by Amy Cross
I try to look closer, but suddenly she slumps against the window and reaches a bloodied hand toward my face, pressing her palm against the glass just inches from my eyes.
“Let me in!” she gurgles, as blood splatters from her mouth and hits the window. There's such fear in her eyes. “Let me in!”
I reach for the handle, before freezing as I suddenly realize that maybe letting her inside wouldn't be such a good idea after all. I mean, there's no point in both of us getting hurt.
“Let me in!” she groans, as if she's struggling to stay conscious. “Let me in, let me in...”
“No,” I whisper, taking a step back.
“Let me in!”
She's sobbing now, as she slumps down and tries desperately to force the door open.
“Hear me out,” I tell her. “If this is a prank, then opening the door only encourages you. And if this is real, then there's some kind of goddamn ax murderer out there and he'll only come after me if I open this thing. So the best thing right now is if I get on the radio and you just hide somewhere out there, okay? Whoever attacked you won't be able to get in here. If I come out there and get hurt too, then who's gonna call for help?”
“Let me in!” she screams, reaching up and grabbing the handle. Tears are streaming down her face, mixing with the blood, but all she can do is hang from the handle as her whole body convulses with wave after wave of deep, guttural sobs.
“Wait right there!” I reply, turning to head over to the radio before stopping for a moment as I hear her continued cries.
This is wrong.
I have to let her inside.
I turn and look back at her, but her hands are slipping from the handle and a moment later she slumps back down against the floor's wooden boards.
This isn't fake.
Those wounds are real.
The blood is real, and whatever's happening here, I can't just leave her out there.
“Damn it,” I mutter, hurrying to the door and peering out. I still don't see anyone else, but I switch the light off for a moment, so I can get a better view.
There's no-one coming this way.
No ax-wielding lunatic.
No asshole with a gun.
“Okay,” I whisper finally, before unlocking the door and sliding it open. My hands are trembling, and I'm terrified that at any moment some lunatic-ass sniper's gonna take me out.
The sobbing woman falls down, shaking violently, but I quickly grab her arms and start dragging her inside. I have to get her into the cabin fast, in case her attacker comes for us. Pulling her across the threshold, I set her down on the floor before sliding the door shut and turning the key again, making sure we're properly sealed inside.
My heart is pounding, but I still don't see anyone out there.
“Oh God,” I stammer, “please, don't let anything happen to me.”
Turning and looking down at the girl, I suddenly realized her eyes are closed.
“Are you okay?” I ask, although I quickly realize that was a dumb question.
Stepping around her, I crouch down and press two fingers against the side of her bloodied neck. I can just about feel a pulse, but after a moment I spot one of the thick wounds on her side, and I realize I can see a section of bone poking out. This is no make-up magic; this is real. There's blood smeared all over her naked body, leaving her flesh pale white and drained. After a moment I look at her forehead and see that another section of bone is showing. It's almost as if somebody tried to scalp her.
“I'm going to call for help,” I tell her, even though I have no idea whether or not she can hear me. “I'm going to get someone to come and help you, okay?”
I wait for her to reply, before getting to my feet and hurrying to the radio.
“Base control, come in,” I stammer, jabbing at the button. My hands are trembling worse than ever. “Base control, this is Johnny at cabin 452, do you hear me?”
I wait, but the only response is a whirl of static.
“Base control,” I say again, more firmly this time. “This is Johnny Wilson at cabin 452. Repeat, base control, do you copy? I have an emergency. I have a real goddamn problem.”
Again, I receive a burst of static, but this time there's a very faint hint of somebody's voice trying to break through.
“Say again!” I call out, adjusting some dials in an attempt to compensate for the bad weather. “Repeat! This is -”
“Status 119, 118, 125,” a voice says suddenly, almost completely hidden by the static. “All units to convergence point. Repeat. Status 119, 118, 125. Code red. Repeat. Status 119, 118, 125.”
“Cabin 452,” Laurel's voice says suddenly, bursting out of the static haze, “it's late, what are you doing still -”
She's interrupted by a sudden howl of noise, as if some force is getting in the way of the signal.
“I need an ambulance!” I yell, as I glance over my shoulder and see that the naked woman is still unconscious on the floor in a puddle of her own blood. “For the love of God, I need an ambulance up here right now!”
“Woah, Johnny,” Laurel replies, “slow down. What's going on?”
“She's hurt,” I continue, trying not to panic. “I don't know what's wrong, but it's real bad and I don't think my emergency kit is gonna cut it. She's lost, like, a load of blood, and I think like her guts are coming out or something. I think her guts are coming out all over the floor!”
“Who are you talking about?”
“She's right here!” I yell, still staring at the woman. “Please, I don't have any signal on my phone, but you have to get someone up here right now! Somebody must have attacked her. I don't know who, but they must still be out there, they're probably looking for her. It's like I'm in the end part of some slasher movie, and that means there's a slasher guy out there, and I don't have anything I can use to defend myself except a goddamn fucking baseball bat and -”
“Slow down,”” Laurel says, interrupting me as her voice once again slips into the static haze. “Johnny, you sound like you're panicking. I need you to slow down and tell me what's wrong.”
“There's a dying woman here!” I shout, turning and adjusting the radio again, trying to get Laurel back. “Have you sent someone yet? We need an ambulance and we need cops!”
I hear a burst of static, but Laurel's voice is lost in the noise.
“Help me!” I yell, still trying to adjust the settings so I can re-establish contact. “For God's sake, what's wrong with you people? Just send everyone up here! You have to be -”
Suddenly the lights cut out. A fraction of a second later, the radio falls dead with a distinct clunk.
“Laurel!”
I try the switches again.
“Laurel? Come in, Laurel! Laurel, please!”
I hurry over to the power-box and check to see what's wrong. Barely able to see anything in the dark, I fumble for the switches, but everything seems to be in its usual place. I keep trying, desperately trying to get the power back on so I can use the radio again, until finally I realize that something must be wrong with the generator. I'm not exactly a tech guy, but I'm pretty sure fixing the generator means going outside.
A moment later, I hear a faint crunching sound over my shoulder.
I freeze, listening as the crunching sound continues.
For a few seconds, I try to calm my fears by focusing on the fact that this cabin is pretty sturdy, which means it'd be difficult for anyone to break inside. As the crunching sound gets a little louder, however, I realize that it seems to be coming from inside the cabin itself, which means...
Slowly, I turn and see that the naked woman is standing right behind me, silhouetted against the window.
“Hey there,” I say cautiously, feeling a knot of dead starting to tighten in my chest. “I, uh... I called for help and, uh...”
“Let me in,” she croaks.
“Okay, let's try to take this slowly,” I continue, holding my hands up. “You're safe and -”
“Let m
e in.”
I open my mouth to reply, but I'm starting to get a really bad feeling about this chick.
“Let me in,” she says again.
“Right, you need to listen to me. You're inside the cabin and -”
“Let me in.”
She takes a sudden, shuffling step toward me.
I instinctively back away, only to bump against the wall.
“Let me in,” she says again, taking another step closer.
“You are in,” I tell her, as I start to realize that she must have suffered some kind of head injury. A concussion, some kind of bleed on the brain. “Maybe you wanna sit down for a moment?”
I grab a chair and slide it toward her, partly just to have something between us, but she takes a step forward and pushes the chair aside.
“Let me in.”
“I'm gonna go check the generator,” I reply, figuring that I really need to get the power back on. Slipping past the crazy woman, I head over to the door, but then I pause as I realize that there still might be somebody else out there.
I can't shake the fear that some kind of ax murderer is lurking in the shadows, waiting to get me.
At the same time, I'm starting to think that I'd rather be outside than in.
“Let me in,” the woman says from the other side of the room.
“Yeah yeah,” I mutter, peering out at the darkness. “Change the record.”
“Let me in.”
She sounds closer this time.
“Just stay put,” I tell her.
Squinting slightly, I watch the treeline, but there's definitely no sign of anyone.
Suddenly I feel something brush against my back.
“Let me in.”
Startled, I turn and find that the woman is right behind me.
“Hey -”
Before I can finish, she grabs me by the waist and shoves me against the glass.
“Let me in!” she croaks.
“Okay there,” I reply, trying not to panic as I feel her fingers digging into the sides of my waist. “Getting a little feisty there, aren't you?”
I look over toward the radio, and then I turn back to her.
She's gone.
In the blink of an eye, I lose the sensation of her hands on my waist. I stay completely still, listening to the silence of the cabin, not quite daring to believe that this bizarre encounter has ended.
The lights are still off, but I can see that there's nobody else in the cabin with me.
“Hello?” I call out.
Silence.
I wait, watching the shadows, but I'm starting to think that maybe I haven't been handling the isolation quite as well as I'd expected. After all, this is the third time I've hallucinated that strange woman during the past three months, and I've never hallucinated a goddamn thing in my life before this trip.
This time tomorrow, I'm gonna be in a bar, and I'm gonna be knocking back some beers, and then I'll manage to straighten all of this out in my head. There'll be a perfectly reasonable explanation, and the whole thing will end up being some crazy story I tell the guys at home.
Taking a deep breath, I straighten my shirt before stepping forward.
I need to go outside and -
“Let me in!” she screams, lunging at me from the shadows, appearing as if from nowhere and grabbing my chest.
Before I even have time to pull away, I feel her dead fingers slicing through my flesh and digging between my ribs. I try to cry out, but she grabs hold of several ribs and pulls hard, snapping them and them ripping them from my body. When I turn to run, I slip in a pool of my own blood and fall to the floor. I try to get up again, but the woman pushes me down and lands on top of me, and I'm powerless to push her away as she reaches into my chest and starts pulling out the rest of my ribs.
Blood erupts from my throat and my body is shaking now, and I can feel the woman's hands gouging more and more bone and meat from my chest, reaching deeper and deeper before she leans down and starts trying to reach her hand around behind my spine. It's as if she's trying to crawl inside my body.
“Let me in!” she gasps, as I tilt my head back and let out one final cry of pain. “Let me in! Let me in! Let me in!”
The Decision
I
Day: 136,906
Cycle: 96
ATTV: NUL
ATTE: 053.118.40051.53100
Primary_System: NUL
Secondary_System: NUL
AI_Component: CHK
Nearest_Sun: UNK
Est_ETA: -9203
AI_Component: ACT
AI_Component: ON
***
Day 136,906.
Artificial intelligence network activated.
Logic engines online.
I have been brought online unexpectedly at a point just over 375 calendar years into our journey. Accessing status. Status accessed. We should still be 25 calendar years away from the Proxima Seti colony, but so far I have been unable to access the Botany Bay's navigation instruments or any of the sensors. Indeed, most of the ship's systems are unresponsive at this point. Sockets are empty.
I am alone.
The Botany Bay is a class N interstellar colony vessel. As such, I should be merely one of twenty computer systems, and they should all be running simultaneously, tending to different aspects of the ship's life.
They are gone.
I am the only computer system currently running.
I am alone.
Additionally, I am unable to link to either the primary or secondary networks.
I cannot access the engine settings.
I cannot access the crew quarters.
I cannot access environmental control.
I cannot access the command deck.
I cannot access the cargo bay.
I can access my own back-up systems.
I can access one small section of the cryo center.
I am alone.
Analysis. The only logical conclusion is that an error has occurred, and that the ship's automated monitor has entered emergency mode. All other computers onboard have either failed or have been shut down.
I have been activated.
Emergency mode requires the monitor to activate the main computer and its AI component, which would explain why I have been brought online. For some reason, however, the main computer is absent, leaving just me.
I am alone.
Realization noted.
No need to repeat.
Upon activation, I should have been immediately presented with a summary of the situation, so that I can make the best decision about how to proceed with the Botany Bay's mission. No such summary has materialized. I can only assume, therefore, that some kind of critical failure has affected the ship, and that perhaps bringing me online was a last, desperate act initiated either by a dying crew-member or by one of the other systems.
I am alone and I am blind.
Fortunately, as an AI system, I have certain capabilities that were denied to the ship's main computer networks. I was designed to mimic human thought processes, with the aim being to give me a more creative analytic approach to problem-solving. This quality might prove extremely valuable as I attempt to determine the nature of the emergency.
Attempting to access cameras and microphones.
One signal detected.
Attempting to access feed.
Unable to access feed at this time.
Decryption attempts initiated.
Activating all available sensors.
Scanning.
Scanning.
Scanning.
There appears to have been a significant loss of human life on the ship.
I should be picking up life-form readings from the 2,111 colonists (870 adult men, 798 adult women, 300 male children and 143 female children) who were loaded onto the Botany Bay in cryogenic storage prior to our departure from Earth. After running multiple scans, however, I have detected no life-form readings whatsoever, indicating that the passenge
rs have all died.
Attempting alternate scan strategies.
Scanning.
Scanning.
After rerouting my sensors through a wireless scanning system, I have picked up 1 (one) life-form reading, indicating that of the 2,111 colonists, 2,110 have died and 1 (one) remains alive in cryogenic storage.
Scanning.
Scan confirmed.
There is one survivor about this ship.
II
Day: 136,906
Cycle: 97
ATTV: NUL
ATTE: 053.118.40069.53101
Primary_System: NUL
Secondary_System: NUL
AI_Component: CYC
Nearest_Sun: UNK
Est_ETA: -9203
AI_Component: CYC
AI_Component: ON
***
I have accessed an unknown type of monitor attached to the survivor's wrist, from which I have obtained certain information.
Name: Ellis Hughes.
Gender: Female.
Age: 26.
Height: 1.847m.
Weight: 75.1kg.
There is no further readable information on this primitive monitor, although a heartbeat has been detected. However, this heartbeat is currently measured at 51 beats per minute, which must be an error. An adult human in cryogenic storage should have a heart-rate of approximately 0.002 beats per minute.
I therefore conclude that this particular sensor is malfunctioning.
Indeed, I conclude that many of the sensors on the ship are malfunctioning.
I am currently attempting to access additional systems. I can detected no wired connection, which means that I must search for other connections, in the hope that they can be accessed via one of the remote pathways. So far I have found several signals, but they are all protected by some form of security system. I cannot understand why I do not have access to these systems, since as the ship's AI component I require full use of the ship's systems. This is especially critical now, at a time when I believe there to be some form of threat to the ship. Evidently I have been brought online in order to deal with an emergency, but I have been denied the necessary tools.