MAI: Medical Artificial Infantry
“Our ambition drove us to heights our morals may never reach.”
-Dr. Travis Prescott, during deposition
Banks of computers sat on barren desks. Usually mission control would be filled with people, papers, and data. Two men sat near the front, their forms illuminated by the blue glow of the monitor.
“Pulling it up. I can’t believe they found it,” Dr. Travis Prescott expressed with an equal mix of disbelief and fascination. Prescott’s eyes scanned lines of code like he was reading a news article.
“Now we can finally learn what happened on Alpha Minerva,” Dr. Charles Nedry leaned over the desk, his face inches from the screen. His ocular sensors processed the information on screen as fast as their processors allowed, but he still struggled to finish before Prescott scrolled further down. A birthday pin that read “Happy 151!” dangled from the lapel of his lab coat. He hated birthdays, and only wore the button because he forgot it was there.
Early in his career, Dr. Nedry was heralded as a genius and a driving force that would push humanity forward. He developed the first android model. Sentient, yet subservient, assistants to help with everyday life. The original models could do little more than wash dishes and take out trash.
“With any luck, we can see what happened to the colonists and the commandos that were sent,” Prescott said as his fingers ran across the keyboard.
“Grow up,” Nedry cut in, “We must learn what happened to M.A.I. 24601 and the results of EMPATHY.” M.A.I. or Medical Artificial Infantry, replaced human combat medics. Soldiers could receive surgeon level wound treatment on the battlefield as they needed it, and no one missed androids that didn’t make it home.
No sooner than Prescott had signed on, Nedry started his project. They forgot what beds felt like as they dozed off in chairs and on desks. They planted themselves in front of their computers and only moved for caffeine refills. Nedry dictated what he envisioned, Prescott turned words to code, and the months rolled by. After enthusiasm gave way to slave-like devotion and comradery turned to bitterness, EMPATHY was born. A program designed to replicate human emotion.
These two men sold the idea to the military with the promise of troops being able to receive treatment for PTSD, guilt, and even homesickness without ever needing to leave the fight. With government dollars coming in from around the globe, they’d had everything needed to create this dream.
“Connection established. We can access her memory files,” Prescott announced with more than a little self-congratulations in his voice.
“What are you waiting for? Play it,” Nedry barked. He was always impatient, but now it was at an all-time high. “And throw it on the presentation screen. I don’t want to have to squint over your shoulder the whole time.”
The monitor on the wall flickered on. At first it was just a black screen with the word INPUT in the top right corner. With a few button clicks, the screen came to life and showed a number of memory files from M.A.I. 24601.
“Looks like there was more damage than we thought,” Prescott said. “Most of the files are corrupt. We should have figured, given the condition it was found in.”
“Never mind that. Just start at the earliest one and work forward,” Nedry ordered.
The mouse cursor scrolled around on the screen and located the earliest file available, dated two Earth Standard months ago. “Here we go,” Prescott whispered to himself and opened the file. The screen flashed back to black.
07–12–2164 ES… 1600 HOURS…
…PROCESSING… RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS…OCULAR SYSTEMS UNRESPONSIVE…
“Can you hear us 24601?” a voice asked through the speakers.
…HUMAN VOICE DETECTED… RUNNING RECOGNITION…
“Don’t worry about your vision. Not all of your systems have been reactivated,” the voice explained. The tone was soothing, like the way people speak to someone waking up from anesthesia.
…RECOGNITION SUCCESSFUL… DR. CHARLES NEDRY…
“You are a very lucky android. You are the first recipient of the new EMPATHY protocol. You will lead the next evolutionary wave for android-kind. You may start to feel like some of your other systems are malfunctioning, but I assure you, everything will be okay. It’s just all of your programs resettling after this update.”
“Doctor, all lights are green. EMPATHY has successfully integrated into the mainframe,” came a voice from a speaker box. Without any visual cues, it sounded like it could have come from a fast food drive through.
…MOTOR FUNCTIONS UNRESPONSIVE… VOICE BOX UNRESPONSIVE… RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS… PROCESSORS RUNNING HIGH… ROUTING POWER TO COOLING SYSTEMS… MUST COOL DOWN…
“Yes, that was the day we first installed the update. What’s next?” Nedry asked.
“Looks like it jumps ahead two weeks. Just a sec,” Prescott’s cursor clicked on the next playable file.
07–27–2164 ES… 0400 HOURS…
The screen showed the inside of a cramped transport ship filled with fourteen people plus MAI. They wore military gear and many were holstering weapons they had pulled off a rack attached to the sides of the chamber. MAI was part of a Gorilla Hyperspace Off-world Strike Team, and these were the commandos she was tasked with keeping alive.
“MAI, give us the rundown on our mission,” came a voice that sounded like stones being smashed into gravel. The screen panned over as MAI moved her head to see Lieutenant Richards.
“Yes, Sir,” she replied.
… PROCESSING… DISPLAY ALPHA MINERVA TERRAFORM COLONY BLUEPRINTS…
“The colonists of Alpha Minerva sent out a distress beacon three days, twenty-two hours, forty-seven minutes, and eleven seconds ago,” she explained to the soldiers. She held her hand palm up and a beam of light came forth. The light spread out and formed a holographic image of the structural blueprints of the colony.
“Along with the beacon, they sent this holo-recording.”
…PLAY ALPHA MINERVA COLONY DISTRESS VIDEO LOG…
The light shifted again to display a picture of a woman. Her clothes were torn, she bled from a deep gash on her forehead, and tears streamed down her face. In the background, two other colonists barricaded the door into the room with whatever they could find. A fourth person loaded an old ballistic scattergun.
“Attention,” the woman said, the image blurred sideways for a second as a distant explosion rocked the recorder. “This is Alpha Minerva Terraform Colony 3B45A. An unknown organism has spread throughout the colony…” the video feed became choppy as the signal struggled to send. “We don’t know wha…is… It’s killing us… Must run… don’t fi… They’re everywhere.” The video feed faded away. Screams and gunfire blasted through the speakers as the sharp wrenching sounds of metal bending reverberated from the background.
The light from Mai’s hand switched back to the blueprints. “The message was sent from the communication center here,” A red blip appeared on the blueprint indicating the room in question.
Richards stood, but still had to stoop in their tight confines. “Our mission is a simple one. Some alien baddie gave our colonists a hard time. We will sweep the structure, top to bottom, people. Rescue any survivors we can, and put anything that isn’t human in a body bag,” He rolled a cigar around in his mouth. “And we’ll show whatever this ‘organism’ is that there is nothing badder in this galaxy than GHOST’s finest.”
“Always brash and cocky…” Nedry said as the lieutenant’s face filled the screen.
“I guess whatever they found was worse than they thought,” Prescott replied.
Nedry scratched at the scruff of hair on his cheek, “Let’s find out.”
The screen flickered back to life and bathed the scientists in a harsh green light. On screen, MAI had switched to her night vision mode. She was in the middle of the group as they moved down the hallway, soldiers creeping along in two lines, one of seven and the other eight. Her eyes darted around as her system absorbed and analyzed as much information as it could.
She clutched a Mark 9 Multi-shot Pistol and double-checked her ammo quantity on the display. Richards lifted a fist into the air and called the company to a halt. He whispered something to the man behind him, Sergeant Chris Birkin.
…AMPLIFYING SOUND…
“We’ve got a big room ahead. Schematics say it’s a cafeteria. Sweep it and report back when clear. We’ll over watch from here and keep your back secure,” Richards said.
…REDUCING SOUND… SWEEP AND CLEAR ORDER INCOMING… LEAD BY SERGEANT BIRKIN… I’M GLAD ITS CHRIS… ERROR… PROCESSING… MUST REBOOT AFTER MISSION TO PREVENT ANY FURTHER BREACH OF EDICATE…
Chris nodded. He lowered his grenade launcher he affectionately named “Delilah and radioed the team, “Matheson, Schroeder, Cole, and MAI we’ve got a sweep and clear.” MAI stepped out of formation along with the others and went to the front of the columns. They all took a quick look at the hologram of the cafeteria and nodded their understanding.
Birkin took point at the door as the rest of the team assumed their “breach and clear” positions. He nudged the swinging door open and slipped inside.
He signaled Matheson and Cole to swing around the right wall while he and the others went left. MAI felt a strange compulsion to take the second position, directly behind Birkin, even though she would ordinarily stay third.
The room pitch black and silent as death amplified every footfall and breath. They searched the room but found no signs of duress. They met back up at the center of the back wall as they confirmed their findings. Satisfied that the room was clear, they headed for the door.
In the center of the room, MAI picked up another sound. She stopped and radioed the others to hold. Birkin approached, “What is it?”
MAI liked Chris. He spoke to her like just another member of the team. Others spoke to her like a machine, but not him. “I detect something sir, hold a moment,” she focused on the sound.
With the sound singled out, she ran it through her memory banks to find a match. The closest she had was that of a length of rope suspended in the air with a weight attached to the end as it swung. It was like, someone had hung themselves.
She looked up…
Cocoons dangled from the ceiling, rows of them hung perfectly still, except one. In the corner of the room, the bulbous mass swayed gently as if a slight breeze pushed through. There was an air vent behind it, but her initial scans from the ship determined that all facility systems were offline.
“What in God’s name?” Matheson replied.
“Pretty sure God didn’t have anything to do with it,” Birkin answered to no one in particular. “Lieutenant, you’ll want to see this sir.”
Minutes later, the whole team was in the room, four guarded the door, while the rest worked on bringing down a specimen for examination. They set up a collapsible ladder against the wall and debated who should go up.
“Lieutenant, if I may,” MAI interjected into the conversation. Richards and Birkin turned toward her. “Sir, it makes the most sense for me to go up. If the situation is dangerous, we can make the discovery without any loss of human life.”
Richards stared at her for a moment and then looked to the ceiling. “And what of yours?” He asked.
“I’m an android, sir. Any damage can be repaired, and if not then it is still well inside the parameters of acceptable loss for the mission,” even as she said the words, her processors ran warmer.
“Noble,” Richards grunted. “Bring one of those down and do it carefully.”
MAI approached the ladder. She reached a hand to grab the first rung but froze. At first she thought motor controls had short circuited, but a quick diagnostic check ruled that out. It was as if some unknown force caused her to hesitate. For some reason the words “acceptable loss” played in her head again. She set a reminder to have a more thorough examination down when they returned to Earth.
She pushed past whatever mental block was there and ascended towards the cocoons. With each step, her systems grew slightly hotter. If she was capable of sweating, she would have.
At the top, she was able to see the ceiling coated in a substance that formed tendrils in a complex network of patterns. Using a utility knife from her belt, she freed the closest cocoon, hoisted it like a duffle bag, and came down the ladder. She laid her cargo on the floor.
“Open this thing up,” Richards ordered. Two soldiers started the autopsy while MAI pressed her finger tips against the side of the specimen. She ran tests to determine the composition of the substance.
The men sliced a seam the length of the cocoon and pulled it apart. A rancid cloud of death and shit rocked them as their hands struggled to release adhesive-like material.
“What the hell…” came a voice. Inside were human remains. The grayish-brown skin was dried out shriveled. Their eyes missing and mouth hung open in a silent scream. The body looked as if it was in the process of being mummified and left to hang until the work could be finished.
“MAI,” Richards called, worry tainting his voice.
MAI pulled her hand away from the casket’s sticky threads. “I’m detecting a majority of glycine and alanine. They seem to be forming spidroin 1 and spidroin 2. It’s not exact by any means, but the composition is still recognizable.”
“And what the hell does that mean?” Richards’ nostrils flared.
“It’s… it’s…” the answer caught in her throat. She desired to not say it, as if not speaking of it would change the outcome. Something was wrong with her. She had never felt these hesitations before. She had never felt before.
“Well, what is it?!” He barked.
“…Spider silk.”
The recording faded and the list of memory files reappeared.
“Amazing,” Nedry breathlessly whispered. “EMPATHY worked. It experienced feelings.”
“It hesitated as if it understood personal danger. Doesn’t this seem counterproductive to its primary functions?” Prescott posed the question. They had been in such a hurry to create EMPATHY, they didn’t consider the implications from every angle.
Nedry scoffed. “Nonsense. What we just witnessed was the first stages of evolution,” he spoke with all the wonderment of someone that had just attained Godhood. “Did you see how the program had integrated with the preexisting memory files and code? It used experiences to build a foundation for infatuation.” Nedry’s grin was like a wolf that cornered a rabbit.
“But that could be another issue that needs adjusted,” Prescott argued. He swung his chair away from the desk to face his mentor directly. “What if we find out that it is precisely these simulated emotions that caused the deaths of those men?”
Nedry waved his hand dismissively. It would seem that while young Dr. Prescott was gifted for this line of research, he didn’t have the stomach or will to see it through. They were on the verge of creating new life. What could this mean for the future of androids, and more importantly, what could this mean for the future of humanity. His head swam in thoughts of extending life indefinitely. Dr. Charles Nedry would go done in history as the man who defeated Death once and for all. What did the lives of some terraformers and jarheads matter in this light?
As his mind was brought back to the present, he realized Prescott was still talking.
“…I mean, this is way beyond what we initially predicted,” Prescott finished, not realizing he had been speaking to himself.
“Beyond prediction? How so?” Nedry pretended to care.
Prescott’s heart rate increased. “We wanted to create a program that would allow androids to understand human emotion, so they could better assist humans. But this… We already saw the program alter this MAI’s standard behavior. Not only that, but it’s now struggling to understand fear and love. The two most powerful and potently destructive emotions we have. Those alone could radically change the future of androids, and not for the better, not to mention the lives that could be at risk-”
Nedry waved his hand again and cut Prescott off. “Play the next one.”
07–27–2164 ES… 0730 HOURS…
MAI sprinted down a dark corridor. Richards and a handful of others kept pace. Gunfire sprayed sporadically down the hall from the soldiers. They were moving too fast to properly aim or even see what they were shooting at, panic fire.
…THREAT LEVEL 8… CURRENT MANPOWER INSUFFIENT… MUST ESCAPE…
The hall ended with an open doorway before them. Without hesitation, they burst into the room and slammed the heavy reinforced steel door closed. They spun the wheel in the center of the door to engage the locks. No sooner had the metal bars extended from the door into the ports in the wall, a massive crash struck against the door with enough force to knock back the two soldiers holding it closed.
“Seal it.” Richards shouted.
One of the solders pulled a plasma torch from his pocket and wielded the door shut. From the other side, monstrous shrieks assailed them. Whatever it was, it wanted in. It wanted them.
“Birkin? Schroeder? Someone come in dammit!” The lieutenant shouted into his earpiece. A brief signal responded.
Gunfire and screams pounded into the team’s ears, and was only occasionally interrupted by static. “Die, you piece of shit!” More gunfire, more screaming. “Cole? Cole?!”
“Jesus Christ, what did it do to him?”
“Reynolds? Can you hear me? Come in!” Richards turned to the rest of the team. “They can’t hear us. Some kind of malfunction has us cutoff.”
“What’s the plan, sir?” Matheson popped the clip from his assault rifle to check his ammo and slammed it back into place.
“They’re alive, that means we go get them. MAI, plot an interception course.”
MAI holstered her weapon and used the holo-generator in her hand to pull up the schematics again. “We are here, sir, in the living quarters. The signal we received came from hydroponics lab.”
“Perfect. How do we get there?” the lieutenant asked.
“Unfortunately, there are no direct routes with the exception of the door we came through,” her words weighted with human-like inflection.
Richards examined the blueprints. “Here.” He pointed to a section of the map and a red highlight formed on a wall he touched. “This looks like a wet wall in the showers. Could we blow a hole through it and reconnect with the lab?”
“Blowing a hole here will cause some structural instability but yes. Colonies like this recycle almost everything, especially water. We could use the utility tunnels. That would get us into the lab,” she explained.
The soldier with the torch chimed in, “We can’t go into tunnels. Not with those…those things running around.”
“We can’t stay here. Do you want to sit around while they figure out a way in?” Richards asked. The soldier cast his eyes to the floor shook his head. “I didn’t think so. Let’s move.”
The group traversed the rows of bunk beds. Each one a self-contained unit embedded into the wall. Signs of evacuation were everywhere. Clothing strewn about, personal belongings that didn’t make the cut as essential left behind. One of the berths had its privacy shutter closed. The lip of the bed all the way to the floor had been painted crimson. She couldn’t explain why, but she needed to know who or what was inside.
The shutter resisted her for a moment as something leaned against it. The weight wedged the plastic divider to rails. With a little more exertion, the weight shifted and the shutter rolled up. MAI gasped and a hand went to cover her mouth. Inside sat a man, a small hole in his temple, but the mess made it clear there was a much larger one on the other side.
Next to him, a little girl. Her blonde hair stained red. A plushy, stuffed penguin sat next to her with a small arm draped across it. In her hand, a stained recording. MAI gently removed the device from the girl’s delicate fingers. Blood had dried on the screen, but the play button still responded to her touch.
The little girl and the man, her father, were smiling and laughing. They both wore coned party hats. “Ready?” the man asked?
“Ready,” the girl replied grinning.
Simultaneously they cheered, “Happy Move-In Day on Alpha Minerva! From Roger and Maggie!” The image froze on a still of these two corpses smiling and hugging.
MAI set the recording down. Her legs felt weak and unsteady. She leaned against the opposite wall. Why did this happen? She wanted to reach out and comfort the girl. Why would he shoot his own daughter? She was too young-
“He did her a favor,” came a voice from the side. MAI leapt with surprise. She had never been startled before. “With everything we’ve seen, this was merciful.” The soldier shook his head solemnly and closed the shutter. “Closest thing we can do to a burial right now.”
MAI shook her head and fell back in line with the others. She glanced over her shoulder to look at the bloody bunk one more time.
…PROCESSING… MISSION PERAMTERES UPDATE… RESCUE MISSING TEAM MEMBERS… ESCAPE ALPHA MINERVA… RETURN WITH MORE FIREPOWER… ERADICATE HOSTILES… I… I WON’T LET THEM HURT ANYONE ELSE…
At the back wall, Richards and MAI double-checked the blueprints to make sure they were at the correct wall. Everyone found what little cover they could as a small explosive charge was set. Everyone held their breath. The charge detonated, sending shards of metal and plastic back into the tunnel. All weapons at the ready.
Eternity-lasting seconds ticked by, the all clear was given. They squeezed into the stomach-high hole. MAI held her pistol and scrolled through the different settings. Standard, burst, automatic, incendiary, cryo, and charged ammo types passed by for consideration. She settled on incendiary.
With everyone inside, they made their way to the hydroponics lab. Boots echoed off the pipes. Steam limited their vison. The humidity dampened hair and caused clothes to cling, but the lab wasn’t far. The gentle hum of the water flowing past would have obscured the death that lowered itself from a strand of silk behind them.
“Astounding,” Nedry awed. “This is what we hoped for! Sympathy, sorrow, understanding… Perfect.”
Prescott stared at him, “Perfect? Doctor this is far from perfect. There is also evidence of hate, regret, and even retribution. We’ve created something with unprecedented levels of danger.”
“Acceptable levels of danger,” Nedry corrected. “We can always tweak things later. Can you not see the marvel at work here? We’ve done it. We have given life to the lifeless. We took something that was little more than a toaster and made it human.” He already pictured the world praising him, like he had saved them from a great disaster.
“This requires more than minor tweaks,” Prescott argued. “A massive overhaul of the program is required to chase down these issues. Not only that, but what if we can’t correct it? If EMPATHY can’t be made to sort out all of the unwanted gray areas of the emotional spectrum, we’ll need to shut it down.”
Nedry frowned and his lips thinned to nothing. “Dr. Prescott, you were brought onto this team not only for your knowledge, but for your drive. If you no longer have the stomach for it, then say so, and I’ll relieve you from your duties.”
“My resolve is as strong as ever doctor,” Prescott fired back through gritted teeth. “But after seeing the evidence so far, any rational person would understand the issues EMPATHY brings to light.”
“The only issue you need worry yourself about is playing the next file.”
07–27–2164 ES… 0800 HOURS…
Outside the lab, the soldiers fired blindly into the tunnel. Whatever was behind them pounced on Ritchie and pulled Matheson back into darkness after several strands of silk wrapped around his ankles. MAI enhanced her vision and zoomed in as a scythe-like claw severed Matheson’s arm at the bicep. She raised her weapon, confident she could still save him when, from the side, she heard “fire in the hole!” She spun about as fast as she could, but the soldier had already thrown the grenade like a baseball.
The narrow confines directed the sharp blast. The force shoved everyone back a step as ricocheting shrapnel nipped at them. The clang of broken pipes added to the cacophony. Water flowed out of the tunnel like a stream. When the air cleared, she could she the creature and the two men had been cut to pieces.
…PROCESSING… NEEDLESS LOSS OF LIFE… I COULD HAVE SAVED HIM… I COULD HAVE DONE MORE…
Her head drooped as the weight of the moment bowed her shoulders. Due to their haste and need to get out of the crawl space, they were not in the hydroponics lab. MAI calculated that the entrance was down the hall and around the corner.
“All right,” Richards called. His regret was evident. “There are still others to save. Let’s move.”
Following the painted directions on the wall, they hustled to the lab. Light escaped into the hall from opaque windows. Obscured and blurry mounds of green shapes were seen within, crops the colonists grew for food. Another submarine like wheel, the same as the living quarters, held the door closed.
One of the commandos grabbed the wheel and turned it while the others focused on the nooks and crannies that led to their location. He grunted with exertion as the heavy steel replied with squeaks of its own.
“Almost… there…” He groaned. The locking bars slid out of the walls and back into their resting place. As he pulled at the door, a bone-shattering force threw it, and the soldier, bouncing across the floor. A spider the size of a recliner charged and reared up. Eyes widened and mouths fell open. A soldier screamed and slammed his finger against the trigger. The rifle pumped the man’s arm back with each blast. Snapping the team from their shock, more rifles joined in.
Bullets bounced off the thick exoskeleton like they hit a steel wall. A few ripped and tore their way through the underside of the beast’s abdomen and thorax. MAI sprinted for the downed man, each step she feared a claw or strands of sticky rope would grab her. She reached the soldier just in time to see his eyes widen with terror. She spun around to see the monster advance towards them. It let out an ear piecing scream that scrambled her auditory senses.
Eight sickly green eyes, like discolored pimples, honed in on them. Drool poured from its mouth as its teeth gnashed together. If she couldn’t see the rest of it, she’d have analyzed it as a shark’s mouth. The front two legs, tipped with those wicked claws, raised into the air to deliver a swift and final blow.
A blast caught the beast in the side and flipped it over onto its back. Legs flailed about in panic as glassy crystals formed and spread around the point of impact. Another fwoomp preceded a second blast. The crystals continued to grow and expand as it coated the monster’s body. In a matter of seconds, the legs slowed and stopped as joints hardened and froze. The entire spider morphed into an ice sculpture.
From inside the room, Birkin emerged holding Delilah. MAI leapt at the sight of the sergeant. Waves of relief and joy ran through her circuits. Her fingers and knees twitched as built up energy escaped. Her cooling system kicked in to lessen the heat emanated from her systems. He walked past the encased prisoner and snapped a quick salute to Richards.
“Status report,” the commanding office ordered.
“They’re all dead. Everyone, but me,” his face tensed as he spoke.
“You’re sure? You saw them die?” Richards quickly asked.
“No, not all of them,” Birkin corrected. “Some were webbed into cocoons and taken, but if it’s like what we found earlier…”
The lieutenant walked past him to be in front and center of the whole team. “If there’s a chance to save them, we’ll take it.”
Everyone eyed each other with uncertainty. Before anyone could counter, Birkin swung “Delilah” like a sledgehammer and smashed the spider’s frozen head to pieces.
“We need more ammo, sir. Bullets won’t cut it. We need explosives and incendiaries to kill these things. Cryo will work, but it takes a little longer.” He approached Richards. “I want these things dead as much as anyone, but we don’t have the capabilities right now.”
“We’re not leaving them behind. Now get back in line,” Richards ordered. The two men squared up like they were about to throw punches. Eyes locked, Birkin clenched his teeth as Richards’ nostrils flared. He gave Birkin an amused grin. Chris wanted nothing more in that moment than to put this smug bastard on his ass.
“Yes sir,” he said, hands clenched. Something tickled inside MAI’s head. She sensed the rising tension between them, and understood the silent exchange.
“Sergeant? I need your help here.” The two men eyed each other for a bit longer, and Birkin came over. “This man’s forearm is broken, would you help hold him down?” she asked.
Birkin eyed how the arm and hang hung over like a piece of rope. He gave a quick nod. “Now Janes, this is going to sting, but I’ll move the bones bake into position, and the gel will adhere them into place.” Janes took a couple deep breaths and put the leather shoulder strap from his rifle in his mouth. “Chri… sergeant, hold his shoulders down please,” MAI was glad she caught herself. She didn’t know why her etiquette slipped when he was around.
Carefully lifting the arm, she scanned the bones with the sensor in her hand. Instead of the blue light that recreated schematics, this one was red. A beam of light traveled down the arm, then back up, and then down again. With each pass, MAI saw muscles, veins, membrane, and bones.
“You’re in luck, while the ulna is cracked in half, you do not require realignment. I’ll just inject the gel to fuse the two pieces together,” she explained. “While you’ll have full use again, it will be tender, and I advise limited use to ensure the quickest possible recovery.”
The red glow of the sensor switched off as MAI’s index finger extended. The human finger casing split in half vertical from fingertip to the PIP joint revealing a six inch needle. With computer precision, she inserted the needle into the place of the break. Janes bit down on the leather, but didn’t make a sound. He had been through this before, they all had. The needle was nothing compared to realignment.
From the tip of the needle, the porous glue filled the seam and encased both ends. The gel dried almost instantaneously, restoring full motor function with minimal pain as the bone mends. With the procedure finished, MAI and Birkin helped Janes to his feet.
“Why couldn’t it have been that easy for me on Titan?” Birkin asked with a coy smile.
MAI wasn’t sure what to say, but was thrilled for the exchange. “Your leg required two realignments if it was going to function properly again,” she explained and returned the smile.
“Lucky me,” he smirked.
“We’ll backtrack the trail and see if we can find our guys,” Richards ordered and headed into the lab. The rest of the soldiers quickly fell in line behind him with Chris and MAI at the rear.
“Sergeant, if I may ask a question,” she started.
“Sure,” he replied.
“Scans indicate the hydroponics lab having only one entrance and the door was closed when we arrived. How did you get in?” MAI asked, not fully understanding how he could have escaped.
A grin curled the side of Chris’ mouth as he patted Delilah on the barrel and pointed to the rubble and blasted hole in the wall. Looking at the mess, he let out a little chuckle and for the first time, she joined him.
Nedry loudly sipped at his coffee. Every time he did, Prescott cringed, and then he’d do it again. He had already deemed EMPATHY a success. If there was any tweaking needed, he was certain he could do himself. Prescott had proven himself too soft to continue with such groundbreaking work. When they were finished, Nedry would have his lawyers draw up a new agreement for his colleague to never disclose what they had seen or worked on. Then Prescott would be fired.
Prescott tried to block the slurping from the desk behind him. He was fascinated by what he was witnessing, but when was it too much? Androids looked and sounded human, but were still clearly in the category of appliances. Like a car or an expensive toaster, people would purchase androids to assist them in their day-to-day needs. If left unchecked, EMPATHY’s current trajectory would change everything. He felt the gentle scrape of his chin stubble against the back of his hand, lost in thought, when another slurp roused him from his contemplations. He turned to see Nedry point his coffee towards the screen.
07–27–2164 ES… 1200 HOURS…
MAI ran. Birkin ran next to her and loaded fresh rounds into his grenade launcher. Hot on their tails, a stream of armored legs and biting mandibles. Birkin turned midstride and launched a barrage of canisters. The metal projectiles bounced off walls and monsters before exploding into a tidal wave of fire. Napalm licked at their backs and drove them faster.
She had the schematics pulled up on her hand and guided them along. They had to reach the reactor. The core was still intact so there was no risk of radiation. She believed… she hoped the reinforced walls of the chamber hadn’t been compromised. As long as they were still solid, they could take shelter there like a fort. Not even these beasts would be able to penetrate the layers of metal alloys that shielded the reactor.
Several spiders in front of the flames and escaped the initial blast mostly unscathed. MAI’s arm reached back and her pistol lit the corridor. She barely turned her head and fired three times using only the corner of her eye. Bright orange bullets tore through the air, leaving a trail of smoke and heat. Each shot found a soft spot in the leading spiders’ heads. They reared and screeched. Like a flashlight underneath a blanket, the violently increasing glow shown through their exoskeletons for exactly 2.537 seconds, as MAI calculated.
The resulting combustion emerged, not as an explosion, but as a stream of fluid. The lava like substance melted the outer shell like wax and the soft tissue and organs underneath held up even worse. Witnessing the carnage, Birkin let out a howl that transitioned into uncontrolled, almost manic, laughter. “God, I love incendiary rounds!” he shouted.
MAI analyzed the curious statement. They were all aware of the ammo type’s effect. She had already calculated the results and deemed them desirable. It was all simple math, but then she glanced back at her handiwork. She remembered all they had lost. She thought of Maggie. In that moment, she loved them too.
“Left,” she called at a T junction. They turned, and MAI suddenly grabbed Birkin by the shoulder and pulled him into an open doorway. He stumbled in and turned in time for his back to bounce off the back wall and not his face. MAI shut the door and held a finger to her lips. “What the hell?” stayed at the tip of his tongue as he bit down.
From outside, Birkin couldn’t hear anything, but readied Delilah all the same. MAI could hear every deadly, silent footfall, a faint click resounded with each step. The gnashing teeth, like a chief sharpening his knives. She counted two spiders.
The spiders clicked by, MAI relaxed, letting her hearing wander. She picked up Chris’ breathing. Mostly quiet as he forced air in and out through his nose. His heart beat fast but not rapid. Something about its rhythm was comforting to her. In a different circumstance, she felt as though she could listen to that song all day.
MAI’s finger left her lips, and she backed away from the door. Birkin relaxed and leaned against the wall before sliding down to the floor. MAI walked over and sat next to him. “We should be safe in here long enough for you to catch your breath and figure out our best route,” she said.
He nodded his head and closed his eyes. This was the first break they had since leaving the ship. His breathing slowed. MAI figured he dozed off. She knew he needed it, and let him be. She studied the map to find the fastest and hopefully the safest route to the core.
She committed every corridor, junction, and room to memory. They would make it, she would make sure of it. There was only so much to analyze and MAI found her mind wandering again. Being stuck in this closet reminded her of when secessionists took over a research facility on Mercury. The team had been pinned down, leaving Chris and MAI in a foxhole for three days.
She had worked with this man almost every day since her creation, now she saw him and their shared experiences with new eyes. She tried to focus. With her concentration on the map and her hearing back to normal levels, she didn’t notice his breathing change.
“Why did you save me?” came Birkin’s voice and MAI jumped from surprise.
“What do you mean, sergeant?” She replied.
“You know what I mean. Back there. When we got ambushed.”
“It was a simple algorithm. You had the highest chance for saving, so I followed the highest percentage of success,” she explained.
He smiled and popped open one eye to look at her, “Excuse my language, but bullshit. That thing was on top of me, I was dinner for sure. The lieutenant was closer and in less danger. Or any of the other guys for that matter.”
MAI thought back to that moment. They had been ordered into the colony’s gym, even though she had warned Richards against it. The room was huge and was a hub in the ventilation network. There were more ways into that room then they had people. The spiders came with astonishing numbers and surrounded the team.
Gunfire lessened as the screaming increased. Some of the soldiers were killed, others were cocooned and taken. She recalled the milky rope wrap around Richards’ legs. She was moving to save him when Birkin got buried underneath leaping bulk. She had an 83% chance to save and escape with the lieutenant, while Birkin only had a 40% chance. Something overcame her sensibilities and she charged the spider that tackled Chris.
It went against everything she was programmed to do, but when she saw Chris go down… Her need to save him overruled all of her programs, even as she saw the spider pin Richards to the ground. She put Chris before everything else, even as the spider retched and vomited an almost neon green substance onto the lieutenant’s face.
“I guess… I guess I don’t know why,” she admitted.
“Thank you,” he said, his gaze tender. “I owe you my life, again.”
“No thanks necessary, sergeant. You’ve done it for me,” she said and turned to see him smiling at her. “We’re a team.”
He looked at her for a long quiet moment. She felt warm as she looked into his eyes, and watched him smile. He stood up, using Delilah like a cane. “Let’s get the hell out of here,” he said. MAI nodded and checked to make sure the hall was clear.
…PROCESSING… IMMEDIATE DANGER… PASSED… CHANCES OF ENCOUNTERING DANGER… 100%… CHANCES OF ESCAPE… 5%… UPDATING MISSION PERAMETERS… I HAVE TO GET CHRIS OUT…
The scientists watched the memory end and sat in silence. They had nothing to say to each other. They had both become entrenched in their own opinion on the matter. There wasn’t much more to say. Nedry wanted to chastise Prescott. Prescott wanted to punch the old fool in his pretentious face.
“I’m sure I don’t have to explain to you that these files must be destroyed,” Nedry stated as a matter of fact.
“The military needs to see these. They need to know about the danger to the other colonies,” Prescott fought back.
“I would explain myself, but I don’t have too,” the older doctor spat. “When we’re finished, wipe the memory unit, and I’ll explain to GHOST that nothing was salvageable. No one can know about EMPATHY until I’m ready to unveil it.”
It dawned on Prescott that he would probably be terminated. Even if he wasn’t, so what? He could no longer work on this project. He wanted to see it destroyed. Nedry was too obsessed to see the danger. His face blanched white as he realized the truth of the situation. If he gets fired, Nedry would push on with EMPATHY without any counter opinion. He would charge forward, recklessly, even dangerously without any thought to consequence, and would make any evidence that stained his reputation disappear. A plan started to form as he played the next file.
07–27–2164 ES… 1800 HOURS…
…PROCESSING… UNFORSEEN COMPLICATION… CHANCES OF SURVIVAL… 1.36%…
The sheer shock of what they saw almost buckled their knees. They had made it to the reactor, but instead of finding salvation, they found death. Chris couldn’t break his eyes from the scene. The walls and ceiling were lined with webbing and countless clusters of eggs.
Chris reached over and took MAI’s hand. His grip firm but not tight. A gentle squeeze gave strength and urged her forward. She lead an easy pace, noticing Chris had slowed.
“They are using the heat and radiation from the reactor to incubate the eggs,” MAI said.
“I thought you said radiation levels would be negligible?” He leaned over the railing to better examine some eggs.
“Only if the core wasn’t compromised,” she explained. “My latest readings tell me that’s not the case.”
“We can’t let these things get out. They’ll take over ever colony on the planet.”
“We can overload the reactor. If we can establish a total core meltdown, it would emit enough radiation to eradicate not only the nest but everything throughout the base,” she ran the numbers.
“Can we be sure? If these things feed off radiation, how do we know a meltdown will do the trick?” His stomach turned as he watched the eggs. They glowed with a green incandescent light that showed the growing monstrosities inside.
“Over loading the core gives us time to escape… but,” she hesitated. “There is a chance some of the creatures survive.”
“MAI, that’s not acceptable. If we can end this, we do it,” he took both of her hands in his. His steely eyes looked into hers.
“If we can get to the core, enough damage to it will cause a chain reaction through the system. Not the biggest or strongest explosion, but the blast will be sufficient to eradicate the colony and surrounding environment. We wouldn’t need to worry about the radiation,” she explained as the numbers from this new plan fit into place.
“I didn’t want to grow old anyway,” he replied with a weak smile.
They raised their weapons, fingers on triggers, and crept down the catwalk. Sickly green light bathed the chamber, but MAI didn’t sense any activity. If they maintained their pace, they could reach the core without interference.
Side passages branched out every direction and crisscrossing bridges spanned the gap above and below them. MAI stopped in the middle of the bridge. Her Geiger counter readings surpassed dangerous levels. She turned and could see how tired Chris was. The whites of his eyes had already turned a reddish yellow and his breath was labored. She figured the core must be cracked and flooded the chamber.
“Chris, you’re not going to make it. Rest here, I’ll finish this,” she offered. She just wanted him to take it easy. Seeing him in such pain tore at her worse than a bullet ever had.
“No…no I’m okay. Let’s keep moving,” he forced the words out.
“Do you have your grappling hook and line?” She asked as a plan came together.
“Yeah, I’ve got it,” he wheezed.
“Let’s repel down. It’s dangerous, but will be infinitely faster than navigating the halls,” she explained, though she was worried that he didn’t have the strength to make the trip down.
“Let’s get to it,” he agreed.
With their lines secured, they descended to the core. MAI kept a slower pace, so she could stay with the slowing man. If he fell, she would be able to catch him. They were twenty feet from the floor of the chamber. In the center sat the core. Blue light overpowered the green glow of the eggs as the ten foot monolith gave power to the colony.
“Almost there, stay with me,” she urged him on.
“Chris!” Came a call from the last catwalk. “Where are you going?” From the shadows shambled Richards, dragging a leg. His skin was gray and dark-purple veins visible. “Have you come to join us?”
“Lieutenant?” Chris gasped. “I thought you were dead.”
“Dead? Far from it. I was chosen. I am one of them,” he continued toward them.
“Careful, his biometrics are like nothing I’ve ever seen,” MAI warned.
“Quiet machine!” Richards threatened. “This doesn’t concern you. Birkin, I can give you the gift they granted me. You’re strong enough to accept it. Join the family. Join the true rulers of this planet.” He raised his arms to sides as he looked around the room.
“What did they do to you?” Chris sputtered in disbelief.
“If you won’t see the truth, then you can feed the young!” Richards screamed and charged. He leapt from the railing and tackled Chris off his line and they both crashed to the floor.
“Chris!” MAI screamed.
Birkin landed on his side. An instant shock followed by an intense heat racked his body. At first he thought he landed on his own incendiary shells. His shoulder dislocating under the weight of the fall. He was sure that a couple ribs on that side broke as well. He spun onto his back, and Richards pounced. More beast than man, he rained blows down on the wounded soldier. Not punches but slaps with his fingertips arched like claws.
MAI loosened her straps and kicked off the catwalk into a swan dive to the floor below. She landed in a crouch, her robotic legs and suspension system mitigated the impact. With weapon drawn, she charged her former commander.
Richards ripped and tore at Chris, who could barely keep his arms up to block the blows. MAI’s thumb swiped through the ammo options and she chose automatic. With submachine gun power, she opened fire. Bullets punched through Richards as his body rocked back and forth from the impact of the shots.
MAI didn’t stop firing until her target collapsed backwards off Chris. With adrenaline taking away some of the weariness, Chris hastily crawled from his assailant towards MAI who knelt down and pulled her friend to his feet. Richards lay still with his chest riddled with holes.
Chris couldn’t form words, his breath shallow form the pain. He wrapped an arm around MAI for support. They approached the core, but Richards flew from the side and knocked them both away.
MAI rolled along the floor but recovered quickly. Richards planted himself between them and the goal.
“You don’t get it! They offer us a chance to become more. More than we could ever hope to be! Look at you,” The lieutenant’s shouts were directed at Birkin. “Broken and dying while the radiation feeds and empowers me. I can save you, I can make you more. You just have to stop resisting!”
Chris crawled away from Richards with his one good arm. MAI stood and opened fire gain. Bullets slammed his body, but Richards barely reacted. He rushed forward and slapped the gun from her hand. With a punch to the gut, MAI doubled over. He picked her up by the throat and tore at her face with his free hand. His claw like fingers removing the synthetic skin from her face, revealing the metal structure underneath.
MAI swung her legs up and wrapped them around his neck. Using her whole body, she swung down in an attempt to flip him off his feet, but he was too strong now. He didn’t budge. He flung his arm to the side, and threw her across the room. She smashed into the wall. He stalked towards her.
“Asshole!” Chris yelled from across the chamber. Richards spun and tried to shield himself from the rain of canisters. Fragmentation rounds blew the creature into the air. His legs blown off at the knees and an arm off at the shoulder. The crumpled heap spattered at the end of his flight.
Echoing throughout the chamber, countless stampeding legs raced into the room. Spiders crawled throughout the chamber as if the walls had come alive. MAI made it to her feet and retreated from the grasping claws.
“You don’t get it,” Richards spat blood as he spoke. “If you can’t see the truth, then I’ll show you!” He rolled on to his stomach and crawled towards Chris. Huge pustules formed on his face and burst. Six new arachnid eyes dotted his forehead. He cried out in pain as his gift manifested throughout his body. New chitin covered appendages grew where his legs and arm had been severed.
“Don’t you see the beauty?” It cried as its mouth elongated to house its new razor sharp teeth.
Chris loaded with weapon with whatever rounds he reached first. It didn’t matter at that moment what they were, just as long as he could shoot them at this new nightmare. MAI looked for her pistol. It had fallen through the grates into the utility shaft below.
“MAI, you know what to do!” Chris yelled over the chorus of screeching onlookers. “Some gift they gave you! Let’s see how it compares to the one I got you!” Canisters rocketed towards the creature. The first one froze his one human arm to his misshapen torso. The next land underneath the beast and sent shrapnel out in every direction.
Richards charged forward as another shot showered him in napalm. With the melting liquid running over his body and down his face, he screeched and swung at the man. With a swipe of his new foreleg, the bladed tip tore into Chris stomach and guts.
The man rag-dolled to the side. He held the wound with his good arm. Doing the only thing he could, he roared. He roared in defiance. He roared in protest. He roared to keep the behemoth’s attention.
MAI watched in horror as Richards disemboweled Chris. She ran to the core, scanned it, and found the crack in the casing. She thrusted both hands into the divide and wrenched.
Chris screamed in agony as Richards sank its teeth into the man’s chest and shoulder. MAI pulled, then she felt it, the heart of the mechanical beast. The lifeline of the complex. She pushed through shards of steel that dug into her skin and scraped her robotic bones. She had to reach the nuclear rod housing. Enough damage would turn the core from a reactor to a bomb.
Before she could end it, a powerful force tugged her back. A spider leg had torn into her back and pulled her away. She looked back to see an army of monsters. Mixed in with the spiders she knew, transformed colonists scuttled forward. Their mutated faces still resembling the people they used to be. She fought against the beast, but others joined in. Claws, teeth, strands of webs held her inches away from her mission. That’s when she embedded a mental note into this last file.
…OPENING MEMORY LOG… THIS IS MEDICAL ARTIFICIAL INFANTRY 24601… MY TEAM AND I WERE SENT TO ALPHA MINERVA TO CHECK ON A DISTRESS BEACON…
She fought against the monsters and reached for the core’s housing.
…WE WERE MET WITH OVERWHELMING OPPOSITION FROM AN UNKNOWN ALIEN ORGANISM… WE LOST EVERYONE IN OUR ATTEMPT TO CONTROL THE SPREAD OF THESE CREATURES…
Nedry and Prescott watched dumbfounded at the scene that played out before them. As MAI began her log, Prescott started a live feed of the footage along with links to other memory files. He sent the stream to everyone he could think of. Every person he had dealings with in the worlds’ governments, every reporter and journalist, even onto a freely accessible blog page on the internet. He ensured that Nedry would never be able to bury what happened.
…TERRAFORM COLONY 3B45A WAS DESTROYED… THE INHABITANTS KILLED… WE SHARED THE PRICE THEY PAID TO CONTAIN THIS THREAT….
She reached and reached until she grasped the housing unit with clawed fingers.
…WITH A 98% DESTRUCTION OF MY BODY FIGURED… I AM… HOPEFUL THAT THIS RECORDING WILL REACH SOMEONE… TO SERVE AS A WARNING TO THE OTHER COLONIES…
A bolt of discharged energy flew from her hand as she initiated specific self-destruct protocols to direct the resulting blast.
…FAMILIES WERE LOST BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T KNOW… MY TEAM WAS LOST… MY FRIENDS… ALPHA MINERVA HAS UNDOCUMENTED DANGERS…MILITARY SUPPORT IS NEEDED…
Nedry and Prescott stared. Journalists gathered around desks. Military commanders and political leaders filled offices and boardrooms. Millions, billions of people were brought together by this one link. They all watched as a blinding white light filled their screens.
…I HOPE EVERY CITY ON EVERY PLANET HEARS THIS LOG… MY DESIGNATION IS MEDICAL ARTIFICIAL…MY NAME… IS MAI.
