Over the next several hours, Chloe remained in the tub which changed out colder water for warmer every so often. When she finally comes to a few days later, she finds herself lying in bed, wrapped tightly in several blankets. Ethan is sleeping in his bed across from her and Isis is sitting on the edge of her pedestal reading a book.

Chloe slowly lifts herself upright, still quite sore in most parts of her body. Isis' eyes catch sight of the movement and she smiles closing the book. "How are you feeling?" she asks happily. Chloe stretches out her arms out as much as she can muster. "Warm... Definitely warmer." she replies, pulling the blankets up to her neck and embracing their heat.

"You're lucky you know. Any longer and we could have lost you." Chloe looks down blankly. "Chevron and I both want to know what happened. Why were you down there? How did you get past the security barriers? And why didn't tell anyone where you were going?" Isis continues. Chloe remains silent though her mind raced as she recalled the events that took place.

Isis places her book beside her on the pedestal and crosses her legs and folds her hands. "It's alright, you can tell me." she reassures her. "I thought I heard something." Chloe begins uneasily. "Something? Like what?" Isis asks. Chloe turns to look at Isis. "Well, it was laughing." Chloe replies. Isis bends forward slightly.

"Laughing? Whose?" she asked curiously. Chloe fiddles with her fingers. "I don't know. It was a girl laughing." Isis straightens up. "A girl?" Chloe switches to stroking her hair. "It sounded like she was playing in the tunnels. I thought if I could find her, I could... I don't know.. I just had to find her." she adds. Isis lets out a soft sigh. "Chloe, there's no one else on the ship beside the four of us. I don't know what it was you heard, but it wasn't a girl." Isis says in a strong but caring way.

Chloe looks back down. "I know what I heard." she replies slightly annoyed at Isis' disbelief. Isis shakes her head. "Fine, so how did you get past the security barriers?" she continues. Chloe looks up in confusion. "Security? What security? I never saw anything down there. I couldn't see anything at all..."

Isis calls to Chevron through a data stream while listening to Chloe speak. In milliseconds his avatar forms beside her. Chevron places his hat atop Isis' head. "There should have been large doors with red flashing lights indicating security areas. Where the drones found you, you were past eight of them." Chevron adds-in patiently.

Chloe looks up at him. "I said I didn't see anything. If I got through them, they were already open, okay?`` She responds irritably.

Isis and Chevron look at each other, both shocked at the statement she just made, and the way she made it. "I'll see what I can turn up." Chevron says to Isis before vanishing.

Isis looks back at Chloe. "What's the problem Chlo?" Isis asks calmly. In a bout of frustration Chloe yells back at her. "I told you what happened and you believe me!" The noise wakes Ethan who turns over and looks at them. Isis stares back with caring eyes. "I know, I'm sorry Chlo. But try to see it from our perspective. It's hard to accept when the evidence against it is so... overwhelming."

Chloe looks away to hide her face. "Just leave me alone. I don't want you around right now." Isis vanishes from her pedestal and reappears in the core room. "What do you make of all this?"

Chevron’s avatar stares at countless lines of code pass in front of them in orange text. He waves his hand and the text stops.

"Did you see that?" He asks. "See what?" Isis replies, stepping closer. A few seconds pass with nothing, and then; in a blink of an eye, a segment of the code turns purple and alters itself before returning to its original orange color. "A virus..." Isis speaks angrily. Chevron turns to her. "A virus that neither of us detected? How did it even get here?"

"I need you to give me access to everything." Isis states pulling up several different holographic screens. "What are you planning?" He asks curiously, lifting his hat slightly. "I'm going to initiate a ship-wide scan and see if we can't eradicate the intrusion. Nothing puts my children in danger" she says with a slight hostility in her voice. Chevron snaps his fingers and the orange screens turn bright blue.

She pulls the chopsticks from atop her head causing her crimson hair to fall down to her shoulders, puts them between the fabric of her dress and the ring, and stretches out her arms to the sides as multiple white rings form around her. "Now let's peer into the darkness. Initiating scan." She begins with abundant confidence in her voice. The rings begin to spin around her faster and faster in alternating direction. A series of blue pulses begin emanating throughout the ship.

Chevron stands ever so still holding his cane in both hands. "I will temporarily purge and shut down the drones. If the intrusion is wireless it won't have anywhere to go." Isis nods. "Scan will complete in ten seconds. Preparing to purge anomalies." Isis continues, taking in a deep breath. "Three... Two... One..." She finishes. A large screen appears in front of Isis.

[No Intrusions Detected]

Isis is taken aback. "What?.." she says in disbelief. Chevron lifts his head slightly. "Hm.. That's curious." He remarks. Isis lowers her arms. "I-I don't- I don't... What?"

--------

Chloe, gathering her strength, stands up and walks to the wall nearest her bed. Placing her hand on the wall, a holographic panel generates behind her palm and with a cheery beep, opens a hidden compartment containing a dresser of sorts. She takes the handle of a drawer and pulls it toward her revealing several undergarments, some of which she had at one point fashioned from a spare nano suit.

She takes one of the nano pair out and pushes the drawer back in; the compartment, closing back up and becoming hidden once more. With a slight groan, she pulls them on and falls back on the bed, her energy feeling spent. "Well that was exhausting." She whispers to herself.

"Want to go for a walk with me? Get out for a bit Chloe?" Ethan asks, leaning over her. She smiles at him, wrapping both her arms around his left arm and pulls him down on top of her. "Give me your shirt and it's a deal." She replies playfully. Ethan smiles. "What, this? But it's mine." He says with a partial laugh. "Not if you give it to me. Come on, my favorite shirt is gone to pieces, literally. Please."

Ethan stands up, pulls his shirt off and hands it to her. "You know, if you just wore your suit you'd still have your 'favorite' shirt." He says grabbing a new one from his own compartment. "You shush. I don't want to hear it." She replies, pulling his shirt over her head. "And don't you think it's about time you started wearing pants or something?" Ethan adds. Chloe's head pops through the top of the shirt. "I said shush. I don't tell you how to dress." She replies. Together they both walk out of the room.

Step by step they slowly make their way through the various corridors of Chevron's interior that are not blocked by the security systems now so prominently lit and continuously inspected by Chevron himself. Eventually they walk for so long and so far they don't even realize where they have gone, or where they are. They could have walked in circles for all they knew.

That is of course, until they came upon the great metal orb that once levitated atop a fount of water. Now it lies silent and still in the darkness showing itself only when the light of distant sparks dance across its surface. It is some distance down the faintly lit hall they were approaching, and they can only see a portion of the orb in the light they are given.

Together, Ethan and Chloe approach it, their eyes darting around the area following the glimpse-giving light of sparks. The orb was heavily dented and scratched; and the walls around it- even the floor itself were damaged. "Wow." Ethan spoke, breaking their unnoticed silence. Chloe simply nods. She quickly reaches out her arm to stop him as he moves closer, but pulls it back instead and carefully follows behind him.

A spark from a loose wire in a wall beside them causes them to flinch. "Where are we going?" Chloe finally asks, grabbing Ethan's hand from behind just before stepping over a sharp and jagged section of the floor now pointed toward the ceiling. "I just want to see something." He replies firmly gripping her hand in his. Within seconds they reach the orb.

The darkness once hidden now revealed with random blue flashes of light- the doorway that holds the orb in place. Inside the room come the random flashes of the blue illuminating light. Chloe takes her hand and carefully slides it across the face of the orb. The smooth, wet feeling she remembers is replaced by coarse scrapes, large bumps and even small punctures here and there.

"I want to go in there." Ethan states as he begins climbing over the orb. "Wait! I don't think we should... It doesn't look safe." Chloe counters. Ethan just shrugs and slides down the other side into the returning darkness of the fading light. Chloe looks around and lets out a deep sigh before grabbing the top of the orb and pulling herself up.

She starts sliding down the side to the room when Ethan grabs her off of it before she reaches the bottom. "Whoa, what was that for?" she asks in surprise. Ethan takes her down in front of the orb and the doorway. "It has a sharp piece on it; the orb that is. Cut through my pants on my leg." He replies holding her hand to the rip in his legging.

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"Oh, you didn't get hurt did you? I told you we shouldn't have come here." she asks, trying her best to look for any blood in the lack of light. She places her other hand on the wall to support her and as she does, a few lights turn on around them. The illumination reveals the empty pods they had first awakened in so long ago.

They both stand there speechless, recalling the times; their first moments now distant memories. "We haven't been here in so long." Chloe says with a hint of sadness in her voice. "Three years and we never bothered to come back? I mean, I had completely forgotten about this place." Ethan adds. He points to the lockers on the wall- their nameplates still holding firm to their doors.

Chloe looks at them and then she herself points to the coding box lying on the floor. Three years ago, the force of the thrusters and the absence of the inertial dampeners caused the beam attached to the wall to bend and break apart. The wires, so heavily stretched, are all that connects it to the ship anymore.

Chloe walks past the box to her locker, placing her hand against it and feeling the cold of the metal beneath her palm. She closes her eyes to recall her first encounter with this simple tool. As she opens the door, she opens her eyes. There in the darkness of her locker she sees the dark reflection of herself from the ship's depths, that pitch black hair floating as if submerged.

Chloe slams the door shut instinctively which startles Ethan who is standing by his old pod. "Chlo!" He shouts holding his hand to his heart. "You scared me." Chloe looks at him and back at the locker. Opening it again, she peers inside. All there is, is an empty wall and a single shelf.

"What is it?" Ethan asks, walking to her. "N-Nothing." She says as she carefully closes the door a final time. Ethan looks to her with confusion as she walks away to her own pod. Lying on the floor in front of her feet, a small holographic pedestal flickers with power.

It alternates between blue, orange, green and yellow but it is so heavily damaged that it cannot produce any images as it once did - colored or otherwise. "Why do I feel so... Empty in here?" she asks openly, reaching down and picking up the pedestal with both hands.

Ethan continues analyzing the destruction strewn about the room. "Hm. Maybe it's that it did what it was supposed to, it served its purpose. And now, well, it's no longer needed." Ethan replies trying to sound wiser than he believes he is.

Chloe silently giggles for she knows exactly what Ethan is trying to do. She has seen it many times and every time she never says a word. She likes seeing him try to be all knowing despite the fact he is anything but. "Come on, let's go." She says turning away and preparing to make the climb back out."

--------

Isis stares unwaveringly at the screen before her. There is definitely something on the ship that is changing code. She saw it, even if the main computer doesn't. She is certain. But how can she fight something that is invisible to a main computer and two advanced AI?

Had she not preferred to act more human than program, using her holographic eyes to see the physical world, even she wouldn't have noticed the code being altered beneath her very nose. But this issue will now have to wait as yet another shows itself.

[OBSTRUCTION DETECTED - ALTER COURSE]

"Chevy, what do we have?" Isis asks.

Chevron generates his avatar beside her, along with a mysterious gray object in front of them; a massive circular ring divided into three equally distanced and separate segments that rotate in perfect formation.

Each segment possesses two outward protruding beams or columns as well as various indented lines zigzagging around the plates that form the exteriors. Within each of the indented lines, multiple purple lights trace its path - like cars on a street.

The open space at the center of the superstructure is vast, well over three thousand kilometers in diameter. Isis blinks. "Chevy, slow us down nice and easy. Let's not get too close." Isis then switches to the speakers. "Ethan, Chloe, please return to your room quickly. We may have a problem."

"What do you think, Isis? An old port of some kind?" Chevron asks. Isis shakes her head. "I don't think so. I'm not sure. But whatever it is, I don't think it's human." Chloe takes Ethan by the hand and pulls him along as she follows the path back out. "I wonder what it could be this time." she says with a slight annoyance in her tone.

"Let's run a scan on the object. Perhaps we can..." Isis begins before she is cut off by the emergence of a sequence of numbers now being broadcast by the anomaly. Chevron closes his eyes as he sets his focus on the sequence. Isis pulls up a display showing the numbers flowing horizontally across the screen from right to left.

"Hmm. It's not binary." Chevron speaks while stroking his beard. Isis pulls up a second display showing an audio-visual feed of the bedroom. Chloe and Ethan have still not made it back yet. She lets out a soft sigh. "Let's bypass this thing. Scan it as we go by."

As Chevron's thrusters begin to increase their output, the ship slowly drifts toward the outer edge of the object. "Beginning scans. This’ll give me something to play with for a while." Chevron states as the object is bombarded with various frequencies from the ship. Almost instantaneously the ship is shoved back toward the center of the object against the power of the thrusters.

"The hell was that?" Isis nearly shouts. Chevron looks around. "I have no idea. Increasing thruster output to sixty percent." Meanwhile Ethan painfully pulls himself off the floor; the sudden jerk of the ship had sent them both nearly airborne. "You alright sis?" Ethan says holding his left arm against his torso.

She nods, "Yeah, I'm alright. It kinda hurt though." Ethan takes Chloe's hand and gently pulls her up to him with his free hand. "Man, my arm really hurts." He adds now clutching the arm against his chest with his right hand. Chloe looks at him and sighs. "It's broken... We need to keep moving. If that happens again we shouldn't stay in the halls.

The extra thrust is having no effect on the direction of the ship. It seems to be locked in place heading directly for the center of the object. And yet, the object shows no sign of anything occurring, just as silent as it has been since they found it. As the ship continues to approach the object, it begins to slow and vibrate ever so softly causing the walls of the ship to hum.

"What in the world..." Isis speaks looking around. Ethan and Chloe enter their room and head towards their beds. Streams of purple and white lights begin to stretch out from the inner parts of the three segments spiraling around the exterior of the ship. At first the streams only number three, but every six seconds, each stream duplicates itself. Within minutes the entire ship is engulfed in the lights so tightly packed together that they now appear as one.

Chevron's avatar suddenly begins to fluctuate, extending in some places and shrinking in others. "Well this can't be good." He says looking upon his deforming and reforming hands. Isis stretches out her arm towards him. "Chevy?.." she asks. But her arm too begins to destabilize in much the same fashion.

Multiple small drones crawl into the room approaching Chevron's core. The lights surrounding the ship intensify, pulling the vessel closer and closer to the center of the object. Chevron looks up at her, his eyes going from a look of worry to just staring blankly. In that moment, the avatar of Chevron flickers one last time and vanishes in a beam of orange and white light and sudden darkness. "Chevy!" Isis screams out.

But it was too late- his core lay silent and devoid of his orange glow. The drones freeze in place, their command structure now gone. The engines and thrusters of the ships shut down and the vibrating ceases. Isis looks on in fear as her own form quickly begins to dissolve. She clenches her fists tight as her eyes erupt in a bright blue hue.

"Come on... Get up!" She orders one of the drones. It doesn't move. "Get up! Get up!" she continues to shout. It still doesn't budge. Tears begin to form in her eyes and so she closes them, still clenching her fists as tight as can be. "Please... Get up..." she ends with a whimper. Although she doesn't see it, a flash of purple erupts from the drones’ eye for only a second and fades back into darkness.

The drone takes a strained step forward; its eye flickering blue. Isis hears the single step and looks down at it. "Yes... Yes... Please, pull out the lead cable to my core. Disconnect me from the ship!"

The drone skitters over to Isis' core and with two of its six limbs tugs at the overly large and heavy cable from its port. Tug after tug it pulls at it.

--------

Ethan lies on his bed still clutching his arm in pain. Chloe sits beside him staring out at the bright lights just beyond their window. "What is that?" Ethan asks openly. "Isis? Isis there's a bright light outside. What is it?" He speaks up. But there is no response. A few seconds pass and he sits up. "Isis? Chevron?" No response.

The purple and white light outside spirals faster and faster. "Isis?!" Ethan asks with growing concern. And then, it was simply gone. There was nothing beyond the window. No lights and no stars, just blackness. Chloe stands up and walks to the window. Even the lights within the ship itself have been reduced to a low dim.

"What happened?" she thinks to herself. Ethan stands up beside her and looks out. In all his life he had never seen an emptiness such as this. There were always stars in the sky, always lights to greet them as they traveled.

Chloe turns around and grabs Ethan's unharmed arm. "Come on. We need to go find Isis." she says, leading him out of the room. The ship is eerily quiet. "Isis? Can you hear us?" Ethan asks out. Once again they are met with silence. "Chevron? Isis? What is going on?" Chloe adds. She shakes her head in disbelief. When they finally reach the core room, they are met with an odd sight.

Several drones stand silent and unmoving upon the floor as if frozen in time. Chevron's once colorful and heavily lit core is dark as the space outside and Isis' core- it is no different. Yet a single drone, locked in place at the side of Isis' core is frozen in its attempt to try to pry a cable from it, unfortunately having failed to do so.

>>Running Systems Check...

>>Primary Systems Running At 100%

>>Secondary Systems Running At 100%

>>Pinging AI Chevron...

>>AI Chevron Unresponsive

>>Pinging AI Isis...

>>AI Isis Unresponsive

>>Running Override Commands

>>Parameters Cannot Be Exceeded

>>Administrative Action Required

>>Pinging AI Chevron...

>>AI Chevron Unresponsive

>>Pinging AI Isis...

>>AI Isis Unresponsive

>>Pinging AI Chevron in (30) Seconds...

>>Pinging AI Isis in (60) Seconds...