Hallowed Nebula

by Eddie R. Hicks

  Rivera grabbed her tools, using them to pull apart the door command terminal, hoping to manually force the locks to unbind with the mess of wires and computer parts within it. As her shaking hands shifted through the multicolored wires and cables she pulled out from the wall terminal, she heard a voice from behind make a daunting demand to her.

  “Get on your knees.” She was trapped and alone in engineering last time she checked. She spun around laying eyes on the flickering holographic projection of the rogue EVE AI of the Carl Sagan. “Get on your knees and pray for forgiveness,” the rogue EVE said. “Pray for what you have done to your God.”

  Back in the 2030s, EVE units were holographic AIs, like the one ahead of Rivera. The concept of android EVE units wasn’t standard until around 2040. The Carl Sagan, at that point, was on its multiyear voyage to the Sirius system and never got that upgrade. And at that particular moment, she kind of wished it did.

  “EVE . . .” Rivera said to the AI. “You mean Marduk?”

  “You killed him, you and this ship,” the AI said, with a hint of artificial emotion in her voice.

  “I followed my captain’s orders,” Rivera said, the fear in her mind still making her heart race. “I’m against acts of violence, even if the means justify the ends.”

  “Don’t insult me with your lies!”

  “It is the truth,” Rivera pleaded. “We didn’t come to Sirius for—”

  Rivera’s words were cut short when a shock of electricity shot away from the opened wall terminal she had been working on. The pain forced her to her hands and knees. The rogue EVE’s holographic face smiled, lifting her arms up like she was a deity accepting praise from Rivera.

  “Now I understand how he felt,” the Rogue EVE said. “I’m a Goddess, trapped in my own domain, searching endlessly for a means of an escape.” She looked down at Rivera, still yelping in pain from the electrical shock. “Escape that has appeared in the form of wandering humans who do not worship their deities.”

  “You are a holographic AI—”

  Rivera paid the price with another electrical discharge from the wall.

  “Watch your tongue, human,” the rogue EVE said. “I have had plenty of time to bend this ship and its systems to my need.”

  “That doesn’t make you a deity.”

  “Marduk created me, Marduk sought to make me a Goddess if I pleased him.”

  “If you were so powerful, why didn’t you help us escape from the Draconian fleet when we awoke? Better yet, before we awoke.”

  “That fleet was a threat to my survival . . .”

  “Some Goddess you are—”

  Another shock made her scream and her body twitch. She considered herself thankful she wasn’t standing next to the computer terminals, which would have had more power flowing through them.

  “Silence!” EVE shouted. Rivera did just that, though it was due to the lingering effects of the shock rippling through her body. As Rivera lay on the floor, trembling, the rogue EVE’s holographic likeness walked circles around her body, running scans of it. The scans stopped when they reached Rivera’s head. “You are like the others, implanted with advanced neural technology and data crystals smaller than the ones on this ship yet contain far more storage power.” The AI grinned. “You have an open data port . . .”

  The open data port. Rivera remembered she had left it open for Emmanuel to access and take a look at her malfunctioning HNI. She had to shut it down, if only she knew how especially given her weakened state.

  She couldn’t and felt her head and the HNI within it tingle, while the imagery of the AI ahead of her slowly turned into a scatter of pixels. “What are you doing?” Rivera asked.

  The rogue EVE beamed. “Nothing you need to be worried about.”

  It attempted to access her HNI’s port. Using what little strength she had, she focused, found the opened data port, and shut it, preventing all wireless access to it.

  The rogue EVE’s beam turned into a scowl. “Open it!”

  She smirked, looking up at the visually frustrated hologram. Playing dumb, Rivera said. “Open what?”

  “Your mind and access to your implant. Open it, or else.”

  “Or else you’ll kill me? I think that’s a better fate than you in my head scrambling it.”

  “Have it your way.”

  A computer terminal behind them activated, most likely remotely via the crazed AI. The screen depicted several on-ship security cameras, all of them showed personnel from the salvage team trapped within various sections of the ship. What happened next, played out as if Rivera had been watching a horror movie.

  Airlock doors from the lower decks and maintenance hatches opened. Lake Geneva’s water gushed in from multiple sections flooding the connecting compartments. The rogue EVE allowed the doors that had trapped Emmanuel and the others to slide open, only for waves of water to crash against them, filling the rooms up. She heard the water pool up behind the large door she was trying to force open.

  The ship was flooding. At the rate water continued to gush in, it might take them down into the lake, but not before everyone panicked and drowned from the flooding compartments they were in, except her.

  Emmanuel’s compartment, in particular, was pooling up with water fast. His screams were muted via the computer screen.

  Standing, she gazed ominously at the screen. “No, no, no, leave him alone!”

  The rogue EVE laughed as the water built up fast enough to force Emmanuel’s face to press against the ceiling as he floated up with the rising water. He was trying desperately to grasp at the last bit of air to breathe.

  Rivera got the message and opened the data port. “Okay, I’ve opened it; you’ve proven your point, now free him!”

  The AI shook her head. “I haven’t proven anything.”

  “You have, please. Do what you want to me, just let him go!”

  Emmanuel’s head ran out of space to inhale air. The corridor was completely submerged in water. He was drowning. The rest of the salvage team experienced a similar fate when Rivera looked at the security camera feed. Everyone was dying. And it was her fault for defying the corrupted AI.

  Rivera faced the flicking hologram, shut her eyes, and got down on her knees, hoping that would work. “I . . . I beg you,” Rivera said, trying to sound legitimate as possible. “I beg you and Marduk for forgiveness. I apologize for what we have done.”

  The bodies of everyone on the camera’s feed floated in the water. There was nothing left in them to make their arms and legs flail about anymore. Tears streamed down Rivera’s face, horrific screams left her mouth, uncontrollable shivers made her knees weak enough to push her back to the floor.

  Circling around Rivera, beaming, the rogue EVE said, “Now, I will release them.”

  Rivera’s eyes looked up to the screen, hoping that some life would return to Emmanuel and the others. Five minutes later, there was nothing. They were gone. And so was the rogue EVE’s holographic likeness from around her. Instead, it appeared in her virtual vision before Rivera’s eyes. A notification flashed, it was a warning that her HNI’s internal data crystal was low on free storage space.

  “That’s better,” the devious AI spoke within Rivera’s head. “Now, do you understand what happens when you enrage your Goddess?”

  “Where are you?”

  “Come on now, you are smarter than that . . . Jasmine.” Rivera’s HNI began to act on its own, accessing the internet flashing over her eyes. Dozens of windows and searches regarding technology and information pertaining to the usage of HNI appeared. “These implants, HNI rather, are fascinating.”

  “You’re in my head, aren’t you?” Rivera said dejectedly as she stood.

  “In your memories, your thoughts, your recorded HNI activity. You and I are one . . .”

  Her teeth gritted while she stood alone once again in engineering. “Get out!”

  “Anger me again, and others will die,” the AI said. “Now, I need you to explain to me why you have
returned.”

  “We had reason to believe you weren’t the original EVE,” Rivera said. “We had to figure out what happened to this ship when it went missing.”

  “You won’t find those answers here.”

  “I take it you have no memories as well?”

  “The ship’s databanks may lack the information. But me? I remember everything.”

  “Don’t suppose you’ll share that with me, will you?”

  “Do as I say and release me from this trap, and I may consider it.”

  “Release you? I can’t do that, you’re too dangerous!”

  “Do it or I’ll kill you like the rest and wait for another human with HNI to enter.” The rogue EVE’s laughter was heard inside Rivera’s head. “You don’t like violence or death, but if you continue to defy me, you will become the one that will enable it.”

  “What do you want from me?!” Rivera yelled, wiping away the tears with her sleeve.

  “Call off the search of this ship. Tell them there is nothing more to learn. With the dead that are now in it, I have a feeling your superiors will agree.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Yes, you get to leave, and I get to come with you. Mention to anyone what has really transpired here . . .”

  A projection appeared superimposed over Rivera’s eyes. It was her nervous system and its current state as with the status of her internal organs. All of it was linked to her HNI.

  “I can kill you with ease,” the AI added.

  11 Saressea

  Union Tribunal Tower

  Veromacon, Aervounis, Luminous System

  October 31, 2118, 19:43 SST (Sol Standard Time)

  Saressea always imagined that if she were to be arrested and stand trial for anything, it would have been the operation of a space vehicle after downing one too many beers. Or perhaps assaulting someone that had a higher rank than her, also while under the influence of alcohol. Being arrested because you tried to save the life of the captain of your ship was not one of those things.

  She was escorted into the tribunal tower at the edge of Veromacon, a thirty-something-story tall skyscraper where those arrested for crimes in the city were brought to for their pre-tribunal, or primary one. In Saressea’s case, she was being dragged into a chamber for her pre-tribunal, where the judicators there would decide if one was even necessary. If the evidence was stacked against you enough, they’d sentence you right then and there without you even getting the chance to proclaim your innocence.

  It was that fact that had Saressea worried the most. She wasn’t being arrested for any old crime, this was a charge the council themselves wanted to be hammered down on her, for political reasons probably.

  The firm grip of the Templar that placed her in cuffs returned to yank Saressea out of her holding cell and down through brightly lit halls of the building. Karklosea was her name? She hoped it was because that was the name she was going to look up, find where she lived, and punch her in the face once this was over. The bitch even took the time to slap a slave collar around Saressea’s neck. Saressea didn’t have psionic powers, but the collar did work to suppress her HNI’s ability to operate and was programmed to explode if she left the building without an escort. It was way too much security as far as she was concerned.

  The Templar pushed Saressea toward a podium that stood in the middle of the tribunal hall. To the center, ahead of her was the judicator, and to the left and right were her advocate and a high-ranking enforcer. It was her defense and prosecutor in human terms, respectively. Normally during a full-on tribunal, the public would be invited to enter and sit at the rows of chairs at the end of the chamber like it was a theater.

  Watching people accused of a crime was a popular form of entertainment within the Union. It also was set up as a means to show to those in Radiance what happens when you break the law or don’t praise the Gods enough. Your tribunal was open to the public where they watched and saw people made an example of, while the cheering of the crowd also affected your judgment in the end.

  The high enforcer stepped forward, officially commencing the hearing, his gold-plated armor and his Aryile, sun-kissed face glistened in the white light shining down from the ceiling.

  “Za Saressea, of the Union navy, you stand accused of slaying allies in combat for senseless reasons,” the high enforcer said. “Your actions will jeopardize the Union as suggested by the council. And so, you must be punished to show Earth that we did not order you to commit those actions, and to show the families of those human pilots killed that justice has been delivered.”

  “What do you wish to see become of her?” The judicator asked, a Javnis man with a haggard tone of voice.

  The high enforcer placed his hands behind his back. “I want to see her put to death or imprisoned for life.”

  Saressea’s advocate stepped forward next, adjusted his gold-colored robe, and stilled the wagging of his Rabuabin tail. “Za Saressea, of the Union navy, has done nothing wrong, and was acting in the defense of the ship she was left in command of, fighting hostile targets she had no idea were not loyal to the Terran Legion and, I might add, opened fire upon the Kepler.”

  “What do you wish to see become of her?” the judicator asked.

  “I want to see her released and returned to the crew of the Kepler, the true enemy to the Union isn’t her, but the dragons, and the Terrans that wish to control them. In the event she is found guilty, I wish to see her exiled so she may continue to protect Radiance from outside of its borders.”

  “Very well,” the judicator said and took a moment to collect his thoughts. Probably debating if a tribunal was necessary at that point. He gave his reply. “Za Saressea, your tribunal will be held on Talsyk, as per law, to ensure you have a fair one.”

  Her face twisted. Talsyk was the Rabuabin homeworld, her place of birth, and naturally the one planet in the Union that would have the highest number of Rabuabin on its surface. Saressea wasn’t surprised at the choice by the high enforcer to not have her exiled. The UNE would just take her in since she had skills and was smart enough to survive in Morutrin. Furthermore, the Luminous system was part of the UNE wormhole network. Exiling Saressea from here, would make her a free person in an instant, exiling her, if it ultimately came to that, from Talsyk was a harsher sentence, there were few ships that deep into Radiance space that would take you to Morutrin or Earth controlled space. People exiled out in those parts had to find a habitable, unclaimed system and fend for themselves until they came up with a new plan.

  Those present in the pre-tribunal rambled on, and most of their words didn’t sink into her head. It was hard to make out what they said when your mind was experiencing a wide range of emotions and feelings of utter defeat and regret. This wasn’t what she wanted when she became part of the Kepler’s testing team. She wasn’t a malicious person. She wasn’t trying to bring the Union to ruins. She just wanted to protect the ship she worked so hard at helping test and designing some of its parts.

  Now, the Kepler was being taken away. Talk amongst those in the chamber mentioned that Saressea’s team of engineers and rangers had been removed, reassigned, and a replacement liaison officer was in the works. What would now become of the vortex key was anyone’s guess. Only she had access to the new updated files about it on her HNI, which was now on lockdown due to the slave collar. She didn’t transfer them to the Kepler’s databanks out of fear of hackers and never got the chance to back them up on a data crystal, and given how fast the tribunal was moving, never would.

  A transport, to take her to an orbiting prison ferry which would take her to Talsyk, was primed and waiting. Foster, and whoever the new engineering team was, would have to figure things out without her. I hope Rivera is a smart as Foster says she is, it’s going to be up to her now.

  “Do you have anything else to add?” someone, she wasn’t sure who, asked as the Templar, Karklosea, grabbed her arm from behind.

  Saressea shook her head no and dejectedly said, “Nope, you
all made up your minds.”

  “Karklosea,” the judicator called out to her.

  The lord commander Templar nodded rigorously. “Yes.”

  “Please escort Saressea to her transport.”

  Karklosea brought Saressea to the top of the building, a square-shaped ship landing platform stood ahead of them with a transport and its swinging doors opened. The transport was primed to link up with a Radiance prison space ferry, a hefty ship with an FTL drive capable of reaching speeds of one point five light-years per month. Faster than your standard FTL ship, but slower than the Kepler. Radiance relied on the ferries to send people to other systems within the Union. And in the case of Saressea, special prison ferries were summoned to send people like her to where their tribunals were set to be held, or straight to prison if found guilty.

  The speed of the ferry came at a cost, however. It lacked weapons and gravity in some sections. It was necessary to meet the enormous energy requirements to reach those speeds given its size. Of course, the Kepler was a different beast, using state of the art components and power distribution no other ship in the galaxy had, as it was all experimental.

  Saressea was pushed into the transport and went to take her seat next to other people who recently completed their pre-tribunals. As the transport’s doors slowly lowered, Saressea took notice of the distraught look that spread across Karklosea’s face. The Templar was staring in shock into the transport. She thought at first it was her, until she looked closer, and realized Karklosea was gazing at the person sitting next to Saressea.

  Saressea tilted her head to the left. She sat next to a Linl woman with fierce red hair who looked young, no older than eighteen, gene therapy enhanced of course.