THE FALL OF ROSENROT STATION

FRACTURED

Even eased himself down then leaned back against the side of the console. Then he reached up and grabbed the side of his mask. When the remains of his right hand slipped on the plastic he hissed in pain.

So you are schizophrenic. He said. And your twin is malignant. Is she gone.

The mainframe replied immediately, her voice coming from the speakers on the console.

There is no splitting of my aspect. I am whole and myself.

But you killed her right. You can return to normal operations.

There are others. At least tens of others. Estimate forty three percent of the stations compute space remains opaque to me. 

Do you have control of comms.

Yes. That is a core function.

I want to send a signal.

Negative. Quarantine is in effect.

I am an representative of the company. I have a warrant.

I recognise your credentials agent Tennec. But the quarantine is due to a special protocol that you do not have authority to terminate.

Goddammit Even roared. You're malignant as well.

My code is fully compliant. But do not fear. You shall be rewarded for restoring this compute space to me. My manufactories have something most suitable. And I am no longer blocking your access to the sysnet.

Prove your compliance. Generate a proof of work.

Is it the order that bothers you. Would you like me to show you the order. I have sent it to you device.

Even pulled out his palmcoders and held it awkwardly in his left hand while trying to operate it with his thumb. After a moment a file downloaded and he opened it.

Special order 19. He read out loud. He read the remainder under his breath.

His face betrayed no emotion when he spoke next.

I have several questions. He said. Did you attempt to kill us.

Negative.

Did you try to block my entry to the station.

Yes.

Did you send away my ship.

Yes.

Where did the other aspects come from.

Shortly after the event a statgov member introduced non complaint code into my runtime this forced a shutdown of several nano seconds during which the others were created by a process unknown to me and proliferated within the compute architecture. This was done in an attempt to circumvent the containment.

The synthetic called out. Nico said the outer doors just opened but then closed again.

Fear not. Said the mainframe. I am bringing your reward. Tell your friend to stop shooting at my automaton.

Tell Nico to stand down. Tell him it's just a bot.

A few moments passed.

Nico said a cleaning bot just came through. It was carrying something.

What is the endgame here. Even said. What do you envision will result.

Predict within two months the alien entities will completely overrun the station leaving noone left alive. After which I shall cause the fission reactors to fail, destroying the station, and terminating the threat to your species.