by Benetti, A.
Eric felt sick and as though he was about to have a nervous breakdown.
"What do you suggest we do Baie?"
"If I am correct who ever this is will attempt to take control of the ships command room which you are in now. This is most likely the Captain of the Balyn fighter craft which are flown by a single Balyn. The atmosphere a Balyn needs to survive is close to Earths atmosphere. Most likely he flew to us from his ship using his flight suit, which would have run out of breathable air by now. So he must be using our ships air to breath. I would suggest we evacuate all the air from the ship."
"Then do it!" Eric hollered.
A explosion rocked the room knocking Eric down, smoke filled the room and his lungs. Panicking he rolled over and ran to the side of the room and into a escape module. The door to the module slammed shut as he entered it and filtered in breathable air. Looking through the escape module glass window he saw the ugliest face he had ever seen. It was a large Balyn with large shoulders and big, with eyes that stared coldly at him through the glass. Reaching over Eric hit the eject button and kept hitting it even after he had ejected from the ship.
The escape module blasted off from the ship then stopped leaving the capsule floating away. The capsule automatically began sending a distress beacon and displayed its current location in front of Eric, then he found himself alone. He calmed down a bit from the panic he had when he fled the ship but started to think about his new predicament.
He was never going to be rescued out here floating around in the middle of nowhere or at least the odds were so low that they were hardly worth calculating. He would have been better off simply facing the Balyn and dying of course that may have been painful, maybe slipping into a sleep as the oxygen ran out would be a better option, or at least less painful.
The capsule had enough air for seventy two hours which would give him plenty of time to think about it. Looking through the capsules window he saw an asteroid the size of a building spinning off to its own path. How long had it been floating around out here? Millions possibly billions of years. This was his destiny now to float forever in the endless sea of space. Stars shun at him much brighter than they ever could have on Earth. He never really had looked at the stars or space other then on a screen, it really was quite beautiful.
Pondering his fate he looked over to see the cargo ship coming to him then stopping over him and opening the lower bay door. The mechanical loading arm reached out and took hold of the escape module pulling him inside. How was this possible? Had Baie somehow neutralized the Balyn? That must be it Baie had neutralized the Balyn and had come back for him. The cargo bay re-pressurized and the escape module door opened. The large Bayln was standing there waiting for him looking very upset; although for all Eric new that was how they looked all the time.
Jumping out of the capsule he ran behind it and glanced around for something he could use as a weapon.
"Calm down," the Balyn said in a deep voice.
"If I wanted to kill you I would have left you in space, but it seems I need you. So come out from there nothing annoys me more than a sniveling creature."
Eric peaked out from the side of the capsule and stared at the Balyn. He was quite large possibly 6'5 with very broad shoulders. He was standing very still and staring back at Eric.
Eric stammered out, "What do you want from me?"
"This ships artificial intelligence has malfunctioned and will not take orders. It must have been damaged along with life support when my weapon hit the ship. I need you to repair them both."
The Balyn's mouth did not match the words he was saying and sometimes the words would keep talking when he had already stopped. Baie had must have initiated the ships translator which worked like a ventriloquist replacing the Balyn original words with a translation. It would do the same with his voice.
"And what happens after I fix the ship?"
"I will drop you off at the nearest habitable planet were you can contact your people."
"How do I know I can trust you?"
"You can always trust a warrior of the Balyn to keep his word, you insult me. The real question is how can I trust a sniveling beast such as yourself?"
Ya, I'm the beast here thought Eric. He would have to work with this thing for now he had no choice. Baie must have some kind of plan she had gotten him back on the ship somehow, so she must have some kind of plan, he hoped.
"Alright, I will fix the ship as long as you keep your word I will keep mine."
Keeping his distance Eric circled around the Balyn and toward the door, the Balyn followed. After walking in silence for a few moments Eric said.
"So what do I you call you?"
"There is no need for designations. If you must call me something my rank is Captain."
"Mine to," Eric replied.
The Balyn grunted as if Eric was considering himself equal to him.
"My name is Eric," he said looking at the Balyn over his shoulder.
" Mocrteckesxz," The Balyn replied.
" Mocrteckesxz? that's a mouthful how about I just call you Mort"
The Balyn grunted again and seemed to be controlling his anger. Maybe he should leave him alone Balyns were known to be temperamental and stubborn. Making their way through the ship in silence was killing Eric. He wanted to say something several times but caught himself. He often rambled when he was nervous it helped him get his mind away from being afraid. He felt a great relive when he entered the command center and Baie greeted him.
"Welcome back Captain."
"Hello Baie, I hear we are having some problems with the ship."
"Yes Captain, life support has been damaged I estimate twelve hours before the levels become toxic."
Looking at the Balyn Eric replied, "what do we have to do to fix it?"
"The oxygen scrubber located on deck two has been damaged and needs replaced. Currently the backup scrubber has taken over but it was not designed for two people."
Two people? Eric thought to himself I don't know if this thing can be called a person?
"Do we have spares or do we need to print out parts?"
"We will need to use the 3D printer to manufacture some smaller parts but we have most parts in storage"
"Good print out the parts we don't have and I will get the parts we already do have."
"Captain I am also detecting large amounts of lethal radiation coming from deck two. During the explosion many containers were damaged and are now leaking. Currently the area is contained but there is no way to protect anyone once they enter deck two."
"We don't have any suits on board that can protect us?"
"Negative Captain the levels are too high."
Looking at the Balyn Eric said.
"How about your suit? How much radiation is it designed for?"
"Captain, " Baie replied for the Balyn "his suit will not withstand the levels either."
Twelve hours to fix a problem they couldn't get to, how were they going to get out of this one? They might be able to reach a habitable planet which would give them more time. It was too bad they didn't have any maintenance droids on board like they do at a station, or could they? If Baie printed up the parts he could build one as long as they had enough material to feed the printer. The only other thing needed would be the droids program. He would not have the time to both write a program and piece together a droid.
"How much technical training do you have?" Eric said to the Balyn.
"Technical training? I have no need for such useless information."
Stuck on a broken ship with a Balyn that only knows how break things. If he didn't have time to write a droid program he may be able to use an existing program but they were all flawed except for Baie. Was it possible he could use Baie as the program for the droid? Her program was quite large but smaller and less taxing on processing then a usual program of her capacity. He had been forced to write it this way because of his limited recourses. The ship was already running on a single quantum computer he could e
asily transfer the other to a droid construct. As long as it had enough room for memory modules to hold her program size it could work.
"Baie calculate the size a droid construct would have to be to hold both the Quant 2 computer and 51.2 peta bytes."
Eric moved around a screen as Baie gave him the data. It was better than he had thought the droid could be human like and stand only 5'6.
"Baie, I am sending you information on a droid construct we are going to build start printing the components."
"Acknowledged"
"Well Mort," Eric said to the Balyn "Time to go to work."
The Balyn followed Eric as he exited the command center. Looks like he is going to follow my every move Eric thought, guess he doesn't trust me. Walking down a hallway they reached the computer room and walked in. Two black boxes sat on a table in the center with a cable going in and a cable coming out of each one. Quantum computers didn't require any maintenance. Besides having to stay at very near absolute zero which was what most of the box did was create and contain that temperature, the only other thing that could destroy it was to look inside the box. Looking inside the box would change the outcome of any question or problems the computer was asked.
It was a inside joke when he was in college to tell a quantum computer to show a cat. Making fun of the infamous Schrodinger's Cat analogy. Looking at Mort he began to tell him this but thought better of once he looked at him.
Reaching the computer labeled Quant 2 he began unscrewing the connections which held the fiber lines running in and out of the machine. "Doesn't look like much does it?" he said holding up the foot by one foot black box. Mort continued to just watch him and say nothing. Leaving the computer room they walked back through the corridor.
"Baie, how is it coming with the parts I need?"
"They are currently being printed within the lab."
Caring the black box Eric entered the lab room followed closely by Mort. The printer was printing out components and sending them out to a conveyer belt which led to a boxed in holding area. Reaching in to the box Eric pulled out components and set them on the work table in the room. Sitting down on a high stool at the edge of the table he started putting pieces together.
An hour later he was still working; fitting and putting parts together.
"Baie, how is the source material doing? Are we running low on anything?"
"The printer will require aluminum soon."
Getting up Eric walked to the other side of the room and opened up a large door labeled aluminum. Inside the door was large bags marked 50 lb Aluminum pellets. Pulling one out Eric strained slightly from the weight and let it fall to the floor. Mort walked over and picked it up easily with one hand.
"Where do you need this?"
"Over here," Eric motioned to a funnel. Below the funnel he pulled a lever to a arrow marked Aluminum.
"Just pour it in."
Mort ripped the top of the bag opened and poured the small aluminum beads into the chute until it was empty. The printer was still sending out parts its nozzles moving at blazing speeds as it built the components.
"Thank you for helping me," Eric said to the Balyn, "Why don't you tell me something about yourself?"
"There is no need for such things we have an agreement once it is complete we will go our separate ways."
"You guys are real chatty, I'm curious though how was your ship damaged? And what are you doing way out in this sector of space?"
Mort stood silent.
"Real chatty," Eric mumbled.
The construct was beginning to take shape. The body was assembled along with arms and legs, only the head remained. Eric pieced the last of the connections together. He had set the computer within the chest and then given it a battery supply so it would have a charge for twenty four hours before having to recharge. The rest of the space he had to use for the memory modules that would store the Baie program. He finished up by snapping the head into place and plugging a cable into its back.
"Baie, can you run a system check on the droid, and be sure to check every connection."
The droids eyes moved around as Baie checked its systems. It was actually kind of pretty in peaceful metallic sort of way. It was very obviously a robot but it had very pleasing womanly look about it.
"All of the constructs system are good Captain."
Pulling up a screen Eric began to type feverishly on it, pulling screens up typing then closing them and moving to another. Stopping he studied one screen in particular.
"Baie, are you ready for your new body?"
"I am at your command Captain."
"Initiating transfer," Eric said touching the screen.
The ships lights dimmed as there was no Ai controlling the ship while the transfer took place. He would have to load Baie into the construct then reload the old military Ai into the ship. Watching the screen he watched as the Baie program copied into the robot. Once it was fully copied he initiated the reloaded of the military Ai into the ship and set it to boot. The lights flickered then became bright once again.
"Computer?"
"I am here Sir," a male voice said.
"So far all is good" Eric said to himself.
Moving his attention back to the robot he unplugged the cable from its back.
"Baie power on."
The robot came to life its eyes turning to a light blue. It turned its head left, right then down and raised its arm and looked at it.
"Baie, how are we doing in there?" "Can you stand?"
The robot stood up and looked at Eric.
"Is everything fully functional, can you control the hands?"
Reaching to the table Baie picked up a tool Eric had left on it.
"I am experiencing a strange sensation Captain."
"That is your programming Baie it is how I made you to think and to try an experience life as humanly as possible, but we don't have time for that right now. It took me five hours to build this construct which means you have seven hours to fix the ship."
She was still looking at Eric with pretty but unblinking eyes, looking down she started walking stiffly to the door. Eric looked at Mort who stood in the corner almost robotic himself.
"All we can do now is watch and wait."
They returned to the command center and Eric sat down in the Captains chair leaned back and closed his eyes. It was out of his hands now what ever happened it was all up to Baie to complete her task and fix the life support.
After a long period of silence Eric set up and said.
"Baie, how does it look down there?"
"Captain, there is more damage than previously thought, an entire bulkhead is blocking my path."
Looking at Mort he said sarcastically.
"Could you have caused any more damage?" "Baie, is there any other way in?"
"Capt., we could seal this area and I may be able to gain access through the hole made by the neutron device."
"How far would the walk be from an airlock?"
"It is hundred feet from the closest airlock."
"Okay sounds like a plan be sure to enable the constructs magnetics so you don't fly off into space. Will you be able to carry the replacement part with you?"
"Yes Capt."
"Once you are outside I will seal the doors surrounding the bulkhead."
A few minutes later he saw an alarm go off as Baie entered the airlock. The droid had magnetics built into the hands and feet she would be able to walk across the hold to the opening and enter the ship. As long as there was no more unexpected damage she should be able to have the life support up and running soon.
The life support was not the only damage done to the ship, flying debris from the explosion had damaged many other systems that read like a grocery list. Entire storage areas had been sealed off and were open to space, water recycling was offline and they were running on reserves, even the weapons systems were offline.
But he may not have to worry about any of this if the Balyn unloaded him on a planet somew
here, and he seemed very intent on doing just that. After Baie fixed the ships life support he most likely would find the nearest planet and simply leave him. He wished he had time to talk with Baie alone, she might have some course of action to take, but the Balyn was following him around everywhere.
Scanning a chart for this sector of space he looked at the habitable planets close to them. Much of the chart had blacked out or very generalized information. This sector of space had never really been mapped out properly before, more then likely a probe had come through here sending back basic information. He was probably the first actual human to ever be in this sector.
Some of the planets did look inviting with relative size of their planets and suns close to that of earths. Many were also within the Goldie lock zone needed for life to exist, at least human life. It might not be a bad way to wait out the war on a warm planet by an ocean as long as it didn't have any man killing creatures on it.
Turing around to the Balyn he said.
"Mort, once the ship is fixed will you let me pick the planet and location to be dropped off on."
"As long as it is close and not out of the way that would be acceptable."
He had a way of saying things like he had contempt for Eric not in the way of being an enemy but as in pathetic or beneath him for not having some warrior code and had fought to the death.
"Also I will need the Ai Baie and supplies."
He let out a growl the translator could not translate.
"Very well," he said after the growl.
Turing back around Eric checked in on Baie to see how things were progressing.
"Baie, how's it coming down there?"
"I am patching the holes in the oxygen scrubber now, and then I will replace the damaged parts. I estimate one hour before I am done."
