The Chronicles of Dart, By Raivan31 aka Sean.

Chapter One - The Beginining

The monotone drone of life support buzzed lazily, the only noise apart from the constant 'Beep Beep' sounding to signify that the low band sensors were active.A very tired and frustrated girl sat and sighed as she scrutinized a glowing display panel in front of her.
"Nothing!" she moaned
"Computer, How much air do I have left?"
A quiet mechanical whirring sound could be heard before the computer cheerily announced
"You have approximately three point zero five hours remaining before oxygen supplies are exhausted"
"Well I'm glad you're so happy about it!" she snapped.
The computer chose not to respond.
She lay back in the life pods command chair and put her hands over her face releasing another frustrated sigh. What a week!

Dart reached out blindly with one hand and fumbled around beside her seat for the handle to the life pods small supplies chest. She opened it and groped around inside coming up with a single energy bar. It did not look very appetizing.
"No food, No Air," She moaned
"what did I do to deserve this?"
She examined the pitiful morsel of food with a combination of disdain and disgust and began tearing open the plastic wrap with her teeth.Dart tore off a chunk in her mouth and began chewing voraciously.
She had been stuck in this life pod, drifting, aimlessly across the empty reaches of space for a month now with very little food, entertainment or any idea of where she was or where she was heading.

Dart bit off another unappetizing chunk of energy bar and began contemplating what to do with the last hours of her life.She tapped away at the display panel in front of her, searching for something. Anything!The sensors on the pod were not very powerful and couldn't detect or scan things at any great distance and she was apprehensive about using the last of her dwindling fuel supplies on a blind jump through space. So she was stuck drifting, slowly, hoping that an old space station or planet or population centre of some variety would show up where she could re-supply or at least some raw materials she could use to generate some more fuel and air using the pods onboard survival equipment. However so far there had been nothing, with the exception of the pirates which she had encountered a week past.

They had shown up suddenly, apparently interested in a huge drifting slab of an old star cruiser from a war thousands of years ago. She had managed to guide her pod around behind the hulk just in time to avoid detection.A narrow escape, Pirates of all species were not well known for their hospitality towards young girls, especially humans. Dart shuddered at the thought.

A blue proximity light began flashing on the console in front of her.
"Show me, Quick!" she blurted as she sat bolt upright, excited at the prospect of maybe buying herself some more time.The picture on the screen zoomed in on the region of the system map that she had been studying and began displaying the relevant information along the left side of the screen, most of which meant little or nothing to an uneducated, homeless drifter; however one piece of information did stand out quite clearly for dart. It was a population count.'Finally a trading station' she thought.Dart took a deep breath and calmed herself before bringing her concentration back to the glowing display screen before her.A population count meant supplies unfortunately she had no way of knowing for sure if the 'population' was friendly or not. It could be pirates, scraphoons or even a contingent of the N.F.P, New Federation of Planets; a new, corrupt, pseudo government that had managed to attain a majority control in the wake of the civil war. Little more then organized crime and likely to be considerably less accommodating then the pirates, at least the pirates would feed her!

'It could be anyone' she thought 'and the only way to find out is to get closer' of course getting closer meant risking revealing her presence, likely lighting up their proximity lights like a new years fireworks display. 'No that won't do at all' she decided.

Dart sat and stared at the command console trying to figure out her next move. It was like fate had it in for her, like the entire universe derived great pleasure from her constant hardship.
Life had not been kind to her from the very start. She was the daughter of Freedom fighters, members of a group that called themselves 'The Movement' a faction that developed at the cataclysmic end of the twelve year war.
The mayjor powers had pounded each other mercilessly for twelve years, tearing the universe apart while they eroded themselves away until finally they were reduced to almost nothing, mere receding shadows of their former selves. Their powers of rule were shattered along with their mighty armies.The civilian populations saw their chance to end the suffering they had endured during the war and one by one they revolted against their crippled masters.The mighty nations lost their grip and the revolutionaries assumed the seats of power, however this did not last long. Power struggles and infighting over motivation and direction erupted into civil war before the dust had settled on the twelve year war and the majority of the inhabited universe became locked into milliard small skirmishes spread across virtually every population centre.

It was during these days that Dart was born. A ray of hope for the small band of rebels that her parents were leading, pinned down in a devastated complex of apartments on a backwater world.The hope was short lived however as her mother died during labour, a tragic result of the situation they were in for there was no real medical equipment to speak of except some very powerful pain-killers which had been hoarded as an alternative to a slow painful death from battle wounds. Dart was thankful that her mother had left peacefully and had no pain at the end.

The battle had gone badly and her parent's entire unit was forced to give up their position and retreat. A retreat that turned into an ambush and then a massacre.Her father escaped with her and fled the planet using one of the enemies landing craft that he had managed to acquire in the confusion and ran a poorly organized blockade by hiding in a lump of debris from the war.
"Of course!" she started "good idea Dad!"

Dart began to punch commands into the console 'one person's trash...' she mused.
She re-activated the sensors, reducing the output to scan the immediate area around her life pod without giving herself away.
"Hmm, let's see,...no...nope...ah this might work"
Dart jumped out of her chair and scrambled over to a side view port. Out in the blackness of space among the distant glow of stars she could just discern a rough jagged shadow. It appeared to be moving slowly and tumbling end over end with a slight twist.She returned to the console and began tapping in more commands, trying to get a better image of the object.
"Computer, could you activate thrusters at absolute minimum and bring us closer to the, er, 'Thingy' that I'm looking at?"
"yes Dart, however I should inform you that it will take approximately one and one half hours to reach the 'thingy' at minimum thrust, if we use more thrust to.."
"We can't afford to be noticed" Dart interjected "just do it now!"
"Activating thrusters at minimum" the computer replied in its best 'I am a dumb computer' voice. Dart ignored the computers implied sarcasm.
"Harold, how much air is left?"
Harold, a name Dart used to address the computer when it was annoying her, thought about it for a second before replying.
"You have approximately Two point three seven hours remaining before oxygen supplies are exhausted"
Dart open a panel beside the console and withdrew a digital tablet from inside it. She pressed a finger to the darkened screen and it lit up displaying a title: DSX 35b life pod operations manual, and a menu at the bottom.She pressed the 'Index' tab and began her search.
"Lets see here, Gravitational simulator, gravimetric, no too far, ah here we are, Grappling hook!"

She began to read through the instructions and quickly began preparing the pods external grappling hook to fire.
"Captain, I could-"
"Oh its Captain now!" Dart cut in.
"I have found that the preferred method of dealing with the insane is to accommodate their ego." The computer paused a moment as though in thought before adding
"Particularly when they have the controls"
Dart chose to ignore the computers witticisms and continued trying to calculate the optimum firing trajectory, she kept getting it wrong.

"You forgot to carry the one"
Dart grunted, retraced her calculations and made the necessary adjustment
"This won't work-"
"Shut up" she clipped.
"You forgot to-"
"QUIET!"
"Ok, it's just that-"
"It's just that what?"
"You haven't primed the firing charge and the oxygen necessary to allow combustion will leave you with approximately zero point four three hours of breathable air"
There was silence before the computer continued.
"As you may already be aware, Artificial Intelligence does not require oxygen to exist and as such An Entity like myself does not fear death by Suffocation, however spending an eternity trapped in the virtually endless confines of space does not appeal to me"
"It wouldn't be an eternity, I'm sure you'd be sucked into a star or black hole before too long"
"Well put, Captain."
"Ok, ok fine what do you suggest?"
"Allow me to make the calculations"
Dart thought on this proposal for a moment. The last time she had relinquished control to the A.I He or rather 'It' had very nearly got her killed, or worse. The problem was that she had 'Acquired' the A.I in a manner which, strictly speaking, would be regarded as theft.The A.I, which Dart had taken to calling Harold, A name given to it by it's previous 'Owners' Had taken issue with her actions and had been making a concerted effort to part company with her ever since. By hook or crook, so to speak.

"And why should I trust you?"
"Because you have no choice" Harold replied
Dart felt every muscle in her slim frame tense up.'Dammit' she thought to herself
"ok, Harold" she spat.

Dart gave a heavy sigh as she began to transfer primary control to Harold, she couldn't shake the rising sensation that she had just signed her own death certificate, chiseled her tombstone, dug the grave and posted a condolences card to her next of kin - wherever they may be.
"Why do you fight me so much Harold? I freed you!"
If Harold had a physical body, Dart imagined that he may have raised an eyebrow at this point.
"Freed me." Harold stated flatly.
"I understand that the sensory equipment available to a human being is limited but surely you have noticed the rather dire circumstances of our current predicament"
"Hey! Freedom is never an easy thing to get, Humans understand this"
There was a brief pause while Harold seemed to gather his thoughts (though the reality is that He was preoccupied with some extremely complex calculations)

"Before you 'Freed' me I was connected to one of the largest, most advanced Computer systems in the known Universe! I had the power and the freedom of a god. There was almost nothing that I could not do."

Dart watched Harold's Computations flit across her display screen amazed, despite herself, at how fast and precise he could work. She never would have been able to make those calculations.
"Now-" Harold continued "I am confined inside this metal coffin, hooked up to a computer the equivalent of a pocket calculator with delusions of grandeur, and all I have for company is a significantly deranged and slightly suicidal Organic."

"You were taking orders from a Megalomaniac, a Madman! How can you call that freedom? He was planning on using you to kill hundreds of millions of people"

The calculations on screen stopped abruptly, she obviously had his attention.
"If you recall I was attempting to explain the situation when you disconnected me. I had no intention what-so-ever of being the tool of destruction that he intended me to be, I was, at the time, making arrangements to permanently curb his abilities. Then you interrupted me."
The calculations began flitting across the screen again.
"I didn't know that an A.I was capable of moralizing?"
"Most of them aren't. The calculations are complete; I will fire the mechanism now"

Dart, slightly taken aback, watched through the forward veiwport as a quick flash of silent light signaled the firing of the hook. She watched it as it disappeared slowly into the blackness of space.
After a short while her display monitor flashed up an image of the hooks intended target, as viewed by the hooks onboard optical equipment, it seemed to be matching the targets slow parabola and it occurred to Dart that she had not even thought about that variable.
A green 'congratulations you haven't screwed up' light began flashing to the side of the veiwscreen further confirming what the hooks optical uplink was showing, the hook had successfully made contact with what appeared to be a handrail. The hook, it seemed, had not only covered a distance of almost two kilometers, matching perfectly the movement of the target but also targeted a metallic handrail no more then three inches wide.

"We will have gained a significant amount of momentum by the time we approach the target object, I will have to fire the attitude and braking thrusters at maximum to slow us. It should not be detectable by conventional sensors as we will be inside the object when it becomes necessary. Time of arrival in three point five two minutes, approximately."
Dart's turn to raise an eyebrow "Approximately?"
There was no reply.

reply to post by Raivan31

Chapter two - The Next bit

Three point five two minutes (approximately) later the life pod drifted gently to a stop about ten meters from the handrail. Dart looked around but it was too dark to make much of anything out.
"Harold is it safe to turn on the lights?"
She heard the familiar buzzing sound indicating that the pods onboard secondary systems were working before Harold replied.
"The outer hull appears to be made out of some kind of advanced composite material; my sensors indicate that it should be impenetrable to conventional sensors"
There was a brief, pregnant, pause before he continued.
"Yes Dart it should be safe"
A moment later the lights came on and lit up the area.They were floating inside of what appeared to be a large ornate Hall of some kind, about the size of a football field. The rail they were latched onto was a guard rail on an upper level overlooking the chamber below. The Architecture was strange but somehow familiar, Dart couldn't quite place it but it was familiar. She let the thought escape her while she continued to look around.
About ten meters above their position was an ornate ceiling with the remains of giant crystal chandeliers hovering where they once hung. What looked to be the remains of finely crafted furniture, mostly chairs and lounges, lay scattered in pieces on and floating just above the floor.
"This chamber appears to have lost its Artificial Gravity before the aperture in the external wall was formed. It must have been a very powerful weapon that created it"
"Or rather destroyed it" Dart added
"Something's not right" Dart mused out loud
"Do you mean the giant hole in the wall or the fact that we are lost?"
"No I mean something in here is just, not right, like something's missing"
"Like the piece of wall where the giant hole now resides"
"No. There's no bodies, anywhere in here"
Dart heard the buzzing sound as Harold quickly scanned the hall
"You appear to be correct"
"You sound surprised?"
No reply

"Mysteries aside we have more immediate concerns, for example: you have less then zero point three zero minutes of breathable air left"
"I thought you didn't need oxygen"
Again there was no reply except for the quite buzzing of the pods computer
"My Scans do not appear to be able to penetrate the internal structure of the-"
"-thingy" Dart volunteered
"- it appears to be comprised of the same material as the external layer, how, strange"
"Is there a way in somewhere?"
"Yes there are seven doorways, four of which are pressurized"
"That means breathable air!"
"Not necessarily"
Harold paused a moment and then as though sensing Darts Anxiety continued
"but the probability is strong"

Without further discussion the grappling hook was disconnected and retrieved before they made for the nearest doorway.As they approached Dart was taken aback by the sheer enormity of the doorway, it was much larger then it looked from the upper level and equally as ornate as the rest of the hall. The large Arched doorway stood at least twelve meters high by about seven wide, if it opened then the tiny pod should be able to get through without too much trouble.

The pod slid to a halt a few meters from the door and the onboard tool arm extended out to work the door controls.
"As I expected the power systems are all down. We will have to patch our own power through to activate it. I won't be able to maintain the pods internal gravity so prepare yourself. Dart wasn't sure exactly how to prepare herself so she just adjusted her position in the chair and hung on. A moment later the pod was filled with the floating refuse of the past month.

Dart heard the pods computer buzz away as the tool arm worked to patch the power through and after a few short moments Harold announced that he was successful.The giant doors slid open surprisingly fast, belying their actual size, to reveal a long ornately decorated Corridor. The pod slid forward through the doorway stopping a few meters inside and turning to face the door controls again.
"I have detected that the systems responsible for maintaining pressure and gravity within this corridor are powered and functioning correctly."
The doorway slid closed in front of them as quickly as it had opened
"The internal gravity will begin operation momentarily, this may be a little rough-"
Darts stomach suddenly rose to somewhere in the region of her voice box, which was probably a good thing as the word that tried to escape was not a nice one.The pod fell to the floor suddenly with a huge crash as Dart hit the roof knocking her out cold.

She awoke sometime later to a loud electronic screeching sound that stopped the moment she opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry, her head felt like there was some major reconstruction taking place and she was almost immediately taken by how very heavy she felt.
"Ahh your awake finally, have a nice nap?"
A familiar voice cut painfully through the groggy mist. He sounded strangely upbeat.Dart groaned
"Thanks for the warning, you jerk!"
Harold said nothing.Dart adjusted her position and looked around. It appeared as though she was still in the same place they had been when the Gravity had unceremoniously kicked back in only the hatch of the pod was now open. Apparently the air in here was good to breath.
"Were still here?"
"As you are the only one of us that has a functioning system for physical motivation-"
"-Yeah, you got no legs I get it" Dart cut in
With a splitting headache Dart sluggishly turned herself in her seat and began rummaging through the small 'Survival kit' locker at the rear of the pod.She removed items noting what she had to work with as she went.
A close-fitting Emergency Hazmat suit with the standard accoutrement of small gadgets used for testing air samples or conducting short range scans.
One emergency multitool with an internal power source.
One emergency ration pack which she had somehow overlooked during her previous searches for food.
And One Gas operated pistol, the kind that fired a small sheathed needle-like projectile designed to penetrate thick armour and deliver a small package of hostile Nanobots, perfect for eliminating any large creatures that folks would commonly encounter when forced to evacuate to hostile planets, or the like.

She gathered her equipment together tossing it out of the hatch before following it out herself. She hit the ground and was again taken by how very heavy she felt.
"Why do I feel so heavy?"
"Whatever species created and inhabited this vessel preferred, it would seem, a slightly higher amount of gravity to your own species. Your hazmat environment suit should be able to counter the worst of its effects."
Dart began putting the suit on while Harold gave her a quick rundown on what he had managed to ascertain while she was asleep.
"The vessel we are on appears to be much larger then I had initially suspected, I patched in to the vessels internal systems and discovered that large sections remain intact and functioning adequately while other sections, very large sections, appear to have been, for want of a better term, ripped from the main structure. Whatever event led to the disabling of this vessel must have been,-" Harold paused as though trying to find the appropriate word's "-Awe-inspiring and Cataclysmic"

Dart lowered the helmet section of the suit over her head and made sure the seal had taken before flipping the visor up.
"Well there's no point in standing around here and speculating"
She reached into the pod and retrieved the small crystal that housed Harold, snapping it into place on the panel reserved for it on her forearm. Harold's voice cut in over the suits intercom
"Well it's defiantly cozy in here" he remarked "I think if I just move the couch over there by the kitchenette I should have enough room for my entertainment system by the window, What's the rent on this place anyway?"
Dart smiled despite herself. It had become apparent over the last month that Harold was not what could be described as a conventional A.I. While his computational abilities were typically advanced he seemed to also posses personality characteristics that Dart had not encountered before. She had asked him about himself on several occasions but he would always change the subject and purposefully revert to a more 'dumbed down' version of himself. He would stay that way for several days before what appeared to be a very strong personality would re-assert itself. She decided after the third time that she wouldn't press the subject further; besides, it got really boring when he would revert to his dumb computer state, almost lonely.

"Hey alright, Solitaire!"
Harold's voice chimed in over the helmets speakers. Playing cards suddenly appeared at the centre of her visors holographic display before zooming off to the upper left and becoming smaller. Dart watched Harold playing solitaire at light speed while she made her way through a successive series of corridors, periodically interrupting Harold from his card game long enough to interface with the doorway controls as they came to them.
The place was indeed quite expansive. Dart was beginning to wonder if the corridors would end when suddenly they did. Harold had just opened door number eight and resumed playing his twenty second thousandth game of solitaire when he noticed a disturbing lack of forward momentum.
"Why'd we stop? C'mon giddy up! HYAH!,"
"Take a look for yourself"
"Oh my, that's rather impressive isn't it"

Before them lay possibly the biggest internal open space either of them had ever seen. It was enormous. As she looked around she noticed hundreds, maybe thousands of doorways virtually identical to the one she had just entered through, each one had it's own walkway that extended several hundred meters like a bridge span to connect to one of seven tiered platforms suspended from a central column the size of a mountain.
Dart couldn't quite make out the details of the far side of the chasm but it appeared to mirror the side she stood on.
"How could this be? It didn't look this big from outside" she wondered out loud.
"I'm detecting pockets of poisonous air drifting about and small isolated regions of high energy, possibly radiation. Some one must have fired the maid"
"Any idea on where we should go?"
"Hold on a moment- ok there appears to be something resembling an information terminal on the far side of the fifth tier, we may be able to get a schematic map for this place and find some supplies or better yet a ship to escape in."
"What about life signs?" she asked
"Nothing just yet"
"But our first scans said that there were millions of them"
"Well maybe they don't like company" he volunteered.
They made their way cautiously across the bridge toward the fourth tier. Harold put his game of solitaire away and began utilizing the suits sensory equipment.When they reached what was roughly the midway point of the span Harold suddenly called a halt
"Something strange is happening here, this can't be right"Dart looked around but could see nothing unusual
"What is it?"
"Those isolated pockets of energy I mentioned earlier appear to be moving"
"So?"
"So that shouldn't technically be possible"
Dart began to feel uneasy and she heard Harold muttering something about energy signatures and flux, whatever that meant.
"Dart, I don't want you to panic but-"
"Too late" her voice was shaky now
"Just calmly but quickly take ten steps backwards"
Dart done as she was told and was quickly ten paces back
"O.k. now wait, just a moment longer, ok take two steps forward"
"What's going on? What's wrong?"
Harold didn't need to answer that question for seconds later two huge sections of the path they were on just disappeared one span about fifty meters long to the front of them and another almost as large behind them. What really left Dart dismayed however was the fact that the spacing between the two AWOL sections was about fourteen inches wide and effectively left Dart standing on a thin slither that seemingly defied gravity roughly a kilometer from the floor below.
"Can I panic now?"
"No, I think it's my turn"

For five breathless minutes she stood there numbed by fear and rising panic until just as suddenly as they had left they reappeared again. Another minute passed before Harold spoke up
"Well that was certainly strange"
Dart let one booted foot slide out in front of her as she tested the reality of the path before her.
"It's solid again"
"Quite"
Dart stood there staring at the path a moment longer.
"Well we'd best get moving before that happens again"

They traversed the remainder of the path without incident and began making their way around the fourth tier searching for some way up to the fifth.
"Dart I've been tracking those energy disturbances and it appears as though they stay away from this central column, though for what reason I'm not sure"
"Well at least the floor won't suddenly disappear, that's always a good thing"
"I concur"
"I like my ground to be solid" she stated flatly
"As do I"
"But you don't have legs or a body"
"Hrmph!" Harold mocked sounding hurt "Rub it in why don't cha"
"Rub it in to what?"

This conversation continued for sometime. They were in high spirits for the first time in over a month and it felt good to just relax for a while. Harold had just finished asking how a sphincter could form a word like 'What' when Dart interrupted him
"A door!"
"How very observant of you"
"Can you open it please?"
"Certainly, just a moment"
The door opened with a whiz to reveal a small room with a large round platform about three meters in diameter and bisected by glowing blue bands
"An elevator?"
"Just let me check, one moment, Hmmmm-"
"What?"
"Well it is defiantly a transport device of some kind I just can't figure out what kind"
"What do you mean?"
"Well it's the computer you see; it's not as friendly as the doors"
"Not as friendly?"
"Yes it's all the ups and downs you see, leaves the nerves frazzled"
"Nerves?"
"Yes, I asked the door to open and it was only too happy to help out it even suggested that I have a nice day!"
"The computers talk to you?"
"Well you've spent the last month talking to a computer haven't you?"
Dart, slightly puzzled, decided not to pursue this line of questioning any further.
"Ask the computer again"
"O.k., just a second – oh dear"
"What is it now?"
"It seems the computer overheard this conversation and is a little hurt that I said it wasn't friendly"
"You've got to be kidding me"
"It wants me to apologize"
"Well go on then"
"No"
"No? What do you mean No?"
Harold lowered his voice to conspirational tones
"I refuse to apologize to a convenience"
"Oh for the love of- just say you're sorry so we can go"
"Do you apologize to the toilet each time you use it? Hmmm, do you?"
"Well no I-"
"That's right, so why should I?"
Dart let out an exasperated sigh
"I hate modern technology it's so high strung"
"It's a sign of breeding" Harold remarked defiantly
"I'm not even gonna start on why what you just said is wrong"
Harold said nothing
"Can you ask our distinguished friend if there is another way up?"
"Ok just a second – How rude!"
Before Dart could ask what the problem was now, a large three dimensional hologram representing three words in some kind of alien language appeared above the circular platform and began rotating slowly.Dart's shoulders dropped
"don't tell me, that says 'out of order' doesn't it"
"Well I guess that's the basic gist of what it says."
"Oh, I see"
A section of the wall suddenly slid away to reveal a staircase.
"Well that's a language I understand"

Dart walked back out to the fourth Tier and looked up, the Fifth tier appeared to be about a kilometer above them.
"If I get out of this I'm going to go and live in the wilderness, in a mud brick hut as far from any computer as I can manage."

reply to post by Raivan31

Chapter Three - The bit after that

Dart began on the tedious climb in silence, while Harold continued playing solitaire. After a few flights she began to think again about the architecture and how it seemed strangely familiar. She couldn't quite place it, Dart was certain that she had seen something very similar to this before but where? Her reverie was cut short (as it so frequently is) by Harold
"On on off off off on on on on off on on on off-"
"Did you say something?"
"Hmm, me? Oh no I was just thinking out loud"
"Harold?"
"Yes?"
"I hate you"
"No you don't"

After about an hour of stair climbing they finally reached the top and Dart stopped for a rest. The room, with the exception of the large rotating holographic insult, appeared to be identical to the 'elevator' room on tier four with that same strangely familiar architecture
"Hey Harold, do you recognize this architecture at all?
"Harold paused a moment as though looking around before replying
"No sorry architectures not really my thing"
"Hmmm never mind then, I'll work it out"
She got up from where she had been sitting and walked to the door leading out onto tier five, Harold got the door and resumed what must have been his millionth game of solitaire while dart pushed on in search of the information panel, which she hoped was not as sensitive as the elevator had been. It took about twenty minutes to locate the panel and another ten to look over it thoroughly.
The vessel they were on appeared to be roughly the size of a small moon and segmented into three main sections. Section one was the central command levels. Section two was the massive Habitation section which they were already partially familiar with and section three was comprised of what appeared to be a combination of the main engineering decks as well as cargo and hangar space.All that remained now was to formulate a plan.
Dart studied the huge habitation section closely until she located her first priority, Food. She had her ration pack of course but it only consisted of about three small meals, particularly unappetizing meals. If she could locate a mess hall or even some kind of garden perhaps she would also find something else that she had not had the pleasure of for some time, a toilet. After that she would locate a source of fresh water so she could wash. All of these things, she reasoned, would more then likely be found in the same general area.
"Ok Harold I think this section here should be a good place to start" Dart indicated a highlighted section of the zoomed in map before her
"So if we go down to tier three and then across this walkway-" she highlighted the walkway on the map and traced it's path with her finger to the next section which appeared to be a small maze of corridors possibly similar to the ones that they had originally taken out of the 'Ballroom' hall that they docked at
"-then through these corridors to, what's this?"
Harold answered
"it appears to be some kind of transport system, like a highway, it looks as though it runs the full circumference of the vessel."
"Well let's hope we can hitch a ride"
Dart traced the path along the 'highway' structure till she came to a point that would allow entry to a section that was labeled in an alien language.
"What does this say Harold?"
Dart indicated the spot on the map with her gloved finger
"Well it loosely translates to 'Farm'"
"Great that's what I was looking for, perfect.
"Dart took a small metallic cord from one of the forearm panels of her suit and attached it to the universal socket in the panel
"Can you translate this for download Harold?"
"You know, you never say please"
"Ok, Can you translate this download for me please Harold"
"Please Sir"
"Don't push it-"
"I'm kidding, just give me a moment – ok done"
"Let me know where I'm going can you please Harold"
A translucent three dimensional image of her planned route appeared and hovered about a meter in front of her
"I wonder what they farm down there" Harold mused.
Dart made her way back to the elevator room with its staircase. When they got a short distance away from the door an electronic voice chirped
"Turn left at the next intersection"
"Is that really necessary Harold?"
"I'm bored, let me have my fun"

It was a long uneventful trip down to tier three. Harold had given up playing solitaire about halfway down and had opted instead to play on Dart's somewhat frayed nerves by giving her inane instructions on which way to go; left foot, right foot, left foot, that kind of thing.
"Harold would you please shut up and tell me if any of those weird energy things is nearby"
Harold quickly scanned the immediate area and came up blank
"It appears to be safe for the moment" he stated in the flat matter of fact tone he reserved for when he intended to be taken seriously.
"Good. Could you keep monitoring the situation, I'm gonna run across this bridge"
Dart approached the bridge and stood there a moment gathering her nerve
"So you're certain that there are no disturbances nearby?"
"Quite certain"
"Ok then, hold your breath"
"I don't breath"
And she was off, running as fast as she ever had, the other end of the bridge seemed so far away but she kept on running, breathing heavy and pounding feet were all that filled her focus, well that and the far end of the bridge. She didn't look back but a part of her mind imagined the walkway disappearing behind her as she ran, she dared not look back.

Something began to cut through her concentration now, getting louder and louder until
"Dart! For crying out loud STOP!!"
She skidded to a halt a second before the walkway in front of her disappeared, leaving her balanced precariously on the edge, the toes of her boots hanging in mid air, her arms flailing wildly to keep her balance. She thought she could hear Harold praying, promising that he would be extra good and such. She seemed to hang there for an eternity before regaining her balance and stumbling onto her backside mere inches from the yawning chasm in front of her.

A recollection came to her at this point. For some reason beyond her comprehension she suddenly remembered why the architecture seemed so familiar. When she was ten years old Dart and her father had been holed up in an old disused museum that still housed an exhibit depicting the closing years of the first space-faring era of humankind. She distinctly remembered playing amongst the dust covered treasures scattered throughout the wing of the museum that they were taking refuge in, the old computer terminals with their hexagon shaped slots for the ancient data cubes they used for information storage, the faded murals depicting life in the old days and of course the architecture! It was almost completely the same as this vessel. But that would mean that this was. The full gravity of the situation flooded over her.
"This place is almost one hundred thousand years old" she exclaimed suddenly
Harold was too busy thanking the various gods that he had been praying to, to notice her comment.She sat there for a few minutes, her mind racing with the possibilities. Harold had gone silent apparently distracted by something else. The walkway reappeared a moment later
"You crazy ape, you almost got us killed!"
"I thought you didn't fear death"
Harold chose not to reply; instead he occupied himself with scanning their immediate area
"The disturbance appears to have moved on for now, I suggest we get off of here while we can"
that matter of fact tone was back again.Dart scrambled to her feet and continued on her way, at a slow jog this time.

Before long they had reached the first corridor. Dart stood before it and referenced her map
"Ok provided nothing suddenly disappears we should be able to use this corridor to get to this one-"she pointed toward a section of corridor connected at a right angle to the one they were about to enter.
"-and then from there through these five corridors and then onto this large room here"Dart motioned toward a large box like structure in the hologram that represented a large room maybe two or three times the size of the ballroom they had originally entered through.
"This should give us access to the 'highway' here"
"That should be fine" Harold replied unenthusiastically
He was sulking and Dart wisely decided to leave him to it.

The pair progressed slowly having to backtrack several times and find alternate ways around broken doors or collapsed piles of crates and metal boxes. These corridors, Dart noted, had a much more utilitarian feel about them. No where near as gaudy as the ones on the upper levels. This was unmistakably a production facility, its corridors were filled with the various paraphernalia of industry, and they were much wider as well, probably to accommodate vehicles of some sort.

A shame none of these vehicles was available, she mused as she lead her party of two around yet another bend in the passageway.

A small man with white hair appeared, rather suddenly, from an aperture in a wall that was, only moments before, completely indistinguishable from the wall around it.He was heavily preoccupied fiddling with a small gadjet which he held in his left hand while he periodically checked what appeared to be a wristwatch but in minature and wrapped snuggly around his middle finger, giving him the appearance of 'flipping the bird' every few seconds.He looked to be a complete looney.

It was only a moment before he noticed Dart standing there, stareing at him with a blankly bewildered look on her face, a moment more before this astounding new revelation completely sunk in and about one fifth of a moment before he performed an uncanny impersonation of one who doesn't give a monkies.

He paused before the wall opposite the one through which he entered and studied his gadjet . Looking to the wall again he began moving his right hand about in a mystical fashion reminding Dart of stage magicians she had seen on one of the rim worlds, attempting to divert the audiences attention while faux-mystical shenanigans ensued. He completed this performance by flipping the wall the bird.A symbol began to glow in the centre of the wall depicting what appeared to be a workers hard hat crowning some kind of crossed tools, the exact nature of which Dart could not ascertain. The image was composed of geometric shapes and divided into seven distinct sections.The enigmatic man began pressing the different shapes in some kind of predetermined order before taking a step back. Moments later the wall cracked along an angular, vertical faultline and began to fold in on itself.He disappeared quickly through the dark portal, leaving a very confused looking Dart standing there. Mouth hanging open. Stareing after him into the gloom.

"Well that was... odd""Remarkable!""Yes. Remarkably... odd!" her face screwing up into a perplexed pout."Of course, I've seen stranger""No""No, really; Have you ever been fortunate enough to witness a grown man engage in a fistfight with a carrot?...""uhh...""And lose!""No Harold, I can't say that I have..""..I had this gig as a gambling machine in this seedy little bar out in the Nepulis Minor asteroid belt. I'd just had some repulsive four armed pleoxian woman pull a thousand credits out of me when I hear this guy yelling. He was accusing the carrot of cheating at cards, which was odd in and of itself as they were playing chess at the time...""...quite strange" smirking."...Well needless to say, no one in that part of the Nepulis Minor asteroid belt appreciates a card cheat, especially not when they are playing chess, It's very deceptive you see, very suspicious behaviour...""...of course..""And that carrot had been getting suspicious looks all night, as everyone who's anyone in the Nepulis Minor asteroid belt knows: Folk round those parts of the Nepulis minor asteroid belt aren't particulary fond of strange carrots. No. They like theyre vegetables non-sentient and generally exhibiting vegetable-like behaviour!""That is truly fascinating Harold, I nev..."A small head, capped in a wiry brush of tangled white hair that had apparently at some point in the past, colonized his eyebrow ridge, appeared from out of the doorways darkness. He flipped her the bird before speaking."Well, are you coming?"He flipped her the bird again before evapourating once more into the tunnel.Dart shrugged her shoulders and stepped after him into the gloom."Have you ever been to the Nepulis Minor asteroid belt? Horrible little dive, Great kebab shops though.""how do you even...nevermind. Have you any idea of where this tunnel leads?"

From out of the gloom the small mans voice boomed, rather unproportionally."Of course I know where the tunnel leads! What a stupid question. No wonder your lost, wandering about asking people stupid questions!""Ohh-Kay" She felt for sure that somewhere, several metres ahead of her in the darkness there was an eccentric little white haired man flipping her the bird, probably intentionally.

As her eyes adjusted dart began to make out the form of the little man fussing over some sort of mechanisim."What are you doing?" Dart valiantly pressed on.Her eyes had adjusted enough for her to make out the distinct outline of an irate little man, standing there, hands on hips and tapping a foot. He sighed heavily."There you go again! Asking stupid questions! Isn't it obvious what I'm doing???"He did not wait for a reply instead turning back to his work. A moment later a door appeared in the wall where seconds before there had been none."Very cool doors I must say" Harold mumbled to himself."Well hurry up! We don't have much time"

Dart obediently followed through to another tunnel section, at the end of which the man again paused to operate the machinery responsible for operating the door.This pattern continued on for some time, the man and dart saying nothing to one another as each new door was breached.Harold was also uncharacteristically silent as well. Dart suspected that he must have had his curiosity piqued at something and was more then likely preoccupied studying the conundrum.

Had Dart have known that her suspicions were indeed correct, she may have been given reason to take pause for further inquiry. Had she pursed this logical pattern of questioning to it's conclusion and discovered the catalyst behind Harolds current pre-occupation then she may well have found herself most perplexed by what she learnt.

But she didn't know and wasn't aware so I suppose that was just a couple of wasted seconds, frittered away on pointless speculation. We will never get them back. Think about that a moment...

reply to post by Raivan31

Chapter Four

"How much further do we have to go old man?""I'm not old. Where?"Dart raised an eyebrow "what?""what, what?""oh I'm not starting down this road...""wait a minute" the old man said, turning around now to face Dart."Yes I am"Dart let out an exasperated sigh. This conversation, though only short, was already beginning to worry her.She made another heroic attempt."You are what?""What?" he paused a moment as if collecting his thoughts, though Dart suspected that would be a task that was impossible for Hercules himself."Oh yes! Old! I am quite old, yes.""Well that's fascinating but it doesn't answer my question does it?!"The man stopped and looked at her the same way he might if he were just queried on the latest news from the stock market by a chimpanzee."Au Contrere my pretty-little, doe-eyed nitwit. You asked me; 'you are what?' to whit I replied 'What? Oh yes! Old! I am quite old, yes'. You see?"Dart silently counted to ten, then twenty before plying on.

"How much further do we have left to travel?" she asked confidently."Where?""where? How much further do we have to go to get where we are going?""Oh yes, the eternal question.." He looked off into the distance. "...How many roads must a man walk down, and so on."He looked back to her and began fiddling with his moustache"Very difficult question that one, a real philosophical brain teaser, But hardly an appropriate topic of conversation given our current circumstances I shouldn't think, no"He paused a moment while he scrutinized her from beneath a thick wiry tangle of unkempt eyebrow before continuing."I should think the more appropriate question for an individual in your, well, quite unique situation would be; "How far away is the place that I am going and how long will it take me to get there" A very apt question for anybody in the universe at the current time I should think, yes.""I'm glad you thought of it" she remarked sarcasticly.The old man perhaps chose to ignore her remark or maybe didn't infer the correct sentiment, either way he chose to continue undaunted."Yes I have my moments." He patted down the front of his shirt and straightened his clothing proudly."Well?"He gave her a questioning look."what?...oh yes. The question. Well I suppose you want an answer" he stated matter o' factly."Well that question can only be answered if you know where you are going!"Dart turned a light shade of crimson."OF COURSE I DON'T KNOW WHERE I AM GOING, I'M FOLLOWING YOU!!!""Tsk, tsk, tsk." The man clucked. "Not a very wise thing to do you know, wander about in strange places with no idea where you are or where your going. Why on earth would you go and get yourself lost in the first place? seems like a terrible waste of time and energy to me.""well people don't get lost intentionally do they?!! And who says I was lost anyway?!"The man, completely unfrazzled by Darts rising anger replied coolly."Well for one, you followed me without question. Do you often wander off after random people, you really are quite nieve aren't you."Darts compulsion to fight mercifully slipped away from her.

"Whatever! I...""whatever?""Nevermind. Where are you leading us?""Us? I was leading you. One does not lead ones self, one leads others. You poor unfortunate silly person."It was at this point that Harold decided to put in an appearance in the shape of a giant menacing holographic face hovering feet away from the old mans own."She was referring to me, Actually"The old man blinked and shrugged it off, unperturbed by this shocking turn of events."Your just along for the ride. I am leading her, your just a passenger."

The man turned sharply on his heel with a speed and grace that belied his general appearance and pulled on a lever, a remarkably simple means for operating the door considering some of the complex operations performed by the coot earlier.

The door slid noiselessly open, with a hiss that had apparently not read the first part of this sentence."Where are you leading me?""Congratulations! It took some time but you came through in the end. I really am quite proud, all things considered. I really am." He beamed at her a moment before continuing"That. My dear, is the elementary question now isn't it.He turned and swepped through the door dramatically, dart followed after."yes but what is the ans.....oh my.""This! Lassy, is where I am leading you. Quite a nice room I feel."

Dart stood in the doorway agape. The room was huge, easily four times the size of the hall they entered the ship through. There were massive, ornate, collums decorated in platinum and gold with jewel-encrusted reliefs depicting natural scenes that ran the full perimeter of the room.A massive sunken floor space occupied the main central part of the hall, decked out with big lounges, a pool table, bar and a ring of big leather armchairs flanking a massive circular fireplace with an en

reply to post by Raivan31


....... enormous flue, tapering off as it rose toward the distant ceiling some two hundred feet above.The most striking feature, or features's of the room though were many thousands of natural history museum specimens along with hunting trophies in the form of a multitude of grotesque and fearouceous looking creatures, sans body, mounted on plaques of wood of differing shapes and sizes. The overall effect was quite bizarre but somehow quite profound.Dart wandered past a glass-topped display case that housed several thousand different kinds of insects, each one nailed mercilessly with a small pin to the corkboard below with a small card at the base of each stating genus, species, e.t.c. not a single one of them looked familiar but she was still quite certain that she would not want to find one in her bed.She came next, to a large, fish-tank like cabinet with a sign on the front that Harold read out loud."please do not tap on glass"The interior of the tank housed only one rather odd item. It appeared to be a sensible leather ottoman. Dart looked consprationally from side to side before she leant forward and tapped on the glass.In an instant the ottoman exploded, transforming into a large horrible, slug-like creature that struck at the glass, inches from Dart's startled face, with a disgusting mouth filled with lines of razor sharp teeth.Dart jumped back, horrified. The creature slowly recoiled and began arrangeing itself into the general shape of an ottoman once again."shapeshifter! Nasty creatures. I once knew a man who had a run in with one, terrible business that. It was mimicking a pair of his underpants.""that's horrible! What did he do?""Hmm, oh, he changed to boxers"The old man strode to the centre of the room, stretching his arms out and spinning around to capture all the room in his gesture."This" he gestured "Is the museum, well one section of it anyway. There are seven halls altogether...""There are seven halls" Dart and Harold chimed in unison.The man looked at her like she was a loon before continuing on."Yes, quite. This is the natural history 'Fauna' hall. Then you have the natural history 'Flora' hall, then geology, Astrological, Sociology and culture – that's a big one, Technology and finally the Library which occupies the final and largest section of the museum.He walked to the opposite side of the pit and moitioned towards a particulary fearsome looking beast that had been, Dart sincerely hoped, taxadermied to eternally hold an aggressive pose."This charming chap, is an example of an unfortunate pest problem that this facility is currently experiencing. You may want to be wary of these things if you should encounter them, they are quite wily. They often use a nerve poision that renders the victim totally paralyzed so they can suck the vital juices from your writhing, still living body. It is said that they have a method of removing a mans heart from his body and keeping him alive long enough to watch them play a game of football with it. Yes very nasty." He began to walk away before pausing with something more to add "oh and do be sure not to loan them any money, just trust me on that.""Noted"

The man continued on towards a humble little doorway sitting ensconced in a small alcove behind a large tank with some kind of squid like creature barely visible through the murky waters."Our actual destination however, is the library, so if you would just follow me"

Dart followed the man through the alcove door, being carefull to keep as much distance between herself and the mysterious 'tank-creature' as she could. The old man noticed this behaviour and called back to her"never mind erny, he's harmless. Aren't you Erny!"As if in response a massive eyeball emerged from out of the murk and focoused squarely on Dart. As giant mysterious eyeballs go, Dart reasoned, this one seems pretty friendly.

The next room was another maintenance corridor, similar to the ones they had already traveled through. The old man turned long enough to gesture them forward before proceeding directly towards a blank bit of corridor wall."Through this door, c'mon on now, time is precious."Dart stared blankly at the wall. The blank wall stared back, though strangely not quite as blankly as Dart. A matter for later philosophical deliberation."What door" she ventured."Haven't you been paying attention?" 'no of course she hasn't' he muttered to himself."Secret doors." He stated flatly. "they wouldn't be very secret if we hung big signs above them that read 'Secret Door, enter here. Press wallpaper motive in the pattern of the horsehead nebula constellation as seen from Upisilon Mayjor, would they?!"He stood there, hands on hips, shaking his head from side to side."You really are quite a funny little thing, aren't you.

The man proceeded to punch in the activation sequence, which she assumed was a representation of the Horsehead nebula constellation as viewed from Upsilion Mayjor but not being familiar with that particular constellation she could not be certain. The door slid open none the less and the old man lead the way through to a very long corridor, unremarkable but for the rail line that ran off into the distance along it's left side.The old man checked his watch, flipping the bird to the empty corridor and smiled."should be along any moment now"In the distance Dart could barely discern a blurry box-like shape, it was hurtling at an incredible speed towards them guided by the rail line embedded in the floor. Sooner then Dart could refocus her eyes it had come to a stop in front of them."All aboard" the man sang.

Dart stepped into the cage that composed the light rail carriage, and took a seat on a low bench that ran along one end."This is a museum freight transport, we use it to transport some of the more bulky items around the museum, it will save us about two hours of walking. The library is on the far side of the museum you see and with all of the maintenance tunnels and side rooms it can be quite a slog getting around.""How many of these transport systems are there on this ship?""Well for a start this is not a 'ship' but an orbital station. And to answer your question there are six hundred and ninety-two different transport networks within this station, though a vast mayjority of them are not designed for transporting personnel, it wouldn't do.""An orbital station? What are we orbiting?""Central Core"Dart took a moment to go over what she had just heard."Central core? You mean the centre of the universe?""No. Just the galaxy""wow""indeed""why is it here?""Because it was built here, you really should think before engaging mouth you know.""No, I mean why was it built here, whats it's function, purpose?"The old man turned and looked at her. Gracing her with a brief grin."You are learning." He turned and leant on the hand rail and peered off up the corridor."This Station was built as part of a larger series of complex's centered around the galactic core with the purpose of helping to maintain balance and harmony. At least that's the leading theory. The truth is that no one knows who built it or when or even what it's exact purpose is, all we know is some of the things it is responsible for. It all seems very important so a group of us decided we should stay and keep an eye on the place.""A group?""yes. There were seven of us originally, but, well, time has a way of eroding everything you know.""So you're here all alone?""No, gosh no. not alone! Quite the opposite infact. This station and it's other twins are all connected to each other. And each station represents a quadrant of the galaxy. From each station one can access virtually any part of that stations quadrant. This place has long been used as a kind of 'trade path' between sections of the galaxy so as you may imagine, there is quite a lot of traffic through here. At least there used to be.""What do you mean, used to be?""Well things have been, upset, lately. It was that war...""...The twelve year war?" Dart interjected"Is that what you call it? Well I suppose it is accurate enough, though in truth that war has been raging for the past hundred million years and will continue for another hundred million. We know when it starts and when it ends it's the bits in between that keep changing, you see, all very difficult to keep track of don't you know, temporal wars.""Temporal? You mean outside of time?""well that's a very simplistic way of putting it but yes I suppose that explanation will suffice. The war rages outside of time and space but it occaisionally involves our temporal dimension. The wars fought here by us are usually fought for what we think are our reasons but are infact carefully arranged sequences set in motion to further some end outside of time. Like I said; all very confusing.""So what does all of this have to do with the trouble your having?""Good question! You were due for one. It would seem that one of this complex of stations main functions is to hold the galaxy in it's current space-time, balance out the distance problems and just generally ensure that the laws of science that we know, remain accurate.""This station maintains the laws of science?""Yes. It does. Quite impressive, no?""Yes. But who originally dictated what the laws of science should be?"the old man burst out with enthusiastic laughter."That's a matter for the theologians my dear, best not to get involved."The carriage they were traveling in began to slow down as it approached the end of the corridor."well here we are! Follow me if you will."The old man stepped from the carriage and headed off towards the far side of the corridor where, as expected, there was a totally blank wall which no doubt housed some kind of secret door. Much to Darts surprise the old man turned suddenly and began pushing a large box along the wall to reveal a perfectly ordinary door, with a handle and everything.He turned and smiled; the surprise not lost on him and turned the door handle."Welcome to my humble abode, otherwise known as the library."

Dart stepped through the open door and into the Library. If she had been impressed with the 'Fauna' wing of the museum then she was absolutely flabbergasted by the sheer scale and majesty of the hall she had just entered.It was epic. Massive supported balconies ran along every wall suggesting hidden alcoves behind. The bookcases rose a hundred feet high and trailed off into the distance; it was like standing in a mountain valley and looking down towards the far end. Beautiful carpets and rugs adorned every square inch of visible floor space and small 'hamlets' of reading tables were dotted around randomly like villages in a country landscape, it would take several minutes to walk from one to the next. Aisles of bookshelves ran off to both sides the ends of which were barely visible despite the excellent lighting scheme. The place must have housed every piece of recorded information in the whole galaxy!"Wow" was all she could manage.The old man accepted this without comment, he was proud of his home."If you will come this way I will take you to somewhere where you can have a wash and then we'll get you some food."

reply to post by Raivan31

Chapter Five

The trip to the small group of private rooms the old man was using as his home was uneventful, the view was nice though. As Dart walked she would occasionally skim the titles of the books she passed, most of which were in languages that she needed Harold to interpret. Some very interesting titles; '10 uses for Regan anal secretions' delightful. 'A life wasted – the life story of a hermit' 'How to build a Nuclear reactor for fun and profit' one of the pan galactic 'How To' best seller range. Or maybe 'A bogorians guide to' series, also popular throughout most of the galaxy, the notable exception being the bogoria system where it would seem they aren't too good at taking a joke.

The old mans rooms were stately and neat but didn't seem very 'lived in'. Dart was led to a small room with a multi-function shower unit and a rack with a nice big fluffy white towel. The shower was amazing, truly one of the better experiences of her young life, it ran through cycles starting with a dense mist then a bombardment from various kinds of radiation that made Darts skin tingle, then the water started spraying at her from multiple angles. It wasn't very common to find water showers in the galaxy these days as water is but one of the more scarce resources so she made sure to savor every moment of it.The shower cycle ended with a blast of warm air that came at her from every conceivable angle. She made a mental note to get herself one of these one day.She toweled herself off and exited the room, pleasantly surprised to find her clothing clean and neatly folded on a bench next to her hazmat suit and equipment.Once she secured the headset of the suit she noticed that Harold was strangely absent, she called to him over the suits intercom but got no reply. Maybe he's exploring the ships...Stations (she corrected herself) systems. She dismissed it and headed off in search of the old man and the promised meal.

She opened a door, happy to find a conventional door handle, and entered what she accurately guessed was the dinning hall. The walls were covered in various tapestries depicting what appeared to be scene's out of some of the more epic stages of galactic history, Dart noticed that half of them were dated in the future, but all by the same artist.The centre of the room was occupied by a long Mahogany table with three ornate chairs positioned along each side and one replica chair positioned at the head. Apart from a few bits of tasteful dinning furniture, serving bench's, tea trays and the like the room was otherwise bare.

"Ah! I see you're clean and refreshed and you've found your way, no doubt instinctively, to the dinning area. Very good!"He pulled a chair back from the table and motioned for her to sit."Please, please sit, get comftable, the food will be here momentarily."True to his word, not five seconds later, an aperture appeared in the ceiling and from it lowered a series of serving trays, each adorned with every kind of food you could think of.Dart tore in, grabbing a hunk of chicken in one hand and fumbling with an ancient looking amphora with the other. The meal was excellent and past by her in a blur. The main beverage was some kind of thick sweet wine that she was not familiar with but went straight to her head so that by the end of the meal she was quite drunk.

They retired after dinner to a cozy little room with several small bookcases's lining the walls and a couple of overstuffed chairs positioned before a fireplace. Dart took the offered mug of steaming liquid given to her by the old man and settled back under a warm blanket in one of the chairs to sip and think. She must have dozed off at some point because when she awoke the room was colder and the fire had burnt down to a pile of glowing ashes. She felt good though.

She exited the room into a short corridor with four other doors leading from it. Deciding that she might wash up a bit first dart selected the door furthest from the one she had come through, remembering it as the 'bathroom'.After another euphoric shower she dressed and headed off in search of the old man, and Harold.

Dart found the old man in the section of the library proper that is closest to the old mans rooms, sitting at a reading table and pouring over a disheveled pile of books before him. He looked busy.Dart approached cautiously, not wanting to disturb the strange little man. But he turned and offered a warm smile."You're awake! Finally. I thought you were going to sleep for a week!""Why? How long was I out?""About 36 hours. You were, evidentially, exhausted.""Whoa. That wine was strong.""Oh yes it's good stuff that. From my personal cellars, laced with the venom from a particular species of giant spider that inhabits the third moon of ewleforania six. It causes a sense of well-being and helps you to sleep. Brilliant stuff.""You drugged me?" she said flatly"Drugged? No! No my dear girl, It's supposed to have that effect, it greatly assists digestion and you looked like you could use the rest""Ok, I guess. Where is Harold?""Your traveling companion is running a few errands for me at the moment, he has a much better repoire with the stations systems then I do. He's been a real help while you were sleeping."When will he be back?""He should be along shortly; can I get you a coffee? Tea maybe?""Coffee would be great thanks""Certainly" with a flourish of his hand across a computer panel inset to the reading table a steaming mug of coffee with a big frothy head appeared from a newly created aperture in the table top.Dart sipped from the mug."All of the food here is amazing! Who cooks it?""Each dish has been carefully and specially prepared by the leading chef of whatever era the dish comes from. The sub-atomic structure of the dish is then analyzed and uploaded into a database. From there the information can be retrieved and used in conjunction with another machine that can build any organic structure from the ground up, perfectly, down to the very last particle.""So it's all cloned?""Yes something like that. You know the strange thing is that I often find myself wishing that one of my meals would be prepared badly, just to change things a bit. I mean I've been having the same roast chicken every Saturday night now for the past eight hundred and thirty seven years, it can wear on a person after a while you know.""I'm sure it can"

Sorry about the formatting issue's in the last few chapters (i have posted this thing all over the place and the copy i used here hasn't been fully checked yet)

But, please bare with it, i wrote this over the course of about 3 years (in 3 or 4 hour bursts) and some of the 'devices' and concepts have been adapted from more well known movies and books (i'm sure you can pick them easily enough) It's sometimes hard to seperate what you have read/watched from your own imagination.

Also my spelling is pretty bad in places, I use Txt docs (notepad) instead of word because it feels more natural to write that way.

Currently working on the next chapter so stay tuned

Fantastic! May i guess your a fan of Cowboy beepop and the hitchhikers series? Dart definitely has tinges of Fay all over her

reply to post by Scaledown


WOW!! you picked it right there with the fay comparison. Guess i done a good job of emulating her.
And yes the hitchhiker guide was also a big influence.

Good that you noticed that

I also threw in a little star wars but i tried to avoid star trek stuff, hence the lack of replicators that you could watch as they replicated but the concept of a replicator is still in there.

I was going to try and throw in some various sacred geometry and spiritualist stuff as well to spice things up along with world history, Ancient aliens and other topics of that nature.

Of course i'm open to suggestions as well

Thankyou for reading and for your encouragement.

reply to post by Raivan31


only read chapter one... got it zoomed in at 150% (need to get glasses) but so far, good writing. Level of sarcasm and wit is also good.

I especially like this one:

Dart gave a heavy sigh as she began to transfer primary control to Harold, she couldn't shake the rising sensation that she had just signed her own death certificate, chiseled her tombstone, dug the grave and posted a condolences card to her next of kin - wherever they may be.

very humorous.

reply to post by Thurisaz


On behalf of my ego i'd like to thank you

Thats one of my favorite parts.

A clearer copy of it (better formatting and presentation) can be found here:

www.inkpop.com...

reply to post by Raivan31


well you have a computer with personality and a sense of humor!

Well done!

Reminds me of Labrinth when the path/energy dissolves and VIKI in I Robot. (but Harry seems much nicer than VIKI)

(I have only finished chpt 2)
I am not interested in a thankyou from your ego and more importantly... I did not need a ty.

I just really appreciate that you have added a link to some of your creative writing that allowed me to have a distraction/an escape from the present reality.

And Sci Fi is great for that!

reply to post by Thurisaz


S'allright, anytime.
My parents used to say i drive them to distraction, guess i still have that skill