Read Rise of the Empire 1: Olympus for Free Online Page B

light, a hologram , he isn’t really here, see.” She said while repeatedly moving her hand in and out of the hologram.
    “Elias, she is right. Bullets won’t do anything to it.” Tomas said.
    They stood in the same positions for a couple of seconds, and then they lowered their rifles and moved about the room taking other positions, standing at the ready. They communicated through their helmets inner comm line.
    “Is there anyone else aboard this ship other than us?” Tomas asked.
    “No.”
    “May I assume then that it was you who opened the ships door, and sent the signal that led to the recovery of this ship?” Tomas asked.
    “Correct.”
    “Why did you wait for months before opening the door, if you could have done so at any time, or why didn’t you contact us when we found the ship?” Elias asked suspiciously.
    “Time was required for the workable translation of your language , which was impaired by the fact that you rarely spoke it in the vicinity of the vessel and further more by the internal damage to the ships many sensors, and contact before now was impossible for the same reason, the only thing I was able to do was redirect a signal I received.”
    “You are saying that the ship was damaged by landing.” Laura said.
    “Incorrect, landing inquired no damage to the ships systems. Damage I was referring to occurred due to lack of maintenance for approximately seven thousand cycles.”
    “Why didn’t you then open the door earlier?” Seo-yun asked moving of the floor plate.
    “My programing forbids me from executing any action that may cause harm to the ship or its crew, without explicit order from the crew, or a Union member of sufficient rank.”
    Tomas looked around the room at the rest of the team and saw them do the same. He cleared his throat and asked . “And what is the Union?”
    Elias turned sharply towards Tomas while his body grew rigid, he tightened the grip on his rifle and turned back at the hologram when it started to speak.
    “The Union, created sixteen thousand cycles ago, it is a union of fifty four races, led by six founding races and eighteen other member races.”
    They looked at each other again trying to comprehend this information, a few moments ago they learned that they weren’t alone in the universe, and now they learned that not only were they not alone , but there was an entire Union of races out there. Seo-yun turned back towards the hologram. “You said that your programing doesn’t allow you to act other than on orders by the crew or a Union official, yet you contacted our submarine, and you opened the door for us, why?”
    “My scans of your physiology couldn’t be compared to the Union races database as that part of my core matrix has been corrupted, I concluded that there was a 0.05% chance that your race was a new member of the Union, and as 30% of my matrix has been corrupted, I accepted the probability that your race was new member of the Union acceptable, and more preferable than engaging the self-destruct protocol. Was I wrong?” It ended in the same monotone voice it used before.
    “No, your choice was correct.” Tomas said, and got a sharp look from Seo-yun, she started to speak but Tomas cut her off with a hand gesture, he turned back to the hologram.
    “We will need access to the ship, and its databases, and translated into our language if it’s possible.” He said.
    “You can access ships databases from any of the consoles, the data is recorded in Union standard, I am not able to translate as I have no access to those databases, I have access only to data which is included in my matrix or provided to me by the crew for analysis. I can translate that portion of the data.” It said.
    “That will be acceptable, but can you instruct my people on how to access the consoles and answer any of their questions , and can you open the doors to other areas of the ship?” Tomas asked.
    “Yes.”
    Tomas motioned for Seo-yun, to follow him out of the