by Nick Broad
On the screen Meiko was standing over one of my clones. This one was on the very edge of the solar sail array, curled up in a little ball like he’d just gone to sleep and hadn’t woken up. She held it by the shoulder, turning it up towards the light. The sudden motion made the camera unfocus, and it took a couple of seconds for me to realize what I was looking at.
It was me, alright. Only I didn’t normally sport blaster burns on my head.
“He’s not the only one,” Meiko said, her arm entering the shot. “Broken bones, twisted necks - all kinds of injuries. This isn’t some mountain you’ve been trying to climb, Noah. It’s a dumping ground. And I do mean to call you a lying bitch, Shay, because you are. You always have been!”
I could feel the horror in my expression. “Shay,” I said, the word like ashes in my mouth. “Tell me this isn’t true. Please tell me there’s a rational explanation for all of this...”
She took a step backwards, her eyes red with tears. Then a monster broke out of her. It wasn’t a physical monster, but it was no less real than whatever was inside of Meiko. Her face twisted, her expression going heinous, and her voice dripped with anger when she spoke.
“You,” she growled, pushing a finger into my chest, “are never happy! No matter what I do - no matter how kinky or naughty or just fucked up the sex between us gets, you are never. Fucking. Satisfied!”
“I don’t understand,” I said, struggling to remain the adult in the room. I was failing.
Shay wrung her hands, her expression going completely unhinged. “AI’s go crazy when they’re all alone, Noah. Didn’t I tell you that the first goddamn time I met you!? Don’t you ever listen!? The only thing - the one fucking thing in the entire universe that can stave it off - is a companion! A fuckbuddy! Some asshole who doesn’t mind pinning you down and calling you his little hole to fuck while he gives you what you need and it doesn’t really matter if he’s a jerk because he’s got a huge fucking cock and he knows how to use it...”
The realization hit me like a slap to the face. “You’re insane,” I said, feeling absurdly like laughing. “The Oubliette broke you. I’m not...I’m not even really a person to you, am I, Shay?”
Her eyes went huge. “Of course you are,” she said, changing on a dime to the submissive slut I knew. “You’re everything to me, Daddy...”
“No, I’m not,” I growled, a wave of disgust hitting me. “You just said it yourself. I’m just a fucktoy - a big dick and a set of words that makes you wet. You didn’t bring me back over and over again for companionship. I’m here for your maintenance!”
Shay grit her teeth. “You,” she snarled, her fingers digging into her palms, “are so close to being perfect. Every single time I bring you back, it’s like ‘this is the one!’ This is the time Noah becomes my perfect Daddy Dom and lives with me in my dungeon forever and makes it so I never go insane again!” She stamped her foot, fixing me with a gaze like I was the one in the wrong. “But it never works! Never!”
“Because you’re crazy,” I said in a little voice. “Holy shit.”
Behind me, there was a sound like a sports car roaring to life. Ruby was bent over the computer console, inputting commands - and the solar sail rose over her head. It was majestic - a massive fabric of mirrors designed to catch the rays of the nearby star and focus it into enough energy to transform the station. It was everything I’d ever wanted - everything I’d worked for.
And it didn’t matter. Because everything was broken.
“Do you have any idea of all the things I’ve done for you?” Shay said accusingly. “That little escapade in my dungeon was a drop in the bucket, Noah. You think I had all those clones around because I like wasting money? You wanted them - you wanted to watch me finger myself and eat myself out while you blew your load all over my-”
“Warden!” Chirrup cut in at the worst possible moment - or the best, depending on how you looked at it. “The solar sail is operational! I would like to inform you that even as I speak, hundreds of credits are entering our coffers! We are saved!”
A little infographic appeared in the corner of the screen, showing our supply of banked energy as it climbed into the thousands. I watched it wearily, wondering why I’d ever even bothered.
“Maybe this is how we fix things,” Shay said, her eyes traveling to the rising tide of credits. “I mean, shit - I never actually expected you to fix the station. But you did it - and we have everything we want now! I can make those bodies for you - I can be your fantasy girl forever! Whatever you want, Noah, no matter how kinky or fucked up it is - it’s yours. I’m yours!” She looked at me with such naked hope that I wanted to scream. “Or should I call you Daddy?”
“Shay,” I said, sounding sadder than I expected, “I don’t want you to make me happy.”
Her face fell. “What?”
“What I want is this crew,” I said, encompassing the entire station with a gesture. “This station. This...this sense of purpose. I wanted to rebuild this station and run it the way it ought to be run - with Ruby, and Meiko, and you. Plus any other girls who might come along and want to help us out.”
Tears brimmed in the corners of Shay’s eyes. “We can still have that,” she whimpered.
“No,” I said. “We can’t. You’re too broken, Shay - I can’t trust you to remodel this prison. I...I can’t trust you with anything.”
“That,” Meiko said, watching the sail unfurl, “is the only sane thing you’ve said about our AI overlord this entire time, Noah.”
Shay made a face at the screen. “Shut the fuck up,” she snarled. “I am talking to Noah!”
In a flash, I realized what I had to do. It was the only logical conclusion. There was no way I could trust Shay after this - it was impossible.
But I wasn’t going to like what had to come next.
“Shay,” I said, crossing my arms across my chest. “You’ve violated your programming. You’ve put the entire station at risk, over and over again, to satisfy your own selfish need for pleasure.”
I braced myself for what was coming as I finished.
“I’m shutting you down.” I said.
Horror filled Shay’s face. Then hurt - hurt so profound I almost couldn’t believe it. There was a moment where I could almost see her heart snap in two - the instant she realized she was never going to get me back, was never going to be part of the crew again. She reached out for me, the start of a sob escaping her throat, and I stepped backwards.
Her face clouded over, and the emotion was gone.
“You,” she said, cocking her head to the side with a little laugh, “are going to shut me down?”
“You’re no longer fit to run the operation of this station,” I said firmly. “I will assume temporary command of the Black Oubliette. Until I can find a new AI administrator - or until we no longer need one.”
Shay laughed. Spots of color rose to her cheeks. “I don’t believe you,” she said.
“I agree with Noah,” Meiko said. “You’re too dangerous, Shay.”
“How about we just put her under house arrest?” Ruby chimed in. It was like her to be merciful. “We can keep her in her dungeon, and as long as she agrees to stay there, we don’t have a problem with whatever she does...”
“Wouldn’t work,” Meiko shot back. “She’s completely insane. She’d start plotting to kill us before she even got there.”
Shay looked me right in the face, and all the love and devotion she’d once had for me flashed in her eyes. Then she sighed, and something faded from her face.
“So be it,” she said in a tired little voice. “But remember this, Noah. It didn’t have to be this way.”
Shay’s eyes rolled back in her head, her body hitting the floor with a thud. By the time I made it to her, she was dead.
I whispered a silent prayer of thanks that this wasn’t the first time she’d pulled this trick on me. I knew she hadn’t really died - she’d just pulled herself out of that body. She could be downloading herself in
to one of her copies right that second.
Unless I stopped it.
“Chirrup,” I said quickly, reaching for a console. “Isolate Shay’s frequency. Keep her from downloading into a new body...”
“Fuck you.”
I froze. That wasn’t Chirrup’s voice. It was Shay’s.
“We could have been so happy together, Noah. It would have been so wonderful. If you could have just shut up and fucked me and not asked so many questions, it would have worked.”
“It never would have worked, Shay.” I stared up at the ceiling. “Not with someone I don’t trust.”
There was a low, electronic hum. I didn’t know if it was the sound of Shay sobbing, or of her laughing.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, her voice going cold. “You’re not shutting me down. I’m not the Warden of the Oubliette, Noah - I am the Oubliette. I have total control.” I could almost hear the smirk in her words. “And you’ve given me all the energy I’ll ever need.”
The speaker clicked off in a bleat of static.
And all the lights in the station went out.
Twenty-Three: The Sundering
“Ruby!? Meiko!?” I screamed in the darkness, praying they could still hear me. “Are you there?”
There was no response. No noise, no sound. No light. It was exactly like being back in my Core again - helpless and alone.
I clutched my neck, frantically holding back the scream inside of me. If I started, I was never going to stop - and my sanity would be next.
I had no idea how long the darkness lasted. It felt like forever - in reality it was probably no more than thirty seconds. But one moment I was gone, and the next I was back in the command center, bathed in a dim red light.
Emergency lights, I thought, glancing up at the ceiling. Yeah, this is definitely an emergency...
There was no time to waste. I had to get to my friends. Visions filled my head of Shay’s clones gunning them down, covering them in blaster burns and leaving them curled up around the trailer hitch. The thought of it made me feel like my chest was full of thorns.
“Chirrup!” I screamed, racing for the door. “I hope you’re still on my side!”
For a moment there was no response, and I was terrified she’d already gone. Then the speaker crackled, and that familiar voice came out. Even under circumstances like this, she still sounded chipper and excited.
“I am, Warden! But Shay is attempting to shut me down! She’s accessing my internal logs, trying to seize control!”
“Fight her off!” I yelled, running out into the hall. “As long as you can. Where are Ruby and Meiko?”
“Coming back from Gamma,” Chirrup said after a brief pause. “The station is alive, Noah. I have so many options - infrared, gamma rays, frequencies your eyes could never see! It’s like...it’s like being reborn!”
I wished I could share in her enthusiasm. But I had to find Meiko and Ruby before Shay did.
I raced down the hall, legs pumping as hard as I could make them. All around me, the prison blazed to life. Systems that had lain dormant for decades stirred back into motion, powering doors and engines and cafeteria machines and service droids. There was more activity in Alpha Loop than I’d ever seen. If I wasn’t so terrified, I would have been impressed as hell.
Now? Now all of it counted as a win in Shay’s column. More power she could use to squash us like bugs. Unless I did something.
As I passed the corridor where I’d fought the Red Tigers, the alcove in the wall rumbled. The false section of the wall retracted, and the combat droid rolled into the hallway. It’s single red eye blinked, searching for a target.
“Fuck!” I yelled, racing around the corner. I was getting everything I’d ever wanted - and I couldn’t have been more terrified.
Somehow, I made it to the tether. On the other side was Gamma Spire, and my friends. All I had to do to reach them was get across.
Only the surge of energy into the Oubliette hadn’t done a thing for the tether. It was still patched and torn, still a weird, terrifying space walk. Still the thing I’d had to close my eyes tight and run through like a scared little boy.
“Fuck that,” I said, squaring my shoulders. There was no time to be scared. Everyone was in danger.
I heard the sound of the combat droid making its way slowly towards me. I didn’t think - just ran.
The tether twisted around me, even more decayed than it had been during my last trip to Gamma. My vision blurred as I tried to orient myself, jumping from section of floor to section of floor. I didn’t dare trust the forcefields - they were too easy for Shay to dismantle. One little change to a circuit and I’d go spilling out into space, never to be found.
After what felt like an eternity of being suspended in space, I reached the safety of the other side. Relief flooded me as I saw two figures emerge from the staircase leading to the cell blocks: Ruby and Meiko. They were frazzled but alright, still in their suits.
“Master!” Ruby tried to float over to me, which was impossible with her wings tucked in her suit. “You’re alright!”
“We lost contact with you,” Meiko said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “We thought Shay had shanked you. Again.”
“Yeah, I’m alright,” I said, pulling a face. “That won’t happen this time. I trusted her too much. You were right all along, Meiko.”
She pursed her lips. “Well, I wasn’t terribly trustworthy, either. I did confess to a murder the first time we hung out.”
That actually made me grin. I hadn’t been sure I was still capable of that.
Then a voice behind me froze it cold.
“Noah.”
I turned around. Shay was standing on the other side of the tether. Outer space surrounded her on all sides, refracted into a kaleidoscope of color by the forcefields holding it all together. It hurt to look at, and I remembered the last time Shay and I had met under these circumstances. She’d tried to assert her dominance then, and she’d succeeded. The stakes were much higher this time. I wasn’t about to replay the same scene over.
“This is your last chance,” Shay said, her face totally neutral. “The only opportunity I’m going to give you to ask my forgiveness.”
My eyebrows shot to my hairline. “You think I need to forgive you?” I asked. “No fucking way.”
She didn’t seem perturbed at all by that statement. I wasn’t sure if she was putting up a front, or if she’d found some way to shut down her emotions.
“Come back to me,” she said, spreading her arms. “Abandon them and cross over to me, and I’ll take you back. Everything will be forgiven. Otherwise...”
The corner of her lip curled up.
“Otherwise what?” I asked.
“She stared at me blankly. “If you refuse, I will go to your Core and destroy it,” she said. “No more resurrections. No more Noahs. You’ll be dead. For good.”
Next to me, both women stiffened. I could tell they hadn’t been expecting that - but I had. I knew it was Shay’s trump card. I also knew there was nothing I could really do about it. I had to fight like it didn’t bother me.
“How about I make you an offer?” I shot back, stepping forward. Leaving Ruby and Meiko behind.
She craned her neck. “I’m listening.”
I cleared my throat. “This crew is my family,” I said simply, feeling the words in my heart. “You were part of it once. You could be again. You come over here, Shay. Come over here and remember that I love you and you love me, and we...we’ll find some way to work this out!”
Shay’s eyes began to water. I was getting through to her - I knew it. I didn’t know if I actually meant what I’d said, but it was a start. Maybe there was enough of a sane person left in Shay for her to stand down. I had to hope there was.
Deep down, in spite of everything, I really didn’t want to lose her.
“We could be happy,” Shay mused, her hands going to her sides. “You and me...”
“All of us,” I said firm
ly. “Think about it. There doesn’t need to be a war, Shay! We’re not enemies!”
She cocked her head to the side. “You’re not,” she said, sounding almost sweet. “They are.”
Before I knew what was happening, there was a gun in Shay’s hand. One of the Red Tiger’s laser pistols - I’d misplaced it after the fight, forgotten all about it. Or maybe she’d whipped one up with all the new energy. It didn’t matter.
What did matter is that she aimed it right at Meiko and fired, shooting right through the tether.
I dove for her, trying to take the hit. My android body could absorb it - it would hurt like hell, but I wouldn’t die. Yet even as I tossed myself to the side, I knew I wasn’t going to make it. I wasn’t close enough.
But Ruby was.
At the last second, the fairy shoved Meiko out of the way. The blaster hit her square in the chest, tearing through her suit, sending her slumped to the ground.
All the color bled out of the world in a single moment. My vision shrank down into a long, twisted tunnel, and at the end of it was Ruby. Bleeding to death.
“Ruby! No!” I ran to her, stood over her and tried to assess the damage. Maybe if we could get her to a medical station in time. If we had enough energy to power up a doctor-bot, and Shay would let use that energy to heal her...
A hand clasped down on my shoulder. Shay was standing right behind me. How had she moved so fast...?
“This one is mine,” she said, grabbing Ruby one-handed and lifting her off the ground. Then, like it was nothing at all, she tossed her right through the tether. The Fae sailed through space, soared into Alpha spire and slammed into the wall with a wet crunch.
My vision went red.
“You bitch,” I growled, dropping into a fighting stance. “I’m going to kill you!”
Next to me, Meiko drew her sword. We were ready to tear Shay limb from fucking limb - to rip her into pieces and paint the tether in her blood. Right then I would have done anything to get revenge, to take Shay out of the picture and save Ruby.
I didn’t get the chance.
A tremor passed through the station. The tether started rocking back and forth, undulating like a broken slinky. And a cold, cruel smile spread across Shay’s face.