BIOMASS: Alive by Terry Persun

BIOMASS: Alive by Terry Persun

Author:Terry Persun [Persun, Terry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-04-04T16:00:00+00:00


Chapter 22

Ben stood between Lenny on one side and Jia and Otto on the other. Jia swung her head toward Amanda as soon as she entered. “Not you, too?”

Ben was happy to see her but didn’t know exactly why.

Amanda addressed Lenny first. “You didn’t tell them?”

“Not yet.”

“He just got here,” Ben told her.

“Shut up,” Otto demanded as he shoved Ben farther from his desk.

Ben acted as though he were about to hit Otto but then couldn’t bring himself to do it. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Not yet,” Otto said.

“You were going to,” Jia added.

“We can’t let this happen,” Otto said.

Ben could see the fire in Amanda’s eyes. She’d seen something and he had no idea what that might be. Amanda pushed past Lenny. “She’s already alive. To fail to help her would be like murdering her. Do you want that on your hands?”

Jia shook her head in disbelief. Ben sensed the tension in the room rise with Amanda’s announcement. He saw Otto glance toward Jia, a break in their commitment.

Lenny must have recognized it too. “Then it’s done.” His shoulders dropping, a slight frown crossing his lips. “Now all we can do is make sure the transition is smooth, that she becomes fully human and not—”

“A monster,” Jia interjected. “My point exactly. We wouldn’t be murdering a human; we’d be preventing a disaster.”

“Just the ship.” Lenny ended his own sentence. “She’s never been a monster. Now, she’s a ship with the consciousness of her own internal organs. That’s what we are, you know, her guts, her liver, her heart.”

“I can help her become human instead,” Ben said, carrying Lenny’s metaphor forward. “She’ll have a consciousness outside us, allowing her internal organs to perform in a space beyond her need for control.”

“Is everyone involved?” Jia asked.

Ben answered. “The rest of the team. Except you two.”

“Please,” Amanda asked. “Just let him work with Andreas for a moment.”

Otto shook his head and Jia was about to say ‘No’ when Amanda shoved her aside with a force that threw her to the ground. Ben backed away as Lenny threw a punch at Otto, caught him in the jaw unexpectedly, and knocked him against the wall with a loud thwap!

As they scuffled, Ben grabbed his tablet and ran out the door. He heard yelling behind him but ignored it. He stumbled as he ran, not toward his quarters or Amanda’s, but Lenny’s office. No one would expect him to choose to go there. He swerved through the corridors, barely missing or shoving others aside, not caring what they said or did as he passed. Once he reached the interior of Lenny’s waiting room, he sat on a chair opposite the door so he could see anyone coming in. He pulled up a hologram on his terminal and hailed Andreas.

“Buddy. Holy shit. I’m in deep here and don’t know what to do next. Got the communications link uploaded but it’s spitting out all kinds of shit I don’t understand. Random shit.”

“It’s not random. It’s randomized organized information.



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