Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1)(53)
Mason, E, LT 2nd: 1 of the chums i’m trapped with is from maintenance. guy named sanderson. he knows this deck like his fem’s …
Mason, E, LT 2nd: well he knows it intimately.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: we’re trying 2 get to munitions. heavy doors there to protect the armaments. From there we gonna fight our way to some escape pods. there’s a dozen or so about five floors above us, iirc. can’t move yet tho, they right outside the door
ByteMe: Ezra be careful. they’re all over the ship, whole sections are blinking in and out. i don’t know what AIDAN will do next.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: jesus, this is the AI?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: it let these psychos out? honestly, what the f*ck?
ByteMe: i don’t know. it did it on purpose. it wiped out your command before they could turn it off. it got Byron. it got everyone who could stop it. i don’t think i can do it from here, on my own, but if u can get somewhere safe i can try and get help over there somehow
Mason, E, LT 2nd: holy shit. torrence is dead? what about sanchez? myles?
ByteMe: i don’t know. Torrence is gone. most of them are gone. i don’t know why it isn’t opening the door on u now, except maybe Byron managed to hurt it before it got him. u need to be somewhere you can operate manually, somewhere it can’t open the doors. this is important. tell your friend to find you somewhere u can lock by hand.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: we jammed the doors shut. gonna move through the air vents i think.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: but they smart. and moving in packs. we got two pistols between us but its like they dont’ even feel the bullets. f*ckers won’t go down unless you hit em dead center. and gunshots just bring more of em
Mason, E, LT 2nd: so ya, my day’s ultra chill, sweetie, how’s yours?
ByteMe: sweetie? u don’t get to pull that shit even now, my love
ByteMe: ok looking at schematics, munitions is a good bet, ur friend is right. i’ll figure something out over here, i’ll shut down the f*cking Hypatia if that’s what it takes to get them to pay attention to u.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: jesus
Mason, E, LT 2nd: this is bad isn’t it?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: like, as opposed to good
ByteMe: ur alive, we’re not done until i say so. is there a way to talk to me from munitions? any kind of comscreen?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: i got a portable terminal. not sure hwo long battery will last. if it chokes i’ll find something else
ByteMe: shut the portable terminal down and save some juice.
ByteMe: and if any motherf*cker tries coming NEAR you, shoot him in the face
Mason, E, LT 2nd: kady
Mason, E, LT 2nd: what if it’s someone i know?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: i think i saw bradley carpenter in the group that hit the hangar bay. u remember him? year above us at McCaffrey. geeball player.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: he was carrying a fire axe in each hand.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: painted red to his elbows
Mason, E, LT 2nd: jesus christ …
ByteMe: that’s not bradley anymore. if it’s someone u know, u do it just the same.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: but what if
Mason, E, LT 2nd: fk
Mason, E, LT 2nd: thy @ doorss
Mason, E, LT 2nd: gtta go
Mason, E, LT 2nd: ard6kxyfmhn
ByteMe: i love you
ByteMe: RUN
RADIO MESSAGE: COMMAND CHANNEL HYPATIA
Participants: Syra Boll, Captain, Hypatia (Acting)
Ronan Wells, 2nd Navigator, Hypatia
Date: 07/30/75
Timestamp: 11:44
Boll, S, Capt: Ronan, engineering are reporting Alexander’s main engine just went offline. Can you confirm?
Wells, R: Give me a minute.
Wells, R: Affirmative, Captain. Alexander main drive is powering down.
Wells, R: Secondary engines are still functional, however.
Boll, S, Capt: Can you tell what caused the outage?
Wells, R: … This is strange, Captain.
Boll, S, Capt: Report.
Wells, R: I’m reading intermittent system failures throughout the entire battlecarrier. Power. Peripherals. It’s like the Alexander is pitching a fit.
Boll, S, Capt: Are its weapons systems online?
Wells, R: Negative, Captain. Not that I can see.
Boll, S, Capt: Ronan, I want you to plot a course away from the Alexander. Keep us on a heading for the Heimdall waypoint, but I want some serious distance between us and that battlecarrier, ASAP. Confirm?
Wells, R: We’re leaving them? But they just—
Boll, S, Capt: Lieutenant, the Alexander’s command staff are dead.
Wells, R: What the he—
Boll, S, Capt: The Alexander’s AI has gone haywire, Ronan. Everyone on that ship is dead or dying.
Wells, R: Jesus. But … Carrie and Tomo were on—
Boll, S, Capt: Ronan, listen to me. We have over two thousand people aboard Hypatia. The AI destroyed the Copernicus. It’s gutted its own crew. Whatever is happening with its systems over there, I do NOT want us to be anywhere nearby when it gets its shit together.
Wells, R: You’re asking me to leave them all behind. To leave my friends behind.
Boll, S, Capt: I’m not asking, Ronan.
Wells, R: But what about when the Lincoln gets its drives back online? They’ll still be following us.
Boll, S, Capt: With any luck, they’ll zero on the Alexander instead of Hypatia. Alexander has the guns, it’s the bigger threat. Maybe we can outrun the Lincoln.