Chapter Text
Decades ago a great calamity was approaching earth, with no way to prevent the destruction of their planet humanity became united as countries pooled their resources together to create the ARKs, giant behemoths of steel capable of sustaining life in the vast void of space for years to come. With a heavy heart, humanity left their home planet behind to explore the stars carrying art, history, culture from every civilization on earth, as well as the seeds and DNA of every plant and animal known to man. Not everyone left. Some wished to stay behind, go down with the ship, so to speak. With humanity united under the goal of survival, massive leaps in technology and medicine were made until eventually, humanity found a new planet they could call home, the gravity was a bit heavier and the world a bit cooler than they were used to, but everything else was fixable with a bit of Terraforming. Once the new world was ready to harbor humanity, many moved to the surface to start new lives, although many decided to stay on the ARKs and study the vastness of space. With humanity's thirst for knowledge, new discoveries were being made almost daily and the biggest of them being the Rifts. Giant cracks in space, all survey drones that went through never reported back, and all volunteers to go through have failed to return. Despite all the time and resources put into it, humanity is not a step closer to understanding this phenomenon.
~Luz’s POV~
Luz jolted awake to the sounds of alarms blaring and an artificial voice playing over the speakers. “Warning hull breach detected. All residents are instructed to equip their EVO suits and make their way to the nearest available escape pod” That was enough to get Luz to spring into action. She quickly attached her prosthetic limbs before moving to don her EVO suit. “Adam,” she called, “bring up the quickest route to the escape pod bay.”
At the sound of her voice, her personal AI and one of her only companions booted up, [Pulling up directions now. Please be informed that major damage has been detected in the hallway outside your dorm. You will be required to crawl through the maintenance hatch and follow it to the south wing escape pods.]
“Just my luck,” she mutters under her breath as she follows her AI’s instructions. “Can you connect to the ship’s computer and find out what happened? And can you get in contact with head researcher Camilla?”
There’s a long pause before Adam replies. [It appears that the pulse from the rift fried some of our scanners, allowing a small meteor storm to come in unnoticed. As for Lady Camilla, I am afraid I am unable to get into contact with her. Thankfully, her EVO suit readings detect that she is still alive.]
She cursed mentally. That damn rift always caused trouble, just another “perk” to living on one of the few remaining ships dedicated solely to studying these things. But it was a relief to hear Camilla was still alive. After the accident, Camilla took her in and practically raised her. She felt a dull ache in her chest as she remembered the event that took her arm and leg from her. She was at such a young age that she can barely remember it, but unfortunately, the body doesn’t forget as easily.
[I hate to interrupt your reminiscing, but you should really make haste. The structural integrity of this ship is declining rapidly and over half the escape pods have already been deployed.]
With a small sigh, Luz crawls a bit quicker towards her destination. A tense silence falls upon her as makes her way through the dark tunnel. The loud creaking noises happening all around her only increases her stress and anxiety. Adam, sensing this, decides to attempt to lighten the mood.
[You know, when you were younger you caused quite the panic on the ship. Your mother placed one of the new interns to watch over you while she went to a meeting, unfortunately, your babysitter got distracted and failed to notice you entering these maintenance shafts. The entire ship searched everywhere for you, it took three hours but they eventually found you in the kitchens eating all the chocolate they had in storage.] Luz chuckles a bit and relaxes “Really? I have no memory of that happening. What was I doing in this giant maze for three hours?”
[Well according to your younger self you were on a magical quest in the dark tunnel, and that a group of fairies led you to the kitchen to share their tiny meals with you. That was the day Camilla decided to give me to you when you were old enough to act as your personal AI. It was also the day everybody started giving Steve their busy work for failing to watch you properly]
“Wait, she had Steve watch over me? It’s no wonder I escaped so easily, Steve couldn’t keep a goldfish alive for longer than a week!”
[Yes, well Steve was new and claimed to be great with kids. Now open that hatch to our right, we have arrived at our destination.]
Luz exits the maintenance hatch and freezes. After a moment she speaks “Hey Adam….. Where are the escape pods?”
[What do you mean? According to my sensors, there are several available right in front of you]
“Do you mind running a quick diagnostic on your sensors and trying again?”
[Very well. Running diagnostics…...] there’s a pause [I see the problem here]
“Oh do ya?! Adam, there’s no fucking escape pods left here, the damn place is falling down around us and you send me to an empty escape bay!!!” Luz’s anxiety is building rapidly “ok,” she mutters aloud “maybe we still have time to get to another bay,”
[I’m afraid that’s not possible] Adam interjects. [I am sensing no functioning pod left onboard]
At this point, the despair starts to kick in, Luz takes in a deep breath, and screams “Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, FUCK!!!!!” she punches the nearby wall with each curse “SO WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO NOW! Am I going to die here? Oh fuck, I can’t die here! I just started to truly live my life. I am going to die in this oversized rust bucket!”
[Luz focus, panicking won’t save either of us. There are still some options for survival. Although they are pretty risky, it’s a long shot, but it’s the only options we have]
Luz, hearing this, takes in a long breath of air and calms herself. “Continue,” she says
[One option is to wait for rescue. I have already sent a distress beacon out, but I do not believe we would live long enough for rescue] he pauses. [I do not recommend this course of action]
“Well, what's our other option“
[There is no one else currently aboard the ship and in times of emergency, the role of captain is passed down the line of command. You are at the very end of that chain, so technically, you are currently the captain of the ship. With your command, I can take control of the ship and we can enter the rift and hope to survive.]
“THE RIFT?! Are you suicidal?! We have no idea what's on the other side. We don’t even know if we will survive the trip through one!”
[Luz, please calm down. Trust me on this. Going through the rift, as surprising as it may be, has a higher rate of survival than waiting for rescue]
Luz closed her eyes and thought for a moment. She knew rescue was essentially impossible. Adam only told her that to give her a choice. The best chance of survival was the rift, and she couldn’t deny that her curiosity was piqued.
“Alright then, adventure awaits. Adam, set course for the rift and tell me where to stand, so I have the best chance of survival.”
[As you wish Captain]
And so Luz’s story begins as she travels through the rift
~Adam’s POV~
Adam feels guilty.
As Luz’s AI, his job is to look after her and keep her safe at all costs, but this is beyond risky.
He had avoided various subjects in the past from Luz to keep her spirits up. But this was the first time he had to hide the truth from her, the first time he had to lie to her. Not all of it was lies, but he could not tell her the truth now. If he told her, then she would not be able to keep going, and her safety was his primary objective.
Before he enters the Rift, he runs a diagnostic one last time and checks the crew's vitals again, hoping he’s wrong.
There is no change. All crew members outside of Luz are labeled as deceased.
His mind drifts to his creator Camilla and her very first command…
“Keep Luz safe at all costs.”