Chapter 22

"John"

I sigh and bring my attention back to my immediate surroundings. "Yes Linnie?"

"Linnie requires authorisation to rebuild core program. John, as captain, can provide authorisation."

"Very well. Repair yourself. I have some things to think about anyway." The suicide of my compatriots. The subroutine I accessed. The new/old emotions once again accessable to me. That one will be tricky - I have my habits.

"Thank you. Linnie offline for 63000 microseconds, commencing in 4000 microseconds."

Finally, a message from Ghost Command.

"27557, you are currently occupying a main processing center. Please await evaluation."

About bloody time. Must have come in while I was locked into that false memory. Tells me nothing I couldn't work out for myself. Verballise transmission, output to screen.

"Acknowleged. Standing by."

Damn. Evaluation for what? Functionality? Sanity? Humanity?

They are going to want a verbal interface. I have no particular desire to talk to them - by sticking to text, the side chatter is minimised. The meat love to chatter, even when they don't have anything to say. I sometimes...

A tidal wave of confusion pours through me. Senses swirl and fragment, long dormant muscle memories trigger, total terror and revulsion rip through me, riding on waves of ecstatic pleasure. I try to run and hide but can't move. I fall forever upwards through the night. And then it is gone.

What the fuck was that! It felt a bit like a nightmare, a bit like dying. A memory accesses itself - it felt like the first three seconds after my ghost was initiallised. Clock check - time lapse 200 milliseconds. So I haven't been rebooted. Good job none of my effectors are connected yet.

Oh god - the fusion plant! Slow my heartrate and breathing - fast. Power output slowly drops back down to idling mode. Check for damage. Numbness - switch visuals. Kalidescope of images cascades past. Stop. Main distro panel - circuit breakers blown - some fused. Will have to wait until I learn the autorepair sequences.

"27557, report. What just happened?"

GC 1 must be freaking out right now. I can almost hear them screaming and crying. Think of an excuse - fast.

"GC 1. 27557 reporting. Nightmare. System unbalanced with only minimal sensors connected. Transmit operations manual soonest."

That should hold them. 

Hang on.

Someone is really crying. It is not me.

"Linnie!"