The Evaran Chronicles II: The Lost Ship | The Rift Impact

M was the most advanced artificial intelligence on Earth, but at the moment, he was in NGC 6872, or the barred spiral galaxy known as Condor. It was 212 million light years away and approximately five times as wide as the Milky Way. They were also in the past in 6,431,032,402 BC.

He was in orb mode, which consisted of a sphere with four segmented arms, but his robot body that he could fly into was nearby, and that had a default humanoid light mode and heavy mode.

M was with Evaran, a powerful cosmic being who traveled through space and time to help those in need. Evaran had fair skin with a slight tan and black hair pushed up a bit in the front but layered on the sides. His blue eyes and chiseled chin stood out, and stubble ran along the edges of his face to his mouth and under his nose. M had calculated that most humans would find him attractive.

Evaran’s suit had several layers, with the first being a dark-blue-gray mesh. Light-gray armored pads with golden borders covered his chest and upper arms. White segmented armor strips wrapped around his forearms, collar, belt, and boots, while the shoulders had a solid pattern. His belt also contained various gadgets, such as a utility handle that used dimensional mechanics to shoot stun, heat, repulsion, and other types of beams as well as perform other feats.

They were on Evaran’s ship, the Torvatta, and had attached undetected to the bottom of a starship owned by the Tervad civilization. M had heard the Torvatta resembled a hockey puck. It issued summons that were essentially missions across space and time, and this one had led them here. Although the initial location was a planet, the problem was that a Tervad princess and her staff had been kidnapped and required rescue.

It took some effort to jump back and forth through time to observe the kidnapping, and when they had isolated the moment, they had placed a quantum beacon on the alien ship. When they hopped to the present, they opened a portal, the Torvatta’s way of traveling vast distances. Its stealth and scan profile modes made it undetectable.

“It’s time to board the ship,” said Evaran in a calm, controlled voice.

“Acknowledged,” said M.

The interior circular room was empty except for Evaran’s command chair and M’s workstation. A large hallway led off to multiple other rooms, and due to dimensional mechanics, the corridor would not have appeared on the outside of the Torvatta.

M flew into his nearby robot body, then followed Evaran to the hallway. M liked default mode since it allowed him to fly but at the cost of heavier protection. They entered a door that took them to the roof. The upper bound of the Torvatta’s shielding was about fifteen feet away and was flush against the ship.

Evaran pointed up. “Proceed.”

“Breaching now,” said M.

Slats on his upper arms opened, and two nanoswarms flew out and merged, then went up. Once they reached the shielding, a portion of it pulled back, allowing the nanobots to chew their way through into a docking bay. Once the hole was wide enough, Evaran used his dimensionally powered boots to fly through with M in tow.

The area was spacious and had smaller ships in two arrays locked down on the left side. The right was open and most likely used as a place to land before being moved around. In the back was a repair bay, and metallic panels covered large swaths of the floor, ceiling, and walls. A light-blue glow filled the air, and the sounds of work being done on various craft echoed out.

The Torvatta had already connected to the cruiser’s systems, so M knew where they had to go. He activated heavy mode, where nanobots swarmed out of portholes on his body and formed thicker armor. His shielding output also increased, and he ratcheted up his density control, which would prevent him from being knocked back.

The Tervads’ response was immediate. They resembled stick-like humanoid figures with four arms and a bulbous head, and they stood about nine feet tall on average. The ones in the bay wore metallic armor and wielded energy-based weapons. Small, spherical, flying drones approached.

Evaran spawned a square five-by-five energy shield on his left forearm and reflected beams back at the attackers, which caused them to crumple.

M blasted a few drones with stun shots from his forearm blasters and knocked them out.

Heavier units charged in. Their armor was almost twice as thick as the other Tervads’, and their right arm was a cannon.

Although M moved slower, he marched toward them, shrugging off their attacks until he could reach one. He grabbed it and shocked it with a discharge from his hands, causing the unit to fall. Others tried to melee him, but they couldn’t break his shielding or knock him away.

While M caused a distraction, Evaran zipped over and extended the utility handle from his belt into a staff where each end crackled with blue electricity. He moved far faster than the Tervads, and every moment he stopped, an enemy was tossed or stunned. In short order, the defense had been defeated.

Evaran and M hustled through the various corridors, which had a similar aesthetic to the docking bay. An ambient blue light illuminated the relatively clean paneled hallways. Display screens also allowed for interaction.

When they reached the secured room, the two guards out front were easily dispatched.

Evaran pulled a credit-card-size device, known as a universal interface card, or UIC, from his belt and placed it a few inches away from the door console. An unstable blue light formed between the UIC and the console, then stabilized a moment later. He then interacted with his augmented reality interface, or ARI, which resembled half of a bubble-like sphere that went from his waist to his head that only he could see.

The sealed door whooshed open.

M inspected the nine Tervads who had backed away. Although there were beds on the sides and a side area for a bathroom, the center part of the room was mostly clear.

Evaran extended a hand, palm up. “Don’t fear us. We’re here to rescue you.”

One of the Tervads stepped forward. “I’m Princess Cranna. What are you, and how is it we’re able to communicate?”

“We are unique and also use an advanced translator,” said Evaran. “We can discuss this more in detail later, but we need to leave now.”

She walked up to them and peered outside, then indicated for the rest of her group to follow. “Let’s move.”

M liked how she had quickly assessed the situation and made a decision. Evaran had a ten-foot, circular cosmic aura that caused others to view him as trustworthy. Princess Cranna must have felt that, but the downed guards and a promise of rescue were also probably a big motivator to escape as well.

The group dashed back to the bay.

M had taken the rear, while Evaran took point. Princess Cranna and her staff had discussed what Evaran and M were, and although M could not determine what the expression on their faces meant, some were universal, and they seemed relieved. He had the Torvatta form a ladder for them to climb down, and once on board, everyone was ushered to the command room.

M reverted to default mode and took his seat at his workstation.

The Torvatta detached and flew a bit away before opening a portal to Princess Cranna’s home world.

“I have a lot of questions,” she said.

Evaran nodded. “I suspect you do, and we can now discuss them in safety. We’re headed to your father’s residence.”

M tilted his head as the staff shrieked, which he interpreted as signs of joy. “Is everything okay?”

“We were celebrating,” said Princess Cranna.

M raised a hand.

She stared at it.

“You tap my hand. It’s called a high five and is meant as a celebratory gesture.”

She complied. “A very strange custom. I guess our celebration must seem odd to you.”

“I liked it,” said M, smiling.

The Tervad staff high-fived one another.

Although Evaran and M had been on their way to have lunch with Lord Vygon, an old friend on Earth, this summons had popped up with some urgency. M was not clear why it had a high priority, but if the Torvatta wanted them there, that’s where they would go.

The past several days had been interesting to M, and he had interacted with Princess Cranna’s court and Tervad society. However, after he and Evaran had left, they jumped through time to see what significance the summons had.

They found nothing after a lengthy investigation.

It was possible they missed something, and given the number of variables, that was likely the case. What was important was the Torvatta wanted them there, and if there had been more to do, it would not have cleared the summons.

It was now January 5, 2014, 11:00 a.m. in New York City, and M was seated at a circular table in a private room in an upscale restaurant. He preferred to use his orb mode, but when interacting with humans in public, he used his robot body in default mode. He had projected a holo shell that made him appear as a mid-twenties male with blond hair, fair skin, and blue eyes.

Evaran sat next to him, and his holo-projection consisted of blue khakis, brown boots, and a white polo shirt. He had also brought a half-length dark-gray trench coat, which was not projected and was folded over a chair.

After thirty minutes, a strong, pale-skinned man in a black suit joined them. M knew him as Lord Vygon, an ancient vampire lord and one of the strongest nonhumans on the planet.

Although nonhumans kept up a masquerade, there were hundreds of thousands of them, and they managed Earth via an organization known as the Earth Ward. Nonhumans had exotic energies in them but none as powerful as the cosmic energy in Evaran and M. In this case, Lord Vygon had Daedrould exotic energy, which was what made him a vampire, but the ancient vampire strain was one of dozens.

Lord Vygon guffawed. “It’s good to see you two…in any form.”

Evaran stood and forearm shook with him, while M extended a high five.

“And, of course, some things never change,” said Lord Vygon, slapping M’s hand. “So…I guess we’d better select something to eat before your next summons.”

Everyone sat.

Evaran eyed him. “And I suppose you know when that is.”

“Of course,” said Lord Vygon. “This meeting is out of sync, as expected. You just wrapped up saving Princess Cranna. Tervads, if I recall.”

M analyzed his comment. “You’ve met our future selves in your past.”

“Bingo! Not that it’s unusual for you two, as you both know. This is our first meeting, well, with your new forms obviously, and I have to say, I like them. And, yes, as you’re already aware, I know what summons you did and will do to an extent, but I can only comment on them after they’re done.”

Although V, M’s previous incarnation, had died, M still had all of V’s memories from a visual and audio perspective. V’s cosmic energy orb had reacted to everything, which M did not have, but he did possess an algorithm that would let him simulate what it may have been. When V had re-formed, his AI component had been destroyed and his cosmic energy recycled, and as M, he had a new AI component and a fresh orb of cosmic energy.

“I’m glad you like our new forms,” said M.

Lord Vygon chuckled. “It’s so odd to hear you use contractions, but I do like it. I also know that you’ve updated your cadence again since you re-formed. It’s more professorial and mainly what I know.” He glanced at Evaran. “And you. You can show some emotion now. You have an interesting road ahead of you.”

“And you’re mysterious as always,” said Evaran. “Nonetheless, it’s good to see you. We still haven’t met everyone in these new forms except for Dalton Kingston and Evot.”

“Yeah, we talked,” said Lord Vygon.

“I figured. Although we’ve only been gone for a while, we’d be interested in hearing about the current state of things.”

Over the next hour, M recorded everything as Lord Vygon ate and went over what the Earth Ward was up to and events across the planet. It amazed M that Earth was as advanced as it was despite the multitudes of human and nonhuman factions. At some point, the nonhuman masquerade would fall, and his analysis showed it would cause utter chaos. Humans tended to not like things that were different, and nonhumans were the extreme version of that.

“The Torvatta has issued another summons,” said M. He scrutinized Lord Vygon. “This is the one you mentioned.”

Lord Vygon grinned. “Maybe. It’ll be more involved than your last one.”

“Where’s it to?” asked Evaran. “Or rather, when?”

“It’s in the Andromeda galaxy in AD 12,209,” said M. “It’s relatively close to the Bilaxian Empire we checked on from a previous trip.”

“I see.” Evaran studied Lord Vygon. “And you won’t tell us anything about it.”

“Of course not. I honor your rules regardless of which version you are.”

Evaran dipped his head. “It’s appreciated. However, I don’t believe your suggestion to meet at this specific point for lunch was coincidental.”

“You caught me,” said Lord Vygon. “I knew to schedule this a long time ago. This is an…interesting point in your personal timeline. It’s between your Tervad summons, which was a good showcase of what you do at a lower level, versus your next one, which is, well, a bit more involved. Good luck.”

“I see.”

M high-fived Lord Vygon after he did a forearm shake with Evaran. Then Lord Vygon left.

“It appears we have a heavier summons to attend to. Let’s go,” said Evaran.

They exited the restaurant and went to a side alley.

M surveyed their surroundings and verified it was clear of people. Twenty feet above them was the Torvatta. It hovered ninety degrees clockwise so the front faced down, which allowed it to fit in the smaller space. It was also stealthed and in scan profile one. M and Evaran flew up, and once they crossed the shielding, they righted themselves and walked in on a blue ramp.

Evaran reverted to his normal advanced suit, then sat in the command seat with his trench coat to the side.

M seated himself at the workstation to the right of Evaran’s chair.

The Torvatta shot up, and after twenty minutes, they reached low Earth orbit.

M did not need to interact with anything physically to control where they needed to go. He could do so with his direct connection to the Torvatta, and he opened a portal, which it flew through.

A check on some metrics indicated they were now at the summons location, but they still had to travel to AD 12,209. M invoked the time travel aspect of the Torvatta, which would cause it to exit the timeline, then reinsert itself at the right coordinates. Everything outside faded to pure darkness, and a moment later, it eased back in.

M had the Torvatta pulse a scan that went out ten light-years to get an analysis of what was out there. The immediate view showed they were above a planet with two moons. The star of this system had a small clump of an oil-like substance orbiting close that absorbed the sun’s radiation.

Evaran rubbed his chin. “Intriguing. That entity around the star has Bornian exotic energy.”

“We’ve only encountered that once before,” said M.

“Correct. There’s also an advanced civilization on this planet. Connect to one of their satellites so we can see what we’re dealing with.”

“Acknowledged.”

The Torvatta flew over to a large satellite and emitted a beam. Holographic data screens popped up in the front of the interior as the information flowed in.

M processed all of it with ease, as could Evaran. There were some alien AIs at play, and those were areas that were not accessible, so most of what they were seeing was public. If needed, M could breach more systems, but he required a justification to do so.

M analyzed the images of the alien race that belonged to the civilization on the planet. They resembled seven-foot humanoid crows with plantigrade legs that ended in a bony calf area with clawed feet. They also had black fur, clawed hands, and two odd purple tentacles on their upper back. Their large blue beak stood out, as did their four eyes, with two where a human’s would be and the others on the sides. This would give them superior vision.

“These aliens call themselves the Systrals. They look like crow shifters.”

“I concur,” said Evaran. “This civilization is not unknown to us. They meet the Bilaxian Empire a century from now, and they both mention my name as common ground. The Bilaxians know us and our contributions to them, but the Systrals do not. I suspect this summons is where they learn of us. Nonetheless, there’s a lot of data to sift through, and I’d like to do a deeper scan on that entity near the sun. The summons didn’t say why we’re needed here, so let’s take some time to analyze all this information before doing anything.”

“Acknowledged.”