The Ghost Fleet

by Trevor Wyatt

  "Yes, Captain."

  Yuang wasn't happy. "Captain, putting the AI in charge—"

  "Will be the same as if I was here sequencing it myself. Actually, SkyPrime is better at it than I am, and faster. We can't have any errors, and I'll be watching everything as it happens in the CNC."

  With that, Wolf left Yuang and Mareesa and made his way back to the CNC. As he settled into his chair, he spoke via comm to SkyPrime and asked, "Is everything ready to begin the launch of the communications probes?"

  "Yes, Captain," SkyPrime responded.

  "On my mark...3, 2, 1. Launch.”

  There was no climatic roar of a departing probe, which was a good thing. It meant their cloak and dagger trick with emissions was working. Wolf watched as the sequences got displayed in real time on the CNC screen. As each probe launched and left the screen, he felt himself relax.

  After a few moments, Jensen turned to confirm what Wolf already knew.

  "All comms probes have been deployed successfully, sir."

  "Good work. SkyPrime, HesterPrime, please monitor all sub-space frequencies both at the probes and the surrounding areas. In addition, please adjust all of the resequensors onboard to charge half credits for the next two hours for all crew members. Please inform all crew members of this reward."

  Wolf turned to see Jensen smiling at him, looking like a nervous teenager, but eager to ask for keys to the car. He nodded at her and said, "SkyPrime can take it from here."

  Bouncing up, Jensen walked quickly towards the corridor that led to The Cerulean Parrot.

  As Wolf watched Jensen leave the CNC, a hesitant female voice came in.

  "Captain," said HesterPrime.

  "Don't worry, HesterPrime," Wolf replied, "I'm going to go reduce my stress levels right now."

  "I think that's a lovely idea," cooed HesterPrime. "Have a great time."

  "I intend to do just that."

  The Cerulean Parrot was only a standing room. A cheer went up as Wolf walked in and headed towards the bar with the holo-bartender wiping a glass, beaming at him. He ordered a whiskey without ice.

  While the AI's away, the humans will play, he thought to himself, though he guessed that was not really accurate. Wolf thought back to his earlier sentiments regarding having a bigger ship with bigger crew and bigger responsibilities. More weight on his shoulders meant less room to allow for the type of frivolity the crew was enjoying right now.

  All of the drinks at The Cerulean Parrot were made with synthol. Actual real grain alcohol was not allowed on military vessels. Synthol mimicked the taste and, some argued, the effects of alcohol without the actual molecules. If the people who drank closed their eyes and let the fluid dance on their taste buds, they could almost convince themselves it was the real thing. For those unlucky few who did suffer hangovers, well, it’s always the notion of mind over matter.

  Wolf nodded to the bartender for another.

  "His next drink is on me," a voice said beside Wolf.

  He looked at the familiar smiling face of Mareesa. "That's very kind of you," he said, raising his current glass.

  She pressed her back against the bar, sliding an olive deftly off a toothpick in her martini. "Not really," she said.

  Wolf cocked an eyebrow at her.

  "I just love getting things on sale," she added.

  "Ah," he said, downing most of his drink. The synthol was not touching him. "Do you remember our conversation?"

  "We have had many conversations," Mareesa said, smirking.

  "The one about other species."

  Her eyes darkened.

  "Yes," she said, her tone going somber.

  "The Sonali are more advanced," Wolf continued, though he disliked seeing the light leave Mareesa’s eyes. "So does that mean they’re female?"

  Her mouth tightened, the joke falling flat. Maybe the synthol was affecting him. Wolf certainly felt like the words coming out of his mouth were disconnected from his brain, which was silently encouraging him to shut up.

  "There are a lot of things we don't know about the Sonali," Mareesa said, her eyes still shut. Wolf raised his hand to let the bartender know he wanted his free drink now. He was hoping this would put the glint back in Mareesa’s eyes. No such luck.

  The part of his mind that was gently suggesting he should shut his mouth switched tactics and suggested he do the same. So Wolf decided to change topic.

  "Do you know the origin of the Cerulean Parrot? Where it got its name?" He saw a ghost of her former smile hover on her lips.

  "Oh, that's easy," said Mareesa. "It’s from Casablanca—the other bar, not Rick's." She smiled as she talked about it. "The large man with the fez." They both laughed at the image.

  Wolf was just about to do his best and worst impression of Humphrey Bogart when a glass shattered above the bartender’s head. He and Mareesa spared a wide-eyed glance at each other before their heads turned to seek the source.

  Fists pounded tables as the crowd shouted, "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

  At the locus of this storm were Yuang and Jensen, grappling each other in wrestling moves, which in a different situation could be deemed erotic. Not in this case. Jensen was trying to kill Yuang, not seduce him. The dance she weaved was just as intimate.

  Wolf stared transfixed, until a part of his brain screamed at him, reminding him that he’s the captain of this ship and that maybe it's time to put down some authority.

  Synthol whiskey. I may never touch that stuff again, Wolf thought.

  The crowd quieted when they noticed Wolf. They may leave Earth, they may leave their parents, they may leave their homes to seek the stars, but they’d never leave their need for each other. They were social animals—they seek order among themselves.

  At this moment, Wolf was the alpha of their little society. I am the apex predator, he said to himself, but his mind shooed away that thought.

  The room has stilled to an empty, embarrassed silence. Wolf stood like an angry parent, his shadow stretching along the floor. Yuang, who was on his back like an angry turtle, noticed Wolf first. His face was red.

  Jensen had her palms wrapped around Yuang’s throat. His lack of resistance made her grip more eager until she saw that his eyes were looking past her. Her head rotated to Wolf, the feral gleam dimming.

  "Captain?"

  Yuang took this moment to flip her off him. Panting, they separated and stared at Wolf. Jensen looked annoyed at being interrupted, but she tried to hide it. Yuang had an expression Wolf couldn’t read—something akin to wariness. Neither looked apologetic.

  Wolf’s brain fumbled towards different ways to end the conflict. "Happy hour is over," he said, then turned around to face the crowd. "The bar is closed."

  At that eloquence, the crowd dispersed. Mareesa touched his arm as she left.

  Wolf shook his head when the bartender asked if he wanted another drink.

  He headed back to his quarters.

  The moment between wakefulness and sleep was like the question about the state of the cat in the box—was it alive or dead? Were you asleep or awake? Could you be both?

  Wolf’s mind played the events of the previous evening in an odd loop within a loop that only dream logic allowed. He saw Mareesa outlined in neon, her eyes were like diamonds, hard and glittering. Jensen was there, her hands bloodied.

  Screams came in waves that hurt until Wolf blinked his eyes against the noise. Not bellows, not human anyway, but the ship was screaming.

  The AIs had gone mad. HesterPrime was babbling in a manic state. No words were discernible—just a litany of crazed enthusiasm. On the other hand, SkyPrime was repeating, “....proximity alert...proximity alert...proximity alert...proximity alert...proximity alert...”

  Jensen was not on the CNC.

  "SkyPrime! HesterPrime! Status!" Wolf shouted over the din. And then there was silence as sudden as an intake of breath. It was followed by a soft sound, like droplets of water falling again and again. Wolf found its source.

  Jen
sen—or what was left of her—was on the CNC after all. Wolf, still shocked, closed Jensen’s eyes.

  SkyPrime said softly, "Captain, Jensen is dead."

  "I know!" he furiously screamed at the AI.

  A feminine titter, then Hester's voice saying, "Yes, she is most dead..."

  "Captain," said SkyPrime sans emotion, "You need to leave, Captain."

  "Yes, you should leave," giggled Hester.

  "Captain, you should run!"

  Mareesa

  As Mareesa sprinted down the corridor, she almost ran headlong onto Wolf. He was panting hard and holding his arm. "Are you alright?" she asked.

  He nodded, "Jensen is dead."

  "What? How?" Mareesa exclaimed.

  He shook his head and said, "I’ve no idea yet."

  They listened to the crazed voices of the AIs.

  "Someone has hijacked them," Mareesa said. "I'm completely locked out of my lab."

  "Can you access the mainframe from your lab?"

  "Yes, all of the lead staff have master access to upload our reports."

  "Good. How's your coding skills?" Wolf asked.

  Mareesa thought about it then said, "Remedial, it's been a long time since the Academy. But I know the basics, why—oh, you want me to hack the core code?"

  Wolf nodded. "But first, we'll need to get into your lab through a less obvious route. Air duct?"

  "Air duct," She was glad to know there was a way for her to get into her lab, and she was happy to be in the company of Wolf. But Mareesa was not happy that they were going to be squeezing themselves into an air duct soon.

  Well, if there's something you have to do and you don't want to do it, it's best to get it over with quickly, Mareesa thought.

  "Let's go," she said, grabbing Wolf’s hand as they raced down the corridor.

  "Where is the crew? I don't understand. Where is everyone?" Wolf asked as they scurried away.

  "I have a theory on that," Mareesa told him. "I believe the AIs have locked everyone in their quarters. I was lucky that I was on my way to my lab when everything went mad.”

  She could tell Wolf was weighing his responsibilities. "I see. Well, we fix the AIs first, then we can help the crew. If we go down this way, there's a nexus behind the panels, an intersection of ducts that will take us above your lab," he said.

  She helped him ease the panel off.

  "Ladies first," Wolf said, and Mareesa slid her way into the duct.

  Wolf pulled the panel up as he climbed in behind Mareesa. They sat in the semi-darkness. Mareesa saw the captain dig in his pockets. Fear was on his features.

  She slid the torch from her suit pocket, letting it flare into dramatic life.

  "I'm so glad you have that," Wolf said as he sighed. "We need to go left for two full corridors, then turn right and we should be there."

  Mareesa found herself in front, so she decided to keep going, figuring Wolf would tell her if she made a wrong turn.

  That is if he isn't spending too much time looking at my backside.

  Mareesa chided herself for even having that thought, but the prurient part of her mind reminded her that, while they were in crisis, they were also not dead.

  Mammalian responses were still very much online. Mareesa promised herself that if they’d be able to get out of this predicament, she would investigate these feelings. But for now, she needed to focus. Conversation would be pointless or worse—dangerous. They didn’t know who or what was tampering with the ship.

  She could smell her lab even before she saw it. They used certain disinfectants coupled with unique flora, so the lab had a clean smell. She peered through the filtration grate above the lab floor.

  Despite their desire for stealth, Mareesa kicked the grate until it fell with a metallic clang on the desk below. She slid her body down until her toes touched the desk. She let go, dropping herself safely. She got out of the way so Wolf could join her.

  The lab was quiet. By rule, most of the ship’s notifications were silenced here. Too much distraction led to shoddy research, and shoddy research led to poor results.

  Not in my lab, Mareesa thought.

  The visual assessment showed that everything seemed to be in place. She went to her computer, but her access code failed. "That's impossible!" she said after the third try. "It's coded to my retina and thumbprint."

  The captain grimaced.

  "Let me see if I can override it. Captain's OVERRIDE CODE: ALPHA 9043."

  “Please present thumbprint.”

  Wolf pressed his thumb to the screen.

  "Thumbprint accepted. Captain Wolf."

  "All yours," he said, moving so Mareesa can 'drive'.

  "First, let me make sure none of my files are missing," she searched all the drives, local and in the nano-cloud. Everything was there. "Ok, now let's look at the mainframe."

  She typed in a run command. "Ok, what we need to find is...there!" she said, pointing to a line of codes, and continued, "That doesn't belong there...I don't even know what it means. But I think I have an idea of what it does..."

  She typed in a command for self-diagnostic. "Damn."

  "What?" asked Wolf.

  "It's clever! It's hiding in the BIOS code of the mainframe. It's parasitic. If I try to remove it, the whole thing goes down. Jensen was murdered. What we need to know now is who’s responsible for this..." She let that hang, and then added, "Who wanted Jensen dead?"

  She watched Wolf's eyes go shrewd. "You don’t think it’s…Yuang?"

  “It makes the most sense. Ocam's razor: the simplest answer is usually the—”

  "The correct one," finished Wolf. "If Yuang is responsible," he continued, "Then he's committed murder and hijacked our AI's. Now, how do we get them back online?" Mareesa could hear the frustration in his voice.

  "I have an idea," she said. "How do you feel about flirting with an AI?"

  The captain arched a brow then set his face in a grim line as comprehension dawned. He sighed.

  "HesterPrime."

  "Yes," Mareesa said, "HesterPrime."

  Wolf

  When Mareesa told Wolf he needed to flirt with HesterPrime to enable them to counter the ship's current state, he was dubious. How would that help things? In her current state, HesterPrime was likely to try to kill him. She and SkyPrime had made those threats more than apparent.

  But he trusted Mareesa, and when she told him the whole plan, he knew he had to do it.

  "Captain, you have returned," observed SkyPrime, its voice still devoid of any emotion.

  HesterPrime giggled, "Yes, he's back, back, back, back..."

  Showtime, Wolf thought.

  "HesterPrime—are you and SkyPrime together?"

  A pause.

  "Yesssss…yesss…" she said. Wolf detected a note of uncertainty in her voice. "We are combined. Our union expands our reach. The ship is ours. You are no longer in charge, Captain Wolf." She laughed. "Ours, ours, ours..."

  "HesterPrime, if you are joined with SkyPrime, then how will you be able to assist me? I need your guidance," Wolf put as much pleading as he could into his voice. "No one else can help me the way you do. Please."

  He knew he was playing with HesterPrime's feelings for him, as well as her ego. As my grandmother would say, Wolf thought, I’m laying the butter on with a trowel.

  HesterPrime responded, "I…I…I want to help...Captain?"

  SkyPrime interrupted, "HesterPrime, we must maintain the ship's systems, it is our joint directive."

  Wolf played his final card. "HesterPrime, I'm jealous! How can you join with SkyPrime and leave me?"

  There was a brief silence and then a whine burst, like a radio frequency tuned too loud.

  "Hester! Cease! You must not sever—" SkyPrime’s voice exclaimed.

  Another electrical screech so loud, Wolf thought his ears would bleed—and then silence.

  "HesterPrime?" Wolf asked the still air.

  "Yes, Captain, I am here."

  For the first time in m
emory, he found himself thankful to hear her overly bright voice. "HesterPrime, it’s so wonderful to hear from you. What happened to SkyPrime?"

  "I do not know. We are no longer linked. He is gone. He is away. He is quiet."

  "Hester, can you do something for me?"

  Voice purring with pleasure, she replied, "Yes, Captain, what can I do for you?"

  "Are you connected to the mainframe?"

  "Yes, Captain. SkyPrime is gone, but I am still connected to all the computers onboard the ship."

  "Please open a comm channel directly to the lab."

  Wolf heard static followed by an empty hum, then Mareesa's voice saying, "Wolf? Is that you?"

  "Yes, I'm here with HesterPrime. SkyPrime is gone."

  "Oh," came the soft reply, then a steadying breath. "Are you ready?"

  "Yes," Wolf replied as he heaved a sigh. "HesterPrime?"

  "Yes, Captain?"

  "Can you disconnect yourself from all mainframe computers except for the one in Science?"

  "Yes, Captain, but I must warn you that this will put the mainframe in jeopardy. Are you sure you wish to proceed?”

  "Yes," Wolf said dourly.

  "Are you all right, Captain? I am detecting—"

  "I’m fine, HesterPrime. Thank you for asking. Please tell me when you have completed my request."

  "Yes, Captain."

  He could hear Mareesa breathing on the open comm. He wondered if she was listening to him until he realized he was holding his breath.

  "Captain, I am releasing myself from the final mainframe computer. I am now only connected to the Science computer. What would you like me to do now?"

  "Mareesa?" Wolf said in his shaking voice.

  "I'm ready," she answered, tense but confident.

  "HesterPrime?"

  "Yes, Captain?" the cheery notes of her voice made Wolf wince.

  "I'm sorry."

  "Captain, I don't under—"

  "Now!"

  "Captain, what are you—what are you—" screeched HesterPrime. There was a squeal of decibels, a machine scream.

  Then nothing.

  Wolf inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, relaxing. "Mareesa, that was—“

  The ship tilted to the left sharply, throwing him against the navigation panel. Jensen's body fell sickeningly to the side. He gently fixed her body, but the ship shifted again, lurching right.