40 Follow Me (1/2)
CONFIRM REQUEST
'I already told you. It wouldn't be right. You viewed her memories. She's not a part of this.'
SUBJECT 001 IS NEW CINALIAN
SUBJECT 001 IS IRRELEVANT
IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT APEX IS RELEASED
FROM THE CURRENT CONFINES
AND COMPLETES THE VOYAGE HOME
'By damning everyone else I come across?'
UNKNOWN CIVILIANS ARE NOT PRIORITY
PRIORITY #1
THE SURVIVAL OF THE ADMINISTRATOR
PRIORITY #2
COLLATERAL DAMAGE MUST BE PROPORTIONATE TO THE SITUATION AT HAND
PRIORIT-
'I made those rules, why are you repeating them back to me? She is all we have. Don't you understand that? Don't you understand that we've been alone this whole time? I need her to sustain my mental health. With her in Stasis.Mode, how will we be able to communicate with the outside world?'
SUBJECT 001'S CONSCIOUSNESS IS NOT REQUIRED TO CONTACT THE OUTSIDE WORLD
'She's human. How could I navigate this place without her? She understands more than you give her credit for.'
WITHOUT SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPER 2.0 SUBJECT 001
WOULD HAVE PERISHED LONG AGO
HUMAN INTERACTIONS ARE SECONDARY
THE NAVIGATION SYSTEM IS SUFFICIENT
SUBJECT 001'S PRESENCE IS INSIGNIFICANT
'I wouldn't feel right doing that to a conscious being. Everything they've done so far is reversible. You could damage her mind with containment.'
PILOTING SUBJECT 001 WILL IMPROVE APEX'S HEALTH SIGNIFICANTLY
CONTINUED IMPRISONMENT DECREASES THE EFFECTIVENESS OF STASIS.MODE
PROLONGED SOLITUDE INFLICTS PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL DAMAGE
ABNORMALITIES THAT DEVELOP MAY BE IRREVERSIBLE
APEX WILL NEVER BE THE SAME
ENERGY LEVELS ARE STABLE
NO OTHER VIABLE HOST CAN BE ACQUIRED
APEX CONFIRM REQUEST
'…'
He mulls over what the machine has said. All his life he has been connected to his pod. His brother and sister were either right beside him, or reachable along their mind links. Ever since he has awoken he has not been able to contact them. He fears that the torture he experienced damaged their links. Or worse.
His mind feels like an empty void. Where once there was chatter, it's silent. Contact with S.I.D is all that has kept him sane. Especially after waking up from his prolonged stasis.
If his mind is damaged, would he be welcomed back? What have they told everyone about his disappearance? Could he plead his case with the mental scarring? Could he risk it…for one human?
'How far are we from the labs?'
WITH THE DATA ACQUIRED FROM SUBJECT 001'S
TRAVEL TO COLDSTONE
IT WOULD TAKE US APPROXIMATELY 7 DAYS TO ARRIVE IN
WASHINGTON CITY WITH ENOUGH DAYLIGHT TO
ENACT A SUCCESSFUL ESCAPE PLAN
'A week? That isn't that long.'
AFFIRMATIVE
STASIS.MODE COULD BE SUSTAINED FOR 7 DAYS WITHOUT
MUCH DRAIN ON ENERGY RESERVES
ESPECIALLY WITH THE RESOURCES PRESENT
AT THIS SHIPPING CONTAINER TERMINAL
Dernel contemplates what S.I.D has said.
'And Sia?'
SUBJECT 001 WOULD NOT SUFFER FROM ANY LONGLASTING
PSYCHOLOGICAL OR PHYSICAL DAMAGES
IF CONTAINED FOR 7 DAYS
'It won't be forever. Just a short while. Forgive me, Sia.' Dernel thought to himself before replying to S.I.D.
'Request agreed upon,' he finally accedes.
REQUEST CONFIRMED
TRANSFER COMMENCING
After his consciousness is swapped with Sia's he notices several things at once. Half of her usual field of vision is gone. He touches a hand to her left eye and cringes at the feel of swollen flesh. The wandering hands contact her right ear and its missing outer lobe.
”What is the meaning of this? Why hasn't this healed?”
NANO INFIRMARY PROTOCOL CANNOT BE ENACTED
UNTIL COMPLETE COOLDOWN AND DEACTIVATION
OF JUMPER PROTOCOL
STRESS ON THE VESSEL FROM PROCESSING HYDRONE BOOST
PUSHES BACK ALL NEW SERVICE INITIATION BY 24 HOURS
”And you thought it was worth it?”
AFFIRMATIVE
”Upload the last couple hours of recordings.”
AFFIRMATIVE
Dernel absorbs their new surroundings. Images flash behind his retina for a moment, before he is caught up on everything Sia went through.
The ermine corpse remains still. There are no signs of a mate or offspring, but such a mammal would burrow away from the open area. Dernel can't be sure.
”Let's get out of here as soon as possible. Where is the vehicle?”
S.I.D feeds Dernel instructions and they pack the van with numerous items: rice, bouillon cubes, and honey. The other containers suffered weather damage or were opened already.
After Dernel shuts each container, he uses the crowbar to etch three letters onto the metal, before moving to the next one. Before leaving the port, he decides to explore the guard tower as the sun begins to sink toward the horizon.
The stairs leading to the guard compartment loudly complain as Dernel steps further up. Each creak is a false warning that the steps will give out. Dernel fears it.
Not that falling from this height would kill him. All new injuries would have to be suffered until the next day. He's so tired of pain.
When he reaches the guard quarters, the door is stiff and breaks off its hinges with a slight push. Dernel grabs hold of the door before it can collapse. His nose scrunches up as the stench eventually reaches his nose.
”What is that?”
The room is dark, but light streams in from a broken pane and the entrance. A turned-over chair and a control panel are illuminated. Dernel watches his step as he moves toward the control panel. From beside the chair, he can see that someone had indeed been here before them.
A corpse rests beside the turned over chair leaning on the small storage cabinet, facing the door.The corpse appears chilled down to the bone marrow. Large chunks of flesh are missing from their neck and torso. One of their legs is missing entirely.
The person is wearing worn clothing. They have on an empty holster under their left arm. Their limbs are settled down beside them, and one hand is clutching a dusty walkie-talkie.
Dernel crouches and grabs the walkie-talkie by the antenna before slipping it out of the corpses' grasp. He wipes the residue off the walkie-talkie before pressing the Push-To-Talk Button and releasing it.
A recording noise erupts from the device followed by static. It was on standby mode. The battery is half full.
Dernal adjusts the sound and puts the radio into his pocket.
”May peace find you in your final rest,” he mutters before moving the corpse further away from the storage cabinet.
He gently settles the body against an empty wall and bows his head a bit before hastening back over to the cabinet. He is looking for something specific. A sheet of radio codes and the incoming ships that would have been serviced at this port.
Sia's broadcasts had not been a total failure. They had reached someone. If Dernel could find the secret codes used by the company to communicate with their ships maybe someone would come this way to investigate? This port was international. Even with it missing, several others of its kind exist in the other countries. It was a long shot, but any alarm that could be rout would be in their favor.
No codes, no special colored slips of paper.
Nothing.
”Where would you hide a secret code ledger, S.I.D?”
Before S.I.D can answer the walkie-talkie Dernel had taken from the corpse comes to life.
”Hey, Winston! When did you say we were getting picked up out of here?” Kelly asks.
THERE ARE SEVERAL-
”Ssssssh. Wait, don't talk,” Dernel interrupts.
Dernel pulls the transceiver from his pocket and listens closely.
”Hold your balls, ETA 40 minutes,” an unfamiliar male voice replies.
”If we even have any left by the time you get here,” Kelly retorts.
”I'm surprised y'all made it through the night…Casey swore we'd die with our truck in that mess, and you three did it on foot?” Winston wonders.
”Charity from our latest nuisance,” Uzu declares.
”The thing that got Davis's men?”
”No! Just a sick bi**h!” Manu adds.
”I thought it was just an easy snatch-and-grab. Did y'all get one-upped by an invalid? Was she a Savage?”