Entry 32

I stared at Ven, speechless. The entire day he had been so firm in the fact that we were not taking John with us. He had lectured me, ordered me, and told me that we were not going to escape if we tried to free John. He had told me it was not part of his job and that the human colony would not allow it. How could he change his mind so completely?

“What?” I exclaimed, then I hastily added, “Not that I’m arguing. Just curious.”

“I’ve talked it over with my ship,” Ven responded to my confusion. His ship? “She reminded me that I am allowed to take an android if it means smooth transition of the sentient lifeform. I have an entire spaceflight to show you it’s just a machine. We don’t need to argue about this here in the den of danger.” It made sense to me, definitely more logical, but it did not make Ven Barker make any sense. He had just referred to his ship as a “she”, and yet he called my brother an “it”.

“Sounds reasonable,” John said, causing Ven to give him a sharp look.

“Listen, android,” Ven said derisively. “I am the leader here. I know what is going on. You will listen to me. If I have to, I will shut you down, leave you here, sedate Carlee, and take her away. Do you understand? You will not get in my way.” I bristled. No one talked to my brother in such a way! However, John remained calm.

“I understand, Mr. Barker,” John answered. “This is your operation.”

“Good,” Ven answered. “Now, Carlee, how fast can you run?”

“Run?” I repeated. “I’m not much of an athlete.” Marching band was certainly always a workout, but I had never enjoyed running or other physical activities. “I was never in track or anything.”

“Carlee, when I disconnect your android from the main frame our only hope of escaping is running to the nearest exit and jumping onto my ship,” Ven said. “I need to know you can do that.”I bit my lip, not liking the idea that our lives depended on me being able to run fast enough.

“She can do it,” John said with more confidence than it felt. “If everything depends on it, she can do it.” Ven ignored John and continued to stare at me. I nodded, agreeing that I would be able to run.

“Ok,” Ven said. “Now the moment we take your android out of this room, it will alert the SecCog, so there is no point in trying to find the android appropriate clothes. What we will do is make sure we’re at the edge of the doorway before we disconnect it. Then at the end of this hall is an emergency exit to the outside. We have to run, as fast as we can, and my ship should be waiting for us there.”

“What are our chances of escaping?” I asked.

“Not very high without a distraction,” Ven answered. “The SecCog can immobilize us in seconds. However, my ship was talked to the Artificial Cognizant we spoke with earlier and it has agreed to help.”

“Your ship can talk?” I asked dumbly. Surely I should have been more concerned about the plan, and less concerned about small absurdities like talking ships.

“My ship’s Artificial Cognizant can,” Ven responded. “Now, do you both understand the plan?”

“Run straight down the hall to an exit door,” John repeated. “I think we’ve got it.” John may have had it, but my mind was determined not to think to hard about it. I was keeping my fingers crossed that the adrenaline rush would carry me through this.

“Good,” Ven said. “Now get ready. Follow me to the door. Don’t bring attention to yourselves.” Ven began to walk towards the door, and John followed him. I stuck close to John, afraid to let him wander too far from myself.

Some of the aliens looked up at us as we passed by, as if wondering what we were doing, but then they went back to their own work. For all they knew we were testing John’s walking capabilities. We were perfectly within our rights, as long as we did not take him out of the room.

Ven stopped outside the door and looked at us, his face calm and impassive. His beautiful dark eyes analyzed me as if wondering if I really could run fast enough. He then turned his gaze to John.

“Alright, android,” Ven said. “Are you ready?” John nodded, his expression resolute.

Ven uttered something in a language I could not understand, and suddenly all hell broke loose.