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The Engineer – Reverse-engineered

This is the third in the Sci/Fi horror series.  Our intrepid heroes are deep into the twisted conspiracy to destroy their civilisation.  They journey beyond their wildest imagination, fighting to bring about a prediction made by an ancient computer, face their worst fears and are forced to make heart rending choices .  It is pending release and will be available from all major online retail stores.

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FIRST CHAPTER

CHAPTER ONE

John Banksmere stared in shock at the two men in front of him, one of which he knew was dead. What had started out as a celebratory visit in a holographic bar with his senior officers on board Juggernaut 90, deep space pleasure cruiser, had turned into a nightmare.

His officers had completely lost their minds and two holograms, one purporting to be the ship’s AI JOE 90 and the other David Bockerat, the previous engineer who had died accidentally on the last run, were standing on either side of him.

Pulling himself together, he quickly evaluated the situation. He was trapped in this bar, the exit blocked by his officers; Sandra Murdo the new engineer, Frank Dubon his first officer and Martina Cullon his second officer.

He was flanked on either side by the two holograms. John was older but fit and able, so he braced himself for a fight and made his move. He turned his body, lashing out with his right leg, kicking the hologram claiming to be David squarely in the guts, shoving him backwards to fall over a bar stool.

Simultaneously, he punched the other hologram claiming to be the JOE 90 squarely on the jaw, knocking off his glasses and sending him spinning over the bar. Not wasting any time, he made a dash for the door, head down, shoulders squared, bulldozing Frank and Sandra backwards as Martina fell to the side. He shoved the two officers into the door, expecting it to give. His plan came to an abrupt end as they crashed into the locked doors. He knocked the wind out of Frank and Sandra, who crumpled to the floor gasping for breath, and nearly knocked himself out cold as he struck the door square on with his head. He fell down beside Frank and Sandra as he tried to regain his wits.

“JOE 90, unlock the doors to the holodeck!” John gasped, struggling to his feet, and shoving the doors again, which still refused to budge.

“No, sir.” The voice was the AI’s, but it came from behind him.

“Override emergency command codes two, seven, alpha, omega.” John was on his feet and had turned, his back against the doors, which held firm. He stared at the hologram JOE that was helping hologram David up.

The hologram JOE looked at him again. “Override emergency command codes no longer valid,” he said in the AI’s voice.

John felt his blood run cold; what the hell was going on here? Frank, Martina, and Sandra had all recovered and were standing with the holograms.

“Nice move, sir,” said Frank, rubbing his shoulder and wincing.

“Good kick, Captain Banksmere,” David wheezed. “Didn’t think a ghost could feel pain.”

“It’s because you are in the holodeck; the system is compensating and enhancing sensation to your energy fields, you know, like when you taste a drink or visit S…” JOE tailed off as he realised what he was going to say. “Sorry.”

“Hey, when I want a technical breakdown, I will ask for it, and don’t worry about Sadie, I get what you are saying. I’ll remember that if there is another bar room brawl.” David tried to grin and patted his friend on his arm.

“Ghost?” John blinked in confusion as everyone regarded him cautiously.

“Yes, Captain: ghost,” said David.

“Remember when we said the ship was haunted?” Martina said carefully, “We weren’t lying.” She looked to the others for help.

The captain acted like he had never heard her. “What the hell are you all playing at?” looking Frank in the eye and watching his first officer visibly flinch. “This is insubordination, your careers are over, you will be stripped of all privileges and probably sent to a prison colony!”

John tried not to let his voice reflect the fear he was feeling. His loyal, trusted officers that he had known since he took commission of this ship had never behaved like this before. As for Sandra, she had a distinguished history, no indication of psychosis on her spotless records: what the hell had happened to them?

“I am ordering you to open these doors right now! Who has the codes?” John tried to regain control of the situation.

“I do, Captain, and we will open the doors in a moment, but you have to listen to what we are about to tell you.” Sandra tried to use her calmest, most reasonable voice, a voice she would use on an unstable and hysterical AI.

But John Banksmere was not unstable or hysterical; he was furious. “You listen to me, Engineer Murdo, you are all under arrest for kidnapping and forced restraint. I will not accept any excuse for your actions, so you may as well open this door right bloody NOW!” He stabbed a finger at her, and Sandra actually felt tears well up in her eyes.

Frank was moaning and walking in circles and Martina was already wiping her wet face.

“I told you; I told you it was a bad idea…” Frank mumbled, “I said he wouldn’t believe us.”

“Shut up, Frank, and get a grip.” David stepped forwards. “Captain, you know me, we socialised before we left Earth, and I had my… accident.” He took a deep breath.

John stared at him hard. “You are just a hologram, son. I don’t know who did this, but it’s sick. David was a good man, and he doesn’t deserve his image being bandied about for entertainment.” Straightening his uniform, John regained his composure and looked again at Sandra.

David took a deep breath. “Ask me something. Ask me something that no one would know, something we chatted about or something private,” he said hopefully.

“I can’t remember every conversation I’ve had with crew, especially after five years, for goodness’ sake. Be sensible.” John began to think, wracking his brain for any piece of information that was not accessible via any computer system.

“You knew his personal file,” Sandra suddenly said, “You knew things only a Captain would be told and even David wouldn’t know you had access to, right?”

John looked at her coldly. “Are you seriously expecting me to believe that this is really the ghost of David and that,” he pointed at JOE, “is the AI?”

“Actually, I am a hologram,” said JOE, “I am just projecting myself into this program.”

“If what you are saying is true then whoever created this interface is in serious trouble. I mean, I can’t even count how many protocols would have been broken.” John snorted and shook his head.

“Seven hundred and twenty-two, sir,” said JOE.

“What?”

“Seven hundred and twenty-two protocols, sir.” JOE smiled weakly.

“It was me that created the interface, Captain, and I would like to see them imprison a ghost.” David grinned, his old humour returning.

John couldn’t help but let a small smile break through. “Alright. If you want me to even begin to think you are not all as mad as a box of frogs, tell me this, David: what medical procedure did you go through prior to your application for transfer being accepted, something that I kept from your files as a favour for an old friend?”

David nodded and smiled back. “Well, it’s a bit embarrassing…” He looked at the other crew members. “I don’t want you taking the mickey about this, alright?” They all nodded, intrigued. “I’d been having problems with my prostate. They thought it might lead to something more serious at my age, so they carried out a minor regenerative op, used my own stem cells to fix it as good as new.” He looked steadily at John. “If you want something more, the old friend you mentioned was Captain Sean Donahue; he is a friend of my father’s, they trained together.” David braced himself as he saw everyone biting their lips trying not to laugh; everyone except John, who was staring at him in shock.

“I think I need to sit down,” John said as he realised this really was the ghost of David standing in front of him. There was no one other than Sean and himself who knew about this.

Sean had vouched for David when he applied for the Engineer job. Any kind of health issue, no matter how trivial, would have prevented him from doing a long-haul flight as a conscious crew member.

So John had turned a blind eye and erased the data from David’s file before the application went through. The only explanation was that this in fact was David’s ghost. He found the nearest booth and sat on the edge of the seat.

“Brandy, old man?” The polite enquiry from the other occupant of the booth caused him to flinch.

“Are you real?” he said as a glass of brandy was placed in his hand.

“Well, it depends on what you mean ‘real’.” The dapper figure smiled softly, a pencil-line moustache dancing a jig on his top lip. “I am a hologram, but I am sentient.”

John downed the brandy in one. This was turning out to be one hell of a day.