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It had been several months since Magolor found the Lor Starcutter. He managed to repair most of the external damage, and now he spent the last two months getting the Lor's internal systems fully functional.
He stumbled out of the captain's quarters and headed for the main console. Getting it up and running for the first time wasn't easy, but once he managed to gain Captain's privilege, he got access to almost every piece of data on the Lor's servers.
Well, almost...
There had been some data stored on the Lor's server that somehow needed authorization higher than captain level. From what information on Starcutters he could find, there was no evidence there even was a higher authorization rank than captain.
But that just piqued his curiosity further. It was the perfect little mystery; information that shouldn't exist hidden away in the furthest corner of an ancient ship's database. Who could resist the opportunity to solve it?
'And who knows? Maybe whatever's in there could help me defeat Landia!'
He still didn't know if this ship had any sort of weaponry. It's totally possible that the Ancients just decided to hide the defences extra thoroughly.
So Magolor decided that today would be the day he finally cracked it. He took a deep breath, cracked his knuckles, and began to work.
The clacking of the keyboard became the only audible sound for hours. As the day wore on, his patience grew thin. He tried everything he could possibly think of, every command he knew, every little coding trick he learned. As he worked late into the evening, doubt creeped into his mind.
'This is impossible! Maybe I should call it a night?'
'But…'
But he couldn't stop now! He could feel he was getting close. No force in the universe could make him give up on any goal he put his mind to.
'Just one more try…' He started typing a command at the speed of light. But before he could finish it, a popup appeared on screen.
[ >Access Granted ]
He stood there dumbfounded for a moment, then composed himself. He clapped his hands with a sly smile on his face.
"Excellent job, Magolor!" He congratulated himself.
'Still, it was a bit weird. I didn't even finish it, but it worked?' The only plausible explanation was that with the astronomical number of commands he imputed over the day without taking a break, the system must have gotten overloaded and allowed him access.
'Yeah, that must be it. It's not like the Lor itself just gave it to me willy-nilly! That would be ridiculous.'
But no need to dwell on that. This was the moment he'd been waiting for. His eyes were fixed on the screen. At this moment, the possibilities for what this mystery data could be were practically endless! Nothing got his heart racing more than making a new discovery! … Besides maybe building games or planning schemes.
All he had to do now was press enter.
"Alright Lor! Let's see what you've been hiding from me…" He muttered under his breath.
…
What he found were… audio files?
No weapon data, no large blueprints, not even additional navigation data.
Just some audio files.
"That's it?!?!" He blurted out loud. 'Nothing else? But why would some measly audio files be restricted so heavily?'
That wasn't the only thing that was weird about it, there was something off about the file names as well. He squinted at the screen, scanning the words to see what was wrong. Until it hit him; this script must be a different version of the ancient language than that the rest of the ship used.
But why? Why would these files use a different script than the rest of the ship? Upon further inspection, this language must have been even older than the regular ancient language. But why?
Well, the only way to find out was to listen to one.
He picked a random file and listened. Music filled the room despite Magolor never noticing any speakers. He looked around, but didn't see any now either. Sound seemed to come from every direction.
'So, the speakers must be hidden in the walls?'
The song started with a bouncy intro before a woman began to sing. Magolor couldn't understand the lyrics; it was already hard to find evidence of how the ancient language was spoken, let alone the fact that these lyrics could be a lot older than anything he knew if the file names were any indication. Despite this, he took note of how it sounded even if he couldn't understand it. It sounded like the perfect road trip song. The first verse started out calm but then crescendoed into the chorus where the singer hit some high notes and ended on a long belt.
There was a brief instrumental break led by an electric guitar. The singer returned with a radio effect, then went back to normal into the second verse. This verse sounded much the same as the first (that is, without understanding the lyrics) but then transitioned into the final chorus where the singer gave it her all with several notes as long as a spring breeze. The same riff from the intro drew the song to a close.
Magolor stood there in awe. This certainly wasn't something he was expecting. The only logical reason a song like this would be on the ship's database was if it was for the leisure of the former crew members. But again, why hide it? It's almost like whoever put this here didn't want anyone else to hear it.
He decided to listen to another one, maybe there was some sort of pattern with the songs?
The next song started with a short intro, the instruments almost twinkling like stars. The singer entered with large swinging notes. The first verse sounded like it had a lot of words, but it managed to flow perfectly. It was like she was telling a story. If Magolor thought the singer's vocals in the last song were good, this song was nothing short of ethereal. His appreciation only grew with every long high note she managed to hit. You could hear the passion she had with every word, no matter if it was during the slower verses or crescendoing chorus. She once again put 110% in the final repeating lines and one last long note.
Speaking of the singer, as the song drew to an end Magolor realized those two songs must have been sung by the same person. Shuffling through the other audio files, he listened to the others and came to the same conclusion.
'But why?' That question seemed to follow him throughout this whole experience. Why are the songs here in the first place? Why do they only feature one artist? Why are these files so old? Why are they hidden like this?
But as he got lost in thought, a new question appeared:
'Who?'
Who put these songs here? Who listened to them? Magolor wondered about what this ship had experienced. Were these put here by an old captain? Did a previous crew listen to this while traveling? How many people heard these songs before? If any?
He couldn't help but think of the singer. Who was she? Considering the 'road trip' sound of the first song, maybe she liked to travel. Or with the almost mythical feeling of the second song, maybe she liked to tell stories. Well, she certainly liked to sing, you could almost hear her smile in some of the recordings. But what kind of life did she have? What happened to her? He wished he could find a way to translate the lyrics. What would they say? Was she famous or just a small artist? Did the Ancients love her music as much as Magolor was quickly finding himself to?
For a moment, he remembered why he fell in love with researching history to begin with. It's about staring into the past and finding another living person like you over and over again. It's about understanding a person you never met in a time and place completely alien to you.
While he was lost in thought, his eyes drifted over to the digital clock which jolted him back to reality. It was getting late, and he promised himself that he'd get proper sleep that night. With a sigh, he tore himself away from the keyboard.
As he was about to leave the room, he stopped by the doorway.
'Without knowing where the speakers are, it was almost like the Lor itself was singing'
"Heh…" He chuckled as he patted the doorframe, "Lor, you must have a beautiful singing voice."
Of course he knew it wasn't likely that the Lor was really alive; those were only rumors and he never found any reliable source to back them up. Those legends were probably just exaggerating the Lor's complex programming.
But… It was always fun to think about. And "talking to" the Lor helped stave off the occasional bout of loneliness.
He continued down the hall, muttering to himself.
"What a funny thought, the Lor Starcutter itself singing to me!"