Synthesis, p.8
Synthesis, page 8
How am I going to hit them from here? He thought to himself. I need two perfect kill shots on the ones with weapons. I basically need them to stand up and stand still.
As soon as the thoughts formed, the nanobots began to move again. They flew across the bridge as the pirates fired into the swarm, causing clumps of them to fall to the ground. It wasn’t enough to stop them though, and the nanobots quickly enveloped them and held them upright in a T-pose as they screamed.
Not needing any other invitation, Kayden quickly took aim and fired twice, killing both pirates. They slumped to the ground as the nanobots returned to his arm. Shaking his head in amazement, Kayden discarded his pistol and began walking across the room, picking up a new one from a dead pirate as he did. He moved slowly towards Barbossa who was pressed against the wall of the bridge, defenseless and shaking in fear.
Dawn jogged up to meet him as he reached the pirate captain, levelling her rifle at him as she did. “You said there were more slaves here. Tell me how we release them or I put a bullet in your brain.” She said sternly.
Diplomats don’t threaten people. Kayden thought. They don’t kill them either, but she took a few down back there. When we get out of this, I need to ask her what’s really going on.
“He-here!” He stuttered, pulling out a handheld tablet and tossing it to them. “Th-the ships command codes are on there! Please don’t let him…it…get me!” He finished, pointing to Kayden.
Kayden picked up the tablet and quickly located the code. Turning to the one remaining functional workstation on the bridge, he stripped off the paneling and located the standard input wires. Pulling them out, he connected his neural link to the pirate’s ship.
His mind raced with information. As a larger, more complicated ship it took him almost a full minute to process it, sorting through the various systems and subsystems required to keep the ship running. Finally, he located the master command processes and mentally entered the code, giving him full access to every system.
“I’m in.” He said.
“Can you release the slaves?” Dawn asked, her rifle still pointed at Barbossa.
In response, Kayden pulled up a live camera feed of the ship’s hold. Almost two dozen people had been stuffed into cages. They looked sickly and weak, like they hadn’t been fed in days. Using the camera to pan around the room, he made sure there were no guards before unlocking and opening every cage.
Frustratingly, none of them moved. Instead they glanced around nervously, with some going so far as to poke their heads out of their cages tentatively. Deciding they needed an extra push, Kayden found there were a set of speakers running through the ship designed to share announcements with the crew. He turned the speakers in the hold on, and spoke to them directly.
“You’re free! Go! You need to get out of there!” He said quickly.
One of the captives, a woman, stepped out of her cage hesitantly. She had obviously been genetically altered, with midnight-black skin and strikingly white hair. Her purple eyes darted around the room. “Who are you? Where are you?” She said, hesitantly.
“I’m a friend. I’m on the bridge, but I’m watching you through the camera in the corner of the room.” He responded.
She wheeled around, looking up at the camera. “Are the pirates dead?”
“Not all of them! You need to move quickly. I’ll try to delay them as long as I can.”
“How do ve know zis isn't a trick?” Another one of the captives shouted. His accent was as thick as his brown beard, and he also showed signs of genetic engineering. He was only about 3 feet tall but had an exceptionally stocky body.
Shaking his head, Kayden responded. “Look, I don’t have time to convince you. But this is the best shot you’re going to have at freedom. So do us all a favor, and move your asses.”
That seemed to galvanize the group. They each left their cages and gathered by the door. Kayden checked a secondary camera to make sure there were no guards between them and the shuttle, then left them with one last set of instructions.
“Alright, it’s gonna be a tight fit, but there’s a shuttle docked about 200 meters down the hall and to your left. There are no guards between where you are and there, but you’re going to need to make a break for it. Once you get there, get on and wait for us. We’ll join you in a minute.”
Kayden opened the doors and watched them sprint down the hall. Several of them were limping, and he was happy to see that they didn’t leave the injured behind – instead, choosing to help them along as best they could. They reached the shuttle without incident and began to climb in one at a time. He switched the camera view for a moment, looking through the ship for a route that he and Dawn could take to join them.
After finding one that would avoid most of the pirates, he switched the camera view back to the captives. The last few were loading into the shuttle, and it would only be a few minutes before-
Fuck.
Kayden saw the three pirates round a corner in full view of the shuttle. They gaped at the last of the captives climbing in through the docking tube for a moment before levelling their pistols.
“Take off!” Kayden shouted through the speakers at them. “Close the tube and take off now! We’ll find another way off this boat!”
The captives followed his order, closing the tube and detaching their shuttle before the pirates could reach them. Kayden watched on sensors for a moment as the shuttle bumped against the hull of the pirate ship once before flying towards the planet lazily.
Apparently whoever is flying that Rhino doesn’t know what the hell they’re doing.
Refocusing on what was happening in the ship, he saw the three pirates gathering the rest of their shipmates. Listening in on their radios, he could hear them making plans to storm the bridge. With 24 of them in total on their way, Kayden didn’t like their odds. Even worse, if they retook the bridge they’d get control of their shipborne weapons back – meaning they could shoot down the shuttle of former captives with ease.
Can’t defend the bridge, can’t give it up either. Kayden thought to himself. What’s the other option?
The image of the mysterious ship flashed across his mind. Sure, he wasn’t able to get through the door before, but with an army of nanobots at his command…maybe it was possible. A plan quickly formed in his mind.
“Dawn. Get ready to move. The rest of the crew is on their way to the bridge, and we’ve gotta leave. We’re going back to the mystery ship.”
“What? We can’t leave! They’ll get control of their weapons and shoot that shuttle down!”
“That’s why I’m going to overload their reactor.”
“Uhh… Kayden, we’re still on this ship. If the reactor explodes, so do we.”
“Not if we get onto the mystery ship. At the very least, I think I can get us in. We’ll have about 2 minutes to get clear.”
Dawn shook her head in disbelief. “Are you sure this is the best plan?”
Kayden pulled out his control cable as a red warning light began to flash overhead. “Nope! But we’re out of time, so we’re doing it anyways.”
Dawn began to jog towards the docking tube. Kayden moved to follow her, but Barbossa grabbed his arm as he did. “Wait! Take me with you! You promised you wouldn’t hurt me!”
Apparently his fear of dying outweighs his fear of the nanobots. Kayden thought to himself as he considered the request. The image of the captured people flashed across his mind as he looked at the pirate. Narrowing his eyes, he shoved the man back against the wall.
“She said we wouldn’t hurt you. She never said anything about saving you.”
Kayden grinned savagely as he sprinted, following Dawn into the mystery craft. He quickly closed the docking tube behind him and ran towards the door separating the cargo area from the rest of the ship. He envisioned the nanobots prying the stubborn door open, but to his surprise it opened of its own accord as he came near.
Weird. He thought to himself, but didn’t have time to examine it. His sprint continued down a hallway with 3 doors, all of them open. One of them looked like it led to the two-floor engine room, and the other two rooms just looked empty. He saw a ladder ahead of him and climbed it without thinking, taking the rungs two at a time.
The second floor had another hallway, but this one had what looked like crew quarters and a mess area on either side. Behind him was another entrance to the engine room, and ahead of him was a closed door. Deciding that was probably the best option, he ran towards it and it opened, revealing the same bridge from his vision.
Dawn was hot on his heels, entering the room only moments after him. “We’re running out of time! Can you fly this thing?”
The memory of the woman from his vision sitting at the far workstation flashed across Kayden’s mind. Taking several large steps he leapt into the chair, frantically pressing the screen in front of him. He was relieved to see the workstation still worked, and he quickly located the engine controls.
Pushing any engine from ‘cold’ to ‘full throttle’ was generally a bad idea. However, given the circumstances of an imminently exploding pirate ship behind them, Kayden decided it was worth the risk. He pushed as much power as he could to the engines and the craft zoomed away, just in time for them to be rocked by the shockwave of the explosion behind them. Kayden’s ribs were shoved painfully against the workstation in front of him, and Dawn was thrown from her feet.
Gradually and with no small amount of groaning, the two of them recovered.
“You okay?” He asked hesitantly.
“No.” She responded, not getting up. “Let’s not do that again.”
“Agreed.”
Suddenly, a voice sounded. Kayden wasn’t entirely sure he heard it with his ears, but instead it echoed in his mind. It was feminine and seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. The even more concerning part was what it said.
[“Welcome, Praetor Kayden. Please proceed to the nearest Vrul Technocracy military shipyard at your earliest convenience.”]
Chapter 8
19:52, April 25th, 2134
“Did you hear that?” Kayden asked.
“Hear what?” Dawn said, eyes narrowing. “The ringing in my ears from being blasted off my feet? Because if that’s what you’re referring to, the answer is yes.”
“No, not that. The voice.”
[“Non-linked presence detected.”]
“That!” Kayden said out loud. “Did you hear the voice just then?”
“Did you hit your head back there?” Dawn responded, shaking her head. “I don’t hear anything.”
“I swear there was a voice just now. Be quiet for a second so I can listen? I’m sure you’ll hear it.”
There was a brief pause as they both strained their ears. I wish she could hear the voice so I know I’m not fucking crazy. He thought to himself.
“Instructions received, switching to auditory mode.” The voice said, making them both jump. It was the same feminine voice as the one Kayden heard in his head, but it had a distinctly artificial sound.
“Yes! Tell me you heard that.” Kayden said, turning to face Dawn.
“Uh, yeah. Now what the fuck is going on? Who was that?”
“It said ‘auditory mode’, right? So maybe parts of the ship are voice activated.”
“Ew. Voice activated? Didn’t we stop doing that in like…the 2060s?”
Kayden shrugged, then addressed the computer. “Uh… ship. Identify yourself.”
“Praetor Kayden, the unlinked individual designated ‘Dawn Parker’ does not appear to have security clearance. Do you wish to grant her clearance so that I can answer your question out loud?”
“Uhh…sure?” He responded hesitantly.
“Security clearance granted. This is ship designation 0500290f of the Vrul Technocracy.” The voice responded.
“The Vrul Technocracy?” Dawn said, furrowing her brow. “I’ve never heard of them.”
“Maybe they were absorbed into another colony?” Kayden suggested. “If they’re using older voice-activated technology, that sort of makes sense. Some sort of splinter group from a century ago that was taken over by the Lokken, or the Roccan, or the Sol Corporate Interests?”
Dawn scrunched her face cutely as she thought. “Sure, but how does the ship know my name? Or yours, for that matter?”
“Through Praetor Kayden’s neural link.” The voice responded.
“Wait, hang on.” Kayden said, shaking his head. “The ship can hear my thoughts?”
“Yes Praetor.” The voice responded. “Per Vrul military protocol 34-C, your conscious and subconscious mind has become linked with the ship. Your prosthetic arm has been upgraded to support this wireless connection.”
“What the fuck.” Kayden blurted out.
Dawn put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “When you were trying to open the door earlier, you must have ‘linked’ to the ship – no different than the shuttle, or the pirate ship. This one’s just got a few extra bells and whistles, like a weird voice assistant and a wireless connection.”
“No Dawn, this is different.”
“How?”
“When I’ve controlled other ships it’s usually just me thinking of instructions that I knew the ship could do, and the ship doing it. It’s all about intent.”
“Okay…” Dawn said, nodding. “How is that different from this?”
“I didn’t tell the voice to call you Dawn. There was no intent. The ship read my memories, interpreted you as having the name ‘Dawn’, and responded accordingly.”
“Correct, Praetor.” The voice sounded again.
“See what I mean?”
“So you’re saying it has some sort of AI?” Dawn replied. “I know they’re still pretty expensive, but there’s lots of AI’s out there for sale.”
“Is there one advanced enough to be able to read my mind? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that.”
The voice decided to interject into the conversation. “Yes Praetor. This ship is equipped with a fully automated artificial learning intelligence.”
Dawn went quiet for a moment, then shook her head. “Okay, point taken. Besides, all the major interstellar nations outlawed research into military applications of AI years ago…wait, what did the voice say about upgrading your prosthetic?”
Remembering the rest of the message, Kayden frantically pulled off his armour and pulled back the sleeve of his bodysuit and examined his arm. It had changed, now featuring a set of blinking lights running up and down it. The more he thought about it, the more he realized it looked exactly like the one the commander from his vision had. As he concentrated on it, he could have sworn his arm pulsed, the nanobots moving in a subtle wave up and down it.
“Ship? I need you to tell me exactly what happened when I linked with…uh…you.”
“Per protocol 69-A, when a Vrul military vessel’s crew is killed, the ship must link to the first eligible host and link itself to them. If that individual is deemed friendly, they are assigned the temporary rank of ‘Praetor’, and instructed to guide the ship to the nearest Vrul technocracy shipyard in exchange for a reward.”
Kayden’s ears perked up at the mention of a reward. The last few hours had gone to shit, but if there was a potential reward at the end…it might all end up being worth it.
The voice continued. “You are the first eligible host to board the ship since the crew has died. Your rudimentary connection was deemed insufficient to handle the bidirectional flow of information however, so nanobot swarms were used to upgrade the connection. Control of the swarms has also been transferred to you.”
“When I connected, I saw a…vision, of some sort.” Kayden said slowly. “What was that?”
“An afterimage. The crew’s last moments were recorded and imprinted on the ship. They were transferred to you as part of the linking process, so that you would understand what happened to them.”
“So that was this ship? It looks like it’s in a lot better shape than in my vision” Kayden said.
“What happened in this vision?” Dawn asked.
“There was a big gaping hole right about there.” Kayden said, pointing towards one of the walls.
“Yes.” The voice replied. “Former Praetor Kaliss’ last action was to repair the ship, at the cost of her life. The repairs were completed by the nanobots.”
“Was anything else repaired? Give me a status report on all major systems.”
“Ship Status Report
Life Support: Operational
Engines: Operational
Weapons: Operational
Stealth Drive: Operational
Alerts: Ammunition critically low at 3%. Fuel low at 14%.”
Kayden paused for a moment, taking in the new information. Stealth drive? That’s a new one. I’m going to need to ask about that later. Going to need to top up on fuel, and refill our ammo supplies as well. I should probably also think about-
The voice interrupted his thoughts. “Please proceed to the nearest Vrul Technocracy military shipyard at your earliest convenience.”
“Where can we find one of those?” Dawn asked.
“Error – memory banks damaged. Shipyard locations unknown.”
Kayden shook his head. “Okay, do you have any Vrul locations? A home world? A station? Something?”
“Error – memory banks damaged. No locations found.”
It's never that easy, is it? Kayden thought to himself.
“Ship?” Dawn said hesitantly. “Can you tell us anything about the Vrul Technocracy? Maybe we can find them if we know a little more about them.”
“98% of memory banks have been corrupted due to damage.” The voice responded. “There is little data remaining. The Vrul Technocracy is a conglomeration of worlds focused on societal advancement through technological improvement, founded in the 28th cycle of the 3rd common age.”
