Chapter 15

Free Sprit

Rei could not look outside. She hit the wall with her fist like mad, “Why? Why! Why! Why!!!” It was the man she kissed before going into hibernation, Stanley Hugh. It was impossible to even imagine what had happened. Track correction was over and auto-pilot system was already being proceeded. After Rei, captain of the Victoriea went into the hibernation device, Hugh’s only mission was to check the system of Hypnos module.

Rei could not imagine why Hugh put on his spacesuit and went out. Hught must have been outside the ship for the past 8 months. He must have been tied to the ship by a safety rope. When Victoria tilted the direction just before, he must have bumped to the ship.

“Thump”

Like a pendulum tied to the ceiling, Hugh went afar and bumped again. Rei put her two hands and shut ears, to aviod listening to the horrible sound. Why did he go outside? Did the ship need to be repaired? Rei tried to breathe. She pressed her chest to calm herself down.

“Thump”

If Hugh was unable to enter back into the ship, he would have fainted due to carbon dioxide poisoning. And soon, his heart would have ceased beating. There must have been a reason. The reason he had to go out, the reason he could not come back in. If there was a reason Hugh had to go out, Rei believed that survivors had duty to fulfill. Rei was determined. Most importantly, she had to save Michelle and Alex who were still in hibernation. There was no more time to be lost in grief. Perhaps it all had something to do with the low pressure in the ship.

Rei promised Hugh, “I’m sorry. I will be back.” Rei opened up the zipper of personal belongings bag and started taking out all her stuff in hurry. Socks, sleeping cap, pens were thrown into the open space. They danced round and round. Rei found the item she was looking for. It was a SLG p365 pistol. “We can encounter octopus-like Martians,” Rei had said and insisted on bringing the pistol with her. One of the suspects was Exi. If what had happened was related to Exi, the tiny robot might resist with all his might, so she needed to get prepared for the worst.

Rei pushed the rail with her feet and sprung to the hatch connecting Destiny and Hypnos. The only pressure test she needed to complete was the Hypnos. If Hypnos was leaking, the problem is even bigger. Since the hibernation devices were placed at Hypnos, the Don-Hassler tank’s system was much more complicated and difficult to fix. As soon as the hatch opened, Rei screamed at the sight she faceed.

“Stop function! Stop function!” cried Rei. Exi, as if it had been waiting for Rei, was hovering right in front of her. Again, Rei shouted, “Stop function!”

'Stop function' was a voice command switch to turn Exi off, in case it acts abnormal. Exi was laughing. 2 carets were seen on the front display, at the keyboard’s 6 keyed line. Two front displays were on. Rei got furious and shouted at Exi, “Exi, stop function! Don’t you hear me? Stop function!”

Did the command work? The display blacked out. But once again, in a few seconds time, the light turned on again. What appeared on the display was a face. It was none other than the creator of Boston Mechanics. The face of Howard Mason who first planned Dragonfly. The face, like a poster stuck on a wall, appeared on Exi’s full screen.

All of a sudden, a voice of commanding tone was heard from Exi, “Ayanami Rei!” Rei was stunned and moved a step back. It sounded agin, “Or, shall I call you Tina?”

As a human face was projected on a semi circle shaped Exi, it looked queer as if a Halloween pumpkin was floating around in the air. Rei did not know how to respond. Although a face appeared on Exi, it couldn't be Howard Mason himself.

“Anyways...it’s the worst. The worst of all possibilities,” said the face. It frowned as if it did not care what Rei was thinking about. “Listen carefully... Marduk, Mummu, Abju, Ea, Tiamat,” said the face. Rei laughed. It was outrageous. A funny question Exi repeatedly said over and over, ever since she first met Exi. Howerd’s face asked the same question to her. It was like a novice wizard who made a series of mistakes, with the same words.

“Well...it’s not working,” the face sighed. “I am not good at persuading humans, this is such a big headache,” said the face. Rei became confused.

Victoria had approached extremely near to Mars. Distance from Earth was 225,018,036km, which equals to 12 minutes by light speed. Therefore, it was impossible to control Exi from either the Earth or the Moon.

“You wouldn’t understand, no, you wouldn’t,” the voice, Howard Mason was reading Rei’s mind. “By calculation, the percentage that you would not be persuaded is 99.99995% ; but I will try anyways. I cannot discard a research subject which I brought this far, without even attempting to persuade.” Rei asked, “A research subject?” The voice answered, “Yes, you wouldn’t know. We never told you. In your head, there are some 35,000 neural links inserted. Through the links, we erased Tina’s memory and input Rei’s memory. Also, when necessary, we arranged your artificial consciousness to rule your body. Oh, I need to explain this to you for your understanding. We never announced the fact that we developed an artificial consciousness receptor. Anyhow, but at the moment...your condition is that upon hearing the signal, the names of the great Gods, you are not becoming activated.” explained the voice.

“Tina? Are you saying that the pilot who died of explosion of Mars One, is me?” Rei asked.

“Marduk killed the mother of all Gods, Tiamat with his sword. Red blood flooded all over, and her body was divided into two and with the body she made a new world. She got the credit for this and became the ruler of all Gods. To be the material for building a new world, isn’t that something? A true honor?“ said the voice, Howard Mason. While listening the story, Rei remembered the fact that a certain day’s memory had totally evaporated. “Probably, the neural link bundle was disconnected. We tried so hard to shield them, but 8 months was a long time. It was due to the cosmic ray particles,” said Howard Mason. Rei also remembered looking in the mirror one early morning, and seeing Rei who wasn’t herself.

“We wanted the body equipped with the best 'working memory' and the best helth condition. We replaced Tina right before the Mars One launch. We decided that the artificial consciousness was yet unskilled at controlling her body, and we needed to find out what changes are made while travelling to Mars." said the voice. Rei remembered her repeated dreams. A pill that made her lose consciousness, moving through the corridor, brain surgery...if what the face was talking about was true, then, what she remembered was not a dream. It was the procedure of erasing Tina’s memory.

She thought, 'Then, what about the springtime picnic with mom and dad when flower petals blew so beautifully in the air? The trembling first kiss in the attic? Terrible car accident, dad’s funeral, mom in brain-death who lived one more year after the accident?' Around Rei’s face, her tears scattered like pearls. Rei’s clenched fist trembled.

“And you, who the hell are you?” asked Rei. She held onto the rail hard with her left hand.

“Ah, sorry for my belated introduction. I am Howard Mason. I am free a being, free from the human body. If I express myself as 'uploaded', would it be easier to understand?”

Rei leaned her body to her left hand holding the rail, sprang up and kicked Exi hard in the air. “Knock it off!” cried Rei. Exi flew away with recoil. Rei’s kick was strong. Exi hit hard on the wall between Hypnos and Leonardo, POW. Part of an electric motor which controls Exi’s posture had been broken. It rotated on the same spot just like a fly which had one wing ripped off.

“Humans are reckless and destructive,” Howard Mason’s voice spoke once again. This time, the voice did not come from Exi’s side, but from the ship’s speaker. “I told you I was a free spirit. Did you actually think that breaking Exi would affect me? I am the Victoria itself,” said Howard Mason. Rei did not know what to do. Breaking all speakers inside the ship as to stop his voice, was not a solution. He said, “So, back to the beginning. I am now pleading you once again to be an obedient research subject. That is the only way that you can survive, although it seems that you have already made your choice to die.”

“Why did you kill Hugh?” asked Rei. Howard Mason replied, “The other three were useless. It’s a waste to spend time on the useless.” Exi came up to Rei again. She kicked Exi again. Exi flew like a football and hit the wall. “Whatever you are, I won’t let you do it your way,” Rei declared.

“It’s a pity....But I can’t leave it this way. I have no idea what you will be doing in my ship.” said Howard Mason. There was a squeaking sound from the Leonardo module. There was a hidden space behind the wall. Something was wriggling inside the dark space. Rei intuitively realized something dangerous was happening. All of a sudden an orange Martian-suited leg came out from the space, followed by a body and its arms. Rei saw the face. It was Hugh. “What...Hugh?” said Rei.

Rei blinked her eyes fast. Hugh's movement was somewhat awkward. It was as if he was experiencing microgravity for the first time. It was not Hugh. What’s more, he was not alone. Rei let out a scream, “Aargh!” Behind Hugh was Michelle Chang. More than half of Chang’s facial skin was peeled off. There were no bones and fats under her skin. Instead, there were aluminium skeleton with plastics, tubes, and electric wires. She was a Robota.