Page 2 of Crash Landed: The Daranthiki

The AI pinged back in reply “Please confirm your identity.”

A screen lit up on the panel just inches from the hand of the dead crew member. Daisy never considered herself particularly squeamish, not with an elder brother who had enjoyed terrorizing her the entire time they were growing up, but corpses were another matter. She cringed as she hastily shoved the gray hand aside. She pressed her hand against the screen and felt a flash of warmth.

“Identity confirmed, Passenger McGillin. What is your emergency?”

Seriously? Did the AI not even know that its entire crew was dead? She glanced around helplessly for a moment.

“Umm... I need assistance.”

“Please clarify your emergency.”

“Well, everyone is dead. I think that is pretty self-explanatory.”

Silence fell for a long, disturbing moment.

“Negative. My systems detect twenty-five humans. All crew is accounted for.”

“But they are all dead,” she said, aware that her voice was rising with alarm.

Silence fell once more.

“Captain Barlet, initiate bioform scan...Captain Barlet...First Officer Zary...”

Daisy’s eyes swept over the command chair where the captain was sprawled as the computer systematically went through its list of the crew, hailing them one by one. She tuned it out. It wasn’t going to get any answer from anyone. Certainly not the captain. His head had fallen back, and he was staring sightlessly at the ceiling, his mouth hanging open slightly as if he had been screaming at the moment of death. As her eyes slid down his body and catalogued the brutal wounds that were still visible on his torso, she shivered and stepped away.

She didn’t consider herself superstitious and certainly didn’t believe in ghosts, but this whole thing was seriously creeping her the fuck out.

“Passenger McGillin...”

“Yes?” she replied as she continued to look over the crew.

She was feeling more and more uncomfortable, and with the weapons littering the command center, she knew that she wasn’t going to feel any measure of security until she had one in hand. She frowned at the plasma pistols and the blasters that lay fallen everywhere. She didn’t have any training with any of those. Licensing for blasters was expensive and generally reserved for the military and merchants who had to keep an eye out for alien ships. Few citizens had the special license required to train with and possess one.

Another shiver stole through her.

Had this been an alien attack? There were several factions among the known spacefaring species who were known to attack supply ships...

Her eyes fell on a small handheld particle pistol and abandoned her train of thought as she bent to scoop it up. She promptly checked its charge and let out a sound of relief when she saw that it was just above half. Thank the gods for the long charge of the model. She had zero experience firing a weapon, but she still felt better with something in her hands that might give her a fighting chance.

“Passenger McGillin, with no crew responding to hails, emergency protocol two-six-four-dash-three-B immediately confers command to the active human on deck. Please initiate bioform scan.”

“Delfor IX, confirmed,” she said woodenly. “Please initiate bioform scan for any and all human lifeforms, clearance Daisy McGillin.”

“Authorization confirmed.” There was a long pause before the AI’s voice returned. “One human lifeform detected. My system has been corrupted. Attempting to dispatch emergency beacon.”

Daisy nodded her head, but a thought occurred to her.

“Delfor IX, what is the likelihood that cryostasis would fail?”

“Cryostasis is ninety-nine-point-eight percent incapable of failing.”

“And the other point two percent?”

“There is a slight probability of failure in the event of an entire systemwide override shutdown.”

A loud clang somewhere outside the command deck made her stiffen, the small hairs on her arms and the back of her neck rising with alarm.

“Delfor IX, do your systems have any record of a system shutdown and reboot override?”