by J P Carver
I’m detecting a rise in blood flow and heart rate. You’re a pervert. What are you thinking in that sick brain of yours?
“Shut up, Cotora.” He knew he was blushing, could see it in the reflection of himself on the station windows. He hit the respond button on the mic and swallowed hard. “Uh, sure, that can happen… um, so I had my AI call the local repair station, but your rough exit of hyperspace has left too much interference for beam communication. We need to wait for that to clear before we can call for help. Are your seals still intact?”
“Oh, uh, let me check with one of the other girls. She’s better with that kind of stuff,” Peyton said and there was a shuffle and another female voice echoed in the room. The heat doubled in his chest, there was more than one girl. They talked for a few minutes and then Peyton returned. “Hey, so Amber says we’re okay for the moment, but the fires are still spreading. I’m trying to get the bots to put them out, but the system is… what did you say, Amber? Right, ‘the system is so beyond shit that it should have been illegal and she isn’t responsible if the whole damn thing goes up like a matchbook,’ is how she put it.”
Geo wiped a hand across his face, but forgot he was still covered in grease and had to rub it out of his eyes. He cursed and tried to ease the stinging.
“Still there?”
“Yeah, sorry,” Geo said, fighting back tears. “Look, I got the room here, but I’m gonna be honest, there ain’t no food other than my bread friend who I think is gaining sentience.”
“You’re friends with… bread?”
He’d been alone for way too long. “Sorry, was making a joke. What I meant is that I have room for you and Amber, but I can’t feed you.”
There was a pause for almost a minute and then Peyton returned. “No worries, we got a fabricator that Amber is positive she can rig into your station. She’s a little confused why you don’t have one, though.”
Months ago he tried to have the food fabricator make him an impossible meal while he was drunk. The fabrication lasers burnt out as it tried to stack a layer of cake on a foot high hamburger. Not that it mattered as he ate all the raw materials on another drunken binge the week after. Also finished the alcohol. Was a hell of a one-man party. “We had one, but it kind of kicked the bucket and we’re still waiting for one from requisitions. I don’t have the materials for a food fabricator either.”
“Oh, no worries, it’s a nano-fabricator. Don’t gotta worry about bulky materials anymore. We got enough to feed everyone.”
He paused again. “Just how many people are there?”
“A fair few, but don’t worry, we can pack in pretty small. Won’t even know we’re there. You got a shuttle you can send out? We could use the life-pods but then you’ll have to pick us up.”
“No, I got a shuttle,” he said and tapped on the hanger panel and began the preflight setup. “I can send it over in fifteen minutes.”
“Perfect. We’ll get things settled here and join you as soon as we can. You’re saving us again, Geo. You keep it up and we may have to reward you with more than just our thanks.”
Peyton closed the channel and Geo sat in the chair, his mind roaming to places it hadn’t been in a long time.
You’re disgusting, Cotora said. You touch any of them inappropriately and I’ll make sure you have a mishap with an airlock.
Friends in AI Places
The shuttle started back forty-five minutes after it reached the cargo ship. Geo watched it, anxiety running rampant over him. He got a shower and even shaved, but now there was nothing to do but worry. Other than Collin he hadn’t spoken to someone in person in years and it terrified him that it would be a woman after all this time.
“Just another person,” he said to himself for what must’ve been the thousandth time. “Nothing to be weird about. Just another person is probably as nervous to meet you as you are her. Be cool. Be calm.”
Be less of a dork… oh wait, that’s just who you are.
Cotora was getting a kick out him being nervous, especially as she monitored his life signs and so knew how he felt. He didn’t respond as that was what she wanted. Instead, he went over what he would say in his head again. He still fumbled his name every time.
The thunk of the airlock as the shuttle docked once more on the station rumbled through the ring. He made his way around the ring to the docking airlock and paused in front of it. It was running through its compression/decompression routine. A few minutes and he’d be face to face with Peyton and Amber and… he didn’t know how many others. He should have combed his hair more.
The door hissed open, the station’s simple computer announcing completion of all scans and procedures. Geo shoved his hands into his pockets as they were shaking.
From the airlock came a woman in a spacesuit. The suit itself was formfitting as most were, but she still had her helmet on, a bulbous thing that looked too big for the suit. It would have been comical if Geo wasn’t still trying to keep his breathing even. She stepped over the threshold and made her way to Geo, hand out.
“Hey, nice to meet you in person. I’m Peyton.”
“G—Geo,” he said and cursed himself as he took her hand and shook once. “Welcome to Nav-Station Algos, hope it… well, I hope you enjoy your time.”
The helmet canted to the side and he thought he could almost see her smile beyond the tinted glass. “Are you nervous?”
“N—no, why would you think that?”
“You’re getting flustered. Goodness, that’s cute. Amber is gonna have lots of fun teasing you,” Peyton said with a laugh.
He looked away from her and tried to regain his composure. God, he felt like a teenager all over again. Being alone for so long may have been a mistake as he couldn’t remember a damn thing about social cues or how to act like a normal human being. “Where—where is Amber and the others?”
Peyton looked back at the shuttle. He really wished she’d take off the helmet already. “They had a few things to get together but I just couldn’t wait any longer. We can send the shuttle back, right?”
“Yeah, that’s not a problem. Can I—you want something to drink?”
“Oh, I’m fine, thanks. Can you give me a quick tour, maybe?” She turned around in place, looking over the large room. “This is a huge station. How many people you got here?”
“Uh… well, it’s just me,” Geo said and looked around the room. It certainly felt much bigger suddenly.
“Just—just you? Oh, that is perfect.”
I am here on board as well. My name is Cotora, Tier One Station AI. Please excuse my idiotic… I hesitate to say partner, he’s more like a stray dog that won’t go away.
“Ooh, sounds like you two get along real well,” Peyton said. “It’s nice to meet you Cotora, I hope we make fast friends.”
I am an AI, I have no need of friends, but it will be nice to have an intelligent gender on station for once.
“Hey, that’s going too far,” Geo shouted before he even thought about it.
You’re right, it’s not fair to have you represent an entire gender. Not all of them can be as pathetic as you.
“Me thinks you got a lesbian AI, Geo,” Peyton said just above a whisper and he could tell she was grinning. “How painful that has got to be. Explains a lot.”
AI do not care for the sex of a person, Miss Ania. But if we did, and our only experience for the last eight years was this sub-human male, then I think we all would be of the lesbian persuasion.
“Oh, I don’t agree with that at all. You don’t think an AI can fall in love or have a preference?”
Not on this station, no. I do not believe it’s possible.
“We’ll have to have a real sit down chat, Cotora, once we’re all settled. You sound like you have some interesting opinions.”
I look forward to it.
“Don’t you two start plotting against me, all right? She causes enough trouble by herself,” Geo said, feeling like the armies had taken the field, but he was the only o
ne fighting on his side.
“Oh, don’t worry, I think I can get her to warm up to you. Where is your main command hub? I’d like to look at the radio and see if I can find a way to contact that repair station.”
“You know much about comms?” Geo asked as he started out of the room. Peyton hurried to walk beside him.
“I was a communications officer in the navy. I know a thing or two.”
“More than me then.”
“What are your skills in?”
They continued down the hall toward the bridge, walking side-by-side. “I’m a jack-of-all type of engineer. Gotta be when you’re the only one on station.”
“You care for all of this by yourself? Truly? I am not saying you are lying, just… I find that very hard to believe. You must be very talented to keep this all running. I didn’t think nav stations were this big.”
Geo laughed. “They’re not usually, but they built this as a staging station to mine a local moon, until it flipped its shit and made it too costly and dangerous to mine. They leased it out to the Federation and since government procedure is indomitable, they only sent me.”
“That’s pretty neat. You weren’t kidding about the space you had,” Peyton said as she looked out the window. The Kudokuten floated a few kilometers outside and she was so lost in it she almost walked into a door frame.
Geo put out a hand to stop her which crossed over her chest. He hadn’t meant to touch her, but he felt the softness of her small breasts press against his arm and it sent a thrill through him that took a second to push away. He looked up to find Peyton’s visor facing him, head turned in question.
“Y—you almost hit the frame,” he said and swallowed hard. She said nothing for a moment and he realized that his arm was still against her. He cursed under his breath as he took a step back. “Sorry.”
She laughed to his great relief. “No worries, thanks for looking out.”
“Sure… why don’t you take off the helmet? That can’t be comfortable to wear in this gravity.”
“I got an allergy issue, so I gotta be careful. Once my suit computer finishes its scan and says it’s all clear, I’ll remove it.”
“I can tell you there isn’t anything here. Hell, we don’t even have a cat. Wish we did…”
“You’re a cat person?”
Geo grinned. “Not especially, I like all sorts of animals. Had a dog when I was a kid…” he said but trailed off. He didn’t know why he was telling her anything about himself. She seemed to notice and didn’t push. They reached the command hub in awkward silence.
As soon as she stepped in, Peyton made a bee-line for the console. She didn’t even ask him where it was, she went right to it and looked it over. A small laugh escaped her. “Is this really a Tau-9800? This thing is ancient. Like, so old that it should be lounging in a VR old folks home with only an IV drip keeping it going.”
“Kinda runs like it’s already there,” Geo said and felt a sudden kinship with her.
“Yeah, but it’s a beast, you take care of it and it’ll work even in the middle of a star flare. Christ, just touching the dials gives me goosebumps.” She started to flick through the switches and dials so quickly that Geo was nervous he’d never get it back to working how it use to. A few seconds later Amber’s voice came over the comm.
“So, how’s the new nest? No other way for a little bird to call out?”
“It’s a sweet setup and Geo… well, I’ll let you see when you guys get here. All packed up?”
“Yuppers, just waiting for a ride over.”
“Roger,” Peyton said and looked to Geo. “Can you send the shuttle back?”
“Uh, yeah, no problem.”
“Awesome. Come on, sit next to me,” she said and patted the chair beside her. He did so and sent the shuttle back to the Kudokuten. As he sat back, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Before he could even register what was happening, he felt something hard and cold click over both of his wrists. He tried to move his hands, but a chain rattled when he did so.
“What the hell—?” he said, heart thudding in his chest. Did he just fall for some trap? Were they pirates? Peyton moved around to stand in front of him. She pushed herself up to sit on the console and faced him with her feet on his knees. “What are you doing?”
“Fulfilling our programming, my dear Geo. You stain this system’s every corner, so we will do what we have to.”
“You aren’t making sense! What programming? Look, I have nothing worth stealing. This is a nav-station. There’s no cargo here to take.”
The helmet made a hiss as its seal was broken. “We don’t need any cargo. In fact, we’re bringing our own cargo over. We will take good care of you now that we’re here.” Peyton lifted the helmet off and Geo felt the life drain out of him at the sight.
The face that greeted him wasn’t human. It was a robotic representation of a human face without the skin. Control wires and the machine’s skull were exposed for all to see, a mixture of humanity and machine. There were a few soft clicks as wires that made up the lips formed into a smile.
“What the actual fuck?” Geo said, blinking as if he could make her disappear.
She reached into a pouch on her belt and removed an auto-syringe. She bent and placed it against his shoulder and he felt the needle go in. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, I’ve got something you will really enjoy. It’s only a little surgery since you don’t got the implants, but after that the real game begins.”
Do You Want To Play?
Geo woke on a table in a workshop with a splitting headache. Crusted blood laid around him and it crackled in his hair when he turned to look at either side of the room. It was dark, the only light came from a square on the ceiling a few feet from him that flickered.
He tried to move his hands but some sort of fabric bound them. His legs were bound as well. He was stuck.
“Cotora? You around?” he asked, his voice cracking. He swallowed hard and tried to keep his composure, but he was damn scared. No answer came and he felt his throat close. “Please, Cotora, if you’re there… please, answer me.”
I should not talk to you, she said at so low a whisper that Geo almost didn’t hear it.
“Why not? What’s going on? What did they do?”
She lowered her voice even more. You’ve been out for almost a week. They did something to you… I do not know what. They’ve been working on the station the entire time without rest. I do not have visuals or any other sense in most areas of the station now.
“Are they trying to take it over?”
Peyton and I had a chat —
"You talked to her?” he asked and failed to keep his anger in check which caused his voice to rise. “They’ve hijacked the goddamn station, Cotora! They strapped me down. At least tell me you called for help. You called, didn’t you?”
I am locked out of almost every system beyond monitoring and—
“Ooh, Cotora, you naughty girl. Why didn’t you tell us he woke up?” Peyton said. She was in shadow at the doorway, but Geo could see her watching him. “We got worried as you flatlined twice. That’s unusual, but Amber is still getting the hang of these bodies.”
“What are you?” Geo asked and struggled against the straps that didn’t give.
“We’re what you dreamed of, Geo. What you’ve wished for since you came on this station,” she said as she walked over to him, the heels of her shoes loud on the tile. Each click seemed to shake in his gut. She sat down on the counter next him, but faced away. She wore the same spacesuit as before, hugging the curves of her body. He felt nothing from it though, it was only a machine’s body with a demon for a face.
“Are you going to kill me?” he asked and felt his throat dry as soon as the words left his mouth.
“Oh, many times, but you’ll come back. Death is only a learning experience here. If you die you just get back up and try again,” she said and placed her hand on the table beside his head, “that’s the only way you can win.”
“Win…? Win what?”
“Our game. How many floors would say this station has, Geo?”
“S…sixteen, if you include the maintenance tunnel,” he said, confused.
“We’re including the maintenance tunnel,” Peyton said and leaned forward, finally facing him. In the dim light he expected to see the machine face again, instead it was covered in a face that he could only call beautiful. Sharp features with piercing green eyes. Her hair was a dark red, but had been dyed as her roots showed black. Freckles ran across her cheeks and over the bridge of her nose, though they faded the farther up and down her face he looked.
She looked a lot like a girl he had a picture of on his o-Pad.
“Sixteen floors. That’s a lot to clear. We normally only do five, but…” she motioned out to the room. “How could we pass up such an amazing chance? Amber loves planning big campaigns and with these huge floors… oh, she had some great fun.”
“You still aren’t making any fucking sense. Who are you?”
“We’re… well, I’m an AI. Top of the line. So much more advanced than any other that if I went up against Cotora in chess it’d be like Deep Blue versus Kasparov. Actually, I think Kasparov did better than Cotora could ever hope to do. Do you know who Kasparov is? I doubt it. Any-who. I’m an AI named Peyton. Amber is a sub-AI of mine, as are all the people you’ll meet on your road to the top.”
“So what? I’m in a computer?”
Peyton laughed. “No, silly, that would be boring. VR is all the same nowadays. No pain, no pleasure. It’s just… sterile. People are too afraid to put themselves in the hands of a complete simulation. So, no, we don’t do something as simplistic as VR. This will be an AR experience. It's why we got these bodies with skin generation and everything.”
“A—AR?”
“Mixed Reality. Come on, I know you can be simple, but you’re not this simple. We’ve implanted an AR chip directly into your brain.” She tapped his forehead with her nail. “You got a thick skull, by the way. Bone dust was starting pile up and we worried there just wasn’t any brain there. That you were a real bone head.” She laughed again and stood. She moved around him so he couldn’t see her anymore. “Then we got you set up with this snazzy skin tight suit that will augment your movements and the amount of damage you take to fit with your gear. It’s all well planned out, Geo. So… do you want to play?”