6 Chapter Five

The blackness is absolute. I can not tell you how long I floated in this void of nothingness. It could have been seconds, minutes, days, life times. I could have been floating so long that my mind began coming up with outrageous fantasies. But it was no use. There was no cure for the unending Black. The Fade. The Empty.

Just as I was beginning to feel truly depressed and the darkest disparity, a green light appeard in my vision.

What? What did that mean? Why was it here? Was it sent to taunt me? My focus narrowed on that one colored word.

It changed. Slowly the shades of darkness began to shift. It twisted and stretched and lightened till colors entered visible ranges. Blurry everything entered my field of vision and the text appeared.

Things slowly began to focus and soon I was able to see I was hanging on a rack like the suits in the simulation.

A video begins to play and a man is sitting behind a large desk. Important seals are seen in the background and it takes only a minute to realise who it is. President Mason Green is sitting behind his large desk in the Oval Office.

"If you are listening to this then thank you. Thank you for your sacrifice. Because of you we still have hope for the future of the human race. Unfortunately of the seven who entered the final stage of the program, this video will only play if one is the only to survive. That being said the listener of this video will not only be our last hope, but the last of our kind. At the recording of this video 300 million are still alive. By the time you see this, it is suspected only you will remain. You are the last human. Your home is gone. I am sorry. We failed to protect our people and our home. I failed as President. In the last hope to save anything, when you wake up you will be given a new body. The A.N.D.R.O.S Unit is the best science has. But you will not be alone. We also recorded and stored everything you could possibly need to save us. Good luck. And God Speed."

My reactions were frozen. I did not yet have any feeling in my body and I was sure I did not have one yet. The disconnected feeling was starting to get to me and I tried to force myself out of whatever emptiness I was in.

<Printing. Please wait>

Around me I saw that I was in a room that could easily be used for Engineering of one kind or another. Tools hung in neat locations around the shop and it seemed like prepackaged machines waited in their storage. The air was crisp but felt like it was recycled.

I took a deep breathe and realized I could still breath. I looked down and saw my body was exactly like the one I designed. Cables and wires ran to my body and at the first sign of moving, they slowly disconnected and retracted from me.

"Oh wow!" The clamp released and I stood once more on my own two feet. Well "my own" was used liberally. In either case I moved from my dock and began doing stretches. I took my body through any motion I could think of and soon felt like I knew all I needed.

Just as I was getting a feel for my body, copious amounts of boxes began flooding my vision. I could not finish one before another formed. My body shook in frustration and I growled while flailing my arms in ineffectually.

<Quest> Calibration and Testing

<Duration> 5 min

□Stretch Arms

□Touch Toes

□Touch Nose

□Walk 15 steps, Turn around, return

□Touch each finger with thumb of same hand

□Clap

□ Speak "Test 1, 2, 3"

<Reward> Full system calibration, 50xp

The first window that finally came into focus was a quest screen. For a moment I was giddy until something came to me. A realization. Why am I not freaking out about the video? I had moved on from it without any thought or concern. Somehow everyone I knew was dead. Earth was technically gone. Or at the very least I had no idea how to contact them. And Erica and Juliet, gone. I decided to follow through the calibration test and noticed a few hiccups when it came to the speaking and dexterity parts but as I continued performing them, it all smoothed out for the better.

<Quest> Calibration and Testing

<Reward> Full system Calibration, 50xp

<♤♡◇♧>Into Space

Jester here has a few more things to say. I may return to you any day. In meantime I have left some gifts, hidden information to aid your mission. Inside your drives they are hidden well. The true goals I can not tell. All the same the best of Luck. till we speak again good bye.

<♤♡◇♧> Hidden Within

Jester has left much needed information inside your drives. Locate the hidden files and learn what you need to know.

<Reward> New Skills, New Mission Information

<Quest>Into the Unknown

After waking inside the USS Last Hope you are to complete the mission assigned to you by the government.

□Take control of ship

□Reach assigned destination

□Complete assigned tasks on arrival

<Reward> Control of USS Last Hope, 50xp

I could only stare at the screen displayed before me. My mind could not comprehend the little information given to me. Whoever programmed these prompts were amature and pathetic. Hell even Aleron Kong would not give so litte information and he wrote a full chapter on taking a poop! I have read many Litrpg books and played huge amounts of Rpg games.

What I needed to do was just head to the Bridge and figure out where I was and where I needed to go. Leaving my workshop I came out into a long corridor filled with doors. At the end of the hall was a solid elevator door and next to it a Directory. This was the 14th floor and it was filled with workshops and labs of all kinds. the directory also informed me there was a total of twenty-eight floors and thirty-two rooms per floor.

All this ship and I was the only one moving inside. There were automated work stations but they didn't count. Entering the elevator I decided to head to the bridge and complete my tasks. I could hold off on doing the Jesters missions for later.

Once on the Bridge ones thing became obvious. They were inspired by Star Trek. It almost looked like the set of the movies. Taking the Captains Chair, the lights and consoles lit up. Now how was I supposed to control this thing by myself though? Looking around I found a message on the arm rest and pressed the blinking button. Coordinates appeared and for laughs I decided to be Picard. "Make it so Number 1, Set course at warp speed."

I laughed to myself but only a moment. Before I knew it the consoles were responding and the ship set course before blacking through space. The chair pushed hard against my back and it soon relaxed as whatever dampened the g-force kicked in.

"The Government had all this and kept it to themselves? What was wrong with them!" I sat bitterly in my seat and looked around. I noticed a few buttons on the console connected to the chair and one of them was labeled as viewing.

Without hesitation I pressed the button and just like on Star Trek, the front wall of the bridge became a viewing screen. Stars flashed by in a blur. It wasn't exactly like warp or anything else you would see on tv. It was more that everything passed by exceedingly quickly.

I wonder if there was a way to check the ETA of where I was going? As soon as the thigh finished a tine appeared on the Viewing Screen and counted down. Four days.

"Um, full stop on arrival and alert me." I had no idea what else to say and with that I left the bridge to explore further around the ship. A part of me seriously hoped there was something to help with any loneliness I was sure going to crop up.

In the elevator I picked a floor at random and decided to see what was on the 10th floor. The Directory said the Biology labs were held here and I wondered why I would need so many rooms. Opening the first door I came to I found neatly sealed machines and other equipment I was not sure how to use. My eyes scanned the room and it seemed to be enough for a window to pop up.

<Quest> Move in day

Everything needs to be unpacked, catalogued and put in its proper place.

□Unpack Laboratories 0/298

□Unpack Workshops 0/298

□Unpack Storage 0/298

<Rewards> 50xp

And with that I flipped a table. Who the hell made everything so bloody cheap. At this rate I would never level anywhere above level 4. Speaking of which, what level was I?

<Name> Cicero

<Suit> Joker

<Level> 1

<Stats>

<STR> 11 <DEX> 11 <CON> 11 <INT> 11 <WIS> 11 <CHA> 9

Master of None

Everything was not what I was expecting. Up until my stats was correct but why were my stats so low? And where were any skills? Most importantly, should I be afraid of my ability? It was possible there was a reasonable conclusion to be drawn from the ability. But for the life if me I had no idea how it would be good.

Closing the window I looked around the room and began to complete the first of many rooms to unpack, catalogue and put together. This was going to be a long four days.

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