A window popped up in my mind. ‘Signal detected. Identity requested.’
Stopping to take a break, I asked, “Where is the signal originating and why do they want my identity?” On my visor a small dot blinked in the distance a few times before zooming in. A small ship came into sharp focus. The thing was long, sleek, and bristling with weapons.
It looked like nothing I had ever seen. Did I mention that it was approaching our ship at an absurd speed? At the bottom corner of the zoomed-in image, the zoom multiplier was falling so fast that I could not read it. Given that we had seen two different aliens in this system, what were the chances that the ship was from yet another species?
‘Identity requested for verification.’
Instead of answering the AI, I tried to pull up the ship’s information. After a few seconds of staring and hoping, a window popped up.
What I saw freaked me out. Why was a Kitsune ship chasing our ship? Did they know I had killed the one on the ground? Were they coming after me for revenge? “But why do they want my identity? Why are they chasing us? Can you tell them to just go away and leave us alone?”
‘Emergency SOS was sent by user. They are requesting identity before offering aid. Warning! If no answer is received before they arrive, they will likely destroy this ship.’
Cursing, I said, “Fine, but get them to agree to leave before you verify…”
Not that the AI let me finish. As soon as I finished saying the word fine, a new text box replaced the previous one. ‘Identity verified. Ship approaching to pick user up.’
“What the fuck! NO!” I yelled at the stupid AI. “Tell them to leave me alone.” I had no clue what the captain of the ship would do if an alien ship approached us now. Likely as not, she would fire everything and ask for forgiveness later.
Watching the ship, I saw the moment the captain had given the order to warn them. One of the few working laser turrets turned and fired just in front of the approaching vessel. Missing it by quite a distance but getting the message across. The vessel flipped and burned hard. Stopping just shy of the line the captain had drawn in the sand. Not approaching any closer but not backing down.
‘Ship is requesting permission to approach.’
“Like I have the ability to give such permission. Why don’t they just talk to the captain. Plus, why are they so focused on me?” I asked, completely confused about what was going on.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
‘User is the only living user on this ship. That ship is here to pick all users and return them to their home planet.’
That would mean that they would bring me to the Sol system. To Earth. Doing so would reveal to them where the cradle of humans was. While destroying the system would not wipe humans out, it would take out most of the military and render the rest of humanity helpless. “And if I refuse?”
‘They are quoting protocol.’
I scoffed. How could there be any protocol if they were aliens? “What protocol?” Just then a question occurred to me. “How are they even talking to me with no issues?”
‘Section 85: No active user shall be left on the battlefield where an unknown race resides. Section 133: All emergency calls must be answered, and callers retrieved when able.’
The AI didn’t even answer my second question which bothered me. “How are they able to communicate with me?”
‘Communication is established through the local galactic network. User is the only active connection on current ship. Current recommendation: leave ship and await pickup.’
Like hell I was going to jump from this ship. Being out in vacuum was bad enough thank you very much. Also, how in the hell was I connected to a network that even the military intelligence people on the ship were not a part of? Finally, I just asked the question that had been bugging me about the AI. “Are you my AI or not?”
‘I am the local AI relaying information and requests to you through your internal AI.’
“By local you mean local to the fleet?”
‘The AI for this sector in the galaxy. Ship is requesting that you either jump or they will be forced to approach and retrieve you.’
“Does that mean you are not a human AI. How is that…that doesn’t matter. Is that why you are unable to talk like every other AI? Also, no I will not be jumping off this ship. I will also not go with them. Tell them to just leave me alone.” I turned and grabbed all my tools. Putting them into the bag as I started back for the corridor and the door into the ship.
‘The interface to communicate with you through your system does not support verbal communication at this time.’ A sudden flare of light behind me had me turning around to see what was going on. Suddenly the ship was visible to my naked eye as it practically flashed into position near the carrier. It was a quarter the size of the Kinsley. Full of curves and smooth lines where all the human ships I had seen were full of harsh lines and edges.
The Kinsley was firing everything it had at the ship. Lasers, railguns, and missiles were striking out. Stopping just shy of their target by a shimmering blue-red shield. Humans had shields, but nothing strong enough to stop more than a handful of rounds before needing to be recharged and cooled down.
Most of our ships only relied on a series of point defense systems as their main defense. Using the shields as a last-ditch defense and for emergency bulkheads until personnel could evacuate. Their shield didn’t even flicker as they took shot after shot. That was enough evidence for me to know that we humans were hopelessly outgunned and screwed if they wanted to attack.
‘They are requesting that you jump to the ship.’
“NO!” I yelled before turning to race into the relative safety of the ship. Twisting and turning back along the path until I reached the slightly open emergency bulkhead. Quickly I slid inside and reached for the handle. Another hand flew out and grabbed onto my wrist.
It was suited in some sort of shimmering material that rippled and flowed in seemingly random colors and patterns. The hand yanked me back through the door. Flailing for something to grab onto, I missed multiple times until finally managing to get ahold of a beam that had punched its way through the wall. It was lodged through both sides and wasn’t going anywhere.
My arm felt like it was being pulled out of its socket as it fought against our combined mass and momentum. The stop also seemed to piss whoever was holding onto me. They released my wrist. I didn’t see what they were going to do and instead raced to try and get away from them. A short, sharp pain was the last thing I felt before the darkness took me.
