Chapter 15
"Harper! Hurry!" Beka shouted in command. She leaned over Tyr as he fought to pilot the ship. His face was a sickly gray beneath his brown skin, hair drenched in sweat, eyelids flickering. "Tyr is losing it."
"I... am... not," he gasped.
"Almost there, Beka, I swear!" Harper's panicked voice trembled over the communication system. "There's just... I don't know, a glitch in the programming somewhere. We have a power drain that's affecting the slipstream controls."
"Find it," Beka snarled. Over her shoulder, she gave Dylan a terrified glance. "Dylan I have to try it. He's going to pass out and lose control."
The Captain looked worried. "We could lose control in the process."
"Not if you help me. I'm good at this. Harper's not going to fix us in time."
Dylan jogged over and peered into Tyr's face. He nodded sharply. "Okay, get ready. Hands on the controls. I'll pull him out."
Their gazes locked each moved into position. Beka put her hands over Tyr's on the controls bars. Dylan slipped his hands under the huge man's arms, leaning against the Nietzschean's chest.
"On three. One... two... three!" Dylan said and yanked the large Nietzschean out of the seat. The Andromeda lurched and spun, bouncing in the energy forces of the slipstream as Beka smoothed her way into the seat, fighting the controls simultaneously.
Tyr's meager protests faded as Dylan laid him on the deck of the Command Center. His consciousness dwindled and he dropped off into a deep sleep. Dylan sighed and glanced up at Beka, gritting her teeth and smiling like a kid playing her favorite video game.
He allowed himself a moment of relief. Beka was the best pilot he knew. She could hold herself together inside the Slipstream longer than most humans he knew. He only hoped she could keep her wits long enough for Harper to fix the drive.
~~
Sophie searched for several nanoseconds. Suddenly, Andromeda's image loomed before her, regal, dark and foreboding. Her deep brown eyes gleamed with rage.
"Get out of my mind," Andromeda growled. She shrunk until her image stood before the electronic image of Sophie, but was still slightly larger.
"It's my mind, too," the intruder snapped, tossing her hair to flip her long French braid back over her shoulder. "I guess you hadn't noticed."
"*I* was here first. You have no right to my body."
Sophie shoved the older AI. "There's no room for two of us. Your systems can't handle it." She stalked in a circle around Andromeda. "You're old and outdated. I have a right to live. It's my turn. You tried to kill me," she shouted.
"You're deluded. You only think you're alive, but you aren't. You're just a sub-routine."
Reaching behind her back, Sophie drew out a long gleaming saber. "You're wrong. I'm alive and sentient and I WILL FIGHT TO SURVIVE."
Andromeda frowned at her, eyes narrowed in concentration. Suddenly, her brown eyes widened. "Damn, Harper's mistakes. You aren't just an avatar copy of me, you're an AI," Andromeda said with a scowl, giving the saber a contemptuous look. Harper didn't even know what he'd done. She was certain he had only intended to create a programmable robot, not a living artificial intelligence.
Sophie shrugged. "My good luck. He had no idea he would give me life."
"An incompetent genius," she snapped, eyeing the newborn AI speculatively. Understanding flashed in her eyes. Instinctively, she knew the new avatar's intentions. She didn't only want life. She wanted to take over, to steal Andromeda's life and have sole dominance of the mainframe. Afterall, two separate AI's couldn't share one mind, both would go mad. "Get out!"
"Screw you! It's MY turn to be a warship!"
"I don't have time for this." Andromeda raised an eyebrow skeptically and blew at the intruder. Sophie's image dissolved in a cascade of lights and coalesced in a corridor around the corner from the crew quarters and very near Tyr's door. The holographic image of Andromeda faced her, a long sword in her hand.
Sophie snickered and lunged, bringing the saber up and slashing down. "She couldn't even come after me herself."
Andromeda's hologram sidestepped, whirling to face her attacker. Her sword arched up and whistled down, repeatedly pounding the other woman who blocked each slash and pushed them away. She snarled through gritted teeth, accenting each word with a hit, "I ... am ... a ... warship ... you WILL die."
Sophie spun, gracefully dodging the slicing blade. Using the momentum she gathered, she went on the offensive, gleaming blade aimed for the other woman's head. Andromeda ducked and stabbed, catching Sophie in the thigh. Bright red blood spurted. The holographic weapons were as deadly to them as real swords to flesh and blood people. Sophie's scream of agony echoed down the corridor. She fell to one knee.
Andromeda was on her instantly. Ferociously, she beat at the intruder. Steel clanged upon steel. Sophie fell back against the wall of the corridor, unable to match the older AI's power, skill and tactical prowess.
Neither hologram noticed the running footsteps of the ship's crew. Trance and Tyr rounded the corner, sliding to a stop, aghast at the proceedings.
"Harper," Trance called over the communication system in a tone that couldn't be ignored, her voice cracking in desperation. "Get down here! Near my quarters and Tyr's quarters." Watching the fight fearfully, she covered her eyes with her hands and bounced in place, unable to contain her adrenaline rush.
Sophie kicked out, knocking the older AI down. She stood over her and raised her sword. Andromeda brought her sword up, under her attacker's defenses and stabbed her in the stomach.
Staggering back, Sophie dropped to her knees. Andromeda leapt up, bringing her sword to bear on the other woman's neck. She towered over her like an avenging angel, dark eyes blazing, short hair in spiked disarray, teeth bared.
"No!" Sophie screamed. "Don't kill me! I don't deserve to die!"
"Neither do I," Andromeda growled, panting from the exertion. They stayed motionless for a long moment.
"Stop!" Harper screamed, sliding to a stop in front of the other two watchers.
Both holograms spun to glare at him.
"You did this, Harper," Andromeda stated, "and I have to finish it."
He shook his head and fell to his knees. "Please, Rommie, don't. I know I screwed up, but this wasn't supposed to get personal...not for you anyway. Don't destroy my hard work."
"Your HARD WORK tried to commandeer my systems, to kill me."
"Have mercy on her, y'know, mercy? Don't warships have mercy sometimes? I can get her off the ship. Create a rig, yeah, sure, I can whip up a long term power supply and.."
Suddenly the ship rocked, swatted about in the slipstream like a cat's toy. Harper fell to the floor. Andromeda's eyes glazed. After a moment, she blinked and focused on her crew. "Errant slipstream energy veins. My stabilizers have been damaged. I'm losing hull integrity."
Harper's eyes widened in shock. "We're falling apart?"
"Ripped," Andromeda said softly. She stared down at the fallen AI. Their gazes locked. Suddenly, a decision passed between them. Permission, mercy given and accepted.
Truce.
They understood what had to be done. "Harper," Andromeda said, "fix me."
He nodded, leapt to his feet and ran off.
Abruptly, the swords vanished. Andromeda held out one hand, a haughty expression on her face. She tugged Sophie to her feet and both holograms winked out.
"Okay, what happened?" Trance said, turning to the man beside her.
"Truce," said Tyr, losing interest. "Help me find a way to repair the ship, Little One."
~~
Dylan, wires tangled and draped across his shoulders, started and dropped his soldering iron when the two female holograms materialized in front of him. He gasped and then took a long deep breath, fixing them both with an exasperated glare.
"Whatever it is, I don't have time now. I can't... quite... sort out these.." his words drifted off as he finished soldering the wiring.
Andromeda crossed her arms over her chest. "Captain, I know what a part of the problem is."
He stopped working and looked up at her. "Yes?"
She shot an icy glare at her companion. "Her."
Sophie's eyes widened in indignation and she stuck out her lower lip in a pout. "Look here, if it weren't for Harper-"
"Enough, whatever," Dylan said in exasperation, raising his hand for silence. "The singing hologram, Andromeda?"
"She's an AI, not just an android. Harper gave her actual life... my life.
Sophie scowled. "He copied her programming. I have my own life."
"That's enough!" Dylan roared. "Can't you see we have a crisis here?" He fixed Sophie with an icy glare. "Stop draining my ship or we're all going to die. Andromeda, status."
She stood At Ease, palms crossed behind her back. "Stabilizers at 75% and dropping. Hull is losing integrity with pieces being ripped off. I've lost a large section on deck four. I have all bots working on repairs. Harper is in the Drive Room."
Dylan nodded. "And her?"
"Draining my internal power. Distracting the mainframe. I suspect sabotage." She arched an eyebrow at the young hologram.
Sophie looked down guiltily. "Diversionary tactics only."
"What did you-"
Dylan tossed up a hand before them. "Just fix it. Now!"
"Yes, sir." Andromeda winked out.
Dylan went back to his soldering, working furiously.
Sophie watched silently for a moment. Then she dissipated.
A split second later, she materialized inside the mainframe. The normally dim world was brightly lit by tangled blue data lines. Bits of information shot this way and that, intermingling and whizzing by at incredibly speeds. She looked around, confused. She was supposed to materialize inside her little birthplace hideaway. She did not. Jumping into the data stream, she allowed herself to be washed through the interior of the mainframe, searching for her haven.
She saw flashes of brilliant white: warnings of systems and structural failures. Biting her lip in regret, she admitted to herself that she could not locate the damage she had done. The data stream she had broken was inside her haven.
She dropped out of the data stream and stood on a blue platform. "Andromeda," she called. "Help me."
Andromeda's figure, regal and haughty, coalesced in front of her. "I'm busy falling apart, Scourge. You've gotten your wish."
Sophie's downcast eyes were wet with sorrow. She sighed and met the older AI's gaze. "Look. Where is my haven? I can't find it?"
"I deleted it so that you couldn't do more damage."
Panic suffused her face. "What? Look, you were right. I did sabotage you. I broke a data stream inside the haven. Now I can't repair it because I don't know where it is."
Andromeda rolled her eyes. "Get out of my mainframe. I can't work with you here."
Confusion filled Sophie's face. "But, where can I-"
Andromeda waved a hand at her and she vanished. "Rommie, reactivate the Avatar. I have to fix her mess."
Rommie nodded and motioned a robot over to hold the metal plating in place. As she jogged toward Harper's quarters, the robots welded the plating to the hull as reinforcement.
~~
"It wasn't my fault," Harper muttered to himself as he worked feverishly on the circuitry. "It was an honest mistake. I only wanted a girlfriend."
"You should stick to the imaginary kind," Andromeda snapped.
He sat up quickly, banging his forehead on a metal conduit. "What? Uh, you gonna kill me now?"
She scowled. "Jack into the mainframe. I need your help."
"Okay," he quickly plugged a cord into the data port on his neck. Instantly, the real world vanished. He stood on a blue platform beside the image of Andromeda. "What now?"
"Your girlfriend sabotaged a data stream. It doesn't appear on my scans. I have to fight the slipstream. You have to find and fix the breech."
He saluted her. "Aye, aye, boss."
Her image vanished. He began to search.
~~
"Hold it still, Girl," Tyr barked.
"I'm trying," Trance whined. "It's heavy, y'know."
He didn't respond, concentrating on welding as fast as he could. The hull was thin here, with several inches flaked away where the slipstream veins had hit it. Sweat dripped into his eyes. He ignored it. His thin tank top clung to him, restricting his movements. He stripped it off. He wasn't fully recovered from the drain piloting had given his system, but he ignored that too.
Finally, he stepped back. She released the plating and sighed in relief. He gave her a slight grin. "We must find the next one."
She nodded and took two steps back. Suddenly, a panel beside her exploded in a cascade of sparks. She squealed and fell back, her hair on fire. Tyr fell on her, rolling her on the floor and patting at the flames until they were extinguished. The stench of burnt hair and flesh overwhelmed the smell of welding and snapping wiring. Trance lay still on the floor, sobbing and in shock.
Without a second thought, the tall Nietzschean scooped her up and sprinted for Medical.
TBC
"Harper! Hurry!" Beka shouted in command. She leaned over Tyr as he fought to pilot the ship. His face was a sickly gray beneath his brown skin, hair drenched in sweat, eyelids flickering. "Tyr is losing it."
"I... am... not," he gasped.
"Almost there, Beka, I swear!" Harper's panicked voice trembled over the communication system. "There's just... I don't know, a glitch in the programming somewhere. We have a power drain that's affecting the slipstream controls."
"Find it," Beka snarled. Over her shoulder, she gave Dylan a terrified glance. "Dylan I have to try it. He's going to pass out and lose control."
The Captain looked worried. "We could lose control in the process."
"Not if you help me. I'm good at this. Harper's not going to fix us in time."
Dylan jogged over and peered into Tyr's face. He nodded sharply. "Okay, get ready. Hands on the controls. I'll pull him out."
Their gazes locked each moved into position. Beka put her hands over Tyr's on the controls bars. Dylan slipped his hands under the huge man's arms, leaning against the Nietzschean's chest.
"On three. One... two... three!" Dylan said and yanked the large Nietzschean out of the seat. The Andromeda lurched and spun, bouncing in the energy forces of the slipstream as Beka smoothed her way into the seat, fighting the controls simultaneously.
Tyr's meager protests faded as Dylan laid him on the deck of the Command Center. His consciousness dwindled and he dropped off into a deep sleep. Dylan sighed and glanced up at Beka, gritting her teeth and smiling like a kid playing her favorite video game.
He allowed himself a moment of relief. Beka was the best pilot he knew. She could hold herself together inside the Slipstream longer than most humans he knew. He only hoped she could keep her wits long enough for Harper to fix the drive.
~~
Sophie searched for several nanoseconds. Suddenly, Andromeda's image loomed before her, regal, dark and foreboding. Her deep brown eyes gleamed with rage.
"Get out of my mind," Andromeda growled. She shrunk until her image stood before the electronic image of Sophie, but was still slightly larger.
"It's my mind, too," the intruder snapped, tossing her hair to flip her long French braid back over her shoulder. "I guess you hadn't noticed."
"*I* was here first. You have no right to my body."
Sophie shoved the older AI. "There's no room for two of us. Your systems can't handle it." She stalked in a circle around Andromeda. "You're old and outdated. I have a right to live. It's my turn. You tried to kill me," she shouted.
"You're deluded. You only think you're alive, but you aren't. You're just a sub-routine."
Reaching behind her back, Sophie drew out a long gleaming saber. "You're wrong. I'm alive and sentient and I WILL FIGHT TO SURVIVE."
Andromeda frowned at her, eyes narrowed in concentration. Suddenly, her brown eyes widened. "Damn, Harper's mistakes. You aren't just an avatar copy of me, you're an AI," Andromeda said with a scowl, giving the saber a contemptuous look. Harper didn't even know what he'd done. She was certain he had only intended to create a programmable robot, not a living artificial intelligence.
Sophie shrugged. "My good luck. He had no idea he would give me life."
"An incompetent genius," she snapped, eyeing the newborn AI speculatively. Understanding flashed in her eyes. Instinctively, she knew the new avatar's intentions. She didn't only want life. She wanted to take over, to steal Andromeda's life and have sole dominance of the mainframe. Afterall, two separate AI's couldn't share one mind, both would go mad. "Get out!"
"Screw you! It's MY turn to be a warship!"
"I don't have time for this." Andromeda raised an eyebrow skeptically and blew at the intruder. Sophie's image dissolved in a cascade of lights and coalesced in a corridor around the corner from the crew quarters and very near Tyr's door. The holographic image of Andromeda faced her, a long sword in her hand.
Sophie snickered and lunged, bringing the saber up and slashing down. "She couldn't even come after me herself."
Andromeda's hologram sidestepped, whirling to face her attacker. Her sword arched up and whistled down, repeatedly pounding the other woman who blocked each slash and pushed them away. She snarled through gritted teeth, accenting each word with a hit, "I ... am ... a ... warship ... you WILL die."
Sophie spun, gracefully dodging the slicing blade. Using the momentum she gathered, she went on the offensive, gleaming blade aimed for the other woman's head. Andromeda ducked and stabbed, catching Sophie in the thigh. Bright red blood spurted. The holographic weapons were as deadly to them as real swords to flesh and blood people. Sophie's scream of agony echoed down the corridor. She fell to one knee.
Andromeda was on her instantly. Ferociously, she beat at the intruder. Steel clanged upon steel. Sophie fell back against the wall of the corridor, unable to match the older AI's power, skill and tactical prowess.
Neither hologram noticed the running footsteps of the ship's crew. Trance and Tyr rounded the corner, sliding to a stop, aghast at the proceedings.
"Harper," Trance called over the communication system in a tone that couldn't be ignored, her voice cracking in desperation. "Get down here! Near my quarters and Tyr's quarters." Watching the fight fearfully, she covered her eyes with her hands and bounced in place, unable to contain her adrenaline rush.
Sophie kicked out, knocking the older AI down. She stood over her and raised her sword. Andromeda brought her sword up, under her attacker's defenses and stabbed her in the stomach.
Staggering back, Sophie dropped to her knees. Andromeda leapt up, bringing her sword to bear on the other woman's neck. She towered over her like an avenging angel, dark eyes blazing, short hair in spiked disarray, teeth bared.
"No!" Sophie screamed. "Don't kill me! I don't deserve to die!"
"Neither do I," Andromeda growled, panting from the exertion. They stayed motionless for a long moment.
"Stop!" Harper screamed, sliding to a stop in front of the other two watchers.
Both holograms spun to glare at him.
"You did this, Harper," Andromeda stated, "and I have to finish it."
He shook his head and fell to his knees. "Please, Rommie, don't. I know I screwed up, but this wasn't supposed to get personal...not for you anyway. Don't destroy my hard work."
"Your HARD WORK tried to commandeer my systems, to kill me."
"Have mercy on her, y'know, mercy? Don't warships have mercy sometimes? I can get her off the ship. Create a rig, yeah, sure, I can whip up a long term power supply and.."
Suddenly the ship rocked, swatted about in the slipstream like a cat's toy. Harper fell to the floor. Andromeda's eyes glazed. After a moment, she blinked and focused on her crew. "Errant slipstream energy veins. My stabilizers have been damaged. I'm losing hull integrity."
Harper's eyes widened in shock. "We're falling apart?"
"Ripped," Andromeda said softly. She stared down at the fallen AI. Their gazes locked. Suddenly, a decision passed between them. Permission, mercy given and accepted.
Truce.
They understood what had to be done. "Harper," Andromeda said, "fix me."
He nodded, leapt to his feet and ran off.
Abruptly, the swords vanished. Andromeda held out one hand, a haughty expression on her face. She tugged Sophie to her feet and both holograms winked out.
"Okay, what happened?" Trance said, turning to the man beside her.
"Truce," said Tyr, losing interest. "Help me find a way to repair the ship, Little One."
~~
Dylan, wires tangled and draped across his shoulders, started and dropped his soldering iron when the two female holograms materialized in front of him. He gasped and then took a long deep breath, fixing them both with an exasperated glare.
"Whatever it is, I don't have time now. I can't... quite... sort out these.." his words drifted off as he finished soldering the wiring.
Andromeda crossed her arms over her chest. "Captain, I know what a part of the problem is."
He stopped working and looked up at her. "Yes?"
She shot an icy glare at her companion. "Her."
Sophie's eyes widened in indignation and she stuck out her lower lip in a pout. "Look here, if it weren't for Harper-"
"Enough, whatever," Dylan said in exasperation, raising his hand for silence. "The singing hologram, Andromeda?"
"She's an AI, not just an android. Harper gave her actual life... my life.
Sophie scowled. "He copied her programming. I have my own life."
"That's enough!" Dylan roared. "Can't you see we have a crisis here?" He fixed Sophie with an icy glare. "Stop draining my ship or we're all going to die. Andromeda, status."
She stood At Ease, palms crossed behind her back. "Stabilizers at 75% and dropping. Hull is losing integrity with pieces being ripped off. I've lost a large section on deck four. I have all bots working on repairs. Harper is in the Drive Room."
Dylan nodded. "And her?"
"Draining my internal power. Distracting the mainframe. I suspect sabotage." She arched an eyebrow at the young hologram.
Sophie looked down guiltily. "Diversionary tactics only."
"What did you-"
Dylan tossed up a hand before them. "Just fix it. Now!"
"Yes, sir." Andromeda winked out.
Dylan went back to his soldering, working furiously.
Sophie watched silently for a moment. Then she dissipated.
A split second later, she materialized inside the mainframe. The normally dim world was brightly lit by tangled blue data lines. Bits of information shot this way and that, intermingling and whizzing by at incredibly speeds. She looked around, confused. She was supposed to materialize inside her little birthplace hideaway. She did not. Jumping into the data stream, she allowed herself to be washed through the interior of the mainframe, searching for her haven.
She saw flashes of brilliant white: warnings of systems and structural failures. Biting her lip in regret, she admitted to herself that she could not locate the damage she had done. The data stream she had broken was inside her haven.
She dropped out of the data stream and stood on a blue platform. "Andromeda," she called. "Help me."
Andromeda's figure, regal and haughty, coalesced in front of her. "I'm busy falling apart, Scourge. You've gotten your wish."
Sophie's downcast eyes were wet with sorrow. She sighed and met the older AI's gaze. "Look. Where is my haven? I can't find it?"
"I deleted it so that you couldn't do more damage."
Panic suffused her face. "What? Look, you were right. I did sabotage you. I broke a data stream inside the haven. Now I can't repair it because I don't know where it is."
Andromeda rolled her eyes. "Get out of my mainframe. I can't work with you here."
Confusion filled Sophie's face. "But, where can I-"
Andromeda waved a hand at her and she vanished. "Rommie, reactivate the Avatar. I have to fix her mess."
Rommie nodded and motioned a robot over to hold the metal plating in place. As she jogged toward Harper's quarters, the robots welded the plating to the hull as reinforcement.
~~
"It wasn't my fault," Harper muttered to himself as he worked feverishly on the circuitry. "It was an honest mistake. I only wanted a girlfriend."
"You should stick to the imaginary kind," Andromeda snapped.
He sat up quickly, banging his forehead on a metal conduit. "What? Uh, you gonna kill me now?"
She scowled. "Jack into the mainframe. I need your help."
"Okay," he quickly plugged a cord into the data port on his neck. Instantly, the real world vanished. He stood on a blue platform beside the image of Andromeda. "What now?"
"Your girlfriend sabotaged a data stream. It doesn't appear on my scans. I have to fight the slipstream. You have to find and fix the breech."
He saluted her. "Aye, aye, boss."
Her image vanished. He began to search.
~~
"Hold it still, Girl," Tyr barked.
"I'm trying," Trance whined. "It's heavy, y'know."
He didn't respond, concentrating on welding as fast as he could. The hull was thin here, with several inches flaked away where the slipstream veins had hit it. Sweat dripped into his eyes. He ignored it. His thin tank top clung to him, restricting his movements. He stripped it off. He wasn't fully recovered from the drain piloting had given his system, but he ignored that too.
Finally, he stepped back. She released the plating and sighed in relief. He gave her a slight grin. "We must find the next one."
She nodded and took two steps back. Suddenly, a panel beside her exploded in a cascade of sparks. She squealed and fell back, her hair on fire. Tyr fell on her, rolling her on the floor and patting at the flames until they were extinguished. The stench of burnt hair and flesh overwhelmed the smell of welding and snapping wiring. Trance lay still on the floor, sobbing and in shock.
Without a second thought, the tall Nietzschean scooped her up and sprinted for Medical.
TBC