Adventures of an Ancient Space Battleship

“Um... yes?” replied Ruyi. What was she doing here? Why was she waiting just outside the door? How long had she been waiting?”

One after another the questions came, but she didn’t have any answers for them. She stood there for a moment or two that seemed to stretch on into eternity. One that finally broke when R23-G responded, “Good. Was the bath to your liking?”

Relaxing a bit, she kept an eye on the woman but replied, “It was. Um, where are we?”

The woman replied as she picked up a box, “Still in the hospital. We had this room prepared for you. This could be your room if you like.” The woman handed her the box.

Ruyi took the box and then to the woman. Who gave no answers, so she opened it. Finding a metal bra and panty set in it. Frowning, she looked back at the drone, “Um?”

Before she could even get her full question out, she was informed, “The collective has decided you have potential. There are two major groups in the collective, drones and princesses. Drones are like me, we serve. Princesses are there to manage the drones and think. They are allowed much greater autonomy within the collective.”

She glanced back at the outfit, “and if I don’t put this on?”

“We will make you a drone.”

Ruyi had seen what that involved. She shuddered recalling what R23-G went through. How she’d been made to give birth, what they did to her kid. Ruyi now wondered if it was alright, but what really stuck out to her was what happened after. The way they sliced her boobs open and cut off her limbs. The entire time she had been screaming, the pain must have been intense. The metal men had even plucked out her eye. “I...”

“Of course the Collective doesn’t expect you to make your choice right away,” said R23-G just as she took the box and put it on the counter. Then before Ruyi could blink she had taken the towel as well. “Come, I will give you a tour. Answer any questions you may have.”

Ruyi gulped, glanced at the box and then the room before hesitantly following out into the hall. She recognized it, but some changes had been made. She glanced back at the wall and noticed the number plate. This door was the birthing room right next to Auntie’s, but it didn’t look the same. We had this room prepared for you, echoed through her mind followed by images of drones taking the office apart and bringing alien tech in. They had renovated the room, “You renovated this room just for me?”

“Yes, it will be yours while you are here.”

R23-G gestured at Auntie’s room and asked, “Would you like to see your aunt?”

She nodded and followed R23-G into the room. It was just the same as before. She shivered a bit when she walked in. Was it even colder in here?

Suddenly R23-G said, “Yes, we lowered the temperature four degrees since you were last here.”

“What why?” she responded and then another thought occurred to her, “Did you just read my mind?

“For the first question, we aren’t ready to process your aunt. Cooling her down and reducing her activity limits her metabolic rate leading to reduced resource expenditure.” R23-G stopped speaking and looked at her face for a moment, “This unit isn’t confusing you is it?”

“Um well...” she looked down, “I only understood the first part.”

“Ah, no shame in that, you are still young. Plenty of time to learn. In simpler terms, we are reducing the amount of food and water she needs by reducing her temperature and activity. As for your other question, this unit can’t read your mind, Titari physiology has little to no inclination for psionic ability. Although we have noted certain key genes are present within five percent of the population. Yet none at a sufficient level to manifest traits.”

She blinked there were a few big words in there, but she understood enough from context to get the idea. Ruyi looked at Auntie, who hadn’t paid them any mind. She was just lying there. It was weird and she still didn’t know why she was like that. “Is Auntie going to be okay?”

“She’s perfectly fine and quite stable. The injection we gave her is mainly to keep her docile and calm while she waits for processing, but it also contained something else. Meant to help her while we cooled her down.”

Ruyi nodded, then took a breath, “Can I talk to her?”

“Did you not talk to her earlier?”

Ruyi gave the drone a look but when all she got was a blank stare she switched tracks. Tried to explain what she meant.

The drone was silent for a moment before saying, “The Collective has denied your request.”

Ruyi rounded on the drone, “What why!!? She’s my aunt, I need to talk to her.”

R23-G replied, “Your Auntie is currently stable and docile. If we disrupt her treatment it will have adverse effects on her.  For her own safety we request that you do not talk with her currently.”

Her shoulders slumped. She didn’t want to hurt Auntie and the drone didn’t seem to be lying to her. Why would it? Sighing, she walked over to Auntie. Gave her a hug and then recalled the milk they took, “What did you want her milk for?”

“She recently gave birth, her milk was being tested for various nutrient factors and graded. Your Auntie is being considered for use as a nursery drone. So far she has passed all the tests we have conducted including the milk test.”

“Nursery drone?”

“They care for babies, monitor them, feed them, clean them and make sure they grow healthy.”

Remembering what she saw yesterday, “You were pregnant just before they made you a drone. Did they?”

“This unit failed her milk test. Grade C, nursery drones need Grade A or above. So I was classified as a Medical Drone.”

“So you could have been one?”

“Yep, and if you are happy with your aunt’s care, would you like to see the nursery next, or perhaps you would like to see something more interesting?”

She didn’t hesitate, “The nursery!”

Ruyi needed to see the twins. R23-G nodded and gestured for the door. Leading her out, down the hall and into the nursery. The moment she saw the beds, she rushed past most of the babies heading down to the twins. Noticing their beds had been changed, there was more alien tech here. The names were gone, it was now labeled Batch Subject 14 and 15 respectively.

The two seemed fine, healthy and giggled when they saw her. She played with them a bit, thankful the crying was down. “They have names, why are they labeled with numbers?”

“Had names, the collective doesn’t recognize those names.”

“Huh?”

“They don’t have names anymore. The babies here will be given designations later for now they are just numbers.”

“That sounds rather sad,” her gaze went back to the twins. Having to ask, “Have they been fed?”

“Yes, the collective knows you fed them. Disrupted their feeding schedules, we had to adjust for that. Of course you also ignored the others, some of them weren’t fed either. Why did you favor these two but ignore 16 who is dying due to lack of maintenance?”

She blinked and looked at 16, who didn’t look that good. The baby girl had rashes, her face was red and she was looking a little gaunt. For a moment a million thoughts flowed through and finally she just asked, “Why?”

“She will expire in the next couple of hours. The collective cut her off once she was deemed useless. Multiple genetic defects that should have been corrected while still in the womb. The collective deemed her unsalvageable.”

“Unsalvageable?” Ruyi asked, unsure of the word.

“The collective decided that she isn’t worth the effort to correct her up to our standards.  As a princess you could have a say in that decision, possibly get it changed. Drones like me can only carry out the decisions made for the collective.”

“So she is going to die?”

“Soon, but the twins you favor are doing just fine.”

“Can she be saved?”

“Unlikely, the lack of food and an infection have done a lot of damage to her systems.”

Ruyi stared at the girl feeling a lump. What if she had fed this girl then? Would she have been better off? Her mind wandered for a bit on the topic.

R23-G spoke up, “Any questions about the nursery?”

She nodded, “Why are so many beds empty? Where are the boys?”

“This facility has been designated for the processing of females and children. The male infants were moved to another location to await processing. This nursery was designated for female infants only.”

That reminded her to ask, “What are you doing with the hospital anyway?”

“Right now its being used to process females and children. Male drones are being processed elsewhere. This facility will be repurposed and upgraded over the next few days. Here we will process females, provide medical care for the young, grow babies and conduct research. Most of what will be done here will center around young babies like this. As such both medical drones and nursery drones will be required to ensure adequate care.”

Ruyi frowned, “so it won’t be a hospital anymore?”

“We will still provide medical care, but it will be primarily a processing center and growth facility.  Medical care will be provided if necessary but that’s not the main purpose now.”

“I see, I think.”

R23-G let her play with the twins for a bit longer. As she thought about what this would mean before she was taken elsewhere on the tour. This time to a place she hadn’t been. She was taken down a floor, where she could see a lot of drones working to reshape the floor. Entire rooms had been taken apart, even the walls were gone.

“This level and the two levels below are being reconfigured. Here will be the local gestation chamber. Babies on this level will move up to the nurseries on level five once sufficiently mature or to level seven where more nurseries are being built alongside the new labs”

She looked around at all the alien tech. While R23-G led her through the organized chaos created by the drones working to change entire sections of the building. Ruyi had little idea what they were doing. 

Before long she was brought into a room that seemed calmer, where she could see entire rows of those weird womb boxes resting on shelves. “It’s those weird womb boxes.”

R23-G corrected her, “They are specially designed gestation units. Wombs taken from processed females are modified and fitted to an apparatus containing a sophisticated set of monitoring equipment, nutrient feeds and other devices.”

She paused walking over to a console. After pressing a few controls an arm moved from the ceiling, selected a ‘gestation unit’ and pulled it out of the wall. Moving it to a receptacle next to the console. Ruyi drew closer for a better look, as R23-G continued the explanation, “This part here used to be the cervix, it was replaced with an access port to allow ease of access to the interior. Allowing medical drones to work on a fetus as needed. This one is ready to be sent to the nursery, would you like to remove her?”

Ruyi blinked, but drew closer curiously. When she placed her hand near the access port she was rewarded with it opening up. Revealing a wet moist interior. Ruyi paused, “What if I hurt her?”

“You won’t, just reach in and pull her out.”

“Won’t that hurt her?”

“Babies are fragile, but not that fragile. As long as you aren’t unduly rough with her she will be fine.”

Ruyi gulped and then reached in. Finding the inside, warm and wet. It didn’t take her long to find the baby and she was able to pull it out easily. The girl smiled when she saw its peaceful face and then R23-G took it from her. Slapping it on the back. Once, twice, thrice and then it wailed.”

“Why did you do that!?”

“To make her breathe, babies don’t breathe in the womb.” replied the drone as she clipped the cord. Just as a second drone arrived. Yet another metal man, who quietly accepted the infant and left the room.

“You mean that was needed?”

“Yep.”

Ruyi stared at the door, “So is he taking her to the nursery?”

“Not right away, she will be evaluated first. She’ll be there once she passes all her post-birth tests.”

Ruyi nodded and turned back to the open womb, “So which one here is your womb?”

“This unit’s former womb is not in this chamber. It’s still being modified.”

“I see, and what about this womb?”

“It will be implanted with a new child soon, in fact a drone will be arriving with a freshly prepared embryo for the womb in a couple of minutes.”

A couple of minutes later a female drone entered, holding a small cylinder with something inside it. She approached the open gestation unit and inserted the cylinder. Manipulated a couple of controls attached to the unit and then removed the now empty cylinder. As she walked away, R23-G used the console from earlier to return the unit to its place. 

“Was that it?”

“Yep, it’s quick and efficient. We will be able to grow many drones and princesses once we are at full capacity.”

Following that moment she was given a quick tour of the rest of the facility. The first floor was going to be medical care and processing. Most of the floor had already been optimized for that. Everywhere she was shown, rooms had been reconfigured into alien operating chambers. The front reception was still there with a female drone manning the counter, but everything in the room had already been swapped out. An alien computer now sat built into a freshly built counter. When she saw the receptionist she had to ask why it was there. Apparently to direct new arrivals, specifically children and princesses. Drones wouldn’t need her services.

The second, third and fourth floor were all part of the gestation complex and already had some operational areas where kids were being grown. The fifth floor was primarily the nursery level, but it would also have a few operating rooms and some living quarters. Her aunt’s room and several nearby were being kept for unprocessed females.

The sixth floor was entirely being given over to living quarters, while the seventh would have a few nurseries but was really for labs. Finally the eighth floor was a warehouse level. Supplies would be stored on that floor before being delivered elsewhere. Above that was the roof which was being optimized for use as a shuttle pad. There was also a weird device being built in a room on the eighth floor that R23-G referred to as a cargo transport pad.

When the tour finally came to an end, she found herself back in the kitchenette. R23-G had ushered her in just a moment ago. “I’ll be leaving you here for now to make your choice. If you agree to be a princess, put on your new clothes and come see me. We can take care of your upgrades after.”

“Upgrades? You aren’t going to cut my legs off or something?”

“Don’t worry it won’t be like a drone’s procedure. You won’t feel a thing.”

Then R23-G left her, leaving her alone to consider her choice. Taking the box, she headed into her new room. Still thinking about her options. Not that they were great, but the princess option was tempting.