[Rebooting 0%]

“So doctor how is he?” I could hear my mother ask. We were attending my annual checkup that all children needed until the age of five. This was my last one, unless something went wrong.

“Oh, he’s doing excellent. You and your husband’s nanites have bonded to him quite well and are officially his now.”  The doctor made a few notes on his tablet. “My only concern is he isn’t getting enough metal in his diet to keep up. If his levels get much lower he may accidentally start absorbing some from his environment. Wouldn’t want him accidentally deconstructing anything.” The doctor chuckled and gave my mother a bottle of pills. “Have him take one of these every day till the bottle runs out and that he keeps himself charged up.”

“Will do doctor.” My mother replied as they both came back into the room. “Ready to go sweetheart?”

I smiled and nodded.

“What’s going on?” I coughed out as the memory played through my mind.

[Rebooting 15%]

“Alright students today is a special occasion. As you all know you’re all old enough to apply for a partner AI. Unlike generic VI that all of you have most likely encountered, AI are just like all of us.” The principal continued his lecture at the front of the auditorium as students around the room excitedly began talking amongst themselves about facts they’d learned about years ago.

Most people around the world knew or worked with AI these days,  but very few actually had a Partner AI.

“I don’t even want one, you wouldn’t get any privacy having one in your head.” One girl murmured.

“I think it would be cool.” Another replied.

“As if one would choose you.” A boy laughed.

“Now don’t be disappointed if you don’t get chosen.” I had begun listening to the principal again when he spoke in direct response to that comment. “Not everyone is compatible with the various  AI that have applied for the program from their side. Those that do get chosen will have a new partner for life weather as a new family member, friend, or yes even lover.” The Principal sighed as many students began to snicker at something so serious. It was the exact reason why so few were chosen until later in life. “Now then if you wish to apply please stay seated.”

Most of the room emptied out but I along with a few others remained.

[Rebooting 30%]

[Failure…]

[Power level critical]

I sucked in a massive breath that instantly chilled my lungs as I regained full consciousness. “Aires, are you there?” I looked around my dim cabin, floating aimlessly in the center of the room. “Aires, what’s going on with the artificial gravity? Fuck it’s cold.” I still received no response from my partner as I rubbed my arms trying to warm myself.

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“Ok calm down. Life support is clearly offline but oxygen levels are high enough, for now, and my nanites should scrub out everything else… so long as my emergency power holds.” I nervously noticed that my HUD only showed a low power symbol and attempted to get my full status.

[Main power 0%]

[Backup power 10% (10 mins under current load)]

“Double Fuck, no wonder Aires can’t respond.” Taking another calming breath I closed my hud to conserve what little power remained before I attempted to ‘swim’ across my room yet didn’t move. “Right, this won’t really work without me having power for my micro thrusters.”

While thinking I inadvertently touched the back of my skull. I could feel blood but my nanites had already closed the wound and healed my other injuries. I tried pulling up my full medical status but all I got were the same power warnings.

After floating for another moment I pulled my shoes off and threw them in the opposite direction of my locker to create some thrust. It was just enough to grab ahold of its door and open it up.

“Ok emergency situation. Put on my skin suite first, then head towards engineering to hopefully restore power, and why on earth did we think a crew of three plus two Partner AIs was a large enough crew for this mission.”

Once I had stripped from my general clothing and had my skin suit on and secure I was feeling much warmer. I reluctantly kept the hood off in order to preserve its internal oxygen so my ears were still cold.

Typically, at full power, any nanite enhanced person could last an hour in vacuum without a suit or at least a few minutes in open space, depending on radiation levels, but with my power so low I sure as hell wasn’t about to risk it. Sadly the suit couldn’t provide any power as it ‘s primarily functions were powered by the wearer.

“Ok, suit secured time to get to engineering.” Engaging my freshly donned mag boots I walked over to the door and opened its emergency panel before giving the backup hydraulics a few primer pumps. Once enough pressure had built up I almost smacked myself before pressing the override button. “Aires would have reminded me to check if there was air on the other side.”

Knocking on the bulkhead door to the passage outside my room I heard a satisfying echo indicating the presence of air. Once confident in my assessment, I pressed the release button and pried the door the rest of the way open.

Stepping into the main passage I was greeted with silence and more emergency lighting spaced sparingly throughout the hall.

[Caution backup power at 5% recharge immediately!]

“I would if I could.” I sighed and began making my way towards engineering.

“I wonder what happened with the rest of the crew. Aires can you… right, she’s still offline. We haven’t been apart in a while. Not since testing days at the academy. I can’t even do anything myself without charging.”

Once outside engineering I was faced with another door and began working to get it open. Unfortunately, since the area was considered secure, it’s manual override had a few more steps than a quick leaver pump.

“‘It’s a great opportunity to see the universe’ command said ‘you and Aires are the only engineers we can trust on such a mission’ they said.” I grumbled as I finally made some progress and got the door open. “They weren’t wrong exactly, but damn is it going to be a mess to get the ship moving again.”

To my pleasant surprise the entire engineering section looked just fine, aside from the lack of power. “Speaking of power.”

I disengaged my mag boots and pushed off the floor to float up towards the backup battery array housed in the ceiling. “How in the heck are you all dead?! All of you together should have enough energy to run the ship for a week without the main reactor.” I shouted at the battery bank as I checked the charge state of over a hundred batteries in the primary array, all but one of them was reporting as empty. The one full one had a tripped fuse, isolating it from the grid. “Thank goodness for small miracles.”

The battery in question wouldn’t be anywhere close to running ship systems on its own but I could at least recharge myself. Carefully removing its clamps and sliding the individual battery, that was about a quarter my height, out of its compartment I then attached it to my back by willing my nanites to grab it. The act almost drained my power completely until they made contact with the terminals and I breathed a sigh of relief.

[External power detected. Charging]

“Ahh sweet electricity.” After beginning the charging process I checked my HUD and smiled when I saw the prompt.

[Reboot resuming…]

“Now I just need to wait for Aires to wake up so we can get to work.” I pushed myself back towards the floor and re engaged my mag boots before looking around the room. “One problem down and many more to go.”