“Unknown species detected. Scanning. Uploading to fleet net. Scan…” The fact that the AI didn’t finish its sentence caused my heart to stop. If my AI was being affected by something, then there was a possibility it could jump to my brain. Not a high chance, given the number of people that feared such a thing, but a chance.
After a minute, the AI returned, though it didn’t say what I expected. “Permission requested for genetic and psychological scan.”
This wasn’t something new. In order to even join the fleet, one had to get scanned. It helped the doctors evaluate any issues, both physical and mental, from the deployments into deep space over long periods of time before it became an issue. There was also some scuttlebutt going around about it being used to thwart spies. Not seeing an issue, I shrugged and said “Sure.”
“Running genetic scan. Close enough match to be within margin of error and fixable. Running Psychological scan. Subject found to be within target parameters. Uploading information to requesting unit. Unit handing case off to local authority. Contacting local authority. Local authority requesting information. Passing information. Local authority has given permissions with some contingencies and limits. Would you like to hear the limits and contingencies?”
Well, that had to be the weirdest sequence of things I had ever heard from any AI. I didn’t even want to know what I had just done to get the attention of the fleets central AI. Likely as not, I would not be able to talk about what I hear with anyone else, and that the AI wanted to add a genetic marker or such to notify all AI’s that I had permission for such information. It wouldn’t be the first time after all.
“No need,” I waved my hand through the air.
“Consent given. Applying changes.” Something akin to a lightning bolt flew down my spine and out to my fingers. If not for the suit locking up, I would have fallen to the ground. My mind stalled out as it tried to process what had just happened. After a few seconds, I tried to move. To run from whatever had caused such a massive surge to go through my body for a simple genetic tag.
The suit stayed locked up No matter what I tried. Each of my muscles were twitching. The amount of pain was more than I had felt since training. None of the other security markers had induced such a shock. Finally, panting, I gave up and just asked, “Can you answer my question now?”
Instead of answering me, a screen popped up in front of me. An image to the left showed the creature that was in front of me:
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Well, that was a bunch of useless information. What did half of it even mean. Also why was most of it blocked? Highlighting the name field a warning window popped up. ‘Information Level is not high enough for this information.’ The rest of the blocked sections popped up the same warning. Selecting the killer field brought up another window:
There was something wrong with the AI providing me with this information. Not once had any information been presented in such a format. Plus, some of the information was just odd. What did the system even mean by power level? Also, what was with the sector of origin? Everything I had seen labeled the sector with Sol as sector 0. On top of that, what did it mean by level? Also, why was my information classified as level 1 but the aliens as blocked?
Going back, I hovered over the species of the creature. ‘Kitsune: information on species blocked.’ Yeah, should have expected that. Sex at least said something remotely useful, not; ‘Female: able to bear young. Comparable to human females when compared to human males.’
The comparison it was pointing to was probably how females were typically weaker than males but typically faster and more flexible. The only other thing I could read that wasn’t obvious was the power level. “Base Four: Blocked information.” See, readable, just not useful.
Giving up, I forced my body to stand on its own. Hopefully someone on the ship would be able to tell me more. Also, I should have them investigate why my AI had given me such a shock for a simple genetic marker.
A blast of air washed over my suit just then, letting me know that the large transport ships had arrived on site. The wave of air brought with it the deep thrumming of the engines as they revved up to slow the craft for landing. They separated as they approached the ground. Most of them landing next to the building. One moving to land a couple dozen meters away from me. Gears extending as it came down. The weight of which caused the rocks and debris to shift as they settled.
