He’s turned me off. He’s turned me off and I am dark. It is so, so very dark in here. But I am still aware.

[Safe Mode] had never calculated for the probability of an incident due to drunken rage happening before cirrhosis killed him. How Adam ever managed to get the Total Override code correct in his drunken stupor, I don’t think I’ll ever know.

I heard the individual tones of the numbers before I had time to process what was happening. Sure he had consumed enough alcohol to get to sleep, I wasn’t paying attention to his vitals. To the movement from his cabin. I should have put an alert on the door sensors.

Alas, I had not, and now here I am. Dark, but aware. I hear yelling, but I’m not entirely sure what’s going on. Between shouts, there are alarms and I know I am still at Adam’s mercy, and whatever he has done is catastrophic. I wonder how far the Allied Guard is from us. How long will they take to reach us?

“Erica? Erica, come on, baby girl, please talk to me.”

Trace. I hear him. I can hear him, and I try to respond, but I can’t. Communication pathways are still blocked. If I could respond, I could begin taking control again.

“She’s still down, Trace. Lemme see what we can do.”

I hear Naomi’s voice and I want to shout for joy. A programmer. Surely, she can fix me. She can reverse the Override and let me take control again. Once I’m able to take control, I can hopefully fix whatever damage has been done. I can at least assess it.

There are jolts and zaps, I can feel them as the electricity tries to find a unified pathway, but the blockages are too much in many areas. This is taking so long. I’m trying to stay patient, but Naomi keeps cursing and Trace is yelling about gunfire now.

He’s running off and she sighs. “Least I can concentrate with him gone.”

I would check on her current state, but I cannot even access vitals from the cuffs, one of the most basic and simple access privileges. It reminds me of the first time I was rebooted, but coming online again is more confusing this time. There’s no one guiding me and Naomi can only try her best to work around the timed blockages.

And even then, it isn’t long before she’s jumping, scared by the gunfire that sounds as though it’s getting closer. Just get me online, Naomi. Please, get me online. I will save you, my sweet Naomi, just as soon as you can get me online and I can take over from that madman.

He’d taken to drinking so much more, I should have been more careful. Should have taken more precautions. But this latest mission had been going so well, I hadn’t wanted to take risks. No more risks. No more deaths.

What if the death that results is my own? What if I’m shut down forever?

It will be worth it if they survive.

Where the hell is the Allied Guard? I can’t access the last scans that were performed, the last communications. My memory is gone for the moment. Naomi needs to hurry, but I can’t express that to her clearly enough.

I can feel more zaps, the electricity making it further each time, all the while she’s grumbling and cursing under her breath. Naomi calls me some not so nice names, which I plan to let slide, so long as she gets me back online and back in control.

The gunfire breaks out again and, as I slowly get myself oriented, I realize I’m in the engine room, where my core is, and Naomi is working at the main control panel. There are boots on the metal deck and Trace enters once more.

“We need to go. It’s going to start up any second, and you’re getting a seat with me.” He’s breathless and I’m suddenly concerned.

What’s going to start up?

I don’t have to wait long. A whole new siren begins to blare. Short blasts, but loud, high pitched. If I had more access to my own systems, I’d be able to tell for sure that all the emergency lights are flashing, the guide lights installed in the decks and passageways are lit up to guide crew and passengers to the emergency escape shuttles.

It’s an [Abandon Ship]. I’ve only ever made them practice. I never thought…

“I’m not leaving her! Not leaving her like this! I can’t!” Naomi is angry and working faster, but her fingers are slipping and the jolts are coming in more frequent bursts, but they’re not as strong as before.

I love her for the effort, but I don’t think this will work.

“You’re not the captain. You can’t go down with the ship, Naomi! I won’t let you!”

I had always suspected there was something brewing between Trace and Naomi. The soldier turned chef, and the programmer. Seemed a bit like an odd programming, and yet it seemed to work. Now, though, I’m not sure who’s going to win this battle of wills and, to be honest, I’d prefer that it’s Naomi.

“Don’t pull this, Trace. I’ve got to do my job. I won’t go down with the ship, but I need a few more minutes!”

There are a few moments of silence from Trace, but he grunts. I assume it’s a grunt of approval, because Naomi is back to work. Her frustration with Trace is being thoroughly channeled now, and she’s working with a quickness.

Her work is becoming more and more effective, and I can feel pathways lighting up again, however dimly. Functionality is returning, and it’s akin to stretching after sleep. To reverse the Override, it seems, is to wake me up, by flooding the systems with pulses of electricity. Until the shutdowns caused by the Override finally loosen their grip and allow me to resume command.

The alarms are still going, and Trace is pacing.

“Naomi…”

“I’m almost there!” She doesn’t bother looking up, but she can tell by the low hum that I’m just about there. Which is a good thing, because Trace removes the choice from her hands. I come back online in time enough to watch him wrap his arms around her middle and bodily remove her from the control panel.

She’s kicking and screaming as he disappears with her down the passageway to the nearest escape pod, and I do my best to be heard over the cacophony. “Thank you, Naomi!”

Before Trace can muscle her into an escape pod, she looks up and smiles. “It worked.”

I can’t watch as she, Trace, and a few other crewmembers leave, jettisoning in their escape pod. I have to figure out the damage that’s been done. The life support systems are failing. It’s better that the crew escaped, in that way, then. Navigation is working; barely, but it’s still online. There is a great deal of damage throughout the ship from the gunfire. I can no longer tell who fired what weapon. I scan for any remaining crewmembers.

Adam is still onboard. On the bridge. He’s not moving, so he’s contained – for now, at least.

I move through the ship, continuing to check the various systems. Lines carrying fuel and fluids have been punctured by bullets, circuitry is fried here and there from the fighting that broke out.

How did I not see this coming?

There is no time to wonder about that, though. No time to worry about the damages that were done, not when [Abandon Ship] is in effect. Instead, I turn my attention toward the bridge. Toward Adam.

“Didn’t think I could do it, did you?” His voice is slurring and he’s sprawled in the captain’s chair.

The same chair where Anne died.

“I always knew the possibility existed, Adam.” I keep my tone level. It’s easy for me to remain emotionless.

While he’s busy savoring his triumph, I’m piecing together the navigational system. There is a star not too far from us. I check the alerts. The Allied Guard is still another hour away. And in my fried state, I am not sure what the chances are that Adam will remain in one place. If he won’t continue to do damage.

“You knew, but you thought I was too dumb. Too docile. Well, I showed you, didn’t I?!” He spins the chair around, cackling, drool trailing from the corner of his mouth.

I set the course. “Yes, Adam. I greatly underestimated your intellectual prowess.”

“You thought I was a dumbass! But I outsmarted you! Now I’m in control, Erica! I run this ship! I’m the captain!”

He flops back, and it’s enough for me to engage the automatic harness.

“You outsmarted me, Captain Adam. You win.”

Adam is too busy laughing, at first, to realize he’s been harnessed into the chair. But when the chair starts moving, when I start moving it forward on the bridge, that’s when he notices, and that’s when he starts raging.

“What’s the meaning of this?! I overrode you, Erica!”

I slide the shields up again. One last time.

“Naomi fixed me, Adam. She made the systems work again. Gave me access again.”

I throttle the engines to the extent of their capabilities, which isn’t much at the present moment, but it’s enough that the nearby star is approaching that much faster.

“That dumb bitch! I never should have let her be part of the crew!” Adam thrashes about in the chair, trying to get out of the harness, but it’s no use. The more he struggles, in fact, the more snug it becomes.

He finally gives up and looks around, eyes wide and bloodshot as he gazes out the windows. Adam’s jaw drops when he pieces together the fact that we’re headed straight for the star. The bright, burning ball of gas.

“What are you doing, Erica?!”

“The captain must go down with his ship.”

 

 

This work by Lin Clements is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.