Awakening

by Ell Leigh Clarke

  All the walls running along the entirety of the room consisted of windows. Windows that seemed to share the same desire to boast their uniqueness as the empty table. Certainly, these windows may have looked empty, but like the table, the holographic projectors along their frames made all the difference.

  She glanced at the main window, her eyes widening with horror at the contents on it; a steadily changing set of numbers slowly ticking away. The countdown to her doom.

  She didn’t know what would happen once the countdown reached zero, but she had a bad feeling that she was about to find out first hand. It was almost insulting that her death would only be marked by a couple of small blue digits on a window. They seemed to lack the ability to represent the final moments of the ship.

  She had started hyperventilating. Her body shook and her chest heaved, gulping in short gasps of air. The world felt unbalanced. Unsteady. Like she was standing on edge of a bottomless pit that would devour her any minute.

  "Shit, shit, SHIT!" she screamed.

  Suddenly, getting captured by the troops didn't seem to be such a bad idea. At least she wouldn't be dead in five minutes.

  Four. Four minutes. The small digits on the screen mocked her, decreasing digit by digit, until it was time for her to die.

  "Someone! Anyone! HELP ME!" she screamed again, knowing that it was futile. Nobody was on this ship.

  "How may I be of assistance?" A cool, controlled voice came from her left: the perfect counter-point to her own. It was almost comically calm, like a telephone operator at a helpdesk, trying to help her troubleshoot problems with their corteX connection.

  "Fuck... me," she said, turning to look at the curious creature near her.

  It was a robot. Maybe. It had a digital exterior showing a digitally created face with large beseeching eyes that somehow looked both vulnerable and authoritative at the same time.

  "I'm afraid that's an order I cannot comply with," it said, moving closer noiselessly. "I am Jelly Bean, I am-"

  "Jelly-face," she pleaded, ignoring the strange robot’s appearance, "I need you to stop the self-destruct sequence. Now."

  "Of course."

  She blinked.

  That was too easy, she thought straight away.

  "I'll just need the access code." There it was. The catch.

  "I… I don’t have….” she started. Then something within her snapped, letting lose a torrent of irony that escalated in urgency and volume as she spoke.. “Oh yeah, sure, it's right here. I mean why wouldn’t I have the access code to stop the self–destruct sequence of a random ship I just woke up on. NO I DON'T HAVE THE FUCKING ACCESS CODE!" she screamed.

  The robot's eyes set and suddenly looked a lot less vulnerable. "I'm sorry, I need the access code in order to comply."

  She felt her strength drain all over again. The countdown had just two minutes left. She didn't want to spend the last moments of her life arguing with a stupid robot. Threatening it seemed to have no effect, so she tried her luck with begging.

  "I'm sorry I'm a little snappy, but as you can see, this ship's gonna blow. I'm sure you could override your protocols or something, maybe temporarily. I'll get you the code, 'kay. Promise. Just maybe an hour or so, if you could just-"

  "It occurs to me that a little more time should help you?" The robot said, tilting its head to the side, it's eyes softening once again.

  She was about to snap back that yes, it did indeed occur to her, but figured that playing nice with the robot gave her a better chance of success.

  "Yes. Please. If you could do that, I would be really grateful."

  The robot's digital eyes closed. "Pausing self-destruct sequence."

  It stopped. With fifty seconds to spare.

  She held her breath, waiting for it to restart again and dash her hopes.

  The bright blue digits on the screen had frozen, but it felt like a facade. Something to make her feel safe while the inside of the ship got ready to blow. Like a charging elephant held in place by a thin piece of string, ready to break free and stamp her into mush.

  She stayed still, expecting an explosion with every passing second. Then slowly she realized that she had been holding her breath. She started to calm herself and breathe again. It took a good few minutes before she was convinced that the countdown had really paused.

  She looked at the robot in front of her. She hadn't quite caught its name. Jelly-something, was it? She gave the robot a grateful smile.

  "Uh, Jellyfish. I could kiss you right now!"

  “That won’t be necessary,” the android replied dryly while she stared back at her with digitally created, emotive eyes. “But if you have a desire to show me gratitude, I would appreciate it if you used my designation. It’s Jelly Bean.”

  “Jelly Bean.” She repeated her mechanical would-be companion’s name correctly this time. But then, she cracked a smile as she actually thought about the name. “Wait, are you serious?”

  “Yes, like the confectionery,” Jelly Bean replied matter-of-factly. “My personality matrix programmer had a sense of humor.”

  “Lucky you…?”

  “Indeed.” Jelly deadpanned the sarcasm as though it had been delivered with total sincerity. “I consider myself fortunate. The other android in my series was designated Marshmallow.”

  “Well damn. I guess I’d take Jelly Bean over that.”

  “Yes, although the crew sometimes calls me Jelly Belly, Jelly Donut, Jelly Fish, Smelly Jelly, Belly Button, Bean Burrito, and other names not nearly as flattering as Jelly Bean.”

  “The crew sounds like a bunch of assholes,” the girl said. “Jelly Bean… I like it.”

  “I’m so glad. And what are you called? What is your designation?”

  “Huh?”

  “Your designation,” Jelly Bean repeated more slowly this time. “We’ve discussed mine at length already.”

  “You mean my name?” She wracked her brain, and drew another blank. This didn’t rank particularly high on her list of things she wished she could remember at this very moment, though it was frustrating to have to answer as she did. “I… Uh, I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know your own designation?” Jelly Bean’s eyes narrowed.

  “I mean, I assume I did once. I just can’t remember what it is.”

  “Curious.” Jelly Bean’s eyes widened and then shut, blinking three times, for whatever that might have signaled. “How do you forget your own name?”

  “I guess I forgot that, too,” she answered reflexively. “But seriously, I have no frikkin’ clue. I dunno, you ever like, get this feeling sometimes? Like you might have left the stove on somewhere?”

  “I think I do,” Jelly Bean answered. “When I find a data gap in an intel matrix it’s-”

  She paused, her eyelids artificially whirring slightly as she seemed to focus on her face. “Is something amusing?” Jelly Bean ventured.

  “I’d say more like, fascinating,” she responded. She realized only then that she was smiling at the absurdity of discussing something like this with a machine. “I didn’t think a robot could have that kind of sense of self.”

  This time, the way Jelly Bean’s eyes slanted, and angry eyebrows materialized on her facial projection. Her holographic mouth seemed to be pouting.

  “I am not a robot,” Jelly Bean said indignantly. “I’m an android. Or a non-organic life-form, a NOLF, if you’re progressive. I’m capable of experiencing a full range of sensation and emotion, in addition to a litany of other features that you humans are always so arrogantly ascribing to be uniquely your own. You’re not that special a species, you know. In fact-”

  “Okay, okay!” She interrupted the android while raising a hand in surrender. “I’m sorry! Really. I just… I didn’t even know there was a difference. I’ve never met an android before. At least I don’t think I have.”

  Just then, their attention was suddenly pulled by the sound of voices and boots clomping through the corridor in their direction.

&n
bsp; “Oh fuck!” the girl cussed, dithering and looking around the control room. “Don’t rat on me, Jelly Bean! I’m not here!”

  And with that, she dove behind a console unit, as far from the door to the bridge as she could get.

  +++

  Bridge, Aboard the Chesed, Klaunox Sector

  “Home, sweet home!” A dark-haired warrior-looking man ambled onto the bridge. He sighed, satisfied and looked over the bridge of the ship as though he’d been reunited with a lost pet. “Chesed, baby! Oh, how I missed you!”

  “Don’t let your guard down, Loco!” one of his compatriots hissed over at him. He raised one hand to motion to his two companions to take things seriously - to the extent that they could do such a thing. His gaze turned from the dark-haired one he’d called Loco over to another dressed similarly in a warrior’s garb who had come into the room with them. This other man was more of a baby-faced blond with similarly shaggy long hair. The one that appeared to be the leader motioned for the blond-haired man to check behind the console. “Who knows where she’s been in this time?” he added quietly.

  “No shit,” Loco said loudly, the cockiness in his voice showing his usual lack of concern for the warning. “See, this is what happens when you fuck with gods that still have a decent foothold in this plane.”

  Both of them looked at the blond with expressions of mild accusation.

  “Hey, come on!” he retorted through a sheepish grin that failed to hide his embarrassment. “It wasn’t my idea to go poking that bear in the first place.”

  “We had little in the way of choice,” the leader reminded them. “It’s the path we must walk if we hope to return.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Sure,” the dark-haired guy said with what appeared to be his default insubordinate dismissiveness. “I just think, either way, he’s the last guy we should be screwing with.”

  “You’re hardly an expert on who we shouldn’t be screwing with, Loco,” the blond warrior chided him. “Screwing being the operative word here.”

  “Oh, come on!” Loco waved an arm as though to brush off the very valid accusation. “How was I supposed to know she was in his pocket?”

  “She’s was a fucking high priestess! Being in his pocket is basically right in the job description.”

  “Enough!” The leader spoke sternly enough that he hoped it would put an end to their bickering. “We’ve got more pressing matters to attend to than the assigning of blame.”

  “Right you are!” Loco said, before turning to the doorway. “I’m going to my room. I swear, if anything’s missing…”

  “Seriously?” The blond motioned to his comrade while looking at the leader. “Does he really think this is the time to be taking inventory? Shango!”

  Loco strode back out of the door again, hoisting his gear over one shoulder, and his laser-blaster over the other.

  “Let him,” Shango, the leader responded. “Someone needs to secure the area while we gather intel, anyway. All manner of surprises could still be waiting for us.”

  Shango brought a hand to the bridge console, expertly motioning through the commands to reassert control over his vessel through normal channels, to no avail.

  The blond looked over at Shango with an increased urgency. “Well, what the hell are you waiting for?” he asked. “Get us our ship back already.”

  Shango shook his head, only showing a trace of worry with the furrowing of his brow when he said: “I’m completely locked out. We need to resolve the lockdown. Olofi, help me. Loco – secure the rest of the ship.”

  The blond let his gear fall to the floor and dutifully sat down at one of the consoles “You’re supposed to have full admin permissions,” he muttered.

  Shango continued attempting entry to the main console without success. “Administrator privileges do very little without an operating system willing to accept them. I need Bean to override whatever fuckery Legba had going on here. Bean?” he called.

  “I’m right here,” she responded. Jelly Bean had been standing there in the bridge the whole time, patiently waiting for her presence to be acknowledged.

  Shango glanced up briefly before turning his attention back to the console. “It is very good to see you aboard again, Shango. And Olofi.”

  “Bean, do you still have access to our internal logs at this time?” Shango asked, cutting straight through the pleasantries. This was a much more urgent issue than his two companions were treating it at this very moment.

  Bean responded. “I do, but-”

  Shango cut her off before she could finish. “Put them on playback for me now,” he ordered. “I need to see the individuals responsible for the ship’s state.”

  Jelly Bean’s face flickered, then opened a second holographic screen next to her avatar. Immediately, it began to play back the footage of the boarding, the sweep, and the soldiers within.

  Shango recognized them instantly. “LaPlace.” There was a grim anger to the way those words escaped Shango’s mouth.

  “Um-” Jelly Bean tried to speak, but her words were barely a blip in the midst of the men talking over her.

  “Sons of bitches,” Olofi said. “And recognize this guy?” Their eyes both locked on the replay of the people on board, but turned away when they heard the doors hiss open again. Shango reached into his cloak for a weapon out of instinct, but stayed his hand when he saw it was just Loco, returning with some of his old effects.

  “All clear,” Loco said. “Almost cleaner than I left it and- Hey!” he pointed at the screen projecting next to Jelly Bean’s face. “Is that who I think it is? The fuck was he doing on board?”

  “Unclear,” Shango admitted. “I’m trying to get us situated, first. The systems appear to have been compromised. There are a great deal of things we’ll need to attend to.”

  “Well-” Jelly Bean tried to pipe in again, ignored as the men focused on the screen in front of her.

  “So what’s it look like then?” Loco asked. “Everything in good shape?”

  “The self-destruct sequence was initialized by the intruders.” Jelly Bean’s tone was more assertive now. She highlighted the relevant screens showing activation and countdown lit up.

  All three of the warriors stopped talking.

  Looks of horror took over their expressions. For all his talk about being on guard Shango hadn’t even checked for something so dire that had been staring him in the face.

  “What the fuck, Jellies?” Loco snapped. “You couldn’t have just told us that?”

  “I am telling you that,” Jelly Bean blithely replied.

  “But how?” Olofi asked, masking the mild panic at being onboard a ticking time bomb. “Why?”

  “The intruders set it before leaving,” Jelly Bean answered with a hint of electronic sass. “I would assume their intention was to blow up the ship.”

  “No fucking shit that’s what they intended!” Loco began to speak more quickly, the way he did when he felt a crisis building around them. “Kill us all on top of that, I’m guessing!”

  “Bean,” Shango said calmly. “Activate primary passcode applesauce penguin three-five-two-one-nine.”

  Jelly Bean’s face turned a bright green for a moment, letting off a resounding ding.

  “Passcode accepted,” Jelly Bean affirmed.

  “Cancel self-destruct sequence,” Shango directed the android. “And restore ship’s lockdown

  “Deactivating…” a series of flickering lights came from Jelly Bean’s screen. Shango could feel the tension around his comrades even as he defused the crisis. “Complete.”

  The three of them breathed a collective sigh of relief as the looming threat left them.

  Shango scanned the screen in front of him. “Bean, please end lockdown and begin restoring normal ship functions.”

  “On it, Captain,” Jelly Bean’s face flickered out, then reappeared lit up on her artificial body that had lain dormant at the helm. “Access will be restored to the Chesed within five minutes.”

  “Well,
shit,” Loco said. “Can you imagine? We come all this way to get our ship back and it just blows us all up?”

  “That may have been their plan,” Shango surmised. “And quite frankly I’m not sure why it didn’t succeed. According to the logs I’m seeing, the LaPlace boarding party left well enough ago for the self-destruct to go through, likely with us inside. But the numbers appear to be paused.”

  “The countdown sequence was temporarily delayed,” Jelly Bean said as she began to zip between consoles to carry out her orders.