Finding the first and second messages meant that more clues had been discovered. We walked along the corridor and found the third message at the end of the corridor. There was only one sentence on it:
"New prompt: You have completed the physical examination. If you have reached this point, it means that the examination device has determined that your health has reached the working standard. Now walk along this corridor and do not stop until you see the new prompt."
Although we did not know who this spaceship was prepared for, the contents of the message, such as "sequelae after a long period of hibernation, the body needs to be examined by external equipment, and the brain needs to be stimulated by audio signals to regain consciousness" obviously did not match the life form of the Shiring Apostles. Hence, we could boldly guess that the crew of this spaceship should be some ordinary 'mortal race'. This also coincided with Liliana's previous discovery. The outer corridor of the spaceship was filled with fine dust produced by the weathering of organic matter. These weathering particles were highly likely to have come from the crew's corpses.
This spaceship, or at least the core area of this spaceship, was specially prepared for the mortal race. This was very strange because Sandora and I knew very well that the Shiring Apostles had never been so 'gentle and considerate' to their servants during the era of the Old Empire. The design of this spaceship was too illogical.
The corridor leading from the 'activity hall' to the deeper part of the spaceship was blocked by an alloy door. The third message was on the wall next to the door. However, this time, the door was not so easy to open. Judging from the content of the message, there should be a place similar to an infirmary behind the door. When the crew of the spaceship was awakened from a certain state of hibernation, they would have to undergo a check-up in this infirmary. Only when their health had reached the 'working standard' would the door open. Then, the awakened ones would be able to see the message on the door and proceed to the activity hall and the workplace. But now, it seemed that we could not open the door from the outside. The power supply of the core area of the spaceship was normal. The door was also secured by a closing mechanism and a power lock. But these were not a problem. Sandora flashed her claws and tapped on the alloy door twice. "Let me scratch it open."
I nodded. In an instant, the alloy door was broken into pieces by Sandora's scratching. A smaller room appeared in front of us. The room was also brightly lit. It seemed that the entire core area's lighting and other conventional equipment had been activated.
This room was indeed an infirmary. The hexagonal cabin was surrounded by a circle of square boxes that looked like hibernation pods. I guessed that was the scanning equipment for the body examination. There was a depression in the ground in the middle of the cabin, and there was a one-meter-tall holographic device. The device had been activated, but there were only jumbled lines on it. Obviously, it was in standby mode.
The first thing they did was to look for the message. This time, the message was placed in a very conspicuous place. It was on the floor near the holographic device in the middle of the room. There was a paragraph written on it.
[New prompt: You have woken up and come to the physical examination room. Your brain is still in a state of confusion, but this confusion should not affect your judgment. When the hibernation device is activated, the power supply of some areas has been restored. The cabin can be used. Now, stand in any of the medical pods by the wall, and the system will automatically complete the work. If everything goes smoothly, a new door will open in this room. Walk out of the door, and you will see the next step. "
"This is getting more and more interesting." Liliana looked at the message and licked her lips. "Logically speaking, the Empire's starships are so advanced, but they shouldn't have used such primitive procedures. Hibernation pods, wake up procedures, messages written on the wall and floor, and not even an automated system on duty. Boss, don't you think it's strange?"
I thought about it and admitted embarrassedly, "Actually, I haven't thought about it that much."
Liliana was dumbfounded. Sandora interrupted, "I think it's strange too. These messages are obviously a wake up procedure, but this method is too old. After all, this is the Empire's starship. Even if there is a group of dormant normal crew members, there should be an AI on duty the whole time, unless …"
Sandora seemed to have thought of something, but she didn't continue after the word 'unless'. I quickly asked, "Unless what?"
"Unless this ship is used to achieve extreme 'silence'." Sandora frowned. "I think I've figured something out. This ship's' silence 'level is extremely high. It only has the void engine, the orderly field, and the regular engine, these three systems are the most basic requirements for a ship to be able to sail, and they can't be turned off. Furthermore, these three systems don't require too much AI. If it's just drifting, even the stupidest logic program would be able to manage it. Other than that, do you see any other part of the ship that's running? I recalled the strange situation we discovered in the outer layer. The outer energy supply was completely cut off, but the energy network was still intact. This meant that the spaceship had actively cut off the outer energy supply. Also, we had reached the core area, but we hadn't heard any sound from the spaceship's mainframe. If this spaceship really had a mainframe, then it was simply too taciturn. Finally, there's the current situation: this primitive wake up procedure doesn't involve any AI system. It relies entirely on the stupidest messages and road signs to complete it. This is the most extreme system silence. The goal of this silence is to hide any signs of 'consciousness' on the ship, including AI. "
I suddenly felt something and looked at Sandora blankly. "This is to reduce its own existence …"
Sandora tacitly continued the second half of the sentence. "And then do everything possible to escape from a certain place."
It goes without saying that the only thing that required such a degree of 'silence' from the Empire's starship to escape was the disaster 70,000 years ago. It wasn't to escape from the abyss, but to escape from the frenzied pursuit of its former allies. It was to disguise itself as the wreckage of a destroyed ship!
"Let's look again. There should be other clues here," Sandora said quickly. "These medical pods are only for physical examination. They're not hibernation facilities. The crew's hibernation area should be in another area … but the passageway is hidden."
The interference in the core area was still there. Jingle and Liliana still couldn't find where the signs of life were coming from. Sandora also couldn't scan the location of the other pods. And I wasn't good at delicate tasks other than energy sensing. I could blow this place up if you want me to. It seemed that the interference in the core area was unconditional. This should also be a way for the spaceship to increase its' silence 'level.
Little Crow was the most confused among all of us. It was the first time for her to participate in such a serious activity. She seemed a little overwhelmed, but she also wanted to help the adults. So, she began to learn from us and poked around the cabin. Finally, she came to the medical pods that were erected like coffins by the wall. "Caw, caw, caw." She reached out and tapped on the covers of the medical pods. As a result, one of the medical pods really opened!
Sandora and I were stunned at the same time. This silly bird's luck level was simply superb. Although her intelligence was average, this was the second time she had accidentally found a key point today. This bird was definitely a master at Chain Link.
"Oh yeah, it's like this," Sandora thought for a moment and understood what was going on. She concluded in a very belated manner, "According to the contents of the message, the crew members who have just woken up have to undergo a physical examination here. However, the minds of the mortal race who have just woken up are not very clear. So, the equipment here should basically be automatic. Moreover, the equipment here is in an unrestricted state. The medical pods will automatically open when they sense that someone is touching them."
I looked at the opened medical pods curiously. The shape of the medical pods was different from the coffin hibernation pods that Tawil had made, but it was basically the same. Sandora came over to take a look and made an expert judgment, "It is indeed prepared for carbon-based lifeforms. There is an enhanced radiation protection layer and the scanning equipment is a low-power type."
Liliana also joined in the fun and squeezed in between me and Sandora. She stuck her head out to observe the equipment in the medical pods. Then, she suddenly laughed and jumped in. "Ha, Boss, look! This is so spacious for me!"
You won't die if you don't look for trouble. The moment Liliana jumped in, I saw the cover of the medical pods flicker. Then, before I could react, the sliding cover suddenly closed. All I could see was Liliana's shocked expression. Then, the brat who had reaped what he sowed started shouting, "Wah! Boss, hurry up and save me! Why is this thing closed?! "
Of course, I quickly moved to open the medical pods. However, as soon as I moved, I was stopped by Sandora. She pointed at the equipment in the middle of the medical pods and said, "Look at that."
There was a data terminal in the middle of the 'medical pods'. However, the terminal was in standby mode when we came in. Now that it was activated, the holographic image above the machine quickly refreshed a few lines of data. Then, a light blue human figure appeared. I could tell at first glance that it was a full-body image of Liliana. It seemed that the little crow and Liliana had accidentally activated the medical diagnosis system here. Two seconds later, Liliana's physical diagnosis report appeared on the terminal. There was only one paragraph on it:
"Diagnosis of medical pods number six: There is an error in the biological characteristics of the pod. Please let her in."
Liliana's muffled voice continued to come out from the medical pods, "Boss, hurry up and save her! It's so dark in here! Why are things made in the Old Empire so inhumane?! "
Sandora and I looked at each other, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. The latter operated a few times outside the medical pods before Liliana could finally see the light of day. The brat reaped what she sowed when she saw the diagnosis report displayed on the central terminal. She instantly raged, "What do you mean by 'please let her in'?! Which part of me, Pope, doesn't look human?! I, Pope, am such a cute little girl. How come I don't look human?! "
I quickly held the little girl back, "Calm down, calm down. You are definitely not the same type of person as the crew of this ship. It's normal for the medical pods to make a mistake."
At this moment, Sandora was checking the medical pods that Liliana had entered earlier. She suddenly found something, "Ah Jun, look at this! There's a line of words here, handwritten! "
I quickly went over to check the situation. Sandora pointed at the outer shell of the medical pods. As expected, I saw a large line of handwritten words. However, the words seemed to have been etched with a hand-held tool. The content was confusing. "Warren Field's diary. Today is the eighth day since I woke up. I have completed my routine work, which is to observe the empty radar image. I don't know if there is any point in doing so. Most of the things that were supposed to be activated were not activated. I am the only one who has woken up. The mainframe of the ship did not respond to my question. It is still in a silent state. Something must have gone wrong. I returned to the medical room to do a physical examination. The equipment reported that everything is normal. My body is normal, but there is definitely something wrong with this ship. I will continue to observe. Although the situation is a little bad, I think the training will help me get through this. "
"This must have been left behind by the crew of the spaceship," I made an obvious judgment. "But according to the diary … he seems to have encountered a very bad situation. Why is he the only one who has woken up?"
"There must be something wrong with this ship." Sandora frowned. "Maybe the disaster that happened seventy thousand years ago damaged the ship. However, I am more curious as to why Warren Field would carve his diary on the outer shell of the medical pods. It is a little primitive. "
I looked around and didn't see any traces of human activity. We didn't see Warren Ferd or any records he left on our way here. Of course, considering that this Specter Ship had existed for a very long time, the sailor might have passed away a long time ago. However, he shouldn't have left only one entry in his diary.
"Let's go back to the hall. We didn't check that place carefully earlier." Sandora decided to go back and search. "Didn't the messages say that there are workshops near the hall? There must be some clues there."
I also remembered that the message at the entrance of the activity room had mentioned the workshop. However, at that time, everyone's attention had been focused on finding the spaceship's crew and the main engine room, so the workshop mentioned in the message had been put aside. Now that "Warren Ferd" had appeared, we realized that there might be important clues in the workshop.
We immediately returned to the activity hall. Sandora released a bunch of smart probes, and the little crow released her mini army of little girls. A large group of smart scouts split up to search for any signs of human activity. The first to find a clue was the dumb bird. One of her splits flew back excitedly and reported something to everyone. We followed the palm-sized crow to a corner of the hall. There, we found a few paragraphs on the wall. This time, it wasn't just a diary entry.
"Warren Field's diary. On the fourth day after waking up, the situation doesn't seem right. The system's setting is to activate the awakening protocol after the chaos ends and when there are other survivors. However, there is nothing on the radar. There are no other survivors. The spaceship is drifting alone in an unknown place. The navigation system is still in automatic mode, and it continues to jump to an unknown coordinate. This is a major anomaly. Other than that, there is good news. The chaos seems to have stopped. There are no enemies pursuing us, and the world isn't collapsing. Regardless of the situation, I should get to work. I have already thought about what to do if the process goes wrong. Although I didn't think it was possible, it seems to have happened now. I am glad that I had foresight. Postscript: This diary entry was actually made up on the fifth day. "
"Warren Field's diary. On the fifth day after waking up, I have completed all system checks. The bad news is that the spaceship seems to have been severely damaged. The outer hibernation facility is not responding, the connection bridge is jammed, and the teleportation device is also broken. It seems that the spaceship was attacked during the hibernation period. The good news is that I am still alive, and so are the others in the core area. Most of the facilities are in good condition, but they refuse to be taken over by humans. This is normal. They are not supposed to be controlled by carbon-based creatures. Carbon-based creatures do not have strong willpower and are prone to make mistakes. However, I am still a little unhappy. Another thing: Considering the possibility that the diary entries in the MDT may not be seen by anyone, I have decided to carve my daily diary entries all over the spaceship. If I die in an accident, these entries can be seen in a more conspicuous place. Those lucky fellows, sleep well. Captain Warren Field is about to start his duty. "
Reading this, Sandora and I nodded in unison. This diary entry explained why these words were carved on the wall in the most primitive way. The person who left this diary entry did write things in the MDT at first, but on the fifth day, he predicted the worst, so he carved them on the outside in a more primitive but safer way.
"This Warren Field seems to be a strong and optimistic servant soldier," Sandora said softly. "I have already guessed how bad the situation was for him, but he accepted the reality calmly and started to work. Even in the servant army of the old Empire, there are not many people with this kind of mentality."
"Not necessarily so perfect," Liliana pointed to the next diary entry. "Look, he also has complaints."
I looked at the diary entry. The content did not seem to connect with the previous two entries.
"Warren Field's diary. Who knows how many days, maybe more than ten. I haven't written a diary since the last time I went to the medical room. Today's work is not going well. I tried to find the nearest signal from the material plane, but there was nothing. There are few places in the void that are so desolate. It seems that the catastrophe has wiped out all the worlds. I may have to drift with this cursed spaceship forever. But so what? I still have to work. The observation records are still the same. It's the same thing every day. Looking at the empty radar in this empty place, my mind is also empty. I really wish I could see other signals, even if it's just clutter. "
There were only these three diary entries on the wall.
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