Time seemed irreparably slow as I approached the ships off in the distance. My mind, heart raced at thoughts of what to do, how to act, how to proceed, and /what/ exactly should be done. For the most part, I had no idea—I was clueless. In the past, hints or possible routes were given or taught to me in the case of mathematics, or survival on Earth. I wasn't exactly there anymore, much to my dismay.

            Closing my eyes, I tried to conserve my breath, calming myself down—If I panicked now, I would lose oxygen quickly, and perhaps a fraction of my own sanity beyond what has happened. I cannot stop, I will not stop. I must… Remain calm… The lights of the stars about me and the ships in the distance flared off into the open, the source dimming ever so slowly as my eyelids betrayed my adrenaline, attempting to soothe my confused heart and mind.

            I awoke in a panic as lights, sounds and forces threw me around rapidly, my eyes shooting open—bloodshot from disturbance and the motion around. I gasped, my body being flung around rapidly—sight getting rapidly distorted. I felt sick, trying to hold my insides like I did during the training years. Unfortunately, at the time, there wasn't much that could have compared to the feeling that was pushing my stomach in knots; I certainly wasn't ready to have had a meal prior to this sensation.

All of a sudden, it felt like I hit a brick wall, and it all went black for several moments.

Air pressure restored itself as I could hear outside of my suit, though I didn't quite trust the air yet; I wasn't sure what it was comprised of, and certainly not ready to take that risk. Checking my suit for any faults with several faint red and white lights that were flashing in the room I awoke in, I noticed a few scrapes from the primary suit. Nothing serious beyond minor temperature exposure. I'd have to get it fixed if I wanted to head out into space again. Oxygen pressure was sustained for the moment. Immediate priorities out of the way; though my head pounded and my body felt sore all over.

In front of me was the one pistol that I had taken from the shuttle—more intact that I was now thankfully. Sitting up slowly, I held my head, my body still dizzy and wanting to hurl, though I did the best to prevent that for the moment. Moments passed, my hearing restored itself, a faint alarm sounding off in the distance with my heart pounding rapidly; the latter nearly overtaking the former. I needed to regain my surroundings, and quick; there was no telling where I was or what I was on.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. “One…" I spoke softly, inhaling, closing my eyes, trying to keep my posture straight. “Two…" followed those words, my body finally reacting to my senses; a dull pain roaming over my body, hearing restored. “Three…" I finished, exhaling deeply, opening my eyes and focusing forward, crawling over to the metallic pistol I had ventured aboard with; taking hold of it and slowly trying to climb to my feet, my balance understandably off.

…Gravity? I was in space…? Trying to hold myself up, I leaned against what seemed to be a metallic support against the wall, the suit I had on was rather bulky and understandably restraining for the moment. I couldn't risk taking it off, not at the moment. Still wasn't sure the air was safe. Releasing the support on the wall, I stepped forward, my stride keeping pace as I finally regained my  balance, the pistol still heavy in my palm as I stood in the center of the room.

Observing my surroundings, I noticed that there was a large hole in the ceiling, blocked by a faint blue glow; beyond that, the great beyond of space. “That… Explains where I came in from… Air..?" my mind spoke aloud, trying to make sense of things as my eyes followed their way to the ground, seeing a large hole there, it seemingly going down several stories.

Moments of peace ended as the ship I was on shook rapidly, nearly knocking me off my feet. The crackle of radio emerged as a voice spoke above me in a robotic English, my home language, which I found extremely odd. “Intruder alert: possibility of infiltration: 99%. Estimated location: Starboard maintenance, nanopaste storage six." It spoke, waking my senses back to fight or flight mode. Whoever… Whatever was in control, had some idea that I had gotten aboard. No sense in taking chances though, I had to find my way out.

Looking around, I spotted something that looked like a door, heading towards it, outstretching my hand despite it not having a handle at all. A blue circular holographic panel appeared, scanning my hand before flashing green. Not questioning what the hell it was, I poked my visor out the door, flipping up the sun visor so there was only glass protecting my face at this point. From what it seemed, the hallway where I was had no activity. Regardless, I cautiously stepped out, pistol in both hands as I hugged the wall; loud sounds of metallic activity approaching.

Not taking chances, I headed down a darker hallway, hoping that whatever was on its way wouldn't find me. My feet carried me quick, trying to keep me concealed from anything else aboard. As I hit a four-way junction, the ship shook once more. The robotic announcer that had spoken before announced itself once more: “Breach detected: Engineering deck. Infiltration pipe likely; security forces approach and apprehend any invaders."

Almost immediately, down one of the junctions came hard metallic noises by the dozen. Gulping, I ran up to a nearby door, pressing my hand against it as the holographic ring appeared, flashing green, opening. As I stepped in, it closed behind me quickly. The sounds approached rapidly, seemingly not stopping, though for the moment I would have to hope I would be safe, for there were few places to hide where I was.

Taking a moment to collect myself, I looked around, keeping the gun ready as my eyes scanned the room. There appeared to be a series of tables with various familiar tools all around, scrap metal next to what seemed to be furnaces, cable coils and several consoles around the room. I walked forward cautiously, up to one of the tables that had some sort of a shaped figure. Setting my gun down on the table, I picked it up with both hands, bringing it level to my face as I stared at some sort of head.

The eyes glowed a faint red, structure seemed similar to a human's, though more polygonal. Casted, circuits and various pipes emerged from below the head, with various letters on each one. Perhaps a manual? “Huh…" I spoke softly, setting it down, looking around the room more as the metal clanking outside died down.

            Tapping one of the consoles that were blue, it flashed slightly, glowing green before emerging as a holographic screen to meet me eye-level. “Damn, this is some impressive stuff…" I spoke softly, shaking my head to try and stay focused. The computer showed various files with titled names that you'd expect a programmer back home to name; very straight to the point, forward with its operation.

            One option in particular stroke me as interesting as I used my hand to scroll along the list. “Hm... dispenseAi…" I spoke to myself, cautiously tapping it before the screen went black, a panel on the table where my pistol was slowly lowering as a circuit exposed itself. Moving back over, I picked it up, looking down at the robotic head; noting that there was a place under the head where the chip could be installed. Slowly, I connected the two pieces, and the metallic object's eyes glowed red.

            Moments passed as a few soft noises and whirrs played through before the head spoke. “Model: RCROSS 6, Unit: L-153 active. Primary functions not found, head is not connected to torso." It spoke, its glowing eyes turning towards me. “Unidentified personnel. Identifying…. Identifying…. Identification recognized: Greetings, Admiral. This medical unit is concerned about your state of being. Your last checkup was mere days ago and yet your DNA appears to be 0.2% off of its previous state. Have you been exposed to large doses of radiation, sir?" it spoke to me, questioning me. I wasn't exactly sure what to say; it was a functional robot. A medical robot at that, but regardless, a robot!

            I had to respond to it, as it expected me to be an 'admiral', I had to play along with the farce just to be safe. “A-ah, yes. Too much time near radioactive materials again." I lied, the robot's eyes scanning me once more. “No biological contaminant detected; your time spent near the object or objects has not altered your DNA in an immediately life-threatening way. Long-term testing may be requested at your pleasure." It spoke, its eyes staring back at the ceiling.

            “Admiral, this is odd. The roboticists are not present, are their functions nominal?" it asked, looking around the room. Clearing my throat, I responded, planning on continuing the farce, “We are under attack, so they may be elsewhere aboard the station. The ship… is on autopilot… The uh… AI is taking the reigns for the moment…" I gulped hoping that it would buy my lie again. “Affirmative, Admiral. This unit requests that you place it on a medical chassis. Sensors indicate a spare is within range behind you. Please affix modules one through nine onto ten through eighteen so that my cortex will connect with the primary unit." It responded.

            Turning around, I saw a white torso against the wall, attached to a series of cables. I wasn't exactly sure that this was a great idea, though if this… Unit saw me as an admiral, perhaps it wouldn't attempt to harm me either. Lifting the head up, I tried to match the cables with the sockets on the chassis; attaching them then slowly setting the head down onto the frame, twisting it into place. “Thank you, Admiral. Unit is checking module functions…. Scanning for errors… One error detected, debugging…. Debugging complete. Unit is fully functional." It spoke, unhooking the primary cables from the chassis as it stepped forward.

            I figured that at this point I could perhaps gather some answers from it as it mistook me. Worth a shot, instead of riding in the dark through this whole scheme. “Unit… Whichever one you are, I am going to give you a few questions, answer them for manual diagnostics." I spoke, trying to fib my knowledge of this. It nodded, replying, “Affirmative, Admiral. Ask away."

            Gulping softly, I thought of something simple. “Current air composition and pressure?" I asked, looking at it, my hands on my suit's hips. It replied, “Seventy-seven percent nitrogen, twenty-one percent oxygen, one percent water vapor, one percent trace gasses. Air pressure nominal at 101.3 kiloPascals." Nodding slowly, I grabbed my helmet, slowly twisting it from the frame, removing it slowly in trust of the unit. Taking a deep breath, they seemed normal—just like if I had the helmet on. A sigh of relief escaped my lips. I was at least breathing decent air without the helmet.

Clearing my throat, I asked prodding for more information, “Unit, does the name: Earth, come up under any diagnostics or readings?" It replied, “Scanning, standby… Affirmative, Admiral. Earth, Sol system, the birthplace of the human race, and your creation as well." Lifting a brow at this, I was about to open my mouth when the door to the lab opened, several more robots with firearms stepping in. They spoke up, “Admiral, your presence is requested at the bridge; A.I. Unit Apollo scans indicate that there may be another of your species aboard.

            Scratching my chin, I nodded to the medical cyborg, saying, “Very well, this will be interesting…" Slowly stepping towards the other robots, I gulped softly. They seemed to be packing some serious work with them, I wouldn't stand a chance, so I'd have to play along with the farce for the moment. Grabbing my pistol, I headed towards the door, following the three robots with weapons for several moments, before the led me to a door, speaking, “Stay safe, Admiral." As they walked away, I touched my hand against the door before me.

            The light flashed green, the pistol in my right hand held firm as I stepped inside; seeing another human, one with grey hair, wearing a white leather suit and cap with various insignia on it. Turning around, he grinned, saying, “It's been some time since I've seen another of my kind. Welcome aboard the Sol-class Battleship: Cassius." Stepping forward, I got a better look at his face. It had a series of small scratches across it, he bore a white stubble and 'stache that stretched to both sides of his lip. “I am known as Admiral Barakov around here, though perhaps Vasiliy Boroevi? may be more familiar with you." He spoke, a faint smile on his face.

            “T-the Cortés mission? You're the captain of those who were lost!" I exclaimed, a sigh of relief as I had hoped there would be more about this strange new space.