The flagship of the Canaan Project lay deep within Omicron Kappa, shrouded in nebula.
The rooms of the ship had been re-arranged to form a common room near the docking bay of the ship. James El Harady as well as all the other members of the Canaan Project he called in were present, lounging around, waiting for their guest. Alex Carter, James' assistant went around the room handing out drinks to everyone present. There was Bacchus Beleth, one of James' oldest friends and closest associates, lounging around on one of the padded benches, Nikki and Nate Damon sitting at a table off on the far side of the room and finally James El Harady, sitting in a recliner at the side of the simulated fireplace. Handing James a glass of milk, Alex finally broke the silence: So how long is this going to take for her to arrive? I think I'm asking on everyones' behalf here: Did she seem intelligent enough to follow the coordinates you gave her?
James took a sip of his milk and laid back in his recliner and looked Alex in the eyes. I think you forgot that some tasks are as easy for humans as they are for us. The cybernetic enhancements don't make us superhuman in every way. In most ways we're still human and take as long for stuff as humans tend to do. Just relax. She's going to arrive any minute now.
Meanwhile, a much smaller vessel have entered Kappa anomaly in Omicron Gamma and initiated standart hyperspace jump sequence; young-looking girl in the pilots' seat have dropped on it's back and exhaled, opening a jar of her medication and taking a couple of tablets, resuming to ship controls as Osprey Mk.II left the hyperspace pocket. AI have commenced routine after-hyperspace jump survey, and in two minutes a soft, calm women's voice stated: All systems code 'green', onboard Geiger counter detecs a moderate gamma-ray influence in the system. It is highly recommended to take approperiate precaution measures.
Sanako nodded slightly, however, she counted the recently installed armorment a sufficient precaution measure against the radiation influence detected in this system. Once again, she pointed her gaze at the nav. map where the coordinates were uploaded and displayed, and directed her vessel into the nebula, to where, approximately, Arcadia were stationed and where the people of Canaan have probably already been expecting her.
The Osprey have traversed through the nebula to the said coordinates, it's scanners, however, kept silent for long enough to start getting worried - it was either she was proving herself silly and unworthy, or Canaan lacked punctuality, which is highly unlikely.
However, on coming closer scanners finally started to function adequatelly, showing the correct transponder and callsign, so Fujinomiya, upon establishing secure connection, spoke off to the comm device: Fujinomiya to Canaan flagship Arcadia, requesting docking clearance, Headmaster El Harady is already expecting me, i suppose.
This is Alex Carter speaking. We're already expecting you, yes. Feel free to initiate the docking sequence whenever you're ready.
The Osprey now exited cruise speed and slowly approached the Bustard class carrier, maneuvering towards the docking bay. As soon as Sanako exited her ship she was greeted by a long hallway without any doors. A man who looked like he was in his early 30s' approached her with his hand outstreched.
Hi I'm Alex Carter, the assistant or captain El Harady. I hope you had a good trip and not too much trouble finding our location.
He seemed slightly nervous, but otherwise composed. Shall we go? Captain El Harady and the others are already waiting in the common room.
Hai, we've had enough the hold up due to my abscense.
Let us get no more time to waste. She nodded slightly to the greeting, returining her sight to gaze at the surrounding view - while she could not call it particulary exciting - it was pretty much matching her expectation regarding the scientists apparently utilising cybernetic enhacements and brainwashing.
And it's not that you should expect great hospitality from a docking bay of an overall crudely built carrier.
A pleasure to meet you, Alex. My name is Sanako Fujinomiya. As you must be already aware - i am the latest... 'applicant' to the Canaan project, and i am here to 'clean up the formalities, let's put it that way.
She shrugged audibly at the person that have came down to give her a proper greeting. He indeed seemed nervous, through his voice never stuttered, as well as his mimics haven't changed pretty much during the conversation, which might suppose some emotional supression augmentations. Highly doubtful, but still possible. Lead me to the others - if that won't bother you too much.
Sanako have had a mid-aged looking women by her side, maintaing silence during all the time of the conversation; her white coat, as well as her gaze directed at Sanako most of the time suggested two things, only one of which were right: she either had a love interest in her direct employer, or were just a doctor doing her job and taking it serious enough to not even lift her gaze from Fujinomiya.
And those two have never been noticed, and these two have never been seen behind any connection over professional relationship "doctor-patient".
As they arrived at the bland-looking door to the conference-esque room, Bacchus triggered it to open. He was fiddling around his augmented arm, pulling out a pitch-black cigar, lighting it with a short burst of energy from his index finger. There you are, Miss. Welcome aboard the Arcadia. I am Bacchus Beleth, coordinator and assistant leader of the Canaan Project. He takes a puff of his cigar, before gesturing her to enter, walking in before her, taking a seat back on the padded bench. You already know James, I mean Mr. el Harady - sorry - and those two over there are Nate and Nicky. Our resource manager siblings. Hello, Miss. Hiya, how you doing? Did you get here well? Any problems? You look cool, what're you gonna work on? Alright, Nicky calm down. Nate, I thought you gave her sedatives, to calm her down. he chuckles at his own remark, taking another puff of his cigar. Don't be discouraged by her, she means well.. I think.
We used to be more in this room when discussing things, but our lead scientist left us a few months ago, when we had financial problems. So keep an eye out for Maria Calvo if you ever get to meet her. Bacchus slouched over more, getting comfortable. Well, I'll be here if you need anything. I do believe Mr. el Harady will want to take over the talking.
My name is Sanako Fujinomiya, it is indeed a pleasure to meet you all. Hai, the traverse through Omicrons have been quite... quiet, besides the bad reputation of those systems. I must have some sort of lucky charm by my side nowadays. Regarding my look - Nicky, trust me - you don't want to know the real reason behind it.
It's rather unsettling to know, if putting it in a blunt way. I am not quite certain about the direction of my activities, but i am looking forward to work with various technologies - from weapons and ships to much more 'peaceful' devices. Also, if something needs maintenance - just point a finger there, i'll do my best to fix it.
Sanako stepped into the conference room, and automated door closed after her moments after with a specific metallic sounds. Upon a quick evaluation of surroundings, Fujinomiya took a sit at the sofa, slightly away from everyone else, quietly exhaling, not waiting for anyone else to start talking, asking out the seemingly proper question in advance.
Still - i suppose you did not invite me there just to allow us to get to know each other better, even through i suppose this is one of the reasons. But i expect to hear the other reasons, too. I promise, i will bid some time to pay a visit to every single one of you and spend some time just chatting about... pretty much nothing. If you wish, of course.
Currently, she was shamelessly looking at Nicky with some interest, her gaze, however, was as usual - cold, that did not allow one to tell about emotes she felt towards a studied subject or about some situation at the current moment. It was coming unintentionally, but that veil of mystery tended to rather attract people to Sanako that keep them away. They were tending to run away on a later stage, when they were getting to know her personality... but that is what were rather intentional. Sanako didn't like some random fools to loiter around her life, but gladly accepted those with whom she sought an opportunity to get in touch herself.
The room looked like it consistet of three different rooms that were put together as one. The walls were painted in three different colors and the floor featured three different types of floor tiles. On the left side of the room there was a bar faturing various bottles, some of them featuring unlabeled bottles with questionable contents. In the middle of the room there were different chairs and tables, with Bacchus bein seated at the one closest to the bar and James in a recliner in the back of the room. The far back wall featured some windows that allowed a look into a greenhouse adjacent to the "common room". Wether or not this was just a projection wasn't quite descernible. The left side of the room was filled with bolstered benches and other plush, red furniture.
James watched Sanako closely from the moment she entered the room. Upon her finishing he finally spoke up. Let me just say again that we really apreciate you coming out here. Don't let Alex and Bacchus over here influence you with the whole 'Mr. El Harady' thing. We're all on a first name basis here.
James took a sip from the glass that was standing in front of him, which was filled with some milky liquid. So I know you already told me a bit about yourself, but maybe we can go a little more in depth. What's your background, your motivation and most importantly: what do you want to drink?
Something creamy, preferably non-alcoholic would fit, thank you. And that fits the moment pretty nice, since my speech might take a while to be spoken.
Sanako slightly exhaled. 'Tell me more about you' kind of questions was always quite complicated for her to answer. Consider this some personal 'bugs' that bother every person at some point.
So, where to start with... most of the basic information like my physical parameters and health condition you already know, certainly studied that from my dossier on Kyushu State Clinics server. It's not avaliable for wide public, however, it is for me to decide whetever i should or should not give someone access to it. Notification should be at your Neural Net account, and i honestly doubt it that i will be able to tell you something above the data provided in the dossier. However, if you have any questions besides my motivation - don't feel awkward and ask them out. Speaking about the motivation... that's pretty simple, honestly. So far, i have used any potential opportunity to put my hands on working with technology pieces, however, it was only a hobby and i have been spreading my attention on a fairly large amount of other activities, not directly related to my hobby.
Putting it staright - i were unable to attend my interests on one hundred percent. Fitting myself into the proper enviroment - which i hope to find among the ranks of Canaan - will allow me to focus on said activity while sharing all the collected data with the project.
You have some sort of shared database avaliable to every member of the project, i suppose? It'd be quite weird if you'd not have one yet. Like... extremely protected, encrypted data storage, only connected to inner Arcadia network and only accesible onboard of the said vessel. See, my enthusiasm is limitless and already gives me some ideas. Now - where's my creamy non-alcoholic drink?...
She chuckled, slightly exhaling after the long speach, listening to how her heart started to race again - during all that time she were barely able to catch her breath.
Others should not feel awkward as well. Any personal questions are accepted and will be answered, unless it implies revealing the color of the underwear that's currently on me.
Well, given those circumstances, I could only ask for the texture, the fabric or the type of said underwear, but I better refrain from doing so. Jeez, Bacchus. You're an old perv! Don't listen to him, he's just an old man, he probably didn't get any since before the departure from Sol. She giggles overly excited, continuing to talk like a waterfall, difficult to keep up with. Anyway, I do have some questions. Hope that's okay with you. Okay, so... You're from Kusari, right? Why'd you leave? Who were you with before, or were you by yourself? I don't like reading too much, it's boring, so could you specify what you mean with your health condition? She stops briefly, loudly inhaling air before speaking again And last but not least, am I annoying yet? Her brother Nate pulled on her long blonde pigtails, causing her to let out a sharp yelp. I am really sorry for the behavior of my sister. She has ADHD. And a lot of that, it seems. I've never seen her this excited before. Guess she likes you, Miss. He grins widely, his cigar slightly crackling as he does so. He then stands up, and moves a bit closer to Sanako However, I'd actually like to add in one more question to the pool. As you can see, most of us are already augmented. I have my cybernetic arm, Nate over there has a QT-Scanner in his eyes - which stands for "Quick-time", not "Cutie" as many believe at first - so he can pick out the most valuable rocks for ore instantly. Nickie has an enhanced spine, arms and legs, as she usually is the errand girl... She swiftly interrupts him I don't mind running. The others say I'm more bearable when I'm worn out from running through the Arcadia a lot. Exactly. Now the general consensus is, that these augmentations are there to enhance how we function or regain functionality of a part of our body that's lost it. The question I now have is as follows... He sits down on one of the chairs beside her, turns it towards her and leans on the table nonchalantly, taking his cigar and pointing it towards Sanako Do "you" want to be enhanced or fixed? Because the choice is yours. However work around here is much easier when you got some tools with you at all times that help.
Well, given the circumstances - i would leave after myself the right not to reveal any details of my underwear. Unless this is a private conversation with Nicky, she seems the only person i can entrust such details of my personality.
This little speech happened without any trace of embarassment on Sanakos' face - like she got used for such talks and didn't feel like they were something special to pay attention to. It wasn't the exact truth, however - when you are spending 90% of time in the society of household servants, teachers and her parents; all those would not be too fond of such talks.
The overextensive activity of Nicky, however, did not bother Fujinomiya too much, and she responded properly to all her questions, besides the excuses following from Nate.
Nicky. You are not annoying, but please - listen carefully, as i am probably not going to tell this twice. Yes, i am from Kusari. I have left my home to further progress my potential, i could not afford to just stay in one place, watched closely on almost your every step. Regarding the health condition - consider it anemia. Or hemoglobin dependance. However, i'm somewhat lucky that it did not work out to give me a look... pretty unsettling for a common eye.
No need for excuses, Nate. Those questions would be asked - earlier or later, so no point in holding back with answer.
Now, that the cybernetic enhacements. Since those probably have nothing to do with my health complications and keeping in mind my engineering specifics - probably would be sufficient to implement enhacing the most basic feelings - touch, sight, hearing would be perfect to start with. That means fingertips, eyes and ears. If this is possible, of course.
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James watched Sanako closely from the moment she entered the room. Upon her finishing he finally spoke up. ![[Image: zrKuasIm.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/zrKuasIm.jpg)
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