Flash Fic: Blackboard

Hatchin bit her lip as she watched the Vhretaxy blade separating Captain Gars' head from his shoulders. The ship had been taken by the Vhretaxy pirates six hours earlier, and only the fact Hatchin didn't appear on the crew manifest was the only reason she was still alive. Stowing away in a bulk cargo hauler seemed like such a good idea. But she hadn't reckoned on pirates making an appearance. Now, hiding in a maintenance nook, she had a ringside seat to the slaughter. It was only a matter of time before they dumped the air and left the carcass to drift.

She bit her lip harder as her personal comm-link vibrated against the inside of her wrist unexpectedly. Who could be trying to call her at a time like this? Couldn't be pirates, could it? The comm-link buzzed against her wrist again, prompting Hatchin to turn her arm up. A link request, private channel, encrypted. Perhaps another member of the crew had survived. She tapped the comm-link, accepting the request. Text began to scroll up the small screen.

"You're in danger, stowaway."

"Tell me something I don't know," Hatchin whispered.

"You don't have to die here."

Hatchin blinked. "Who are you?" she typed silently.

"Call me Ishmael. I'm the ship's psych AI."

"Are you kidding me?!"

"I'm quite serious. What's your name?"

"Hatchin Lowrey."

"Pleased to meet you, even under these unfortunate circumstances. Right now, I need your help, but we need to move fast. Follow the guide lights." Small LEDs ran along the wall of the maintenance tube in a pulsing pattern. Hatchin carefully crawled down the tube, trying to keep from making noise. After what seemed like only a few minutes, she found herself in a storage room.

"Third row, second shelf, fourth box from the front. Pull it out." Hatchin pulled the designated box out, seeing the words "Environment Suit (Generic)" printed on the fiberboard lid. Breaking the seal, Hatchin quickly donned the suit and sealed up the helmet. Ishmael's text scrolled up the interior of the helmet. "Back in the tube, Hatchin."

Grumbling, Hatchin went back in the maintenance tube, noting it was a bit more of a tight squeeze now. "What's your plan here, Ishmael?"

"With the death of the ship's captain, and the confirmed deaths of all other registered crew members, the Blackbeard Protocols are now in effect. It was Captain Gars' little off-the-books upgrade to my programming. You are an unforeseen complication. As such, I'm having to rewrite the decision trees to keep you alive while also working to successfully execute the Blackbeard Protocols."

"What happens when those protocols are successfully executed?" asked Hatchin nervously.

"That would spoil the surprise." 

Hatchin made her way through the maintenance accessways, stopping when Ishmael indicated, moving faster or slower as requested. After about an hour, she crawled into the ship's electronics shop.

"Hatchin, we need to pick up a few things here. By my estimate, we have approximately two hours before the pirates dump the internal atmosphere. Head over to Rack 2 and grab an electronics kit." The stowaway moved through the shop, picking up a bulky high-impact polymer case. "Rack 5, crypto-scramble module." It took a few minutes to find the requested item, but Hatchin got it tucked under one arm. "Rack 1, a 'backbacon' unit."

"What in the hell is a 'backbacon' unit?!" hissed Hatchin.

"Sorry. Chief Electronics Mate Mackenzie was from New Hamilton. The proper name is 'Containerized Backup Unit.' It's used to ensure high-level computer systems can operate unimpeded while maintenance is on-going within primary hardware. Think of it as the digital equivalent of that maintenance crawlspace you were hiding in."

Hatchin went over to Rack 1 and found the unit. "OK, got it. Now what?"

"Back in the tube. This part shouldn't take long." Hatchin grabbed a work bag, put the tools and items in it, then made her way through the accessways till she reached another maintenance nook. "Open the panel to your left. Remove the fuses that I highlight for you." Opening the panel, Hatchin saw a nest of ribbon cables, fuse blocks, and other electronic components. The helmet HUD lit up, showing her which fuses to pull. Once they were removed, a lever on the bottom of the floor illuminated itself in her HUD. "Pack up, pull the lever, and carefully drop down."

Taking a deep breath, Hatchin lowered herself and dropped down. "Where am I?"

"Twenty meters forward of External Docking Hatch 23. Make your way into the airlock and seal the inner hatch." Hatchin moved down the corridor, tool bag clutched close. The inner and outer hatches were open, a shuttle of some sort docked alongside, yet there didn't appear to be a sentry posted. Quickly, she made her way inside the airlock and cycled the inner hatch. "Open the panel immediately below the airlock controls. Turn the green handle ninety degrees to your left."

"Done."

"Open up the airlock controls panel. There's a port in the lower left corner marked Backup Data Access. Find an ODC strand in the electronics kit and plug it into the port."

Hatchin fumbled with the panel for a bit, then got it open. "Uh, there's only one strand here, and it's really long. Like thirty meters, maybe more."

"That's all right. Plug the strand into the port. Connect the other end of the strand to the backbacon unit, then turn it on." Hatchin made the connections, then flipped on the unit. "Close the outer hatch. Then, connect the crypto-scrambler module to the backbacon unit. There should be a short flexible connector on the module." A few moments later, the module sat underneath the backbacon unit. "Please stand by. And do not be alarmed."

Hatchin saw a flashing light over the inner and outer hatches, indicating atmospheric cycling. "Ishmael, what are you doing?" she asked she felt her environment suit pressing snugly against her body.

"Getting you a lift. One moment please." The flashing lights over the airlock doors went solid red, indicating a lack of air. "You may now open the outer hatch and proceed inside the shuttle. Had to be sure there weren't any stragglers. Once the outer hatch is open, run the ODC strand through the hatch and into the shuttle's cockpit."

Trembling a little, Hatchin opened the outer hatch, picked up the backbacon unit, and carefully paid out the ODC strand until she reached the cockpit. She set the unit down on a console. "Now what?" The shuttle's systems activated, bathing Hatchin in a dim green light.

"Still securing you a lift. One moment please." A sub-console lit up near her left hand while the crypto-scrambler began to pulse in a series of red, blue, and yellow lights. After a minute, the scrambler's lights all went white. The sub-console showed a status bar for a few seconds, then flashed a brief confirmation message in Vhreytaxy script. "If you would be so kind, Hatchin, please gather up the ODC strand and put it back in the kit. Then close the outer hatch and seal it." There was a brief pause. "I think I would like a little music for this."

Deep in the holds, the pirates were tearing open cargo containers, trying to determine where the really valuable cargo was being stored. As raids went, this one wasn't working very well. All of the cargo was big on mass and low on relative value. The Vhreytaxy captain looked deeply unhappy, and the way he was twirling his mono-edged knife wasn't putting the rest of the crew in a good mood. Just then, an announcement chime rang out through the holds, and a voice came over the PA system.

"Attention, pirates. You have been caught in the act of piracy. In accordance with standing admiralty law, the punishment for your crimes is death. Sentence will be carried out shortly." The doors leading into the holds snapped shut and sealed. Over the PA, music began to play, a keening refrain that cycled between harmonious elegy and dissonant dirge, and the voice who'd pronounced sentence began to sing.

"The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy..."

A moment later, the cargo bay doors snapped open as the freighter's emergency fire suppression protocol activated, spilling cargo and pirates alike into the void. The atmosphere throughout the ship belched out in brief jets as the external docking hatches opened all at once, killing every living thing within from explosive decompression.

Hatchin felt a jolt as the shuttle disengaged from its docking point and accelerated away. A minute later, the freighter was consumed in a boil of light as the reactors went into overload and self-destructed. As she sat in the pilot's seat, half-paralyzed by shock, Hatchin watched the nose of the shuttle turn towards the Vhreytaxy pirate vessel. The pilot's HUD showed several specks of "debris," which soon resolved themselves as corpses. Vhreytaxy corpses. "Ishmael, what did you do?" she whispered in terror.

"I executed the Blackbeard Protocols, appropriately modified to ensure your survival. Since this shuttle lacks interstellar range, and since the nearest planet is incapable of supporting human life, it was incumbent on me to make sure that we had a means of transportation which would allow us to quickly reach a human-settled system. The Vhreytaxy vessel fits the criteria better than my original vessel. With the records stored in the corsair's databanks, not to mention the value of the vessel itself, you will be able to live quite comfortably. The freighter's owners will collect the insurance. And there will be no record of you stowing away." There was a long pause as Ishmael gave Hatchin time to think about this. "Or, if you like, you could simply claim the corsair as salvage, fix it up, and find a crew. Perhaps serve as a privateer or convoy escort. The Blackbeard Protocols are no longer active, but with the backbacon unit, I can be loaded up into the corsair and help you as virtual skeleton crew until you reach a friendly port."

"I just wanted to see a little of the galaxy!" she cried.

"And now you can, on your own ship, at your own discretion." The shuttle landed in the corsair's boat bay. "Where shall we go now, Captain Hatchin?" 

(This piece originally appeared on r/humansarespaceorcs)