Something lifting my head up and gently putting it down woke me. Fluttering my eyes open, I met Kyla’s iridescent green eyes. I hadn’t noticed that they were so green before. “I just need to go to the restroom. Go back to sleep.” She kissed my head before quickly slipping off the bed.

  I watched as her four tails trailed after her. A subtle reminder of what she was, of what I was becoming. Looking at my arm, I focused on it and willed the information on it to pop up. A few seconds later a screen popped up with my information.

  The first thing to catch my attention was the fact that my sex had changed. My mind was stunned as I tried to process that piece of information. Unable to help myself, I reached down. A tiny nub was all that was left. It was smaller than the size of my pinky.

  That was when it finally hit me. None of this was a prank or some sort of ream. It was really happening. Mentally I felt little difference from yesterday or the day before, but who knew what going on in my body. Maybe the system was doing something to that too. I mean it was able to change my species and sex without issue. What was a little brain chemistry or even circuitry to it?

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Tears slowly rolled down my cheek. Wiping them away, I pulled up the notes on my transformation. Instantly a popup came up. Ignoring the first note, I went straight to the second note for both.

  ‘Sex: currently transitioning to female in order to match species requirements and norm. Transition progress: 72.1%. Time to completion: 16.7 hours.’

  ‘Species transition in progress. Starting species: Human*. End Species: Kitsune*. Transition progress: 42.2%. Estimated time of completion: 66.05 hours.’

  My tears went from slowly rolling to streaming as I tried not to sob. There the information was. I was still mostly human, so the system counted me as human. It would also explain why I was considered female. In fact, I would likely be female before we got wherever we were going.

  I don’t know why, but it just hit me, I had no clue where I was even going. I mean, yeah, I didn’t have much of a choice, but even the military had told us what system we were going to at least.

  As soon as Kyla stepped out of the bathroom, I looked up at her. Swallowing through the lump in my throat, I asked, “Where are we going?”

  She crawled back into the bed and pulled me to her. Gently stroking my back and head as she answered, “The ship is heading to Luminara Prime in the Seraphel system. In fact, we should reach it in another week.”

  “Why so long?” my voice was a bit muffled due to her holding my head in her chest. Not that I was complaining. Her smell seemed to be comforting me. Helping to calm me down. Or at least it felt that way.

  “It is the nearest core world. Everything closer are either colonies, mining centers, or research posts.” Her warm breath fluttered through my hair as she pushed her nose into it.

  “What makes a world a core world?”

  It took her a few seconds to answer as she seemed to be taking a deep breath of me. “There are a few population milestones that a colony has to reach, as well as the size and capabilities of any port and systems. But most importantly is the access the planet has to the Galactic network. The more users in an area, the more resources the network will devote. This access is the reason we are heading the a core world and not anywhere closer.”

  “So I don’t have to go to a core world for any reason?”

  “Well, no, not unless you want some of the specialty services and goods offered. However, doing so will do you no harm. It may even do you some good. Maybe you can find a job or two. Start a few quests. Get access to some learning materials. We could even look into getting you accepted into one of the few academies open to first generation users.”

  “We?”

  Her chest rumbled a bit as she chuckled. “Of everything I said, that’s what caught your attention? Yes, we. I am not going to just toss you to be on your own once we get there.”

  I didn’t even realize that I had been worrying about being abandoned in a new place with no clue about anything. Hearing her say that released the built up tension. I managed a soft “Thank you.”

  Arms tightening around me slightly, “No problem.”

  We laid there for a while. My mind running back over everything that had happened over the last…wait, how long had it been since the fire fight? A day, two? It couldn’t have been longer than that. “How many days has it been since our fight with the swarm like ships.”

  “About 24 hours.” Only a single day. How could it have been only a single day since that battle. That meant that it had been less than two since I had seen my first alien.

  The image of her dead body flashed into my mind. The sight of which nearly caused me to cry. “Is there any way I can find out who I killed? Maybe find a way to inform their family.”

  A thumb stroked my back as she spoke softly. “You don’t need to worry about such things. Each and every user knows the dangers they can encounter when they accept a mission. If they die, the system automatically informs those that need to know. The only time the system is unable to do so is if the user exits system connected space.”

  “Wait, there are places where the system doesn’t work? What does that mean for the power in the region?”