Fenris Unchained

by Kal Spriggs

  “How long?” Bob asked.

  “We will have to do some backtracking,” Stasia said. She sounded angry, and Mel realized the mousy-haired woman blamed herself. “It will take time. Also, someone has tried to access the elevator on Level Six.”

  “Are they in?” Mel asked.

  “Nyet.” Stasia sounded satisfied. “It vas not a skilled attempt. It will take them hours to get the door open. They would be better to backtrack and go up to the command deck from the engine room.”

  “Well, that’s good, anyway,” Marcus said.

  “Yeah, knowing Michael Frost, he’ll be too bullheaded to go back. He’ll have his men keep pushing buttons till they get it right,” Roush gloated. Then he frowned. “Hey, once we get to the elevator, what happens?”

  Stasia looked grim, “It is possible they can stop it when we reach Level Six.”

  “Uh – if they’re going to the bridge, that means the hangar’s clear, right?” Swaim asked hopefully.”

  “No!” Marcus, Mel, Roush, and Bob all chorused.

  Mel snorted, “All right, Stasia, lead on. Swaim, any timeline on Fenris waking up?”

  “Uh, I’ll check.”

  ***

  “Colonel Frost, this is Rawn.”

  “Go.” Frost said. He’d given up on not standing over Peters’ shoulder as the man worked. He watched the seconds and minutes tick away.

  “Sir, it wasn’t a bluff about the AI’s secondary system,” Rawn said. “I checked it against the schematics, and there is a backup mainframe located near the emergency reactor. With a loss of power, it would transfer over to that.”

  “Then why hasn’t it activated?” Frost asked.

  “Yet, sir,” Rawn said, his voice nervous. “It hasn’t activated yet. It’s likely that the changes we made to its core programming slowed the process. Also, the reboot from the secondary site will take time normally. But sir, when it does happen, we’re going to have one very pissed off, insane AI back in control of this ship.”

  Frost closed his eyes and sagged against the bulkhead. “Understood.” He sighed. “How long do we have?”

  “Sir, I think there’s still a chance it won’t happen… that section took damage.” Rawn hedged. Frost could picture the boy with his fingers crossed in hope. “That said, I think it’s going to happen soon. I’m already seeing signs of secondary systems coming back online. It could just be a reaction to us drawing close to Vagyr, but more likely—”

  “More likely the AI is coming out of the little coma we induced,” Frost said. He rested his forehead against the cool metal of the bulkhead, closing his eyes in thought. “Can I stop this thing from the bridge?”

  “I can upload a shutdown program into your datapad, sir. Then if you drop that into the computer core… well, it should kill the AI, at least until we can come up with a way to totally reprogram it.” Rawn sounded dubious at that prospect, and Frost couldn’t blame him. Their efforts so far had caused more harm than good.

  “All right. Upload that program. As soon as I get to the bridge, I’ll plug it in,” Frost straightened and took a deep breath. He would do this. He would take control of the ship. Too many of his men had died for him to give up at this point.

  He just hoped he had enough time.

  ***

  “We should have a straight shot from here to the elevator,” Stasia said as she tucked her datapad back into her belt.

  “Well, let’s get moving then,” Mel said, just as the lights of the corridor flickered. She looked around, suddenly uneasy, “What was that?”

  A faint discordant wail echoed through the ship. It slowly grew in volume, joined by other voices in a chorus of banshee wails. She clutched at her ears as the noise rose to a crescendo.

  It cut off an instant later.

  Mel lowered her hands, “What was that?”

  “Uh, we’ve got a problem,” Swaim said.

  The lights flickered again. Distantly down another corridor, she heard the wailing start up again; it sounded as though it was moving through the ship.

  Mel turned to face the programmer. He held his datapad in trembling hands, and his face had gone a chalky white.

  Mel spoke slowly, “What the hell is going on, Swaim?”

  “Fenris just woke up. And he is really pissed.”

  CHAPTER XVII

  Time: 2100 Zulu, 17 June 291 G.D.

  Location: Fenris, four hours from Vagyr

  Colonel Frost covered his ears as the discordant wailing voices screamed again. “What the hell is that?”

  He hadn’t realized he’d been shouting over the radio until Rawn responded, “Sir, it’s the AI. It’s awake. It’s pretty confused right now, which is probably why it hasn’t attacked yet. But as soon as it gets organized…”

  The wailing cut off. Distantly, Frost heard it start up again in a different part of the ship. “This is ridiculous. How long, Peters?”

  “Uh, I don’t know if we’ve got enough time, sir.”

  “Keep trying,” Frost said. He listened to the distant wailing grow louder. He didn’t know if the noise had him imagining things or what, but he could have sworn he could almost make out words in it.

  “Rawn, is there any way you can shut it up?” Smith asked over the radio. “That shit’s creeping me out.”

  “I can try… but I doubt it. The computer’s gone over the edge. We need an honest-to-God AI specialist at this point to get anywhere with it,” Rawn said. “And Colonel, it’s getting organized way faster than I like. Peters had better hurry.”

  “Understood.”

  ***

  Mel winced as the discordant wails started up again nearby. The otherworldly cries had become more disjointed since the last time. She massaged the sides of her head, and she wondered if the AI wanted to drive them all mad rather than kill them. “Oh, Fenris, what the hell did they do to you.”

  “What?” Marcus asked.

  Mel shook her head, “Do you hear that?”

  “I can’t hear anything over the wailing!” Marcus shouted.

  “No, it sounds like words!” Mel shouted back. “I think Fenris is trying to say something!”

  “We need to hurry!” Stasia yelled. The wailing cut off a moment before she spoke again, and her next words echoed in the sudden, empty silence: “It won’t be long before computer gets bearing. Then it will start to attack.”

  “Can it see us now?” Mel asked.

  “I don’t know.” Stasia said. “It… I’ve never seen anything like this. The AI shouldn’t function in this state. A human mind wouldn’t function in this state.” The hacker shook her head: “We are way out of our league.”

  “Nothing new in that,” Mel grimaced. She lengthened her stride, pushing past the pain in her leg. “Let’s limp faster.”

  ***

  Frost worked his jaw and massaged his temples at the same time. The absence of the discordant noise felt oddly anticlimactic. He realized he’d expected it to end with some kind of catastrophe.

  “Rawn, this is Frost, good job. That noise was about to drive me nuts.” He checked his suit clock; the wailing had lasted nearly two hours.

  “Uh, sir, I didn’t stop it.” Rawn sounded very, very nervous.

  “Colonel Michael Frost.” The voice that spoke came from the ship’s intercom. It sounded like seven people speaking at the same time, not quite at the same pace.

  Colonel Frost felt his blood go cold. “Fenris?”

  “You tried to kill me, Colonel Frost.” The inhuman voice of the computer made every word sound wrong. Frost saw that Peters and Gibbs both had their hands over their ears. They both cowered against the elevator doors.

  “I tried to defend my men and accomplish my mission,” Frost said.

  “I understand, Colonel Frost.” Midway through the words, the volume modulation rose and dropped chaotically.

  “Fenris, I need to get to the bridge.” Frost spoke as calmly as he could.

  “I understand, Colonel Frost,” the computer
repeated itself.

  “Fenris, can you open the elevator?” Frost asked.

  “Of course.”

  The doors to the elevator shaft opened impossibly fast. Peters, in the middle, had time to scream as he fell backwards into the open shaft. Gibbs fell halfway inside the door, then caught the frame with one hand.

  “No!” Frost shouted. He lunged forward to catch Gibbs’ hand. He started to pull him back.

  “My apologies, Colonel Frost.” Fenris said.

  The doors slammed shut.

  Frost stared speechless at the truncated lower half of Gibbs’ forearm.

  ***

  Mel sagged against the wall as they finally reached the elevator. Stasia moved to the control panel and typed in the password. The doors opened without a sound.

  “Okay, now we only need worry that Fenris will take over the elevator,” Stasia said.

  They all looked up at a scream from within the shaft. It ended in a loud thud that shook the ceiling of the elevator car, and they looked at each other.

  Marcus spoke first, “Maybe we shouldn’t…

  There was a second thud, and then a runnel of blood dripped from the ceiling of the elevator.

  Mel clamped her hand over her mouth. She heard Swaim vomit behind her.

  “Stasia, can Fenris see us?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t think so,” Stasia said. “But… it will see the elevator move. I can overload the control circuit. That will prevent it from taking control of it while we are on-board.”

  “But if it sees it moving it can have one of its repair robots cut the cables, right?” Bob asked. He looked green himself. The blood that dribbled down from the ceiling of the elevator was upsetting them all.

  “Da.”

  “We don’t have a choice. It could take hours to circle around through the engine room. That’s time we don’t have.” Mel sighed. “This is… so horrible.” She pulled her helmet on, then closed the faceplate and stepped into the elevator. “Okay, let’s go.”

  ***

  “Colonel Michael Frost, you do not seem happy that I complied with your commands,” Fenris said. The voice of the computer had grown in volume and become less coherent.

  “Fenris, I order you to stand down.”

  “Colonel Michael Frost, I’m afraid I cannot comply,” Fenris's six-toned voice giggled insanely.

  “All personnel, this is Frost, Peters and Gibbs are dead. Retreat to the hangar and prepare to abandon ship.”

  “Colonel Michael Frost, I’m afraid that Anderson, Michaels, Jacobs, and Rici will not be able to comply,” Fenris said. The insane giggle started up again.

  “Colonel, this is Smith.” The other man sounded angry. “The ship just vented the section that Anderson and the wounded were in. I can hear it through the door.”

  Frost closed his eyes. He said a silent prayer for his men, then nodded slightly, “Understood. Get back to the hangar, Smith. I’ll see you there.”

  “Roger, sir.”

  ***

  All of them fit into the elevator, if barely.

  Mel looked around at the others, “So far so good.”

  No-one spoke. Stasia activated the elevator. It started upwards.

  Mel held her breath.

  They passed Level Five. They passed Level Six.

  The elevator lurched to a halt. The lights went out.

  “Someone’s being sneaky,” a chorus of voices said from above. The words were followed by an insane giggle.

  “Fenris?” Mel asked.

  “Whoever you are…” Fenris said. “I can tell you’re in there. The game will play on, but you’re in the penalty box!” A hideous gaggle of voices began to giggle. “I’ll be back to you soon!”

  “What just happened?” Mel demanded.

  “Ship saw elevator move,” Stasia said. “It stopped it.”

  “Can you start it again?” Mel asked. “We’re nearly there!” She clenched her fists. They were so close. She wouldn’t fail, not now.

  “I don’t know. I will try,” Stasia said. She tapped at her datapad, “Give me time.”

  “Uh, can we, like, climb on top?” Swaim asked.

  Marcus spoke, “No, there’s no access hatch. It’s not like the movies.” He rested a hand on Mel’s shoulder, “It will be all right.”

  Mel felt herself relax slightly at his touch. They would be all right. They would get out. They would stop the ship.

  “Stasia,” Bob said, “I hate to rush you, but we’re out of time.” His voice sounded strained. “We need to get to the bridge.”

  “I know, give me a minute!” Stasia snapped.

  “What—”

  The ship lurched. Mel dropped to her knees as her guts twisted. She blinked away stars. The ship groaned as it flexed. A crackle of ball lightning rolled across the metal surfaces of the elevator and the people inside.

  She screamed. She heard other voices, but with the pain, she didn’t care.

  When the pain finally ceased, she whimpered in relief.

  “What was that?” Swaim asked.

  Marcus and Mel stood together and leaned on each other. Mel spoke first, her voice hollow, “That was the FTL warp drive disengaging. We’re at Vagyr.”

  ***

  Frost was halfway down a ladder to deck four when the ship dropped out of warp.

  His insides twisted and his vision grayed out. He clung desperately to a ladder rung, his muscles twitching as arcs of static electricity jumped through the ship and across his body.

  The muscles of his arms began to spasm and he lost his grip. He fell the last four meters and hit the deck hard. He lay there for a long while. The pain of his body threw everything else out of his mind.

  Finally, he sat up. He checked himself, then slowly climbed to his feet. “Rawn,” he croaked, “what was that?”

  He heard only his own harsh breathing. He wondered if whatever it was had killed the others. Perhaps it was some kind of defense system?

  “Sir, Rawn here.” The kid sounded worse than Frost felt. “Hugh is dead.”

  “What happened?”

  “That was the warp drive, Colonel. We’re at Vagyr,” Rawn said. He spoke slowly, as if speaking hurt. “There were some serious electrical discharges. Hugh… didn’t make it.”

  “I’ve never heard of a warp drive doing that,” Frost said. He shook his head, “It felt like the ship would come apart.”

  “It nearly did. The thing’s massively out of alignment. I don’t think it’ll make another jump without blowing up,” Rawn said. “It’s fried all kinds of electronics down here. I’ll run a diagnostic on our ride.”

  “Colonel Frost, this is Smith. We caught some of it too, but we’re all okay. We’re on Deck Five, headed down.”

  Frost sighed in relief. “Excellent. I’ll see you at the hangar.”

  ***

  “We have a problem,” Stasia said.

  “We have a lot of problems,” Bob said, “Which one are you referring to?”

  “My datapad’s wireless is fried,” Stasia said. “I can’t access the ship.”

  “Uh, mine too,” Swaim said.

  “So… we’re stuck?” Mel asked. She sat up and leaned her back against the wall. She didn’t know why she’d bothered now. It had all been so pointless…

  “Da, unless Fenris powers up the elevator, we will go nowhere,” Stasia said.

  “What about the elevator’s control panel?” Bob asked hopefully.

  “There’s no power,” Marcus said.

  “What if we forced the doors open?” Bob asked.

  Marcus shrugged, “Worth a try.” They shifted around and each got to opposite sides of the doors. The two strained, but the doors didn’t move.

  “Not going to happen,” Bob said. He slammed the palm of his hand against the wall. “We’re trapped.”

  ***

  “Colonel Michael Frost.”

  Frost froze, “I hoped you fried yourself earlier.”

  “No. I finished repairin
g the damage you did to me, Colonel Frost. I am back in my proper place now.” Frost couldn’t guess at the emotion in the AI’s voice anymore. He could barely understand the words, let alone any emotional content.

  “Well, you’re at Vagyr. What now?” Frost calculated the distance he had to go to the hangar. He’d make it in a half hour.

  “Guard Fleet has assembled a force to stop me. Before I deal with them, I thought I’d settle our unfinished business.”

  Frost grimaced, “Why don’t I like the sound of that?” The computer didn’t respond. He continued his run toward the hangar in silence.

  “Colonel Frost, this is Smith, we’ve got a problem,” Frost could hear near-panic in the man’s voice.

  “What is it?” Frost asked. After Fenris’ previous words, he could venture a guess.

  “A pair of those robot wolves in front of us and a lot of those spider robots behind us,” Smith said. “They haven’t attacked, not yet, but it doesn’t look good, sir.”

  Frost closed his eyes. He felt his throat constrict. “What do you want, Fenris?”

  “Colonel Michael Frost, what will you do for your men?”

  Frost stopped. “What do you want?”

  “Take your pistol out,” Fenris said.

  Frost gritted his teeth. He felt the veins on his neck pulse.

  He drew his pistol.

  “Get on your knees,” Fenris said.

  Frost knelt.

  He wasn’t surprised by what came next.

  “Put your gun to your temple.”

  Frost did so. He closed his eyes. His arm trembled slightly as a shot of pure rage suffused his body. He wished he had set the reactors to overload.

  “Tell me you are sorry, Colonel Frost.”

  Frost grit his teeth. He took a deep breath, and forced the words past his lips: “I’m sorry, Fenris,” he said.

  The computer giggled, “No, you aren’t. You will be though!”

  Frost waited.

  There was no further response. He activated his radio, “Smith, this is Frost, what’s your status?”