Starborn: Origin of the Stars

After he left the office, Robin went over to one of the CTVs. It was an old model, looked pretty worn and did not exude much confidence in its reliability. Robin grabbed the attached datapad and skimmed over the information.

“A Tuba 102, occasionally losing power in the outlet at the front left” He read the report. “Damn, 21 years of service! Old boy, you’ve more than earned your retirement already.”

The box-shaped vehicle was double the size of a modern PTV, still small for a cargo transport. It was built for short distances only, with a small battery and a cheap plasma repulsor.

Robin began to study the structural design, after he called up the blueprint on a nearby screen.

“Pretty rugged build.” He mused, “Corax may be a little bit more expensive than other manufacturers of industrial ships, but at least you get some solid stuff for your money.”

“Patience!” Robin called, “Let's get started with this one here.”

“Is this old-timer still loaded?” She asked and walked over to inspect the CTV.

“Yeah, it should have some food packages. Give me a moment, I’ll open the cargo area.”

First Robin had to link his tablet to the dataport at the side of the vehicle, then wait a short moment for a connection, before he was able to start maintenance mode and send an open command.

With a low hissing sound, a hatch at the end of the vehicle opened.

Eyeing the many crates in its hold and taking stock, Robin shrugged, “There you go, all yours”.

He observed Patience unloading dozens of big crates and boxes, each with a weight of 80kg and more, without the need for an exo-suit or anything.

It was a sight that amazed him each time.

‘Enhanced Strength is really neat. Her mutation is only Class D, I wonder what it would look like in Class C. Could she carry two crates at once?’ Robin mused lost in thoughts and began to daydream of a strong looking woman with long, blue hair in tight sport suits that lifted heavy weights in a gym. Sweat dripped from her face and slowly flowed down her neck...

“Whatcha lookin’ at, Rob?” Patience growled and tore him back to reality.

“Huh? Nothing, just thought about work n’ stuff!” He said and tried to hide his slightly red face.

“Sure… Now stop staring and get this one done.”

“Sorry, I’m on it!” Robin nodded and sent the command to power up the CTV.

When the repulsor began to hum quietly, the outlets started to glow with a gentle blue light. After he made sure Patience had taken out the last box and left for some other vehicle further in the back of the workshop, he began to gradually raise the output, until the vents had enough power to lift the CTV off the floor for a few centimeters. Immediately Robin could see the fluctuations at the front, resulting in an unhealthy-looking tilt of the whole vehicle.

Closing his eyes, Robin tapped into his mutated genes again and felt for the energy in the CTV. Soon, a mental image of the affected parts in the front, as well as the power lines to the plasma repulsor began to form. He could see and even feel the flow of the bright blue plasma waves, created by the repulsor and flowing through the pipes towards the outlets. After exiting the outlets, they produced enough boost to lift the vehicle and through tilting the vents, the whole thing could be set in motion.

In the power line to the front left outlet, Robin could see a small anomaly. With each wave of plasma that passed by, some of the energy leaked out of the pipe and dispersed harmlessly in the air. The slightly low pressure from the gas, that worked as medium for the plasma, confirmed his suspicion.

“Huh, a broken pipe. Not really a surprise with such an old model.” Robin mumbled after he easily identified the problem.

While most standard maintenance tech would also have found the damaged parts quickly, Energy Senses were faster and more versatile. If the problem was a little bit trickier, most workshops would be happy to have someone like Robin at hand.

Unfortunately, his mutation was only categorized as Class E, as it is just some minor sensory skill. For a job at a big manufacturer or some prestigious workshop, it would have to be Class D - Energy Senses. There were even less people with that kind of mutation, but from what he read online, Robin knew that they could create those mental pictures much faster and the higher version also came with an extra skill that was like an echo-pulse, which could instantly create some kind of snapshot in one’s mind. Pretty awesome mutation, sadly out of his reach.

Like most mutations, his Minor Energy Senses weren’t upgradeable.

Robin stopped his probing, shut down the CTV, disconnected his cable and went over to one of the shelves with spare parts to look for a compatible power line. He rummaged through a few drawers, quickly found a matching one and returned to his patient. Using the lifting platform, he then raised the vehicle to be able to access it from below and began to change the broken cable.

“Upgrading our mutations…” Robin muttered as he worked on the replacement, “The government is telling the tale about mankind taking one more step towards the top. One step further towards our rightful place as the supreme in the universe.”

He finished up the CTV and continued his soliloquizing, “Our G-Anomalies don’t have anything to do with whatever the fuck humans have earned. We salvaged this tech after endless research of the remains from the hidden laboratory and are now taking the credit for the achievements of others. The ability to upgrade some of the mutations came from a deal with the Ommih, in exchange for their admission in the UAS. They didn’t even provide the source of this tech.”

Robin put some notes in the datapad, together with his report and checked this job from his list.

“At least we did evolve the gene tech on our own and are still working on further improvements, so maybe even my mutation can be advanced someday.”

Moving over to the next CTV, time flew by and Robin finished up his other jobs an hour before the workshop closed up. Checking out at the terminal in the office, Robin did not leave but went deeper into the building. In the back he found his own special project.

In a corner of the big hall, illuminated only by dimmed lights, stood a small, sleek ship.