Upload by Chris Gladstone

Author:Chris Gladstone [Gladstone, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: scifi thriller, artificial intelligence, androids, cyborgs, cyborg android, family, friendship, scifi space, ai, scifi future
ISBN: 9780463454879
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

The screen blanked, and the headband slid away as the chair slackened its grip on me. When the process completed, I stood up. In hindsight, not a good idea as I nearly fell over, and I only saved myself by grabbing the back of the chair. As I stood and waited for wooziness to pass, I gazed at the banks of gleaming syn-spex pods that lined each side of the deck. It all seemed so clinical; the darkened pods, so devoid of life. There were 100 people in our section––each with their own unique dreams and hopes for the future. I remembered Kiera's comment on our prelaunch tour. She'd said: 'We'll all wait in our pods like fairy-tale sleeping princes and princesses for the kiss of technology to wake us in a strange, new, exciting future.'

I shook my head and inhaled deeply. The ship still smelt of new metal and plastic. "So, which module is it, Jack?"

He hurried around from his side of the dual screen and reached out to me. I flapped him away. "I'm alright," I growled.

"Okay, okay. Don't get shirty." He held up his palms and backed away from me. "We came from module one. The fault's in module two six P seven three." He turned and pointed. "It's the last across the other side, on our left."

At least, having seen me in Virtual, Jack now accepted me as Luke. No more cuddles, thank the Universe. If things weren't so serious, we could have both had a good laugh about that one. I pulled myself back to the current moment.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Jack's expression radiated concern.

"I'm fine, Jack. All the dizziness is gone now. Let's go and see what we are dealing with."

"No, wait here, Luke. I'll go and initiate the shutdown process. There's no need for both of us to be involved." He walked off.

Just the way he'd said it, and the lack of emotion on his face, made it sound like he was going to tighten a loose screw somewhere. I gritted my teeth with the effort of keeping my mouth shut.

I leant on the console and watched as he padded diagonally, some fifteen metres across the grey, metal deck, past banks of horizontal sleep pods, to the middle of module three. He tapped the small touch screen to access the names, photos and bio-data of the occupants.

"Why do you need to do that, Jack?" I called. They were all going to die. I didn't want to know who they were.

"I need to check something."

"What?" I put my hands on my hips.

"Don't distract me," he said, in a terse tone.

Jack excelled at shutting people out when it suited him. It's funny how things occur to you at the oddest moments. I found myself thinking; of the few girlfriends he'd been with over his lifetimes, none of them had stayed long enough to chip away at his stony exterior to see what lay underneath. I sat down on the deck with my back resting against the console and closed my eyes.

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