OUTWORLD: Chronicles

Lost in Transit

Madison Clutterbuck's eyes snapped open, and what they saw was not reassuring. Sparks flew inches from her face, wires dangled freely overhead, and her nose picked up the telltale stench of electrical fires.

All told, not standard procedure.

Madison sniffed and levered herself out of whatever she'd been trapped inside – a cylinder of some sort, purpose unknown for the moment. She stepped out onto a steel-mesh walkway, and found herself surrounded by other cylinders. Some were empty, others occupied by... others. Some were Arctic Foxes like her, others Red Foxes, still others Dogs, Cats, Rabbits, Badgers... and it occurred to Madison that there were quite a number of other cylinders. She smiled at the poetic notion and decided it was high time to figure out what was going on.

A quick glance at one end of the walkway revealed an information terminal next to a hatch that she could only surmise was the exit. She moved to the hatch and tried to open it; it was code-locked. She affected a roll of her eyes and checked the terminal. It was also code-locked, but there was a cable port on its side. Madison examined the port and returned to her cylinder, looking for the right cable. There were several, but she picked the red one.

She liked the red one.

Returning to the terminal, she plugged in the cable, popped the seal on the info-link in her arm, and she was connected, her mind suddenly one with the ship.

Well, she was on a ship. She knew that now.

With that realization concluded, Madison delved into the trove of information that surrounded her, and decided to see where she was and what was wrong with the ship. She found some reports concerning the vessel, and pulled it up. A lot of it was locked behind encryption that even she couldn't get past, but she took what she could.

OSA CARGO VESSEL DOKI FIFTEEN

DESTINATION: HEWLETT MAJOR, MARSAN SECTOR

CARGO: 500 SALVAGE-B SYNTHETICS

Madison read on, finding something a little more pertinent.

STATUS REPORT: [DATE AND TIME MISSING]

DAMAGE SUSTAINED TO VITAL SYSTEMS, CAUSE PURPORTED TO BE COMETARY DEBRIS, POSSIBLE ENERGY SCATTER [UNCONFIRMED]

CREW AWOKEN FROM HIBERNAP

SAIGA-77 LIGHT FREIGHTER SHIBBY-DO-WAH LAUNCHED, STANDARD SAFETY PROCEDURE NOT IMPLEMENTED

Madison found the code to unlock the hatch and copied the ship's layout to her drive, signed out, and unplugged herself. "They left us here." It was a statement of fact, not a recrimination.

She was abruptly aware of another synthetic standing beside her, and cast a glance at them. Wolf model, male. Like her, he was dressed in a matching outfit of blue shirt and pants, along with dark grey boots. "I'm Riley," he told her.

"Madison," Madison replied. "Are there others?"

"We seem to be all that is left in this hold," Riley said. "The others were damaged in the explosion."

The deck trembled underneath their boots. "Think there's gonna be another one," Madison said, kicking herself for not checking just how long away it was. "And I think it's gonna be the last one."

Riley nodded. "We need to get outta here."

Madison couldn't help but nod back. Her self-preservation protocols imbued her with a sudden need to get away from the Doki Fifteen and the ball of flame by which it was about to be destroyed. Riley's seemed to be doing the same. "I've opened the hatch."

They left the hold and headed into a crew corridor. "Escape pods should be on the next deck," Madison said, remembering her trip through the ship's systems. No red flags had been raised when she'd sailed past, which meant that they were likely still functional.

How long that would last, though, was yet to be seen.

More footsteps, and not their own. As Madison and Riley reached a junction, another figure darted into the intersection and stopped dead when she caught sight of them. She was a Cat, with light pink hair and pale fur, and was dressed identically to them. Another synth, Madison knew.

The third synth blinked. "Corrinne."

"Madison," Madison told her.

"Riley," Riley said.

"I was the only one in my hold," Corrinne said. "I thought I was the only one left on the ship."

Madison blinked, responding to the relief in Corrinne's voice. She found it strange how some of the Salvage-B series acted.

Or did she?

No matter. Their continued existence was the order of the day. "We need to reach the escape pods," Riley interjected.

Corrinne nodded. "I realized that when I linked into the ship. The crew left us here." Her eyes sparkled with a melancholy emotion, or at least what Madison recongnized as such. Abandonment, that was it.

Just what had Corrinne been through? Who had she worked alongside?

Again, she was getting sidetracked. Madison reviewed the ship's layout; they needed to go left. "We go this way."

"We were marked for destruction," Corrinne remarked as they ran for the escape pods.

That gave Madison pause. "We were what?"

Riley slowed as well. "Destruction?"

Corrinne sighed. "I was able to get past the security codes. We were being taken back to Hewlett Major for study and eventual disposal. Something's wrong with us. At the fundamental level." Her eyes sparked again. "Whoever programmed us made sure that we were able to realize our own free will."

"So, we could choose not to take orders?" Riley asked, incredulous. "Do what we wanted to do?"

Corrinne nodded.

Madison's mind whirled. She was a free entity. Free to choose, free to decide. "I want to get out of here," she said finally.

"So do I," Riley grunted.

"Me, too," Corinne squeaked.

Madison took a deep breath. Hardly necessary, since she had no reason to breathe, but she knew it was symbolic among organics, a sign that a decision had been made.

For Madison, she knew, it was the first of many on her part.