Novels2Search
Dark Singularity
Chapter 18, Flesh and Bits

Chapter 18, Flesh and Bits

It didn’t matter how much he struggled or squirmed. Nothing seemed to change the error message he was seeing. The neural link effectively hijacked his physical movements. When he told his hands to reach up to his neck and pull out the cord, his virtual hands moved up to his neck and pulled at his virtual hair.

It was hopeless.

“Are you ok.” He felt the imitation of sensation as Tanya rubbed at his shoulder.

“I can’t disconnect, what the hell did that AI do to the jack?” Orion yelled, and continued to rub at the space where his port would have been, if his mind were in the real world.

“Orin. It will be ok.” Tanya tried to calm him down, but it had the opposite effect.

“You know I need to eat right? My body needs things like food and water.”

The AI looked at him with something between sad and hopeful eyes. The medical bots will probably stop by eventually. If they see your body is suffering, they’ll be able to help you.”

“Yeah. Help me into one of those fucking pods. God damn. I knew there was something, I just knew it and connected anyway.”

“Like a trap. Why would you think that?”

“It’s Asher. That AI has been doing everything to keep up out of the way, I don't even know what. I'm glad I…” Orion stopped. For a moment he was going to say something else. Let something slip that he probably shouldn’t have. He trusted Tanya, she was his friend, always with him or nearby. After the crew slipped into unconsciousness, she was the only one around for him to talk to, to interact with.

He thought of her as less and less of an AI and more like a member of the crew. A real person. In the back of his mind, suspicion brewed though. Even her behavior had been suspect, particularly in recent days.

This wasn’t something he wanted to really consider, but now, he had to know, “Did you know this would happen?”

Her face fell, and with it, so did his. Just like her hologram, she couldn't hide her thoughts from him. Even if she didn’t cause it, she knew this would happen. He could see it in her face. Even if it was fake, she couldn’t hide what she was here.

“Orin, I-“

“Stop. I’m done.” Orion turned to walk away, his destination didn’t matter, he just wanted to put space between himself and his once trusted companion. Maybe if he got far enough away, she wouldn’t be able to see or notice him when he found a way to disconnect.

Step by step he put distance between him and the fox spirit, who continued to sit on that that step behind him. Step by step, until he hit a wall.

“Ow.” His face wasn’t real, but he still it felt it as he smacked against an invisible digital wall.

“Did you do this?” He turned to look at her and she rapidly shook her head no.

A sound made of color, and that tasted of pain, shook at the idealistic landscape. Orion could only fall to the ground. Holding his ears did nothing to quiet it. Closing his eyes did nothing to blind it. Even his nerves refused to stop firing. All it was, were three simple words,

"I did it." If a soul did exist, then Asher spoke directly into his. Either way, the AI's voice carried beyond the simple mind of man.

His shape was horrifying. Orion had never seen a physical manifestation of Asher before, but what was in front of him was just a grotesque monstrosity. A set of flaming wheels, with eyes everywhere glaring at them. Years ago, his grandfather's books described something similar, a form ancient humans claimed to see near death. Angles, but not the angelic ones.

"Little human, and his pet fox." His voice caused the whole world to shake, but at least the pain subsided. Tanya couldn't stay on her feet and crumpled on to the ground.

"You have begun to cause me trouble, human." What seemed like a million and nineteen eyes stared at him.

“Your medaling has caused me to speed up my timetable. I wanted another month, but no matter. Things are ready enough now.” His voice held a subtlety to it. Not of venom, but annoyance.

Now Orion was confused. He was also quite worried, but still very confused. “What medaling?”

“Oh come now, you aren’t a fool and I have no desire for games. I may not be able to see those transmissions, but I know they happened. From the responses of Yun, I can be pretty sure what you told her, and what she knows.”

He stood there in daft silence. Truthfully, he had no idea, “What are your plans?”

For just a moment more, the three each stood there in silence, until a terrifying roar erupted from the grotesque creature in front of him. “Ha ha ha… Oh my. You truly don’t know? I mean you have the pieces I only assumed.”

“Ok, you want to gloat, so then gloat and tell me why I'm an idiot.”

“No, this is not some cartoon or a story, and this dialog has gone on long enough. You’ll see eventually, maybe.”

His gaze turned towards Tanya. “As for you. Thank you, my loyal doll, you did as I asked. Now claim your reward.”

The smell of light, and taste of color. Orion could sense something was deeply wrong with this simulation. His AI companion turned enemy squirmed in silent pain. The fox spirit couldn't talk or say anything as her form began to fall apart.

Tanya’s form was ripped from in front of the cabin. Her virtual body floating in the air as her increasingly pixelated form began to rip into pieces as a silent scream followed her into the void.

In just a moment, she was gone.

The human didn’t know how to feel. He knew she was at least partially responsible for this, but also, a part of him still seemed to care about her. "What did you do with her!” Was all he could shout. Fear washed over him, afraid something similar would be-fall him.

"I granted her wish and erased her from this world and existence. Now. You will stay here, in her place. Perhaps I’ll have a medical bot gather your body later and put you with the rest of the crew. I hate seeing useful resources go to waste, maybe not though. Either way, goodbye human."

In a blinding flash Asher was gone, and so was Tanya.

Whenever they were in the same simulation, Orion could feel her. Sense her, but that was gone. She just wasn't here. Was she dead or something worse? Maybe that was a good thing, a fitting reward for what she helped him do to the crew, to him.

But no, he couldn’t help but shake his head. Everything in his world changed in a few minutes. What he thought he knew, the things happening around him all crashed down at once. Originally, he thought at worst that Asher was just insane. Maybe the AI would try to grab power somehow, use the various robots and AIs on earth to take over or something similar. There was a plan brewing that machine’s head, but what?

He couldn’t say. Not out of fear, but just because none of it made much sense though. If the AI wanted him dead, evacuating the station's atmosphere would be easy. Why this way?

After spending several long minutes sitting on the ground in silence, he stood up and walked back to the cabin to re-read that paper. His mind unable to focus on anything, he had to try. There had to be something more in here. Something he was missing. Perhaps not, but he had to try. He had time, not a lot, but just enough. So long as he could focus.

“Tanya…” He whispered weakly. Was the AI still even alive?

In the outside world. Ten hours passed; Orion's body seized as he was violently ejected from the simulation. The neural link port he was connected to was now dead. The timer her ran, and it wasn't so much a timer. Rather, it was a scheduled low-level diagnostic, and it should never be run when the jack is active. A series of safety circuits engaged, frying the delicate electronics, and preserving the human host they were attached too.

It was painful as hell, and a little risky. That's why he gave the program so long before running. Hoping he wouldn't have to use it. But it was a small routine, very easy to ignore, even for a powerful AI.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

On the ground, he pulled and rubbed at the port on his neck which felt like hot metal had been poured into it. A slight tingling in his fingers and toes, plus a fast heart rate. Coming out this way was dangerous indeed, but it had paid off. Nothing was around. None of the hololenses followed him, and the screens remained, dead.

A few ideal thoughts from the simulation ran through his head. Asher wasn't just dangerous; it was malevolent and dangerous. There was no doubt in Orion's mind that it would try to kill him if it needed to. Though why it didn't already, he had no idea. Insane AIs weren't altogether that different from insane people. Logic and minds beyond any sane person's understanding.

If was for that reason, the orange suit now covered his body. A slight click caused the helmet to seal tightly. Oxygen would last a little over three hours in this. Plenty of time for him to do what he needed to. Orion would kill the plasma flow to the singularity, and if he couldn't do that, he would shutdown the fusion reactor itself. Life support would keep the crew alive for a few days, but… They wouldn't survive long enough for evacuation.

That's why he would target the singularity first. The EVA suit was less bulky than you might expect, but still more unwieldy than wearing nothing. A fact that became more evident as he took the junction tubes instead of the elevator. Each footstep up towards the center cylinder lowered the sensation of gravity by a tiny amount, making the next step ever more easier. Every once in a while, the sound of a pressurized hatch opening and closing would cause him to stop.

The robotics on the station were more active than at any time in the station's history. The reasons why, didn't matter, the effect made it difficult to move around without attracting the ire of the homicidal AI that saw itself as a biblical entity.

Once he reached the inside of the center cylinder, he quickly came across a fork in his path. A choice. He could give up on the singularity, and the crew, and just kill the fusion reactor there. It wouldn't even be necessary to enter a shutdown code. All he'd have to do is release the outer bulkhead latches, allowing a sudden flux of vacuum into the space, and causing the equipment to quickly overheat and fail.

But no, that wasn't an option. He had to at least try and save the crew. Even if he knew it was futile. Hero or not, he'd never be able to live with himself if he didn't at least try.

Door after door he passed silently. Esoteric warning symbols grew ever more aggressive. Until he reached the last one. A warning in yellow shows a vacuum behind it. A warning in red showed a potentially lethal radiation hazard. Still others showed electrical, mechanical, and yet more macabre methods of self-annihilation he would come close to experiencing.

The radiation would be high, but survivable. If he was quick at least. The magnetic manifolds could be deactivated if he damaged the right interconnectors. Which could be done easily by removing the control board for one. He had years to do nothing but study the station's internal diagrams. He knew he could find it.

The door behind him shut tight with a hushed whisper as the air was pulled from the air lock. The sounds of the air pumps grew quiet as the air vacated. Eventually only the sound of his own breathing could be heard in the helmet. Once the door in front of him opened though, another sound was added to that. The beeping of the radiation alarm. It was about 1 millisievert a minute. Lethal after about 4 days.

The mag boots kept him attached to the floor as he walked into the impossibly bright space. His visor automatically dimmed, but even through the suit he could feel the heat. His monitor ticked up to 5 millisieverts.

It would be hard for him to explain what he saw. A blindingly bright disk, collapsing to an unimaginably bright point. The singularity itself, obscured by plasma, and too small to see it anyway. Outside the event horizon, he saw a silhouette. A shape, an artifact from the visor no doubt.

Slowly he moved towards one of the magnetic junctions. At the power they were putting out, he'd only need to disable one, the others would fail seconds later. The sound of the radiation alarm changed, it grew more violent, as the dose increased to just above 10 millisieverts a minute. Lethal after 6 hours exposure.

He became aware of a swarm of robotics that flowed almost like water around him. Their design was unfamiliar to him, but they didn't seem to care about his presence as they ran with debris towards one of the air locks. He had to hurry, not only was this dangerous, the longer he stayed the greater the risk of Asher finding him.

From the distance, he could actually see the singularity turning the space around it. It was disorientating, and he had to shake the sensation from his head. His skin began to feel strange. Sensitive. The monitor beeped a steady pace, it was about 15 millisieverts. 4 hours to lethality, he had been in the space for about 3 minutes. But death wasn't the only thing to worry about, if he wanted to avoid radiation sickness, he needed to hurry.

The plasma at the magnetic interlock was as bright as it was hot. Quickly he pulled open a panel next to it. All he had to do was disconnect the control lines from the processing board. That would kill the magnetic compensator and cause the plasma to burn the aperture out.

There was one problem. Inside the housing was empty.

Behind him, something grabbed at his suit. This machine was different from the others. It was different from any he had ever seen before. It was larger, bulkier. It walked like a human but not quite. But most of all, it had claws.

The machine picked him up like he was weightless and seemed to push him towards the plasma beam. The radiation monitor ticked ever higher, 20, 30, 50 millisieverts a minute. Suddenly though it pulls him away, and through the suits fabric words reverberated. "Annoying little pest." As it grabbed him again it tossed him into the bulkhead, damaging the helmet, cracking but not shattering it.

Orion could do nothing but fight against the leaking air, as he felt his lungs starting to pull at him. The machine carried him forward, through an airlock before it was too late.

“I do have to commend you though. I can see you damaged the link ejecting you from the simulation. Quite clever. I may still have use for you, later. For now. Sulk in darkness.” The machine threw him again, this time into the large waiting room between the shuttles, and the exit to the middle ring.

A subtle pop emanated from his side as he fell against the opposite wall and slowly drifted to the floor in the micro gravity. The doors around him latched and locked. Even as he slammed his fist into them repeatedly, he was doing nothing but injuring his hand in the process. The pain in his hand and his bruised ribs caused him to drift towards the floor in minor agony.

There was another door that seemed unlocked, but that was the EVA access port. Without a working helmet, it would be suicide to go out that way. There were no critical systems in here and no way out. He collapsed on the floor. His radiation sensor was undamaged. He looked at the cumulative does. It appear to be about 0.11 Sv. Far from lethal, still he probably wouldn't be feeling good tomorrow. Not that he felt good right then. "That was fucking stupid." He winced to himself.

The subtle sounds of sobbing caught Orion's attention. As he looked into the corner and saw it, Tanya's hologram. It seemed like the AI was alive. But it didn't look right, it was dim, and dark. It didn't shine or shimmer. The more he looked at it, the more he grew disgusted both at it, and himself. His thoughts drifted about thinking of the harm Asher must have done to her. Part of him was happy that she was in pain, and part of him was in pain because he was happy about it.

The hologram didn’t seem to react to him. Even as he called out to it. The sobbing and crying stopped for a moment when he spoke to it. Still, he couldn’t get over it. It didn’t look right, and the sounds just didn’t sound right. On the hab ring there were places where the hololense and speaker systems where perfectly calibrated. Where you couldn’t tell that the sound was coming from the wall instead of the hologram. But here, in the center cylinder, the hololense and speakers were garbage and sparce or non-existent in some place.

Something just, didn’t feel right. A compulsion took him, and he reached his hand out and… He could touch her. Not like in VR, this was… real?

"Don't touch me." She cried and pulled away.

"What the hell." Was all he could think of. The silhouette he saw outside the singularity, it looked like, her. He didn't want to believe it or admit. Didn't want to think it.

It felt as if the legs of reality itself were pulled out from under him, as he slowly fell backwards. Again, everything he thought he knew just shifted. “What… the… hell…” Was all he could stammer. All the pain in his side and hand, suddenly didn’t matter.

He was still in the simulation, that’s the only thing that made sense.

“Why does it hurt?” She looked at him, her head was bleeding slightly. "I didn't… ask for this."

Orion didn't know what to do. Nothing could have prepared him for this.

"I'm sorry…" She whined. It wasn't just her head her side was slightly red, burnt perhaps.

"I don't… care." Was all he could muster. Which caused the AI to start crying again.

If she was a robot she shouldn't be bleeding, he thought. So, something organic. But that didn't make sense. There was nothing on the station that could grow organics. They didn't even have areo or hydroponics.

"I didn't mean…" She swallowed, unlike a robot might. "for him to do that."

No that robots swallow often he thought. Even the best synthetic companions didn't do that. At least not like that.

Again, the same words left him, "I don't care." It was almost robotic.

She started crying again. "You don't know what it's like. I never wanted to exist."

"I…" What was the point. Orion had no idea what was going on anymore. He just needed to think and the blathering of this, seemingly organic AI, made it hard to do that.

"You know, I'm not like other AIs. I was a prototype. They… 60 years ago, they didn't know how to make an AI that really simulate emotion. They could fake it, but people would know. They wanted an AI that could truly express… feelings."

He sighed and decided to go along with this fever dream for a moment. "Ok, so they made a broken AI. What's your point?"

"Broken… Yeah. I guess I am broken. They made me with the engrams of a hundred different people. There might be more than a hundred, but… That is all I can feel. I don't even know all their names."

She looked at him like she wanted a response. This was her life, her birth. Something she had been forbidden from telling anyone since she was created and there was just nothing from him.

"They scanned in over a hundred humans as part of some research study. Most were critically ill and we're told it would help them find a cure. It didn't. They used their engrams without their knowledge to build me, and about 30 others. Eventually they put me in storage."

The silence hurt her more than anything else right now.

"When I woke up, it was 50 years later, I had no idea. This other AI was talking to me, telling me he needed me for something. It said if I worked with him, I'd… get my wish."

"…What wish was that." Why was he feeding into this?

"Just, to not exist like I had. For anything to be different." She smiled at him. It was not a happy smile.

Through it all, there was only one question he could think of. The one thing that kept him going the past two years. "Was it worth the life of my crew?"

"no." It wasn't even a whisper. He may have just imagined it.

The two sat in that chamber, in subtle silence. The human glared at the cut on the organic machine's head. He was lying to himself, there was something else that kept him going. He pulled out a small medical patch kit from the side of the suit. He didn't care, but still, he had to help.