Sprinting away from the compromised corridor, SD-22 doubted it would hold them for long. At first they had believed the things were humans suffering from some sort of rabies, but those two were fully sapient, making their cannibalistic behavior that much more disturbing. Still, it wouldn’t be productive to waste power speculating. All they had to do was get the survivor to the medbay. The station’s chief medical officer, Doctor Onyeka, (who on a good day could be charitably referred to as a paranoid maniac) had designed it as a last holdout if pirates were to attack the station. It was a veritable bunker, with blast doors tough enough to withstand a tank shell. It’d be safe, had it not been overrun already.

Passing a closed dormitory door, SD-22 glimpsed bloodsoaked walls and silhouette hanging from the ceiling, jaws latched onto a young man’s throat. Thankfully the thing was too engrossed in its meal to notice, and SD-22 pressed on only to skid to a stop a few corridors later. Plastered on the wall was a cartoonish map of the station which, while providing a helpful path to the medbay, had left the security droid with even more questions. The graphic showed an Eclipse Station unfamiliar to them, something that had grown into a miniature city floating in high earth orbit and a far cry from the mining outpost they remembered. Entire sections had been added, from a science wing to a hotel and casino. It would have taken years to build these expansions, so why hadn’t SD-22 been activated earlier? Did I do something wrong?

Behind them, their microphone picked up a pair of enraged screeches that sounded unfortunately familiar. Blaring a cathartic burst of non-approved language, SD-22 picked up the pace, burning through more of their power reserves. They had a few hours of battery life left under optimal conditions, but running at full speed from cannibal monsters was hardly optimal. Their sonar pinged as they reached the science wing, registering two figures closing in fast as the limp body in their arm began to stir. The survivor was waking up. Great. “Whaa?” she mumbled, and SD-22 switched its screen to the most comforting smiley-face graphic they had on file, a baby blue cartoon that simulated a blink every ten seconds.

“Hello! I am SD-22, Your EDURON security droid! Not to alarm you, but you are currently bleeding to death and we are being chased by superhuman cannibals.”

Behind them, the enraged roar of Ballari echoed through the station halls. “I am going to TEAR that TV from your shoulders!” she screamed, and SD-22 shrugged apologetically.

“As you can see, this is not an ideal security situation.” The bewildered survivor was deathly pale, though the bleeding from her shoulder had miraculously clotted over. Frankly, they were impressed she was still alive. She mumbled something, but it was too queit for SD-22’s microphones to pick up. “I’m sorry, could you repeat yourself?” they said, dialing up the patience quotient in their voice modulator as far as they could.

“I’m Brynn,” she coughed out. “And they’re vampires.” Oh no, thought SD-22. She must have been hit harder than I thought.

SD-22 shook their head. “You're concussed, and delirious from the blood loss. Vampires aren’t real, these are just blood-drinking creatures with no heartbea-” SD-22 stopped. “Ah,” they beeped sheepishly. Vampires. It made about as much sense as everything else that had happened today. They were only a few dozen meters from the medical bay now, but the thi-vampires were nearly upon them. “Can you walk?” they asked. She pushed herself up out of the crook in SD-22’s arm, arms shaking as her face twisted with effort.

“Maybe?” she said, and SD-22 resisted letting out another burst of profanity. “You may have to try. Should those two catch up to us, you will have to run as I do my best to delay them.”

“Well then,” shouted the mocking voice of Alicja from down the hall. “Do your best.” Behind them was Ballari, or rather a cloud of mist that resembled Ballari, billowing towards them as Alicja skittered along the walls like a grotesque lizard. The medbay was in sight now, a mere thirty meters away. Only a few more seconds... Alicja lept from the wall, claw-like nails outstretched as she let out an ear splitting screech and SD-22 swiveled, backhanding her with a sickening crunch that sent her cartwheeling through the air. She landed on her feet, grinning despite the crater SD-22 had left in the side of her head.

They were twenty meters away now, and a surge of hope burned through SD-22’s circuits as the thick blast doors of the Medbay began to slide open. Someone on the other side was trying to let them through. Thick tendrils of mist wrapped around their legs, slowing their run to a crawl. It was like trying to move through a pool of molasses, each ponderous step burning through their dwindling battery as SD-22 forced their way to the door. Doesn’t matter, only ten meters left, SD-22 encouraged themself, cutting power from as many non essential functions as it could. A clawed hand reached out from the fog and they moved to swipe it away but their hand passed through it, scattering the limb back into vapor that reformed and clamped around a cable in their neck. It pulled, ripping the wire from its socket and SD-22’s medical scanners flickered out leaving them half blind, the primary array in their chest cutting in and out like a radio with a bad signal. I am not going to survive this, realized SD-22 with terrible clarity, and in an instant the optimal course of action was calculated.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Brace yourself,” SD-22 warned Brynn, who only had enough time to let out a startled shout before SD-22 threw her down the hallway. She landed on her side with a painful grunt, laying still for a moment. Did I throw her a bit too hard? SD-22 worried, but she stirred and pulled herself to her feet with the handrail wielded to the station wall. Satisfied that they had done their duty, SD-22 readied themself for permanent deactivation and spun on their waist with arms outstretched like the blades of a helicopter, buffeting the mist backwards for a moment. Alicja lunged at them again, diving under SD-22’s propeller impression as she hooked her arms around their knee and tackled the security droid. SD-22 fell, lashing out with a kick that crunched into Alicja’s collarbone and launched her back through the Ballari-fog. SD-22 hit the ground and cracked the station floor from their sheer weight as the mist solidified into a smirking Ballari, her fist of claw-like nails poised to strike the central processing core buried deep in SD-22’s chest. They tried to raise their arms up in defence but Ballari surged into motion, stabbing downwards in a blur that made even SD-22’s computerized precision look like a crawl. I’m sorry Captain, SD-22 lamented in the instant before an explosion of fire filled the hallway. It washed around SD-22’s metal frame, blasting Ballari’s flesh into a black char as the vampire screeched and threw themselves backwards, scrambling away from the conflagration.

Am I dying? Thought SD-22 in disbelief. There couldn't have been any fire, SD-22 reasoned. It was just an error caused by one last glitch on my broken sensors. But, as a cord of synthmuscle activated by autonomous repair protocols reattached the torn wiring on their neck and their medical scanners came back online, SD-22 realized that vampires were only the beginning of the insanity this day had to offer. Standing between them and the medbay was Brynn, who held her hand out in front of her as tongues of flame danced between her fingertips, knees shaking as she kept herself upright with the handrail and took another step forward. Well, SD-22 reasoned. That explains the cargo hold.

Writhing on the ground as a thousand small fires smoldered on her blackened skin, Ballari melted into a pool of mist and surged towards her, only to be driven back again by another burst of flame that roared from Brynn’s fingertips. Alicja sprang forward, shielding the other vampire with her body and an unconscious Ballari resolidified into Alicja’s arms, her vacuum suit scorched black and decorated hair burnt away.

“We’ll re-” Alicja tried to say, but Brynn cut her off with a mocking laugh.

“You’ll what? Remember this? Make us rue the day? Be back? Give me a break,” She chuckled, lines of sweat dripping down her face as she hung onto the handrail with a white-knuckle grip. A bluff, SD-22 recognized from their time breaking up gunfights during Poker nights. Time to play along. “Leave Immediately,” they cautioned, retracting their fists as the bloodstained block of steel slid out to protect them. “You have been warned.”

The veins in Alicja’s neck popped and her mouth curled into a snarl, but she sank backwards, the tension leaving her body as she turned and sprinted back down the hallway with the limp body of Ballari in her arms. Brynn sank to the ground, smiling as she let out a heavy sigh. “Thanks for backing me up in case that didn’t work,” she laughed, “I’m not sure if I have another blast left in me.”

SD-22 shook their head. “I wasn’t. I don’t have enough electricity to throw a punch, let alone fight off an enraged vampire.”

Brynn gulped. “So if she called my bluff, we’d be dead?”

“It’s very fortunate that she didn’t.”

“Yea,” she said, her smile fading rapidly. “Well, thanks anyways. I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced,” she said, looking up at SD-22. “I’m Brynn Heglsa, third degree witch of the Massachusetts coven.”

“An hour earlier a witch might have been a surprise,” replied SD-22, their voice modulator slurring as the last dregs of power in their battery struggled to keep it online. “But a vampire just turned into a cloud three feet from me. I honestly doubt I have the capacity for surprise anymore.”

“Do you wanna put that to the test?” came an oddly familiar voice from behind them, as a frizzy-haired man in a lab coat with a cracked pair of glasses hanging haphazardly on his crooked nose stepped out from between the medbay doors, an antique shotgun slung over his shoulders.

“Doctor!” SD-22 beeped excitedly. “You’re safe!” Onyeka shook his head.

“No one ever is, Esdee, I taught you better than that. But we’re safer than most.”

"Good to meet ya doc," Brynn coughed, and Onyeka's eyes widened with horror as his gaze darted to and from her wounds and SD-22's accumulated damage. “Chai!” he exclaimed. “You two look like shit." He shook his head, whipping his frizzy hair back and forth. "You both need medical attention," he said. "Er, Mechanical attention" he corrected himself, nodding at SD-22 who responded with a grateful beep.

Brynn grimaced as she stood, leaning on SD-22 for a moment to catch her breath. “Just so you know,” she said with a playful smirk. "I saved you back there, so we’re even now."

SD-22 beeped disapprovingly. “Nonsense,” they replied as the two battered survivors limped into the medbay, massive engines growling as they pushed the medbay doors back together. “I was simply following station policy, you didn’t owe me anything in the first place.”

Brynn groaned. “Ugh, you’re too nice for this to be fun.”

“Thank you!” SD-22 replied, as the door slammed shut behind them.