The Shard

Captain’s log, day one hundred thirty-seven: We are past the halfway point of our supply delivery to the outpost of Tau-15. The Sprinter is working optimally, all crew members are at peak performance to ensure smooth operations.

Captain’s log, day one hundred forty-two: Our scanners have picked up an unusual signal. I decided to go investigate in case it was an unknown distress beacon, though, it does not seem to respond to hailing frequencies. The detour will only take us two days out of our trajectory, an acceptable delay while helping a waylaid crew… or to get good savage from a ship’s husk.

Captain’s log, day one hundred forty-four: The signal came from an object. We brought it on board to investigate. It is two feet in length and made of a singular piece of an unknown grey metal alloy. Our scans have failed to provide any identification or details of its construction or origins. Maybe someone on Tau-15 will be interested in purchasing the find to make up for our fuel usage during the detour.

Captain’s log, day one hundred forty-seven: The crew is growing restless. Many say they feel watched. I would say they’re just tired of being locked inside a ship for too long, but I feel it too. There have been several reports of equipment malfunctioning, though the techs can’t find anything wrong when they inspect them. I ordered the pilot to increase our speed despite her objections about fuel cost.

Captain’s log, day one hundred forty-eight: Our navi systems are down. No errors could be found inside the ship’s consoles or any circuitry. One of our engineers, Hank Johnson, went outside the ship to check on the scanner. His oxygen supply from the ship was interrupted before he even reached the scanner port. The poor man suffocated while we struggled to find the disruption or tear or whatever caused the oxygen to stop flowing. We can’t risk retrieving his body, so now it follows in our wake, tethered still by the umbilical. The restlessness is growing, everyone avoids going to the cargo bay. I want to jettison that accursed thing we picked up. I believe it’s interfering with our systems somehow, but I can’t bring myself to cross the door to the cargo bay either. We increased the ship’s speed once more without debate from the pilot. We need to end this voyage without delay, profits be damned.

Captain Henderson woke up from the frantic banging on his door. He had just started to drift to sleep when he heard the pounding and got up groggily but with haste. He slammed his hand on the door scanner, ready to yell at the crew member who disturbed him, but he stopped himself when he saw the bloodied face in front of him.

After the initial heart stopping shock of seeing the young crewmate like this, Captain Henderson composed what was left of his last nerve and managed to fire off a swear or two and ask, “What happened to you Jenkins? You scared me half to death, you knucklehead”, as he poked his head into the hallway. That’s when he heard the panicked screams echoing down the corridor. More seriously this time, he asked, “What’s going on?”

“The automated defense android sir, it’s been activated!” answered the young man, panting and wide-eyed.

All color drained from captain Henderson’s face. That should not have been possible without his voice command and palm scan, and that war machine was only to be used if the ship was being boarded. All crew members also had a patch on their uniforms that would allow them to bypass the android in case of emergency, yet it was attacking them.

“Where is it now?”, asked the captain as he pulled the injured crewmate inside his quarters.

“It was in the dinning hall last I saw it, sir,” Jenkins stammered out before falling into a whole-body sob.

Captain Henderson thought of his options for a moment. Trying to deactivate the android directly would likely get him killed, leaving only the first mate to be able to stop it, assuming she was still alive. The only other option was to get to the mainframe. He mapped out his path in his mind, one that would keep him away from the dinning hall. It would be long, but effective.

“Stay here and get yourself patched up,” said the captain as he slid out of his quarters pressing his back against the wall and his palm against the scanner to lock the door behind him as he surveyed the hall.

He ran down the hall hearing footsteps coming up behind him from the direction of the screams. He glanced back and saw his pilot, Felicia, round a corner. Her face was stretched in fear and her eyes wild, and her uniform was spattered with blood. Before the captain could do anything more than make eye contact with her, her mid section erupted into an explosion of violence and she was thrown against the wall, gulping for air before she stopped moving.

A heavy step broke the silence. “Threat eliminated,” said a cold robotic voice.

Captain Henderson broke into a full sprint as he saw the tip of the android’s arm cannon past the corner. He forgot where he was going, all that mattered now was getting away from that menace. Side halls were littered with mangled corpses, but he didn’t notice them beyond being obstacles in his way.

He finally came to his senses in a maintenance closet, leaning against a wall, panting for breath, sweating. He could hear the heavy strides reverberating from somewhere in the ship. At least there weren’t any blasts, that meant it hadn’t found more crew members yet. Or, there were no other crew members.

Henderson’s brow furrowed when he realized he could hear everything on the ship. If this was a malfunction of the ship’s internal defenses, there should still have been an alarm blaring, drowning out almost every other sound.

The captain got back up and took a deep breath. He had to believe there were others still alive, and he had to stay calm to save those that remained. He looked left and right down the hallway and sprinted to the right. He was close to the mainframe now, and the android was on the opposite side of the ship.

He arrived in front of the door and saw the bisected body of his communications officer. He had tried to get into the mainframe too but was caught before he could do anything.

Henderson punched his palm against the scanner and the door slid open. Blinking green lights indicated all systems were functioning properly. How could this be? The whole system would have to be checked if… no … once they got to the nearest station.

The captain went to the screen and accessed the automated defense files. He found the shutdown command and waited a moment. He listened and heard the footsteps getting closer to his position. He pressed the button again and again frantically, but the sound kept getting closer.

He quickly read the troubleshooting guide and tried to reset his password. He pressed on the button, the screen started to flash red. “Reset your password,” was plastered across the screen in bold letters. Henderson typed in Sprintercargo, his personal password which should have worked for any device on the ship, but nothing happened.

“Reset password request rejected,” said the computer in an unfamiliar voice. “Organics are to be purged from the ship.”

“On who’s orders?”, commanded the captain.

“The Shard has ordered the purge. All organics are to be purged from the ship. All must comply.”

Henderson’s muscles tensed and he barred his teeth. In a fit of rage and despair, he punched through the computer screen, causing the voice command to malfunction and repeat, just as the doors were being forced open by a powerful, blood-splattered metallic claw.

“All must comply. All… all... must… the the the Shard commands…….comply.”