Suddenly the wall behind me quivers as a loud rumbling sound fills the air. I snap to attention as my eyes scan for the source. Even with the dimming light of day, I can make out most of the area around me. Yet there is nothing that could be making the sound.

Hell, it almost sounds…as I spin around, I come face to camera with a tracked vehicle of sorts. “WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!” My voice is practically shrill as I yell at the damned AI. After all, who else would be controlling this monstrosity?

“It is an earth-moving machine. This one was salvaged from a depleted sulfur mine on Io.” Without warning, the machine jerked forward. Its tracks clattered against the metal ramp as it made its way past. My nose crinkles as I catch a whiff of sulfur. “It should be able to get some of the area cleared through the night.”

“Not to argue or anything, but what will it use for power?” It wasn’t like moving such a massive machine was cheap or anything.

“Oh, it is actually pretty cheap to run.”

“Then why did you say we would run out of power by the end of the week?”

“Hmm…how to put this. It is becau—” the AI’s voice suddenly cut off. Whatever was causing the thing to have these issues was getting old, fast. While the lights and the voice cut out, surprisingly, the machine kept moving forward. Almost as if it wasn’t affected. I say almost because the damn thing just moved forward. It didn’t dig, turn, or otherwise do anything else. It moved forward until it hit one of the lone trees nearby. Not that the tree lasted all that long. As soon as the treads dug into the soft dirt, wood chips went everywhere as the tree exploded.

Yeah. Screw this. I turned around and walked up the ramp. I ignored the acrid smells that assaulted me as I entered the room on the other side. A room that was larger than the communal cafeteria on my old station. Hell, I could probably fit two of the things into this room with space to spare. The piping and wires typically hidden were exposed as quite a few panels were missing from the ceiling and walls. Some of the wires hung down into the space.

A space that was packed chock full of machines and equipment. A single aisle ran the length of the room. Machines of all types were lined up. Most of them even looked pretty well secured. Unfortunately, there were a few that looked like they had sheared apart. Parts, both big and small, looked to have turned into shrapnel as they tore through nearby equipment.

One such piece of smashed equipment looked like Swiss cheese. As I took a step closer toward the plexiglass door to get a look inside, the lights returned. With it came the AI’s voice. “—se of various. Damn it. Get back here you fucking…”

The steadily receding grinding sound outside momentarily stopped before changing tone. Without warning, a loud snap and sizzling sound filled the space. It brought with it the smell of ozone. The smell was sharp and seemed to overwhelm the sulfur and everything else. Moments later, another snap filled the space. It wasn’t as loud as the first but it was still audible over the outside noises.

“There are shorts all over the place. I keep trying to isolate them but it affects nearly every wire bundle.”

My body moved on its own as my heartbeat picks up. As I get a good look inside the machine, another snap cracks through the air. This time though, I see the blue-white arc as it snaps between two wires. Both of them look to have been hit by a piece of something, leaving them severed save for the one or two strands that were holding them in place.

“Hey, this machine has a…” SNAP. This bolt is larger than the first. The light it produced was bright enough to practically blind me while the sound deadened my ears to the world. My body froze as I wait for the spots covering my eyes to dissipate enough for me to see what I was doing. This machine needed to be physically disconnected before it caught fire or worse.

Finally able to see, I found myself back in the dark. While it made what I had to do harder, it was safer. As long as the power was out I wouldn’t have to worry about being electrocuted…mostly. Where were the capacitors on this ship? Wait. They would have been discharged by the short.

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Belly to the ground, my skin scraped against the metal as I reached under the heavy platform. Unable to see anything under there, I blindly flailed around until I found a connection. A brief but sharp tug later caused something to snap. Honestly, that was probably not a good thing but fuck it. I could fix it later, probably.

Moments later, the lights returned. To my relief, the machine above me did not start to sizzle or snap. “What are you doing? Wait. Hmm. That works.”

“Was that the problem?” I asked as I made my way to my feet.

“Well, yes and no. While it did cause the reactor’s breakers to trip, it wasn’t the only thing to do so.”

Cool, at least I was useful. “Is there anything else I can do?”

“Right now?” The AI scoffed at first but then sighed. “There is a ton that needs to be done but it requires some of the training you received. Training you are now missing.”

While I had hoped the thing would tell me on its own, I figured now was a good time to force the answer out of it. “You never did explain why I am missing most of my memories.”

“Head trauma. For all intents and purposes, the crash should have killed you.” The thought that I had come so close to death and didn’t know was sobering. My calm breathing picked up as I slid to the floor. “I don’t know how you did it but you managed to get into a medical pod fast enough for it to do something.”

“Wait, I put myself into that pod? But wasn’t the door blocked? Why would I…”

“Yes, you did.” The AI snapped. “It is one of those things the trainers beat into your head throughout training. According to the ship’s logs, something must have settled because systems across the ship went from damaged to offline or destroyed. One of these was the medical system. While it had managed to save your life, I imagine the failure did a number on your brain.”

I hugged my knees to my chest as I tried to not cry at the thought of never being able to remember my life. My training. My family. “Is there any chance I might get my memories back?”

Its voice was soft as it spoke. “It is possible. I don’t honestly know. I don’t think we will truly know the answer to the question or the extent of the damage until we build a new medical unit.”

“Can’t we just fix the old one?”

“Whatever took it down did a number on it. The whole control system is fried. It's just not worth fixing. We would be better off recycling and reusing the parts to make a new system. Until then, I will do what I can to help you.” What the AI said did little to provide comfort. After all, it was a machine. What could it do if I got stuck somewhere or, god forbid, hurt? In either case, I was screwed. Would there be a point in even trying to do what I apparently was here to do?

As I thought that, the picture of me and Kailee popped unbidden into my mind. Something about it hardened my resolve. I needed to do this for her. I needed to survive for her. To give her the life our parents never had. With a swift swipe, I cleared the dust in my eyes as I asked “What do I need to do next?”

“Hmm…It will take a few hours for the machine to get a decent plot of land cleared for the solar panels. But might as well get everything out and ready. Head outside and open the hatch on the right side of the ship. It should be just forward of the engines.”

As I left the dimly lit cargo bay, I found that the machine had been busy. It had managed to grind up a decent chunk of land. Mixing the pasty leftovers that were the plants into the dirt as it went. As I moved down the ramp, a second, deep, rumbling sound filled the clearing.

When I looked back to find the source of the noise, I found a giant roller moving in my direction as it lumbered its way out of the ship. I had to assume the AI knew what it was doing because I sure as hell didn’t.

Instead of standing there and watching the machine do whatever it was going to do, I followed the AI’s vague instructions. My feet slipped and slid through the dirt as I made my way around to a section of the structure with a handle. Thankfully, this section of the ship looked more intact than the rest.

Not that that meant much. I tried to twist the latch in the direction indicated and nothing happened. It refused to budge. Reaching down, I grabbed a long piece of bent metal and slid it into the recess. Using it for leverage as I tried to force the latch open.

The thing made a shrill grinding sound as it slowly opened. Then, without warning, the latch gave way. Suddenly free, the hatch popped open with enough force to fling my leverage bar up and away, nearly taking my hand with it.

Thankfully, while the panels spilled out, they looked serviceable. Were there a few cracks…sure. But I had seen worse when working on some of the transport drones back home. Wait. When had I worked on transport drones?

Pain lanced through my head as I tried to grasp the wisp of a memory. Like smoke, the memory slipped through my fingers before vanishing. Reluctantly, I dropped the subject as I prayed that we could get a medical system up and running sooner rather than later. With a sigh of resignation, I got started on my current task. Moving one panel after another from storage and onto the top of the furrowed dirt.