4 – Intrusion

Dube looked to those who had joined him on the Bridge. After conferring with Jonas ahead of their arrival, he had several items prepared. As the first Engineer to be apprised of the situation, the responsibility of summoning and briefing the others in his rotation – as well as offering some preliminary recommendations – naturally fell to him.

As for waking up the others, that responsibility fell to the three of them. But only after Dube did his due diligence and convinced them it was necessary.

Between the three of them, the Bridge’s main control podium resided. It was already activated and broadcasting a holographic of the ship’s interior, focused on the subsection of the cargo bay in question. Important features of were labelled, including the rows of cubbyholes, storerooms, nanofabricator units, and other hardware that were visible in the image.

The main attraction was the glowing artery that ran through the area, branching out into many different tendrils that glowed with different intensity. This indicated the local power conduit and all the feed lines extending from it to different ports in the bay. The power drop, and where Jonas had traced it to, was enclosed in box-like brackets and appropriately labelled.

Anomaly.

Since time was a factor, Dube didn’t bother conveying anything verbally.

[Thank you all for coming. It appears that we may have a situation below decks. It concerns the small power anomaly I notified you all about. What I did not mention was the likely possibility that it is not natural in origin. Because of this, I am recommending that we designate this situation as a C0S scenario and take appropriate measures.]

His colleagues reacted predictably. Vorhees thoughts reached him first, followed shortly thereafter by Chen’s.

[You are suggesting that this is power anomaly is being caused by a stowaway?]

[Why didn’t Jonas warn us about an unregistered passenger?]

Dube quickly replied to the former question in the strongly affirmative. Jonas chose to field the latter one.

[There are no indications of any unregistered passengers aboard the Transverse at this time. I have run multiple biometric, thermal, and electromagnetic scans of that area. They have indicated no signs of life in that subsection of the ship.]

[Then why do you suspect that we have a stowaway?]

The question was directed at the ship’s AI, but Dube jumped in, it being his theory and all.

[Jonas ran a probability assessment. At first glance, there was nothing there to report beyond a simple and minor anomaly. However, he confirmed that it was a possibility that someone might have deliberately tampered with the power systems in that subsection for the sake of siphoning power.]

[So there’s no supporting evidence for this theory, then?] asked Chen. Dube looked at him as he voked back.

[Only one thing, and it is admittedly circumstantial.]

Dube gestured at the holographic representation between them, which caused it to zoom in on the room, emphasizing a bulkhead. The illuminated stream that indicated the flow of power now showed small, vein-like channels that extended to a point leading them into the wall.

Vorhees emitted a low whistle of surprise.

[That is odd. The power supply snakes into that wall, but there is nothing inside that would warrant it. And it’s a physical hookup at that.]

[So, something is inside there] added Chen. [Something which is drawing power but not showing up on the ship’s scanners.]

[Correct,] Dube replied. [Coupled with the lack of life signs, I believe this could be a possible indication that our potential stowaway is equipped with advanced masking technology. Which is why I advise we treat this as a C0S scenario and investigate further to confirm or deny my hypothesis.]

The other engineers paused for a second to consider. Chen quickly decided it was not enough and shared this appraisal.

[You’re right, this iscircumstantial. For all we know, this is a manufacturing defect, or an error with the configuration of the nanomaterials in that section. Jonas, when was the last time you ran a check on the structural programming in the bay?]

[Those checks are conducted in accordance with my routine maintenance schedule, Engineer.]

Jonas read of the date of the last time it had checked the ship to make sure every micron of the programmable matter it was made from was functioning properly.

[The results of these and all previous scans indicated no sign of errors. I should also note that since you raised the possibility, I have performed an unscheduled diagnostic check on the ship. In anticipation of your next suggestion, I also ran one of my own programming as well.]

Jonas conveyed all this without the slightest hint of flippancy or condescension, even though Dube (and others, from the looks on their faces) thought Chen deserved it. Jonas was not programmed with a range of emotions. Still, one simply did not suggest to a Level 3 sentience that they had committed a trivial oversight. Not unless they were looking to be embarrassed.

The look on Chen’s face suggested he had absorbed the lesson like a champ. Rather than let him languish in his chagrin, Dube inquired further.

[Jonas, if you’ll indulge me. Is the power drain comparable or close to the power needed to operate a single cryo unit?]

Jonas was quick to reply. [Confirmed. The power level is commensurate with a cryogenic unit in standby mode.] There was a miniscule delay as Jonas investigated Dube’s theory further.

[Ship’s logs indicate that the power consumption was greater during the acceleration phase.]

Once again, Jonas spouted dates at them that indicated the higher power drain was happening the entire time the Engineers and crew were all in cryosleep.

[Let me guess] Chen voked. [At that time, it was enough to power a cryounit running at full capacity?]

[Confirmed] Jonas replied with a detectable trace of finality.

The atmosphere of the room changed sharply. Circumstantial or not, they all understood the Jonas had tacitly confirmed that they had a stowaway, one who was currently awake and moving about the ship. They also knew that they could not track this person.

In the time it had taken to communicate thoughts back and forth, really no more than the space of a few heartbeats, they had gone from theories concerning a power anomaly to knowing lives could be in danger.

[Jonas, prepare all relevant extractions for Contingency C0S] instructed Dube.

[Acknowledged. I will alert you when they are ready for assimilation. I should not be more than one minute.]

The Engineers stood there and waited anxiously. In sixty seconds or less, Jonas would be ready to upload all the training they had undergone back at Sol for this particular situation. Entire petabytes of memories, converted into billions of qbits, would be streaming into their minds again, letting them remember that they had prepared for just this eventuality. But before that could happen, there was the small matter of protocol that needed to be followed.

Dube chose to verbalize this instead of transmitting it directly.

“We’ll need to inform the other Engineers,” he said, his voice a croaky whisper.

“We should probably open the munitions locker,” added Vorhees. “This stowaway sounds like they could be dangerous.”