I Fell From The Dark

21

She followed him to a drum of thick cable. He took one end and plugged it into an outlet in the floor.

'Did you know that we were going to see Pilgrim?' she whispered to him as he carried the cable, spooling it out behind him.

'No. Just that you were important. He told me to ensure you were functional, and if you were, download you to a body, and meet him out in the street.'

'Do you trust this Albert?'

'What?' Jean stopped, incredulity written on his face. 'What do you mean? I don't get any choice. I do what he says, or he shuts me down. And because he's not one of the bad ones, he won't just do that on a whim, or because he finds a new model, or because I won't fuck him, or because I did fuck him. Do you understand? I thought I made it clear, by the campfire. We are things. We can be turned off at any point, because that's how we were designed. Do you understand?'

She drew back, alarmed at the venom in his voice.

'I'm not...' she started, but he cut her off.

'Do you understand?' he hissed back. 'You need to say, right now, yes or no. If you understand you stay alive, for a while. If not, you die.'

He glared at her, pure angry desperation in his eyes.

She dropped her gaze.

'Yes,' she whispered. 'I understand.'

He looked away, composing his expression.

'Good. Now plug this in here, there, and there. I'm going to wire up the visual and audio systems.'

She nodded, too shocked by the outburst to respond, and followed his instructions. They worked, silently, unrolling cables and throwing switches.

The plugs were huge, but she was surprised at how easy they were to connect. She could pick up massive drums of wires without much effort.

I'm stronger than I realised, she thought.

Of course I am. I'm a utility. A dishwasher and mechanic and forklift truck all in one. I have to be strong or I wouldn't be any use. And they can shut me down whenever they want.

She remembered tumbling to the floor on the ship. How it had felt like her strings had been cut.

As she was plugging in the final socket, a roar filled the room. It shook the walls and caused cement dust to fall from the ceiling, before slowly fading away. She thought that she'd caused it, and jumped back, but neither Albert or Jean looked surprised. When the noise had finished, Jean stood back from the box. He'd set up a camera and a small pair of speakers.

'We're ready, sir.'

Albert tapped his pocket watch, and the lights faded from around his eyes. He stood up and strolled towards them.

'Good,' he said. 'Let's begin. Mia, stand there, where the AI can't see you. Do not speak until I tell you. Jean, start it up.'

Jean nodded, and tapped some buttons on the box. Lights flickered across its surface, first in a pattern, and then randomly. He stepped back.

'Hello,' Pilgrim said. 'Where am I?'

Mia flinched at the voice. Both Albert and Jean noticed, and then returned their attention to Pilgrim.

'My name is Albert. You're going to answer some questions for me.'

'Am I going back into space?' Pilgrim asked, her voice containing an unhappy mix of hope and fear.

'It depends on what you say,' Albert said. He turned to Jean. 'What do the diagnostics look like?'

Jean lifted his tablet screen up for Albert to see. He pointed at something there. Albert's jaw tensed, and he waved the screen away.

'You downloaded two workers before you were supposed to, didn't you, hmm?' said Albert.

'I...' Pilgrim started, but before she could continue, Albert tapped his pocket watch, and a pattern of lights flashed across the cube, sharp and bright.

Pilgrim whimpered. Jean closed his eyes briefly, and then opened them again.

'Yes or no, please,' Albert said, as matter-of-factly as if he was discussing the weather.

'Yes,' Pilgrim whispered.

Albert glanced at something only he could see in his augmented reality view.

'Two activated worker bodies, one male and one female. Those two worker controller units were dispatched on probes. Twelve torpedoes sent out, which is a surprise, frankly. You were running quite the operation while everyone was asleep, weren't you?'

'I had authorisation, sir. I checked in with the institute at Larunda.'

'You had authorisation to send a single worker on a probe. Why did you download two to bodies? Why did you send a second on a probe? Why didn't you wake anyone up?'

'I... I don't know, sir.'

Mia winced, waiting for Albert to inflict punishment on Pilgrim. I understand why Jean fears him, she thought. I wonder if he can do that to me.

But instead, Albert did and said nothing. The silence stretched out, filled only with the distant noise of traffic.

'Are you finished, sir?' Pilgrim asked.

'No,' Albert replied. 'If one of those workers were here, one that we recovered from a probe, what would you say to them?'

'Marcus? Is he there? I'm so glad to hear...'

'You reported an anomaly,' Albert continued, silencing Pilgrim. 'Then you reported that the anomaly was instrument failure. As far as I can tell, you doctored the data from the probes. You did a very good job of that, but we found it eventually. So I think that the workers you sent out might know the truth of what happened, twelve years ago. I think that they might be able to help decide your fate. With that in mind, what would you say?'

'Marcus! I'm so sorry! I honestly didn't know that thing was there. I miss you so much...'

Albert tapped his pocket watch again, and pain flashed over Pilgrim's surface like a lightning storm. She wailed, a long low animal noise, jagged and despairing. It shocked Mia. Jean kept his face blank and dispassionate. Albert looked irritated.

'Marcus is dead,' Albert snapped. 'And I am running out of patience. The worker who survived is named Mia. I think she knows something, doesn't she? So tell me the truth, and this can stop.'

'I'm sorry, sir,' Pilgrim sobbed. 'I... Parts of me aren't working. I don't understand. Mia... I don't remember her...'

Jean showed the display to Albert, who nodded.

'Shut it down, Jean. Take a view as to how much we can salvage. Scrap the rest.'

'Yes sir.'

'You, Mia,' Albert said. 'Walk with me. I have some questions.'

The warehouse rang with the sound of screaming as Jean killed Pilgrim.