Episode 1

A light-hearted Sci-Fi romp, nothing too heavy.

I’d be honored if you’d stick around and enjoy the ride m( )m

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"Open all gun ports!! Target... HNGH-GYAAAH!"

In the center of a ten-meter square room surrounded by panoramic monitors, amidst a sea of blinking instruments and control terminals, Taro Ichijo collapsed to the floor like a man begging for divine absolution.

"When I said open... I meant the gun ports... Who told you to open my damn sphincter?!"

Behind Taro stood a woman. She was perched on one knee with a perfectly expressionless face, her hands clasped together with only her index fingers extended upward in a piercing gesture. Taro watched the play of light on the screens and lifted his head from his hands, still trembling on all fours.

"Hey, wait a minute, they actually fired! What the hell is going on? Is this how the Space Force operates? You can communicate a target by screaming 'higiieee'? What is that, some kind of secret code?"

On the panoramic monitors, hundreds—no, thousands—of blue light-streaks lanced through the void. Anti-matter, accelerated to relativistic speeds via laser propulsion, triggered mutual annihilation upon impact. They flickered out in a rhythmic dance of heat, light, and total destruction.

"Heh... Hahaha! Look at that! It’s overwhelming! With our fleet’s performance, this war is practically over! There’s no doubt about it!"

Taro closed his eyes and threw his arms wide toward the ceiling. A smile of pure, ecstatic victory plastered itself across his face.

"Yes, Captain. However, your sphincter’s 'war' also seems to be nearing its end, doesn't it?"

"With my indomitable will, I shall—shut up! That was your fault! And that wasn't even a good pun!"

Taro swung a hand around to deliver a sharp retort but froze mid-motion. He was well aware of his own reckless nature, but he wasn't quite stupid enough to test what happened when a human fist met a cyborg body plated in reinforced metal.

Damn it, next time I’m spitting in her maintenance oil...

"But still," Taro sighed, resting his hands on his hips as he gazed out at the galactic tapestry. "I feel like I’ve ended up somewhere way too far away. I mean, seriously... can I really get back to Earth?"

The woman with the smooth, metallic body stood behind him. "Who knows," she offered curtly.

"‘Who knows’? Way to be casual about it... Well, whatever. I’ll find it eventually."

The universe, an expanse said to be infinite.

The countless stars of the galaxies contained within.

In the middle of that vast world, Taro Ichijo was hopelessly lost.

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"ABURAHAMU!!?"

A sudden impact slammed into his face. His body recoiled. Taro pondered the mystery of existence while stuck in a precarious position—back arched like a startled shrimp, his face pressed firmly against the floor.

Let's see... for a hospital, this place has a really aggressive vibe.

He recalled being hospitalized recently for some stomach tests. Fighting off a wave of soul-crushing lethality and fatigue, Taro began to roll across the hard, metallic floor.

"Ugh, no. Stop. This method of locomotion is far too advanced for humanity... Wait, where am I?"

Nauseous and disoriented, Taro sluggishly sat up and scanned the cavernous, alien room. To the best of his knowledge, standard hospitals didn't usually feature rooms where everything from the floor to the ceiling was crafted from seamless metal.

"Abduction? Kidnapping? Ah, wait, the door’s open. Hello? Anyone there?"

Taro cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. The hollow room echoed his voice with enthusiasm, but it refused to offer any other sounds in return. He tried calling out a few more times before giving up and wandering deeper into the room.

"Hmm. Maybe a research lab? Did my stomach ache progress into some kind of terminal, experimental condition?"

Wait, why am I talking to myself so politely? he wondered, muttering as he poked around. The space was bland, surrounded by milky-white walls and a few control terminals that looked like futuristic computers. The floor was etched with one-meter square blocks, perhaps a guide for walking, with white lines drawn to bypass certain sections. Taro spotted some text near one of the lines and leaned in.

"Aaaand I can't read a word of it. Definitely a foreign country."

The characters looked vaguely like the alphabet, but Taro didn't recognize a single one. He let out a heavy sigh and turned toward the one spot he had been subconsciously trying to avoid.

"Yeah. I’m guessing I fell out of that thing."

Taro stared at a metallic mass protruding from the floor. It contained a human-shaped indentation. Inside the device, he could see complex wiring and several needle-like protrusions—some of which were stained with faint, reddish smears that looked suspiciously like blood.

"What kind of torture device is this? I don't have that kind of hobby... Is this an Endor Corp Type IV? ...Wait, huh?"

Taro froze, a mental question mark hovering over his head. The words had flowed out of his mouth with practiced ease. Endor Corp—presumably a company—and the "Type IV" model were names he’d just spoken aloud, yet he had absolutely no memory of ever hearing them before.

"Okay, that’s creepy."

Shivering, Taro took a step back. That movement triggered a low, vibrating hum that resonated through the floor. The ground began to shift.

"Whoa, whoa, stop! I really hate this kind of plot development!"

Sections of the floor began to rise in blocky units. Dozens of devices, identical to the one in front of him, ascended into the light. Taro watched them rise with a hollow feeling in his gut. His grim expectations were met, save for one detail—the pods weren't empty.

"Quite the grand entrance. Though I'm not exactly laughing..."

Inside the pods, there were only bleached human bones.

[COLD SLEEP SYSTEM: THAWING COMPLETE]

A synthesized voice echoed from the walls. Taro jumped, his heart skipping a beat.

"Wait. Thawing? Is that what this is? Am I one of those sci-fi popsicles? Do I have an incurable disease?"

[POST-THAW SURVIVAL RATE: 0.0002374]

"...Hey, those are some really shitty odds."

[TOTAL CASUALTIES: 4,211]

"Four thousand... Wait, hang on. Is that—"

[RE-FREEZE SUBJECTS: NONE]

"Just a second. Let me... let me do the math here."

[TOTAL SURVIVORS:]

"Wait—"

[1]

"...Holy hell, I'm lucky! Wait, no, I can't be happy about that! Somebody! Is anyone alive?!"

Despite the incomprehensible situation, a part of Taro remained eerily calm—a fact that terrified him even more. His heart hammered against his ribs, his limbs shook, and his body felt like it was moving through molasses. He stumbled, fell, and eventually began to crawl toward the exit.

"Doctor! Anybody! Help me!"

He scrambled out of the room as if pursued by ghosts, sprinting down a long, sterile corridor. He passed several structures that looked like doors, but he had no idea how to open them. There were no handles, no buttons, and no obvious sensors.

"Hello?! Dammit, is there really nobody here? What is this place... oh?"

At the very end of the corridor, Taro reached a massive door. To his immense relief, the sliding mechanism was stuck, leaving a small gap. He shouted through the crack a few times before wedging his fingers into the opening.

"On three! One... two... HRRRNGH!"

The door was a heavy slab of solid iron. Taro braced his feet against the wall, pouring every ounce of strength into his shoulders. He considered going back to find a terminal to hack, but that was a last resort. He didn't want to go back to the bone room.

"OPEN, YOU PIECE OF JUNK!"

With a screech of protesting metal, the slab finally budged. Taro panted, leaning against the frame as he peered inside.

"Phew... Okay. Excuse m... e...?"

He stepped into a room similar to the one he’d woken up in, but with one world-shattering difference.

"What... is that..."

Opposite the door, the wall had been replaced by a gargantuan glass window. Dazed, Taro drifted toward it. He flinched at his own reflection in the glass before slowly pressing his face to the pane.

"............Space?"

Beyond the glass lay an infinite tapestry of stars. They burned with a vivid, piercing clarity that could never be seen through Earth’s atmosphere. Taro forgot the danger, forgot the bones, and simply stared. He didn't know the first thing about constellations, but he didn't need a degree to know that the twinkling void was beautiful.

"I was really hoping this was just a prank show," he whispered.

[MESSAGE PLAYBACK: STANDARD ERA 1428/11/05]

A sudden voice made Taro spin around. The room remained empty. The term "Standard Era" sent a fresh chill down his spine, but the word "message" suggested a recording. He held his breath.

[AH, ROUTINE REPORT. 14281105. NO ABNORMALITIES.]

Unlike the synthetic system voice, this was clearly a human man.

"No abnormalities? Look around, buddy! There are abnormalities everywhere!" Taro shouted at the ceiling.

[INTERSTELLAR FLIGHT IS PROCEEDING SMOOTHLY. SPACESHIP AND CARGO ARE BOTH WITHIN PARAMETERS.]

"I’m telling you, it’s not smooth! Especially the cargo! Wait... wait, for real? This is a spaceship? Exactly how many years was I out? Is this the future? Do we have cat-shaped robots yet?"

[THE ENTIRE CREW WILL NOW ENTER COLD SLEEP. NEXT SCHEDULED REPORT IN FIVE YEARS.]

"Yeah, yeah, sweet dreams... WAIT, HEY!!!!"

[THAT IS ALL. ALSTER WAYNE, END OF REPORT.]

"Wait, hold on! What did you just say? Crew? Did you say all crew members?!"

Taro paced the room in a blind panic, but the recording offered no answers.

"The entire crew... went into cold sleep? No, no, no. If they did that, then..."

Taro continued to mutter, but his own voice felt distant, like he was underwater. He couldn't focus on his own words because the first synthetic voice was still screaming in the back of his mind.

[SURVIVORS: 1. SURVIVORS: 1.]

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Author's Note: The protagonist is a bit high-strung right now given the circumstances, but he’ll settle down eventually. Also, I plan to keep the tone generally upbeat. You know, for that "contrast" feel.