Hermes Ch. 04

"Well, what did you expect?" I asked, "That we find a super secret, completely finished device in here? Even if they stored something like that here, there are hundreds of pods; we can't look into all of them."

"Technically, we can," Pyra responded. "We don't have any time pressure."

"I guess you are right; let's try some other pods and see what we can find in them," I responded.

—

I woke up again and directly queried the maintenance program that I tasked with acquiring the Camera footage. I filtered the videos to only include areas with movement and quickly watched them.

Only one person seemed to be on board the Hermes, and he managed to supply the station with external power. Based on how he had moved through the stations and only accessed decks without clearance requirements, it seemed like he was a scavenger.

He found a MedHands device and promptly used it, which seemed strange since most would be more cautious around an unknown device. The audio also revealed that he had some sort of AI assisting him; I figured the AI also cut me off from the other systems.

After watching him for some time, I reevaluated the idea of him being a scavenger, he seemed more interested in exploring than stealing, but he did take the MedHands to his ship. I curiously watched as he found the LiveDream and used it; based on his bodily reactions, there was one of the many sexual records loaded onto the device. I found it even more strange that he somehow decided that he could live here.

Then he left; based on my logs, the station switched back to internal power, and while he was only away for a short amount of time, it took a significant toll on the fuel reserves that I had tried to keep stable for the last decades. I got overwhelmed with existential dread as I thought about my inevitable ending if the fuel reserves would ever run out.

But he returned, together with someone else, a woman called Pyra. I watched as Pyra picked a room for herself, and they tried to use the MedHands on her foot. Of course, that would not work; the device was designed for minor injuries, not lost limbs. I reached real-time as they reached the storage deck and opened some research supplies. Some pods contain highly classified or dangerous materials, so I needed to intervene.

—

When Max interrupted us, we were about to open the next pod.

"Annomal power draw detected, sir," came from the speakers.

Pyra and I jerked around, and I said, "Explain, Max."

"All indications show that the main system is powering up, sir," Max replied

"But I thought you had isolated it from the other systems," I said while I signed to Pyra to return to the elevator.

"Affirmative, sir, but the main system now undermines my isolation. It is unclear how long I - bzzzz..." Max said before the audio was replaced with static and cut off.

"Shit!" I exclaimed as Pyra, and I sprinted to the elevator, but the doors closed just before we could reach it.

"Fuck!" now it was Pyras turn to curse. "Fucking fuck!" She kicked the door with her metal foot and left a dent in the polished metal.

After a brief pause, Pyra turned to me with a determined look. "Time for plan B!" she said.

"Plan B?" I asked.

"Yes, we search for the service entrance. There needs to be a way of this deck without the elevator."

"One sec," I said, looking down at my left arm. "I don't have my earpiece with me, but I should be able to connect to Max with my bracelet."

I tapped around on the bracelet and got a connection a second later.

"Max, can you hear me?" I asked.

"Affirmative, sir," he responded.

"So what happened?" I asked while Pyra started to search the elevator shaft walls for a service hatch.

"The Station AI seems to have lower-level access to most systems and quickly found and disabled the general interface transceiver, sir," Max explained.

"Do you still supply the station with power?" I asked

"Affirmative, sir,"

"Cut it!" I instructed.

The second I said that the lights turned off, leaving us in pitch-black darkness.