Page 2 of Agrippa's Acceptance

The plan was to film as much of the layout and the machinery of the ship as she could manage. She’d made a point to be in the crawlspace when the captain came onboard and she fervently hoped he had forgotten there was a natural female onboard. She’d seen him order a female cyborg to his private cabin. Agrippa had triggered an alarm and prayed it allowed the cyborg to get away from that monster.

In the process of filming the engine room she stilled. Her ryhov went crazy, as if there was a threat she hadn’t seen yet. Agrippa carefully looked behind her, but there was no cyborg lurking behind her.

She went back to filming, but something hung in the atmosphere. Something ominous. Maybe she should leave. She checked her organizer and almost groaned out loud. She had only five minutes to get off the ship. No doubt that cyborg would come and find her and throw her off the ship if she didn’t sign out. She crawled back to the front entrance of the ship, but she relaxed a little.

The upcoming test must be what is causing the tension on the ship. She shouldn’t allow her imagination to get carried away. Agrippa stopped crawling and took off her backpack before she sat down to catch her breath for a moment. She was close enough now that she could take the time.

She might be fascinated by Cyborg 321, but working among cyborgs that despised her was difficult.

Agrippa yawned and hastily caught a loud moan. Her neck felt stiff and her eyes gritty and dry. She froze in the process of putting on her backpack. Some commotion was going on close to where she was. Shouts and hurried footsteps sounded and Agrippa leaned down and stifled a curse when her backpack hit her in the back of her head. Taking care to be silent she looked down at the corridor. The grid gave the scene below her an eerie distance.

“Emergency shutdown, Emergency shutdown.” A clone ran down the corridor, his face contorted into a mask of fear, his ryhov spinning so fast over his body, it looked almost black. Agrippa blinked and stared down. The clone running full speed for the exit, shouting at the top of his voice, was the captain. The last time she’d seen him from the crawlspace, he’d strutted around the ship, making no secret of his disdain for the cyborgs. Now, he desperately shouted for the emergency shutdown.

Was there something wrong with the ship? Surely, she’d have received error codes on the tablet.

A cyborg followed him, his steps relentless in their precision. It was horrifying to see, but she couldn’t look away. From behind the frantic captain, the cyborg reached out and slapped him off his feet. The way you’d swat an insect. She held her hand over her mouth, eyes wide and unable to look away from the horror below her.

The cyborg grabbed the front of the captain’s jacket and lifted him up until his feet dangled off the floor.

“How dare you, let me go. Emergency shut—”

The cyborg punched him. Blood spurted and the captain looked dazed for a moment, his nose hanging at an odd angle. He tried to struggle, but the cyborg kept punching him with savage precise hits, until the clone’s face was a bloody mess. She could smell the blood all the way from up here.

Agrippa pressed her hand over her mouth with her other hand so hard, her teeth bit into her flesh. She’d seen violence before, but this was something else. That vicious violence and precision revealed the sheer rage of the cyborg. When the clone lay dead, the cyborg threw back his head and roared his triumph.

How was this possible, cyborgs didn’t feel emotion. They went about their tasks like machines. Never did she think to see a cyborg act like this. He turned slightly and the light revealed his sharp cheekbones, that square jaw and vicious eyes.

She stopped the gasp just in time. It was cyborg 321. The cyborg had always looked dangerous and ready to kill. Somehow, she’d never thought she’d see the cyborg that has always fascinated her, commit murder in cold blood. Cyborg 321 stood for a moment and then looked up and she froze in place. He’d kill her too. He could easily tear out the grid and haul her down. She lay on a solid part of the crawlspace and peered down through the grid that interspersed the sold parts. Agrippa didn’t even breathe. Could he see her? Maybe hear her heartbeat?

Chapter Two

After long fraught seconds, he looked down at the dead clone. His lip curled and he bent down and taking the corpse by the ankle, dragged it away.

Did he drag the clone to show an unsubtle insult? He had the strength to carry the … the corpse. She swallowed and tried not to think about the brutal scene she’d just witnessed. The walls cleansed the blood with tongue like features and her stomach turned. She had to battle the need to throw up for several seconds.

She wanted to cry, to run, to get away from this madness. But she dared not move. Cyborgs had amazing hearing. Agrippa clasped her hand over her mouth, struggling to keep her loud breathing under control. Soft sounds trapped in her throat wanted to escape through her mouth. What was happening? Did Cyborg 321 malfunction or was this an organised thing. Was this why they wanted her off the ship? Could they be trying to steal the ship? Surely, they were not as free thinking as that.

She was trapped in the crawl space. If she tried to leave now and they caught her they would kill her the same way they are killing the other clones. Terrified screams echoed all over the ship. The kind of screams she never thought to hear from clones. And despite her hatred of them, she hoped to never hear it again. The ship. Why didn’t it sound the alarm or contact the clones on the planet. It’s supposed to be loyal to the clones. The cyborgs must have figured out a way to enslave the ship.

The terrified screams and desperate running lasted for ever. That was what it felt like while she sat with her knees drawn to her chest, heart beating and her breath short gasps of fear while she heard the slaughter. How many clones could there be on the ship? She checked her timer and it showed that not even fifteen minutes have passed since she’d been ordered to leave the ship earlier. How was that possible? So many terrible things have happened.

She sat tense and barely breathing while the noise slowly died down and all she heard was the distinctive doof hiss of cyborg boots. Only that morning a large carrier brought the cyborgs to the shipyard. She’d been about to go on board, but she’d hung back in the hope of seeing cyborg 321. They descended and walked in four neat rows to the ship. Their boots ringing on the floor in violent synchronicity.

Her body ached and she lay down on the hard surface, careful not to make a noise. Did she dare try and leave the ship? If only she knew what to do. So far, the ship has not reported her presence in the crawl space to the cyborgs. Instead, it massaged her tense muscles where her body touched the floor of the crawlspace. Maybe it would keep her hidden. Maybe she could get close to the doors of the ship through the crawlspace and then get down and run down the ramp. She’d rest for just a few minutes and then decide what to do. Could she run that fast?

The ship vibrated as the engines hummed to life. She sat bolt upright and hit her head.

The engines hummed.

She cradled her head with both hands. If she could just think, if her mind wasn’t frozen with fear. Agrippa whimpered and stuck her fist in her mouth to stifle the sobs. If she didn’t see cyborg 321 kill the clone in cold blood, she might have revealed herself. After the slaughter, she doubted they would show mercy for anyone not a cyborg.

She couldn’t stay in the crawlspace forever. For one thing, she’d need food eventually. Though with her stomach tied in a steel knot, she couldn’t imagine ever eating again. And she’d need bathroom facilities. And where did they think they were they going? There were no habitable planets within reach of Tundra.

She stilled as the heavy doof hiss footsteps came closer and closer and then stopped right beneath her. Agrippa didn’t even breath.

“Are the clones in pursuit?”

Agrippa frowned, did they really think they could outrun the clones? For some reason the clones kept building warships and no one has been able to figure out why. The Souls frequently debated about that. The clones acted as if they had an enemy out there. But there was no sign of intelligent life out there. In fact, in centuries they haven’t found any prove that anyone else was out there. This ship was only one of a large fleet of completed ships. And the clones could produce more in a relatively short time.

---