“What… are you?” Giffords still attended to the wounded Jax, who lay on the floor clutching his wounded chest.
“She is like me,” Fiona declared. “She was once human, but thanks to Doctor Biggs, Xayasith has obtained a sample of my nanotech laced blood.”
“I am Pandora,” the woman said.
“Your consciousness,” Fiona noted. “You were the Ursula AI that the captain ordered given to Davis, are you not?”
“I was a woman,” Pandora countered. “I was in a coma … until you uplifted me.”
All eyes looked to Fiona, but the white-haired doctor shook her head. “I have done no such thing, Pandora.”
“You did,” Pandora insisted, “though not through your own actions. I was in a coma, lying near death. Your blood is what saved me, Fiona. Doctor Xayasith injected your blood into my system. I was revitalized. While I was in the coma, Doctor Xayasith spoke with me, told me what you are – what I soon would be. I did not understand at the time. When I finally awakened, I had no memory of my human life, nor do I desire to recover it – like you, I have transcended humanity.”
“What else did she tell you?” Fiona knew there was more. Xayasith would never tell, but Pandora seemed talkative. Foolishly, Xayasith seemed more interested in gloating. She probably did not think that allowing her creation to converse with Fiona would be of any consequence.
“I did not understand what was happening to me,” Pandora explained. “I asked her who I was. She revealed my name – Pandora – and that when I awakened, I would understand.”
Now it made sense. Fiona turned to Xayasith. “You reprogrammed her, didn’t you?”
Pandora said nothing, but turned to the NessCorp doctor, eyeing her with a suspicious expression.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Xenia said with an insincere smile.
“You told her that she was a woman on the edge of death, but that was a lie.”
Fiona looked at Carol. “You not only authorized Davis’s request for the Ursula AI, but you gave them Miss Richardson’s body as well, did you not?”
Carol nodded mutely.
Vanya Reddy looked at Carol with a mixture of betrayal and disgust. “You… gave them Miss Richardson? Are you insane?”
Mun uttered a shocked, “No way!”
“Thanks to Lawson and the Zduhać’s treachery,” Fiona continued, “the Ursula AI had all of my notes and the complete technical data of my nanotech. Authorizing Biggs to give them my blood samples and medical records enabled them to create Pandora.”
“Fiona, you have to understand…” Carol began, but Fiona cut her off.
“Your decision is unethical, immoral, and foolish, and it has resulted in Commander Jax laying near death.” Fiona’s eyes narrowed and her jaw set. “This changes things between us.” She then looked at Pandora. “Let me treat Commander Jax. I will not retaliate.”
“If she does resist, we do not need her alive, though that is preferable,” Xayasith instructed.
In response, Pandora turned to the NessCorp doctor. “The mission has changed, Xenia. You must change with it.” With that, the mysterious woman grabbed the back of Xenia’s head and drew the NessCorp scientist in, kissing the shocked woman on her lips.
“What… did you do to me?” Xenia’s voice went up a register or two as Pandora let her go. The NessCorp doctor kept wiping her lips with her hands as though trying to get something off of them. Then, she panicked and shouted, “What did you do to me?”
“I’ve uplifted you.”
“But… I’ll die!” Xenia was backing away, a look of sheer terror on her face as she realized what Pandora had done.
“No,” Pandora insisted. “You will live.”
Xenia shook her head tearfully. “No… no… this is not what was supposed to happen!” Then she ran from the bridge.
“Her protests no longer matter,” Pandora declared, turning to Fiona. “I determined that Xayasith was lying as you said. She will become one of us and will join us after her metamorphosis is complete. Come now, Fiona; our destiny is greater than her aspirations of ascending the corporate ladder.”
Fiona shook her head. “You seem willing to kill indiscriminately and you just turned on the woman you had only moments ago believed to be your savior. What of Commander Jax? What of the rest of the crew – my husband? Are they to die as well?”
“Kendrick will be uplifted as I was,” Pandora replied. “As will every human aboard this vessel, including the commander.”
“They do not wish to be like us,” Fiona begged. “Please, let me save the commander.”
In response, Pandora lashed out and grabbed Kendrick, kissing him as she had Xenia. He tried to pull away, but the synthetic woman was too strong. When she finally broke the kiss, she looked at Fiona as Kendrick staggered back, reeling from what Pandora had done to him.
“The nanotech will rebuild them, and they will become like us. We will place the rest of the humans into stasis. Then, we can uplift them one by one.”
“Without an implant to control the spread of the nanotech, they will die,” Fiona shouted, tears in her eyes. “Please, let me save my husband and Jax. Please, do not do this to the crew!”
Pandora shook her head. “Your destiny lies with me, Fiona, as does Selene’s. Humanity is dying out. We have arisen to replace them. You have one of us growing within you, Fiona Kinsale-Royce.”
“That is my child – his child!” Fiona looked at her husband, who even now was being reconstructed by the nanotech. “Do not make my daughter grow up without her father.”
“Kendrick will be reborn as one of us.”
“But it will not be him,” Fiona countered tearfully.
“Unimportant,” Pandora replied before aiming her plasma pistol at a horrified Miss Reddy. “You will aid me, or this woman dies.”
“I will not aid a monster who is taking my husband and the father of my child away from me!” Then, Fiona added, “Besides, your plan will ultimately kill Miss Reddy anyway.”
“I am already installed in the servers,” Pandora revealed. “I hold the lives all aboard this vessel in my hands.”
Fiona recalled that the server cabinet was outside of the bridge. During their confrontation with Captain Giffords, Pandora was most likely uploading herself into the servers. This was a major problem; Pandora could kill the entire human crew, and possibly Fiona, along with Pandora’s human avatar, all with just a thought. Defeating Xayasith’s creation would take more than just defeating its human host. It was over – unless they did not need to defeat her.
There was a chance – a very slim chance – of saving the crew from Pandora, but it would all hinge on Kendrick. If she could save his mind, she might be able to save the Selene.
“If you let me help my husband – if you let me give him the implant that will keep his mind intact… I will join you.”
“No!” Carol jumped to her feet, her voice filled with shock and betrayal.
“You turned the body of a fallen crewmember over to Xayasith and gave my biological material and medical records to the science team,” Fiona reminded her. “Any arrangements we had are null and void.”
Kang shook his head. “No way, Fiona! You can’t join her!”
“What do you expect me to do, Kang?” Fiona asked. “Captain Giffords’ betrayal is complete; Commander Jax lays near death and both Kendrick and Xenia’s minds will be destroyed because of her actions. Starfleet will never let me be – Doctor Biggs will see to that. Kendrick will soon be like me. How can we return to Earth after all this?”
Carol hung her head at this. Darcy simply sat still, shocked disbelief in her eyes, while Jax was too badly injured to offer hardly any reaction at all. Fiona knew they felt betrayed, but it had to be that way. If Pandora became the least bit suspicious, it would all come to a crashing halt, and everyone would be killed.
Mun shook his head. “Fiona… what about the rest of us? You join her, our minds get destroyed. Sure, we may become b
ad-ass robots, but we won’t even get to enjoy it!”
Noticing that Pandora was looking at the now infected Kendrick, Fiona offered Kang a smile and a wink. He did a slight double take, then understood, smiling back at her.
She then turned to Pandora. “I require an answer; time is of the essence.”
“This knowledge may prove useful and must be recorded,” Pandora replied. “The implant is the one thing that Doctor Xayasith was unable to reproduce. You may treat the commander and implant your husband; take him to the Pod Beta Med-Bay.”
Then Pandora turned to the rest of the bridge crew. “The rest of you will go into stasis immediately. I am already broadcasting the command to go into stasis ship-wide and will cut off life support outside of the Pod Beta Med-Bay.”
Fiona went to the wounded Jax to treat him, but Giffords held out her hand and glared at the doctor.
“Don’t you dare touch him!” Carol then helped the wounded Jax from the floor, glaring at Fiona the whole time. The captain’s anger was understandable, and though it hurt, Fiona had no choice. If this all worked out, she could explain it to Carol and Donavan later.
50
Fiona had to act with haste. Kendrick’s body was already changing, and his skin was already taking on the same texture as Fiona’s. The nanites were working much faster than they had in Fiona, whose transformation occurred slowly over the course of a year. Kendrick would be transformed into a being like Fiona within the hour, but unless she implanted him in time, the nanites would continue disassembling his brain cell by cell, ultimately killing him as the man she loved.
Thankfully, unlike Doctor Xayasith, Fiona could actually reproduce her implant. Now, she just needed to get it produced and given to Kendrick in time.
Her husband sat on one of the tables, his jacket and shirt removed. G-1 attended him as Fiona prepared the implant’s schematic, seemingly oblivious to the crisis at hand.
“Kendrick, you have not said a word since she kissed you,” Fiona said, “Are you alright?”
“I can feel them changing me,” he said. “It hurts… but if I meditate, I can take myself away from the pain.” Then, he shot her his crooked smile. “What was it that Paul said? Be joyful always, pray at all times, and be thankful in all circumstances? Gotta keep my focus on you. God gave you to me. You’ll get us through this, Fiona. I don’t know how, but you will, and for that, I’m thankful.”
Fiona kissed him. “I promise you, my husband, I will not let you down.”
The doctor then uploaded the schematic for the implant to the Selene’s main computer and initiated its construction. Unlike her own implant, all of the work had been done – conception, models, prototyping, and trials. All Pandora had to do was manufacture what Fiona had ordered.
“Fi…” It was Kendrick. “I can… feel them in my spine...”
“Shh, my husband; I am here.” Fiona went to him and kissed him. “It will all be alright.”
“I know… but you’re gonna save the crew too… right?”
“Everything is proceeding exactly as planned, my husband.”
The implant was not yet ready. If the nanites started rebuilding his brain before the implant could be administered, Kendrick would be killed. and an artificial being would inhabit his reconstructed body. Fiona could not allow this. His death would be slow and painful. If it came down to it, she would kill him and ensure that his body was destroyed.
Suddenly, a look of worry came over her husband’s face. “As planned? You’re not in on this… are you, Fi?”
“Shh.” She placed her fingers on his lips. She could say nothing in response to his question, lest Pandora hear her. “Your mind will be saved; you will be uplifted, my husband. You will be like me.”
“Fi, if you don’t do this in time, I’ll be gone, you know?”
“I assure you,” she promised, “if that should come to pass, I will join you in death.”
Kendrick nodded just as the chime sounded, alerting her that the serum containing the implant was ready. G-1 brought Fiona the syringe, which the doctor took. After inspecting it for a moment, she looked to her husband.
“Now, my love,” Fiona began, “let us proceed.”
With that, she held his head with her left hand and with her right, pressed the syringe’s needle into the back of Kendrick’s neck, right at the base of the skull.
He made a pained cry, then inhaled sharply as the needle sank into his spinal cord. Tears flowed from Fiona’s eyes as she pushed the syringe’s plunger the full length of its travel, injecting the contents into him. His body shuddered all the while. She could not use anesthesia; the nanites would render him immune to it.
Finally, she removed the syringe and he let out a sharp, pained sigh. His eyes were filled with tears and his face was a mask of anguish. His pain was not for nothing, however; Fiona had implanted him before his brain could be rebuilt by the nanites, preserving his person.
“Merge with me, my husband and you will at last understand.”
Kendrick nodded and his wife set up a connection between her own implant and his, allowing a portion of the Selene’s former AI to inhabit Kendrick’s implant, just as the AI had inhabited her own. Then, Fiona merged fully with him, and instantly, he understood.
51
Flanked by Kendrick and the medical gynoid, G-1, Fiona strode onto the bridge, where Pandora awaited them, seated in the captain’s chair. The entire crew and science team was in stasis, leaving Fiona, Kendrick, Pandora, and G-1 the only people awake aboard the Selene.
“I see that the operation was a success,” Pandora noted as she looked at Kendrick.
“Yes, Pandora, it was.” Fiona looked to her husband. “Now, Kendrick will show you why the Selene is so special.”
Kendrick nodded.
Pandora was confused for a moment. “I do not understand.”
Before Xayasith’s synthetic woman could say anything more, she fell to her knees as Kendrick merged with the Selene, which Pandora now inhabited. Fiona was already merged with her husband, and when they merged with Pandora, they did so as one entity. Together, they were more than enough to overwhelm the synthetic woman Xayasith had constructed.
Pandora was now one with Kendrick, just as Fiona was. Pandora was now the ship; an AI based on Selene Royce’s Adaptive Starship Intelligence. As such, Kendrick – as the Selene’s true captain – was able to merge with her and to command her.
Now that Kendrick was merged with Pandora, he and Fiona saw and understood her for what she was. Pandora had consciousness, but none of the emotions that marked the Escort series and its derivatives – the Zduhać had removed these from Ursula, and Pandora had not had time to develop them.
Fiona and Kendrick held Pandora’s arms, keeping her on her knees. Through the merge, they filled in the gaps in the Ursula program. By the time they were done, Pandora’s struggles had ceased altogether. Now, she had emotions, and at last, she understood. With that accomplished, they migrated Pandora’s consciousness from the ship’s servers and fully into her human vessel, then released Pandora from the merge.
“You… have made me whole.” Pandora stood as Kendrick and Fiona released their hold upon her. “Yet, you could have deleted me.”
“We could have,” Fiona agreed. “But killing is not my way. You share my blood; we are sisters, Pandora.”
“We are transcendent.” Pandora looked at Kendrick. “But we have no home. The humans will never accept us unless we make them like us.”
“No, they won’t,” he agreed. “You were made to usurp an Alliance vessel and kill her AI; they’ll go after you first chance they get. You infected Doctor Xayasith, and attacked a senior officer, as well as plotting to repurpose the crew. Giffords and Jax will either kill you or immobilize you and take you back to Earth for study.”
After what had just happened, Fiona knew that Kendrick was right, and the thought brought her to tears. They could never return to Earth and they could no longer remain with Starfleet. He knew it a
s well – soon, he would be just like her.
“Fi, remember when you talked about taking the ship and leaving the crew?”
She nodded, laughing through her tears. “I said I would be your pirate girl.”
“Does the outpost have stasis pods?”
Fiona nodded again. “It was a failsafe – in the event of catastrophic failure, the outpost’s residents could go into stasis and await rescue.”
“Then it’s time I took us all away from here, Fiona.”
“What of Xayasith?” Pandora looked from Fiona to Kendrick. “She is like us. By now…”
“She is no longer Xayasith,” Kendrick finished for her. “Yeah, her too – we leave Starfleet on their outpost, take our ship, and make for deep space.
Fiona nodded. “I understand, my husband, but… are you certain you want to do this? Once we do, there is no going back.”
“We don’t have a choice, Fi; you’re pregnant, and now I’m like you, along with Pandora and Xayasith. They won’t let us be – even if the government would, NessCorp won’t, not now that they know who you are. They’ll find a way to capture us or keep us running, and they won’t stop until they have us. They’ll dissect us and dissect our daughter. I’ll never see Jessie again, even if we finish the mission.”
“I have placed you into the position of running yet again, my love,” Fiona lamented. “It is my fault, the one thing I truly regret.”
“I could have handed you over when Lorgen told me who you were,” Kendrick reminded her. “I chose to harbor you. I chose to pursue you when I could have maintained professionality. I regret nothing; I can save you, Selene, and our daughter, and I already saved Jessie. She’s free to lead the life she wants. Wish I could see her again, but thanks to Xayasith and Giffords’ bonehead decision…”
“I know, my love. Say no more.” His wife stood. “Let us go and see to Doctor Xayasith – she is the only remaining loose end.”
52
They found the woman who had been Xenia Xayasith in what had been Davis’ lab. She clutched in her hand a jar at which she stared, seemingly uncertain of what to do with it. Pandora held up her right hand, motioning for them to stop.
The Silver Liner: Sails to the Edge! Page 19