Dalila

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  As she stepped back from the console, Dalila tried to calm down. The AI or whatever was still trying to break into the console’s network. And she knew that whatever it was had opened the text files she had left. Text files that she made as a communication attempt. But still, nothing! The evidence was slowly starting to mount that the thing down there wasn't an AI. If she thought about it, then there were reasons to make something like that. An automatic hacking destroyer would be a very good offensive system. But it would only work if it had range, and through space. She went still as she thought of a theory. Her eyes shrank to pinprints, that explained would everything about this thing. “That’s….. that’s. This would work a lot.”

  “What would?” Bryke’s voice caused her to fall backwards.

  As she heard him chuckle, she looked up to see his face looking down at her, a water bottle in his hands.

  “Hey,” Bryke said, grinning at her as he reached down. “Thought I’d offer you a little something to drink. So what did you figure out about our favorite pain in the brain?”

  “Yeah, and I’m starting to think that it might not be an AI. I’m thinking just a very dumb program. Set on automatic,” Dalila said bitterly.

  “I’m sorry, a what?” Bryke asked, his voice incredulous. “How could a program like that hack into anything? And there’s the range to consider.”

  Dalila looked at him and sighed, nodding at him. If she had just heard anyone say that without any content, she would have been confused too. So she would explain what she meant. “No. If it was short-range and scanning all frequencies, it’s possible. And a simple code breaker software would work as fast as the system accepted it. And then I taught it how to talk to us while I was trying to talk to it. All in all, a perfect program to defend yourself with. I should have seen it.”

  “But why the hell would anyone even think to make something like that!?” Bryke demanded, his eyes going wide as he absorbed what Dalila was telling him.

  “Anyone would make that if they needed to,” Dalila said bluntly. Before Bryke could say anything, “To defend against anyone trying to break in for example.”

  Bryke looked at her, and then he dropped to the ground, his legs failing him. “Nova.”

  Dalila only nodded, her mind going dark places. There were more reasons to create a program like that. The first reason was to cut down on personal. If whoever made this thing was more into automation than anything else, then it fit. And that would mean that there was never anyone in this thing.

  But if there were people down there, then the program would be part of a defense system. The right generator could last for centuries. Plus if things were in place to repair the parts over the years. And that meant the defense would have to be layered, with responses preprogrammed. But that meant that said defenses wouldn't awaken any people to take over. Especially if the entry team proved too strong or was too different from their foes. But that was something that she would keep close to her chest for now. Best to only say it with the others before they cut into the thing beneath them.

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  Bradford

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  As he walked away from Duncan’s office, Bradford looked around and then sighed internally. He saw a few of the other passengers walking towards him.

  “Is there anything Sir Bradford? I mean, we all heard the sounds this morning!” A male passenger asked, his eyes full of fear.

  Bradford smiled and kept his anger hidden away. The fact that these fools had even heard that was a problem. There was always a balance to this. He had to keep telling the fools what they wanted while still doing the work they didn't know. All he needed to do was keep calm and pull the wool over their eyes again, tell lies with the truth!

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Nothing important happened my friends! Just a little strife from one of the creatures outside!” Bradford said as he looked around, smiling as widely. As he saw the group gather around him, he was in his element. And now was the time to put his words to the test! “Now, I don’t want to bother you too much my friends! But please, stay and listen to me! What has happened, was nothing! For those monsters from the dark of this place never even struck the shield! All they did was stare into our place of safety while we looked back! Our proud defenders didn’t even have to fire a shot!”

  As the people around him started to cheer, Bradford held his hands up again. “But it was a good thing, before the bad! For today, some of our brave defenders will go down into that thing beneath us! For they have found the place they need to make a path into the unknown! And for that reason, I must ask that again you stay safe in here!”

  “How much longer!? We’re going mad!” A woman called out with anger in her voice.

  “We’re stuck in a small area! Too small for too many of us!” A man called out.

  “Yeah! Even with the Deckhands being outside, it only helped!” Another woman cried out in anger. “We need something to take our minds off all this!”

  Bradford looked around, seeing that the people were reaching their limits. Even the idea that they would have more space to sleep wasn’t going to work. He needed something else, but what? Before he could even think of what to say, someone else stepped in.

  “You’re right, you do! And you will have that now!” Duncan’s voice from behind caused everyone to turn and look at him. He smiled and then gestured to a wall and suddenly it unfolded and then a screen was revealed.

  Bradford stared in shock at what Duncan had revealed.

  “Seems that the company stocked these things with a copy of the media library from the ship. It took me a while to find an assistant that was able to find the hidden data. So I’ll offer you all this! Movies! And we’re hoping that we’ll a way to keep you all safe soon. But please, stay safe until we have a new way to move forward!” Duncan called out as he looked around at the people.

  Bradford looked at Duncan in awe. In one moment he had used the old idea of ‘Games and Food’ to keep the people calm. He might have misjudged Duncan. The old man was stronger than he had ever thought possible. Bradford could see that Duncan was going to be a bigger problem than he had thought. Maybe it was time to bring Jones deeper into his control.

  “Wait, what about how the deckhands brought up all those containers? Why did you do that?” Another passenger asked anger in his voice.

  Duncan looked at the passenger and then he chuckled. “Ahhh those. Well, with the shield up fully, we’re moving all the supplies up to the clearing. This should make a bit more room for all of you. And if you want to use them for the snorers to sleep, that’s no skin off my noise!”

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  Zevortro

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  As he worked, he looked at Jessie out of the corner of his eyes. The man worked with an effort and efficiency that Zevortro had rarely seen. He had been a hard worker most of his life, but Jessie put him to shame! The man had finished another rifle, and there was just one left to do. And the way he was working, he wasn’t slowing down. All he needed from Zevortro was for him to get the rifle covering, and he finished one when Zevortro was halfway done with his own.

  All in all, Jessie seemed to be smart, creative, and lucky. But why hadn’t a Mega Corp ever plucked him up? And he was a Bounty Hunter instead of working at a lab for one of them? Why?

  Jessie chuckled as he finished the last part of the modification and looked up at Zevortro. “You’ve got a question for me?”

  “Why are you what you are? You could have done so much more than that,” Zevortro asked point blank.

  Jessie sighed and looked back at Zevortro. They were both using another of the containers as a table and they were across from each other. There was something in Jessie’s gaze that bothered Zevortro. Something ancient and so much older than he looked. And to Zevortro’s horror, it seemed to be as black as the deep void itself.

  Jessie took a deep breath and the darkness vanished from his eyes. He just looked at Zevortro with tired eyes. “Sometimes, the job isn’t chosen by the person. Sometimes, the job chooses the person. A while back I was in an incident. To get out I had to use my skills and more. I learned that I was someone who could do this job well. So I kept at it. And I can’t say that it was a bad choice.”

  Zevortro had to admit, that he understood that. Sometimes, people were just raised to be certain things. And no matter how hard they tried, they still were those things. That was one of the reasons that he had signed up, to get away from that kind of thinking. And he had to admit, this had been a wild ride.

  “Yeah, I can understand that. I mean yeah. But what about when you were younger?” Zevortro asked, his voice thick with confusion.

  Jessie kept silent, just sighing and looking up for a moment. “Let’s just say that I didn’t have a normal childhood. Or choices about what I would be or learn. Just leave it as that.”

  Zevortro was about to say something when he saw the rage behind Jessie’s eyes. He swallowed and then nodded. “Okay. So should we do some of the other rifles? This might be something that could help the others. Or do you want to make a pistol or two like this? That would be a big help!”

  Jessie looked around, his eyes finding the other weapon containers. He looked at Zevortro and then back at the weapons. “Later. We’ve still got a bit of time until we start cutting into that thing. Why don’t we take a break for a while?”

  Zevortro nodded, and he saw Vivis walking by the crater carrying something. “Good idea. Really. I’ll just go and help someone. You just tell me what to do later.”

  He couldn’t get away from Jessie fast enough. All he could think of was how lucky that he had been able to get away so fast. The way that Jessie had talked about what he had been through while he was young, bothered him a lot. He could think of a few situations that would have done that to him. From absentee parents who shipped him off to other darker things, he didn’t want to know the truth. All in all, he now knew what not to bring up to Jessie again.

  “Hey Zevortro!” Vivis said as he reached her. “Mind helping me carry this?”

  “Sure!” Zevortro said as he reached over and started to lead her out of the null gravity field. “Just lean on me V. I handle….. ooofff.”

  As the weight became real, he gritted his teeth and then took a shaky step forward. “So where is this going?”

  “Just ahead! By the weapons!” Vivis was able to gasp out. After a few minutes of hard labor moving it, they put it down and stepped back. “Thanks!”

  “Sure, but what is this!?” Zevortro demanded as he looked down.

  “No clue. And I don’t know how to open it either,” Vivis said with a shrug, pointing at the locks on the sides.

  Zevortro looked at it and then he nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ve got an idea how to open this thing. Just give me a minute.”

  “You do!?” Vivis asked shock in her voice.

  “What?” Zevortro said, smirking at her. “Did you forget how we’re going to get into the hull-plated thing?”