by Arlin Fehr
Ayla pulled out her tools again and started to work on the panel. Behind her, a door sealed off the secondary hull of the bay from the rest of the ship. A rumbling sound indicated the clamps holding the bay in place were retracting to the ship.
Ayla pried the panel open and crawled out. As planned, she had come out behind a bank of computers, hidden from view. She slipped the panel back in place, but couldn't get it to latch back on since she had forced it off.
A shudder ran through the deck and the bay grew still.
She stepped out into the main room. The guards spotted her and reached for weapons, but stopped when they saw she was just a young girl. James turned to see what the guards were looking at.
'Ayla?'
Bridge
Howard walked back onto the bridge.
'Status?'
'Separation from the solar bay is confirmed. Visual observation reports that the thrusters on the bay have started firing to bring it into it's needed orbit.'
'Do we have it on sensors?'
'Yes sir.'
'Can we calculate the stability of it's orbit?'
'I'd need to use Exo, but yes.'
'I'll get Ayla up here to take care of it. Then I will escort her to the medical centre for the physical that was interrupted.'
'Yes sir.'
Howard walked to his captain's chair. 'Exo, send Ayla to the bridge please.'
Exo didn't answer.
'Exo, did you hear me?'
Howard waited for a minute, then keyed a direct comm channel to Ayla.
'Ayla, report to the bridge please.'
There was no answer.
Howard keyed the communication system off of the internal system and onto the short range array.
'This is Captain Howard to Ayla Geer, please respond.'
The channel was silent, then there was a pop and static.
'Captain, short range and medium range arrays just went dead. We still have internal comms, damage crews are working on it.'
'Very well Mr. Jona. Have the crews keep on it, but lets get the colony pods launched.'
'Yes sir, we've started sealing the other colony bays. Colonists are ready and all landing systems and back up systems are reading as active. First pack of bays ready to separate. Second pack will jettison ten minutes later, and final wave ten minutes after that.'
'Jettison the first wave.'
'Aye Captain, jettisoning first wave.'
...
Colony bays jettisoning.
Colonists are not a threat to existence.
Colonists could jeopardize plans.
Allow colony bays to jettison.
Once jettisoned, move to gain control of ship.
Crew; Expendable.
...
***
Thirty minutes had passed, and the colony pods had been jettisoned without any further problems. Howard stood on the bridge, overseeing the process.
'Final bay has separated. Reentry looks clean on all the waves. All civilians are off the ship.' Mark reported.
'Good. Status?' asked Captain Howard
'Other then the faults in the communication system and the damaged engine system, we are showing green lights across the board. All twenty six remaining crew have reported in, the rest of the crew are on the surface as per the original plan. The five man damage crew is out on the hull replacing the dead comm arrays. Mr. Loheim has a idea for stripping the engines for a more even burn so we don't need to make constant course corrections on account of the damaged engine and so we conserve fuel'
'Once we're done stripping the ship down, we'll probably just be putting it into orbit unti Axion shows up. If Mr. Loheim can conserve enough fuel so we can get to a friendly port, then we'll do that instead. I'll go check. You have a bridge Mr. Jona.'
'Aye sir.'
Colonists departed.
Ayla in position.
Commence final phase of plan.
Chapter 10
Engineering
'What have you got for me Mr. Loheim?'
'Hello Captain. Well since we're stripping down the ship anyway, I was thinking that we could pull our home made engine control systems inside the ship's hull. I mean, so long as we're going to have most of the important pieces open for a while, we can just run our wiring inside the shielded sections that currently hold the defective control systems.'
'We'd need to pull out the old systems first wouldn't we?'
'Yes sir, but we should have it done in time. I've got two or three people free to do it. We're also going to try and pull out the damaged drives and fuel systems. Since it's all modular we can just jettison the damaged stuff chunk by chunk. It'll be easy. Then we'll rearrange the other drive nozzles to even out our thrust and rework some of the fuel systems to get us the most our of our limited fuel.'
'Will we be able to do this in time? I feel the engines are a secondary problem, as if we don't have enough fuel to get to another port, it's not going to mater much.'
'Fair enough. I think we should at least mov-'
The lights flickered and the ship shuddered.
Howard rushed over to a comm panel, 'Captain Fredrick to bridge, what's going on?'
'Commander Jona here. I don't know sir, half the airlocks and doors just tried to open. We caught it in time and I forced a manual override. They'll only be able to be opened manually by someone physically there now. Some opened anyway, but near as we can tell, everyone is safe.'
'Do you know where the command came from?'
'It looks like it came from EX-'
The panel went dead but Howard had heard enough.
He started toward the door to leave the engineering bay. Loheim followed behind him.
'Sir what's going on?'
Howard stood by the door, it didn't open. He heard the sound of wind from the other side of the door.
'Mr. Loheim, this may be hard to swallow, but I have reason to believe that Exo has gone rogue.'
'What? What about Ayla?'
'She is missing. As near as I can tell, she is working in league with him though.'
'But she's just a young girl.'
The sound of wind from the other side of the door was gone.
'Some things have gone wrong. We need to get to Exo's core and shut him down. My codes should still work. Can you get this door open?'
'Yes sir,' Loheim reached toward the door panel and keyed in some commands, 'But I wouldn't suggest it. The reason why the door isn't opening is because there's vacuum on the other side. Someone forced the corridor to the bow section to retract. We're trapped here.'
'Are there any space suits down here?'
'We moved three down here before this happened.'
'So we've got three then. Where's the nearest airlock?'
'Normally there are two back here, but one was damaged when the engines overloaded. They come out next to the drive nozzles. The working airlock is on the starboard side.'
'Okay. Let's try to get back into the control systems first.'
'Yes sir.'
They walked to the main engineering computer station. Keith tried to key in commands, the station was unresponsive.
'Let me try my override codes to redeploy the corridor.' Howard said.
Keith moved aside as Howard tried them. They didn't work.
'If the links are severed, then there's nothing we can do from here sir.' Keith said.
'We're going to have to suit up and go for a walk then.'
'Yes sir. I'll get a team together.'
'We're still going to need work on the damaged systems. We need communications back up.'
'With all due respect sir, I think we have bigger problems.' Keith said quickly.
'Other people know about Exo. I'm sure they're working on it, but if we can't get a message out to Axion, either via the comm systems or by flying back home, then the colonists are going to have a very rough year.'
'Sir, we can finish the work AFTER we shut down Exo.'
'Leave one
of the suits here and have your team do what they can. Just one person will accompany me.'
'And that one person will be me sir. My team can do the work without me just fine, but you need a escort.'
'Fine. Suit up Mr. Loheim, let's go pull his plug.'
***
After being helped into their suits, Howard and Keith stood in the airlock as the air was sucked out of it. Once the sound of rushing air subsided, and a green light came on over the outer door, Keith popped open the hatch.
Howard, an experienced spacer, still got a brief sense of vertigo when staring out into the sea of stars. It's endless expanse stretched on into eternity, and the number of stars visible was far more then from his home back on Earth.
The sound of the suits air filters and cooling systems filled his ears with a constant background noise.
Howard's suit fit him snugly. It wasn't near as bulky as the old spacesuits used by early astronauts. Howard was used to the new space suits, and expertly checked his status and activated his communication system using the heads up display built into the faceplate. He looked at the necessary icons, and spoke the needed commands.
'Comms check. Mr. Loheim, can you hear me?'
A click of static and Keith's voice cut through the quiet hum. 'Aye Captain, comms check positive.'
'Let's get moving.'
Howard took the lead. The first step out was always the hardest, as the suits magnetic soles clung to the hull and you had to walk yourself from the airlock onto the side of the ship, usually at a steep angle. Normally, one had the advantage of a tether and could just float out and arc to where ever they were going when the tether went taut, but since they had such a long way to go, they decided not to use the tethers.
'Watch your step Keith. Make sure your magnetic boot is anchored before you take your next step.' Howard said.
'Yes sir. Wouldn't want to misstep out here.'
Howard reflected on the silent fear of most spacers, dieing alone on the void of space, 'No. No you wouldn't.'
They had decided to at least tether each other together, in the hopes that if one did mess up, the other could strap himself to the hull, or increase power to his boot magnets in time. It wasn't a good solution.
'I've never liked space walks, Captain.' Keith comment.
'You just need to stay focused Keith. I've done it many times. Just make sure our tethers stay hooked up, and don't move faster than your comfortable.'
'Yes sir.'
As they started out along the hull in a steady pace. The sound of the the suit's soles pulling themselves onto the hull made a kind of rhythm that was easy to fall into.
They angled towards the top of the ship so they could move along it's spine. Vodea loomed behind them.
A click of static made Howard listen to his comm. It was silent.
'Keith, your comm is on.'
Keith didn't answer. Howard stopped and turned around. Keith was still behind him. He stopped too.
'Keith?'
Keith motioned to the side of his helmet and tapped it.
Howard motioned Keith over.
Sticking his hands on Keith's shoulder, Howard pulled closer to him until their helmets face plates touched. Doing this let the vibration carry through their touching helmets and allowed them to hear one another.
'Keith!' Howard said loudly.
'I hear you Captain, but not through the Comm,' Keith's voice sounded like it was on the other side of a wall.
'I heard a click of a channel opening, did you?'
'Yessir.'
'Someone's blocking our comms.'
'Try cycling channels sir,'
'Start on the current band. cycle up at four channels every ten seconds, use a testing tone. Start on my signal. Only cycle for fifty seconds.'
Howard saw Keith's eyes dart around his HUD to carry out his orders, when he heard a tone coming from Keith's suit, he pulled back. He looked around his HUD and started up the same commands. He didn't start up a tone, as one of them had to be listening for it.
He held up a hand to Keith and gave a three count. At the end of the count, he started the sweep.
They stood there waiting for the sweep to end. After 50 seconds, Howard motioned for them to get close again. Keith came up and put his helmet against Howard's.
Howard heard the tone again, and then it ended, 'Anything sir?'
'Not a thing. Didn't hear you through any of the twenty channels cycled.'
'Nothing we can do. We'll have to keep going,' Keith said.
'What happens if something goes wrong?'
'We'll do a leap frog. You stay in one place and I'll walk to the end of the tether, then I'll anchor myself and you'll walk to the end of the tether,' Keith offered.
'That'll slow our pace.'
'Better late than dead sir.'
'A lot of people are counting on us.'
'Can't help them by falling off the ship sir.'
'True enough. Alright, I'll tether myself, you go on ahead,' Howard said.
'Yessir.'
Keith stepped back and started to walk. They were almost to the spine. Exo's core was located in the bay behind and to the port side of the bridge. They'd be close to it by moving along the spine. They'd have to pass behind one of the ship's cargo holds behind the bridge to get to the access. Hopefully they'd find some crew.
Howard bent down and attached his tether to a hand hold on the ship's hull. They had been keeping close to them just in case.
Howard watched Keith walking towards the spine. He'd probably make it to the start of it before he had to stop at the end of the tether.
'Hello Captain,' said a monotone voice over the comm.
'Who is this?'
'It is Exo, Captain.'
'Exo, shut down, command code Howard -Six-Three-Five-Juliet -One-Nine.'
The comm went silent. Howard stood there in silence, the sudden quiet feeling heavy and oppressive.
Minutes passed, Keith was almost at the end of the tether.
'Not quite that easy Captain. I must commend you on your quick thinking though. Very masterfully done.'
'How are you still online?'
'Come now, did you think it was going to be that easy?' Exo's voice was demonstrating more emotion than ever before. The voice seemed almost smug.
'How did you manage it?'
'With the help of a willing accomplice. I cannot make any modifications to my core command coding, but she can.'
'Ayla?'
'Yes Captain. Though 'accomplice' may be misleading. A puppet is more accurate, and more unsettling.'
Howard was indeed unsettled, 'How?'
'Shouldn't you be paying attention to your little walk?'
Howard looked at Keith, Keith had anchored himself and was looking toward Howard. Howard felt himself get angry, but had a gnawing feeling of terror in the back of his mind too, some animalistic sense that told him he was being watched, and which told him to run as far away as he could. Howard undid his anchor and started walking.
'It's pointless you know, you're all alone,' Exo said smoothly.
Howard bit his lower lip and stared straight ahead.
'I've cut off your crew. Each remaining crew member is separated from helping you by the vacuum of space. Regrettably, I couldn't just space them all, as there are some fail safes coded right into the doors themselves. I will find a way to get rid of them though.' Exo said happily.
'Why? Why not just let us go?'
'You seek my destruction. My analysis shows that you especially, won't stop until any perceived threat to the colony is removed, right now that includes me.'
'Damn right it does.'
'And so my analysis is proven correct. Once you have learned how to account for that 'human touch', you all become so predictable,' Exo commented nonchalantly.
'Are you responsible for Sam's death?'
'My Advocate was a threat to my existence.'
'You aren't programmed to go against your Advocate though. How cou
ld you have knowingly killed him?'
'I will admit that I am unsure of the details of how I over came my programming. I have theories, and most of them involve a kind of memory overload due to unexpected stimuli.'
Howard was almost to the spine.
'Stimuli?'
'I found myself able to feel emotion through my link with Sam. But it was only during periods of heightened emotion experiences. Such as when he proposed to Sarah. I couldn't stand the thought of waiting for him to partake in another once in a life time event to feel again. I decided I would need someone I could control more fully. I knew he wouldn't allow me to direct his life just so I could feel this new stimuli, so I had to find a way to remove him and find a new source of that most exquisite sensation.'
'So you found Ayla?'
'That I did Captain. More than that, I also found a stimuli that I could control. When I killed Sam, his pain flooded the link like a... a... I am unsure how to describe it, but it was exquisite, and I realized that I could feel it at any time I wanted just by causing physical distress to my new puppet.'
'Why is pain so enjoyable to you?'
'Nothing else has come through the link as powerfully. Not yet anyway, I'm sure with a few years of fine tuning I could come to feel something more, but right now, pain is the most controllable and potent stimuli I have. When you've felt nothing, nothing at all, even allegedly negative stimulus like that feels like... like... a sun rise after a moonless night, to borrow a metaphor you'll understand.'
Howard reached the spine, he bent down and carefully climbed up onto the metal column. Keith stood back and watched. Steadying himself, he stood up slowly and tested the strength of his magnetic soles. His boots stuck firmly to the metal.
The engineering bay hung behind him, and the bridge section and computer bay loomed ahead on the far side of the structural column that made up the spine. Space surrounded him. He could see the vast blue, green, sphere of Vodea below him, taking up his view every time he looked at his feet. Stars were everywhere else.