Minutes passed, the droid laid motionless on the metal plating of the ship. Alan lay there, fighting the urge to pass out. The blood from his arm seeping out slowly. It wasn’t the pain in his arm which caused him to lie there on the verge of unconsciousness. The after effect of propelling the Vervetic Energy through his arm into the droid left him feeling waves of searing pain from where the energy had traveled. An affliction from the mutation he developed earlier by transferring energy to a person. It was only after some extreme discomfort that he bothered to remove the healing-aerosol from his store to spray and seal his wounds and provide some pain relief.

It took a good 30 minutes before his body seemed upto moving again. Sitting up , and promising himself that he’d not plan on putting so much energy through his body again inspected the Droid. “What were you doing trying to attack me?” Alan could tell it wasn't designed for combat. More like service of some type.

Alan stored the droid and it’s leg, planning to fiddle with it later. Moving back toward the bridge door, he held his pistol at the ready. Determined to take aim at any other hostiles. The first room was just an auxiliary communication area. Which eventually led to a larger space, the main bridge. Looking around he noticed various ship systems, all powered down. The most distinct part was a number of cables leading to one of the many side doors connected to the bridge.

Following the winding cables he was led to a closed off room, in the center of which the cables all converged.

“It's a power unit.” Alan grew excited and quickly walked over to a large cylinder welded to the floor. It was the size of a metal trash can, with glass portholes. Holding his light toward the holes he caught the reflection of a basketball sized pale blue crystal.

“It doesn’t look damaged.” Reaching out he touched a control panel. Pressing a few buttons, the lights remained dark. Grimacing he placed his on a diode labeled input preparing himself for what he needed to do. “Here we go.” He slowly and carefully felt the energy core inside of him and moved a small amount toward the power unit. A brief spasm of pain passed through him as the Vervetic Energy injected directly into it.

Unlike before, the pain didn’t feel as though his body was on fire, but more like he’d burning from a bad case of heartburn. “So taking it slowly, won’t kill me.”

A blue light began to radiate from the crystal. It was faint, but it told Alan everything he needed to know. This was a working VE storage device. An interface panel lit up and he checked the interface.

VE Storage Container. Units available 2/1000. Would you like to enable access?

Alan grinned. Apparently whoever left this battery hadn’t thought to leave on any security access. Looking around, he moved to the other doors off the bridge. Most were empty storage areas for basic armor or medical supplies. He found a few sleeping quarters, likely for the officers, which were empty. “Let’s get to work,” he said, pulling out his cutter.

An hour later he was back down in the workshop. He found a corner to place the VE storage container, and removed the lengths of cables which had been running to it. He spent another few hours integrating the cables into the local machines and putting a few more VE into storage.

“Lets see if this will work.” Alan flipped the switch. At first nothing happened. Then a whirring sound began along with beeps and clicks. Moving one of the tools, he inputted a command. The arms of the device began to move and whirl. Alan could tell that the dry and sealed atmosphere had prevented corrosion from accumulating, but he’d have to do some other basic maintenance as well.

With his machines powered. He pulled out the droid and unloaded on a table. “All right you programmed killer, I wonder what made you so angry.” He was able to put some of the pieces back together, his training in tool and weapon manufacturing helping him a long. However, he gave up quickly realizing it was more than just a few wires to fix it, he likely needed knowledge. Alan pondered for a few moments and considered getting some additional downloadable knowledge. He still had 19 MMT remaining, and it might just be enough to diagnose and fix the droid. But he dismissed it, thinking about events in the future.

Taking a step back Alan grabbed his gun and prepared to go outside.

What I need to do now, is collect as much scrap, and parts to begin the next step of the plan. His thoughts proceeded quickly, as he was excited to get out of the dark encased ship and into searching for, as he hoped, treasure.

He didn’t have to travel far, the area was strewn with a variety of ships and vessels. He was mostly trying to find anything mostly intact. He spent the first bit looking at a small courier vessel nearby. It’s systems hadn't fared nearly as well as the transport ship, much of it had corroded with time.

The only hiccup in the whole operation was the presence of the occasional bug. Not your earth sized spider or cockroach. These were the size of footballs, blackshelled beetle-like creatures, with razor pincers.

Approaching the occasional ship would cause pockets of the creatures scamper away from him. However, a few of the larger would swarm nearby him, clacking their sharp teeth and hiss, sensing, Alan thought, a new source of food. Alan didn’t hesitate. He placed a few shots from his pistol into a few of the bugs. And instead of becoming their meal, they in turn swarm over the new corpse, allowing him to explore freely.

He traveled to a few vessels. Looking over each to find any remnants of parts he needed. The blue crystals from VE storage containers, like the one he’d found before, scrap metals, and any other valuables. One large vessel, a bulk mining ship, from the looks of it, had an intact mining laser array, integrated to the ship. Along with a broken VE storage unit, many times larger than the portable one he had on the ship. Overall it had been a good haul.

As the sky dimmed, he returned back to his home base. Truth be told, it had been hard on him to climb over the wreckage of ships, tearing into them with his tools and knowledge from his past life. Scavenge work was tough, and he no longer had the 20 strength he once did. Perhaps, he thought to himself, hitting the gym a few times wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Sitting down, Alan began to recollect the information he needed for the next stage of his plan. Thinking to himself he thought, ‘The next step for Cosmo’s integration of Earth will be the Isolation Period.’

For Alan this was an opportunity. Vervetic Energy would be the key to his, and perhaps the future of much of Earth's success. Meeting that demand however, was going to take a lot more than just finding a few storage crystals off planet and his own meager production. VE was how any technology at the level of System was used. Alan needed to make sure he was ready with ample supply when the time came.

Looking around his little workshop, he felt the weight of all the overwhelming steps he had to take.

Searching his memory for one of the plans he had downloaded, he brought to mind the schematic for basic Verdant Storage Item. It held 10 VE and used a minimum of refined materials. The most important part were the VE crystals, the blue gems which basically stored the energy. He’d salvaged quite a few from the ship earlier in the day.

He first preceded by removing a few metal ingots from the refinery and placed them in the workshop machines. Before he could proceed however, a prompt was given to him.

Ship Manufacturing and Maintenance. Please register the player's name and place your hand for analysis of players skills and knowledge.

Alan registered his name with the ships manufacturing computer, while simultaneously placing his palm on the computer for scan.

Analysis complete. Welcome Alan. You have basic knowledge in manufacturing: VE Storage Units, Tools, Melee Weapons, and Ranged Weapons. You do not have any specified personal modifiers to adjust manufacturing. You do not have any proficiency in manufacturing any specific items. Please note facilities can only reflect the skills and abilities of a registered user. Registered devices 1/1

Alan had expected this. The ship workshop could act as a small scale manufacturing plant. Building something if he wasn’t around. Trouble was, just because he had gained the knowledge of how to build something didn’t mean he could actually do it. And Cosmos didn’t just give you a fish, it was going to teach you how first and foremost.

He played around with it for a while, as he flattened, drilled and machined various parts with the machines. He also took the crystals, and painstakingly broke them down into various weights and sizes. The lattice structure of the crystal and it’s weight had to be just precise to hold the energy.

The crystals themselves were clear, like quarts, but had a tinge of aquamarine blue as light passed through them. Using a smaller set of tools he’d purchased, the crystals were fairly easy to break down.

He set to putting together the pieces of a small battery. As it was his first time, he found that though he possessed the knowledge, it was slow, and time consuming. He ended up breaking a few housings and had to discard half a dozen crystals, the size of his thumb, because he had cut them imperfectly.

On his 9th try, as he placed the last piece he spoke aloud. “I think I’ve got the gist of how to do this now.” He checked the description of the battery.

Vervetic Energy Storage, 0/10. *Human Manufactured.

The last test was to place energy into the device. He grimaced painfully, as a blue light faintly glowed, indicating he had successfully made his first Cosmos item. Holding it in front of him, he spoke excitedly, “I’ve done it. I’ve actually done it.”

Alan had never built anything in his last life. Just torn things apart. Looking at this crystal though, represented so many future possibilities. “I think I can do this.” Placing down the battery. He checked the time and realized he’d only a little time left before he was forced to log out. “Where does the time go?”

Instead of trying to make another battery. He instead turned to the computer.

Welcome Alan. You have basic knowledge in manufacturing: VE Storage Units, Tools, Melee Weapons, and Ranged Weapons.

You do not have any specified personal modifiers to adjust manufacturing.

You are now proficient in producing the following: Small VE Storage device.

Prompts appeared on screen asking for exact details of what steps he had taken to create the Vervetic Energy battery. Pressing execute, he stepped back from the machine as it began to hum. He smiled quietly to himself.

He logged out a few minutes early to see if he could catch up with his family.

As he left the pod, his only thought had been that there had been no Kara, and his return sequence was normal.

Checking his phone, the time read 8:25 pm. He walked to the lobby, and awaited his family. His Mother was the first to arrive, followed closely by his Dad.

“What did you think?” He asked eagerly.

They each smiled at each other giving a look. “I think your Mother and I have some serious thinking about the future.”

“We could hardly believe it, it’s like we were in one of those space shows you always watch! I can’t even believe I learned a new language. I still can’t believe it!” She gushed like a teenage girl going to prom.

“That's great mom.”

It carried on like that, as one after another his family members all joined him. All of them were really impressed. They had all followed his suggestions, even Alice, who came out last. His brother seemed the most appreciative. He was so excited for all the medical knowledge he’d gained. It was far more advanced than anything he’d heard of in med school.

Alan let them know to practice taking out and putting away their items.

As they all departed, his sister lingered, to talk to him privately.

“Bro. I don’t know how you knew, but that planet was just right. I felt something there, something I’ve never felt before in my life.” She whispered solemnly. “I met the natives, and they said they recognized the ‘gift’ in me. They said I was welcome to stay as long as I wanted.” As she spoke her eyes teared up. She then unexpectedly threw her arms around him giving him a big hug. “I hope it's as real as it feels,” she spoke softly into his ears.

He patted her on the back, surprised by her display of affection. “Just had a gut feeling.” was all he dared say, as he also felt a wave of emotions. In that moment, for the first time since returning, he felt like telling her everything. He just barely holding back.

Instead they parted, a little awkwardly and went their separate ways. Alan felt more than ever he was making the right decisions.