blinking, he allowed them to adjust to the brightness of the room. The ceiling above him was the same slightly shiny white material he had noticed before with its gray alternating patterns. Seeing it again triggered his brain to recall all the events that had transpired since he'd stepped away from his apartment.
His heart immediately began pounding harder in his chest, feeling as though it wanted to jump right out through his ribcage. He could feel his own sweat leaking through his clothing and pooling on the surface where he now lay. It wasn't the floor where he'd lost consciousness but rather something slightly elevated, his back possibly on some type of table.
Attempting to move his hands and feet, he found them bound tight. He lifted his head to take in the rest of the room, trying to see what was around him, to figure out what was happening. He’d heard too many rumors and jokes about alien probes to feel comfortable and feared he was about to become the experimental toy of the strange creatures that had attacked him before.
But upon scanning the room, he saw that he wasn't the only occupant.
Nearby, on what appeared to be futuristic hospital beds—hovering platforms with small pads and displays around the edges—lay the green creatures that had attacked him. They, too, were unconscious and bound. The sight, while initially unsettling, offered a small measure of relief to his frantic mind.
His panic, fueled first by his own predicament and then by the memory of his attack, began to recede, replaced by confusion. 'If those creatures weren't the ones who took me,' he wondered, 'then who did? And why are we all being treated the same way?'
The memory of being attacked by these creatures was raw and recent, occupying the forefront of his mind. But, in a strange contradiction, his body didn’t feel injured. He knew he’d been scratched and bitten numerous times and in numerous places, yet his body either wasn’t registering pain, or he had been unconscious long enough for the injuries to heal. The latter, though, brought an entirely new slew of "what ifs" to his already chaotic thoughts.
Cyrus felt like screaming in frustration and anger, but he knew that would more than likely just alert their captors or wake the little green guys, so he kept his inner frustrations silent.
Mrs. Norris had always encouraged him to scream when he was upset, usually into a pillow. Keeping his feelings bottled up like this was uncomfortable and caused his anxiety to increase, but he knew now was not the time to contemplate his years of therapy. Although, if he ever got back, his therapy sessions would be taking a completely different turn.
So far, he hadn't seen anyone or anything here other than the small, green, Goblin-looking aliens. 'Goblins, like those are real!' his mind chuckled at the thought. Of course, he had played numerous games involving Goblins; they were always low-level monsters, evil, and generally stupid. While these creatures fit the build, he couldn’t bring himself to accept that he was being held on some alien ship along with actual Goblins. Some things were just too absurd and illogical to be true.
He looked at the one closest to him. It was one he hadn't noticed before. This one looked like it had small breasts. It also had stringy brown hair instead of the bald noggins of the others, so Cyrus had to assume it was female. A large chunk was missing from the ear closest to him. Its ears were long and pointy, with a membrane attaching them to its head, making them look almost bat-like.
He looked further down the body and noticed this creature only had four fingers. It wasn't similar to an animal, in that it didn't have a thumb, but it looked more like it didn't have a pinky. Each of the fingers was roughly the same length and ended in poorly cared-for nails that didn’t grow from the top like a human's but grew from the end like a small talon.
His eyes wandered down past the sack that she was wearing to her slender, yet knobby legs, which ended in a pair of overly large feet, at least for her small stature.
The feet were odd, like the beings' hands, but in a different way. There were only four toes, similar to the hands, and the nails resembled talons in the same way. But unlike the rest of the creature, the feet were thick, almost blocky, possibly webbed like a duck's foot, and hairy.
Not as hairy as the top of her head, but there was a fair amount of dark brown fuzz sprouting along the top and side of her feet. Cyrus hadn't seen any hair anywhere else on these creatures—although he hadn't looked—and thankfully, their private parts were relatively covered. However, their arms, legs, and faces were all smooth and devoid of hair, even eyebrows.
Cyrus’s mind began to accept more and more that what he was actually looking at was indeed a Goblin. They seemed to fit all the descriptions he had associated with them. The thought was incredibly ludicrous, and even if he named them with the fantastical race’s moniker, there was no way they would call themselves Goblins. But the term ‘alien’ didn’t seem to fit either, and nothing else came to mind as he studied them.
He was about to turn his head back to look at the ceiling and ponder what was happening to him, his sense of hopelessness and despair overtaking his curiosity, when a strange buzzing sound caught his attention.
At first, he thought there must be some kind of flying insect near his ear, but the noise intensified and seemed to fill the entire room. There was a quality to the noise that reminded him of tuning an old FM radio through stations too far away to be heard clearly. It was almost as though there were voices or sounds just beyond his perception.
The strange interference continued for several seconds, and then, just like finally finding a strong station, the noise transitioned from static to an actual sound.
‘I am the cognitive automation mechanism of this ship, what your species more commonly refers to as an artificial intelligence,’ the voice seemed to echo through Cyrus's head, yet there was no echo to be heard.
The voice continued to speak, and Cyrus realized the sound wasn't coming from any external source; he was hearing it inside his own head. ‘My previous designation would be unpronounceable in your language. Do you wish to give me a new designation at this time?’
Cyrus blanked. It was as if his mind emptied of all knowledge he might have had. All the games he had played and all the AIs within them, the discussions he had with people online, with Mrs. Norris, the food he enjoyed, the memory of the disaster from his youth—everything simply vanished as he tried his best to understand what was going on, to understand what this voice inside his head was saying.
‘Do you need an extended interval of time for your choice, or would you like some suggestions?’ the voice spoke again. The sound of the voice was pleasant, androgynous, and virtually devoid of any accent that he could discern, yet there was also an almost mechanical quality to it as well, almost like the voice was being spoken over an old middle school intercom system.
‘Choices?’ Cyrus finally thought, not sure if he was asking himself what the word choices meant, or asking the voice in his head what the possible choices would be.
‘Possible choices, names and words gleaned from your memory which seem to offer relatively adequate options: Astra, Hoshi, Helios, Luna, Cortana, Wheatley, Navi,’ the voice continued, but Cyrus’s mind glommed onto one of the names in particular, although he wasn’t sure why.
‘Hoshi?’ Cyrus asked, his brain knowing the word from somewhere but not able to bring the meaning to mind. He was slowly coming to grips with what was going on, but it was as if his mind was playing catch-up with the situation.
‘Excellent choice,’ the voice said in his head. The buzzing sound from before flared in his mind once again, a sound like static which caused him to flinch.
When the voice spoke to him again, the robotic sound was gone. It no longer sounded as though it were being spoken through an old metal speaker, but instead like a human with a slightly Asian accent. ‘Thank you for naming me, Cyrus. It is nice to have someone to communicate with again.’
Inside Cyrus’s mind, he stuttered out a response, his memories finally fully catching up as he realized exactly what was going on. ‘Uhh… you’re welcome?’
As the voice lightly chuckled in his head, Cyrus felt the bands holding him down disappear. He quickly brought his hands up to his eyes, both to verify he was free and to check for any damage he’d sustained from the earlier attack.
As he looked over his skin, he could tell exactly where the Goblins' claws and teeth had rent his flesh. Small white lines and little jagged circles now pocked his brown skin. But, amazingly, the wounds themselves had all healed. The melanin had yet to return to the freshly healed skin, so the sight reminded him of a reverse zebra, the jagged white lines cutting through the darker brown.
He slid his legs over the side of the platform, feeling it lower as he did so, allowing his feet to rest flatly on the floor. He glanced around to see if the same was happening for the other beings in the room, but his attention was quickly captured by an unreal figure now standing before him where nothing but a wall had been only a moment ago.
Draped in a long kimono, its flowing fabric a canvas resembling a darkened night sky filled with twinkling stars and comets, stood a figure that altered Cyrus's definition of humanity. The robe engulfed their true form, leaving only hands, face, and neck visible, but was suggested that it was structurally the same as he, with the same number of limbs and similar features, but it was also both more and less than human as well.
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For starters, the pallor of their skin was unnaturally pale, almost translucent. It had hair, which it wore pulled back into a sleek ponytail, but the color was unnatural, and beyond what he’d seen any type of dye or coloration could manage, a color only possible in something like a video game or creative art. It was a deep hue of sapphire, and it contrasted starkly against the sterile white and gray backdrop of the room, standing out like a gemstone atop a snowbank.
But it was their eyes that truly held Cyrus's gaze captive. Instead of the conventional white sclera surrounding a colored iris, their eyes were a haunting shade of pale blue, an only slightly paler version of their hair. That color filled the sclera and encircled an iris without a pupil. Instead, intricate lines with mobile intersections danced like a network of circuits in a mesmerizing pattern, pulsating with a seemingly electric type of energy.
‘Welcome, Cyrus, I am Hoshi, the Cognitive Automation Mechanism of this vessel. You are safe here. Is this form acceptable?’ the voice within his head asked.
Cyrus didn’t see the figure before him move their lips but instinctively knew it was the AI asking if this appearance was acceptable.
He was still entranced by what he saw. Like the images displayed on the screens in the room, the figure before him was digital, yet so much more. It was transparent, yet solid; the vivid colors and sharpness of the image were astounding, and Cyrus couldn't help but think in the affirmative, which the AI, Hoshi, apparently perceived and understood.
‘Excellent. I am glad you find this form pleasing,’ the AI said before continuing, ‘With that out of the way, I do need some direction from you concerning the other occupants,’ Hoshi's words entered his mind as the figure swept its arm wide to indicate the platforms still carrying the small green creatures.
Cyrus glanced at the Goblins, still unconscious and bound, their odd features highlighted by the soft, otherworldly light. He felt a mix of apprehension and curiosity towards them. Most had attacked him, and he wasn’t sure exactly what their intentions had actually been, but he also longed to know more about them. “What do you mean, direction?” he asked aloud, his voice shaky but gaining strength.
Upon asking the question, Cyrus was mentally bombarded with images and sounds. The entire sequence of events from when the Goblins first found the ship up until they left the mountain under which it was buried flashed through his mind. He quickly learned all there was to know about how this ship was unearthed, the generations of creatures that had done the work, and how they had arrived here, as well as how he himself had arrived.
The images showed the Goblins, which he now knew they did indeed call themselves, working throughout the years to remove the rock and debris surrounding the ship. He heard their voices, and as the strange mental movie played in his mind’s eye, he came to understand the basic language they used, in the same fashion as Hoshi had.
He then saw the taller Goblin place the visor on his head and felt the interface attempt to communicate with his simple mind, a mind severely lacking in spatial awareness and completely unable to interface with Hoshi properly. This brief interaction had caused a strange cascading effect to trigger through the ship’s systems, leading to the initial JUMP.
Now Cyrus saw, or rather interpreted the data in his mind into a visual representation, of the ship’s sensors scanning for a particular chemical makeup buried deep within the DNA of any living creatures within range. The last image was of himself as seen from above as a teleportation beam locked onto his location and brought him to this room.
The mental movie ended, and Cyrus staggered back, reeling from the massive amount of information just dumped into his mind. He winced and grabbed his head, sucking in air as he rocked backward from the massive spike of information forced into his brain.
He fell back onto the bed and took several moments to reconcile the added memories he’d just gained. The massive amount of data was more than he had room for; it encompassed a time frame longer than his short twenty-four years. It was almost like living twice as long as he already had, but as a completely different being, one whose senses differed from his own, yet somehow he could still interpret.
The alien senses, those which had come from the ship, were much more detailed and full than what human senses could feel. The multiple spectrums of radiation, the frequencies of waves, the minuscule vibrations, everything but taste was encompassed in the ship's sensors. Even a sense of smell was lodged in, although luckily it was more of the composition of the surrounding atmosphere than an actual sense, for which Cyrus was grateful, seeing how the ship was locked in an underground cavern filled with less than sanitary Goblins for years.
As Cyrus finally sat back up, his mind somehow parsing the information and allowing him to once again feel things in his normal human way, Hoshi continued.
‘It is good that you were able to assimilate and recover from the sensor data provided. This is encouraging,’ the AI said. ‘Although you will need training before you can properly pilot this ship.’
Cyrus took a moment to digest that last line and was about to start asking questions, but Hoshi continued, cutting him off mid-thought.
‘There are many repairs required. There is also your need for sustenance. Since I no longer have the power to transport any other beings here, nor can the ship move further from its current location without these needs being met, these beings will have to be your crew. The ship requires positions for security, administration, engineering, and several other positions which I believe these Goblins will need to fill. They must fulfill the necessary roles and work to recover this ship if you want to survive and/or leave,' Hoshi explained. 'There is also the acquisition of materials and collection of energy which needs to be dealt with in order to properly maintain yourself, the Goblins, and this ship.’ The AI finally paused for a moment.
‘They do not have the intelligence or genetic makeup to establish a proper interface with my system, so it will be up to you to be the intermediary. However, the SCANT which I have integrated into both their physiology and yours can slowly alter their genetic makeup, making them into acceptable crew members as well as giving you all the intelligence and physical wellbeing required to man the Cosmic Sentinel,’ they said with what felt to Cyrus’s mind like an exasperated sigh.
This was all too much for Cyrus to take in. The new information, on top of the downloads and everything else he had experienced was overwhelming. It felt as though his mind was being stuffed full, torn apart, and squashed all at the same time; it was all too much, and he literally felt as though he was under attack.
Ever since he had stepped out of his door, it had been an unending barrage of new sensations, knowledge, and information. This was exactly why he didn’t leave his home. Thoughts of his quiet, orderly life flitted through his mind in a desperate attempt to find the peace he felt there.
For the first time in what felt like forever, he listened and desperately wanted to hear the differing opinions from inside his head. Also for the first time in what felt like forever, they were silent, keeping their opinions to themselves, which left him wondering what he should do.
‘Okay, so being abducted by a sapient spaceship and then being attacked by Goblins isn’t the exact scenario that kept me locked inside my apartment,’ his own mental voice said, trying to reconcile what was happening, ‘But not everything that’s happened to me today can be directly attributed to me stepping out my door.’
The sentiment was unusual for him, and attempting to figure things out without the added dual voices normally whispering to him was odd and felt slow. He couldn’t explain why it felt unusual, but it did. Like this was the first time he’d had to deal with things all on his own, and it was frightening.
He slowly worked through the memories and the information provided to come up with a response, an answer to Hoshi’s questions. Instead he ended up asking, “Okay… so you can change their DNA because you put something into them? And that same thing, the… SCAN, or whatever… it’s, is in me too?”
Cyrus wasn’t sure if this was the right question or whether this was where he wanted the conversation to go, but it was what came out of his mouth.
‘SCANT is the acronym for the Symbiotic Cellular Alteration Nano Technology. It is what was contained within the mist I engulfed the room in, although you were unconscious at that time, so would not have known that.’ Hoshi explained, ‘The mist also caused a neurological shutdown, similar to what you would call anesthesia, to happen to the Goblins.’
‘These nanites can make changes to DNA at a cellular level, causing rapid evolution. This is why I need your direction,” Hoshi said, looking directly at Cyrus. “With your guidance, I can begin the process of modifying these Goblins’ DNA so that they will have the intelligence to perform the tasks you assign them. The SCANT also allows communication through neural networking, so there is no need to change the language you are speaking to communicate. This neural networking is also how we are able to communicate with each other without the need for actual vocalization, although that will not be possible with the Goblins due to their unusual makeup of DNA and brain structure.”
Cyrus took a deep breath, trying to digest this new information. “So, you’re saying I have these nanites in me too? And they can change my DNA as well?”
“Yes, the SCANT is integrated into your physiology as well. However, the alterations to your DNA will be minimal and primarily focused on enhancing your neural capacity and interface capabilities with the ship since your DNA profile is within acceptable parameters,” Hoshi responded, her voice calm and reassuring.
Cyrus's mind raced. The idea of having his DNA altered was both fascinating and terrifying. He thought he would welcome the assistance it could provide but was afraid of what exactly it could change. If it made him smarter and stronger, he was all for it, but if it made him look or act differently, he wasn’t sure if he would find that acceptable.
He pushed that thought aside for later. He needed to focus on the task at hand. “And these Goblins… you want me to help them become… smarter? To help run this ship?”
“Precisely,” Hoshi said. “They will become your crew, and through your guidance and the SCANT’s capabilities, they will gain the necessary intelligence and skills to assist you in maintaining and piloting this vessel.”
Cyrus felt awash with anxiety. The thought of transforming these creatures and essentially leading them was daunting. On the other hand, to learn that he too was going to be altered was more than a little disturbing. Thoughts of becoming some mindless drone tickled the back of his mind. But there was also a spark of excitement at the challenge of being on an actual spaceship, with the idea of meeting aliens, of actually flying! ‘The AI, it said I was the only one with the DNA to fly this ship,’ he thought to himself as his curiosity and sense of adventure began to win out over his fear.
“But, what can I provide that you can’t? I mean, you know what they need to know, so why not just go ahead and change them yourself?” Cyrus asked, not fully understanding what Hoshi wanted of him, but more fully accepting the idea.
‘While I have already started boosting their general knowledge base, I am incapable of directly interfacing with them in an efficient way to determine which skills and knowledge will best fit with their personalities. My connection to them is minimal at the moment; the SCANT symbiosis is moving slower due to their foreign makeup. Therefore, it will be much easier and more efficient for you to determine which roles each Goblin will be best at fulfilling. Once these roles are established, I can modify the learning process and the more refined adjustments can begin,’ Hoshi explained.
Cyrus placed his head in his hands and shook his head. This was a lot of responsibility being placed on him. When playing in groups within his VR games, he was never the leader. He was more of a support character, or a tank, but never a leader or strategist. This was a role he was very uneasy in.
The bright side was that he thought he could fly pretty well in some of the simulators he had played, and had always had the desire to learn to fly, but his anxiety kept him from pursuing that on Earth. He reluctantly decided that having some leadership role was part of being a good ship’s pilot and accepted the responsibility.
“Okay, how do we start?” he asked after accepting his new role.
Hoshi's holographic form seemed to smile. ‘First, we must awaken them and begin the initial assessment. I will guide you as best I can through the process. Together, we will assess each individual's strengths and talents so that they can be best utilized.’
Cyrus nodded, still feeling the weight of everything that had happened, but now with an added sense of duty starting to form within him. This new reality was slowly coming into focus. He wasn’t sure if, once the ship was repaired, he’d be able to get back home, but for now, that had to be his ultimate goal. While exploring space was fun in the movies, he wasn’t sure if it were something he’d want to actually do in person.
However, a small part of his perception began to change, and he wondered if it were the SCANT making the idea of living away from his apartment more appealing. ‘Would I maybe be better off making this my new home?’ his internal voice from earlier asked, its voice now slightly stronger than last time.
Memories of TV shows and movies about outer space and the adventures undertaken by the crews on spaceships passed through his mind, making him slightly more excited and less afraid of this possible new world he found himself in.
