“Uh, my head” Josiah groaned, sitting up and holding his head. “What happened?” he asked, more to himself than actually expecting an answer.

  Suddenly, Josiah realized that his head didn’t hurt. In fact, he wasn’t feeling anything, at all. He couldn’t feel the headache he thought he should have, he couldn't feel himself holding his head and he couldn’t feel anything at all.

  All he could feel was his thoughts and emotions, such as his current confusion.

  Abruptly, Josiah became aware of a piece of information that he wasn’t aware of before. ‘Theta Protocol successfully engaged. Emergency repairs 19% complete. Backup system reinitialized.’

  It was amazing, how having your questions answered could be both satisfying and aggravating at the same time. On the one hand, his question of what had happened was answered, sort of. On the other hand, this information meant absolutely nothing to him.

  “What emergency repairs? Why was the backup system offline?” he asked, or at least he would have if he could feel himself existing outside of his thoughts, he thought to himself.

  ‘Post combat emergency repairs, initiated 14763 days ago. Backup system offline due to critical system sustained during combat operations.’

  “14763 days, how many years is that?” Josiah asked back. Seriously, why would anyone count that high in units of days when you could use years.

  ‘Approximately 40.4 years’ came the prompt response.

  Still, this wasn’t answering his question. Last he remembered, Josiah was a sensor technician stationed onboard the Faster-Than-Light ship Capricorn. Over nine kilometers long, their job was to transit the 28th fleet between systems, as part of the Terran Navy. They weren’t supposed to be in combat. Heck, even if there was combat, the Capricorn was supposed to be protected as an essential asset since without them, the rest of the fleet would be stuck in system until another FTL ship came into the system. To say nothing about the fact that apparently some 40 odd years had passed since he was last awake. Assuming that he was still on the Capricorn, that is.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Testing out his hypothesis, he queried “Is this the TNS Capricorn?" The TNS coming from Terran Navy Ship, of course.

  ‘Affirmative.’ Succint, concise and void of any amplifying information. Josiah had come to expect nothing less. Given that he was still on the Capricorn, he figured that he was interacting with the ship computer right now.

  “Are you the Capricorn’s computer?”

  ‘Affirmative.’

  “Who was combat damage sustained against?”

  ‘Unknown adversary.’

  “Why did repairs take so long?”

  ‘Critical damage sustained to multiple systems, including tertiary computer control and repair systems. No crew available for assistance.”

  “Why was no crew available for assistance? And what about the rest of the fleet?”

  ‘All crew deceased. Sensors critically damaged’

  This gave Josiah a jolt. If he was dead, how was he still thinking? But if he wasn’t dead, why would the computer say he was.

  “If all the crew are dead, then how am I awake right now?”

  ‘Theta protocol engaged.’

  Theta Protocol. He remembered that from the first message he had seen. It still didn’t mean anything more to him now than before, however.

  With a sigh, he responded to the computer with the obvious question of “what is the Theta Protocol.”

  ‘Theta Protocol. When existing Cyber is killed in battle, the senior surviving personnel is automatically granted cyber citizen status, subject to review.’

  Josiah took a deep breath. If he understood this right, and he was pretty sure that he was, he had become a cyber citizen. Something rather challenging for someone like him.

  Once upon a time, as humanity had started expanding out from Earth to the rest of the solar system, cyber citizenship had been available to everyone. Effective immortality, who wouldn’t want that. Yet as the population continued to burgeon, finite resources started to limit the number of people who could become cyber citizens. Billions of cyber citizens, yet over a trillion biological humans. Over time, it became a form of control for the rich and powerful. Even after the development of FTL drives and subsequent increase in resources, the status quo didn’t change much.

  Political discourse aside, the fact that he had become a cyber citizen was incredible! Josiah felt almost euphoric, ready to dance. He still couldn’t feel his body, but that made sense. He was a cyber citizen now! Ready to find someone to celebrate with, he was abruptly reminded of his situation. The previous cyber and the rest of the crew were all dead. The ship was heavily damaged, and over 40 years had passed.

  He might be in a . . . bit of trouble right now.