700 Lightyears away, aboard the Bloodbearer. Admiral José Rodriguez, now out of his wheelchair after a month of recuperation, stands inside an access tunnel deep within his ship’s bowels. No longer do his muscles appear gaunt and frail. While he has yet to ascend back to his former strength, he now possesses the body of…
One month later, in a star system 700 light-years from the Bloodbearer’s drifting shell. Inside a castle of stone and steel, built upon the edges of a vast and beautiful ocean world, a female Kraktol, ancient and wizened beyond her years, stands next to a giant glass window and gazes outside at the beautiful world…
"Great Precursor! We have come to assist you!" Two dozen Kessu trot toward Admiral Rodriguez’s wheelchair. Megla follows behind them, a look of irritation on her face. "Hey, don’t run in front of me! If I trip over your fat little bodies, I’m kicking all of you out of the damn airlock." "Hello, Megla," José…
Admiral José Rodriguez, the last living human in the galaxy, slowly rolls away from the Bloodbearer’s engine room in a wheelchair while contemplating his existence. The vessel’s dulled exosteel hallways don’t shine like they used to, nor do the distant sounds of people walking and talking reach his ears. Despite a hundred million years passing…
…………………………………. "Bllrr-frrbll! Order, gathered guests. Order!" Xis Excellency, Councilbeing Lorvon the Third, slaps a large grav-table with one of xis fifteen tendril-like appendages. The alien being, a creature lacking eyes but possessing an enhanced sense of smell, twitches xis sixteen face-proboscis erratically as xe blurbles out the order for the meeting to commence. All around…
It’s been a couple weeks and I’m still here on Earth, that pathetic mudhole the higher-ups are preparing to excavate. This planet is absolutely LOADED with diamonds, gold, and dirt! Wow, you would not believe how much dirt this planet has. We’re gonna strike it rich! But that’s not why I’m writing you. Nah, I…
"Admiral!" Soren says, her voice containing a note of alarm. She and Megla trot toward José as he rolls down the Bloodbearer’s primary connective corridor, arriving at his position after a few moments. "Are you alright? Your body seemed to be heavily injured when I last saw you." "I’m dandy," José grumbles. "Just wonderful." The…
José Rodriguez, the last living Terran, slowly opens his eyes. A plain metal ceiling, covered in plexi-steel tiles, sits some twenty feet above his face. The Admiral lays motionless on his back, his arms and legs held limp in a straight pose. A strange sensation swallows him, akin to floating on a gently undulating ocean…
[Hello, Admiral. The first stage of the Level Four Surgery is complete. You barely survived. How are you feeling?] Umi, the Bloodbearer’s synthmind, speaks telepathically to Admiral Rodriguez as he lays motionless on the cold, metal surgery table. The Admiral’s eyes slowly open and close. A thin, grey film covers his iris, making him see…
Three hours pass like the wind. José and Soren work together to repair over a hundred holo-transmitters throughout Medbay 003. By the time Umi finishes defragmenting the two doctors’ memories, the Admiral and his Kraktol assistant have already cleaned and sterilized the Medbay as well, putting it into pristine shape for the surgery. Umi speaks…
