How does one explain in words being awoken by an alarm that shook every atom inside your mind then having your eyes opened as if tiny hands had yanked at them?
Painful? No... no pain.
Scary? Not really. Everything felt odd.
Annoying?
Yes, he felt annoyed.
The pitch blackness around him blinked on one by one as it showed rather odd images. Scenes of fire, flaking metal, a flaming rock that was breaking apart like a hot potato as it smashed against several sparking consoles.
The last screen just showed blackness... it flickered and turned off.
Milo didn’t remember being abducted and chucked into that room with all the TV’s in the Matrix but here he was being shown more and more images in square monitors. Weirdly, they had all been stuck on the ‘things blowing up’ channel.
Milo tried to stand, itched at his stubble but he had no hands. He had no mouth...
He had no facial hair.
He just was.
The odd calmness seemed to strain as panic and alarm raced before something like a sedative washed over him and he felt calm again.
[b][Emotion Matrix restrained. Power holding at 22%][/b]
The cheery voice came from around Milo in this dark room with monitors.
“H-hello?” he called, his voice felt very weird. He gave it a few voice checks but something was definitely off. Like his high notes were wonky and his low notes just boomed.
[[b]Ship integrity failing. On-Board Agent has been awoken due to failure of 3827 system.][/b]
Again, this was delivered with a tone more matching someone showing off a new jacket or announcing they got away early from work. Not that some ship was about to go splat in some black ocean.
“What’s happening? Who are you?” Milo demanded as best he could, fighting every inch for any speck of fear or anger or... human.
[[b]Introduction package- Lost. Tutorial package- Corrupted. Mission briefing- REDACTED. I am Primary Assistant Module. I am PAM. How can I help you today?][/b]
Milo blinked slowly then pointed to a monitor that just showed fire. He had no fingers but his intent had to have been felt.
“Everything is on fire,” he said slowly.
[[b]Correction. 36% of ship is above thermal regulations. 20% is damaged, 14% is lost in vacuum. 30% is in danger!][/b]
Milo wanted to strangle Pam for being so cheery.
“How do we stop it? Wait... am I onboard the ship?” Milo pressed for details.
[[b]Yes. Primary AI core: Milo Higgins is located in AI Core room. Would you like a visual feed?][/b]
“Yes!” Milo said, hoping his body wasn't strapped to some machine on fire... the image was too much to even joke about.
A large window appeared and it showed a large round room with towering clear containers filled with blue wires, clear tubing that had flowing liquid... and the atypical green circuit boards of what Milo knew of computers. In the centre of this metal-stonehenge was a single hexagon glass container with so much wiring and compact machinery inside that it glowed like a lava lamp.
There was no body. Only a single metal plate on the platform that held the cube.
[i]Milo Higgins. Seventh of the second development. [/i]
There was a lot to feel and a lot to take in.
Shame his emotions were being held hostage and smoke was leaking into the core room.
“Okay, I’m no scientist but how is there fire? Shouldn’t there be flooding water?” Milo yelled to darkness.
[b][Ship is not located within a gas cloud. No vapor located. Would you like me to scan for a vapor cloud? Error. I am sorry, the scanning dish is on fire and cannot scan right now. I shall put it in the queue to be executed.][/b]
“No! We need to stop the fire, how can we do that?” Milo asked and felt like the haze around his mind was clearing.
Questions were beginning to rear their noses but Milo told them to wait until hot scary things stopped burning.
[[b]AI and PAM system have no host control. The ship onboard sprinklers are not working due to the main water tank being blasted off by impact of the asteroid. Only available options for AI Core is as follows. The Coffee machine, the visual feed, the lights... none seem to be working but you would have control if they did... You could control the air temperature... if things were not on fire. You can adjust the tint of the front glass and control the Autonomous Nano Techbots and also the soil mix for any plants that may be onboard-] [/b]
“The Nano things! Turn them on!” Milo snapped, not even sure what he was asking for but he knew one thing. Options were better than no options.
[b][Of course, Milo. Turning on squads 1 to 5. Please Nanobot with the safety manual in mind!][/b]
Milo’s field of vision focused on a few screens as things from tiny hidey holes around the ship shot out with energy. The camera feeds showed that they looked like scrubbing brushes with spider legs. A single beady red eye showed a visual camera. Milo pushed and he was suddenly in a body!
He had legs! He had a body! He was about 3 inches tall!
Well, it was better than nothing.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
He felt his main ‘source’ as it were was still in that black space. The core maybe but he could feel the automoa....Nano....screw it. The ANTs were all waiting for orders.
“Fire needs oxygen or something close to it. Seal the place! Repair what you can!” he thundered and the ANTs all scurried away. He followed the closest one out of sheer not knowing how they were going to do anything he just told them.
It traveled through a vent, the spider legs seeming to have tiny magnets to help it keep its grip instead of just spearing its legs into the walls. Made sense on a ship where one hole was bad news.
The vent was dust free as if nothing could make dust in this place. Milo and his new spider friend landed in a lonely study room. He watched as the thing scurried towards the wall that had a window that stared out into...
[[b]Emotion Matrix straining! Error!][/b]
[i]Space.[/i]
Countless... sheer endless... glowing white diamonds stared back and Milo could only urge the ANT closer to the glass-like surface and stared out. The ANT’s camera wasn’t as good as a humans but...
Milo felt numb... in a human way. He watched as the ship spun in a circle, free from any gravity. The stars shifted in every direction... up, down... right...left...forward.
Stars glittered like distant night lights.
His moment of wonder was ruined when the ANT he had followed twitched a leg and a hissing blue flame sparked to life. Milo stumbled back as the heated light easily cut through the metal surface and the magnets sparked as it gained a grip.
Milo quickly followed suit using the onboard Auto-Mind to do it for him.
The ANT peeled back the metal and sound was sucked out along with the air and any tiny objects that weren’t nailed down. The few fires that had reached the hall beyond and such flickered out. Milo checked on the other ANTs and found them doing the same all over the ship. It was a brute method but damn if it wasn’t effective.
The temperature all over the ship fell and went near the frosty limits as the ANTs began to patch up their holes using their cutters to melt the metal back into place.
Milo guessed it would be a weak spot for now but it was better than being on fire!
[[b]Oxygen level on ship is now 0! Tanks are empty. ANTs are now repairing what can be fixed using schematics of the ship stored in the core. Error! Not enough material will be available. Would you like to make a note of this?][/b]
Pam, unfortunately, hadn’t been sucked out with the fire so Milo just took long moments to breath. Not that he could or actually did but making his mind go through the motions was nice.
He released control of the ANT back to the Auto-Mind built into the tiny body and returned to the screen room.
“Alright, are there other dangers on the ship that I need to know about? Things I can fix right now!” he quickly amended before he felt a sink on the system around him as Pam seemed to do a wide scan of the ship itself.
[[b]Asteroid is still in main power room. Entry occurred when shield was going under maintenance for 2.5 seconds. Chance of happening is 0.000000-][/b]
Milo tried to pinched his nose and wished he had a chair for this damn place. Or a body at least.
[b][00003% chance as asteroids were covered by Nebula Storm. Secondary threat is ship course is now unknown due to being impacted. The ship will soon run on low power mode and without main controls over the propulsion system... the ship cannot mine for more materials to restore backup power generation.][/b]
“Okay... get an ANT to grab the rock and use it as more material. That solves one problem and helps another. Now... where the heck am I? What... where is Earth?” Milo asked, voice flat as he felt that damn emotion matrix thing snap into action.
He had to tear it out before he went mad.
[[b]Current Location is: Star System [i]Unknown[/i]. Galaxy [i]Unknown[/i]. Nearby Star [i]Unknown[/i]. Nearby Moon [i]Unknown[/i]. Current Ship: The Argus, room: AI Core room.][/b]
Milo felt his mood dip at every unknown.
Still, the Argus. Fancy name.
“And Earth?” he reminded.
Pam processed the question.
[b][Status of Earth: [i]Unknown[/i].][/b]
Yeah that was about what Milo was expecting at this point.
“Okay new question. How did I get inside the AI core? I was just a... well... I was Milo Higgins on Earth... this shouldn’t be so hard,” he mumbled as his head pulsed, amazingly despite having no head.
[b][AI Core Mental Clone is a project to arm ships and various machines for various purposes with human level intelligence and knowledge from host that is cloned. You are a clone of Milo Higgins who donated his brain to science. Dates and details are unknown to this system but personnel files might be located in the core.][/b]
Milo perked up at that and then his emotional thingy went on the fritz again as the words hit him.
[i]Clone?[/i]
He wasn’t... Milo Higgins? Not the human proper version? He was some scanned copy of his brain? He fought with this for a long few seconds before the damn emotional matrix restraint kicked in.
“Can you turn that off?” Milo growled.
[b][AI Core functionality is as per schematics. Core needs no adjustment.][/b]
“Yeah, well you’re just perfect the way you are too,” Milo snapped, no real anger in the words since he wasn’t [i]allowed[/i] anger. What asshat chose that option to be a thing? He turned to the monitors. How to find these files... if there any.
As it merely thinking about the files, they appeared as turnable pages on the screens.
He only had two options..
[i]Milo Higgins personnel file.[/i]
And a note of some kind.
[i]Sorry. If you ever read this.[/i]
The sense of drama was something Milo could appreciate, so he picked the note first. It barely a few lines long and didn't do much more than make Milo confused.
[i]Milo,[/i]
[i]If you’re awake then the transmission came. It’s time. It was a rush job at best and a disaster at worst. You’re missing most things and sending you out is like asking you to be lost but there is no time. You’re the most incredible man I know- No, Milo was the most amazing and so are you but the quicker you mentally keep him and yourself separate, the better your stability will be... and I just know you’ll... well...[/i]
[i]Never mind.[/i]
[i]Good luck, you son of a bitch.[/i]
[i]Geralds.[/i]
Milo was flattered despite having no clue what anything in that note meant.
He was amazing. The note said so. He turned to the file, eager to see where his memory of his life ended and this unknown part of his life where he joined a secret project to become an AI began.
He tried to be giddy and the emotional leash let that happen, thankfully.
He read the first few lines... then more... then the rest.
He read it three more times.
Milo closed the file and calmly... very calmly took control of an ANT and began to make it bash its head against the nearest wall.
The most intelligent people on Earth perhaps, the ones who made a real star ship and AI cores... had gotten the [i]wrong fucking brain[/i].
He remembered signing his body up for cryogenics for science to be snooty. He knew that. He was Milo Higgins of Texas proper. College grad and aiming to make video games or become a fast food worker for his life.
The Milo meant to be on this ship was some California dude with so many science degrees and doctorates he was like some savant Jesus. There had been the biggest mix up in Earth’s history and no one even knew.
Milo tried to cry and got told he wasn’t allowed to do that so settled for more headbashing.
[[b]News! Ship will be beginning atmosphere entry of third moon in four hours. Would you like to be told when we approach and/or have landed?][/b]
Milo stared at the darkness where Pam resideded, knowing now she was his Lucifer. His personal hell friend.
“I’m sure the crashing and explosions will let me know...” he said bleakly, mostly joking to keep his mind off things.
[b][Okay Milo! I will now return to listing problems to fix and awaiting more orders.][/b]
Pam, ever the busy body.
Milo wondered what crashing felt like decided he just needed some time to process.
Process….process...
[b][Entry in 5...4...3...2..1-][/b]
Pam’s voice echoed over the empty vessel, not aimed at Milo but to simply broadcast the status of the now free falling ship to anyone who might be listening. Milo shot his head up as somehow his core...mind had slipped into some personal time bubble of moping and whining. It hadn’t even been 5 minutes! He stood or tried to make the ANT stand but all it did was fall over backwards in alarm as everything began to shake.
Damn it, he was going to make plans to slow the fall or repair more things! He had been joking about the alarm!
He opened a visual feed in his core room and watched a giant red marble glare back at him.
No paradise here.
Milo just screamed which was reduced to mild grunting as his emotions were dampened. Pam clapped enthusiastically as if programmed to be the worst thing since younger siblings. The Argus made a sharp landing.
Which was Pam’s way of saying that the ship carved a landing pad with a scream.
Milo wanted to go back to sleep... so badly.