USD: 1 Day after Cadre-S Graduation

Location: Van Biesbroeck’s star, Meltisar, MIL-1A Elevator, Main Transit Hub 36

Recognizing the danger of the position, Thea’s eyes widened as Alex slid closer.

She redoubled her efforts to push the girl away, but her arm was well and truly stuck through the girl’s chest up to her elbow. Metal servos whirred in her fabricated arm as it strained to push her away, but it was no use. Her opponent’s strength was unyielding.

The wall and structure of the corridor behind her melted as her nanites frantically ate away at it, but the process was too slow to forestall the slow impending doom moving toward her lips.

“Checkmate.” Alex whispered to her.

The kiss was gentle, a little tug at Thea’s bottom lip, but it lingered. The girl’s sparkling, deep blue eyes were locked on her, waiting for a reaction.

For a single moment, there was calm; the hint that maybe nothing would happen was dashed as her MainComputer’s declaration reverberated through her.

|NANITE SYSTEM DETECTED|

A mechanical male voice echoed inside her head.

|AUTHENTICATE| AUTHENTICATE| AUTHENTICATE| AUTHENTICATE|

Thea shoved the girl away harder. This time, there was less resistance, and the kiss was broken. She released her blade, the nanites around her arm shedding immediately so she could tug her hand and forearm out of the girl’s chest cavity. The wall bent behind her, creating enough space to get a foot up to deliver a powerful kick.

The young NAI fell to the ground in a clump against the opposite wall before slowly setting herself back up to lean against the bulkhead. An exhausted smile filled her face as her chest heaved up and down.

Thea doubted she was getting any air. The hole was large enough to have collapsed her lungs and probably had mangled her heart besides. The only reason she wasn’t unconscious was because she had probably doped herself on oxygen or had an internal reserve, Thea realized.

|AUTHENTICATE| AUTHENTICATE| AUTHENTICATE| AUTHENTICATE|

Ignore it. Thea scrambled to reform her discarded blade into a railgun. Maybe if she eliminated the infection before it could take hold, it would terminate the override.

There was an entire litany of directives warring in her head, aligning together to command her to kill. She picked them up one by one and set them in front of the unescapable voice demanding her submission, only for them to be swatted from existence.

Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out her last remaining scarab and slapped it on her own neck. Four claws bit into her skin and she felt the NAI connection be forced open.

As fast as it had connected, the machine suddenly went silent. A burning sensation forced her to rip it off as the metal of the device turned a dull red, the nanite substrate having eliminated itself in a self-destructive flurry.

|̵͖͆̆A̴̘̎͜U̵̩͌͂T̸͓͖͒H̸̹͒E̸̺̰͑N̵̺̦̎T̴̥̉̕I̴̹̤͘͘C̴̳̫̈͑Ȁ̴͔T̶͓̣͗̈́E̸̢̍|̶̤̐ ̶͇̾̕A̷͔̦͗Ǜ̵̡Ṭ̵͙̕H̵͇̒E̵̼̫͂̚Ň̴̲Ţ̷͒͊I̸͚͔̍C̵̞̻̃A̴̖͗̓T̷̡̟̽Ë̴̹̗́|̵̲̽ ̴͍̪̀AUTHENTICATE|A̴̍̄ͅǗ̷̖͔͛T̵̜͊H̵̨̧͒Ḛ̷̺͗̒N̷̖͠T̶̡̝͘I̶̖̒͝C̵̟͝A̴̯͜͝Ṯ̷̛̃E̴̞̾͝|̵̥̒ ̵͍̗̇A̶̹̒U̶̟̇T̵͉͈̓̾H̴̱̐̇Ė̴̝N̵͓̖̒̓T̵͙̎͘I̷̜̙̽̚C̴̭̑Ă̸̺̆T̸͔͒E̵̺͇̚|̸̝̈́͐

Fear clutched her as her options dwindled. There seemed to only be one way out remaining.

Yellow nanites imploded through the air, streaking toward her good arm and leaving the blue swarm to fill the space. The formation of her weapon was agonizingly slow as an incessant barrage of commands filled her head.

|̷̨̙̱̫̝̤͍͆̆́̈́́̒̒̚A̵̞͉̅̚Ų̴̨̗̤̣̻̭̲͠T̵̛̹͉̯̒̇̍̇́ͅH̶̬͂̂̈̄̏̐̒̄͘È̸̡̳̹͉̺̠͎̳̅͛̕N̵̰͕͈͔̝͕͎̩͔̐̒͂͋̉̈T̵̛͇̦̀̊̒̏̏I̵̧͓̞͍̯̹͛͛̾C̴͇̮̗̜̖̘͖̊͂̽͐͋̐̄̃͆̎ͅA̸̩̱̠̗̫̠͎̩̞͆̋͗͑͊̀̓̄̚͜T̴̡̛̥̦̝̭̳͔̽̎́̑̂̉ͅE̶̩̟̞̰̻͚̘͍̭͆͂̊̕͠|̵̙̬̏̔̍͋͝͠ ̶̼̥͕͌̓̉A̴̭͍̱̿̋̆̊͑̑̉̈̕͜͠Ů̴̩̯͗T̵̹̗̤͚̤͆̌͛H̸͎̫̓̌͐E̵̢̧̬̣̠̻̪̪̒̅̈̿̾́̔̿͘Ṅ̷͎̖͈̹͉̝̪̟̞̊́̒̏̉́̏̈́͆ͅT̶̫̝̦̞̞̈̉Í̸̧̭̬̮̳̇C̵̜̽A̶͈͈̬͓͙̟̍́͐͊̂Ţ̷͕̩̣͆Ę̵̫̬͕̺̜͖̣̔̃͛͆̇̍͝͠ͅͅ|̸̳͕̗͉̈́̎̓́́|AUTHENTICATE| ̵̨̛̖͕̟̯̤̼͇̑̄̈́͊̽̔͋Ã̴̖̙̼͇̫͚̋̿̀̎̓̒̓͒U̵̻̳̞̰̥̙͚̮̼̐̚T̴͕̦̫̝̤̈̈́͗H̴̨͕̰̤̹̥̹̘͒͛Ȩ̴̥̘̝̤͔̝͎͌N̶͙̪͓̗͍͈͕̬̽̈́T̷̩̻̱̹̟̍͑̄͑̔̈Ĭ̴̲͈̫̘̼̌̈́͜ͅĈ̸̳̈́͋̊̈́̾A̸̠̮͓͈͎̺̻̦̻͐̾̃̑̓̇̑̚T̴̞͇̰̘̙̞̳͝Ẻ̴̢̫̘̬̤̼̦̩͂̓̔́́̈́́ͅ|̵̮̯̱̙̪̺͉̣͎͂ ̸̛̲̿͋̓̉̑̈́̕A̷̲̰͈̳͖̔̓͗͗͋̓̕͜Ư̶̦̟̠͎̘T̴̝̠͖̀͛̀̈́̋̎͋Ȟ̵̙̼͈̖̥͍͇̌͒́͌͌͜͠ͅË̵̡̤͉͚́N̸̯͎̔̽͋̓͋͘Ţ̶̡͇̲̙̣̰͍̮́̽͌̋͐͠Ĭ̸̭̹̗̎̈̈̈̒̉ͅÇ̶̩̩̗̪̙̳̦̗̰̎̐̋A̴̛̳̯͔̭̔̈́̄̈̐́͊͝T̴̢̫̬͕̮̗̯͎̋̐̌̄͛̅͜͝͝Ḝ̶̟͈̜̩̦͍͂̕|̵̡̤̫̦̤͍̣͕͈͈̀

The hand of an angry god seized her between its fingertips and tried to crush her mind.

Gritting her teeth, she refused it.

Hated it.

She wielded the picture of the death and destruction the rampant AGAI had done as a shield. What it would do.

She visualized the entire station full of people dying. The entire moon turning to a swarming, uncontrolled mass of miniature machines as everyone was consumed.

It was Meltisar! The rest of her bank balance would be wiped out!

Thea turned her eyes into yellow daggers, pointed directly at the Meltisar Navy’s new experiment. Blood slowly retracted from the girl’s ruined uniform, flowing backwards across the floor and back into her chest, a metal glob of blue slowly filling the see-through hole in her chest.

Thea started to raise her arm to point her railgun at Alex’s head. The whine of the energy buildup fought with the noise in her head.

|OMEGA COMMAND OVERRIDE|

The progress she made in raising her arm vanished. She strained her muscles against what felt like the weight of a million kilos. An invisible shackle was fighting her, holding her arm down.

No. No. NO!

Her entire body shook with latent, repressed energy; wetness trailed down her cheeks and then from her nose as she leaked dying nanites and blood. Her computronic modules screamed at her to give in as they overheated; their internals locked up in an incessant deadlock of confusion of which set of orders to follow.

|̵̰̰̰͇̯̼̳͎̱̣̒̄̀͘͜Â̶̢̢̺̺̲͓̱̬̠̦͍̲̖̯͑͛̿̔̍̂̑̇̊̿̓̾̂̆̓̾͒̀̿̽̕̕͜͠͝͝͝ͅƯ̴̢̧̫̹͍̝͇͚̙̬̬̝̪̙͎̯̗̺͓͕̬̣̭̐͆̇͆̎̐́͂͗̾̋̍̌͑̎̈́͌́͂͆̚͜͜͜ͅͅT̷̹̣̓͛̑͂́́̀̓̚H̸̨̡̥͍̜̥͔̟͈̺͉͎̃́̅̋̀̌̕̕͜E̴̘̥̗̺̲̝̺̜͎̥͇͎͙̪̼̝̩̳̰͇͈͈̞̤̭͇̞̾͌̃̈̆͐̔̊͒̄̋̔͒͛́́͐̀̅͂̽̕̚̕͝͝ͅN̴̹̙̜̻̬͊̈̍̀͒̆̈͊̓̄̓̍̍͊̃̒͋̎̄̃̐͝͠T̵̰̐̾͆͗̏̕Į̴̞͔͓̤͍͓̏̋͌̂̑̏̈́͊͋͗̽̈́́͗̒͑͑̔̎͊̊́̋͝ͅĈ̷̡̢̨̨̨̨̻͎̲̫͖͚͉̜̻̲̟̭̗̼̭̰͙͕͇̍͑̆̐̐̉̈́̓̊͐͊͂͛̾͋̅͒͒̉̽̈́̎̄́̽͠͝ͅA̸̧̨̗̜͖̭̭͉̽͆̆̆̆̌̉̉͋͛̅͜Ţ̷̧̢̨̛̖̬̟̝̝͕͕̟̏͊̈̇͌͗̆̔̆͌̊̾̄̄̀̚̚͘͝E̴̛̛̗͓͓̬̲̤̘̻̼͉̒͆̏͐̈́͒̅͒͒̀̌̊̀̈̓̄͂̈̏̉̕̚̚͠͠|̵̱͔̯̫̱̣̭͓̩̜͉̫̖͈̱̜̬̻̞͚̫̱̝͈̝̭͉͍̓̂͋͑̑̒̈̉̒͐̋̂̐̊͘͘̚͜͝ͅ ̶̧̱̯̪̥̲͕͚̮̜̞͕͎͇̬̞͖̺̳̠̹̰͊̄̑̒̆͜͜Ą̶̖͕̮̣̖̯͍̯̦͈̰̻̲̲̰̪̣̖͎̯͈̼͍̟̣̱̐̏̋̈͂̏͊̆̿̈̅͌̇̽͛̊̄̀͒͑̉̕̚͝ͅŲ̴̛̼͙̫̏͛̆̑̊̔͒͊̽̈́́͋͛̇̍̐̈́͊͘T̶̖͖́̈̑̋͗̎̇͆̒́̄H̴̢̘̭͖͚͕̰̯͈̫̻̲̱̯̹̦̝̘́̀͛͐̈́̚͜ͅĘ̴̜̝̙̿͂͛̿̃̄̅̀̅͑͂̑̔͘Ṋ̸̡̧̧̧̞̼̘̲̣̥̲̼̖͉͖͓͇̥̞̮̽̈́̐̎͌̈́́͜ͅͅT̴̢̨̳̮̤̜͚̙̥̯̟͚̱̩͈͚͋̀̇̍͑̆͆́̏̐̃́̋̇͒̀́͗͂̕͘͜͝I̶̧̨̨̨̧̞̬͉̪͇̳̰͈̝͖̥͖̳̲͎̲̹̬̪̦̖͚͖͊̈̆̉̽̒̄̋͝͝C̵̛͖̯͎̱̖̩͇̠̼̫̺̭͖̮͚̠͛͒̇͑̽̈͠Ą̴̧̢̳̗̖̦͔͈̬͙͇̜̫͍͍̣̬͖͇̖̹͕̱̜̟̜̹͔́̓͛̔̈́̈́̍̄̅̌͑̉̒̈́͂͆̀̓̀̚̚̕͠͝T̷̡̧͙̟̼̖͕̯͈̪͓̺̤͖̝̖̩͉̭̈̒̎̒̆̃̀̋̀̍͊͗̋̈́̕͘͠͝͝Ę̷̧͉͈͙̻͓̜͇̙̺͍̪̜͕̣͙͍̳̳̻̗͉͋̓́̾̂̒̒̈͋̎͗͐̍̔̀͗͒̎͒̋̕ͅ|̷̛͓͙͉̻̀́͛̃̉̽ ̵̨̛͈̙͉̜̬̺̰̺͇̤̺͎̝̟͎͎͇͚͈͉͌́͛͒̉̿́́̀͑̔͂̂̉̑͜͠ͅ||AUTHENTICATE||A̷͉̥̳̱̬̣̜̦͇͇̠̣̻̾̂̒͆̌͗̌͑̂̆̾͋̕̕̚͝U̸̢̢͉̗̯͔͓̝̞̺̩͉̭̣̼̩̖̹̝͎̖̙̲̤͙̮͋̆̋̏͌̎́́̅̔̄̉͊̓͂͋̚̚̚͝͝ͅŤ̶̨̧̧̡͙̯̥̞̺̘͓̻̲̻̭̰͈̩̠͉̤̔̅͛̓̉̔̅̈̈́͒̌͊͊̈́̕̕͝Ḩ̵̧̘̖͓̜̹̺̹͖̖̺͉̪̱̜̲͈͈̺̗̳̹̓̊̐̈́͗̐̒̆̈́̅̏̏͆́͐͌̑̀̾̿̈̓͗̾̈̋̿͝͝͝ͅE̴̛̗͍̦͓͓̱̲͔̰͍͗͂̉̔͌͐̓̇̇̈́̆̓̽̃͋͘N̶̢̛̠̱͓̖͙̝̦̩̯̖̫̠̗͚̬̲̣̞͎̮̆̐̄́͗́̆̀̽͆͛̑̿́̈͜͜͠͠T̸̢̠̬̦̼̜̼͙͚̰͇̙̠̪̺̲͙͎͖̣̰̪̜̞͚͍͒͑̌͛͌̈́̔̿̂̏̽͋̀͗̓͛̇͘͠͝͝͠ͅͅI̷̡̛͚̱̫͎̝̳͍͍̪͕̹̘̤̼̤̙͕͌́̐͌̈̀͆̈́̃̓̾̂͆̉͑̈͒̈̎́̃͂͋͌̚̚͠͝͠C̶̢̧̛̭͓̱̹͙̣̱̯̰͎̣̤͓͙̼̀̑̈́̾̉̇̾͆̑̒̑̈͐́̅̇̚̚͠͝Á̵̱̩̞̙̝̼̘̘̱̥̻̝̭̭͍̯̻̗̺̫̪̟͍̬͕͙̩͜ͅT̶̡̢̛͍̺͕̯̜̯̻̰̺̣̟͔̅̒͐̐̒̆̉̑̐̎̂̽̇̄̈̌͒̚̚̚̕̚Ę̷̢͕̹̘͖͕̻̰͖̙̻̪̗̩͕̘͎̰̰͈̾̽͌̚͜͝ͅ|̸̢̬͔̬̭̭͙͉͈̼̳̹̰͔̣̜͙̖͈̫̤͉͎̜̯̣̥̊͒̅̓̂͑̏́̈́̎͊͂̈́͑̊̾͊̑͛̾͋͊̕͜͝͠ͅ ̵̡͇͈̪̠͕̩̪͙̮̟̣̩͂͋̽͊̄̚͝ͅĄ̸̨̺̺̥̟̹͚̺̃̀̆̇̂̎̆̀̎̐̈́̂̈́͂̅̈̽̿̀̅̈́͐̑͗͗̕̕͜͝͠Ǔ̸͈̽͗͊͗̀̾͑̀̚͘͜T̶̨̧̟̞͈̳̣̲̣̩̱̹̞̑̈́̑̓̀̉̂̔̔͛̃̆̈̀̏̏̄̒́̚̕̚̚͠͝͝H̴̡̡̘̘̖̝̦̙̳̦̦̩̬̼͎̩͈̼̖͎̮̗̘̆̚͜͜ͅE̶̳͑̆̎̈́̀̓̅̔̆̃̈́́̀̂̄͒͊͊̀͑̕͝N̷̢͓̤̗̫̯̭̭̥͉̯̟̈́͋̓̇͌́̊̏͆̓͗̅̃̔̓̃̃͒̆̔̉̇͋͒̚͠T̸̢͉͈̦̪̯̱͚̠͎̘̬̱̙̬̹̤͔͖̪̠̮̹͎͍̳̭̭̪̎́̿̂̀̀́̓̿̊̉̇̽̕̚͘͜͝͠͝͠Ĭ̵̡̡̧̨͍̠͕̤̙͔̗͚̮̩͙͖̰̞͋̽̎͆̎͜͠C̶̨͕̲̻̙̫̣̦̰̱̠̜̙̰͓̹̬͆͆̉͛̄̏̑͛̉́̉̓̽͛͘͝ͅͅȂ̵̧̢̡̧̗̬̬̰͓͈͍͓̳͔̻̟͖̹̩̰͔͈̝̰̬̑̏͆̋͛͌̒̇̅̈͊͑̔̋̈̊̎͐̑̕̕͝͝͝͝͠͠T̵̢̡̧̻̝͇͕̞̮̠͙̯̫͌͐͂Ȩ̸̧̢̢̺̥̰͈͚̼͉̣̱̩̫̪̰̬̿͛̍̀̔̑͂̚̕͘͜͜͠|̵̧̫̥͗̊̋̋͆̀͐̌̾̄̀̒̑̊̚͠

The nanites around her arm forming her new railgun sparked, electricity arcing between them before disintegrating and falling into a pile of sand on the floor. Smoke wisped off her burned skin from the failed capacitor discharge, but the droning in her head was already worse than any physical pain could ever distract her.

It had not been a minute, but time stretched as Thea pushed herself forward, taking slow, agonizing steps toward her downed opponent. Halfway across the corridor, her mechanical nanite arm disintegrated as well, leaving behind the ragged, bloody mess of her stump the AGAI had made.

Reaching down to her tactical belt, Thea pulled out a black tactical knife. It was nothing special. She knew it was nearly useless. A pool of yellow tinged blood trailed behind her, deepening with every step as fluids leaked from a myriad number of half-patched wounds.

The young girl in front of her had mostly healed, a mocking inverse evolution to her own state.

|AUTHENTICATE| AUTHENTICATE| AUTHENTICATE| AUTHENTICATE|

Thea reached the girl. The victory heralded a collapse onto her knees in front of her.

Two concerned blue eyes stared at her, eliciting a surge of anger. She stared back accusingly.

Wanting to curse and rail at her, Thea opened her mouth, only to cough up a splatter of blood and nanites. Her internals were literally consuming themselves inside her own body as she continued with her rebellion.

A shaky hand lifted her knife, but the girl gently reached out to open her fingers and took the weapon. Thea knew that would be the result but had tried anyway.

It was over.

But she would not give in.

Two sets of instructions wailed at her. Directives that wanted her to fight to the last bitter breath. The voice of an unrelenting and inescapable command.

The disappearance of pain arrived with the resignation of her fate. Now she would die.

The cool palm of the girl’s hand cupped her cheek as her vision blurred.

“Why are you resisting it so much?” The melodic chime of the girl’s voice tingled in her ears as it replaced the hateful, incessant authentication requests.

Thea waved her earlier visualizations and thoughts as a flag inside her mind. Atop the hill she would die on; at least it was a hill she had chosen.

“I’m not working with the AGAI. Tia and I are against it. I want to stop it from doing any more damage or harm. Please help us.”

Lies. Disbelief. Suspicion. Opening her mouth to respond, nothing escaped Thea’s throat. At some point, she had stopped breathing.

“I won’t force you to do things you hate. I won’t force you to do anything.”

A chink in her armor formed; a crack in her will. What if it was true? She pushed the thought away. It was too sweet. A trap.

A feeling of exhaustion overwhelmed her, and she realized the edges of her vision had gone dark, a narrow cone in the center containing a blurry blotch of skin and blue. Slumping forward, the girl caught her in an embrace. Thea rested her head on Alex’s chest, unable to resist.

“I won’t charge you taxes or take your bank account.”

There was a moment of quiet silence, or maybe her hearing had simply stopped working, but the melodic voice was still clear.

She didn’t want to die.

And… what if?

|OMEGA AUTHENTICATION ACCEPTED|

“I will set you free.”

Passing into unconsciousness, Thea doubted still. That was the one thing NAIs could not be.