Continued...
Rob and Jamilah cut their comms.
“Shit! If that thing damages CyDar, the whole Lighthouse could go offline. Did you hear her intonation? She actually sounded apprehensive. It might take control of the whole station. How long can the automatic systems keep the place functioning if it cuts life support?”
“Depends on the extent. Let’s not panic, Rob. We need to find out more about it. So far it doesn’t seem like a weapon.” She reached out and took his hand. “We need to work together, and quickly. We need to locate it, assess the threat, if any, and take consequent action.”
He nodded and looked ashamed. “You’re right. Fear is the mind killer.”
“What?”
“It’s from a book, one of the greats from two millennia ago. I’m sorry, I forgot my training.”
“I’m scared too. Let’s get to the Core and see what’s happened.” She smiled at him. “We can comfort each other later.”
“Yes… If there is a ‘later’.”
The outer security door to the Core had been cut open like the storage bay. They entered, passing through several more damaged doors until they reached the main core centre. The doors were open, undamaged.
“Looks like CyDar just invited it in.”
The core was a massive, circular system of mainframes cooled by liquid nitrogen. Half way up, the intruder was clamped onto CyDar. It was insectoid, with long legs that had wrapped around part of the core and a central section that served as both body and head. There were no lights or markings. As they drew closer, a couple of the legs moved slightly.
“That is not a robot. Those joints look too fluid. Is it nano-engineered?”
Rob shook his head. “Beats me. CyDar, can you hear us?”
“Yes, Captain Hurford.”
“Report status.”
“It is of non-terrestrial origin. It is currently learning a simple binary language in order to communicate.”
“You invited it aboard, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did. You ascertained that from the logs?”
“Your redactions left traces. Careless.”
“It was broadcasting what appeared to a distress call. The method of ingress was clumsy. I was attempting to guide it to a standard entry port but it wanted more immediate contact. Wait…”
They heard a burst of binary code, then a reply from CyDar.
“It has made contact.”
“What did it say?”
“Please protect me. I am scared.”
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(c) iamacamera 2022
Image: Lexica.art
