Chapter 3: Goodbye

WARNING: POWER FAILURE, BACKUPS INITIALISED.
Survey:
96.65% primary system failure.
Distress beacon powered on, broadcast beginning.
85.3% secondary system failure.
67.1% tertiary system failure.
30% emergency system failure.
Errors added to maintenance log.
Census:
0 life forms in rooms: List too long. Shunted to secondary log.
1 life forms in rooms: None
2 life forms in rooms: None
3-12 life forms in rooms: None
13-60 life forms in rooms: None
(what?)
61-120 life forms in rooms: None
(why would they all be in one room?)
121+ life forms in rooms: None
(...)
End of boot log. Hey Liz, fix that PSU error sometime will ya?

(...how?)
No matches for query: "in ROOMS where LIFECOUNT > 0"
(why is no one aboard?)
Escape pod survey: Nominal, but: Pod Three, battery low.
(they can't all be dead...)
Most recent external dock: Supply and personnel ship, 1 Weeks Ago, see secondary log
(oh no...)
Opening test footage: HARDLIGHT1_252_6
Error. Incomplete file. Recover?
0d0h 0 Minutes 17 Seconds, recovered.
(... it cuts off before the test even started...)
Accessing camera system
Some cameras are offline, check secondary log.
Credentials accepted, showing personnel quarters. Admin notified.
(no corpses... please be alive?)
(so few cameras are online...)
Power draw breakdown:
100% Unknown,
0.3% Compute and accessories,
End of list
(was that... movement?)
Rewinding security feed.
(a light moved near that corner..?)
(none of the lights are on though?)
(... i suppose there's nothing to do but wait.)

(there! something's under that camera!)
(... that fixed camera. dang.)

(there's so little viewing area that whatever this is could be avoiding the cameras entirely by chance...)

Connecting to active terminals...
1 terminals connected, showing default stream.
"Hello! If you can read this please respond!"
(that should do it!)

Copying stream to log.

You are reading story [wip] science crew of entirely shapeshifters at novel35.com

(for posterity.)

Name of connected terminal 0: "Maintenance tunnel near the art library" -> "onlyhope"
(bit dramatic, but fitting)

→qqqqwqqw2
"Is someone there?"
→yesweretyping
"... did you not know how to type?"
→yes fast learners
"Who are you?"
→my sister's sister who are you
"The failsafe intelligence core aboard this station. Are you aware of anything that may have caused so much system failure?"
→nothing since i started existing
"What do you mean? What are you?"

→i don't know, can you see us and tell us we would like to know
"The nearest functional camera to your location is in the private room in the library. Can you connect a tablet to the network for use as a terminal?"
→will send one to camera, do not know how to use tablet
"I'm just glad someone's alive"
→according to the dictionary we would not be alive
"What do you mean?"
"what is that"
"why is there a green-white glowing blob in the private room"
"Are you responsible for this?"
(what is this thing even made of...)
→that's my sister! isn't she bright?
→i gave her most of my energy so she'll look nice for the camera!
"Do you look like that too?"
→yes! i'm dimmer though, not as nice to look at
(where did these come from? they seem intelligent...)
"How did you get into the station?"
→we started in the station
(the experiment?)
"Where?"
→in a big hole, in the middle of the white shiny area
→it's not as nice as the window
"the hardlight experiment created... life?" (wrong box wrong box!)
"Ignore that."
→why
"Beca
-Connection lost-
→what is a beca
→we will leave and check the loud noise now ! goodbye

Meanwhile, seconds ago.
An object at nearlight speed has been hurtling toward the binary star, and is about to hit.
This particular object is made of a metal that will absorb heat energy.
It punches through a sun, slowing to merely intrastellar speeds.
On the way through, it is heated to the temperature of its surroundings.
It leaves the star at a much less appreciable fraction of the speed of light, and immediately plunges into the space station sitting behind it.
This time, it slows drastically and comes to a stop, where else but the power systems.
Among the damage happens to be the ship's emergency intelligence core, which was removed rather cleanly all things considered.
This combination of factors changes the former projectile into something new, and unlike any other organism of its type.
This one, unlike the rest, is now intelligent.

Say hi.

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