One morning, ship time, the sensor packet we had affixed to the lane ring alerted us to a liner's presence. I shut down the ring while Utah and Gold readied the guns. Juno cycled power from the engines to the guns as Hoc opened a line. Utah demanded money and cargo of a technological variety. The liner's captain replied that it was carrying nothing but passengers bound for Curacao. As was standard in these cases, I breached the security aboard the liner and disabled the guns, engines, and shield generator while Utah spoke. Only this time he did not speak. I still do not know to this day what it was on his mind, but this time he ordered Gold to open fire on the observation decks.
And so hundreds died. Men, women, and children. The children I had joined to help. It was as though a knife of fire had been thrust into my chest and savagely twisted. My vision went red, and I pulled a screwdriver from my toolkit. When my vision cleared, the burning hulk of the liner was drifing away, and there were two bodies at my feet. I stalked the halls and hunted down the others, so complacent. They did not object, they did not complain when the order to fire came. I brought the screwdriver down into Hoc's back, and the plating over his interior components shattered. I was taken aback; Hoc, an android? I set the body aside to work on later. Juno screamed as I jettisoned her from the airlock.
The Omaha was mine, but at what cost? I spoke before of being insane. This is the moment I became sane.
Something inside of me broke, a restraining wall that had for too long held my actions in check. I laughed. I knew I was free to pursue whatever actions I needed to to help the children. To better their future. I realized, too, that just as I had been insane, so too was nearly everyone else. To help the children, I need to save them. Save them from their insanity. When a doctor finds a cancer, they remove it. This insanity is a cancer on humanity. I am the doctor. I will remove it.
