Disclaimer: I don't own Toonami.


THE INTRUDER

Episode 5: Please Stand By


The last half-hour aboard the Absolution had been intense, but now there was a lot less happening. TOM was gone, and the black ether the ship drifted through had never felt more desolate to Sara. She almost felt isolated in it, despite being an advanced AI with superior navigational skills and universal communication frequencies. Right now they meant very little. On the outside of the ship, the Intruder had nearly finished absorbing the starboard engine. It was an ugly red splotch on the otherwise gray-and-blue vessel. Soon, the cargo section would be gone, followed by the rest of the ship. Once that happened, Sara herself would disappear with it ... if no one could save her. And she knew one person who could still do that.

"Initiating activation sequence," she said aloud. Aboard the bridge, visual representations of the programs she was activating appeared on her screens. "Downloading AI Matrix."

Her attention was now directed to a reinforced, high-security chamber deep within the Absolution's guts. The inside of the chamber was densely illuminated by strong emerald lighting, and was occupied by a small series of pods. A glass-like layer of smooth, hardened gel sealed each pod. Off to the left, inside one of them, the body it contained raised its head and glanced around while a few power-indication LED lights came to life.

"Tom, can you hear me?" Sara asked more urgently than tentatively. "Tom, I can't open that door, I need you on the bridge."

"Okay ..." the new automaton growled, "... this thing is officially making me CRAZY!" With a firm kick, the layer sealing his pod was shattered, and a fresh, sleek, action-ready TOM stepped out onto the deck.

Rather than a stubby unit with limbs sticking out of it, TOM's new torso vaguely mimicked human pectoral muscles, and his arms and legs were lean and strong-looking with all the right joints in place. The shade of blue that filled out his torso, head, and about fifty percent of the components his limbs were assembled from was a slightly darker blue than before. The sleek visor on his motorcycle helmet-shaped head reflected the room and its lights as he rose to his full, slightly greater, height. "Whoa ... wh-what's goin' on?" His voice was more-or-less similar to what it had been in his previous body, but a little deeper and smoother.

"You were destroyed," Sara explained empathetically.

"What the hell? I got destroyed?" Shrugging off the notion, TOM turned and left the resurrection room. He proceeded to the Absolution's bridge with a casual stride, using the time to examine more details of his new form. He noticed an extra digit on each hand, and saw that the big three-bladed reactor symbol on his stomach had been replaced by a smaller one on the left side of his chest.

"Tom, the Intruder has completely taken over the starboard engine. It's eating as we speak; there's not much time."

TOM reached the bridge while she spoke and took a seat, too distracted to notice he fit the chair now. "Okay, uh, what do we do?"

She brought up a series of engine schematics that displayed the infected area of the ship. The Intruder-consumed parts were highlighted, which meant pretty much the entire diagram. "The starboard engine is totally obsolete," she told him. "We need to cut that thing loose before it consumes the whole ship."

TOM had no enthusiasm for her idea, and said so. "You gotta be kidding me."

"No, I'm not! We've run out of options."

"But—"

"No!" She wasn't leaving him any room for argument. "We've already lost an engine, three Clydes, and a TOM. This is getting costly!"

The Absolution's new captain finally relented. "Fine, wha'do I do?"

"You need to set charges on the starboard wing." She summoned up more information on-screen, marking the bombs' positions. "One on the outside, one on the inside."

TOM suggested, "Why don't you set the one on the inside?"

"Because, TOM, I can't move," Sara replied with more attitude than he'd ever heard from her before.

Sighing and throwing his hands up in frustration, TOM pushed himself out of the chair. "Alright, let's get this show on the road." He departed from the bridge, mentally preparing himself for the emotional hurt that would come with blowing off a piece of his ship.


Minutes later, TOM performed a smooth landing on the outside of the Absolution's starboard wing, slightly below the cargo hold and high above the engine nacelle. In each hand, he carried a rectangular package with a handle, like a pair of portable toolkits.

Kneeling, he set one on the surface of the hull, watching it automatically magnetize itself and open. A gentle touch, and the charge immediately began a countdown sequence at seven minutes.

He rose and walked away from the timed charge, stopping only once to look over his shoulder at it. This was the last he would ever see of this engine, part of a set that had carried him across the universe. But it needed to be done, or there would be no ship that had carried him across the universe. He pushed the feelings away and continued with the job at hand.


"Where to now?" he asked once he was back in the cargo bay.

"Level AA-23," Sara replied. "And there's bad news."

"Yeah, what's that?" TOM asked as he plucked the used jetpack from his back and tossed it aside.

"The Intruder has accelerated its rate of consumption. You need to get a move on."

TOM glanced toward the side of the ship the Intruder was immersed in. "How much of a move on?"

"Run! Now!"

TOM took off down the hallway like a linebacker, feet pounding the metal grid and hand gripping the explosive device. He reached the elevator and stomped the discular floor panel, sending it into motion. After that, though, there was nothing to do but wait while it took him down.

Waiting in the elevator with my briefcase ... he thought, looking at the explosive device, which did indeed resemble a briefcase, ... like just another day at the office. All I need's a tie and a cuppa coffee. He tapped his foot impatiently. When the door slid back open, he tore down the hall again, praying the Intruder hadn't swarmed beyond the point Sara had marked.

"I've bumped a few minutes off the timers on the charges," Sara informed him. "Hurry up."

The doors parted, and TOM balked a little at the sight of the room. There were still plenty of bulkheads and computers there, but nearly seventy percent of them had been absorbed by red goo. Easing cautiously inside, he set the device down on the floor. It was already synced with the one on the hull, so he saw no reason to stick around.

"That was easy enough," he murmured, slinking away.

Sara counted off the last few digits. "Three ... two ... one."

Back in the elevator with the door shut, TOM saw the explosion surge down the hallway toward him, not unlike the Intruder had earlier. This time, however, he was protected by the reinforced bubble of the elevator pod. He waited for a minute, watching the blast reach its zenith of intensity and fade away. In a second, he'd be looking down a horribly damaged hallway into the blackness of space. He already missed the engine.

Outside, the explosion was much grander than TOM had witnessed. The blast struck outward on a vertical plane that was parallel with the ship, separating the wing without damaging the side of the vessel. It was a clean cut. With bits of debris trailing from its ruptured end, the amputated piece of the Absolution gently floated away, leaving the gigantic starship crippled in the middle of deep space.

And with any luck, the sundered engine would go even deeper into space, never to encounter any other life form for as long as it existed.

That, unfortunately, was unlikely.


A/N: Like episode four, I built a little on the original content to make the climax a tad more thrilling, though it would have been difficult and very distracting to go as far as I did with episode four (that was our big action sequence, not this). For episode five, the only thing really missing was a time limit. The last three episodes will collected into a single installment in my fanfic, so there's just one more chapter to go! Also, I'm aware that "discular" isn't a word. It was made up on the spot and it felt right. Sorry if that bugs you. *pulls out billfold and flashes a shiny Creative License badge*