This isn't the way I thought things would go. I'm scared.
When I brought Franz to my uncle Ben's campus residence, I thought he'd get fixed up and we'd just leave. It was much worse. While Franz sat in the living room, looking all despondent, Uncle Ben talked with me in the lab.
Hundreds of years ago, before Plutonia was colonized, there was a force from beyond the Solar system. The Incendi were a faction of sentient life forms, who sustained their life by literally absorbing the life energy of other races. I know I've probably said it before, but the entire Plutonian calendar is a propaganda joke, the monarchy tries to convince the people that the Plutonian Empire's much older than it is.
Not long after the monarchy began, a secret treaty was signed with their leader, a man named Infra. The Incendi would not come to any territory of the Plutonian Empire, or harm any of its subjects. In return, Plutonia would leave them alone and not interfere with their activities elsewhere in the Solar system.
Uncle Ben told me that the Incendi had been devouring people on other Solar worlds for quite some time now, and the monarchy had become afraid that the Incendi weren't going to hold up their end of the treaty. So, the monarchy began a secret project.
Project CALIGO. Counter Aura Lifeline and Intelligent Graymatter Operating system. The monarchy didn't quite understand the energy powers that the Incendi used, but they did their best to replicate it. What they ended up with, was a series of cybernetic implants, and an advanced neural net AI that could control them in real time.
Prince Franz was their first subject. His parents didn't give a shit, they wanted to make him something useful, so that they could be proud of him. The science ministry thought that it was a good match, because the royal bloodline was so highly engineered, and apparently their family is linked to the Earth people that made first contact with the Incendi and had apparently used the powers.
Uncle Ben can't remove the implants. He was afraid to talk about it in the same room as Franz, for fear that the CALIGO would wake up and defend itself. I don't know what he meant by that but I'm not sure I want to. Uncle Ben also said that the monarchy was suspicious that the Incendi were going to mount an attack on Plutonia, and that it was too late to build more CALIGOs. The monarchy is certain they can win the fight anyways, but Uncle Ben is not so sure. Millions of Plutonians will die, even if Plutonia wins.
He told me the only hope of saving the Solar system rested with the original Earthling users of the power. One was apparently left frozen in a capsule on Earth, and Uncle Ben knows exactly where. The monarchy hasn't wanted to get him and unfreeze him, because he would not take kindly to their authoritarianism, and he's no pushover. The trouble will be getting there in time, and avoiding the monarchy's grasp.
I didn't ask for this responsibility. Neither did Franz or Maxie. But if it means all known life being consumed, we don't have much of a choice.
Uncle Ben gave me a huge disk full of classified data, and told me to insert it into the ship's computer. It contains the charts we need to find the frozen guy, charts of the Solar system, information about the Incendi and the CALIGOs, and apparently a bunch more stuff from Earth. I'm going to look through it after I save this log.