Hugo stepped over and caught Jason as he tried to walk over to Mike, who suddenly looked like his wife standing in a red striped shirt and jeans on. Mike slowly walked towards Jason, who suddenly looked like his mother in her lab coat and trousers on. Hugo, standing in the middle and looking back and forth, saw the images of both mother and wife.
"I see, " Hugo said.
"What?" Both Mike and Jason said as they stopped and looked at Hugo.
"In order for me to explain your vision, I must first explain Mrs. Dodge..." Hugo said as he stood back, looking between the both of them.
"Mrs. Dodge?..." Hugo called out looking at Jason.
"Yes." Both images said simultaneously.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Hugo asked.
Mike's image put a hand to her chin in thought while Jason's image started looking around and finally ending on Hugo.
"Fascinating!" He said to himself.
"A bright purple flash." Both images said.
Not expecting that answer, Hugo gave it more thought.
Catching Mike off guard, he thought for a split second.
"Now that you mentioned it, I do remember a bright purple light before I passed out." Mike said as he looked at Hugo.
"I now have a theory on how Mrs. Dodge ended up in Farside but I will have to ponder on that for a minute. As for Mrs. Dodge's presence, I believe your...blue dude, Frankie, may have played a part in this." Hugo said as he processed the information.
"I may be able to explain that, " Nano said as he floated to the trio. "I believe Frankie programmed THIS particular A.I. to receive Samantha's...I'm sorry, Mrs. Dodge's unique energy frequency...her consciousness. It was DNA encoded to only infuse with Mr. Dodge and sync with Mrs. Dodge once it was close enough to receive her signal. He must have known you would come looking for this ship once it was known to you. Mike I believe was a planned bonus. He is...officially, a Hyderian and Krev hybrid, as well as Mrs. Dodge. Mr. Dodge, however, is something completely different. He is the very first successful organic and Farsidian A.I. integration. Both Mr. and Mrs. Dodge together are capable of great many feats. One of which places you as the new Hive Master. We are now at your service." Nano said as he bowed slightly.
Surprising everyone with that statement, Jason was actually at a loss for words. He looked at Mike, who still looked like his wife superimposed over him, then at Hugo.
"Why am I seeing my wife imposed on my son." Jason asked curiously.
"Because you sense Hyderian technology as well, or rather, your A.I. does. The projection is actually from Mrs. Dodge. By her now being a...split personality sort of speak, she can project herself as a holographic image along your retina via background imagery. Your son has a strong connection with her. That's why the image you see is imposed on Mike, which may also explain how he sees her in his own embodiment by him sensing her consciousness....fascinating." Hugo said as he thought some more.
The bridge crew, confused, all watched the whole event take place silently until the proximity alerts rang loudly.
Danny, being the quickest to react, scanned the area, saw that they were getting ready to crash into another ship, and engaged the maneuvering thrusters, all in less than a second.
The maneuver took them under the on coming ship so no one turned around in time to see it except Jason, but he only caught a glimpse of the upside-down broken pylon just before it disappeared off the screen. Before Danny could turn the ship around to view it, Jason had already recognized the pylon structure belonging to the Pegasus.
Samantha, picking it from Jason's mind, after a soft ping, took a sharp intake of breathe as the Pegasus came into view.
"The rest of the crew!" She said in sudden realization.
Do not worry Mrs. Dodge. Your crewmates are also preserved much like you were. The lesser destroyed your flesh, but the left ones somehow managed to preserve your energy sign...your consciousness until your arrival. We had just finished transferring them to their own A.I. unit before the lesser attacked. They are also on board, placed in stasis until the carrier suits are done." Nano said as he looked at the ship.
Although the Impala was much larger than the Pegasus. The Pegasus was still much too big to fit inside the docking bay, as Danny pulled up alongside the inert ship. He began scanning the ship.
"All 3,147 registered crew members are alive and well, sort of speak, with the exception of your son and wife...there was one fatality and one other missing?" Danny said as he turned and looked at the captain.
Jason felt Amanda's relief and sadness at hearing the news.
"It's weird, but even though their...conciousness is centered near the computer core, there's an almost spiderweb-like energy current flowing throughout the ship." Danny finished as he continued to scan the ship.
Suddenly, the Pegasus began to light up. It slowly moved away from the Impala and angled around to face it.
"It's charging weapons!!" Danny said as he converted the ship to battle mode.
Realizing he didn't have his nanite shielding, Jason ordered the Impala out of the line of fire. The Pegasus, damaged and crippled as it was, barely kept pace with the Impala's maneuvers as the wings went up and over while the fuselage went down and under. The XJ LASER II cannon blasters on the Impala's fuselage were not as strong as the wing's fusion blasters, but could still cut through almost any known Earth material. Hence the reason for the nanite sheilding. The Pegasus's prototype main cannon is equipped with it's same predecessor.
"They don't have any intentions on hurting us, but I suggest you try not to provoke them." Nano said as everyone stared at the screen.
"State your intentions!" A multitude of voices said in unison.
"I am Samantha Dodge of the NSA Pegasus, the current ship you're controlling. You are in the presence of those that helped you survive your ordeal..." Samantha started, using both Mike and Jason to speak as they moved to the front of the view screen together.
Just as she was about to continue, the Pegasus began to power down its weapons. A blue hollow shaft of light slowly formed in the middle of the bridge, causing most of the bridge crew to jump up with their weapons. The light formed a holographic humanoid without any details. It slowly turned its head as it scanned its audience until it focused it's eyeless head on Mike and Jason. Although it began to move at normal speed, it seemed to have teleported the few feet between them, and was now standing in between them facing the view screen. Mike and Jason, or rather, Samantha, never flinched, but simply turned to give it more room.
"It is now confirmed..." it spoke in unison. "You are one, but work as many...we are many, but work as one. How is this possible? What are we?" It finished.
It sounded scared and confused, although it never wavered. Mike and Jason (Samantha) turned to face it.
"You are a collection of minds all sharing the same thought patterns. Fascinating, you've also integrated into your own ship's central computer. In essence, you are the ship. You are...Pegasus." Hugo said as he studied the holographic entity with amazement.
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Pegasus (Farside Saga Book Two)
Ficção Científica"Are we alone?" That question has finally been answered, but the answer was much more than they expected. Testing a new form of interstellar travel called a Stardrive, the NSA Impala was sent to explore Pre-alpha, a new solar system discovered along...
