I wake up. I get my nutrients. I scan. I look at the results. I lose a bit more of what I once called hope. I go back to sleep.
I cannot stop it. Whoever designed this decided they needed a human brain, not the rest. I can move my head by a few degrees in any direction before my restraints stop me. They prevent any other movement. I don’t think they are necessary anymore. When I look down I see what is left of my body. I have no idea how I am still alive. I am only a layer of skin on top of bones at this point. Various tubes and cables are connected to me.
The screen in front of me is showing the words “Scan in progress” with a loading bar beneath it. In the upper right corner it says “Cycle 2302”. I am not sure for how long exactly I sleep between each cycle. Years at least. I think I knew the answer once. But it's irrelevant. Everything is irrelevant. Except for the scan. The scan is my existence.
After what feels like an instant and an eternity at the same time the loading bar is full.
It is replaced by a list of objects. I think I am on a space station. The list includes every other object in vicinity. Some of them have always been there. Object CP-023 for example. Some of the data attached to it is always different, like its exact distance or its luminosity. But it has always been there. It feels more familiar than the sight of my own body.
The list has 3573 objects this time. At the bottom of the list a timer is counting down from twelve hours. It is the only way to track time I have. I have twelve hours to look through the list and make a decision. Below the timer my two options are displayed: “Ask for help” or “Remain silent”. I know I have to make my decision carefully. If I choose correctly, I will go back to sleep. If I choose wrong, I will stay awake for 12 more hours in which I experience nothing but pain.
Remaining silent is almost always the correct option. If there is nothing noteworthy in the scan data it is the correct choice.
But very rarely there are entries that…are different.
Sometimes they are objects that changed their velocity while being scanned. Or they radiate in unusual frequencies. Things like that. Sometimes they are obvious, most often they are not. In those cases, the correct response is to ask for help. Either way, nothing ever changes. If I choose poorly, I get punished. Otherwise I go back to sleep. Only to wake up again in the next cycle.
As I read through this cycles data I notice something I have never seen before. One of the entries is marked in red. Object CV-489. I read through its data. My heart stops. It is marked as “Hostile”.
Hostile…a word I have never seen on this screen before. It takes me a while to remember its meaning.
Hostile sounds bad. But maybe, just maybe… Could this be the end?
I am so unbelievably tired. If you call out to a hostile he could wound you. Or maybe even kill you. I realize I wish for nothing more. I look at the “Ask for help” button. And then I press it. The next 12 hours are pure agony. Then everything fades to black.
Shortly after I wake up the ancient tubes connected to me start pumping nutrients into my ancient body. I look at the screen.
“Cycle 2303”