096: REVIVE

by Derin

<<First ………. <Prev ………. [Archive] ………. [Map] ………. Next> ………. Last>>

I wake up in a bright room, littered with IVs and monitoring equipment and with an oxygen mask on my face. I carefully reach back to disconnect the cerebral stimulator from the port in my skull.

But there’s no stimulator there, just a slight bump where my skin has grown over the port, and after a moment of sheer, panicked confusion, I remember that I’m not waking up from chronostasis. That was ages ago. I’m…

“Aspen!” Lina’s face comes into view, a bit blurry and unnervingly close. I’m in the medbay. Obviously. “Aspen, are you alright? How are you feeling?” She turns away and raises her voice briefly. “Everyone! Aspen’s awake!”

I glance around. I’m in the medbay in RAMR1 (I can tell because the computer terminal monitor looks to be intact), and I’m not actually covered in all that much medical equipment; aside from the oxygen mask, there’s a pulse and oxygen monitor on my finger, and an IV in each arm. The one on my right contains bright orange synthetic blood, which… isn’t great. What happened to me that made me need an emergency influx of blood?

I glance at the line coming out of my left arm, which is even more alarming. This one appears to be full of normally coloured blood, and it takes me a few seconds to realise that it’s not being fed into me; that’s my blood being drained out of my body. What could’ve happened to me that necessitates replacing my blood?

“Aspen,” Lina says, pulling the mask from my face (I let her), “do you know what day it is?”

“No,” I mumble, “but that doesn’t mean anything, I never know what day it is.”

“Do you know where you are? Do you know who I am?”

“I’m in the medbay, and you’re Lina Chisolm. You guys just staged a coup against our wannabe-mass-murderer rootrotting ex-captain.”

“Good,” she breathes, relieved. “That’s good. I need you to follow my finger with your eyes, alright?”

“What happened?” I ask, watching her finger move around.

“Your life just got saved by the DIVR-32 geneset, is what happened,” comes Tinera’s voice from the doorway. “Nine minute anoxic time limit before serious brain damage is a risk. Are you alright?”

“Anoxic?” I mumble, frowning at the bag of synthetic blood. “I was suffocating?”

“Carbon monoxide poisoning,” Lina says.

I try to get up. “The others!”

Lina pushes me gently back down. “Rest. Just because you can carry enough oxygen to be conscious doesn’t mean you should be walking around.”

“The others,” I insist, but I don’t try to sit up again.

The room is filling up with crewmates. Captain Klees steps forward. “Sam was with us,” he says gently, glancing at Sam standing beside him. “But everyone else in Habitation Ring 1… I’m sorry to say that you were the only survivor.”

I glance over the faces crowding the room. Lina, still trying to take my vitals; the Friend messing with medical equipment. Tinera and Denish and Sam and Captain Klees, watching be with tense concern; Tal, in the doorway, tears streaking through kes mascara. Ke meets my eye for a brief moment, then turns and runs out of the room.

“Everyone else is dead?” I ask.

“Everyone else is dead,” Captain Klees confirms.

“How? How could that happen? Who flooded the ring with carbon monoxide?!”

“Nobody, so far as we know,” Captain Klees says. “There will, of course, be a full investigation; this can’t possibly be a coincidence. All we know is that when we took Sam back to the ring, we found everyone collapsed onto the floor. We got everyone to the medbays as quickly as we could, but…”

“It was too late,” I finish. A non-DIVR doesn’t survive without oxygen for very long.

“Yes,” Captain Klees says. “Now that we know you’re alright, I’ll launch a full investigation into what exactly went wrong here.” The gaze that he sweeps across every face in the room isn’t quite an accusatory glare, but it’s close. “Lina, how long until Aspen can be up and about?”

“Probably five days to return to full duty, if there’s no organ damage,” Lina says. “Technically they could get up after we’ve finished this transfusion, but I’m not entirely happy with somebody walking around with that much synthetic blood. Five days to heal up the platelets and white cells and soforth, and they should be alright. They can go on light duty – and I mean light duty – after twenty four hours, if you really need them. Longer if there’s organ damage, which I’ll start scanning for now.”

“Excellent. Everyone who’s not a doctor, or a patient, clear the room.” Captain Klees gives me a little smile. “I’m glad you’re okay, Aspen.”

I just nod back numbly. It still doesn’t… Captain Sands tried to kill the convicts by decompressing their ring, how did… how did it go this way? Captain Klees is right; it couldn’t possibly be a coincidence, but who would do such a thing? And how can four more of my crewmates be dead? Just like that?

Well, I think hollowly, morbidly. At least I don’t have to make peace with Keldin now.

I sit through some cognitive tests and reflex tests and the doctors briefly debate whether they need to do an MRI and decide against it. Lina goes off to do some tests on blood samples she took back when my bloodstream was rather less synthetic, while the Friend takes my temperature and records my oxygen levels.

“Can I see them?” I ask it.

“The dead?”

“Yeah.”

“They’re laid out in the other medbay. It’s not a good idea to go walking around alone right now, but after these tests are complete, this Friend will take you there.”

“Thanks. Hey, did you really give the other Friend antidrenomate to commit suicide with?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“Why?”

It shrugs. “It seemed that that Friend had determined that the ship was better off with it dead. This Friend wasn’t about to second guess its calculations.”

“Would you give me a fatal dose of antidrenomate if I – ?”

“No, obviously not. You’re not a Friend.”

“Universal Friends are so fucking weird.”

A smile ghosts across its lips. “As this Friend has already been informed, multiple times. Look into this little light, please.”

“Didn’t we already do this test?” I ask, squinting into the light.

“No harm in double-checking.”

I don’t see the point – either my pupils will contract or they won’t, it’s not going to change – but I’m not a doctor.

“I suppose you wouldn’t have given it the drugs if you’d known what it was going to do with them.”

“If this Friend had known,” the Friend says firmly, putting the little torch down, “it would have given that Friend the drugs, and made certain that that Friend took them, whether it wanted to or not.”

“You would’ve killed it?”

“Rather than allow it to murder Renn Sunn? Yes. The Public Universal Friends do not tolerate that kind of behaviour within our ranks.”

“You don’t kill non-Friends? But didn’t you kill a whole bunch of people?”

“Friends do kill when necessary. Pacifism is incompatible with strict utilitarianism. If this Friend was protecting five children from a gunman, and the best way to protect them was to kill the gunman, and this Friend was able to do so and refused to do so because it didn’t want to have to kill, then that would be an evil and selfish decision. But there are limits. Friends cannot wantonly use force or violence or coercion to improve the world, for the same reason that we cannot be leaders. Imagine what that would be like, a world where a sizeable, united utilitarian force could go about taking any measure it deemed necessary for the greater good of humanity. Is that a world in which you would like to live?” The Friend shakes its head. “Had Renn been a direct threat to somebody, attempting to kill another crew member perhaps, then that Friend would have been permitted to kill him if that was necessary to stop him. But that Friend was not permitted to kill him for political reasons. That is never acceptable. Friends who take such actions must be culled from the ranks; they are too dangerous otherwise.”

“Political reasons?”

“It seems fairly obvious to this Friend that that Friend was concerned about Renn’s stance on Lyson projects. That Friend approached this Friend for the drugs almost immediately after Renn’s views came to light, and given that we are trafficking a prison population clearly chosen to be exploited and that several people seem to be using this colony as their personal science experiment anyway, it is not unreasonable to think that Renn might actually be allowed to perform such experiments under limited conditions on Hylara. Which would have been intolerable, obviously.”

“But that Friend was on Renn’s side! It said – ”

“And you believed it? Aspen, no Friend would ever be in support of such projects. The entire reason we have such strict entry standards and initiation rituals with centuries of immutable law and tradition behind them is that Lyson work is far too dangerous to be allowed outside of such strict parameters. We understand how dangerous it is. No Friend would ever support it, especially not in a situation like this. It was taking a false stance so it could have a better chance at Renn, this Friend believes.”

“Good news, Aspen,” Lina says, coming back into the room. “Your bloodwork’s clean! Except for the really high carbon monoxide levels, obviously. And I’ll have to do the bloodwork again once you’ve regenerated all of your blood, which will probably take eight to ten weeks. You’ll need iron supplements, obviously.”

I open my mouth to respond, but I’m cut off by yet another alarm.

“Oh, what is it this time?” Lina sighs, but I catch the Friend’s eye and see my own fear and anticipation written on its face. We know this alarm – it’s one we’ve heard before.

It’s the alarm for ejecting a ring from the ship.

I leap up out of bed, carelessly pulling out my IVs, as Captain Klees barrels into the room.

“Captain, what are you – ?”

“It’s not me!” he insists, heading for the medbay terminal.

“It has to be, only the captain has clearance!”

“What’s going on?” Lina asks, but nobody answers her. We all crowd around the terminal. Captain Klees types.

Cancel ring ejection

– You do not have the authorisation to do that. –

I’m the captain

– You do not have the authorisation to do that. –

“Aspen,” Captain Klees says desperately. “Try.”

“But I’m not the – ”

“Try!”

I shrug and take over.

Cancel ring ejection

– You do not have the authorisation to do that. –

Which ring is being ejected?

– Chronostasis Ring 5 is being ejected. 9 seconds remain to cancel the ejection. –

Cancel ring ejection

– You do not have the authorisation to do that. –

Who authorised the ring ejection?

– Ejection of Chronostasis Ring 5 was authorised by Captain Joshua Reimann. –

I stare at the screen. I stare at my crewmates. They look as dumbfounded as I feel.

“What,” I ask, “the fuck?”

And then the floor shakes below our feet as Chronostasis Ring 5 begins to disengage.

<<First ………. <Prev ………. [Archive] ………. [Map] ………. Next> ………. Last>>

37 thoughts on “096: REVIVE”

  2. This. Is. So. FASCINATING. Every twist makes sense, but I’m also so excruciatingly aware that Aspen is a purely subjective narrator. Beyond excited to see what more we can learn about Reimann. 😀

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Every twist makes sense to you? Could you explain it to me, because right now it feels like the author didn’t know where to go and suddenly had everyone go crazy and act badly out of character, then swept a whole bunch of troublesome characters and plot lines off the board so they didn’t need to be dealt with. Derin is way too good an author for that to be the case so I’m waiting for more information, but I really want things to start making sense again.

      Like

      Reply

  5. My best guess is that it has something to do with what Tal figured out. I suspected that he might have thought about using Reimann’s identification chip to bypass security set in place by him but… Why the fuck would Tal eject a Chronostasis ring? Is it linked to the carbon monoxide poisoning?!

    Also I still can’t help but disbelieve that a bunch of characters just died. They had plot thread going on! Character arcs! But if course with the dangerous conditions it’s not unrealistic to have characters die while they still have business going on. Heck, that’s what happened to the previous crew, conspirators included.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  6. Ok actually kinda devastating, especially with Celi and Sunset. Tbh I don’t care at all about Heli. A Sands redemption would’ve been interesting but this is also an interesting twist.

    Sooooo. Here’s my theory. Amy made an executive decision to delete everyone for being violent. Maybe something to do with no longer caring about them bc no chip. Anyway Tal is big mad and trying to revenge kill Amy

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. WHAT THE FUCKWHAT THE FUCK

    okay though thats TWO things (filling the ring with CO, and ejecting chrono ring 5) that (probably) require captain-level authorization that NONE of our current/recent captains (Aspen, Keldin, Adin) did. Is there a ghost captain? Is the AI going even more haywire? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN THIS FUCKED UP SPACESHIP? (<– could be a reaction to literally any chapter of TtOU)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I have two guesses:

      a) Tal has put Reimann’s chip into kes arm and this activated two sets of actions Reimann had programmed before dying his untimely death: kill all humans without chips (he was paranoid – maybe he feared people living in the walls or a mutiny much like the convicts just pulled) and eject the rings that contain the “extra computing power” of the ai experiment.

      Or b) Tal is _in_ the chronostasis ring, having accidentally killed the four suffocation victims by trying to rewrite ventilation protocols. Ke is ridden with guilt and chose this method of suicide to rid the ship of both kemself and the likely source of much of the ai weirdness.

      My money’s on a).

      And man, how devastating. I was looking forward to seeing more of Sunset, as well as Sands possibly improving his attitude. Heli, well, I liked her until she turned out to be a rapist. And Celi, I wanted to see how the situation with the attempted psychologist override plays out in the group (what a blow to Sands’ ego! Will he learn? And if so, what?).
      Alas.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  10. SCREAMING??? TAL??? I NEED A HEADCOUNT. WHERE IS EVERYONE? AASURGGGGH. aspen keeps getting into Situations while Bodily Harmed HRNG. its an effective way to keep tension (and likely, lol) but UAAIRRHRGH

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  14. Ohhhh shit Tal! I would love if everyone on this ship could stop making rash decisions without consulting others For One Hour Please.
    Also, jfc the chapter title “Lobotomy” has been looming like a grime specter on my psyche. I was torn on whether it would refer to some Amy overhaul or a method of uhh… dealing with some particularly rowdy crew members — but I think that answers that.

    Like

    Reply

  15. HELP??? Oh god, Keldin, Heli, Celi, and Sunset all dying *just like that*… That’s so fucked up. The obvious thought is that one of the old crew did it as revenge, but it doesn’t make sense. Why would they want to kill Sunset and Celi as well? Tal looked so upset… I remember that ke was good friends with Sunset, but I’m wondering if maybe that was guilt/horror? Did ke accidentally set off that carbon monoxide infusion? Or was it Amy’s doing?

    AND NOW CAPTAIN REIMANN IS ON THE SCENE? His chip was in his arm, I think, which got left behind in the wall while he was doing sabotage to the coolant… Has someone stolen his chip for themselves? Tal, maybe? But again, *why?* Why would someone eject Chronostasis ring 5? To try and sabotage Amy? AMY certainly wouldn’t want to do that, right?

    Alright, theory: Amy poisoned the new crew for WHATEVER REASON. Amy does weird shit all the time, she doesn’t always have rational reasons for it. Tal then took Captain Reimann’s chip and used it to eject Chronostasis ring 5 in retaliation, to make sure that something like that can’t happen again.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  16. noooooooo everyone stop dying! knock it off right now!

    (Recent similarity to a particularly elaborate game of Among Us continues. Sabotage in O2!)

    (Seriously, would love to see a game played on a Javelin map. That’d be way awesome.)

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  17. SUNSET AND CELI NOO ;;~;;

    I think Amy may have done the CO stunt, but I’m not sure why. I had a prediction about Lobotomy having something to do with dropping CR-5 (lobotomizing the AI’s wetware), and I have a strong suspicion Tal did it purposefully. Ke has the means and motive (Amy killed kes best friend, possibly on suggestion of the wetware- people are fighting? punching each other? humans like to fight to survive), as well as the general brain-stuffs to put it together that Amy killed the other four.

    Losing CR-5 was probably necessary in the long run, and I don’t know how easy it would be to save the non-hijacked population after how CR-1 went down… hopefully the Courageous won’t freak out any more than it already is for losing all of its extra processors!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  18. OMG!

    Hmm, the map clearly says Adin is captain, and former captains don’t have authority since Aspen wasn’t able to cancel it. I think Reimann scheduled it in advance, password-protected. Is there anything special about the day 13445? It’s not a whole number of years.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  19. The oxygen thing happened right after Tal went to go use Reimann’s chip, but ke’d have no reason to want to kill them all.
    Maybe it was queued up from Reimann’s commands, or maybe Amy did it?
    Tal potentially ejected the ring though

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  21. Ah, the mixed pain and joy of having caught up to an ongoing series! It’s been a very fun ride over this week. The best part is how a few problems I’ve noticed – and an absolute ton of ones I didn’t – turned out to not be inaccuracies or mistakes and were instead plot points.
    The best part is also Aspen. The best part is also how all the crew seem like internally consistent people and are treated as such. The best part is also the worldbuilding. There’s lots of best parts.
    And now that I’m here, I get to publicly say guesses! But should I actually go deep into them? Let’s leave it at “poor Tal” for now.

    Like

    Reply

  22. Convinced that nobody survives this damn ship. The damn thing managed to burn through its whole second crew and now it’s burning the replacement crew.. That isn’t even MENTIONING all the people who’ve been doomed by the cranial port thing, the amount that’ve failed to wake up and those that never will. Honestly won’t be surprised if this crayon-shaped deathtrap plows straight into Hylara’s surface instead of entering orbit.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  23. OH. OH I SEE. SO I SET MY THEORIES ON FIRE AFTER CHAPTER 92 FOR NOTHING THEN. …Good thing I have copies. :^)

    Anyways this is either a pre-programmed thing…or there’s someone else on the ship like I thought. VASTLY more likely to be the first option but with all the crazy shit going on who even knows anymore.

    Like

    Reply

  24. I agree with everyone who’s saying Amy set off the carbon monoxide, probably because she realised Sands was too big a threat to have alive and didn’t care enough about Sunset and Celi not to treat them as collateral. and Tal decided she’s just too unpredictable and to kill her, using Reinman’s chip.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I have the sudden thought… what if Amy killed them because they didn’t have chips? The first time someone didn’t have a chip it was Reinman and he went on a murder spree on the sleeping colonists.

      We know Amy lied about Klees having a low survival chance in order to preserve the colonists that are being used as computer ressources. It’s possible that it decided that a bunch of people with no chip were too great a threat and so it decided to eliminate them while they were almost all stuck in the same place.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  25. “I’m sorry to say that you were the only survivor.” – That’s so damn suspicious, but I am done with suspecting the original crew of anything, I believe them, and believe that their friendships with the new crew were genuine. This has got to be another scheme of the AI or to do with the conspiracy or smth.

    “– Ejection of Chronostasis Ring 5 was authorised by Captain Joshua Reimann. –” Ha, I knew it was some weird AI/conspiracy shit.

    I can’t wait to see what’s up in the next chapter! (Also I’m pretty sure Tal’s idea in the previous chapter was using Riemann’s chip to get authorisation for things—They have access to it, iirc, right?)

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  26. fuckin a…

    some of the wheel spinning with sands’ spywork is leaving me a little disappointed since i don’t see how we’re to learn anymore on that front. i mean both terandans are dead. i’m kinda surprised at a bunch more deaths so soon. but you’ve never given these saps any breaks so i’m not surprised there’s a cascade of disasters so soon. what the hell is tal up to?!

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to pbowlingball Cancel reply