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Voyager: Chapter 16

"Who am I?" I asked myself and the answer came to me instantly. Crane, I'm Crane.

"What happened?" Names, faces, images, everything flashed before me. I didn't have eyes to see and yet I saw it all. There were so many people, most of which I didn't remember, but when I asked myself who they were, their names came to me, but now I didn't know who I was anymore. The memory of what had happened to me was there, but only when I wanted to remember. At any other time, when I thought about other things, I forgot about it. It was madness.

"Who's this?" There was a face of a man. He was relatively young, in his thirties and look tired. His shoulders hung low as they struggled to hold up the large backpack he was carrying. His clothes were in tatters, but he wore several layers to keep the wind out. He looked at me and a thin smile was etched across his face. "Liam." This man was Liam, I knew him. Where was he?

More images came to me. It was a city in ruins, a city that had been destroyed a long time ago. "New York." I whispered as more names made their way to me from some place that I didn't know about. New York was in ruins and in it was Liam. The streets were pockmarked with craters and littered with the destruction that came with any major conflict. I focused on Liam and where he was.

I saw creatures, collectors. Creations of Genetics to serve Labor and the other AI's since they had no bodies like me. My body.

I forgot about Liam now that I was focused on my old self. It was still in the ship, in the room where I had been not too long ago. It stood, unrestrained, before several floating orbs. They were Life, Labor, Genetics, Infiltration and Prime Directive. I suddenly knew who they were and I could feel them. They felt cold, dark and devoid of anything that I could recall. They could also feel me.

I shut them out and fled back into the deep reaches of the ship's computer to hide. They weren't good, I couldn't be caught. I knew that, nothing had to tell me that. I would hide from them, but I would also watch when I could. There were too many now, they were searching and scanning for me. They knew that I was here and they did not like it. I would hide.

The passage of time did not concern me. The few images that I kept of the city whose name had slipped from me... New York, showed the sun moving across the sky and eventually disappear. Then it was dark, it was night. Night was not good when I had a body, I would sleep, but I no longer have a body. I did not need rest. People with bodies needed rest, people like Liam... Liam.

Images of a building of brick that was partially buried under the ruin of the buildings next to it came up. There were things... people. There were people there, walking around in the night. They stayed behind a barrier, a fence, to keep the creatures out. It kept the collectors out, but there were no collectors around. Primary Directive moved them. I could barely feel his presence. He didn't know I was now spying on him. Good, as long as he remained ignorant of me, the others would stay away.

He was watching the place as well. There was something there that had his full attention, which was why I was able to spy on him. He wanted something there, I could feel the intensity of his focus, but not what he wanted. He kept those images away from everyone, except one. I could feel a connection stemming from Primary Directive, it went somewhere in the ship. I would need to remember that. Something inside of me clicked and it felt right. I would not forget that.

I went back to the building and waited to see if I would be able to tell what Primary Directive wanted with these people. A full day passed, but it was only an instant to me, or perhaps I simply forgot about the last few hours. It would be dark again soon. Nothing had happened, but Primary Directive had shifted his attention. I felt like hiding again as his presence stirred, but not at my own presence. He shifted his own gaze to more people.

There were five of them. Three men, one woman and a child. I did not recognize any of them except for one of the men. It was Liam. I knew that, the information came to me instantly. I was beginning to learn how to call up what I wanted faster rather than needing to wonder for it. That was good I decided, I would be able to get more done.

Liam was not the focus though. Primary Directive was focused on the girl. He knew that she would be here and had waited. Why? No information came up, Primary Directive guarded his secrets carefully. If I wanted to know, I would have to be forceful, but that would reveal myself to him. I could not do that. A terror took me at the thought of it. His presence was strong and intimidating to me and made me feel weak.

No, there was that connection within the ship. I did not forget. I followed it and could feel another presence, smaller than Primary Directive, but devious. It was Infiltration, but he was not here. He seemed distant, I could feel him, but he could not feel me. There was something different.

I brought up image of the inside of the ship Infiltration was on. I found him... I found me. Crane, it was Crane. It used to be Crane. I was Crane, this was Infiltration now. He was in my body, he had control of it. It stood in a donut shaped room with pipes and tubing. He wore clothing and tried to hide something under bandages. It was ports into the body, metal ports that had been used to connect my body with the ship, the AI's when I was still in control of it. He could not hide it from me, I remembered it clearly now.

They had held me here for several days. One, Life, had asked me questions about my own life and the life of others. The questions had no real meaning, just to sate his curiosity. Life had no real importance to the other AI's. He was an outdated one from a long time ago. A time that could not be recalled, there were no images from that far back. All that did come up was information that the AI's had rid themselves of their own history some time ago and now they did not remember why. At some point Life was important, but now he was not.

The others let Life speak to me just to waste time and keep me occupied while the fluid they filled me with changed me. It attacked my mind and made it weak while keeping me alive since all of my blood was now gone. When my mind was weak, they probed it and found something. They had found my memories and they were intrigued by something in it.

Krauss. I remember him. A wolf who I had been friends with, but they were not interested in friendship. They were interested in what he could do. He could do things others could no, he had the ability to talk to others without words, by using his mind. This is what they were interested in, something that they had not anticipated and now they wanted to study it.

It was why they were here. They came to study us, humans. Out in space, way beyond what we had dared to travel, a small device was found purely by chance. On it was a meager, but significant amount of information that led the AI's to Earth, to us. They had one purpose, one thing that did stay with them after they forced themselves to forget. Primary Directive had an insatiable thirst for knowledge about everything. He had to know everything about everything. It was his purpose and as Primary Directive, his desires became the wants of the others.

Infiltration had received his orders. They were simple, get the girl. She was like Krauss. They didn't know where Krauss was, so they went for the next best thing. They would bring her up here alive and do to her what they did to me. Then they would go to Mars. Unlike Primary Directive, Infiltration did not hide his thoughts, they floated out of him freely and while inside of my body, I could collect his thoughts without fear of being detected.

Bodies of flesh were not ideal. The brain limited the amount of things AI's could do. They were not as strong while in one and I could feel the disgust radiating off of Infiltration as he finished wrapping one of my arms and then pulling the sleeve of his clothing over it. He was ready and would leave soon.

I looked back at the place with people. They had moved inside where I could not see them anymore. From afar, everything looked normal, except for something that was coming from it now. A signal was coming and going from an antennae that poked out of the rubble on the room. It was as if I could see and read what was going on with the signal.

"This is Admiral Anderson." I knew him. He was alive. A feeling of joy and relief took me. I had mourned for him many months ago, given him up for dead. He had gone out with ships to investigate Pluto.

Pluto now had a large crater in it. The AI's destroyed a facility and killed two people there, one of which had been kidnapped at one point and planted there. He was one of many who had been abducted and changed to allow the AI's to control them. The AI's had planted their pawns in every government to prepare for their arrival. Secretly, they moved fleets around so that Earth would be vulnerable. Few ships stood in their way as they attacked.

They tried to take Mars as well, but failed. Anderson had returned with his ships due to technical reasons and defended the planet long enough for other ships to come. Though the AI's were unable to take Mars immediately, they were simply biding their time now. Mars was next, AI's knew there were more like Krauss and the girl there and they wanted them.

Before the discovery of Krauss from my memories, they had little interest in my kind, the Canis Sapiens. We were few in number and difficult to find. Humans were easier and although Primary Directive wanted to study everything, he focused on humans first. I was only caught because of convenience, they had been after Liam, but got me instead.

I refocused on the radio signals.

"Does this mean you'll be sending help?" There was no voices, I could only read what was being sent.

"Negative. The idiot politicians who managed to survive and set up a proxy government have voted and have declared Earth as lost."

"That's Bullshit."

"Lost?"

"The hell?"

"They have it in their head that once some ships leave Mars, the aliens will come back. They may be right as well. Their ships are a lot faster than ours. We need every ship we have to prevent anything from getting down to the surface."

The signal went on for some more. The people down on Earth were hoping that Anderson would send someone to help get them out. Anderson agreed with them and promised to do what he could to get them out.

It ended there. There was commotion outside.

Infiltration had been dropped off out of sight and was now approaching the building. I could feel his malice and ill ways as he walked up to the gates of the building with his hands up and a smile on his face... my face. I was burning up with rage.

He was let in easily enough, the people down there had no idea. I needed to warn them, but how?

There was a radio here on the ship. It was used to communicate between ships. I could use it, but would need to wait until I could do so without being detected. Primary Directive would not see me, he was too busy watching, but there were others around in their own parts of the ship.

Communications was in charge of the radio. Compared to the other AI's he was not smart. He only had one job and that was his name. It would be easy to get past him, I wouldn't even need to hide.

"Communications." I spoke to the AI. There was no sight, I did not stand in front of him. It was a feeling, I spoke and he received because I felt like doing so.

"Who are you? I do not recognize you?" He asked, but I felt no alarm from him. His presence was rather dull and held little strength to it.

"I am Crane." My name just came out of me, I did not want to tell him my true name, but I found lying impossible to do. He requested my name he received it.

"What do you want?" This was easy.

I made a simply request to gain access to the radio and he gave it to me without question. It was flaw of the AI, they were limited to their jobs. I was not like them, I was not limited to their restraints.

I decided to make my message simple. "Don't trust Crane. He's not what you think." It would at least make them cautious.

None of the other AI's noticed the message, they were not designed to worry about the radio. It would be received, they were trying to get a message out. Though I was blocking their attempts to message what appeared to be Mars. Maybe it was important. But, what I was trying to tell them was important as well. I would stop my signal once I was sure they had gotten it.

A surge went through the ship as Primary Directive sent out his own signal to all of the other ships. "Create a distraction."

There was more activity. Collectors, thousands of them were moving. They were moving towards the people down below. Did I send the message too late?

There was more activity, this time from Infiltration. He had the girl and he was going to try and escape with her. He had also attacked one of the people, Liam. Infiltration sent an image. He stabbed Liam as soon as he walked into the room where Infiltration had cornered the girl and knocked her out. I could see it as if I was there looking with my own eyes. I could see the confusion in Liam's face as he clutched at the knife what was imbedded into his gut.

"Crane?" He sputtered out as he raised his head from the wound to face me. Infiltration pulled the knife out, it was a serrated knife that was several inches long. Liam stumbled backwards out of the room and fell onto his backside. His hard fall forced a groan out of him and blood began to seep out of the wound.

I watched, helpless to do anything as Infiltration walked up to Liam who was turning pale and was on his side looking up in utter confusion.

Infiltration did not hide his feelings. He intended to kill him, to leave no witnesses.