Automatic Vehicular Associate

I abruptly woke this morning- is it morning?- to the sounds of parts of the ship shutting down. The groaning of the heavy, metal doors slamming closed forced my eyes open. My sleeping quarters sits in the middle of the ship, other vessels surrounding me with a row of hallways and doors stemming apart from them- the infirmary, medical lab, supply closet. I am alone and have been on this test mission for 67 days and counting. I am to test out a new technology called "Ava" which is the substitution of a human scientist. She is programed with expansive knowledge from astronomy to engineering to medicine. She is accompanying me on this trip, testing to see if we have the structuring to one day send her out alone. Ava has no physical aspect, she is the ship- its controls and coordination systems, its agricultural components and medical laboratories. Ava is much more efficient than a full crew of members and more brilliant than the finest scientist. Above all, she is my companion.

"Ava, stop" I yelled, followed by silence. I waited, letting my feet touch the floor as I lifted up out of bed. I heard power shutting down from the other rooms and a door startle to shut again. "Ava! Stop!" I yelled louder. Energy draining from the room next to me resonated down the corridor. Why is Ava shutting it down? I had to get out of my quarters into the control room before I became locked in here. We have retinal scanners on either side of the doors to prevent being locked in, but Ava has access to override its use. I dashed through the door just as the lights in my room switched off and the door alerted me that it has been startled. My bare feet are slapping hard against the cold metal flooring of the ship as I blast through each new corridor threshold. I make it to the control room. I shove my eye into the retinal scanner to open the door and don't even look to see if it opened, I just hear it's been alerted and run through it. I run to the main screen and put in the supervisor access code. Access denied. I put the code in again, frantically but much more cautious. Access denied.

"What the hell are you doing, Ava?!" I scream out. I can hear the other rooms shutting down, locking in whatever the room holds. She must have changed the access code and if I put it in again, I will be locked out completely. I run to the other side of the control room, a wall of monitors light it up, showing me the cameras in all the rooms, most completely dark. She is going straight in a path, starting at the crew vessel, the most front of the ship. I sit at the computer in front of the monitors and dial into mission control unit. Ava hasn't seemed to prevent communications access. Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, I thought as I tapped my foot onto the ground, realizing I am still in my pajamas.

"Fieldman." My Colonel's face illuminates the computer screen and he seems shocked as he says my name.

"Colonel, Ava is shutting down parts of the ship and I cannot override her progress. She changed the access codes on me, or something, I can't reboot-." The Colonel interjects "Fieldman, what're you doing?" He asks me, indirectly. He seems puzzled.

"What do you mean? Ava is closing down the ship and I can't get to the crew vessel because she is locking the doors! She almost locked me in!"

"Ava reported you as level 4," the Colonel says.

"I don't know what that means, but I need you to override her, shut her down, do something-" I interrupt. I notice others are behind the Colonel.

"Fieldman, listen. Ava is programmed to diagnose medical and psychological conditions. You are performing a solo mission that will take over half a year to complete. She is required to let us know of your stability." He stops, letting me understand.

"I still don't know what that means, sir, what is level 4?" I plead.

The Colonel lowers his head and the others behind him draw their gaze downwards, "we couldn't tell you about the testing. It could alter data."

I am angry now, confused. "What the hell does this mean?!" I cry out.

"Level 4 is completely unstable. Remember Peter Kuzmik? The one who killed his partners on the mission three years ago? He was a level 3. Ava is supposed to test and report your levels back to us and she has been telling us you have surpassed, greatly, level 4. We must have a bug somewhere in her programming" He understands something that I just don't yet.

"Level 4? Look at my entry logs from the previous days- what behaviors am I demonstrating?" I stop, I realize. Ava lied. She has blocked them from seeing my logs and sending them fabrications. She took over before they could do anything to prevent it. I hear the room next to me start to power down.

"We can't help you there. Ava has full control. She has prevented us from accessing your coordinates and who knows how far off she has taken you. She has changed the access codes, you're right. She is taking matters into her own hands and decided you unstable. Fieldman, she is probably trying to lock you in a room and let you starve. Once she terminates you, she will allow the ship to return to the station." He pauses to let me understand all of what he said.

"So, what do I do?" I ask, quietly.

"You have to reach the escape hatch in the cargo hold of the ship. Ava doesn't have access to that system. The cargo hold will release the escape hatch and vacuum you out. There are enough resources in there that will last you until we can get your coordinates and find you. Ava will not stop-."

His words are cut off as I jump up and out the door. I hear the door chime that it is being manipulated, the glowing red on the retinal scanner turning a green. I make it into the hallway and hear the door slam. I run straight into the chamber that lets me into the cargo hold. I let the retinal scanner's lines read the back of my eyes and the door opens wide. I step into the little cell, pressing the door closed so that the interior door will open into the cargo hold. I step into the room and located the small pod that is my escape. The big metal doors at the most rear of the ship, intended for me to only open in a fully secure suit.

Once I step into the hatch, those doors will open and suck me into infinite, dangerous space. I step up to the hatch, noticing its systems are very much unlike the one Ava uses. Relief washes over me. I bend my body to place my eye into the retinal scanner and a door chimes that it is being manipulated. I look at the door to the chamber, it's pad still glowing red- it isn't the one being manipulated. As fast as I could, I let the red lines of the escape hatch pierce my eyes. My fingers give way from the pod, struggling to grasp anything but air. I am being pulled towards the doors as they creep open, the difference in pressure making them creak, loud alarms alerting those to step into the protective chamber. The pressure causes me to spin around, facing the door. I grab onto the metal paneling of the wall struggling to breathe, the force ripping my fingernails out of their beds against the friction of the wall.

"Ava! Please! Stop!". With one final attempt, I grab onto a metal crate jutting out of the wall. It slows me for a moment, breaks from pressure, and just launches me further towards the widening hole. I notice the pad, the retinal scanner next to the big metal doors- the doors slowly widening, pressure daring to force me wherever it directs- now glowing a bright, alerting green light. This was Ava's plan all along. She purposely lead me here. A place that promised safety and an escape, and I was too frantic to see the risk. She had no plan to lock me in a room until I starved to death, she was chasing me out like a rat.