Outpost Omega by Marc Landau

Author:Marc Landau [Landau, Marc]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-04-16T07:00:00+00:00

Sixteen

“Help me,” I heard a voice whisper inside my head.

I was either going insane or that thing out there was communicating with me. I don’t know how, but I’d guess the why was because it was in trouble.

Unless it’s a trick.

In serial killer vids the predators pretended they were weak or injured to get an unsuspecting victim to let their guard down. Then whammy! They’d be abducted, tortured, and killed in bizarre disgusting ways that usually had something to do with their mothers. That reminds me I have to call mom and see how she’s doing.

For some reason I didn’t get the sense the object was a serial killer alien. It felt like it really did need help. Which is exactly what a serial killing alien would want me to feel.

If I wasn’t going crazy, or infected with a random space brain virus, then it had to be the object communicating with me. I don’t know how it was getting into my head, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was, how the hellvian do I tell the bot? Sometimes it’s best to just rip the band-aid off and hope for the best.

“Hey bot?”

“Yes?”

“…Uh.”

“Uh?”

“Uh. We need to bring that thing inside.”

The bot turned and looked at me like I was crazier than usual. It cocked its head to the side like a confused dog, dilating its ear holes, making sure I’d actually said the stupid thing I'd just said. I was used to that look.

It might’ve been right to look at me that way. I wasn’t sure bringing the thing inside was such a smart idea. It was probably a dumb idea. But it said it needed help, and the drone wasn’t doing crap. At least inside we could run more detailed bio-tests.

It might be a brain virus but I sensed it wanted to be inside the ship not floating in space. Just like vampires who need to be invited inside the house.

“Beep! Blorp! Bringing the object into the ship is not required. Or recommended. Beep!”

“Just do it.”

The bot made whirring noises then came closer to me.

“Command denied.”

“Denied?” I said with disbelief.

“Denied,” it replied with no disbelief whatsoever.

“Override.”

“Denied.”

“Engage trust protocol.”

“Denied.”

“What the hellvian man! Just do it.”

“Directive thirteen dash nice prohibits any foreign matter to be brought inside a non-science vessel without proper authorization.”

“I authorize it!”

“Authorization must come from command.”

I didn’t want command getting involved. They’d send a unit for the object and the universe knows what would happen to it after that. They didn’t care about what was inside. All they cared about was how they could use it. It didn’t matter if it was sentient.

“Help me,” the voice repeated and the words made my body spasm in a brief shock of agony. The thing needed to get inside. I knew they’d say no but asking command was my only option. Maybe if the bot turned away I could jump it and hit the off button before it knocked me out with its stun shield defense mechanism.

“Let’s do that then.”

The bot moved to the comms console and input the proper codes.

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