Illuminae
Page 19
Mason, E, LT 2nd: power’s out again
Mason, E, LT 2nd: we better move. gotta go
ByteMe: k
Mason, E, LT 2nd: i meant what i said, kades. do NOT come over here. i like your heart just fine where it is thank you
ByteMe: i like yours quite a lot too. love u. be safe.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: as you wish
CURRENT DEATH TOLL ABOARD BATTLECARRIER ALEXANDER SINCE ATTACK AT KERENZA:
487
PERCENTAGE OF REMAINING BATTLECARRIER ALEXANDER PERSONNEL AFFLICTED BY PHOBOS VIRUS:
13%
Boll, Syra, Capt: How did you get in here?
Grant, Kady, Civ: Nice place you got.
Boll, Syra, Capt: What’s your name?
Grant, Kady, Civ: Seriously, you should see my quarters. Well, I say “quarters.” It’s a bunk screwed into the wall. You have art on the walls and everything.
Boll, Syra, Capt: I’m calling security.
Grant, Kady, Civ: Don’t do that, Captain. You could break me in half with one hand, I’m clearly not a threat.
Boll, Syra, Capt: What are you, then?
Grant, Kady, Civ: An opportunity.
Boll, Syra, Capt: Is that so?
Grant, Kady, Civ: You’re going to leave the Alexander. You’re going to take your chances that AIDAN won’t actually blow you away when you run for it, which is probably a risk worth taking since it is still programmed to protect us.
Boll, Syra, Capt: How do you know that?
Grant, Kady, Civ: It’s a mystery.
Boll, Syra, Capt: No, seriously, how do you know that? That information was restricted.
Grant, Kady, Civ: I hacked into your secure comms channel and listened to you talking it out with AIDAN.
Grant, Kady, Civ: So here’s the thing, Captain.
Grant, Kady, Civ: You really shouldn’t leave the Alexander. There are people we can rescue on there. You just have to hold your nerve.
Boll, Syra, Capt: Look, I know we’ve all got people we care about over there, but I hope you’ll understand that when I make a decision about what to do, it won’t be in consultation with a teenaged refugee.
Grant, Kady, Civ: Does my refugee status have a particular bearing on the situation, Captain? Or my age, come to that?
Boll, Syra, Capt: Only in that I consider both to be good indicators you don’t have the command experience necessary to advise me. Now, how did you get into my quarters?
Grant, Kady, Civ: Same way I heard you talking to AIDAN. Portal security is one of the first things I learned. Doors, comm channels, those things are the building blocks.
Boll, Syra, Capt: Listen, Miss … ?
Grant, Kady, Civ: Grant. Kady Eleanora Grant.
Boll, Syra, Capt: I know it’s hard—
Grant, Kady, Civ: You have no idea.
Boll, Syra, Capt: We all have people on the Alexander.
Grant, Kady, Civ: I don’t have people. I have a person. The only one I have left, since you forced my mother across to the Copernicus. And I’m not okay with leaving him. There’s still time.
Boll, Syra, Capt: Did you seriously hack the security on my door?
Boll, Syra, Capt: I didn’t know we had anyone left who could do that.
Boll, Syra, Capt: Report to neurogramming within thirty minutes, Miss Grant. We need your skills.
Grant, Kady, Civ: To help you leave the Alexander for dead?
Boll, Syra, Capt: To help keep the people of the Hypatia alive.
Boll, Syra, Capt: Including you, which I suspect is what the person you have on the Alexander would want.
Grant, Kady, Civ: If you think I’m going to help you abandon them, you’re dusted. Please, just think about this. We can do more than sit here scared. We have skills on board.
Boll, Syra, Capt: Miss Grant, I’m sorry. Now, I’m due on the bridge, so if you don’t vacate my quarters in the next thirty seconds, I’ll regretfully summon security.
Grant, Kady, Civ: You remember later that I asked, Captain.
Boll, Syra, Capt: I’ll tell neurogramming to expect you in thirty minutes.
RADIO MESSAGE: COMMAND CHANNEL HYPATIA
Participants: Syra Boll, Captain, Hypatia (Acting)
Mikael “Chatter” Carlin, 2nd Lieutenant, Alexander
Date: 07/30/75
Timestamp: 15:34
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Hello?
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Oh Captain, my Captain?
Boll, S, Capt: I read you, Lieutenant Carlin. But I’m not your captain. Over.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: How you figure? I’m currently sunning myself aboard your luxurious vessel. Taking in the sights and sounds of Hypatia Hangar Bay Number Two. Ah, bliss.
Boll, S, Capt: It’s not really my vessel. I’m not really a captain at all. I’m only sitting in this chair because the real captain of this ship is lying in the morgue. Over.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Yeah. I heard about that.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: And look, I’m real sorry. But you saved our asses. We’d be bingo fuel and drifting black by now if it weren’t for you. So I’d sure as hell salute as you walked past.
Boll, S, Capt: Well, I appreciate that. But I’m still not your captain, Lieutenant. Over.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Well, if we’re getting technical, I’m not really a lieutenant. I mean, I never went to officer school or anything. I’ve only got the stripes because flying a loader on Kerenza somehow made me qualified to fly a Cyclone up here.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: So you can call me Mikael.
Boll, S, Capt: That’s not entirely appropriate, Lieutenant.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Fuck appropriate.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Your name is Syra, right?
Boll, S, Capt: Correct.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: You have a nice voice, Syra. Real … I dunno …
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Musical, maybe.
Boll, S, Capt: Well, I appreciate that too, Lieutenant.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Shucks, ma’am. ’Tweren’t nuthin.’ Sorry if I’m talking too much, by the way. I do that a little when I’m nervous. That’s how I got landed with a callsign like “Chatter.”
Boll, S, Capt: It’s fine, Lieutenant. We’re all a little nervous.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: I heard that.
Boll, S, Capt: Did you have time to read much poetry driving that loader on Kerenza?
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Um, say again?
Boll, S, Capt: “O Captain! My Captain!” That’s one of my favorite poems.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: … That’s from a poem?
Boll, S, Capt: Yes. Walt Whitman wrote it. You didn’t know that?
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Oh. Right. I think I saw it in an old movie once. I dunno.
Boll, S, Capt: Ah. I see.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: What’s it about? The poem?
Boll, S, Capt: An old Terran president. But really, it’s about the price of victory. People dying before they get to enjoy the peace they fight so hard for, but fighting all the same.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Sounds like a real chucklefest.
Boll, S, Capt: It’s very sad. But beautiful.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: I’ll have to read it once we get out of here.
Boll, S, Capt: I can loan it to you.
Boll, S, Capt: If you’d like.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Yeah. I’d like that a lot.
Boll, S, Capt: Well. Was there any particular reason you radioed in, Mikael, or did you just feel like an impromptu poetry lesson?
Boll, S, Capt: Lieutenant. I meant Lieutenant.
Boll, S, Capt: Goddammit.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Um, yeah there was. You said to report anyone showing any Phobos symptoms so you can initiate further quarantine procedures.
Boll, S, Capt: Yes.
Bo
ll, S, Capt: Yes, I did.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Now look, it’s probably nothing. But one of our Cyclone drones has come down shaking. He’s a Kerenza recruit like me. Now, I think it’s just PTSD. His wife is still on the Alexander, and they lost their son on Kerenza. He’s always been—
Boll, S, Capt: Describe the symptoms please, Lieutenant.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Well. The usual shit, you know. He’s shaking. Scared. Semi-catatonic. But like I say, I don’t think it’s anything—
Boll, S, Capt: Has he been in contact with the rest of the Alexander personnel?
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Well, yeah. I mean, the guys who came across in the shuttles are in Bay Three, so he hasn’t been in contact with any of them. But yeah, the pilots are all jammed in here in Bay Two like ration packs. It’s getting a little fragrant, if you—
Boll, S, Capt: Lieutenant.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Yeah?
Boll, S, Capt: Lieutenant, I’m so sorry.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Um. Okay.
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: What are you sorry for?
Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: … Syra?
SYSTEM MESSAGE: COMMAND CHANNEL HYPATIA
07/30/75 15:37:14—Hangar Bay 2 system check complete.
07/30/75 15:42:42—Airlock seal integrity confirmed 100%.
07/30/75 15:45:10—Command override received.
< Acting Captain Syra Boll ident confirmed. >
07/30/75 15:46:17—Core command PR-001.ID#2 acknowledged.
07/30/75 15:48:10—
Mason, E, LT 2nd: Kady?
ByteMe: Ez
ByteMe: where r u? u ok?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: they’re dead
Mason, E, LT 2nd: jesus christ
ByteMe: who?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: sanderson, griggs. bodie. maybe all of them, i don’t know.
ByteMe: tell me where you are. are you secure?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: i don’t know
Mason, E, LT 2nd: fuck
ByteMe: are you behind a locked door?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: yeah. jammed shut. vents too
Mason, E, LT 2nd: fuckers came in through the airshafts, Kady. stole right up on us.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: i couldn’t do anything. fuck, i tried. there were just too many.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: they snatched griggs right out of my arms. sanderson’s blood is still all over my suit. i can’t get it off. its all over my fucking hands all over the console
Mason, E, LT 2nd: those fucking BASTARDS
ByteMe: I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.
ByteMe: we have to keep you safe. that’s what’s left to do. we have to find you somewhere you can hole up until command realizes they can still save people
Mason, E, LT 2nd: fuck, i cant get this BLOOD OFF
ByteMe: Ezra, listen to me. you have to keep your head, you have to focus. you’re still alive, we have to keep u that way. don’t you dare lose your shit now, you hear me? focus.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: my hands r shakingso bad i can hardly type
Mason, E, LT 2nd: oh god
Mason, E, LT 2nd: ok
Mason, E, LT 2nd: im ok
ByteMe: whole shuttles of people made it over here
ByteMe: they let them on board and everything
Mason, E, LT 2nd: jesus i’mscared
ByteMe: it’s going to be okay. u just have to hang on.
ByteMe: how much power do u have? i need to work out where you are, whether I can show them an access route in to you. if there’s a way in, then all i need is an offer they can’t refuse.
ByteMe: and i’m the only one left in the fleet now who knows how to hack the Hypatia
Mason, E, LT 2nd: i dunno where i am. somewhere below deck 40
Mason, E, LT 2nd: i’m trying to make it to one of the server rooms.
ByteMe: thats good.
ByteMe: if AIDAN is protecting itself, they’ll be the safest places on the ship
Mason, E, LT 2nd: i can hear them outside
Mason, E, LT 2nd: fuck i can hear them screaming
ByteMe: don’t listen
ByteMe: think of me, think of home.
ByteMe: i dont have a lot of time, i think we’re going to leave the Alexander behind soon, AIDAN or no AIDAN. i have to try and talk to the captain. slow the hypatia down, shut her down if i have to. they won’t be able to fix her if I take her down.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: kady u cant come here
Mason, E, LT 2nd: you’ll die too
ByteMe: well i’m not leaving u, so thats really the end of that discussion
ByteMe: what do u think, i’m just going to sail off into the sunset and leave you to be eaten by the mob out there or blown up by the Lincoln?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: i want you to get out kady
Mason, E, LT 2nd: i want you to live and tell the truth about what happened here
Mason, E, LT 2nd: jesus, someone has to
ByteMe: then i better get to work convincing my new captain that the sooner she rescues you, the sooner we can run away very fast from the Lincoln
ByteMe: and if she won’t help, i’ll find another way
Mason, E, LT 2nd: god im sorry Kady
Mason, E, LT 2nd: im so sorry for everything
ByteMe: what could u possibly be sorry for?
ByteMe: none of this is you. it’s fucking BeiTech, it’s messed up software in an AI that thinks it’s saving us, it’s your dead commanders making stupid, arrogant choices
Mason, E, LT 2nd: kerenza. all the fights we had. all the excuses i made. all of it
Mason, E, LT 2nd: i should have told you i loved you every day
Mason, E, LT 2nd: i should have given you the stars
Mason, E, LT 2nd: and now its too late
ByteMe: it’s not too late until it’s over
Mason, E, LT 2nd: kady
Mason, E, LT 2nd: it IS over
ByteMe: it’s not.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: kady, don’t you fucking dare come over here
ByteMe: i have to go. stay safe. check in as soon as i can.
ByteMe: love you
Mason, E, LT 2nd: kady DONT
Mason, E, LT 2nd: kady?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: shit
Subject: What’s left
Date: 07/30/75
Stuff doesn’t matter.
That’s what They say.
I wonder if They’ve ever tried losing everything?
I left Kerenza with nothing but the clothes I was wearing, and I lost those soon after. They were covered in blood, and nobody thought I’d want them. Maybe they could have been repaired, but instead they went into recyc, and I scrubbed the blood from under my fingernails and got a ship jumpsuit instead.
Given their composition, my clothes most likely went into fertilizer for the hydroponics section, and in my grimmer moods I imagine a molecule here or a molecule there in the carrots I eat at dinner. See, Kady? You didn’t lose everything. It’s right here.
They say people are more important than stuff. Maybe that’s true, though I think there’s a reason nobody except Brothers and Sisters renounce their possessions. Even the destitute have something they cling to, right?
Your stuff is a series of choices that show who you are. Yeah, I went for the black digiplayer with the skulls on, got a problem with that? Yeah, these are the boots my mother says make me look like I’m in the army, this is the shirt my boyfriend loves, that I have to wear a jacket over when I leave the house.
That’s the toy turtle my gramma gave me before she died.
All I have now is me. People matter more than stuff?
Well fuck you, I don’t have people. My mother’s dead, o
r mad. My father’s on Heimdall, which means he’s probably dead too. And my stuff might have been a tiny reminder, something to cling to. Something to tell me who I am. Excuse me for being so fucking shallow.
FUCK. I want to slam this keyboard against a wall. This keyboard that belongs to the Hypatia. Not mine. Requisitioned. Like my blankets. Like my clothes. Like my life.
So here’s the thing. My people are gone. My stuff is gone. Nobody’s left who knows me, there’s nothing left to say who I am. Everything’s gone, except one thing. One person.
He told me to run, to get out, to spread the word. Byron said the same. I understand why they did.
But Ezra was ready to die just to improve my chances of survival by one percent more.
Turns out I feel the same way.
Time to go get him, or die trying.
Surveillance footage summary,
prepared by Illuminae Group Analyst ID 7213-0089-DN
It’s hard to believe this is the same spider monkey. The same girl who sauntered away from the Hypatia servers and blew a kiss to mark her conquest.
Surveillance report commences at 17:43 as the subject, Kady Grant, approaches the Hypatia shuttle bay. She has in her possession a large bag with infirmary markings, a backpack and a portable tablet.
There’s no strut in her step now. She looks exactly like the scared seventeen-year-old she is, pink hair fading, askew where she keeps running her hand through it. Still, considering she’s on her way to almost certainly be deader than a space dodo (so nice we killed them twice), you have to give her some credit for not just puking on the spot.
She stops around the corner from Hypatia’s Shuttle Bay 1B, home to the personnel carriers used for short, intra-fleet skips. Small craft, no weapons, designed to zip across the black to the Alexander or Copernicus, or, in happier times, a nearby space station. Her mouth moves, but audio doesn’t catch it. I’m not even sure she’s making any noise. Praying. Rehearsing. Giving herself an old-fashioned pep talk. You’re up to bat, Kady Grant. One strike and you’re out.
Her fingers dance across the tablet, and she scans the results, then nods. When she rounds the corner to Security Officer (2nd Class) Bronwen Evans, she’s neither strutting nor shuffling, but striding, short of time and take-no-shit. “They need you outside 3F,” she calls, brusque.