Sarah7
Chapter 7

“Sarah. Wake up.”

A strange voice was speaking to her. Her thoughts drifted aimlessly. In her dreamlike state she saw faces - faces of people she did not remember. One was of a beautiful woman dressed in stately clothing, smiling at her. Could it be - her mother? The vision faded, replaced by a formless red fog. She could feel nothing, see nothing. She drifted on.

“Sarah. Sarah, wake up.” the voice said again.

She drifted slowly to consciousness. Another vision appeared in her mind’s eye suddenly. A tall creature stood before her covered in pallid grey. Like something out of a nightmare. It was immense, thin like an old twisted scarecrow, with an insectile face. It turned to regard her with glowing red eyes. It let out an inhuman screech and reached out to her with its long claw like hands. Sarah bolted awake. Her throat was dry and sore, and she realized she was screaming herself.

“Sarah, please stop screaming. I am unable to determine if there are any more drones nearby, as we are now outside the confines of the damaged ship.” the voice intoned.

Sarah rubbed her eyes and looked around her, blinking. It was still dark, but a darkness of a completely different sort. Above her stretched the night sky, full of brilliant stars. She yelped, feeling suddenly as if she were going to fall into the sky. She had never before seen anything so large, and all at once she remembered where she was, and WHO she was with. She froze and felt around herself. She was lying outside on the ground. Around her was a collection of rotting blankets and a half opened supply box. The ruins of the ship loomed above her on the right, like a twisted metal wall dividing the world into nature and machine.

The air was filled with unfamiliar sounds. Creaks, whistles, a distant howl. Sarah shuddered, and realized she was cold. Something was touching her face and hair, and a memory was triggered. Wind. She was outside. How?

“Where - where am I?” she whispered.

“We are approximately 1 kilometer from the wreckage of the starship Starlight Hope. This location provides the best location for a defensible location while I awaited your recovery. I wanted to be clear of the ship’s wreckage in case any other drones had been activated. I also determined this to be a location where you might find some water. I am sorry to say I cannot determine the state of the rations crate I brought along, as I am unable to taste.”

It was Max. Sarah closed her eyes again and tried to push down a new bout of panic. She turned about slowly where she was lying to see sitting before her the machine to which she owed her life. It was “sitting” about 5 meters away from her. Its feet were folded up beneath it, almost like a bird’s, and the claw like arms were lying motionless on either side. The teardrop shaped head suddenly turned slightly, to face Sarah directly.

She jumped - startled - and a little squeak escaped her mouth.

“Sarah, I will not harm you. As a matter of fact, you might say I was created to protect you.” Max said. His voice seemed to be coming more from his chest than his head, and the unreality of the situation made Sarah shudder once again.

“Are you - are you alive? What are you?” she asked.

Max didn’t answer right away, it was as if he was thinking of the right way to respond to her question. “I was - once - alive. I have a cybernetic brain encoded with the engrams of a man who was called Max. He volunteered to have his consciousness encoded as a way to provide these machines with a more natural and versatile personality. It was deemed the best way to allow other humans to interact with us. But, if you mean is there a living being within this robotic shell, then… no.”

“I’m sorry. I feel like I’ve offended you in some way. I have you to thank for saving my life. “ Sarah began, then something howled not too far in the distance and startled her.

“Thank you as well, Sarah. I was being transported from one area of the ship to another, and while on that lift my motor functions were disabled manually as to avoid me inadvertently damaging the lift or the other cargo. It was a standard safety procedure. When the ship came under attack, the lifts were halted, and I was … unable to leave to offer assistance. The ship was heavily damaged, and as you can see, it crashed.” Max gestured with his metallic arm toward the ship.

Sarah saw now what she thought was a natural valley was instead the huge scar the falling ship had carved into the earth as it had plowed into the landscape. She looked again at the ship that had been her - prison? It was easily as large as a city. And it struck her as odd that since she didn’t remember until then that she even knew what a city was. Her mind felt like a stranger’s house to her. Every thought spawned a new, unfamiliar memory. It was as if there were two people. One that had just awoken a few hours ago, and this strange, mysterious person who’s experience and memory she was only beginning to explore.

Tears began to fall freely from her eyes, and she reached up to her own cheek to feel them.

“Don’t cry Sarah. You are safe now. I have managed to fully deactivate the ship’s remaining defense systems. There will be no more drones.”

The howl sounded again, closer this time. Sarah stood up and took a step towards Max.

“Do you think you - Do you think, I might sit next to you?” she asked tentatively. “You’re not going to suddenly step on me or something?” she chuckled a bit to herself.

“Hardly. I wouldn’t be a very good battle robot if I stumbled around, stepping on my squadmates.”

She could almost hear a bit of humor in his voice. She coughed, a dry hacking cough that surprised her.

“You must get some liquids into your system. Unlike me, you need to eat, drink, and sleep. I can stand watch.”

She walked over to the stream that was nearby, guided by her unfamiliar memories, and crouched down to scoop up some of the water.

“Is it ok to drink? There’s no risk of contamination from the ship?” she asked, and again mused about how she might know that.

“Perhaps many years ago, but the source of this water comes from the mountains in the distance, and flows toward the ship, not away from it. I calculate a 80% probability of zero contaminates.” Max intoned.

“Well, I guess I’ll only get 20% sick. I guess I’ll risk it.” she shrugged and took a sip. Suddenly thirst overwhelmed her, as if it had been there all along and somehow she had been suppressing it. She drank like someone who had been wandering in the desert, gulping the water and splashing it over her face. The water was incredibly cold, but it tasted like life itself, which right now was probably more right than she cared to admit.

A second howl joined the first. It was much closer, and came from a different direction than the first. A third howl sounded in yet another direction.

“Max? I’m scared.”

The mech suddenly rose to its feet. The whining sound of the servos moving within its body sent chills down Sarah’s spine. What kind of world had she woken up to?

“Sarah, remain calm, and stay here. I am detecting numerous lifeforms moving towards this area.” Max said as he raised his arms and assumed an attack stance. Lights began to play about the area as he began to visually scan the area near them. A moment later, the claws of his feet dug into the soft earth and he turned to the west and leaped away - with a long loping gait that left Sarah completely alone in the space of a heartbeat.

Shivering, Sarah reached for the old blankets, wrapped them about her, and tried to remain motionless next to the large rock outcropping she was lying next to. The sounds of the forest around her grew silent, and she could hear the thump thump thumping of Max as he slowly circled their makeshift encampment.

Suddenly, the relative quiet was shattered by the sounds of blaster fire and the screams of some kind of large animal. Sarah bit her lip and pushed her hands over her ears. A bit of blood from her lip trailed down her chin as she involuntarily bit down too hard.

Again the air was filled with the sounds of Max’s blaster, followed by animal screams.

A sixth sense caused Sarah to open her eyes again. Out of the darkness something moved. There was a small lamp set up near Sarah that cast a meager light - just enough to see a few feet around her. Somehow, her earpiece was missing, so she could not call out to Max. A huge shape formed from the darkness as a wolf-like creature slinked toward her slowly. It was large, larger than Sarah even. It had black glistening eyes that seemed to glow in the small lamplight.

Sarah felt paralyzed by those eyes. All the events of the day had left her bereft of any strength. She tried to call upon whatever resource had saved her before, but nothing but fear responded.

She pulled in a big breath and screamed. “MAAAAAAAAX!”

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