by P P Corcoran
“Hello, is anyone out there? Am I alone?”
Sitting on her butt, hysteria started to worm into her mind as she wrapped her arms around her knees. Still, she was greeted by metallic scraping, with only darkness to comfort her.
#
Alexis didn’t know she’d fallen asleep, but she woke up curled in the fetal position on the metallic floor. She was glad that the strange material seemed to warm on contact with her skin. Standing, she stretched the stiffness out of her bones and tried to ignore the pounding in her head. The alcohol was sweating its way out of her pores, and the smell was sickly sweet.
I’d kill for a nip, she thought as she groaned at the growing pain behind her eyes.
She started talking to fight back the darkness and fear of the unknown.
“Why couldn’t this thing have windows? I’d happily murder my own mother for some light.”
The moment the words left her lips, the black surrounding Alexis gave way to light. Her head snapped around as she took in the octagonal room. Small, spherical balls spaced evenly at eye level emitted bright, white light.
Each of the eight walls had alcoves built into them. Planks, roughly the length of a person, were centered in each alcove. There was no exit, no doors, no way in or out. Looking at the planks, Alexis realized they appeared to be bunks. Her mind flashed to childhood tours of the naval ships her father served on in the Navy.
For once, something good came from Dad’s service in bellbottoms, she thought. Here I was beginning to think the only thing I inherited was his taste for liquor.
She continued muttering to herself as she paced the room and tried to think. There weren’t any cameras. The room had the Spartan feel of a brig, but how could there be no door? Clearly the lights responded to her spoken command, but would other commands give the same results?
“Let there be dark!”
The room fell to darkness. She tested the verbal commands in repetition, until the novelty wore off. Before she could get too comfortable, hunger pains hit in earnest. Months of an alcoholic liquid diet was catching up to her.
“Food and drink.”
One of the depressions in the wall, which she’d thought was a sleeping alcove for her cell, opened. A mechanical arm, like a tiny version of one that assembled cars in factories, placed a tray on the plank. The silver, metallic arm disappeared momentarily into the wall and returned holding a cup. With a clink, the cup hit the plank and the arm retracted.
Alexis walked over to the tray and cup in a defensive stance. Taking a knee, she looked at where the arm had come from, only to see a smooth surface. Looking at the food, Army field survival training popped into her head. There were steps in determining if something was poisonous or not.
Alexis unbuttoned the cuffs of her sleeves and rolled them up to her elbows. Dipping a finger into the warm mush she rubbed some of it on the inside of her left arm. She did the same with the drink on her other arm.
Wait fifteen minutes...I think? If there is no reaction, rub some on your lips. Then the inside of the lip. Finally, swallow a small quantity.
Moving her hand instinctively to her watch, Alexis realized it was gone. Grasping at the many pockets spread out over her uniform, she realized everything was gone. Including her duty belt and rifle. Perhaps most importantly, her flask was missing.
“I need my watch!”
The room flashed red in response.
“Time. I need to be able to keep track of time.”
The room flashed red again.
“Can’t you just speak to me? What is this? Where am I?”
Alexis slammed her hands over her ears as sound bombarded her body. It was a deafening mixture of static and garbled electronic beeps. The room glowed bright blue then the sound ceased.
Allowing her fingers to unclench her ears, Alexis figured there were a few possible explanations for the current situation. One, she was part of some odd Army experiment. Likely a result of her negligence on watch leading to her being delegated to a lab rat. Two, she was experiencing alcohol poisoning leading to a bizarre lucid dream. Or three, she had died from the fall and was in some sort of strange purgatory.
None of those options indicated she would die from food poisoning. Taking a breath, she began shoveling the mush into her mouth with her fingers. The taste wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great either. The consistency was thick, and she could feel it working its way down into her stomach. Needing to wash it down, Alexis brought the cup to her lips. Her heart skipped as she took a whiff of the drink.
It smells like whiskey.
The comforting burn of the fluid as it wormed down her throat felt like a hug. Alexis closed her eyes as she swallowed, and for a moment, she was back at home sitting in her worn out recliner. The cup was empty in an instant. Alexis placed the cup back on the plank and stepped back.
“Another drink.”
The panel in front of her opened as the robotic arm sprouted from the newly formed void. A mechanical, riveted finger pivoted above the cup and fluid dispensed from the tip. Once the cup was full, the arm snatched the tray and retreated into the wall.
Finishing the second cup and feeling less shaky, Alexis realized she needed to pee before trying to find a way out of the room. She attempted every variation of the word “toilet” she knew. With only red flashes of light as response, she unfastened her pants and peed in a corner. Finishing her business, and frowning at having splashed her boots, Alexis started pacing again.
I need to find a button or switch. Maybe try some more verbal commands while I’m at it?
After the fifth lap around the room and feeling under each of the planks in the alcoves, Alexis let out a sigh. The room vibrated as one of the walls opened abruptly with a grinding noise. A small, boxy robot buzzed into the room through the newly formed door. Emitting high pitched beeping, the shoebox sized robot drove into the puddle of urine Alexis had left behind and stopped.
With a quick rotation, the robot turned toward her. Two circular lenses, that appeared to be eyes, looked at her as the boxy automation began to hum and make sucking sounds.
“Well, this is awkward. Sorry about that little guy. You the janitor?”
The robot beeped in response and turned away from her after the question was asked. In a few moments, the puddle of urine was gone. The robot faced toward Alexis, who had taken a few steps toward the bathroom mishap, and glided toward her.
“I think I’m going to call you Jan the janitor,” Alexis announced.
In response, a square panel opened on the robots front underneath its eyes. Alexis hunkered over to look when black fluid belched from the hole all over her boots. The robot beeped loudly and rolled away toward the door.
Shocked, but not wanting the chance to leave the room to disappear, Alexis hurried after Jan. The moment she passed through the opening after the robot, the wall closed behind her. Alexis could hear beeping ahead of her, but she was standing in darkness. Taking her time, she noted she was traveling in a clockwise manner.
“Light,” said Alexis.
Blue orbs along the walls revealed a grated floor with paneled walls. The panels appeared to be storage of some kind and rapping the metal with her knuckles offered hollow thuds. She couldn’t see any buttons, latches, keyholes, or scanners to open the wall compartments. Continuing her slow walk, the easy bend of the passageway revealed a new path to the left. She figured if she kept walking straight, she would make a large circle. The passageway to the left would take her somewhere new. Taking the passageway left, there was a different hue of light at the end.
Don’t walk into the light, she half-mused.
Beeping from ahead indicated Jan was waiting for her. Keeping her hand to the wall she approached the large, lit room. Alexis squinted as she stepped into the windowed space. The glass of the windows appeared to be convex and bubbled outward. Mentally dubbing the room the fish bowl, she walked up to a window and looked outside.
She choked on her own spit and began coughing
as her eyes met the landscape. Brilliant, reddish-orange grass and a gray-blue sky felt wrong. Double moons sat next to each other and a blazing sun hovered to their right. Running from one window to the next, she observed that everything was off. Sure, there were trees and bushes and grass, but everything was the wrong color and size. Blades of grass wider than her body stabbed at the sky and made trees look tiny. Tucked between patches of growth were brick huts that reminded her of third world living conditions. There must have been hundreds of them.
“Is this a ship? Am I on a ship? I'm drunk or dreaming — maybe both. What was in that drink?”
Beeping sounds from behind Alexis caught her attention. Looking over her shoulder, there was nothing there. A bump to her boot caused her to jump, and she looked down to see Jan. A glass of fluid sat on his back.
Snatching the glass from Jan’s back, Alexis swallowed the contents in three gulps. The burn in her throat was familiar, everything else was nonsense. Putting the empty cup back on Jan’s back, she started looking around. Jan hurried off to a doggy door sized hole near the wall and disappeared. For the first time, Alexis took in the room. In her rush to the windows, she hadn’t bothered to look around.
Computer terminals lined the walls and chairs sat empty in front of them. Odd rune-like writing appeared on the screens of the devices. The same writing was scrawled on the walls. One chair was centered in the room and all manner of strange buttons and dials covered the armrests. The chair was a welcome sight. The hard metal floor she had slept on hadn’t been forgiving. Walking over and plopping down into it, Alexis smiled.
“Sergeant — no — Captain Alexis Monroe, here. I’ll be commandeering this vessel for use in galactic piracy. First mate, fire up the engines for departure!”
Laughing out loud at the absurdity of her situation, Alexis screamed as black straps sprouted from the armrests and wrapped around her wrists and forearms. Kicking hard to try to stand up, something stabbed her in the back. Her strength began to wane as she felt the straps restrict her arms completely. Her entire body jerked as another object pierced her back. Unable to scream, she mumbled as searing heat radiated through her. The burning continued until her eyes closed.
#
Alexis stretched her legs out. Her hand instinctively went to the side handle of her treasured blue recliner and lowered the leg rest. Taking a deep breath in through her nose, she could smell the sweet scent of the candles she burned to hide the odor of booze prevalent in her apartment.
What a strange friggin’ dream. I need to cut back on my drinking, she thought as she let out a yawn.
Opening her eyes, she choked down vomit.
“No! What is this? It was a dream!”
Alexis jumped from her recliner and spun in circles. The windowed room, the fish bowl, she was still there. It was just...different. Like pieces of her memory, of her life, were transposed into the room around her. Merged together into a sort of a waking nightmare.
Though the writing was still runic looking, she could read it all. There was the engineering station, the pilot console, the weapons station, and the recessed spot for the ship’s executive officer. While the equipment looked mostly the same, the accoutrements were different. The kitten calendar that was on her refrigerator hung on the bulkhead above the engineering station. The wall clock from her bedroom, the giant one that looked like it came from a train station, was inset into the wall directly over the engineering station.
“What’s going on here? What is this?”
A sharp, sudden jolt at the top of her spine pushed the air from her lungs. Her fingers grasped at the pain to find a small, hard lump under her skin. Falling back into the recliner, her head snapped right as a small door opened. A four-legged robot walked in that resembled a cat in shape and size. Before Alexis could cough out a word, the mechanical cat looked up at her and spoke.
“Hello, Ship’s Mother. While you slept, I worked with the ship’s repair robots to make this place feel more like your home.”
Alexis stared at the cat. Unable to summon words, she pinched her arm.
“Yes, this is your species’ attempt at determining whether you are in a dream state or not. I assure you, Ship’s Mother, you are awake. Welcome to the Odera.”
“Odera? What’s going on and what are you?”
Two curved pieces of metal that resembled ears lowered as the cat heard her question. Perking again, the two circular lenses serving as eyes looked up to her.
“I am Jan. A name given to me after you marked the living space with your scent via fluid excretion. I returned the gesture in respect. This ship, Odera, is your new home. Your unbreakable oath was sworn the moment you sat down in the captain’s chair. You are now the chosen dignitary for your species.”
The moment Jan stopped speaking, Alexis thought of the name Odera. Something about the word pulled at her memories.
Odera means the tiny bird. It’s a Yura Class Super Corvette that was retrofitted with cruiser class weapons and an overcharged engine. How do I know this?
Jan stalked over to Alexis and jumped into her lap. Mechanical purring began to sound as the robot vibrated softly.
“You know this because you were linked to this ship while you slept,” said Jan. “Tiny machines, your species refers to them as nanobots, have linked the many synapses of your brain to the larger computerized brain of Odera.”
If that’s true, I need a drink.
“I expected you to say that,” said Jan. “It’s on the side table already.”
Alexis looked to her right. The side table from her living room sat there. A bottle of Virginia Gentleman, her favorite whiskey, sat on top. Grabbing the bottle and turning it over in her hands, Alexis sighed. Her fingers trembled as she spun the black and silver, metal lid from the top of the bottle and took a long pull.
“So, now what? We going to get drunk and fly this thing, or what? Take me home.”
“Ship’s Mother, I recommend we —”
“Enough with the ‘Ship’s Mother’ bullshit! Call me Alexis.”
Jan jumped on top of one of the computer terminals, walked in three circles, and sat down.
“Alexis, I recommend you wake the crew if you want to fly. Just say, ‘initiate milvus protocol.’”
“The crew? Where the hell have they been this whole time? You have them packed away in storage somewhere?” said Alexis.
“Yes. They must be assembled to resemble your species and merged with your biological blueprint.”
Alexis looked over at Jan who stretched out in a box of light cast through the window. Two panels opened on its side and pointed toward the light.
“What do you mean by assembled and merged with my biological blueprint? What are they, cyborgs or something?” said Alexis.
“Define cyborg,” Jan replied.
“Half machine and half human.”
“Yes, cyborgs! I did not see this memory in your scans. You will want to initiate cyborg protocol,” said Jan.
Alexis looked over at Jan who was still absorbing the sun’s rays.
“On my planet, in stories at least, cyborgs usually end up trying to kill everyone,” said Alexis. “They start off friendly, then start plotting, and before you know it, they end up trying to eradicate humans to save them or some nonsense. Will these cyborg crewmembers be under my control?”
The panels on Jan’s side retracted as the robotic cat jumped to its feet.
“Your crewmates would never do that, Alexis! You are the Ship’s Mother, and they are bound to your command. Their personalities will be imprints of humans from your memory, and Odera formats the master obedience command override.”
I guess it’s better than only having a robotic cat to talk to while I get drunk, thought Alexis.
“I thought taking the form of a cat would be pleasing to you,” said Jan. The metal felines head hung low. “If we could find biological matter from one of these cat creatures, I could fully look like one.”
Alexis let out a heavy si
gh, having forgot her thoughts were being read by the ship, and by proxy, Jan.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get home, Jan. Go ahead and initiate cyborg protocol. If any of these cyborgs have an Austrian accent, we’re going to have problems.”
Expecting something momentous to happen, Alexis scratched her head when nothing, but silence followed the command.
“Um, Jan? Did the ship receive my command?”
A computerized voice, eerily like her own, responded.
Command has been accepted, Alexis. Assembly of crew will take approximately twenty-four of your hours. I recommend you rest in the meantime. Merging with me took a toll on your body.
Alexis wasn’t sure what her future held as she pulled the wooden handle of her recliner and let her feet raise up. At least she had booze and a position of authority. A great combination by her estimation.
- THE END -
About J.R. Handley
J.R. Handley is a pseudonym for a husband and wife writing team. He is a veteran infantry sergeant with the 101st Airborne Division and the 28th Infantry Division. She is the kind of crazy that interprets his insanity into cogent English. He writes the sci-fi while she proofreads it. The sergeant is a two-time combat veteran of the late unpleasantness in Mesopotamia where he was wounded, likely doing something stupid. He started writing military science fiction as part of a therapy program suggested by his doctor, and hopes to entertain you while he attempts to excise his demons through these creative endeavors. In addition to being just another dysfunctional veteran, he is a stay at home wife, avid reader and all-around nerd. Luckily for him, his Queen joins him in his fandom nerdalitry.
Connect with JR here:
www.castrumpress.com/authors/jr-handley
About Corey Truax
Corey Truax is a writer, editor, blogger, stay-at-home dad, and a husband. A veteran Navy combat cameraman and journalist, he has dropped his anchor on the shore of civilian life. His wife, on the other hand, keeps them moving around the world as an active-duty Navy nuclear engineer.