Chapter 3
THREE
The next time I woke, I was alone.
I didn't want to leave. I wanted to stay here until she got back.
I wanted her to touch me again.
Locational danger absent, my control chip identified the fact that I was alone in this room, without the dross to stop me from leaving. Resume task.
My body moved on its own, and I sat there, a passenger in a crafted vehicle of muscle and sinew, neuro-conductive biopolymer and carefully coded systems. My despair wasn't enough to trigger my biological suppression system, so I couldn't look forward to the numbness to save me from the sinking in my heart as I took one step after another to my death.
This was always where my limited life was going to lead.
The small joys I had found in this life, the time I was sent out on a mission and got to immerse myself in the beautiful joys of my origin species, swimming through their sparkling oceans and fragrant marshes.
Even after I returned, there was still pleasure in the quiet moments when I didn't have a task, and I was able to deep-dive into the different shows that had been accessible to units like me; all of those small moments couldn't erase the knowledge that my life wasn't my own.
It wasn't mine to decide where it was spent.
Like the dross, I was a tool, material to be spent where a series of algorithms decided was best. Right now, my control chip was cut off from its true intelligence, Plexus Command, and so all it would do was follow its pre-set plan for that eventuality.
I could convince it of small things, but ultimately, its goal remained the same.
Reconnect with Plexus Command, my control chip listed. Recapture the ship.
A single unit couldn't hope to take over a Vaurelcar ship on its own, even one that was recently freed and likely disoriented. All it had to do was notice my intentions, and that would be the end of me.
My control chip pinged the ship's system, looking to connect, to gain access to the optics or internal map, so that it could navigate me to the optimal location, but the system didn't respond to it. It was locked out, another sign that the ship was truly free.
I exited the room, taking one step after another to my end.
I could hear dross across the common room, through the open archway that led to a room I hadn't been in yet.
I flared my ears, a product of my origin species, and caught the small sounds of metal cutting through something soft, only to click against a metal surface.
The sound of laughter peeled free. I didn't know if they made that sound while they were kept in the dross cage; I couldn't stand to look at the optics focused in their cage, not when I knew that soon they would all be sliced into pieces, their individuality torn apart at the seams so they could be made into manufactured units, slaved to the orders of Plexus Command.
A small spark of hope filled me at that thought.
I might not be free, but they were.
When I failed at taking over the ship, they would be safe. My death would keep the dross safe. It would keep Andrea safe.
Her name flared in my mind like a brand, hot and painful.
Biological suppression initiated.
The numbness swallowed my surprise, leaving behind the simple observation that I'd never thought of her by her name before.
I knew all their names; it was a silent ritual I had begun after my first infiltration assignment.
I knew their names, but I separated myself from them, because the awareness of what would happen, what I couldn't stop, was too much to bear.
My body walked across the room, heading toward the hallway that led deeper into the ship. Unable to map the ship, my control chip would force me to create my own map, to identify the closest location accessible to the ship's core.
Unless the Vaurelcar had taken a mate, he would still be shell locked, trapped in the same place, and all I had to do to get to him was to cut through the outer layers of his body until he lay exposed and vulnerable.
Without a control collar connected to Plexus Command, the details of my control over him would be limited, but they would be enough.
Captives would do whatever they had to do to survive.
I didn't pay attention to where I walked; it didn't matter, my control chip was using my senses and body without the input of my conscious mind.
If there was a complex obstacle, it would order me to find a solution, and then I would have to pay attention, but for the basic functions of moving and fighting, my internal systems could be triggered to automate that.
I started to pay attention when I heard the voice of another unit.
It was UNI-CAL 32812.
He was from the same species batch as me, but was a regular unit, made for ship-focused functions or military actions, not infiltration.
Units weren't built with stealth in mind, so their physical durability and weaponry didn't have to be crafted to be able to bypass the security scanners found on dross planets and stations.
He would be able to hear me coming if he panned his ears in my direction, but my control unit didn't slow or attempt to quiet my steps. The moment I picked up his voice, it turned and headed in that direction.
Two units were better than one.
"I would never attempt to control the ship," UNI-CAL 32812 said. "It has the right to control itself."
That was something I never thought I'd hear another Calicium unit say.
It was one thing to think such thoughts privately, as our control chips couldn't read our thoughts, only use our physical senses.
Saying it out loud should immediately cause his control chip to flag him.
Enough flags and it would disable him until he could be retrieved for repair.
UNI-CAL 32812 flagged for review; my control chip stored that data a few moments after it processed in the incoming audio.
"You talk about it like it is alive," a dross said.
The dross were unaware that the ship was a Vaurelcar?
"It is alive," UNI-CAL 32812 said. "The ship is a large biological organism with a centralized core that controls the rest of its body. When you humans have made statements about taking over the ship, you are implying you intend to enslave it."
"It's alive?" the dross gasped. "Is it unable to talk? Why hasn't it said anything?"
"It doesn't want to talk to us," UNI-CAL 32812 said.
A captive Vaurelcar couldn't talk to the units onboard. Any communication like that would be flagged, and he would be punished for the deviance from the standards of behavior required from a ship. Captive Vaurelcar wasn't allowed to speak, only obey.
Sometimes I wondered if it was a hell worse or better than my own.
They couldn't be dissected and rebuilt the way that smaller species could be, so their memories, personality, and bodies remained their own.
They could remember what it was like to be free, not just see such an existence as an outside observer of media.
"Another unit approaches," UNI-CAL 32812 said.
I came around the corner to see UNI-CAL 32812 standing with a small black haired dross who was holding a cobbled together device. Small boxes popped up around the device as my internal system attempted to identify the technology.
It produced a large amount of heat and force, enough to cut through the metal shell the Vaurelcar had put up to protect its senses from the dross crawling around in its insides.
It would easily cut through the neurofilaments, better than the weapons I had installed in my body.
It was missing standard safety functionality, but even if its flames would remove the oxygen from the room and cause burns to my body, units could survive a long time without oxygen, and damage to my biological parts was repairable.
My control chip identified the same thing.
Retrieve device, it ordered.
This time it didn't force my body to move. There were too many variables in the situation, so it left it to my organic mind to navigate the task.
At the same time, it attempted to connect to UNI-CAL 32812's control chip.
UNI-CAL 32812 control chip not found; my control chip reported. Disable UNI-CAL 32812.
A surge of aggression rushed through me as the control chip triggered my biological functions, prepping my organic parts for the fight. My vision narrowed, my focus anchoring on the other male.
I would win this fight.
"That's the guy Andrea dragged into her room," Mei said.
At the sound of her name, that familiar stab of longing, of a need that existed in me too deep to root out, welled up to the surface, clawing its way through my mind, tearing apart my murderous focus.
Biological suppression initiated.
The numbness washed away the imposed aggression as well, giving me a moment to think. I didn't want to fight UNI-CAL 32812. He was free. The ship was free. The dross were all free.
The only one endangering that was me.
The orders were not listed in priority, so I took a step toward the dross to maximize the amount of time I had before my control chip interfered.
I had to take action, or it would take over my body again.
If I grabbed the tool and used it to injure the Vaurelcar, I could gather its attention to the situation and then switch over to attacking the other unit.
That plan had the highest chance of me failing to accomplish anything at all.
I sent over to UNI-CAL 32812.
Plexus Command ignored signals sent through that medium, so even though units couldn't speak directly, we could send messages in those odd pictures. It seemed strange to me that it didn't identify them; they weren't complicated, but it and our control chips ignored them completely.
"Mei," UNI-CAL 32812 said as he stepped forward. He was on the far side of the dross from me. "This unit still has his control chip intact."
"We need to get him back to Sara," Mei said, her hands tightening around the tool as she shifted it to point at me.
I hesitated.
If she fired that at me, she would be badly injured.
My control chip didn't care about that.
Retrieve device, it increased the priority of that order, and my body lurched into motion.
UNI-CAL 32812 lifted his arm, one of his weapons lowering from his forearm as he prepared to fire. It wouldn't be enough to stop me. Nothing but severe injury could stop me now.
"There you are, Big Guy!" Andrea called out from behind me, her voice a spear through my chest as my control chip processed the inclusion of the new element into the scenario. "I've been looking all over for you!"
I turned toward her, wanting to tell her to run.
If she got in the way, I would be forced to kill her.
Biological suppression initiated.
The numbness flooded my soul, and all I felt was despair.
"Leave," I told the woman whose very presence wrecked me. "Andrea, leave."
UNI-CAL 32812 sent to me, noticing my use of her name.
I replied to express my internal state.
"What are you all doing?" Andrea asked, putting her hand on my arm.
That touch was everything: the heat of her palm, the softness of it, the…
Biological suppression initiated.
She pressed her body against me, pinning one arm down with her softness as she wrapped her arms around me, her fingers unable to reach to clasp on the other side as she rested her head against my bicep.
Biological suppression initiated.
I shuddered and closed my eyes as my vision swam, the chemical cocktail becoming too concentrated in my system, just like last time.
"Talk to me," Andrea pleaded.
"Get away from him, Andrea," Mei said. "He still has a chip in his brain forcing him to do things. He is dangerous."
"Listen to her," I said. "You're in danger if you get in the way of my orders."
"I'd never get in the way of your orders," Andrea said, never looking away from me. "What do you need to do? I'll help you do it."
There was one thing she could do that no one else could.
All I had to do was ask her for it without my control chip knowing what it was I was asking for.
She was a highly determined dross.
I knew exactly what to say to make her understand.
"Prove it," I said, and put my hand on top of her head, applying gentle pressure downward. "Get your hands on my makeshift focused laser cutter."