Chapter 5

Even through the bright blue glow that was quickly dissipating around him, Aiden could make out the changes in the ship. It was slightly larger, its hull apparently a completely different material. It looked to have completely different armaments, as well as an overhauled defense system. The engines had also been replaced.

"Wow," Aiden said amazedly. "You did all of that in just the couple of days you have had me knocked out?"

Alien nodded. "It was quite simple really. We can manufacture larger and more sophisticated ships than yours in less than a day aboard this vessel. My species utilizes advanced replicator technology coupled with the infinite amount of energy that can be drawn from Underspace for practically all of our material needs."

Aiden was so lost in his thoughts on what he could do with that kind of technology that he almost missed the fact that Alien had not spoken telepathically.

"I thought you could only speak telepathically?" Aiden asked after a few seconds.

Alien shook his head. "No. We do have a small mouth, as you can see. We generally have difficulty formulating complex sounds, as we have no vocal cords. Even with the cybernetic implants that enable us to speak vocally, we often fail to comprehend pronunciations properly. Thus, I had to listen to you speak for quite a while before I could work out how to emulate your form of speech. Do you find my means of communication acceptable?"

"Acceptable?" Aiden asked incredulously. "You sound better than me! I have never heard anyone speak so clearly and deliberately, and yet at the same speed everyone else speaks at. You could probably teach a few oral communications courses back on Earth."

Alien smiled at the compliment. Aiden found himself again impressed that Alien so readily picked up human mannerisms.

"So what kind of changes have you made to me?" Angel asked as she proceeded up the boarding ramp, Alien and Aiden following her.

"We have replaced your food storage lockers and rations with replicators," Alien replied, "and we have replaced your primary and auxiliary power generation cores with Underspace taps. Underspace seems to be composed of infinite energy from everything our studies suggest, and these cores simply perform minor space-folds to capture that energy, harness it, and provide it at a continuous rate to the ship. The overall power output of the ship has been increased three-fold."

Aiden whistled. "Not bad at all. I'm surprised you would share so much technology with us, but that may just be because I am used to the greediness of humanity."

Aiden took a seat in the completely redesigned cockpit, featuring a few simple overrides and viewscreens. Almost everything, apparently, was completely automated. It looked like he could activate controls on the flat, matte white surfaces before him, but he wasn't sure how.

"Those are another change," Alien mentioned as he sat in a special chair at the navigator's console. "Polymorphic interfaces. They can change shape, display type, and surface material composition to suit your needs. We upgraded the neural interfaces all around the ship to handle Angel's rapidly increasing knowledge and creative development, and we have replaced the weapon systems we destroyed with much more effective ones. The combat shielding has also been upgraded heavily, and the armor on the ship has been completely replaced with a bio-molecular equivalent. The medical systems were also redesigned. There are many other changes, but I am sure you can figure them all out as you go along."

Alien's mentioning of the medical systems reminded Aiden of the laser wound he had sustained and treated aboard the Angel. He pulled the collar of his flight suit out, checking the spot where the somewhat ugly scar had been.

"I failed to notice before that you had completely healed me," Aiden said looking towards Alien. "Thank you. Angel's first aid kits were helpful, but were apparently nothing compared to your technology. I am curious though... why arm me with such a powerful ship, make my ally- Angel- into, essentially, a living being, and make her more powerful, and then even add yourself to my crew? You seem to be entrusting quite a lot to a stranger, and your explanation from earlier just doesn't cut it. Not that I am one to look a gift horse in the mouth, mind you."

Alien fidgeted a little, which looked suspiciously like nervousness to Aiden. Perhaps Alien was picking up human mannerisms a little too well.

"Well," Alien said slowly, "we have a few reasons. You understand that we are apprehensive towards your government. We would like to see humanity released from its influence, and we believe that this may be your eventual goal, especially if you are given the means with which you can carry it out. There is something else as well..."

Angel interrupted him quickly. "Did we not agree that there would be time to delve into that particular issue later? We need to find out what it means before we engage in idle speculation."

"What?" Aiden asked with a note of concern in his voice. "What are you hiding from me?"

Angel sighed and leaned back in her chair. "The Telepaths ran a genetic profile on you, comparing it against genetic scans of standard humans that I had in my database. They found some... irregularities... in your genetic structure. We do not really have much of a clue as to what these irregularities mean, so if you give us some time to investigate..."

"You are not telling me everything," Aiden stated.

Alien nodded. "Angel did not want us to concern you with this matter so soon. She wanted to be sure of what we suspected first. All we know so far is that the changes in your genetic sequencing are most likely artificially induced. This advanced level of genetic modification is a curiosity to us; it is not much less advanced than our own."

"Genetic tampering?" Aiden asked. "Why would anyone go through the trouble of modifying a slave's genetics?"

Angel shook her head. "No, Aiden. Not genetic tampering; it was not done while you were alive, technically speaking. These kinds of changes could only be done in the early fetal stages, or immediately post-fertilization. In all likeliness, you were engineered in a lab. Understand that I have no real proof for this, just suspicions."

Aiden immediately rejected the idea. "That's impossible, Angel. I still say that no one would spend that much effort to create a slave. You might as well use androids if you are going to engineer a human. What changes are there in my structure, anyway?"

"That is the strange part," Angel stated. "From what the Telepaths were able to extrapolate from the pattern of the changes, they were mostly related to your brain, although a few were related to your body and senses. It makes no sense if you are creating a slave, as you have already stated. Perhaps you were not meant to be a slave."

"Perfect," Aiden muttered, "I'm Oliver Twist with genetics instead of money."

"The ship should be ready to depart now," Alien reminded them.

Aiden tapped a few controls that looked like they should initiate the new power cores and engines. It seemed that before his fingers had even brushed across the controls, the systems had snapped to life.

"Amazing response time," Aiden commented.

Angel nodded in agreement. "The Telepaths' new interfaces and neural systems are incredible. Responses to all commands are virtually instantaneous."

A thought struck Aiden. "Guys, why don't we rename the ship? I mean, I know I am going to have trouble referring to the two different Angels and identifying which one I am speaking of, and we need to change the transponder identifier anyway."