Kill Script

[Helix]

Frostbyte. The self-proclaimed genius of Mactan and Beaumont. The Junker who became a Hacker. Arrogant and self-centered, she pretends to be some kind of messianic figure within the community that, if anything, is looked upon as more of an irritation than anything she pretends to be.

For whatever reason, when I came back from my 'rebirth', Frostbyte latched on to me as some sort of bizarre artificial brother figure. I hated it as much as I hated her.

'Alright you little shite, where is the servo?" I started to say, but tapered off towards the end of my sentence when I saw what she was proudly standing next to. Frostbyte, real name Lorelai, was short in stature but even if she had been a tall woman, the ship she now stood next to dwarfed her in size. It's sleek and aerodynamic lines seemed almost alien in the environment it found itself in...in fact, it was alien. Its skin was of a metal unknown to even the most astute researcher and its engines even more of a mystery. There, sitting behind Frostbyte, was an AI craft unlike any I had ever seen.

'What do you think?" she quickly said. "Isn't it wild?!"

I'll admit, I was awed. However, my awe was short lived. An AI craft on Barrier Gate? This close to the Technocrats next door, this was sure to get people talking. This would attract attention that no one wanted. I closed the distance to Frostbyte in an instant, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt and shaking her violently.

"Are you out of your fucking mind? Do you know what this is?" I said glancing up that the ship, I shook her some more as I continued scolding her. "This is an AI craft, it's probably one of the Technocrats. If you stole it from them, they're going to come here and do more than just take it back. They're going to kill anyone who was involved in stealing it."

She wormed out of my grip and took a few steps back.

"Jesus Christ, Script." she said calling me by an abbreviated form of my callsign, 'Scripter', a stupid play on words. Apparently in my younger years I played at using scripts instead of actually hacking. Too bad I don't even remember those years. "It's legal salvage, I found it drifting out near the gate wreck near where the Cortez hole moved. If they wanted it, they would have found it and claimed it."

"You think they give a fuck about salvage, 'byte? The Auxo don't give a rat's ass if it sits there for centuries, if you take their shit, they come and take it back by force. We need to get it out of here, put it back where you found it and tell them about it...maybe if we--"

I reached out and touched the ship with my mechanical appendage. In an instant, an explosive force flung me backwards and hurled me across the bay into a nearby generator.

"Sloan!" Frostbyte screamed and ran over to where I had landed. I groaned in pain. Frostbyte reached out to help me up but I batted her hand away and stood up slowly holding the back of my head. No blood. I did a quick check of my person and noted no immediate injury. My prosthetic arm however, was hanging limp from it's socket.

"Wonderful." I said picking up the arm with my good one and letting it drop back down limply. "Lorelai, get that fucking ship out of here and back where you found it. Be thankful I don't report your ass."

She looked at me first with defiance, then remorse and eventually turned to do what I commanded. I looked down at my arm in dismay before sighing.

I guess I'll be doing a lot more than replacing a servo now. I thought to myself. I took one last look at the mass of electronics in front of me that defied logic and strolled in the direction of one of the maintenance bays on the station. With any luck, I would be able to repair the damage to my arm without much difficulty.

If only I had known then what was coming. Maybe I could have been better prepared.

---

"Chaos is the loom. Order its thread. I weave neither. I am the hand that snaps the loom, so the thread may learn to dance."