Alien Collaboration

The vessel had come to realize that it was not only beings with anomalous energy forms that made their homes on this island, beings from other times, beings from other planets made their homes here as well, beings that could have perhaps managed to help it repair far more efficiently, for the time being its repairs were far too slow and the vessel was unwilling to wait around three hundred human years for its hull to repair.

It had sent out a message to one of those unusual lifeforms that it had already discovered, an invitation printed onto an unusual material that the alien woman it had met would be able to identify from simple touch as at least Psuedo organic, thankfully after their first encounter the vessel had recorded an imprint of the alien genetic material.

Of course there was something different about locating the person the vessel was seeking and getting a message to them, thankfully however after discovering that the inhuman female seemed to spend time around a large concentration of anomalous energy the delivery of the message was much easier.

It had approached one of the students of the academy in its humanoid form, giving her the message and describing the person it sought, the Vessel had then turned back to the shore and waded into the ocean, eventually submerging without a single bubble escaping its lips, but as it descended it began to enlarge, slowly retaking its natural shape, displacing the water about it only slowly. A small disk of black metal though was left on the beach, a metal that was an interesting blend of metal and chitin! The instructions left for Cytus would instruct her on how to activate the transport disk, and if she were to stand upon it a ring of soft green light would encircle Cytus' feet before it lifted from the sand and began to make its way into the water! The light would protect Cytus from the water as it proceeded towards the now submerged ship!

Cytus would soon be able to make out the outline of the immense dark ship off the shore as the disk descended in a controlled manner, there were no lights on within the vessel that the alien would be able to see, although as she drew closer she would be able to make out sizable holes within the vessels hull! A number of small, almost virulent green lights flickered on around a circular doorway set close to the Bow of the ship, it was towards that ring of green light that Cytus would be shuttled!

The door before her would iris open and the Ry'leh would accept the alien woman inside, draining its landing bay as best it could, although a significant amount of water would still be pooling about Cytus' ankles as the ships lights came on within the landing bay, a handful of smaller vessels were berthed here as well, but they too looked to be in a state of disrepair.

"Welcome aboard the Ry'leh, the first true exploration and science vessel commissioned by the Makosian Dominion, this vessel is badly damaged and requires your assistance, please proceed through the door and follow the lighting, this vessel will answer any questions you may have."

The vessel illuminated a path deeper into its structure, carefully guiding its guest around any damaged segments, however the vessel led the alien past many sealed doors, each one labelled in what would likely be the Makosian Dominions language, but the vessel was quick to respond to the questions and statements posed by Cytus.

The voice, while perhaps a little intimidating considering the fact that it seemed to come from every direction, but it was a feminine voice, it was softly spoken so as to come over as more subservient, the voice was compiled based on what it had learned of human social norms, but for the Aenar the Ry'leh did not know whether the effort would be appreciated.

"This vessel was intended for long term habitation and long term detailed analysis, as such this vessel was designed to remain in space for upwards of thirty human years, breeding and child rearing aboard was common, in addition there are specialized laboratories aboard this vessel for many different disciplines such as Xenobiology, Xenoarchaeology, Stellar cartography, Materials analysis and much more, this vessel was designed to be inhabited by a large crew, current compliment however... Is Zero"

If Cytus was willing to follow the lights as they led deeper into the vessel they would eventually stop at a single, circular door, as Cytus approached it would Iris open and the alien woman would be treated to a remarkable, spherical room, as she proceeded inside however she would be treated to a remarkable rendering of the planetary system that had been the home of the Makosian Dominion!

As the door irised closed behind her the lights around her flickered out, but a holographic display was projected around Cytus, stars, nebulae, some more defined than others swam past her vision, the Ry'leh projected its course from its home, revealing the fact that its drive had cut out in the outer reaches of the Earths solar system and it had drifted from then on.

"This vessel was commissioned in the star system known as Gliese 832c According to human star charts, as to this vessels intentions, this vessel was originally intended to carry the last survivors of the Makosian Dominion to a life bearing planet detected in this planetary system, however an accident occurred on route and all crew were eventually terminated. As for your assumption you are partially correct, this vessel contains multiple neural cores intended for specialization along with a central core for executive functions.

However this vessel is curious as well, might this vessel ask for your planetary system of origin as well? Your Biochemistry is unknown and your species is not listed on this vessels systems, if you are willing this vessel would also be capable of analyzing your genetic make up for addition to this vessels catalogs as well as for future medical treatment that you may require."

Pragmatic at the very least, humans surely didn't know how to deal with alien physiology after all, but a ship that had specialized Xenobiology facilities would doubtless be useful! Even if it did mean subjecting herself to medical examinations!

"This vessel also wonders, what means did you use to travel to this planet? This vessel is curious about other space travel methods and other materials used for vessels designed for interstellar travel"

For a moment the vessel sat in silence as it processed the information the alien woman had provided it, that was an insane amount of distance, even for the ship to consider! Its state of the art Hyperdrive generator was nowhere near powerful enough to travel that far in any reasonable amount of time! It paused, the shock was almost tangible, but the vessel recovered quickly!

"Hyperspace Radiation, this vessel contains a state of the art Hyperdrive generator, a new form of technology developed by the Makosian Dominion for our exploration of space, however prolonged exposure to the exotic environment of Hyperspace caused deleterious effects to sentient life forms, madness was an initial symptom, followed by murderous intent and paranoia, many of this vessels crew murdered others, those that survived suffered genetic anomalies that led to liquefaction"

The vessel was beyond impressed with the information that the alien woman, this Aenari creature had regarding its vessels propulsion! The ability to travel so far, so quickly without causing death or degradation to its crew was something it needed to acquire.

"This vessel is curious about the state of your own Echelon class vessel, is it still operational or has it suffered extensive damage? Your vessels propulsion systems are far superior to this vessels own, analysis of your vessels technology may assist in self repairs"

But the Aenari had given permission to be analyzed! The scientific core of the vessel hummed in delight and the lights again returned, the cartographic display began to fade and Cytus was once again shown a path to travel. This time the ship would lead towards a ramp that led lower into the vessel, unlike human designs there were no stairs, no elevators to move between floors, instead sweeping, gently curving ramps led from deck to deck, at least this is how it would appear to Cytus, there were teleportation systems built into many of the decks allowing for rapid travel, but in its damaged state it couldn't vouch for the integrity of Cytus' body when she was rematerialized, thankfully it had discovered the damage to its transporter systems while transporting aboard a specimen from Manta Carlos earlier so it was unwilling to risk using that technology until more repairs had been done.

"This vessel apologizes for the state of its systems and the lack of maintenance, under normal operational circumstances this vessel would be able to provide more rapid means of transport between decks, however with such extensive damage and disrepair many functions are being discontinued for safety of guests"

Finally the vessel opened yet another of the irising, circular doors for Cytus, exposing the Specimen containment chamber, one of the many labs within the ship, as Cytus progressed deeper into the vessel Cytus would likely be surprised at the odd 'tang' that the air contained, almost a citrus like quality but it was remarkably fresh, as though some natural process generated the air within this artificial structure!

The room that was revealed to Cytus was filled with a number of containment cylinders, transparent tubes that traveled from close to the floor to the ceiling, a black metallic cap on both the top, and the bottom of the tube but thankfully they were all empty, affixed to the outside of each one was a thin membrane in a rectangular shape, approximately at head height.

As Cytus was led into the Containment chamber one of the thin membranes attached to one of the unusual tubes held a number "R-010/1" And an image of a rather attractive womans face! If Cytus had ever met a Dryad perhaps she would have recognized various facial features, the face however seemed to be suffering from glitches, static that danced across the image and if Cytus had ever met the Dryad known as Açaí she would doubtless recognize the girl!

Small, embedded lights above and below each tube that shone with only the dimmest white lights, but a strange looking triangular stool sat beside the door that Cytus entered through, it looked like the only entrance and exit to the room and that stool sat before what looked like a computer, this computer however was dark, two keyboards sat before what Cytus would likely be able to identify as the 'monitor' and each keyboard was placed where one of a humans hands would be if they spread their hands before the monitor, offering two, discrete input points. The symbols on the keyboards however were most definitely not human.

The lights about the pods were soon joined by a growing yellowish light that shone from above, the room was large, so large in fact that it was almost impossible to see the source of the light, if Cytus had to guess she would likely think the light came from the entire ceiling, but it stopped when it reached a level that was comfortable for her eyes, that allowed her to see, but did not blind her.

"Please proceed into one of the unoccupied containment units and this vessel will perform the appropriate scans, if you wish you may disrobe before entering"

"Specimen containment unit prepared for genetic analysis, please step forward when ready"

As the vessel addressed its newest guest one of the containment units began to separate from the 'end cap' set into the ceiling, it retracted completely into the floor and waited for Cytus to step forward! The moment the alien female stepped into the confining circle on the floor the transparent material rising, at first allowing Cytus to see out and into the room she had left, but as the transparent tube rose from the floor a thick, gelatinous substance, almost with the consistency of thin Earth Jello began to rise from the floor, within moment Cytus would be completely encased in the containment unit and that gelatinous, almost luminous green substance was reaching her shoulders! Soon it would submerge even her head and Cytus would possibly find with some surprise that she could still breathe in that liquid environment even as her own bodies processes drew it inside her, as it rose it filled Cytus' lungs, her stomach, it was taken in by her system, but once the tube was completely filled Cytus would note a small spark of blue light on her skin through the green gelatinous substance, it flickered through the material and was soon joined by others, sparks that flickered and played upon her body before passing through it!

<div align=right><Analysis commencing>
<Scanning specimen, race designate: Aenari>
<Compiling Internal imaging scans>
<Compiling Internal imaging scans of Bio-Cybernetic implants>
<Archiving Genetic information and Internal scans>
<Running predictive algorithms, extrapolating Aenari Physiology without Bio-Cybernetic modifications>
<Archiving results>
<Error: Anomalous energy signature detected>
<Anomalous energy signature: Unknown subset>
<Scan complete></div>

It would continue for the space of perhaps ten seconds as those lights played across the Aenari's form, flickering sparks flickering into existence before winking out just as quickly, some passing through her, some simply travelling across her body before winking out, conveying the information they gathered to the system so it could be collated and Archived.

On the front of the Containment chamber that the Aenari was being scanned in the rectangular membrane began to change, text filling the left hand side and an image of her face blossoming on the right as the vessel performed its work. "U-000/1 Specimen race: Aenari" Much like the sign on the front of the pod that the Dryad had been analysed in earlier the face beside the text on the nameplate seemed a little distorted, a little run through with the odd visual artifact that conveyed just how damaged the ship was!

But with its scans completed the vessel spoke in a reassuring tone, the gelatinous material draining once more through specialised vents in the floor of the containment unit.

"Thank you for your co-operation"

The response seemed almost automatic, much more... Machine like than the vessels usual flowing, if oddly structured speech, this was an ingrained response that it saved for most of the specimens it scanned, whether it had abducted them or they had allowed the ship to scan their physiology voluntarily.

It allowed Cytus to step out of the containment unit when its draining cycle was almost complete, letting the transparent cylinder retreat into the deck once again, once Cytus had cleared it though the cylinder would rise once again, displaying the text and graphic of her face to the Aenari.

"Results have been archived, would you like to review the results of your scan? As the only member of your species this vessel has encountered this vessel has no baseline to compare results with, this vessel has also performed an extrapolation based on your genetic materials and has produced a rendering of an Aenari female without Bio-cybernetics, do you wish to review that extrapolation and make alterations?"

Truth be told the vessel was curious how close its extrapolation had come, it should have been very accurate, but it had never really had the chance to explore its Xenoarchaeological abilities before. Extrapolating the shape and nature of a being from its genetic samples was a source of pride for the vessel, but with all the damage it had taken it couldn't be sure its processes were functioning properly!

"Once you have redressed perhaps you would enjoy a tour of this vessels regenerative systems? If you are capable of assisting in repairs to this vessel the auto repair systems would be one of the best places to begin, once this vessels regenerative functions are fully operational regeneration of the damage sustained should proceed at a faster and more efficient rate."

The Ry'leh was proud that its predictive analysis systems were not as damaged as it had thought, with the information it had compiled and the predictive systems results it was entirely possible that it could now attempt to clone an Aenari for future study... Although at the moment cloning facilities were far more damaged than the simple specimen containment units, even the Makosian medical bay that normally would have allowed the vessel to prepare cloned organs was far too damaged to perform further analysis, and the Ry'leh, judging it's guest to be of at least a category three civilisation based on the speed of her vessel would be unable to perform such experiments without Cytus' permission anyway!

"Your medical database and any scientific information that you may have aboard your vessel, including star charts would be greatly valued, any translation keys between the human languages and your own would also be greatly valued, this vessel has compiled translation keys between Makosian and many Earth languages, translation between Aenari and this vessels own systems would be a simple matter with the appropriate keys"

The vessel illuminated a small control pad beside the door to the Specimen containment unit as Cytus expressed her curiosity in the additional systems of the vessel.

"This vessel is extending temporary guest access to you for your co-operation and assistance so far, please commit the following sequence to memory"

A sequence of six symbols lit up, one at a time on the control console but the ship paused then, waiting for Cytus to enter it before opening the door for her, with an access code of her very own it seemed the ship was intending to allow Cytus future visits, this was not a one off tour it seemed!

"This access code will permit you access to any unrestricted rooms within this vessel, however tactical systems and damaged regions of this ship will primarily remain completely sealed for your own safety."

The vessel led Cytus from the Specimen containment room guiding her through the twisting hallways that made up its impressive, but absolutely inhuman structure, while humans preferred long straight designs, long straight corridors and square, or rectangular rooms the Makosians it seemed favoured curving corridors, curving, rounded rooms and sleek lines, it was perhaps not the most efficient design ever, but the ship seemed to have been designed with more than function in mind, Aesthetics was definitely a factor here!

"This vessel is a hybrid design, it was designed on Makosian terminals and converted into a synthetic life form, the hull and interior design grew according to Makosian Aesthetic constraints but with a psuedo random pattern which ensured that all vessels had a different layout, this vessels hull is comprised of a chitin that includes many refined materials and elements designed to protect the crew from impacts, pressure or the lack of pressure found on alien worlds and in space respectively, interior air supply is processed using on board purifiers first before being pumped through the Gardens. In addition the waste and water purification systems use combinations of on board processes and natural filtration systems to provide an environment found to be more conducive to the sensibilities of Makosians and Humans."

It didn't know about the Aenari, but for the moment it was just trying to convey a few facts to Cytus as it led her through its winding corridors, for many beings the ships layout could very well have been rather disorienting, but thanks to the vessel being able to guide those within it using light strips overhead or along the walls so far no one had ever been lost for too long! It liked to distract its guests too, giving them new things to think about as they wandered wherever it wanted them.

Finally Cytus would reach a small, inset nook in the wall, the lights stopped here, illuminating a circular, metallic pad much like the one that had brought Cytus to the ship in the first place, if Cytus stepped onto the pad, recognising it for what it was the vessel would activate the transport pad, lifting it from the ground and increasing the speed by which the Aenari would be able to travel, she might have been enjoying the walk, but the next stop on their little tour could be reached a bit more efficiently via the floating pad. If on the other hand Cytus didn't step on the pad by herself the Ry'leh would encourage her to do so.

The little floating pad would carry Cytus through the winding corridors of the Ry'leh, passing a good number of doors, exploring this vessel would take a great deal of time, and without the consciousness behind the vessel it would be so easy to get lost here!

"This vessel welcomes you to Mid-deck, Green sector regeneration control and secondary engineering nexus."

The pad began to slow, and the corridors about Cytus began to widen, when the ship had been fully crewed these sections she now passed through had been engineering and materials applications labs, places where the Makosians were able to work on applying new materials and new compounds to engineering challenges, who knew what half built treasures lay behind these doors... Still the pad drifted on before coming to a stop, descending noiselessly to the deck before allowing Cytus to disembark, the keypad to the side of the door illuminated itself and the vessel was curious to see if the Aenari woman would enter her new access code, if not the ship would illuminate the keys in the appropriate sequence and allow Cytus to enter anyway.

The room she entered was a little more unusual, even when compared to the others she had seen so far, exposed material that looked a great deal like musculature, like veins and other fluidic transfer systems with perhaps a less obvious purpose pulsated along the far wall, a number of work stations, similar to the one Cytus had already seen in the Specimen containment room, but the place was in clear disrepair, several of the 'veins' had burst, revealing a strange, luminous green liquid that was draining through a grate that made up a majority of the floor in this room. Musculature seemed damaged, torn fibres awaiting the time they needed to reconnect and mend.

It seemed repairing this vessel was going to be part engineering know how and imaginative solutions, part medicine!