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| Tim: The Red Knight's AI |
“Hello … hello … I think it’s about time you woke up.”
Opening your eyes, you realise you are standing in some kind of white, antiseptic, chamber with your nose pressed against a frosted glass panel through which you can just make out the grey walls of a utilitarian corridor.
The soft, hesitant voice is coming from the face of a rather non-descript man with a crew cut, floating on a flickering black and white computer screen.
Your head hurts - that must have been some drinking session the night before, because you have one smeg of a hangover and, at least for the moment, can’t actually picture where you are.
“There’s been a bit of an accident,” the disembodied head on the screen continues with a slightly embarrassed air. “Well, I say accident, it was really a full-blown virulent plague outbreak…”
"Huh?"
“You do remember where you are, right? This is the mining ship Red Knight … no, nothing … part of the Jupiter Mining Corporation? You’re a lowly drone from Sector 7B… well, there was this outbreak, see, and I hustled you into suspended animation while I tried to sort things out.
“In retrospect, perhaps I should have saved the captain or someone else important -- but you owed me several thousand virtual dollarpounds from online poker, so I wasn’t going to scupper my chances of getting that back by letting you die needlessly…”
"So what happened to everyone else?"
“They died needlessly.”
Your head hurts - that must have been some drinking session the night before, because you have one smeg of a hangover and, at least for the moment, can’t actually picture where you are.
“There’s been a bit of an accident,” the disembodied head on the screen continues with a slightly embarrassed air. “Well, I say accident, it was really a full-blown virulent plague outbreak…”
"Huh?"
“You do remember where you are, right? This is the mining ship Red Knight … no, nothing … part of the Jupiter Mining Corporation? You’re a lowly drone from Sector 7B… well, there was this outbreak, see, and I hustled you into suspended animation while I tried to sort things out.
“In retrospect, perhaps I should have saved the captain or someone else important -- but you owed me several thousand virtual dollarpounds from online poker, so I wasn’t going to scupper my chances of getting that back by letting you die needlessly…”
"So what happened to everyone else?"
“They died needlessly.”
There is silence for a rather long moment, then the head says: “Anyway, I turned the ship around and headed out into deep space - standard quarantine procedure - to stop us infecting anyone else. And that’s about it.”
You shake your head in disbelief. Everyone gone! Things can’t get any worse, can they?
"How … how long have we been in space, then?"
“Er … about three million years.” The head tries to put on a ‘cheery’ face, but it doesn’t quite work.
“I guess that makes you the last human alive. Surprise! Sorry... you've been left with the bill!”
There is a pause.
“What would you like for dinner this evening?”
You shake your head in disbelief. Everyone gone! Things can’t get any worse, can they?
"How … how long have we been in space, then?"
“Er … about three million years.” The head tries to put on a ‘cheery’ face, but it doesn’t quite work.
“I guess that makes you the last human alive. Surprise! Sorry... you've been left with the bill!”
There is a pause.
“What would you like for dinner this evening?”
Now go to Phase Two
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