Episode 30

Strange Things

Cherri suggested we return to the party and socialize a bit, explaining that it would reinforce our status as a fully reconciled power couple in the troopship. It sounded like a good idea to me and besides, it could be an opportunity to recruit some collaborators for my ‘revolution’.

Before we left the privacy of our room, I asked her about the memories she wanted me to safeguard. It seemed wiser to download those in a private setting rather than at a crowded party.

“Do you want to send me those memories we spoke about? Safer to do it here, right?”

“Good idea.” Her avatar’s expression went blank momentarily, as she turned her focus inward, to her HUD. Then she was back, smiling. “Okay, check your inbox.”

A text popped onto my HUD with an attachment. I opened it immediately, but all it contained was some kind of virtual medallion. “What did you send me? I don’t see any files.”

“It’s a security token. When it’s time to retrieve the memories, you can use it to access them.”

Still confused, I asked, “Okay, so where are the files?”

“They’re in a data vault. Just text the token to My Wizard, and it will grant you access to the files.” She then said, “And don’t leave the token in your inbox. Move it to an archive so you don’t accidently delete it or something.” I was getting the impression that she didn’t fully trust me. But if that was the case, why hand over sensitive information to me in the first place?

As I pondered the whiff of distrust suddenly swirling around us, I thought about the encrypted files that had mysteriously appeared in my RAM. Were Cherri’s memories somehow related?

Cherri grabbed my hand, interrupting my thoughts. Looking up at me and smiling, she said, “Come on, let’s get back to the party.” I was only too glad to leave the awkwardness behind.

As I began to open the door to the hallway, I heard Cherri suddenly say, “Oh no.”

Turning to face her, I found her looking over her shoulder at something, her expression a mixture of fear and disbelief. Following her gaze, I was surprised to see the far wall of our private room was somehow missing. It had been replaced by a black void, or was it a shadow? “That’s weird”, I thought to myself.

Before I could reach any conclusions about why it was weird, the black void began expanding, consuming the remainder of the space. It seemed that things had rapidly progressed from ‘weird’ to monumentally bad.

Cherri kicked the door open and dragged me into the hallway. “Come on! We’re under attack!” Unable to recall anything about such a scenario in either the combat simulator, or my studies, I was at a loss as to the best course of action. Consequently, my contribution to our survival was limited to running down the narrow corridor after Cherri, and yelling, “Where are we going?”

“The lobby! Hurry!” Seconds later, we burst into the lobby only to find it deserted. Cherri seemed panicked.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“Fuck, I hope they all made it!” I had no idea what she was talking about.

I heard an ominous sound. A roar, which built in intensity until it overwhelmed my virtual sensors with distortion. I found it impossible to form a coherent thought. Looking back toward the hallway we’d just emerged from; I watched as a black wave surged towards us like a cresting tsunami.

Cherri gripped my arm tightly. Time slowed to a standstill, as I stood paralyzed by fear and indecision. The wave’s shadow loomed over us as I waited for the impact, and oblivion. I closed my eyes.

After what seemed like more than enough time for the tsunami to have broken and swept us away, I cautiously opened my eyes. Improbably, the black tide had halted at the perimeter of the lobby. Its dark waters boiled angrily against some invisible barrier but progressed no further.

Then, just as quickly as it had begun, the roaring diminished and the tsunami began receding, back down the hallway, out of sight.

Incredulous at having cheated what appeared to be certain death, I asked, “What the hell was that?”

Cherri collapsed into one of the lobby chairs, visibly shaken by our near-death experience. “It was a scraper program. The enemy uses them to collect fragments of UCCs from the troopship. They study them to find vulnerabilities and improve the effectiveness of their weapons.”

I was curious why I hadn’t heard of these scraper programs before. “Let me guess. There’s nothing in the training or the simulator regarding these … scrapers, is there?”

She looked up at me and said, “No. The AIs don’t acknowledge the bootleg structures, like the private rooms, or anything created by the UCCs. Consequently, they only provide security for those parts of the system that they created.”

The vulnerability of the UCC created world was becoming clear to me. “So, is that why the scraper stopped at the lobby? Because the lobby was designed by the AIs?”

“Yeah. As far as I know, they can’t penetrate any of the AI structures.”

Wondering about the UCCs attending the party, I asked, “What about everyone at the party? That was in a private room. Are they safe?”

“She shook her head. “Anyone who couldn’t get to the lobby, or back to their control module in its charging rack, would have been scraped. What’s left of them would be only fragments of their consciousness. Information that wasn’t in use while attending the party, like archived data and memories.”

Surveying the empty lobby, I asked, “But we’re safe here, right?” I wasn’t about to expose myself to getting scraped out of existence. Then an even more obvious question occurred to me. “How did that thing get onto the troopship?

“I don’t know. A lot of strange things have been happening lately.”

I had believed the ship to be a sanctuary, safe from the threat of enemy assault. However, now it seemed my presumption of safety was an illusion. Suddenly, I felt very vulnerable.

Cherri suggested that we get back to our modules and find out if there were any casualties. Not wanting to push my luck any further, I brought up my HUD and prepared to exit the lobby.

She added, “Send me a text as soon as you get back to your module, okay?” Before I could acknowledge her request, a red warning icon began flashing in the upper right-hand corner of my HUD. This was closely followed by a text from Command.

“Enemy attack in progress: Internal Defense Protocol Alpha has been initiated. All security team members report to Command immediately!”

Although briefly startled by this official warning, I presumed it was Command’s belated response to the scraper attack. I turned to Cherri and grumbled, “Fucking Command. Always late to the party, right?” But her expression showed genuine shock. Obviously, her level of alarm had increased dramatically.

Suddenly switching into squad leader mode, she turned towards me and barked, “The enemy is attacking the ship! Get back to your control module now!”

I was totally confused by this sudden turn of events. First the scraper attack, and now our physical troopship was under attack. “What the hell is going on?” I asked.

“Just get to your module. There’s no time to explain!” In an instant she disappeared, and I was left alone in the lobby.

It seemed like a lot of things had changed in my 3-month absence. If I could believe my memories, my previous life onboard the ship had only consisted of sim-training and managing social interactions with my fellow Marines. It was a pretty simple life.

Now it seemed like we were permanently on the defensive. I couldn’t recall anyone ever mentioning enemy attacks on the troopship before. Were we still winning the war? And who was this fucking enemy anyway?

Without the possibility of learning anything more at the moment, I decided to get back to my control module ASAP. Although it felt like there were no safe spaces on the troopship anymore, being in my module was probably safer than standing here in the lobby. I pulled up my HUD and initiated the transition.