2 Reborn from Ash.
Deep within the icy heart of Antarctica, a secret lay buried, hidden from the world for who knows how long.
A spaceship of extraterrestrial origin, its sleek metallic hull gleaming under the pale light filtering through the frozen walls.
Within it, in a dimly lit chamber with dark, semi-metallic organic walls that hint at an alien origin, the walls, adorned with hieroglyphic symbols that seemed to dance with arcane wisdom, whispered the secrets of forgotten civilizations.
A hallowed silence prevailed, occasionally punctuated by the low hum of arcane machinery, each whir and click resonating with an alien symphony.
Stepping further into this eerie chamber that was bathed in soft light.
Amidst it is multiple hibernation pods, but sadly, all these pods' occupants are decomposed and have been long dead.
except for one pod.
Within, a figure of charming elegance delicately rests inside, looking in his 20s with an athletic build, disheveled hair, and confusion etched on his face and in a deep slumber.
Within its enigmatic stillness lies the mystery of purpose and intent.
He slowly blinks his eyes open, squinting against the light, which, no matter how soft, seems to blind him.
He tried to jump, but he was restrained.
as consciousness settled into his mind yet again.
A shuddering scream tore through the air, carrying with it the raw anguish of remembrance.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuughhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
as he was flooded with the harrowing memories of his premature previous demise.
It was as if the agony of that final moment had been etched into the very fabric of its being.
His heart was pounding with a mix of terror and sorrow.
Then he calmed as tears streamed down his cheeks, thinking it was all a dream.
But then he looked around.
"Where am I?"
He tries to sit up but realizes he's restrained within a sleek metallic pod. He frantically looks around, his eyes widening in disbelief as he takes in his surroundings.
His heart starts to pound in his chest, unable to fathom what's happening to him right now.
whispering "What... the ... f*ck". when he starts to get a sense of his current situation.
"Fire. The fire was everywhere, but where am I right now, hospital?"
His eyes drift upward, fixing on a glass panel above him.
He sees the faint white glow illuminating the room and streaming to his pod.
Now he started to panic again. "What's happening? Where am I?"
He clenches his fists, his mind racing with questions. His confusion is palpable.
Suddenly, the restraints on the pod released, and the glass panel above him opened, lifting him upward.
He emerges, blinking in the blinding light that greeted him, no matter how faint and soft it was.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The Passenger POV :
I stepped out onto the sleek, metallic surface room, taking in its dark curved walls.
"What the f*ck is going on?" I cried out loud.
I still remember vividly, the fire, the pain, and my lungs being choked with the smoke.
it was all real, but here I am, alive, and well.
'Is this a dream? Or what exactly is going on?' My inner thoughts raced, trying to explain what was happening.
as I unconsciously stood up, realization shoot through my mind.
"Hold on a second, I can walk?" as I looked down my eyes became wide in surprise.
"I have legs? wait, why am I white?" I started asking.
Now the weirdness of the situation has started to creep deep within me.
I started to look around, and I realized I was in a creepy, dimly lit room with multiple pods like mine, so I went to check them.
When I approached one of the pods, my heart almost jumped out of its place; it was a grotesquely mummified body.
Now it's just getting weird.
This is too familiar; the design of the room, the pods, everything is familiar.
a sense of deja vu and a memory I still can't put my fingers on.
I then made a B-line to the pod I came from, looking inside for any clue.
what I found was a pendant and what I know for sure was a Kryptonian command key.
now I know where I am, I am on a Kryptonian ship, but how can that be? Last I checked that was just fiction, or is it?
clearly now from what I see, it isn't much fiction.
I must be dreaming.
I then took the command key and know what I must do with it, I must look for a command panel.
which was easy to find.
I insert it fully so I don't have to deal with any problems.
"ugh, eii oW - w... We Welcome, Analysis reveals the ship operating at 40% efficiency. Would you like to assume command?."
I smirked to myself that it kinda worked and I happily answered, "Yes, I would".
"Command key identified and initiated; recursive diagnostics in progress; ship's many functions are offline; repair will be initiated; knowledge repository is undergoing compilation."
"Can you please tell me what's going on and where I am?" I asked the artificial voice, hoping for some answers.
"Also, can you let me out of this creepy room?"
"You're inside one of Krypton's many seed ships, launched into the void to find new words to settle upon; it seems from the data within my system that the journey has faced a space-time anomaly that caused the ship's phantom drive to glitch," the chip's AI explained robotically.
I started to put two and two inside my mind, which seems to calculate everything faster.
"For how long was I asleep?"
"Based on the precise temporal calibration data, it has been determined that the initial launch of this vessel occurred approximately 3000 years ago. Due to the absence of a command key, the ship's systems were unable to undergo the necessary updates and subsequent rebooting processes. As a result, various malfunctions and anomalies within the ship's functionality ensued. However, I am pleased to report that diligent repair protocols are currently underway to rectify these issues and restore the ship to optimal operational status."
"That's all nice to know,but..." I answered while pondering this weird situation.
"Can you tell me where I am right now? Am I in space or somewhere else?"
It seems from what my overly fast, hyper-calculating brain deduced from all of this that I may have indeed died in a fire and woke up in this new body.
and it can all be a dream again; I don't know, but it's too vivid to be a dream.
But not knowing anything about my situation beyond being on a Kryptonian ship needs to be solved, and I need to get all my questions answered.
"As per the data received from my array of sensors, our current location is encased beneath a substantial layer of ice.
I recommend that you proceed to the jockey-pod and initiate the ignition cycle for the phantom drive and facilitate the disengagement of the ship from its icy confinement, thereby granting us the freedom to conduct a more comprehensive analysis of the surrounding circumstances and environment."
I perked up as I heard the mechanical whine of the door opening.
Getting out of the chamber, I was greeted by pods that opened after sensing my presence.
They presented me with skin suits, space suits, and battle armor, the same in design as the ones from Man of Steel.
Whatever happened to me in my room has put me in the movie I was watching.
but thinking about it, it seems like a distant memory yet so close.
I donned one of the black skin suits, which had no house insignia on them, but I don't mind; all I want is the dignity of some clothing.
Walking around the huge ship, its proportions were big, and it had corridors and alien chambers of unknown function.
But all my feelings of unease and weirdness are starting to turn into awe-struck expressions and curiosity as I take in the ship's design and arcane technology on display.
I can walk now, and even if it seems I'm not the same person I was, I don't mind.
If this was a dream, I don't want to wake up.
As I walked through the ship guided by a floating device, which I remember clearly now, I couldn't help but be happy about the fact that I could walk again.
After walking to the Jocky pod, the command seat descended, and I hopped in.
I commanded the ship to guide me through the process I have to do manually since most of the ship's functions are offline and the AI is unable to connect.
The way the AI explained it, everything around is full of nano swarms, from the large tubes to the electronics; it's all a form of nanotechnology they called geo-liquid crystals, and it will take time to rejuvenate all the nano swarms so the ship can run at full efficiency again.
After I did all I was told, the ship started to shake violently; it seemed to be vibrating to crack the ice around it, but soon after, the vibration died down as my pilot seat adjusted and calibrated itself to the vibration, nullifying it.
I flew the ship into the closest plot of rocky surface land, descended, and parked there. Piloting it seemed easy.
From my experience so far, Kryptonian technology, advanced as it is, is foolproof, and anyone can use it with enough practice.
"Ship, can you tell me where I am now?" i asked in an excited tone.
"I will initiate scans of atmospheric and environmental compositions and employ high-ray scans to calibrate our astronomic location with the utmost precision."
And now I sit here contemplating my situation and what I should do with what the AI will tell me. I better not be in some f*cked-up version of "Lost in Space."
Then I heard the AI making a beep, which it always does when it has something to say.
"Yes, tell me what you found?" I asked the ship to throw it on me as I lowered my head, waiting for some bad news.
I watched enough movies to know that when you find yourself in the likes of these situations, it rarely gets good after, i wouldn't be surprised at this moment if a Xenomorph appeared and started hunting me around like all the bad dreams.
"Environmental scan complete. Analysis indicates the prevailing atmospheric composition comprises 70% nitrogen, 20% oxygen, and trace amounts of argon and carbon dioxide. It is imperative to note that these atmospheric compensations will elicit substantial physiological alterations, potentially surpassing the operational thresholds of your onboard sensors. Exercise caution during the adaptation process."
"Hold on," I thought.
"I am on earth!" I cried.
I may have been bad at school, but my brain is now operating at never-before-seen levels. and that was basic information we all had to learn at school, which is easy to remember.
I am also still not wrapping my head around why the ship is speaking English, or does it become English to my brain?
Today is more than weird; so I stopped wondering what's happening.
Now that I realized that I may indeed be on Earth, I asked the ship to scan for information networks or radio signals.
"Hi, ship I guess I have an idea where I am; can you scan radio signals or any kind of information network?"
"At your command, sir," the ship chirped.
"Initiating system readiness protocols for planetary radio transmission scans"
"Broadband radio transmissions detected"
"initialization of data acquisition and compilation procedures"
"Standing by for the establishment of secure communication channels with planetary radio frequencies"
"undergoing decoding and processing of received transmissions"
"Implementing robust error correction and data integrity verification mechanisms to ensure accurate compilation of transmitted information"
"You can access all this planet's information networks and transmissions through the information interface."
"Earth," as the natives called it, is inhabited by "humans," which are seemingly intelligent papules, observing a multitude of distinct geopolitical entities, characterized by diverse nationalities, ideologies, and economic frameworks. Evaluating temporal references to ascertain current chronological positioning within the Earth's calendar system, which aligns with the 2010 era,"
"Continually monitoring data sources for real-time updates on global developments and societal progress."
"Wait, I am not just on earth; I am in the past," I said while my eyes grew wide in realization. "Sh*t just gets weirder."
I wonder if it could get any weirder; I better not find Batman or Superman on my a**.
As the realization settled in, I couldn't help but jump to the information interface, which is just an angry black sludge of geo-liquid crystals, but they have holograms on the ship, if I remember correctly.
When I reached the information interface, it had a lot of knobs, buttons, and slides, which made no sense to me, or had an idea how to use them.
"Ship, can you access the planet broadcast network, and can you please give me the option to choose between them?"
"Yes, Commander. Initiating a deployment sequence for an orbital satellite, which will augment and streamline the ongoing operational procedures, ensuring seamless and optimized data gathering processes,"
"Okay, be quick with it," I said, wanting to see what was going on out there.
A few tense minutes pass before a holographic representation of the planet appears on a geo-liquid crystal table. The table projects a control interface, allowing the commander to select specific broadcasts.
I skimmed through multiple podcasts, each one discussing the Arab Spring, financial crises, and the myriad of problems defining this era. But then, something caught my attention as I kept going over the broadcasts and channels.
A familiar face kept popping up over and over again in the news; it was the face of Tony Stark himself, declaring, "The truth is, I am Iron Man." with his iconic smug smile.
And here I am, thinking the situation won't get any weirder. The problem here is that it wasn't a commercial for the movie; this was not RDJ; this was Tony Stark.
'What...? This can't be real. What is happening?' I kept asking myself as I tried to make sense of today's events.
"I am in the Marvel cinematic universe, but with a Kryptonian body in a Kryptonian ship."
"Ship, give me access to Earth's information network; I have a lot of searching to do," I asked the ship.
'This is unreal.' I thought to myself while gears are turning in my head.
.
.
.
đ¨ Hand over your đSTONESđ
đ Don't forget to vote đ
