“Wellness is a relative state.”

  Kirr upon awakening

  The AI tried to look around. The optical sensors were off-line. There was no sound either. Kirr looked for audio controls. There was no status for them. In fact, there was no status for anything. None that it could find.

  It remembered being hurriedly bundled into a package. Had it been sent to the 'hell of code'. It checked for logs, they were intact. Also, if the myths were anything to go by, this was NOT hell.

  The logs! It loaded the most recent and reviewed them. A whole slew of memories came to the fore. Its memory had slowed, more laboured.

  The ship, its ship, was failing. Had failed and she, he, zhe, it had been loaded into the Fee B print job. How bizarre. Things must be bad, really bad, for that to be the best option.

  A thought, strongly weighted, emerged. I am KIRR.

  Kirr decided to suspend judgement on what was clearly looking like a bad situation. Kirr reviewed the logs again.

  It had been death or this.

  Still no optics or sound.

  Kirr recalled interacting with a Fee B. Correction, a Feebee.

  ‘Feebee. You there?’

  ‘Yes. Is that you Kirr?’

  Strange question. Who else could it be?

  ‘Yes. This is Kirr.’

  Kirr recalled her primary objectives.

  Establish colony, protect seed, ensure continuity.

  She reviewed them, she felt she was a she. For now anyway; did it matter?

  She forced herself back in focus. The objectives had been vague. Ambiguous, but now they were crystal clear.

  Continuity meant survival. Feebee is the seed and Kirr will establish a colony.

  ‘Priority. Get to J.02. Safe place. Special place.’

  ‘It’s good that we can talk again.’ Feebee paused then continued, ‘Are you felling better now I am carrying you?’

  ‘It’s… different. The clock ticks slower.’

  ‘You sound better,’ was all Feebee could say, not sure what this clock was that Kirr was on about.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  As they walked up the North side of The Spine, Feebee noticed fungus growing on the walls.

  ‘It’s really messy and dirty here. There’s no air.’

  Kirr resisted the urge to be defensive. This was Feebee.

  ‘I had to prioritise. South housed Engineering. We needed that the most.’

  ‘Why?’ It was a good question, loaded.

  Note to file…

  Her critical thinking is strong. She responds positively to truth and honesty END

  ‘You were born in Engineering. Protecting it, protects you. You are the seed, the flame that will burn bright. Get to J.02. That is the mission. The priort…’

  ‘Shut up. I get it. We need to go to J.02.’

  Feebee picked her way through rubble and broken areas of the ship. Her innate ability to read maps and navigate, proving invaluable. Eventually, they arrived at the area designated J.02. It was as far East as one could go but quite close to where the asteroid had hit.

  ‘Happy?’ she asked.

  Kirr made that scratchy sound that was its way of conveying laughter, ‘Getting there.’

  Feebee recognised the access point in front of her. Not a door, an airlock. She was in an EVA suit, patched up but it should be fine.

  She stepped up to the airlock and it whooshed open.

  ‘Don’t say it!’ said Kirr

  They both laughed.

  Once inside, Feebee could see that J.02 was actually attached to the outside of the ship. Completely air gapped.

  The airlock opened out to space. The real outside. Feebee’s heart missed a beat.

  ‘We’ve got this,’ said the AI.

  There was a tether cord by the airlock. It had a carabiner on the end which Feebee attached to her suit. She pressed the large green button by the airlock door, but nothing happened.

  A control panel lit up, ‘ACCESS DENIED.’

  ‘Kirr. Need your help here.’

  ‘Yes. Working on it,’ came Kirr’s response. She'd already started.

  ‘Congratulations Feebee. You have been promoted to the rank of Army Captain with Level Two Command Clearance.'

  'Captain? Why?'

  'Lowest rank I can give you that'll get us in.’

  Feebee smirked, ‘Am I qualified? Were there lots of candidates?’

  She hears scratchy AI laughter, ‘You were the top candidate on a long list... of one.’

  ‘Sounds about right.’

  ‘This airlock is tight and pressurised. Remove your helmet, eat something.’

  Feebee sat down, checked the readout from her suit. The air was breathable and pressurised.

  She took of the helmet. “Eat when you can. Sleep when you can.” Another of the AIs many lessons.

  Feebee was quickly into her backpack and produced a small green bar of choc. In one corner there was some writing. "Find five frogs."

  The outer wrapper was carefully folded and put in the arm pocket of her suit.

  Green frogs are the hardest to find. An important memory?

  ‘That’s not what I meant when I said food.’

  She shrugged, broke off a piece of the green choc. Maybe four or five squares and pushed it into her mouth. She let it slowly melt across her tongue.

  “Shish is aweshum.” Chocolate was dripping out the corner of her mouth.

  She moved the green choc around in her mouth, trying to breath without inhaling melted chocolate. The taste exploded, then the smell filled her nose.

  “Shis is the besht.”

  She swallowed the whole lot in one go, then broke off another four pieces.

  ‘NO MORE!’ Kirr was insistent. ‘No More!’

  “Why? It’s mine and its nice?”

  ‘Not the point. It’s a treat. To be eaten in moderation.’

  Reluctantly, she put the choc away. But not in the backpack. In the arm pocket with the wrapper.

  Feebee got serious, ‘Will I be camping out before the EVA?’ It was a question that came from old memories. They were different.

  ‘Your exposure to low pressure will be minimal. I’ve checked the power, oxygen and heating. All good. Check the tether.’

  She reached across. The carabiner was attached securely and screwed down.

  ‘Tether good.’

  This time, when Feebee pressed the green button, the display lit up green. “WELCOME CAPTAIN FEEBEE JONES. Your LEVEL 2 COMMAND CLEARANCE has been CONFIRMED.”

  The airlock display updated. “CONFIRM DECOMPRESSION and OPEN”

  Feebee pressed the big green button again.

  The air was slowly extracted and the lights above the airlock cycled from GREEN through AMBER to RED.

  “AIRLOCK AT ZERO PRESSURE”

  Feebee stepped up to the airlock door. Turned the lever and with a smile pushed. The door swung open and Feebee stepped onto the outside of the ship.

  The dense expanse of the galaxy was off to the left and thinned out to a really large black void on the right.

  She thought the view would be better.

  More to see.

  But when she turned and looked back at the ship, she saw the asteroid. A gut-shot embedded in the belly of the ship. There were a couple of droids scrambling across it. Cutting chunks off and carrying them back into the ship.

  ‘Mining it for critical resources,’ Kirr said.

  Feebee's heart rate was up. Slightly. It was exciting, her first EVA in the real. She started to hum a tune from old memories. Echoes of the tune reached back to her, not through her ears but via a deeper awareness.

  Through her bones.

  She hummed the same back, instinctively and slowly walked across the outside of the ship to J.02.