Chapter 9

Things have been pretty uneventful on The Regulator. All things considered, it was a vessel that I owned as a privilege from the GCU, but it has changed me in many ways. I accept that, for example, I no longer am real. I’m very much aware that I was another person before I took the procedure, but now even that day is fuzzy. The events that I remember vividly were after the procedure. I remember the time I talked to Robert, and he gave me the voucher for the ship. On the day that I became permanent, I remembered a few things, such as my first solo combat mission and even my first day here with Kim. All that is gone now, and the little glimpses of memories that are still left from that day are a mess in my head. What did those Alchemy techs do to me? The briefing they gave me is also gone. What the hell am I? A computer that is a clone of my former self? A news icon is blinking in the right hand corner of my console, grabbing my attention, but I am aware of my surroundings. I reach up and slap myself upside the head three times, just to make sure I really feel it. Then, I touch where my brain should be, lift, and slap it with some force. Surely, if there’s wiring in their connecting mechanical parts, I should feel ... something.

Maybe, the source is well hidden. I let this debate with my subconscious telling me that I am human slip into the back of my thoughts, never to be forgotten as I bring up today’s news interest.

“New Star Research Activity!”

“By: GPO Development”

Today we are launching several activities to further enrich the lives of Galbadia Prime Online citizens both in the world and around the world. The first of these is Star Research. Citizens with a capable armored ship will be able to successfully navigate through stars with the intension to gather data about them. The objective of this activity is to protect the Galactic Counsel Union researchers that will board your ship once a Star Research mission is accepted. The mission jump-gates will remain the same, but the planet where you obtain them and all future exploration missions/equipment for tasks will be on the planet “Zezia IV,” in sector 69. This planet will also be home to our first player race other than human. There will be more on that in the coming months.

Our second activity is not a mission, but a task that can be done at any time while you are out of local space. It is called probing. There are three types of objects that can be probed. Ships other than the probes home bass, empty ships, or rare artifacts left behind by intrepid explorers that failed to safely return to their ship after a spacewalk or other encounter. Any artifacts gathered during probing are yours for the credits.

The third thing we must mention: non-GCU controlled territory now has a life of its own. The further away you are from civilization; the GCU cannot protect you. There is Argons a plenty. Soon, Asteroid Haulers will be able to go out there and gain far more than in local space with much bigger roids. The risks are much larger; however, Argons have taken it upon themselves to clone animals from all sorts of planets and aren’t hesitating to release them into the wild. If that wasn’t enough, the Argons are at war with several races out there, some of which will be playable when player races are implemented. Don’t get caught in the crossbeams!”

I sighed. I stopped reading around there, but the closing remarks caught my eye.

“Failure to report a bug in any or all activities, not just these new ones, will lead to account banning. For players who are our most valued citizens who cannot be banned; we will employ other measures to convince you to be honest. First, there will be a ban on the activity until the bug is fixed, despite the type of player. We will determine the severity of punishment, dependent on Perma status.”

I don’t even know what a “bug” is here. I guess I’ll find out, as I plan to go to this new planet and get an exploration ship.

Private Communication [Kim] “Julian, are you around? I’m right outside your ship at GP. The SLE wants a meeting with you.”

“I’ll be right out, Kim. I’m curious: When is our student teacher relationship ending?”

Private Communication [Kim] “In about a day. After today, I don’t have to pick you up for SLE meetings, but I will still be an advisor to you in the GCU, should they accept you. That meeting is tomorrow.”

I nodded. The trip to the SLE HQ was pretty uneventful. I wasn’t particularly all smiles for Kim anymore, after what her recent “advisements” have been for me. A pretty tall young woman quickly dismissed Kim when we arrived at the SLE ship hanger, beckoning me to follow her.

“Hi there,” I opened, as from the look on her face, she wasn’t the conversation starter type.

“Hi.” As the words had come out of her mouth, she made what was possibly the smallest glance at me before turning her face away from me, incredibly focused on the path ahead.

“What is your name, if you don’t mind me asking?” I asked, wondering why she was so afraid of me. Nobody had ever been afraid of me before here, in Galbadia.

“My name is Liz,” she seemed to say with indifference. “I was asked to come and take you back to our headquarters. You are not fully trusted yet to be in our circle, so we have a ship hanger away from everything to keep those who would harm us away.”