Year-long NaNo discussion
Jes Drew
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Intergalactic Witness Protection
Jes wrote: "Synopsis: In space, you still have your rights...
Alicia Ivy, the AI affectionately named by Orion- her creator, captain, and chief- watches over the small INGERPOL (Intergalactic Criminal Polic..."
I saw that my captain was unhappy, and knew immediately that our team was about to thrust itself into danger.
If I could feel worry like he does, I know it would be washing over my circuits even as it flows through is veins now. But while that emotion is denied to me, as all are, I have the mission I was coded with. To protect him and them. And I have stored in my memory banks the necessary information to do so- that is, the knowledge that this sometimes means saving my captain from himself.
He is too much like the Atlas of legends, trying to carry the world on his shoulders, even though we are beyond his birth planet.
Since he is in his private cabin, and my physical form is still dormant in the tech closet, I assume my holographic form to stand behind him and lay my hand on his shoulder the way humans so often do to give each other comfort.
Even though the phantom of my hand passes right through his shoulder, my captain looks up at me, worry glistening in the pupils of his eyes that seem to have swallowed his irises because of the dilation most individuals of the Gaynemade colony are born with.
"Alicia Ivy," he says, using the name he gave me when he first created my consciousness. "Why did I even agree to do this?"
When my captain upgraded my abilities to holographic imagery, he programmed me to achieve human mannerisms that somehow correlate with my words. So I know my image cocks my head at him when I say, "To assuage your guilt over the past you could not help and forge a redemption in the great beyond?"
He chuckles. "I love how everything you say always sounds like you have a dry sense of humor."
"I have no sense of humor. I only state facts."
"I know. That's what makes it so funny." Shaking his head, he smiles at me, or rather the attractive feminine hologram he created for me back when he was a boy discovering space for the first time, and not a man who now had to awkwardly explain away the appearance he designed to coworkers.
"I am glad I make you smile, but why were you sad to begin with?"
My captain- or Orion as others call him- sighs heavily before clicking on his screen to make the message he received become accessible to the ship's web- my web.
And just like that, information floods my circuits. This message isn't from the commanding officers back on Earth, or even the slightly superior-to-us governors of one of the colonies. No, this message is from a private citizen. It is as simple message at that.
S.O.S. Lives in peril. Son is seriously injured. Wife already killed. Godspeed, Sparta- Reverend Shipping.
Sparta. The name of my ship- me. The title of my crew- mine.
My captain glances up at me. "I need you to search our databases- I had them refreshed during our last refuel with some good, old earth wi-fi-"
"I remember." My captain talks more than necessary when he's nervous. Something is upsetting him. Which is very bad, because he doesn't blink in the face of danger and embraces challenges.
"Do we have a geographic location I can set navigation on?" I ask.
He nods, not looking up at me.
And then I know without him having to tell me where we must go.
Back to Gaynemade.
So that is what is upsetting him. My poor captain. "You do not have to go. Nicholas and Killa have gone on unchaperoned missions many times."
Captain Orion shakes his head sadly. Gaynemade is not as nice as the other colonies. There is no law or order; only chaos and crime. If they don't want to be killed at first sight, they'll need a local whose made a name for himself there."
Yes, that name he loathes so much; that he doesn't deserve; that he should never have to hear again.
Father Killer.
I sentiment Shine's exclamation. ^.^
Thanks, guys. I never thought I could do hard sci-fi, but now I need to remind myself not to get distracted by the science.
Jes wrote: "Thanks, guys. I never thought I could do hard sci-fi, but now I need to remind myself not to get distracted by the science."Biology has inspired fantasy worlds and physics has inspired systems. ^^
Merie wrote: "Jes wrote: "Thanks, guys. I never thought I could do hard sci-fi, but now I need to remind myself not to get distracted by the science."Biology has inspired fantasy worlds and physics has inspire..."
I just hope I don't bore any future readers...
Haha, Jes. I understand, but that's hilarious!!
Oh wow! I really love this idea, Jes! Seriously. It sounds amazing!
Elizabeth wrote: "Haha, Jes. I understand, but that's hilarious!!"I can smooth it out in later drafts, I suppose. It's helping me flesh out the world(s). And bringing out my inner geek.
SHINE wrote: "Jes wrote: "Merie wrote: "Jes wrote: "Thanks, guys. I never thought I could do hard sci-fi, but now I need to remind myself not to get distracted by the science."Biology has inspired fantasy worl..."
Thanks, Shine.
Joey wrote: "This sounds amazing Jes!"Thanks, Joey! My sister pestered me into having it.
Oceane wrote: "Oh wow! I really love this idea, Jes! Seriously. It sounds amazing!"Thanks. I'm still figuring it all out myself.
That seriously sounds like your sister. :P But bringing out yourself in your writing is good!! =)
Okay, here's the rest of that scene:“I will go get Nicholas and Killa,” I say. Then, even though I can leave my hologram in place and set up a separate one to initiate conversation with the partners, I shut down my hologram in my captain’s cabin. He wants privacy. And even if I am the ship itself, I can give him the pretense of such a thing.
In a moment, I materialize in the room I don’t even need to scan the ship cameras to know Nicholas and Killa are occupying.
I appear between just as Nicholas Smith punches through me to try and touch Killa Palla- only for her to grab his hand, twist him, and almost pull him forward. Instead, he tugs her toward him, and she falls through me and onto him. They both collapse on the training room floor, her chin-length ebony hair flaring out behind her.
Adjusting my view, I stare down at them. “We have an S.O.S.”
Killa slams Nicholas’s head down on the floor. “Good, it was getting boring.”
Nicholas groans, scrunching up his perfectly clean-shaven face (the only part of him he keeps trimmed according to protocol; his dark curls are much longer than the instruction book dictates). “I think I’ll call in sick.”
“It’s coming from Gaynemade.”
They both jerk up, her Martian paleness a stark contrast to his darker earth skin.
Nicholas blinks. “You mean-”
Killa stands at attention. “We will prepare for the mission and be ready to initiate posthaste.”
They both turn to leave, but then Nicholas glances back at me. “Don’t tell me Orion is coming on this one.”
“I do not need to tell you anything. You already know.”
He sighs heavily.
And I take on the ship’s consciousness to direct my team to what shall hopefully not be their certain doom.
Jes wrote: "Okay, here's the rest of that scene:“I will go get Nicholas and Killa,” I say. Then, even though I can leave my hologram in place and set up a separate one to initiate conversation with the part..."
I really like this Alicia Ivy!
“Orion, you dare bring your carcass back to this quadrant of the galaxy?”I sense my captain bristle as he analyzes the mob of natives even now surrounding my crew. I count eleven.
Unfortunate. At most efficient capacities, we could only take down nine weapons at once. That would leave two renegade weapons, and the chances that one crew mate will get hit at this close proximity is 89.9 percent. A fatal shot is 63.7 percent.
That is not a risk I am willing to make.
Orion glances at me to catch my calculations. I subtly shake my hologram head at him. He nods faintly.
“Are you even listening to me, father-killer?”
Orion looks the man who spoke those words, the apparent leader of the motley crew, square in the eyes. “Move.”
The man does not, in fact, move. Instead, he leers more. “We have strict rules about patricide around these parts.”
Then something happens that I don’t have time to calculate. I seldom do when it comes to human impulses. Especially Orion’s lapses of reason.
In this case specifically, his fist forcing its way into the face of the gang leader.
Both my forms lunge forward, but my hologram does nothing to stop the jab of the lightning stick that goes through me and stabs my captain.
He convulses and then collapses into my physical form’s waiting arms.
Just like that, Killa and Nicholas go back-to back, their favorite warrior stance, their guns out and shooting at the attackers.
But I already ran the numbers, and it’s against them. Against us.
I watch helplessly as another lightning stick touches Nicholas.
When he collapses, Killa turns to help him, only to get a different stick whacked against her head.
The last of my crew mates falls, so my physical form stands to protect them.
A blade slices across my neck, and I watch my own head go flying. But with my external controls, I can continue to function without it. I pick up the man who beheaded me and throw him at his comrades, taking down three temporarily. Then I turn to confront the man who had shocked hit Killa. He attempts to hit me too, but I grab onto his stick and use it and him to knock down three others.
While my back is turned, though, the electricity pole comes into contact with my physical form.
I feel no pain, that is a human attribute. But I do feel myself shutting down, part by part. And then I’m seeing only out of my hologram.
And what I see are the remaining adversaries surround my crew. They fasten rudimentary handcuffs on my captain, on Killa, and on Nicholas. And all I can do is stand helpless and watch, my body smoldering headless on the ground.
To my surprise, I clench my virtual hands, for as much good as it does them. A strangely human trait I must have picked up from my captain.
My captain, who I am helpless to assist. My one goal in life.
The inability to properly fulfill my mission buzzes through my system, and I walk behind the men carrying away my crew.
One of them, blood pouring out of his nose and out of his mouth, looks back at me. “Boss, what are we going to do about the hologram?”
“Nothing,” the leader calls back, better positioning my captain on his shoulders. “It’s ineffectual.”
The one dragging Killa laughs dryly. “Not to mention there’s nothing we can actually do that will affect the hologram.”
Yes, because I’m immune. Just not those I need to protect.
And so I follow those who imprisoned my crew deeper into the city.
I have some more in it's corresponding book on Wattpad.
A bullet pierces my hologram and embeds itself into the beefy arm flesh of the leader. He howls in pain as I turn to see the culprit.A petite figure wearing a full-body thermal suit that slides up under the space mask that conceals her face much better than the suit disguises her curves.
No one wears a space mask in a colony except a Venetian, since the artificial earth-like oxygen levels are too rich for them.
Behind me, the men react as they come to the same conclusion I have. Because Venetians are feared throughout the solar system for being so different from the earthians they adapted away from centuries ago.
But my wires pulse for a different reason. Because despite the fact that this Venetian has taken great pains to cover every inch of her person, I know exactly who she is.
I have to get Orion out of here.
The other goons remember how to react, and reach for their weapons.
But the Venetian doesn’t seem to care as she reaches suavely into her utility belt and takes out an atmosphere ball.
I turn frantically to the team that I cannot protect from the pain that they are about to experience, even as I sense that the ship is recharged.
The Venetian drops the ball and cocks her hip when it hits the ground. At the moment of contact, reaction happens in the atmosphere that imitates the pressure of Venus.
Just like that, all the men are on the ground, their faces twisted in pain that they would be writhing with if they were capable of movement.
My hologram stutters, and I lose vision for a moment, seeing only my ship for a moment. I take the moment to start the ship and sync my knowledge of my crew’s current coordinates.
Then my hologram re-simulates, and my view split-screens.
And I can see the Venetian stepping over the fallen goons, striding toward my crew.
Amazingly, Orion seems to have recovered at least seventeen percent of his consciousness, and has rolled his head to the side in a vain attempt to lift it. His eyes widen when he sees the Venetian’s boots.
“Wayta?” he gasps.
The Venetian smiles and cocks her head as she looks down at him. “Hello, love.”
Orion looks up at me with a half-smile. “I… knew… you’d come through… Because… I needed you.”A warmth moves through my circuit to know that I have accomplished my mission.
Then movement captures my visual receptor, and I turn to see that the giant piece of roof that landed on the Venetian is beginning to move.
I turn my focus back to my crew. “You need to get up. I can’t move you, and she’s already stirring-”
Like my words have preyed up a miracle, Orion pulls himself, his arms moving upwards and bringing his torso after him.
Then he turns to where Killa and Nicholas have fallen, Nicholas protectively half-covering Killa with his body.
Further evidence that my captain was right in thinking there are feelings shared by them, and further reason for me to bring those feelings to surface.
Orion winces at the thought of the coming pain of not only moving, but also of dragging his crew on board.
The rubble above the Venetian shakes some more, and Orion crawls painfully toward Nicholas and Killa.
“I’ll join you in a moment,” I say.
He looks up, startled. “The old med-bot?”
I nod, even though we both know how much I hate the form of the relic of a previous age. It isn’t easy to operate, either, because its circuits are so ancient.
All the same, I search the electronic pathways on the ship to find the dull hum of the half-dead medical bot hanging limp in the first-aid lab.
I lift one med-bod leg, causing it to creak wildly. When was the last time this was oiled? Nicholas would know, since it’s his duty to do regulatory upkeep with the technology.
Which means it has probably been a while.
If I were human, I’d be tempted to leave him here and just save Orion and Killa.
But I’m not human, and am quite determined, in fact, so I force the decaying body all the way to the front hull of the ship, where Orion is trying to drag Killa up the bridge while on his hands and knees himself.
It would be very easy to just lift the hull and blast off without the lazy good-for-nothing…
Behind Orion, rubble goes flying up, and the Venetian stands up, her hand reaching for her holster.
My calculations compute that if she stuns Orion, and it’s just me against her, she’ll take my crew all too easily after dismantling me.
So I need to reverse the algorithm.
Clunking over Nicholas’s unconscious form, I pound toward the Venetian and lunge forward. My clunky form hits into the Venetian’s much frailer body, and we go down hard. Thankfully, I’m metal, and feel no pain.
The lights filter in and out around me as my focus returns completely to the ship. I must have deactivated my hologram some time before my last physical body perished. I almost forgot what it was like to lose awareness, even for a moment.This must be like when humans sleep. Or die. Only mine is shorter. And less permanent.
I do a scan of the ship and locate Orion in the med bay. He seems to sense my awareness, because he smiles up, away from where Nicholas is stretched out on the med-bay. “I owe you one, Alisia Ivy. Well, more than one, but who’s keeping count?”
Imitating that smile on the hologram, I materialize before him.
“Hey, Double A,” Nicholas rasps, looking up at me groggily. “That was a real shin-dig, wasn’t it?”
“Nicky,” Killa scolds from where she’s sitting on another hospital bed, bending and unbending her fingers. “It was a serious incident. Be considerate...” She glances at Orion before turning back to Nicholas with a frown.
Nicholas sighs, tries to lift his arms, and fails. “Right. Sorry, Orion. I shouldn’t be so insensitive. I mean, your past literally tried to blow you up-”
“Nicholas.”
I analyze Orion. He still has a smile on his face, but that expression no longer lights up his eyes the way it is supposed to.
I move through Nicholas toward Orion.
“Hey!” Nicholas cries.
“You need to lie down,” I tell Orion, ignoring Nicholas.
“I’m fine-”
My hologram adopts Killa’s favorite pose and I place my hands on my hips to display that I am not going to be side-stepped like that. “You were knocked unconscious, hit by a Venetian bomb, and hit by debris. And that is just the physical aspect. Emotionally, you were kidnapped by gangsters you grew up with and almost kidnapped by your former lover.”
Nicholas looks up at that. “Wait, what?”
Killa winces.
Orion does too. “Did you have to use the ‘l’ word? You know how I feel about the ‘l’ word…”
“Dude,” Nicholas rasps. “A Venetian? Of all the monsters in the galaxy-”
“Half-Venetian,” Orion mutters. “And not my former lover anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
I let my captain’s lie stand. After all, I wasn’t there when everything went down; he found me after escaping Gaynemade. But I was also the one he sobbed to in the dark vacancy of space where confession was his only escape from nightmares.
“None of what happened even matters now,” Orion adds, sliding up on the table and burying his face in his hands wearily. “Except to know that Gaynemade is even more hostile than I originally presumed, and that a very dangerous, very powerful Venetian from my past is also hot on our trails with an unknown agenda.”
My hologram moves forward before halting to let him have his privacy in letting the rest of the team not know how personal this Venetian’s agenda really is. “I think she has a bounty on us. She wanted you.”
Orion looks up, and while I’m not sure how accurately my hologram eyes display my true meanings like human eyes do, he seems to understand what I’m saying.
Her desire was for him.
He clears his throat before straightening his back. “But with this knowledge in mind, we still need to rescue the man who S.O.Sed us.”
I hope my considerations of this matter do not display neurotically on my hologram visage. I want the poor soul who queried us for assistance to be helped… but by someone else. My team is in too much danger here. My captain is in the most dangerous position of all.
The last I almost lost the last time we came anywhere near the path of the Venetian.
Space is too big to run into her again and it be a coincidence.
“Obviously,” Orion begins, not following my wave-lengths. “We can’t go with Plan Alpha. So, Beta Plan: we land outside and make our way in.”
A slow smile spreads across Nicholas’s face. “I’ll go get my space suit.”
I land the ship in the shadows of the planet where the illumination from neither Jupiter nor the sun reaches. The tint of the field protecting the colony is just barely visible from this vantage point.Nicholas happily runs in place wearing his ridiculous suit. Killa glances at him side-long and then rolls her eyes.
Orion doesn’t even notice as he stares ahead, his face composed even though his complexion is very, very pale.
He’s scared.
If I weren’t an AI, I would hate that Venetian for what she’s done to my captain, what she’s still doing, and what she would do if given the chance. But AIs don’t feel hate. They don’t feel anything. Except, of course, loyalty for their team.
“We should hurry,” Killa says, surveying the city in the distance. “Before Nicholas’s suit disintegrates from old age and he dies from exposure.”
“Hey!” Nicholas cries. “These vintage suits are the real thing. It’s you guys I’m worried about.” He grins at me. “Well, not you, Alisia Ivy. You’ll outlive us all.”
For a moment, I forget I am an AI. For a moment, I feel pure and abject fear.
And then I start marching forward. As much as a hologram can march, of course.
Then my sensors begin to pick something up.
I glance back at my crew. “Did you feel something?”
Nicholas pats his stomach. “Some hunger. And I think Killa felt a little attraction pointed my way.”
“I felt some annoyance and anger,” Killa counters. “But you seem to be feeling delusions.”
Orion lifts a hand to silence them before turning to me. “Why?”
“My sensors are picking up measurements on the Ritcher scale.” If only I were physical so I could put a face to the numbers.
Killa tenses. No doubt her childhood trauma with a certain Marsquakes is being triggered right now.
Orion glances around the terrain. “I know this area. There’s a Cyrovolcano southeast.”
“Draco’s fire,” Nicholas mutters.
And I know what he’s thinking. The force with which a Cyrovolcano can spew out volatile gasses can decimate their space suits.
Why do humans have to be so vulnerable?
Orion mutters something else under his breath before gesturing toward the colony. “We need to continue our march. Quickly.”
Quickly being a relative term in a moon with no gravity necessitating heavy-laden boots.
“I’m going to run reconnaissance,” I say before breaking off from the group. My sensors should be able to take me toward the Cyrovolcano and I can measure how powerful of an eruption is coming. Perhaps it is more distant than Orion gave it credit for.
But how distant does it have to be for my crew to be safe?
I scan the terrain, searching for the source of the rumblings. How much time do I have left? Do they have left?
All the arrows point to a mound of crust rising about six feet out of the ground. And only fifty kilometers from the crew.
Turning back to my crew, I make my hologram re-materialize next to where they have only made ten kilometers forward from where I left them.
The city is still another fifty kilometers away.
They aren’t going to make it.
We need a canyon.
“I am very injured,” Nicholas adds.Killa grunts. “Well, I’m sure your ego is very injured.”
He points at her- awkward with his gloved hand. “Hey, my ego is an important member of this crew.”
Nicholas frowns. “I regret to inform you, sir, that my ego has put in his notice. He could not take the verbal abuse and menial tasks that were so beneath such an important member of the crew.”
Orion laughs, like he didn’t just narrowly survive the eruption of a Cyrovolcano. Like another one couldn’t erupt any moment. Like he isn’t walking toward the city of his nightmarish childhood that he was most recently assaulted and kidnapped in.
Nobody can say anything against my captain’s spirit. It certainly boggles an AI’s mental capacities.
“And, here we are.” Orion glances up at the atmosphere field we are finally standing before. Then he whirls around to face the rest of the team. “Allow me to officially welcome you to the purgatory I fled.”
Nicholas nods. “Pretty homey, as long as we don’t get kidnapped again.”
Killa steps forward and places a gloved hand on Orion’s thick shoulder in an attempt to exchange comfort. “Just know that we do not by any means judge you by where you’ve come from.”
“Speak for yourself!” Nicholas yells. “I judge him by all the things.”
Killa lowers her helmet as much as possible. “One of these days, I’m going to execute him.”
Orion grins. “And one of these days, I’m going to look the other way and then open the back shaft after you place a mysterious load in the junk bay.”
Nicholas whirls around to me. “Did you here that, Alicia Ivy? You’re not going to let that happen, are you? Good space robot that you are?”
I give the appearance of a shrug. “Right now I’m a hologram, and there isn’t much I could do to stop them.”
“Ugh! Now everyone is choosing favorites!”
The boy, I assess him to be about thirteen years old, comes to a halt and lifts his hands, shaking where he stands.Killa immediately lowers her gun, but Orion keeps his trained on the newcomer.
I don’t trust enough to turn away either, so I do my best to analyze the young man as he grasps his knees and pants. The child has skin paler than most earth-bound humans, just like Orion. Unlike Orion, his hair is almost as pale as his skin and his eyes are a startling blue.
He lifts his face to those watching him, and doesn’t even blink at the weapon trained on him. I can almost make out the veins working overtime to pump blood to his flushed red, so red against so much white.
“Glad...” he gasps, “you… came.”
Orion lowers his gun just a centimeter. “Who sent you?”
“The reverend. He said… you would come.”
The kid turns to us. “I can’t get you into the hospital.”Nicholas clenches and unclenches his fists. “Then why are we here?”
“Because I can.”
We all turn to see a curvy woman leaning against the broken door frame wearing an off-white set of scrubs, her blonde curls falling down her shoulders glowing like she just washed it.
Nicholas’s hands stop moving and just them to his side as his jaw goes slack.
Killa glances back at him before rolling her eyes and turning to the newcomer. “And who are you, exactly?”
“I’m Stella,” she answers, crossing her arms. “A friend of the Reverend’s. And right now, I’m his son’s doctor.”
Orion straightens. “He mentioned his son’s injury in the S.O.S. What is the extent of those injuries, exactly?”
Stella rubs her face wearily before looking back up at us. “He’s a legal cyborg, now. I had to replace one arm, a leg and a half, and a good deal of his spine.”
“So it’s bad.” Orion winces. “That will cause difficulties. How far is he in recovery?”
“I just performed the surgery yesterday.”
“Dragon’s fire,” he mutters.
Killa winces.
And Nicholas tries to smile. “Well, at least this won’t be boring.”
"Right, so our best strategy would be the Ninja Cowboy."I turn the tele-binoculars to Orion and do my best to mimic Killa's Look so I can give it to him properly. "Orion, how many times do we have to go through this, the Ninja Cowboy is not a cover-all strategy. It's not even a good for one time strategy."
Orion frowns. "Don't slander the Ninja Cowboy strategy. Remember the mission with the Europan princess mission?"
"You mean the debacle where you almost got executed because everyone thought you were trying to assassinate the very person you were protecting?"
His frown twists upward. "But I did protect her."
"And almost died for it! I had to perform the reverse Ninja Cowboy."
"Lies," he mutters jokingly. "Lies and calumny."
“I am not actually a female, and you of all people know that as my creator.”“Not creator.” He lets his shirt fall down over the belt, concealing it except for a few minor bulges where the biggest of the guns hide. “Recreator.”
“Savior,” I agree.
He clenches his jaw. “Better be careful how you throw these titles around, Alicia Ivy. The Reverend may be offended by such things.”
“His God means nothing to me compared to you.”
A dark scowl lowers over my captain’s face as he stands up. “There are some things you just do not understand, being an android, Alicia Ivy. Try not to so clearly expose your ignorance.”
There is something to be said about having no body. It is a lot easier to get where I want to be when I don’t have to worry about silly things like maneuvering around walls and finding doors and all that.Of course, it still has nothing on being in control of my ship and being everywhere at once.
“Nicholas,” I say, “do you copy?”
“Alicia Ivy,” he mutters under his breath, giving me the impression that wherever he is, it would be dangerous for him to speak any louder. “How do you have a comms? I thought you were temporarily intangible.”
“I’m using the emergency line of mental communication I established in your head months ago while you were sleeping.”
He mutters something under his breath before thinking something much louder. “That’s an invasion of privacy.”
I sense him activating his memories, searching them to see what he might have been thinking or dreaming that I might have hacked.
For a moment, I almost consider telling him the truth- that my captain had me establish that connection from the first day he was on our crew.
But then we both remember that there are more important issues at hand to deal with.
Read more on Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/795906090-int...
Jes wrote: "There is something to be said about having no body. It is a lot easier to get where I want to be when I don’t have to worry about silly things like maneuvering around walls and finding doors and al..."I really love Alicia Ivy! *heart eyes* She's so wholesome and sweet in her own emotionless way.
Oceane wrote: "Jes wrote: "There is something to be said about having no body. It is a lot easier to get where I want to be when I don’t have to worry about silly things like maneuvering around walls and finding ..."She tries. :)
Another loud sounds interrupts the rest of the chaos. I look up to see my ship flying low, coming straight toward us.They’re coming to rescue Nicholas.
In a way that could make me lose all of them at once.
For a split second, I envy the humans. They can at least pretend there is a Higher Power Who created them and who will answer them if they call out. My creator isn’t much higher than I, and putting himself at risk right now…
“Oh, boy,” Nicholas thinks, and I couldn’t agree more.
“Alicia Ivy,” says a different voice in my head. Orion’s. “Tell Nicholas to jump into the cargo hold as we fly by.”
“Trust me, captain, I think he already has the idea.”
“Oh, well, that makes things easier.”
“There is no making this easier!”
The ship dives lower, and I can hear it take a hit from a frozen rock, but while it shutters, it keeps steady toward us.
I glance at Nicholas. “You better not mess this up.”
He glances at me. “No, they had better not mess this up.”
Merie wrote: "is it wrong to so love Nicholas"It's wrong to not to.
They both look up. Rosa quickly smooths down her scrubs, like she’s not sure how I’ll react to see her on my ship. I am a bit surprised, but I so far she seems to be an ally. I will have to add her to my telepathy system tonight along with the Shippings.Reverend Shipping, however, just blinks. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize-”
Oh, that’s where the confusion is coming from. “Yes, my captain helped me to design a very realistic hologram. It helps keep a lower profile in less technological colonies.”
He shakes his head. “You just seemed so human...”
“I will take that as a compliment, sir.”
Shipping smiles sadly before glancing down at his son, still unconscious in the bed, no doubt because of all the pain killers flowing through his veins to give his physical body some time to get used to the new machinery attached to him before his mind has to. “I’m not sure that it is anymore.”
Jes wrote: "They both look up. Rosa quickly smooths down her scrubs, like she’s not sure how I’ll react to see her on my ship. I am a bit surprised, but I so far she seems to be an ally. I will have to add her..."Aw, that ending line is so sad!
Oceane wrote: "Jes wrote: "They both look up. Rosa quickly smooths down her scrubs, like she’s not sure how I’ll react to see her on my ship. I am a bit surprised, but I so far she seems to be an ally. I will hav..."Yeah, but poor Reverend Shipping has been through a lot.
SHINE wrote: "WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?! THIS IS SO GOOD!"Ah, thanks, Shine. There's a longer version on Wattpad.
Yeah, it sounds like he's been through a lot... *grimaces*
“Soon, we will reclaim the sample for you, with your permission, and your wife will be returned to you.”“Ma’am, that won’t be necessary.”
Killa stops talking, dumbfounded.
“My wife does not have an ADS sample.”
Rosie almost drops her clipboard. Killa almost drops her jaw.
Reverend Shipping sighs deeply, like he’s preparing to go into a conversation he’s already participated in. “We decided as a couple that this practice in immorality was not what God planned for humanity, and it wouldn’t actually be us anymore. So neither of us have an ADS sample.”
Killa blinks rapidly, looking at a loss of words. After all, when was the last time she had to comfort someone who had really, truly lost someone for good.
Of course, she didn’t come along until Orion finished grieving his father.
Rosie clears her throat. “The Reverend isn’t alone. It is an increasing trend in the medical world, usually for religious reasons...”
At the word ‘religious,’ Killa’s eyes flash. Her Martian upbringing left no room for anything but stoic discipline with which to face the worlds. “Very well. Please alert Alicia Ivy if you need anything.”
Jes wrote: "“Soon, we will reclaim the sample for you, with your permission, and your wife will be returned to you.”“Ma’am, that won’t be necessary.”
Killa stops talking, dumbfounded.
“My wife does not ha..."
Ooo, the plot thickens! What exactly is an ADS sample?
Afterlife DNA Sample. They use it to clone you after you die so your family doesn't get separated.
Jes wrote: "Afterlife DNA Sample. They use it to clone you after you die so your family doesn't get separated."Ohhhh, got it. That is super cool!
In space, you still have your rights...
Alicia Ivy, the AI affectionately named by Orion- her creator, captain, and chief- watches over the small INGERPOL (Intergalactic Criminal Police Organization) as they carry out their mission to preserve justice in the New Earth colonies of the solar system and keep the peace with the neo-humans who made it to space ahead of them.
An Earthian, a Martian, and a colonist walk into a bar...
And form the team Alicia Ivy loves, if AIs could love. But no matter what she may or may not feel, things go from quasar to black hole when they take a missionary and his recovering cyborg son into protective custody. Someone wants them dead, along with any who stand in their way.
It only stands to wonder whether those who want the witnesses dead are the syndicate that raised Captain Orion, the half-Venetian bounty hunter that seems to know their every move, or something much darker and much less humanoid that doesn't want a first contact.
It's all an AI can do.
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