If the day before they had told you that when you woke up today you would be floating in outer space observing the Great Red Spot of Jupiter while you were drifting, you would have called a psychiatrist.
On another unrelated topic, seeing that huge cyclone from a distance of half a million kilometers was something to see. And your modified eyes allowed you to observe it in great detail thanks to the technology that that race of extraterrestrial beings had inserted inside your body.
Nanotechnology was a real blessing, in fact, it was clear to you that it was the only reason why you were still alive in the cold of space.
Another advantage of this spacewalk was the silence. You liked the silence, it helped you to grieve and now that you had silenced the internal communication systems, those incessant beeps of alarm had stopped. Apparently the nanotechnology that had kept you alive these past centuries also protected you against "dangerous environments for organic life forms," apparently that included outer space.
You hadn't made much progress on the ship. So you decided to take the bull by the horns and go see your homeworld for yourself. Being "the only highest-ranking conscientious officer aboard the ship" had helped you open most of the doors. But the AI that was in charge of controlling the planetship's systems had followed your orders - with a certain reluctance.
You finally made it to Earth and what the holograms had shown you had turned out to be true. The Earth was gone, kaputt, nada. There was only one asteroid field left from what it was one of the few worlds capable of sustain life. Your family, friends and life had disappeared, surely died more than 10 centuries ago and that had affected you. And you don´t wanted to express surrounded by strangers.
It was simply too much, all that information in the last 10 hours had ended up overloading your brain and you needed a bit of silence to think calmly.
It was for that reason that you were now floating in orbit of the gas giant, that is why you had spent the last 20 minutes completely alone with your thoughts and that is why you had turned off that damn ...
A little red light appeared at the edge of your vision.
Speaking of the devil.
You would sigh if you could take air.
The Artificial Intelligence helping you manage your nanites had turned out to be a real pain in the ass. Even with the assurance that there was no chance that the vacuum of space could somehow affect your modified body, she had not stopped her from threatening to write a report to "Central Intelligence" about what she called "mismanagement of valuable resources and an immature attitude on the part of the host of said technology ”.
Fuck it. At least you could enjoy the views -by a little.
Another alert flashes in your field of view, this time it was an image from the sensors. Apparently, something was heading in your direction - something big. You had kept your artificial systems silent during that walk but had taken care to be warned in case some unidentified object approached you.
Using your artificially enhanced senses, you turn your gaze away from the gas giant and move to position yourself that allows you to see the one who was heading towards you. When you located it, you felt as if a slab rose from your chest,
The ship was completely black, to be able to blend in with the background of space and only the reflection of sunlight gave it away. It was a curved disk, with no weapons or propulsion system with the naked eye.
It was the ship you had used to travel from the planetship to the Solar System.
But that was strange, the last time you saw her, you ordered the ship to go to the orbit of Io, then the realization hit you hard.
That bastard.
A second red light began to flash in your vision at the same time. The ship that had taken you there began to make visual signals with the lights that populated the front of its chassis.
You had no doubt that Jane, as you called the AI managing the nanites, would immediately report your actions to the ship's AI, Ulysses.
I'm in a good mess.
With some embarrassment, you turn your internal systems back on, the alarms seemed to have finally gone off, but the toneless voice of the ship's AI assaulted your head the instant communications were re-established.
"Approximately 20 minutes and 11 seconds have passed since the loss of contact. I would like to know if the unit had suffered any damage to its communication systems. Please report any possible anomalies."
"I'm fine Ul. I was...relaxing a bit."
"I am requesting a detailed report from your AI to verify the data."
"No, wait…"
Beep
That beep, a death sentence could have been sounded the same. A tab opened in your bottom field with a single annotation: "Message sent."
"Kassie...you, traitor ...!"
Beep!
Only an AI could make a beep sound like blasphemy.
If you did not know that artificial intelligences were distinguished by being cold machines, of pure logic and lacking any human feeling, you would have the impression that Ulysses was suffering something similar to a heart attack. Mainly due to the delay in the reply. 2.5 seconds after receiving the report a beep sounded inside your head warning of an incoming communication from the ship.
You had just awakened a sleeping giant.
----------------------
It is said that the perception of time between a human and a machine is different. In your case it was something relative. Although much of your brain was artificial, it was designed to experience time just like a human being. But there could be situations in which you could change that, Ulises was giving you an example of it while they maintained an exchange, inside your head. Ulysses had spent what seemed like 10 minutes explaining the whole range of ways you could have died on your little adventure.
"… a 2.0% chance that your jetpack will fail causing you to end up caught in the gas giant's gravitational pull. If dragged inside, there is a 65.2% chance of being practically destroyed instantly and beyond any possible repair ...
His tone of voice sounded like a cross between HAL 9000 and your old driving school teacher, before they both got off the hook, of course.
...
The headache was returning.
You knew since you woke up that something was wrong. Something related to your mind. You didn't know what it was, but since you woke up just a few hours ago you had experienced scraps of memories that you didn't remember.
When had he been to a driving school?
Ulises seemed to have caught your mood because time began to pass normally.
"A level of increased stress is detected. Can I assist you in any way?"
"Listen; you have been of help this last day. And although I enjoy making you mad ..."
"I can't experiment ..."
"I need information. You said there was something wrong with my memory. But I need to know what has happened these last 1000 years. I need to know what happened to my people. Where did they go? Why haven't they returned? Do they still exist?"
Your voice, despite communicating inside your mind, was broken. And if you were in a normal atmosphere you would cry.
"I will be happy to inform you about the current geopolitical situation and offer you assistance in the search for your fellows ..."
"Good…"
"… Once she's safely back on the mothership and undergoes a psychological exam."
Shit…
"you have acted with a predisposition to danger showing behavior atypical to someone with her rank. Until her case has been clarified, she will be dismissed, being relegated from her rank of subadmiral."
I don't know why, but I have the impression that it was going to be a very long day.