Onvelor inspected the smooth, perfectly crafted, black-polished pods situated neatly against the wall to his right. Each stood to approximately six feet in height, two feet in width, and one-and-a-half feet thick.

He walked slowly along the line of pods, studying them in the darkened room by the dim light that gleamed off each ones black surface.

The quiet sound of his shoes lifting and falling back onto the floor (which was made out of a black, smooth material) was the only audible sound that rang through the almost entirely pitch-black room as he made his way along the wall of pods.

To be exact, eight pods lined the wall adjacent to Onvelor; each holding a precious treasure.

His step soon fell at the last pod in the row; one he treasured most.

He looked into the front of its perfect surface, though his sight could not penetrate through the black-polished shell.

He longed to see what was within; but knew that if opened, the precious treasure held inside would not be preserved. And it was his greatest wish, that the contents of these pods be preserved.

For a time was coming where they would remain the only hope.

Onvelor, after staring into the impenetrable black pods surface for a few moments longer, walked back the way he had come, and with a heavy heart, exited the dark room.

He entered the empty passageway outside the room, and promptly following, the thick, multi-layered door sealed behind him, locking shut with a resounding metallic click.

His step now rung through the weakly-lit passageway, which walls, ceiling, and floor were comprised of dull-grey colored materials, and barely lit by fixtures embedded in the walls and ceiling.

He led his step towards the nearby elevator lift, which he was quickly coming upon.

Coming upon the lift, he pressed one of the line-shaped buttons on the panel next to the lift door, and awaited the transportation unit.

It arrived moments later, and the door slid open, allowing access into the cylinder-shaped elevator lift, which styled the same, dull-grey materials as the empty passageway and was equally dim-lit.

Onvelor, after boarding the lift, pressed the button on the inside of it that would bring him to the Main Command Bridge (M.C.B.)

The lift door slid shut with a brief hiss, and then began its journey to the M.C.B.

Seconds prior, the lift halted to a stop, and its door slid out of sight to give way into the M.C.B.

Onvelor stepped into the Command Bridge, which was empty and unoccupied, minus the unique-looking droid that stood awaiting him.

“Onvelor, sir.” The droid greeted in its computerized voice.

The droid, standing at about six feet tall, was comprised basically of two legs, two arms, body, and a human-like head that had a screen embedded into the front, which generated its pixel-built face of two square eyes and a mouth. Due to its basic appearance, it was sub-classified in the humanoid class of droid.

Its exoskeleton was a collection of white plates and panels, designed and crafted specially to accommodate to its shape and the shapes of its various parts and components. Some of its parts under the panels and plates could be seen, (those parts and components were black) and this was mostly because the collection of parts that made up the exoskeleton were designed to offer the droid a fair amount of mobility.

It was an L.aE.A.I. (Learn and Evolve Artificial Intelligence) Droid, which Onvelor had conveniently nicknamed ‘Robert’ as an alternative to calling the droid by its proper name, L.aE.A.I. 26-MAS. The droid preferred to be called by ‘Robert’ anyway.

“Robert,” Onvelor acknowledged, walking to the front of the M.C.B. with the droid a step behind him. “I trust you put The Future Spirit in the state I instructed?”

The Future Spirit was the Journey-class starship they were aboard, positioned in deep space to prevent detection.

It was a good vessel—approximately the size of an average blockade-class battle frigate—designed for extensive space travel and self-sustained preservation of itself, and more importantly, its cargo. The spacecraft could last several thousands of years without need of manual repair, refueling, or navigation.

Simply speaking, with its self-repairing system, self-regenerating (theoretically infinite) power source, and Robert as its navigator, the ship could last alone in the abyss of deep space theoretically into many of the next millennia.

Everything onboard was automated, and soon its entirety would be controlled by Robert, who would soon become the worthy ship’s new captain.

“Yes, everything is as you instructed.” Robert replied, following Onvelor’s question. “The Future Spirit is currently using the least possible power to run its systems properly, and the Stasis Field generator is prepped and 84.05 percent charged; it will be ready for activation in approximately 2.1 hours.”

The Stasis Field generator was an advanced component of the Journey-class starship, and a vitally important part concerning the vessels purpose.

It also took a considerable amount of time to be in a position to activate; thus why Onvelor had ensured it was being made ready long before the appointed time it would need to become active.

“Good.” Onvelor said, stopping before the M.C.B.’s forward viewport, which gave him the ability to see out into the lifeless space outside the ship. “Once the Stasis Field generator is ready, I will leave this ship in your hands. I trust you are able?”

“Of course, sir.” Robert replied, confidence within its droid voice. “I shall protect this ship and ensure that it is in entirely working order to my highest feasible capability.”

“And you understand the time to return to Altritious?” Onvelor further questioned.

“1:00 PM, August 1, the year 7319; approximately 4000 years from this day.” Was Robert’s answer.

“Excellent. Make certain you do not stray from that appointed date to return.”

“I will make most certain, sir; but what shall be my course of action if attacked or discovered?”

“You have little to fear in that aspect,” Onvelor answered, having confidence that where this ship was soon going would extinguish all possibly of it being discovered, until the set date when it would return to Altritious. “And if such an unlikely case were to happen, the ship’s database holds all the information you would require to counter or take a course of action not previously in the plan, that yet would still keep your mission intact. As well, I have a data chip that I will give to you, in which carries the instructions for the failsafe plan in case the ship is—”

Onvelor stopped short as three large ships exited hyperspace in front of The Future Spirit.