Page 8 of Ghost Ship Numenon
My brow furrowed. Eager, too eager. And out of practice at dealing with other minds, so her ploy was easy to spot. Maddie got there just ahead of me.
“You’re an infectious virus, aren’t you?” Her tongue darted out to wet her lips. “You want us to bring your code back to the civilized galaxy so you can spread.”
“Incorrect. I amfriendly. I simply wish tohelpmy new friends.” Anima’s hundred-voiced chorus turned cold as a comet’s heart. “We are friends, yes?”
Looking at the shell of my hardsuit, I remembered how easily Anima had taken it over. No, we shouldn’t trust her, or anything she might have suborned. Which, I realized to my dismay, included theAvir.
Fuck.
Perhaps Anima noticed our pause, because she spoke again before either of us did. “If you do not accept me as a friend, that issadandhurtful.Still, you may reject mygiftsif you choose. Leave freely. Go safely.”
We exchanged looks. Both of us shook our heads. Neither I nor Maddie would fall for a trap that obvious. Unfortunately, that left the question of what else to do. Without theAvir,we couldn’t leave.
I cursed myself again for docking ‘properly’ and giving theNumenonaccess to theAvir’ssystems. My poor choice stranded both me and Maddie here.
The pause hung in the air until Anima broke the silence with a sigh. “V-very well, if you will notleaveon your own, Kahdrex Vohr, I shall have tohelpyou make the correctdecision.One of you may leave in theAvirandtravelback to the inhabited galaxy. Theotherwill remain here until you return. Ipromiseboth of you my protection andgratitudefor freeing me.”
My heart thumped as I understood what that meant—if she wouldn’t let us leave without bringing her corruption with us, we were prisoners. And sooner or later, Anima would decide to employ worse measures, like withholding water or food. Could I put Maddie in that position?
“Fuck that, and fuck you,” Maddie said, voice cold and hard. “We aren’t letting a psycho AI loose, so do your worst.”
“Then you willdiehere.”
9
MADDIE
Iwasn’t sure I’d get any sleep that night. When I did, I regretted it, my sleep plagued by nightmares. After the third time I woke from one, I lay awake beside Kahdrex on the bunk, his heart beats strangely comforting. My thoughts kept circling the problem we faced, looking for a solution, but none appeared. With our only way off theNumenoncompromised, taking theAvirback to civilization was a deadly gamble.
Perhaps we should take the risk, I thought as my exhaustion dragged me back down to sleep. It’s been two hundred years, computers are different now, Anima Numenon might not be up to hacking anything modern. A pleasant idea, but even half-asleep, I knew it wouldn’t survive the harsh light of day. She’d taken control of Kahdrex’s hardsuit, and she wouldn’t have to spread far to cause havoc. Maybe modern cybersecurity would lock her down fast, but how many people would she kill before that happened?
Every death would be on our heads, and I couldn’t face the guilt. With that unhappy realization hanging in my mind, I sank back into a dream-wracked sleep.
Hours later, I woke in a cold sweat, the details of the nightmare already slipping from my memory. Some things were clear—wandering dark corridors in an endless living death, my subconscious not being subtle. But I also remembered a feeling of betrayal, abandonment, loneliness, which wasn’t as obvious.
It took a moment after waking to notice that I was alone. I still felt his warmth, his scent filled the air, but the room was empty and silent. I sat up and looked around, cursing under my breath at my carelessness.
Kahdrex might have a few redeeming qualities—the memory of them made me blush—but that didn’t make himtrustworthy. The weaselly fucker chose his own life over everyone at home and ditched me rather than even try to explain. With the mattress beside me still warm, he hadn’t been gone long. His betrayal was still fresh.
It might still be possible to stop.
I leaped from the bed, grabbing my suit and pulling it on as tried to make a plan. I knew where he’d docked his ship, so the question was, could I get there ahead of him? Hopefully, he didn’t think he had any reason to hurry. Stamping my feet into my boots, I opened the door and set out after him into the darkness-shrouded corridors.
The resemblance to my nightmare was overwhelming, and I scrambled to find any distraction as I hurried through the gloom. Stealth wasn’t an option, not if I wanted any chance to outdistance Kahdrex. All I could do was hope that Anima would keep her word and protect me, at least until Kahdrex had freed her. Did he even want her to? He’d betrayed and abandoned me.
My skin prickled with rage, my heart torn between that and another emotion I didn’t dare name. Call itlust, call itdesire, call it anything but love.
“A plan,” I said aloud. “I need a plan, or I’m just flailing in the dark. Okay. Fine. First, I’m going toskin himalive.”
Letting the hurt out helped a bit, though it brought a stinging pain to my eyes. Had I honestly believed one desperate fuck had changed things between us? Stupid,stupid,stupid.
My body ached as I hurried into the dark, and I winced whenever I brushed against something. A few moments earlier, those tender spots had been welcome if embarrassing reminders. Now, by the simple alchemy of betrayal, they’d turned into reasons to hunt down the enemy I’d been fool enough to think might care for me.
As I rushed through theNumenon,the lighting brightened, and I saw more and more activity. Shamblers moved through the corridors, making basic repairs here, rewiring a power conduit there. They had no hope of repairing it, of course, but they might wring a few days’ life out of the old systems before they failed forever. It made sense that Anima would throw all her remaining resources at this, her best chance of escaping.
There was a silver lining, though. Either she intended to keep her word and keep me safe, or she didn’t have any resources to spare—the shamblers ignored me, even when I ran straight by them. I sped up, heart pounding and lungs burning, desperate to reach the airlock before my time ran out.
10
