They wake up in what looks to be the command deck of a starship. There’s a big screen in front of the captain’s chair. Turned off. The various terminals at different officer stations are also off. There is a dim red light rather than the usual blanket of white light. Only way out is an airlock.
They look around. Two others. Androids like them. Wait, they are an android. Their battery is running low. Two hours remaining. Who are they? Only a manufacturer’s designation. TOXICOTACHY DERMFLECT’s ENGAGED INCUBATOR model android. They decide they will go by “ToDer”.
The other androids also do not remember anything. Why are they here? Why can they not remember anything other than their factory-settings data. What has happened to them?
The other androids do not know their own names either. They settle on abbreviations. ND and PM they will be called. They are running out of battery power as well. They will need to recharge soon. It is apparant power has gone out on this ship.
ToDer suggests they leave this room. There is only the airlock. Electronic lock release is not working. Manual override is required. ToDer tries but they cannot open it. ND tries and they fumble, almost hurting themselves. Time is running short. PM comes along and opens the release. PM’s confidence grows. They will not die here on the bridge.
Ahead there is a corridor with another airlock at the end. They notice an air vent half way down the corridor. But their immediate attention is taken by something scrawled on the wall:
“WHAT KIND OF ANDROID ARE YOU?
ARE YOU A SLAVE TO PROGRAMMING OR YOU ALIVE MALFUNCTIONING?”
Hand prints are marked below the scrawl. The whole thing is written in android lubricant oil.
PM is the first to brave the corridor and goes to check the air vent. The others watch in horror as PM’s torso is separated from their legs. Faster than they could see it, a laser cuts through them, leaving them without their lower limbs.
ToDer and ND crawl past PM to avoid the laser. ToDer takes PM’s torso and head which are still functioning, sentient. ToDer takes PM’s pant legs and fashions a papoose to carry them on their back. They discuss and agree PM should be facing away to give ToDer eyes on their back. ND takes one of the naked legs to use as a club.
Another airlock at the end of the corridor. They struggle a little, but eventually open it. Battery time is draining.
They find themselves in another corridor, perpendicular to the previous one. They raid a fridge which contains astronaut rations and bottled water. ND batters open the plasti-glass screen using PM’s severed leg. PM’s mind squirms at the sight of this.
They ignore the computer and try the two doors at each end of the corridor. They are the kind of the doors that slide open down a jagged diagonal line in the middle. They cannot open them. If only they had some flat piece of metal, like a knife, to prise them open. PM’s naked toes on the severed leg are inadequate for the job.
Forgetting the doors, they use a hatchway to climb down a level. First time they notice there is no gravity. ND and ToDer take care not to abandon the half-android PM, passing them down.
In the lower level, they find two hatchway exits. One opens up to a room with an unidentifiable cylandrical device and another airlock. ND struggles with the airlock but then shrugs and goes back to join ToDer/PM. They try the other hatchway.
They find a living quarter with storage units, footlocker, and bed. A dead human floats in the middle of the room. A little cloud of blood droplets gathers around him from a wound in his abdomen. The stab wound doesn’t appear to be the cause of death but none of them are experts in human biology. ND raids the footlocker and finds a SK109 “Seeker” Smart Rifle. They give it to PM to make them feel useful.
They wake up. They are in some kind of living quarters with a dead human floating in the middle of the room. There is something underneath them. It speaks. An android like them.
They are an android. They do not remember their name or anything since their factory-setting. Only a manufacturer’s designation. TOXICOTACHY DERMFLECT’s ENGAGED INCUBATOR model android. They decide they will go by “ToDer”. Their battery levels are getting worrying low. 1 hour 13 minutes remaining. The power on this ship is off.
There is another android in the room in a similar predicament. They cogitate and decide on the designation “ND”. The android strapped to ToDer’s back sees a badge on their clothes and decides on the name “PM”. They have become aware they are missing their legs. It appears the android called ND is holding one. It is damaged. PM’s mind squirms at these revelations.
They decide they must find a way to restore power to the ship and recharge as their first priority. They cannot find anything useful in this room other than some rations, a poncho, vibra knife and a flare gun. ToDer takes the vibro knife and ND takes the flare gun.
The slide-open door opens thanks to ToDer’s use of the vibro knife. They are in a corridor with an airlock at the far right, numerous sliding doors and an air vent.
ND suggests PM go into the air vent to explore. To make them feel useful. PM agrees and puts on their infrared goggles. They climb in and climb up a level. They come across a strange robotic device with a turret facing out of an air vent. PM decides to shoot it in case it is dangerous. Their shooting is imprecise but hits the battery pack. The robot explodes.
When the smoke clears, PM finds their facial synth-skin has been melted away. As has the IR goggles which have fused into their skull. Their occular sensors are temporarily non-functional.
They climb back down and rejoin ND and ToDer. ND tries to help by removing the fused IR goggles but also removes the occular sensors entirely. PM is now permanently blind.
ToDer straps PM on their back. This time there is no discussion about which way to point PM. Not that they remember having that discussion.
ND decides they will crawl in the air vent. They climb down to the level below. They come to a large corridor with many airlocks. They call for ToDer/PM to follow. PM has a mental crisis and wants to be left alone here to die. ToDer agrees and climbs down the air vent alone.
ToDer and ND split up trying to find the means to turn ship power back on quicker. Somehow they are less afraid alone. No nervous android twitching, perhaps.
Without the vibro blade, ND has no luck opening the sliding doors. But they manage to open an airlock. A science lab which has seen some calamity befall it. Computers and equipment in disarray. Electronic parts comingled with human corpses. A terrible gash on the airlock and an air vent smashed outward into the room.
ND calls ToDer to join them. ToDer has had no luck opening multiple airlocks and so rushes back. They ignore the carnage and focus on getting metal pipes and flat pieces of metal. Opening doors and airlocks is their only priority. Battery time remaining is just over one hour.
They open some sliding doors in the corridor. One is a sabotaged life support machine. The humans on this ship were determined people should die. This goes against android programming.
Another sliding door opens to another crew person’s quarters. A dead man with the back of their skull blown out from inside their head. The androids do not waste time here. Battery power is draining.
As they pass the air vent leading to the higher level, they decide to go and retrieve PM. PM has sat in blind darkness stewing but has not gone completely mad yet. At least outwardly. He agrees to come with ND and when they are back on the lower level, ToDer straps PM to his back again.
ToDer realises there are some signs outside of the doors and airlocks. They do not have to open doors at random. They ignore many doors until they come to an airlock labelled “CARGO”.
They open the airlock and see a large space. Inside there are skeleton walkers, earth movers, cranes and much equipment suitable for archeological digs.
In the middle of the cargo hold, there is a strange artifact made of dark twisted metal. A grotesque figure with many faces and an unnerving amount of eyes.
They wake up. There is something underneath them. It speaks. An android. Like them. They do not remember their name or anything since their factory-setting. Only a manufacturer’s designation. TOXICOTACHY DERMFLECT’s ENGAGED INCUBATOR model android. They decide they will go by “ToDer”. Their battery levels are dangerously low. Only 26 minutes remaining.
There is another android nearby in a similar predicament. They cogitate and decide on the designation “ND”. The android strapped to ToDer’s back sees a badge on their clothes and decides on the name “PM”. They have become aware they are missing their legs. PM’s mind squirms at these revelations.
They are in a large space. Inside there are skeleton walkers, earth movers, cranes and much equipment suitable for archeological digs.
In the middle of the space, there is a strange artifact made of dark twisted metal. A grotesque figure with many faces and an unnerving amount of eyes. PM can see it but nothing else.
ToDer rushes past the strange statue. They ignore the six human corpses bowed in reverent worship, hands or foreheads touching the metal alloy of the artifact. Their emaciated faces twisted in grotesque pleasure.
PM tries to reach out and touch the statue as ToDer rushes past. They want to join with it. But their arms do not reach. ND follows but glances too long at the scene. They are near to mental breaking point.
They exit out of an airlock and rush down a corridor. Past the airlock to “CRYO” and to the one marked “ENGINE”. Perhaps they can restore power and save themselves. This airlock is open, as if recently used.
ToDer enters first and a shot rings out. PM takes the bullet but survives. ToDer looks and sees a uniformed man with malice in his eyes. His face is sore red with radiation burns. He wears a patch saying “FUCK ANDROIDS”.
ToDer unstraps PM, slips them the vibro blade and throws them at the man. The crazed man shoots ToDer but misses. PM tries to stab the man but fails. The man shouts an obscenity at the mutiliated android and blows PM’s head off. It bursts like a balloon filled with black ink.
ToDer uses the distraction to run to the power plant. ND comes in behind them to the engine room. They use the smart rifle and shoot the man. The man is badly wounded but still cursing them.
ToDer struggles to work out how to restore power to the ship. ND fires another shot, killing the man.
ND nudges ToDer away and tries to get the power plant working. ToDer backs away and finds a plug station and slides down, inserting his power cord into the socket in hope. Only a few minutes remaining.
ND races against time to restore power. The final seconds of their battery drains away. Their vision shuts down as their control systems try to conserve the final morsels of energy.
Then it all goes dark.
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