[IC] Eternal Galaxy: Shards of Starlight - Part I

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation


Mara stood there examining Cortana´s reactions to the scalding water, it was obvious that the AI was in amazement with it and Mara understood why about it.

As you can feel it, the vapour and the space around it have a higher temperature level than the average, in a hot day your body will feel rather thicker, mostly in your fingers. It is a natural feeling, but careful, too much heat will cause the beginnings of burning" she explained

Then the bioroid took an ice cube and gave it to Cortana "Now here you got the opposite of heat. The cold temperature makes your body shiver since it must compensate the lack of warmth around it, the so called goosebumps will appear as a reaction but they aren´t serious. Oddly though having too much cold contact will burn you too."

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Seeing the newest experience being handed to her, Cortana puller her hand away from the steam and grabbed the ice cube Mara handed to her. In that single instant, Cortana felt the biting cold coming from the ice cube. It was a truly strange sensation, especially since the biting cold of the cube began to gradually grow until it stung. The feeling was uncomfortable, but Cortana continued to hold it. Even though it was now somewhat unpleasant, Cortana kept the ice cube in her hand, almost as if she was memorizing the sensation.

"I can see why people don't really like the cold. It feels...", Cortana remarked, trailing off at the end.

The truth was, Cortana couldn't really describe what she was feeling. She knew every word in the dictionary for every language devised by man, but had never learned to associate the words with the senses of touch.

"...Biting? Stinging?", Cortana finally said, taking the words in literary writings used to describe what she was feeling now.

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation


Mara nodded to Cortana´s responses and answered "There are many words for it and those are really good feelings that the cold can do, it can be stinging if it goes to extreme levels, but it can be pleasant if it is in a calm level"

The white haired then took the knife "Now the last one of the most common feelings from the skin is pain. This feeling im sure you understand is umpleasant but you must understand that our bodies sooner or later will feel pain, it is a common thing" she said prikling her palm calmly

At first the bioroid flinched as the tool pierced her skin, some silverish liquid slipped out "This is our blood, we have an usual quantity of five litters of blood on our system and we need it to be at best level. Pain can vary from many types, it can be a constant pressure caused by a pounding injurie, a higher sensitivity caused by burns, an itching caused by an allergic reaction and so on with many types of pain like raw exposure caused by a cut like the one in my hand." she explained showing the small injury on her palm to the AI

"If you want to, we can test your pain with something more drastic as a weapon or something related"

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Cortana was a little hesitant to explore pain, but she wanted to know what it felt like now, rather than face it later when her life would possibly be on the line.

"I think I'll start off with something small before moving on to getting shot, burned, and stabbed.", Cortana said to Mara in a joking tone as she approached the knife drawer.

Taking another kitchen knife from the drawer, Cortana slowly pressed her finger on the tip of the blade, slowly putting more and more pressure behind the knife until it finally broke the skin. A stinging sensation shot through Cortana's finger as the blade pierced the skin, drawing a small droplet of her silvery, mercury-like blood. Cortana quickly pulled her finger away from the tip of the knife as the pain registered in her brain, and lightly shook her hand.

"I didn't think it would hurt that badly.", Cortana remarked as she frowned at the droplet of artificial blood on the tip of her finger.

It was only a minor injury, but it still stung. Cortana heard many accounts of people in physical and mental pain, but she had never felt such a thing. She never could have comprehended that pain felt like this. It made her feel sorry for everyone that had to go through much worse than what she just felt, especially John. She knew that he was covered in scars from previous wounds much larger than the tiny little prick on her fingertip. She could only imagine what it must have been like to suffer the same injuries as her partner. A look of slight concern spread across Cortana's face as she began to think about not only the possible pain of John's previous injuries, but the pain of all the injuries she had heard about. Yes, pain was an evolutionary adaptation to deter a specimen from damaging itself, but she didn't know it was this... potent.

Sol Inceneron
Inopia - Temple of the Lost

Nhiome trudged forward and slowed as he neared the pedestal. He laid Dalia down, then after shrugging the stiffness out of his shoulders, stepped forward to examine the carving. I can't tell anything from this...and what is this orb? How is it giving off light...it should have been abandoned for thousands of years, this must be some form of aura energy to last this long. Maybe it could be used to power my ship?Nhiome reached forward uncertainly, then paused with his fingers an inch away from the surface of the orb. For some reason, he was feeling uneasy. He shook his head, then reached forward and picked up the orb to examine it.

Helios System
Zephyr-Old Continents-Unknown Cave

Hajime just rolled his eyes at the man's response. "Whatever... I can't even comprehend what you are telling me anymore." He said as he continued down the path. As they did Hajime began to notice that the cave didn't begin to look like a cave anymore... rather... like a large corridor to an old building. "Are these some kind of ruins?" He thought as he examined some of the walls. There was very faint, scratched out writing on the walls of what appears to be calculations and such. "These must be some sort of ruins... I can see faint writing... almost like hieroglyphics... whatever these are I feel like I'm... supposed to be here..."

Sol Incineron
Videc

---

Deimos's ship entered the orbit of the hellish planet of Videc, where lava churned below and the miniscule islands that dotted the planet were dwarfed by what most would consider the fires of Hell themselves. Deimos, due to being an Anodyne though, wasn't perturbed in the least. He actually considered this excursion to almost be like going back home, though without the tyranny of the Elders or the annoyances of his fellow race. He never got along with people of his own kind, to say the least. I guess it was one of the issues with essentially being made of a sun.

After the ship scanned the planet for a suitable island with a temple or some other ruin on it, it gave 4 different islands, Deimos chose one and the ship began to descend. It would be a simple little expedition. Find something? Maybe. Didn't really matter. Just a little vacation to pass a little bit of time.

Eventually, the ship landed on the island, and Deimos stepped out of the ship. The blazing hot air would usually burn most without protection, but for Deimos, it was quite comfortable. He held onto his hat until he entered the far less windy entrance of the temple. Fire retardent brick lined the walls, covered partially by soot. It always amazed him how they made temples like this. They definately had the ingenuity to make such things.

---

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

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"Well, the ship in general is quite nice, and fancy." Mima said. "That's all I can really think of to say, though."

Helios System Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

"It is a potent feeling indeed and with time your body gets usef to the different kinds of reactions" Mara said as she looked throughout the windows

"There are also the reactions related to your emotions, they can vary from nausea with disgust or arousal with love and so on. Your body is an extension of your soul Cortana, even the smallest twitch comes from your emotions and you should be grateful for that. There are others who can't do it like your partner, he has lost most of his humanity and you are what keeps him on this world" the bioroid finished

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Cortana thought about Mara had said about John. It was true, John sometimes made her wonder which one of them was the machine. He seemed to simply throw away what Cortana would give almost anything for; the human condition, his humanity. It wasn't exactly his fault that he was like that, it was because of what ONI did to him. They indoctrinated him and made him the perfect soldier, but at the cost of his family, his childhood, his future, and his humanity. He did show some traces of who he originally was, like when he cracked jokes and remarks, but other than that, he was incredibly stoic and taciturn. To an extent, his training became the basis for his personality. It was even more saddening for her to know that at the very moment he was chosen to become a Spartan, he was condemned to a life of constant war that would ultimately lead to him dying alone at the hands of countless adversaries.

"You know, it's not really his fault that he's like that.", Cortana said to Mara in a calm, yet almost sorrowful tone, as if she felt guilt over John's mental state.

It was obvious that Cortana cared a lot about John, her Spartan. She felt sympathetic and guilty over what he had been put through. Perhaps her guilt stemmed from Dr. Halsey's guilt. She was cloned from the doctor's brain, and shared some of her characteristics and opinions on certain topics. Perhaps Dr. Halsey's guilt for the SPARTAN Program transferred over to Cortana, or perhaps it was because Cortana knew that John was still human, only that he refused to show it to anyone else except for her. All Cortana knew was that despite him sometimes being cold to those around him, she still cared about him.

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Mara kept looking through the window "He is a soldier, most of them lose their humanity to protect the faction they are fighting for. Just by looking at him and his armor, I know he went for a traumatic experience to become the human tank he is, engineering with a human is highly risky already, but making someone to what he became is something almost no one survive" she said only