The Dream – Cont.

## Ships log: HvCFT Singularity: Personal Entry
 ## Date: October 29, 2006
 ## Log by: Pilot Bittype

I sense Singularity veer to port; I focus and correct it, but loose control of the comm. System. Too many things to do, I can’t concentrate on everything, I have to but I can’t… I can’t.

Dimly I see my friend enter the jacking bay, sparing a quick glance at the screen above my couch she hurries to Hanz, my friend, I WON’T let her die, somehow I manage to bring the system back under control. She must have grabbed her gear and started for the bay as soon as she heard my first announcement. Rush where is Rush? Why hasn’t he answered yet? It is getting harder to control Singularities flight, I am still thinking about Rush wondering what to transmit that would get his attention. I see some code on one of the screens in my vague construct; comms, Emergency signal, even as I see it and begin to think about it relays trip, and the array begins to transmit an emergency distress signal. For a moment I am relived that Algorithm at least will pick up that signal and stay clear, Noooo. she’s moving closer, I loose focus for a moment and feel the ship veer to port again, she alters course to my Starboard side, they must think the port stabilizers are failing. I bring Singularity back to level flight, no I sense movement, movement from all directions, What? How?

My mind feels like it is going to explode, so many systems, so many things I need to control, slowly my brain interprets the signals, Sentinels, they must have intercepted the distress signal.

What? Incoming signal, Rush’s code. I accept the signal and without thinking route it to one of the screens in the Jacking bay, M4rb is there now, I didn’t see him enter; I should have done I can see every thing, why didn’t I see him enter?

“Maria, glad you’re ok. I heard Singul… What..? Captain M4rb. But this signal has Bittype’s signature.” I feel Rush’s voice in my mind as well as hearing it though the comm. System.

“Hello old friend.” My voice sounds even more strained, I know I need to find another way to tell Rush what happened; but how? “I have encountered a little problem with our programme.”

I can see the Captain is confused, then I see it, I am connected to the comm. System, I can send Rush the data. I pull as much of my concentration at I dare from the ships systems and begin compiling and compressing files. I am surprised to find that in only a few moments I have compiled all the data I have and compressed it into several files, and begin sending them down Rush’s signal carrier in highly compressed data bursts, strange; I didn’t even know I could do that.

“OH MY GOD! Maria. What have you done!?” I know now that Rush just decompressed the first file.

“Same as always old friend… What no one else would.”

M4rb is beginning to get angry, and frustrated. Dimly in the back of my mind I am aware that a Captain should be aware of everything that goes on aboard his ship.

WHAT THE..? Oh no. While my attention was on the data bust and trying to keep the rising panic from my voice on the ships comm. System, I had not noticed the reactor overheating, and several of the hoverpads had also begun to exhibit power fluctuations.

Dimly I hear the Captain demand a explanation, I know I can’t spare the thought but I feel compelled to answer him.

“Sorry Captain, I am a little… Busy.” I can hear my own voice; hear how close I am to panic. I can’t do this; I can’t keep the ship under control.

All my attention now is on the reactor and hoverpads, if I can’t get them under control the crew will die, I am beginning to panic now, the reactor and pads are not obeying me, I can’t control them, I can’t…

I don’t know what else to do, I am scared now, more afraid than I have ever been, I scream locked in my own mind I scream, “RUSH HELP ME I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!”

Rush’s face appears on a screen in my little construct, “Easy Maria, I’m here. You are going to sense systems going down very soon now. Don’t fight it, I told Captain M4rb to shut down everything not needed to flight. I am going to start sending you short data bursts, don’t try to read them, just open them and try to let your mind assimilate them on its own. Just concentrate on flying.”

“But the reactor… It’s overheating, and the pads are not responding, ‘HELP ME’.”

“Maria Listen to me, the data link you set up is still active, I am receiving all your telemetry. Now try to calm yourself, you’re trying to focus on everything at once. Concentrate on the reactor first… That’s right… Yes, bring it back down to normal power. No, Maria try not to panic, you have time. Listen you are linked to the Singularities computers, I have set up a feedback loop so they are allowing near instantaneous communication between us. In the time it has taken me to tell you all this, Captain M4rb has only blinked once, you have time. That’s right, just a little more… There, the reactor is returning to normal temperatures.”

Singularity veers to port again, without thinking I tear myself away from the reactor to compensate, too late I realise I overcompensate, before I can react Singularity collides with the Algorithm, crushing a sentinel between us, Pain explodes in my mind, I can’t see, hear, or sense anything other than pain, my right side, my right arm is nothing more than pain, agony.

Dimly though the pain I hear Eminition’s voice though ship comm. “Captain. We just collided with Algorithm sir, looks like one of the sentinels got caught between us. We have lost several pads on that section…”

”Lost several pads.” That phrase broke though the pain… lost pads, the ship, the crew, Bilquis my friend… I must regain control, I have to get them home, get her home. Somehow I manage to push the pain aside, it’s still there, I still feel it, but I don’t have time for it. The crew need me, without me they will die, [i[she will die. I can see now, see the hull, my hull, there is a hole, I see the remains of a sentinel caught by one of its appendages, hanging, trailing, as I watch tortured metal breaks and the sentinel falls away. I can see the Algorithm she hasn’t been holed, but two of her hoverpads are spraying sparks in her wake.

Rush has stopped speaking to me now, but his data packet are keeping me informed, he was right; somehow my mind is assimilating the data without conscious thought. I know he is with me, thanks to the data packets I know I am 10 minutes from Zero One, I know he has cleared all traffic from our approach vector.

Internal visual relays have gone dark; I can still hear the crew, M4rb has shut down the ships mainframe, wait… I see light; they are burning Em’s Schnapps for light.

Only a few minutes left before we are home, Rush has not told me but I know, the pain told me, I KNOW what is going to happen when I try to land, I never thought to get control of the landing struts, I KNOW what is going to happen to Singularity… To me.

The crew are busy trying to be ready to implement Rush’s plan as soon as we are down, I don’t think they have realised what is going to happen… Good. It doesn’t matter what happens to me now, I have done my job, I AM Singularities pilot, and it doesn’t matter what happens to me, I have got my crew home safe, I got her home safe. I know I am going to die, but it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter, they will be safe, so it doesn’t matter.

Thanks to many of the ships systems being shut down, and Rush’s data packets with the information they contain, it is easier to fly now, I have only a few minutes left, but I can enjoy them, enjoy my last flight…

There… I see the landing pad ahead, and bring the ship down, I hover for a moment a meter above the pad Gritting my teeth against what I know is to come, I can almost feel my real teeth throb and my muscles ache as they tighten and clamp my jaws closed. I take a deep, shaky breath, almost idly wondering if the airflow in the ship changes as I do. Then slowly gently I begin to descend, contact… I feel the sudden pressure, I see the hull begin to buckle as Singularities weight begins to settle. I have to concentrate I have too… PAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!……………..

*          *          *

I awaken, sit bolt upright and crack my head on the bulkhead, I ignore the pain, it’s nothing compared to… Compared to… I shiver, fighting my way out of the tangled blankets, I am in a blind panic, sweating, I need to get free, I need to…

I sit on the edge of my bed and shiver uncontrollably, sleep. I need sleep; I haven’t slept properly in days, an hour, maybe two at most… I need to sleep, I can’t sleep, the dream is there.

*          *          *

Now I am here, continuing the entry in my log, the entry I started before trying to sleep. I…

I am loosing it; I swear I just heard a voice behind me, but this is my room, and I am alone no one would enter without an invite. It’s not the first time; I passed WireNight in the passage way this morning, or was it yesterday morning? I could have sworn I heard him say something, but the shock on his face when I turned on him was apparent. There have been other times too, though WiredNight was the only crew member who has been about when it happened.

Maybe I shouldn’t be here, maybe the original decision of the Flight Evaluation was the correct one. Maybe I am not fit to fly anymore, perhaps I should be grounded, I can’t think straight, I can’t sleep… I NEED to sleep, but the dream, that’s where the dream is…

#END LOG#