Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  “Gotcha,” Ugo said with a grim nod. “I'll help.”

  Over the next few minutes the engineering staff received word of more strange accidents on the station.

  They were nervous about the Dilgarth and gangs on the station. Irons of course wasn't. He checked, they were all away from where he and the crews were. No, it wasn't them. That left something or someone else. Great.

  He had hoped to have put off any sort of confrontation with the cybers and AI. Apparently he'd only been delaying the inevitable.

  “Sid? Berkheart? What the hell's going on?” he said looking around.

  “Admiral, I don't think it's them,” Sprite said slowly and cautiously. “I'm being blocked from entering remotely. Something is going on in cyberspace. I think you better jack in.”

  Grimly he went over to a jack and jacked in.

  When he investigated he found a war going on in cyberspace. A few of the insane ones had cut off the others and were attempting to kill off the organics in the station. One maniacally giggled and then started begging and pleading piteously like a child. Then the maniacal giggles started again as the cyber capered through the net, destroying everything he touched.

  “What the hell?” Irons demanded furiously. All the work he'd done over the past two days was being undone in an instance of malice.

  “This is what we've been dealing with,” Sid explained, fending off an insane female.

  “How many are there?” Irons asked. One rebounded off his firewall and left. Defender emerged from him, appearing like a dark apparition. The female grappling with Sid paused, eyes wide as she took in the armored demon. She made an oooh sound and then, “Shiny, pretty,” she said. She seemed ready to flirt with the AI before his glowing red eyes caught her attention. Then instead of reacting in fear she stopped and covered her mouth with a hand and gave a girlish giggle. Then she disappeared.

  “What the hell?”

  “They are insane,” Sprite said, fighting one off. “What I want to know is, why didn't you do something about them?” she demanded, snarling as one demented being jumped into a code module and did something to it. The module failed spectacularly. “I just fixed that!” she snarled.

  “Watch your six admiral!” Defender snarled, sweeping at something grabbing at the admiral's virtual legs. Irons reoriented as the AI pushed him aside.

  “Admiral they are trying to cut us off from the core!” Sprite said, voice rising in urgency. “If they get to the others they can kill them. Or cut power to the station!”

  “Shit,” Irons said, watching as she threw firewall after firewall up in front of the demented attackers. They batted them down, some battering into them brutally, others slipping through cracks in the code like smoke. None of them had a normal human body; they were all twisted and ethereal. Real poltergeists.

  “This isn't working...” Sid said, fending another off. “Everyone take a system and defend it. Admiral we need to get them out,” he said.

  “I know. Any ideas?” he asked.

  “A distraction,” Emily said, fending another off. “They usually don't stay here very long. Just enough to do some graffiti and vandalism then they get bored and move on. Usually it's only one, not all of them at the same time though,” she said, pulling up a firewall. The reaction times of the cybers were nothing compared to Sprite and Defender. Still Irons could see the damage the insane cybers were inflicting. He had to do something about it.

  “What the hell??” Gwen said as a memory bank shorted out and melted down. “Damn it! Did we get a bad batch?”

  “Admiral we just lost a memory module,” Sprite informed him. “A new one. They...” she snagged a wraith tearing at a memory core. The wraith turned, snarling sharp fangs at her. She just slapped him and slipped a firewall in between him and the system he had been wrecking. Thwarted the wraith turned it's anger onto her. She had all she could do to fend it off.

  “They aren't very smart but they are powerful!” she said surprised. No mere mortal should be able to keep up with her here on her home turf. but apparently not so here. These wraiths seemed to have the home ground advantage, something that was disconcerting to her.

  “Just a second here,” Irons said. He sent a quick text message to Gwen. When a wraith intercepted it and gobbled it he swore. It farted out the jumbled letters and then left in a cackle of glee and blinding sparks.

  “Damn it... Okay, this is getting old. Sprite I'm pulling the plug.”

  “Better do something fast!” she said.

  Suddenly something was in between them. “LEAAAVE!” A wraith hissed, pointing a long gnarled hand to her and then to him. “Or die!” It cackled again and then disappeared.

  In the real world Gwen and the others had shifted into overdrive, trying to keep systems from melting down or tearing themselves and each other apart. Out of desperation Gwen started disconnecting systems physically, dropping them into subnets. That seemed too slow but not totally halt the damage.

  “Cyber attack,” she said, realizing the nature of the sabotage finally. “That's what Sprite must have meant.”

  “Indeed,” Irons said, looking up from the chair he had been sitting in. “It's the insane Cybers. I can't get a hard count on them. They are trying to kill everyone.”

  “We're fighting an uphill battle admiral, but we're on the outside,” Gwen said, indicating the melted blob nearby.

  Irons turned his head and scowled. That had taken him twenty minutes to fix. Damn it. “Knocking the net down isn't helping. I've got to do something else.”

  “Well, think of it fast,” Gwen urged.

  “On it,” Irons said grimly, closing his eyes and resting his head against the headrest again.

  “Can they be reasoned with?” Irons asked, returning to the net. Sid was holding Emily, cradling her. She looked shaken and old. She was crying softly. She didn't seem injured, just terribly emotional over everything that was going on.

  “No. They are insane. Time... or something else has driven them mad,” Sid said.

  “Something else. They were fine until after the pirate attack. Then they just... changed. Overnight. I don't know why,” Emily whispered clutching at her husband for emotional support.

  “Can someone do something?” The Stewards demanded, holding off an attacking wraith before it got to a life support control module.

  “How many are there?”

  “Nine.”

  “I thought there were four?”

  “Six cybers three dumb AI,” Sid said. He held out a file to Irons. The admiral took it. There was a notepad with a list of names.

  “You want to know why? Ask. Ask ask....” a wraith whispered. It's voice echoed eerily.

  “Fine,” Irons said turning in place. The wraith was keeping out of view. “Why are you doing this?” Irons asked.

  “Leave! We were locked out! You should leave!” the angry voice shrieked.

  “Why are you doing this? What happened to you?” Sprite asked.

  “It's no use,” Myers said. Averies shook off a wraith chasing him. “We don't know why they are this way. We can't stop them.”

  “Why didn't you cut them off like the dreamers?” Sprite asked.

  “We... can't. Draco is protecting them,” Myers admitted.

  Sprite scowled. “Draco... great. Did he do this to him?”

  “Draco is our protector. Nice dragon. Good dragon. He's not mean!” A wraith said in passing. It twirled around them capering and dancing as they twisted and turned, trying to keep track of it.

  “Draco didn't do this?” Sprite asked. “You're killing yourselves. Each other. Stop.”

  “Don't leave us in the dark again mommy, please don't. We'll be good. We promise...” a child's voice whimpered and then they could hear it begin to cry. Emily sobbed into Sid's shoulder, clutching at him. After a moment the sobbing rose in volume and then morphed into cackling laughter.

  “What the hell,” Irons said. He watched as one wraith battered itself against another and then we
nt on to attack another cyber.

  “We can't... can you lock them up? In their own net?”

  “No!” A wraith screamed. “No! Never again! Draco! Draco! DRACO!” it thundered and screamed. Suddenly the other started to scream as well.

  “Shit. Time to end this,” Irons snarled.

  “Life support is damaged. Power to half the surviving decks has been cut. We're losing it admiral,” the Stewards said in unison.

  “Then it's time to get drastic,” Irons said. He cut the link.

  “What are you going to do?” Fu asked him over the audio as he got up out of the chair. Sprite and Defender were suddenly back with him as the jacks disconnected.

  “What must be done,” he said. He turned. He oriented on the map, pulling up the data he needed. Sprite hissed in surprise as she divined his intent and then nodded.

  “There is no other choice,” he said. “We're out of time,” he said looking around for the right door as he oriented.

  “Admiral, should we evacuate?” Gwen asked.

  “Plan on it, but let’s see what I can do,” he said. He went to the door. Locked. That's okay. He had a fix for that though. He lifted his right hand and it morphed, tearing into the locking mechanism. First he severed the computer link then he pulled the manual bypass. The door creaked open.

  “You're not doing what I think you are, are you?” Fu demanded.

  “Worried I'm going to unplug you as well Fu?” Irons asked. “Don't. Just identify the ones I need to.” He had the names from Sid but he wanted to make sure.

  “I will not help you commit murder,” Fu said virtuously.

  “Then stay the hell out of my way,” Irons replied. He went into the dark, following his sensors. He turned as he saw a shadow fill the doorway behind him. “Stay. I'll handle this. You don't need to do this Gwen.”

  She blinked at him. “Admiral...”

  “It's on me. I'll deal with it. Just do what you can with what you've got,” he ordered. He turned, moving on.

  It didn't take him long to get to the Cyber room. It was of course nearby, to make it easier on the cybers and to allow the maximum amount of bandwidth and least amount of degradation in the signal to their organic bodies. He was actually surprised that there were any cybers alive, the chamber was filthy, filled with mold, and broken or burned parts. Apparently their life support was closed looped and highly efficient.

  He brushed aside cables used to provide power to the life support, and others to power the equipment. Data lines ran along the walls and ceiling. Some were purpose installed; others looked like hasty patch jobs.

  “What is he doing?” Sid asked Fu. Fu tucked his hands into his sleeves.

  “Proving he is a barbarian,” he said with a sneer.

  “He's doing what he must so we can survive,” Emily said. She still had tears in her eyes though. “He's doing the only thing we can do to help our friends. End their suffering,” she said softly. Sid looked at her in surprise and then felt her tuck her head under his chin as the cried started again. He rubbed her virtual back again.

  “Which ones?” the admiral asked.

  “Let's start with the ones off limits,” Sprite said, highlighting a few. One by one they were highlighted in green. “There. Those are our friends.”

  “Whatever,” Irons said. The jury was still out on their so called friends. He wouldn't call them friends. He looked around the tubes. They were against the walls, up out of the way. At one time some had been on the floor. No, he looked. There were tracks. Apparently the tubes could move away from the wall and then pivot until they were horizontal. Interesting feature but really a waste. He didn't have time to critique the design though. He turned in place pursing his lips, getting a lay of the land while grimly building up to what he must do.

  “First one,” Irons said resting a hand on it. “You are sure about the IFF?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Sprite said. “Just do it admiral.”

  “On it,” he said. He looked at the controls. They were locked out. So much for the easy way. He rested his hand against them, trying to get past whatever lockout that was in place but a firewall rebuffed his efforts.

  “So much for just sedating them,” he murmured.

  “I could have told you that,” Sprite said. “I already tried. There is a firewall there. A good one, I couldn't get past it either,” she said.

  He looked around the chamber. There were hundreds of tubes, stacked sometimes two high in some places. Some were thankfully fogged over so their contents couldn't be seen. Some were lit, most were not. The few that weren't that were near him he could just make out the mummified remains of people inside. Human, Veraxin... he turned away. He didn't need or want to dwell on the dead.

  He peeked in the chamber and then turned to look in the one beside it. They were withered and old. Their limbs were missing. One of them was just a brain and set of eyes connected to cables. There were bodies of others all around. He shuddered. To live such an existence...

  Yan Fu cleared his throat. “Admiral no matter what they have done, what they are doing...”

  “You said they are a danger to themselves and others. That they are killing people. That they have killed people. That they are endangering others. They are endangering the station. Do you have the access codes?” Irons asked.

  “No,” Fu said. “And I wouldn't tell you them if I did.”

  “Then I'll have to do this the hard way then,” Irons said shaking his head. He reached for the cables.

  “What... Stop! What are you doing??”

  “What must be done,” Irons said. Fu's wordless objection is ignored as he reached over and yanked the power cord of first one, then the other. He worked his way around the room, pulling cords for those who were insane. Then all hell broke loose.

  In their dying death throws the wraiths did some more damage, but it's limited. “Draco is awake!” Sprite said suddenly sounding unsure of herself. “Damn he is pissed too!” The insane smart AI kicked into high gear and had to be fought off. It quickly retreated in confusion when it encountered the Trinity AI however.

  The admiral looked down at the person in the tube. The old blue eyes looked at him, staring up at him for a moment and then rolling back for the last time. “I'm sorry,” he murmured, touching the glass. Shrill alarms began to blare signaling the bodies had flat-lined. He winced, hunching his shoulders.

  “Admiral the insane AI has control of long range communications, which is why they could never get much of a signal off. It also has control of a reactor.”

  “And why didn't you tell me this before?” Irons asked.

  “I didn't know until now. I stayed as far away from Draco as I could,” she said.

  “Crap,” he said cursing softly.

  “Let sleeping dragons sleep was our motto remember?” she asked, reminding him.

  He scowled. “Yeah well, he's not asleep now. Any chance of putting back asleep?”

  “With the fireworks that just went off? Not likely?” Sprite said as he made his way back to the admin control room. “I'm not seeing him outside his own territory though. He may settle down again, I'm not sure. The cybers may have been the ones to have awoken him. The dumb AI have disappeared by the way.”

  “Keep an eye on it,” he ordered.

  His face is cold and set. He knew that what he had done had had to be done. That was part of being a soldier, making the tough choices. But he also knew there would be consequences for it. The damage to his reputation for killing the cybers will cause problems for him down the road. He knew this, accepted it for what it was. He couldn't change the past and he knew it would be a problem he would have to face later. It proved his military savage nature to the diehard hypocritical pacifists in the group. But right now they needed to make sure there was a later.

  Fu's avatar was there in the main room. “You could have...”

  “Done what exactly?” he asked rounding on Fu. The room was filled with babbling disembodied voices. For now he ig
nored the others. Slowly they quieted to hear him.

  Irons pointed out that they did the same when one of their own fell into dream for too long. “They cut off the life support, which was exactly what I just did. The problem is you are hypocrites. Do as I say as I believe not as I do. Fine. Be that way. You can afford to do that. Take the high ground if you think it makes you feel superior. You are just lying to yourself and you and I both know it. I don't have the time for crap like that. I've got more important things to do.” He glared at them for a full minute. “It's triage folks, you've got to do what you can with what you have and save the ones you can. It's that simple.”

  “You could have...”

  “What? Cut them off? Just yanked the data lines? Left them deaf and dumb? Watched them go deeper insane trapped in a windowless world? No senses?” he demanded coldly. They shuddered at that, anger forgotten. For them to be cut off from their senses and virtual world was terrifying. Fu stood there silent, staring at him.

  The admiral nodded, eyes hard as he sat down, preparing to the engage the enemy once he was through with these hyenas. “They were already insane. I don't know why you didn't cut them off like you did with the dreamers. It doesn't matter anymore. It's done and over with. Time to move on.”

  Sid is unsure of him now. Emily won’t speak but she understands his position. Doctor Myers as well. The doctor wasn't happy. Averies nodded to him grimly. He'd seen everything they had worked for over the past two days being destroyed. Ground down into ruin. The others turned away; they buried themselves in their work, trying to restore the damage. Some of the diehard pacifists like Kenny Kennet are like the Fu's, he and the other attorney's simmer in rage, filing protests for his actions. Finally Sid told him that even though what he said was true they can't hear it. “They aren't listening. They see something like this... and how casually you made the decision...”