The Other Shore
Jul. 7th, 2025 01:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thecrankydragonTitle: The Other Shore
Words: 1,095
Rating: PG
Warning: Suicide
Genre: Science Fiction
Summary: Farmer wakes up to an unhelpful robot and a ship of dead colonists
Tobias coughed as the gas from the suspension bay invaded his pod through the cracked lid. Tobias sat up and blinked at the dim red emergency lighting that shone down on him.
"What day is it? How long have I been asleep?" he croaked out.
"According to the ship's computer, that is unknown and you have been asleep for NAN years," came a robotic voice from his left. Tobias rubbed his eyes and looked over at a tall metallic form towering over him. Its brass-colored body had dulled over the years of the flight. The front of its head should have shown a facial approximation, but it was blank.
Right. He’d been put in suspension while the arkship traveled to their new home. But Tobias should have been one of the last people to be woken up. Only after the advance guard went down to the planet and prepared the domes for farming.
"Wait… Robot, how long did you say I've been sleep?" Tobias asked.
"NAN years," the robot said.
"N, A, N? What does that mean?"
The robot whirred and clicked, querying the mainframe of the arkship.
"Entry not found," the robot said.
Tobias shook his head to clear the last of the suspension drugs from his system and got out of his pod.
"You are clearly broken," he said. "Where is a mechanic?"
"To which mechanic are you referring?" the robot asked.
"Any of them."
There was another click.
"Unknown," it said.
"What do you mean, unknown?” Tobias said, panic rising in his chest. “You're supposed to be able to answer any questions I have."
"I sense from your tone of voice that you are in some distress. Might I escort you to the medical bay?"
Tobias swayed on his feet. “No. I don’t need a doctor. You need a mechanic.”
The robot remained patiently waiting for Tobias to make a request of it.
Tobias's eye was caught by the other darkened suspension pods in the bay with him. They were still full. Why would he be awakened before everyone else?
Tobias walked over to the nearest pod which was labeled Daphne Brookhaven. He knew that name. An engineer.
A dead engineer. And from the mummification that had afflicted her corpse, she had been that way for a very long time. Tobias went to the next pod. Mikael Sweeney. Also dead. He checked all the pods in this bay and they all held mummified remains in them.
"Robot! What happened! Why is everyone dead?"
Another of those infuriating clicks.
"Unknown," it said finally.
Tobias stared at it. "What do you mean, unknown! You're an interface robot."
“Unclear.”
Tobias approached the robot and tapped the glass that it had for a face.
"Show me the human-readable interface," he said.
"Right away, sir," the robot said and the glass of its faceplate showed jagged lines of code running up from its chin to its forehead.
That wasn't right.
“What is this?” Tobias asked. “Show me the human interface.”
“Of course, sir,” the robot said. Its faceplate didn’t change.
"Enough of this," Tobias said. "Where is the captain?"
"Captain Brunchild is not responding," the robot said after a moment of hesitation.
"What about the first mate? The chief engineer? Anyone in charge!"
"Unknown," the robot said.
Tobias cursed and walked past the robot into the corridor outside the suspension pod bay. He went to the next pod bay over and found the same situation. And in the next and in the next.
By the time he'd made it through all the pod bays and up to the silent bridge, he was forced to admit what he hadn't wanted to admit. Everyone was dead. Only the robot was still functional and that was only if he was very generous with the term “functional”.
A few minutes later, the robot joined him and lowered its body in a crouch by the wall. As if it were watching him.
"How could this have happened?" Tobias asked aloud. "There were supposed to be redundancies and fail safes. There was supposed to be someone awake at all times to make sure that nothing went wrong. Why was no one awake?"
"I do not know," the robot said.
"What do you remember, robot?" Tobias asked.
Another whirring click from within the robot's head. "I do not remember anything."
Tobias walked to the console in front of the empty captain's chair and tapped on the screen. Nothing.
"It's broken. It's all broken. What could have made this happen?"
"Unclear," the robot answered.
"Useless! Take me to the main frame of the ship," Tobias said. It looked like it would be up to Tobias to fix this. And the universe couldn’t have picked a more worthless technician. Tobias was a farmer. If it didn’t grow in the ground, he had no use for it.
The robot lead him through the ship and eventually, after many false turns and thanks only to the signs that hung at major intersections, they arrived in the bowels of the ship where it was ungodly hot.
That wasn't a good sign. Tobias didn't know shit about computers, but he remembered the mandatory training saying that the main frame was kept cold at all times.
When they arrived at the server room, the main frame spewed black smoke. Tobias coughed and held his arm over his nose and mouth but the smoke still stung his eyes.
He backed out of the room and sat down against the opposite wall. He stared at the burning mainframe.
"I have to do something," he told the useless robot. "But I don't know anything about computers. How could this have happened?"
"Unclear," the robot's helpful response.
Tobias wouldn't get anything out of the robot. Without a main frame to connect to, the robot was a particularly impressive paper weight.
"How much air is left?" he asked, without much hope for a coherent answer.
The robot whirred and clicked. "There is NAN hours of oxygen left," it said.
"Thank you," Tobias said dully.
So the main frame was destroyed. Life support was down and he had unknown amount of oxygen left. He was, as far as he could tell, the only human to have survived the failure of the suspension pods. And they were out in the middle of space.
"Fuck," he said.
Tobias set off for the armory to find a gun with which to shoot himself. The robot dutifully followed. He wondered what the robot would do when no one was alive. Perhaps Tobias would shoot it, too. As a gesture of friendship.
Words: 1,095
Rating: PG
Warning: Suicide
Genre: Science Fiction
Summary: Farmer wakes up to an unhelpful robot and a ship of dead colonists
Tobias coughed as the gas from the suspension bay invaded his pod through the cracked lid. Tobias sat up and blinked at the dim red emergency lighting that shone down on him.
"What day is it? How long have I been asleep?" he croaked out.
"According to the ship's computer, that is unknown and you have been asleep for NAN years," came a robotic voice from his left. Tobias rubbed his eyes and looked over at a tall metallic form towering over him. Its brass-colored body had dulled over the years of the flight. The front of its head should have shown a facial approximation, but it was blank.
Right. He’d been put in suspension while the arkship traveled to their new home. But Tobias should have been one of the last people to be woken up. Only after the advance guard went down to the planet and prepared the domes for farming.
"Wait… Robot, how long did you say I've been sleep?" Tobias asked.
"NAN years," the robot said.
"N, A, N? What does that mean?"
The robot whirred and clicked, querying the mainframe of the arkship.
"Entry not found," the robot said.
Tobias shook his head to clear the last of the suspension drugs from his system and got out of his pod.
"You are clearly broken," he said. "Where is a mechanic?"
"To which mechanic are you referring?" the robot asked.
"Any of them."
There was another click.
"Unknown," it said.
"What do you mean, unknown?” Tobias said, panic rising in his chest. “You're supposed to be able to answer any questions I have."
"I sense from your tone of voice that you are in some distress. Might I escort you to the medical bay?"
Tobias swayed on his feet. “No. I don’t need a doctor. You need a mechanic.”
The robot remained patiently waiting for Tobias to make a request of it.
Tobias's eye was caught by the other darkened suspension pods in the bay with him. They were still full. Why would he be awakened before everyone else?
Tobias walked over to the nearest pod which was labeled Daphne Brookhaven. He knew that name. An engineer.
A dead engineer. And from the mummification that had afflicted her corpse, she had been that way for a very long time. Tobias went to the next pod. Mikael Sweeney. Also dead. He checked all the pods in this bay and they all held mummified remains in them.
"Robot! What happened! Why is everyone dead?"
Another of those infuriating clicks.
"Unknown," it said finally.
Tobias stared at it. "What do you mean, unknown! You're an interface robot."
“Unclear.”
Tobias approached the robot and tapped the glass that it had for a face.
"Show me the human-readable interface," he said.
"Right away, sir," the robot said and the glass of its faceplate showed jagged lines of code running up from its chin to its forehead.
That wasn't right.
“What is this?” Tobias asked. “Show me the human interface.”
“Of course, sir,” the robot said. Its faceplate didn’t change.
"Enough of this," Tobias said. "Where is the captain?"
"Captain Brunchild is not responding," the robot said after a moment of hesitation.
"What about the first mate? The chief engineer? Anyone in charge!"
"Unknown," the robot said.
Tobias cursed and walked past the robot into the corridor outside the suspension pod bay. He went to the next pod bay over and found the same situation. And in the next and in the next.
By the time he'd made it through all the pod bays and up to the silent bridge, he was forced to admit what he hadn't wanted to admit. Everyone was dead. Only the robot was still functional and that was only if he was very generous with the term “functional”.
A few minutes later, the robot joined him and lowered its body in a crouch by the wall. As if it were watching him.
"How could this have happened?" Tobias asked aloud. "There were supposed to be redundancies and fail safes. There was supposed to be someone awake at all times to make sure that nothing went wrong. Why was no one awake?"
"I do not know," the robot said.
"What do you remember, robot?" Tobias asked.
Another whirring click from within the robot's head. "I do not remember anything."
Tobias walked to the console in front of the empty captain's chair and tapped on the screen. Nothing.
"It's broken. It's all broken. What could have made this happen?"
"Unclear," the robot answered.
"Useless! Take me to the main frame of the ship," Tobias said. It looked like it would be up to Tobias to fix this. And the universe couldn’t have picked a more worthless technician. Tobias was a farmer. If it didn’t grow in the ground, he had no use for it.
The robot lead him through the ship and eventually, after many false turns and thanks only to the signs that hung at major intersections, they arrived in the bowels of the ship where it was ungodly hot.
That wasn't a good sign. Tobias didn't know shit about computers, but he remembered the mandatory training saying that the main frame was kept cold at all times.
When they arrived at the server room, the main frame spewed black smoke. Tobias coughed and held his arm over his nose and mouth but the smoke still stung his eyes.
He backed out of the room and sat down against the opposite wall. He stared at the burning mainframe.
"I have to do something," he told the useless robot. "But I don't know anything about computers. How could this have happened?"
"Unclear," the robot's helpful response.
Tobias wouldn't get anything out of the robot. Without a main frame to connect to, the robot was a particularly impressive paper weight.
"How much air is left?" he asked, without much hope for a coherent answer.
The robot whirred and clicked. "There is NAN hours of oxygen left," it said.
"Thank you," Tobias said dully.
So the main frame was destroyed. Life support was down and he had unknown amount of oxygen left. He was, as far as he could tell, the only human to have survived the failure of the suspension pods. And they were out in the middle of space.
"Fuck," he said.
Tobias set off for the armory to find a gun with which to shoot himself. The robot dutifully followed. He wondered what the robot would do when no one was alive. Perhaps Tobias would shoot it, too. As a gesture of friendship.
