Strong R for suicidal thoughts and intention.
Harper looked over at Rommie. "Sorry," he said. She looked at him uncomprehendingly.
Harper took a deep breath. "I choose Rommie," he said.
Chapter 6
The voice was silent for long moments. "You're sure?" It asked him.
Harper nodded. "Oh yes, I'm sure, very sure, never been more certain."
The voice sounded almost subdued. "As you wish," it said.
Nothing happened for some seconds then tiny blue sparks appeared at the very tips of Rommie's fingers. The sparks grew and spread. It was obscenely beautiful to watch. The electricity bridged the gap between Rommie's hands making a blue arc. He hair stood on end with the static created.
The blue sparks flew up and down her body and she shuddered and thrashed about as if she was having a seizure. The AI fell to the deck and as she did the sparks subsided. She lay very still, there wasn't a mark on her body and except for her hair being wildly disarrayed she was as beautiful as ever.
Harper felt tears rush to his eyes and spill over down his face. "I'm so sorry Rom doll, " he sobbed.
The voice had been silent while Rommie had been 'dying' now it resumed. "I'm so sorry," it mocked. "Sorry that you picked the wrong one." The voice was laughing again its laughter in perfect rhythm with Harper's sobs. "Stupid kludge. Did you really think it was that easy?"
It had never called Harper a kludge before. Had the voice finally made a mistake or was it tricking him again. He was very thoughtful as he wiped his eyes with his sleeve.
He picked Rommie up and carried her down the corridor. He pushed open the door to his quarters and laid her on his bed. Harper stroked her hair trying to restore it to its customary smooth style.
The voice had mocked him all the way. "Pathetic little man, how could she care for you, she isn't real, you made her. If you'd done a better job she would have been lusting for you instead of the big bold Captain Hunt. Did you think she would look at you while he is around?" The voice inside his head sighed. "Enough of all this emotion. I have work for you."
Harper barely had time to draw breath when the klaxons started again. "Main airlock breach." Andromeda almost sounded weary. "Outer airlock door open, inner door unable to maintain integrity. Total breach in 3 minutes."
"Run Harper," the voice screamed. "Run little kludge." Harper ran, he jacked in and with the usual rush was back inside the mainframe. He worked frantically. Some of the data streams were turning first red then black as they corrupted and 'died'. "Come on Andromeda," Harper was frantic. "Cut me some slack here." His fingers moved in the twisting streams. They were twining round each other, it was almost as if the corrupted data was infecting the clean data.
"Two minutes to breach." Andromeda sounded as if she really didn't care if there was a breach or not.
Harper prayed to the Divine that the others had managed to suit up, they would at least stand a chance. Perhaps they had even managed to get to the Maru. He had to be optimistic. Even if he died, he was no loss. "Status of crew," he gasped. He never stopped working but he needed to know. "Hunt, Gemini and Valentine locked down in quarters. Tyr Anasazi is on board the Maru." Andromeda answered. "Breach in 30 seconds and counting.
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28
27
Harper worked frantically, he could see the last small piece of bad data but he couldn't reach it, he felt as if he was swimming in syrup. His virtual hand reached out infinitely slowly to grab the last few bytes of the program.
17
16
15
"Got it." Harper was triumphant as he erased and restructured the data. He held his breath, or he would have done had he been in his real body.
10
9
"Breach contained. Outer airlock doors closed." Andromeda sounded exactly the same giving the good news as she had counting down the bad.
Harper relaxed, he returned to his real body with a cry of triumph. He also had another piece of the puzzle.
"Not bad," the voice admitted grudgingly. "Not bad but not good enough. You could have done that much faster. We will have to try that one again."
"Why are you doing this? Why not just finish it?" Harper didn't really expect a reply.
"It's fun," the voice replied, sounding surprised at his question. "Destroying the Andromeda and killing everybody would be so boring. This way I get to enjoy it."
Harper shook his head. "You are truly warped." He said. While the voice was answering questions he decided to ask another one. "Who was that other voice, at the very beginning, the one that wanted to kill me?"
The voice laughed. "You really are stupid aren't you? That was me too, my other side you might say."
"Your evil twin?" Harper said sarcastically.
"Oh no," the voice was genuinely startled. "That was my good side."
Harper was once again exhausted but he hugged his little secret to him. He was pretty sure not that the voice couldn't totally read his mind. If it could it would have found his jigsaw pieces by now. Harper couldn't risk putting them into the mainframe, he'd memorised the code for the new piece and he needed to add it to the flexi where he'd stored the first piece before he forgot it.
Lucky I'm a freakin' genius. His thoughts were more positive than they had been for some time. He was also fairly sure who was doing this. It had to be Tyr; he was the only crewmember that could possibly have escaped the airlock breach. Harper was puzzled though. He didn't dispute the fact that Tyr was an intelligent man. It would be stupid to underestimate the Nietzschean just because he was big and buff. Anasazi had never shown any great aptitude with computers. He must have had help from someone or something.
Harper puzzled over the problem as he returned to his quarters. The voice was silent for now and the engineer wanted to download his puzzle piece into the flexi. He walked into his room feeling almost cheerful. Then he saw Rommie lying on his bed. How could he have possibly forgotten what had happened. He tried to put his feelings aside as he updated the puzzle file.
Once he'd finished he staggered to the bed and sank down on his knees by Rommie's silent body. "I will stop this," he cried. "Even if I have to stop myself." He'd contemplated suicide before, many times during the magog infestation, and if he was honest with himself, many times during his miserable existence on Earth.
Once the thought was in his mind it took root and grew. He really wasn't thinking straight and it was hardly surprising, he hadn't slept for hours and his tired mind wasn't seeing all the repercussions of his actions.
He fell asleep still kneeling on the floor, his head resting on the bed next to his Rom doll. That was were Beka found him the next morning.
She shook him none too gently. "Harper, wake up. What happened to Rommie?"
Rommie sat up. "Nothing happened," she said. Harper was running diagnostics on my systems. He must have fallen asleep."
Harper woke up with a start when he heard Rommie's voice. "Rommie," he said tentatively. "You're all right. How? You were dead, you died in front of me."
"Harper," Rommie was confused. "What are you talking about? You were working on me all day yesterday. I was off line for a while but certainly not dead."
Beka shook her head. "Come on Shorty, time for something to eat. I wouldn't normally recommend this but I think you could do with a couple of cans of Sparky. You look as though you need a sugar boost."
The voice began to laugh again, quietly at first, then louder and louder. The eldritch laughter echoed through Harper's brain. "Fooled you," it said between insane chuckles. "Fooled you. Why don't you give up you excuse for a man? Put an end to yourself then the Andromeda will be all mine. It has been fun but now I'm getting bored.
Harper started to cry; his escape route had been rendered useless. How could he die now and leave his friends to the mercy of the voice and its creator.
"Eat my shorts." He said much to Beka's astonishment.
TBC No evil cliffhanger this time.
Harper looked over at Rommie. "Sorry," he said. She looked at him uncomprehendingly.
Harper took a deep breath. "I choose Rommie," he said.
Chapter 6
The voice was silent for long moments. "You're sure?" It asked him.
Harper nodded. "Oh yes, I'm sure, very sure, never been more certain."
The voice sounded almost subdued. "As you wish," it said.
Nothing happened for some seconds then tiny blue sparks appeared at the very tips of Rommie's fingers. The sparks grew and spread. It was obscenely beautiful to watch. The electricity bridged the gap between Rommie's hands making a blue arc. He hair stood on end with the static created.
The blue sparks flew up and down her body and she shuddered and thrashed about as if she was having a seizure. The AI fell to the deck and as she did the sparks subsided. She lay very still, there wasn't a mark on her body and except for her hair being wildly disarrayed she was as beautiful as ever.
Harper felt tears rush to his eyes and spill over down his face. "I'm so sorry Rom doll, " he sobbed.
The voice had been silent while Rommie had been 'dying' now it resumed. "I'm so sorry," it mocked. "Sorry that you picked the wrong one." The voice was laughing again its laughter in perfect rhythm with Harper's sobs. "Stupid kludge. Did you really think it was that easy?"
It had never called Harper a kludge before. Had the voice finally made a mistake or was it tricking him again. He was very thoughtful as he wiped his eyes with his sleeve.
He picked Rommie up and carried her down the corridor. He pushed open the door to his quarters and laid her on his bed. Harper stroked her hair trying to restore it to its customary smooth style.
The voice had mocked him all the way. "Pathetic little man, how could she care for you, she isn't real, you made her. If you'd done a better job she would have been lusting for you instead of the big bold Captain Hunt. Did you think she would look at you while he is around?" The voice inside his head sighed. "Enough of all this emotion. I have work for you."
Harper barely had time to draw breath when the klaxons started again. "Main airlock breach." Andromeda almost sounded weary. "Outer airlock door open, inner door unable to maintain integrity. Total breach in 3 minutes."
"Run Harper," the voice screamed. "Run little kludge." Harper ran, he jacked in and with the usual rush was back inside the mainframe. He worked frantically. Some of the data streams were turning first red then black as they corrupted and 'died'. "Come on Andromeda," Harper was frantic. "Cut me some slack here." His fingers moved in the twisting streams. They were twining round each other, it was almost as if the corrupted data was infecting the clean data.
"Two minutes to breach." Andromeda sounded as if she really didn't care if there was a breach or not.
Harper prayed to the Divine that the others had managed to suit up, they would at least stand a chance. Perhaps they had even managed to get to the Maru. He had to be optimistic. Even if he died, he was no loss. "Status of crew," he gasped. He never stopped working but he needed to know. "Hunt, Gemini and Valentine locked down in quarters. Tyr Anasazi is on board the Maru." Andromeda answered. "Breach in 30 seconds and counting.
29
28
27
Harper worked frantically, he could see the last small piece of bad data but he couldn't reach it, he felt as if he was swimming in syrup. His virtual hand reached out infinitely slowly to grab the last few bytes of the program.
17
16
15
"Got it." Harper was triumphant as he erased and restructured the data. He held his breath, or he would have done had he been in his real body.
10
9
"Breach contained. Outer airlock doors closed." Andromeda sounded exactly the same giving the good news as she had counting down the bad.
Harper relaxed, he returned to his real body with a cry of triumph. He also had another piece of the puzzle.
"Not bad," the voice admitted grudgingly. "Not bad but not good enough. You could have done that much faster. We will have to try that one again."
"Why are you doing this? Why not just finish it?" Harper didn't really expect a reply.
"It's fun," the voice replied, sounding surprised at his question. "Destroying the Andromeda and killing everybody would be so boring. This way I get to enjoy it."
Harper shook his head. "You are truly warped." He said. While the voice was answering questions he decided to ask another one. "Who was that other voice, at the very beginning, the one that wanted to kill me?"
The voice laughed. "You really are stupid aren't you? That was me too, my other side you might say."
"Your evil twin?" Harper said sarcastically.
"Oh no," the voice was genuinely startled. "That was my good side."
Harper was once again exhausted but he hugged his little secret to him. He was pretty sure not that the voice couldn't totally read his mind. If it could it would have found his jigsaw pieces by now. Harper couldn't risk putting them into the mainframe, he'd memorised the code for the new piece and he needed to add it to the flexi where he'd stored the first piece before he forgot it.
Lucky I'm a freakin' genius. His thoughts were more positive than they had been for some time. He was also fairly sure who was doing this. It had to be Tyr; he was the only crewmember that could possibly have escaped the airlock breach. Harper was puzzled though. He didn't dispute the fact that Tyr was an intelligent man. It would be stupid to underestimate the Nietzschean just because he was big and buff. Anasazi had never shown any great aptitude with computers. He must have had help from someone or something.
Harper puzzled over the problem as he returned to his quarters. The voice was silent for now and the engineer wanted to download his puzzle piece into the flexi. He walked into his room feeling almost cheerful. Then he saw Rommie lying on his bed. How could he have possibly forgotten what had happened. He tried to put his feelings aside as he updated the puzzle file.
Once he'd finished he staggered to the bed and sank down on his knees by Rommie's silent body. "I will stop this," he cried. "Even if I have to stop myself." He'd contemplated suicide before, many times during the magog infestation, and if he was honest with himself, many times during his miserable existence on Earth.
Once the thought was in his mind it took root and grew. He really wasn't thinking straight and it was hardly surprising, he hadn't slept for hours and his tired mind wasn't seeing all the repercussions of his actions.
He fell asleep still kneeling on the floor, his head resting on the bed next to his Rom doll. That was were Beka found him the next morning.
She shook him none too gently. "Harper, wake up. What happened to Rommie?"
Rommie sat up. "Nothing happened," she said. Harper was running diagnostics on my systems. He must have fallen asleep."
Harper woke up with a start when he heard Rommie's voice. "Rommie," he said tentatively. "You're all right. How? You were dead, you died in front of me."
"Harper," Rommie was confused. "What are you talking about? You were working on me all day yesterday. I was off line for a while but certainly not dead."
Beka shook her head. "Come on Shorty, time for something to eat. I wouldn't normally recommend this but I think you could do with a couple of cans of Sparky. You look as though you need a sugar boost."
The voice began to laugh again, quietly at first, then louder and louder. The eldritch laughter echoed through Harper's brain. "Fooled you," it said between insane chuckles. "Fooled you. Why don't you give up you excuse for a man? Put an end to yourself then the Andromeda will be all mine. It has been fun but now I'm getting bored.
Harper started to cry; his escape route had been rendered useless. How could he die now and leave his friends to the mercy of the voice and its creator.
"Eat my shorts." He said much to Beka's astonishment.
TBC No evil cliffhanger this time.