by Z D Dean
“We are returning to Unity space. With only two crewmen this ship is no longer capable of completing its original mission.”
“Very well. I am headed to my quarters for a shower.” Samix said as she exited the command deck.
One of the perks of being captain was that the captain’s quarters were designed to be completely private. The walls were insulated to prevent sound from escaping or entering, and most importantly they were the only quarters that Mur could not monitor remotely. The design went so far as to sever the connection between an individual’s interface and the ship as soon as they entered the room. Many captains enjoyed the privacy while still allowing data inflow from the ship, in order to receive alerts and notifications while they rested. It was the only place on the ship where Samix could formulate a plan and update Axis without threat of detection. Samix hoped that by playing along and maintaining her composure, she would not raise Mur’s suspicion.
With the door to her quarters closed securely behind her, Samix opened her personal drive to ensure the photo of the location data was present and legible. Now she just waited for Axis to join her so she could enlist his help. Minutes, which felt like days, passed before Axis pounded on her door. Before the door was completely open Axis stormed in clearly agitated from being pulled away from his work. As the door closed, he began his rant about how inconsiderate it was for Samix to pull him away from his research.
“If you’re finished, we have much bigger problems than the study of new rocks.” She said, irritated, not just with him but, with the current situation as a whole.
The insulting disregard for his work silenced Axis who stood sulkily waiting for an explanation. Samix quickly explained how Mur had turned and tried to kill both Jorloss and Zade while they were on the planet. Now the ship was headed back to Unity space leaving the two, if they were still alive, stranded. Axis’ mouth fell open in disbelief.
“But why?” He asked, finally able to speak.
“Mur classified Zade as a non-crew threat and is punishing Jorloss for allowing him out of containment.”
“That’s absurd, Zade has saved all our lives at least once.”
“Which is exactly why I need to stop Mur and get them back. I could really use your help.”
“What do you need me to do? Zade saved my life same as you, I owe him.” Axis said, a look of grim determination settling on his face.
“We need to reset the AI, but we can’t do that while we are in warp space. Which means that we have to wait until we drop out for a nav stop. Which, according to the computer, will be in twelve hours.”
Axis sat down on the couch in the quarters and began to think of different ways that they could accomplish their goals. Next to Jorloss, Axis knew the most about the ships systems and how they functioned. The two were deep in thought when Samix spoke up.
“Can you, without raising suspicion, cause the material recycler to malfunction?” She asked
“Sure, but how does that help us?”
“If it goes down, I will have an excuse to go down to the subdeck where I can then move to the AI core and manually reset it.”
Samix went into detail about her plan. Just before the ship dropped out of warp, Axis would cause the recycler to malfunction. Samix would move to the subdeck, appearing to be down there to fix it. While down there Samix would position herself directly outside the AI core where she would wait until the ship dropped out of warp. The instant the ship was in real space, Samix would reset the AI. While the AI was resetting Axis would use the computer systems in the medical bay, which were completely separated from the AI, to add Zade to the crew roster. The AI would reset, pull the new crew manifest and recognize Zade as a member of the crew. After agreeing with the plan, Axis brought up one minor problem with it. The AI would take a couple of hours to reset, time when ship power and life support would be shut down. The oxygen levels would drop to dangerously low levels before the AI completely reset and turned them back on.
“I know that’s a risk, but we are the two hardiest crewmembers on the ship. Both of us can withstand the cold, and I can stand the oxygen deprivation. After you change the crew roster, grab whatever you need to survive from the medical bay, and seal yourself in your quarters. I will put myself into stasis and wait it out.” Samix said.
“That sounds great for me, but even in stasis, two hours without oxygen could kill you.”
“It’s a risk I have to take.”
After agreeing on the plan the crewmembers continued their routine as not to raise suspicion. Samix stretched out on her couch, thinking over the plan while Axis headed back to his lab to feign work while the ship neared its nav stop. As she thought about the current situation, Samix became more and more irritated. Not only at the fact that two of her crewmen were in danger, but more at the fact that she couldn’t even get the male AI of her ship to respect her. This train of thought led to her thinking about Zade, the only man, next to Jorloss, who valued her abilities and respected her both as a captain and a person.
Thinking about Zade and Jorloss made her replay the last sounds and images from the mission. To her distaste she found herself more worried about Zade than Jorloss. On one hand she felt terrible about this because Jorloss was her best friend, while she had only known Zade for a short while. On the other she rationalized that she heard Jorloss screaming on the audio, which meant that, either injured or terrified, he was alive. She couldn’t even hear Zade moving over the gunfire, an indicator that he was incapacitated by the initial volley. She spent the entire twelve-hour trip lost in her morbid thoughts. The notification that the ship would drop out of warp in ten minutes, snapped her back to reality.
While in his lab Axis thought of the best way to disable the recycler. As the smallest member of the crew, he was often tasked with fixing it when it broke. Axis knew that the recycler had three openings; the two in the robotics lab and terraforming lab were large and meant to handle large objects, the one in the galley was only meant to handle small waste items from the food processor. Knowing these key facts about the recycler, he stuffed the largest wrench he could find into his back pocket and headed to the galley for a meal. After grabbing a tray from the processor, he sat down directly on the uncomfortable wrench in his pocket. The mild discomfort, he hoped would ensure his actions didn’t look malicious. After removing the wrench from his pocket and setting it on the edge of his tray Axis pushed his food around aimlessly, too worried to actually eat.
When the countdown timer for the nav stop hit thirty minutes, Axis grabbed his tray, still holding the wrench, and tossed it down the recycler chute. The wrench hit the small grinding wheels at the bottom of the chute and firmly wedged in between them, stopping the machine cold. Muttering some nonsense to strengthen the illusion of an accident, Axis pulled off the top of the chute and pretended to examine the damage, waiting for Samix to arrive. Samix walked into the galley as the countdown timer hit ten-minutes.
“What the hell did you do to my ship this time?” She asked.
“Sorry captain, I think I got a wrench stuck in the chute. Shut the whole damn thing down.”
“Why did you even have a wrench? You know what, never mind. Get back to work, while I go down and take a look at the damage.”
With that fallacious reprimand Axis went into his quarters where he anxiously waited for the emergency lighting to kick on, signaling that Samix had started the AI reset. Samix headed down the nearest stairwell to the subdeck. Unlike the upper decks the subdeck was cramped with different machinery. To allow for the maximum amount of equipment to be stored, the walkway was nothing more than a crawlspace. Samix meandered down the crawlspace pretending to be lost. She was moving slow enough to ensure that she would be just outside the AI core when she felt the ship drop out of warp.
With the sharp jolt that accompanied the ships reappearance into real space, she hit the access button to the core. The AI core was housed in a hexagonal space which had different colored quantum connections leading out fro
m the center where the AI was housed. Before she could fully clear the access way, the door slammed shut on her left foot trapping her just out of reach of the manual reset handle.
“You are in an area you are not authorized to be in. You are threatening the survival of this ship.” Mur’s voice informed her, its menace echoing through the small space.
The crushing pain in her trapped foot grew to near unbearable levels as she stretched for the handle. At that moment she regretted not getting a pain block like Zade’s after he told her about it. Stretching made the pain worse, but the handle remained out of reach. With the pain growing to maddening levels, Samix collapsed into a hopeless pile. As she did, she felt the hard metal item in her pocket. It was a knife Zade had made for her after explaining how he never went anywhere without one. Flipping it open, Samix leaned down towards her trapped foot and sliced down the side of her boot. The now open top of her boot gave her just enough wiggle room to slide her foot free from the door and start the manual reset. The newly freed foot hurt more than when it was trapped. Samix had just enough time to drop into stasis before she passed out from the unbearable pain.
The ship went silent and emergency lighting came on, Axis’ signal to move. He jumped out of his chair and headed to the medical bay. The computers in the medical bay housed all crew records and were run on emergency power. This allowed the crew to continue providing medical care even if the ship was damaged and lost power. Axis headed to the nearest computer and pulled up Zade’s personnel file, which contained all of the information required to be added to the crew roster. Next Axis pulled up the crew roster, and by using an administrative bypass, began altering the underlying code of the file. Quickly, Axis created a new entry and began inputting all pertinent information from the personnel file. Satisfied that his work would go unquestioned, he backed out of the files and began scavenging for supplies to outlast the life support shutdown.
He knew that he could survive the shutdown without any equipment, but there was no reason to be uncomfortable. The first thing he grabbed was a six-hour oxygen bottle with attached breathing mask. He had been to planets with low oxygen levels, and although he could survive, Axis hated the constant feeling of suffocation that limited oxygen situations produced. Next, he grabbed two emergency heated blankets. While he waited for Samix to make her move, he had done some mental math. If the ship was in deep space, in two hours the interior temperature would drop to nearly negative one hundred fifty degrees. Again, he could survive the low temperatures, but why not do it in comfort. With everything he would need for the shutdown, Axis headed back to his quarters to play on his interface and wait.
Exactly two hours after power loss, the emergency lighting was replaced with the ships standard lighting. The AI core had completed its manual reboot. Axis ventured out of his room just as the Mur’s voice came across the intercom.
“Welcome to the XES01, exploration vessel.”
To Axis’ interface Mur continued, “As the only conscious crewmember aboard, I require that you validate important information.”
“Only one conscious? What is the status of the captain?” Axis asked hesitant and confused.
“Captain Samix is on the subdeck incapacitated from injury. Are you prepared to validate information?”
“Yes…whatever, just make this fast.” Axis said as he headed to the subdeck to find out what had happened to Samix.
“This is an experimental exploration vessel tasked to explore the galaxy we are currently located in. Mission duration undetermined.”
“Correct.”
“This vessel is crewed by five personnel. Samix, captain, subdeck. Axis, geological scientist, subdeck. Farn, anthropologist, deceased. Alex Zade, security officer, location unknown. Jorloss, medical officer, location unknown.”
“Correct. The last two wouldn’t be lost if you hadn’t gone crazy earlier.”
“Axis, please explain.” Mur requested.
“No. Just get in your frame and assist me in helping the captain. When she comes to, she can tell you what she thinks you need to know.” Axis snapped.
The thought of the captain being injured and hearing how two of his fellow crewmembers were lost had irritated him. During the computers questioning, he had made it down to the subdeck outside the AI core. Using his highly sophisticated sensory organs, he could see that there was something jamming the door. Upon further inspection he identified it as Samix’s boot. It had been so badly damaged by the door that he couldn’t even tell if her foot was still in it. What he did know, which made the situation even more urgent, was the smell of fresh blood was emanating from under the jammed door.
Lacking both Samix’s composure and Zade’s determination, Axis was quickly becoming more panicked with every unsuccessful attempt at opening the jammed door. He first attempted was to use the door controls, which he quickly learned were unresponsive. His second attempt was to use strength to force the door open. Even when using all the strength his high gravity modified body could muster, the door didn’t budge. As a last resort Axis returned to the door controls. He knew he had the strength to tear the cover plate off the controls and he did just that. Thinking that the control panel may have been damaged, he set to using the exposed wires to force the door open. With the appropriate circuitry connected Axis touched the wire bundle to an exposed power wire. He was rewarded with the sound of the door motor laboring; the door moved a fraction of an inch but no more.
“Would you like assistance with your task?” Mur asked from behind him.
Axis had been so focused on the task at hand that the request startled him. Mur was now occupying the fire engine red frame it used to maintain a physical presence around the crew. The fact that the thousand-pound robot had made it down the small crawlspace without detection showed that it was surprisingly nimble and quiet.
“Yes, open this door. I don’t care if you have to rip it off its track, the captain is stuck in there and she is hurt.”
“I must advise against this. Damage to this door will leave my AI core exposed.”
“If you don’t open this fucking door, I will go to the robotics lab, gather as many of Zade’s explosives as I can carry, and get in myself. And maybe, just maybe, I will be lucky enough to destroy you in the process.”
Axis’ patience’s was running thin; he was in mild disbelief that the AI who had caused the whole situation was now worried about its own safety. A tense moment of silence passed as Mur tried to determine if Axis was bluffing. The robot finally motioned for Axis to move out of the way so he could access the door. Axis slid down the hall and Mur moved into place in front of the jammed door. Mur, braced by the door frame began to strain against the stuck door. The sound of metal screaming as it failed signaled that the door was open. Axis quickly looked under the robot’s arm, into the AI core room, and sensed the lifeless body of his captain. He quickly pushed past the robot and began checking to see if Samix was still alive.
Samix was stretched across the middle of the core room, hand still grasping the manual override handle. When she had put herself into stasis, her skin turned into a thick gray crystalline coating meant to protect the rest of her body from any inhospitable environment. Now, her stasis coating covered her whole body with the exception of her left foot. The foot could not properly seal because of the damage caused by the door and had been left exposed to the extremely low temperature inside the ship during the reset. During stasis her metabolic processes nearly ceased making it difficult for Axis to determine if she was still living.
“I can’t move her myself. Once I get out of here, bring her to the medical bay.” Axis ordered.
After nodding in acknowledgement, trying to ease Axis, Mur said, “if it makes you feel better, I can still sense her vital signs.”
Without hesitation Axis pushed into the crawlspace and headed to the medical bay. He had some very basic medical training at the Academe, given to all crew in case they were required to assist the medical officer. In addition to his tr
aining he had seen Jorloss work many times and felt comfortable that he could at least keep Samix alive. A task of utmost importance since she was the only one with access to her personal drive where the location of the stranded crewmen was.
On the way to the medical bay, he formulated a plan of attack. His biggest priority was to keep Samix alive. Second, he would try to make her comfortable enough to come out of stasis. Third, he would try to aid her nanites in repairing her foot. The hospital bed nearest the door was covered in some equipment boxes Jorloss had been searching through prior to the mission. Axis headed to it and quickly pushed the boxes to the floor, making room for Samix. With a place to rest cleared he turned his attention to the tall piece of equipment near the head of the bed. It was a small computer with leads that ended in adhesive pads. He knew it was used to monitor vitals and prioritize nanite functions to bring the patient, it was attached to, back to optimal health. He flipped it on and quickly punched in Samix’s name. The computer displayed Samix’s medical file and confirmed that it had the appropriate code necessary to help her.
With his first priority prepared for he turned to the question of, how to get Samix out of stasis. Unsure if her body would react to any stimuli from outside of her crystalline shell, Axis began to think about what he could do to reinforce that she was once again in a hospitable environment. Remembering that the two things he needed to maintain his comfort were oxygen and warmth, he headed to a supply closet at the rear of the bay for an oxygen bottle and emergency blanket. With the blanket and oxygen staged next to the bed, Axis began trying to figure out how he could help save Samix’s foot. While he sat and pondered his new problem, Mur arrived carrying Samix. Axis instructed him to place her on the bed then leave the medical bay. After setting her down, Mur inquired about the ship’s destination.
“Shall I start a warp to Unity space where the captain can receive medical treatment?”
“Negative, we stay right where we are. When the captain recovers, we will head back and retrieve the crew you stranded.”
