IV || [BL | MxM | Sci-Fi | Romance | Mystery]

The Ghost | 2

Work has always been the perfect trap for his mind. He declined the commanders' offer for time off to grieve; the silent confinement of his quarters weighed him down. After all, drowning problems in projects was the typical 'Ray thing' to do, as Jake used to say.

A lump rolled up his throat. How on earth is he going to tell - Mom, Jake, everyone, - that Damian died. How will he even face them when he returns? The same thought had already pierced his mind so many times, but now it brought even more pain.

"Don't," he told himself, his voice so distant and detached he could barely recognize it. "It's not the time to fall apart. Morrow said the unit appeared undamaged, so there's still a chance to retrieve the ship's logs."

The empty hallway ended with the door to his lab. He dialed the lock code...

"Heyo, Ray."

He froze in the doorway.

The past several days he spent in such a numb, even catatonic state, that he started to wonder if all his emotions ceased to exist back when he stepped outside of the MED-1.

Apparently, that wasn't the case. Seeing Max messing with his equipment, in his lab, and poking his nose into the matter that was of utmost importance, sent Ray's blood boiling.

"Why are you here??"

"Thought you might need some help. They said you requested opening an investigation case, and I've always been into this detective stuff, ya know."

Ray growled. "There's no 'detective stuff'. Surely no stuff for you...Don't you have some drones to fix?"

"Did I tell you I studied basic Euclea programming back in.. eh.. never mind. Anyways, I ran a couple of tests, and boy this thing is like, useless now."

Ray glared at Max, then at the android lying on the workstation table, then back at Max.

"...you mean?"

Max finally turned away from the screens to face him, rocking on the chair despite it being un-rockable by design. He seemed even more ruffled and excited than usual, which was never a good sign.

"Well, I ran a full scan on the memory clusters, and 78% of them are effectively landfill. Come, take a look." He went back to drumming on the keyboard. The screen pulled up a long string of reports and scan records. "Both the hardware and software seem intact, but the memory is mostly wiped out."

Ray let out an exasperated sigh.

"Max, please."

"I never saw anything like this? But there are no traces of hacking or any faulty processes. Just error reports all over."

"Great, I'll deal with it. You can go."

"You see, it's a standard Unit IV, and they don't have any external memory modules, so whatever was in those clusters is lost for go..."

"MAX!!"

Max gaped at him.

Ray almost choked. In half a year since he joined the crew, no one ever heard him raising his voice. He could lose his temper in the inner circle, but never allowed himself to lash out at subordinates. Ray felt the tips of his ears setting on fire from embarrassment.

But before he started mumbling an apology, Max patted him on the shoulder and gave him such a beaming grin that it left Ray completely dumbstruck.

"Yep, if you need something, gonna be at m'lab. Just don't push yourself too hard man, we're worried about you. Take care."