The Record of Unusual Creatures

A bright flash of light, and then the fabric of space snapped back to its original form. The Petrachelys appeared in the vast nothingness of outer space.

This was the border outpost of the drone swarm. The outpost, modified from a tiny planet hovered quietly at a distance. Compared to the last time they saw it, the outpost looked like it had seen some major upgrades. There were newly built space factories and connecting structures around the outpost. Watchtowers armed with picket cannons surrounded the newly built structures, guarding the wide area like lighthouses.

The ark fleet were docked within the perimeter of the watchtowers.

All the arks were in an idle state. Nolan had forcefully cut off the power source in these ships using external means to save fuel, and conducted some emergency reparation works in the meantime to replace the most heavily damaged engine parts and dimensional distortion generators until they could at least function normally. Petrachelys flew silently in space, and landed easily on the Royal Throne.

Katreina observed the arks outside from Petrachelys. This was not her first time in a spaceship, but she was still excited from the novelty of space travel. Besides, the massive arks outside filled her with great awe.

“The arks are bigger than I expected.” The Queen of the Sirens commented softly. “… They’re much bigger than Nasaton.”

For the two secretaries she brought with her, this was their first time in outer space. Those two sea snake ladies were simply dumbfounded, and failed to even notice that their tails were intertwining together.

Vivian gave Katreina a measured look. “You once built interstellar arks as well. Sirens from those early days can probably build these. Nasaton is not so different from these arks.”

The Queen shook her head in response, and sighed. “We lived a peaceful life today, but we lost our technology from olden days. The people on these arks owned an entire fleet of ships, but they lives had regressed to more primitive ways. We have fallen so low now, what use is there to speak of the past?”

“Nolan, get the engines of these arks warmed up.” Hao Ren tapped lightly on the control panel on Petrachelys. “Also, call Lorenz.”

The control panel lit up immediately, and then a tiny, palm-sized Nolan wriggled out from a gap in the panel. “Alright, alright, stop tapping, I was doing a systems check…”

Hao Ren was preparing himself for a formal call with Lorenz, but was shocked to see Nolan becoming so tiny. “You… What happened?”

“You’re asking me? Really?” Nolan looked up and glared at Hao Ren with her arms akimbo. “It’s all because of that massive spatial cargo hold plug-in that you downloaded into the ship’s mainframe. Our computation power was not enough, so I had to deactivate all non-essential systems and even my own resolution to squeeze out enough resources.”

Hao Ren was taken aback. Two seconds later, he realized that the “massive spatial cargo hold” was the one he requested from Raven 12345, meant to transport the huge ark that was over a hundred kilometers long to the Surface World. The so-called “cargo hold” was not actually a physical thing, but information that humans could not interpret. After downloading this information into the Petrachelys’ mainfrme, the ship would have a super huge cargo hold of a few hundred kilometers in diameter. Of course, sustaining a cargo hold of this size would consume a lot of energy from the Petrachelys, and that why Nolan came to be so tiny.

“Really, what’s the logic behind this…” Hao Ren stroked his chin and muttered while studying Tiny Nolan, who still had her hands on her hips. “Logic? Reducing my resolution can…”

“Not you. I meant the cargo hold.” Hao Ren carefully poked at the IDT. “Why did downloading a code into the mainframe alter the ship’s hardware?”

“It’s called the Upgrade Authorization Agreement.” The IDT expected the question from Hao Ren, and immediately began explaining. “Do you think ship’s hardware is immutable? The hardware always changes with the code. Every tiny part of this physical ship can be reassembled, and these structural changes are determined by the core software of the relevant systems, all of which operate in a layer above the mainframe. Basically, if there are code changes, your ship can physically assemble to any form, including but not limited to catapults and excavators, as long as the new physical form does not exceed the mainframe’s computation limit. So, if someone with administration rights offered a suitable blueprint, the Petrachelys will re-assemble and upgrade itself on the fly. That’s what I meant when I talked to you about ships installing plug-ins. Do you think all the Examiners line their ships up at the 4S shop whenever they want to install plug-ins?”

Hao Ren listened with increasing surprise. He always thought that the ships needed to go to some maintenance factory to perform their system upgrades. To think that these ships were so high tech — load a plug-in, and even the hardware gets an upgrade…

By now, Tiny Nolan had already powered up all the engines of the arks. Against the dark background in outer space, the thirteen massive arks started to glow. After a few days of rest, these ancient and well worn machinery began to run once again. At the same time, the comms device on the control panel was activated as well. The holographic projection flickered for a second, and then stabilized into the image of an old man with snow white hair and beard.

Lorenz looked a little agitated and troubled. The sudden call surprised him. The old man froze for a moment before asking, “Hao Ren, milord? You called me?”

“What… Please, just call me Hao Ren. ‘Milord’ sounds funny.” Hao Ren gestured with a wave, and then turned serious. “Are the preparations complete? I’ve found a place for the arks to settle down temporarily.”

Lorenz first reaction was… nothing.

The old man did not seem to understand Hao Ren immediately, and once he did, could hardly believe his ears. When he realized that this “place” was an actual planet, he did not feel joy or excitement, since he was completely overwhelmed by surprise. It was only when Hao Ren repeated himself tha Lorenz snapped out of it. “You mean a new planet?!”

“It’s leased to you.” Hao Ren stated that upfront, and then inclined his body to let Katreina join in the conversation. “The planet you are settling on is called Io, and this is her Queen. Due to some circumstances, the Queen and her people are not staying on Io at the moment, so the planet is temporarily leased to you. You may discuss the details of this agreement together.”

“Where are you now?!”

“Right outside your ark.” Hao Ren smiled. “Do you think you can leave this ark now? It’s better if your negotiation with the Queen is held on my ship. We have the facilities here to record your terms.”

Lorenz looked around him. From the background, it looked like he was in some kind of high class quarters, like in a royal castle a scholar’s library. He nodded. “I can tell them that I’m going into the Furnace of the Ancestors to seek new knowledge. The people here treated me with utmost respect now. Besides, where the Furnace is involved, they would not question me.”

Hao Ren nodded in acknowledgement. “Very well. Inform your people, and then I’ll ask the IDT to bring you over.”

After the call ended, Rollie sneaked up to him from a corner. She pulled at Hao Ren’s sleeve and asked, “Big Boss Cat, are you done talking?”

Hao Ren looked at the stupid cat in confusion. “Yes. What’s up?”

Rollie immediately looked overjoyed. She pointed at Tiny Nolan, who was sitting at the edge of the control panel and spacing out. “Can I eat the mouse meow?”

“… Out of the way!”

A while later, Lorenz was transported directly to the teleportation room on Petrachelys.

The old man wore a grayish white long robe made of coarse material. There were many odd accessories pinned on his chest, as scholars on the arks would. His hair and beard were in pure white. He used a staff, and emerged from the teleportation room like some old wizard visiting from a mystical world of the Middle Ages, or a prophet prepared to lead his people — the latter was a good metaphor given his position in the ark fleet.

The Nangong siblings escorted Lorenz out of the teleportation room. Hao Ren quickly stepped forward to greet the old man, and then activated the Petrachelys’ main holographic feed to show the entire fleet of arks. “What’s it feel like, seeing these ships once again?”

Lorenz took a long, steady look at the vast expanse of outer space and the thirteen massive arks neatly lined up out there. After a while he sighed softly. “The ships and I have grown old…”

Vivian stepped to the side, revealing Katreina behind her. “Then let’s give the younger generation a chance before you old buggers stopped working.”