The Pioneer Protocol

Ancestor

"Vad fan är det som pågår? En förfader, vad fan är det jag hör?" Director Bergman exploded into the room. It seemed like they just woke him up. His hair wasn't in it's usual neat and tidy fashion and he hadn't shaved. His uniform still gave him enough gravitas to get both Ichiro and Abby out of their chairs and into attention - even though their ranks did not merit it.

"That's correct, sir. She's an ancestor." Ichiro said and glanched quickly at Abby, to signal the director. 

"Hon?" Bergman looked at Abby and coughed, realizing his mistake. "She?"

"Yes. We investigated an errant message from sub-level gamma. It was encoded with pre-arc protocols and thus not flagged properly.  ARC couldn't make heads or tails of it."

"So you went down there to investigate?" Bergman said and scratched at his stubble. It seemed to irritate him immensely to find it there.

 "That's when we stumbled onto her. I dug a little in the records and found mention of the type of stasis chamber she was in. It's a NATO issue, mark two. Developed in 2060 by the joint efforts by the precursor nations Norway, U.S., Great Britain and Iceland."

"U.S?" asked Bergman with a stern expression.

"The United States, sir. One of the leading nations in the northern hemisphere."

"Ah, I see. But 2060, that's almost 500 years? How could it still function - and how'd it get aboard Tensei?"

"It seems she was onboard when Tensei launched, though the manifest doesn't show her as a passenger - but as an artifact of the old world. It's strange, it's like someone hid her away by purposefully obfuscating her records. The main processing unit has been patched into the Tensei network for centuries. ARC has updated around it and adapted the receiving protocol to match the output of the stasis chamber, but none of the adaptive tech seems to have migrated onto the stasis chamber itself - otherwise we'd known about her."

"But how does it still function? It's 500 years old."

"Sir, I don't know. I'd have to take a look at the schematics, but suffice it to say - they probably built it to last."

"So, concerning the girl? What do we know?" asked Bergman and took a seat, swiping across his pad, studying the documents intently.

"She's an ancestor, sir. Born on earth. Her bone and muscle density is 23 percent higher and radiation levels in her cells are threefold the normal Tensei-resident. However, the doctors inform me that her extended stasis might have caused damage to her brain. They're working to repair it." Ichiro explained, director Bergman looked at him and nodded.

"Fuck." 

"Yes, sir."

"A bonafide earthling. Makes you wonder what  that makes us."

"Sir?" 

"Well - our ancestors weren't exactly earthlings." Director Bergman looked almost philosophical as he let his gaze wander off into the distance. He snapped back. "When can we speak to her? Can you give me a prediction?" 

"A week or more. The recovery process is quite slow."

"Alright then. I'll have to report this to the Captain. You're taking point on this Kovacs, take whatever resources you need. I want to know why she was onboard, when no one else was taken. There has to be a reason." Director Bergman got up and started out the door.

"And, Kovacs."

"Sir?"

"She's our ancestor. Treat her with care."