The shuttle’s entrance slid open with a sharp hiss as the pressure equalized to the surface of Azios-2. Zarados slid into the cramped space, although this was quiet a demanding task, as the space inside was only slightly larger than him. Many newer ships, including the shuttle, were bio-vessels, genetically ideal, mechanically powerful ship. Bio-vessels were, in essence, living ships. The wide scale rise of these bio-vessels had occurred some ten millennia ago, when machined ships began to become too costly to build, operate, and dispose of. The abundance of fuels such as plasma had made the more expensive fuels used for ships irrelevant. The biological processes which these amalgamations performed were handpicked through a melting pot DNA. Genes from just about anything which was useful in running a functional vessel were fused together and manipulated. The fuel which powered these wonders came in the form of the occupant’s body heat. Using body heat as a power source came with its drawbacks however, as the occupant would need to stay active and warm for long drawn-out periods, something which posed a substantial risk to an occupant in void sleep while travelling in deep space between systems. Use of photosynthesizing sails to heat the interior and power mechanical components reduced this risk. The other benefit of a bio-vessel was that many had psychic abilities, the ability to sync with their occupant’s thoughts and feelings, of course this system had its own imperfections. If an occupant bonded fully with the vessel, control was relinquished as the two bonded with the risk of the vessels destruction resulting in the death of the occupant. In this way, a carefully managed symbiotic relationship had to be formed, where the occupant kept the vessel safe and in return could travel freely in the cosmos. The warp-booms were sometimes visible through space up to a light year away if a large enough bio-vessel entered the warp, a feat which was largely a mystery as that knowledge had been lost during the golden age collapse and ever since no vessel had not entered the warp.

Zarados squeezed his way into the cockpit, attempting in vain to make himself as comfortable as possible. He put his left hand onto the power throttle, and his right he slipped into a slot which perfectly moulded itself to his hand shape once settled, connecting himself with the vessel. The engines hummed as various gasses intermingled with one another before igniting into upwards lift, the entire vessel seemed to hum and buzz with life as mechanisms moved, synapses connected, and ever so slowly there was the feeling of a gentle lift off. Zarados watched through the digital display as he was whisked up and up, clearing the lower soot layer, Zarados found himself in the mist layer, by far the thickest layer and the most challenging to navigate due to its density. Finally, Zarados arrived in the upper atmosphere, the most dangerous part of the planet due to the blasts from the obelisks which create great shocks of outwards energy. Once he had cleared this, he would be on his way to his next destination, Port Argon, the closest large space port which would offer some safety due to how far out it was located as well as the fact that it had been abandoned long ago.

Zarados closed his eyes, feeling the strain on his body as the gravity of Azios-2 and the now reduced gravity of space competing for dominance. Zarados relaxed himself totally and let the vessels nerve system take control, feeling the heavy weight of gravity slipping from him he looked back at Azios-2, its pale-purple atmosphere a deep contrast to the wide white wastes which made up the scenery of the planet. It had been no paradise that was for sure and felt a total waste of his time to go there in search of that stupid computer. Zarados heard the engines turn off and felt the motion of the mechanical arms extending the photosynthesizing sails out. The interior went silent, save for the low hum and whirring of electronics and the faintly audible pattern of breath coming from the oxygen tubes. Zarados activated the map screen which lay face up at his chin, and he put in the location tag for Port Argon, “#8-S25-S132,” Zarados knew this would be a very long journey, especially since his vessel was not FLT worthy, something which would be very handy if he was to travel the vast distances he would need to cover, perhaps that was something to look into when he reached Port Argon. Zarados felt his eyes being dragged down by an invisible force, his limbs felt heavy despite the low gravity. He groggily reached for the void serum which would send him off into the dream world of void sleep far from the cosmic horrors which surrounded him. He touched the small bottle to his lips before drinking it down, the cold liquid flowed down his throat, as it did it felt almost painful yet soothing. He shivered and as he did, he began to see strange colours dancing in his mind’s eye as strange patterns formed in his peripheral vision as felt his body begin dragged into darkness. Slowly he was sinking into void sleep.