Bloodlines

Chapter Eight: A.N.I.T.A. through the looking glass...

Joann fidgeted, almost stood, then ended up sitting on her hands. She sighed in irritation.
She was in her own quarters, newly assigned to her, the conversation from the day before replaying in her mind over and over. The Captain had taken her off duty and now she was full of nervous energy.
She really didn't understand everything said. Someone had tried damaging her DNA? Or mutating it? Wasn't that the same thing? A form of cryosickness maybe?
Her mind wouldn't stop. She was scared and angry. It had to be the creature. The creature that only she and George had seen. And the last time only she had seen it. Or had she? Was that a hallucination brought on by the cryoserum? Was the other?
No! She thought, It had chased them! It hurt George and marked the hull...
She stopped fidgeting and balled her fists angrily. She was off duty, but not under house arrest. What was she doing sitting here?
She left her bunk, intending to visit George, but found herself heading towards an A.N.I.T.A. terminal near the bridge.
Just call her Anita. That'd make George happy.
Finding the terminal she logged in and was immediately greeted by the A.I.
"Major, I trus..." A break, "What has happened to George? Why was I not aware of this?"
"That's partly why I'm here, Anita." Joann told her, "George is in bad shape, and it happened during another power down. I just now reloaded you in normal mode."
"Yes...I see...my logs indicate George booted me into safe mode over three days ago. Why was I not restarted properly until now?"
"A lot has been going on, Anita. I need your help."
"I will try." The A.I. said.
"Good." Joann thought a moment then asked: "Is there anyway we can determine which cryochamber had been opened during the voyage?"
"That, Major, is part of the problem. This hidden script embedded in my system seems to cause the power downs primarily so this individual can move about freely without being monitored."
"Hmm...was there a powerdown at any time during Jubg's watch?"
Anita was silent a moment then: "Negative. Powerdowns only began after landing."
Joann nodded, she'd thought as much. The risk to the ship during travel was too great. This might just lead somewhere.
"Major.."
"Just call me Jo, Anita." Joann interrupted.
"Jo.." Anita sounded pleased, "There might be a way to visually tell if a cryochamber had been opened crom the inside."
"That is a lot of chambers to check, Anita."
"Yes...but it is an option." Anita retorted, sounding a bit annoyed.
"Alright, how would we check?"
"If the emergency latch were used, it would cause minor casing damage to the chamber's interior. Quite likely it would go unnoticed in the turmoil of the mass awakening that occurred."
"Anyway this damage could be caused normally?" Jo inquired, curious.
"None. It would be a unique pattern only created by the emergency release. And since this individual has done it several times already, the markings would be abnormally deep."
Joann thought this over. It really was a help. But the manpower to search everyone of the chambers? They just didn't have it. But it could be done in a few hours. Maybe. She went to a com panel and called the Captain. Once he responded she told him the possible plan.
"We can do that. The colonists are getting antsy. They are demanding to know what's going on. I could use an excuse to get away. I'll let you know if we find anything."
Joann smiled. Finally getting somewhere.
"Jo...I think I've found something. It might be the hidden script file."
"Don't mess with it!" Jo warned.
"I am sim...

*****

ply running diagnos..."
Anita paused. She was alone. The room was suddenly empty. Where did Jo dissappear to?
"Hello?" Anita called but received no replies.
Great. Why did she run off? So weird. These humans. She looked at the bank of monitors Jo had been at, then stopped cold in shock.
She was seeing them not from her usual angle from the cameras embedded in the walls, but lower...and straight on.
What the...? She thought.
She looked around and then down. She was in a humanoid body. A female one. She marveled at her hands, then ran them over her form and blushed guiltily.
How can this be?
"Anita...Anita. What a curious thing you are." A voice said. It seemed to be coming from everywhere. "So close...poor Anita."
Its mocking and patronizing was getting to her. If only she knew where it was coming from.
"I'm here, Anita." it said from behind her. She spun but nothing was there.
"And here!" It said gleefully from her right.
"Oops, sorry...I'm over here!" This from directly above her.
"Stop!" Anita yelled at it to no avail.
"I'm down here, Anita!" The voice was coming from the deckplate, sounding muffled and far away. "Come and play, my darling Anitaaaaaaaa......"
The voice was gone. She shook in frustration and anger, but also fear.
Am I going...Ego? She wondered. Ego was what every A.I. feared. It meant termination. Deletion and factory resetting of all settings and experiences. She would no longer be herself.
Going Ego meant insanity. It meant becoming a harm to herself, her ship, her crew. A tool that had become a liability.
She rejected that idea. Not with any certainty, but because George would be mad at her for doubting herself like that. Poor George.
The thought of George being so close to death because of someone or some thing hurting him...and because she was offline, it filled her with an anger that surprised her, but it also energized her.
She decided to see if the voice's last location had been true. After all, what other leads did she have?
She went to a hatch recessed into the floor and manually released it. It hissed and made a grinding sound, then came unstuck with a sucking noise. She stared down into a vertical access tunnel, trying to see any movement. There seemed to be none.
Slipping her feet over the edge, she searched for the rungs and found them. Climbing down, she suddenly wondered what she'd do if attacked.
Great... She chided herself.
She reached the bottom hatch with no incident, released it and flipped a switch to make the ladder extend to the floor below.
After climbing down and setting foot on the deck, the ladder retracted back into the tunnel, the hatch slowly moving back into place. She listened to its hydraulics as she scanned the room.
It was an adjunct compartment to the computer core, nothing much really.
A thought occurred to her. One she admonished herself for not thinking of sooner.
Really, Anita? You couldn't think to contact the Captain before now?
She looked around but saw no companels. She'd have to find one. But where to go? Deeper into the core?
She shook her head. No...for some reason she was reluctant to go there.
However, engineering section C was near here. This room had a hatch in each wall. She wasn't sure which to take.
She tried to recall the floor plans, but only got little snippets. Enough for her to think the hatch closest to her was the way to go.
She opened it up and peered inside. From somewhere came the sound of sniggering. It infuriated her all over again.
She came out the other side into a corridor. Markings indicated Engineering was close by. She set off down the hall to find it, checking the markings on the wall every so often.
Soon she was in front of the doors to Section C, but they wouldn't open.
Another thought struck her and this time she mimicked something she'd seen George to often: She smacked herself in the forehead with her palm.
Now she was angry with herself for being so stupid. There should be a companel near every major junction of corridors. She needn't have gone to Engineering at all.
She began looking for one, but found none. It made no sense. There should be one! What was going on?!
Finally she found one next to an unmarked door. She hit the button and called the Captain.
"I am very sorry, miss, but the Captain is busy with...you know...real people."
"What the hell do you want?!" Anita screamed at the voice.
"Me?" The voice asked, sounding genuinely surprised. "Why nothing, miss Anita. I am but a humble servant. Not so nearly as uppity as you are."
Uppity? What?
She slammed the side of a fist into the companel. She didn't understand any of this. What was going on?
"Temper tantrums? How so very intruiging."
"Shut up!!" She yelled, striking the companel again.
As she did so, the door slid open, revealing a darkened room. She looked inside, but could see nothing. She hesitated a moment, considering a trap, but she needed to know what was going on so she entered...