S.P.E.C.T.O.R – [A Sci-fi space adventure with fantasy elements]

Adam continued to pilot the shuttle towards the orbital station following the navigation that had appeared on the shuttle’s HUD after the operator had told him where to dock.

“You know you’re pretty good at this, I mean, for someone who has only been flying ships for what, a few months?” Rowena stated as she happily watched Adam fly the shuttle.

“I learned from playing Space Rogue while I was still in stasis and before Spector reached the Sandanar Galaxy,” Adam replied.

“Still, you shouldn’t be as good as you are. I have seen you pilot this shuttle, Spector and Spector Unit Five, in combat situations, and your skills are as good as any pilot. Do you have some ridiculous ability to learn things quickly?” 

[Prestigious3horns (Vinox 2): Errr, the sound suddenly cut out again.]

[Handsome3horns (Vinox 2): FFS. 😡]

[Superior4horns (Vinox 3): What? Are you still here? I thought you were leaving after the last time this happened?]

“Not really, it’s probably my neural link and the information that Spector downloaded into my brain using it,” Adam remarked calmly.

“Spector did what?” Rowena asked in shock as she looked at Adam with surprise.

“Yeah,” Adam replied as he turned to Rowena after hearing her shocked tone and asked, “Isn’t that normal? I heard that the militaries of the different races do that for training.”

“No, that’s not normal,” Rowena replied before continuing, “What the military does is use VR to allow recruits and new personnel to experience live combat situations in safety so that they won’t freeze when they have to go into actual combat. They don’t download stuff directly into their brains.”

“Really?” Adam asked in surprise.

“Why are you so surprised about this?” Rowena asked in an exasperated tone before adding, “Don’t you know how dangerous it is to mess with the brain? As far as I’m aware, the tech you’re talking about is still being researched and has yet to reach the live testing phase.”

“Errr Spector?” Adam asked.

“What Diva Rowena states is the truth. At present, the major powers in the universe have yet to successfully develop a safe way to teach people combat skills, flight operations or anything else by simply downloading it into an individual’s brain using a neurolink. At this point in the past and in the present time of Universal Year thirty-two, forty-seven, you are the only individual that this has been successfully done to,” Spector replied.

Rowena stared at Adam’s surprised look as he heard what Spector said, and it seemed to make her angry as her own surprised expression turned into a scowl before she reprimanded him by asking, “Did you not even consider refusing such a procedure? Surely even you, from such a backward planet, understand how dangerous it is to mess with the brain?”

Adam looked at Rowena in surprise as he had never seen her so angry before, saying, “At the time, I didn’t have a choice. Spector implanted the first lot of knowledge into my brain on combat tactics, self-defence and other things I needed for my revenge right after I awoke from being thrown off the cliff. I tried to protest, but the sudden influx of knowledge knocked me out, and after I awoke again, I went straight into training what I had just learnt. Since it didn’t negatively affect me, I soon forgot about the whole thing.”

“Forgot about the whole thing, he says,” Rowena said in an exasperated tone before her angry tone returned and she asked, “Spector, why didn’t you allow Adam to refuse such a dangerous procedure?”

[Whitehorn (Darah 5): Is it me, or does Rowena look pissed for some reason?]

[LadyErkath (Deverinian Prime): It’s not just you. I wonder what happened to cause her to get so angry.]

[OfficialAphrodite (Felinia 7): I haven’t seen her like this since she found out that Stacey ran away and that no one even bothered to look for her. Something must be seriously wrong if she’s this angry.]

[OrangeeyedStace (Felinia 7): …]

“At the time, Adam Spencer was not my operator and so I was under no obligations to listen to his refusal; besides, there was no risk involved and I calculated he was the best person I had encountered since arriving on Earth to become my operator,” Spector explained.

“No risk involved? How can messing with someone’s brain carry no risk?” Rowena asked angrily.

“The individuals who created me developed a safe way to download knowledge into a humanoid’s brain with zero risk to the individual themselves. After a careful examination of Adam Spencer’s brain while he was undergoing reconstructive surgery in my medical bay, I determined it was safe to enact the procedure, so I installed a neurolink.”

“Zero risks? Seriously?” Rowena asked in shock as she heard Spector’s words, causing all the anger to suddenly fizzle away and be replaced with pure shock.

“Affirmative,” Spector replied.

Rowena turned to look at Adam before leaning forward and grabbing his shoulders.

[Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): Holy fuck, is she about to kiss him?]

[AlamoMatador4thewin (Earth): How did she go from pissed to kissing so quickly?]

[Puntanghunter69Ver2 (International Space Station): Women mate, don’t even try to understand them.]

[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Shut the fuck up, space perv.]

“Adam, never tell anyone outside our group about what you just told me, ever. Promise me this,” Rowena said in a serious tone of voice.

“But…” Adam began, only for Rowena to interrupt him by tightening the grip on his shoulders and saying.

“Promise me.”

“Okay, I promise, I promise,” Adam replied before asking, “But why?”

Rowena released the grip and slumped back in her chair while running a hand down her beautiful face.

[Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): Aww damn it, they didn’t kiss.]

“You’re already a subject of interest to all the races and powerful individuals in the universe because of your advanced tech. How do you think they would react if they learned that you also had tech capable of allowing someone to master any skill instantly just by downloading it into their brain?” Rowena finally asked.

“I see your point,” Adam replied in understanding before saying, “I honestly did not know. Since neurolinks are already a thing in the universe, I figured that the ability to install knowledge and skills into one’s brain was also a thing.”

“Well, it’s not,” Rowena replied before continuing, “It’s safe to say that your ship is the only place that this is possible which is why you must never reveal it to anyone that is not part of our group and even then it would be best not to tell anyone since it might put there lives in danger if they knew.”

“You’re suggesting that I don’t tell Stace and Lorelie about this?” Adam asked.

“Not for the time being. I trust them both, but accidents happen. If they accidentally let this information slip, then people could come after them in order to learn everything they know,” Rowena replied.

“I see,” Adam said as his eyes narrowed and his voice turned cold, causing Rowena’s instincts to flare up slightly again, while she also realised that although her instincts were warning her of danger, she found this dangerous side of Adam strangely attractive.

“Spector Unit Five, you are cleared for docking at bay forty-nine. Please proceed there and enjoy your stay on Solarian Prime,” an operator aboard the orbital station suddenly said over the comm, causing Adam to focus on flying the shuttle again.

[HackerSu (Trillion): The sounds come back again.]

[Lizziethetruepower (Palaxia): I wonder what all that was about?]

[Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): Do you think they had an argument?]

[1000yearsofdeath (Earth): Their first fight as a married couple. Kekeke.]

Rowena watched Adam continue to pilot the shuttle while wondering if it was the combat knowledge Spector had downloaded into his brain that made her instincts react the way they did.

As the chat watched, the stream switched to an external perspective of the shuttle as it flew into the docking bay and touched down just as the shuttle bay doors closed.

[Whostolemyduck (Earth): Did I miss them passing through the bay’s force field, or does it not have one?]

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): It doesn’t appear to have one. If memory serves, force fields on shuttle bays don’t become common for a few more years.]

[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): It’s using the old pressurisation system where the docking bay will be pressurised and filled with air after the doors seal.]

As if to confirm the chat’s conversation. As soon as the shuttle bay doors closed silently, they all heard a low hiss, which gradually got louder as the docking bay pressurised and filled with air.

[RealOtaku (Earth): After watching so many movies where they fake the concept of having sound in space or a vacuum, it’s kind of strange to watch this stream where there isn’t any sound.]

[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Those are all sound effects they add on to make the scene more exciting and cinematic. It’s like how they portray a suppressor can reduce the sound of a gunshot to an almost whisper-quiet noise, when in actuality, it doesn’t reduce it anywhere near that much. They’re just stupid Hollywood tropes.]

[OracleRomy (Elysium): What’s a Hollywood?]

[RealOtaku (Earth): It’s a location on Earth, but it’s also the name of a famous film studio that at one time was the location where all the big films were filmed.]

[OracleRomy (Elysium): Oh, really? Katsumi would probably be interested to know that she’s apparently interested in anything film-related.]