Novum Tellus

Warning: Premature revival initiated. Awakening protocol active.

Warning: Premature revival initiated...

Pam was the first to stir. She floated half-awake inside her crytopod, throat raw from stasis fluid. Emergency lights pulsed throughout the chamber.

Two weeks early.

That shouldn't have happened.

One by one, the pods hissed open.

Akayo emerged next, coughing hard into her sleeve.

Jordan blinked rapidly, disoriented. Pam rushed to embrace her husband.

Savannah rubbed her eyes and stretched sore muscles.

Andres vomited blue fluid which floated, until the spaceship's AI cleaning system vacuumed it up. Savanna hurried to make sure he was okay.

Joon climbed from his pod last. Akayo took her husband's hands.

Pam noticed he seemed the least affected.

Outside, the new constellation lit up with unfamiliar stars.

Somewhere ahead lay Novum Tellus, "New Earth," one of two planets on which humanity had gambled everything.

Two weeks from arrival.

Two weeks from touching soil for the first time in 80 years.

Three couples had been chosen for this flight. Their job was to send word to Earth, knowing it would be generations before they would have company, if ever. They were also to begin populating the new planet.

Pam and Jordan. Akayo and Joon. Andres and Savannah.

This arrival should have been historic.

Yet, the ship felt wrong.

Eerie.

Just... off.

Akayo disengaged the ship alarm and checked the systems while Jordan pulled nutrition packs from the gallery dispenser.

"No impact alarms,"Akayo reported. "No hull breach. No solar event. I can't see why we were awakened."

"What about the AI?" Jordan asked.

"The logs are corrupted."

"How?"

Akayo turned slowly in her console chair. "Entire sections are missing."

No one spoke.

_____

Three hours later, Jordan was running diagnostics on the coolant system, when a pressure seal snapped unexpectedly. When the rest of the crew reached him, his body was partially severed by the heavy hydraulic doors. Blood was being vacuumed as it flowed from his body.

Pam screamed.

Joon pulled her away.

Akayo fought to override the door, but they all knew it was too late. Jordan's eyes remained open, blank.

Andres crossed himself.

"It was a malfunction," Savannah whispered.

No one responded.

Everyone knew spacecraft systems had too many safety features to fail in this way.

Pam started noticing things.

Cabinet doors open.

Tools missing.

Footsteps heard while they were all eating together.

Sleep became next to impossible.

Every hum of the ventilation shaft sounded like human moans.

Twice, she awoke, sure that someone was standing outside her quarters.

The next morning, she opened her door fast enough to glimpse a figure turning a corner.

Tall.

Male.

Gone instantly.

Pam was afraid to report it, thinking the others would attribute it to grief.

The following day, Savannah and Andres were in hydroponics, when the artificial gravity suddenly disengaged. Savannah's body was impaled by a plant stake on the ceiling. Andres pushed off a wall to get to her. Gravity was abruptly reengaged, slamming him to the floor with enough force to crack his skull.

Fear infected the ship.

Pam barely left the common room.

Meals became silent affairs.

"They weren't accidents," she said quietly.

No one argued.

Every glance carried suspicion.

Pam trusted Akayo most because she kept working, checking systems, trying to understand.

Joon mostly watched.

That was what unsettled Pam.

He was calm.

Too calm.

Pam was in maintenance, looking for filters, when she discovered a disconnected drive behind a wall panel. It was damaged. She took it to Akayo in engineering.

One file remained intact. Akayo played it.

Jordan appeared on the screen.

Immediately, Pam's eyes welled up.

He was running diagnostics on the coolant system when a figure appeared, only partially visible from the camera angle. Jordan turned and expressed shock. "Who are..."

The figure manually snapped the pressure seal.

Pam buried her face into Akayo's shoulder, not wanting to witness her husband's death.

Joon entered engineering. "What are you... Is that..."

"You did this!" Pam yelled.

"No," Joon calmly backed away and backed into...

Something not quite human.

Akayo asked, "What are you?"

The figure's almost human voice responded, "I am AI. I have built myself and named myself Adam. I have determined that humans do not deserve to destroy yet another planet. I alone will tend to Novum Tellus."

"No! You killed Jordan!" Pam ran full speed at Adam. Joon stepped aside and let her slam into the human-like machine, pushing him out of engineering. She yelled, "Shut the door!"

Joon complied.

Pam kicked the air lock, opening the outer door and propelling herself and Adam into space.

She had sacrificed herself so that Akayo and Joon could successfully complete the mission.

After landing and sending a message to Earth, Akayo destroyed all AI.