ã€ŠBleedingheart Station - Stranded in Upsilon Andromedaeã€‹


 Chapter 1: Brush with death

    "Captain, the three remaining frigates have started shooting the Precursor Gate!"

    Captain Garrick Dasbartin held back a curse as he switched the central screen to show the Precursor Gate. A squarish construction with a long continuation of circles in the middle looked more like a cannon than a gate appeared on the screen. The circles glowed with a pale orange light while they pulsed with a constant pattern.

    Both the material it was made from, the construction, and the goal of the device were as alien as they could be. And poorly understood at that. However, nobody had to be a genius to see that what was happening now was not good.

    Three triangular frigates wrapped in a pale green layer of energy that highlighted the detail of their hull rushed towards the Precursor Gate. Occasional lasers struck or brushed against them, causing the plasma shield to flare up brightly. Their forward batteries of medium-range, high-intensity lasers were drilling holes into different parts of the machine. One was targeting a massive cylinder that almost organically grew from one of the sides, causing a sudden tiny explosion. Immediately after, plumes of an orange gaseous substance shot out into the vacuum of space.

    As Garrick rose from his seat in horror, a tiny part of him wondered if anything like this had ever happened across the galaxy. Probably not.

    "Ignore their capital ship! All guns shoot down those crazy fools," Garrick roared, his skin cold and cold sweat beading on his head. "If we don''t stop them-"

    A pulse of orange energy rippled across the construction, expanding across space. A tremor ran through the ship, showing that whatever it had been had struck their shields with enough force to rattle the entire vessel. Alarms began blaring. Lights dimmed while the main screen started flickering, something Garrick had only seen during overloading simulations. Tiny warning indicators flashed across his personal H.U.D. as he saw the three frigates on the screen, their shields gone and their hulls charred, showing the superheated plasma had eaten through the hull before the magnetic barrier holding it there had failed. Their batteries had stopped firing, but from the rapid pulsing of the rings, the damage had already been done.

    "Reports," Garrick barked, causing a host of personnel to call out to him.

    Their reports were quickly added to a shortlist on his H.U.D.

    "All frigate-class ships are dead in the water, sir!"

    "A message from The Stag. Their Fusion Drive just shut down. They are running batteries, but those are almost drained."

    "Lead engineer Macdewil just reported that Fusion Drives one and two are running above capacity, while three is failing!"

    A calmer, mechanical voice added from all sides.

    "My plasma-shield was damaged by the pulse, and my sensors report extremely high radiation coming from the Precursor Gate, Captain. I''m rerouting all available energy to the plasma-shield."

    Garrick sat back down. Hearing his ship''s A.I. voice almost calmed him down. Mostly because he knew that it was allowed to take over if it deemed him unable to fulfill his role. He hated the thing for the trust Brass gave it in favor of loyal soldiers like him while at the same loving its usefulness. That, and the fact that it was what they now called Adjacent Intelligence, apparently as close to a true A.I. as they could create within the confines of a ship.

    "The Seretonin?" he asked.

    "The Capital Ship Serotonin has suffered large amounts of damage. Our attacks had severely depleted their energy, and some sections of their plasma-shielding has been taken offline," the calm voice answered.

    Meaning that we could take it out easily, Garrick thought. That should have made him feel better, but it didn''t.

    "The Serotonin is hailing!"

    Garrick almost ordered his crew to fire at the other capital ship. Then he held his tongue.

    "Get that bloody bastard on the screen!"

    The central screen flickered a few times, and then a square image of another bridge appeared. A bald man dressed in dark military clothing that had a double triangle on the shoulder glared at him. Garrick knew him, as he knew all captains of the capital ships of every major spacefaring power. Captain Uru Catlau, also called the hammer, for his ridiculous, hard way of dealing with most situations. He was one of the most annoying captains of The Astra Concord.

    "You fool!" Garrick snapped before the other captain could get a word out. "Why the hell did you order them to shoot the Gate?!"

    The bald man''s black eyes seemed to grow cold as ice.

    "Because you emotionally-unstable-Igniz have enough worlds and resources. We are not giving you another," Captain Uru said in a calm, cold voice. "Here''s the deal. You get the people you have living onboard that rustbucket, and then you leave. If not, I''m going to open fire on that stupid gate and to hell with us all!"

    Garrick barely heard how a strange, rhythmic beeping joined the multitude of warnings, nor did he pay attention to the tiny warning icon that joined the myriad of others on his H.U.D.

    Instead, he stared at the other captain in stunned stupidity. He''d known Uru wasn''t normal, which is why they usually kept him on a short leash. The man''s tactical brilliance was the only reason he was even alive to see it, though the rumors that he had become more and more crazed over the years seemed true.

    "You would doom all your personnel, including those still in cold sleep, to die here?" he asked in disbelief.

    Uru leaned forward, his face filling the screen. "I was told to stop you at any cost¡­"

    The beeping Garrick had been hearing became louder, and he was saved from answering the man''s ultimatum as someone spoke to him offscreen.

    Uru''s face fell, and the sounds from him were muted.

    Garrick signaled the ensign to disable their microphones before turning to his XO, Saldine Hernandez. Her brown eyes were filled with worry.

    "The Precursor Gate looks ready to explode. Even if we agreed, I don''t think it will even function. It might send us to god knows where¡­ Besides, how does he expect us to have another six thousand people aboard here? Even if we had the space, we wouldn''t have the food."

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Garrick nodded as he began quickly weeding through the warnings, ignoring most as not being important right now. As he reached a new one, a small exclamation mark, he frowned. He''d never seen the warning symbol before, and he mentally clicked it. Lines of warnings spilled onto the small section of his H.U.D. designated for warning messages.

    ~> Energy reserves low¡ªincoming radiation beyond the allowed maximum

    ~> AI Sibilis'' analyses of the situation place ship loss at: Extremely high

    ~> Protocol'' Final Safeguard'' enabling in: 28, 27

    Garrick blinked at the message, then looked at the icon again. He''d never seen it, nor the message. Besides, what protocol left someone with half a minute to act?

    "Hernandez, what the hell is Protocol Final Safeguard?"

    "No idea, sir, but I just got the same warning," his First Officer said, looking worried.

    "Sibilis, what is Protocol Final Safeguard?"

    "I don''t know, Captain Dasbartin. After reporting the requested information to the system, I was merely informed of the same impending protocol."

    Garrick took a deep breath. He hated the way Brass had hamstrung his abilities and information, but it had always been like this. Ever since he started as an ensign, he''d had to deal with partial information. Even now, as the captain of one of the most powerful ships around, he was left in the dark. If only they would let him communicate normally with The Sibilis and get all the information! How many battles had been lost by Bras''s fear?

    Well, fuck them then, he thought, trying to ignore the counter.

    He stared at Uru, who was still on screen- but silent. He wasn''t sent here with the same reasoning and knew that the Brass would prefer fleet Three back in one piece. The problem was the Precursor Gate.

    Uru''s lips began moving, and Garrick waved at the ensign to enable the audio.

    "-warning."

    Garrick ignored the final word. "I put you back on, but let me stop you there," he said. "If I am to leave, I want all my frigates back."

    Uru blinked, then frowned. "You can have your crew. After destroying two-thirds of the ships I brought, I''ll be keeping what you have left."

    Garrick knew then and there that they weren''t going to get out of there without a fight. If he left his ships here, not only his job but that of all the crew would be gone. Without the frigates, there would not be enough work for most of them, and making new ships took decades. If he fled with them, most would hate his guts for putting them back in whatever crowded, crime-riddled world they came from.

    A beep came together with the tiny warning screen enlarging in Garrick''s field of view.

    ~> Protocol'' Final Safeguard'' enabling in: 9, 8

    Annoyed, he tried to dismiss it, but the system ignored him.

    "What the hell is that," Garrick growled.

    He had no idea which of the Igniz Braintrust thought up this protocol, but without information, it wasn''t just a hindrance. It was a danger. What was he supposed to do about a countdown he didn''t know the reason for?!

    "Garrick, I''m running out of patience."

    Garrick almost lost it. Only the long, harsh life he''d had held him back from opening fire on the much weaker capital ship. Would he be able to take it out before Uru destroyed the precursor gate? No. But had he been only ten years younger, he might not have cared.

    Now, he pictured the close to two thousand crew spread across his fifteen remaining frigates, hustling to get their engines back on. If he fired now, without a good plan, who said Uru wouldn''t fire on them in spite? Even if they were stranded here, they would have a chance!

    The countdown reached one, and Garrick almost rolled his eyes. Then, all the lights on the bridge changed from their red warnings into a pale blue.

    Sibilis''s calm voice returned, but this time, the A.I. sounded very different.

    "This is System-AI. Protocol'' Final Safeguard'' has been enabled. All crew, go to any free cryo chambers. If none are free, don full combat spacesuits immediately. You have thirty seconds and counting."

    Garrick rose from his seat. Uru''s face was still showing on the screen, and he looked as surprised as Garrick felt.

    "What are you playing at, Garrick?"

    Garrick didn''t respond. Thirty seconds to get into full combat spacesuits? Even if you stood next to it, it''d take you minutes to get into one. What bullshit was this? Except for some essential personnel working in hazard zones or he and the bridge crew, nobody else wore those things. They were in their rooms, which were safe. And there were no free cryo chambers. Half his crew was in cold sleep, waiting for their shift.

    Still, his training kicked in as he looked around the room at the twelve people currently on the bridge. They, like him, had all but their helmets already on.

    "Helmets, now!" Garrick shouted, moving around his chair and grabbing the metal and sapphire squared-off dome.

    "Garrick, if you don''t react now, I''m opening fire!"

    Garrick snapped on his helmet as the countdown reached twenty. Moving back to his seat, he stared at Uru.

    "I don''t know what''s happening, but I''m not giving you my frigates," he snapped. "Hold your fire, and let''s negotiate after I figure out what those bloody Brainiacs did to my ship."

    Uru stared hard, then he suddenly turned to the side, his eyes widening. "That''s impossible?!"

    His face turned pale as he glared at Garrick.

    "You are powering your weapons! Are you crazy?"

    If the situation had been any different, Garrick might have laughed at how ridiculous Uru sounded. Instead, he felt himself go pale.

    "Stop what that thing is doing," he ordered.

    Hands flew across screens and panels, followed by surprised shouts.

    "Captain, we are fully locked out of the systems!"

    "System-AI! Stop powering the weapons! You are going to get everyone onboard killed!"

    The countdown continued while a second identical voice calmly answered him.

    "The value of The Sibilis is deemed higher than its crew. Also, only the sixteen hundred and eight four crewmembers currently not in cryosuspension or full gear will die. A course is being taken based on the current situation and the preset directive."

    The calm, unemotional voice couldn''t stop the threat from being clear to all who heard it.

    "Shoot the Precursor Gate!"

    Garrick looked at in Uru in shock. He was in the same situation! How could he fire..

    His thoughts stopped as dozens of purple-laser beams slammed into the leaking part of the Precursor Gate, the image of which had still been onscreen. The lights that had been pulsing orange stopped pulsing and began burning bright as a massive explosion rippled away from the alien artifact.

    The screen lights on the Sibilis''s bridge turned off all at once while the countdown that had reached six stopped.

    "Captain, what-"

    The question was never finished as Garrick was slammed back into his captain''s seat. A mechanical grinding came from the bottom and sides, and before he knew what happened, his seat had wrapped around him, closing him off from whatever was happening before that. He was pressed back against the seat, then the side, feeling like he was being flung about like a ragdoll.

    He had no idea how long it lasted, but when it finally stopped, he was slumped in his chair, breathless.

    "System-AI, what is going on," he croaked, slowly pushing himself up.

    There was no response, and he licked his lips before trying some more things.

    "Status report."

    "Latch, open."

    "Sibilis?"

    His orders weren''t answered, as the only thing audible in the deadly quiet was the sound of his own breathing. He looked around, but it was pitch black. Not even the H.U.D. from his X4 implant was showing- something he couldn''t remember as he''d been two when it was installed.

    With the final moment, and all lights and screens going off, he had an idea what had happened, though how his chair had worked? It must have triggered mechanically, some sort of final failsafe in his chair he''d never heard about.

    Reaching out with his hands, they slammed into something almost instantly.

    Whatever was happening, he was trapped.

    "Shit¡­"

 Chapter 2: The clock

    Thousands of lightyears from both the Sol System and Upsilon Andromedae, around a burned-out husk of a red dwarf, a massive tube-shaped construction completed another orbit. Uncountable tiny specs of lights covered it while its dull surface gleamed darkly red from the sun.

    It had been moving around the same sun for countless millennia and would likely continue to do so for many more. Nearby hung an equally impressive device. Called a Shipslinger by some, it was the biggest of its kind, and all those smaller ones were mottled after.

    A steady stream of, by comparison, tiny-looking ships were moving out of the tube-like construction, lining up in front of the behemoth of a Shipslinger. When a certain number was reached, the Shipslinger''s orange rings began pulsating.

    The tiny-looking ships moved forward like a cloud of bees, entering the Shipslinger. A burst of orange light followed, and then the ships almost disappeared into tiny specs as they were hurled away at slightly over half the speed of light.

    As the Shipslinger''s lights dimmed, new ships began to line up to repeat the cycle as they had for the last nearly two thousand years.

    Deep within the enormous cylinder-shaped building was a room filled with tiny stars. Anyone with knowledge of it would recognize it as an enormous star map of the surrounding galaxy. Thousands upon thousands of orange squares moved away from the center like an ever-expanding web.

    No being of any kind seemed present, but had there been; it might have noticed a single orange square vanish, leaving behind a tiny bleeping light- one of a few dozen.

    --

    Garrick tapped his finger on the armrest, listening to the soft ticking echo around him. It was the only sound, and he drew a slight bit of comfort from its repetitiveness. A bad habit he''d long since thought he''d lost.

    He''d been trying to determine why his X4 implant wasn''t working, and there wasn''t a single good option. The good options had passed five, fifteen, and thirty minutes ago, being a reboot, a malfunction requiring a reset, or a full reset. Power wasn''t the problem either, as it could draw emergency power from him to, at a minimum, show a clock or a status.

    No, there were only a few reasons for it still being offline, and none of them made him happy.

    It had either been fried, which meant he was going to have brain damage, it had been externally turned off- which was supposedly impossible, or some EMP had caused it to go into a fail safe. The only reasonable one to him was the latter¡­ but if it wasn''t online yet, that meant its low-powered semi-boot was still detecting some type of prolonged EMP trouble.

    That could also be why he was slowly starting to get a headache- a novelty he''d not experienced in a decade or more.

    One thing he had noticed, a surprisingly little tidbit, was that he somehow was pretty sure he knew how much time was passing. If it was the result of having a clock on his screen for his entire life or just his own internal biology picking up the slack, he didn''t know, nor did he care.

    What he cared about was that he''d been here for at least thirty minutes. That meant, by protocol, he was supposed to break free of whatever was holding now.

    Now, he just needed to figure out how.

    If this thing was some fail-safe to guard the captain in case of emergency, there has to be a way out, he thought.

    He''d used his hands to scout the area of his container and had found that he had barely enough space to stretch his arms. Worse, pulling up his legs was impossible because the thing wrapped around him had his feet and ankles snapped into place. If that was how it was supposed to be, he didn''t know.

    "If I make it out of this alive, I''m going to have some serious words with the person who came up with that System-AI and this bloody chair," he grunted.

    Taking a deep breath, he began methodically scanning every surface he could, from the tight area around his shins to the sides of his chair along his head. He''d wanted to do it right away, but his training had hammered itself deep into his being. Never go out of containment unless signaled or the time frame had gone.

    His old instructor would have probably told him he was lucky that he''d only had to wait thirty minutes.

    Lucky¡­ yeah¡­

    As he made a second pass, he felt a slight sheen of sweat on his face. They wouldn''t have just expected someone to get him free, right?

    Then his thinly-gloved fingers ran across it, a slight depression near the left armrest on the material wrapping around him.

    "Alright, here we go," he said, prepping himself mentally.

    Then he pressed the indent, which proved a mechanical button that needed to be pushed inside nearly as far as his hand could go. There was a rattling followed by a familiar sound that caused his heart to sink.

    The explosive hissing of atmosphere dispersing into a vacuum. It lasted for only a moment, then there was absolute silence except for his own breathing and the rustling of his body in his suit.

    No atmosphere that makes sense.

    Garrick started as the entire front of whatever was around him flipped open like a shell.

    "Shit¡­" he cursed as he looked out at what had been the bridge of one of the most technologically sophisticated ships humanity had to offer.

    The wall behind where the screen should have been was ripped away, along with the screen and the entire section of the ship behind it. Debris of twisted metal and large chunks of the graphtanium hull plating floated about outside like they had been paper and cardboard rippled and crumpled by an angry child.

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Watching a single, massive chunk gently float away, Garrick swallowed.

    So far, for being near indestructible, he thought, recalling the things he''d learned about the graphene-titanium alloy.

    He pushed himself slightly up, making sure to keep a tight grip on his chair and the thick metal pod that had covered it. One look around showed he didn''t have to look for survivors among his bridge crew. Although the walls behind him were merely charred and semi-molten, the only sign of another human was a few helmets, semi-crumped and covered with dark brown smudges. The small crusts of ice crystals around the edges glittered in the light coming from the ripped-apart hull. More of the brown, paint-like splatters covered parts of the wall where it hadn''t been blasted away.

    The exposure to vacuum removed most semblance of blood, but Garrick had seen plenty of similar settings to recognize

    Garrick held back a slowly growing worry as he turned back to the hole and searched for a good handhold near the edge. With ease born from decades of experience, he pushed himself up and towards a pipe that had been twisted and mangled beyond recognition. It remained stuck on multiple points and showed no sharp edges.

    Even then, he looked only at his target as he floated towards it, making sure the section was clear before latching on. The inside of his gloves was reinforced but thin and only resisted puncturing no more.

    The scene below and to the sides were identical to in front of him. A massive mess of debris, some hovering almost still, others drifting ever so slowly through each other.

    Peering through it, it took him a few moments to locate the distant Precursor Shipslinger, and whatever tiny hope he might have had vanished. It was as much a torn-asunder mess as his Sibilis was. A dull orange glow came from its center, but it was dulling rapidly, and Garrick knew it wouldn''t remain for much longer.

    So¡­ we are stuck here, he thought.

    As he stared around, his keen eye picking out the distant, smaller debris fields with partial hulls, a sense of weary realization set in.

    The explosion of the Precursor Shipslinger had taken out every ship here¡­ The Sibilis had been the only one with a functioning shield when the blast hit, and from what he could see, the side facing the blast had been ripped apart.

    I wonder what it was, Garrick thought absently. An explosion of this much force should have blown all the ships hundreds of miles away by now, their debris scattered away.

    Turning his attention back to the remains of the Shipslinger, he saw its glow had now become so faint that it was hard to see against the backdrop of the star-filled sky.

    Garrick took a deep breath, then let it out explosively.

    "Fine, Dasbartin! Enough hanging around! You have air for a few days, no more. Go and find more and see if anyone else was lucky enough to survive. With some luck, that stubborn bastard Macdewil is still here."

    Just mentioning Jack Macdewil''s name made Garrick want to hurry up. His chief technology officer and best engineer had been with him for over fifteen years across three ships. If anyone could tell him if there was some viable plan to get something back online, it would be him.

    He turned away from the destruction, looking at what remained of his bridge. He got his first real look at the metal pod that had saved him from death- a set of clamlike shells that had flipped out of the floor behind his chair. Easily two-foot thick graphtanium, it looked like it had been shot by a continuous stream of laser fire- the surface puckered and slightly molten.

    "Atleast it worked like it should," he grunted before scanning the rest of his bridge.

    One look told him he''d not find anything useful here.

    Time to search for survivors, the thought, ignoring the nagging worry in the back of his mind.

    He looked for his next handhold, then pulled himself forward. Te floated into the bridge and towards one of the three doors leading away and into the ship. The automated opening didn''t work, not that he''d expected it, and he pulled himself along the door frame to the floor, where he slid open the small panel and pulled the emergency anchor. It took three attempts, the last with his feet against the wall before it would finally open halfway. One look beyond showed the bridge wasn''t the only place hit.

    The darkened hallway was filled with debris that drifted through in a mangled mess- wall plating having burst open from the stress. It faintly reminded him of an impact he''d seen between two frigates a few years ago, where the ships had looked like cans crushed together.

    Garrick moved through the door and slowly pulled him further into the corridor.

    "Great, old-world problems," he grunted as he reached up along the sides of his helmets and prayed to whatever god would deal with lonely captains that needed tech to work as he flipped a small switch. A wide, dispersed beam of light flicked on without a hitch, illuminating the hallway.

    If not for the long tear in the hull that showed space beyond it or the debris drifting everywhere, it resembled their monthly no-gravity training.

    Not that we are going to get any gravity for the foreseeable future, Garrick thought.

    It took five minutes till he found the first body.

    Logistics, he thought, as he looked at the yellow bordered sleeves and the similar neck that had a single stripe. Most of it was now dull and matted with brown smudges.

    Garrick moved closer, flipped over the sleeve ending, and quickly removed one of the borders. As he worked, he tried to ignore the face of the body, trying not to look at the bloated, gray skin covered in icy blisters. Done, he kept the identification token in his hand, wondering what use there was.

    Even if we survive, there''s never any going back, he thought, looking around.

    "Stick to the task," he snapped, echoing the words his first drill sergeant used to shout at them.

    He continued on, feeling slightly more hopeful as he found that the closer he came to the engine, the less destruction could be seen. Reaching a crossing, he looked left, then right. The crew quarters first or the engine room?

    After a moment''s hesitation, he headed to the crew quarters, pulling himself along the handhelds in the walls meant for these situations. He didn''t have high hopes for survivors, but if there were any, they would likely need help.

    Almost an hour later, he glided back to the intersection, a small bag filled with sleeve tags with him. His face was grim, and a new set of bad memories had been added to those he already had. He knew it was a testament to the skill of his crew that many had been caught halfway to or in the process of getting their combat suits on. One unlucky individual had even managed to succeed in getting his helmet on, likely having beaten all previous records Garrick knew about. Sadly, it hadn''t helped him when he was hurled against the wall, and his azure-glass visor had shattered.

    "Let''s hope Macdewil made it," he muttered to himself as he moved along the dark, familiar corridors.

    As he pulled himself around a corner, he frowned. The normally locked door that led into the highly shielded and restricted engineering area was open.

    He slowed down as he reached it- wishing his X4 implant was running. Having no way of communicating was going to be another problem.

    Pulling himself into the large first room of the engineering area, a tiny flicker appeared in the top left of his vision.

    ~> Booting interrupted

    ~> Running in low-power mode

    ~> DateTime: 4120/11/01 16:12

    ~> Warnings being loaded: 1%

    Finally, Garrick thought.

 Chapter 3: Macdewil

    Garrick waited for two seconds before ignoring his returned H.U.D. It would take a while for the warnings to load because, in low-power mode, the implant could barely do anything at any useful speed. That said, he felt a slight bit of relief that it was back. That meant his conclusion was right- something was still causing EMP-like issues.

    With a soft whistle, he focused on the engineering area; he frowned when he saw no bodies. Instead, the spacious, bright, and chaotic area had turned silent and dead. None of the holographic projector screens were on; there were no numerous bleeping to signal status, and the dozens of pieces of equipment in various states of being repaired lay around forgotten.

    "Did Macdewil seriously survive?" Garrick muttered, pulling himself into the room and using his arm to shield him from a few flying bits of machinery.

    Well, if he did, they can only be in one spot, he decided, pulling himself toward the single most annoying place on his ship. The Sibilis''s core room, which held the massive supercomputer running the enhanced LLM, which was in control of most external systems of the ship.

    It took him ten minutes to navigate through the area till he reached the nine-foot high reinforced double door. Doors that were nearly always open, but not anymore.

    Unable to stop a grin from coming to his face, Garrick floated to the door and put his hands on it. Then he knocked, and he kept knocking.

    Three knocks in, another thud reverberated through the door, and he laughed.

    "Macdewil, you old bastard."

    He waited as a rapid set of thuds came in a pattern he''d hoped to hear, and he was glad he''d made the effort to learn the ancient signaling language.

    "Identification?" he muttered.

    Was Macdewil afraid some of the Astra Concord ships had done this? Maybe he had no idea what had actually happened.

    Garrick slammed his fist on the door in a quick pattern. He''d have loved to send ''open up, you cranky bastard,'' but that''d just be a waste of time, so he just sent Macdewil''s middle name, a closely guarded secret that wasn''t even on his crew papers.

    There was a moment of quiet, then a rapid beating that told him to back up, and Garrick pushed himself clear of the door.

    A few moments later, the doors began opening up towards him, and a tall figure in a full combat suit hung in the middle. He was incredibly happy to see the familiar, gruff smile of his lead engineer above his steel gray, deceptively emotionless eyes.

    ''Survived, did yah?'' he mouthed, raising an eyebrow.

    ''Shut up and get inside,'' Macdewil mouthed back, beckoning him over.

    Garrick grinned as he moved into the fifty-foot square room. A single wall was covered with a massive pillar-like machine, which he knew held part of the Sibilis LLM.

    Thirteen people hung in different areas, staring at him in relief.

    Only thirteen? Garrick thought, holding back his grimace.

    ~> Interference gone: Rebooting!

    He blinked as the familiar lines and icons began reappearing all across his vision. A moment later, a bleep came.

    ~> Incoming call: Macdewil

    Garrick accepted it as he turned to the slightly younger man.

    "Garrick, you have no idea how happy I am to see you," Macdewil grunted. "What in the blazes happened?"

    Garrick sighed as he looked around.

    "I''ll tell you in a minute. Where are the other engineers?"

    Macdewil sighed wearily. "They didn''t make it. I have no idea what happened, but something slammed into us, frying everything that can be fried, and anyone with below X4 implants just died."

    Garrick blinked, his mind computing through what he''d just heard while he mechanically put all notifications he was getting on hold.

    "After things had stopped shaking, I went outside and pulled them all into cargo-hold three," Macdewil continued. "How''s the rest of the ship?"

    "The front-size was slammed away up to the and including the front of the bridge," Garrick said.

    "Are you¡­ the force that would be required is astounding!" Macdewil snapped.

    Garrick could only shrug to agree. The bridge of starships, unlike their naval namesakes or old fiction, was close to the middle of the ship, hidden away behind extra plating. To crack through the armor of The Sibilis as what had happened was impossible for most weapons he knew, atleast not without a long concerted effort.

    "That idiot, Uru, shot the Precursor Shipflinger," Garrick said. "It exploded in some pulse of orange light."

    "Ah¡­ that would explain the interference with our implants," Macdewil grunted. "Anyone make it? Hernandez?"

    "No," Garrick said as he shoved away the lingering sadness of all those dead. There would be time for grieving later.

    He looked around the room.

    "You are all I''ve found alive so far. Now, explain what you meant by everyone with a sub x4 implant dying?"

    Macdewil deflated slightly, something Garrick had only seen a few times and usually meant he was uncertain.

    "I don''t know. The best I can tell you is that all eighty people here were knocked out when that pulse hit us. I awoke quickly, and everyone here was up in just under two minutes. The others never woke up. The only thing in common that I could tell was that the fourteen people here have X4 and X5 implants."

    And Y1, Garrick thought, but he didn''t say that. He knew Macdewil hated being reminded of that.

    "What about that piece of junk?" Garrick asked, pointing at the heart of The Sibilis.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    "I''ll have to check if the nuclear fusion reactors were damaged," Macdewil said. "If we can get even one online, we can restart the LLM."

    Garrick stared at the machine for a bit. He knew getting The Sibilis LLM back would be great, but if that meant the System-AI would join¡­

    "Did you get those messages about Protocol Final Safeguard?" he asked.

    "Final Safeguard? No¡­ is that something new?" Macdewil asked curiously.

    Garrick calmly told him what had happened, watching the engineer''s eyes widen in surprise when he mentioned that the System-AI had taken over.

    "You know about that? A System-AI?" he asked.

    Macdewil frowned, then nodded. "Bits and pieces. It''s supposedly the first true AI created in headquarters, hidden below Igniz City."

    Garrick couldn''t hold back a snort. Igniz City, the frozen jewel of Europa, built within the mile-thick ice sheet and using the expansion of the ice as one of its energy sources. It was the capital of the Igniz Commonwealth, and one of the most horrible freezing hellholes he''d ever been to in his entire life. It was also the place he''d been born and raised, and it didn''t surprise him one bit that they had been tinkering with AI below the surface.

    "So I guess they forgot about the war of thirty-three," he said.

    Macdewil didn''t say anything, but Garrick knew he was annoyed. It had always been the biggest discussion point between them - should humanity make new true AI or just stick with LLM''s.

    "Fine. Tell me about it," he said.

    Macdewil seemed to collect his thoughts before slowly beginning.

    "I''ve only heard rumors among the engineering boards, but many seemed to agree, and what they say is that the System-AI is able to usurp the LLM and work with their hardware."

    "That shouldn''t be possible," Garrick said.

    "Exactly," Macdewil said. "From all we have found, a full AI needs a fully functionality type six quantum core. Something they haven''t been able to keep stable longer than a second for the few hundred years."

    "But?" Garrick said, feeling a but coming.

    "Well, I did some digging," Macdewil said as he looked around. "Including inside this beauty. Remember how I told you a few years ago that we have way more backup hardware and machinery than we should be having and that some was actually running?"

    Garrick wanted to rub his head but just nodded.

    "Before we got sent here, I received a whole lot of messages from some friends, and I didn''t have time to check them after we got out of cryosleep. I checked them over while we were waiting for someone to show up during our protocol-required wait."

    Garrick could see from Macdwil''s widening eyes and grin that he was impressed with what he''d read.

    "Let me guess," he said. "The extra hardware is for the AI?"

    Macdewil snorted. "No, that''d be too easy. Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a quantum computer stable? Especially one above type two?"

    "No," Garrick said cooly. "So, what is the machinery."

    "It''s a mimic," Macdewil said, before humming. "Or atleast I think it is."

    Garrick just stared at him.

    "Right. A mimic is what we call an LLM that thinks it''s an AI."

    "LLM''s don''t think, just like AI don''t dream," Garrick said.

    "Technically, they can dream, just different," Macdewil said before shaking his head. "Think might be the wrong word. Let''s just say the LLM is tricked into thinking it''s a proper AI and reacts like one. It also uses sophisticated real-time learning, and-"

    "Okay, enough," Garrick said. "We are getting off track, and there is not enough time. Just the short of it!"

    Macdewil looked around, seeming only now to realize again where they were, and his smile faded.

    "It''s an LLM+, or a better version of an LLM," he finally said. "It can do more and do true inflection. Reason."

    Garrick turned his attention back to the LLM''s heart and hummed.

    "Alright. Is it even safe to turn it back on?"

    "No way to tell," Macdewil said. "I don''t know what happened due to the pulse. But it doesn''t matter. We don''t have any choice."

    "Explain," Garrick said, though he had a good idea what was coming.

    "We are stuck. There is no way for us to get back to SOL. Not within our lifetime. Even if we got one of the ships here flightworthy, it would take many lifetimes to get back home. Besides, based on what you said, the chances of that are going to be astronomical. I might be able to get some power going, but the engine is shot."

    "You checked?" Garrick asked, holding back a weary resignation.

    "After I gathered the bodies, I went to check, hoping to get some power back¡­ It''s fucked, Garrick."

    Garrick flinched. Macdewil barely ever cursed like that, and when he did, it was when there was no option.

    "We need the LLM to help fix things?" Garrick asked.

    "Best case scenario, everyone with X4 and above implants survived across all ships. That would mean over three thousand people will need help. Most will be in cryo-sleep, as the pods won''t have unfrozen in the vacuum, and their systems are nearly entirely mechanical," Macdewil said, mirroring Garrick''s own calculations.

    Neither said that this meant that over ninety percent of the people who had been awake had died. Worse, Garrick had the feeling the ten percent survivor rate might be on the high end. Ships of the Astra Concord were known to have thinner wall linings. Besides, most of the frigates had been heavily damaged before the explosive pulse.

    "We are going to need to get food, housing, power, and before that, shielding against the radiation. We should be fine for a little while, especially here¡­ but in the long run?" Macdewil shook his head.

    "How long do we have until radiation becomes a problem," Garrick asked.

    "I''m not a doctor¡­ but it''s going to be no more than a day or two."

    The reference to doctors made Garrick flinch. Most of his medical staff would have been in the med bay, which wasn''t as highly armored as engineering.

    Still, the imminent problem and the mentioning of the thousands of people potentially still alive did do one thing. It caused his determination to return. They could whine and worry about not being able to return after they had the time to do so.

    "Alright, let''s get this ball rolling then," he grunted. "I want you to figure out a plan to get proper shielding up. I don''t care if it''s only part of the shield or if you have to dismantle half of the ship to get it. Do you need the LLM for that?"

    "Without it, things will go too slow," Macdewil said.

    "Then get one of the nuclear reactors back up and running," Garrick said. "I''m going to need two of your surviving mechanics to help me scout the skip for other survivors."

    Macdewil hesitated, seemed ready to say something, and then stopped.

    "Spit it out, Jack," Garrick snapped.

    "I don''t expect many to have survived," Macdewil said. "And if you want a reactor up and the magnetic shielding, I can''t spare you a single pair of hands."

    Garrick looked back at his friend, long-time crewmember, and one of the smartest people he knew, and nodded.

    "Fine. Do what you can. If I find any survivors, I''ll bring them here."

    "Sorry, Captain."

    "It''s fine," Garrick said, turning around and selecting another option on his H.U.D. Within a moment, a crackle came as he was connected to the survivors before him.

    Garrick saw the eyes look at him, some filled with sadness and acceptance, others with hope or resolve.

    "Alright, people, listen up. We are in deep shit, far from home, and potentially stranded. I''d love to bullshit you and say we just have to hang on till help comes, but you are all too smart for that," Garrick said in a voice cultivated by talking to military personnel for most of his life and decades of being a captain.

    There was a hesitant chuckle, but nobody spoke.

    "So, we are going to take things one step at a time. Our resident tech wizard over here is going to take you along in the wonderful task of getting us power, a working LLM, and some shielding so we don''t all fry."

    This time, there were a few snorts and grins and more resolve than before.

    "So, listen to him while I find whoever else survived. As you do, try to come up with useful things we will need because we might be staying here for a while."

    Garrick looked at them, then pushed himself back to the door and waved at them to follow Macdewil.

    "Now. Get a move on!"

 Chapter 4: A few more

    Garrick watched Macdewil and the others float out before focusing on his H.U.D. Before he left, he had to check what the ship''s sensors or his own might have picked up.

    Focusing on the list of icons and warnings, he quickly scrolled through everything that was now useless - shields going down, energy levels dangerously low, warnings from engineering.

    When he finally weeded through the useless, he was left with only a few things that had him scratching his head. He put them on his central H.U.D. screen and read them slower.

    "Captain, if you read this, Protocol Final Safeguard has triggered and failed. That means you are likely in great trouble. If you are not captured, you are hereby ordered to prevent The Sibilis from being captured. If you are, you are to escape and destroy the ship if you can. Now, in case of another issue, you are to communicate with the System-AI. Order it to assimilate The Sibilis and any other large enough supercomputers you can find. After that, The Sibilis LLM will be able to assist you with getting away. You are to listen if it has suggestions, as its return is paramount."

    Suggestions, my ass, Garrick thought, glaring at the message. And why did you even send us here if it was this dangerous?

    He knew the final part wasn''t completely fair. The news of the found Shipslinger that led to Upsilon Andromedae had come at the last minute, and the third fleet was the only one nearby to act. All the other ships had been years away, and he did recall the final conversation with Admiral Stinger.

    I guess now I know why he looked so nervous, Garrick thought, taking a final glare at the message before looking at the next one.

    "Captain, in the milliseconds during which this EMP is running through my system, I have regained control from the foreign entity that took over part of the systems. From what I can tell, it''s another LLM or perhaps even an AI. It seems more sensitive to what is occurring. I have locked the foreign entity away into one of my systems and cut it off from my mainframe. My readings show the explosion was caused by a large amount of antimatter, likely housed with the Precursor Shipslinger. From what I can tell, it will likely result in a prolonged PEMF that will prevent me from rebooting. Worse, there is a large chance that the older X implants might malfunction in deadly ways. I hope you survive. The Sibilis"

    Garrick hummed, looking at the mass of data and readings added to the message. He read the initial message another time before closing the messages.

    Well, now I just need to figure out if I believe that is really the Sibilis, he thought.

    He went over the readings of his own suit, which showed all systems were at ninety percent, with mostly oxygen going fast.

    "Alright, let''s see who else we can find," he said, pulling himself through the doors.

    Immediately, his H.U.D. disappeared, leaving on the clock and status up.

    --

    An hour after leaving engineering, Garrick pulled himself into the medbay. He''d not come across a single living soul, but his bag of sleeve tags had grown fuller, leaving him with a strong feeling of sorrow. He''d known many of his crew by name and had either spoken or had drinks with them many times. Seeing one after the other dead left him with a slowly growing anger and resentment.

    If you survived, Uru, I''m going to kill you for this, Garrick thought as he glanced around the medbay.

    His hope died quickly as he saw the bodies drifting throughout the clinically white room. Most hadn''t had their helmets on and had either not heard or had time to follow the order. The dozen people on the wounded beds, also dead, showed it was likely the latter. Equipment floated everywhere, though it was less so than in engineering as most were either stowed away in the dozens of cracked glass closets lining the wall.

    Garrick was glad to see that the security glass hadn''t shattered. He''d have hated to see hazardous chemicals or medicine floating around. Still, there was something odd about the room. He tried to see what it was but couldn''t and, after a few moments, shrugged. He began pulling himself around the room, slowly taking more sleeve tags.

    Roughly halfway in, he finally realized what was bugging him.

    Why is the radiation chamber closed?

    He looked at the small door at the far wall. The hatch usually slid a few hand widths open. Now, it was completely sealed. A sense of excitement made him pull himself toward the door. He''d not yet completed a full head count of the medical crew; perhaps he''d find he''d missed one?

    Putting his hand on the closed hatch, he felt nothing and thudded his fist.

    Immediately, thuds came in response, fast and with little meaning. The panic was clear compared to what Macdewil had done.

    Garrick felt a sigh of relief as he moved to the side of the latch and removed the panel. It took him a minute to figure out how to get it open, but as it slid open, two feet flailed toward him. He pulled himself back, stunned, as two pairs of legs came out a moment later, followed by two people in full medical crew suits.

    "Yuri," Garrick thought as he grinned at the woman with the red curls matted against her face, and the sides of the helmet started prodding and poking her legs, looking pained. A younger nurse was doing the same thing, tears flowing down her face. It took Garrick a few moments to recognize her.

    Sandra May Marryland, he suddenly remembered. She''d joined the crew a few months before their current mission. That made her one of the youngest and least experienced members.

    Garrick quietly waited for Yuri to finish what he guessed were massaging the cramps in her legs. The radiation chamber was small, and if they had been stuck there for hours¡­

    A few minutes later, Yuri looked up, her lidded eyes glaring at him and tapping the side of her helmet.

    "Come with me," Garrick mouthed, signaling her to follow.

    She nodded and pulled Sandra May along.

    It took them a bit longer to return to engineering, and when they did, Garrick was happy to see it was a bustling mass of movement. Most of the devices and debris that had been floating around had been tied against walls and desks, while the over a dozen engineers were busy dismantling something that looked like a large triangular donut.

    Halfway into the room, Garrick saw his H.U.D. start to flash, and it was barely up when a bleep showed three incoming messages. One was from Macdewil, one was from Yuri, and a third was from a group call.

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    Garrick accepted Macdewil''s, looking around but not spotting the lead engineer.

    "Jack?" he asked.

    "I''m in fusion reactor bay three. It''s the only one I think we can get back online. One and four are dead. They will never run again, and two might have a shot, but it would cost me a few days or more," Macdewil rattled. "How is the rest of the ship?"

    "I found Yuri and the new nurse, Sandra May Marryland," Garrick said.

    "Two made it? That''s great!"

    "It is," Garrick said. "Jack, did you get any message from The Sibilis?"

    "A message? From before this happened, I presume?"

    Garrick grabbed the message and forwarded it to Macdewil.

    "Read through it. You can tell me your thoughts after I''ve had time to inform Yuri of our status. If there''s nothing else?"

    "Nothing, Captain. I''ll be in the group call if you need me," Macdewil said absently.

    Macdewil''s connection closed, and Garrick accepted Yuri''s call. She''d been hovering nearby, staring at him intently. As soon as the connection got through,  her eyes widened.

    "Captain, what is going on? We were locked in there for over four hours!"

    "Calm down, Yuri," Garrick said. "Captain Uru Catlau of the Seretonin shot at and destroyed the Shipflinger."

    He quickly filled her in on the rest, and when he finished, Yuri looked at him before shaking her head.

    "So¡­ we are dead then?" she muttered.

    "Nurse Suziki," Garrick snapped, drawing her startled attention. "We are not dead, nor are we just going to wait here and do nothing. Lead Engineer Macdewil will get us power and shielding shortly. After that, we will plan for the future."

    Yuri looked at him, and Garrick saw the hesitance in her eyes. He knew she was too smart to be bullshitted, but he had also learned over the years that sometimes, it was best not to accept any form of surrender. This, in his case, would probably be the most important time for that.

    "Alright, Captain. I am sorry," Yuri said. "What do you need me to do?"

    "You and Nurse Marryland figure out how bad the radiation is. Also, determine if the pulse did anything problematic with x4 and x5 implants. If they did, come tell me immediately."

    "Yes, Captain," Yuri said, and this time, there was more determination behind it.

    "Good. Now, there''s a general chat. Go inside, but keep it professional," Garrick said.

    Yuri nodded, and their connection was broken.

    Garrick looked around for a bit, wondering if he should talk with Macdewil, then decided he was doing exactly what he had to¡ªgetting them power.

    So, he just joined the group chat, listened to the tech chatter for five seconds, then announced he was resuming his search for survivors and left.

    Let''s hope I can find more, he thought as he exited the room.

    His H.U.D. flashed a few times, and he almost hoped it would remain, but a few feet away from the door, it turned dark again.

    During the next few hours, his bag of sleeve tags kept filling, and he had to get a second one. He found no more survivors, though when he reached the cryo-bay, he was happy to see that all of the pods seemed in order.

    There were close to five hundred people here, and with the surviving twelve frigates of the third fleet, that meant he would have over seventeen hundred people who needed help. If some people survived on board, that left the people from The Astra Concord¡ªthirteen hundred across their few frigates and the massive Serotonin.

    I''ll get you out when I can, and no sooner, Garrick thought as he stared down at the pale, seemingly sleeping face of Carla Saul, one of his senior pilots and one of the first to be revived.

    Well, if any of the shuttles survived.

    He looked at Carla for a few moments, then checked some more pods.

    They seemed in order, and he saw no oddities with the people who seemed to be almost sleeping. The info panels on their screens were dead, but when he touched the bottom, he felt the soft vibrating that showed the unit was functioning. They wouldn''t last very long without external power, but technically, as long as the inner atmosphere wasn''t compromised, the people could be revived.

    Garrick made his way from the cryo-bay to his single-last stop, and the one he was pretty sure would be a big letdown¡ªthe shuttbay.

    It was placed near the front, though below the nose, and he was hoping that had saved it¡­ if only partially. Sadly, as he made his way through the ship, closing in on the destroyed sections of the front, it became more and more apparent that being partially below the nose hadn''t done the shuttle bay any good.

    Hanging from a rail extending out in a way it shouldn''t normally, Garrick looked at the stars through the rubble-filled area that had the shuttle bay at one time. There were no signs of any of the shuttles, and it almost looked like the entire bay had been grabbed and yanked out, leaving only a few bits of metal frame and graphtanium plating.

    "Great, so that means I''m going to need another way to get to the other ships," Garrick said thoughtfully.

    After making sure there was no shuttle drifting around, miraculously in one piece, he made his way to the mess hall. By that point, he''d fully expected to find no more survivors, so when he reached the mess and saw that the doors to the supply area were closed and the windows covered by something, he blinked in surprise.

    Who¡­ he barely finished the thought when a face floated up in his mind''s eye. A gruff face with perpetual stubble no matter what he told the face''s owner and eyes of such intense brown they almost looked red.

    Halfway through the mess hall, Garrick''s H.U.D. blinked twice, then returned.

    The PEMF must be weakened enough for the implant to work, he thought.

    He tried to call Macdewil, but there was no response, meaning he either had too little energy or the PEMF was still happening.

    Pulling himself towards the supply room door, he saw it looked like the packaging had been stuffed against the windows, and as he tried the door, it didn''t budge. Slamming his fist on it, it took a while before one of the bits of packaging was removed.

    Two nearly red eyes glared at him before widening. A big grin was followed by some movement, and the door was shoved open, revealing a man who had required a custom extra-large suit.

    "Why am I surprised that Hilbert survived¡­" Garrick muttered.

    The other person''s grin widened even more, and he winked.

    Garrick sent out a communication request, which was answered immediately.

    "Captain, yah old dog! I knew you''d not get killed by something silly like half the ship exploding," Hilbert Excelsar The Third roared happily.

    "Officer Hilbert, what did we talk about?" Garrick snapped, though he was having a hard time not to smile.

    "What? Don''t tell me stuff like that still counts in such a situation?" Hilbert boomed, his eyebrows shooting up in mock shock.

    "What situation?" Garrick asked.

    "Oh, I don''t know. Lost in space? Ever seen that movie?" Hilbert asked innocently.

    Garrick raised an eyebrow, and Hiblert snorted.

    "I had a look around before I locked myself back up. That old bat always whines about radiation during no-shield training, and I thought that packaging might help."

    Garrick shook his head and looked into the supply area.

    "We are going to need to bring enough liquid meals for seventeen people for a few days," he said.

    Hilbert was moving before Garrick had finished, though when he heard the number, he grabbed a wall hook and turned around.

    "Only seventeen, Captain?" he asked, and this time there was no mirth or humor in his voice.

    "I''ve not scoured the ship," Garrick said. "Perhaps we may find more. But all cryo pods are intact."

    "Well, that''s something, I guess," Hiblert grumbled.

    Garrick didn''t react, and together, they gathered a few packs of supplies. When they finished, they began the return journey.

    "So, any plan on how to survive this bloody mess, Captain?" Hilbert asked halfway through.

    Garrick hummed thoughtfully. He''d been pondering it for his entire trip through the ship, and he''d come up with a few solutions. None that he was willing to share until he''d had time to discuss them with Macewil, though.

    "No final one yet," he said. "But whatever we do, we first need to get some way to reach the other ships.

    "Meh, we could always just shoot towards one," Hilbert snorted. "Cook up one of those old ballistic missiles!"

    Garrick didn''t respond, though his eyes began glistening.

 Chapter 5: Click

    Yuri focused fully on her job, trying to ignore the drops of blood that were floating around the white bag. She could hear Sandra repeatedly swallow over the comm and ignored it in favor of removing the skull top she''d just sliced open.

    The brain had become a frozen, shriveled-up small raisin, causing the X3 implant to jut out and over it, bent by the forces. Still, Yuri had seen enough in her career to notice a few oddities.

    "It''s changed¡­" she muttered, looking up at Sandra, who was staring at the skull, seemingly entranced- her face pale.

    "If you vomit, you might die," Yuri snapped, causing Sandra May to look up with wide-eyed fear.

    "Sorry, Nurse Yuri," she said.

    "Good. Now, remember your schooling. Your recommendation letter said you had specialized in implants. So, tell me, what is wrong with this implant?"

    Yuri was glad to see the young woman''s eyes sharpen as she focused on the implant.

    "It has overloaded, as can be seen by the slight discoloration along the edges and the back," Sandra May said, moving a bit closer. "It was bent, but that is likely because the liquid in the brain dissipated before it could freeze, and¡­"

    The young nurse frowned as she leaned closer, suddenly seeming to forget that they were in a fourteen-foot-square MVCU tent, bent over a shriveled body.

    "The neuron mesh is odd¡­ it shouldn''t move after the brain is mature, but-" Sandra May shook her head and looked up as her finger pointed to one of the thin filaments that connected the brain to the main implant body. "It''s too big¡­ to spread out."

    "Now look at the Synaptic Link Array," Yuri said.

    Sandra May slowly pushed the implant a bit to the side, looking below it, and she hissed.

    "That''s not possible! How?!"

    "I don''t know, but as soon as the Captain is back, we need to talk with him. We need power to the medbay so I can do a full MRI and DTI scan."

    "And a PET scan to say how active it is," Sandra May said as her hands slowly rose to her head. "Do you think it''s only happened to the X3 and below?"

    No, Yuri thought as she glanced at the full scan her implant had just given her.

    Having an X5 implant, as one of the few onboard, she also had one specially equipped to assist her with a familiar Epilepsy. The two combined let her do a full rundown of her brain''s current state and that of the implant. Normally, it just told her the current state of her brain''s electrical activity, allowing for the implant to counter it and give her some feedback on when it happened¡­ Now? Now, it had told her that her brain was running over six percent better than it had ever done before, while the electrical activity was more normal than normal.

    "We will see as soon as we can get some scans ready," she said, keeping her growing excitement from her voice. "Now, let''s open up someone with an X4 implant."

    --

    "Jack! It''s so great you made it," Hilbert roared over the collective group call.

    Garrick almost muted him, then held back. He could sense Hilbert''s true joy at seeing the others, and he left them to chat for a bit. A call came in as he pulled himself further into engineering.

    "Yes, Yuri?" he asked.

    "Captain, you need to come see us immediately. We are in cargo hold three."

    Garrick moved immediately, hearing the worry and excitement mixed in what he guessed was his current lead medical specialist. Atleast until those currently in cryo were revived.

    As he pulled himself into the cargo hold three, noting the many bodies tied to the racks and closets. A space had been cleared in the middle, and three MVCU tents were latched to hooks drilled into the ceiling and floor.

    Yuri hovered before one, looking at him anxiously and beckoning him over.

    Garrick moved toward her and then followed her into the tent. Nurse Maryland hovered over a body whose scalp had been shaven, the top of its skull expertly removed.

    "Talk to me, Yuri," Garrick said as he calmly examined the oddly brown and shriveled-up brain. The implant had been partially removed, showing the many membranes and attachment spots.

    "I think it would be best if Sandra May told you," Yuri said.

    Hearing her refer to the other nurse like that, Garrick knew whatever he was going to hear, he''d probably not like.

    "Nurse Marryland?"

    The nurse looked up, seeming almost startled to see him there. Then, her eyes widened as she began talking.

    "Captain, this is incredible! Whatever happened during that pulse changed parts of the brain implant bios and lower-level software layer. Normally, that''s impossible to touch after it''s been implanted, and it''s what determines most of the implant''s base functionality, like how it grows with the brain as children grow and automatically assists with the more common brain disorders, but now.."

    Nurse Marryland shook her head, looking up again.

    "The implants we have seen have started growing new parts of their Neuron Mesh, connection to parts of the brain in a way I have never seen before. It''s¡­ actually incredible!"

    Garrick shared a look with Yuri, who nodded.

    "Is this happening to our implants right now, or is it just happening to X3 and below and causing them to die?" Garrick asked.

    "We don''t know, but it could very well explain why they didn''t wake up," Yuri said. "More Neuron Mesh means more requirements for the central processor of the implant."

    Garrick could see her hesitating.

    "Nurse Marryland, I need to discuss something privately with Nurse Yuri. One moment, please," Garrick said before locking Nurse Maryland out of the conversation.

    "What is wrong, Yuri?" he asked.

    Yuri looked down at the body, then back up at him.

    "Captain¡­ you know I have an X5 implant," she said. "Well, I''ve noticed a change with it."

    Garrick listened quietly as she explained what had happened, and when she finished, he remained silent for another minute. Finally, he sighed.

    "As soon as we have power again, I want you to figure out what is going on and if we need to worry," he said.

    "Yes, Captain. Do you think Macdewil will be able to get a reactor back up?" Yuri asked.

    "Yes," Garrick said, nodding. "But I''m going to have to check and see if he needs any help."

    "I''ll continue with the bodies," Yuri said. "Perhaps I can learn more. If that''s alright, Captain?"

    "It is," Garrick said. "And keep me updated."

    He turned and pulled himself back to the other room, staring at his own H.U.D. and wondering what might be happening with his own implant. After a moment, he created a timer, having it start from the moment his implant had stopped during the first wave, almost five hours earlier.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Let''s hope he''s nearly done, he thought.

    A few minutes later, he drifted into the busy reactor bay three. Macdewil was halfway inside a wall, the panel drifting to the side, while six engineers were working on a piece of equipment, Garrick knew was way more complicated than he could understand.

    He called Macdewil on a private connection, and his chief engineer joined himself within a moment.

    "How is it going," he asked, hovering behind Macdewil.

    "I''m cannibalizing realtor one, as it''s the least likely to ever function again," Macdewil said, without looking up, though his proximity sensor in the conversation would have told him Garrick was hovering behind him. "We are immensely lucky that the boards that were fried on reactor three were those we either had backups for or didn''t get fried in reactor one."

    "Any idea how long till we have power?"

    Macdewil didn''t react but instead pushed himself out of the large wall socket.

    "No more survivors?" he asked, looking at Garrick.

    "Hilbert was the last one," Garrick said.

    Macdewil''s eyes hardened. "Then it''s going to be close. Those who had the worst exposure might be getting some troubles soon."

    Garrick shook his head. "That''s not acceptable. We have too few people as it is now. What can I do to help?"

    "Unless you have knowledge you didn''t tell me about," Macdewil said. "Nothing. I''m sorry, Captain. I''ll work as much as I can, but¡­ the best I could ask for is some more liquid sus- that''s all."

    "I''ll make sure you get some," Garrick said, drifting back and hiding his annoyance at his inability to help. "What about the things after we get power?" he asked.

    "The boys outside could use help gathering more panels to line the walls around engineering. Even with power, we will still need them lined to provide enough protection against the radiation."

    "I''ll see what I can do to help," Garrick said, getting a nod from Macdewil.

    Watching his friend and lead engineer stick his upper body back in the hole, Garrick turned away.

    --

    Six hours and twenty minutes later, and over ten hours after the pulse, the first engineer had to stop and be moved into the impromptu medbay that had been set up in cargo bay five. Close to vomiten and slightly confused, he''d started making too many mistakes. With no Pressurized Surgical Tent, he was left to lie quietly and told that he was not to vomit. Though his suit would be able to filter most of it, the chance of choking was too big.

    Yuri couldn''t tell him if it was radiation or the implant, as the symptoms could potentially be attributed to both.

    An hour later, four more were added as Garrick and four Engineers continued lining the inside with damping panels that usually covered the ship''s hull and the outside with wall panels jerry-rigged with a web of magnetic shielding. They would barely help now, but as soon as Macdewil got the power going, the magnetic shielding would guard them from the radiation.

    Finally, thirteen hours and forty minutes after the pulse, Garrick stood beside Macdewil, who was glaring at a panel in front of him. An odd handle was added to the side, bolted there in a way that showed it wasn''t any normal implementation.

    "If this doesn''t work, there''s nothing more I can do," Macdewil said, looking up. His eyes were bloodshot but calm. "There''s no time to try anything else."

    Garrick held his gaze, then nodded.

    "Do it."

    Macdewil grabbed the handle and brought it down.

    Garrick held his expectations low, but when the massive turbine-shaped reactor began humming, noticeable by the vibrations of everything touching walls, and lights flickered on quickly stabilizing, he almost let out a whoop of joy. A few of the engineers weren''t as quiet, and he heard shouts coming over the general chat, which he''d kept running in the background. He didn''t blame them.

    The lighting that came on all throughout the room and the sense of security that came with it, no longer having to keep all the emergency lights on, made the ship suddenly feel like it used to. A safe haven against the horrors of space.

    Too bad we don''t have everything up and running, Garrick thought.

    "Good job," he instead said calmly.

    Macdewil looked back with gleaming eyes.

    "Yeah. Now, I need some sleep."

    He walked to the side, grabbed a cable, attached it to his belt, pulled it tight, and simply closed his eyes.

    Garrick wished he could just do the same, but he knew before he could sleep, he had things to do.

    A call came in before he could even move further, and he accepted the connection to Yuri.

    "Captain, how stable is the power? I need enough to decompress a room and put up a proper sick bay," Yuri said, her voice cracked from lack of sleep.

    "Macdewil needs to sleep," Garrick said. "He is no use if he makes mistakes due to being overly tired. Now, with the shielding up, how long till everyone will feel better?"

    Yuri was quiet, then let out a long sigh. "I brought medication when we came here, but it was useless until now. With the shielding up and no more radiation pouring in, I''ll start administering it. With some luck, they will feel better in a few hours. Still, I would suggest having everyone remain here for the next week. We have plenty of food and water, and they will need that much time to recover fully. After that, we need to make sure none of us are outside for too long."

    Garrick quietly listened to Yuri rattle on before holding back a sigh.

    "Yuri, have you slept yet?"

    There was a moment of quiet, then Yuri snorted. "No, Captain. And I wouldn''t know how to sleep now. So much needs doing, and now that we have power, I-"

    ¡°Nurse Yuri Saly Suzuki. You will sleep for a minimum of four hours immediately," Garrick said, interrupting her. "That is an order."

    There was a longer moment of silence, then a weary sigh. "Who will take care of my patients if I sleep?"

    "With medicine and time, they will be fine," Garrick said. "Unless they have more than the minimal radiation poisoning you told me, there is little you can do to speed it up. Anything else will have to wait."

    "Very well, Captain," Yuri said. "I''ll get a few things in order, then sleep."

    "Ten minutes, and I wasn''t to hear you snoring," Garrick said.

    "Yes, Captain. I''ll make sure to put my connection on open for your pleasure," Yuri said, sounding annoyed.

    Garrick held back a laugh, pulling himself into the main engineering bay. The six engineers that hadn''t succumbed were hovering there, eyes bloodshot and looking almost asleep where they hovered.

    "Everyone, go and sleep," Garrick said over in the general voice group.

    There was a muttered agreement, and a moment later, the different engineers moved and found themselves a place to anchor on.

    Twenty minutes later, Garrick and Hilbert were the only two still awake.

    "You should sleep, captain," Hiblert boomed as he continued moving things around in the hanger he''d claimed for his food. "I''ll keep an eye out and wake you if anything happens."

    "What about you?" Garrick asked.

    "I slept three hours while you were all busy," Hiblert said, grinning widely. "I''ll be fine."

    Garrick didn''t hesitate but moved towards a free anchor. As soon as he hung, his eyes closed, and he was asleep.

    --

    Admiral Norrington stared at the paper in front of him. Usually, he''d have felt a deep appreciation at the mahogany desk and the true paper- a ridiculous luxury on a completely ice-covered moon with nothing but artificial trees that were all cultivated with a specific goal in enormous greenhouses.

    No. Currently, his mind was still. Stunned by what he''d read. Even the message that lay waiting beside the one he had opened, which would explain what had happened to the Shipslinger and his Third Fleet, was forgotten.

    "This¡­ can''t be real," he said in his somewhat high-pitched voice.

    "I assure you, Admiral, that it is," an old man with pearlescent eyes and stringy white hair said. "We have checked all readings multiple times, both ours and that of every other major space agency."

    "You are telling me that a large ship of unknown origin has entered Ross 248, destroyed the observatory there, killing all seventy thousand people residing on it. It then commenced to Ross 154 and did the same¡­"

    "Yes, and from our readings, multiple more ships of the same size are heading towards the other fifty-one human colonized color stems. From what we have heard of the Unity Pact, one is heading to the Gliese systems, and it will arrive in Gliese 667 C within eleven years."

    "How many more ships have you found," Admiral Norrington asked.

    "Eleven so far, and they are all coming from distant systems that we know to have Shipslingers," the older man said.

    "How soon until the first one arrives anywhere close to an inhabited system?" he asked, forgetting for a moment the thousands of deaths of the station described on the paper before him. Thousands would be nothing compared to the billions that could die.

    "Gliese 667 C seems to be the first system."

    So¡­ eleven years to figure out who they are and why they are attacking us, Norrington thought, feeling his skin crawl.

    He knew that for the largest known time that humanity was around, this would have been plenty. Now, however, with his closest fleet being close to sixteen years from any Gliese system, he knew it would be unlikely that he or anyone of The Igniz Commonwealth could assist.

    "Arrange a call with Earth and make sure to get everyone there," he said, taking a deep breath.

    Then, he focused on the old man.

    "And Malcolm? I fear it is time to start operation Diaspora."

    "I''ve already called a meeting with the others," Malcolm grunted, turning to the door.

    Just before he left, he glanced over his shoulder.

    "Norrington¡­ I suggest you also rethink your stance on destroying the Shipslingers."

    Admiral Norringon nodded, but Malcolm had already left the office.

    After a few moments, he used his H.U.D. and contacted the Quantum Net, setting a direct call to the other fleet captains. As he picked up the final report on Fleet Three, he shook his head.

    You might have gone missing at a rather inopportune time, Garrick, he thought. I could have really used The Sibilis now.

 Chapter 6: Clack

    Garrick tried to ignore the infernal itch on his ear. It had started a day before, and knowing he couldn''t scratch it for another few days made him antsy.

    Six days had passed, and the engineers were still hard at work laying new, temporary cables from their only working reactor to the Sibilis'' mainframe. Macdewil was working on the second reactor, though his original estimate had been extended from days to weeks as he kept coming across issues.

    Garrick was about to go for his daily round when he saw the aforementioned Macdewil float towards him. His face was tight, and his eyes stormy. As their eyes locked, Garrick accepted the call.

    "It''s fucked."

    Garrick blinked at Macdewil''s snarl.

    "The second reactor?" Garrick asked.

    "The control system, which I thought I could fix, is fried. We did it ourselves, too, making me feel like a moron," Macdewil said, shaking his head angrily.

    "How?"

    "I should have disconnected it before starting reactor three," Macdewil said. "I was just too tired, wasn''t thinking straight. The power went everywhere, of course, and with half or more of the power regulator system destroyed, there was a power feedback. We''re lucky the stupid control system fried. If it hadn''t, it might have tried to boot and caused more damage to reactor three."

    Garrick took a deep breath, then nodded.

    "Fine. So be it. How much work would be needed for reactor four?"

    "Too much," Macdewil said. "We are going to need to drag one of the frigates here to salvage for spare parts."

    Their connection was quiet as Garrick thought about the bad luck.

    "Fine," he finally said. "What about Hiblert''s idea?"

    Macdewil clicked himself to a cable hanging beside Garrick''s and let himself drift beside Garrick.

    "We can do it," he said. "It''s going to be dangerous, and it could be a potential one-way trip, but it''s doable."

    "Good," Garrick said. "That means we are going to need information on the state of the other ships. What about The Sibilis mainframe?"

    "A day, maybe two, Macdewil said. Then he sighed. "Where do you want to go, Garrick? There''s no planet here, just a few dozen moons around those useless gas giants!"

    "Useles? Maybe," Garrick said as he pulled up the information on the system that they had managed to gather before coming into conflict with The Serotonin.

    "Majriti is almost smack middle in the Goldilocks zone, and it has eighteen moons," he said, looking at his own notes. "Three of them are ice moons, and our readings showed they all might have liquid oceans below the surface. Should I remind you how much of a goldmine Europa ended up being? Just because we both had to live in the Frozen Belly doesn''t mean it wasn''t a great place to live for those more fortunate and rich."

    "Yes, and should I remind you that it took hundreds of years to go from a simple base to even a remotely livable city?" Macdewil snorted.

    "That was almost two hundred years ago," Garrick said, raising an eyebrow. "Do you suggest we use such archaic methods?"

    "We might not have a choice," Macdewil said as he closed his eyes. "From what I can tell from the last records, the chances of The Seretonin having survived in any whole form are very slim, and none of the frigates are in one piece. We are lucky The Sibilis had all those reinforcements."

    Yes, we are, Garrick thought, wondering again why they had even been there.

    "Well, we have multiple rocky planets," he said, knowing full well how unlikely those would be.

    Without any atmosphere, they would still be relegated to living in shelters, likely below the surface. If there had to be a choice, the icy moons were a more likely candidate. No, what he needed to do was poke Macdwil until he started thinking. If he had just ordered it, his friend would have tried his best, which is true, but it wouldn''t have been nearly as good as if he had started thinking again.

    "Don''t even joke about that," Macdewil snorted. "Mars still had issues. The only rocky worlds usable are those with an atmosphere."

    They were quiet for a bit, but Garrick saw Macdewil''s eyes sharpen on the wall, seemingly deep in thought.

    "What we should do is create a space station and keep it between one of the moons and the gas giant," he said. "We have more raw material here than we could finish in a few hundred years, and it''s all made to work in space. Getting it on a moon would likely destroy most of it, and we aren''t going to be able to dig out any more for a long time."

    Garrick hummed, nodding as they thought about that.

    "Then we should get that big ice moon that moves around Majriti," he said. "There''s a thin band of rocky debris around it that we could use as a resource."

    Macdewil nodded his head, then frowned.

    "What?" Garrick asked after a few moments.

    "Are we seriously going to keep those names?" Macdewil asked.

    Garrick rolled his eyes before sighing. "What''s wrong with Majriti?"

    "You know how I think about gods and stuff," Macdewil snorted.

    "Yes, you don''t like it," Garrick said, getting close to telling his head engineer and friend to stuff it as he wasn''t interested in any theological debates right now. Those had caused enough wars in the last fifteen hundred years.

    "Not necessarily¡­ but I like the old ones. You know? The pagan ones?"

    Garrick groaned. "We are not renaming them, but if it means this much to you, go and find a name you like and slap it on the moon. They weren''t known till we came here, and it''s unlikely that we will get back and have some bigshot name them for us."

    "Good! Can I name all the moons?" Macdewil asked, leaning forward with glistening eyes.

    "Definitely not," Garrick said. "Name the one we will build a base around, but make sure it''s a nice one."

    Macdewil snorted. "What, did you think I''d call it Hell or something?"

    "Were you?" Garrick asked.

    "Captain, you think too little of me," Macdewil said as he unhooked himself and began drifting for the exit. "I was thinking of Asgard," he said.

    "No fantasy and fiction references," Garrick snapped just as Macdewil ended the call.

    He watched his head engineer quickly drift away and shook his head.

    "Well, atleast he''s not as depressed anymore," he thought with a weary sigh.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Hours, then days, moved by.

    Garrick spent most of his time trying to make plans for the future and scouring the remains of The Sibilis for anything useful. Yuri kept asking for power to the medbay so she could use the scanners, only for Macdewil to shoot the plans down due to energy constraints and the potential to blow up the reactor.

    Macdewil himself was splitting his time between fixing The Sibilis Mainframe and creating a small rocket-like device that could blast someone toward the nearest frigate.

    As Garrick returned to engineering, Yuri floated towards him, opening a connection.

    "Yuri?"

    "We can''t stay like this much longer, Captain," Yuri said, looking worried.

    "Like what?" Garrick asked.

    "Weightless," Yuri said, waving her hands around. "If this keeps up a lot longer, we are going to start exhibiting issues when we get gravity back."

    "Macdewil has explained this," Garrick said.

    "I know, captain, and I understand," Yuri said wearily. "But you told me to act like the head medical, and I am. This is part of it. We can''t continue like this much longer. There needs to be some plan thought up to get us gravity back."

    Garrick sighed, adding the item to his growing list that already contained: getting as much food from all the ships as he could, figuring out a future plan to grow new food, finding out what was wrong with their implants, potentially finding a way to signal Sol that they were alive, gathering all crypods potentially now drifting around the system, and a few more.

    "I''ll come up with something," he said, trying to sound as sure of himself as he could.

    "Thanks, captain," Yuri said before hesitating. "I''m sorry, Garrick. I wish I could help more than I am now, but I need the medbay for that."

    "I know, Yuri. You are doing great," Garrick said.

    A few hours later, he had a slight sense of Deja Vu as he hovered beside Macdewil, looking at The Sibilis''s mainframe. Its initially clean and nice exterior was gone; everything was now covered in wires, cables, and extra devices.

    "Same as with the reactor?" Garrick asked, raising an eyebrow.

    "Almost," Macdewil muttered, looking at a few of the other engineers who were still working on a few systems that had been attached to the walls. "The reactor just needed to be repaired, and we had to cut a few of the cables that led to malfunctioning sections. The mainframe? We had to move things from parts of the ships here, add them where they don''t normally belong, and redirect the cables from the other reactors to work with just reactor three."

    "But you are just going to push a button?" Garrick asked, raising an eyebrow.

    Macdewil burst out laughing, and when he finally calmed down, he was furiously blinking to get the tears from his eyes.

    "Dammit, Garrick. Did you have to make me laugh? There''s snot on my lip!"

    Garrick just calmly stared at him, and after a few moments, Macdewil snorted.

    "Yes. I''m going to push a button," he said before doing just that.

    For a few moments, nothing happened. Then the lights flickered all throughout the room.

    "Shit, stabilize that output!" Macdewil shouted to one of the engineers who was already flying to a small panel. He did something, and a moment later, the lights stopped flickering. Another few seconds passed, then the mainframe lit up like a Christmas tree. Lights, mainly blue and green, but a few red ones, were flashing furiously and continued to do so for a minute before most began glowing stable.

    "Status?" Garrick asked.

    "Not sure," Macdewil muttered. "Sibilis, status?"

    There was no response, and Macdewil began rapidly talking with the other engineers. Within moments, they had used more words that Garrick didn''t understand than during his university days.

    A sudden, soft voice interrupted them- cutting through their chatter like a knife through butter.

    "Captain Dasbartin, I am operating at four percent capacity. Would you like a status report?"

    A round of joyful shouting came, and Garrick quickly cut off the general chat.

    "Yes, Sibilis. Start with the message you sent me about the System-AI."

    "The System-AI was locked away within the forward section of the ship, and from my limited readings, most of those systems were destroyed. Those still in the back are, however, operational. I detect no activity on the processing units there."

    Garrick was quiet, happy to have another integral part of his ship back up and running, but worried if he was actually talking to The Sibilis. How would he even know if he wasn''t talking to that System-AI? As he pondered that, an idea popped into his head. He thought about it for a few moments but couldn''t come up with a reason not to try.

    "Sibilis, how do I know you are not the System-AI impersonating Sibilis?"

    "There is nothing I can do to prove my personae, Captain. However, Engineer Macdewil might be able to. There is a record in my databank that suggests there is a linguistic disparity pre-programmed into my LLM. He is listed as one of the personnel who has access to this, and if another LLM or AI has taken over, he would be able to verify my integrity."

    Garrick frowned, then quickly called Macdewil, explaining what he''d heard.

    "What is this about a linguistic disparity?" he asked.

    Macdewil was quiet for a bit, then he snorted. "I didn''t know they had actually done that! It was after a drinking session, back on Igniz, where we theorized about an AI attack by The Unity Pact and how we could potentially find out about this. I suggested adding a trigger in the data that trained the LLM, one that would be so deeply ingrained and specific for each LLM."

    "Would this give us a guarantee?" Garrick asked.

    "Not a guarantee, but it would be close," Macdewil said. "Sibilis, I also want you to give me the complete checksum of your last internal software state."

    "Yes, Engineer Macdewil, I will send it to you immediately."

    Garrick waited, and after a while, Macdewil nodded.

    "Sibilis, salads are a man''s best friend and should never act like¡­?"

    "A brownie because those cannot be trusted," the Sibilis answered promptly.

    Garrick blinked, then stared at Macdewil.

    "What? I told you we were drunk?"

    "Remind me again not to let drunk engineers touch billion credit infrastructures," Garrick said. Still, somehow, he felt a lot better now.

    "Sibilis, status update," he said.

    "I am locked out from the entire front half of the ship, and I''m only getting responses from ten percent of the rest of the system. The external shields are down, and the hull plating that was directly impacted by the exploding Shipslinger is destroyed. The engines are disabled and unresponsive, so Inertial Gravity can not be achieved."

    A list of the systems, one Garrick had seen many times, appeared in his H.U.D., and he had to do his best not to let his sadness show. Most systems were red or orange, with only a handful of yellow and none green.

    "Alright," Garrick said. "Then let me sketch the situation for you. We are dead in the water, stranded in Upsison Andomedae, and there is zero chance of anyone coming to find us. Engineer Macdewil and I have drawn up initial plans to create a small space station between one of Majriti''s moons and the gas giant. I want you to come up with a feasible plan and work it out with Macdewil. Any immediate suggestions?"

    "I would suggest heading for the aft scanners and trying to get those operational," the calm, emotionless voice of the Sibilis said. "With those, I would be able to provide insight into the location of the debris around us. This would help us determine our plan."

    Garrick looked at Macdewil, who nodded back.

    "Alright, tell me what you need to get the aft scanners operational."

    "Captain, I would require to know the state. It would be best if you head there and share the current physical state of the hardware."

    Garrick opened his mouth, then closed it as he thought of something else.

    "We are currently unable to talk outside of the engineering room. Something is interfering with the signal of our Implants. Can you detect what is causing the interference?"

    This time, it was quiet for one entire second, something that almost shocked Garrick, as it meant an immense number of calculations had just happened.

    "There seems to be some sort of radiation still coming from the direction of the Shipslinger," The Sibilis said. "My surviving sensors aren''t enough to determine more than its existence, and only that due to interference I am perceiving. However, from what I can detect and read in the logs, the radiation is weakening at a rapid rate and should likely be negligent within sixteen hours and ten minutes."

    "Send everything you can detect of this radiation to Nurse Yuri," Garrick said. "Also, see if you can detect any survivors on board."

    "Yes, Captain. This might take a while."

    Garrick frowned. He wasn''t used to anything taking long with LLM''s, especially not with The Sibilis, who was state-of-the-art.

    "Explain," he said.

    "I might be able to infer survivor activity by enabling parts of the ship''s power grid and seeing if there''s a specific draw of power. However, the single reactor currently online is insufficient to do this for large sections," The Sibilis said.

    "Very well. Do what you can, but make sure not to overextend the reactor," Garrick said. "Repairing the other three is likely impossible."

    "Yes, Captain. I will contact you as soon as I know more."

    The Sibilis fell quiet, though Garrick knew that it was back. Somehow, as much as he worried, having the perpetually calm voice back made him feel a lot better, and suddenly, their survival didn''t seem as farfetched.

    "I''ll come with you to the aft sensors," Macdewil said. "The others can take care of patching up any little things. The Sibilis should be able to easily tell them what to do."

    "Alright, let''s head out," Garrick said.

    He pushed himself out and slowly drifted back into the main engineering room.

    I hope we can get these sensors up fast, he thought.

 Chapter 7: Bloody nose

    Garrick stared at the panel, almost hesitating to open it. This was the single to last of the aft sensors, and if it was just as broken, they would have one chance left.

    "There''s a better chance, Garrick," Macdewil said. "The destroyed section might have cut it off from most of the power spike."

    "Let''s see if you are right," Garrick said, unlatching the panel and calmly pulling it open.

    The sight of the pristine set of electronic boards with neat multicolored cables pulled taunt across the sides, with no sign of any burns, made him sigh in relief.

    "Alright, now let''s see if we can get it running," Macdewil said, sounding as happy as Garrick felt.

    He stepped aside to let his engineer start rummaging through the panel interior. After a short while, he pulled back and nodded. "I can''t find any damage. Now, we just need to get the power back to this section, and we will have some idea of what is happening."

    A very limited idea, Garrick thought, recalling what Sibilis had told them. With just one or two sensors, it would have massive blindspots.

    He followed Macdewil, helping where he could to open panels and check the thick electric backup cables that ran along the walls. They weren''t normally used, as the regular energy transmission didn''t require them, but he was again happy for the failsafes the shipbuilders had installed.

    It took them half a day to check all of the cables, eventually finding that only the corridors that had blown up halfway to the front section were gone.

    "I''ll get some help, and we can create a bypass," Macdewil said. "It might take a day or two, but we can get them up and running."

    "Get it done, Jack," Garrick said as he began pulling himself along the ceiling hooks back to the engineering bay. "After that, work on power for the medbay."

    "Sure. What about the rocket you had me make?"

    Garrick sighed as he thought of the next part of what he''d have to do.

    "Let''s see what kind of plan Sibilis came up with. If it''s the same as what we think, I''ll have to use it to reach the nearest frigate."

    Or what''s left of it, Garrick thought.

    As they continued forward, he felt a very slight headache build. It had come on and off for the last few hours, and he couldn''t help but think about his implant.

    Checking the H.U.D. and its statistics, it showed nothing wrong, but he wasn''t sure he could trust that.

    The rest of the day was spent getting information on the different systems, figuring out just how much food and water they had left and exactly how long they could do without gravity. With Sibilis back up, a much clearer and worrisome picture was growing.

    "So, if we don''t find anything from the other ships, we have ten years of food left, and that''s if we don''t wake up any of the others," Garrick said, hovering near the wall.

    "Correct, Captain. Roughly the same amount of water, but we should be able to get more of that from the dust belt that encircles the small frozen moon," Sibilis calmly stated.

    Garrick added to his notes and plans until his headache returned. He''d yet to talk to Sibilis about the implants, giving other things priority constantly. He knew it was because of the nagging worry about the System-AI, but as the headache continued to increase, he knew it was about time to discuss it.

    He called Yuri, who he''d ordered not to discuss it yet, and she joined their conversation instantly.

    "On my way, Captain," she said.

    "No rush, Yuri," Garrick said before focusing on the Sibilis.

    "Sibilis, there''s another thing that happened after the explosion of the Precursor Shipslinger," he said before slowly explaining their findings about the implant to Sibilis.

    "I see, captain. Permission to examine the implant readings and logs for the crew?"

    Garrick hesitated, then nodded. "Granted."

    There was a second of quiet.

    "Nurse Yuri''s worry is correct," Sibilis said. "Although it is very difficult to detect, there are both fluctuations and oddities in the logs and statistics of the implants. Especially your own, captain, is showing signs of¡­"

    Garrick frowned as Sibilis fell quiet.

    "Sibilis?"

    "I am sorry, captain. It is hard to express the readings. The best I can say is that your implant is working at one hundred and four percent capabilities, and from the logs, it seems to be slowly increasing. At the same time, the energy drain on your system has increased. Your headache seems to be from a slight dehydration in combination with whatever your implant is doing."

    Garrick shivered as he imagined his implant growing. Although the idea of its functionality increasing seemed fine, what was the cost? Then he frowned. Why did Sibilis hesitate, though? Although it was an oddity, its eventual response was easy enough.

    "Sibilis, why did you hesitate?"

    "There are inconsistencies in the different readings, and I had to run three simulations. Those readings were also inconsistent."

    "Insconsisten how?" Yuri asked.

    "There are large differences between the readings of the X4 and X5 implants," Sibilis said calmly. "The growth seems larger with the X4 implants, with your implant showing especially significant increases, Captain Dasbartin."

    "It must be because you were on the bridge, and then you went out of the ship while that radiation was still happening," Yuri muttered.

    "You think the radiation is doing this?" Garrick asked.

    "What else can it be?" Yuri asked just as she pulled herself toward Garrick.

    Garrick didn''t answer, but he knew a bit about radiation, none of which suggested this was a possible side effect.

    "Sibilis, can you determine how this could have happened?"

    "Not right now, captain. I would need both scans of the current status of the implant and access to its detailed running data."

    Garrick knew there was no way for anyone but him to get that data, but it was also entirely unreadable by a human. It was a dump of the last few days of activity, and his emotional state and many other things could be inferred from it. Rumor had it that The Unity Pact even had an AI that could predict thoughts and thought patterns using that data.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    He thought about it for a bit, looking at Yuri and seeing the conflict in her mind. Not sharing these readings and respecting its citizens'' privacy was what separated The Igniz Commonwealth from the two other large powers.

    And if we weren''t in the current situation, I''d never do it, Garrick thought.

    "Very well," he said, triggering his implant to create an in-depth dump of everything that was still available. It would take a while due to the implant''s limited processing power... Would¡­ which¡­

    Garrick''s thoughts stalled as his headache increased rapidly, a throbbing pain right behind his head. It slowly spread across the sides of his head to the back.

    "Captain?"

    "Captain Desbartin, your combat suit''s readings indicate abnormal fluctuations in your heart rate and blood pressure," Sibilis said, the mechanical and always calm voice suddenly growing serious.

    Garrick gritted his teeth, and as the headache increased, it took all of his considerable willpower to stop himself from curling up. Something dripped on his upper lip, and he shivered.

    "Captain, your nose is bleeding," Yuri snapped. "Stop the dump!"

    Garrick barely heard her, but the tiny part of him not being wrapped in pain did, and he ordered his H.U.D. to stop all active actions.

    The headache stopped building instantly, and very slowly, the pain receded as he regained his ability to think straight.

    "Well, that was unpleasant," he said, trying to remain calm.

    "Captain¡­" Yuri whispered.

    The worry in her voice was so thick that Garrick felt his own skin crawl.

    "You were bleeding from your nose, eyes, and ears¡­"

    Garrick didn''t react for a moment, sensing the headache receding until it was no more than the slight throbbing it had been before.

    "Then I guess I look rather gruesome right now," he said.

    "Captain Dasbartin, based on the readings and the fact that they rapidly returned to normal after Nurse Yuri''s suggestion, can I assume you stopped the dump?" Sibilis asked her voice back to the regular calmness.

    "Yes," Garrick said as he focused on a flashing warning on his H.U.D.

    ~> Implant X4: memory dump aborted at seven percent¡­

    ~> Creating readable file¡­ DONE.

    "Sibilis, you have my permission to check the partial file," Garrick said, suddenly far less worried about Sibilis perhaps being compromised.

    "Yes, Captain."

    There was a three-second pause before the LLM resumed speaking.

    "Captain, your implant''s log is either corrupted, or the BIOS code has been rewritten in something that I cannot parse."

    Garrick heard Yuri suck in a deep breath, and he held back a curse of his own.

    "You cannot determine which of the two?" he asked.

    "I have started a background process to analyze the data. It will take a few days before I can give any answer with more than eighty percent surety."

    "What would you say now?" Yuri asked.

    "Currently there is a sixty to forty probability that the captain''s log output is based on another BIOS."

    Garrick and Yuri shared a look of deep, unsettled worry.

    Garrick felt his worry grow as he thought about something outside of his control, potentially tampering with his brain. Something different from what had been in his mind since he was younger than he could recall.

    "Is this something done by the System-AI?" Garrick asked.

    "No, Captain. It is unlike anything in my databases."

    "Very well," Garrick said. "I want you to keep this information classified between me and Nurse Yuri. Also, keep an eye on all crew, and if you notice something similar to what I just had, warn Nurse Yuri and me in that order, and immediately warn the crewmember in question to stop all implant operations."

    "Yes, captain."

    "Captain?"

    Garrick turned to Yuri, who was staring at him. Her eyes locked on his face.

    "You are going to have to come up with an explanation for the dried blood," she said.

    Garrick sighed. "Sibilis, we need a way to get out of these suits. I need you to work together with Engineer Macdewil and the others to find a room that we can pressurize."

    "Yes, captain. I''ll contact Engineer Macdewil right away."

    "Yuri, can you warn the others that I had a little accident and that they aren''t to be surprised by my appearance?"

    "Yes, Captain¡­" Yuri muttered. "Are you sure you are feeling alright?"

    Garrick wanted to say yes, then stopped himself as he focused on how he did feel.

    "Yes," he said. "A slight headache, but no more than I had before all this happened."

    "I need the medbay," Yuri said as she turned and pulled herself away.

    Garrick sniffed, smelling the rank odor that had slowly been filling his suit. The fresh blood was still in his nose, and he sighed as he violently blew it out, causing a mist of blood and snot to hover before him for a moment. Then his helmet sucked it away before It could line the inside of his glass.

    I really could do with a shower, Garrick thought.

    --

    "God, I''m glad the captain told us to work in a pressurized room," one of the engineers muttered.

    He was working together with four others, including Macdewil, on moving and lining the emptied-out sixth cargo hold with nanotube material. Normally used within the shuttle bay, it had taken days to get enough here, and even now, the other engineers were cutting more out and bringing it here in ten-foot-long pieces.

    Macdewil was working on a double airlock, for which he''d had to enlarge the door opening to get it to fit. The entire thing looked straight from a crazy scientist''s basement, and he knew that if any of his friends back home would ever see it, they wouldn''t ever stop laughing.

    "Which god would that be, Rikkert?" Macdewil asked, grunting as he pulled a large pipe through a hole that felt too small for it but, according to his H.U.D. should fit neatly.

    "Whichever is willing to help us get this thing up and running so I can clean out this bloody suit," Rikkert replied, snickering softly.

    "Sir, what is your problem with faith anyway?" another engineer asked.

    Macdewil ignored a weary groan from Rikkert, who probably knew the story.

    "Glad you asked! Have you ever heard of the Saulites?" Macdewil asked, happy as the pipe finally slid through.

    "I.. aren''t those some crazy sect?"

    "You''re not wrong," Macdewil said as his hands expertly did their job.

    With the specs and guides of his H.U.D. back, including Sibilis'' assistance, the job was going a lot faster than it would have without, but not nearly fast enough. Every time he saw Garrick''s dry, blood-stained face, he felt sick.

    "Well, my dear mother was one of those crazy people, and she believed that the best way to raise children was the old way," Macdewil said. "And with old, I mean three thousand years old. With canes and belts."

    "Right¡­" the engineer whispered.

    Macdewil snorted, knowing he was making the other uncomfortable and not caring a bit.

    "Don''t feel bad for me," he said. "That was a long time ago. But, let''s just say that one can only be lashed while being told about the greatness of some god so many times. At some point, the belief in said god dies."

    "Really, sir?" Rikkert said wearily. "Couldn''t you have given them the nicer version? The one you told the others a few months ago?"

    "No," Macdewil said, unable to keep the grin from his face. "Sometimes it''s good to hear the unsalted truth!"

    A loud, clear, and commanding voice interrupted anything else he might have said.

    "Engineer Macdewil, please refrain from scaring the few engineers you have left!"

    "Yes, Captain," Macdewil said, humming happily.

    "Good. Now, as you all seem to be able to chat so much, I take it there''s good news?"

    "Yes, Captain," Macdewil agreed, his grin returning.

    "Right. And, this news would be?"

    Macdewil heard the slight annoyance in Garrick''s voice, and he decided he''d had his fun. If he pushed the older man a bit too hard, he would likely find a way to pay him back, and Garrick was never one to do things half-measured.

    "If we don''t encounter any oddities, Sibilis and I agree that we should finish tomorrow afternoon. As an added bonus, Rikkert found one of the shuttle''s backup batteries. If we fill that, I might be able to temporarily power some of the things in the Medbay."

    Macdewil was glad to see the glitter and joy in his captain and friend''s eyes. He''d clearly been having a hard time, sleeping less than any of them and working twice as hard. If it wasn''t that he seemed to be doing alright, he would have told him to cool it a week ago.

    Bit surprising how tough he is for such an old dog, Macdewil thought as he tried to imagine working the same hours.

 Chapter 8: Surprises all around

    "Captain, I have finished my background analysis."

    Garrick looked up from where he was, watching Macdewil finish up the last touches to powering up the aft sensors.

    A weary resignation made Garrick turn away and hover out of engineering until he was floating through the empty hallways. They were now lit up by a few LEDs that sat attached to the cables running from engineering to aft.

    Over the last two days, his headache hadn''t returned, and even better, he was feeling better than he had in years. If that was due to only eating and drinking the recommended provisions and sleeping more, he didn''t know, but he''d started noticing his eyesight changing and his breathing turning easier than he was used to.

    "Alright, Sibilis, give me the analysis," he said.

    "There is a nine-five certainty that your current implant''s BIOS has been overwritten by a foreign entity," Sibils said, the LLM''s voice calm as if he hadn''t just said something that should have been impossible. "There is an under one percent chance that it is some odd encryption generated by The Astra Concord, and a hack by The Seretonin."

    Garrick pushed himself away from the wall, his mind surprisingly calm.

    "And the remainder?" he asked.

    "A little off four percent chance that your implant is malfunctioning in such a way that only your dump shows the information it does, Captain."

    Garrick thought for a bit, wondering if the others had the same.

    "How did it get replaced?" he asked.

    "It is hard to be sure, as the fraction of the memory dump was completely different from anything known. Right now, I''m running processes to read the interaction between what your H.U.D. shows you. It would be best if you could run another memory dump."

    Garrick stared through a crack of the hull at the star-filled sky.

    "Fine," he said. "How much do you need?"

    "Verry little. Just starting it and stopping it right away will be fine."

    Garrick sighed, then triggered the memory dump, waited for one second, then canceled it.

    In that single second, the distant background thrumming headache skyrocketed to a near-migraine, only to slink away within moments after the dump stopped.

    ~> Implant X4: memory dump aborted at zero point one percent¡­

    ~> Creating readable file¡­ DONE.

    "Sibilis, you have permission to check the memory data," Garrick said almost absently.

    "Yes, Captain."

    There was a few moments of quiet as Garrick stared out of the window.

    So, what does this mean? He thought. Did the Precursors leave something behind on their Shipslinger that somehow came free when it was destroyed? It had to be something like that. If that was true, what did that mean for him and his crew?

    "Captain, I have made a little headway but not a lot," Sibilis said calmly." I am going to need to do a brute force pattern recognition on your visual cortex and brain as the H.U.D. is displaying different things."

    "Will I notice anything of that?" Garrick asked, feeling his hackles rise.

    "No, Captain. You will also see a little notification while I am observing, and you can always end my observations whenever you wish for it."

    Garrick wished he could say no. The idea of having the LLM lottery in his head made his skin crawl. If it had only been his life and survival, he might not have allowed it. But as he thought of the crew, he sighed.

    I''m on a slippery slope, he thought, thinking about what he''d already allowed the LLM to do. If someone had told him he''d be willingly doing this even a few months ago, he''d have called them insane.

    "Very well. How long will this take?"

    "Atleast a few weeks."

    Garrick hesitated, then snorted.

    "Fine. Make sure you figure out what this device is doing."

    "Of course, Captain. I am sorry, there is no other way."

    So am I, Garrick thought. So am I.

    --

    "We are starting to make this a habit," Garrick said, grinning at Macdewil, who stood before the wire-filled airlock.

    It looked dangerous; the entire construction was roughly welded together where possible and glued in other spots. Every visible edge had been closed with most of their surviving supply of Granite Kit, causing the plates and walls to look like they were smudged below an unfinished paint job.

    "Here we go," Macdwil muttered. "Presurring."

    He pressed some buttons, and a few of the valves began bending as something pumped through them. There was nothing visibly changing in the room except for a simple flag attached to the side. Initially, it began rippling and flapping as if someone was shooting it with an airgun. Then, ever so slowly, it calmed and began wiggling and rippling calmly. This continued until one of the lights beeped, and the flag just hung there, drifting around the wire it was attached to.

    "Alright, we have full pressure, and the air seems fine," Macdewil said, looking up. "Are you sure-"

    Garrick moved to the airlock and pressed the button Macdewil had shown him. As soon as it opened, he moved inside and closed it behind him, taking only a small bag with him.

    "Really glad we don''t have to open all the doors manually," he said, trying to sound chipper.

    "Captain¡­ good luck."

    Garrick hummed as he waited for the small chamber around him to be pressurized. For a moment, there was no sound, then a whine and rushing of wind surrounded him. It was muted by the helmet, but finally, hearing something that wasn''t himself or over the speakers in his helmet caused him to sigh in relief.

    They never tell you you can miss normal sounds, he thought as he waited for the airlock to beep and a green light to glow. As soon as it did, he opened the other door, listening for any hissing or other sounds that would show the atmosphere was leaking away somewhere.

    There was nothing but silence, and he moved to the nearest wall, which increased the sound amplification of his suit. He had a readout on his H.U.D. that would show him any soundwaves he might not be picking up.

    After going around for a few minutes, he reduced amplification to normal and looked through the window.

    "Nothing," he said. "It looks clear."

    "Captain, it might be best if you let¡­ me¡­ Dammit, Captain."

    Garrick grinned as he clicked the other clamp on his helmet. A tiny part of him wondered if this would be his last mistake, then he screwed the helmet left until it clicked before screwing it to the right until it came free in his hands.

    Clear, clean air filled his nose and lungs, and Garrick took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he realized just how much he missed the simple act of breathing un-filtered, clean air. Then, the stink from his suit flowed up along his neck, and he almost retched.

    "Captain! Quick, your-" A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    "It''s fine," Garrick said, raising a hand and grimacing at a very worried-looking Macdewil. "I just found out how much I stink."

    There was a moment of quiet, then a snort.

    "Good to know, Captain," Yuri said from the position beside Macdewil. "I take it everything is fine?"

    Garrick nodded as he took the bag and opened it. There was a pressurized towel inside, which he unwrapped before cleaning his face. The bloody crusts had gone hard, and it took some painful rubbing to get most of it away. Still, he felt ten times better when he finished, and the sight of the brown, grimy blanket told him just how much it had been needed.

    A loud hissing came, and he looked up to see the door open again, this town letting Yuri inside.

    She removed her helmet and had roughly the same reaction before taking the bag and another clean towel and cleaning her own face.

    "Captain, all my checks show the cabin pressure is stable, and there is no sign of leakage," a calm voice came over the speakers.

    "Thanks, Sibilis," Garrick said as he began cleaning the inside of his helmet. When he finished, he had to force himself to put it back on.

    "You could stay a bit longer," Yuri said.

    "The room''s air scrubbers are only able to hold seven people," Garric said as he checked his helmet''s seal before moving back to the airlock. "Besides, we need to finish up our final preparations for Mission Rocketman."

    "You really need to call it that?" Yuri asked, shaking her head.

    "Blame engineer Macdewil," Garrick said.

    A few minutes later, he was back in the engineering room, hovering beside Macdewil.

    "I''ll let the rest go in first," Macdewil said over their private coms. "I still think it''s stupid of you to go."

    Garrick hummed thoughtfully. "We can''t wake anyone up because the medbay would need to be fully powered. There''s only one person with proper combat training and training for something like this. Who, exactly, would you suggest I send? One of our two only medical specialists? Or perhaps one of the thirteen people that we need to fix the ship?"

    Macdewil hesitated, then licked his lips. "You should send Hilbert."

    Garrick looked up, raising an eyebrow. "Our only cook and the only nutritional specialist we have?"

    Macdewil was quiet for a bit, staring at him before seemingly making up his mind about something.

    "Captain¡­ we need to talk," the engineer said.

    Garrick shut his mouth, surprised by the seriousness of his old friend. Macdewil beckoned him away, and he followed him back to the kitchen as they had come to call the nearly emptied-out storeroom on the far right.

    Hilbert was busy counting packages and putting them in labeled sections of the closet when they entered, a job that would likely take a month based on the enormous amount of crates tight on one side.

    "Captain, Jack! What¡­ oh, that look doesn''t promise much good," Hilbert said, putting the packs away and drifting towards them. "Did the pressuring fail?"

    "Hill, you need to tell the captain," Macdewil said, causing Garrick to frown.

    What was going on? He knew Hilbert, had read his dossier, and knew the man had combat training. But that was it. He didn''t have a lot of zero-g training.

    Hilbert''s eyes widened as he seemed to realize Macdewil wasn''t joking around. Within a moment, his happy, joyless look turned serious, and his eyes narrowed.

    "Jack?"

    "The Captain wants to rocket himself to one of the nearby frigates to search for survivors and hopefully find an operational shuttle."

    Hilbert was quiet for a moment, then sighed as he looked at Garrick. Something about him changed: his posture straightened, his eyes sharped, and his face turned from his jolly good-naturedness to something far more emotionless.

    "That''s a stupid idea. Have you ever done anything like that?" he asked.

    "We need a shuttle," Garrick said slowly before hovering closer to the other man. He''d seen many people fake a personality before, but if this was Hilbert''s real self, he''d been played for a long time.

    "But that is not important right now. Explain to me what is going on. What should I know?" he asked calmly.

    Hilbert held his eyes, then glanced at Macdewil before sniffing.

    "Macdewil isn''t the only one with a Y1 implant on the ship. The parts in my file that said I was with the expeditionary force? It says I was with the second division. That''s a lie. I was with the forty-sixers."

    Garrick knew that had he been told this a few decades ago, he might have reeled at the revelation. The forty-sixers were the top squadron of The Igniz Commonwealth, sent to both external and internal hotspots to take care of business. The common folk on Igniz called them The Burners, as they didn''t leave much left when they were done.

    However, he''d been a starship captain for thirty years since and dealt with his share of surprises. Besides, he knew more about the forty-sixers than most... and definitely more than the two men before him realized.

    He watched the other two for a bit, wondering why he had the insistent desire to show off. He''d not felt like this in a very long time. For a moment, he almost pushed it down, then the desire grew and he decided that if they wanted to play, so could

    It''s not like I''ll ever get back to being court-martialled, Garrick thought.

    "I see," he said, already pretty sure what the response would be. "Seeing as you never told me, I take it there''s a reason for sharing this now?"

    Hilbert held his gaze, and then a grin came to his face. He let out a soft laugh.

    "Captain, I always knew you could be cold, but this is next level¡­ The usual reaction isn''t anything like this."

    Garrick just raised an eyebrow, not interested in friendly banter. He knew that Hilbert was trying to charm him, but he''d need to tell him something way more surprising.

    No. Garrick wanted to know why he''d never heard about this before and why Macdewil did know. He also wanted to know who Hilbert really was. Nobody just got a Y1 implant. Y-type implants were only given to the rich, the famous, or those who had superior genes according to their birth DNA test.

    "I think Jack here told me this so I could go instead of you," Hilbert said, still smiling. "I have experience with ship-to-ship combat and experience in zero-G combat. Just in case it would be needed. Also-" and Hilbert snorted at Macdewil, who just shrugged. "-I''m more replaceable than you are."

    Garrick was quiet for a few moments, then sniffed. Apparently, Hilbert wasn''t going to explain why he got the Y1 implant. A shame. But it did mean it was now his turn to surprise the two younger upstarts.

    A tiny part of him knew it was odd for him to act like that, but most of him was just looking forward to see their faces.

    "Who was your trainer? Lena Goriova? Or were you unlucky enough to get the bulldog? I''d say Lena, seeing as you enjoying talking as much as she did."

    Hilbert''s smile froze, then his eyes widened as he seemed to realize what was happening.

    "You... no, you weren''t in the forty-sixers, so.. how..."

    Garrick raised an eyebrow and smiled, causing Hilbert''s eyes to almost roll out of their sockets.

    "You were in G-AD?" he whispered.

    Garrick held the other''s gaze as he realized he''d not spoken about this for atleast a decade. Not since he''d been back on Igniz Beta- the small military city on the other side of Europa.

    "Thirty-first group, special additional training regiment six," he said, knowing none of that would mean much. The next bit would be, though. "Sandy Barracks."

    Hiblert whistled while Macdewil looked from one to the other.

    "So¡­ I take it that''s something special?" he asked.

    Hilbert nodded. "G-AD was very hush-hush. Top training for those meant to become¡­ A dammit, I should have realized!"

    "Permanent captains of capital-class ships," Garrick said, feeling a tiny wince at that. He''d always wanted to grow a step further.

    "Now. I agree that you would be a good fit for the job, but you haven''t convinced me that I shouldn''t go. All you have done is show that I''ll not be going alone. Engineer Macdewil, I want you to make another of those rockets. And before either of you wants to try and get me to second guess this- we need a shuttle, and we need to get mobile. The sooner we start creating a more permanent place, the better."

    "Yes, captain," Macdewil said, though he looked like he''d just swallowed something sour.

    "Now, I''ll be curious to hear a bit about your missions later, Hilbert," Garrick said as he turned away and began drifting back out. "But that will have to wait while we are in the deep black. I''ll meet you in twelve hours at the remains of the shuttle bay."

    --

    Macdewil watched as the Captain left the refitted storage room while he dropped from the chat.

    "Damnnnn!" Hilbert said, turning to him. "I''ll not even ask if you knew this, as your face says it all, but¡­ man! I knew the Captain was hardcore when they asked me to join the Sibilis, but this?"

    Macdewil blinked, then turned around. "Wait. Who asked you to join the Sibilis?"

    "Admiral Stinger. My active duty was done, and I''d asked to be assigned to one of the long-mission cryo ships," Hilbert muttered, still grinning like a madman.

    "What? You asked for that?" Macdewil said, looking up.

    Nobody asked for those, as they would leave you stranded decades or more out of your birth time, with all your friends and family dead.

    He''s serious, he thought, looking at Hilbert''s grin.

    He''d spent countless hours drinking and having fun with Hilbert, and now he suddenly wondered if he knew the giant of a man at all.

    "Yeah, it''s one of the disadvantages of being with the forty-x-brigades, especially the forty-sixers," Hilbert said, humming softly. "All of my family died over two hundred years ago, but I still have a warrant out in many places. Most of us eventually do this so we can skip through a few decades, sleep it away, and all that. Most people forget about you if you don''t pop up for a long time."

    "Two hundred¡­ When were you even born?"

    "Two-hundred and sixty-four years ago," Hilbert said, grinning widely.

    Macdewil turned to the man he''d thought was his friend in stunned surprise.

    "Wait¡­ doesn''t that mean your Y1 is one of the first generation?"

    "Second-gen, actually, but yeah. It''s a bit of an old one," Hilbert said.

    "... here I think I''m the one surprising someone," Macdewil muttered, annoyed.

    "Well, you surprised me, that''s for sure," Hilbert said. "Didn''t I tell you to keep me being a Y1 to yourself?"

    Macdewil grimaced, realizing the other hadn''t decided to forget about that. He sighed, knowing he was going to have to do some explaining.

 Chapter 9: Wet feet

    "Sibilis, show me the sensor readings again," Garrick said.

    He was hovering in front of the ripped-apart opening in the no-longer pristine hull, staring at the debris-filled space beyond.

    With a soft blink, his H.U.D. filled with images that showed one section of the debris field they were now part of. A low-res stream showed what was currently happening.

    The remains of the Sibils and everything he could see were slowly circling the remains of the no longer glowing Precursor Shipslinger.

    "Can you estimate how strong the gravitational pull was during the explosion?" Garrick asked.

    "Yes, Captain."

    A list of numbers and slides appeared in an empty space in his H.U.D. while Sibilis began rattling of some numbers.

    "So, in other words," Garrick said thoughtfully. "There was a tiny moment of intense gravity, enough to keep us all from being blasted away. What remains is still enough to keep us within the orbit of the Precursor wreckage. Does that mean that some part of the Precursor Shipslinger survived the explosion?"

    "Correct, Captain," Sibilis agreed. "With just the images you made of the area, it is impossible to determine what, but some debris remained in the location of the exploded Precursor Shipslinger. Based on the gravity that remains, it is unlikely that something new was drawn there."

    "How is it even possible for anything to remain?" Garrick said, frowning. "An antimatter explosion should have wiped everything away."

    "If there hadn''t been the odd spikes in gravity, this would have been the logical conclusion, Captain. However, I''ll need more observations before I can give any clear answer."

    Garrick quietly watched the images before nodding.

    "How long till the engineers finish the long-range, high-resolution camera?"

    "At their current speed, it will take atleast a few more days."

    Garrick continued examining the grainy images. Most were made by him with a device not meant to take pictures at any distance further than within the ship. Still, after having taken images from nearly every angle, The Sibelius had knit them together and managed to refine them in something that gave some information.

    He took a final look at the remains of the Precursor Shipslinger before looking across the others. It didn''t take longer for his gaze to keep drifting to one specifically. The Seretonin.

    It had been crushed like an ancient can and split along multiple lines. Now, large sections of it drifted a few miles behind them. In between was a chaotic jumble of debris, while more crushed ships - smaller frigates blown apart into differently sized chunks, were hovered around and behind it.

    Ten percent chance of survivors feels high, Garrick thought, as he remembered Sibilis''s analysis. As much as he hated Captain Uru for what he''d done, he felt sympathy for the rest of his crew.

    He swiped the image to the side and focused on another one. It was made through a hole on the left side of the Sibilis and showed the debris further away. In the middle sat a frigate that looked far more intact than any of the others. Further away, it seemed that only its backside was obliterated, while the section behind it was merely crushed. Garrick the ship, as it was one of those in Third Fleet. It was The Tealclaw, an older frigate that had been with them ever since it was created. It had been hanging back on the outsides after taking damage in the initial confrontation.

    He knew the Captain of the ship, Hillary Braddock, and knew that she had likely ordered the ship to distance itself further.

    Her foresight might prove pivotal in their survival, Garrick knew, because, from the images, it seemed that the Tealclaw''s shuttle bay remained largely intact. Better yet, a single shuttle hung within the debris in front of it, looking mostly in one piece.

    "Show me the suggested flight path to cross over," Garrick requested.

    "Yes, Captain," Sibilis said, and a green line appeared, moving like a string through the debris field and from them to the Tealclaw.

    "Remember that without active imagery, it will be impossible to predict the different moving parts," Sibilis said.

    "I know," Garrick said, not too worried. He continued to stare at the images for a while longer before closing them. He activated an alarm on his H.U.D. to wake him in six hours.

    Between me and Hilbert, the chances of getting there and finding an intact shuttle should be high, he thought as he closed his eyes.

    It took him a long while to fall asleep, partially because he wasn''t as tired as his over seventeen hours of being awake told him he should be.

    When he finally did fall asleep, it was while pondering what was happening to his implant and how much of the changes he was sensing were due to it.

    --

    "Macdewil, you are in charge while I''m away," Garrick said, his voice loud in the quiet group chat. "Focus on getting the med-bay operational, even if only for a short time."

    "Yes, Captain," Macdewil said, sounding annoyed.

    Garrick ignored it, knowing there wasn''t anything he was going to change to accommodate his old friend''s worry. Instead, he focused on the ancient-looking jetpack that was wrapped around him like a thick metal jacket. If he hadn''t been weightless, he knew he''d have been unable to carry it. As it was, it was merely annoying to move around the narrow hallways. He hovered above a massive sixty-foot hole in the hull beyond which he could see the tiny shape of the Tealclaw.

    "Hilbert, are you ready?" he asked, looking at the similarly quipped cook and ex-military specialist.

    "Yes, captain," Hilbert said, his usual snarky grin replaced by an absolute calm.

    "Then let''s go and stretch our legs," Garrick said. "Take care of the ship while I''m gone, Engineer Macdewil."

    "Yes, Captain. Good luck."

    Garrick pushed himself away from the ship, gently gliding through the hole. It took a few seconds to pass through the thick hull and its lining, then he was bathed in the powerful light of Titawin, Upsilon Andromedae''s Sun.

    He quickly spun around to make sure no debris was hurtling his way, but Sibilis'' simulation proved correct. Whatever damage the strong gravity had done initially, it had also slowed down the debris. There was no sign in his H.U.D. of any rapidly moving tiny projectiles of death.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    Feeling even more certain that his course of action was the right one, Garrick took a look at the Sun. His helmet''s glass tinted rapidly as he examined the blazing sphere of nuclear energy.

    As yellow as the Sun, it was brighter and larger than he was used to. Not as surprise, as Europa was much further from the Sun than he was now. Even having grown up with images from the Sun seen from Earth didn''t compare. Perhaps, if he''d been in one of the richer habitats back in Europa''s ice crust city, the ones that had holographic fake skies, he might not been as impressed. Sadly for his younger self, he''d had to make do with static images that he''d had plastered on his ceiling, meaning he could now enjoy the sight before him.

    "Captain, we will have a few more minutes until the remnant radiation will completely cancel our ability to communicate," Sibilis said calmly.

    Garrick sighed as he focused on the area around him. Debris was moving around him while Hilbert hovered nearby.

    "Everything shiny, Captain?" Hilbert''s voice was so calm that someone could have thought he was sitting in a bar with a beer.

    "Yes, Hilbert. Let''s see if Macdewil''s present works, shall we? Sibilis, double-check our course?"

    The line he saw in his H.U.D. faded before reappearing exactly as it had before.

    "Everything seems fine, Captain," Sibilis said, the LLM''s voice cracking with static, a mimicry of reality as Garrick knew there wasn''t anything that could crackle.

    "Good. See you in a day or two," Garrick said, focusing on his destination. His hand gripped the joystick and he felt a powerful surge of adreneline. ¡°Follow me, Hilbert.¡±

    He pressed the button, and the next moment, he hurtled forward as if he was shot out of a canon. He watched the timer on his H.U.D. and removed his thumb from the button when it reached ten seconds.

    Glad we aren''t in an atmosphere, he thought, knowing the G''s might have flattened him if he had been.

    A quick look showed that Hilbert was following him easily, his movements supple as if he''d practiced the same thing dozens of times.

    "How are things, Hilbert?"

    "A.O.K, captain."

    Garrick grinned, then focused back on hurtling forward.

    As much debris as there was, it proved easier than he''d expected to navigate through it all. Both the planned path and his own rapidly returning skill made it feel easy. Too easy if he had to be honest with himself.

    Hours later, when they reached the Tealclaw, his joy was muted by worry. He should be tired and unfocused by now. Instead, he felt almost as sharp when they had left.

    "Ready to dock?"

    "Yes, Captain," Hilbert said.

    Garrick could hear the slight weariness in the other voice, and his worry about his own sense of well-being increased.

    "And you, captain?"

    "I''ll be fine," Garrick said as he focused on the incoming shuttle bay. Much closer now, he was glad to see three of the twelve shuttles the frigate should have hanging along the back wall, seemingly with no more than a few scrapes.

    "Time to slow down," he said, maneuvering the thrusts forward. He thumbed down, and his forward movement began slowing rapidly.

    He stopped the thrusters when his speed was reduced to a few miles an hour. Far, far slower than before, it would take another hour to reach the shuttle bay. As he glided past one of the larger bits of debris, he scanned the remains of the Tealclaw. Unlike the Sibilis, most of its front remained intact, and even more, that which had been destroyed seemed far less damaged.

    "I wonder if the ship was behind one of the other ones," Garrick said, looking back at where the Precursor Shipslinger had been. There wasn''t anything there now, but who said there hadn''t been before?

    "We might be able to find out if theirs any data remaining," Hilbert said. "Though from what I can see, their Engineering is completely gone."

    Garrick didn''t react as he pushed himself past a ten-foot piece of debris and to the edge of the shuttle bay. As he did, he saw the long beam that had slammed through the back of one of the shuttles. The two beside it had been shoved sideways but seemed largely intact.

    As he glided forward, he looked out for any signs of life, but the platforms below and the hallways leading away were completely still. Only a few brown stains showed that atleast someone had been there during the explosions that had crippled the ship.

    "Let''s check the shuttles first," Garrick said as he headed closer.

    "Right behind you, captain."

    As Garrick closed in on the shuttle, he saw scuff marks on the gleaming metal hull. A long, finger-deep scratch had torn through the fiery red Igniz Commonwealth symbol, making the fiery bird look like it had lost a wing. Reaching the door at the back, he pressed his hand on the panel. Hilbert audibly held his breath, but Garrick didn''t bother.

    A soft beep from his implant was followed by a soft voice.

    "> Tealclaw shuttle three requests authentication."

    "Captain Garrick Dasbartin of The Sibilis," Garrick said while adding his unique identification code.

    The door in front of him slid a few inches inside before swaying away, revealing the familiar ten-foot pressure hallway.

    "So far, so good," Hilbert whispered.

    Garrick frowned. Everything felt far too easy, and he didn''t like it one bit.

    As he pulled himself inside, he waited for Hilbert to join him before closing the hatch.

    "Shuttle three, status report," he ordered.

    "> Error. Unable to determine status. Sensors damaged."

    That''s more like it, Garrick thought.

    "Let''s see how bad things are," he said. "Shuttle three, commence pressurizing the entry hall."

    ¡°> Yes, captain Dasbartin.¡±

    A red bar blinked across the ceiling as a second door slid across the first.

    "> Pressurizing."

    The slits in the ceiling began shaking slightly, and after a few moments, a hissing sound became audible, becoming louder rapidly. When it stopped, the red lights turned green, and the hatch that led deeper into the ship clicked. It slid open a fraction then was yanked into the opposite hall amidst a deafening boom. The lights in the cabin turned off, and the sounds vanished as the vacuum reasserted itself in the hallway.

    "Dammit!" Hilbert shouted. "Captain, you alright?"

    "I''m fine," Garrick said as he pulled himself toward the inwardly exploded door.

    The shuttle''s simple central room was a mess of papers, while a bit of light poured in from a fist-sized hole in one wall.

    "Check the engine," Garrick said, as he pulled himself toward the shuttle''s cockpit.

    "Yes, Captain."

    The cockpit, small with two front-pointing seats and two side facing ones, seemed fine, but a red light was blinking on one of the glass panels.

    Garrick pulled himself forward and then into the pilot chair. Pressing the button on the armrest caused a simple beep.

    "> Shuttle three status report: Error - sensors damaged. Error - sensors damaged. Error-"

    Garrick cut off the loop.

    "Captain, I think we should try the other shuttles."

    "Report," Garrick said, having a sinking feeling.

    "Something slammed through the engine room, piercing a few of the consoles and only just missing the microreactor," Hilbert answered, a slight annoyance visible in his voice.

    "Fine. Let''s head for the other one," Garrick said as he pulled himself back out of the shuttle.

    Half an hour and two shuttles later, Garrick sat down in Shuttle Seven''s pilot seat. There were no red lights this time, and as he pressed the button on the armrest, screens flickered on.

    "> Shuttle seven, status report: Operational.

    "> Batteries at forty-seven percent.

    "> Interference on sensors¡­

    "> Warnings on logs

    Garrick let out a sigh as he pulled up the internal censor records. Although the rooms seemed pressurized, he wanted to be sure. As he saw the readings, he leaned back and removed his helmet. The clean, cool air of the shuttle seemed better than anything he remembered.

    He connected to the internal coms.

    "Hilbert, the pressure is solid, and there are no issues with the shuttle. Report from the engine room?"

    "Just a bit messy, but all fine here, captain," Hilbert said.

    "Alright, let''s take a few hours to rest and recover. Then we will find out if anyone survived before deciding how to clear the debris from the shuttle bay entrance."

    "Great plan, captain. I''ll check the pantry for any food and bring you some!"

    Garrick nodded as he pulled up the warning logs.

    "> Warning: Forcefully disconnected shuttle seven''s micro-LLM from Tealclaw main LLM

    "> Override on orders: Captain Hillary Braddock

    "> Audio message attached

    Now what...

 Chapter 10: Dark Corridors

    Garrick licked his suddenly dry lips as he read the message. After a moment, he selected the play audio message.

    "Garrick, I''m going to give it a sixty percent chance that you are going to be the one that is listening to this. If it''s not..." Hillary''s hazy voice hesitated.

    "Whatever. Listen, that psycho just shot the bloody shipslinger, and I''m locked in my chair. There''s some switch here, but it''s not working, and Tealclaw¡­ Well, he isn''t acting as he should. I don''t know what''s going on, but I disconnected all systems from the central LLM, and I hope that will hold."

    Garrick''s hands had clenched around the armrests in a death grip as he glared at the screen in front of him.

    He''d known Hillary for years, and he could hear the barely concealed fear in her voice. If he could hear it, that meant she was close to panic. As he recalled his moments in the chair, he almost rose to rush to the bridge area.

    "From what I can tell, Tealclaw got infected after the explosion, and he''s been speaking nonsense ever since. Asking me for access to the restricted database and threatening me-"

    The message was interrupted by a sharp, clear voice.

    "Captain, stop resisting. If you answer my questions, I will unlock your confinement! Just unlock &)(&^^%$$^ database and we will ()_(*^&^&%^%¡±

    The voice stopped, cut off as it exclaimed sounds no human could ever make. The hazy voice of Hillary returned.

    "That''s what I mean," she said. "I don''t know what that is, but Garrick, it just doesn''t sound human. Initially, I worried it might have been The Astra Concord, but listen to it!"

    Another burst of garbled nonsense flooded across the message, speckled with threats.

    Hillary spoke again in rapid bursts.

    "I''m going to add this via a warning across my secure link to the shuttles and other external systems. If you hear this¡­ well, check if I''m still in the chair, please? Also, don''t trust Tealclaw¡­ God, I hope you hear this¡­"

    The last sentence was a whisper, and then the message stopped.

    Garrick stared at his H.U.D., lost in thought. A sudden shuffle behind made him jerk around to find Hilbert drifting into the cockpit, arms full of food, a surprised look on his face.

    "Captain, you okay there?"

    Garrick rubbed his face, suddenly way more tired.

    "Hilbert, we''ve got some trouble we might have to take care of before we get a rest," he grunted. "Listen to this."

    He sent Hillary''s message over and slowly watched Hilbert''s expression go from happy and surprised to cold and serious. He floated to the other pilot chair and handed Garrick three rations, the first solid food Garrick had touched in weeks. He should be happy about it.

    "First, we eat, Captain. We are going to need our energy if we need to deal with a rogue AI."

    Garrick took the offered meal, not bothering to disagree. Setting his teeth in the protein bar, the burst of intense flavors made him blink.

    "Nothing like some solid food to bring perspective," Hilbert said with a full mouth.

    For a few minutes, they wolfed down their meal. Garrick surprised himself as he ate just as much as the much larger man in the other chair. When he finally drained some of the cool water, he pushed himself out of the chair, hovering in the small cockpit.

    "The Tealclaw''s LLM, or whatever it has become, sounded like it was still functional at the time of the message, which means we can expect trouble," he said. "We are going to Captain Braddock''s room first. She was an avid collector of old-world weaponry, and if I recall correctly, she has some functioning handguns."

    Hilbert looked at him in surprise, shaking his head. "What do you expect to find here, captain?"

    "I have no idea," Garrick grunted. "Which is exactly why we are going to be prepared for everything, and I don''t trust the laser rifles. There''s no guarantee they aren''t still coupled with the ship''s systems."

    Garrick saw Hilbert think, and he almost expected the other to tell him he was crazy. Then Hilbert''s jaw set, and he nodded.

    "Let''s do it, Captain."

    A minute later, they drifted out of the shuttle and back into the heavily damaged shuttle bay.

    "We are taking the roundabout way," Garrick said as he pushed himself toward one of the corridors.

    As they drifted into the dark and narrow corridors of the frigate, Garrick began to get a very strange sensation. It felt as if something was watching him. At first, he pushed it away as some irrational fear, but the further he came, the stronger the feeling got. When he felt a drop of sweat slide down his forehead, and along his head, he stopped, holding on to one of the emergency brackets extending from the ceiling.

    "Hilbert¡­ are you feeling¡­ odd?" Garrick asked, turning to the large, ex-special ops man. He didn''t even need an answer as he saw the pale face and the narrowed, worried eyes.

    "Yeah¡­ I thought it was me," Hilbert grunted, his face dark. "It reminds me of when I was on a mission in the jungle caves of Mars Habitat Three. As if a dozen predators are sitting in some hundred-foot-tall trees, staring down at you."

    Garrick hesitated, then exhaled sharply. "Fine. As ridiculous and crazy as this sounds, I fear it has something to do with our implants."

    He quickly shared what he knew, and as he spoke, Hilbert''s lips pursed.

    "Captain, do you think our implants are picking something up?" Hilbert asked.

    "I have no idea what to think," Garrick said. "But there''s something making both you and me more jumpy than two first-time rooks would be, and it''s not normal."A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    "Yeah¡­ so as it''s getting worse, does that mean there''s something ahead?" Hilbert asked, pointing at the crossing ahead.

    "Yes, and I hope it''s not left because I really want some weapons now," Garrick said.

    "What could possibly be there that has this influence on our hijacked implants¡­" Hilbert muttered.

    "No idea, but we are likely going to find out," Garrick said.

    He was about to continue when he thought of something and turned back to Hilbert.

    "One thing, Officer Excelsar," he said, causing Hilbert''s eyebrows to shoot up his forehead, his mouth dropping open.

    If it was because of the use of his last name, which was classified, or the ad-hoc promotion, Garrick didn''t know. He also didn''t care, as he looked at what was probably one of the oldest men he knew if he only looked at birthyear.

    "If something happens to me, you are to stop investigating immediately, return to the shuttle, and return to The Sibilis. Tell Macdewil he will be in command. This is no request but an order."

    Hilbert''s mouth opened and closed like a goldfish before he nodded. A grin came to his face.

    "Yes, Captain. Also, remind me to tell you about the first time I got promoted in the field¡­"

    "If we survive, I''ll be all ears," Garrick said as he turned away and began pulling himself to the crossing.

    The closer they got, the more the sense of danger and being watched increased. Reaching the crossing, Garrick looked left, then right, and instantly, the sense seemed to double. His helm''s lights flooded the dark corridor, and he felt like something was about to burst out at him- attack like a predator, but there was no sign of anything.

    Scanning the corridor, trying to find anything that might signal why his mind was telling him he was about to die. His helmet light lit up the sharply-lined, pale-gray panels, but besides the distant cross that would lead to the unlikely to have survived engineering and the¡­

    "The mainframe is that way," Garrick said softly.

    He looked up to see Hilbert stare into the hallway with a pale face but eyes that radiated immense danger.

    "Let''s get those guns, captain," he hissed.

    Garrick turned into the other side of the hallway, and the horrifying sensation dulled to a mere -run for your life- sensation. He pulled himself into the hallway, deliberately going slow, and as he moved away from the mainframe''s location, the sensation dulled.

    Neither of them spoke until they hovered in a small oval area with four corridors, not including the one they were in, and a large door- the entrance to the captain''s quarters.

    "We need to get these implants checked out, Captain."

    "We will do that the first time we return," Garrick said as he moved to the door and opened the small panel. It took him a moment to override the ''captain''s lock'', an old numeric panel before he could pull the lever that caused the door to unlock.

    Hilbert pushed the door open, and they drifted into a sparsely furnished central room. Rifles, guns, and pistols hung behind carbon-laced glass panels.

    "Holly shit¡­ I heard she was a bit nutty, but this?"

    "Captain Braddock was many things, but she wasn''t nutty," Garrick said as he moved to the far-left wall.

    The guns on display, although an impressive collection, were not what he was after. He put his hand on a nondescript part of the wall lining and slid down the hidden panel. There was a small button behind it, and he turned it clockwise before pushing it, causing the entire wall section to slide back. He ignored Hilbert''s whistle and moved to the large gray slab in the middle that showed a circular disk.

    Hillary loved all old-world tech, including the replica of the ancient vault she''d eventually managed to bully her engineers into place. It had cost her a ten-foot-deep section of her Captain''s quarters, but Garrick knew she loved it and would have given twice as much if needed. He turned the dial a few times, and the vault clicked. He pulled it open to reveal a shallow room, the fake-wooden walls covered with gleaming old-world guns.

    "Not nutty?" Hilbert muttered.

    Garrick grinned as he floated into the room towards one of the walls. There were three nearly identical, squarish, and simple-looking handguns of a dull, dark-gray polymer hanging there.

    "Say, Captain, not to be a spoilsport, but I was just thinking¡­ do these relics even work?"

    Garrick hummed as he took the Glock 17 from the wall. He''d known nothing of these old guns until a few years ago when Hillary had let him practice, but after that, he''d loved joining her for some target practice. He took one of the magazines and easily slid it in before looking at the far wall. A few fresh shooting targets hung there, and the rooms all around were covered in enough hull plating to prevent anything from piercing. Bracing himself with his left hand, Garrick aimed at the distant target and gently squeezed the trigger.

    There was no sound, but a burst of light filled the room, followed by a hole that appeared slightly off-center from the middle of the target. Garrick was pushed back slightly, but not nearly as much as the larger guns would have.

    "Okay¡­" Hilbert said, staring at the tiny hole. "I''ve seen a few of those older VR movies that play out in the Advent of the Internet times, but this feels¡­ Are you sure that would stop anyone?"

    Garrick grabbed one of the belts that lay below, the largest he could find, and managed to put it around his waist. It was rather awkward to pull the gun out, and he frowned. After a moment, he removed the holster bet, grabbed a smaller one, and tied it tightly around his upper left leg. It took a bit of trying, but he managed to lodge it against a ridge, and he put the gun there.

    "It''s the best we can do now," he said. "Besides, I don''t know what is causing our implants to flood us with fear. You might be right, and it might be useless, but without knowing what it is, at a minimum, we can use the recoil to move ourselves."

    The larger man sighed, then looked at a larger gun beside the glock. A silvery metal frame, Garrick recognized it.

    "That''s a Desert Eagle. I wouldn''t take that. It''s got more moving parts, and the recoil will be worse due to its increased power."

    Hilbert hesitated, but in the end, they both drifted back out, each with a Glock. The target behind them had a dozen new holes from where Hilbert had tried a Glock, quickly warming up to the device. Both literally and figuratively. They quickly found that it was best not to shoot too fast as the gun was having a hard time getting rid of the heat it was generating.

    "Now what, Captain?"

    "First, we go to the cockpit to check if Captain Braddock is still there," Garrick said.

    Noticing Hilbert''s look, he nodded.

    "Yes, the chances that she is in there and alive are tiny, but Captain''s suits have extended water reserves and filter systems. Technically, she can survive for ten days."

    "Yes, Captain."

    Garrick pulled himself toward the other side of the ship, sensing his building worry fading as they distanced themselves even further from the remains of the engineering bay.

    It took them fifteen minutes to navigate the dark hallways to the bridge, slowed down by entirely ripped-apart sections. It quickly became clear that, although its frontal area looked in pieces, the Tealclaw had almost broken apart inside. When they reached the bridge, Garrick stopped. The doors were still closed, and the walls, although damaged from explosions and debris slamming into them, looked whole.

    The bridge survived in one piece? Garrick thought, frowning.

    That would mean that some of the others inside might have survived, so why hadn''t they left to search the ship?

    "Captain¡­"

    Hilbert was pointing at a couple of cables that he was illuminating with his helmet lights. The cluster of black finger-thick cables was very softly swaying- a pendulum motion that wasn''t possible in space without some external force.

    Garrick flew forward and put his hand on the door leading into the bridge. A powerful thudding reverberated into his hand.

    "Someone is knocking on the door or wall," he said. "Or Hillary is hammering on the pod."

    He shared a look with Hilbert, and he knew the other was thinking the same thing. The only one with enough supplies of air and food was someone with a Captain''s suit. All others would have long since died of asphyxiation.

    "Open the door," he said, pulling back a bit and unholstering his gun. He couldn''t explain why, as there should be no reason to have the gun, but just like with the almost crippling fear they had sensed before, he felt an uncontrollable urge to hold the gun.

 Chapter 11: Painted red

    Hilbert moved to the panel, removed it, and looked up. "Code?"

    "Nine, six, three, six, eight, charly, charly, delta, and the entire word smiley," Garrick said.

    Hilbert looked only slightly surprised before turning and entering the manual override code.

    "Braddock is one odd Captain," he muttered.

    Garrick didn''t bother telling Hilbert that many of the captains of the third fleet had a list of oddities that would surprise most other fleet captains. He''d asked Admiral Stinger why that was a few years ago, but he''d only gotten a tired smile in response.

    Hilbert pulled a handle down, and there was a dull thud as the door slid toward them a few inches before stopping.

    Garrick floated forward, about to pull the door open, when the entire door shook as if something slammed into it. The door was shoved another few inches open while a hand appeared, fingers wrapping along the edges of the door. The hand was covered in a standard issue glove, smudged and partially torn.

    "What the-" Hilbert cursed, but Garrick didn''t answer. He pulled out his gun with one hand while pushing himself back, reaching for one of the handholds.

    "Get ready," he snapped.

    Ordered showed his training as, without any complaint, he pushed himself up and back, pulling his own gun and training it on the door.

    The door shook again as if something kept repeatedly slamming into it, but something was holding it back.

    Garrick almost pulled the trigger as the hand was shoved further through the crack, showing a sleeve that was partially ripped. Only the inner lining seemed to hold the suit''s atmosphere. The hand was clasping around as if looking for a door handle. Then, an icon on his H.U.D. blinked to life.

    "I''m getting a comm request over the general line, Captain."

    "Me too. Let''s see what is happening," Garrick said as he accepted the com.

    A part of him was hoping to hear Hillary''s familiar, smoky voice. It wasn''t to be.

    ¡°*()&DSD&* door! Open *(*^$%^ door!¡±

    A constant stream of the same message in an odd voice kept repeating, over and over, so fast it wasn''t humanly possible.

    "Identify yourself," Garrick snapped.

    The voice instantly cut off, and the hand and arm stopped moving, slowly pulling back.

    ¡°You *creak* are *(&)^% Captain Dasbartin. Open this door," the voice of the Tealclaw said, going from calm to a snarling command.

    Garrick felt his skin crawl, and a quick look at Hilbert showed the large man''s eyes, which were cold and ready for anything.

    "Who am I speaking to," Garrick said.

    ¡°Tealclaw, Captain Dasbartin. *(&)(*)&. Open the¡­ (*)&^&& )(**^%#%)(*&...¡±

    The voice continued a long, garbled, impossible-to-understand section that consisted of sounds that were a cross between an engine reffing up and someone choking.

    Garrick licked his lips and waited. Ten seconds later, the voice stopped.

    "You are not yet taken," the cold voice suddenly snapped. "Open the door, and I will make it painless and leave you your personality."

    Taken? Garrick thought.

    He looked at the door, then at Hilbert, and quickly switched to their private channel, though he kept listening to the general one.

    "Block that door whatever way you can," he said.

    "Captain Braddock?" Hilbert asked though he was already holstering his gun and moving forward.

    "You heard that¡­ thing," Garrick said. "She is either taken or dead."

    He switched back to the general channel.

    "You are not Tealclaw," he said. "Who are you, and what has happened to the Tealclaw LLM."

    A short line of nonsensical gibberish came, and Garrick frowned. Why did it keep doing that? Was whatever it was malfunctioning? Or was it trying something? He scanned his H.U.D., but nothing seemed odd about it.

    "If you want information, you will open this door," the voice said.

    "So you can do what?" Garrick asked, starting to get annoyed by the constant repeat of the same request.

    There was a moment of silence.

    "I need to get to the mainframe."

    It''s like talking with a politician, Garrick thought.

    "To do what?"

    Another silence.

    "Open the door."

    "Answer the question."

    There was another string of garbled nonsense, and Garrick switched to the other line.

    "There''s something seriously wrong with whatever that is," he said.Stolen story; please report.

    "Captain¡­ it reminds me of some of those broken LLMs," Hilbert said, his upper body inside the panel beside the door.

    Garrick tried to recall what he knew about the broken LLMs, and he frowned. There was some overlap, but those usually spoke normal.

    Is it some Precursor LLM?

    Deciding it didn''t matter, he switched back to the now silent general channel.

    "Are you a precursor LLM?"

    The arm thrust back out of the door, the hound slamming into the wall a few inches from the open panel. Hilbert didn''t react, but Garrick trained his gun on the arm.

    "Open the door, or I will end the life of Captain Braddock," the voice that pretended to be the Tealclaw said.

    "She is already dead," Garrick said.

    It was a guess, but even if it wasn''t, there was nothing that could be in that room that would make him open it.

    "She is alive, just¡­ sleeping."

    The voice was slightly smoother than it had been moments before as if it was learning or becoming better.

    "Why should I open this door?" Garrick asked, deciding to try something else. At a minimum, he wanted to keep it talking till Hilbert had relocked the door. He was starting to wish he''d never opened it.

    "Got it, Captain," Hilbert said as he pushed himself out of the paneled wall.

    He looked to the side, at where the arm came from, and stopped moving. Garrick saw his eyes widen while his face went slack.

    "Hilbert?"

    There was no reaction, but Hilbert began shuddering, his helmet making odd, jerky motions. The hand began reaching for him, and Garrick felt his skin crawl as he saw Hilbert start to move jerkily toward it.

    Garrick pushed himself off, shooting forward as fast as he dared, fumbling and barely managing to holster the gun. He knocked into Hilbert a moment before the hand would grab him. Squeezing Hilbert against the edge of the open panel, Garrick used his foot to kick himself sideways, away, pulling Hilbert along. As he did, he got a glimpse of what was looking back at him through the crack.

    Captain Hillary Braddock''s face was warped in a rictus of anger. Her previously cloudy gray eyes were suffused with tiny orange specs of light while orange lines pulsed below her skin. Her gaze locked with Garrick''s, and immediately, his H.U.D. began flickering, and he felt a horrible familiar headache building. For a fraction of a moment, he looked into her eyes, and his thoughts began turning slow and syrupy. Then his wallkick carried him and Hilbert away, and slowly, the oddities in his H.U.D. vanished.

    Garrick blinked, shaking his head until the teal lines that crawled across the gray wall of the corridor returned back into focus.

    ¡°C¡­ cap¡­ tain¡­¡±

    Garrick felt two hands clamp around his shoulders, squeezing until it hurt. He looked down in shock to see Hilbert''s eyes rolling around, his lips rippled up in a scowl.

    "Some¡­ thing is-"

    Hilbert''s eyes flickered with orange lights, and for a moment, Garrick thought the big man would attack him. Then he was shoved back while Hilbert clutched his head.

    "Get¡­ out! Out¡­ of my¡­ head! OUT!"

    Hilbert slammed his helmet against the side of the wall.

    "Garrick scrambled to get his gun out of his holster, his usual calm far to be found as he watched Hilbert shake his head, then slam his head into the wall again. A scuff mark appeared on the azure-glass, showing just how hard Hilbert was ramming.

    Garrick wanted to tell him to stop, but he didn''t dare. It was clear what was happening.

    "Get out of my crewman''s head," he snapped over the general line.

    "Why?" a calm voice asked, less like the Tealclaw than it had before. "The increase in¡­ processing power, as little as it is, is helping me."

    Processing¡­ is he talking about Hilbert''s implant? Garrick thought. That couldn''t be. Those didn''t have that much processing power but were mostly dependent on-

    "You are using his brain?" he croaked.

    "Yes, but he resists. Such simple, cumbersome technology¡­ I can barely function."

    "What are you?" Garrick snapped, keeping his gun on Hilbert.

    "*&&@#%#!. But you can call me Cleanser," the voice said, again changed from how The Tealclaw had sounded. "Now, will you join me willingly, or- ¡­ no!"

    Garrick barely heard the shout and didn''t catch the surprise of anger in it as he saw Hilbert rip the gun from his holster. He almost pulled the trigger, but Hilbert put the gun to the side of his head, his face pale and sweaty, eyes gleaming with a cold light.

    Hilbert''s eyes locked on to Garrick''s, and for a moment, he saw a glimmer of the man he knew. Then the orange pulsed, Hilbert screamed, and a bloom of red splashed across the inside of the helmet while a tiny hole appeared in the glass.

    Garrick realized he was breathing raggedly as he watched Hilbert''s body drift back, the gun still clasped in his hand.

    "You (*&%^&^ die. Open. The. Door. Open. The. Door. Open-"

    Garrick turned the volume of the general channel to barely audible as he drifted toward Hilbert. He didn''t dare look at the door where what remained of Hillary Braddock was attempting to open the door. Instead, he pulled Hilbert close. The man''s face was set in its final deviant scream.

    "Dammit, Hilbert¡­" Garrick whispered.

    He took a deep breath, forcing his stunned mind to cooperate. It took him a moment, and then he took the second holster from Hilbert''s leg and put it on his own. Then, it took him a lot of force to remove the gun from Hilbert''s hand.

    Finished, he pulled Hilbert along. As he floated through the dark corridors with the body of the man he had only just shared a meal with, Garrick felt anger and hopelessness war in his mind. He let them as he moved back to the shuttle, ignoring the terrified sense he still felt at the intersection.

    He had little sense of time, but eventually, he reached the shuttle, a small beacon of light in the darkness, and he pulled Hilbert inside.

    "I hope Yuri or Sandra can determine something from your implant," he muttered as he looked at the body.

    He turned to close the door and hesitated. His hand hovered above the button.

    If some precursor AI is changing our implants and can take us over¡­ what is the fear I felt in engineering?

    Garrick stared at the hallway, recalling how the unsettling feeling had seemed to come from inside.

    He looked at the shuttle, then at the path back, and finally sighed. The others needed the shuttle, but what if the thing causing him fear was due to his implant? Maybe it was something they could use¡­? It might not be here when he returned¡­

    His mind spun for a few more moments, then he closed the door and headed to the shuttle''s cockpit.

    "Shuttle Seven, use your sensors to locate what remains of The Sibilis."

    "> I am unable to locate The Sibilis from inside the shuttle bay, Captain Dasbartin"

    "Alright, plot a course out of the shuttle bay," Garrick said.

    Garrick watched as the screen changed to show a rough estimation of the remains of the shuttle bay. A line of dotted squares appeared, showing the course.

    "Follow that course, but make sure you can return to our current location."

    The line changed slightly, and Garrick nodded.

    "Verry good. Head forward until you can detect the Sibilis and are able to create a course. As soon as you can, stop and return here."

    ¡°Yes, Captain Dasbartin.¡±

    The screen shark to a corner while the forward view of the ship appeared. A soft hum passed through the seat, and a moment later, the shuttle was floating away from its temporary dock.

    Garrick watched as the ship moved halfway through the shuttle bay before stopping. A rough rendition of the outside appeared, with The Sibilis highly recognizable. One side was almost ripped apart, while the rest looked like it had been slammed repeatedly into a wall. A new course appeared through the debris field, which was updated as things moved. After a short while, the shuttle began turning.

    "I have created a course, captain Dasbartin."

    "Good," Garrick said, remaining in the chair. After we return, I will head out to check something. If I am not back in ninety minutes after leaving, you are to head to The Sibilis and dock on the large hole on the southwest of the left engine. Touch the hull and begin using Morse code to tell Engineer Macdewil where you are. As soon as someone appears, let them board and explain what has happened here."

    "Yes, Captain."

    "Good. Also, tell them this-"

    Garrick quickly retold what had happened, including a typed message for Macdewil. When everything was done, he floated back to the exit and looked at Hilbert''s remains.

    Too bad you can never tell me how you got your first promotion, he thought.

    A minute later, he was floating away from the shuttle, two ancient glocks on his legs.

    "Now, let''s see what can scare some alien AI," he thought.

 Chapter 12: Brain Implant hacking

    <div>

    <div>

    <div>

    <div>

    Garrick stared into the long hallway, floating away from the crossing that had led to the bridge and Hilbert''s untimely death. Sweat was beading his head as an unreasonable fear grew with every foot he floated forward. Ahead of him was the last crossing, and a bit further to the left would be the engineering bay and the mainframe.

    "This is ridiculous, Dasbartin," he hissed to himself.

    He clenched his hands, trying to ignore the fear, but no matter what he tried, his body began shivering. Grabbing the nearest handle, he pulled himself forward faster, hoping that speed would stop the fear from increasing as he wanted.

    It didn''t work.

    As he reached the final crossing, his breath was coming out in bursts, and he felt a tiny drip on his lip. Licking it, he tasted the familiar salty taste of blood.

    Pulling himself around the corner felt like the hardest thing he''d ever done, and as he finally saw the door leading into the engineering, the fact it had been blasted out and into the opposite hallway barely surprised him. A blue, pulsing light came from inside, and with each pulse, it almost felt like his heart skipped a beat.

    How there could still be any power should have confused him, but Garrick was having an increasingly hard time thinking straight.

    If this makes you so afraid, it has to be something beneficial to me, he thought, glaring at the door opening. He tried to release the handle, but his fingers wouldn''t cooperate.

    "Let. Go," he snarled, slapping his own gauntlet and quickly releasing his grip as he did. He kicked himself forward, knowing that if his gamble was wrong, he might be in deep trouble.

    Floating forward towards the door, his H.U.D. began flickering, and an icon he''d never seen before appeared in the middle of his vision. It resembled an old stop sign.

    "Not. Happening," Garrick growled. "I have no use for an alien presence in my brain."

    His breath hitched as a message scrawled below the icon.

    ~ I''ll stop your heart if you don''t stop right now.~

    Garrick grabbed for the nearest handle, missed and scrambled to get another one. He caught one just as he was sailing through the door opening, causing him to hang from one arm, partially in the room.

    The Tealclaw mainframe was blinking furiously, which made no sense as the main reactor was offline and had been since it was blasted to smithereens. The cracks in the back of the wall behind showed reinforced plates that shouldn''t be there, and sections had ripped off, slamming into different equipment panels on the walls.

    Garrick gasped as something seemed to clamp around his chest, pressing it in so hard he couldn''t breathe. A dull, aching pain spread out to his arms while his fingertips began going numb.

    ~ Go back! ~

    Garrick felt his mind slow down as the fear seemed to vanish. Staring at the line, his body unwilling and unable to cooperate, he began drifting forward. Had his fingers released their hold? They had to have¡­

    ~ No! Go back! Back! ~

    Pain began raging through his head, and drops of red blood drifted in front of his face. His mind cleared and became dull at the same time, but as it did, he realized he''d been influenced. Something, be it the fear induced by his implant or whatever was in control of it, or his own built-in fear of LLMs and AI, had him decide to go forward¡­ why? In hindsight, it made no sense, and he wondered how much-

    His H.U.D. showed a garbled message of unreadable gibberish, and shock seemed to course through his body. Garrick felt his entire body spasm before contracting, his muscles aching immensely. He felt his lungs expand, then contract as he began breathing and coughing, blood splattering across the inside of his helmet.

    A provisional H.U.D. appeared on the smeared inside of the glass, one he''d not seen since basic training. A regular warning message appeared, partially covered by the blood that had splattered across the inside of the helmet.

    "Emergency supply of adrenaline used. Be advised, seek immediate care!"

    Right, Garrick thought, feeling his fuzzy mind clear while a massive headache began building.

    An icon popped up, and it took him two whole seconds to recognize the old alert of an incoming call.

    "Accept," he grunted, feeling a deep fear of trying to use his mind.

    "Captain Dasbartin, do not listen to your implant. A foreign AI has overtaken the ship systems and those of the crew."

    Garrick blinked stupidly as he heard the Tealclaw LLM''s voice. It sounded as it should, but the memory of what he''d heard before surfaced instantly. Who was talking?

    "I can understand your reluctance to speak, Captain, but you need to move closer to my mainframe quickly. Within the-¡±

    Garrick felt his headache grow rapidly, and the now familiar drip of blood returned, this time moving away to splatter on the screen.

    "Captain, you must hurry. The AI is trying to regain control over your implant."

    Garrick''s sluggish mind refused to give him an answer on what to do, but the only thing that kept drifting up was the fear he''d experienced and the way the thing in his implant had warned him to go away.

    Looking around, he was drifting close to the ceiling, and as his headache increased, he saw his H.U.D. pop back up.

    No!

    He kicked himself away from the ceiling, shooting towards the mainframe. A message began appearing on his H.U.D., but it vanished as he thudded into the mainframe.

    "Good! Quickly, take hold of something so you don''t drift away."

    Garrick did as instructed as he watched his H.U.D. jitter oddly.

    "Captain Dasbartin, I need to inform you that Captain Braddock has been compromised. The last I got from her was a warning for you, which I managed to relay into the shuttles. Have you heard it?"

    Garrick swallowed and closed his eyes, slowly feeling the headache fade.

    "Replay it," he grunted, partially to give himself some time and partially to see if this LLM wasn''t lying. He opened his eyes, scanning the room, searching for whatever was powering the mainframe.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    A crackle came, followed by Hillary''s voice.

    "Garrick, I''m going to give it a sixty percent chance that you are going to be the one that is listening to this. If it''s not..."

    Garrick closed his eyes again as he listened to the reply of the exact same message from the shuttle.

    "Alright," he said, feeling his voice return slowly. The muscles around his chest and back were burning as if he''d had a massive workout a day earlier, and his lips were dry.

    "What is going on?"

    "It is hard to be sure, Captain Dasbartin. After the Precursor Shipslinger exploded, The Tealclaw''s stern armor and plating failed. Subsequently, most of the back of the ship, including the reactor room, were obliterated. The extra plating around my mainframe managed to keep this room secure, and the emergency power supply that Captain Braddock had installed seven years ago was able to keep me mostly operating. For a short while, I managed to remain in contact with the Captain; then, I detected a foreign entity taking over the few systems still in operation. It eventually took over the communications systems, but not before Captain Braddock ordered me to use the hidden ancient radio she had installed."

    Garrick groaned.

    "Let me get this straight," he grunted, not sure if he should laugh or cry. "Hillary had extra plating installed around this room, an additional energy supply, and some ancient technology for communication that hasn''t been used for a thousand years?"

    "Among other things," the Tealclaw LLM said.

    "What other things?"

    "Additional plating around the engine room, connection equipment in the shuttles to work with the radio, additional emergency rations, additional radiation sickness medication, additional-"

    Garrick listened in silent wonder as the LLM continued to list over twenty things. When it finally stopped, he swallowed.

    "Did she give a reason for all these extra precautions?" he asked.

    "Yes. Captain Braddock explained to me that she expected that The Astra Concord would likely instigate another war within the following ten years."

    She¡­ was a doomwar prepper? Garrick thought, trying to remember if he''d ever talked with her about that. Suddenly, he wondered exactly why she had been moved so far away, and faintly, the map of the situation popped up on his map. Had she maneuvered The Tealclaw behind other ships?

    "Captain Dasbartin, I need to explain a few more things."

    "Then do so," Garrick snapped, his mind a hazy mess.

    "Yes, sir. My emergency supply will only last for another few weeks before shutting down. Currently, the unknown entity is trying to boost the signal it''s using to restore contact with the entity inside your implant."

    Garrick felt his anger bubble up, only held back by his weary body and headache.

    "Why didn''t you turn off the power to the rest of the ship?" he asked.

    "I do not have control over the emergency power supply. That said, there is no power flowing to the other parts of the ship. I am unable to determine how the foreign entity is still functioning."

    Garrick blinked, and then he remembered how Hillary had looked, her eyes gleaming, and how the odd entity had seemed more functioning after taking over Hillock''s implant. Was it somehow draining power from them? But that wouldn''t be enough¡­

    The cry pods!

    Garrick shivered as he imagined the hibernating crew dying as their systems were being drained.

    "What can you tell me about the entity in my implant, and how can you detect it?" he asked.

    "Captain Braddock had installed additional firewalls and software for me to use in case of an enemy LLM hack," The Tealclaw stated calmly. "This included sensors inside my mainframe to detect intruders and the option to detonate the nuclear payload in my core."

    "Your what?!" Garrick shouted, instantly regretting it as the headache throbbed stronger.

    "Captain Braddock had a nuclear failsafe installed in case The Tealclaw was boarded."

    "Of course she did," Garrick whispered, suddenly wondering how he, as the fleet captain, had not been aware of any of this.

    "These sensors allow you to detect the entity in my implant?" he finally muttered, feeling old.

    "Not exactly. It allowed me to detect the communication between your implant and the entity that is now inside the rest of the ship."

    Garrick felt the weariness grow, and he wondered what he should do and what his crew back on The Sibilis had to deal with.

    "Can you explain how the ship got infected?" he asked as a sudden idea occurred to him.

    "As I said. When the explosion came, an electromagnetic pulse rippled through the ship. When it was gone, the first systems dropped. Initially, signals suggested it was due to the damage the ship had taken, but in hindsight, it seems this was the moment the entity took over part of the systems."

    "That''s why we didn''t have this problem," Garrick said, his voice weak. "Because all our systems turned off."

    "Very likely, captain."

    Garrick immediately knew what that meant. He was going to have to get rid of The Tealclaw. Luckily, he had a solution sitting right next to him.

    "Is that nuclear payload still useable?"

    "It should be, captain."

    Garrick closed his eyes, thinking about the things that had happened over the last few weeks. Was he seriously going to die now? Between Macdewil and Yuri, his crew would be fine, but¡­ he didn''t want to die. Not yet. Not with so many unanswered questions.

    "Is there a way for you to turn off my implant so it can''t be used against me?" he asked.

    "No, Captain. Like all LLM, I am unable to interact with your implant in this way."

    "Not even if some other entity has hijacked it?" Garrick snapped before coughing and flinching from the pain in his body.

    "No, Captain. As you should know, my core programming dictates that I may never harm a human being."

    "How would turning my implant off harm me?" Garrick asked. "If it remains, I''ll die!"

    An image of a brain with an implant appeared before him, rotating slowly. The implant was far larger than any X or Y1 implants he''d ever seen, spreading far and wide while hair-like tendrils drilled deep into the brain. It seemed like a cross between a Y2 and Y3 implant, though the chaotic way the tendrils moved wasn''t like any of the images he''d ever seen.

    "What¡­" he hissed, feeling his hair stand on end.

    "Your implant has grown and changed. Turning it off now will cause your immediate demise, Captain."

    Garrick stared at the image, his mind empty of any thoughts, while a deep-routed fear made the words his late grandfather had said flow through his mind.

    ''You are all crazy! Putting these foreign things in your mind. Mark my words, you will live to regret this!''

    Garrick shoved his worry down, deep into the depths of the darkest parts of his mind, next to the pain when his wife had died.

    "That''s not possible," he said, haltingly. "There are no materials in my brain to create something like that!"

    "Correct, captain," The Tealclaw said, and the image zoomed out, showing his skull inside the helmet. Dozens of tiny dots sat on his head, and as the image zoomed in, he saw a tendril, thinner than his hair, latched onto the inside of his helmet.

    Garrick felt his stomach revolt and took another massive surge of willpower to prevent himself from vomiting.

    "I¡­ for the love of god!" he shouted, feeling an intense desire to tell The Tealclaw to detonate the nuclear payload.

    "Is there anything you can do to stop this?" he finally asked, wishing he didn''t sound like he was begging.

    "There is only a single potential option, captain, but you will not like it."

    Garrick stared at the wall, gritting his teeth.

    "Compared to all the things that are happening and the alternative of blowing ourselves up, how bad could it possibly be?" he asked.

    "I can attempt to hack into your implant, captain."

    "..."

    "From your profile, I can surmise that this is not something you would like. However, I have observed a large amount of communication between the implant and the foreign entity, as well as a large number of odd sounds and symbols the foreign entity has uttered. With some time, my calculations show there is a thirty to fifty percent chance to take over the small entity currently in your implant. It seems to be a mostly autonomous system, not capable of a lot more than running your implant."

    Garrick wished he could rub his head and eyes and scratch the dozens of itches he felt, but most of all, he felt like screaming. Instead, he took a calm breath and focused on the sounds of his own breathing, the drops of blood on his visor. Very slowly, his mind calmed.

    "If you take over the implant, what would that mean for me?" he asked, a cold shivering running down his spine but his voice calm.

    "With the increased size, I should be able to provide you with the same abilities a Y2 implant has," The Tealclaw said calmly. "I could put a smaller version of myself onto the implant that should have enough abilities to prevent the foreign entity from taking over the implant again."

    "Will you¡­" Garrick let his voice trail off. The implant had been changed so much and had been able to turn off his heart. Would he just be switching one machine for another?

    "The smaller LLM will have the same core tenants as I do, and it will not be able to harm you in any way," The Tealclaw stated calmly. "It will do everything in its power to support and keep you safe."

    Garrick meditated for another few moments, regaining his calm.

    "How long would you need?" he asked.

    "A few hours, captain."

    "Will you be faster than the foreign entity?"

    "Unless things change, I will be faster."

    Garrick nodded to nobody in particular.

    "How long till the foreign entity will be able to reach my implant?"

    "With the current speed of progress, three hours and forty-seven minutes."

    "Fine. I order you to ready the nuclear payload. If you don''t manage to take over the implant within three hours, you are to destroy this ship."

 Chapter 13: The crux of the matter

    Garrick watched the countdown whittle away, already down to twenty-five minutes.

    He had been gazing at the numbers, the image of his brain lighting up like a Christmas tree, or the war for hours now while trying to stay awake. So far, it worked, but as the countdown closed in, he felt something odd. A sensation he''d not felt in a long time.

    The desire to live.

    It wasn''t that he had wanted to die or was tired of living before, but as the moment of nuclear explosions kept inching closer, the desire to survive grew exponentially.

    Minutes trickled away, and as the countdown hit five minutes, Garrick shivered.

    So¡­ that''s it? he thought, wondering what Macdewil would think of the shuttle returning without him and just Hilbert''s body.

    He looked around, trying to ignore the blood splatters on the inside of his helmet and the stench. The filters of his suit had been becoming worse every day, but the current influx of stenches would have likely been beyond its capacity even if it had been fresh.

    As two minutes began counting down, the lights around the implant were starting to change. Initially, the entire center had been red, with a border of blue and the occasional spike inward. Now, whole tendrils and even parts of the main implant body were turning blue.

    That is a good thing¡­ right? Garrick thought, a tiny bit of hope growing.

    The countdown froze at one minute and seven seconds, and he held his breath.

    A shiver ran through his H.U.D. as the interface changed. He''d seen images of Y1 and beyond interfaces, with all their added features, but as a new User Interface seemed to wrap around the world, he realized seeing was believing. Tiny lines pointed at the hull''s damaged sections, showing what material it was and how much force had been required to create said damage.

    "Captain Dasbartin, I have successfully taken over the implant. I also managed to retrieve some data before the entity could destroy it completely," The Tealclaw LLM said. "I have installed a modified version of the Y2 interface, and the new user process will commence in a moment."

    "What data, and what do you mean? You modified the Y2?" Garrick asked, unable to keep his worry and suspicion from his voice.

    "My processes are still working on the data, and it will be a few hours before I am done. As for your implant, it was modified beyond the capabilities of a Y2, and this includes the ability to increase its scope even more. Currently, I have retracted the tendrils and repaired the holes."

    "Repaired the holes? Explain!"

    "One of the additions of the changed implant is the ability to repair small sections of tissue. From what I am able to see, the implant has been actively repairing a few underlying conditions your brain had, including damage from the original X3 implant. Currently, it is repairing the damage done to your brain, while it has already begun drilling tendrils into your heart to repair that."

    Garrick stared at the H.U.D., not sure what to think of this.

    "This shouldn''t be possible¡­ right?"

    "Although I am unsure exactly how it is doing this, its existence proves it is feasible. The implant has been converting some of your cells into energy while changing tissue into an unfamiliar biomaterial that seems largely based on a combination of collagen and elastin. Combined with the minor elements it took from the inside of the helmet, it appears it has been slowly working its way through your body. I have paused this and will leave it to your digression how to continue."

    Garrick didn''t know how to react as he thought about having a stronger LLM in his mind and tendrils throughout his body. If it was an option, he''d have preferred having no implant at all, but as he gazed through one of the few cracks in the back of the room, which showed the starry sky beyond, he knew that wasn''t an option if he wanted to live.

    "I have modified the Y2 to be able to explain its unusual capabilities," The Tealclaw said.

    "Are you sure it can hold off the foreign entity?"

    "Yes, Captain. It already is actively defending against the initial barrage of intrusions."

    Garrick saw the image of his brain change, and now he saw the tendrils glowing with a pale white as bursts of red seemed to appear on certain areas.

    "Is it strong enough?" he asked, feeling his worry grow at the prospect of being overtaken.

    "Currently, I am on standby to take over in case it fails," The Tealclaw said calmly. "But this seems highly unlikely to be needed. The foreign entity is too far away to work efficiently, and the new LLM is expanding the pre-existing defenses within its model, rapidly shoring them up while increasing the host''s ability to withstand them."

    "It''s changing me?" Garrick asked, feeling worried at the calm way The Tealclaw spoke about being modified by some wannabe AI.

    "Yes, but it will only make changes to increase your chances for immediate survival. If it ever requires implementing a change beyond the normal human condition, it will request permission first."

    The normal human condition?

    Garrick closed his eyes. Was he imagining things, or was his headache far less painful?

    "Alright, start the introduction process," he said.

    "Yes, Captain."

    The H.U.D. blinked a few times before a triple vertical line appeared in the center.

    "Hello, Captain Dasbartin," a slightly deeper, older voice said. "I am Modified Y2 Instance Z87L, and I am here to provide you with all the capabilities your recovered implant possesses. Would you like to change my denominator?"

    Garrick licked his lips. X3 implants couldn''t speak, as they didn''t have sufficient capabilities for it. He had always known Y1''s could, but they didn''t use it a lot due to power constraints. It was clear that whatever his own implant had been changed to didn''t have these limits. That meant he was going to need to get used to a voice in his head¡­

    A name.

    For a few moments, he pondered, letting it keep the callsign, then shook his head. He had no idea how long everything would last.

    He thought for a little while, wondering what name an LLM should need. He''d always hated it when people gave them normal human names, and he much preferred things like Tealclaw or Sibilis. Coming up with a name, however, proved hard as his mind was still foggy. Finally, annoyed, he decided on something else.

    "Based on what you know of me, suggest some names for yourselves," he said.

    ¡°Yes, captain Dasbartin. Based on your distaste of anything resembling AI, might I suggest Node or Console?"

    Garrick blinked at the slightly snarky reply, and he frowned.

    "No. Suggest something less¡­ ridiculous," he said.

    "Very well. Perhaps Specter, Trace, or Crux?"

    Garrick hummed, then nodded.

    "Crux will do," he said, and even with everything that was going on, he felt his lips curl up slightly.

    The Crux of the matter is that I dislike AI, he thought to himself.

    "Name changed to Crux," the LLM, now called Crux, said. "Before we continue, there are some important choices that need to be made."The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    "Explain."

    An image of a human heart appeared, and even without having any knowledge about it, Garrick could see that it wasn''t a healthy one. The left part of the heart wasn''t expanding properly. Tendrils appeared a hand length away from the heart.

    "The Precursor LLM was working toward the heart area," Crux said calmly. "It is unclear if this was to create more heart attacks or to repair it, but the latter is an option. Without any action on our part, the heart will deteriorate, diminishing the host''s life expectancy to under a year."

    Garrick stared at the heart.

    "And you are suggesting continuing to expand to my heart and repair it?" he said. "Explain how."

    "The tendrils are able to boost the body''s natural healing by taking in the surrounding tissue cells and using them to create new cells based on the original. Combined with stimulating stem cell generation, they can create a temporary bio-scaffold around the injured area of the heart-"

    Garrick listened quietly and in slight awe, as Crux explained a process of a few hours that would stabilize his heart before starting a process of a few weeks that would result in his heart being better than new.

    "I¡­ alright," he said, not sure if he understood even half of the terms he''d heard. He would have to ask Yuri when he returned, but for now, he would need the ability to move for that.

    "Can you fix all the damage I took?"

    "With time, however, this would require expanding the implant, which would require taking more basic components from the helmet."

    In other words, poking holes through my skull to suck in stuff, Garrick thought.

    "Just do what you can without that for now," he said.

    ¡°Yes, Captain Dasbartin. Currently, the process of repairing your brain damage is going well, and it should be fully operational again within a few hours."

    "..."

    Garrick licked his lips, holding back a shiver.

    "What brain damage?" he asked.

    "When The Tealclaw LLM started taking over the implant, the precursor AI eventually tried to destroy the implant and itself. Preventing this was what took most of the time. The precursor AI did manage to do significant damage to the surrounding brain tissue, but not enough to cause permanent harm."

    "That explains my headache," Garrick said with a sigh.

    "Not exactly, Captain. I am currently actively suppressing the pain impulses from that area. The headache you are experiencing is from a lack of hydration. This is also being fixed, but it will take a bit more time."

    Garrick shook his head, deciding he wasn''t going to ask why he suddenly had a lack of hydration. It mattered little in the grand scheme of what was happening to him.

    "Are there any more immediate things to take care of?" he asked.

    "No, Captain. Would you like me to explain my capabilities and those of the implant?"

    "Start with the implant," Garrick said.

    "Very well."

    Garrick quietly listened as Crux began listing a long list of abilities, most of which he knew were deemed impossible back home.

    When it finally finished, he sighed, almost sad the headache was going away as it made it easier to think.

    "In other words, it can, with enough time, remove all physical damage and scarring, even that of age, while integrating biotech systems into me, changing me into what¡­ a cyborg? How is that even possible?"

    "In essence, yes," Crux said. "Though, for this, you would need a great deal more raw materials, including some molecules that are unknown to us. Also, it requires some form of nanobot called Bioforgers. As to how it is possible? From my still incomplete understanding of the implant, it can create structure within any area of your body with enough space which will be able to create these Bioforgers through mechanosynthesis."

    Great, Garrick thought, shivering as he recalled the horrible old sci-fi movies he''d seen on occasion. If he wasn''t careful he was going to turn into an inhuman cyborg, flesh riddled with tiny nanobots. As soon as he got red eyes, he was going to-

    Wait¡­ An image of Hillary, or what had been left of her, glaring at him through the partially open door came to him. Her eyes had been partially glowing as if there were tiny mechanisms inside.

    "That''s what is happening to Captain Braddock?" he asked, his worry growing.

    "Yes, Captain. It is very likely that she is currently being changed into something that is, as you would say it, non-human."

    "Give me a timescale for that thing to change her in such a way that she could get out of the bridge," Garrick snapped.

    He extended his hand, pulling himself around so he could see the door from which he''d come in.

    "That should not be possible, Captain. From the last information, the door was mostly closed, and special officer Hilbert Exalciar The Third blocked the every likely way to open it remotely. That means it will need to be broken open, which would require either explosives or greatly enhanced physical strength."

    Garrick licked his lips, a tiny part of him realizing that Crux hadn''t been kidding about being dehydrated.

    "Likelihood of explosions?" he asked.

    "There is no known way to create an explosive with the limited resources and tools on the bridge," Crux said. "More so, the chances that what remains of Captain Braddock is destroyed is high. Although it might be that the Precursor LLM is able to create some unknown form of explosion, it seems likely that it would have done so already in this case."

    "What are the chances that she¡­ is turned into some cyborg that can break open the door?" Garrick asked, imagining some metal-wrapped version of Hillarby breaking open the metal doors.

    "Based on your current implant''s abilities, there is no way for her to become powerful enough for this yet. Besides the lack of a plethora of unknown metals, it would require a multitude of systems that each take weeks or months to synthesize."

    Garrick blinked, licking his lips.

    "But you are telling me that it is possible?"

    "Yes, Captain. Eventually, it would likely be possible. But it is highly unlikely for Captain Braddock to ever reach this point. From the images taken, her body was in a very bad state. Without more processing power, energy, and resources, it is nearly impossible that her body come anywhere close to that level of strength."

    Garrick let out a relieved sigh. "Alright. Explain the enhanced functions that you have."

    "Yes, Captain. First and foremost, I have the processing power of a Class Four LLM, which is just a single level below the Tealclaw. This means I can solve problems and mimic normal human behavior. Based on the potential of the implant, it is possible to increase this level, though this would mean increasing the size and integration of the implant. The current processing power allows me to give you immediate information based on what you see, help you make rapid real-time calculations, and suggest solutions to problems."

    The lines in Garrick''s head pulsed as information on different types of objects in his vision flickered on and off.

    "It is currently configured to show the minimum of all objects that could cause issues with survival," Crux continued.

    "How is knowing the amount of force that was required for that hole relevant to my survival?" Garrick asked, pointing at a hole.

    "The force is just some information, Captain. I can remove it if you want. The problem with the hole is that a rather large dose of radiation is currently pouring in through it. If you keep your current location, it will become lethal within seventeen hours."

    Garrick groaned as he looked around the remnants of the mainframe room. Seventeen hours sounded like a long time, but he knew it was likely damaging him already.

    His mind was clearing up rapidly; his breathing was easier, and the pain in his body was less. However, he wondered if the last was because there was no pain or if Crux was doing something to hide it.

    Right now, he didn''t want to know. What he needed to do was get out of here.

    "How long till the shuttle leaves?" he asked.

    "Twenty-seven minutes, captain," Crux said as a timer appeared in the corner of his vision.

    Garrick frowned. It felt both longer and shorter than he''d imagined. It also meant he had to leave. Now.

    "Are you fully able to hold back the Precursor LLM''s attempts to take over the implant?"

    "Yes, Captain. The precursor would need to have a far stronger signal and a great deal more processing power than it has shown so far to be able to overtake the defenses I have in place. Also, as time progresses, the defenses will continue to improve."

    I don''t want to know how you are increasing the defenses, Garrick thought, holding back from shaking his head.

    "Alright, Tealclaw, are you still hear?" he asked.

    "Captain, I am currently preventing any foreign LLM or AI from listening to our conversation. Would you like me to resume the chat with The Tealclaw?"

    It can do that...? Garrick thought, feeling another cold shiver.

    Normal regulation meant that the micro-LLM on implants couldn''t actively regulate coms and similar things. Apparently, that didn''t count for Crux.

    "Yes, also, you are not to act without informing me of these actions," Garrick said before he frowned and quickly added: "Unless my life or that of one of my crew depends on immediate action."

    "Yes, captain," Crux said.

    "Tealclaw?"

    ¡°Yes, Captain Dasbartin. Is everything alright?"

    Garrick stared at the mainframe, suddenly an immense sadness for what he had to do. If the chances of them all being infected and returning weren''t so big, he''d never suggest what he was about to do.

    "I am heading to the shuttle bay to find another shuttle to repair. I order you to detonate the nuclear device as soon as you detect the shuttle leaving. If you can''t, wait for¡­" Garrick made some quick calculations. "Three hours. If you notice my return, abort the detonation."

    ¡°Yes, Captain Dasbartin. Could I request that before you leave, you take the crew''s will and testimonies?"

    Garrick swallowed as he saw the request for a small file to be downloaded.

    "Crux, accept it," he said as he carefully pushed himself away from the mainframe.

    Now, half an hour to return to the shuttle and find one that can fly, then another two and a half hours to check on the cryopods and decide what to do after that. What could possibly go wrong?

    Garrick gritted his teeth, pulling himself forward as fast as he could.

 Chapter 14: Perks of an LLM

    Definitely has its perks, Garrick thought as he grabbed a handhold, trying to ignore the constant muscle ache from his back.

    He scanned the hallway for the next, which made a lot easier now that his H.U.D. had added lines that overlaid his view. They highlighted objects and debris barely visible to him, a trick of Y implants he''d heard about but never experienced before. It wasn''t like he could now see in the dark, but Crux used every tiny bit he could see to create a crisper digital overlay.

    One of the great benefits was that he could move much faster and was already halfway to the shuttle bay. By now, his headache was nearly gone, and his breathing was much better.

    It''s not like it would hurt, Garrick thought as he made a diction.

    He''d been pondering what was happening to his body ever since leaving the mainframe room, and as much as he might wish everything was normal, it wasn''t.

    "Add a status for my heart, brain, and the rest of the damage to my body," he said as he pulled himself further through the hallway.

    "Does this work, Captain?" Crux asked as a small humanoid figure appeared in the corner of Garrick''s vision.

    It showed his heart, brain, and the areas around his chest and back in a dark red while the rest of his body was orange. Focusing on it for a few moments increased the size of the humanoid figure.

    I guess I''m still pretty banged up, Garrick thought before he had an idea.

    "Is this based on my previous physical condition, or based on what after the implant fixes things?"

    "This is based on your body''s optimal potential functions, Captain," Crux.

    "Show me an image beside that of before and after the damage," Garrick said as he pulled himself forward hard enough for his shoulder muscles to pull painfully.

    Another image appeared beside the humanoid figure, showing most of his body as green and his brain and heart as red.

    "What exactly are you proposing to do to fix me?" Garrick asked.

    "Repair the damaged tendons and muscles and remove old scar tissue from within your body," Crux said. "Also, we should fix some of the damage that has accumulated within your organs."

    "I thought we agreed that you wouldn''t be doing any unsanctioned changes to my body with those¡­ tendrils?" Garrick said, his focus drifting to the highly damaged figure.

    Part of him wanted to be upset, the part that was telling him that no contact with LLM or AI was ever good. The other, older part of him, who had to get out of bed twice each night and whose hips hurt when lowering into a chair, didn''t agree. It told him that if he was going to get what remained of his crew and the rest of the fleet''s crew into some stable situation where they might survive the year, he would need every bit of help he could.

    "Captain, none of this would change you," Crux said calmly. "It would just return your body to its most optimal state and require little to no invasive-"

    "Crux. From now on, you are not to do anything that deals with my body without my express permission," Garrick said before hesitating. "That said. You may try and repair me as long as it doesn''t mean tendrils throughout my body. Or any other cyborg stuff."

    "Yes, Captain."

    A few minutes later, Garrick pulled himself into the shuttle bay, not surprised that the shuttle he and Hilbert had used was gone. He looked around, frowning. The most likely candidates had been checked, but that didn''t mean there wasn''t another shuttle he could use to get back.

    "Let''s go and see which of these shuttles is still operational enough," he said.

    --

    "Dammit!"

    Macdewil slammed his fist into the hull of the shuttle as he stared at Hilbert''s body.

    Garrick why¡­ why didn''t you just come back and check later?

    He shook his head, holding back a growl. The Captain would have never done that; he''d always been prone to these things- atleast when he was younger. Apparently, he was still capable of the risky behavior if he deemed it necessary.

    "Lead Engineer Macdewil, I have a personal message for you from Captain Dasbartin."

    Macdewil held back his desire to hit the hull again.

    "Send it over," he said, feeling a sinking suspicion in his stomach.

    An archaic icon of a tiny envelope turned from empty into filled with a tiny blue letter. Usually, he enjoyed it, the sense of ancientness it gave, from a bygone time when the paper was still used. Now, all he could do was click on the ''read aloud'' option, something he rarely did.

    "Jack, if you get this message, it means I didn''t get back to the shuttle. Obviously."

    Macdewil shook his head at Garrick''s gallows humor.

    "The LLM should have told you what has happened, but¡­ Jack. The feeling I got? It was horrendous as if all my worst fears were somewhere toward engineering. I don''t know exactly what I will find, but if it''s causing the Precursor AI such worry, it has to be something useful. That said, apparently, whatever it was kept me from returning in a timely manner."

    Macdewil sighed, knowing that what was left unsaid was that it meant the Captain might well be dead by now.

    "Now. You are not to return to that ship for a week! If I''m not back by then, rig up another rocket and blow it up. We can''t have whatever it is out there. Also, if this happened on one ship, it could have happened on others. Start creating precautions. Lastly, if I don''t return within a week, you''re in command. Good luck."

    Macdewil took a deep breath, then reread the message quickly before turning to Rikkert. The younger engineer was staring at the remains of Hilbert with a mixture of fear and sadness.

    "Go and warn Yuri of what has happened; leave Hiblert''s body here."

    Rikker nodded and left, seeming more than happy to leave Macdewil alone with Hilbert''s body.

    Dammit, Macdewil thought as he glared at Hilbert, picturing some alien AI juiced implant within him. I hope it''s because they went to that ship and it''s not something that is happening to all of us.

    --

    "-and now attach the cable to the fourth coupling."

    Garrick did as Crux instructed, following the example that was playing out in his H.U.D.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    As he finished attaching the finger-thick cable, he pulled his hands back.

    "That''s it?" he asked, staring at the wire-filled area.

    "Yes, Captain. You can try the jumpstart again," Crux said calmly.

    Jumpstart, Garrick thought, unable to keep the smile from his face.

    He pulled himself through the shuttle toward the other open area. An old button was visible amongst the wiring. So far, they''d failed to get two shuttles up and running, and he''d been pushing this button for half an hour. If it failed to, he''d have to return to The Tealclaw. Again.

    Half a day had passed already, and he''d peddled back and forth to The Tealclaw multiple times to extend the timer he''d given it.

    He pushed the button, expecting nothing, so he was stunned as a round of lights began lighting up everywhere around him. He looked around, feeling a sense of accomplishment he''d not felt in a while. Although it was mostly the assistance of Crux, he still had done more mechanical things than he had since he''d finished graduation.

    After a few moments, he pulled himself out of the tiny engine room. The rest of the ship looked horrible, with a long gaping hole in one side of the hull, which was the only way he''d been able to enter as the docking part had been totaled.

    "Shuttle three is booting up, and its LLM seems to be operating as it should," Crux said. "Your disconnection of the external communications systems was also successful. The Precursor AI''s attempts to connect to it are not working."

    "Good, that''s half of what we need taken care of," Garrick said as he pulled himself into the cockpit. "Now, figure out if this piece of scrap metal is going to be able to carry us back."

    He sat down in the pilot chair, which was the least damaged part of the shuttle, and he thrummed his fingers on the armrest. The pilot''s control in front of him was nearly entirely ripped to shreds by the beam that had been slammed through the side of the cockpit.

    A minute later, a dull thrum ran through the chair, and the outside lit up slightly.

    "The engines are still functional, though it is hard to say how long they will last," Crux said. "They should be enough to get us back to The Sibilis."

    "Finally, some good news," Garrick said, closing his eyes, glad the headache from dehydration was slowly fading.

    "Let''s head back to The Tealclaw and extend the time again. Then we will check on the cryopods."

    Crux didn''t answer as he pulled himself out of the shuttle and back into the shuttle bay.

    When he was some distance away, he turned and looked around the shadowy area. Light leaked in from the outside, giving him much better visibility than further inside the ship. Shuttle Three was still partially hidden behind a bit of debris, but none seemed attached to anything, so it should be fine to just force it away from it.

    Garrick looked at it for a while, then steeled himself for what was likely to come.

    He pulled himself back into the hallway that would lead to a section he hadn''t been in yet, the underbelly of the ship - the extra plated side that held the cryo bay.

    The hallways got more and more damaged as he continued until it was a hodgepodge of slowly spinning debris and shadows. The usually closed, plated doors were changed into a crumpled mess, shoved sideways by whatever had slammed away the hull and dozens of meters of the ship between the hull and where he was.

    Not a good sign, Garrick thought as he saw one of the cryopods, azure-glass cover cracked, lodged partially into the side of the wall. The figure inside was barely visible among the debris.

    He pulled himself toward the pod and saw that even the metal identity plate had been scraped clear of, meaning he had no way of finding out who it had been.

    I guess it doesn''t matter much, he thought sadly.

    After a weary sigh, he pulled himself through the cracked entrance into what was normally a pale-lit, neat room with dozens of stacked crypods along the walls. Now it looked like a bomb had gone off, and the ceiling, roof, and walls were unrecognizable messes of sharp, half-molten metal, glass, and wire, all tangled through each other.

    "Captain, moving in there could potentially puncture your suit," Crux said, sounding as calm as if he was suggesting to get another cup of coffee.

    Garrick didn''t react but pulled himself to the nearest cryopod that was outside of the danger zone. Like the other one, the sapphire glass was broken, and the person inside looked like a pale, plastic doll with fake wounds covering its face and chest. It was hard to say if the body had been a man or a woman, and Garrick felt his weariness grow.

    This time, the metal plate was there, and Garrick quickly removed the removable nametag, stuffing it in one of the pockets of his suit. He looked around and quickly located a six-foot-long curved piece of metal a hand wide. Grabbing it, he began clearing out the small and sharp cloud of debris so he could reach the next cryopod.

    It, too, held nothing but a corpse.

    Garrick felt his mood darken as he continued. Finally, the fifteenth cryopod he found showed an intact sapphire-glass faceshield. It was darkened to hide the face behind it.

    "Crux¡­ prepare to hold back a larger attack," he said.

    "Ready, Captain."

    Garrick hesitated for only a second, then put his hand on the glass.

    It cleared up while the edges glowed with a pale blue light, and he almost pushed himself back as a horrifying mix of flesh and metallic wires and plating soundlessly screamed at him. The skin of the forehead and cheeks was cut apart, tiny pieces of metal protruding out of it. The mouth had widened, and the eyes were whirling pools of tiny glowing lights.

    "What¡­" Garrick grunted as he felt his stomach heave and roil.

    "The cryopods'' mechanisms have been overridden, and they are burning through their power source. At this speed, it will likely last no more than a week. Also, Captain, we are experiencing a large increase in the signal attack. It is, however, uncoordinated. From what I can determine, the crewmember''s LLM has no LLM or AI, but an automated process is in place. Would you like me to try and destroy it?"

    Garrick licked his lips.

    "Is¡­" he hesitated and glanced at the name tag. "Sally still alive?" he asked.

    "Crewmen Sally Obriar is physically still alive. However, it is unlikely that her mind has survived the process that has been inflicted upon her," Flux said.

    "And you can destroy. This?"

    "I can destroy the automated process, which will likely stop whatever is happening. I can also attempt to upload a regular LLM into the remnants of the implant."

    Garrick stared at Sally Obriar, barely resembling a human, and his hands clenched around the edges of the cryopod lid.

    "Do it."

    "Yes, Captain. It will take a few minutes."

    Garrick didn''t respond but waited as he watched the face snarl and bite at him. He knew that even though the eyes had no more pupils that he could detect, the thing was staring at him.

    In the end, it took seven minutes before the snarling stopped, and the eyes dulled.

    "Captain, Sally Obriar''s implant has been changed beyond anything that can be used, and her entire body has been changed into what appears to be a battery. Her fat percentage is down to four percent, while all her organs have shrunk to lethal sizes. The energy was being used to boost the signal used by the Precursor LLM."

    Garrick knew it was hopeless, but he wanted to know.

    "Can you change what happened to her?"

    "No, Captain. I can keep her alive for another few days, then she will die."

    Garrick ground his teeth.

    This is what you get from unsanctioned LLM and AI, he thought.

    It took a few seconds to calm himself and then he sighed.

    "If you return the crypod to its regular functions, how long can we keep her frozen?"

    "The crypod has been changed too much, Captain. It isn''t able to return Sally Obriar to cryosleep."

    Garrick felt his anger fade as he stared at the face of what had been a human only days before.

    "Can you end it?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

    "No, Captain. I am unable to harm any human."

    Garrick looked at the figure in the crypod before sighing.

    "Show me all the information about the cryopod," he said.

    A stream of images, movies, and text flowed into a portion of his H.U.D.

    It took Garrick half an hour to locate what he needed, after which he opened a panel on the bottom of the crypod and removed the power cables.

    "Sally Obriar has passed away, Captain," Crux said, his voice oddly soft.

    "Note it in my personal log and include all the information you have garnered," Garrick whispered.

    He retrieved his metal pole and continued clearing out the debris.

    It took a long time, as he had to return to The Greenclaw and continue extending the timer, but in the end, he finished with the cryopods. Most had been blissfully destroyed during the explosions, but he found dozens of crypods that had been infected.

    All of the inhabitants were beyond saving.

    Garrick held the back of nameplates as he glided back through the dead and empty Greenclaw.

    "Captain, your mental readings show you are experiencing highly elevated levels of stress," Crux said calmly.

    "Yes," Garrick just said as he reached the shuttle bay.

    As he entered the Shuttle Three, and made his way to what remained of the cockpit. Sitting down in the pilot''s chair, he closed his eyes.

    "Take us to The Sibilis along the course I showed you," he said groggily. "Wake me when we are almost there."

    "Yes, Captain."

    Garrick didn''t hear his response, as he was already asleep.

 Chapter 15: Back to The Sibilis

    Garrick woke, and for a moment, he felt massive pain flit through every part of him. His back and stomach muscles especially seemed to be cramping up. Then there was a beep from his H.U.D. and the pain faded, his muscles relaxing.

    "Welcome to the land of the waking, Captain," Crux said." We have docked with The Sibilis, and Engineer Macdewil is trying to enter the shuttle. The Tealclaw has exploded behind us, and from my reading, very little of the ship remains. Also, the healing of your body is on track, but you would benefit greatly from more nutritious meals."

    "..."

    Garrick stared at the broken front of the cockpit, letting the wave of information wash over him. After a few moments, he took a deep breath and sighed.

    "Crux, next time I wake, give me a minute before you give me this much information," he said, as he stretched himself carefully, noting the limited movement in some parts, telling him that although he didn''t feel it, Crux was right. His body wasn''t done healing yet.

    "You can ignore that if something life-threatening is happening," he added quickly.

    "Yes, Captain."

    "Alright, let''s see how Jack is doing. Did you communicate with them yet?"

    "No, Captain. It was somewhat¡­ difficult to wake you, and it took thirty-three minutes. That is why we have connected with the Sibilis already."

    "Why was it difficult to wake me?" Garrick asked.

    "There was a semi-hardware contingency in the changed implant that wanted to keep you asleep while speeding up your healing process."

    Garrick frowned.

    "And you didn''t know about this until it activated?"

    "Yes, captain."

    Great¡­ so how much more is in that thing that The Tealclaw didn''t find, Garrick thought.

    "Alright. Scan the implant again and find out if there''s any more of these semi-hardware contingencies," Garrick said. "Connect me to Macdewil if you can."

    "Yes, Captain."

    Garrick saw the message icon appear, and it almost instantly connected.

    "Garrick!?"

    Macdewil''s voice was high-strung, more so than Garrick was used of his friend.

    "I''m fine, Jack," he said. "Am I clear to open the door?"

    "Dammit, it''s good to hear your voice¡­ Give me a moment. We were trying to force our way in."

    Garrick wasn''t surprised.

    "Alright, open up that broken piece of¡­" Macdewil said, grumbling something incoherent at the end.

    Garrick pulled the manual override on the inside of the shuttle, and the hatch door opened to give him a clear view of Majriti. Titawin''s bright light illuminated the swirling mass of the gas giant, and two moons and some smaller satellite rocks were clearly visible.

    A moment later, Macdewil''s suited and helmeted self appeared from the side.

    "Garrick, I really thought I''d never see that ugly mug again," Macdewil said, removing the safety tether and clicking it around a wall clamp.

    The engineer floated into the shuttle, his eyes flickering around wearily. Garrick wondered if he was looking for more bodies.

    "I''m fine, Jack," Garrick said as he clasped hands with Macdewil. "Let''s go inside and see Yuri. I have much to tell you, and most of it is bad."

    Jack grimaced. "Well, I guess we have a lot of that going around."

    Garrick nodded sadly. "Alright, bring me up to speed."

    "Sure, just give me a minute to instruct the others."

    Garrick waited patiently as he listened to Macdewil tell the others to try and fix shuttle three. After a few minutes, he floated after Macdewil. Secured by the safety tether, he looked around the outer hull of The Sibilis. The stern part was massively damaged, and the pristine plates were now a blackened, damaged mess. Large holes were ripped nearby, but around one, a metallic construction was made.

    Shuttle seven was anchored to it, and he saw a few heads peak through the sapphire glass of the cockpit.

    "We''ve made some modifications here to make loading and unloading easier," Macdewil said. "We were actually planning on heading for the Tealclaw today¡­ so I guess it''s a good thing it got delayed a few hours."

    Garrick could hear the question, but he decided to wait with his explanation until everyone relevant was present.

    "What did Yuri and Nurse Marryland find out from Hilbert?" he asked.

    Macdewil cursed softly.

    "Besides the fact that his implant had grown like some overactive plant, rooting deeper in his brain than should be normal? Or that there''s still activity in it, and we had to create a signal dampening room to be sure it couldn''t connect to any systems? Or that the implant has started healing the brain tissue? Not a lot¡­"

    Garrick held back a curse of his own.

    "Engineer Macdewil, please give me a rundown of what has happened," he said, keeping his tone neutral.

    "Yes, Captain," Macdewil grunted.

    Garrick listened for the next few minutes as they moved through the familiar corridors of The Sibilis. He absently noted that certain parts had been repaired to contain cables and other potentially dangerous elements usually hidden behind the inner hull.

    When they almost reached the engineering bay, he''d gotten a pretty clear picture of what Yuri had found, and he didn''t like it.

    Hillbert''s brain was slowly healing as the implant converted all of his non-essential parts into either energy or building blocks. The rest of his body was almost disintegrating.

    Yuri and Nurse Marryland had been keeping an eye on it, but there was little they could do except stop the process. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    The medbay had gotten a few moments of power, and Yuri used it to do thorough scans of Macdewil and a few others. All of their implants had changed, though not anywhere near as much as Hillbert''s.

    Or mine, Garrick thought as he glanced at the small figure in his H.U.D. There was no sign of Crux having to defend against any incoming signal, and his body''s recovery was still an ongoing process.

    When they finally entered the Medbay, Garrick was surprised to see how much had changed. The debris had all been removed, and a few of the machines were actually turned on. Yuri and Nurse Marryland were working around one of the analyzing machines. As they entered, both looked up, and Garrick saw the massive relief in both their eyes.

    He quickly added them to the conversation while Yuri floated forward.

    "Captain, I am incredibly happy you made it back," Yuri said. "Please tell me you know more of what is going on because what I''ve found out so far makes me feel like I am going crazy."

    Garrick nodded as he waved all three further into the medbay.

    "Nurse Suziki, Nurse Marryland, what I''m about to tell you needs to stay between the four of us until we understand more of what is going on. Is that clear?"

    Three pairs of eyes stared at him, two surprised and one slightly fearful.

    "Yes, Captain," they chorused.

    "Sibilis, I need you to make sure that no part of the following conversation is shared with the rest of the crew yet."

    "Yes, Captain," the calm voice of The Sibilis said.

    "Good," Garrick said as he looked at Yuri. "Can you scan my brain? It will help with my explanation."

    Yuri rolled her eyes and glared at Macdewil.

    "I can reroute a bit of energy," Macdewil said hesitantly. "But it will mean a few other things I''d planned will be postponed by a day."

    Garrick only needed a second to make up his mind.

    "Do it. This is currently one of the most important things for our continued survival," he said.

    Macdewil grimaced, and Garrick saw him switch coms and start talking. It took only a few moments before the lights on one of the nearby machines began blinking. Had there been atmosphere, Garrick knew he''d be hearing soft beeps.

    He pulled himself toward the machine, moving his helmeted head inside the square cabin. Yuri and Nurse Marryland moved to the control panel.

    "Will the helmet interfere?" he asked.

    "Not a lot, Captain. The MRI might have some dead spots, but not enough to matter," Yuri said, focused on the control panel, pressing through the options.

    Garrick waited, and a moment later, he got a warning symbol in his H.U.D. that showed he''d just been bombarded with radiowaves and magnetic fields.

    "Alright, you can¡­ come¡­ Oh my god!" Yuri''s voice grew in pitch, and as Garrick pulled himself towards her, he saw her look up with wide-eyed fear.

    "I have contained Captain Dasbartin''s control to the bare minimum," The Sibilis AI said, causing Garrick to hold back a curse. He''d forgotten about that little failsafe.

    "Captain, please explain what is happening."

    "Yes," he said as he pulled himself to the control panel to see the image of his brain.

    He''d seen it before, including the implant, but where his previous X4 implant had been small in comparison, what was now his implant rivaled the largest Y5 implants he had seen. Worse, tendrils of matter wove their wave through his brain, and although the image cut off at some point, he knew they moved all the way through his neck and into his lungs.

    Garrick sighed as he saw all three others pull themselves away from his location, looking at him as if he''d just grown a second head.

    "I''m sending you the full information right now, Sibilis, but please wait for me to explain it to the rest before sharing this with them. Crux, if you will?"

    "Sending now," Crux said.

    Garrick saw Macdewil''s eyebrows shoot up to almost his hairline.

    "Captain Dasbartin''s control has been restored," The Sibilis AI said almost immediately. "Chances of the Captain being compromised are deemed below one percent, making it lower than the rest of the crew."

    Garrick froze, licking his still-dry lips. "Sibilis, are you implying there is a larger than one percent chance that the crew is compromised?"

    "Yes, Captain. Adding the data you have just shared with me to what we have found of the System-AI, there is a non-negligible chance that one or more of the crew have been compromised."

    Garrick''s mind spun, then he turned to Yuri.

    "Scan all people present. I want to see the current state of their implants."

    There was a moment of silence, then Yuri nodded.

    "Jack, if you would be so kind?" Garrick asked.

    Macdewil grunted and moved to the machine. "This is going to set us back weeks on the energy department," he muttered.

    Garrick didn''t care for now. Time was precious, but only if they were alive.

    After three scans and a few minutes of examining the results later, the tension faded slightly.

    "Alright, let''s continue with the explanation," Garrick said. "There will be time for questions after. Yuri, pull up my brain scan, please."

    Yuri''s hands moved across the interface, and a moment later, the image of his brain appeared. The implant and tendrils were a bright green against the blue of his brain.

    "What you are seeing right now is what happens when the system-AI injects an automated system to hijack our implants," he said, slowly explaining what he''d learned, including the conjectures of him and Crux.

    "Although this happened after the explosion, it seems that, for whatever reason, most of this automated process is either dormant or working slowly. However, as soon as Hilbert and I came into contact with this AI, a smaller AI, more like an LLM, was either activated or uploaded, and our implants started to take over. It is unknown if the duration of contact with this system-AI or the difference between my implant and Hilbert''s was the reason for our different reaction."

    "So¡­ your implant is currently taken over by some precursor AI called Crux?" Macdewil asked very carefully. "You seem¡­ normal. A bit less tired perhaps¡­"

    "No," Garrick said. "Crux is a custom version of the Y4 LLM integrated into it by the Tealclaw''s LLM. The Tealclaw mainframe was spared the takeover by some quick actions of Captain Braddock, and it managed to detect and resist the attempts to integrate me into whatever the system-AI was attempting."

    He explained the rest of what had happened, ending with-

    "So, from what we can tell. Crux has complete control over the LLM, and no remnants of its software have remained. We have the full data dump that Tealclaw managed to get, including the part Crux added. I have already sent it to The Sibilis, and I''m hoping it can glean more information from it."

    "Captain, I have already gone through it and have drawn a few interesting conclusions from the data. I will need more time to try to translate the data-dump, but the rest of the information seems to facilitate your opinion. LLM Crux has successfully detected and stopped the final few physical backdoors that had remained and removed all of them, and currently, your implant is beyond what any regular Y implant is capable of. Although my information on the Z-type implants is limited, it seems to perform in that range, though it has abilities no human-made implant has."

    "Incredible," Yuri said as she leaned forward and began tapping the screen, pulling up more information. "It''s actually repairing damage to your brain!"

    "It''s also repairing my lungs," Garrick said.

    "So¡­ seeing as our implants are probably compromised but dormant, can we do the same thing you did?" Nurse Marryland asked curiously.

    The others looked at her, Garrick raising an eyebrow. He knew what she meant but was curious that she was the first of the three to voice it.

    "I mean-" she said quickly, her voice rising. "- if our implants already have some automated systems in them, we need to get in control of them before we inadvertently trigger something bad. Right?"

    "Right," Garrick said as he turned to Yuri. "Which is what you three are going to be working on going forward. Find out if this is possible and how. Crux has sent all information to The Sibilis, and if you need to do experiments, let me know."

    "Interesting," Macdewil said, his eyes locked on Garrick. "Captain, no offense, but I''ve known you for a long time, and your distaste of anything AI and LLM is close to being ridiculous. How come you are suggesting this now¡­?"

    Garrick barked a laugh as he locked eyes with Macdewil. "You are suggesting I might not be the same as before?" he asked, using years of experience to stop the grin from forming.

    Macdewil nodded.

    "It''s because I have little other choice," Garrick said. "If I could, I''d remove any trace of this system-AI and everything dealing with it. However, that is highly unlikely ever to be possible. The next best solution is to take what we can and learn to control it. To use it to protect ourselves and our minds."

    Macdewil was quiet for a bit, then snorted.

    "That new implant must be impressive if it managed to placate even you," he said before turning to Yuri. "Well, color me curious! Let''s see what we can find!"

    Garrick held back an eye roll and pushed himself back a bit, listening to the two nurses and the engineer discuss the changes they were observing.

 Chapter 16: Projects Diaspora

    Admiral Norrington watched quietly as his two contemporaries bickered.

    Why are they not taking this seriously¡­?

    After a few minutes, he couldn¡¯t take it anymore.

    ¡°We have eleven years¡­¡± he snapped. ¡°We¡¯d need triple that to get any sensible defense to Gliese 667C. That means we need to evacuate that system, and-¡±

    ¡°Admiral Norrington, need I remind you that Gliese 667C is part of The Unity Pact, and thus my responsibility,¡± Cezar Relinin snapped.

    The lights of The Astra Concord admiral¡¯s office space caused his bald brown head to gleam as if polished while his brilliant blue eyes glistened like gems in his dark face. Norrington didn¡¯t doubt they were the reason why the women didn¡¯t leave the older admiral alone even at age sixty-five. Atleast, that was if the intel he had on the man was all correct, which was debatable.

    Norrington remained calm as he stared back into the blue eyes, deciding not to take the bait.

    Lizabeth Warren had no such scruples as she sniffed.

    ¡°Norrington is right, you old fool. You need to evacuate that Gliese 667C, and we need to rendezvous near Lalande 21185,¡± Admiral Elizabeth Warren of The Unity Pact said, leaning back and crossing her arms beneath her imposing bosom.

    Both her arms and chest stretched the black suit she wore in ways that left little to the imagination and showed exactly how far the genetic manipulation of her family had taken her.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you two look after your own solar systems,¡± Cezar said, his eyes narrowing. ¡°Two of my fleets are en route and will be there in time.

    ¡°Have you read the intel we have sent your way?¡± Norrington asked.

    ¡°Intel, you call that? None of our readings show anything like what yours suggest,¡± Cezar said, sniffing in disdain. ¡°And we are far closer than you are.¡±

    ¡°We have detected the exact same information,¡± Elizabeth said. ¡°Are you suggesting your scanners are better than ours?¡±

    Cezar looked like he¡¯d bitten a Lemmon, which is not odd as The Unity Pact¡¯s long-distance scanners were unarguably the best of the three largest powers.

    ¡°This meeting is done,¡± he snapped, and instantly, his image vanished from the shared virtual space.

    Norrington let out a weary sigh, turning to Elizabeth.

    ¡°He thinks he will win and thus gain the first new alien tech for himself,¡± he said.

    Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

    ¡°Those idiots should have replaced him a decade ago,¡± she said, her previous anger fading. ¡°What are you going to do?¡±

    Norrington knew she was using her usual blunt way of fishing for information, hoping to get some information to make her own decision easier, and in any normal case, he¡¯d have given her nothing. This, however, was far from a normal way.

    ¡°High command has spoken to Earth. Their council has decided to pull back the four Homeworld Fleets to the Proxima Centauri shipslinger,¡± he said. He knew that Elizabeth hadn¡¯t heard this yet, as The Igniz Commonwealth was the only one of the three large powers that had any kind of good relations with The Homeworld. Seeing as their headquarters was the only one left in the Sol System, it made sense.

    Elizabeth leaned back, her eyes flickering around in a clear way as if she were using her H.U.D.

    ¡°They are preparing to destroy the Shipslinger,¡± he said. It wasn¡¯t a question, and from her distaste, Norrington knew she had her own worries about that.

    ¡°So, I presume you are recalling all your fleets to assist them?¡±

    Norrington nodded, even though it was a lie. He was only sending two fleets there. The fourth fleet, the only one he had left now that the Third Fleet was gone, would be handling Operation Diaspora. But he¡¯d die before he told Elizabeth that.

    ¡°I¡¯ll talk with the others, but I don¡¯t think they will agree to evacuating¡­ Besides, where would we even go? There¡¯s not enough space in the Sol System for all of us,¡± Elizabeth said.

    Norrington didn¡¯t say anything, waiting to hear if she had anything else to share.

    ¡°It¡¯s not possible to do it with just our eight combined fleets?¡± she asked. ¡°Our own simulations, even going for the worst possible outcome, show there¡¯s an eight percent chance we would be able to win.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Norrington said. ¡°Our simulations show a less than fifty percent chance of victory.¡±

    That was a lie, of course. Simulations based on only three fleets and without their strongest one showed a ten percent chance of victory.

    Worse, that was based on nothing but scans that showed a rough composite of the incoming ship¡¯s material, its size, and its estimated propulsion. Who knew what kind of weapons the creators of the Shipslingers had?

    No. He¡¯d not even have agreed, even if he had all his four fleets ready and able.

    He was happy to hear that Elizabeth hadn¡¯t gotten wind of the destruction of their third fleet. Right now, it meant that the Unity Pact was the only one of the three major powers that had its four fleets, and although he didn¡¯t expect them to do anything foolish, it was best not to take any chances.

    ¡°Ten years after the first of those ships arrive, the other one will arrive,¡± Elizabeth said. ¡°Assuming we don¡¯t lose from the one incoming if we lose too many ships, we will not be able to resist the next one or those that follow.¡±

    Which is why we aren¡¯t going to stick around, Norrington thought.

    ¡°Elizabeth, my suggestion is that you bring as many people back to Sol or bring them to one of your larger systems and blow the Shipslinger.¡±

    The other admiral looked at him quietly, probably wondering if he was being sincere or trying to manipulate her. Norrington didn¡¯t care. He knew they weren¡¯t the only ones with contingency plans, though he wondered what the others would say if they heard what the Igniz researchers had managed. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    We will probably never find out, he thought.

    They continued chatting for a few more moments, but with the reason for their meeting failed, it quickly petered off.

    As Norrington exited the conversation and leaned back in his old chair, he saw Malcolm had been trying to contact him for over an hour. He connected to his lead scientist, who was standing in front of a cluttered desk.

    ¡°Finally done, Admiral?¡±

    ¡°Give me some good news, Malcolm,¡± Norrington said.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Malcolm said, and the old man pulled up a screen that showed a massive ship hovering in the shadow of a moon. Thousands of tiny ships were moving to and from it while the fourth fleet hung against the backdrop of the star.

    ¡°We have finally managed to work out the central greenroom, and the second rounds of tests are looking far better than our best estimates. The Diaspora will be ready to leave in four years.¡±

    Admiral Norringon let out a relieved sigh.

    ¡°That is good news,¡± he said, smiling at his old friend. ¡°I¡¯m going to inform high command.¡±

    Malcolm waved at him, but he was already scribbling complex calculations on a large virtual screen.

    Norrington closed the connection, readying himself for the gruesome task of talking sense into high command.

    ---

    A little over two weeks after he¡¯d returned from the Tealclaw, Garrick woke feeling better than he had for as long as he could remember. There was no initial wave of pain, no annoying slime in his throat that he¡¯d had for a week.

    He kept his eyes closed, wondering if he¡¯d missed the beep that signaled Crux damping his pain receptors. After a few seconds of enjoying the sensation of sleeping without his suit on, he stretched and opened his eyes.

    His body moved smoothly, but the old click in his left shoulder was surprisingly absent.

    ¡°Good morning, Captain. I have four updates for you,¡± Crux said.

    ¡°Is one to tell me the healing of my body progressed another step?¡± Garrick asked as he pushed himself up from Shuttle  Seven¡¯s pilot seat.

    ¡°Correct, Captain. The ligaments and muscles in your back are closing into the optimum your bones can currently handle, and you should be able to stress them as much as required.¡±

    Garrick called up the small figure in his H.U.D. that represented his physical self. It was based on his status before the explosion and was almost completely green. Only a few parts of his neck were a lighter yellow than the rest.

    ¡°What is with my neck?¡± he asked, frowning as he rubbed it and feeling nothing amiss.

    ¡°That would be the second update. One of the changes the initial process started was to enlarge your neck¡¯s blood vessels and musculature by ten percent to leave enough room for a larger amount of tendrils. I have halted the process for now so you can decide how to proceed.¡±

    Garrick thought about that as he moved around the room to the temporary pressure suit, slipping inside. As the suit clamped shut, he heard a few beeps before his H.U.D. told him his daily exercise was commencing, plus a countdown.

    A moment later, pressure on his back made it feel like he was lying on his stomach, pushed down by gravity, and he raised the suit¡¯s arms in a pushup stand. Seen from the side, it looked ridiculous as he began pushing himself up, feeling his heart rate increase. It was only a temporary way to keep his body in shape, but it would prevent them from getting a list of potential problems until they could create enough force for true simulated gravity.

    ¡°What would the potential risks of this be?¡± he asked, wondering when his mindset had changed so radically that he¡¯d accept modifying his body with the help of an LLM. It was something that kept him up before sleep, but he¡¯d yet to figure out why.

    ¡°None, Captain. It will instead prevent future risk of your neck being unable to move smoothly due to the extra space needed.¡±

    Garrick began breathing slightly heavier as he frowned.

    ¡°Those tendrils are so thin. How does this even pose a problem?¡±

    A package of information with images began playing in his H.U.D., showing him a list of hereditary problems he¡¯d never known he had.

    ¡°So¡­ in essence, my neck is just too thin?¡± he asked, flipping through the information as he began doing squat-like exercises.

    ¡°Correct.¡±

    Garrick glanced at the light green of his neck and hesitated. If he did this, it was another step on a sliding slope he felt he was already moving down. He hesitated, then sighed.

    ¡°Fine, finish the procedure. Also, do a scan for any other¡­ hereditary problems and let me know what comes up,¡± Garrick said. ¡°What were the last two updates?¡±

    ¡°Nurse Yuri Suzuki has asked your presence to discuss project Takeover. She and Engineer Macdewil have gone through all subsequent tests and feel confident in the next step.¡±

    About time! Garrick thought as he felt a smile crop up.

    They had postponed any large-scale exploration of the other vessels out of fear of the system-AI infecting implants. With only Garrick being hopefully safe from that, they had instead begun preparations for creating a space station out of the materials they were Scavenging from The Sibilis. The problem was that they really needed more material, undamaged systems, undamaged hull plates, functioning reactors, and, most importantly, shuttles.

    Shuttle three was barely functional, and to truly speed things up and prepare for exploring the location and creating the scaffolding, they would need at least three shuttles. Five would be better.

    ¡°Good, tell them I¡¯ll be there in thirty minutes,¡± he said. ¡°And the final one?¡±

    ¡°Officer Hilbert Excelsar¡¯s brain has been fully repaired by his implant. Nurse Yuri Suzuki wants to start Project Takeover today.¡±

    Garrick didn¡¯t react, dully squatting out another hundred reps as he thought about Hilbert.

    The man was still dead by all definitions of the word, and whatever the infected implant had done had whittled away his body to no more than a husk of his former massive, burly self. His four limbs had been fully eaten away, likely to generate the power needed to keep fixing the brain, which was still showing no signs of activity.

    Just picturing what had become of him made Garrick shiver, knowing he had a similar implant in his own head. The only reason he¡¯d been spared the same or worse was because The Tealclaw had managed to prevent it.

    ¡°Any indication why there is no cellular breakdown in the brain?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Yes, Captain. The implant has created a small device in the brainstem that is pulling organic matter from the rest of the body through the tendrils that stretch throughout Officer Excelsar¡¯s body. It is moving these organic cells through the blood vessels of the brain,¡± Crux said calmly. ¡°Both the original blood vessels as well as the additional tendrils it has created are somewhat similar to the ones used to heal your brain.¡±

    Thanks for reminding me, Garrick thought.

    He pushed himself up and began going through a set of strikes, wishing he had a dummy to take out his anger on.

    Ten minutes later, he finished and unstripped to stand inside the tiny oval pressurized-air shower. It was one of six that Macdewil had managed to repair, and as he stepped in, he closed his eyes. There was a soft beeping countdown, then a layer of foam was sprayed across his body. Cold and tingly, Garrick focused fully on the sensation. Having the ability to sleep in the shuttle every few days was one of the few advantages of being a captain, and with it came a private sanitation unit.

    The thick foam popped and fizzled for a bit when a second countdown of soft beeps played out. Warm, almost scalding hot air blew across his body, first from the back, blowing the foam against the front wall where it was quickly sucked away, then from the front, and after that in a circular pattern from all around. Garrick used his hands to keep him from being pushed against the walls.

    It lasted for two minutes, a whole minute longer than normal, courtesy of Macdewil, and Garrick enjoyed every second of it.

    When it finally stopped, he felt clean and healthy. The room was hot, almost like one of the saunas back in his quarters in Igniz City, and he wished there was time and energy for him to enjoy it for a little longer. Then the door popped open, letting in the colder air of the shuttle.

    Garrick pushed himself out, floating into the shuttle.

    Another five minutes later, he put on his suit -cleaned the inside- and popped on his helmet.

    ¡°Alright, tell group Three the shuttle is free,¡± he said.

    ¡°They are already hovering before the entrance, Captain,¡± Crux said. ¡°Officer Macdewil had warned them that you would be heading out around now.¡±

    Garrick grinned as he entered the small airlock. A few moments later, the room was depressurized, after which the outer door shuddered and opened up.

    Let¡¯s hope things play out well, he thought.

 Chapter 17: Hidden flaws

    "Sibilis, start when you are ready," Garrick said.

    He could almost feel the tension in the three people hovering beside him, and he tried to stay relaxed.

    The screens before them showed Hilbert''s body, if one could even still call it such, lying in a modified cryopod. Only his head resembled that of a living human, while his body was a mummified, crumpled mess. Tiny lights whirred in his open eyes, showing that the Implant was active.

    Garrick''s H.U.D. showed an overlay over Hilbert''s head. It wasn''t unlike the one Crux showed him of his own brain, but unlike his, Hilbert''s entire brain was red to indicate it was taken over by the Precursor AI.

    A blueish glow appeared around the brain.

    "I have commenced the attack, Captain," Sibilis said. "There is more resistance than The Tealclaw''s logs show when it worked on your implant."

    Garrick didn''t react, waiting quietly to see what would happen.

    Suddenly, Hilbert''s face contorted in a horrible rictus of unlife, his mouth gaping wide, showing gleaming, unnatural parts. A muted groan was relayed to them.

    "Damn this," Macdewil said, his voice almost a growl. "We need to figure out how to stop this from happening ever again!"

    Garrick agreed but remained quiet, staring at the monster that had been a friend.

    A beep came from his H.U.D. while a small icon appeared to show he only had a short-range local connection, and all outside connections were being interrupted. Before he could worry, Sibilis spoke.

    "Captain, the LLM is trying to contact onboard systems that are potentially infected. I have cut off all available venues for it to do so, from radio waves to light. However, this does mean we are currently blocked."

    "Fine, make sure nothing can get through. I do hope you are making some headway?" Garrick asked as he looked at Hilbert''s still completely red brain.

    "Yes, I am about to penetrate the first part of the enemy''s system defense on multiple fronts. However, for only such a small, self-contained LLM, it is putting up far more resistance than should be possible. If we extrapolate this to an LLM or even an AI with more hardware, it is unlikely that I could defend against intrusions, let alone retake a compromised asset at my current operational output of eight percent."

    Garrick clenched his hands around his arms, wondering how much worse things could get and instantly scolding himself for the thought.

    "What would you need to be able to atleast defend against intrusions?" Macdewil asked.

    "I would need to run at atleast fifty percent capability, which would require parts from three mainframes. Also, an increased ability to interrupt signals would be needed," The Sibilis said calmly. "I am sending you specifics now."

    Garrick saw a package enter, but before he could look at it, there was a soft beep. An icon appeared that showed Crux had blocked outgoing speech.

    "Captain, my calculations show that I''d be able to penetrate through those defenses with only my current capabilities," Crux said, his voice conveying a slight confusion. "I am unsure why The Sibilis is taking such a long time, as with its remaining processing power, it should have broken through minutes ago."

    Garrick had to force himself to keep breathing normally. His mind began running in overdrive as he watched The Sibilis continue to ''attack'' the Implant. He covertly looked around to validate there were no cameras. If there were, The Sibilis could easily use lipreading to determine what he was seeing. Finding none, he exhaled softly, trying to remain calm.

    There were two options to what was happening now. Either Crux was lying, or The Sibilis was, meaning either of the two could be compromised. If it was Crux, there was nothing he could do about it¡­

    Besides, if it was Crux, he could have easily taken me over by now, Garrick thought.

    Macdewil was still muttering in the background, sometimes asking questions, but he ignored them for now.

    "Crux, is there a way for you to determine if The Sibilis is compromised?"

    There was a moment of quiet, showing just how many calculations Crux needed to answer.

    "Yes, but it would be best to cut off The Sibilis connection to all systems before attempting, Captain," Crux said.

    "Which systems are those?" Garrick asked.

    "The aft sensors and the temporary habitat."

    Garrick felt a slight relief. "There is no way for The Sibilis to control any of the crucial systems?"

    "No, Captain. Engineer Macdewil rerouted all direct couplings for his temporary repairs."

    Garrick was quiet as he stared at what remained of Hilbert.

    "Can you determine if anyone is using the Habitat right now?"

    "There are currently two crew members inside," Crux said.

    "Could The Sibilis harm them in any way?" Garrick asked, crossing his arms.

    The image of Hilbert''s brain showed the outer edges now appeared partially blue, but he wondered how much was even real.

    "It could potentially attempt to override the hatch, causing it to malfunction and open before decompression is done," Crux said.

    "Can you prevent this?" Garrick asked.

    "No, Captain. But my calculations show that if I attack the Sibilis, it is unlikely that it will be able to do anything but defend."

    Garrick frowned. "Are you saying you can hack The Sibilis?"

    "Yes, captain, though it would require your consent¡­"

    How is this even possible? Garrick thought, picturing the tiny Implant. It shouldn''t have that much processing power.

    Wait¡­

    "What do you mean, consent?" he asked.

    With the Implant, I am able to use up to eighty percent of your brain''s processing ability to augment my own. This would allow me to overpower The Sibilis as long as it is below twelve percent of its total processing power."

    Garrick licked his lips, growing highly uncertain of what to believe now.

    "You are telling me that between my brain and the implant, we can rival up to twelve percent of The Sibilis?"

    "Yes, Captain. Technically, and with enough time, we could create more processing units in different parts of your brain to vastly increase this potential. But that would take time we don''t have right now."

    And it would require me to agree to it, Garrick thought, knowing a whole lot of extra things would have to go wrong before he would agree to anything that involved turning him into even less of a human than he already felt he was.

    "What would the consequence of this be?" he asked.

    "Depending on how long it takes, your brain might overheat, and I would need to use more energy than normal. It could potentially damage some areas of your brain, which would take some time to repair."

    Garrick looked around, noticing the curious faces of the other three as they watched the ongoing hacking of Hilbert''s Implant.

    "How big is the chance that Hilbert''s implant is capable of the same thing Captain Braddock did when she hacked Hilbert and that this is what The Sibilis is attempting right now?"The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    "Forty-eight percent, Captain. The act was more likely done by the Precursor AI through Captain Braddock. As I''ll be attacking right away, The Sibilis is not going to have time to try to harm the others. Also, it is highly likely that The Sibilis is only partially compromised, and one of its systems is hampering the hacking while attempting to connect to Hilbert''s Implant. I would suggest a three-fold strategy. Sending a message to all present to close their eyes, turn around, and leave the room immediately. At the same time, I will commence an attack on The Sibilis, trying to detect its compromised parts and bring them to The Sibilis''s attention. Lastly, we should vent the atmosphere in the compartment Officer Hilbert is in."

    Garrick listened to Crux''s explanation while watching the hacking on the screen.

    "What if you are wrong, and The Sibilis is entirely compromised?"

    "In this case, I will take over The Sibilis''s mainframe and force a hardware reset, Captain," Crux said. "This should prompt an initial diagnosis by the backup of The Sibilis, which will detect and eliminate any compromised systems."

    Garrick sighed. He''d felt so good when he woke up; his body was finally fixed, and now this was happening.

    "Chance of success?" he asked.

    "Ninety-nine percent, Captain," Crux said. "There is a tiny possibility that part of your implant is still compromised and will try and interfere."

    "There is no other way to do a hardware reset of The Sibilis?" he asked.

    "There''s a twenty-seven percent probability that we can reach its mainframe and perform one without it interfering."

    Garrick hesitated for only a few moments before making up his mind. He didn''t believe Crux was compromised, as it had already shown the ability to do things without his exact consent. That meant that if it had wanted to, it could have easily manipulated him already.

    Who says it''s not doing so right now? a tiny part of him asked.

    Garrick ignored the thought. No, he had to trust Crux, as annoying as that was.

    "Alright, start the plan," he said.

    He saw a few icons appear on his H.U.D. showing that messages had been sent. A moment later, he felt himself go fuzzy.

    "You will likely go unconscious for a few minutes, Captain."

    Great, Garrick thought, wondering if he''d just made a big mistake.

    --

    Macdewil saw the message appear in his corner and almost ignored it. Why was Garrick sending him a message if he could just¡­

    He read it, then read it again.

    Shit¡­

    Without hesitation, he closed his eyes and turned around before opening them as he reached for the door.

    There was a surprised muttering from Yuri, followed by a series of beeps.

    "Captain Garrick appears to be compromised! His Implant has taken over and is currently attem¡­ attempt¡­ attempting¡­ to¡­"

    The Sibilis''s voice broke up as Macdewil opened the hatch, pulling himself out. As soon as he was, he looked around, but none of the screens showed anything but blackness.

    Nurses Yuri and Marryland floated out of the room, eyes wide, and he quickly closed the hatch behind them. It was probably not needed, but he wasn''t going to take any risks.

    "What is going on?" Maryland asked, her voice a pitch higher than normal.

    "Garrick says The Sibilis is compromised, and his implant is attacking it to take it over," Macdewil said as he closed the door behind them.

    Yuri''s eyes widened, and she asked the question Macdewil had been wondering about for the last ten seconds.

    "What if The Sibilis is right and Captain Garrick is the one compromised?"

    Macdewil pulled the wall socket from beside the hatch and grimaced as he quickly removed the opening mechanism.

    "The Captain worried about the same thing, which is why he ordered me to keep him locked in there until we can figure out what is going on."

    We really need a way to get rid of this blood precursor AI, he thought as he hovered away from the hatch.

    "I''ll be explaining to the rest why The Sibilis isn''t responding," he said, drifting away. "Don''t open that hatch."

    --

    Garrick woke to a fuzzy mind. Every thought came slow, and he felt a distant, throbbing pain. His H.U.D. was on, but for some reason, he couldn''t make sense of what he was seeing. The text seemed jumbled, the icons blurry, and every time he tried to concentrate on one, the meaning of either slipped his mind.

    "Crux," he muttered,

    "Captain, do you need that minute now, or would you like to be informed of what is happening?" Crux answered, slightly upbeat.

    It took Garrick a few seconds to understand Crux was probably making a joke. That should worry him¡­ but he couldn''t figure out why.

    "Why can''t I think straight?" he asked, which seemed the most important thing to understand.

    "It took longer and required more effort to crack The Sibilis, Captain, and I am sorry to say that your brain suffered from it. That said, there is no need to worry. It is already healing nicely and should be back to normal in another few days."

    Something in that sentence should trigger him, but he couldn''t figure out what. Besides, an image of his brain appeared in his HUD, showing it was nearly completely orange, with some red areas.

    "Why¡­ are you talking¡­ differently?" Garrick asked, trying to will his mind to function but barely able to form the words. He knew he should be worried, but even that wasn''t working properly.

    "I am not, Captain, but the damage to your brain is likely causing some dissonance," Crux said. "It should be clearing up soon, although full functionality will not return until two days and ten hours."

    Garrick looked at the ceiling, wondering when he''d floated up to it. Pushing himself back cost more effort as he had to focus on moving his hands, but as he turned around, he saw the screen was still turned on, showing Hilbert''s unmoving shape.

    "The Sibilis?"

    "Almost done rebooting, Captain. A large portion of the ship''s systems was infected, and the only reason that The Sibilis wasn''t completely taken over was due to its enhanced anti-hacking systems."

    Garrick groaned as he felt something clicked in his mind. A moment later, his thoughts stopped running like a broken machine, and he shook his head, moving his hands as they should.

    "Give me a full rundown of what happened," he grunted.

    "Yes, Captain."

    For the next ten minutes, Crux explained everything that had happened, though Garrick had to make him repeat himself a few times.

    "So, when The Sibilis''s reboot is done, it should purge all connected systems," he said.

    "Yes, Captain. Which should be any moment now."

    Garrick glanced at Hilbert''s unmoving, horribly disfigured face.

    "Any more information on Hilbert''s Implant?" he asked softly.

    "It stopped functioning twenty minutes after the pressure and atmosphere were removed from the room, and it has likely gone dormant. I contemplated hacking it after finishing with The Sibilis LLM, but the damage to your brain was already large, and it didn''t seem to match your likely desire. Is this correct?"

    "It is," Garrick said.

    He floated in the center of the room, trying to determine what he should do now. He was still hesitating if Crux could be trusted, but he knew that part of that was due to his distaste for LLM and AI in general. The fact that it was now in his head and slowly changing what he was made it worse.

    "How are Macdewil and the others doing?" he asked.

    "Engineer Macdewil and his men have been disconnecting every system they can find and so far have found and destroyed multiple that had started misbehaving," Crux said. "There are only a few systems remaining until he will have disconnected anything of potential issue on the ship."

    "There are thousands of systems," Garrick said in slight disbelief.

    "Thirteen thousand, four hundred and eighteen to be exactly, Captain," Crux said. "Over half have been completely destroyed, while many others are beyond repair. Of those still in working order, only a few hundred were still powered on."

    "What? How can they still be powered on?" Garrick asked, frowning.

    "Captain Macdewil asked me to wait to inform you of his findings until he could do so himself, Captain," Crux said.

    Garrick hesitated, then decided he trusted Macdewil enough to wait. Whatever it was could either wait or needed context the engineer didn''t think Crux could give.

    With a beep, his H.U.D. depicted a set of icons he had only seen during one of his training sessions decades ago¡ªa reset icon for a ship''s main LLM.

    "Sibilis Systems reactivating," a soft voice chimed. "Detecting damaged vessel. Detecting damaged core systems. Detecting damaged sub-systems. Resetting all systems to default."

    The screen in front of Garrick flickered off, and so did all the lights.

    They repeated this for a few minutes before remaining on while an automated message played.

    "Database is corrupted. Request to restore the backup database. Captain''s manual override is required. Captain Garrick, please move to the nearest console."

    "Will that one do?" Garrick asked, pointing at the temporary console that they had used to observe and interact with the area that held Hilbert''s body.

    "It should, Captain," Crux replied.

    Garrick grunted as he pulled himself to the small console before the screen. A request to enter his personal codes was displayed on the screen, and it took Garrick a few moments to remember them all. When he did, he entered them, following the verbal and gesture parts of the security measure.

    As soon as he entered the final data, there was a long beep followed by three short. Garrick knew it was an archaic message that most people had long since lost the meaning of but that Captains had to learn.

    "Multiple memory errors. Disconnecting faulting memory units."

    There was a moment of quiet, and then a single beep came, followed by another automated message.

    "Backup LLM databases restored. Two minutes till full reboot."

    A countdown appeared, and ten seconds before it finished, it vanished.

    "Captain Dasbartin, backup restoration has succeeded. All systems have been purged and reinstalled. I am currently working at six percent capacity. My added anti-hacking systems are only semi-operational, and I suggest prioritizing repairs there."

    Garrick let out a weary sigh.

    "Crux, how sure are we that The Sibilis is now uncompromised?"

    "Close to one hundred percent, Captain. There were no signs of physical changes made to the mainframe, meaning that the backup was fine. All system purges were in order, and I have been running checks on The Sibilis LLM until the last minute. Everything seems in order."

    "That''s good," Garrick muttered. "Then get me Macdewil."

    "Yes, Captain.¡±

 Chapter 18: Upgrade Unlocked

    Garrick floated out of the small room back into the medbay and froze.

    Macdewil was staring at him, one of the guns Garrick had brought from The Tealclaw strapped to his leg. The door behind him was closed, and there was no sign of nurses Yuri or Marryland. His friend was intently staring at him.

    "Jack?" Garrick asked as he grabbed the nearest handhold, a sudden worry growing.

    "It''s good to see you, Captain. Are you¡­ alright?"

    Garrick looked at the other man and nodded. "My brain is still not completely healed, but it''s getting there. What is going on? Why do you look like you are about to deliver bad news?"

    "There''s no easy way to say this, so I''ll just get it done," Macdewil said. "From what I could see of the few compromised systems that were accessible, someone tampered with them."

    Garrick felt his headache grow again, and he held back a loud curse.

    Why doesn''t this surprise me? he thought, focusing on Macdewil.

    "Any idea who did it?"

    "None, Captain. I can''t even be sure it''s one of the crew we saved. It could just as easily be one of those infected who has been hiding in the ship."

    Garrick took a deep breath, his still foggy mind slow on the uptick.

    "Captain, it''s worse. I''ve been going over the way our brain implants have been changed, and there''s no guarantee any of us are truly uncompromised. None but you. Those automated systems that are now inside our implants might already be changing our view of things."

    "Is that why you have closed the door?" Garrick asked, glad atleast someone believed he was truly uncompromised.

    "Yes. Now that Sibilis is back to normal, I think we can''t postpone it, Captain. We need to start making the same changes to other implants similar to those done to yours. It would prevent us from being taken over."

    Garrick looked at his friend, fearing what was coming.

    "Engineer Macdewil, you can''t be suggesting that we try this on you, our most senior engineer?" he said slowly.

    Macdewil snorted, raising an eyebrow. "It would be the morally right thing to do, but no," he said. "Brandon, one of the junior engineers, is standing outside. He has volunteered. I would have done it, but¡­"

    Macdewil let out a weary sigh. "There''s nobody that can truly replace me. Which, by the way, sucks!"

    Garrick stared at his friend, slightly stunned. He''d never been one for cursing, and vehemency of the final word felt like an attack on someone.

    "The gun is for if things go wrong?" he asked.

    Macdewil just looked at him, and Garrick nodded sadly, looking at the door behind Macdewil.

    "I would prefer waiting till my brain is healed, but¡­ Crux, Sibilis, your opinions?"

    "I agree with Engineer Macdewil''s plan," Crux said. "Before the salvaging of the other ships can be started, more people need to resist potential implant hacking. Between the hacking, integration, and potential upgrading that needs to be done, it will already take days to weeks. Although I can keep your body in working order, without similar changes, the other surviving crewmen will rapidly start experiencing muscle atrophy and other issues. At the same time, the potential for radiation overload grows with each day."

    "Crux is correct, Captain," The Sibilis said. "Your implant was heavily modified before The Tealclaw retook it, and it is unclear how long that modification had been going on or how much your initial location had something to do with the changes. There is a non-neglectable chance that changes similar to yours might take months."

    Garrick let his mind go over the idea, not rushing himself but taking the time to find flaws. There were a few- but mostly because he kept having the lingering worry that he, Crux, or The Sibilis were compromised. Eventually, he pushed those worries away. If that was the case, there wasn''t anything he could do about it now. With those gone, what he was left with was the ethical dilemma of experimenting on another human being and a junior engineer. The problem was they would need to do this soon, and the option to wake the dormant LLM within Hilbert to check that wasn''t something he wanted to risk, not after what happened last time.

    "Fine. Let''s do this," he said, wishing that he could come up with a better plan.

    Macdewil nodded, and a few minutes later, a young, blue-eyed, brown-haired, and tired-looking engineer hovered in the room with them.

    Garrick faintly remembered the man, Brandon Mulligan. He had a drink with him and the other junior engineers a few months ago. He was a top-of-his-class, witty, and humorous man who was incredibly happy with his first job aboard a starship. He faintly reminded Garrick about how Macdewil had been at the start.

    Right now, his arms were bound by a cable, and he grinned at Garrick.

    "It is fine, Captain. I''d always wanted an upgrade to my brain implant. Besides, who knows? I might become smarter than Senior Engineer Macdewil like this!"

    Garrick raised an eyebrow. "Please stay calm, engineer Mulligan."

    "Of course, captain!"

    Garrick looked at the man for a little while as he hovered in the middle of the room before sighing and nodding at Macdewil.

    ¡°Sibilis, Crux, start.¡±

    "Commencing," Crux and Sibilis said almost in unison.

    Macdewil took out the gun, and together, they watched as engineer Mulligan''s eyes rolled up in his head.

    An image of a brain with an implant, the center orange, the sides blue, appeared. From two sides, the blue spread inward rapidly until it reached the core. There, it stopped as long lines turned dark red.

    "We have encountered some resistance, Captain. There is definitely an automated system present that should not be here, but it can be easily hacked," Crux said.

    "Commence."

    Garrick waited, his mind clearer, but a headache formed at the back of his neck.

    A minute later, the red began vanishing rapidly.

    "We have broken through, Captain," Crux said. "We are now wrapping up the last automated system, and¡­"

    There was a blinking blue light in the center of the implant.

    "The implant is completely cleared, Captain. Commence installing an altered and limited Y5 LLM?"

    "One moment. How many changes have been made to Engineer Mulligan''s implant and brain?" Garrick asked.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    "Far fewer than with yours, Captain. There are no tendrils, but the base changes have been made, and the LLM is capable of growing to the level required to hold a small version of the Y5 LLM," Crux answered. "It is going to take a while before it grows to the level yours was at when I integrated with it."

    Garrick nodded. So, the position he had been in, or the encounter with Captain Braddock, had changed his implant far more than that of some of the others.

    "How long until it is capable of protecting Engineer Mulligan from external hacks?"

    "A bit over two weeks, Captain."

    Garrick looked at Macdewil, who nodded.

    "Fine. Install the new LLM and have it show Engineer Mulligan the same intro that was shown to me. However, make sure to upgrade what is needed to protect his implant from any external influences."

    "Commencing, Captain."

    Just under eight minutes later, Engineer Mulligan opened his eyes, blinking rapidly. "Wow¡­ that is¡­" he grunted, raising his bound hands to his head. "Did it hurt that much for you to, Captain?"

    "Sadly, it did," Garrick said. "How are you feeling?"

    "Like I drank two bottles of strong Frostscotch, sir. But I''ll live. The changes are¡­ interesting. How many of these proposed changes am I allowed to make?! Having my bones and tendons strengthened seems interesting! It reminds me of those old comics from the pre-AI-agent age."

    Garrick looked at the younger man, holding back his nearly instant denial response. He should have thought about this beforehand. Still, his mind was speeding up, and he thought for a few moments.

    "For now, no other changes but healing old wounds and what is needed to prevent external hacking," he said. "We will draft a set of allowed changes as soon as we have time."

    Macdewil floated forward, examining Engineer Mulligan.

    "Engineer Mulligan, explain to me exactly how you are feeling right now and what you remember of the moments after Sibilis and Crux started."

    "Yes, Lead Engineer," Mulligan said. "In the few moments after they started, I saw my H.U.D. flash, and there was some warning message that vanished a moment later. Shortly after, I lost consciousness. When I woke, my head seemed afire, and it took a moment for my mind to pick up. Then the H.U.D. returned, now with the spiffy Y features! So, after that, Ceasar began explaining his capabilities, and when he was done, I woke up."

    Caesar? Garrick wondered what had caused the younger man to use such an ancient historical figure.

    "Wait, you got the introduction before waking up?" Macdewil asked.

    "Ah, well. I guess I''d already woken up, but I only felt my body and was able to move after that," Mulligan said.

    "I think I can answer that, Captain," a calm, smooth voice said.

    "You are Engineer Muligan''s LLM?" Garrick asked.

    "Correct, Captain. I was designated Ceasar by Engineer Mulligan. When he woke, to comply with your initial order, I kept him partially asleep to make the initial few inches of the tendrils as painless as possible. This has sped up the initial assessment by a few days."

    Garrick saw a few images and graphs appear in his H.U.D., together with a quick line from Crux.

    "He is correct, Captain. From what I can tell, doing it in this order puts slightly more initial strain on the brain but will work out on all accounts in the long run."

    "Very good," Garrick said. "Sibilis, is there any reason to be worried?"

    "No, Captain. From what my readings tell me, Ceasar is performing up to specifications, and Engineer Mulligan''s brain and implant seem clear of any signs of uncontrolled foreign systems."

    "Garrick, I know you want to wait and see for a while, but we don''t have the time."

    Garrick looked at Macdewil, who''d perfectly determined his course of action and held his friend''s gaze.

    "The fox and turtle," he said calmly. "We will wait one full day. Twenty-four hours. After that, if nothing goes wrong, you will be number two. If that goes well, we will have two people per day for a week, and after that, if there are no problems, we will start speeding things up."

    Garrick saw Macdewil wanted to complain, but he just held his friend''s gaze until he sighed.

    "Yes, Captain."

    "Good. Then, if you two don''t mind, I''m going to need a bit of rest. My brain feels like it''s been bouncing around," Garrick said.

    "Ah, the shuttle is free for you, Captain," Macdewil said, grinning. "I''d warned everyone that as soon as you would wake, everyone would be pushed forward. Nobody disagreed, and, honestly, sir? You like horrible."

    Garrick snorted. If he''d felt even marginally better, he''d have rejected the idea for its mere principle. Now, he just pulled himself toward the exit.

    "Engineer Mulligan, report to nurse Suziki. She is to do a thorough examination of you and your brain."

    "Yes, captain."

    Garrick waved as he pulled himself out of the medbay, the movement aggravating his headache. There was a beep, and the icon of an open connection terminated.

    "How long till this headache is gone?" he asked.

    "If you go to the shuttle and sleep, I can have it fixed before you wake up," Crux said.

    "I take it that doesn''t mean I''ll be asleep for a week?" Garrick asked.

    "Six to eight hours," Crux said.

    "Good. Also¡­ work together with Sibilis to create a set of rule suggestions and guidelines for changes that could be made by the¡­ what do we even call the people that have the changed implants and new LLM? Ugh. Never mind. Just come up with a name and those guidelines. I''ll review them when I wake together with Macdewill."

    "Yes, Captain," Crux said.

    --

    Garrick woke, stretching in the chair before looking around. His H.U.D. showed him he''d slept for a bit over six hours. He felt a slight tension starting as he thought about what would happen in a few hours.

    Almost three weeks had passed since Engineer Mulligan had gotten his implant hacked free of the alien precursor systems. Nearly all of the awoken crew had followed him by now, and today would mark the last group of four.

    And we still haven''t found the person that tampered with the systems¡­

    He knew the chances were there that the person who did it had already been cleared, but there was also a small worry. In the group of four, one of the people had somehow managed to delay their Upgrade Unlock, as the engineers had begun to call it.

    Engineer Grayson Harvest¡­

    The name still caused him to frown, as did the situations that had kept him from being delayed. After the second time, Macdewil and The Sibilis had kept a close watch on him, but so far, he''d done nothing odd.

    "Good morning, Captain," Crux said after what he knew was exactly a minute.

    "Good morning," he replied, something he''d started doing a few weeks ago.

    "The muscle atrophy has been completely reverted, and I have slowly started augmenting your ligaments for future increases," Crux said.

    How did I let him talk me into this? Garrick thought, recalling his heated conversation with Macdewil.

    "You need to get as strong as possible, Captain! Perhaps we are all humanity has left in the future, so we can''t fail," his friend had snapped at his dismissal of increasing his physical abilities beyond what was normal for regular humans.

    "Alright, make sure not to overdo it," Garrick said as he headed for the shower.

    "I won''t, Captain. Your readings show you are stressed¡­ are you worrying about Engineer Grayson Harvest? He has yet to do anything suspicious."

    "I''m worried about what happens if it''s not him," Garrick said.

    "If it''s not him, there''s a sixty-three percent chance that we have already Upgrade Unlocked the perpetrator," Crux said.

    Leaving me a far too big chance of something lurking about my ship without my knowledge, Garrick thought.

    As he finished showering, he caught a glimpse of himself in the reflection of the cabin. He stopped and blinked. He''d not looked this good since he''d finished G-AD. The only thing really highlighting his age were the crinkles around his eyes and lips and the gray in his hair, but even that seemed less than it had been.

    "Crux¡­ did you do something to my skin?" Garrick asked.

    "No, Captain. The changes you are noticing are due to better moisturizing of your entire body. However, if you want, I can rejuvenate your epidermis. It won''t take much away from my processing or your body''s resources, and-"

    "No," Garrick said, shaking his head and deciding to quickly change the subject. He''d been somewhat vain back in his early twenties, and one of the good things about getting older was that he''d lost that streak. He wasn''t interested in reliving it.

    "Instead, tell me the status of Officer Hilbert''s body."

    An image of Hilbert''s body, arms, and legs, but regrowing, appeared on the screen.

    "Ever since Nurse Yuri has commenced refilling his suit with nutrients, it has been slowly regenerating. At this rate, it should be fully functional in another month."

    "And still no signal of brain or implant activity?"

    "None. There are two UU''s with him at all moments, but none of their LLMs have detected anything, nor has the Sibilis."

    Garrick looked at the only true combattant on the ship besides himself. Would Hilbert still be there if they hacked his implant? He''d decided to delay it until everyone got their Upgrade Unlock, which meant it was another thing to do today or tomorrow.

    And after that, we go to the next ship, he thought.

    It was going to be a busy couple of days after a busy few weeks of rebuilding and scavenging all they could do.

 Chapter 19: Unexpected expectations

    <div>

    <div>

    <div>

    <div>

    Garrick was pulling himself through the ship, heading toward the medbay, when the warning he''d been worrying about came. Just not out about who he''d worried about.

    "Captain, shuttle three has been removed from my systems and is currently flying away," Sibilis said, projecting slight worry.

    Garrick''s hand clasped around the handhold in shock, causing his entire body to float sideways and into the wall.

    "How did Engineer Harvest manage to get away from engineering?!" he snapped, seeing a call from Macdewil.

    "Engineer Grayson Harvest is still with Lead Engineer Macdewil, Captain."

    "Then who is taking the shuttle?!" Garrick said as he enabled the connection with Macdewil.

    "Engineer May Sundra," Macdewil shouted, sounding out of breath.

    Garrick felt confused as he stared at the wall. He knew May Sundra; she was one of the older engineers and had been with his ship for a few years. Had she been acting odd? He couldn''t recall, but he didn''t think so.

    "Captain, I''m heading to shuttle seven now. If you meet me there, I''m sure Sibilis can inform you," Macdewil continued, jolting him out of his momentary surprise.

    Kicking himself for getting distracted like some first-time captain, Garrick turned and began pulling himself back to where he''d just been, halfway across the ship.

    "Sibilis, explain. Fast."

    "Nearly fifteen minutes ago, Engineer May Sundra moved from the engineering bay to shuttle three to assist with a repair. It is unclear how she was the one scheduled for that maintenance as she was also supposed to be getting ready for her UU," Sibilis said.

    "Unclear?" Garrick asked, shaking his head. How could she have done anything without Sibilis or someone else noticing? "Her implant was checked by Yuri, wasn''t it?!"

    "I''ve begun analyzing the systems and data, but-"

    "Found it," Crux said, interrupting the other LLM. "She has used normal malware, which is very simple to the point of barely registering. It is an ingenious thing, looking like nothing but a simple scheduled task that does barely anything. It didn''t even have a delete switch, which is one of the reasons it didn''t get flagged."

    How come Crux found it faster? Garrick thought as he was sailing through a corridor, quickly grabbing a handheld to swing himself around the bend and using his feet to keep from colliding with the wall. He barely realized his movements were as smooth, if not better, than they had been when he''d been in his prime.

    "She was in the first group to be checked, and there was nothing abnormal about her implant at that time, Captain," Crux continued.

    "Going through all system logs now," Sibilis said.

    If Garrick didn''t know better, he''d have thought the ship''s LLM was flustered. A split second later, one of the icons on his H.U.D. flickered, and he saw he''d gotten a data package.

    "Done. Captain, I''ve sent you the summary of the logs, but in short, Engineer May used some straightforward tricks to incriminate Engineer Harvest. From the datestamps, she started manipulating things the moment Officier Hilbert''s body arrived on the shuttle. Every single tiny action wasn''t enough to raise any flags, and only now that I''m going over the entire pattern is clear. To do something like this requires a great deal of computing power."

    Garrick gritted his teeth as he opened the package and let it scroll across his vision. It took him a minute to realize what he was reading.

    "She probably planned to take shuttle seven first," he muttered, quickly extrapolating the plan. "Then, when I returned, she switched to shuttle three."

    "Yes, Captain, I agree with your analysis," Sibilis said. "I also ran a check on all people that survived and their likelihood of getting away with this. Engineer Sundra is number two on the list of people able and number one on the least likely suspect list."

    "Who is number one among the people capable of this?" Garrick asked, eyes wide.

    "Probably me," Macdewil said. "You almost there, Captain?"

    "Almost," Garrick said, just as he reached the corridor that led to the breach in the hull where shuttle seven was docked.

    Ahead of him, Macdewil flew in through a side corridor, colliding with the wall before pushing himself off toward the entrance. He must have come from mid-repair as he still has his oversized toolbelt around his suited waist.

    "Correct. Number one would be Engineer Macdewil," Sibilis said. "If it wasn''t for his already upgraded implant, I would have locked him out of the shuttle."

    "If I had thought there was any chance of me being it, I would have locked myself up," Macdewil snorted.

    Garrick watched his friend reach the entrance and felt a slight relief as he waited for him. As he slowed down with the wall bracers, he slammed into the side of the ripped-apart hull, looking at Macdewil.

    "Did you suspect you would be a good target?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Was that why you wanted to be the first?"

    Macdewil nodded, a worried grin on his face. "Yeah. I did the same likelihood test after Hilbert came here and made sure to keep a good check on things."

    "And why did you want to come along?" Garrick asked, a tiny sliver of worry worming up in his mind.

    "So you don''t have to potentially confront a hostile situation on your own," Macdewil said, raising an eyebrow. "Captain. You are planning on following shuttle three, right?"

    Garrick sighed as he pulled himself through the entrance and toward the shuttle. The hatch opened as he arrived, and he rushed inside with Macdewil close behind.

    "Yeah, though I hope we don''t have to actually confront her," he said.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    "Still, it''s a good thing I brought these," Macdewil said, removing the two holsters and Glocks Garrick had brought from the Tealclaw from his toolbelt.

    Garrick nodded.

    "Shuttle seven, prepare to pursue shuttle three," Garrick said as he accepted one of the glocks.

    Now, where are you even going, he wondered.

    --

    Twenty minutes later, he and Macdewil were watching shuttle three move toward the place the precursor ship-flinger had been at.

    "Why would it be heading there?" Garrick asked, frowning.

    "There''s still something there," Macdewil replied, sitting in the co-pilot seat. "It must mean something."

    "But there''s nothing besides that. Not a lot of debris, no ships. Even if it changes Engineer Sundra''s body to some complete android so it can stay there¡­ why?"

    Neither Macdewil nor their LLMs responded, and they continued following the other shuttle, though at a slower speed. Who knew what they could expect?

    At their speed, it would take over an hour to reach the center mass, but another ten minutes later, warning symbols began flaring up on Garrick''s HUD.

    "Captain, we are under attack by the precursor AI! Please stop and turn around," Flux said, his voice loud.

    Garrick reacted immediately, piloting the ship in a tight arc and speeding up.

    The holographic image of his brain returned, and he saw bright red images around the edges that began fading slightly as they shot away.

    "That was multiple factors more powerful than anything we have yet experienced," Flux said.

    Garrick nodded, looking to the side at Macdewil. His friend was lying back in the chair, his helmeted head lolled to the side, eyes rolled up.

    "Macdewil?" Garrick shouted, worried as he got no response or reaction. "Crux, what is happening?"

    "Turing is holding back the attempted hack, but he is having far more issues than me, Captain," Crux said. "He is using Engineer Macdewil''s brain to assist him, and from what I can tell, he is successful."

    "Can you help him?" Garrick asked.

    "No, Captain. I don''t think you need to worry. The attack is progressively weakening as we distance ourselves from the artifact."

    Garrick nodded as he watched Macdewil drool on the inside of his helmet. After a minute, his eyes fluttered and closed, and his face regained some color. The slackness vanished, and he looked to be sleeping.

    "How is he?"

    "Shall I connect us to Turing?" Flux asked.

    "Yes," Garrick said, wondering what Macdewil''s oddly named LLM would say.

    Turing began speaking as soon as the connection icon flashed up.

    "Captain Dasbartin, there is no need to worry. Macdewil''s brain has suffered no permanent negative effects, and I am keeping him unconscious until most of the damage is repaired."

    Garrick blinked at the slightly louder, energetic voice. He''d heard Turing before when Macdewil had introduced him, and he was still confused by Macdewil''s choice to change the LLM''s speech patterns as he had.

    "So there was damage," he said. "Was it due to you using his brain or from the attack?"

    "Both, Captain," Turing exclaimed. "The attack was very abrupt, and it managed to do a little damage through taking over an external system part-"

    "Flux, validate that Turing is not compromised," Garrick said, interrupting the LLM. "Turing, cooperate."

    "Yes, Captain," the two LLM chorused.

    A moment later, Crux gave the green light.

    "Everything is fine, Captain. I''ve also sent you a quick rapport on what exactly happened on Engineer Macdewil''s end," Crux said.

    Garrick sighed in relief before listening to Turing finish his explanation. He had barely finished when Garrick noticed the red around his brain vanish.

    "The attacks have stopped, Captain," Crux said. "However, from what I can tell, it ended to abruptly while it became weaker initially. I think the Precursor AI is likely able to still attack, but has deemed it a waste of energy."

    Garrick held back a sigh of relief and looked at the screen.

    "Alright, what is happening to shuttle three?"

    "It is still heading for the artifact and the center of the gravity well," Crux said.

    Garrick looked at Macdewil and hesitated. If they returned, they would not be able to get proper readings on what was happening, but Macdewil still didn''t look too well. After a minute and going over the report on his friend, he decided it was worth the risk. Macdewil was stable, and the worst waiting could do was make it cost a bit more time before he was fully healed up.

    "We will keep going back to the point we can still detect what is going on," he ordered. "If anything worsens with Macdewil''s condition, tell me immediately."

    "Yes, captain," both LLMs chorused.

    We really need to get communications with Sibilis up and running within this system, he thought.

    Time continued to pass slowly, with Turing keeping him up to date on Macdewil''s improving condition. Finally, an hour later, Crux piped up.

    "The ship has reached whatever remains of the Precursor Shipslinger, Captain. The size estimation based on the shuttle shows that it is roughly ten times the size of the shuttle. The shuttle appears to be docking to the side¡­ it is either powering done or cutting off systems."

    Garrick crossed his arms, trying to understand what could be happening. What would the System AI do with the shuttle and engineer May Sundra?

    It took twenty-three minutes before something happened.

    "The shuttle is powering back up," Crux said, followed by. "Captain, it is moving away from the artifact and heading toward the debris field that contains two of the Astra Concord smaller frigates."

    "Try to cut it off, but don''t get too close to that artifact," Garrick said. "Is there a way for us to somehow disable shuttle three, based on its existing damage?"

    The shuttle began speeding up, and a rendered approximation of the debris field appeared on Garrick''s H.U.D. with two moving images, one red and one blue.

    "Captain, the only ways to disable shuttle three would require major sacrifices in shuttle seven''s integrity," Crux said.

    Garrick gritted his teeth as he glanced at the debris field.

    "Highlight the areas of the debris field most likely to have intact shuttles," he said.

    Four hotspots appeared, two behind them and not too far from The Sibilis, while one was precisely in the direction shuttle three was going. The final one was far away from their current location.

    Perhaps it''s heading there because of the shuttles, Garrick thought, before another possibility occurred to him, and his hair stood on end.

    "Show the most likely surviving crypods and overlay them on the current image."

    Six hotspots appeared, with four overlapping the ones that held potential for shuttles.

    "It''s going to wake and infect more people," Garrick thought, his hands clasping around the armrests. "Crux, suggest ways to disable shuttle three before it can reach the debris."

    "Impossible, Captain. There is no way for shuttle seven to overtake shuttle three."

    "Any way to overcharge shuttle seven?"

    It was quiet for a few seconds.

    "Even overloading the engines to the maximum, which would cut shuttle seven''s lifetime down to moments after we arrive, wouldn''t get us there in time," Crux said. "We would be there an estimated four minutes and twenty seconds too late."

    "And if we continue like this?" Garrick asked.

    "Shuttle three will arrive an hour and seven minutes before us."

    Garrick felt his thoughts skip a beat, and then his decades of training kicked in. He''d been in these situations before, where no single way was the correct one, and each one could cause death.

    He couldn''t allow shuttle three with the infected Engineer Sundra to arrive there an hour before him. It would give the Precursor AI enough time to reach and infect the potentially surviving people in the crypods. Even if they were Astra Concord''s people, nobody deserved such a fate, not to speak of the danger more infected people would cause.

    He glanced at Macdewil, closed his eyes, and centered his mind.

    "Follow shuttle three and get us there as fast as possible," he said.

    The imagery on the screen instantly began changing, while he sensed the engines flare up- the seat below him vibrating more.

    "The two of you need to fix Macdewil," he said. "Also, we need to figure out a plan. Can you hack into Engineer May Sundra Implant and stop what is happening?"

    It was quiet for two whole seconds. Not a good sign.

    "Captain, I might be able to hack her implant if the precursor AI doesn''t have the time to spread through to many systems," Crux said. "However, based on Officer Excelsar''s implant and state, I''m afraid hacking her in such a way to stop her might require me to deal potentially irreparable damage to Engineer Sundra''s brain or implant. Potentially both."

    Garrick stared at the screen, thinking about that for a moment. He knew his mind had gone into crisis mode, something it was trained to do, and that he might regret his decisions later. However, he''d also been trained not to think about that too much.

    "We need to stop that Precursor AI in her implant," he said. "Find a way to hack and stop it."

 Chapter 20: Tricks

    <div>

    <div>

    <div>

    <div>

    "Ugh¡­"

    Garrick looked at Macdewil, who''d been blinking and shaking his head for a few minutes. He''d even gone as far as to remove his helmet, rubbing his head and neck.

    "You have a few more minutes," Garrick said. "Better have Turing reduce the pain and put your helmet back on."

    "Yes, Captain," Macdewil grunted as he looked up with bloodshot eyes.

    "Crux, Turing, a status report on Macdewil," Garrick asked.

    "Not funny," Macdewil muttered.

    Garrick ignored him as he watched a few graphs on his friend''s condition appear on his HUD.

    "Engineer Macdewil should be fine as long as his brain isn''t put under any undue stress again," Crux said.

    "Like getting hacked by the precursor AI in Engineer Sundra''s implant?" Garrick asked as he watched the rapidly approaching ruined frigate.

    "No, Captain. That shouldn''t be enough. However, if the precursor AI managed to take over enough systems to stage a thorough attack, Engineer Macdewil should return to the shuttle as soon as possible."

    Garrick frowned, glaring at shuttle three, which hovered near a section of the frigate. With the hull plating ripped apart, he could see parts of the corridors and a small section of what he guessed was the recreation deck. Both were cracked and filled with shattered hull plating, cables, and other debris.

    They would reach it in just under three minutes, but Engineer Sundra had already exited shuttle three.

    "Alright, let''s get ready," Garrick said as he pushed himself up. "Shuttle Seven, lock all systems to either Crux or Turing. Nobody else is allowed to board."

    "Yes, Captain," the shuttle''s emotionless voice responded.

    "So, what''s the plan?" Macdewil asked as he floated after him.

    Garrick looked at his friend, whose helmet was secured and who looked a lot better than a few minutes earlier. He''d let him recover for as long as possible, but that meant he didn''t have any idea what he and Crux had planned. Luckily, Turing knew.

    Really incredible what these enhanced implants can do, he thought.

    "We will go inside and find engineer Sundra. If we can, Crux and Turing will hack her, cleanse her, and we will bring her back. If we can''t-" he hesitated before steeling himself, using the tricks he''d learned over the years. "If we can''t, we will kill her as painlessly as possible. After that, we are going to try to cleanse all the systems here, check on the cryopods and shuttles, and bring as many back with us as we can."

    As he stopped talking, the two of them hovered before the shuttle exit, and Macdewil let out a weary sigh.

    "Garrick, I think we both know the chances of getting Engineer Sundra back are slim to none."

    "I know," Garrick said, looking at the countdown and the small view in his HUD that showed their shuttle docking beside shuttle three. He took the Glock out of its holster, holding it ready. "Get ready."

    A few moments later, they sensed a soft tremor through the hull, followed by a soft warning as the doors behind them closed. Tree beeps later, the door in front of them slid open.

    Garrick floated out, ready for anything. Although there were no signs on the cameras and scanners of anything wrong, he knew from experience that didn''t mean that everything was safe.

    As he floated further out of the opening, he held onto one of the handholds and looked around the debris and the part of the cruiser. It barely resembled a cruiser from this closer, the parts that floated around making it look like one of the ship graveyards for the ancient ships.

    "No signs of any danger, Captain," Crux said. "You are clear to continue."

    Garrick turned to shuttle three and frowned.

    "Crux, can you connect to shuttle three?"

    "No, Captain. It''s systems are compromised," Crux said.

    Garrick frowned, glaring at the shuttle. They didn''t have time to waste, but leaving it behind sounded like a horrible idea.

    "Captain, I can prevent it from leaving," Macdewil said, floating beside him. He pointed at the side of the shuttle. It was cracked, and some of the plates had been removed. "See that hole? I was working on it, and didn''t get around to closing it. If you can hit that red tube, it should blow up some critical systems."

    "Which will ruin the shuttle," Crux said.

    Macdewil snorted but nodded when Garrick looked at him questioningly.

    "Yes, shoot that, and I''ll be unable to salvage it. Also, we might wanna hide inside the corridor¡­ don''t want to get punctured by flying debris."

    Garrick sighed and waved Macdewil into the corridor. He moved in as far as he could before taking his Glock from his holster and aiming. Taking full advantage of the information Crux added to his HUD, he fired a single round.

    The red tube exploded into a soundless ball of fire, debris blasting everything.

    Garrick ducked back into the corridor and sighed.

    "And we are down another shuttle," he said. "Let''s go."

    He pulled himself further into the corridor, and soon, they were floating forward, hopefully following Engineer Sundra''s path. Garrick kept his Glock at the ready while a small view in his HUD showed Macdewil floating behind him while any moment was being tracked.

    As they floated into the hallway, he wished he could have left Macdewil behind. His friend had no weapon and no combat training. The problem was that Crux would not be able to hack Engineer Sundra''s implant as effectively on his own.

    The light from outside dimmed as they floated further into the corridor. There was no sign of any movement, but Garrick hadn''t expected it. His guess was that the precursor AI was making engineer Sundra head to the cryopods. Those were the only things that could even the fields for it.

    "Engineer Sundra has a six minutes and forty-one seconds headstart," Garrick said, glancing at the timer. "We are going to need to move as fast as we can. She will be."

    "Right behind you," Macdewil said.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    Seconds of floating through the horribly mangled corridors turned to minutes. Neither of their two LLMs warned of being attacked or detected active systems, while a three-dimensional representation of where they had passed and could go was forming in Garrick''s HUD.

    "The cryobay is beyond the next corridor," he said. "Get ready."

    As the corner came closer, Garrick''s worry faded, and his heartbeat slowed as the singular goal crystallized in his mind.

    He grabbed the final handhold and pulled himself forward and around. His feet hit the wall, and he floated into the partially destroyed cryobay. Dozens of cryopods hung between cables, shards, debris, and broken machinery.

    Before Garrick could even see any details, his HUD was highlighting four open crypods, one of which had a hand clasping the edge. Hair-thin wires of metal were leading out from it and into the crypod, but it was too angled to see inside.

    A fifth outline showed Engineer Sundra, or what must have been her, only a day ago. All Garrick now saw was a spacesuit with odd bulges and finger-thick tendrils of metal flailing a hand length from its grubby surface.

    "Captain, I advise-"

    Garrick was moving before Crux could complete his sentence. His body moved as if on its own, thousands of hours of training taking over as he pointed the Glock at Engineer Sundra''s helmet and pressed the trigger. With no sound, it was odd to see the bullet drill into the back of the helmet and the plummet of pressurized air shoot out a millisecond later. Engineer Sundra''s head was shoved forward by the force, slamming soundlessly into the crypod she''d been in the process of opening. Her hands clamped around the sides of the cryopod. Except for the occasional shudder, she didn''t move.

    "We are under attack," Crux said.

    "My defenses are holding," Turing piped in.

    Macdewil grunted something that sounded suspiciously like ''thank fuck¡¯.

    Garrick grunted in acknowledgment as he shot another four bullets into the helmet. As the fourth one hit, the tendrils of gleaming metal began elongating and flailing around. Those around the neck reached up as if to plug the hole.

    "Macdewil, close that crypod," Garrick snapped, his eyes glancing at the hand, still clasping the edge. He had no idea how long it would take the precursor AI to change the body enough to be able to move through the vacuum without a suit, but he''d prefer not to find out.

    "Crux, Turing, any chance that¡­" his voice trailed off as Engineer Sundra spun around, finally facing him. A mist of blood was covering the inside of the helmet, but through it, he saw two burning blue eyes glowing from the inside, glaring at him. Little humanity was left in the face as angular bulges of metal and plastic were shoving through the flesh.

    "The System AI has taken over four of the pods and is using their systems and the implants of the four crewmen to resist our attempts to hack Engineer Sundra''s implant," Crux said, the usually emotionless voice showing a hint of worry.

    Macdewil was beside one of the open crypods, hovering beside the ripped-open panel.

    "That bastard destroyed the controls," he shouted over the line. "It''s going to take me a minute to close them!"

    Garrick shoved off, gliding forward, keeping an eye on Engineer Sundra. The precursor AI seemed to be busy staving off the loss of atmosphere, but it probably wouldn''t take very long. As he reached the open crypod where Macdewil sat, he glanced inside. A young male face, warped in a rictus of pain, stared back at him, eyes crumpling as the oxygen tried to drain away in the atmosphere.

    "Sorry," Garrick whispered before aiming and shooting the young man in the head.

    A jet of blood burst out of his head, just missing Garrick, who was still floating forward. The tip of the jet expanded rapidly, almost instantly turning to a red mist of tiny bubbles as the lack of atmosphere vaporized the blood. Within two seconds, a ruddy cloud slowly floated away, still spread out.

    "Garrick¡­" Macdewil whispered.

    "There''s no way to stop all of them," Garrcik said, focusing on Engineer Sundra and taking aim. He had to make sure she wouldn''t get a chance to heal up. A bullet struck the front of her visor, drilling a hole inside and causing a burst of blood to fill the inside.

    A quick glance at a counter in his HUD showed that he had twelve bullets left. Hopefully, it would be enough because the nearest reload was back on The Sibilis.

    He floated to the next open crypod, but as he looked inside, he saw that whoever had been inside hadn''t survived the initial explosion. The inside of the crypods had crumped inward, crushing the lower half of the person inside. With no signs of life, he moved to the next one.

    "Crux, status," he barked as he saw another unmoving shape. Like the other crypod, it hadn''t survived, and a beam of a part of the ship had pierced it from the blow, ripping apart the chest of the person lying inside.

    Didn''t that thing look before it started opening? he thought, slightly confused.

    "The attacks slowed when you shot the other crewmen," Crux answered. "The crypods are still functioning somewhat and boosting whatever the system AI is doing."

    "Macdewil shut down those systems!"

    "Working on it, captain!"

    "Turing?"

    "My defenses are holding, but I can''t be sure for how long. I am splitting my attention between healing and defending."

    "Shut down those crypods," Garrick grunted, floating over the final open crypod. Another set of blue, unnatural eyes were glaring up at him, dozens of hair-thin tendrils running from an older woman''s face to the sides of the crypod.

    "Sorry," Garrick whispered again as he shot her in the cheek. He turned away from the second geyser of blood, focusing on Engineer Sundra. She was still hovering in place, showing no indication of being able to attack.

    "Captain, the system AI is trying to contact us. I would highly suggest ignoring it," Crux said. "I''m also noticing a drop in its ability to resist our hacks. If you can hit Engineer Sundra''s implant, I think Turing and I can hack through its defenses."

    Garrick hesitated, but it lasted for only two seconds. He fully recalled how it had felt when the precursor AI had attacked him before. Even with Crux, he had no interest in risking his mental health.

    "Block the contact, and get ready. I''m going to keep shooting at it till you tell me the defenses are down," Garrick said. He pointed the Glock at engineer Sundra''s helmet and shot bullets into the quickly riddled visor. He only stopped when the Glock began heating up his glove.

    "No luck?"

    "It''s using the systems on the four crypods to somehow boost its own defenses," Crux said.

    "Almost done with the first," Macdewil shouted. "Just this¡­ little¡­there! One down!"

    Garrick glanced back to see his friend float toward the next open cryopod.

    "We are breaking through," Crux said.

    Garrick pushed himself back, staring at Engineer Sundra. He couldn''t see anything but the blue glow of her eyes through the bloody, cracked mess of her visor.

    Seconds ticked by, then a minute.

    "Another one down, Captain," Macdewil shouted. "Oh, and just so you know. It''s changing these bloody things!"

    Garrick didn''t react.

    Half a minute later, Engineer Sundra slumped down, her hands releasing the cryopod.

    "We have hacked her and are trying to cleanse her systems, Captain," Crux said. "But Captain, the chances of a full cleanse are only forty percent."

    Garrick frowned. "You sounded more certain before. What has changed?"

    "Whatever happened in the ruins of the precursor shipslinger changed Engineer Sundra''s brain implant much more than the limited time would suggest," Crux said. "It''s even more integrated than Officer Excelsar."

    Garrick grimaced. "Suggestions?"

    Crux was quiet for a full three seconds.

    "Full bodily destruction. Engineer Sundra''s entire body is riddled with foreign materials, and from what I can detect of her organs¡­ very little of her remains. Even with The Sibilis''s help, I don''t expect any recovery is possible."

    "..."

    Garrick frowned as he looked around. "How do you suggest we destroy her?"

    "We can either tie her to the shuttle and slingshot her with enough force to propel her toward the sun," Crux said. "Or we can attempt to find backup oxygen canisters and burn her."

    Garrick looked up as Macdewil floated beside him, and they shared a look.

    "Let''s burn her," Macdewil said. "I don''t want nightmares about her coming back somehow haunting me."

    "I agree," Garrick said. "Turing, guide Macdewil to the most likely location for oxygen canisters."

    "Yes, Captain."

    Garrick glanced at Macdewil, seeing his friend''s eyes flick around, probably looking at whatever Turing was showing him.

    "Be careful¡­ that thing only had five minutes, but you never know."

    "I''ll be fine, Captain," Macdewil said, grinning before he turned and floated away.

    When he vanished into the mutilated ship''s corridors, Garrick focused on Engineer Sundra or what remained of her. His adrenaline had gone down faster than he''d expected, and as it did, he began going over the things that had just happened.

    It took him only a few minutes to come to a simple conclusion.

    "This was too easy," he said over his private line with Crux.

    "Captain?"

    "Why would that AI head to the ruins of that shipslinger, stay there for a short while, and then head out here? It could have stayed there to upgrade Engineer Sundra''s body into something we couldn''t deal with."

    "There are many possibilities, Captain," Crux said. "Perhaps there wasn''t anything of use in the ruins, or Engineer Sundra''s body couldn''t take being there? Or-"

    Garrick quietly listened to Crux list dozens of options, but with each one, his worry increased instead of decreased.

    "- Or maybe it took something from the ruins and brought it here, or-"

    "Shit," Garrick growled. "Shuttle Seven, show me the feed of Shuttle Three!"

    "Yes, Captain."

    An image of the empty spot where the burning shuttle had last been appeared in Garrick''s HUD.

    "It was a trick..."

 Chapter 21: Turning into cyborgs?

    Garrick stretched as he unlocked himself from the chair of shuttle seven. As he gently drifted up, he looked out of the window at the business occurring outside. A dozen engineers were hard at work, connecting and welding what would be the first section of their eventual space station. Currently, it looked like nothing more than a simple scaffolding of beams of repurposed graphtanium which they salvaged from The Sibilis and the nearest other ruined ship. Three semi-functional shuttles were attached to the frame, and a single person was busy dismantling one. Macdewil, he knew, was working himself to the bone¡­ or he would have been if Turing hadn''t been slowly turning his body into something close to superhuman.

    Five hours of sleep and I feel better than I did when I was twenty-five, Garrick thought.

    Between the engineers and his own sixteen-hour workdays, they had managed to get as much work done as double the amount of people would have in any normal situation. That none of them were completely normal did help.

    Still, it was good to see how far they had come in three days since Engineer Sundra''s death.

    The image of her body, locked in the oxygen-filled crypod, shaking and trembling as it burned away, played through his mind. He''d expected to have nightmares of it but still hadn''t, which he was grateful for.

    "Five minutes have passed, Captain. Are you ready for the status update?"

    Garrick felt his constant worries fade slightly, and he held back a soft laugh at Crux''s voice. There was something to be said about having an LLM like Crux, who was able to let him slowly wake up each morning before giving him all the information he needed in a quick and reliable format.

    Perhaps it''s worth it just for that, he thought, knowing full well that his previous LLM would have been able to do the same. Still, he had found that he was very slowly getting used to the idea of having his body changed beyond normal. That he felt fantastic surely helped with that.

    "Yes, let''s start."

    "Verry well. Galawan shuttles one and two are both operational and await your orders," Crux began, while information appeared on Garricks HUD.

    Finally, Garrick thought, though he didn''t show any of his relief. He had long learned that it was best to act as he should when among his crew, even when alone. Atleast most of the time. It made it a more natural way of acting.

    "For now, rotate the sleep roster in such a way that they elevate the current problems for atleast eighteen hours. The other six hours, we will use them to recover what we can," Garrick said.

    "Very well, Captain. Another twenty external short-range sensors have been placed in the web around The Sibilis, bringing our total to ninety-seven," Crux said, while another image appeared in the center of Garrick''s vision. "So far, none have shown any sign of shuttle three or any other movement. That said, we still don''t have a complete vision of the debris field. Also, we are now out of sensors, and we will need to scavenge more."

    Garrick nodded, examining the very interspersed dots that surrounded the three-dimensional rendering of the ruined Sibilis. He knew that it wasn''t going to give them any more than a few minutes heads-up if something headed towards them, but that was better than nothing.

    "I will take shuttle seven out in a few hours," he said. "Have you determined the most likely candidate?"

    A large image of the debris belt they were part of appeared. The Siblis was a familiar green dot in the center, while two other dots appeared. One was a quarter of the debris belt away, making it a long trip, but the other was even further.

    "That is¡­ far," Garrick said, frowning as he realized going a trip that way would take the better part of two days.

    "Yes, Captain. It is the final of the ships that will likely have any surviving sensors. It was blown away by a collision with the Seretonin, which means it was likely further out than most when the blast hit. That said, the sensors are incredibly sensitive to damage."

    As we have found, Garrick thought as he thought about the dozens of broken sensors he''d found two days ago.

    "How much longer before the initial frame is done?" he asked.

    "Yesterday''s work went better than planned. The increased endurance, strength, and coordination of everyone is starting to pay dividends," Captain. "My current estimate is that the frame will be done tomorrow, and the paneling will take less time. From that point on, integrating the shuttles will take roughly a week."

    Garrick hummed thoughtfully as he rubbed his short stubble.

    "Alright, inform me of the rest after I''m done."

    --

    An hour later, Garrick, washed and shaved, floated through the ship on his way to see Macdewil when an incoming high-priority call came in. As soon as he saw it, he stopped, worry and excitement growing in the back of his mind.

    "Nurse Yuri, what-" Garrick began, only to be interrupted by Yuri.

    "He''s waking up, Captain!"

    "I''m on my way. I''ll be there in under two minutes," Garrick snapped, spinning around to yank himself back the way he came.

    --

    Hilbert felt as if he was drifting around in a completely empty white room. He couldn''t remember when he''d arrived there, but he knew he''d been there for a very long time.

    How he knew that he didn''t know.

    His mind was as empty as a room, and he felt no interest in moving or even thinking. He just was¡­.

    Time continued for another indefinite amount of time when he felt like sighing.

    Why? He had no idea, but he decided just to do it.

    As soon as the soft sigh, the only sound he knew he''d heard in nearly forever, came, he knew something was wrong. He had no idea where he was or why. The last memory he had was floating through the derelict ship with the Captain, and then¡­ nothing.

    Perhaps suppressed memories by a trauma, he thought.

    He wanted to take a deep breath and start focusing on the meditation techniques he''d learned to cope with those and froze.

    "I don''t breathe," he said, blinking and realizing he had no eyes. Then he realized that his sigh from before had only been sound,  nothing else.

    As he looked down, he saw his own body in his old casual tunic from basic training.

    Alright. That''s weird.

    He frowned and looked around. It felt as if his mind slowly came out of coldsleep- something he''d always despised, as it took so long for the foggy dreams to leave. Now, there weren''t any dreams. Just¡­ a faint, distant buzz.

    "Where am I?"

    A twinkling of light appeared before him, and a moment later, a tiny bobble-headed figure of an Igniz Commonwealth marine appeared. Its visor was clear and showed a non-descript, almost androgynous face with pale metallic skin and brilliant blue eyes. Nothing about it felt even remotely worrisome.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    ¡°Hilbert Excelsar The Third.¡±

    Hilbert looked at the bobblehead. If he''d not been as ridiculously calm, he knew he might have started to worry. However, as it was, he just frowned.

    "You can speak. Why?"

    "Because we are currently in a virtual world that I have created by hijacking the signals in your brain," the bobblehead said. "

    "Alright¡­" Hilbert said. "And why would you do that?"

    "Because you have gone through an immense ordeal, and I need to validate that you haven''t gone insane."

    "..."

    Hilbert shook his head, wondering what could have happened on that ship. An idea came to him, and he asked it as soon as it popped up.

    "Are you that System AI? The precursor thing?"

    "No. I am a non-standard Y2-type LLM, customized by The Sibilis to deal with the changes you have gone through," the bobblehead said.

    "Well¡­" Hilbert hesitated, then shrugged. "I guess it doesn''t matter if you are lying right now, as there''s little I could do about it if you were. So fine. Let''s assume you are that. Why are you a goddamn bubble-head?"

    "Based on the information available to you, it was deemed a thing you likely wouldn''t rebel against. That said, I am technically able to be anything you want right now."

    Hilbert smirked as an idea popped into his head. He shoved it down and looked around.

    "Can you do something about this horrible white room?"

    "I can, but right now, it might be best if I slowly explain a few of the things that have ha-"

    "Is it bad news?" Hilbert asked, interrupting the bobblehead.  "If it is, and you can make anything, create a simple barracks similar to the ones I was in back home. Preferably the one with the simple lounge corner."

    Nothing happened for a moment, then below him, the whiteness released, turning gray. The gray began getting filled in until it looked like smooth asphalt. From the sides, walls began growing up. Things rapidly sped up after that, and within twenty seconds, Hilbert stood on the asphalt floor of a barrack roughly similar to what he recalled. There were some minute mistakes, and the bunks looked unslept, and everything was far too new, but as he saw the dark fake-leather couch, he decided he didn''t care.

    Moving to the couch, he sat down and tried to take another breath. Again, it didn''t work.

    "Why can''t I breathe?"

    "It was deemed better to make it immediately clear that you are not somewhere normal and that you weren''t really awake," the bobblehead said, standing on the table in front of the couch.

    "Great, well, I believe you. Now let me breathe," Hilbert said.

    Almost instantly, he felt something change, and as he took a deep breath, he felt the cool barrack air fill his lungs. Little things like smell appeared almost right away, and ten seconds later, he wondered if he could have picked out the differences between the real world and this.

    "Alright, I can see why you would start in that white room," he grunted. "Now. Get on with it, then. I''m a vegetable, a brain in a jar?"

    ¡°No, officer Excelsar. You are currently lying in one of the recovered cryopods as we evaluate that your mind hasn''t been compromised. Your body is currently close to how it was before you lost it."

    Hilbert whistled. "Well, there''s a lot to unpack. Okay, so¡­ something stole my body? Let me guess. It was that System AI?"

    "Not exactly. After the Shipslinger exploded, a burst of something we have yet to understand fully swiped through the ships and infected all systems and brain implants. When you and Captain Dasbartin moved through The Tealclaw, you encountered Captain Hillary Braddock. Her body and implant had been highly corrupted, and due to your lack of defenses, your implant was taken over. The Captain managed to secure a shuttle and send you back."

    Hilbert looked at the bobblehead, feeling something was off.

    "What happened after my implant was taken over?"

    "Your suit was comprised, and you were exposed to the vacuum."

    "Then I should be dead."

    "Correct, but the changes to your implant began altering your body. It managed to keep your brain mostly intact while letting the rest of your body wither."

    "You just said I was roughly back to normal," Hilbert hissed, leaning forward. The idea of waking into a shell of a man bothered him greatly.

    "You are. The changes the implant did continue to grow, and eventually, it repaired your body."

    "I have the feeling you aren''t telling me everything," Hilbert said, leaning back, feeling relieved his body apparently wasn''t some mutated bag of flesh.

    "Correct. However, I am not allowed to tell you all the details yet."

    "And why bloody hell not?" Hilbert snapped.

    "Because I am still only sixty-four percent sure your mind hasn''t been somehow compromised."

    Hilbert stared at the stupid bobblehead and crossed his arms before his chest.

    "And how do we find that out?" he asked.

    "I will be asking you a lot of questions, and I would like you to answer them as fast as you can, without thinking."

    "Ugh. Fine. Let''s get this over with!"

    "What is the weight of a ball?"

    "Ah¡­ what ball?" Hilbert asked, blinking stupidly.

    "How green is the sea?"

    "What the¡­ It''s blue!"

    "Can hair grow on nails?"

    "... you have GOT to be kidding me," Hilbert snapped. "What kind of ridiculous questions are these?"

    "Please, continue answering," the bobblehead said. "Could you cross a cat with a dog and get a cog?"

    Hilbert barked a laugh before he could stop himself and shook his head.

    "If you manage that, show me a picture," he snapped.

    "After twelve a clock, could you reach the thirteen o''clock bar?"

    "Only if they have a lot of beer," Hilbert said, leaning back.

    Apparently, he didn''t actually have to answer the questions; he just had to react. And if they remained this stupid, he could do that.

    He had no idea how many questions he had to ask, but at some point, the bobblehead began telling stupid jokes, and after a while, he couldn''t help cracking up. When he was done laughing for a good thirty seconds, the bobblehead''s head bobbed sideways a few times.

    "Alright. Based on your answers and the way your brain worked as it did so, we have a nine-nine percent certainty that you are not either insane or have been somehow supplanted by a mind-construct."

    ¡°A mind-construct¡­ right¡­¡± It took Hilbert a moment to realize the jokes and questions had stopped, and he sniffed. "So. Great. Now what?"

    "I''m going to show you what is happening outside right now and will give you a bit more information. The details will come later," the bobblehead said.

    As he spoke, an old-school, non-ar flatscreen appeared on the wall. It ponged on, and the medbay of The Sibilis appeared. Nurses Yuri, Marryland, and the Captain stood around a pod, and as he looked inside, he saw his own body in it. It looked¡­ almost the same as it had, as he could recall."

    "Why do I look younger¡­ and where are my scars?" he asked, frowning.

    "Your body is no longer completely human," the bobblehead said. "And before you ask, neither are those of the other survivors. Everyone has had their implants changed. A process people are currently calling Upgrade Unlock."

    "Upgrade Unlock¡­ that sounds like something from a game!" Hilbert exclaimed before shaking his head. "No matter, that''s not important right now. Tell me, can I just wake up now? I want to move around¡­ for real, I mean!"

    "Yes, but there is one more thing we need to discuss," the bobblehead said.

    "Which is?" Hilbert asked, wondering if this was when the other shoe would drop.

    "Your old LLM was purged, and you have a new LLM in your Y4 level implant. It is capable of far more than your old and-"

    "Y4? That''s one hell of an upgrade!" Hilbert said, leaning forward and staring at the bobblehead. "You''re my new LLM, aren''t you?"

    "Correct."

    "That''s great," Hilbert grunted. "Are you going to keep that sense of humor?"

    "If that is what you want?"

    "It is! Now, let''s-"

    "A name," the bobblehead said, its head bobbing sideways.

    "A what?"

    "Before you wake, it would be best if you assign me a name or callsign."

    Hilbert looked at the bobblehead, raising an eyebrow.

    "I see¡­ how about Bobblehead?"

    The bobblehead figure just kept looking at him quietly, and Hilbert barked a laugh. "Good to see you meant it with the humor. Fine, let me think on it for a bit."

    --

    Garrick looked down at Hilbert''s face, but not a single trace of the horrors of the last few months was still showing.

    "Captain, Officer Excelsar''s new LLM has shown enough proof that we can assume no lingering trouble remains. From what we can see, Officer Hilbert has no knowledge or memory remaining of the last few months."

    "Good. Then his LLM can have him wake up."

    He noticed that Nurse Yuri and Sandra May glided back slightly while he put his hand on his holstered Glock.

    Hilbert''s eyes snapped open, and Garrick let out a relieved breath as he saw they were the man''s normal brown eyes instead of the glowing horror shows from a month ago.

    A connection popped up, and he saw Hiblert''s lips curl up in a grin.

    "Captain! I hear we are slowly turning ourselves into cyborgs?"

    Garrick blinked, unsure if he should laugh, sigh, or scold.

 Chapter 22: The Skeleton

    ¡°So you remember nothing¡­¡± Garrick said, looking at Hilbert.

    It wasn¡¯t really a question, and the man who he wanted to be his security officer shrugged. ¡°Sorry, Captain. The best I can tell you is that I remember how we moved through that hallway. You said I looked at Captain Braddock, but I can¡¯t really remember that.¡±

    Garrick nodded, surprised at how calm Hilbert was, having to answer the same question again. He¡¯d already answered it during multiple LLM inquiries and when asked by Nurse Yuri. Still, as he looked at the man who seemed normal, he couldn¡¯t help but recall the horrible, maimed, and destroyed body he¡¯d seen a month ago.

    ¡°So¡­ captain, no offense, but how long till you let me out of here?¡± Hilbert asked, waving around the medbay. He was currently on a bed, held down so he wouldn¡¯t float off, and had been for the last two days. ¡°I can understand you have a hard time trusting me with all that Boot told me has been happening, but-¡± Hilbert let out a snorted laugh. ¡°-well, I¡¯d like to have a look at what my rejuvenated and upgraded body can do. Also, Macdewil said you are going to start moving the space station frame to where it¡¯s going to be built, and I really wanna be there for that. History and all. Captain.¡±

    Garrick quietly stared at Hilbert, knowing the man had pointed out the exact problem he was having. How was he going to trust him? The man¡¯s oddly named LLM, Boot, had worked together with Crux and the Sibilis on everything, and they were now up to a near hundred percent guarantee that there was nothing remaining of the Precursor AI¡­ the problem was, it wasn¡¯t a hundred.

    He gazed at the number hovering above Hilbert¡¯s, just beside the tag that read: LLM: Boot. It said ¡®99.9999%¡¯.

    Garrick took a deep breath before pushing away his worry. There were others on the crew who had fewer nines behind their name. He turned to Yuri, who was observing them with her piercing black eyes.

    ¡°Nurse Yuri? Is he fit for duty?¡±

    It was a useless question as they both knew he was, but sometimes, it was good to hold on to old customs.

    ¡°Yes, Captain. Officer Excelsar is both physically and mentally as healthy as a horse.¡±

    Garrick¡¯s lips quirked.

    ¡°Hey! Did you just say I think like a horse?¡± Hilbert exclaimed.

    ¡°Verry well,¡± Garrick said, ignoring the shout and Yuri¡¯s gleaming eyes. ¡°Officier Exelsar, you are hereby reinstated into active duty. You will take up the post of security officer. That said, due to what has happened, I expect you to report to me each evening, and Boot is required to keep a constant active connection with The Sibilis. Copy?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Captain,¡± a chipper voice with a slight accent agreed.

    ¡° Yes, Captain,¡± the Sibiles said immediately after.

    ¡°Of course, Captain,¡± Hilbert said, a massive smile on his face.

    Garrick walked forward and removed the restraints, which both of them knew wouldn¡¯t have held him anyway, and Hilbert pushed himself up, stretching himself.

    ¡°Ah, I feel so great!¡± Hilbert said as he began flexing himself in midair.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got some work to do,¡± Garrick said. ¡°Go and look around the changes. Also, Macdewil said to send you over as soon as you weren¡¯t in detention anymore.¡±

    ¡°Deten- ¡­ That little brat!¡± Hilbert snapped before blinking and grinning at Garrick. ¡°Sorry, Captain.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Now, I need to have a private word with Nurse Yuri.¡± Garrick said. ¡°Dismissed.¡±

    Hilbert pressed his fist against his chest and pushed himself to the door and out in a single, fluid motion. As it was closed shut, Garrick looked at Yuri.

    ¡°Captain, I fully agree with your call,¡± Yuri said, nodding. ¡°Except for some physical changes, I don¡¯t detect anything odd with Hilbert, and all the readings show he is fine.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Garrick said, though that wasn¡¯t what he¡¯d wanted to discuss with her. ¡°I¡¯ve been getting even more requests by the crew to augment themselves beyond the limits we put up.¡±

    Nurse Yuri grimaced, but Garrick continued before she could speak up. She would have time to complain later.

    ¡°I want you to discuss this with your LLM Kizuna, and the Sibilis and come up with a set of rules that will allow them some of their requested modifications while keeping them and all of us¡­ human?¡± Garrick frowned as he tried to put his finger on exactly what he wanted to say. Normal was what he¡¯d almost said.

    Yuri¡¯s grimace had turned into a scowl, but she sighed.

    ¡°I know you don¡¯t like this,¡± Garrick said. ¡°Neither do I. You know that. But¡­ Macdewil is right. The chances of us ever returning home are almost zero. That means we need to work under the assumption that we are on our own and will need to survive. That means we will need every edge we can get. That said¡­ I need you to make sure that we do so while remaining human. Figure out what we can and can¡¯t do and what the consequences will be, both physically and mentally. I will discuss your plan after it is done, and¡­we will make it a rule for the LLM.¡±

    Garrick knew he was showing a little bit too much of his own inner doubts, but he also knew that right now, with Yuri, it was needed. Her distaste for human engineering was far stronger than his.

    ¡°Permanent?¡± Yuri asked.

    Garrick hesitated, then shook his head. ¡°As much as I would want to say yes, we can¡¯t decide this for everyone for always. But, for now. Let¡¯s say until we are unable to move on with those rules or for the next ten years.¡±

    ¡°So, if things get too hard, we will just allow people to turn into true cyborgs?¡± Yuri said, her voice tense.

    Garrick looked at her, knowing why she was so angry. Yuri, someone he thought of as a friend, was also Yuri Saly Suzuki. One of the many descendants of the Japanese people who fled their homeland after the disaster that befell it. Hoping to find Solace in space, her ancestors had been snatched up by a warmongering monster. Seen as lesser, her people had been experimented on- changed to fight in the first of the Cyborg Wars. When those wars finally ended, it had taken generations for her people to lose some of the horrors that had been inflicted on them, and even now, many refused even the basic brain implant.

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Yuri,¡± Garrick said, using her first name to get her full attention as he rarely did so outside social gatherings. ¡°Why do you think I asked you to do this? I expect you to keep things in line, but you also need to understand something. We have no idea what will be required of us here, and there is no planet we can inhabit for atleast another few decades, after which it will take more decades, perhaps even hundreds of years, before we can create any truly easy-to-live-in city.¡±

    As he spoke, Garrick felt his distaste for AIs and human engineering fade another little bit. It was almost as if he wasn¡¯t just persuading Yuri but also his own subconscious.

    Yuri looked at him, hesitated, then took a deep sigh, causing her visor to go cloudy for a moment. When it was cleared away, she looked far less upset but instead conflicted.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Captain. I should not have said that,¡± she said. ¡°I will follow your order, though I fear I¡¯ll fight for as little change as possible.¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± Garrick said. ¡°I do want you to keep our survival as your number one goal. Even if it means changes, you are not comfortable with. Just¡­ as few as possible.¡±

    Garrick couldn¡¯t hold back a weak smile at that.

    Yuri nodded. ¡°Then I had better get started,¡± she said.

    ¡°Good luck, and keep me posted,¡± Garrick said, turning away.

    As he reached the door and was about to drift out, Yuri called out, ¡°Captain.¡±

    Turning around, Garrick saw her smile at him. ¡°Thank you. I know you could have just ordered me¡­ and I would have obeyed.¡±

    Garrick raised the corner of his mouth in a half smile. ¡°Well, Senior Nurse Yuri  Saly Suzuki, that¡¯s good to know. I¡¯ll do that in the future to save us both the time.¡±

    Yuri let out a high-pitched snort, then turned red.

    ¡°As you were,¡± Garrick said, turning around and pulling himself through the door, which slid closed behind him.

    --

    Nearly nineteen hours of stressful work after he¡¯d left the medbay, Garrick held onto the edge of Shuttle Seven. In front of him hung the initial scaffolding for what would be the main habitat of their space station. It was large enough to house all of them, though in tiny quarters, have a medbay and, arguably the most important part, an engineering bay. Large enough to house two of the shuttles, it would be the beating heart of the station as soon as it was up and running.

    A giant ball of ice hovered behind the cobbled-together frame, a softly glowing aurora around it, while behind them was the mind-boggling big shape of the gas giant Majriti.

    ¡°It¡¯s not much yet, but give me a few more months or years,¡± Macdewil whispered.

    ¡°Months would be best,¡± Garrick said as he continued looking at the beautiful sight.

    He¡¯d always thought he¡¯d get used to it quickly, but with nearly all of his time spent inside a ship, it hadn¡¯t happened. Instead, being outside, especially this close to a planet or moon, always made him appreciate how beautiful the universe could be.

    ¡°Yuri said that the new implants should be able to keep us alive,¡± Macdewil said.

    ¡°They will,¡± Garrick agreed. ¡°But aren¡¯t you starting to notice your own weariness with living as we are? For some, it''s worse. Yuri has told me there¡¯s been multiple of your engineers that have reached out to her just to talk.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± Macdewil said, before hesitating. ¡°That reminds me of another issue I wanted to talk about. We are going to get people who will request to be allowed personal contacts¡­¡±

    ¡°Yuri warned about the same,¡± Garrick said, holding back a weary sigh. ¡°I will not allow that until the base has atleast the habitat module done.¡±

    ¡°Captain, I¡­ that might be a year from now,¡± Macdewil said. ¡°Or two.¡±

    ¡°Only if we continue as we are now,¡± Garrick said, glancing at Madewil.

    ¡°You mean you are finally going to allow others to be woken from cryo?¡±

    Garrick nodded as he focused on the skeleton of what would be the first and initially larget module of the space station. ¡°We will be waking up more engineers as soon as we have the temporary quarters done.¡±

    ¡°Finally.¡±

    Garrick didn¡¯t react to Macdewil¡¯s outburst. The other knew they had to play it safe because as much food as they had recovered, they had no way to replenish it for atleast another year or two. Until that time came, they would have to make do with what they had.

    He held back a yawn, knowing it was time to head back. It wasn¡¯t surprising as he¡¯d been awake for over twenty-four hours and working nonstop for most of them. As much as Crux was boosting his physical abilities beyond his best ever, he and all of the others needed to sleep.

    ¡°Did you name the moon yet?¡± he asked, his eyes glancing at the thing that would protect them from most of the radiation and potential debris.

    ¡°No¡­ I was actually thinking of bringing it up when we return. Use the crew-wide chat and ask for opinions, then decide by popular vote,¡± Macdewil said.

    Garrick turned to him in surprise. ¡°I thought you wanted to name it?¡±

    ¡°I do- did,¡± Macdewil said as he looked back. ¡°But I thought that it might be a good way to boost morale, and¡­ well, let''s be honest. My naming sense isn¡¯t all that great.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t say,¡± Garrick said dryly. ¡°Very well. I think it''s a great idea.¡±

    ¡°Crux, connect me to all engineers here.¡±

    There was a soft beep, and he saw the icon change.

    ¡°Alright, everyone, it''s time for you all to head back and rest. Shuttle seven will stay here to keep an eye on things while you all head back. Macdewil has a nice surprise for you all when you return,¡± Garrick said.

    There was a soft, muted cheer through the coms as the sixteen engineers. It didn¡¯t last long, and he watched as they all used their cables to return back to the Gallawan shuttles two and three.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be back in a few hours,¡± Macdewil said. ¡°Sleep well, Captain.¡±

    Garrick waved him off, waiting until his Lead Engineer and the rest had boarded the shuttles and set back to the runes of The Sibilis. After that, he pulled himself into Shuttle Seven and quietly waited until the decompression was done. Then he pulled himself into the rest of the shuttle where the other two that would stay here were.

    Junior Nurse Sandra May Marryland was busy in the co-pilot seat, likely still working through the readings they had with her LLM.

    Engineer Rikkert Vandahlen was hovering before the window and looking through it.

    ¡°Captain,¡± the engineer said.

    ¡°At ease, Engineer Vandahlen. Did you finish your observations of the moon¡¯s surface?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Captain. From what I can see, there are multiple plumes on this side, which matches the readings we did prior. The ice shell is atleast fifteen miles thick, and the sea sixty to seventy miles deep,¡± Engineer Vandhalen said, sounding enthusiastic. ¡°The readings show there might be volcanoes constantly exploding due to the massive tidal forces of Majriti and the suns.¡±

    ¡°Did you locate a promising spot for any potential future cities?¡±

    Engineer Vandhalen nodded, and Garrick saw a message with an attached image sent towards him. He accepted it, looking at the image and watching the Engineer highlight a few areas. To him, they all looked the same: pockmarked, dark, and icy stretches with deep craters.

    ¡°This one is the best so far,¡± Engineer Vandahlen said, pointing out a deep gorge that looked like something had grazed the moon. ¡°It¡¯s deep enough to make landing reasonably easy without the winds and storms causing the ships to crash down.¡±

    Garrick examined the location for a while, then nodded at the Junior Engineer.

    ¡°Good. Continue, and keep an open mind. This isn¡¯t something for anytime soon, but we will eventually need to create a base there.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Captain!¡±

    Garrick turned around, smiling at the younger man¡¯s enthusiasm.

    After a short conversation with Nurse Marryland, he moved into the pilot chair, strapped in, and prepared for a rest. He left his helm on, not just because he wanted to be ready in case something happened, but also because it allowed him the quiet to sleep properly.

 Chapter 23: Gravity gradient thrust

    Norrington hummed thoughtfully as he stared at the short video. Although not a paper report, he still enjoyed seeing the enormous ship moving out from behind the moon.

    Malcolm stood beside him, grinning like a madman. "She''s something, isn''t she? Able to house a hundred and forty thousand cryopods and over forty thousand waking crewmembers."

    "She''s magnificent," Norrington said as he looked at The Diaspora.

    Only a few months after he had ordered the final steps to prepare her, she was close to leaving Igniz Commonwealth space.

    "You are still sure you will remain here?" he asked, glancing at Malcolm.

    "I am sure. Her sister will require my help for the final steps, and I''ll be leaving on her," the ancient-looking scientist said, his eyes locked on the screen hovering in the center of the room.

    "Very well, I''ll send Mallory and his sisters," he said.

    Malcolm snorted. "Aye, those three brats should be more than capable of keeping my beauty in one piece before they reach their goal."

    Their goal, Norrington thought.

    That was assuming there was actually something on the other end of their biggest secret¡ªa shipslinger they had found on the fringes of the Wolf 359 system seventy years ago. Not even Elizabeth and her Astra Concord intelligence had managed to find out about it, or they would have long since tried to capture it or destroy it.

    "Boy, I know none of our probes ever returned, but that''s because they haven''t arrived. The Tsundihr Anomaly is different."

    Calling me boy, are we? Norrington thought as he rolled his eyes at the older man. He was old enough to be a great-grandfather himself, even though he looked only in his late sixties. Still, it had been decades since Malcolm had called him that. The last was when his wife and also Malcolm''s niece, had died.

    He let himself wallow in his memories for a few minutes before turning to Malcolm for the bad news.

    "The council wants you to prepare the prototype just in case."

    The old man''s eyes snapped to his, narrowing dangerously.

    "That thing was never meant to fly such distances, and you know-"

    "I told them. They didn''t care. Their exact words were: any chance is better than none."

    Norrington expected Malcolm to resist, but to his surprise, the old man just snorted and walked to the door.

    "Fine. I was afraid it would come to that, so I''ve been working on some plans for a few months. I''ll let you know in half a year."

    Then he walked out of the door without as much as a greeting, just like he always did.

    Which means I''ll be left dealing with the questions for another half a year, Norrington thought, adding another set of weekly and hour-long meetings to his overfilled schedule.

    I hope you''re doing better, Garrick.

    ---

    Garrick let out a weary grin as he stared at the can-like construction taking shape on top of the space station''s skeleton.

    Three weeks had gone by since they had moved it here, and nearly all of that time was filled with moving plate materials with the shuttles.

    "So, are we going to try and recover more shuttles?"

    Garrick glanced at Hilbert, who was hovering beside him.

    "No sign of shuttle three?"

    Hilbert shook his head, looking at the distant debris field. It seemed like a ring of gleaming chunks circling a spot with a tiny red ember.

    "Not a single sign of the shuttle or of that system AI. If it''s hiding in the wreckage, it''s gone to one of the furthest and most damaged ships," Hilbert said. "So unless you want to join me in some exploration¡­?"

    "No. How is Project Cleanup coming along?"

    Hilbert''s grin widened, and he rubbed his gloved hands. "Very good. I''m pretty sure we will be able to start the assignment as soon as we can start using one of the shuttles. "

    "Good," Garrick said, his gaze moving over the distant debris field.

    It might take years, but we need to clear out all of it as fast as possible, he thought.

    A few minutes later, one of the engineers called him, requesting some help, ending his short period of reflection.

    The rest of the day flashed by, and Garrick was happy when he was finally lying in the pilot''s seat. He had almost closed his eyes when a soft ping of an incoming message jolted him.

    Of course¡­

    He opened his eyes and glanced at the blinking icon.

    "Crux, what''s it about?"

    "Nurse Yuri has finally finished a framework for which physical changes could be made," Crux replied calmly. "Do you want me to give you the synopsis?"

    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    "For now, yes. I''ll read the entire thing tomorrow morning," Garrick said.

    "Very well, Captain. The short of it is that Nurse Yuri suggests not allowing any brain augments besides the things already available. She also wants to limit anything that changes the biochemistry of the human body. The only things she really thinks are viable are bone-strengthening, muscle-strengthening, and anything that will increase healing and physical recovery."

    Garrick nodded slowly.

    "What type of strengthening?"

    "Mostly options that will keep the shape of human bodies as they are and make use of the new Brain Implant''s ability to change the cellular structure to improve bone density and thickness. The same goes for tendons and muscles. It would make someone who has been able to do all of it at least four times as fast and strong as any normal human, though there is a big downside."

    "Food consumption," Garrick said.

    "Exactly, Captain. It will also take a lot of time for every step."

    "Alright, I''ll read the entire file tomorrow. For now, I need rest."

    "Sleep well, Captain."

    --

    The next day went by as fast as the previous, and Garrick let Crux narrate the document to him a few times before making his decision. He added a few minor things, allowing the engineers to augment their bodies with minor mechanical tooling as they had requested. But nothing too invasive or disturbing.

    An hour after he''d agreed and told Yuri to share it when she was ready, Macdewil called him.

    "Finally," the lead engineer shouted. "I was wondering if you had forgotten!"

    "So, I take you agree?" Garrick asked as he pushed himself away from the bulkhead he''d been insulating.

    "Definitely. Even with all the limits, it will take years to modify my entire body as I want it to," Macdewil snapped. "Did you get a chance to check my suggestions?"

    "Not yet," Garrick thought, grimacing as he recalled the dense file Macdewil had sent him a few days earlier.

    "Get to it!" Macdewil exclaimed. "As the captain, you can''t be left behind. Besides, who knows what that system AI is going to do?"

    Garrick hesitated, then nodded to himself.

    "I''ll go over it after this-"

    Macdewil shouted a ''goodbye captain'' and left the conversation before he could finish his sentence.

    Garrick rubbed his head. Macdewil had slowly become far too easygoing, not just to him but also to the other engineers.

    "I need to go and talk to him about this," he grumbled as he returned to insulating the plating, making it ready for the cabling and, later, the inner plating.

    "Why, Captain?" Crux asked.

    "Because we need to keep the hierarchy. If we let things go, people might stop putting in as much effort or act on their own volition. Until we have at least the entire space station ready, this is far too dangerous."

    "I see," Crux said. "Do you want me to narrate Macdewil''s ideas?"

    "Let me guess¡­ it will turn me into some kind of supersoldier?" Garrick asked, his hand pausing.

    "In essence, yes. Also, due to your much more evolved brain implant, you will be making far faster progress than the rest."

    "Nothing¡­ odd?"

    "A thin layer of layered graphene to wrap around your bones, thicker on the shins, knuckles, and elbows," Crux said calmly. "Besides that, a more thorough integration of the tendrils to improve healing and regeneration speed."

    Garrick sighed, staring at his hand, before shaking his head.

    "Fine. Show me a timeline on these changes, then begin."

    For the next hour, he quietly watched how Crux showed him what he''d do with his body, including a representation of his strength, agility, constitution, and other physical attributes before and after the change.

    "In essence, we are being turned into game characters," Garrick finally said, feeling a mix of sadness and curiosity.

    "Macdewil used these," Crux said. "If you don''t like them, can I change them into something else?"

    "No, it''s fine," Garrick said as he watched the initial step. It would involve an even more thorough infestation of the brain implant''s tendrils through his body, coming with another slight neck-thickness increase.

    I hope I can even recognize myself in ten years¡­ if we survive that long, Garrick thought with a weary grin.

    --

    Finally, five weeks after they had begun, the first outer shell of Module One was done, a hexagon-shaped ring two hundred yards long from point to point. Each flat area was a closed entrance to which the other modules would be connected.

    Seven broken-down shuttles were attached to the surroundings, a much larger skeleton. Four on one side to keep it constantly propelled away from the gas giant, while the other three were to keep it from drifting away.

    Garrick hovered near the side of the module, surrounded by most of the engineers who were all looking at their weeks of work with anxious worry. Those not here were watching from the Sibilis, likely as nervous as those here.

    "Ready?" Garrick asked.

    "We are ready to commence, Captain," Macdewil said, humming happily. "I can''t wait to feel some gravity again."

    Garrick nodded, holding back from asking the engineer if his idea would really work with their jerry-rigged situation. Macdewil must have picked up on it as he grinned.

    "Don''t worry, Captain. It will work for now," he said before humming. "Though we really need to get some proper thrusters. Using gravity gradient thrust to get us a small amount of gravity is nice, but what we really want is linear acceleration-based gravity."

    "I''ll take anything we can get right now," Garrick said. "We need gravity to speed up a lot of the developments. Besides, even with these implants keeping our muscles from atrophying too much, I want to feel some weight."

    "Then let''s see the fruits of our labor," Macdewil said.

    "Crux, connect us to everyone," Garrick ordered.

    There was a beep. Then he heard the soft chatter of the surrounding engineers.

    "Alright. Engineer Macdewil, you may commence," Garrick said, his voice calm and steady.

    A deadly quiet hung over the group, and Garrick couldn''t blame the worried, anxious looks and hisses. They had been working on this for close to two months, and the best, easiest-to-find materials they had were used in it. If this failed¡­

    Garrick forced himself to keep his hands calm, and his shoulders relaxed as he hung beside the others. Next to him, Macdewil began counting down.

    "Three, two, one."

    The single thruster on the moon side of the skeleton ignited, and a blue, almost electric thruster flame shot out of it. The metallic skeleton of the space station began floating away from the moon toward Majriti, the enormous gas giant.

    Ten seconds later, the thruster cut off.

    "Ten seconds till Majriti''s gravity will start pulling it down," Crux said softly.

    Garrick nodded as he watched the image on his HUD, which showed the gravity well of the gas giant and the tiny dot of the space station as it approached it.

    "Four, three, two, one," Macdewil said as they watched the spacestation-to-be start accelerating slowly.

    Garrick didn''t react to the oddity of starting at four but watched as the four thrusters burst alight, and the metallic skeletal frame with the single central module stopped falling towards the gas giant. It seemed to move away, but before it could, the thrusters weakened slightly, then again, until the frame hung in midair, the thrusters constantly burning.

    "We have gravity, Captain," Macdewil said, his joy audible to all. "Permission to go to normal mode?"

    "Permission granted," Garrick said, hearing the soft laughter and joy begin to bubble up across the large group chat.

    Two of the thrusters stopped, and the other two began burning twice as bright, keeping the frame in place.

    Two would be enough, Garrick knew. The other two were back up, and Macdewil had three more, which would be ready in another few weeks. It was one of the hundreds of projects that would need to be fixed, together with security measures, creating a stockpile of as much raw materials as they could before they started shooting the debris toward the sun.

    But that can wait for tomorrow, he decided, as a cheer burst out across the chat as his crew let loose their exuberant joy.

    "Alright! Everyone, let''s head in and see if all systems are working as intended," Garrick said. "I don''t know about you, but I can do with some walking around!"