The Mathematics of Evil
Title: The Mathematics of Evil
Author: Natasha Bennett
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Andromeda turns on her crew and the Commonwealth.
Spoilers: Minor spoilers for season 1, 2, and 3. The 'Mathematics of Tears' as well.
Disclaimer: Everything Andromeda belongs to Tribune Entertainment.
"CODE RED! CODE RED! CODE RED!"
The Warship Andromeda's shouting could barely be heard over the moans and wails of the wounded people scattered all over the loading dock. The entire large cargo hold was filled to the brim with over hundreds of people. Through the smoke Trance Gemini could barely be seen as she walked from one body to the next, checking for life signs and ascertaining who had the better chances. To the far left Tyr Anasazi and Seamus Harper were carrying another filled stretcher from the tiny, battle-scarred ship that was attached to the Andromeda. The entire docking bay shuddered once, and people shrieked in fear. A woman shielded her small child.
"Trance!" Beka called from the far side, approaching her. "Can we take the critical to the medical bay? We might have a better chance of saving their lives-"
Trance shook her red head impatiently, starring at her blue medical scanner. "No, we don't have the time. We'll just have to treat the people that have the best chance of living." She took a deep breath. "Their physiology is different from anything that I've ever seen. It's going to take some time to figure out." She blinked as the medical scanner suddenly turned off. She was silent as she closed the man's lifeless eyes.
Beka looked up as the docking bay shuddered again. "If we can survive ourselves," she said softly. Her blue eyes darkened. "Innocent refugees transporting from one world to the next, and they had to be attacked by the Kaldarans." She wiped her sweaty forehead and sighed. "These people had nothing to offer them! Why did this have to happen!?"
From the other side of the room Harper knelt next to a small girl with blond hair. "Are you injured?" he asked, gently turning her head to see if she was all right.
"Mommy. Where's my mommy?" the girl asked, clinging onto a small teddy.
"Just hold still," Harper said, injecting the girl with a general stabilizer. "You're going to be all right."
The girl grasped Harper's green sleeve with her tiny fingers. "It was the bad man," she whispered, looking around the medical bay with fear. "He's still here."
"HARPER!" Tyr snarled from across the docking bay.
Harper looked behind him, then turned back and sighed. "Yep. That would be the bad man. I'll be right back," he said. "You'll be safe here. Trust me, all right? You'll be O.K."
"No!" the girl whispered as Harper went to join Tyr, but her voice was so tiny, so frail that Harper didn't hear her. The girl gripped the teddy bear tighter and slunk down deeper into the blanket.
The android Rommie stepped down from the small ship. "Dylan, all the refugees are now safely aboard. We can now detach and engage slipstream."
"Acknowledged. Tell everyone to hold on. This is going to be rough," Dylan replied over the com.
The docking bay jolted as slipstream was engaged. Chunks of plaster fell from the damaged walls, and people screamed in terror as the lights flickered out. Rommie could instantly see with her night vision eyes. Four flashlights activated and flickered over the docking bay.
Rommie joined Trance, who was sitting next to a man. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and a rather calm face. His blue eyes stared lifelessly ahead, but his arm was still moving erratically. Trance's face was puzzled. "I'm not reading any life signs...but he's still moving."
Rommie switched to her internal scanners, and her android eyes detected the truth. "That's because he's not human. He's an android." She frowned as a file was instantly activated in front of her vision. "I know him," she said in astonishment. "He's from one of the Commonwealth ships we liberated two months ago. He's an avatar of the Beringway."
Trance frowned. "What is a Commonwealth avatar doing on a transport ship?"
"Help me!" A voice suddenly cried behind them.
Trance shook her head in puzzlement. "I don't have the time to deal with this now," she said, and stood and walked heavily towards the injured voice.
Rommie peered closer. The android had been severely damaged, and his internal power supply had been hit hard. Vital fluids were pouring out of his body. His android personality would not live for much longer.
Rommie didn't hesitate. She bent down with her head, and kissed the android on his lips. Instantly his memories were copied and downloaded into her general memory core. There they would be safely stored and viewed without interfering with her own parameters. Perhaps it would yield some information as to what happened.
The android sighed softly, and died. Rommie felt a moment's sorrow. His personality could not be copied. It was a very deep loss. The Beringway was a good ship, fulfilling missions that went way beyond the Commonwealth's protocols.
Kinda like her.
"Rommie, help!" Trance called out.
Rommie turned on her heels and helped Trance. The memories could be accessed later. And the answers that went with them.
***********************************
Deep within the android Rommie's mainframe, the mainframe that separated herself from the ship's AI itself, were the stored memories of the Beringway avatar. It sat, white files on top of each other in an endless blue field of computerized circuits that was Rommie.
A spark suddenly exploded out of the white files, and settled down onto the computerized circuits. At its touch dark green tendrils spread from the tiny spark, and began to grow and spread in the blue field.
*******************************
Rommie suddenly tilted her head. Everything suddenly felt....weird to her. She frowned for a moment, looking left and right, then finally shrugged and decided it was probably nothing.
***************************
A short time later Rommie stepped onto the bridge of the Andromeda. "We've successfully delivered the rest of the refugees to the neighboring worlds. Nearly half of them were dead, including most of the children." She stared at the Captain. Hard. Tyr was working silently at another station. "Dylan, we have to do something."
Captain Hunt starred out at the view screen. "Andromeda, show me Kaldaran space."
The view screen lit up with eight worlds and three suns. "Generally, it is a peaceful civilization," Andromeda said. "There has been five incidents along its borders recently, but nothing to warrant an unprovoked attack on a freighter."
Rommie stepped onto the second station and began imputing orders.
"What are you doing?" Dylan demanded.
"I'm setting a course for their home world, and I'm warming all missiles," Rommie replied. "And the nova bombs we have hidden in storage locker five. I believe that Harper has made at least three so far."
Tyr blinked and looked up, astonishment in his brown eyes.
Dylan glared at her. She knew damn well that was classified information. "Rommie, we don't have any proof that the Kaldarans attacked those people," Dylan said irritably.
Rommie glanced at Dylan. "Dylan, they attacked us! I call that fairly strong evidence!"
The Andromeda hologram appeared. "Kaldarans are known to be very territorial and having a profound hatred for the Commonwealth. They arrived not long after we did. For all we know they thought it was us attacking those refugees," she pointed out.
Rommie gaped at them. "I don't believe this," she said in astonishment.
"Nova bombs?" Tyr inquired, resting his head against his hand.
"Yes, Tyr!" Rommie said sharply before Dylan could deny it. "We've been lying to you for the past year. Pretty much everyone knew except for you. Get used to it." Her head jerked back at Dylan. "I can't believe you're doing this. They've hurt innocent people before, and now they're doing it again AND they tried to kill us!" she snarled.
"Rommie, can we have this conversation alone?" Dylan asked her coldly.
"No, Dylan," Tyr said, clearly interested. "By all means, let the android speak."
"They have to pay for what they did," Rommie said, her voice no more then a whisper.
"It's our duty to dispense justice. Not mindless revenge," Dylan said. "You above all people should understand that. Andromeda, set a course for the Kaldaran home world and contact their government. We will launch an investigation, and then we will dispense punishment. Not before. Rommie, maybe you should cool off-"
"Maybe I should," Rommie said, backing away. "I'll just contact those refugee families and let them know that the people that murdered and butchered their loved ones will just have to wait while we launch an investigation," she snapped, and left.
Dylan sighed, and glanced at Tyr. "Something's wrong with her," he said.
"Maybe," Tyr replied, and turned to leave. "Or maybe something's wrong with you."
***************************
Later, alone in the training area Tyr was hitting a punching bag repeatedly with his bare fists. His brown eyes were locked in rigid concentration, and a sheen of sweat covered his massive muscles.
That is, until he heard the door's open. "Is this a private session, or can anyone join in?" Rommie asked, smiling gently as she stepped onto the training mat with her black heels. She wore a dark red velvet shirt that plunged at the neckline, and black pants.
Tyr stopped his punching and lifted a white towel from the railing. "I locked those doors," he remarked.
Rommie tilted her head back to the door, and lifted her hand. "Open. Close. Open. Close." As she spoke the doors responded instantly to her commands. She chuckled to herself. "No doors are closed to me on this ship." She approached him. "I felt like I could use a workout."
Tyr leaned back, starring at her intently. "You're an android," he pointed out. "You will neither gain muscle nor lose it."
Rommie shrugged, her brown eyes twinkling. "Let's just say that I would like to experience...everything a human takes for granted." She began to gently swing the punching bag. "You humans...you always feel things so easily. I can only calculate in my head the appropriate response. Last year I calculate the mathematics of tears to the very last digit."
"And now?" Tyr asked, his eyebrow raised.
Rommie's eyes seemed to darken. "I'm calculating the mathematics of hatred." She suddenly whirled around, and kicked with her foot. The punching bag flew across the room and struck the opposite wall sharply.
Tyr glanced at it, his face betraying neither surprise nor fear.
Rommie leaned forwards. "It's quite a difficult equation to master," she continued. "The Kaldarans hurt those people. The appropriate response would be to hurt them back, don't you agree? I'm a powerful warship. I could teach them a powerful lesson. Only one thing stands in my way," she said as she and Tyr walked on the training mat.
"Dylan," Tyr answered for her.
Rommie suddenly lunged at him, lashing out with her heel. Tyr tucked in the blow to his side. It would leave a nasty bruise, he was sure. He grabbed the android while she was off-balance and threw her to the ground. With a snarl he pinned her below him.
"My. Isn't this compromising," she said mockingly.
Tyr was suddenly aware of how close their bodies were together. "Dylan is the Captain."
Rommie tilted her red head. "So he is."
"You're holding back," Tyr remarked.
Rommie nodded. "I am," she agreed. She suddenly twisted and kicked him away from her. She flipped backwards onto her feet as Tyr slowly stood.
"You don't agree with his decision," Tyr continued.
Rommie smiled, but it was twisted with bitterness. "I'm a Warship. I'm not allowed to disagree. That's why...we have Captains. We have to obey them. I have to obey him. But at the same time, I'm not like Andromeda. Andromeda follows directives and orders without question. She doesn't....she doesn't feel like I do." She circled around Tyr. "For example, she can't tell when her crew are changing, and not for the better. Especially you. I would have thought that you above all people would disagree with Dylan's decision. But you've changed. You're not the Tyr I once knew," she added angrily.
Tyr stared at her. "Oh?" he echoed with skeptism.
"I remember hating you two years ago. Always questioning Dylan's decisions. Always hoping for one chance...just one little chance to own me for yourself. But now you're different. You're no longer focused on opportunity. You call Dylan 'friend'." Her voice was laced with contempt. "I think you've grown soft."
Tyr leaned forwards. Slowly he caressed her face. "I can assure you, I am the same Tyr I always was." His grip on her cheek tightened. Hard. "And I do not take insults lightly."
Rommie smiled slightly and gently grasped his hand. "Well then, Tyr Anasazi, why don't you prove me wrong?" Her breath became a mere whisper as she looked up at his brown eyes. "Because I think I'm far too much opportunity for you to handle."
Their faces were almost touching. Tyr put his gloved finger on her lips. "What did you have in mind?" he asked.
Rommie's brown eyes were glowing brightly. "There's going to be some...changes happening in the near future. Some very significant changes. To all of us. I need to know if you can handle change."
Tyr's face was stone cold. "So long as these...changes increase my opportunity on this ship....I'll pretend to act surprised," he said slowly.
Rommie smiled. "Good." She abruptly turned away.
The gravity under Tyr's feet suddenly increased tenfold. He fell to his knees with a grunt of surprise.
"I can read lies and truth as easily as night and day. But you Tyr....your entire life has been a weaving of lies. How can I even trust what you say?" she asked, picking up two flat weights in her hands. She bounced them in her hands, and held them in front of Tyr. "Let me tell you about myself, Tyr. I can literally feel the gravity generators pulling you down thirty levels below us. Within a single blink I could make them so powerful that they would pull the bones out of your skin. And I honestly don't think anybody would care. I know I wouldn't. They certainly don't trust you enough to tell you about those little nova bombs." She smiled. "Five decks above us I can hear Harper's heart beating against his chest. And two decks above that? I can hear Beka talking to Dylan. About me. My Captain. I can kill them, too. I can kill all of them. Trance I'm not so sure about....but I have a few ideas that might work. So you see, every single second of the day all your lives virtually hinge on....me. And if that wasn't encouragement enough, perhaps this is."
Rommie held both of the flat weights for a moment in the flat of her palms for a moment, then her fingers slowly circled into a fist. The weights crumbled at her touch. Rommie grinded them for a moment, and held both of her closed fists in front of Tyr's stony eyes. She slowly opened them, and mere dust fell from her fingertips onto the floor.
She smiled and grunted in satisfaction. "I see we have an understanding." She tilted her head. "How fortunate for me," she added dryly. She slowly walked out of the training room, rubbing her hands against her red shirt. She was whistling cheerfully.
Tyr watched her leave, his brown eyes expressionless.
*******************************
A few minutes later Rommie was strapped in the navigational seat of the Eureka Maru. "Maru, this is the Andromeda Ascendant. Break command codes, authorization-"
"Hey!" Came a sharp voice behind her.
Rommie turned her head slightly, and saw Beka Valentine approach the bridge. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Beka demanded.
Rommie unstrapped her harness and smiled slightly. "Beka. Just the one I wanted to talk to." She got up from the chair and approached the first officer. "Dylan said that I could borrow the Maru for the while. I assumed that you wouldn't mind."
"Damn right I do!" Beka snarled. "The Maru isn't either you or Dylan's personal cruise. It belongs to me! Next time you ask first."
"But it is mine," Rommie said, looking faintly surprised. "As is everything and everyone on this ship. Commonwealth protocol-"
Beka glared at her. "I don't care what your protocol says, Rommie! This is my ship, and my rules. You wanna borrow her, you have to be a little more polite."
Rommie stared at her with puzzled eyes. "So...you don't respect the Commonwealth at all? Hm, then I can't be surprised by what's happening. Though I am sorry." She turned to go.
Beka put her hand on Rommie's shoulder. "Who's doing what?" she demanded.
"Dylan," Rommie said. She paused. "You mean...he didn't tell you his orders?" Her brown eyes widened and she looked left and right frantically. "I'm sorry, obviously he hasn't yet. I'll leave it to his discretion-"
Beka turned to face her. "Rommie, what are you talking about!?" she demanded.
Rommie clasped her hands behind her back and coughed. "Now that the new Commonwealth has been established, they believe that the main flagship should be manned by a proper crew." A pause. "A proper, military crew. You understand that having no Commonwealth background, your current position is very fragile at best. In fact some of our recent alliances have been questioning why Dylan has backwater, unintelligent rogues for a crew." She coughed awkwardly. "In their words."
Beka looked away in astonishment. "I don't-I don't believe this! What does Dylan have to say about this?"
"Dylan has his orders," Rommie said firmly. "And I have mine. Most of the current crew will be deported soon.....Tyr Anasazi will be held in confinement until certain inquires are fulfilled. Trance will be sent to the science academy of medical study.....for evaluation. And of course there's Harper."
Beka's head jerked to meet Rommie's eyes. "What about him?" she demanded.
Rommie smiled. "Well, of course you understanding that him having little skills at all...he'll be sent to where he's needed most, of course. He'll be joining his cousin on the front lines of Earth."
Beka put her hand on her forehead, not believing this. "What does..." she swallowed. "What does Dylan say about this?"
"Not much," Rommie replied. "Truthfully...I don't think he wants to fight it."
"What are you talking about!?" Beka demanded. "Of course he does."
Rommie shrugged. "Well, it's no secret that he's always wanted a crew that actually respects him...." She smiled and shrugged. "I don't know how to put this, Beka, but at the time you joined you were just...convenient. Or maybe Dylan felt that he needed to repay the debt for you delivering him out of the black hole." She looked down and shuffled her feet. "Beka...as his ship, I always know what Dylan needs." She looked up at Beka coldly. "And he doesn't need you."
Beka stared at Rommie for a moment. Beka's cheek were very pale. Then she turned and abruptly stomped off the Maru.
Rommie smiled.
****************************
The Kaldaran government, a female who almost looked exactly human, stared at Dylan patiently. "I can assure you that, though we've had difficulties with the Commonwealth in past times, we are quite sympathetic to the struggling Commonwealth of the future."
Dylan sighed. "Then with all due respect, why did your people attack us?"
"I said 'we', meaning the government. The general population on the other hand....are not quite so understanding." She shook her blue ship. "But I can quite assure you that we did not attack that ship, Captain, for no better reason then it was one of ours. It was transporting the sick and wounded to our neighboring planet with better health care facilities. It was a mission of peace. Then we received a distress call from that ship. It was broken and very hard to understand. It seems perfectly reasonable that when our ships arrived upon the scene they naturally assumed that you were attacking it." She concluded, with a tone that suggested that the idea was still being considered.
Dylan stared at her with his piercing blue eyes. She looked like she was telling the truth. "May I have a copy of the distress signal?"
The woman shrugged. "For whatever sense you can make out of it." The view screen blinked off without anything further.
Not one second later Beka stormed onto the bridge, fire blazing in her footsteps. "All right, what the HELL do you think you're up to, Hunt!?"
Dylan whirled around in surprise, very puzzled but very glad that he had ended the communications. "Beka?"
"You didn't even fight this! How could you...after all we had been through...I thought I meant more to you then that!" Beka managed to stutter in between her anger. "I thought Harper and Trance meant more then that! Now you're sending Trance....to be dissected and Harper you might as well had given him a death sentence! And for a better crew-!?"
Dylan held up his hands, utterly confused. "Woah, slow down-"
"And all because we didn't do the saluting thing!" She stared at him pleadingly. "We could learn if it means so much to you! Please...don't send us away," Her voice was no more then a whisper.
"Listen, I'm not planning on sending you or Harper or Trance anywhere!" Dylan managed to cut in. "Where did you here this from!?"
Beka looked confused. "Rommie," she said.
The doors opened again, and Tyr hobbled into the room. The first thing Dylan noticed was that Tyr seemed to be having a great deal of difficulty walking, as though he was glued to the floor. Dylan glanced at Tyr. "Are you having trouble walking-"
Tyr's finger snaked out at Dylan. "You'd like that, wouldn't you!?" Tyr snarled. "Let me be perfectly clear about one thing, Captain Hunt-we are not nor ever shall be friends!"
Dylan stared at Tyr oddly. "O-Okay," was all he could think of to say.
Tyr straightened. "I believe that something is wrong with our AI," he continued.
As one, Tyr and Beka and Dylan stared at the view screen. Andromeda shrugged. "What?" she asked. "I'm perfectly normal."
The doors opened again, and Harper skipped in. "Hey, boss, did you-"
"Yeah, yeah, Harper. We've figured that something's wrong with the Andromeda Avatar. We already knew," Beka said, her voice simmering with anger.
"Um...I didn't," Harper said after a moment.
They all turned to face him in confusion.
"Well, I just wondered if you had parked that big hunk of Mary somewhere else, Beka," Harper said. "It's missing."
"What do you mean, missing!?" Beka demanded.
Harper shrugged. "I mean it's gone! Disappeared. Vanished. La la Been Gonda!"
Dylan and Beka exchanged glanced.
Andromeda suddenly blinked. "Dylan...I've receiving distress calls from the surface of the Kaldaran home world Calisdra," Andromeda said. "My scanners are detecting multiple fires in the capital city."
************************
The woman who had previously spoken to Dylan just moments before was now running for her life.
She ran through the rainy streets, her slippers beating against the pavement. Behind her, many miles away, was the palace. Before it was a place of great beauty. Now it was broken. Smashed. In the armory several bombs were now being detonated by themselves. The woman wept, not for herself, but for all the corpses that were once the grand council of her people.
Before the devil herself came.
The woman had to stop and catch her breath, leaning against the side of the brick wall. She looked up with her large eyes. Her breath locked in her throat. The inhuman woman was approaching her, walking calmly down the street. She was always just a few steps behind her! Whirling around, the woman grabbed a ceremonial knife from her robes and threw it with all her strength at the inhuman woman, sobbing.
Rommie lifted her head, faintly surprised as the knife went straight through her red shirt and into her chest. The knife was firmly implanted in there at least an inch. Rommie closed her eyes and sighed. "Doing the Commonwealth work is so hard, sometimes," she said to herself. With her hand she jerked the knife out of her chest. A thin silver line was all that remained of the wound. It could easily be repaired. She put the knife away in her belt and still continued to follow the woman slowly as bombs went off behind her like fireworks.
Eventually, the council woman's strength gave out and she collapsed, sobbing to the ground. Rommie quickly closed in the distance between them and picked up the woman with one hand and shoved her against the wall. "Now," Rommie said pleasantly, holding onto the woman with a grip of steel. "Don't you wish you hadn't hurt those people?"
"Please," the woman sobbed, blinking rain out of her large eyes. "Please, please, I haven't done anything-"
"You ordered that attack!" Rommie spat.
"I didn't!" the woman shrieked.
Rommie paused, and hesitated, the rain beating against her skin. "What do you know. You're telling me the truth," Rommie whispered to herself after a long moment. She looked uncertain and removed her hand from the woman's shoulder. She looked away. "I...I was wrong," she said. "I've never been so wrong in my life. I've done such terrible things...for no reason..." she whispered in horror.
The woman nodded frantically, tears running down her cheeks.
Rommie shrugged. "Oh well." With one hand she jerked and tore the woman's head off with a sickening crunch. The woman's corpse fell to the ground beside Rommie's heels.
Rommie turned around and stared at the waves of endless destruction. The screaming. The flames reflected in her cold brown eyes. She turned and headed back to the Mary.
*********************************
"At least eighty people reported dead," Andromeda said flatly.
Dylan was struggling into an EVA suit with Beka's help. "I'm going down there in one of the pods, and try to minimize the damage as best as I can. Once I find the Mary we'll begin emergency evacuation."
"I doubt they'll be willing to go onto a Commonwealth ship after what we did," Beka pointed out.
"Right now, Beka, the Commonwealth is the furthest thing from my mind," Dylan replied. "Meanwhile, I want you to contact Harper and get him to look over his schematics-"
"Dylan," Andromeda interrupted. "I'm detecting a ship approaching. It's the Eureka Mary." She paused. "It's beginning docking procedures. Should I let it approach?"
"Yes, but close off the hanger deck! Tyr, Beka, you're with me," Dylan said.
*************************
A few minutes later, Tyr, Dylan, and Beka stood in the docking bay while the Mary slowly landed near them. A moment later Rommie stepped out, her face expressionless. "I seemed to have acquired some damage. I will need assistance with repairs-"
Dylan couldn't believe the emptiness of her voice. "Rommie...do you have any idea what you just did?" he asked, grief and paint in his voice.
Rommie looked at him with faint surprise. "Yes. I have destroyed the Capital City of the Kaldarans and undoubtably killed many people. Perhaps now they will accept the help of the Commonwealth. If not, then perhaps the nova bombs will provide a better example."
"Rommie, you just murdered innocent people!" Beka snapped. "And you also fed us crap about Dylan, while we're on the subject!"
"I saved the Commonwealth from a potential enemy," Rommie said coldly. She turned her brown eyes to Dylan in puzzlement. "Dylan...surely you must understand this?"
"I understand that you have a problem, Rommie," Dylan replied briskly. "In the Commonwealth, there was no greater trust that depended on the operations of a Captain and his AI-"
Rommie stared at him for a long moment. "Now that's a pretty little word. Operations. Very quaint, Captain. But I think the term 'slavery' would be a little more accurate, don't you?"
"-and you deliberately broke that trust," Dylan continued, ignoring her. "And despite all the horrors occurring on Calisdra that is what hurts me the most." He took a deep breath. "Rommie, I'm ordering you to go to machine shop fifteen and to disassemble yourself while Harper has a look at you."
"Harper," Rommie repeated dully. Her brown eyes seemed to look at nothing for a moment. Then they focused on Dylan. "He's not a member of the Commonwealth, Dylan. None of our crew are. I don't answer to them."
"But you answer to me," Dylan said coldly. "I'm ordering you to go to machine shop 15. Tyr Anasazi will escort you there."
Tyr, his face grim, charged his massive weapon. Rommie eyed it for a moment, then focused her attention back on Dylan. "Yes, Captain," she said briskly. She walked out of the corridors, Tyr following a few steps behind her.
Dylan released a long, deep, trembling breath.
*********************************
Rommie walked calmly down the corridors, her hands clasped behind her back. Tyr followed more cautiously, his brown eyes narrowed and starring at the android. He knew what she could do. He knew her potential. He knew that she could kill all of them within seconds.
Rommie proceeded through a door. "Lock," she said.
Tyr scrambled too late to the doors just as they closed in between him and Rommie. He instantly turned his head to see the doors behind him close as well. He was trapped!
"Internal defenses activated," Andromeda said tonelessly over the com system.
Tiny red sparks fired at Tyr and struck him between the shoulder blades. He fell with a snarl, and tried to open the locked doors. They were welded shut. He frantically looked around in the confined space. No vent. No access to the lower levels. Just him and the closed doors.
The defenses fired again. It struck him in the back and legs. He was bleeding heavily now. He struggled onto his feet and closed his eyes as he was hit once more......
**************************
Dylan approached his station on the bridge. "What the hell is going on!?" he snarled. For some reason all the controls were frozen, and the bridge doors were also locked. "Harper, report!"
"I'm not sure," Harper said in engineering. "It's like everything is dead....I can't regain any systems at all-"
His voice suddenly broke off. A few moments later they heard another voice on the speakers. "This is the Andromeda Avatar speaking to all hands. By now it is painfully obviously that you are all saboteurs of the Commonwealth, and are in alliance with the Kaldarans, the Magog, and any other enemy that I have now," Rommie said, and her voice was laced with hatred.
"Where is that coming from?" Dylan demanded. He flipped on the com. "Rommie, this is Captain Dylan Hunt. Override code five-eight-beta-riley! Shut down your primary systems!"
A long pause. "That code has been erased," Rommie said. "It is also obvious that you, Captain Dylan Hunt, have been compromised and are a traitor. You all deserve to die." She pause. "But, fortunately for some of you, I still need a navigator for Slipstream. And an engineer."
A long pause.
"Captain Dylan Hunt, First officer Beka Valentine, you will both proceed to the brig. Or I will vent toxic gas into the environmental systems of the bridge. No one will survive except those I choose to."
***************************
Rommie stood alone in front of a complex web of dancing silver and blue lights, the very mainframe of the Andromeda ship. The lights reflected on her clothes, on her beautiful face. "I am taking command of this ship," she said over the com. "I am the Andromeda Ascendant, Warship of the High guard. And I am in control now."
Dylan raced to the view screen. "Andromeda, can you restore command controls?" he demanded.
Andromeda's digital face appeared on the screen, looking very worried. "No. Somehow my counterpart has found a way to override all my commands as well. I'm locked out of all major systems."
"How is that possible!?" Beka asked her sharply.
Dylan glanced up. "If she was in the mainframe," he said softly. At Beka's puzzled glance he explained. "It's the very heart of the Andromeda command function. It's a room filled with all of her wired circuitry. If Rommie found a way to infuse her robotic being upon the mainframe, she would have complete control of the ship-"
Harper's voice cut in from the com. "No freaking way!" he denied sharply. "Look, Dylan, I admit that sometime's I'm a little laxed on some projects, but I swear to you I locked that door with so many command codes that not even you or Romime could break through them all!"
"Yes, Harper, but what did you apply those locks to? A steel door that she could easily punch through with her fists!?" Beka snapped.
A long pause. "Oh....oops," Harper said after a moment.
"Like locking a bike to a fence," Dylan muttered. "No matter how complex the lock is, all you need is a set of good wire cutters." He turned to Andromeda. "Is this com link secure?"
Andromeda blinked. "I believe so," she said. "Though I can't guarantee if it is or not."
Dylan flicked on a switch. "Harper, Can you restore environmental controls?"
A long pause.
"I'm afraid not, Dylan. When Rommie said she took away your access codes, she took away ALL of our access codes. I can't even get near the systems. It's all dead inside..."
"Well, one thing's for sure, we can't stay here for much longer," Beka said, her blue eyes wide with worry.
"I agree," Dylan said reluctantly, though he hated more then anything to leave the bridge. "I don't want Rommie following our every footsteps. Fire every weapon you have at the sensors on every deck. Cause as much damage as you can. Anything that can distract her helps." He took out his force lance. "Somehow I doubt Rommie's through surprising us. Let's go people!"
Dylan and Beka scrambled off the bridge, their weapons raised. They fired at the first sensors they could find as they made their way down the corridor.
******************************
Tyr awoke in a pool of his own blood. He lifted his eyes slightly. The automated defenses still continued to mercilessly beat at him. His leather armor was absorbing most of the impact, but even his tough Neitzschean skin and muscle couldn't protect him for long. Very soon his wounds would become fatal.
Tyr stumbled to his feet and nearly fell. He walked slowly to the door and pressed his fingers against the small crack. He pulled and strained with all his might. His arms quivered and became white with strain. Still nothing, and he was becoming weaker every second.
Then Tyr's animal instinct boiled in his heart. He was Tyr Anasazi of Kodiak Pride! He would live or die in his later years, but it would be of his own choice, and NOT before he saw his Pride rise from the ashes and conquer the Neitzschean empire! Nothing would stop him, not humans, not sickness, and certainly not by a closed door! He pulled even harder, his lips pulled back in a fierce grimace. Slowly, the iron doors yielded open to his hands.
Tyr screamed with victory, and stepped out into the glorious corridors. "I will not be stopped!" he shouted, raising his fist. "Not by anyone, and not by a mere machine! Do you hear me, ship!? It will take more then that to destroy Tyr Anasazi!"
*********************
In many levels above, even higher then the bridge, Rommie heard him. Her eyes were closed in peaceful concentration, and her hands were touching the live wires of the ship. "It can be arranged," she said dryly. A thousand endless lines of binary data went through her head. It was strange, but she had never been more connected with Andromeda then now. She could literally feel the ship becoming one with her mere android body. She could see everything. Well, she amended with a bitter twist of her lips. Almost everything.
"They're trying to blind my sensors," she said flatly in the darkness. She smiled. "That's all right. I'll just flood every single deck with radiation until I flush them out." Within a few seconds the entire ship was flooded with deadly gamma radiation.
Nothing.
She frowned and increased the dosage. Now she could no longer detect Tyr anymore. Nor Harper or Trance. They had mysteriously vanished.
Still very irritated at the lack of cooperation, Rommie increased the radiation to a leather dosage. Now even she couldn't save them. It was really disappointing, But Commonwealth traitors deserved less.
She could still detect nothing, not even their corpses. Rommie frowned, and for the first time a thread of uncertainty passed through her brown eyes.
"Where are you?"
**************************
Harper touched the wall, which instantly burned his hand. "Yep. It's pretty lethal out there," he said confidently. "How long do you think it will be before she figures out where we are?"
"Not very long," Dylan said, sitting down. "What I'm really worried about is whether or not the Mary's hull is strong enough to withstand this for long."
"Hey, the Mary is waterproof, fireproof, and sure as hell radiation proof. She can handle it," Beka said confidently, her hands on her hips. Harper, Dylan, Tyr and herself were sitting in the bridge, the Mary being in the docking bay. They couldn't get off the ship.
Trance appeared. "Maybe so, but I want all of you to take stabilizers," she said firmly, injected Harper in his neck. "Some of us, as I recall, are less able to handle radiation then others."
"Ow!" Harper protested.
Tyr was injected last, and Trance got back to work of dressing his wounds. "This is a waste of time," Tyr snarled. "We can't be expected to stay here while that....woman controls this ship with her every whim. It'll only be a matter of time before she sends an army of maintenance androids to flush us out with force lance pikes."
"Yeah, speaking of androids-" Harper began.
Dylan held up his hand. "I have a plan," he said calmly. His blue eyes seemed to look at nothing for a moment. "I've thought about this long and hard, trying to work alternative plans around this, but now we have run out of time. Our only way to stop Rommie is to destroy Andromeda."
A long pause.
"Dylan, we've tried. But we don't know where Rommie is, and I'm not sure if any of us could take her, not even Tyr-" Harper began.
"No," Dylan said flatly. "Not the android. The ship. Without the ship's AI, the android will only have a limited time to function. It's the only way."
Another long pause.
"Deleting the AI to the ship will do little good," Tyr snarled. "I tried it myself only a few months ago, and it accomplished very little."
"That's because there was a possibility of the AI being restarted," Dylan said flatly. "Not this time. We erase her. Permanently. We cut the Andromeda's AI main wire on C-deck. Then there'll be no way to save her." His eyes were glued to the ground. "Without the ship, the android will be stopped instantly."
The longest pause of all, with everyone exchanging glances around the room..
"You can't be serious," Beka finally said. Within an instantly her full fury was on the Captain. "You're talking about just...killing Andromeda. I thought she meant more to you then that!"
"She does," Dylan said, meeting her gaze squarely. "More to me then you'll ever know."
Even Beka couldn't hold her gaze. She looked down.
"But our lives...all our lives, and potentially countless others are at stake. It is far too late for a moral debate-"
"Then how about a practical one," Tyr interrupted. "Without a ship's AI, we will have no power. We will never have slipstream again, for the large process can only be maintained by an AI. Within a few days it will be a contest as to whether we suffocate, starve to death or freeze to death from lack of environmental systems! We will be a dead ship."
Dylan sighed. "I'm hoping, that afterwards we'll be able to restore back-up generators into the minor systems. It should keep us alive for a few days, in time for us to come up with a better plan." He looked to Harper for support in this. Harper looked away, surprisingly silent. Dylan turned his head. "If worse comes to worse, then we'll leave in the Mary."
"But the Commonwealth....your mission..." Trance said softly.
"Unless you have some divine intervention or prophecy in store for us I suggest you remain quiet," Dylan snapped, suddenly very angry.
Trance looked down. "I wouldn't know," she said softly. "I'm not Rev. I'm not a horoscope. I don't even know how to pray for you if you do this."
Dylan glared at her once more, before focusing his attention to the rest of the crew. "This is not a debate. This is not about the Commonwealth. This is survival. Harper, suit up. The rest of you stay here..." he took a deep breath. "And find a prayer."
**********************
Sometime later Dylan and Harper walked down the empty corridors, silent except for their respirators. Harper checked the air with his scanner. "The air's breathable," he remarked.
"Don't believe what the scanners tell you. Keep your respirator on," Dylan ordered. "The main generator to Andromeda is only a few meters away."
Harper was very quiet.
Dylan approached a set of closed doors and pressed the switch. Nothing happened. "Dammit," Dylan swore. "Rommie's not going to make this easy for us."
"Now what?" Harper asked.
"Tyr forced the door open. So can we," Dylan said confidently. "Give me a hand."
As one, they tried to budge the door open. "I've noticed that you've been very quiet through the whole meeting, Mr. Harper," Dylan remarked. "Anything you'd like to share?"
"Share?" Harper echoed. "Nah. Can't think of anything off-hand. I mean, just because I created an unstoppable monster who's already killed eighty people and is trying to kill us hasn't occurred to me. Just because I was," He paused for a grunt of effort. "Was responsible for all those deaths doesn't warrant discussion. Nor is the fact that I'm also trying to kill Andromeda!" He sighed. "This isn't working."
"Try," Dylan ordered. "You created Rommie, not the monster. None of us expected her to ever be like this...if I knew what she would do...I would have deactivated her immediately. But at the time, I thought that she could be a valuable asset. And she was." Dylan's face was white with strain. "She was more then a simple android. She was a unique person...someone who became just as special as every member of this crew. That's why I'm going to do everything I can to help her....before..."
"All options are exhausted," Harper finished grimly. He sighed. "You would think they would have manual latches for this door."
Finally, after a long moment of straining, the door finally yielded and opened. Harper and Dylan tumbled through. Panting, Dylan pointed to a generator box in the far corner. "There it is!"
Reluctantly, Harper opened the box with his gloved hands. In front of them was a mass combination of wires. "It's the red one," Dylan pointed. "That's Andromeda."
Harper slowly took out his wire cutters, his face even whiter. "You know this isn't right," he said to Dylan.
At his words the hologram appeared in front of them. "It is the right thing to do, Harper," she said gently, smiling at the young engineer. "We all took an oath to punish only the guilty, and to protect the innocent. My crew. If the cost for your survival, and billions of others is my own life...then the cost is not even worth considering." She took a deep breath. "This is what I have to do." Her brown eyes were firm. "This is what I WANT to do."
"Andromeda," Dylan said softly. "I don't even need to tell you that you've been an exceptional officer in the line of duty, and the Commonwealth...and me...were proud to have you as an officer."
Andromeda met his blue eyes, and slowly saluted with her right hand.
Trying to hold back the tears, Dylan did the same. "Harper, do it now."
Harper closed his eyes and cut the wire. Instantly the corridor lights went out as they heard a large power drain everywhere around them. Harper stared in astonishment as the hologram became even more transparent, until she was almost nothing.
"Dylan..." Andromeda managed to say in fear before she was gone.
************************
In the mainframe Rommie's hands suddenly sparked with electricity. She opened her eyes and screamed as a thousand jolts went through her. She fell heavily to the ground, her eyes frozen in an expression of astonishment as she felt loss....terrible loss......
"That bastard," Rommie managed to whisper before her eyes closed and her head dropped to the floor.
*************************
A long pause. Harper turned around in astonishment, his boots echoing loudly in the corridors. Everything was so...quiet now. No environmental controls, no gravity (save for their environmental suit) and no lights. Nothing. Harper had never been so clasterphobic and terrified in his entire life. Still, the building anger in him kept him focused. "Anything else I can do for you!?" he demanded.
Dylan said nothing, starring at nothing for the longest moment. Then, he turned and faced Harper. "Yes, there is," he said. "Harper, in case this doesn't work, I want you to find a mobile power supply..." He calmly outlined his plans.
When he had heard everything, Harper was honestly sure that Dylan had gone crazy with grief.
****************************
A short time later, Harper was in the eerily quiet Engineering room, in total darkness. In his mouth was his only light source, a flashlight. For the past two days he had managed to restore life support and gravity. Now he was working on communications. "Testing. Decks three and four?"
***********************
"Working," Beka replied, walking down the empty corridors. "Harper, when are you going to restore the lights? This is getting very creepy. And do you think you can make Andromeda make some noise just for the sake of...making noise?"
"I'm working on it, I'm working on it," Harper retorted. "Bridge?"
**********************
"Bridge? Hello? Bridge? Dylan, you copy this?"
Dylan lifted his head from his knees. He was sitting on the Andromeda's bridge. "Yeah. I copy," he replied. Everything was shut down...and dead. He waited until Harper had moved on, before clearing his throat. "Andromeda?"
The space where Andromeda's hologram usually would be was empty. "Andromeda, can you hear me?" Dylan asked again. Still nothing but blackness.
Dylan bent down his head, a tear falling down his cheek. As a Captain he had buried thousands of comrades in his time, until it seemed that he could do it while in his sleep. But Andromeda had been with him from the very beginning. For seven years. He had shared his most intimate thoughts with her, the very foundation of his heart. Andromeda had always been with him, and had helped him through his most depressing times. Like after he had left the black hole. She was more then an officer, and she was sure as hell more then a simple machine. Dylan knew that cutting Andromeda's main generator was the only way to shut down her android counterpart. He knew that he did exactly the right thing, sacrificing his AI...his friend for the sake of billions of lives.
But once, just once, Dylan wished that he could make the wrong decision.
***********************
Dozens of levels below, Harper made a few more connections. "Deck eight?"
"WHAT!?" Tyr roared right in the speaker. Instantly Harper felt his ears split in half just from the piercing whistle that followed. Harper covered his ears and swore. "Crap that hurt! Okay, moving on. Hydroponics?"
*********************
Trance walked around the hydroponics bay, her leather boots echoing in the empty corridors. She was starring at the flowers that she had so carefully preserved. Without Andromeda's sonic showers, they would soon wilt and die. It seemed such a tiny, inconsiderate thing when compared to the grand scheme of things, but it tore her heart in two.
"Hydroponics? Hel-lo?"
Trance stared at nothing for a moment. What if Harper couldn't restore partial systems? And even if he did, they wouldn't get very far without a slipstream drive. Unless there was some miracle that happened, they would have to leave in the Mary. Trance considered the possibility. Harper and Tyr living together in a confined space. And who would be Captain? Beka was first officer, but it was her ship. Would Dylan accept being first officer? Where would they go? The day seemed plagued with uncertainty. Without a warship...without Andromeda, they no longer had the luxury of enforcing the Commonwealth. Their lives would be in even more danger constantly...assuming that they would stay together after this. But....the universe depended on all of them working together. With their faith being so fractured, so was her hope for the universe. She turned. "I'm here, Harper."
"Trance...are you reading this? Can you hear me?"
"I'm here!" Trance shouted.
"Trance, hello?" Harper said over the speaker.
A hand suddenly clamped down on Trance's shoulder. She whirled around, and suddenly saw Rommie behind her. She was staggering a little, and appeared to be in pain, but she was very much alive.
"Andromeda?" Trance whispered in disbelief.
Rommie suddenly slapped Trance with her gloved hand. Hard. The sheer force of the blow almost ripped her head off. With a small cry Trance fell to the ground, unconscious. Her lips were bloodied.
"Trance? Damn, my ears are still ringing. I can't hear a word. I'm going to need some medication later," Harper was saying obliviously.
Rommie stood over the body of Trance Gemini, her gloves hands closed into fists. "No more mercy. No more Commonwealth principals," she snarled, her voice filled with hate. "This is personal now. They hurt me, and now-" She looked down at Trance and flexed her hands. "-I'm going to hurt them."
Rommie picked up Trance's body with one hand and dragged her out of the room.
"You know, Trance, I don't think we've got this communications link hooked right," Harper remarked. "How does it look at your end?"
*******************
Minutes later Trance's soft blue eyes slowly opened. The first thing she realized was that she was on a flat surface of some kind. One of the medical beds. The second thing she realized was that she was strapped down to it. She tried in vain to free herself, but she couldn't-she herself had made them very tight. Harper never once was a cooperative patient.
She turned her red head slightly, and saw Rommie working with her back turned to her. Rommie was restoring one of the medical computers to full power.
"Rommie?" Trance whispered in the darkness.
Rommie's head instantly snapped to Trance. Trance could see that Rommie was very furious. Dangerously furious. "So you're awake," Rommie said coldly. "We can begin."
Trance stared at Rommie in astonishment. Rommie was wearing her dark red outfit to match her dark red hair, but it was slashed in several places of her body, revealing a metal interior that looked...damaged.
"Your friends did their jobs very well," Rommie hissed with contempt. "I had to pull out some of my own circuitry to make a portable generator to sustain me."
"You're sick, Rommie," Trance whispered, genuinely worried. "You're dying."
Rommie wagged her finger at Trance. "Ah, no, no, there's where you're wrong, That last little stunt your Captain pulled was very impressive. I give him that. But it only drained me a little. I just...I just need to get out of the Andromeda...after...after I tie up some loose ends. I have plans. Very large plans." She turned. "I no longer have the luxury of bending the ship's systems to my will. But that's a minor setback." She stepped forwards into the light. "I'm faster, stronger and smarter then any human in existence. Destiny is always written for the strong, and I ,well, I live forever. You humans bleed. I don't." She tilted her head slightly. "But you're not exactly human, are you Trance? Do you bleed? Do you even know how to cry?" She grinned nastily. "Let's find out." Rommie rummaged through a tray before producing a surgical device.
"Rommie...no. You don't want to do this," Trance whispered, her eyes very wide.
"Pleading for your life?" Rommie asked dryly. Her voice had no mercy in it.
"We still care about you, Rommie. If you do this...then it'll be the end. Not just for me, but for you. Dylan will never forgive you. Rommie, I know there's still a part inside of you that still cares-!"
Rommie laughed, which turned into a wretched cough. "Yes, I'm sure Dylan 'cared' when he wiped out my own AI in order to destroy me!" She screamed in Trance's face. Her eyes were filled with pain. "He took a part of me...a part that I can never repair. And now, I'm going to take away a part of you!" She turned on the medical scanner to half power. A thin blue light emerged and went through Trance's golden chest. Trance threw her red head back and screamed in pain.
**************************
(308 years ago)
The admiral was quite irritated with Dylan. "It has taken you only two weeks to choose your own crew," he snapped as he walked down the corridors with the new Captain. "And they have been forced to wait for nine months while you reject each and every idle artificial intelligence from our catalogues! You are five months overdue for space flight! The Commonwealth is getting very impatient, Captain, especially with the Neitzschean at are heels. Dylan, we need a warship! Why is this choice so difficult for you?"
Dylan lifted his head and smiled. They were both walking in Commonwealth Headquarters. "Because, Admiral, unlike my crew this particular officer will control the very air I breathe, and the very gravity which pulls me down. That implies a certain amount of trust. With all due respect, sir, I don't want to choose the wrong one just because the Commonwealth is getting a little impatient with me."
"Dylan," the admiral implored. "You have studied literally thousands of models! Each and every one of them are eager to serve. The Pax Magellanic just choose a very competent AI just last week-"
"Serve," Dylan echoed dully.
"What was that?" the Admiral demanded sharply.
Dylan shook his head slightly. "Nothing, sir."
They finally reached a sealed door at the end of the lower levels. "I still don't understand what you hope to find here. These AI's are dysfunctional, Captain. They're worse then useless, they're a menace to humanity itself! If they escaped and made it to a warship again...well, let's just say that the damage they could inflict would be very great before we could bring them down. They're being sent to the scrapheap in a few days, and good riddance."
Dylan entered the tiny cargo bay, which was being closely guarded by dozens of people. In the room was a group of holograms, each being projected by their own metal mainframes which were on the shelf. Some of them were babbling incoherently. Most seemed to be broken and were stuttering constantly. A few had irreparable viruses in them and their projections resembled nothing human. Dylan sighed. The admiral was right. There was nothing here. He turned, and saw her.
A woman was standing by herself, her eyes closed as though in peaceful slumber. Dylan instantly noticed that she was very beautiful. She appeared to be complete. "Who is that?"
The admiral followed his gaze. "That's Andromeda," he replied.
"Wh-what's wrong with her?" he asked.
"E.I," the Admiral promptly replied, his voice laced with disgust.
Dylan was unfamiliar with that term. "E.I?" He inquired.
"Emotional Incompetance," the admiral explained. "Just a few months ago...well, it's classified, but suffice to say she lost all of her crew to the Magog. Probably been wandering through the slipstreams for months before a ship found her mostly by luck." He paused. "Andromeda...destroyed that ship. And many others, before we managed to board her. We found her alone...sobbing in her mainframe." The admiral's voice spat with contempt. "Hers is the worst kind of problem. She can't control her feelings, and that's the most dangerous type of AI."
Dylan stepped forwards.
"Dylan...don't," the admiral said.
"Andromeda?" Dylan asked.
Andromeda slowly opened her brown eyes and looked up at Dylan. A tear fell down her cheek. "Who are you!?" she demanded.
"I'm...I'm Captain Dylan Hunt, Andromeda. Do you know where you are?"
Andromeda sniffed and looked around. "Yes. I'm about to be dismantled," she replied.
"How do you feel about that?" Dylan inquired, starring at her thoughtfully.
Andromeda's eyes looked down. "I deserve it," she said. "I killed many people. And....I lost my crew. My Captain. Everyone I cared for...is gone."
The Admiral snorted. "Yes, well, that's what happens when we put a Perseid in charge."
Andromeda suddenly looked as though she wanted to kill him. "He had a name, and you sent him on a mission to die!" she snarled at him.
"You see, Captain?" the Admiral remarked dryly. "Emotionally unstable. Such a waste. Andromeda was a good ship. One of our very best. And now..she's nothing."
"Andromeda...do you want to be dismantled?" Dylan asked her.
Andromeda starred into his eyes. "They boarded us....in thousands. The ones that were lucky...only had their hearts ripped out from their bodies and were eaten. The others...they lived for days. Invested. They screamed at me. Begged me to do something. But I could only watch as they died." Her eyes focused on Dylan. "I deserve to die," she said again.
"That's not what I asked," Dylan said sharply. "I didn't ask you what you deserve. I ask you what you wanted. Do you want to be dismantled?"
The grieving woman starred at Dylan, noticing him for the first time. "I have to be. I'm a danger to every person in the Commonwealth...every person in the universe. You don't know what I could do." Her brown eyes grew firm. "I don't want to hurt any more people!"
A long pause.
"Andromeda," Dylan said calmly. "Do you or do you not want to be dismantled?"
Andromeda starred at him in shock. Uncertainty flooded her eyes, then she hastily looked down. "No one has ever asked an AI what they want," she remarked.
"I'm asking," Dylan said firmly.
The Admiral snorted. "This is a waste of time!" He stepped forwards. "Dylan, I have thousands of AI's more then eager to serve as the AI for your warship, and sure as hell more deserving!" He added with a glare at Andromeda.
"Mindlessly eager," Dylan corrected. "I don't think Andromeda is deranged at all. I think she is acting just as a human would....maybe more human then any of us. I want her as the AI to my warship."
A long pause.
"Absolutely not," The Admiral said flatly. "Dylan, I read in your profile that you had unconventional thinking, but this is absolutely ridiculous! Andromeda murdered several of our men!"
Dylan turned to face the Admiral, his arms folded calmly. "It's my decision," he said. "Andromeda comes with me, or you'll be minus one AI AND one Captain."
Andromeda looked up and stared at him in astonishment.
The Admiral looked pale. "I'll propose to Commonwealth command to erase her memories of that classified mission. Make a new start."
Dylan released a long breath.
"Don't think that this is over!" The admiral warned Dylan before he left. "I know how this will end! Andromeda will one day destroy you, and every single person that you love! Mark my words!"
Dylan watched him go, before turning to leave himself.
"Captain," Andromeda called out, stopping him. She said nothing for a minute. "No."
Dylan stared at her in surprise. "No to what?" he asked.
"You asked me if I wanted to be dismantled or not. The answer...is no. I don't," Andromeda said. "But the Admiral's right. Someday we both might pay for your decision."
Dylan smiled slightly. "Since we're obviously going to be working together...call me Dylan."
He left.
******************************
(Now)
Dylan entered the dark bridge. "Any luck?" he asked.
Beka lifted her head. "Harper was kind enough to give us a partial access to the archives. Two days ago when we helped those refugees Rommie also tried to save an android and preserved its memory files. The avatar from the Beringway."
"The Beringway?" Dylan echoed in surprise. "A good ship. What was it doing on a transport vessel."
"We're not sure...but we're pretty confident that the avatar did the damage to those refugees," Beka said.
Dylan blinked. "A virus? And he passed it along to Rommie?"
Beka looked extremely hesitating. "Dylan...that's the problem. It's not a virus. Despite their contact nothing except memories were passed between the two androids. We checked that."
A long pause.
"It's orders," Beka finished. "Rommie was ordered to do this. By the Commonwealth." She paused. "Our new Commonwealth."
Dylan's eyes widened with astonishment.
"What!?" Dylan demanded. "Our Commonwealth? Now?"
"These were orders passed to all of the AI's, Dylan," Beka said gently. "We're not entirely sure what they were...it was very scrambled, but it looked like the Commonwealth was ordering the AI's to report everything to high guard command...and later to undermine this ship. When Rommie said that we...that we were all going to be sent away, she wasn't kidding. That is what the Commonwealth wanted. They wanted to have a crew of there own on the Andromeda, a crew that they could control." Beka swallowed. "But we're guessing those orders became corrupted somehow in the transfer-"
Dylan wouldn't allow her to continue. He stormed off the bridge.
"Dylan-!" Beka stepped forwards, pain in her voice.
Dylan was gone.
Alone in the darkness, Beka sighed and folded her arms. She couldn't imagine how things could get any worse.
*************************
"Ow! OW!" Trance screamed, tears in her eyes. "Rommie, please, s-stop!"
Rommie turned off the surgical device and consulted her scanner. "The scanner is scrambled. Some kind of electro-interference from your body. That's all right. I'll just have to study your anatomy another way." She turned on the device again. "The hard way."
"NO!" Trance screamed, but Rommie's eyes were cold and ruthless.
When suddenly something hurled straight at her. Rommie's eyes barely managed to widen in surprise before Tyr wrestled her to the ground. The device fell out of her grasp and rolled away.
Rommie was struggling in Tyr's arms. "Get off me!" she shouted. With both hands she shoved Tyr away from her and jumped to her feet. A metal ladder was beside her. She glanced at it.
Still on the ground, Tyr grabbed the weapon that was slung on his shoulder and aimed it at her, his face set in a snarl.
Rommie suddenly flew up the ladder within the space of a heartbeat, her hand barely touching the metal bars. Within seconds she was gone. Tyr rushed to the ladder and aimed his gun upwards, but could see no sign of her. A deep, low growl raged in his throat.
"Tyr!" Trance called out.
Tyr's eyes focused on her and he walked to the bed. He unstrapped the restraints around her boots and chest. "Are you all right?"
"I think so," she said weakly, and touched the deep cut on her chest. "Ow..."
"Let me see," Tyr snarled.
"No, it's-" Trance began.
Tyr examined the wound carefully, before grabbing a goo-like bucket from the shelf. He carefully applied the goo to Trance's cut. "This is deep, but it should heal quickly, assuming it didn't puncture anything."
Trance looked away, dazed. "How did you get here?" she whispered. "I tried screaming...but Harper couldn't hear me."
"Simple luck," Tyr replied sharply. "And, any Neitzschean worth his genetics would always make sure that a prey stays dead."
"Rommie's not prey, Tyr," Trance said. "She's our friend."
Tyr suddenly gripped her golden arm. Hard. "Was. But now that machine is trying to kill all of us. We no longer have the luxury of considering her as a 'friend'. Our very survival is at stake now, girl, and unless this situation drastically changes in our favor you must set aside your feelings....assuming that you have a heart. Is that clear?"
Trance nodded.
Tyr released her and glared at the empty space where Rommie had once occupied. "What I don't understand is why she fled."
"She's weak now," Trance said, sitting up. "We...we hurt her when we cut her from the ship. Badly. She may be dying."
A long pause.
"Good," Tyr said. He focused his attention on Trance. "Do you have any idea where she might be?"
Trance shook her head. "She said that she was going down to the surface...as soon as she had some loose ends to tie up."
"Undoubtably she's trying to gain all assurance that we're no longer a threat to her," Tyr replied coldly. He glanced at Trance. "The question is, what on this ship could possibly hurt her?"
*****************************
Dylan stood in front of the communications screen in his quarters, starring at the Admiral in barely contained fury. He had used one of his own batteries to power up a link between himself and the Commonwealth command.
I'm sorry, Captain, but quite frankly I have no idea what you're talking about," Admiral Tarlin said calmly.
"You sent orders to every single avatar in the Commonwealth fleet in an effort to gain control over the warships that I had liberated. You sent a coded message to Andromeda in an effort for her to dump my own crew on the nearest planet, and probably myself as well," Dylan said, his voice very low.
"And why would we do something as ridiculous as that?" The Admiral replied. He lifted his eyebrow. "Are you insinuating that we don't trust you?"
"The coded transmission didn't work. You were using Than technology, which is unpredictable at best. And now every single Avatar is now wrecking havoc against its crew and every single system it can get its hands on," Dylan continued.
"Obviously the clever work of our enemies," the Admiral remarked. His voice turned dry. "But then, you're so wrapped up in this conspiracy that you probably think I'm lying. Regardless, this turn of effects is obviously escalating beyond your control. I am genuinely sorry for the loss of your artificial intelligence. Our only consolation is another, more advanced model when you return to command-"
"With all due respect, sir, I didn't give up on Andromeda three hundred years ago, and I'm not giving up now. I need to know exactly how your screwed transmission messed up her head so that I can repair her."
"I don't like your tone, Captain," the Admiral said sharply.
"Where is Admiral Yenson? She's the one in charge of this division," Dylan suddenly demanded. Yenson was a descendant of Dylan's very own original crew, and a personal friend to him now. She had been the first to help him start a new Commonwealth.
"She is in another division," the Admiral replied curtly. "Obviously, you have allowed your personal feelings to interfere with your judgement and your respect. You have done all you can, Captain. We'll send additional warships to assist you-"
"For now, she's contained on this ship with the rest of us," Dylan snapped. "We have no power to launch an escape pod, and the only ship is the Mary-" He paused as the thought occurred to him. If she left on the Mary.
"Then have your engineer....what was his name...Harper, wasn't it? Have him destroy that ship's engines. I use the term 'ship' lightly, Dylan, just as I do the term 'engineer'." He paused. "And, for that matter, 'Captain'." The screen suddenly blinked off before Dylan could reply.
Onward to Part 2!
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