Year: 2245 CE

  System: Nexel Prime

  Star: K-Type

  Planet: Virelia

  Orbit: .68 AU to .71 AU

  Location: High Orbit

  The transports engines cutting off was my first clue that we were approaching our target. Well, that and the sudden, jerking halt of the ship from the automatic catching system. My two escorts pushed out and grabbed my arms. All the latches in the cubby releasing me as they pulled me out.

  Two grabbed a black bag from a cubby near the front of the ship. My escorts quickly following them as they led the way off the ship. The rest of the marines stood around. Likely to prevent anyone from getting too close to the creature’s dead body.

  No one stood in the halls they walked me down. The doors on either side all had a bright red light flashing above the control panel indicating that they were sealed. Something about this must have finally gotten through my thick head because my stomach dropped.

  At the end of the hall was the only door that was not locked. In fact, it opened before we got close enough to trip the motion sensor. Inside was the main medical facility for the carrier. Its sterile white interior was large enough to fit hundreds of wounded, doctors, the equipment needed, and room to spare. It was empty save for a handful of doctors. Loud clanging sounds behind me told me that the doors we had passed through were now sealed.

  The lead doctor said something, though I could not hear them as the suit suddenly shut down. Every joint froze as the inside of my visor went blank. My raspy breath was the only sound I heard for a few moments. Soft clicking and the tearing of Velcro informed me that my suit was being taken apart.

  Within a minute, my suit was open enough that I could step out. While I wanted to do so, I did not. The body language around me told me that it would be a bad idea to do anything without someone telling me to do so. “Slowly step out.” One of the suited marines said.

  With some effort, I inched my arms out of the arms of the suit. Grabbing onto the inset handles under the suits armpit. Using them to keep balance and for leverage, I moved one foot after the other out of the suits tight embrace. My bare feet met the cold metal ground, sending a shiver up my spine. The suit pulled on the skintight shirt as I pulled the rest of the way out. Lightly snapping back to my skin when the padding released it.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Taking a deep breath, I slowly moved to stand at attention. Out of the corners of my eyes, I watched as the marines moved to stand by the walls near the door we had entered from.

  A couple of seconds later, one of the doctors walked into view and pointed at a nearby medical bed. “Lay on the bed please.” The metal under my feet was cold enough that I wanted to jump to do what he said. Forcing myself to move slowly, I took my time to get there.

  Sitting on the hard mattress they called a bed, I rotated and laid down. Breathing deeply to calm my agitated nerves. The nurses moved forward and started to attach different plates and sensors to various spots on my body. My clothes not impeding whatever they were designed to read.

  My mind was still sluggish from whatever was in my system until I felt a sharp pinch. Before I could ask about the needle in my arm a large holographic screen pulled my attention. It hung in the air above me as each side displayed a series of information. It held typical things like my heartbeat and blood pressure as well as various protein counts.

  From what I could tell, they didn’t look too bad. In fact, they were a bit better than when I had gone through my annual physical. Maybe on and off fighting for a month was enough motivation for my body to improve itself. Well, more than the military's motivation during boot camp anyway. Memories of the last month flit across my mind for a few seconds. Only being pulled back as the doctor swiped the screen, causing all that information to move to the side. Shrinking to show just my heartbeat and pressure readings.

  The screen that replaced it was that of my genetic profile, or at least I assumed that was what it was based on the words ‘Genetic profile’ printed across the top of the window.

  Lines of text were highlighted in red, while others were green, blue, or a shade between. The doctor scrolled through the page, quickly scanning through the information. It was confusing, and none of it made sense to me. I wasn’t a doctor, after all, so I had no clue what I was looking at.

  Maybe that was why I didn’t believe what caught my eye. One of the lines seemed to change, though I only saw it as it finished. Not seeing the doctor care, I shrugged it off.

  That was until I was staring at a line only to watch it change. Keeping my eyes on it from start to finish. I was fairly sure it was not supposed to do that. Eyes wide, I started to pant as I had to fight my fight-or-flight reflexes.

  One of the nurses must have seen something similar because she pointed it out to the doctor. His hands reached forward and peeled at the corner of the screen. Another screen peeled away, an exact copy of what was being displayed. Placing them side to side, he scrolled through both and compared them from the beginning. The doctor cursed and started to pace.

  On the other side of my bed, the other doctor and nurses were not idle. They rolled a station over to my bedside and were tapping at it. A pulse in the back of my head warned me that they had turned on the nanocomputer in my head. As the computer booted up, information started to stream into my head from my AI.

  A window popped up after another disappeared, staying just long enough for me to read them.

  ‘Rebooting system…’

  ‘Backing system up to designated storage…’

  ‘Erasing local device…’

  ‘Performing full system install…’

  ‘Installation successful.’

  ‘Rebooting system…’

  “Hello,” came a feminine voice inside my head. “I am your new AI. All your preferences and settings have been lost in this process so please forgive me as I learn them.”