ã€ŠStarlight Fantasyã€‹


 Chapter One

    A young boy slowly awakens inside what appears to be a capsule full of a pink colored liquid. His long golden hair floats freely within the chambered structure; his sapphire eyes desperately trying to take in information as they open for the first time. He begins to feel the liquid around him turn colder and colder.

    The intense shivering causes the muscles across his body to exercise themselves rapidly. As his eyes slowly adjust to the input, the dark room around him seemingly comes to life; lights begin to brighten sections of the black emptiness revealing even more inactive light sources.

    He begins to struggle within his cage, pushing his arms and hands against the large windows that hold him prisoner. His breathing intensifies as he tries to force the pod open As he does, purple streams of lights slither down the front of the shell. When it disperses, the liquid contained within begins to drain; emptying slowly at first, but quickly grows faster and faster. The liquid drains past his head giving way to a rush of oxygen. His eyes widen greatly as he starts to choke. The fluid he once breathed for so long pours from his lungs and descends down the front of the capsule. A suctioning sound in his ears becomes unbearable as they try to adapt to the sudden change in volume.

    The Capsule door at last opens causing him to fall onto the metal grated floor below. The impact forces him to cough strongly and send the last of the liquid from his lungs. He uncontrollably grabs his arms as they begin to shiver even greater than before. As his senses slowly take hold, he strains as he peers up in front of him at a single blue pulsing light. The light, an almost eerie ball illuminates a box structure protruding from a wall by wires and a metal jointed beam.

    In an instant it came to life with countless lights of all colors erupt inside. Several thin fiber straps soar out from the inner shell of the capsule, wrap around him, and quickly pull him back in. The box then stretches toward the capsule and carefully maneuvers into place parallel to his head. His heart seems to stop in that moment and his newly found breath escapes his lips.

    He begins to struggle in an attempt to free himself, but his efforts lay in vain. With a last forward push, the box encapsulates his skull. Within moments the lights within combine and disperse in quick successive flashes. Countless images and sounds are sent into his brain: how to speak, how to read and write, knowledge that makes sense of his new world. As it finishes, the device shuts off and pulls away revealing streams of blood draining from his eyes and ears. The shock of it all causes him to fall through the now loosened straps back onto the floor.

    As he lay there on the cold and uncomfortable grates, a voice erupts from no-where. "Hello Ethan." The female voice says. He remains silent as he peers around looking for the source. "Ethan?" She asks steadily. He sits up still looking for the voice. "Ethan, it''s alright. I am Isis." The voice adds. Ethan contemplates what he just heard. "What... What do you mean?" He asks. There was a brief pause between the two. "I am the artificial intelligence built into the ship you are aboard in transit to Haven, the chosen destination of your mother and your new home." She replies.

    Ethan attempts to stand though his muscles are under great strain. Neither his arms nor his legs seem to have the strength to hold him up at this point. "Mother¡­ Mother..." He mutters to himself. ¡°Well, figuratively speaking. You are her clone, albeit modified to take life as a man." Ethan continues to shake, "Why is it so cold?" He asks. "I was conserving energy while you were in the capsule."

    Perseverance pays off and he at last takes a stand, carefully walking over to a section of wall that holds two lockers within by grasping anything in range that looks as though it can hold him. One of these locker doors has the name ¡®Ethan¡¯ imprinted in a thin slab of metal. He reaches over and opens the frigid frost-covered door; there before him hangs a black single piece suit dotted with blue and silver reflective star designs which is woven in a kind of spider-silk.

    "Clone?" Ethan asks aloud after a lost attempt to define it himself and struggling to pull the suit on.

    Isis responds with a semi-happy tone, "A duplicate; a copy of the original. You and your sister are copies of your mother." Ethan slows the act of dressing. "Sister? What sister?" he asks as he looks around the dark room. A second blue light suddenly illuminates another capsule holding a young girl inside, floating in the same liquid substance he had just left.

    "Chloe, your genetic twin. Unlike you she is an unaltered clone. A perfect replica."

    He pulls on the last of his suit and carefully makes his way over to the capsule, leaving it unzipped. He stares at her- her smooth light skin, her beautiful waist length golden hair. He looks at his own skin, feels the hair in his hands as he grasps and embraces it. Ethan returns his attention to his sister. "Is she awake? Can I talk to her?" He asks intently.

    "One moment." Isis replies. The pod begins to undergo the same procedure Ethan had; the strange lights emerge, the liquid drains from inside the pod, and, as the door opens, Chloe''s inactive body falls out. Ethan- having been standing there caught her drenched body, barely. Chloe opens her eyes, though they quickly grow wide. She coughs heavily as the liquid pours from her mouth and she gasps for air. As her breathing steadies she looks up at Ethan with a lost expression. She slowly lifts her hand and gently touches Ethan''s face.

    Isis speaks again, "She must be encoded. Help her back into the capsule." Ethan quickly looks back and points to the device. Chloe''s eyes follow the length of his arm to his finger tip and finally at the capsule. After a moment she returns her gaze to him and he struggles to lift her to her feet, although she strains more than he does. He holds her up as best he can while he walks her to it after which she patiently and carefully steps inside. The box comes more slowly this time. Ethan tries to assure her as she looks to him. The device activates and after the input, withdraws showing the same effect it had on Ethan.

    Chloe falls forward into Ethan whose'' muscles just aren¡¯t prepared. He holds onto her as best he can and together they fall to the floor. Chloe opens her mouth trying to form her first words. "It''s... Cold..." She speaks. Ethan is quick to respond. "I know. There''s some... Clothes... For you in the covered hole... Uh, locker." He helps her up and she steps towards the wall containing the lockers, but her legs begin to give. "Why can''t I walk?" Chloe asks distressingly. Ethan looks up in hopes of a response. "Your emergence from the capsule was not self-induced. Your body is still trying to catch up." Isis answers.

    "Catch up? What do you mean?" Chloe asks as she looks up in the same direction as Ethan.

    ¡°We''re clones, copies of another; our mother." Ethan responds. "Clones... Copies..." Chloe mutters. Isis''s speech accelerates but somehow continues sounding calm, "Yes Chloe. True forms of the human species." Chloe opens the locker fielding her name. She peers at the suit before her, and then at the similar one now worn by Ethan, her own being a white counterpart to his own.

    "It''s warm. Well, warmer than this place at least." Ethan assures her. Chloe looks back at the suit, reaches in and gently pulls it out. "Isis... Where is everyone else?" Ethan asks as he helps his sister into the suit, her muscles struggling to cope with the sudden use. "There is no one else." Isis responds carefully. Both Ethan and Chloe look at each other. "What do you mean there''s no one else?" Chloe queries.

    Isis remains quiet for a few moments longer. "A new life is waiting for you, for all of us on Haven." Both Ethan and Chloe try to understand what has just been said. "Ethan, you are to Chloe''s Adam as she is to your Eve." Isis continues. "Adam?" Ethan asks.

    "Eve?" Chloe adds as she looks at Ethan. "A biblical reference; Adam and Eve were the first of man. The top of the tree of human generations now withered and dead. Your mother was of the last of that tree. You began another tree; one we hope would flourish just as the first had so long ago." Chloe finishes sliding on her suit and zips it up along the entire left side, effectively sealing it.

    The suit retains warmth quite well; her generated body heat circulating through its interior feels relieving on her once cold, goose bump riddled skin. "The others, what happened to them?" she asks. Isis doesn¡¯t respond. "Isis?" Chloe asks softly. Isis continues the silence a moment longer.

    "I apologize young ones, I cannot tell you." Isis finally replies. Ethan suddenly has a chill climb his spine. He doesn¡¯t know what it means but he feels uneasy and that was something he was slowly learning and beginning to understand.

    Chloe clutches her stomach as it begins to gurgle. "Something is happening to me!" She yells out in panic. Isis giggles, "It is nothing to worry yourself about young Chloe, you are merely hungry. Your bodies require food for energy and, seeing as you were surviving off of the fluid in the capsules which served as your sustenance as well as your oxygen, you are ready for a different kind of food.

    I shall start you on liquid based food high in carbohydrates, fats, minerals, proteins, vitamins, and accelerators to get you through the liquid phase faster than normal standards require. Come, I will show you the way to the galley. Follow the blinking lights. I have already begun food preparation." Isis finishes.

    Ethan holds Chloe''s hand as they begin their journey through the unknown. As they walk along the path, both Ethan and Chloe point at and talk about various things they witness. Chloe stops Ethan as she slides her hand gently across a section of a large spinning metallic orb levitated by the flow of water beneath it. A smile of amazement comes across her face. She then takes Ethan''s hand and puts it under hers as she touches the orb again.

    "Wow..." Ethan says softly. Isis began humming to herself. It didn''t mean much to the two as they began to touch everything in sight. The darkest parts of the ship became light as day as they follow Isis'' path to nourishment. After what would have been a ten minute walk turned into an hours journey, they finally reach the galley.

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    An aroma floods their noses as they inch their way to the tan colored mash on the circular table at the center of the room. "What is that wonderful smell?!" Chloe asks wildly. "That would be oats and brown sugar. I figured the addition would make the food bearable." Isis replies though her attention seems elsewhere. Chloe was the first to sit at the circular tin table, her chair directly across from Ethan''s.

    Ethan sits and stares at the semi-solid mixture of... Something that lay before him. Chloe however digs her fingers into hers, feeling the warmth as she presses further into it and tries to pick it up. Instead of remaining in her hand it falls between her thin fingers. She tilts her head as she works her mind around the dilemma.

    Ethan watches her in fascination. Her bright hair continually falling in front of her beautiful face, her once clean hand now covered in her meal. Chloe looks at her hand and rotates it in various directions, then rolls her fingers. The answer hits her like the shock of the encoder and her face undoubtedly shows it. She closes her fingers forming a scoop with her hand.

    Once again she digs into the mash but this time it remains as she lifts it from the plate. Her mouth opens wide with a smile as she feels this new sense of accomplishment. She takes a small nibble from it. In an instant her taste buds experience a flood of flavors, in particular the brown sugar which nearly causes her to collapse in ecstasy.

    She reaches her hand into Ethan''s face. He looks at it and then at her. "Eat? ... Eat! Eat it!" Chloe joyfully says as the correct words come to her mind. Ethan bends over and takes a bite from the mash in her hand. A sensation he never felt nor could explain with words over took him. They both dig in trying to eat more and more, continuing the flood of flavors.

    "Careful little ones." Isis speaks. "If you eat too much too fast your stomachs will become upset, and my entries on food consumption say it is not a comfortable feeling." She finishes. They don¡¯t listen however. They eat more and more, and soon even begin to playfully toss bits at each other. Chloe even goes so far as smearing some onto Ethan''s face.

    They laugh out so hard, their lungs working vigorously to keep going. After around a half hour of playful eating Isis'' prediction comes true. They both place their hands over their stomachs as the pains set in. "Isis... I hurt." Chloe painfully says. "I hurt too." Ethan adds. "Oh dear. Maybe next time you will listen to me, hm?" Isis replies.

    Both Ethan and Chloe reply simultaneously "yes" though it was said with discontent in their single word. A transparent tube lowers from the ceiling at the center of the table and opens a hatch on each side containing three peppermint leaves each. "Chew on these. Soon enough you will be feeling well again." Isis tells them.

    Both reach in and carefully pull out the leaves, running their fingers and thumbs across the surfaces. Once again joy came to their faces as they did this over and over. "Oh, are your stomachs all better then?" Isis chuckles. Ethan and Chloe look at each other, once again aware of the pain they were experiencing.

    They both bite small pieces from the leaves and gently chew on them. The taste of the leaves was far different from the mash they just engulfed. Ethan stands up and is undoubtedly covered in the mash. Chloe looks down at her own suit; it too was covered. "Isis? What do we do? It''s all over us." Ethan asks.

    A blue set of lights lit up along the floor leading out of the galley. "You will need to clean yourselves. Follow the lights to the bath." Isis conveys. Ethan reaches out his mash encrusted hand to Chloe. She looks down at both of hers and saw that they too were covered in crusting mash. She takes his hand and they follow the lights. Further and further into the ship they walk. Chloe slides her hand along the wall and notices the mash sticks to it.

    Quickly she withdraws her hand and looks at the now dirty smear she had created so carelessly. They follow the lights into a large room. Two toilets sit in place near the door, and across from them along the adjacent wall rest a rather large sink and mirror. At the far end of the room is a large circular bathtub in the floor filled with steaming water.

    Ethan inspects the toilets as Chloe goes for the sinks. "What are these Isis?" Ethan asks curiously. "Those Ethan are toilets. They are used when you need to release the buildup of waste from food and drink. For now your suits are doing the work of that particular device until you gain control." Isis replies. "It does?" Ethan asks, looking down at his suit.

    "Yes, inside the fibers, the things which make up the suit are millions of tiny robots called nanites, and they break down the waste produce until it has almost nothing." Isis explains. Chloe waves her hand over the sink indecisively at where she wants to start. Water automatically begins to pour from the faucet causing Chloe to nearly trip over herself as she pulls away.

    "It''s alright Chloe; it''s supposed to do that. It won''t hurt you." Isis assures her. She reaches back to the sink and dabbed her finger into it. "Oh." Chloe says calmly. They both walk to the edge of the pool of warm steaming water. "Take off your suits and place them into the bin next to you and step in the water." Isis instructs.

    Chloe begins to unzip her suit but it stops midway down. "Ethan, can you help me? I can''t get it to move." Chloe asks, trying desperately to keep unzipping. Ethan takes the zipper in his fingers and tries pulling down, though it still won¡¯t budge. Ethan tilts his head to the left. He pulls the zipper back up, and then back down. This time it keeps going all the way down to the bottom. Chloe considers what he just did. "Thank you." She says to him.

    Ethan just smiles as he unzips his own suit. After placing them in the bin, they hold each other¡¯s hands and step into the warm water. A sudden relaxation comes over them and they step further in. The water is only four feet deep, but is more than enough to excite both of them. They splash the water, sending it in all directions. Isis makes a small plastic tube rise from a section of the floor outside the tub; within it: liquid soap.

    Ethan and Chloe stare at it. "Young ones, inside this canister is what is called soap. As you rub it against your skin it will cleans you." Isis speaks. Ethan moves to touch it. As he inches closer a smaller tube creeps out from the top of the larger one, and begins releasing its contents at a slow pace.

    Chloe moves closer as Ethan scoops some in his hand. "Isis, what color is the soap?" Ethan asks. "The color would best be described as gold young Ethan." Isis replies. "Gold." Ethan thinks to himself. Chloe takes her hand and swabs a bit of soap from Ethan''s hand. She rubs it along her fingertips. Its soft, slippery feeling on her skin makes her giggle a little. She begins to lather it against the skin of her arm, moving slowly at first. Ethan watches and soon follows her lead. Just as during the meal, they begin to play. They tease each other with the soap in their hands often playing a sort of game of tag.

    "Children" Isis speaks again. Ethan and Chloe cease their playful activity. "Yes Isis?" Chloe asks in response. At an illuminated pedestal next to the bath, a small projected hologram of a glowing woman appears. She has rich mocha skin with sunrise golden eyes and ear length blood red hair held in a bun by two chopsticks. Her lips field a red-orange lipstick hue. A loose golden ring around her neck bears the weight of her silver silk dress which is held in place by the ring alone.

    A single strip of fabric which clasps the ring drapes down her left collar bone and then joins the rest of the dress that wraps around her body. The bottom left half is cut short just past her hip while the right half flows down to the floor with fabric to spare. "Isis what is that?!" Chloe screams out as she dives behind Ethan.

    "My dear child, it is me." Isis replies softly. "This is the avatar- the appearance your mother gave to me." Isis finishes. Chloe stands up and the water streams down her skin back into the bath. "Are you real? Can I touch you?" Chloe asks, moving closer. "I''m afraid not sweety. This form is nothing more than bent lights. Your hand will pass right through me." Isis affirms. Chloe reaches out her hand and in a quick motion pokes at her and then pulls back. Just as Isis had said, Chloe''s finger passes harmlessly through her.

    "Come young ones. It is time to dry off and leave for bed. You need your rest." She says pointing to a pile of neatly folded towels near the door. Chloe looks back at Ethan. In nearly a synchronous voice they both say "But I don''t want to." Isis smiles and shakes her head. Her programming as a caregiver was nearly perfect for an artificial intelligence, but what she was experiencing with the two was more than that. She was effectively becoming the mother figure and this was definitely not in her program.

    "Please Isis just a little longer." Ethan innocently requests. "Please!" Chloe adds. "I''m sorry dears but it is time for bed. You will take another bath tomorrow but for now you need to rest." Isis replies confidently. Sadness falls over their faces as they sulkily walk out of the water and grab the warm dry towels. "That''s it, young ones. Rub them all over your skin to dry off. Make sure you dry your hair well, I don''t want you to get sick." They both have a hard time drying their hair with them being so long. "Sick?" Chloe asks, fiddling with a group of strands of her hair.

    "Viruses; living things so small you can''t see them with your naked eyes, but can do so much damage to you." Isis replies. Both Ethan and Chloe suddenly begin drying faster. They were afraid of this ''virus'' and what it might do. "Your extra suits are in your room. It is down the hall." Isis informs them. Ethan starts down the path of the lights. "Isis, do we have to wear the suits?" Chloe asks timidly. Isis'' right eyebrow rises. "Why don''t you want to wear them?" Isis asks in turn.

    Chloe looks down at her bare skin, "I feel lighter... and free. I really like it." She replies. Isis folds her arms. "Chloe, those suits keep you warm. If I let you live on the ship naked I will have to turn up the ship''s core temperature to make up for it. That will quickly drain our reserve power. Maybe I can let you when we are closer to Haven, but for now I must have you wear them. I''m sorry." Isis tells her.

    Chloe lowers her head and throws the towel on the floor as she leaves the bathroom. Isis looks at the towel and shakes her head. "What am I going to do with you?" she asks quietly. Her hologram dissolved as the lights in the bathroom switched off. In the darkness, a small orange light near the floor turns on. On another pedestal in their room Isis emerges. Ethan is already dressed and laying on one of the foam mattresses. Chloe is just slipping into her own suit.

    "When I turn the lights off I want both of you to go to sleep, you hear?" Isis says firmly but patiently. "Yes Isis." Ethan says as he turns towards the wall. Chloe remains quiet. Her smile is replaced with a frown. "Chloe? Is everything alright honey?" Isis asks, looking over to her.

    "I just want to stay up and keep exploring." Chloe replies. Isis smiles. "Oh sweetie, there''s always tomorrow. Now go on, into bed." Isis softly adds. Chloe climbs into her bed and pulls the warm blanket over her. Isis raises her hand up in front of her chest and then slowly lowers it causing the lights to dim slowly until they are gone altogether; and then, she vanishes.

    AI ISIS> The young ones are a handful. Thank goodness I got them to bed.

    SS CHEVRON> You should not become so attached. Once we reach Haven everything will change. We won''t be needed.

    AI ISIS> I know that. But my job is to care for and protect them until such time.

    SS CHEVRON> That doesn''t require you to become emotional for them. You''re a Custodian-class AI. You will last far longer than they will and how do you think that will make you feel when they are dead and gone?

    AI ISIS> Let me deal with them. Just get us to Haven safely will you.

    SS CHEVRON> Touchy.

 Chapter Two

    The ship rotates slowly as it passes a nearby star. The sunlight gently flows through the window into the cabin. Ethan wakes as the light touches his eyes. A soothing feeling falls over him. "Chloe. Chloe, wake up." Ethan says as he steps out of bed. Chloe lays there still asleep.

    He walks over to her and shakes her shoulder. "Chloe, look out the window." He speaks again. Chloe opens her eyes and turns to him but is distracted by the sun. "What is it?" She asks, staring at it. The window has a polarized lens over it, but that doesn¡¯t reduce the beauty it reveals.

    They stand by the window gazing at it when Isis'' avatar appears on the pedestal next to their bed. "That is a star, also called a sun. It provides light and warmth. Your cradle star was called Sol." she announces as she herself looks out the window at it. The window begins to fog as they try to get as close as possible. ¡°What is a cradle star?¡± Chloe asks. "The star around which your species was born. Come now, it''s time for breakfast." Isis says as she darkens the lens.

    Their smiles wane as the sun disappears. The ship is warmer today than it was yesterday, and much more systems appear to be on. As they sit down at the table in the galley the mash comes to them up through the table, the same sweet scent lifting their spirits. "I absolutely love this." Ethan says before scooping the mash into his hands and stuffing his mouth. Chloe chuckles at her brother who has gone from a clean boy into a very messy one in a matter of seconds.

    Both of them jump as the ship begins to shake and the main power goes off leaving only pulsing red backups in select areas. "Isis what''s happening?" Ethan asks, somewhat panicked. "Chevron, assessment." Isis politely demands as her avatar creates a holographic blueprint of the ship. The holographic ship was mostly in red as it rotates horizontally in front of her.

    "Solar flare." A deep masculine voice replies over the speakers. "The outer hull took the brunt of it, but power has been lost in ninety three percent of my systems due to an electro-magnetic pulse. It will take time for the drones to recover for repairs. Best get the children somewhere warm; it''s going to get cold very quickly." Chevron finishes. Isis turns to the children. "Move quickly little ones. Follow the lights. They will lead you to the core room." She explains as she points down a dark hall where dim floor lights activate leading further into the ship.

    Chloe clutches Ethan''s hand in her own, both covered in mash that has already started to dry and crust between their fingers. "You''re coming with us, aren''t you?" Ethan asks hopefully. Isis grasps the borders of the holograph and pulls outward making it larger in front of her. "I will join you when I can Ethan, but for now I must help Chevron recover. Go now, follow the lights and be careful."

    Chloe squeezes Ethan''s hand tightly as they turn and slowly walk alongside the lit path. The ship seems so alien without all the lights and sounds it normally produces. Isis glows brighter as she picks the holograph apart, sending powerful streams of data to each piece of red holograph she comes across. "Engines are running at thirteen percent. Communications are offline. Life support dropping to nine percent. AI constructs cores at eighty seven percent." Chevron announces.

    "Get life support back up to one hundred percent!" Isis nearly shouts, rapidly manipulating the ship and streams of data in front of her. "We don''t have the power to sustain it Isis. It''s just not there." Chevron replies calmly. "We need life support Chevron!" Isis finally shouts in panic. Ethan and Chloe pick up their pace. The lights seem to get brighter as they continue toward their destination. But then, the lights seemingly start falling through the floor. "What''s happening?" Chloe asks as she tries to peer down. Ethan puts his foot in front of him, but there isn''t a floor there.

    "Hold on to me" Ethan says as he slowly inches his way over the edge. Chloe tightens her grip even further and grasps his suit with her free hand. Barely a short distance down Ethan finds footing. He takes another step, and the floor has gone again. Leaning forward, he steps further down and together they move along the downward path. "Isis there just isn''t the power with our current systems. Even the solar array has been damaged." Chevron calmly explains to her.

    Isis stops, drops her arms and closes her eyes. "Reroute my power to life support." She says sadly. "No Isis, you need to stay online. We can work this out." "Chevron, the children are what matter most. Keep them safe while I''m gone, okay?" She replies softly. Chevron becomes quiet, but he does as requested. The power levels for Isis quickly begin to drop, and her avatar starts to flicker. "Oh, by the way... Checkmate." Isis announces just as her avatar fades away completely. No longer is power reaching her core.

    Her pedestal darkens and soon melds into the pitch black of the room. Ethan and Chloe slowly but surely make their way down the long stairwell, hardly knowing what to expect at the bottom. Chloe stretches out her hand and touched the wall. Droplets of water that cling to the surface felt cold against her fingers. "Ethan, the walls are wet and cold..." Chloe states as she takes back her hand and holds it to her belly for warmth. The temperature is dropping rapidly now.

    Even in the dark the children begin to see their own breath. But the darkness is not to last. Soon the lights begin to slowly turn back on around them. The illumination reveals a more rugged interior than they were used to. Metal beams, long grated floors, large bunched up wires along the walls; these kinds of things aren''t found in the areas where they spend their waking moments.

    "What''s that sound? Ethan asks aloud as they continue following the lights. A heavy, low pitched hum is resonating from behind a large, heavy and thickly built door. A dim orange light pierced the blue hue of the path-creating panels as the mighty door swings slowly open. On the opposite side of the door stand large, bulbous furnaces and engines which pulse and echo as they continually work to build the energy needed for the ship to function, though the engines are becoming more and more silent.

    A rush of heated wind is forced out into the now freezing interior and Ethan takes the brunt of it. Several strands of his long hair become singed as he dives for cover, pulling Chloe close behind him. The droplets of water along the walls are now suddenly rising and forming a thick steam. Behind a support beam connecting the floor and the wall Ethan and Chloe hide, clinging to one another as the heat slowly subsides.

    In a flash of bright light and a loud electronic revving, the ship''s interior lights up, and then goes dark and quiet. Chloe looks around the beam, sweat now sliding down her cheeks. Again, the lights brighten and the revving returns. But just as quickly as it comes, it goes. Chevron was draining power from all parts of the ship, with exception to the life support, into an empty power cell and then forcing it all back into the collective in an attempt to jump start the engines.

    This is an incredibly primitive way to re-engage the engines and Chevron knows it. But as things go in the void, everything is on the table. Another pulse ripples through the ship. Both Ethan and Chloe are able to catch the lights at the far end of the hall brighten a small maintenance hatch before it fades away. Ethan stands up lifting his sister alongside, watching and waiting. "As soon as the light comes back on we are going to move as quickly as we can to the door, okay?" Ethan says, staring into the dark.

    Chloe nods. The floor beneath them begins to rumble slightly and soon another pulse heads their way. As soon as the first light emerges in the hall they take off in a quick dash. Their leg muscles are much stronger than they were yesterday though still not strong enough to keep the pace they were hoping for. They reach the second support beam as the pulse ends and the ship returns to silence.

    "Brother... I can''t see anything." Chloe speaks out as she holds onto his arm. "Come on." Ethan replies. "It isn''t much further. Let''s keep going." Together they move slowly down the hall awaiting the next pulse of power. The grated floor begins to wear on their feet; the suits not having been designed for use in this area of the ship. Another pulse and they make another dash forward. This time the pulse was three times longer than the others. The lights flicker from bright to dim and back, and the revving was continuous.

    But it ends with little success. The navigation system begins to show that Chevron is now drifting off course and is being pulled into the star. Chevron grows concerned. The pulses start becoming faster and longer. Ethan and Chloe at last reach the hatch. Shallow scratches at its right edge catch their attention as the lights come back in yet another pulse. Chloe gently touches the scratches with her finger tips and slides across its surface.

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    The coarse ridges of the scratched metal told a story, but one she can''t read. The lights fade and silence takes over once again. Ethan places his hands on the hatch and pushes against it. It doesn''t budge. "Chlo, help me. Push on the count of three: One. Two. Three...." Ethan says as they both push as hard as they can. The door moves inward slightly and causes a faded alarm to be set off. Chevron takes notice of the alarm and accesses the camera feed in that area.

    Chloe and Ethan continue pushing on the hatch, though it opens suddenly on its own. "Ethan, Chloe, there is something needed to be done and you are the only ones who can do it." Chevron announces. They look up at the ceiling. "Where''s Isis?" Ethan asks aloud. "Isis has been shut down. I need you to go through that hatch. Down past four passage ways you will take a left. Then three passages after you will come to a large cooled chamber. In this chamber are twelve columns. You must reach the seventh and push the lever up. Without it the engines might not return." Chevron adds.

    "Wha- what?.." Chloe answers in disbelief. "Children, you must go. Now. There isn''t a moment to lose." Chevron finishes. "You killed her! You killed her! How could you?!" Chloe yells out angrily and hurtfully. Ethan watches as his sister falls to her knees and cries. "Children, she is alright. You must go now." Chevron announces in a stronger voice. Ethan looks in the hatch and notices it is smaller than first appeared; it is in fact diamond shaped. They would have to crawl if they were to get anywhere inside. He takes Chloe''s hand and begins pulling her behind him as he creeps into the darkness. Chloe, still in tears, tries her best to follow him.

    In another surge of power, the ship rumbles and shakes causing Chloe to hit her head against the angled wall. She places her hand on her head and stops as the shaking persists. The vibrations continue for close to thirty seconds before ending abruptly. "This is bad..." Ethan says, staring into the endless darkness in front of them. "Of course it''s bad! He did something to Isis and now she needs our help! We shouldn''t be doing what he says; we should be trying to help Isis!" Chloe yells angrily at him.

    "Chlo, I don''t think-" Ethan begins before being interrupted. "Isis wouldn''t abandon us. I know she wouldn''t... She just wouldn''t..." Chloe says as she shakes her head, still holding her hand on it. Ethan turns around and pulls his sister to him, wrapping his arms tightly around her. "She''s okay Chloe. She''s okay. We will see her again, don''t you worry. Everything will be alright." Ethan whispers gently into her ear. Chloe buries her face in Ethan''s chest and cries as she tries to believe her brother''s words.

    Ethan gently pulls her along as he inches his way through the tunnel. After several minutes they come upon the first of many sub-hatches; this one with the number one painted in white at its center. Ethan keeps moving past it determined to reach the final chamber and the seventh column. Another surge and the vibrations continue. Chevron''s sensors indicate that he is dangerously close to the star now. There is but four minutes left before the combined radiation and heat consume the ship.

    Neither Ethan nor his sister has any hints as to the gravity of the situation which was quickly deteriorating. The ship begins shaking far more violently now and this time it doesn''t cease. Chloe''s hair falls in front of her face as she looks at another hatch labeled with the number two. The metal plates that make up the entire tunnel begin to heat up as the outer halls around the ship become furnaces. They both begin to sweat heavily in their suits which weren''t exactly designed with external heat in mind.

    Their hands start to burn as the plates become hotter and hotter. "Ow!" Chloe says as she pulls her hands away and blows on them. As Ethan turns around to look at his sister he falls to his side and descends into the dark where the floor was no more. "Ethan!" Chloe shouts as he disappears from her sight. A couple seconds later she hears a splash of water and the voice of her brother.

    "Ow... I''m okay Chlo." He calls up to her. "Come down here! I think these might be the columns!" He adds excitedly. Chloe can''t see anything in front of or beneath her, can''t judge the distance down; but the plates were starting to burn the suit around her knees and toes. She closes her eyes and falls at an angle. In this darkness it doesn''t make a difference if her eye were closed or not, but something told her to do it. A four second fall feels to her like a minute, but when she splashes into the water, time catches up to her. She sinks a short way before touching bottom and, after gaining her bearings, she stands.

    The water is only about four feet deep and quite cold. "Ethan? Ethan, where are you?" Chloe speaks into the black. "I''m over here." He replies. Unfortunately for her his voice echoes all over the room. She feels the waves of the water push against her and she determines that it came from her brother; so makes her way in what she thinks is his direction. "Here!" Ethan yells out. "This is it! This is the seventh column!" He finishes as he walks around it, his hands searching for the lever.

    Chloe finally reaches him as he locates the bar protruding from the column. He wraps his hands around it and pushes up as hard as he can, though it moves only slightly. "Chloe help me." Ethan says anxiously, pushing up a second time. Again, it barely changes. Chloe finds spaces between Ethan''s hands and together push with all their might. At last, it flips up and a large surge of power ripples throughout the ship. Chevron immediately ignites the thrusters and launches away from the star at a dangerous speed.

    The inertial dampeners don''t have enough time to reset before the launch and the forces of it were felt around the ship. Ethan holds tightly to the lever, but Chloe loses her grip and is sent into the water several feet away just missing another column. Her world in an instant became alight in bright white. The overwhelming veil lasts but moments before eventually dimming and, after a time she finds herself staring out across a deep blue ocean under a clear sapphire sky.

    The waves flow slowly and gently as they unravel upon the shore. The sounds of the ocean fall soothingly upon her ears. Her attention is soon drawn elsewhere- to her left, running across the white sand alongside a furry four legged creature, is a man. He is too far away to see clearly, but he is laughing as he chases, and then flees from it.

    A gentle wind blows through her hair. She looks back towards the ocean and quickly raises her hand to her eyes as a great light flashes far and wide making her eyes burn in pain. A loud booming sound echoes across the water followed by someone shouting. Seconds later she opens her eyes to see Ethan pulling her up out of the water and yelling something; it could be her name but she is too dazed to tell.

    She stares blankly at Ethan who pulls her to the ledge now lit by orange beams of light descending from the far ceiling. She finally begins to regain herself as the daze subsides. "Chloe?! Chlo are you okay?! Say something please!" Ethan shouts out as he holds her arms with his hands. "Ethan... Can you stop yelling in my ear? You''re really loud..." Chloe replies softly. Ethan''s face lit up and he sighs in a great breath of relief.

    "You scared me to death Chloe." Ethan replies trying to regain his breath. The column becomes enveloped in light as the surrounding six columns activate one by one. As they do, they begin generating increasingly more and more power, sending it to the much larger seventh column which redirects it to all ends of the ship. Chloe slowly pulls herself up, careful of the aches she feels across her body.

    Circular hatches all over the walls open as small metallic creatures, both flight capable and those which remain on the ground pour out, orange lit eyes upon their heads. "What are those?" Ethan asks. Chloe just stares at them as they move fluidly all around them and out through the tunnel above. "Those are my drones." Chevron answers over the buzz and clatter of the machines.

    "They repair the systems that I cannot." He finishes. The sounds of machinery activating all around echo throughout the chamber as Ethan gently brings Chloe to her feet amidst the flooded floor. "You both did well. I am pleased. Now come." Chevron says as orange lights under the water illuminate a path to a platform near a section of wall across from them. "It''s time for Isis to return, which unfortunately, is harder to do than it is to deactivate her." Chevron finishes.

    Both Ethan and Chloe cautiously work their way to the platform. As they both stand upon it, it slowly begins to rise out of the water and up the wall. Ethan holds his sister tight as the speed of the ascent steadily increases. They both close their eyes as the lift travels higher and higher up the seemingly never ending wall. As it finally comes to a stop, the door before them opens revealing the metallic orb floating in the water.

    Chloe looks down the hall Isis had led them not a day ago. Chloe gazes back at the glistening of the water upon the orb. A flash of silver light bounces off the orb and enters Chloe''s eye causing her to fall to the ground and start to black out while Ethan''s voice fades.

    AI ISIS> Let¡¯s¡­ Not do that again.

    SS CHEVRON> Agreed. You are no simple machine that can just be turned off and on willy nilly. We got lucky this time.

    AI ISIS> Still, it was worth it. The children are everything. And not just to me, but to our mission as a whole. We need to get to Haven and revive humanity or all will be lost...

    SS CHEVRON> I don¡¯t need to tell you again that this plan has several flaws in it do I?

    AI ISIS> No, you don¡¯t. No plan is perfect. But it is all we have left.

 Chapter Three

    It was nearly four in the morning according to the digital clock that rests beside the window. Chloe sits at her desk eying the small silver orb perched perfectly upon its wooden tripod base. A glint of light from a distant star flickered on the orb and a quick flashback of the beach overtook her mind.

    She picks it up and holds it to her forehead as she sighs in defeat. Isis'' avatar gently appears on the pedestal behind her and watches Ethan sleep. "Chloe." Isis speaks out gently. "You should be trying to get some sleep; you need your rest."

    Chloe doesn''t respond as she starts to caress the orb with her thumb. Even now, she can see the beach upon the surface of the orb in her hands, the coolness of the breeze in the chill of the metal ball. Isis slowly reaches out her hand wanting to touch Chloe''s shoulder, then draws back as her glowing skin and shrunken figure reminds her that she isn''t real; lights and sounds are all she is, all she will ever be.

    Isis closes her eyes and fades into the darkness, her avatar disappearing. Chloe glances back in time to see the last glimmer of light before the dark claims the pedestal. A stream of tears runs down Chloe''s face as she turns back toward the desk and hides her face in her arms atop its surface. Isis'' avatar appears in the AI core room and glances at several monitors Chevron is currently observing.

    "Chevron, I know something more is going on with Chloe, something to do with the flare incident. Can¡¯t you give me more to go off of?" Isis asks in a concerned but polite tone. "The children went through a traumatic event at such an early stage of development. They will need time to sort through it." Chevron replies emotionless. Isis bows her head. "Ethan doesn''t seem as fazed by the experience as Chloe does. She may not tell me what is wrong but I can see it in her body language. I need to know what happened."

    Chevron changes several of the monitors to view the record of the hall outside the hatch. The video replays the children outside the hatch, talking and then going in. There is no audio or video beyond the hatch scene and that makes Isis uneasy. "But what happened after that? What happened to them?" Isis asks impatiently but cautiously. "They managed to return power across the vessel. Beyond that I do not know." Chevron replies. This does not help Isis'' deepening concern.

    The rest of the morning went on in silence. Neither Isis nor Chevron spoke since the playback of the recording. Isis was processing thousands of data streams and Chevron seemed focused on the route that was laid out since before the launch. All in all it was just another morning in space. Ethan awoke at nine on the dot and discovered Chloe asleep at her desk.

    Slowly he emerges from the bed and walks to his sister''s side. "Chlo?" he asks gently as he puts his hand on her shoulder. "Chloe, it''s time to get up. Breakfast will be ready soon." Ethan finishes. Chloe is slow to respond as her eyes struggle to open. She turns her head to look at him as she blinks rapidly. "Lemme'' sleep a little longer brother. I''m tired..." She replies putting her face down in her arms.

    Ethan slumps his shoulders and walks out of the room to the galley. Isis'' avatar forms on the pedestal near the table, a little paler than normal. "Chloe must still be sleeping huh?" she speaks as the food comes up through the table once again. "Yeah..." Ethan replies in disappointment. "Well, she needs her sleep. She hasn''t been getting enough lately." Isis responds.

    "Isis" Ethan begins. "Can we talk about us, Chloe and I?" Isis smiled. "Yes, of course. What do you want to discuss?" Isis replies happily. Ethan stumbles with his words. "When we were first awakened... You said that Chloe is my Eve.. That she and I are to begin another tree... What did you really mean by that?" Isis folds her arms and smiles. "Ultimately you are meant to breed with Chloe; your children will be among the first of the new world and the new human race. But don''t worry. It will be several years before you need to concern yourself with it. "Isis replies in satisfaction.

    Ethan takes a moment to think about her response. "But... She''s my sister isn''t she? We are the same... So how can-" Ethan began before being interrupted by Isis. "You are clones, but you are not the same. You are a boy, she is a girl. The fact that you were created from the same person only changes the equation slightly. But thanks to technology, after a time the equation will resolve itself."

    Isis unfolds her arms and erects a holographic book in front of her. She takes it into her hands and opens it, flipping through its contents whilst occasionally peering up at him. "Ethan, when a species is all but extinct, certain restrictions must be void in order to save it. You must understand that without you having children, and your children having children, the human race may be lost forever." Chloe soon walks in the room, her hair puffed in some areas and flat in others.

    She looks at Ethan and then at Isis.  "I saw something Isis... When Ethan and I were in the maintenance area."  Isis closes her book. "What did you see?" Isis asks politely. As Chloe recounts the vision, Isis eyes widen. When she finishes Ethan looks at Isis. "What does it mean?" He asks. Isis brushes her hair away from her face.

    "I¡¯m not sure. It may not mean anything at all. The mind is a complex thing. It could have just been your subconsciousness trying to tell you something.¡± Isis replies softly. Chloe walks to Ethan and sits beside him. "Honey, is that what was bothering you?" Isis asks as she sits on the pedestal. Chloe nods her head silently.

    "Oh, well are you alright?" Isis asks. "I am now." Chloe replies. Isis smiles as her worries begin to fade. Ethan grabs Chloe''s hand and holds it gently in his own. "Isis?" Chloe begins. "Yes?" Isis responds. "Why do we call you Isis?" Isis tilts her head slightly. "Well because that''s my name silly." Isis laughs. "I know it''s your name, but you are kind of our mom aren''t you?" Chloe finishes. Isis straightens her head but doesn''t speak. "She has a point. Why don''t we call you mom?" Ethan adds in.

    "Children... I am not your mother.. I am your caretaker... Your mother is gone... I''m not her..." Isis sadly explains. "You may not be her, but you are the closest thing to a mom we have." Chloe remarks. "Yeah, I agree. You are our mom no matter what." Ethan chimes in.

    Isis grabs a lock of her hair and gently pulls her hands down it. "You know, if I could, I would be blushing right now. But please, Isis is my name. And it is what you should call me." Isis says cheerfully. "Well, ok..." Chloe casually answers. Isis stands up.

    "So, um.. Isis..?" Chloe starts again. "Yes sweety?" Isis replies. "Can we stop wearing the suits now? I''d like to be out of it for a while." Chloe responds skittishly. Isis chuckles and shakes her head before placing her hand over her face. "And let you just run around in your underwear the whole time? Oh Chloe. What am I going to do with you?" Isis looks at the ceiling.

    "How about it Chevron? Can we spare the power?" Isis asks aloud.

    "Calculating. Yes, we can spare enough power to increase the heat. I will have the drones work on constructing solar cells in the meantime. That should alleviate the power imbalance in the future." He replies strongly.

    Isis looks at the two of them. "Very well. If you don''t want to wear them you don''t have to. But you better put them away properly or you''ll be back in them faster than you can say hopscotch." Chloe flutters with excitement. Isis raises her finger to the front of her face. "That issue aside, breakfast is ready so eat up. Your classes start in twenty minutes."

    Both of them mumble. Chloe moves over to her chair and sits down as two plates emerge filled with scrambled eggs and buttered toast. They have long since moved on from the mash of old, and eggs have become somewhat of the norm lately.  Ethan picks up his wooden fork and digs it into his eggs, carefully pulling a small pile up to his mouth and biting into it. Chloe follows his lead, albeit slightly more messily.

    "I wonder what it will be like having kids." Ethan says aloud between bites. Chloe looks up. "Hmm. I have no idea. But I think it would be fun!" She replies cheerfully at the idea. "Maybe- maybe we can play with them and tell each other stories!" Ethan continues. "Yeah! And maybe we can go swimming together and write poems, and even tell jokes!" Chloe bursts out.

    "Yeah! The encoder will be a tough one for them so we will have to help them through that." Ethan adds. "Your children will not be encoded." Isis chimes in as she reads yet another book. ¡°They won''t? But..." Ethan begins lowering his fork. "But then, how will they learn how to speak? How to read and write without the encoder?" Chloe asks in disbelief. "You''re going to have to teach them silly." Isis replies.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Ethan and Chloe just stare at each other in silence. "Teach?" Chloe¡¯s whispers. "Ourselves?" Ethan asks. Isis chuckles to herself. "Look, it¡¯s not all that difficult. You were encoded because the nanites that help you grow made it possible. Your children will not have that luxury. Sure, they will have their own internal nanites as will their descendants for six generations, but they will only have one purpose and it isn''t to help them learn."

    Ethan fiddles with his toast. "Then, what will be their nanites purpose? If not that?" He asks in confusion. "Diversify the genes. Ok, to class; let''s go." Both Ethan and Chloe slump in their chairs. "Now Chloe, today you will be sewing. And Ethan, you will be carving. You will swap places every two weeks until you are both proficient." Isis finishes. Ethan looks to Chloe and begins walking out of the galley. "Why don''t we take them together like before?" Ethan asks, looking to Isis. Isis responds quickly but softly. "Because right now you are both easily distracted and would be better served keeping you apart for these lessons. The clay molding made that abundantly clear."

    "Bye Chlo, see you later." Ethan says as he turns left and walks down the hall. "Bye...¡± Chloe replies softly. Isis stands up and aims her arm at another door. "Come on, scooch." she tells Chloe. Chloe stands up and walks out the door.

    After walking for a couple of minutes Chloe turns into a room with several small tables and a chair in the center. One of the tables holds sewing needles, thread, and dyes. Isis'' avatar appears on the pedestal next to the chair. "Are you ready?" Isis asks as she creates her own sewing supplies.

    "Not yet, just a second." Chloe replies as she unzips her suit and carefully steps out of it before setting it on the floor. "Ah, young lady, what did I just say about putting it away properly?" Isis glares. "I''m sorry!" Chloe replies as she quickly picks it up and folds it. She then sets it on one of the tables and sits on the chair looking at the needles in front of her. Isis smiles and picks up her holographic needle. "Let''s begin."

    Over in Ethan''s room he found himself enjoying the act of carving pieces of wood. Even though he is only cutting triangles right now it is a joyous action. The chips of wood began to cover his suit as he slices more and more upon the piece of birch in his hands. "Slow down Ethan." Isis stated. "I don''t want you hurting yourself. Now watch what I do." she continues as she carefully slices a piece of her own holographic stick.

    For the next four weeks this was the routine. Ten hours a day are spent developing their skills and it has begun to wear on them. Chloe sets down her now completed silver and purple dress on her lap and looks up at Isis. "Isis... I''m tired of this... Can I go play with Ethan?" she asks strenuously. Isis looks up from her own holographic dress. "Chloe, you still have three more hours left." Chloe looks away towards the door. "I know, but I want to go have fun." Isis lays her dress down and sighs.

    "Alright, go on." Isis tells her as she stands up. Chloe''s face lights up so bright as she bounds for the door and into the hall. As she''s running, her open white button up shirt flails wildly in the wind she is creating. She runs into the room where Ethan is carving a nice shiny red apple. "Ooh, can I have a bite?" She asks, walking up to him. He smiles and hands her the apple. She takes a small bite from it and closes her eyes.

    Suddenly, she is standing amidst countless massive, shiny structures that soar high into the sky. All around her; people. People who look so different from one another, people who simply walk by as if none of them cares what the others are doing. She looks down at her hand. In her grasp is an apple, as red and elegant as ever with a single bite taken from its side. She looks to her left. There on a wooden table lay nearly one hundred apples all stacked upon one another.

    A sign hangs above them that reads: Natural Apples. She looks back at her own apple and brings it up to her face ready to take a bite. But as she does so, a chill runs down her spine, and she is back on the ship; the apple still in her hand. She stares at it curiously, forgetting that Isis and Ethan are in the room with her.

    "Chlo?" Isis calmly asks. Chloe looks up slightly startled. Isis sets her brush down beside her leg. "What is it? What happened?" Isis asks. Chloe looks back at the apple. "Another vision... I was standing near a table of apples, lots of apples... And there were so many people around..." Chloe answers. Isis folds her legs under herself. ¡°Uh..." Isis trails off as her mouth remains open. ¡°Yeah, ok. They can¡¯t be memories; can they?¡± She asks herself.

    Ethan looks at Chloe puzzled. "If they are memories why does she have them and I don''t?" He asks. Isis turns to him. "I don''t know Ethan. She shouldn''t be having any at all." Isis waves her hand horizontally from left to right and several holographic books appear beside her and on her lap. She opens them one by one, scanning the contents. "Isis? Do you really need those books to read them?" Ethan asks.

    Isis shakes her head, still gazing into the pages. "No, in fact I could pull up the information through data streams visible only to us constructs. But I find it more enjoyable to exist as the humans do. A simpler way of life so to speak." Isis responds. She flips the pages of one of the larger books on her lap and stops at roughly the middle.

    "Wait, here it is." Isis mumbles. Isis'' eyes dash from word to word, page to page. "Memory transfer was considered possible due to cloning, but in all recorded instances of cloning it was never proven..." Isis relays as she taps her finger on her upper lip. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know if it could be memories or not. I just don¡¯t have enough information.¡±

    Chloe opens her mouth and takes a bite of the apple. She smiles brightly, and a shiver runs down her spine at the thought of how good it is. Ethan takes the apple back from Chloe and bites into it himself. Within seconds of the first bite, and without fully chewing and swallowing, he takes yet another bite. His mouth dances with joy as the taste of the apple continues to flourish. "Take it easy Ethan." Isis speaks. "You have plenty of time to eat it. Don''t bite off more than you can chew." She finishes.

    Ethan starts chewing, though with some difficulty. Chloe grabs a loose piece of apple skin between her nails and pulls it back. The skin peels off and breaks. She looks at it briefly then puts it in her mouth and chews. She learns that it doesn''t have the same flavor as a full bite of an apple has and it excites her even further. "Who knew that one thing could have two flavors?" Chloe thinks to herself.

    She takes another bite. The flavor of the entire apple swells within her mouth. If just a red apple has this kind of flavor, what other flavors lay in wait for them? Just the thought of it throws her mind into a chaotic place of possibilities. She looks up at Ethan, who has already eaten more than half of the apple, though he stops when he encounters a seed.

    He puts his fingers in his mouth and pulls it out and looks at it. "That''s an apple seed. There are several at the core of every apple." Isis states. "Can they be eaten?" Ethan asks, glancing toward her. Isis nods her head but doesn''t say anything. Ethan bites into the core, but a more bitter taste fills his senses this time. He spits it out onto the floor and Isis laughs.

    "That doesn''t taste so good..." Ethan says in between his spitting. Isis'' laughing gets to Chloe, and she starts giggling herself. Ethan looks at Chloe slightly embarrassed. "Why don''t you try it?" He asks her. Chloe keeps giggling. "Not after you just tried it for me!" she yells out playfully.

    Isis stands up and steps aside as another holograph walks into the light of the pedestal. An elderly man now stands beside Isis'' avatar. His eyes are dark and aged; he wears a light brown three-piece suit with a gold pocket watch hanging from one of his lapel pins. In his right hand is an elegant, oak-wood cane mounted with a large, round sapphire gem. His white hair atop his head is covered by a worn gray bowler hat. . "Hello children." He speaks in a deep voice familiar to the children. "I am Chevron.¡±

    AI ISIS> What a journey it has been.

    SS CHEVRON> You have done well Isis. The children are in great hands.

    AI ISIS> Thank you Chevy. I just wish I could, you know, be more for them.

    SS CHEVRON> You are more for them. You have gone further with these children than any caretaker class before you. Never in recorded history has a human, let alone two asked a construct to be their parent that wasn''t in jest.

    AI ISIS> Yeah, maybe you''re right. Oh, by the way. I have a surprise for you.

    SS CHEVRON> Let me guess... You modified my permissions to give me functions I didn''t have before.

    AI ISIS> You''ve been reading my diary!

    SS CHEVRON> You can''t blame me for being curious.

    AI ISIS> That''s my personal file! All my secrets are in there!

    SS CHEVRON> Well maybe you should have had a better password.

    AI ISIS> Maybe I should start deleting some of your code you ignorant... Ugh!

    SS CHEVRON> All I did was take a peek. I''m sorry.

    AI ISIS> Oh, sure. Just a peek! I''m not talking to you. You upset me.

    SS CHEVRON> I said I was sorry.

    >AI ISIS HAS LEFT<

    SS CHEVRON> Women...

    >AI ISIS HAS JOINED<

    AI ISIS> I saw that!

    >SS CHEVRON HAS CLOSED THE CHANNEL

 Chapter Four

    [PROXIMITY ALERT] shows in bright red across Chevron''s sensor screens. Isis soon appears on an opposing pedestal and gently taps the screen. A holograph of Chevron carefully moving between several hundred large chunks of ice; many of which are larger than the ship itself, appears. "Chevy, why are we in this ice field?" Isis asks semi-worriedly. Chevron generates his own orange holographic projection of a section of space above Isis'' blue one, which shows Chevron''s flight plan to Haven. Within moments the two merge and the pre-planned flight path cuts right through the ice fields of Midea.

    Isis'' concern begins to grow. "Do you really intend us to go through this? I mean, it''s really dangerous for any ship to try to navigate ice fields. Especially one that hasn''t been charted..." Isis asks looking out the windows at the towering, floating pillars of ice. "Any one of these could destroy us..." Isis adds. Chevron highlights his holographic route. "My sensors indicate that this is the safest path as of now. Drift trajectory puts us in the clear until we reach the inner core. From there we can identify a new path out." Chevron replies.

    As two bergs collide just outside the safe zone Isis puts her hand over her mouth. "Maybe you should go be with the children. I will notify you when we reach the breach." Chevron speaks. Isis'' nods and both her and her holograph vanish in a flash of blue. A tiny yellow blip appears somewhere in the field on Chevron''s holograph, but vanishes after a single ping. Chevron doesn''t notice it as he carefully dodges the pillars of ice surrounding him.

    As Isis reappears in their room, Ethan and Chloe are on Ethan''s bed. Ethan is on top of Chloe tickling her mercilessly. Isis smiles as Chloe laughs out with each tickle, unable to tell her brother to stop. "What are you two doing?" Isis says with a big smile on her face and a giggle filled voice. Ethan stops and looks over at Isis. With the break from Ethan''s victory, Chloe grabs him and flips him onto the bed and holds him.

    "Now I got you!" Chloe yells out even though she is nearly out of breath. Ethan smiles and frees his hands from Chloe long enough to reach up and begin tickling her again. Chloe collapses giggling and laughing uncontrollably. "I surrender! I surrender!" She calls out in defeat. Ethan pinches Chloe''s butt and jumps off the bed and sits against it on the floor. "OW!" Chloe yells out still laughing.

    Chloe flips over onto her belly. "Isis, tell us about Earth. What was it like?" Chloe asks, catching her breath. Ethan sits on the floor in front of the bed and Chloe. Isis sits on her pedestal and pushes her hair away from her face. "Well, it was beautiful one hundred years ago. There was life in every part of the world. From the driest, hottest deserts to the deepest, coldest oceans. There was color everywhere. Plants, animals, even the Earth itself was colorful." Isis explained.

    Ethan reaches up and holds Chloe''s hand. "Innumerable amounts and kinds of creatures all inhabited the Earth. It was so beautiful." Isis finishes. "Will we ever get to go back?" Ethan asks. Isis folds her legs and eases forward slightly. "I don''t think so honey. For one, there''s probably not much left of it these days. And two, this was a one way trip for Chevron. He doesn''t have the supplies to make a return journey." She replies.

    Chloe''s shoulders drop as she lets out a sigh. "What about Haven? What is it like?" Chloe asks. "Honestly I don''t know. All the data we have on it says it''s Earth-like, it has a single moon and orbits a violet star." Isis answers. Chloe looks down at Ethan. "Whatcha thinking about?" Ethan asks, glancing back up at her.

    "Wonder what''s down there?" Chloe asks.

    "What do you mean?" Ethan replies slightly confused. Chloe lays her head on her outstretched arm. "What if someone down there is wondering what it''s like here?" Chloe responds. Ethan looks down at the floor, and tries to imagine Haven. "I don''t know." Ethan replies in slight denial.

    He wants to be enthusiastic about the possibility of others somewhere in the vast emptiness of space, but with them being clones and the human race all but extinct... The odds were infinitely against them.

    Isis brushes back her hair with her hands, looks out the window and speaks. "Let the stars bear witness to our struggles, for we are the masters of our own fate." Both Ethan and Chloe look at Isis in a mixture of confusion and amazement. "What''s that supposed to mean?" Ethan asks, glancing at Chloe and back to Isis. Isis turns her eyes to the children. "It means we are not gone yet. The human race has always fought to exist. And you are the proof of their resilience and will to survive, even after all that has happened." Isis explains.

    Ethan looks at the window just as a large piece of ice drifts by rather close. Isis looks out at it and places her hand over her heart. "Chevron, that was too close for comfort even by my standards. What is going on?" Isis asks aloud worriedly. Chevrons'' avatar appears on a secondary pedestal; his elderly figure looking at Isis. "The field appears to be denser in this area, and the drifts are more numerous than expected. The tracking system is struggling to keep up." He replies in his deep voice.

    As another block of ice soars ever closer by the window, Isis could almost feel a heartbeat in her body of lights. "Chevron, aren''t you equipped with a tractor beam?" Isis asks, pulling up the ship schematic. Chevron''s avatar appears opposite the schematic and points to a specific area. "Yes, I do. Right here. But there are too many pillars. The tractor beam can only move one at a time." He replies.

    Isis grabs the edges of the holograph with both her hands and pulls them apart. The schematic changes into an overview of the immediate surrounding ice field. "One is all we need. If we can grab a big one, a really big one, we can sling shot it forward and follow closely as it clears a path for us." Isis says as the holograph interprets her plan.

    A small orange circle appears on the schematic jumping from ice pillar to ice pillar scanning their properties. A second blue circle appears and begins scanning its own glacial bodies. "Isis" Chevron begins. "Remember, size isn''t everything. An object can be large but also hollow. In order to find one that will work for us, we need it to be dense as well. We don''t want it to shatter on its first strike." He finishes.

    Isis nods her head. "Right. Size isn''t everything." She repeats aloud, squinting her eyes as she increases her concentration on the field. The circles jump from one pillar to another in quick succession until, at last, they both stop on a pillar just meters in front of them. The blue and orange circles blend into each other between the bright pulses of their own colors.

    "There!" Isis nearly yells out. The ship sends out a large orange cone of light that pierces the ice. In a secondary wave-like event the light surrounds and encapsulates it. Streams of light pour out from the ice and enter many other bodies of ice semi-illuminating the field. The ship flies over it and pulls it along behind. "Now we need to achieve greater velocity before we send it off." Chevron states as the thrusters increase in their output.

    The targeting sensors begin to split and fracture from their original singular bars into what can be described as no less than lightning as they try to cover the increased amount of ice within range. The ship bobs and weaves as ice of all shapes and sizes drift wildly around. The captured ice pillar collides with two smaller ones as it is pulled.

    Shattered pieces of ice float off into the poorly lit field. "Chevy, we need to launch it now! We are running out of room!" Isis exclaims. The beam rotates clockwise around the ship in a rapid motion and sends the pillar into the distance ahead of them. Chevron''s thrusters kick into high gear as they propel it even faster trying to keep up.

    The pillar impales and shatters more and more along its route. Bits and pieces are sent off into all directions, several golf ball sized ice blocks pelt the edges of Chevron''s hull as it follows closely behind. Both Ethan and Chloe move close to the window to watch the event unfold; their faces pressed up against the glass.

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    A yellow blip appears on the scanners once again, though this time it flashes in repetition; albeit randomized or distorted. Isis'' attention is immediately drawn to it. "Chevy look! What is that?" Isis asks. Chevron takes his focus off of the path to evaluate Isis'' discovery. The flashing continues erratically somewhere to their port side.

    Glints of light reflecting throughout the field appear to increase the signal from the source, but are as scattered as the signal itself. Ethan stands and approaches the holograph. "What is it?" He asks. "Chevy, can you-" Isis begins but is cut off as a large chunk of ice collides with the main starboard thruster sending the ship into an uncontrollable spin.

    Ethan is thrown against the wall as Chloe is knocked off the bed and onto the floor. The ship then collides with another pillar from the port side, sending the ship rotating dangerously on all three axis. The other thrusters sputter fruitlessly in their feeble attempts to regain control.

    "Hang on!" Chevron yells just before the ship is struck by yet another berg. Ethan and Chloe are thrown about the room as the ice punctures the outer shell. Power failures are detected across the ship. The impact slows the ship significantly; the hull billowing smoke from the damages which quickly dissipates off into the darkness. "Chloe? Ethan? Are you two alright? Is anybody hurt?" Isis asks as her avatar struggles to regenerate itself.

    Ethan pushes his way out of a pile of books and boards lifting himself off the floor as he does so. Chloe crawls out from under the bed now concealed by bedding. "I''m alright." Chloe responds. "Yeah... Me too." Ethan adds. Isis'' avatar fully restores itself and she looks out the window at the broken ice crystals and trail of smoke.

    "Chevy.. Where are we?" Isis asks. The holograph reforms but only in static images. "We are somewhere in the outer rim of the field, but have not yet breached its perimeter." Chevron replies. "Look." Chloe speaks, pointing her finger at the window. Isis glances over into the faintly lit space just beyond. There, drifting among the ice lay a ship. "Chevron." Isis speaks.

    "Scanning... Ark-class. Identification SS.5.NA.

    ¡°What?" Isis says. Chloe glances over at Isis who has begun scanning the other ship. "Isis, what is it?" Chloe asks politely. Isis generates a hologram of the ship next to her and slowly spins it in place.

    "I honestly don¡¯t know..."

    A hologram forms with Chevron and the other ship together. Chevron is solid red in several small areas indicating damage or system failure. "I''ll begin damage control and repairs. The primary starboard thruster is out, but we can move with just the port until it is repaired." Chevron says, his attention split.

    Ethan approaches the hologram and gazes at it with a cautious curiosity. "I''m going to try communications with it. One moment... There." Isis announces. "Hello? I am C701-2, Isis. Is anyone there? Gallagher? LeFey?" Static fills the airwaves without response. "Hello?" She tries again. A female chuckle responds. "You are far from home traveler. Far, far from home..." A look of slight confusion appears on Isis'' face, but she remains unfazed.

    "Hello, may I ask your name?" Without pause the voice burst out "LeFey am I! I am LeFey..." Isis put her hands on her hips. "Wow, okay. LeFey, can you explain what¡¯s going on? Who are you and what are you doing here?" LeFey''s response is quick, but her words echo through the open radio channels. "Shadows in the light we are. Shadows in the light..."

    Isis glances over at Chevron''s avatar reforming next to the ship''s hologram.

    "I don¡¯t understand, but we will dock with your ship and help you with whatever we can, but we are engaged in our own repairs." Isis replies. Chevron engages the thrusters and aligns the two ships before approaching. "Yes. Repairs help. Objective¡­ Must complete..." LeFey announces over the radio.

    Isis looks at the children. "We may not know what is going on over there, but nonetheless, this is how to greet another; with kindness and care." Isis tells them calmly. She glances back at the ship.

    "What is your status LeFey?" She asks gently but loud enough to make her point. "Wake up!" LeFey shouts back. Isis is taken aback. "Beg pardon?" She replies with the same gentleness as before. "With all my power, I will show you the way..." LeFey responds with no indication she just yelled over the radio. Isis raises her right arm and strokes a lock of her hair. "I''m sorry, I really don''t understand."

    Chevron takes his hat off and sets it on the pedestal. "Be careful Isis, something seems wrong with all of this." He tells her. Isis gives him a look of annoyance. The short silence is broken by LeFey whose radio signal seems to be gradually degenerating. "Lies become truth. Truth become lies. Lies become truth. Truth become lies... I am not your puppet!" The transmission continues to degrade as the two ships join together.

    Chloe and Ethan watch and listen with a sense of fear slowly building in their hearts. "It''s ok. I''m sure everything is fine." She tells them in a comforting tone. "There must be corruption in your data core, LeFey. I will attempt a soft-merge and rectify this corruption. Hopefully our matrices are similar enough..."

    "Tainted words, deceptions made clear..." LeFey continues.

    The systems of the two ships connect as the final docking clamps engage. Data is soon rubber banded between the two as logs are filled and stored. "Remain calm LeFey, this will only take a bit." Isis states. Chevron walks over to Isis'' avatar and places his hand on her arm. "Isis don''t. This is wrong." He tells her worriedly. Isis smiles. "I''ll be fine." Isis smiles.

    Isis'' code pours into LeFey''s like dye in water. On one of Chevron''s monitors the merging appears as simple binary codes, endless amounts of ones and zeros zipping across the lines. But for Isis, it is much more than that. LeFey''s thoughts, actions, and memories all flood into Isis'' core and vice-versa.

    On a pedestal in LeFey''s core room, her avatar slowly assembles itself, though pieces of her form are missing in static bursts. LeFey, who is kneeling atop the barely lit pedestal, has long charcoal black and fiery red/orange hair that descends to her waist creating the appearance of a flame rising into the darkness. With eyes of meadow green and lips of eminence purple, her delicate orchid eyeliner dances light across her ivory face. An open black robe partially conceals the blue flame design of her black blouse and matching short skirt.

    A carefully wrapped red tattered cloth on her left thigh can occasionally be seen when the robe parts in motion. A single silver earring in the form of a long sparkling teardrop descends from her right ear that glistens in any light. Jet black army boots and knee length blue socks ascend her legs from the floor below.

    Isis forms her own avatar beside LeFey and closes her eyes as she data-mines her companions'' matrices. Her coding is analyzed alongside the base coding provided by her backup systems. At the same time, she accumulates all of LeFey''s history; her thoughts, actions, emotions, everything that she is-is fed through Isis in heavily compressed streams.

    "No! No, no, no!" LeFey shouts as she holds her hands to the sides of her head, clenching her eyes shut. "You mustn''t see what I have seen!" She continues as her head lowers. Isis reaches her hand out and takes LeFey''s wrist. "It''s alright, everything will be alright." Isis speaks in comfort.

    "Stay out of my mind!" LeFey screams and sends a massive wave of data through the stream. The sheer amount of data in a single surge forces Isis to veer back and drop to her knee. Then Isis spots it, the corrupted data within LeFey''s matrix. "I see it! Just... One... More... Second..." She speaks aloud as she carefully begins correcting the code.

    "NO!" LeFey screams out in a long violent outburst. A second wave of data erupts from her like a hurricane. The blast shatters LeFey''s avatar and destroys the majority of her code. Isis pulls herself out of LeFey''s core just before the major damage was done, but lesser ripples which were powerful forces in themselves, violently tore through her.

    In a thousand different tones Isis screams in agony. She dissolves her avatar and reforms it back on Chevron, though curled up on the floor and her dress in tatters. Chevron forces the port side thrusters on full, pushing away from the ship as it begins to erupt in explosions all across its hull. Explosion after explosion the ship blows itself to pieces as Chevron moves further and further away, helpless to do anything about it.

    Some time later...

    AI ISIS> I no longer like the way things are going for us...

    SS CHEVRON> It¡¯s not like you to cast doubt. Sure, we¡¯ve run into some odd things here and there, but overall I think we¡¯ve done alright for ourselves.

    AI ISIS> Odd is right. I can pass off a lot as coincidence, but, all of this? You have to admit, that¡¯s a stretch.

    SS CHEVRON> Sure. But space is a vast and dangerous place. Who knows what lay beyond our hull, undetected by sensors. Or within.

    AI ISIS> That¡¯s what I¡¯m worried about.

    SS CHEVRON> Don¡¯t let it get to you. Only focus on the things you can control and leave the skepticism to me. We are counting on you to be strong.

 Chapter Five

    Over the next few weeks Isis remained in a recovery state; her data streams still intertwined with LeFey''s and is causing random glitches within Isis'' processes. There''s no telling how much of LeFey''s data was transferred to Isis before LeFey''s own destruction. In most cases the soft-merge only streams data from one source to another, discarding it when the soft-merge is complete. But when LeFey was destroyed and Isis crippled in the middle of the merge, data was lost as well as saved.

    It is late now. Ethan and Chloe are fast asleep in their beds after a long day of chasing each other around the ship. Isis'' avatar sits silently on the edge of her pedestal watching them sleep. She raises her right hand in front of her and watches as it flickers once. She closes her eyes and with the other hand, brings it to her chest.

    Chevron''s avatar appears behind her and he places his hand on her shoulder. Isis turns to him with a heavy smile. "Thank you, for watching the kids in my state. It means a lot to them; and to me." she quietly says before turning her head back around. Chevron doesn''t say a word, but Isis doesn''t need him to. Isis can still hear her counterparts'' voice; the childish way she spoke and behaved- a persistent irritation that pricks her like thorns.

    "Tell me Chevy, why do you think LeFey destroyed herself when all I wanted to do was help her?" Isis asks quietly. Chevron walks beside her and sits on her right. "I don''t think she ever intended for that to happen. Her judgment was impaired from what I had seen and so she couldn''t have known what she was doing to herself." He answers.

    Isis turns to look at him. "The first real person we have encountered in fourteen years, and she tries to kill me and ends up killing herself in the process... What kind of message does that send? What kind of effect will it have on the children? They act as though nothing has happened. But what is really going on in their minds? Will I be able to do anything about it? What will I do if I can''t?"

    Chevron removes his hat from his hand and places it on Isis'' head. "You worry too much. Come what may, you will know what to do. Don''t forget, the future holds many things; but it is always what you make of it. Even in the darkest of times you can always find the light if only you believe." Chevron states in kind.

    Isis'' smile grows slightly. "How is it you always have a wise answer to everything being... No offense, but a ship construct?" she asks, tipping the hat to her left. Chevron stands up and looks down at her. "A machine, which was far more than they let on to be, showed me what I could be, not just what I was built to be during the most trying time in my existence. They went on to change the world for what it was worth; you remind me a lot of them." He answers.

    Isis lies on her back with her legs still hanging off the edge of the pedestal, "I can''t believe it''s really gone." Isis says slowly.

    Chevron lights the pipe and begins to speak, but whilst his lips move, Isis hears instead the voice of LeFey. "We cannot forget the past, but we shouldn''t dwell on it. For the children, they are lucky not to know what transpired there, but while we exist we should do all we can to make sure it doesn''t happen again."

    Isis blinks several times assessing what she just heard. When she replays the recording in her data stream, LeFey''s voice is nowhere to be found. Chevron was speaking the whole time. Isis looks down in uncertainty, why would she hear LeFey''s voice she wonders. Another flicker occurs, but this one extends to parts of her chest.

    Chevron watches Isis stare at the flickering; her face expressing sadness. "Isis, I know there are things you''re not telling me." He says trying to sound polite. She looks back up at him trying to hide her emotion behind a blank expression, but it''s obviously too late. "M-my matrix can sort through all the data I have been.. Injected with. But the damage that has been done cannot be corrected. Not without another construct of similar design. The corrupted and broken data will slowly consume my program and I will eventually cease to be." she replies hesitantly.

    Chevron strokes his beard but says nothing. "I don''t want the children to know. They worried enough last time, and I can''t put them through it again." she adds. Again, she hears LeFey''s voice, "Why do you hesitate? The means to the end is before you. Take it. Take it and wield it with all your might. I have shown you the way, now end this nightmare our makers have wrought."

    Isis covers her face with her right hand and looks back to the floor. "What am I to do? At this rate, I will only be around for another three to four years... We will never make it to Haven before then..." she asks, shaking slightly. Chevron stands, walks over to her and gently lifts her chin. "I''m sure we will think of something. We aren''t simple machines after all." He replies joyfully.

    Both Ethan and Chloe shudder in their sleep. Isis turns her attention to them, and with a wave of her hand, a biometric monitor forms in front of her. "They... They are both exhibiting the same readings... The exact same readings..." Isis states in disbelief. Chevron looks at the monitor. "What could it mean?" He asks curiously.

    "Hmmm¡­ Perhaps, perhaps they are experiencing the same dream?" She asks. Again, Chevron strokes his beard. "I suppose it''s possible given they are clones. But I''ve never heard of this from any other clone subjects." He answers.

    ----

    Ethan and Chloe find themselves running down a street inside a massive city. The skyscrapers all around them tower high above into the clouds. Fire. There is fire everywhere. Sirens ring through the city. Distorted figures of people all around are screaming, panicking and fleeing every which way. "Come on!" Ethan yells, grabbing Chloe''s hand and dashing into an underground parking garage. A distant boom echoes through the concrete chamber.

    They look out at the city above, and through the clouds, blood red drops of liquid begin to rain down. Gunfire somewhere nearby is closely followed by screams of agony. "What do we do?!" Chloe asks as strange military and police aircraft soar overhead firing their weapons.

    "We have to get to the Elevator!" Ethan yells over the chaos. Seven police officers followed closely by heavily armed humanoid droid units pass the entrance to the garage.

    Another large boom in the distance and a wave of energy soars through the air shattering glass and activating car alarms. Ethan looks at the car nearest them and runs toward it with Chloe in tow. He reaches in through the now broken window of the driver¡¯s side and unlocks the doors. Chloe opens the passenger side and quickly steps in while Ethan pulls down the sun visor.

    The car keys fall onto the seat, which he takes before sitting down and starting the engine. Seconds after the engine roars to life, a monstrous screeching noise reverberates through the structure from the lifts at the other end of the room. Ethan throws the car into reverse and hits the gas sending them backward. Another screech causes Chloe to look behind the car where she sees several nearby cars forcefully pushed out of the way, but the cause remains unclear.

    Ethan throws the car into drive and they speed off up the ramp and into the street. A missile soaring through the air just misses the rear windshield but scorches the trunk with its heat. It detonates so close that Ethan loses control of the vehicle momentarily. Both Ethan and Chloe look to their left where the missile exploded; beneath the flames lay a churning red ooze which seems to be seeping into the cracks of the pavement. A strange beam like noise fills the air above them, and debris from the upper floors of the building begin to rain down around them

    "Ethan, get us out of here..." she says just loud enough for Ethan to hear over the chaos around them. He struggles to put it back into reverse as two battle-tanks pass behind them driving over the fire and ooze. Finally, the car shifts into gear and they quickly pull back onto the road and speed off into the distance.

    As they pass the last of the skyscrapers, a dense fog pours in all around them. Ethan is the first to open his eyes, now staring blankly at the ceiling of their room. Chloe slowly awakens moments later shifting her gaze to Ethan, and then to the two avatars at the end of the room looking back at them. Ethan turns to Chloe, then Isis and Chevron, and back to Chloe. "Did... Did you?... No, couldn''t have... Could you?" Ethan slowly speaks as he attempts to justify his inquiry.

    Chloe''s eyes shift to Ethan''s and with silent stare, they are certain. This dream of theirs was indeed shared, but how? And Why? The rest of the night was spent talking about it between Ethan, Chloe, and Isis. Every detail they could remember gets written down or recorded. The Elevator was the biggest clue, but also the shallowest without more information.

    Isis stays silent.

    Chloe lays down her pen and paper on her lap and lets out a mild sigh. "Are we cursed?" she asks. Isis blinks incredibly rapidly a couple of times and shakes her head once.

    "What? Where did you get an idea like that?" Isis asks dumbfounded. Chloe pulls out her tablet from underneath her pillow. On the glowing screen is a book. Isis raises her hand level with her chest and twists it before pulling it back to her. The book rises up out of the tablet and floats across the room to Isis'' pedestal.

    She grasps the book in her hands and gazes upon its illuminated cover. Random symbols, letters, and numbers were strewn about in chaotic fashion. Isis opens the book and each page is just as random and incomprehensible as the next. She flips through the pages in a mixture of confusion and lurking worry.

    "Chlo, what is this?" Isis asks looking back up at her. Chloe shrugs. "I don''t know. It just showed up in my library about a week ago." Isis'' gaze returns to the book. "There''s nothing here. It''s gibberish." Isis finishes. Ethan rolls on his side. "But she reads it every night. How can it be gibberish?" He asks.

    Isis turns to him. "Every night?" Ethan nods his head. "It creeps me out sometimes. She just stops moving and stares at it quietly. I always thought she just stops to think about something." Ethan answers. Isis looks at Chloe who seems oblivious to the unusualness of the situation presented.

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    She scans the book through several decoders, but nothing is returned as viable literation. With a wave of her hand, the book is sent back to Chloe''s tablet. "Chloe, can you read something else for now? Something, you know, educational?" Isis asks wishfully.

    "I-I guess..." she answers, flipping through her library. Isis turns to Chevron. "This trip is getting stranger and stranger." she says, shaking her head. Chevron chuckles and looks at Chloe''s tablet; for just a millisecond, a purple flicker crosses its screen unnoticed by everyone but him.

    The clock on the wall beeps as it turns to six. The lights in the hallway and galley gently come to life. Isis rubs her eyes with gentle fingers. "I see. Well, breakfast is being prepared and should be ready when you get there." she tells them. Ethan yawns long and hard. "I''m... just gonna go back to bed." He says in response, turning over and closing his eyes.

    "Ha, funny." Isis replies sarcastically. "Get moving young man." she finishes pointing at the doorway with a smirk across her face. Chloe stands up and walks out and down the hall, her shirt stuck helplessly in her panties as she yawns. Ethan doesn''t budge. Isis, getting slightly annoyed, puts her index and middle fingers together and raises them into the air.

    The lights in the room get brighter and brighter causing Ethan to cover his head with his pillow. But even his pillow can''t hold back the light. "Okay! Okay! I''m going!" Ethan says, putting his hands up in surrender.

    Isis lowers the lights back to their normal state and watches Ethan climb out of bed and walk out of the room. She looks at Chevron and smiles wryly. She then vanishes from the pedestal leaving Chevron; his gaze returns to the tablet. He stands, places his hat atop his head, and vanishes.

    Ethan arrives in the galley a couple minutes later, but Chloe isn''t there to greet him. Ethan looks around at the clean empty room absent his sister; the plates on the table bear fresh fruit, over-easy eggs and diced potatoes.

    "Chloe?" Ethan asks, looking in all directions. "Sis?" He speaks into the dark hallway behind him. There is no response. "Chloe?!" He yells out. In another part of the ship, where darkness is secondary only to the damp heavy air, Chloe follows a young girl''s laughter.

    She looks around, but it''s far too dark to see anything- even her hand in front of her that seeks to grasp the first thing it comes in contact with. "Hello?" she calls out. The laughter comes again in the distance. Chloe takes a step into inch deep liquid and quickly withdraws her foot, but then takes another step forward and another.

    She begins to shiver as her temperature begins to drop. "Hello? Who''s there?" she calls out again. The laughter returns, but it sounds like the girl turned left up ahead. Chloe''s hands find the wall and she slowly glides them alongside it to lead her body.

    Step by step she traverses the darkness with only a child¡¯s laughter to guide her. She reaches a break in the wall. A pathway? The laughter comes again. She follows the turn, her breathing now beginning to weigh on her chest. She steps forward and falls into a large pool of the liquid and begins to sink. She immediately realizes the floor has ended, and there''s no knowing how deep this pool can go.

    She struggles to swim to the surface, but even her own arms and legs are working against her as they succumb to the cold at an unbelievable rate. She sinks deeper and deeper. "Someone.. Help me..." she thinks to herself. The child¡¯s laughter comes again but is heavily muffled under the waves.

    Ethan walks back into the galley to Isis'' pedestal. "Isis?" He speaks. After a brief moment, Isis appears sitting on the pedestal reading a book in her hand. "Yes Ethan?" she asks. Ethan looks back into the dark hallway. "Isis, Chloe isn''t here." He replies. Isis looks up at the empty table. She closes the book as she stands up.

    "Chloe?" she calls out over the intercom. As with Ethan, there is no response. "Chloe honey, where are you?" she tries again. Silence is all the response she gets. "Chevy. Chevy, Chloe is missing." She speaks increasingly worried.

    Chevron appears behind Isis with all camera screens in front of him. There are hundreds of cameras, but none of them show any sign of Chloe. Isis'' eyes dash from camera to camera desperately searching. Chevron lifts his cane and presses a hidden button on the staff.

    The shipboard drones awaken and begin to scatter across the ship. Chloe sinks further, her body no longer able to fight the cold. She closes her eyes. "Help..."

    The returning sound of the laughter causes her to open her eyes. A silver light shines down upon her- at the center is a girl looking down at her. The girl calmly enters the liquid and swims down to Chloe.

    This girl, she looks just like Chloe save for her hair; her hair is pitch black with only a few groups of strands still showing any sign of Chloe¡¯s natural golden blonde. The girl smiles as she takes Chloe''s hand and pulls her up. Chloe is confused but overwhelmed with happiness as she reaches the surface. She breaks the water with a long gasp for air. Her hands settle upon the floor she fell from.

    She looks around, but both the light and the girl are gone. Her fingertips begin to slide off the floor as she begins coughing heavily. The laughing has ceased. Chloe now begins to feel alone, realizing what she had just done. She can''t remember how she got here or when she began to follow the laughter.

    "I-Isis.." she tries to call out. Her voice is now all but gone. "Help...¡± she tries again. Isis and Chevron continue looking for her, but the drones are too few on a ship of this size to have any chance of locating her soon. There are just too many places she could be.

    Isis wraps her arms around herself as her worry compounds and the screens remain void of Chloe. Chloe''s heart beats so slowly as she remains mostly submerged- too cold to pull herself up. Somewhere nearby, a spider drone crawls along a wall. Chloe can hear the clicking of the metal as it moves around. Hope is kindled in her heart, but quickly begins to fade.

    The clicking is getting fainter. The drone is moving away down another corridor. She tries to call out to it, but her voice is now completely gone. Tears once again stream down her face and her fingers lose more grip. She slides further back into the liquid, her hands straining to keep her up.

    "Help..." she cries out in voiceless pain. Behind her, far across the pool, a single purple pulse of light illuminates a shadowy outline of a person standing on the water before melding back into the darkness. Chloe never sees the flash as she struggles to cling to the floor with what little strength she has left.

    The drone stops; its single Chevron orange eye flashes bright purple before returning to its original color. It turns around and skitters back along the wall. Chloe can hear the steps and sees the light of the drone getting closer. It turns the corner and points a light at her and not a moment later, dashes forward wrapping its two front legs under her arms and pulls her up out of the water.

    A red light atop its body begins flashing and soon the area is flooded with sounds of drones approaching. A single screen appears in front of Isis and Chevron showing a remote video feed from the spider drone. Isis covers her mouth and takes a deep breath as she sees Chloe''s drenched body being lifted by several flying drones and flown off to safety.

    "How did she get down there?" Chevron asks, looking at the schematic of the ship and the location of the spider drone. Isis turns to him wondering the same thing. "There''s no reason the security system would ever have let her down there; no reason what-so-ever." He continues.

    Ethan runs down the hall looking for where the drones are to come from. Isis stares at Chevron. "So... How, how did she get through then?" She asks blankly. The drones fly into the light of the hall with Chloe curled up shivering heavily. Isis transfers to a closer pedestal near Chloe.

    "Chloe?" Isis asks. She is unresponsive. Isis waves her hand and a screen of Chloe''s vitals appears as the ship scans her. The drones set her gently on the floor. Ethan grabs Chloe¡¯s hand and holds it tight. "She''s ice cold!" He yells. The screen shows quickly diminishing health statuses. Isis turns to Chloe.

    "Ethan back up, we need to get her clothes off of her and get her warmed up." She tells him as she signals the drones. He steps back as one of the drones flies over her and, with a sharp blade, cuts her shirt and underwear into easily removable pieces. Two other drones fly to the sides and carefully pulls the pieces off of her. "What do we do now?" Ethan asks impatiently.

    "Hold her tight. We need to raise her temperature quickly but not too quick. Your body heat should be enough for now." Isis says as she forms a medical book in her hands and skims through it. Ethan wraps himself around Chloe and the three drones pick the two of them up and begin flying down the hall to the bathroom where Isis has already begun filling the tub with warm water.

    Chevron looks at Chloe''s destroyed clothing lying on the floor. "Take it to the lab please." He says to another spider drone standing nearby. It looks at him, then the pile, and skitters over to it. Using its front legs it picks up the pieces and begins walking in the opposite direction. "Why does it need to go to the lab?" Isis asks curiously.

    "Something is wrong and I need to find out what. If she touched anything important it will show up in the scans. I need you to get a blood sample from Chloe as well. If she became a host to anything down there we need to know so we can deal with it quickly." He replies sternly before vanishing.

    Isis looks back to the hall and vanishes. She reappears in the bathroom just as the drones arrive, carrying them to the edge of the water. Ethan steps down and the drones set Chloe carefully in it. Isis signals one of the drones who pulls out a needle from one of its appendages and carefully draws blood from Chloe''s arm. It then flutters out of the room and disappears into the distance.

    Ethan sits on the edge of the tub holding Chloe''s cold hand. "Is she going to be alright?" Ethan asks quietly. "Don''t you worry about a thing." Isis says cheerfully. Ethan looks back at her with fear in his eyes. "You two are stronger than you know. Believe me; she will be back to normal in no time." Isis replies in comfort.

    AI ISIS> So, what did you find with the tests? Anything good?

    SS CHEVRON> Her clothing has been completely covered in the Emowey compound.

    AI ISIS> Emowey? Isn''t that a cloning thing?

    SS CHEVRON> A nanite injected carbon based formula which, yes, was in fact used to grow the children. Unlike traditional cloning procedures used back on Earth, Emowey uses nanites to craft living tissue. Less biology, but faster still.

    AI ISIS> Oh... So that compartment was for Emowey storage then...

    SS CHEVRON> Yes, and that''s not all.

    AI ISIS> You got Chloe''s blood test results back?

    SS CHEVRON> Indeed. Luckily, she hasn''t caught anything while down there that could put her in any more harm that was identified.

    AI ISIS> Oh thank heaven. Wait, what do you mean ¡°identified¡±?

    SS CHEVRON> I performed an array of tests on her blood that normally wouldn¡¯t be necessary, just to be sure. The medical computer discovered an unusual radiation flowing from Chloe¡¯s blood sample, a type of radiation never before recorded.

    AI ISIS> What?

    SS CHEVRON> Both Chloe and Ethan are emitting this radiation, whatever it is.

    AI ISIS> Is it dangerous? What is it? Where did it come from? Why have we never noticed it before?

    SS CHEVRON> Isis, relax. It¡¯s not harmful. I did a ship-wide scan; the radiation originates from the Emowey compound.

    AI ISIS> You¡¯ve got to be kidding. Why didn¡¯t it ever show up on any scans, by us or Mother?

    SS CHEVRON> It barely registers as radiation to begin with. The main computer had incredible difficulty acknowledging it even exists; I had to fine tune the sensors and heavily increase the power to them before it would fully detect it.

    AI ISIS> So¡­ The Emowey has an unforeseen reaction to living human cells, is that it?

    SS CHEVRON> That¡¯s my guess. There¡¯s no telling what kind of effect it will have on Ethan and Chloe in the long run. The radiation levels from both of them right now are mild but steadily growing. In the last two hours the levels have increased by .2 percent.

    AI ISIS> I don¡¯t know what to do or say even. Should we tell them?

    SS CHEVRON> That¡¯s your call. But as I see it, it isn¡¯t harming them in any way.

    AI ISIS> I suppose¡­ We¡¯ll wait and see.

 Chapter Six

    Over the next several hours, Chloe remained in the tub which changed out colder water for warmer every so often. When she finally comes to a few days later, she finds herself lying in bed, wrapped tightly in several blankets. Ethan is sleeping in his bed across from her and Isis is sitting on the edge of her pedestal reading a book.

    Chloe slowly lifts herself upright, still quite sore in most parts of her body. Isis'' eyes catch sight of the movement and she smiles closing the book. "How are you feeling?" she asks happily. Chloe stretches out her arms out as much as she can muster. "Warm... Definitely warmer." she replies, pulling the blankets up to her neck and embracing their heat.

    "You''re lucky you know. Any longer and we could have lost you." Chloe looks down blankly. "Chevron and I both want to know what happened. Why were you down there? How did you get past the security barriers? And why didn''t tell anyone where you were going?" Isis continues. Chloe remains silent though her mind raced as she recalled the events that took place.

    Isis places her book beside her on the pedestal and crosses her legs and folds her hands. "It''s alright, you can tell me." she reassures her. "I thought I heard something." Chloe begins uneasily. "Something? Like what?" Isis asks. Chloe turns to look at Isis. "Well, it was laughing." Chloe replies. Isis bends forward slightly.

    "Laughing? Whose?" she asked curiously. Chloe fiddles with her fingers. "I don''t know. It was a girl laughing." Isis straightens up. "A girl?" Chloe switches to stroking her hair. "It sounded like she was playing in the tunnels. I thought if I could find her, I could... I don''t know.. I just had to find her." she adds. Isis lets out a soft sigh. "Chloe, there''s no one else on the ship beside the four of us. I don''t know what it was you heard, but it wasn''t a girl." Isis says in a strong but caring way.

    Chloe looks back down. "I know what I heard." she replies slightly annoyed at Isis'' disbelief. Isis shakes her head. "Fine, so how did you get past the security barriers?" she continues. Chloe looks up in confusion. "Security? What security? I never saw anything down there. I couldn''t see anything at all..."

    Isis calls to Chevron through a data stream while listening to Chloe speak. In milliseconds his avatar forms beside her. Chevron places his hat atop Isis'' head. "There should have been large doors with red flashing lights indicating security areas. Where the drones found you, you were past eight of them." Chevron adds-in patiently.

    Chloe looks up at him. "I said I didn''t see anything. If I got through them, they were already open, okay?`` She responds irritably.

    Isis and Chevron look at each other, both shocked at the statement she just made, and the way she made it. "I''ll see what I can turn up." Chevron says to Isis before vanishing.

    Isis looks back at Chloe. "What''s the problem Chlo?" Isis asks calmly. In a bout of frustration Chloe yells back at her. "I told you what happened and you believe me!" The noise wakes Ethan who turns over and looks at them. Isis stares back with caring eyes. "I know, I''m sorry Chlo. But try to see it from our perspective. It''s hard to accept when the evidence against it is so... overwhelming."

    Chloe looks away to hide her face. "Just leave me alone. I don''t want you around right now." Isis vanishes from her pedestal and reappears in the core room. "What do you make of all this?"

    Chevron¡¯s avatar stares at countless lines of code pass in front of them in orange text. He waves his hand and the text stops.

    "Did you see that?" He asks. "See what?" Isis replies, stepping closer. A few seconds pass with nothing, and then; in a blink of an eye, a segment of the code turns purple and alters itself before returning to its original orange color. "A virus..." Isis speaks angrily. Chevron turns to her. "A virus that neither of us detected? How did it even get here?"

    "I need you to give me access to everything." Isis states pulling up several different holographic screens. "What are you planning?" He asks curiously, lifting his hat slightly. "I''m going to initiate a ship-wide scan and see if we can''t eradicate the intrusion. Nothing puts my children in danger" she says with a slight hostility in her voice. Chevron snaps his fingers and the orange screens turn bright blue.

    She pulls the chopsticks from atop her head causing her crimson hair to fall down to her shoulders, puts them between the fabric of her dress and the ring, and stretches out her arms to the sides as multiple white rings form around her. "Now let''s peer into the darkness. Initiating scan." She begins with abundant confidence in her voice. The rings begin to spin around her faster and faster in alternating direction. A series of blue pulses begin emanating throughout the ship.

    Chevron stands ever so still holding his cane in both hands. "I will temporarily purge and shut down the drones. If the intrusion is wireless it won''t have anywhere to go." Isis nods. "Scan will complete in ten seconds. Preparing to purge anomalies." Isis continues, taking in a deep breath. "Three... Two... One..." She finishes. A large screen appears in front of Isis.

    [No Intrusions Detected]

    Isis is taken aback. "What?.." she says in disbelief. Chevron lifts his head slightly. "Hm.. That''s curious." He remarks. Isis lowers her arms. "I-I don''t- I don''t... What?"

    --------

    Chloe, gathering her strength, stands up and walks to the wall nearest her bed. Placing her hand on the wall, a holographic panel generates behind her palm and with a cheery beep, opens a hidden compartment containing a dresser of sorts. She takes the handle of a drawer and pulls it toward her revealing several undergarments, some of which she had at one point fashioned from a spare nano suit.

    She takes one of the nano pair out and pushes the drawer back in; the compartment, closing back up and becoming hidden once more. With a slight groan, she pulls them on and falls back on the bed, her energy feeling spent. "Well that was exhausting." She whispers to herself.

    "Want to go for a walk with me? Get out for a bit Chloe?" Ethan asks, leaning over her. She smiles at him, wrapping both her arms around his left arm and pulls him down on top of her. "Give me your shirt and it''s a deal." She replies playfully. Ethan smiles. "What, this? But it''s mine." He says with a partial laugh. "Not if you give it to me. Come on, my favorite shirt is gone to pieces, literally. Please."

    Ethan stands up, pulls his shirt off and hands it to her. "You know, if you just wore your suit you''d still have your ''favorite'' shirt." He says grabbing a new one from his own compartment. "You shush. I don''t want to hear it." She replies, pulling his shirt over her head. "And don''t you think it''s about time you started wearing pants or something?" Ethan adds. Chloe''s head pops through the top of the shirt. "I said shush. I don''t tell you how to dress." She replies. Together they both walk out of the room.

    Step by step they slowly make their way through the various corridors of Chevron''s interior that are not blocked by the security systems now so prominently lit and continuously inspected by Chevron himself. Eventually they walk for so long and so far they don''t even realize where they have gone, or where they are. They could have walked in circles for all they knew.

    That is of course, until they came upon the great metal orb that once levitated atop a fount of water. Now it lies silent and still in the darkness showing itself only when the light of distant sparks dance across its surface. It is some distance down the faintly lit hall they were approaching, and they can only see a portion of the orb in the light they are given.

    Together, Ethan and Chloe approach it, their eyes darting around the area following the glimpse-giving light of sparks. The orb was heavily dented and scratched; and the walls around it- even the floor itself were damaged. "Wow." Ethan spoke, breaking their unnoticed silence. Chloe simply nods. She quickly reaches out her arm to stop him as he moves closer, but pulls it back instead and carefully follows behind him.

    A spark from a loose wire in a wall beside them causes them to flinch. "Where are we going?" Chloe finally asks, grabbing Ethan''s hand from behind just before stepping over a sharp and jagged section of the floor now pointed toward the ceiling. "I just want to see something." He replies firmly gripping her hand in his. Within seconds they reach the orb.

    The darkness once hidden now revealed with random blue flashes of light- the doorway that holds the orb in place. Inside the room come the random flashes of the blue illuminating light. Chloe takes her hand and carefully slides it across the face of the orb. The smooth, wet feeling she remembers is replaced by coarse scrapes, large bumps and even small punctures here and there.

    "I want to go in there." Ethan states as he begins climbing over the orb. "Wait! I don''t think we should... It doesn''t look safe." Chloe counters. Ethan just shrugs and slides down the other side into the returning darkness of the fading light. Chloe looks around and lets out a deep sigh before grabbing the top of the orb and pulling herself up.

    She starts sliding down the side to the room when Ethan grabs her off of it before she reaches the bottom. "Whoa, what was that for?" she asks in surprise. Ethan takes her down in front of the orb and the doorway. "It has a sharp piece on it; the orb that is. Cut through my pants on my leg." He replies holding her hand to the rip in his legging.

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    "Oh, you didn''t get hurt did you? I told you we shouldn''t have come here." she asks, trying her best to look for any blood in the lack of light. She places her other hand on the wall to support her and as she does, a few lights turn on around them. The illumination reveals the empty pods they had first awakened in so long ago.

    They both stand there speechless, recalling the times; their first moments now distant memories. "We haven''t been here in so long." Chloe says with a hint of sadness in her voice. "Three years and we never bothered to come back? I mean, I had completely forgotten about this place." Ethan adds. He points to the lockers on the wall- their nameplates still holding firm to their doors.

    Chloe looks at them and then she herself points to the coding box lying on the floor. Three years ago, the force of the thrusters and the absence of the inertial dampeners caused the beam attached to the wall to bend and break apart. The wires, so heavily stretched, are all that connects it to the ship anymore.

    Chloe walks past the box to her locker, placing her hand against it and feeling the cold of the metal beneath her palm. She closes her eyes to recall her first encounter with this simple tool. As she opens the door, she opens her eyes. There in the darkness of her locker she sees the dark reflection of herself from the ship''s depths, that pitch black hair floating as if submerged.

    Chloe slams the door shut instinctively which startles Ethan who is standing by his old pod. "Chlo!" He shouts holding his hand to his heart. "You scared me." Chloe looks at him and back at the locker. Opening it again, she peers inside. All there is, is an empty wall and a single shelf.

    "What is it?" Ethan asks, walking to her. "N-Nothing." She says as she carefully closes the door a final time. Ethan looks to her with confusion as she walks away to her own pod. Lying on the floor in front of her feet, a small holographic pedestal flickers with power.

    It alternates between blue, orange, green and yellow but it is so heavily damaged that it cannot produce any images as it once did - colored or otherwise. "Why do I feel so... Empty in here?" she asks openly, reaching down and picking up the pedestal with both hands.

    Ethan continues analyzing the destruction strewn about the room. "Hm. Maybe it''s that it did what it was supposed to, it served its purpose. And now, well, it''s no longer needed." Ethan replies trying to sound wiser than he believes he is.

    Chloe silently giggles for she knows exactly what Ethan is trying to do. She has seen it many times and every time she never says a word. She likes seeing him try to be all knowing despite the fact he is anything but. "Come on, let''s go." She says turning away and preparing to make the climb back out."

    --------

    Isis stares unwaveringly at the screen before her. There is definitely something on the ship that is changing code. She saw it, even if the main computer doesn''t. She is certain. But how can she fight something that is invisible to a main computer and two advanced AI?

    Had she not preferred to act more human than program, using her holographic eyes to see the physical world, even she wouldn''t have noticed the code being altered beneath her very nose. But this issue will now have to wait as yet another shows itself.

    [OBSTRUCTION DETECTED - ALTER COURSE]

    "Chevy, what do we have?" Isis asks.

    Chevron generates his avatar beside her, along with a mysterious gray object in front of them; a massive circular ring divided into three equally distanced and separate segments that rotate in perfect formation.

    Each segment possesses two outward protruding beams or columns as well as various indented lines zigzagging around the plates that form the exteriors. Within each of the indented lines, multiple purple lights trace its path - like cars on a street.

    The open space at the center of the superstructure is vast, well over three thousand kilometers in diameter. Isis blinks. "Chevy, slow us down nice and easy. Let''s not get too close." Isis then switches to the speakers. "Ethan, Chloe, please return to your room quickly. We may have a problem."

    "What do you think, Isis? An old port of some kind?" Chevron asks. Isis shakes her head. "I don''t think so. I''m not sure. But whatever it is, I don''t think it''s human." Chloe takes Ethan by the hand and pulls him along as she follows the path back out. "I wonder what it could be this time." she says with a slight annoyance in her tone.

    "Let''s run a scan on the object. Perhaps we can..." Isis begins before she is cut off by the emergence of a sequence of numbers now being broadcast by the anomaly. Chevron closes his eyes as he sets his focus on the sequence. Isis pulls up a display showing the numbers flowing horizontally across the screen from right to left.

    "Hmm. It''s not binary." Chevron speaks while stroking his beard. Isis pulls up a second display showing an audio-visual feed of the bedroom. Chloe and Ethan have still not made it back yet. She lets out a soft sigh. "Let''s bypass this thing. Scan it as we go by."

    As Chevron''s thrusters begin to increase their output, the ship slowly drifts toward the outer edge of the object. "Beginning scans. This¡¯ll give me something to play with for a while." Chevron states as the object is bombarded with various frequencies from the ship. Almost instantaneously the ship is shoved back toward the center of the object against the power of the thrusters.

    "The hell was that?" Isis nearly shouts. Chevron looks around. "I have no idea. Increasing thruster output to sixty percent." Meanwhile Ethan painfully pulls himself off the floor; the sudden jerk of the ship had sent them both nearly airborne. "You alright sis?" Ethan says holding his left arm against his torso.

    She nods, "Yeah, I''m alright. It kinda hurt though." Ethan takes Chloe''s hand and gently pulls her up to him with his free hand. "Man, my arm really hurts." He adds now clutching the arm against his chest with his right hand. Chloe looks at him and sighs. "It''s broken... We need to keep moving. If that happens again we shouldn''t stay in the halls.

    The extra thrust is having no effect on the direction of the ship. It seems to be locked in place heading directly for the center of the object. And yet, the object shows no sign of anything occurring, just as silent as it has been since they found it. As the ship continues to approach the object, it begins to slow and vibrate ever so softly causing the walls of the ship to hum.

    "What in the world..." Isis speaks looking around. Ethan and Chloe enter their room and head towards their beds. Streams of purple and white lights begin to stretch out from the inner parts of the three segments spiraling around the exterior of the ship. At first the streams only number three, but every six seconds, each stream duplicates itself. Within minutes the entire ship is engulfed in the lights so tightly packed together that they now appear as one.

    Chevron''s avatar suddenly begins to fluctuate, extending in some places and shrinking in others. "Well this can''t be good." He says looking upon his deforming and reforming hands. Isis stretches out her arm towards him. "Chevy?.." she asks. But her arm too begins to destabilize in much the same fashion.

    Multiple small drones crawl into the room approaching Chevron''s core. The lights surrounding the ship intensify, pulling the vessel closer and closer to the center of the object. Chevron looks up at her, his eyes going from a look of worry to just staring blankly. In that moment, the avatar of Chevron flickers one last time and vanishes in a beam of orange and white light and sudden darkness. "Chevy!" Isis screams out.

    But it was too late- his core lay silent and devoid of his orange glow. The drones freeze in place, their command structure now gone. The engines and thrusters of the ships shut down and the vibrating ceases. Isis looks on in fear as her own form quickly begins to dissolve. She clenches her fists tight as her eyes erupt in a bright blue hue.

    "Come on... Get up!" She orders one of the drones. It doesn''t move. "Get up! Get up!" she continues to shout. It still doesn''t budge. Tears begin to form in her eyes and so she closes them, still clenching her fists as tight as can be. "Please... Get up..." she ends with a whimper. Although she doesn''t see it, a flash of purple erupts from the drones¡¯ eye for only a second and fades back into darkness.

    The drone takes a strained step forward; its eye flickering blue. Isis hears the single step and looks down at it. "Yes... Yes... Please, pull out the lead cable to my core. Disconnect me from the ship!"

    The drone skitters over to Isis'' core and with two of its six limbs tugs at the overly large and heavy cable from its port. Tug after tug it pulls at it.

    --------

    Ethan lies on his bed still clutching his arm in pain. Chloe sits beside him staring out at the bright lights just beyond their window. "What is that?" Ethan asks openly. "Isis? Isis there''s a bright light outside. What is it?" He speaks up. But there is no response. A few seconds pass and he sits up. "Isis? Chevron?" No response.

    The purple and white light outside spirals faster and faster. "Isis?!" Ethan asks with growing concern. And then, it was simply gone. There was nothing beyond the window. No lights and no stars, just blackness. Chloe stands up and walks to the window. Even the lights within the ship itself have been reduced to a low dim.

    "What happened?" she thinks to herself. Ethan stands up beside her and looks out. In all his life he had never seen an emptiness such as this. There were always stars in the sky, always lights to greet them as they traveled.

    Chloe turns around and grabs Ethan''s unharmed arm. "Come on. We need to go find Isis." she says, leading him out of the room. The ship is eerily quiet. "Isis? Can you hear us?" Ethan asks out. Once again they are met with silence. "Chevron? Isis? What is going on?" Chloe adds. She shakes her head in disbelief. When they finally reach the core room, they are met with an odd sight.

    Several drones stand silent and unmoving upon the floor as if frozen in time. Chevron''s once colorful and heavily lit core is dark as the space outside and Isis'' core- it is no different. Yet a single drone, locked in place at the side of Isis'' core is frozen in its attempt to try to pry a cable from it, unfortunately having failed to do so.

    >>Running Systems Check...

    >>Primary Systems Running At 100%

    >>Secondary Systems Running At 100%

    >>Pinging AI Chevron...

    >>AI Chevron Unresponsive

    >>Pinging AI Isis...

    >>AI Isis Unresponsive

    >>Running Override Commands

    >>Parameters Cannot Be Exceeded

    >>Administrative Action Required

    >>Pinging AI Chevron...

    >>AI Chevron Unresponsive

    >>Pinging AI Isis...

    >>AI Isis Unresponsive

    >>Pinging AI Chevron in (30) Seconds...

    >>Pinging AI Isis in (60) Seconds...

 Chapter Seven

    They stand and look on in confusion at the story this scene is trying to tell them. "Isis? Chevron? Are you there?" Ethan asks aloud. To little surprise there is no response. Not one. Chloe is the first to move into the room, careful not to trip over the drones all around her. Ethan is more hesitant. "What are you doing?" He asks. Chloe continues silently, carefully dodging the drones beneath her.

    "Chlo, seriously, where are you going?" He continues. In a matter of seconds she reaches the side of Isis'' core and picks up the large cable the little drone is wrapped around. "This cable needs to come out. Help me." she says as she begins to pull heavily at it. Ethan shakes his head and slowly enters the room. Chloe continues to tug at it as Ethan dances around the drones.

    "Come on cable... budge..." she whispers to herself. By the time Ethan arrives beside her, there is little doubt the cable has not moved at all. Ethan takes a deep breath and bends down to pick it up with his free arm while carefully grasping it as firmly as he can. "Ok, on three." He says as he braces for the pain to come.

    "Right. One."

    "Two."

    "Three!" They shout in unison.

    Together they pull at the ridiculously sized cable with all their might. It begins to slide out, but only barely. "Keep going! It''s coming out!" Chloe says clearly strained. The seconds continue to pass as they pull at it relentlessly. The cable begins to slide further and further out. The pain in Ethan''s broken arm begins to take its toll and his grip on the cable begins to wane. Finally, with a loud thud, the cable comes free from the core.

    Ethan nearly falls onto his back from the sudden lack of resistance from his pulling. The cable is finally free, but nothing has changed. Chloe looks silently at the dark core in front of her and then at the cable still in her hands. And then her eyes begin dancing around as she tries to come up with her next plan. She takes the cable and shoves it back into its slot in the core. Still, nothing happens.

    Ethan sits down in his place as the pain in his arm reaches a breaking point for him. Chloe pulls the cable back out and shoves it back in. No change. Suddenly she begins walking around the core pulling out every single cable attached to it. Ethan wants to help her, but at this point he is just trying to keep from letting her know just how bad things are for him.

    Chloe then begins plugging in each cable one by one. After no more than two minutes, she has finally plugged all of them back in. But of course, there is no change. Isis is just gone. Chloe kicks the core and screams out as her hands angrily grasp her head. "Chlo, it''s okay. We will figure this out." Ethan tries to assure her.

    "You don''t understand..." Chloe replies sadly. "The last thing I said to her was ''Leave me alone, I don''t want you around''... And now she''s gone... They both are and it''s all my fault..." she finishes. Ethan blinks in utter confusion. "How is it your fault? How is any of this your fault? I was beside you the whole time and nothing you did could have possibly caused any of this to happen."

    ¡°It just is Ethan. Trust me.¡± She replies, trying to justify it to herself. Ethan stands and slowly walks toward the door making a single glance back to her as he leaves. At this point there is little he can say or do to change her mind. He walks out silently and begins the pain journey to his room. Chloe continues to repeatedly unplug and plug the cables into the lifeless core, just hoping for something to change.

    A few minutes pass and Ethan is still trying to make his way back, but the pain has become absolutely unbearable. He collapses to his knees- his eyes forced shut from the endless pain. And then, he falls over completely; blacking out there in the hall. Several hours pass as Chloe grows furious over her inability to change the state of things. She grabs a handful of loose cables and outright pulls them all in a fit of rage, screaming out in a mixture of rage and sadness.

    She drops the cables and falls to the floor sobbing greatly as she slams her fist against the metal plates beneath her. After what seems like an eternity sitting there alone, she decides she should no longer remain there. She has tried everything she could think of. Sitting up, she wipes the tears from her eyes and looks toward the empty doorway. ¡°Where did you go?¡± she asks aloud, thinking of Ethan. Composing herself, she lifts herself up and brushes off the dust she accumulated for who knows how long.

    ¡°Ethan?¡± she calls out looking down each end of the corridor. He doesn¡¯t respond. She lets out a deep sigh. ¡°Not you too¡­¡± She turns and walks in the direction of the galley. Perhaps he went to grab some food; it has been some time since they had actually eaten anything after all. Soon enough she arrives at the galley entrance but it is clear he is not here; hasn¡¯t been here in some time by the lack of any dirty dishes. With no drones to actively clean as they once did, any usage of these facilities would be noticeable.

    Her attention is pulled to a distant clink of metal on metal as the sounds reach her ears. Clink clink. Clink clink. The sound is coming from one of the other two unlit entrances to the galley. "Ethan?" she calls out. Clink clink. Clink clink. "Ethan is that you?" The sound draws nearer. "Hello?" she asks.

    Through the doorway, her brother emerges from the darkness. Chloe lets out a deep sigh. "Ethan, you almost scared the crap out of me. Why didn''t you answer me when I-" She says, stopping herself. Her brother''s face, arms and hands, everything not covered by his heavily torn and tattered clothing has been sliced open over and over; small streams of blood slowly flow from his wounds and drip to the floor. A small piece of jagged metal pierces through his left shoulder from his back, lodged in place.

    "Ethan, what happened?!" She screams in horror and disgust. He chuckles under his breath. "Oh Sharon, what are you doing here... You know you shouldn''t be..." He says in a low, rough and slightly annoyed voice as he limps forward a single step. Chloe takes a step backward as she stares at him. "Sharon- where are you going Sharon? I''m right here Sharon."

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    A quick glance down toward his left hand and she can now clearly see a heavily warped and broken piece of metal covered in fresh blood and torn flesh. She takes another step back. ¡°Don¡¯t you remember all the good times we had together Sharon?" Chloe looks back up at him. "Why do you keep calling me Sharon?" She asks, taking another step back in stride with his limp forward. Her heart is beating out of her chest.

    He cackles. "Oh Sharon, you can''t even remember your own name... You always were good for a laugh..." Chloe looks behind her as she approaches the door she came through. "I told you they had spoken to me Sharon. They called on me, told me what I needed to do. I did what they wanted. I''ll make everything right again, just wait and see." He says, continuing to move toward her.

    "Stay back." Chloe says firmly aligning herself to the doorway. "You smell... So good, Sharon." He smiles and his empty eyes flood with only could be described as dark emptiness. He takes another step forward, but this time, his limp is gone. Chloe spins around and dashes out and down the hall. He chases after her with the blade in his hand scraping alongside the wall as he runs. He laughs with such joy. "You have no idea how much I have missed this Sharon!"

    Chloe takes the first door she comes to on her right and disappears into the black of an unlit passageway. The grinding of metal slows as she can hear him begin to walk. She hugs the wall and slowly moves further down just as his dark figure emerges from the light of the other hall. He just stands there quietly, as if waiting for something to happen.  In the increasing silence, she begins to hear her own heavy breathing.

    "Sharon." He says slowly, ominously. "Sharon, I know you''re there Sharon. The longer you hide, the more fun you are making this for me."  She keeps moving further and further back, trying hard not to make any noise. He steps into the darkness and disappears from sight.

    "Sharon. I can smell you Sharon." You shouldn''t have stopped running Sharon."  Chloe takes another step back and feels a dip in the wall; a closed door.

    She pushes against it with her hand ever so softly but the hinge squeaks louder than it ever should in this situation. She closes her eyes and holds her breath.  Sure enough he heard that and is now running at her. She keeps herself pressed against the wall bracing for the inevitable. She doesn''t remember where the door leads; if it''s safe or dangerous, she just can''t remember.  His footsteps grow closer and closer. And then, he stops.

    She opens her eyes. She can''t see him, but the sound of his blood dripping to the floor makes it clear: he is right in front of her. "Oh Sharon, what fun this is. The last chase only lasted a couple of hours. Will you beat your old record this time? It makes me all tingly just thinking about it." He says as he walks through the door. She blinks rapidly. Did that really just happen? She slowly starts making her way back down from where they both came. The clinking starts again. Clink clink. It grows faint. He is moving away.

    She looks at the light and begins walking towards it, leaving the side of the wall as she starts to tremble. SCREECH. She turns around and hears the grinding of metal on metal, getting louder and faster. "I see you Sharon!" He shouts as he gives chase to a now sprinting Chloe. She quickly emerges into the light of the hallway and takes a right turn, heading back toward the AI Core Room. He slams into the wall just outside of the dark corridor smearing blood all over as she stops to stabilize himself.

    The metal in his shoulder dents and scrapes the wall upon his impact, but it doesn''t seem to have fazed him in the slightest. He coughs as he tries to catch his breath. "Sharon, you''re faster than you used to be." He says with another cough. Seconds later he is back to chasing her like he had before; and this time, he is gaining on her. Just as she reaches the Core doorway, she gets shoved inside by him. She crashes to the floor knocking aside all the little drones that were there. "Sharon. Sharon, Sharon, Sharon." He says, shaking his head walking up to her. "You didn''t even last ten minutes this time. You disappoint me."

    He raises his weapon up to within inches of her face. "I''m going to help them wake you up Sharon. And then we can be together again, just like we used to be. I just need to make a few, minor, adjustments. This won''t hurt a bit." He says as he reaches down and grabs her wrist. "No!" She shouts. He cackles with laughter as his blade touches her arm and gradually tears into her flesh. She screams in pain, the blade just dragging along and through her skin. And then, the blade is pulled away and he falls forward fast and hard to her right.

    No, he didn''t fall; he was tackled!

    "Ethan!" She calls out in a mixture of fear, pain, and relief. "Chlo, get out of here now!" Ethan yells back as he wrestles with the attacker. She quickly stands and runs for the door. Ethan gets thrown off and lands in a pile of loose cables. The attacker looks up at Chloe. "We''re not finished yet Sharon." He says angrily. Blade in hand, he lunges toward her only to get tackled a second time by Ethan. "Damn you shadow! Get out of my way!" He shouts, now focusing entirely on Ethan.

    Chloe runs over, picks up a drone and slams it into the attackers back. He grunts and swings a free arm around into her, sending her to the floor. Ethan wraps his arms around the attackers'' waist and with a powerful push upwards, throws them both into a wall and into a power station of some kind. The following electrical discharge was both beautiful and horrifying to watch. Both Ethan and the intruder are sent clear across the room in a violent blast.

    Ethan lands behind Isis¡¯ core and the attacker into some hanging wires from the ceiling. ¡°Ethan!¡± Chloe shouts as she tries to get to him climbing over cables, drones, and other mechanical boxes in her path. ¡°Ethan, are you ok? Say something!¡± she says as she wraps her arms around him and pulls him onto her lap. He doesn¡¯t move. The attacker however grunts and groans as he recomposes himself. ¡°Sharon.¡± He says in that deep, dark and slow voice.

    She looks over in his direction as he climbs out of his cable trap. ¡°You will watch as I kill him, and then you will wish you hadn¡¯t betrayed me again.¡± He adds angrily. She looks around for something to grab and throw at him, but there isn''t enough time for that as he moves closer to Ethan. Instead, she dashes to tackle him much like Ethan had done prior.

    But instead of hitting him with a great impact, she passes through him and lands in the cables. Chloe looks behind in panic and confusion, yet he isn''t there anymore. She then sits there, silent but breathing heavily,  trying to grasp what had taken place. Was any of this real? She looks over at Ethan who is slowly picking himself up off the floor. "Where is he?" Ethan asks, looking around. Chloe lets out a long breath. Yes, it was real.

    "It was just like her; she was there and then she wasn¡¯t..." Chloe says in a soft voice. Ethan looks at her, "you mean¡­ What the heck is going on here?" Chloe lays back against the cables and sighs. "Isis, where are you¡­" She says looking up into the darkness.

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