Plan Omega
"Damn, the way out is blocked!" Ed was alarmed by the sudden lockdown on the hole they came in from.
"What do we do?" Aya asked him.
"Please, daughter of Daemo, hear me out," the woman's voice resounded once more.
"We don't mean any harm can you let us out?" he tried to talk with the AI.
"It should not be hostile. There is no sign of weapons being pointed at us or red light and blaring alarm for an emergency. We should be fine for now," he thought.
"Dear guest, welcome to Alpha-Charlie, I can help you out through our front door, but please hear me out first," It greeted him.
"How do I know you won't kill us if we follow you?" he asked in doubt.
"Alpha-Charlie currently under emergency plan omega, I would like to ask your help to accomplish this mission," it explained.
"Why would I want to do that? What is in it for me?" he asked back.
"As the current main AI of Alpha-Charlie, I can give you the ownership of this ship in exchange for your help to complete the emergency plan omega," it offered.
"What is the detail of this mission, tell me more about it." He got hooked by the offer.
They went there to salvage some alien tech. If they could somehow get an alien spaceship, then they would be very rich.
"This old alien spaceship might be or might not be inferior to modern spaceships but if I can find the right buyer, then I will be able to buy a mother ship in exchange for this ship," he thought.
"The detail of the emergency plan is top secret, I will need to make sure that you are up to our standards before telling you the full detail, If you don't mind please follow this path toward our Medbay." A hatch opened and arrows could be seen pointing them out of the reactor room.
Aya and Ed exchange a look before following the arrow. They did not have any other choice as their escape had been closed.
"This AI probably controls our communication channel too, that's why it could talk to us and hear us. This is bad," he thought.
Ed went close and held her hand, which startled her. She looked at him and about to ask what he wanted when he tightened his hand around her, signing her to keep her silence.
He tried his best to write on her hand, 'Don't talk, It can hear us'
She seemed confused, but after he repeated it a few times, she finally gets him. She replied to him 'Ok'
Luckily their spacesuit was not the cumbersome space suit that Ed knew in his world, this spacesuit more like normal clothes to touch.
"What do you think about its offer?" he drew while they walked slowly to buy some time.
"I don't know, but if there is some qualification required, then we can just fail this requirement," she replied.
They exchanged a look before continuing to a white room. In the room were four crystal capsules that they could guess a medical pod for examination and treatment purposes.
"For qualification check, please get inside the medical pod so we can start the process," the Ai's woman voice directed them.
"Is it safe? I won't malfunction, right?" he asked in concern.
"It's ok, the whole ship has been diagnosed and any malfunctioning system has been put under lockdown, as for hygiene, the ships have been cleaned from copses and anything that might be dangerous for your health," it tried to reassure him.
"Do we need to strip our space suit? We need oxygen to breathe," Aya told the system.
Daemo could live without oxygen and survive in space without any protective suit. It would be a disaster if they opened their spacesuit and the alien ship did not have any life support system.
"Your concern is understandable, You don't need to remove your spacesuit before entering the pod, it could still continue the process," the AI explained.
Two pods opened by themselves and white gas could be seen dispersing from the inside, "Please enter the capsule whenever you are ready," it directed.
Both of them reluctantly went toward the crystal capsule, "let's hope nothing went wrong," he thought while grabbing a multi-tool, in case anything went wrong he would use it to break the crystal.
Once he got into the crystal capsule, it closed on top of him. He could also see the same thing happening to Aya's capsule.
He could see light flashing inside the capsule, as it scanned his body with delta light. Once the light faded, a harness suddenly popped out of the pod, securing his body in it.
"Fuck!" he cursed as he tried to move but the harness his waist and all of his limbs.
Red light flashes and concentrated on his spacesuit. He could see it as it melting his helmet while going down to his suit.
"Fuck, it's trying to kill me!" he cursed.
He tried to activate the multi-tool, a blue cutting laser form on it, and he tried to use it to cut the harness binding his hand.
Before he could cut it, the red light already cut through his helmet, he could hear the whirling sound of the laser from his multi-tool and a sizzling sound of his melting spacesuit.
"Agh..." he gagged as he tried to breathe, but there was no oxygen for him to breathe in.
"Patient Alpha and Patient Beta's heart rate increased, sign of oxygen deprivation detected, administering oxygen and anesthesia to stabilize the patient," he could hear a robotic sound coming from his pod.
A hissing sound could be heard as oxygen filled the capsule. Once he breathed in, his body went limp as he lost the strength to move.
He could only see as the red laser melted anything in the pod other than his body. When it touched his body, it felt harmless, but once it touched his suit, it became a decomposer.
"Body scan completed, Patient Alpha, gender male, race detected as Human Type C, Gene modification required for plan omega, requesting permission for modification," the medical pod resound.
Ed mustered all his strength to refuse but before he could even make a sound, the medical pod beeped, "Beep... Restriction lifted... Permission overruled... Proceeding with gene modification..."
He could only look in horror as the pod injected a lot of tubes into his body. He could feel a burning sensation spread through his body.
He could also hear a bit distant voice, "Body scan completed, Patient Beta, Gender female, Race mutated Daemo, Gene correction needed, Gene correction starting."
He felt pity for the girl; she didn't even get the chance to refuse, permission was not needed because the system thought they were correcting mistakes instead of changing things.
He could see dozens of tubes stabbing into the girl's body and injecting unknown substances into her body.
She struggled in pain but she could not do anything to free herself, Ed himself also felt unimaginable pain, the anesthesia was not doing its job.
"That fucking AI! I'm going to uninstall it!" Cursed in anger and pain as liquids start to fill the medical pod.
He could feel a burning and numbing sensation from it, it kept raising and raising. When it reached his neck, he felt really sleepy and his consciousness was slipping.
It took him thirteen-hour before he woke up from his sleep. His body was aching a bit, and he was a bit high, but he could manage.
He woke up inside the medical pod; it was still closed and his limbs were still tied on the pod. With a pull of his hand, the harness snapped open and the tube hissed as it opened up as well.
It took him a few seconds before he got his bearings back, "what happened?" he wondered.
Just as he wondered, the medical pod in front of him hissed and a beautiful red-haired girl groggily gets out of it.
Ed caught the girl's naked body in a hug before she could fall to the ground, "Aya, are you alright?" he asked worriedly at her.
The girl was a bit different from the girl he remembered, but he was sure that she was Aya.
"Ugh... I think I will be fine," she replied with a groan.
"Huh, Ed? What is that on top of your head?" she asked when she looked at him in the face.
Ed put his hand on top of his head to find two sharp bones protruding on top of his head before turning back to her.
"You have the same thing too, I think these are Daemo's horns," he said with a frown as he touched the tip of her horn.
"Ahh.. don't touch it," she moaned and pulled back her head so his hand stopped touching her horn.
He was about to say sorry when a woman's voice came from the room, "Congratulations on your gene modification success, if you may, I have prepared a change of clothes for you," it said.
That pulled both of them from their confusion, realizing that they were naked in each other's arms.