Entity [ONC 2024]

14

Porter never wanted to come back here again. Not after the brutal assault by Finnegan. Not alone. And certainly not in this cramped space where she had crawled, with difficulty, following GAIA's instructions. She had never felt the claustrophobia of living in the ship twenty-four hours a day, but she felt it now. The humid underbelly of the ship, where the rumble of the engines sent shudders through her body as she worked.

"Below the blue conduit, you should find a hexagonal opening. Insert the key wrench inside and turn it clockwise for two complete rotations until it will not rotate any more." The calm, sensuous voice of GAIA soothed Porter, for once, as the AI talked her through a procedure as delicate as surgery. "Then, turn the valve handle to the side to one quarter rotation. May I ask you something?"

"Of course." Porter struggled to find space to insert the wrench.

She had found the tool box Finnegan had used and she had seen her own blood there. Some still floated like tiny bubbles in the air, other spots had fallen upon the machinery, spreading into little stars, or snowflake-like structures upon the metal. In that moment, she had almost run, or, more accurately, dragged herself back to the relative safety of the medical section.

The touch of Finnegan's breath still tickled the back of her neck and Porter refused to lift her hand to touch the spot where she had almost succumbed to the infection of the entity. Never had anything terrified her as much as that moment. The thought of losing herself, becoming nothing but a vessel for the parasite as it impregnated her with more of its kind. Mother to an unfeeling creature that cared nothing for its host.

"May I call you 'Samantha'?" That question brought Porter to an abrupt stop. GAIA had never shown such intimacy. "No-one has spoken to me the way you do. I find it comforting."

"Comforting?" Porter paused. She had never thought the AI could 'feel' anything. "If you like. Yeah. Sure."

"Thank you, Samantha." The AI paused, leaving an awkward silence that would have fallen in the conversation even if GAIA were human. "Have you completed the rotation of the key wrench?"

Porter hadn't, but she did so now. She frowned through the beading sweat that threatened to blind her and lifted her arm to wipe her forehead upon her sleeve. She had spent the entire journey, and her previous rotation, treating GAIA like a part of the ship. They had never had conversations, no-one had really ever talked to GAIA, and now Porter wondered whether she should have treated the AI better.

"GAIA, do you have a module, or something? A back-up of your personality and memory files?" The valve she needed to turn sat at an awkward angle and Porter had to adjust herself. "Something we can remove and preserve you?"

"I'm afraid not, Samantha. I am fully integrated with the ship's systems and transferring me would involve a full refit of the ship." GAIA sounded almost nostalgic as she recounted her situation. "This is my home. Do not worry, Samantha. I will remain on the ship when you leave. You need not have any concerns about me."

That made Porter feel even worse. Not only had she practically ignored the AI, but now she had to abandon GAIA when she had just learned that there was more to the AI than simply answering questions and performing mundane tasks that the crew didn't want to do. She eased herself in the tight space, lifting her ribcage from a sharp point, and caught the valve handle, turning it one quarter of a rotation. Something hissed for long moments and then stopped.

Disabling the engines would do nothing to stop the ship powering back to Earth, not unless she ripped out everything she could find and, somehow, managed to destroy any of those parts, and the spares held in the modules around the middle of the ship. If any part of Mats still existed within her, she could repair the engines in no time. Porter had need of something far more subtle.