Almost like home

Instant regret reigned. Orange sands whirled around them, finding its way into their every exposed crevice. Lore sighed. They checked their Breacher as they reattached their arm. Things were worse than they initially thought. The day had just been reset and the previous attempts mess cleared. It hadn’t been there long but slowly sinking in the sand, the issue of the hour. It was bigger than they remembered, although they had only seen the remains in person. The sands slowly eating away at The Guild’s paintjob.
“The Guardian.” Lore approached the ship. They weren’t quite sure why but they felt almost sad seeing it grounded. They paused at the ship’s rear.
“We need to find you. There’s no point deactivating the Looper until we’ve won the war.” Char pointed towards Tarrquu’s gates. Lore seemed insistent on getting the docking ramp open.
“It’s not the Looper I’m after.” They grunted as they triggered the manual release. “There’s something even more valuable on this ship… Hopefully.” The ramp slammed open, its hydraulics drained down into the sands below. Lore ran straight to the bridge. Given the ships size, this didn’t take long. They jumped at the pilot’s chair and made themselves comfortable.
“What’s so important?” Piper looked around, unimpressed by the ships rustic interior. “Wood panelling, really?”
“Crait liked it.” Lore shrugged. “It’s this I’m after.” Lore produced a thin, copper wire from the arm of their chair. “Only thing I’ll admit The Guild did right.” Lore had a gormless grin on their face.
“You going to tell us what it is then?” Piper and Char stood with crossed arms.
“An instantaneous ship - memory interface. It’s like having an infinitely reprogrammable Infostamp. As long as the ship has it in its memory core, it can be streamed directly into the pilot’s brain. It’s not as potent but it works. It’s like… It’s like… Ah! It’s like watching a lecture on a very specific subject. You could probably recall most of it immediately afterwards but eventually, only the key points and funny highlights remain.” Lore chuckled to themselves. “But. Lucky for us, we aren’t after anything too large. If this me is anything like me, they’ll have made an entry for every day they’ve been here. We just access those entries and we’re up to speed.”
Char gave the system a quick once over with skeptical eyes. “You sure this is safe?” She held up a length of uninsulated wiring.
“It’s fine. Used to use it all the time and look at me.” Lore exuded confidence.
“Yeah, look at you, an amnesiac who still can’t remember anything that happened before their twentieth birthday.” Char followed the wire further. “And of course it’s mainlined straight into the drive core because of course it would be.”
“It takes a lot of power to run.” Lore held up the connector. “Plus, all of the fuses, capacitors and nanocircuitry is here.”
“Fuses, capacitors and high current right on your temple. If you think this is the best way then go on.”
“Well, since the speakers and viewscreen are buggered, it’s the only way we’re getting anything from here.” Lore pressed the device to their temple. Their vision clouded over and when it returned, they found themselves in a virtual environment.
“Hello there, I’m an approximation of the ship’s AI, Gideon. I’m here as a remnant of my main program to ensure that any users, such as yourself, have an interactive and helpful interface to help guide them through the ships systems. How may I help you today?”
“Nice to see you again Gid.” Lore smiled. “I need to access all recent diary entries.” Gideon nodded and obliged. Lore was only expecting a couple dozen reports but almost stopped the program as more and more kept appearing.
“Here are all three thousand, five hundred and twenty three entries pertaining to the ten day duration of this current mission.” Gideon smiled as if it were normal for an officer to make that many log entries in such a small time frame. Lore immediately disconnected themselves.
“Slight snag.” Lore bit their lip.
“What?” Char had an idea where this was going.
“I forgot that the war had been going for ten years at this point.”
“So how many entries are there.” Char continued in her same condescending tone.
“Oh, just over three and a half thousand. But get this, it’s only the tenth day of the war.” That caught her off guard.
“Ten days…” Char cast her mind back. “That’s when you first extended the loop. Ten days passed and reinforcements came, bolstering numbers, more of the same.”
“Exactly. Something must have happened to the reinforcements keeping them reliving this day.”
“Not exactly.” A gruff voice found its way to the bridge. A weathered individual followed in its wake. They were clothed in a mixture of Quatarrian light armour and Guild polymer plating. The mismatch mosaic of armour oddly worked but Lore doubted fashion was their primary concern. “Mind telling me what you’re doing on my ship.” They were sure to stand in the shadows, concealing their face and weapon.
“We came to help.” Lore held up their Breacher. They flicked through its default pages until they landed on the one that displayed their personal identification code. “I’m sure this is very confusing but I can clear it up in a heartbeat.”
The figure lurched from the corner. The sand had aged them more than the time had. Ten days had passed but to look at them it would seem they had been there forever. “That’s my code.” They looked to the face behind the Breacher. “And that’s my face.”
“Yeah… About that.” Lore looked to Char then to Piper. Silence from both. “I’m you, from another universe. We’re here to make sure you win this war.” The husk gave them a second look.
“If you could break through into the loop and you are who you claim to be, I’d be a fool to say no.” They extended their left hand. Lore took it and gave it a shake. It was mostly glove with a thin core of flesh and bone. “The name’s Rhy’fel Amzeit. At least that’s what the locals call me. It’s grown on me though. Though, you could just call me Rhy’fel.”
“I’m Lore, this is Char and Piper.” Lore smiled. “Shall we get started?” They gestured towards the exit. Rhy’fel led on. Time after time.