After the meeting, Arnaldo personally instructed Valentina and Tuan in the operation of the ALIEN spacecraft, while also briefing them on emergency response procedures in case of unforeseen situations. Thanks to the rigorous training they had received at L.A.B, both of them absorbed the new knowledge quickly and were already prepared to apply it in practice.
They then discussed the division of duty shifts, ensuring that at least one person would always be present in the control room throughout the spacecraft’s operation. Tuan volunteered to take the first shift so that the other two could return to their quarters and rest. After a long period of unconsciousness, he felt that this was the right moment for him to finally begin contributing alongside his teammates.
Arnaldo took the night shift, as his body no longer required sleep ever since he had become a biomechanical being. He wanted Valentina and Tuan to get sufficient rest at night so that their bodies could continue to develop in a balanced and healthy manner.
That left only the morning shift, and Valentina could only nod in reluctant agreement, with no other option left to her.
The moment the spacecraft began to accelerate, gliding through curved space at one-third the speed of light, Tuan took the initiative to usher his two teammates out of the control room, urging them to return to their quarters as soon as possible. Arnaldo in particular had been the sole person on duty ever since their escape from Mars, working relentlessly without a single moment of rest. Machines might not need sleep, but the mind still required time to recover.
Seeing Tuan’s earnest insistence, Arnaldo finally relented and returned to his private quarters along with Valentina. Along the way, the girl remained slightly reserved and shy. They said their goodbyes as soon as they reached the physical conditioning area. From there, the corridor branched off, separating the male and female sleeping quarters into two distinct sections.
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The door shut hastily behind him. Arnaldo sat down in the only armchair in the room and resumed his work on the floating display. He wanted to extract every last piece of useful information remaining within the limits of their current data reserves. Their understanding of space travel was still extremely limited. Although humanity had ascended to a new level of civilization thanks to The Ring, it was only at this very moment that mankind had truly set foot into interstellar travel. For that reason, the data archive they possessed was, for all practical purposes, nearly nonexistent.
A torrent of unanswered questions drilled relentlessly into his mind: Where would this spacecraft ultimately go? Or would it wander aimlessly forever in the vastness beyond the universe? Arnaldo understood that even a single misstep could doom the entire crew. He needed more reliable information to guide this vessel along the correct path – to find the safest route that could preserve the lives of everyone aboard.
His gaze shifted to the design schematic of the ALIEN spacecraft. The entire ship appeared as a highly detailed three-dimensional projection, down to the finest contours, allowing him to observe it effortlessly from multiple angles. Ever since the first time he had seen its exterior, he had been unable to hide his admiration for the engineers whose dedication had brought this vessel into existence.
The external structure of the ALIEN was modeled after a visualized atomic structure. The main hull served as the central nucleus, while three large rings suspended around it represented the surrounding orbital layers. Each ring was responsible for a distinct and critical function, all firmly linked together by the spacecraft’s electromagnetic field system.
