Derelict, Book 3, Chapter 1.

Time to start posting the new Derelict chapters. These will be going up as I write them, so there may be a day or two in-between chapters. Let me know what you think as the story progresses. Just like with my other posts, these are rough drafts and there's a lot that could change by the time it's finally published. I've attached some of the concept art for the book, but as you'll read, Slater isn't anywhere near ready enough for this kind of fight just yet. 

Chapter 1.

He could hear voices, but it was hard for Slater to focus or understand what was being said. Hunger continued, the deep pain of it blocking his thoughts and threatening something he wanted to hold onto. A moment’s respite was felt as light reached his core; someone opened his prison to allow that tiny fraction of energy inside. All too soon, the container closed, and his torment continued. He could feel the needed resources floating just a few inches away as he was held suspended inside his prison, a banquet that was just out of arms reach.

Error, unable to connect to drone support.

Resource levels are critical, harvest more resources to prevent permanent core damage.

The same prompts appeared, ones he had seen over and over again. Their insistent call was only halted by a change that took him some time to process. It was something about the ship was trapped inside of, something was different about its feel. They had stopped, and the clanging jolt of a boarding hatch attaching was felt. The sound and feel of it was familiar and comforting in a way, allowing Slater to briefly ignore the furious hunger boiling inside of him. He struggled to keep his attention focused as he felt his container lifted and carried somewhere.

“What is this crap, I don’t need more junk., this is a respectable shop,” a voice called out as the lid to his case opened and the wonderful light shined down upon him again. His remaining handful of nanobots worked to take in the desperately needed energy.

“This isn’t some space junk, and your shop isn’t exactly reputable if you’re doing business here in the dregs. My brother-in-law here thinks it’s a core, you know, from one of them Derelicts,” another voice said. With the connection to the light came other wonderful things, tiny fragments in the atmosphere landed on his core, dust particles that he greedily gathered up.

“Not a chance, the last of those were destroyed years ago. I would be jumping for joy if it was one. You know how much those fragments of a Derelict are worth? If there’s even a spark of power in one, the arena would pay enough to make us all set for life. No, I think this is just a piece of space junk, but let me check just to be sure,” the new voice said. With the light and dust fragments, Slater was able to activate his video feed, seeing the face of a dwarf standing above him, a scanner of some sort in his hand.

“Well, Drabox, what is it?” Another dwarf asked, he must have been one of the pair that dragged him in from space and brought him here to wherever this place was.

“Hold on Krepps, you’re more annoying than a gnome, and more impatient than an orc,” Drabox replied. At the mention of gnome, Slater felt a new emotion. He felt anger, he hated them, but he wasn’t quite sure why.

“Don’t even think of telling me this thing is worthless,” Krepps demanded.

“Not entirely worthless, but despite its strange energy signature, it’s no Derelict. It’s almost like someone tried to make a power supply that mimicked one, but this thing is no Derelict Core, watch,” Drabox said before placing a small band around Slater’s core.

Slater was excited, if he had a body, he would be salivating with anticipation of the metal band hitting his core. To his disappointment, the band wasn’t edible. Not only was it something his nanobots couldn’t break down, but it also added to his pain. Fresh waves of agony flared from the band, slowly dissipated as he became used to it. Eventually it died down to a dull throb.

“What’s that supposed to show us,” Krepps asked, both dwarves staring intently on the scanner that Drabox held.

“If this were a real derelict core, the power it gives off would have dropped to nearly nothing as the suppression band hit, but it didn’t, so this is no Derelict Core,” Drabox said with confidence.

“Quit lying, it did change, it fluttered right when you placed the band on it. I’m telling you, this thing might not be a Derelict Core, but it has to be worth some serious credits,” Krepps argued.

“No, I think its just a power supply with some kind of processor built into it. This thing was probably designed to power an entertainment module or an assembly line, or something. Look, the processing power isn’t that much. I’ll admit it has some value, but it’s a secondhand power core with a substandard processor built in. I can give you twenty credits, but that’s only because we’re kinfolk. I wouldn’t give more than one or two credits to a gnome trying to hock that thing in here,” Drabox offered.

“You heartless swindler, give me a hundred, its got to be worth that,” Krepps countered.

“Ha, just like you said, my establishment is here in the dregs, my customers can’t pay much, I’d be lucky to get thirty for it, but I’ll cut you a deal and offer twenty-five. Normally I wouldn’t take so little, but I know you boys were disappointed that what you found isn’t what you thought it was,” Drabox said.

“I don’t know, what do you think Bharge?” Krepps asked to a dwarf Slater hadn’t seen yet. This new dwarf leaned over the box, peering down at Slater. The dwarf pulled at his chin hairs, thinking for a moment. Slater cursed as one of the chin hairs drifted down, only to be blown out of sight before landing on his core. It was back to dust particles and light.

“Brother, I think we’ll take thirty-five, that will pay for a few rounds of drinks and get us into the area for a match that we can bet on. Who knows, maybe our luck will change, and we’ll win some of the money we lost coming all the way here instead of working like we should have been doing,” Bharge said.

“Deal, thank you boys, you know what, see Sheckly at the retching rat and mention my name for a discount on your meal,” Drabox said, not even giving Krepps a chance to object. Once the others were gone, Drabox came back, hauling him from the container and dropping him into a cheap crate with a bent lid. Slater was in heaven for a moment as the gloved hands of the dwarf held him and his nanobots stripped molecule after molecule from the leather gloves, the taste was delicious.

He didn’t know how long he was trapped in the dark this time. Occasionally, he could hear voices as shoppers and Krepps struck deals. His core went into conservation mode once more, and Slater could no longer understand what was being said when his auto translator function was cut off. Once, he felt the box being moved, and wherever he was taken to, was closer to the infrequent conversations. If only that stupid dwarf had left the lid open, to allow more light and resources to drift in. Starvation continued, his only respite was the occasional dust particle that made it through the small gap in crate he was in and a hint of ambient light coming.

“Chixtang ubax krix” A voice asked, close to his crate. The language even stranger than the guttural sounds the dwarves made, this one consisted of clicks, squeaks, and hisses as far as Slater could tell. Light returned as the lid was pushed open. Slater felt a moment of fear as the creature looking down on him. Something in the remnants of his human mind reminded told him that this was a bug of some sort, and he hated bugs.

“What did you dig up there? Oh yeah, I have someone interested in that unit, so I didn’t show it to you right away. You know, the other customer didn’t leave a deposit, so if you beat his offer, I let you take it home today. This thing would be perfect for your needs, it’s a solid power supply with a complex processor. It should run your micro kitchen without any problems,” Krepps said as Slater’s auto translate feature kicked back in with the much-welcomed light hitting him.

“I don’t know, it looks strange and the readings aren’t like my other power core,” the clicking voice said.

“Well, you don’t have a lot of options, this here beauty is universally compatible,” Krepps said.

“What’s that band around it, it doesn’t look like original equipment?” The bug man asked.

“That? Oh, that was the previous owner’s idea of a joke, tried to say this was a derelict core and that was a suppression band to keep in in check. As you can see from the readings, it’s just a power supply with integrated processor,” Krepps said, showing the bug creature his scanner.

“Hmm, it might work if the price is low enough. My restaurant isn’t wealthy, I can’t waste money,” the bug said.

“Bah, you Chixturax are all alike, pretending to be poor when everyone knows the rest of your hive will share the cost if you ask them,” Krepps said.

“No, that is a myth, one of many propagated about my people. I am Hixrax and I am responsible for me and mine only,” the bug said.

“Fine, I’ll let this thing go for only 150 credits, as way of apology for misunderstanding how your race operates,” Krepps said.

“Is that the best you can do?” Hixrax asked.

“Oh yeah, that’s a great deal, that’s only a few credits over what I paid for it,” Krepps lied.

“Good, our deal is struck, gratitude for your service,” Hixrax said, passing over a small handheld device which must have transferred the money over to the dwarf.

“A pleasure doing business with you, be sure to tell all the other little Chixturax that Krepps gives great deals,” the dwarf said.

“I leave with my purchase, thank you for the transaction. It was satisfactory if not optimal,” Hixrax said, lowering a pair of hooked appendages to grasp Slater’s core, placing him inside a sack of some sort.

The sack provided plenty for him to eat while the bug man made his way to wherever it was that they were going. Sounds filled him with curiosity, there were crowds in this place, life. It was good to hear activity after so long in the dark quiet of space. A beep was heard along with the sound of a door swishing open.

“Parental unit, was your exchange with the merchant successful?” Another bug voice asked.

“Yes, Kraxton, I have acquired a replacement power core for the food synthesizer. Gather your sibling and install it immediately so we may continue to offer our food service to the station,” Hixrax said

“Parental unit, Bexlan and I were to go watch the games tonight. May this work be delayed until we return?” Kraxton asked

“No, you can watch amusements at any time, those horrid games are not beneficial to your development. You and your sibling should both be here working to support your family and your hive. We have an obligation to make this business successful or we will never return home,” Hixrax said.

“Fine, we will respect our obligations, this task will be completed before we attempt to pursue any amusements, my father,” Kraxton said.

“You have no need for amusements this cycle, complete your work and rest for the next day’s labors. The shop is in your hands as I commune with the hive elders over other matters. I will be checking in on your progress, do not disappoint me,” Hixrax ordered. Something in their strange manner of speech reminded Slater of conversations he had heard in the past when asking his parents whether he could go out with this friends. These bug creatures might not be all that different from humans, except for their appearance and speech. Of course, it could just be his translation subroutines setting up a pattern that more closely matched things he was familiar with.

Slater’s thoughts had smoothed out as he absorbed salvage from the sack holding his core. He had a long way to go and most of his operations were still locked due to inadequate resources. Slater’s processing power was below one percent and he still couldn’t connect with a drone. He had to assume there were no drones left for him to control, if that were the case, was there anything he could do to recover? His nanobots could pull material and break things down well enough, but he needed the drones to print up MOBS. His nanobots could eventually print up his first drone on their own, but it would take far more of the tiny machines than he currently possessed to even think about starting that process.

There was so much he needed. What was happening back in human space? How long had he been drifting in the void? Something else pulled at his mind, an important task he had to complete, but it was hidden behind his limited processing power. He needed to make his core healthy if he wanted to think his way through these problems. To do that, he needed enough resources to keep him functioning. It had never been a problem aboard the Franklin, sure, he might have not had enough to build all the weapons and defenses he wanted, but he always had enough to ensure his core operated in peak form.

Movement startled him from his thoughts. How long had he been sitting here musing over his predicament? A new clicking and chattering voice made itself known. It was the other sibling they had mentioned earlier, Bexlan, he thought its name was. The bag was pulled open and the strange insect-like appendages picked up his core. Biomass joined the salvaged material from the bag as Slater’s nanobots greedily absorbed what they could from the exoskeleton of the bug people.

“So, we can’t go to the games tonight, even if we finish this non-desirable work task?” The voice Slater thought was Bexlan said.

“Yes sibling, we are commanded by our parental unit to install this power source into the device so that our shop may operate once again,” Kraxton replied.

“Our parental unit, father, mother, guardian, designated adult monitoring subject,” Slater’s focus dropped for a time as his overtaxed translation protocols hiccupped while trying to assign human equivalent roles to these creatures he was listening to. How much of what he was hearing was real, and how much was his own core trying to make them understandable to him? The conversation refilled his audio sensors, he had missed something.

“He’ll never know that we went to the games if he is gone to the hive elders tonight. Let’s expedite the installation so that amusements can be consumed and enjoyed this evening cycle,” Bexlan said.

“Agreed, the task and subsequent reward excursion has begun,” Kraxton said. All this time Slater had been peeling molecules from the bug’s strange grasping appendages. At first, they had seemed like the hooked arms of a praying mantis, but up close he could make out fine almost hairlike extensions on the limb that allowed the creature to manipulate objects with great precision. Slater felt a jolt as he was dropped into some metallic container.

“Should we remove this restraint device? It does not appear that it serves any function on this power supply processor?” Bexlan asked.

“Yes, it is unnecessary and is hampering my installation of the power supply,” Kraxton said. Slater could feel a tool being used on the band surrounding him. It was like coming up from a beneath the water and taking his first big breath of air when the contraption was finally removed.

Processing power availability is now at 2%.

Error, unable to connect to drone units.

Warning, resource levels are critical, all non-essential functions are being suppressed to conserve resources.

Warning, core is experiencing mental instability. Corrective Subroutine P11X1z cannot process at this time due to resource restrictions.

Secure more resources to allow continued nanobot production.

While he felt a bit better now, there was still a whole lot wrong with him. Slater almost panicked as the top of the machine he was incased in closed around him, cutting off the light. It was too close to the feeling that he had experienced when traveling in space for so long. Had his mind been irreparably damaged during that time? Was that something that could even happen to him as a Derelict Core? His confusion and fear abated as he realized his new situation was much different than the one that he had faced in space. This time, he was surrounded by all the resources he could want.