Chapter 14
Ice Cold
//
SPATIAL
CHECK
>
DATE:
09.03.7088
>
TIME:
010:34:23
UST
(UNIVERSAL
STANDARD TIME)
// LOCATION TRIANGULATION
> SYSTEM: INTERSTELLAR SPACE
(Hyperspace)
>> BODY: nil
>>>
SETTLEMENT: nil
>>>> LOCAL:
CRSS RECKLESS -
Standing
still as a statue, ring lights cycling, Forty-Five listened. He was
positioned in the cockpit, video feeds of the entire ship streaming
across the holographic display screen encompassed the viewport.
Notably, the cargo bay view was back online, showing the neat pile of
android bodies stacked in the centre of the hold.
But
Forty-Five’s face was
not looking at this
particular view. He was hooked in to the audio feed of the cameras
that had that capability. While
the audio sensors were
offline in the bay, the
airlock and
the engineering sections, one
of the cameras twitched.
A slight bump -
imperceptible to the
human eye but to a machine,
the slight displacement
of pixels was clear as day.
It came
from the starboard
engineering section. He
turned on his heel and stalked towards the rear of the ship.
The lights
were so bright it felt like needles behind my eyes. I blinked slowly,
but the glare only intensified, swallowing the edges of the room. I
was on my back, resting on a cloud. He said he would protect me. I
believed him. I was safe.
The room smelt of motor oil and old leather. ‘Who
said they’ll protect me?’
I closed my eyes to think, a dark visor with ring
lights appeared behind my eyelids.
I turned my head
to the side, seeing
the glass of water on the
counter
in front of me,
a cup that had
appeared out of nowhere.
I
was thirsty. The lingering taste of vomit long gone, the smell of
sewage faded to a distant memory. A sense of fuzzy warmth washed over
me.
The
headache had stopped, and
my
ears were filled with the sound of rushing water, drowning out the
phantom screams from my nightmares.
I
just needed to keep drinking. I
blinked and found myself upright, cup
in hand.I
downed the rest of the dregs in the cup, a dismayed cry stuck in my
throat as the liquid
ran out. There
was a tap somewhere, but I
couldn’t remember where. The only thing that existed was the cup in
my hand.
‘
I giggled
to myself, letting the cup fall from my boneless fingers and it
clattered to
the floor. It rolled
around the floor, the
clatter shattering into
the sound of a blender
being used in the kitchen.
The bright lights
weren’t
the ship lights, they were the bright
lights of the hallway
back home. Gamonida.
I bit my
lip with a smile. ‘I
could sneak some ice cream too.’ I
blinked,
and I was there.
“Daddy!”
I called out, looking through the window into the kitchen.
They had
locked me out again. I wasn’t allowed any treats after the
mechanical failure in Mama’s lab. Someone got hurt, but I could not
remember who it was. No one was in the kitchen for now. I pouted. I
was shorter, my hands smaller. I was thirteen years old again.
But I knew
how to open the door. The automatic system had a manual release. I
didn’t care how much trouble I’d be in; I knew I could bypass the
lock. So I did.
I broke
open the panel beside the door and I found the circuits. My hands
moved automatically, years and years of practice of breaking into
mama’s lab and daddy’s office. I twisted the magnetic coupler,
and then yanked the red wire and touched the live end to the release
mechanism.
‘Disable
the lock, then force the auto door to open.’ It
was familiar, it was home. No one can keep me locked out, or
in.
I smiled
triumphantly when the door hissed open. “Daddy?” I called out.
Forty-Five
moved silently down across grated raised walkway. His movements
predatory and completely at odds with his size, a chest-light
sweeping the corridor ahead.
He stopped
underneath a ceiling access vent, freezing in place. A hand stretched
out towards his neck, right above the vulnerable input ports.
At the last
micro-second, Forty-Five braced his legs, bringing his arms up as if
about to turn and attack, feeling the movement behind him. It nimbly
clasped a hand at the junction where neck met shoulder, and then
rammed one foot against the back of the calf, the next stepping up
against the broad back. Using Forty-Five’s massive frame as a
springboard, the figure vaulted upward with supernatural speed. The
vent cover was punched open, the figure twisting in the air and
disappeared into the black throat of the duct system without a sound.
Forty-Five
was left in the middle of the corridor, he didn't look up, instead
sweeping the rest of the space as if the movement confused him. He
twisted around, chest-light sweeping the now empty corridor. Visor
dark, he resumed his patrol. No longer silent, his footsteps heavy
and loud.
My feet
were quiet on the cold floor. I couldn’t find the kitchen. I must
have been back at mama’s office. I was still wanting the ice cream,
so I roamed the hallways. There was a small kitchenette around the
corner; Mama kept the treats there for me.
I opened a
thick, bulkhead door. I was breaching the security levels. They never
could keep me out. No matter how many times they upgraded the
systems. But this one was easy. I must be 10 years old again. I
looked down, there should have been scorch marks from the explosion
when the mech overloaded. I scuffed my foot. Nothing. They must have
cleaned it all up already.
I stepped
over the threshold, hearing people at the end of the hall. ‘The
engineers…’ I panicked, looking around to hide. ‘They’d
call mama. I’m not meant to be here. Daddy,
Sounds
of running footsteps. I headed down towards the end of the hallway,
there should be a closet at the end of the stairs. My bare feet
thudding against the grates. I should have put shoes on. I hurried
down the stairs, getting ready to burst through the door on the left.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Screeetch.
Scratch.
Someone
was scratching at the
door. More people, they were
trying to open
the door! I turned right instead, hitting the big green button of
the big security door to let
me in.
The
door closed behind me, and
I heard
loud, thundering footsteps
rush down the stairs, the
floor plates vibrated against my bare soles.
‘
I thought to myself, ‘I must have activated the mechs
again. I knew that door was too easy.’
I
huddled down, waiting for the footsteps to fade. The room had a
window, I sat there watching the stars fly by. The room was cold and
small.
Forty-Five
skidded to a halt in the middle of the junction. He had picked up
movement from a smaller form. He looked left then right, as if trying
to decide which direction the hostile went.
‘Scratch.
Screeeeeeetch.’
Metal
on metal screams caught his attention to the left.
He
settled in front of the view-port that allowed a view of the cargo
bay. The robot bodies should
have been deactivated, their power cores removed.
‘
It
wasn’t from the cargo bay. It was above. He looked up, tracking the
sounds moving
away. More scrambling from the other side, but he didn’t pay
attention to that. He didn’t follow the commotion
overhead; instead, he turned
around to the airlock door.
He
pressed the door release,
revealing a body curled in the fetal position in the corner.
A
frustrated growl, and he knelt down next to the body. A synthesised
low voice, free of stutter spoke quietly,“Assessment. The
cargo is proving to be...significantly more volatile than previous
analysis projected.”
I was being
carried, rocked back and forth as the figure walked. The body was
hard and cold. I snuggled in; a sentinel I’ve been working on must
have found me again.
I opened my
eyes, the first thing I saw was the galley of the Reckless. I
blinked, wasn’t I in Mama’s lab? A wave of nausea washed over me,
a pressure pressing in on my ears. That sensation of being underwater
was strong...and familiar.
“Drugged,”
I gasped out, my mouth parched. “Ali’s drugs. I’ve been
drugged.” I hugged myself, pressing up against the sentinel’s
body. “I was elsewhere and now I’m here.”
The
sentinel didn’t respond, didn’t even adjust his grip.
“All I
wanted was ice cream...”
The
rocking motion was
soothing,
causing my head to nod off. Before
then
I
remembered:
I
shouldn’t sleep.
Panic spiked, hot and white. I struggled,
finding the grip slack and clumsy. I fell down, my body jarring
against the floor. Darkness
engulfed my vision.
I
jerked
awake
and I was… somewhere else again.
Forty-Five
was gone. I
wasn’t in the infirmary. I
wasn’t in the galley.
I
looked around, confused as to where I was, calling
out. “Hello?”
I
reached out and touched the wall, feeling the vibrations under my
fingertips.My
baby…’ I
was on my ship. I’d recognise that engine hum anywhere. I kept
myself anchored to the wall and walked forward. I was in one of the
hallways in the engineering section.
A pair of
fast running feet sounded behind me. I twirled around, my fingers
losing contact with the wall.
I was back
The hallway was littered with bodies, all
of them barely
breathing. My eyes
drifted over them, not taking in any details, knowing what I’d see.
Knowing where I was. What
should have been white panelling on the walls and ceiling were old,
dirty and stained.
My
breathing quickened, my heart started racing. The sounds of running
was getting closer. I started moving, looking over my shoulder and
running.
I came
across a door. It was thick, heavy and shut tight. I used the manual
release, the mechanism
clunking open. The door hissed before allowing me in. I shivered. I
must have found refuge in cold storage. My hands started shaking. I
knew what I’d find. I tried not to look at the ground. I kept my
eyes on the ceiling.
Whoever was
in pursuit passed by the door, getting quieter. I was thirsty. I was
hungry. I was going to be sick. The shivering got more violent, I
started rubbing my arms as I looked around again for an exit or a
source of warmth.
My eyes
fell on the corpses in the middle of the room. Lifeless eyes staring
up at the ceiling. A large, powerful man, blond hair, deep hazel eyes
like mine. A scar down his cheek, a relic from the Raids. Next to him
a woman, curvier and taller than I was. Messy brown curls hid her
face. But I knew she’d have brown eyes.
Next to
them weren’t bodies. They were limbs, organs, pieces. Their torsos
had been cracked open, the ribs were spread wide, and the cage
underneath was empty.
I screamed.
I turned around to run. And froze.
A corpse
was staring at me. Condensed, cold air blowing out of its face. It
was wrapped in linen robes and a shroud. Goggles were placed askew
around its neck. But I could see sunken, rotted eyes, decomposed
flesh that showed metal bones.
“
It spoke, a raspy, metal whisper. It stepped forward,
forcing me back.
I
fell over backwards, tripping over the bodies in the middle of the
room. The human from the wreck. It was moving. It was talking. The
corpse loomed over me, a skeletal hand reaching down.
"..."
it rasped again, the shroud slipping down its face.
I
scrambled back, my hands slipping on
the icy floor.
My fingers numb from the cold. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry
but my voice wouldn’t work. I couldn’t even whisper, my mouth
open in a soundless cry for help. The corpse didn't stop. It lurched
forward.
.
The
sound echoed through the room. The reinforced
steel door was
violently thrown open. A
massive, black shape filled the frame, large clawed hands bracing
against the wall. My eyes widened. I heard of them from my father’s
stories. . A
scaly monster from the deep, one that would
eat careless people.
The
monster didn't slow down. He
hit the corpse with the force of a freight train. There was a screech
of tearing metal- not bones
or flesh. The frail
body was launched across the
room, smashing into the far wall. But the pieces
didn't bleed. They
sparked.
The
monster turned to me, large round head splitting in half to reveal
rows of sharp teeth. It didn’t eat me, or claw me to death. It
spoke to me instead. “Alert.
Client not following directions,” it spoke with a robotic stutter,
the modulation low and monotone. “Client
is attempting to void their warranty.”
The eyes were rings of red
light.
“Dr-drugged,”
I whispered through the shivering, my words slurring. My head felt
loose on my shoulders. “I’m in the freezer, Taniwha. Where they
kept... Where they put the... harvest.”
Tears
leaked out, my whole body going slack and falling on the bodies, the
monster moving forward to hover over me.
The
corpse...must have been another one of us. I moved my head towards
their direction. “Save them. They don’t deserve to die...”
A
low growl, the Taniwha
gnashed its teeth at me. It moved over me, keeping its burning
gaze to mine. “Warning. Unit is infected, it will corrupt us all.”
I
twisted in the pile of limbs and torsos, looking at the sparking pile
against the wall. The corpse was twitching, trying to drag itself
upright.
it leaked out, the sound distorted by static.
The
Taniwha reared up on its hind legs, tilting its head at the twitching
corpse. I knew I was a mess, lying on the floor, shivering in the
cold of the
freezer.
“Pl-please.”
I reached out a hand, resting
on my father’s face. “Everyone deserves to live. It doesn’t
matter where they’re from. A soul saved is a soul that can save
yours.”
The
Taniwha stilled. Something changed in its posture. “Understood,”
the deep bass rumbled, vibrating the cold air. It moved closer to the
twitching undead,
and reached down to grasp it by the back of its neck. It lifted it
off the ground like a ragdoll, bringing it closer to its sharp, wet
teeth. The corpse flailed, but instead of biting the head off or
ripping it apart, the Taniwha ripped the clothes off, revealing a
skeleton of pure metal. Sparks were flying from tubes and circuitry
from the exposed insides. Large claws reached down into the torso,
straight between the bones. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the
disembowelment.
I
opened my eyes again. It
gently deposited
the body down. In its other
hand, a black box. I
recognised it as a generic power source. It
placed it in a pile of
other components, just off to the side.
I
looked down, the bodies weren’t that of my parents. They were
robots.
“Where...am
I?” I tried to ask, but my teeth were chattering too
hard. My fingers were turning blue.
Big,
clawed paws
reached down towards me. I flinched, shutting my eyes. I
felt arms moved under my
body, lifting me up. My head rested
against a broad chest as
we started walking towards the door.
“Threat
neutralised,” Forty-Five’s voice cut through the rushing in my
ears. “Opinions queued. Hostile work environment and
client’s deviation from directions.”
“Will...be…
taken... under... advisement…” I mumbled.
