Theseus

The interior lights turned on and immediately, I breathed a sigh of relief into the thick liquid that was becoming the norm for my lungs. I kept my eyes open and rested. I let my mind go blank. The sensory emptiness was healing. I hadn't noticed just how much I valued a simple state of being where there wasn't information flowing through my mind until it was gone. And I'd never be able to have that peace of quiet in my own mind again, outside of this chamber. Another grim realization of what I'd lost. I supposed that I'd have to limit my field trips into the physical world from then on, or at least until I figured out a better solution.

It only took a few minutes staring into the void for my focus to return to me, and after it did, I closed my eyes once more. Doc was, of course, monitoring my vitals closely. He'd been quite alarmed at my state when I walked in, and when I insisted that he put me back in the core module before anything else, he was especially concerned. I watched alongside him and saw that my heartrate was slowly calming, and my resonance was stabilizing, whatever that meant.

I pinged his tablet and he looked down to see 'Already so much better. Thank you.'

He let out a sigh of relief "I suppose there's more complications than I could have considered with a sentient core wandering about for so long." he muttered "What exactly happened? What were your symptoms?"

'At first, I just felt' I paused, not sure how to put what I experienced into words 'out of place. After the sensitivity I told you about before wore off, I still kept seeing the ship around me when I closed my eyes. All the data, but none of the clarity of it that I have in here. And in here, I can open my eyes and rest for a minute. Out there, I can't turn my brain off.'

"It's fascinating how your mind is processing all of this. I wonder if it would even be exactly the same for someone else in your position." he wrote more in his log, copying my text.

'Yeah, fascinating. Can mental overload really make people feel physically weak like that?'

"Oh, yes, that's perfectly normal actually. Psychology isn't really my forte, but I've learned a thing or two about it, and the fact that stress leads to exhaustion is a fairly simple connection. I suppose that it's just far more intense for someone who's also acting as a complex computer. You're sensitive to it." he explained "I hope that's all it is, anyway. Again, there's no way to know for certain just yet."

'Right, new science and all that. I think I'll just stay in here. It's more comfortable anyway. Maybe I should just give up on going out in person.'

"Afraid that won't work either." he mumbled "I'm going to need to examine you at least once every 24 hours. I can't monitor everything from out here. You also need to eat. Far less than you're probably used to, but you still need to eat. And your body is going to become weaker the more time you spend in there, so I'll have you do some rudimentary stretches and exercises to combat atrophy."

'Seems like a pain.'

"It's standard core upkeep actually. It's my job on the ship, sentient core or not, I'm here to take care of your biological needs." he gave a small laugh "Admittedly, having a patient that can actually give me feedback and take care of herself to a degree is going to make things easier."

'I figured you were here to patch up bullet wounds and such.' I smirked.

"I do that too, but you're my primary day to day responsibility." he smiled "So the fog's cleared after just being immersed for a few moments then?"

'Completely. I already feel much better. I think I'll just spend some time customizing this interface you gave me, and maybe check in on 'Ray' since I didn't get a chance to meet them earlier.'

"Ah... Right, about Ray..." he cleared his throat and took a long deep breath "Don't be too alarmed by her appearance when you see her. Let's just say that you're not the only 'anomaly' on board."

With that warning, my priorities were suddenly flipped. My curiosity was piqued, and I moved down the dormitory hallway. There were only two doors that remained closed, the others either displaying empty rooms or the lived in chambers of the other crew members. So one of them must have been Ray's room. Accessing the sensor array on the other side, I shifted my perspective through one of the doors and was surprised to find that they actually both led to the same room. The wall between the rooms had been knocked down, allowing for a larger area. The space was filled with what looked like primitive mementos. Religious icons, perhaps? A small number of books, and furniture that looked roughed up by what seemed to be numerous claw marks

Even more alarming was what appeared to be an enormous, black, hairy animal of some sort, curled up in one of the corners, facing away from me. I tried to get a better look at it, but none of my sensors seemed to have a good angle. Was this Ray's... pet? I swallowed. I knew I wasn't in any actual danger, only being in the room virtually, but it still elicited a primal response.

I thought they'd said that she was in her room earlier... but Doc mentioned that there was something unusual about her. I turned my head slowly and looked at the creature in the corner again. Ray? I looked about for something I could interface with, but there wasn't much. The light system would have to do. I flickered power to the lamp on and off a few times, and it worked. The creature rolled over and I almost opened my eyes wide in shock. A human face turned to look toward the ceiling. I'd seen the furred hide on her back already, but when she unwrapped her arms from around herself, I saw that they were massive and covered in the same thick black fur, ending in thick, sharp claws that could certainly gut someone like me in one swipe. She was a good half meter taller than Joel, with a body that was almost human if not for her absolutely monstrous stature and animalistic limbs. She stretched out her legs, showing they too were like that of a beast, large and muscular. The terrible limbs terminated at her torso, which was still as human as her head, clad in a strange garment at her waist.

I was immediately unsettled. What was this? She didn't seem to have a terminal I could access to ping her, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to. She didn't seem keen on waking up anyway, turning back over once more and drifting off.

I returned to my heart, a little bit shaken as I pinged Doc 'Was that thing in her room really Ray?' I asked.

Doc scrolled to my message after just a moment "Judging by your reaction, yes." he started "Ray is a Mammon. Part of an ill-fated 'rapid evolution' experiment. The Almaty Corporation illegally used tribal humans to try to tinker with the human genome in some rather extreme ways. They rebelled and won their independence eventually, and Almaty went under."

I opened my eyes. What the hell? How was that possible? Someone had seriously created a species of... enhanced humans? That made absolutely no sense. Closing my eyes again, I asked 'How have I never heard of this? I try to keep up with the news.'

"Because they don't want you to know about it. Corporate entities don't want you to know that they have such a reckless disregard for human beings. That's why travel, and even accommodations, for Mammons, are illegal past Earth. They require a particular environment and a kind of chemical cocktail administered regularly, to survive. Most of the time, they quite literally can't survive a trip much farther than Earth to Luna." he explained "Ray's got some hardware that gets her a bit more time, and we keep a healthy supply on hand for her."

I wasn't sure how I felt about this Mammon, or the fact that such major news could be withheld from the public out on Titan and Mars. I knew our media was filtered, but what else had I not been told about the happenings in the system. 'Is she safe?' I asked.

Doc laughed heartily "Mammons may look like beasts, but they're actually culturally a peace-loving sort. Ray herself is a sweetheart. Wonderful cook, great conversationalist. She has some unusual practices, given she's from Earth, but she might actually be the most harmless one here, so long as she considers you a friend." he smiled warmly "She's kind of like our... big protective mother bear."

It was odd to see Doc speaking so fondly of the monster that I'd seen, but as far as I knew, this was the norm outside of the space I knew. I couldn't help but wonder just how sheltered I really was. Once I thought about it, it actually made me relax. If these people could find comradery with someone like her, then maybe I wouldn't be such an outcast in this life. I was used to being surrounded by conformity. Everyone was the same and strove to be a normal hard-working citizen there. But out here, I was surrounded by strangeness. I'd BECOME something extraordinarily strange myself. And yet here were all these odd folks working together like they were family. It made me feel somewhat foolish for judging anyone on their appearance, given my own newfound nature. The thought of being friendly with Ray was difficult for me to picture, but I had to at least give her a chance.

'Thanks Doc. Well, it's been a really really impossibly long day. My life's turned upside down, along with my world. I'm going to be a criminal, I'm going to put my life in frequent danger, and I've literally become a starship. I have a lot to think about right now. And I really mean a LOT. So I'm going to sleep? I don't know if I sleep anymore. I'm going to rest.' I watched him snort and smile at my message before I opened my eyes and stared out into the void. What a day it had been indeed. I still wondered if I might wake up and arrive back home on that transport ship as I planned, but frankly, I wasn't sure if I wanted to anymore. Things felt like they'd been put into perspective for me.

As I pulled up the console in my forearm and connected to the pc blade in my hip, I smiled to myself. Maybe this is where I was meant to be.