Astral Legacy Book 1

19

Kale opened his eyes slowly and lay still for a moment taking in the calming atmosphere of the ship. He had slept well, the quiet hum and slight vibration of the ship acting as a lullaby and letting him sleep much more soundly than he had in a very long time. He looked back and forth realizing that Kershala was already up and about and that he was alone in the room. He sat up slowly and took a breath before standing and walking to the window. The light that seemed to envelope them as they travelled was hard to look at for very long but was unlike anything he had seen before, it seemed different than when they were travelling on the other ship. "Wow." Kale shook his head and turned to the doorway planning on heading to the lab. His stomach growled as he took a couple of steps and realized he hadn't eaten since the food they found in the other ship's storage. As he approached the door it opened automatically, and he stepped out into the hallway. There was a guard posted across the hallway at one of the other doors, he made notice of Kale who stopped and looked around.

"Do you know if Kershala went back to the medical lab?" Kale asked.

"Yes, I believe he is there now, repairing the AI," the guard answered. Kale couldn't help but notice that the guard's stance seemed defensive in nature, he approached him and greeted him with a smile.

"What's your name?" he asked. The guard seemed nervous at the question. "I know I'm different than you, but you don't have to be nervous." Kale watched as the man's posture and expression seemed to soften.

"Ashal, is my name." Ashal looked to the ground and then back to Kale looking him in the eye. "I am sorry, my commander has ordered me to not speak with you. Please leave me be. Kershala is in the lab."

"Oh... kay..." Kale wondered why they would be told not to speak with him but decided not to push the subject, he didn't want to get anyone in trouble. Ashal kept his gaze as he turned away from him to take the short trek to the lab. It wasn't long and Kale stepped into the medical lab to see Kershala bent over the AI core. He could tell he was hyper-focusing on what he was doing and didn't want to distract him. Lenari was at one of the other workstations looking at some read outs on one of the holographic monitors. He walked over to where Lenari was standing and was greeted with a smile.

"Good morning, you look well rested," he said keeping his voice low.

"Thank you, how long has he been working?" asked Kale mimicking his volume. Lenari looked from Kershala to Kale.

"Just over an hour. The AI has been quite scolding of his work though. I do not think they are getting along very well at present." Kale smiled and watched as Kershala sat one tool down and reached for another tool.

"Kershala, you have removed too much of the affected processor, it was not necessary to..."

"It was dead was it not?" Kershala interrupted Anubis.

"Yes, once the replenishment process begins it would have come back into functionality with the newly formed unit," explained Anubis. Kershala started poking away at the work area with the newer tool. Kale watched the holographic image and could see a large piece of the area detach and lodge itself to the tool in Kershala's hand.

"But now the processor will form an entirely new unit and it will work more cohesively with the newly formed system much faster. It is better in the long run." Kale could hear the frustration in Kershala's voice as he spoke.

"You are only making more work for yourself; these systems will function for a millennia before the effects of your actions will be felt."