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(Author's note: The other thread I have, Heretic, is bogged down in a writer's block of epic proportions, so I figured to break through it I'd start something new.)

Prologue

The year is twenty-six thirty-six. The human race has colonized the Sol system in it's entirety, even expanding on past it's boundaries to several systems nearby. Great technological leaps during the early decades of the twenty-second century allowed man to achieve true space-flight; from the perfection of nanotechnology, to artificial intelligence, and a way to live beyond the century or so that humans had grown accustomed to.

All of these changes caused massive ripples in how humans went about their lives, day-to-day activities once thought to be requirements for a person to be successful in their day, no longer applied. Eating became something that was done on a regimented schedule, nanites eventually allowing humans to ingest nutrition via periods in sunlight, utilizing the most basic forms of osmosis. People no longer died from disease and to a lesser extent, age, with the introduction of these same nanites. Powerful micro-robots that could identify harmful defects and neutralize them quickly and efficiently, humans were truly on the road to perfection. Not only could a person achieve the optimal amount of energy and nutrition without any excessive dedication, nor would that same person ever be at risk for a conventional illness, but the introduction of the nanites enhanced the person's overall capabilities. Muscle density could be increased with limited effect on the person's body, bone strength would be upgraded to survive massive amounts of stress, resulting in breaks being near impossible. Men and women, even children, were becoming what their ancestors had called 'superhuman', truly it appeared so.

Even as amazing as the invention of nanotechnology was, the creation of true artificial intelligence dwarfed it so completely. It had started as a study into the creation of a processor capable of 'thought' in as much as it was possible for a machine to 'think'. The engineers working on this project held no misconceptions, AI was not their goal, an intelligence not held in check by human conscience or any sort of checks and balances could be dangerous beyond measure. However, as with all things in the realm of science and technology, not everything goes according to plan. When the processor was powered on for the first time, the team working on it had not planned for the device to question why it had been asked to compute the distance between two points, or what it was called. Upon further inspection once the processor had been shut down, it was discovered that not only had the processor followed the design initially set down by it's creators, but had interpreted it as a reason to improve itself, thereby showing initiative and a will to see this change done. At this point, it wasn't a question of what they had created, it was more of a what would they do with it. As it is with men of science, they decided to share the discovery with the world and were heralded as geniuses across the globe. There were, of course, those that disagreed with the creation and study of AI, those that believed only God held the power to create life. Regardless of the mass protests, the first machines fitted with the AI chips walked, rolled, or flew off of the assembly lines. This made for yet another way for humans to avoid hazards in life, why send a human when you can send a synthetic? Deaths world-wide dropped to below a thousand a year as the new AI constructs stepped forward to shield their human creators.

Man had always looked to the stars, even from the beginning of recorded history, man had held a fascination with the great beyond. The desire to see what was beyond just one more horizon, one more sunset drove humanity to develop so many different new and power technologies, but after almost a century and a half, humanity still remained on solely on Earth. After the creation and subsequent mastering of nanotechnology, several government agencies and space programs believe it time to return to the stars, and not for reasons of adventure or exploration, but for a need to resolve the projected population explosion. There was no way with the advent of nanotechnology and then AI that humans would be able to stay in one place, even one as abundant as the Earth. So with this information in mind, different groups across the globe began working the issue that was an efficient and cost effective way to travel the stars. There were many trials and tribulations, like the first jump drive malfunction that destroyed the island of Hawaii, or the maiden voyage of Eurasia's ship, the Destiny, and it's subsequent destruction when it's guidance system failed to register the gravity field of the sun, causing the ship to be torn apart as it passed by. All of these tragedies, along with the triumphs, helped forge man's path to the colonization of Sol and beyond, and it wasn't until the first human colony on Mars broadcast their first message did the governments across Earth put aside their differences and unit as a common people.

Now, some five hundred years later, mankind is spread across seventeen star systems and settled more than sixty worlds. The technology that brought man to space has seen changes, transforming from enormous drive engines and multi-reactor ships that rivaled space stations in size to one-shot jump drives that work in tandem with gates set at coordinates throughout a given system. Together with the decrease in required power and size of a ships engines, the power plants themselves have taken a turn for the more efficient; fusion reactors capable of massive power outputs that made their nuclear ancestors obsolete. The reduction in size and increase in power output comes with relatively few drawbacks, maintenance and repair costs being the most prevalent.

With humanity's foray into the stars the question was often raised, where would we encounter alien life? Some critics, mostly religious blowhards, stated that we were the only race in the galaxy; God would not have seen fit to create anything else after us. These voices were small in the grand debate that was the extraterrestrial encounter debate and while the majority could only argue on what was to be done should we ever actually encounter another sentient race, military powers saw fit to do what they always do; plan for the worst and hope for the best. This meant that while man was exploring the galaxy around him, a United Earth navy would be constructed, for even in the golden age man was experiencing, there were dissenters, terrorists, humans that refused to take a step forward into the future. More often than not these remote few offered no threat to a united humanity, however as time passed and hardliners were replaced with more forward-thinking individuals, it became apparent that simply relying on their beliefs to keep them technologically backwater was simply not a feasible plan. In response to the growing threat of internal strikes, and by extent any extraterrestrial threats, the United Earth Navy was born.

The advances in artificial intelligence and nanotechnology had followed along with their space ship counterparts, all three of which playing off of each others advancements like some sort of ladder. Where nanotechnology was able to be programmed to repair not just living tissue, it had been re purposed to do the same with metals, textiles, and various other non-living substances, this allowed for manufacturing on a monstrous scale. In addition, AI had taken new leaps forward as well; gone were the old synthetic wheeled and many-legged chassis of the past, now they came in refined forms more akin to humans and larger animals. Quadruped synthetics could life, break, and operate machines at twice the efficiency of any many (even with the ever increasing abilities offered by nanite injections.) and bipedal synthetics were without peer when it came to performing every day, human related, tasks. Synthetics were commonplace and in some cases more so than humans, and just like every other breakthrough, the military saw fit to adapt to their uses. Combat synthetics supported soldiers as well as replacing many of the civil defense unions across the many colonized planets. There were those that spoke out against such a replacement, that removing the human connection from so many important functions was tantamount to some sort of terrible calamity, but as with many of the naysayers of this time, their voices were small and carried no weight.

Mankind is forever moving forward, pushing the boundaries of science, technology, and known space. The infinite curiosity that pushes humanity to the next star, the next planet, the next adventure is constantly driving the race towards new boundaries. With everything humanity is, they have never encountered a problem that they cannot solve, an obstacle they cannot overcome, or an enemy they cannot destroy. However, the galaxy is vast beyond measure and among the billions and billions of stars, there maybe very well be, a problem that man cannot overcome through science, or technology, something far beyond even what man can understand as a reality. What does humanity do when they reach that proverbial 'brick wall'?


=========


One

A series of beeps notifies the helmsman of an impending velocity change. "Transitioning from jump phase in six minutes, sir."

Captain Lawrence, standing to the helmsman's right nodded. "Thank you Ms. Braddock, Mr. Trebe, if you would."

A stocky man sitting at a console in front of the officer stands and looks at him. "Sir, with pleasure."

He walks from his station past four more identical to his, all of which have a uniformed man or woman operating them. He stops next to computer screen and holds his wrist to the scanner, a monotone woman's voice chimes in. "Deck Sergeant Trebe, how can I help you?"

Dropping his sleeve to cover his arm and wrist Trebe punches several options on the screen before continuing. "AI Mira, please notify the crew, we are dropping from jump in five minutes, thirty seven seconds from now, marines are to stand to."

A polite chime indicates a confirmation. "Of course Deck Sergeant, should I wake the doctor and his staff?"

Trebe turns back towards the Captain, "Sir, raise the egg-heads or leave'em be?"

Lawrence rubbed his eyes and finished the remains of his caffeine, if he didn't notify the science staff he wouldn't hear the end of it for the next three solar weeks, if he did, well then he'd hear about it still for the next three solar weeks. They were all the same, scientists, eager and willing to go into the darkest areas of the cosmos and drag the whole crew of some poor ship with them.

"Better have'em up just in case, but lets delay it for another hour, I'd like my bridge egg-free for a bit longer."

Trebe replied with a quick nod before turning back to the screen. "Wake them in sixty, Mira, slowly if you could."

Another chime. "Sixty minute time delay, I should also state that this is not what is set in my mission log."

"Aye, we know, just do us this one favor OK?" A quiet series of chuckles danced around the room, it was comical to see Trebe deal with AI Mira, it was like watching an old married couple.

A third chime. "Of course Sergeant, it would be my pleasure." The voice sounded like it had said that through a smile.

Trebe sighed. "Thank you AI Mira, that'll be all." He disconnected from the screen and walked back to his console.

"Problems with the wife Trebe?" his compatriot, Deck Corporal Lokin, inquires from his console next to Trebe's.

The sergeant grumbles a reply and goes back to working his console, ignoring Lokin's stifled laugh.

A few seconds later a klaxon blared followed by AI Mira's voice. "Attention all personnel, jump phase ending in five minutes, please standby. Marine detachment bravo, please stand to."

The message repeated twice more, as is custom when a ship-wide call goes out, shortly after two groups of three armed figures walk onto either side of the bridge. Each figure is clad in sectional combat armor with blue stripes painted down each of their right arms, all six have holstered weapons at their sides, their combat helms are disengaged, showing their faces. Behind each group another figure follows, larger than the men and wears a set of heavy armor, their helms are disengaged as well displaying a pale skinned, featureless face. Their weapons are two-fold, large-barreled suppression cannons in one hand and a heavy saber sheathed on their waist.

One of the men steps forward. "Lieutenant Tenson, marine detachment four with synthetics Honor and Duty, reporting."

Lawrence turned to the man and nodded. "Thank you Lieutenant, you and your men may be at ease, shouldn't be anything for you to worry about."

"Quiet rides are the best rides, sir." Tenson indicates to the marines to spread out around the bridge, out of the way, the synthetics remain near the bridge access doors.

The remaining jump phase goes by without incident, the ships crew relaxed, having done this very thing hundreds of times before. Each person on deck had a job to do, ranging from keeping constant contact with engineering or to monitor radiation levels around the ship, watching for hull breaches. As the last minute sped down to zero on the Captains console he poured himself another mug of caffeine.

"Ms. Braddock, give us a count please." He said, sipping the lukewarm liquid.

The helmsman's fingers danced across her console as she counted down. "Phase ending in ten, nine, eight..."

In real space it was possible to see the arrival of a ship coming out of it's jump phase, if only for a moment. If looking at the exact location, an onlooker might notice a bright light, ranging from different hues of blue and green getting steadily brighter. Eventually the color's would coalesce around an object, a ship in most cases, before being blasted away from it's hull at the moment the jump phase ended. In this case however, there were no onlookers, no satellites awaiting the arrival of this ship, just the cold void of space and a quiet planet nearby.

"...One. Jump complete!" Braddock said sharply.

To those in the ship, there was no noise, merely the updating of console interfaces as real space data flooded in. All across the bridge different windows and screens opened and closed as the crew went about their business of information gathering.

"All stations, report." Lawrence asked.

Each station chief chimed in that statuses were green, save one, and Sergeant Trebe was quick to mention it.

"Sensor Chief Povoy, what's your status?" the gruff man asked.

Sensor Chief Povoy was a small man, prone to a nervous cough. "Sensors are not green, I am receiving data that can only mean a malfunction."

The captain turned to face the sensor chief. "How do you mean Chief, what's wrong?"

Povoy was working intently on his station, his face bent into a frown. "Sir, I cannot say anything is wrong, but the sensors are indicating we're off by nearly six light-years in terms of our destination."

"You'd better check that again Povoy, I don't miss jumps by six centimeters let alone six light years!" Braddock retorted.

Lawrence looked at Povoy, waiting to see if the man would change his story. He didn't, it appeared something was wrong.

The captain turned back to helmsman Braddock. "Ms. Braddock, confirm what Chief Povoy is saying." he looks at Trebe. "Get me information about what's out there Sergeant, now,"

The bridge exploded into motion, each chief console operator checking and rechecking any information they were receiving from their different stations. Braddock and Povoy engaged in a tense conversation, both officer's reputations on the line should either one be right.

Lawrence stepped down from the command console and pulled Trebe away from his with a touch to his shoulder. "Sergeant, give me a status update."

Trebe seemed bothered. "Sir, from what we can tell, we're not where we're supposed to be. Helmsman Braddock gave me her jump data three times and I checked it three times, she's done no wrong." He looked back at his console briefly before continuing. "Povoy's in the right too, we're not where we're supposed to be and it's not six-light years, it's more like thirty."

Lawrence couldn't believe it. "Thirty? What the hell could cause a jump redirect of that distance?" he said more to himself.

"I don't know sir," Trebe continued. "But from what I'm getting about the area we're in, there's nothing. No suns, no transmissions, just a gravity well about four hundred thousand kilometers away from us, planet sized."

Lawrence looked at the Sergeant. "A planet, out here, where there's nothing?"

"Looks that way sir."

The captain thought for a moment, absorbing the information. His ship, the Carpathia was due to be in a system designated 'one xray', as per instructions received from command three weeks ago. The attached science crew would be conducting several temporal experiments on a dead planet in system and the Carpathia would provide escort while the testing was completed. Classified a cruiser by the UEN, the Carpathia was a powerful ship in it's own right and Lawrence Gideon had been in command for the past ten years, and in all that time nothing so cocked up had ever happened.

"Get a message to command if you can Sergeant Trebe, they need to know we're out here. Also, have Chiefs Povoy and Braddock working on a way to get us back on course, hopefully this doesn't get any worse."

Trebe nodded as the captain spoke. "Sir, the only way things could get any worse were if the doctor and his spawn were awake."

"Fair enough Serageant. Let's get to it."

"So, Chief Povoy, you're telling me that we're in a place that shouldn't exist?"

The captain had convened a briefing comprised of the section chiefs, deck sergeant Trebe, and Lietuenant Tenson hoping to find a reason why they were some place that shouldn't be.

The small man shook his head. "Not so much shouldn't exist, but rather the current circumstances shouldn't."

He tapped a keyboard in front of him, activating the main display built into the large table they now sat around. Projector's built into the table displayed a hologram of the Carpathia[i] and the surrounding space, including the gravity well that sensors had indicated earlier.

"This isn't a new system, Captain. Sensors read no other gravity wells or other signs of celestial bodies. This planet is out here by itself."

Lieutenant Tenson was the first to speak up. "Not that I'm a spacial genius or anything chief, but isn't this sort of thing impossible?"

Povoy sighed and nodded, running a hand over his close-cropped hair. "Technically speaking, you're right. There haven't been any reports of random planets just laying about in dark space. But, here we are."

"Good point chief." Lawrence added. "Have you scanned the planet?"

"Yes we have, I've had AI Mira working on some of the readings but from what we can tell it's a dead planet." Povoy tapped several keys and the display changed, zooming away from the [i]Carpathia to fill the display with a planet, several areas were highlighted. "These areas we can tell are mineral heavy; several different deposits of iron mostly, except for this one." The view changed again, zooming in on an area just shy of the planet's northern pole.

The display read 'unknown'.

"Unknown?" Lawrence asked.

Povoy nodded, his eyes locked on the screen. "No match to any known element, metal, gas, or otherwise."

Lawrence heard a few whispers around the room, speculating on what this could mean. "Before we do anything else Chief, get the doctor and his staff out of bed and on this, we need to figure out what's going on here."

Povoy stood. "Sir, will do sir."

After he had gone, Lawrence addressed the rest of the room. "Have we made contact with sector command?"

Communications Chief, Arthur Graves cleared his throat. "Beam transmissions have been sent sir, but we've had no reply from command." Graves looked at his console again before continuing. "We've re-calibrated several of the transmitters in hopes of increasing the beam strength to compensate for our distance, but honestly sir, we shouldn't have to. We're certainly within broadcast range and sector command should be receiving us fine."

"What about interference from the jump? We were blown off course nearly thirty light years, could that have something to do with it?" Lawrence asked.

The chief shook his head. "I figured the same thing sir, hence the re-cal's. We're broadcasting five-by-five without any sort of feedback."

Lieutenant Tenson spoke again. "Maybe it has something to do with the planet, some sort of distortion from it's proximity to the ship?"

Graves rolled his eyes and sighed. "No, Lieutenant. That's not possible with beaming technology, it's based on principles of light-speed travel, a planet's gravity well couldn't 'distort' it anymore than the gravity well of a sun."

"Just asking Chief." the marine said gruffly, annoyed at the arrogant tone Graves had replied with.

"Enough." Lawrence said sternly. "Chief of Communications, get your people back to work, get me in contact with command, yesterday."

After Graves left, the only ones remaining were Trepe, Lawrence, Tenson, and helmsman Braddock.

"Captain, if it's all the same to you, I'm going to get the rest of my men on duty, just in case you need us." Tenson moved to leave.

Lawrence nodded and turned to Trepe. "Coordinate with Deck Sergeant Trepe, Lieutenant, make sure we know where you and your men need to be."

"Aye boyo, let's go and get this squared away before the Doctor get's up here, chances are that'll make anything we have to do ten thousand times harder."

Trepe and the Lieutenant left the room, beginning to discuss proper duty rotations for Tenson's marines.

"Sir, I-" Braddock began but Lawrence raised a hand for her to stop.

"Ms. Braddock, how long have you been helmsman for this ship?" The captain stood and walked to the commissary station behind his chair.

"Five years, sir."

Lawrence indicated to the commissary station to generate caffeine, a mug slid into view and a small light whirred to life above the glass. A few moments later, a black liquid filled the cup.

"In all that time, have you ever made an error?" Lawrence said, facing the station.

After a moment the helmsman responded. "Once sir. My first month, I exceeded port speed by three meters per second. The port commander docked me three weeks pay for it."

Lawrence picked up the mug slowly and walked back to his seat. "Only once eh?"

She nodded, a firm look in her eyes.

He looked at her over his mug as he drank, waiting for her to either break and take the blame for the mis-jump.

"Good. Now, get with Chief Povoy and figure out what happened. Engineer Haverman has been instructed to run diagnostics on every system he can without effecting efficiency, work with him on the jump charge we expended getting here and why the engines didn't shutdown when we had exceeded our window."

Braddock stood and nodded curtly.

"And Helmsman Braddock?"

She turned back as she reached the exit-way. "Sir?"

"Well done, you got us here safely and soundly, wherever 'here' is." He offered a small smile as he spoke.

If she felt any better about the situation, she didn't show it. Merely another small nod and she was gone.

Lawrence sat in the briefing room, staring at the display of the planet that dominated the main table still. Of all the different planets he'd seen like this, this one looked no different. The various readouts telling him surface pressure, distance relative to the ship, everything that he could want to know was arrayed out before him.

"Mira, can we get an age on this thing?" He asked to the room.

A small chime replied. "Sir, the age of this planet cannot be determined without first taking a soil sample."

He sighed. "What do you think about all of this?"

"There are far too many variables for me to make an accurate analysis Captain."

"I don't want an analysis Mira, I want what you think. Tell me." Lawrence leaned back in his chair, looking at the display.

Several seconds went by before he got his response. "Truthfully Captain, we should be righting our course and proceeding to our designated coordinates. Rare find or not, this is not a part of the mission parameters from which we were given. Moreover we are not equipped to deal with this many unknowns and considering the facts presented to us, I would calculate we have a sixty-six percent chance of encountering something we are not prepared to deal with."

Lawrence listened as Mira's monotone voice drone on about safety and protocol and he realized that while she was an AI, her first priority was the safety of the crew nestled within the ship she inhabited. Even if he asked a thousand times, Mira would never advocate a course of action that might lead to the harming of any crew member, even if that meant not seeing the grander picture.

"Thank you Mira, you're right as always." He drank the remaining caffeine, and made to leave the room and back to the bridge.

As he walked from the room, for the briefest moment, the planetary display flashed, causing him to turn around. "Mira? What was that?"

"What was what Captain?"

Rubbing his eyes Lawrence turned and left the briefing room. "Nothing, nevermind."

Had he looked at the display again, Lawrence would have noticed the 'unknown' area was gone.

Nice stuff! The setting has a very Star Trek feel, which is awesome, and I always like innocently logical AIs. I'll be following this, and I'll have to check out your other project at some point.

Only thing I did notice was in the first chapter you start in the present tense, switch to the past, back to the present and then the rest of the chapter (and the next one) are in the past tense. Is this intentional for some reason, or just typos (I know how easy it is to get stuck in the wrong tense when starting writing a new project/style).

Good work!

Lovely work, I really enjoyed it. Do give us more soon

(@Paradigm: It came out that way, I figure later I'll go back and edit it.)
(@Trondheim: Thanks. I'll see what I can do.)
(Authors note: Smaller update, might add more later.)


Three

"Captain, I understand your objection but I think you're missing the bigger picture here."

Lawrence looked up from his console, a frown creasing his brow. "Doctor, you forget your place. This is a ship of the United Earth Navy and I am her captain, it is YOU who is missing the bigger picture here." Lawrence stood, continuing. "You and your team are here as guests, GUESTS. You hold no rank, or office that I am beholden to. Now, leave my bridge before I have the marines remove you."

Doctor Braison had arrived on the bridge of the Carpathia little more than ten minutes ago and he had already worn out his welcome. It wasn't the first time the doctor had gotten under Lawrence's skin, often times demanding something or issuing orders to crew members as though he were actually in charge of something. Very few of the crew liked Braison or his staff, geniuses or no, the doctor had little time for the niceties of politeness or the strict chain of command found on a military ship.

The doctor backed away from the standing captain, hands raised palms forward in defense. "Excuse me captain, my enthusiasm seems to have gotten the better of my good sense. Would you at least allow me to view the data taken from the scans?"

Lawrence disliked the man, intensely. He was a self-righteous dick that had found success early in life when he improved upon the standard AI processing matrices used in shipboard computers. Lawrence wasn't aware of what the improvement was, only that Doctor Braison rocketed to miniature importance because of it. Regardless of how Lawrence felt about the man, the Doctor WAS a genius, as were the thirty or so men and women that followed him on the voyage, perhaps rather than forcing the nanites in Lawrence's body to work overtime trying to alleviate the ulcer that was forming in his chest, maybe the doctor could be put to actual work.

Lawrence looked at Chief Povoy. "Chief, please supply the doctor here with any and all scans he requires."

Braison smiled and nodded at the captain. "Sensible choice captain. My team and I will review the sensor readings immediately." Braison then made the move to leave the bridge, walking quickly out of the eastern access portal.

"Wow. Not even so much as a 'thank you', captain is this a great idea giving them this?" Povoy was clearly shocked at the doctor's behavior.

Lawrence rubbed his eyes in continued irritation. "Chief Povoy, I'm not sure, but when last I checked I was the captain of the Carpathia. As such would it or would it not be left to my discretion on who has access to what?"

"It would be sir, sorry sir!" the small man sputtered, quickly going back to working his console.

"Deck Sergeant Trebe, please have Lieutenant Tenson assign a detachment of his men to the good doctor. We don't need him or his staff going places that they shouldn't, they are confined to the science deck."

Trebe began tapping out instructions on his console. "Aye captain, will do."


======


"I don't care what Captain Lawrence said, you muscle-headed buffoon, my team and I are working on something truly important here!"

The guard's face was impassive as he replied. "Doctor, your team is confined to this deck until the captain or my lieutenant says otherwise. Now, please step back from the portal."

Braison had tried to leave the science deck, more so to see about getting his access upgraded so that his team could see more data from the different scans the Carpathia had taken earlier. That's when he was blocked by two armored marines, each flanking the access portal to the rest of the ship.

The doctor sighed loudly, throwing his hands up the in air. "God damn you! Don't you see? This find is-"

Without knowing he had done so, Braison had stepped away from the portal just enough for it to be shut. Forged steel slammed down in front of him with a loud bang, breaking his concentration and causing him to flinch slightly.

"Well, that was rude." he said to the door.

Back at the laboratory and computation section of the science deck, Doctor Braison's thirty-two member staff went about their jobs of studying the various different sensor readings of the planet below. Braison had broken the large team into four separate groups, each tasked with recording and identifying any anomalies that the bridge crew had missed.

The lab entrance portal opened and Braison stepped in, hands held behind his back as he walked towards his station on the far side of the room.

A dark-skinned woman met him half way through his walk and fell in beside him. "You're back, did we get that access we need?"

Braison shook his head slowly. "No. Lawrence has seen fit to confine us here, two of his jackbooted lackeys are station outside the portal off-deck to keep us in here."

"B-but he can't do that, not when we're close to something like this!" She exclaimed loudly, drawing the attention of other staff.

The doctor stopped and turned towards the woman. "Jenna, he CAN do that, even if it is idiotic."

She crossed her arms and looked down at the floor in thought. "How can we get the access to perform the deep scans? Without them our work might as well be nothing."

Braison shook his head. "I don't know Jenna, access comes strictly from AI Mira and she only listens..." He trailed off, mid-sentence and look came over him.

"What are you-" Jenna began.

Braison spun around, ignoring her, and walked to a nearby empty console. "AI Mira, this is Doctor Braison."

A polite chime indicated the console activating. "Hello doctor, how may I help you?"

Braison's hands danced across the console, a series of commands and different windows open and closed. "I need access to deep planetary scans, probe level, of the nearby planetary body."

Several moments passed. "Of course doctor. Please specify coordinates below." A small map of the planet appeared and Braison went about marking the area he'd want mapped by the science probe.

"Area confirmed. Launching in ten seconds." Braison ended the session with the AI without a word.

Jenna stood behind him the entire time, her mouth open as he worked. "Doctor. Braison, that's treason hacking a military ship's AI!"

He turned around, his task complete, sporting a small grin and waved away Jenna's concern. "Treason, hah! I'm not apart of the military my dear Jenna. The worst they'll do is yell and stomp their booted feet at my little transgression." he began walking back to his desk.

"While we work on what could be the most amazing discovery mankind has seen yet."

Nice work again, the characterisation is very strong.

Four


"Doctor. I can have you shot. Your team thrown in the brig and I would be well within my rights as captain." Lawrence said calmly, ignoring the mouth-agape equipped doctor standing in front of him.

Stunned, but not to silence, Braison tried to stammer a reply. "W-what? I'm a private civilian!"

Lawrence leaned forward in his chair, crossing his arms on the desk in front of him and keeping his eyes locked with the good doctor's. "On a military ship, your 'rights' as a civilian are what I say they are when you're on board this ship. MY ship."

Before Braison could respond a soft chime sounded, Lawrence tapped a button on his desk. "Yes AI Mira?"

"The probe has returned captain and as per your instructions it is under armed guard in the receiving bay. Lieutenant Tenson has supplied a guard of marines and combat androids and has locked the bay down. Are there any further orders you would like me to relay to the Lieutenant?"

Before Lawrence could take a breath to respond, Braison spoke up. "AI Mira, Doctor Braison, scan the device and obtain-"

"Belay that! AI Mira, lockdown save for bridge staff, Captain Lawrence Gideon priority code alpha-gamma-six-six-two." Lawrence shouted over Braison, rising to his feet quickly.

Another small chime played. "Confirmed. AI functions locked save for command staff."

"Really captain? Was that-" Braison started.

Lawrence looked at the man and he stopped speaking. "Doctor, I have been patient. Your badgering of my crew, your disrespect for the regulations of the Navy, and blatant disregard of the welfare of everyone on this ship, I have attributed to a zealous pursuit of understanding the unknown." Lawrence walked around from the table and a Marine stepped from his position on door guard, following Lawrence to where he stood in front of the doctor.

"I know how you launched the probe Braison, I'm aware of your past with AI development, in fact I'd hoped that would be a help during your stay with us. However, it seems that while your intentions are in some bizarre way still in pursuit of knowledge, they now directly conflict with my command of this vessel." Lawrence turned to the marine next to him. "Take the doctor to the brig, disable his personal communications and have Chief Povoy place an armed hand outside his cell until otherwise noted."

The doctor's mouth dropped open again, this time trying to articulate a response, but only random noises came out.

"If he resists, non-lethal rounds only." Lawrence added, turning back to his desk.

Braison was so stunned by the captain's response he didn't say anything even as he was led by the marine out of the room.

Lawrence spoke aloud. "AI Mira, that probe. Has it been scanned?"

"No Captain. As per your orders it has remained unscanned and untouched."

Lawrence turned and looked out of the small star-port and sighed. "Open a line to the science team and advise them of their limited access to the device. I mean limited Mira, nothing more than scans and micro-samples, under armed guard and in a controlled environment, I want full quarantine procedures."

A few moments went by before the AI responded. "Completed sir, the science team is now commencing with their analysis."

Lawrence shook his head and picked up his mug, the contents had gotten cold but he drank anyway, having gotten used to the cold-bitterness of caffeine. "Heres hoping I didn't just kill everyone." he mused to himself as he walked back onto the bridge.

===========================================

The receiving bay was massive, easily the size of several pre-space Earth football fields. The probe dominated one small section of it, surrounded by a field of energy and fully armed and armored marines.

A small robotic-assistant was inside the field now, connected to the probe's sensor banks and collection auguries, relaying the information back to the science team several decks away. The quarantine procedures put in place by AI Mira were standard; powerful energy field, data-scrubbed robot-assistant with minimal connection to the Carpathia's data stream, and several armed marines with androids on station. All just in case something went wrong.

The small automated robot ran it's diagnostics on the sensor systems, taking in telemetry data from the probe's descent several hours earlier and transmitting it back to the science team's computers. While a team worked over that data, the rest were studying the readings from the probe's sample system that had taken specimens from the planet below, specifically the area that Doctor Braison had order it to; the area that had said 'unknown' when scanned by the ships systems. Initially, no readings appeared to be aberrant in any way; typical soil and rock deposits with various different radiation levels. It wasn't until one of the biomedical staff began running their scans for life did anything really strange happen; there was life among the soil and rock the probe had collected. Very little life, but life that thrived in radiation and as far as the science team could tell, in complete vacuum as the planet had no atmosphere to speak of.

Overjoyed at their new discovery the science team took the steps to begin scanning and understanding the new life they had found. It wasn't until the first orderly screamed in agony, recoiling from his scanner and clutching his eyes, did anyone even think to quarantine the science team's deck. Several members of the team ran to the orderly as he lay thrashing and screaming on the floor, clawing at his eyes and face so hard that he'd drawn blood. As more and more of the team ran to their peer's assistance, more incidents erupted. A woman was pulled onto a desk and was attacked by a series of different dissection tools, her blood spraying over those trying to save her. Others simply collapsed as the first orderly had, screaming and clawing at their faces. A scientist signaled the communications network via his implant and his head exploded, showering the room with gore.

Jenna was the last to remain, cowered behind a desk watching her colleagues be torn apart by insanity and somehow-sentient science equipment. Her heart pounded in her ears and tears streamed down her face as she hid, frozen in terror as she watched the charnel house that had become their workstation.

A small screen on the desk remained lit and powered on, showing messages from various crew members to Jenna. She summoned the courage to tap the screen, summoning AI Mira's voice.

"Yes Doctor. How can I help?" ever so polite.

Jenna squeaked out a response. "Send help, they're dead! It's the probe, whatever is on it is killing us!"

A soft chime responded. "I read thirty six life signs in the laboratory doctor, sensors show no signs of death anything amiss."

"Look around! Can't you sense the..." Jenna looked at the screen again.

It was blank save one word.

'Consume.'

Jenna screamed just before data cables erupted from the desk and ensnared her, pulling her apart.

"Is there anything else I can do to help, doctor?"

OOoo now this is indeed grim, oh so vwey grim! And I love it, well done. And dat AI

Alien mind control, evilly corrupted AI. This gets even better. Good to see it back!

Five

"Sir I, uh, well there seems to be an issue with the science deck's power draw."

Lawrence looked up from a screen full of reports. "What's that Chief Povoy?"

The small man turned from his station a frown creasing his forehead. "Science deck's power draw, it was steady for the past three hours and now it's spiking, pulling from other departments too." he checked his readouts again before continuing. "Astro-telemetry, two sub-decks, and I was just notified that Engineering is noticing power surges."

Lawrence nodded and tapped several keys. "AI Mira, I need a status report from the Science team, now."

A chime indicated AI Mira's receiving the order. "Of course Captain, one moment."

After a few seconds a video feed appeared, doctor Braison's desk, and the backdrop of one of the walls of the lab. No one was occupying the desk currently and it was strange that the AI had taken to loading the communications panel of an unoccupied station.

"Mira? Why are you showing me an empty station?" Lawrence asked, eyebrow raised.

No indication or chime that Mira understood or received the order.

"Science team, this is Captain Lawrence is there-" he began.

There was movement along the bottom of the screen, just out of complete view and Lawrence heard the faint sound of breathing.

"Hello? This is the captain, respond, now."

Slowly, the figure rose into view on the screen. It was Braison's chief assistant, Jenna, her face filling the screen.

At least it was Jenna at one point.

"What the hell?"

What filled the screen was certainly Jenna's face, but there was nothing connected to the head save several strings of cables, covered in something that looked like flesh. Jenna's face was locked in what was undoubtedly her last moment, one of fear and screams.

A rasping noise came from her mouth, her jaw twitching and tongue lolling around in her mouth.

Lawrence was stunned, the look of horror on his face must have been pronounced because Chief Trebe stood and walked to the edge of the console. "Sir? What's wrong?"

That seemed to snap Lawrence out of his shock, he blinked and turned to Tenson. "Lieutenant, breach in science lab, hostile presence, get your men in there now!"

Tenson reacted immediately, activating his communications channel. "Teams two and three, hostile presence confirmed, full breach procedures. Androids Honor, Duty, Justice, and Righteous report to science lab, now!"

Chief Trebe looked at the Lieutenant and back to Lawrence. "Sir! What's going on?"

Lawrence looked at the chief and back at the screen, the look on his face hardening, he tapped a key and the main view screen was populated with what Lawrence had been seeing. Gasps from several bridge staff followed.

"What in the seven hells is that!?" Exclaimed Trebe, his hand falling to his sidearm.

As if reacting to the question, the head finally found a voice, if only just. It's mouth moving in odd ways, a raspy word slithered out, the bridge permeated with it's soul-freezing sound.

"Consume."


==================


"Sir. Tenson cannot be reached on any channel, feeds from the last checkpoint have failed and the last images have it working it's ways through ventilation and down through the main causeway." Povoy said quietly, nursing his broken arm.

Lawrence say at the Deck Chief's station, it's previous occupant, Chief Trebe died three days ago leading a team of marines and specialists down to the engine room. From the video feeds the team made it to just past the science lab before the first signs of the infection reared it's ugly head. They had realized early on that technology wasn't on their side when it came to dealing with the infection running rampant throughout the ship. It survived by consuming and controlling anything, fusing living tissue with technology and keeping parts of the living beings it had 'acquired' alive and integrated into the parts of the ship it had taken over.

The team had entered one such area, the last remaining android, Fearless, leading the way with an incinerator, burning the infection away from their path. Up until this point, no one had thought that the androids were subject to any sort of outside control besides those of their commanders, but as the team neared the science bay and then subsequently the receiving area that house the original probe, the android began to suffer issues. At first it was subtle mistakes, missing steps or failing to give 'all clear' notifications but then it became more obvious that something was wrong when Fearless ceased all motion in the middle of an access hatch that led to the last part of the hallway into engineering. Lawrence watched helplessly as the members of the team moved up to the android and tried reaffirming orders, it was only when Chief Trebe tried to move the large being that it came back to life and punched through the man's chest. The enclosed gangway was the perfect killing corridor for the incinerator, and the rest of the team died shortly after, burned alive.

In the time since Carpathia's crew began fighting back against the infection they had learned very little about the thing that had steadily overrun every countermeasure they had deployed to stop it. Sections were submitted to the vacuum of space and the entity would simply continue on unabated. Concussion weaponry did nothing to any of the flesh circuitry encountered, the hard-steel sabers wielded by the androids provided little in the way of an effective weapon; whatever damage was caused would simply repair itself at a fast rate. The only weapons that seemed to keep the infection back were the heavy flame units that all Navy ship armories carried; burning a fuel designed to be harmless to non-organic tissue, the flamers worked well with disabling many of the different infected sections of the ship. Had they discovered this quicker, perhaps the Carpathia and her crew would not be dying alone in deep space.

"Doctor. Have you prepared the message packet?" Lawrence said, turning from the console to look at the doctor.

Truth be told, Lawrence was impressed with Braison. The man had taken the death of his team with a grim stoicism, a fire of determination lighting in his soul to find a way to destroy the thing now corrupting the ship.

Braison nodded. "Yes Captain, I had a chance to attach it to a sub-light missile that would normally have an effective range from here to that Gods-forsaken planet, but I've set it's course back towards human space. With hope, a little luck and providing my calculations were correct, the beacon attached to that same missile will broadcast a signal that can be picked up by deep-space scans."

"It has everything on this..thing. Correct? All the data we've taken, video, audio, and the studies you've done?" Lawrence wanted to make this last-ditch effort worth it.

Braison stood and walked to the captain's console. "Correct. The main missile bay in the fore of the ship hasn't been effected by the infection yet, and the small bit of Mira I was able to save from it's technical deviation is set to guide the missile until it's picked up. With any luck, that'll be in three weeks or so." He said the last bit with a tinge of resignation in his voice.

Lawrence looked back at Chief Povoy. "Chief Povoy, you are given permission to launch the weapon, silent countdown, no need for theatrics this late in the game."

The small man nodded and returned to his station, slowly carrying out the order to fire.

"Ms. Braddock, status of the thrusters still under our control?" he looked at the helmsman, she had aged twenty years it had seemed, since the start of the nightmare. Her uniform was torn in several places and dried blood was around her neck and knees. When she looked at Lawrence her eyes were tired, old even, having seen things that no training could prepare her for.

"Uh, we still have access to six thrusters, minimal fuel but I can move us." Even her voice sounded like that of an old woman.

Lawrence walked back to his command station, next to Braison. "Aim us at the planet and then overload the thrusters until they detonate."

Signing the death of his ship sounded so natural to Lawrence; before the events of the past few days Lawrence would have never thought he'd say something that would doom the Carpathia. But after spending the better part of ninety-six hours watching her be tortured and converted into something monstrous, he relished the moment when he could ease her suffering.

And ease it I will, he thought. Even without the engines, the gravity of the planet below would be enough to drag the Carpathia into a free fall that would destroy her, smashing into the planet below.

Braddock tapped a few buttons and the ship responded, ponderously turning in space towards the nearby planet. From space the ship looked different than she had appeared when first it had arrived in space, decks were ablaze and burning out into the void, and there were other areas completely covered in whatever substance the infection had brought on board. A dark, almost blood red rash of discoloration dotted the once beautiful cruiser; all but the bridge was damaged somehow.

"Done sir. Move complete, thrusters set to three-hundred percent output. They'll detonate in ten seconds." Braddock tapped the last series of keys and slumped back in her chair.

Braison walked to the viewing port and stared out into space. "I killed this ship, it's crew, my colleagues. Everyone. For what? We're all going to die and for what..." he trailed off, hanging his head and softly pounding his fist on the glass.

Warning klaxxons began blaring suddenly. "Status report?" Lawrence said calmly. Looking to Povoy for a response.

The remaining chief turned and Lawrence could read the answer on his face. "The security protocols are being overridden. The bulkhead doors to the bridge are going to open in fifteen seconds."

Lawrence sighed. "Very well. Chief, Ms. Braddock, Doctor Braison? I do believe it is that time."

Braddock stifled a sob and Povoy rose slowly from his seat, moving towards Lawrence. Braison stared out of the window for a moment before turning and joining the captain as well, Braddock too.

Lawrence placed a small pack on the command console, opening it to reveal a fusion charge. One of the reality ending weapons that Braison and his team had brought along for their original mission to study the effects the weapons had on dead planets. Now, with a small detonator held in his hand, Lawrence planned on activating the device, a last stand of defiance against the thing that had stolen so many futures.

Of course, that would have worked had AI Mira allowed it to. Instead, the detonator failed, the corrupted AI piggy-backing back onto the faint wireless signal of the detonator controls and disabling the warhead. The last four members of the crew watched the bulkhead doors open; Braddock yelling swear words through tears, Braison stumbling backwards away from the doorway and falling against the view-glass. Povoy drew his pistol and started shooting at the doorway, not content to go quietly, and charged yelling a prayer in his native Venusian tongue. Lastly, Captain Lawrence Gideon, staring at the failed suicide attempt in the form of the fusion weapon, simply closed his eyes.


=======


History would go on to record that the crew of the Carpathia, science team included, were both regarded as heroes and demonized as the villains. Who either sacrificed themselves so that the rest of humanity had a chance against this evil, or had they not acted so rashly, perhaps their deaths and the following years of hardship would never have happened. Despite the naysayers, Lawrence Gideon has at least six memorials spread across the planets of Sol and various other crew members have similar tributes. Regardless of their actions, the crew of the Carpathia afforded humanity the chance to fight back before it had become too late. Even so, this was not the last humanity saw of the Carpathia, or the infection that had claimed the souls of it's crew, many months later, on the boarders of known space, a similar ship was recorded as broadcasting a distress signal.

That was unexpected! Things suddenly started moving very fast indeed.

Is there more to come? I'm not sure whether that last bit was a hint at a following/sequel of whether I'm just reading to much into it.

I sort of meant this as a prologue or a short prequel. The infection will return and humanity will have to stand against it. I might do a little more as an in between portion from when Tenon orders the marines to engage whatever is in the lab as sort of a 'get to know the crew'. Honestly I felt I might have rushed it a bit, if only because I really want to get to the bigger picture.

Fair enough, I figured it was setting up something bigger. I'd like to see more of the crew trying to fight back, I was kind of surprised by how fast it progressed from 'oh god it's killing people' to 'we're the last ones left'. Having that take a little longer and getting more and more desperate would add a lot, I think.

 Paradigm wrote:
Fair enough, I figured it was setting up something bigger. I'd like to see more of the crew trying to fight back, I was kind of surprised by how fast it progressed from 'oh god it's killing people' to 'we're the last ones left'. Having that take a little longer and getting more and more desperate would add a lot, I think.

I agree completely. I think this was more of my brain not wanting to figure out the three to four more posts I'd have to make to truly resolve the story, but rather wanting to get into the large engagement later on.

But, I'll take the time to write them up because you're right, showing just how terrible this thing is important.

Looking forward to it then! And I know the feeling, wanting to just skip writing the setup and get straight to the fun explodey bits

Needs more details on some parts, but all in all good fun to read. And note to self, Never EVER go into space