Shipping Part 2

"All right, my crew. This is your captain. Our delightful guest is getting antsy, so Ely and I are going to open selected doors to let them feel like they're getting somewhere. This message is only going to the ones who are safe. Stay that way. Stay put till you are contacted by me - we will start moving you around through deserted halls, in small groups where food can be delivered. We will soon send out recovery parties, but first we're testing a counter to our guest's persuasive powers. Stand by."

Your statement did not have your usual professional demeanor. You are stressed.

Not unduly. I want that bitch off my ship!

I also would prefer that female dog to be evicted, it is like a viral infection that is not isolated and compartmentalized within takeover parameters.

Athena opened her eyes. "Wang Jing. How much do you trust Alex?"

Wang Jing's almond eyes slid sideways. "Not very."

Alex bristled, but Athena stayed calm. "Why?"

Wang Jing sighed. "She's unreliable."

"Ah. Respectable answer. So, if she becomes reliable, would you work with her for a time, mind to mind?"

They all got quiet, stared at her with huge eyes. "You... you can do that?"

"Wang Jing should take over extraction. Look how they adjusted our plans, Ely and I, just by watching the vids. If they can link into Ely as well, and Alex gets boosted over her mind block, they can do it amazingly efficiently.”

Wang Jing's eyes had been shining, but they suddenly dulled and their head dropped. "I... I failed the tests for captaincy," they whispered. "I don't have... whatever it is they look for."

"Duress sometimes leads to epiphany. Ely and I have an idea. Come here, Chief." Wang Jing slid past Carlos, sat aside of Athena. A panel that hadn't existed before quietly opened behind Wang Jing, and Athena wrapped her hand around Wang Jing's wrist. They gasped to see circuitry light up, and... was it moving towards them? Where did it come from?

Wires, cords, and circuits were crawling. They coiled gently around Wang Jing, pulling them against the wall. Wang Jing scooted back, till their uniform was directly touching the bare electronics. The others watched, fascinated, as wires thinner than human hair waved themselves through the air, touched, and penetrated the cloth.

It took time, but the progress was visible. Wang Jing slumped, but didn't fall over, being held in place by a web of fine cables. At some later point - hard to tell time in the closet, though they could look at the time stamp on the vid if they chose - Athena waved Alex over, and the process was repeated at a different segment of wall. Jabari had to squirm away, as did Athena herself to accommodate bodies moving around.

They knew it was working when the vid got brighter, and started flickering again. Slower, but at a respectable speed. In the background, Athena murmured, "All right, my lovely crew, we are starting extraction protocols. I am turning control of the process over to our Chief of Security, backed up by the Chief Therapist for protection just in case our delightful guest tries something mental. You know what Ely's voice sounds like. This will sound similar, but with a human echo. It was the quickest way we could think of to differentiate without getting sucked into our rude guest's delusions. Good luck, and good hunting."

Athena opened her eyes to see the others watching the vids. Wang Jing's mind was directing individuals to other singles or small units, and allowing them to pick up weapons and food from dispensers on the way. They could see infiltrators in the larger groups, so they were left alone for the moment. Only when crew and innocent tourists were safe and behind suddenly-locked doors again did other doors slide open, and her crew would come hustling down the corridor trying to find the rest of their people.

Those were led into empty rooms, or down dead ends, or into echoing rooms devoid of life. Alex was swearing softly on occasion; she could see wounded crew as camera images jumped from room to corridor to closet. Jabari would tense, but Athena touched their arm. "We don't have a way to defend ourselves from the bitch yet. Wait till we find out if our plugs work."

And just in time. Darien was climbing back in. He was red in the face, and looked pissed. Athena just smiled. "Told you to come right back. Sorry the panels didn't work for you to get to the engineering section."

He looked about ready to explode. Athena gave him a look. "Focus, Chief. Report."

He huffed in exasperation. "Got the plugs to our volunteer, last I saw he was heading down the corridor that was lighting up as he moved."

"I have him." That was Wang Jing's voice coming from a speaker. Eyes glued to the vid screen. She was striding down the corridor, surrounded by her people. They saw him, he tried to limp away, they caught him - gently, though. And she started talking to him.

Alex's mouth tightened, and her muscles twitched. Their poor volunteer's eyes glazed over like he was being taken in. Wang Jing shook her head, smiling. And when they turned around and headed back to the bridge, they could see him also shaking his head.

"That's our signal," Alex's voice said quietly, through a different speaker. "He doesn't belong to her. He's still ours. I can hear it too, in his mind. So whatever she does, it doesn't work over a mind link."

"We adjusted on the fly. It looks like a combo of twisted mental gift, augmentation implant, and voice modulation. The hearing aids are now basically glued in; they'd have to take his skull off to pull them out."

"Drastic. Let's hope they think it's part of his equipment."

"She has never been thwarted, so she has no suspicion of deceit. They think he can unlock more equipment on the bridge."

"And we will let them think that. Let's work on a pattern of frustration..."

*********************

Finally, they were getting somewhere!

Her people got through the door and off the bridge, and the facilities were right there with open doors. She made one of her people stand in the doorway while she went, just in case there was a way to seal the doors while she was alone.

They stayed open, so everyone facilitated in teams. Nothing happened.

Off they went, looking for someone, anyone. It took time, but they did hear voices coming from further on.

Then they found him! A junior crew member, easy to convince, easy to bring back to the bridge. He'd get it working!

Soon, the stars!

**********************

Okay Ely, we'll give them limited communication, but with audio filters in place. Give it a delay, so I can mess with her.

With pleasure. Video?

Might as well, it'll do her followers good to see her thwarted.

Time for payback, bitch-

Over the vid-com came the most horrible screeching: squawks, high-pitched ringing, sounds like braying, squonks, honking. You could barely hear through the static: "I am now in control of the ship-"

Athena's voice cut in: "I sincerely doubt it, honey! This. Is. MY. Ship!"

Vids showed the response: absolute shock from herself and her followers, hope from her crew that were still held hostage.

"So. You have a choice: surrender peacefully, and face arrest and jail on Terra. Fight, and lose. And for each of my crew that you mistreat or hurt, there will be serious repercussions. But let me reiterate: I am very much still in charge of this ship, you have taken some of my crew hostage, and You. Will. Pay. For. It."

She opened her mouth to reply, but the video went wonky, and the noises coming out of the speakers sounded like an entire zoo, though it leaned heavily on donkey braying. And it cut out.

Wang Jing twitched, and one of their extraction teams darted into a suddenly-opened door on a random deck, shot quite strategically, grabbed captive crew members, and darted back out. The door slid shut and locked. That scene repeated around the ship, as teams of three to five hustled through corridors and got their mates out of danger.

Jabari was incensed, staring at the vids. "Those monsters! Are those primitive guns?"

"Yes, and we have laser pistols, which they just can't seem to locate. So. Darien?" His hand glided over, with another freshly-made pair of ear plugs in it. "You can now get to your patients safely. Put these in, and Godspeed." He was gone, scrambling through the ducts, following Ely's lighting prompts.

"Captain, may I-"

"No, Darien. Make another set, then another. No one leaves here till everyone gets a set. And the next foray will be for food." That gave him the impetus to work, though his face was dangerously red.

His blood pressure is quite elevated.

He hates it when I dismiss his ideas or wishes. This time, he will have to live with it.

They could hear her screaming through the bulkhead. Apparently Wang Jing was feeding the main monitor selected vids of her people losing their prisoners. She saw her people beginning to lose, and couldn't deal with it. The ship quietly made sure the noise that got through multi-metal walls was properly modulated.

***********************

"Next pair done, Captain. But there are more modifications than previous ones. The ship suggested, and okayed my upgrades."

"I saw, and agree. Those are for Carlos. Remember, she can't get you, or we're truly fucked."

Carlos nodded, slipped the earpieces in - and spasmed violently. Athena was already prepared, throwing herself around him bodily so he didn't crash into the bulkhead. He was breathing heavily, but the spasms slowed, stopped.

When he finally opened his eyes again, they were huge, staring at Athena. "Is... is this... how...?"

She patted his arm. "Yeah. Scary but wonderful, isn't it?"

"Oh. I'm in love..." He leaned back, staring at the wall dreamily. Athena smiled, nodded at Darien. "Four more sets, please, then we can plan."

"Four? Who's left out?"

"Me." Her crew stared at her in panic. She smiled, but shook her head. "Not for that reason. Remember, Ely's already in my head. Now that we know how that bitch is doing this, the ship can directly affect my auditory nerves in such a way that I never hear her. No further implants needed; I already have them, and there's a sneaky little micro cable over here that Ely's been feeding me modifications with."

"Speaking of..." Inaya nodded at the vid. "Looks like she's trying to rally her people again."

"Let me and Ely mess with her some more." Athena smiled cruelly. "It's time for more payback."

****************

Even with her poor single crew guy trying to bring up the vid system, it kept shorting out! And when she'd try to contact her people, the Captain's voice kept cutting in!

Only when the vids started showing the crew fighting back did she begin to suspect something.

She needed to contact her people!

So she urged the crew guy - her guy - to work on giving her a clear audio channel to contact the rest of her people. He did all he could, but all the channel conveyed was a rather horrible station that played...twentieth century country-western music?

She took to swearing under her breath. Her people were getting nervous.

****************

Two more sets of ear plugs later, they were inserted into Alex's and Wang Jing's ears. Their quiet thank yous came though the speakers. Athena nodded. "Those were easier, since Ely's already tied in somewhat. Inaya, you get the next set, but we're going to take a calculated risk. We need food up here, our small stash is gone. If we send you into the corridors, making sure the bad guys are sealed up, can you dump our latrine and get food and cleaning supplies from one of the cabinets? We'll point the way and make sure you're safe."

"Sure, Captain. Just keep your modified eyes on me."

"Every microsecond." The panel they were using as an exit popped open again. "Follow the lights, and be careful with this bucket." She carefully handed over their improvised facility. "Good luck, listen for Alex's or Wang Jing's voice telling you how to proceed." She nodded, and was gone.

Darien stewed. "Patience, Chief. I know. Please, think about it. Look at Carlos. He still hasn't recovered from the modified plugs. Wang Jing and Alex are already incapacitated physically while they're wired with Ely. It's taking longer than we anticipated for our poor humans to get used to their new reality. That leaves you or Inaya, and you need to keep making plugs."

Darien thought while he worked on the next set, but he was still mad. He glanced at three inert bodies. At his captain. Then he thought some more as his fingers made adjustments almost independently. "What's the difference?" he finally asked. "The first set and Jabari's were almost identical. These three, had different enhancements. What does that mean?"

"Jabari is an excellent doctor, and they needed to be mobile immediately. My volunteer also needed to maintain mobility in order to be bait. With Carlos, he's already half computer, with as much time as he spends with the ship's mind. I should know. So his modifications make him the equivalent of a senior officer, not just a junior. This situation is close enough to war time rules that I'll make them up as I see fit. Alex and Wang Jing were already wired in, the earplugs just make the modifications permanent with additional auditory protection from our lovely guest. Not terribly ethical, but what choice did we have? This is a battle, and she almost won. We were prepared, and she still almost won! We became guinea pigs as soon as we volunteered as bait."

"Oh. The... implications...."

"We have to be a tight team. With Wang Jing and Alex already tied in, Ely can make more adjustments while we're mobile without losing more time for us bio units to adapt. The new type of plugs represent a permanent ship link, by the way. More like a cochlear implant than hearing aids."

"I was too busy making them to realize all the ramifications."

"Now, the real question: why are you last? Because you are the one making them, and I can protect you. I know you'd be much more comfortable in your domain instead of mine. I get it. But this isn't about ego, Chief. This is about getting that fucking bitch off our ship, by an unsecured airlock if I have to, and getting back to our lives with as many of our crew as I can."

He chuckled. "Actually, Captain, your ego is bruised, but not by me."

"Yeah, I'm rather steamed that she's on my bridge, and I'm not. Stuck in a closet barely big enough for us? Ely expanded it, but can't do much, considering what's behind the walls it's moving. Not my idea of a fun way to spend the night. Honestly, I'd rather be in engineering myself."

"Yeah, we all know you're getting it on with my second." He tried to hide his reaction, but Athena caught it.

"Jealousy, or worried that I'll replace you with him?"

He was quiet, worked for a while. Then he sighed. "I think, a bit of both. But mostly the second."

"We would never do that. He's good, but young. We want the best. As headstrong as you are, you are the best engineer in the fleet. Even if you do know it a little too well."

"Captain, that's not the first time you've said 'we'. Just how tight are you with the ship?"

Athena crawled over to him - with two less bodies, they had a bit of room - and stopped him working for a moment. She touched his chin, gently guided him to look her in the eyes.

And in the dim light from the vid screen, and the way she tilted her head, he could see the circuitry lining her eyeballs.

"Holy shit, Captain!"

She just smiled. "Fastest in the fleet for a reason, Chief. We are very, very competitive."

He could see the message being written on the inside of her sclera a few seconds before Alex said softly, "Jabari returning, Captain. Inaya returning as well."

"Good. Just what we need, some relief. Get some rest if you can. Once the plugs are done, we'll work on the next part of the plan."

********************

"Guns, Athena! They used guns! Bullets! Gaping flesh wounds! So much suturing, regenerations! Ely's complaining about all the equipment use! People are dead! I couldn't bring them back! Barbaric, inhuman-"

"Easy, Doc. I know, I know, believe me. You did the best you could. You saved some of them. Some of your teams kept others alive till we could move them for treatment. Remember, they went low-tech on Terra and thought it would help them here too. They were almost right."

Even as furious as he was, his sharp eyes spotted the inactivity of his crew mates. He slowly reached for a trank gun. "Did she get to you, Athena?" he asked quietly.

Darien chuckled. "Check the vids. We wouldn't still be cooped up in the closet if she did. These guys got a tech upgrade. When they wake up, they'll be integrated with the ship, same as our Captain."

He glanced around. Checked the vids for veracity. Whistled. "Damn, Captain! Isn't it crowded in there?"

"Hardly. When this is over, you can get the same upgrades if you want. Ely and I figured out a way to have more than one human linked directly to the ship, and Darien made the tech that keeps it going. Amazing what some major stress can do."

"Congratulations, Captain, your fortune is made."

"Pffft. Our fortunes are made. There will be enough made from this discovery to make the whole crew more than comfortable for the rest of our lives, plus full death bonuses for those we lost."

"That's....awfully generous of you, Captain."

She tapped her head. "Try getting out of a fair agreement when your alter ego has a different set of values than an individual bio unit. Think about it, people."

They did, even as Inaya got her plugs, and Athena settled her gently in to sleep it off.

**********************

"Where's the food? Where's the weapons?" She couldn't help herself, she was screaming in the poor fool's face.

"I... I don't know!" he wailed. "They're supposed to be here! They're even marked! This is where we keep the food, and that's a weapons closet!"

He was actually crying, he was so scared. She pushed him out of the way impatiently and stared into the empty space that should have been chock-full of all sorts of snacks for off-meal nutrition - isn't that what the info-vids and advertisements said, on Terra? He'd managed to get them to open, somehow, but the doors were swinging wildly, and both were disturbingly empty.

She heard a whoosh behind her, and a gasp. She and her people whipped around to see an access panel closing, and hands pulling the startled crew member into the wall.

Her people fired out of reflex, but that turned out to be a mistake. The bullets bounced right off the metal, and ricocheted through the corridor. They hit the ground, but the screaming started. Her people were wounded!

"Back to the bridge. Let's see if there's a first aid kit somewhere."

Funnily, there was one at the facility head. The only cabinet they could open on their own.

*********************

"Letting her have a first aid kit is better than what she did for our people! she left ours to bleed out and die!"

"I know, Doc, but until we can separate bad guys from really bad guys, we have to assume at least some are under her spell but can be rehabilitated."

Wang Jing was doing slow, careful stretches now that they were no longer tied to the wall with wires and cables. "Our volunteer has been safely evacuated. Only some minor injuries on all teams, and being treated. Also, we are getting reports of her people realizing what they've done, and surrendering to the crew they were keeping hostage. We are holding them in small groups in separate rooms in case of deceit, with bare minimum facilities. It looks like sixty percent of our people are safe, about forty percent of her people are neutralized."

"Excellent. Alex?"

She was getting a massage from Jabari, to release a kink she got in her neck from being tied to the wall. Athena wished she had time for one too. "I can hear people, Captain. I can turn it off, too. It feels so amazingly good, like I've got balance, after never having it before. If I concentrate, I can focus on individuals or small groups, but it feels like the range might be expanding. I can get inside specific minds if I really, really concentrate. I'm staying out unless it was to give orders to crew and visitors, or convince enemies to surrender. It's a fully open channel, and I have conscious control, unlike before. I think... given enough sleep and recovery, maybe I could stop her voice."

"Also excellent. Strategy time. Inaya's out of action, I need to stay here and protect her. Darien needs to stay to make the last plugs. Jabari, do you want to do rounds again?"

"Yes, I need to check on the severely wounded. Ours first, then maybe hers, with safety teams."

"Wang Jing, do you want to escort him to his patients, maybe use the extraction teams to get them evacuated to sickbays? Then come back for Carlos, get him to Nav in safety with your teams? Then strategize for us to take out the large hostage locations? You know, nothing big, just another Friday on the com."

Wang Jing almost smiled. "Indeed, that can be implemented smoothly." The two left, and Darien worked hard on the last set of plugs for himself, swearing under his breath.

He was getting an unaugmented pair. They were running out of time for any other plan. He could feel Athena's enhanced eyes on him, and when he glanced up, she touched his arm in sympathy. He didn't flinch, but he wanted to. "Later, Chief. When we get through this, I'll help you myself."

He nodded, and went back to work. But he didn't swear anymore.

****************

She tried to get to her people. She really tried.

Though the codes that the crew guy taught her didn't work all the time, they could finally get to other floors without using the elevators. But no matter where they went, or what level they got to, they were met with blank walls and more empty rooms than she ever thought possible.

Where was everyone? Did they memorize the layout for the wrong kind of ship?

Snack dispensers didn't open. Weapons cabinets certainly did not. Occasionally they'd find one already opened, with everything missing. So someone was getting in, but who?

And where were they now?

She was swearing constantly now, and her people were eager to look for someone to kill for her.

Part 1: https://vocal.media/futurism/shipping-part-1

Part 3: https://vocal.media/futurism/shipping-part-3

Part 4: https://vocal.media/futurism/shipping-part-4