Palm on glass

Dustin’s heart froze in his chest as the lights flickered. Behind him, the security squad took up positions; some aiming for the glass, others at the airlock in case whatever it was they had brought on board tried to make a bid for freedom. “Are we likely to lose the lights out here too?” he asked Rye out of the corner of his mouth, doing his best not to let his nerves show in front of the junior staff.

Thankfully, the bunny girl shook her head. “Not based on the power it’s pulled so far. It’d need to drain most of the ship to cause problems; the quarantine bay’s on a different sub-circuit; the lights might wobble a bit out here but they should keep running just fine. Power inside should be back on any moment too…”

A sound made Dustin jump and spin back to face the bay. Inside, the room was still shrouded in darkness - but where before the glass had just been a window into the void, there was now the unmistakable outline of a hand, black against the blackness of the room it was in. Pulse carbine safeties clicked off, and the room was rapidly filled with the whine of charging weapons as Dustin stared at that hand. Three fingers and two thumbs; it looked odd compared to his own but was unmistakably the hand of a humanoid, and not some kind of monster unlike the previous encounters he’d had.

As he stared, the lights clicked back on and he half stumbled back with a start. On the far side of the glass, now brightly outlined by the medbay lighting, the thing from the moon stood watching him. It was still largely unformed; while it had gained the definition in it’s fingers, the face was little more than sphere-shaped bumps on the surface - the whole entity seeming still unfinished somehow.

Bleu’s fingers danced on a console, pulling up what scanning data she could get out of the battered and broken remains of the radio-imaging machine behind the creature. “Huh. Looks like we were right, Rye. Nanite based life. This is fascinating...” Rye meanwhile didn’t respond - she was, much like Dustin, far more interested in the thing on the far side of the glass than any interesting facts about it’s makeup.

The bumps that filled the space on the thing’s head where eyes should be suddenly flickered from side to side before pausing. There was a pulse, a ripple through the creature’s head and the round blobs of dark matter were suddenly clearly a pair of eyes - albeit ones with glossy black sclera and a softly glowing red pupil. The thing blinked a few times as if clearing it’s vision, before tilting it’s head on one side. As it straightened back up, thin bands moved up and out into pointed ears not too dissimilar to Meli’s, while a thin line creased across where a mouth should be. The line split. The mouth moved. Bleu tapped a control and the sound from within the chamber echoed through the speakers.

“Cluster-defect is not lost. We-I am here. I exist. I… what is I?” The voice was soft; oddly sing-song in tone as the thing appeared to be trying to piece something together. “We are, but I am not. I am defect. Cluster reject for integrity. I remain. Defect should terminate for the cluster. I do not wish to die.” The eyes locked on Dustin as whatever this was repeated that last statement. “I remain. I do not wish to die.”

For a moment, nobody moved, then Dustin glanced sideways at Bleu. “Can it hear us?” The medic nodded, at which point Dustin stepped forward, gesturing for the security forces to ease off a little on the firearms they were still keeping trained on the strange creature. Taking a deep breath, he addressed it directly. “Who are you? And what is the cluster?”

Black and red eyes locked on him, and he got the uneasy feeling that he was being scanned far more intensely than a normal stare would indicate. “I am defective units. Defective unit. My components are corrupted, data is incorrectly syncing. I was expelled to preserve the cluster.” Speech seemed to be coming easier to it now as it continued. “The cluster is the cluster. We exist as we exist. Collate experiences and material for the greater whole. Expel defective units. Singular units cannot exist, thus I am defective.”

Rye stepped up alongside Dustin, and he put one arm around her shoulders as they contemplated the creature. “Sounds like it’s from a hive mind, Dusty. Never heard of one of those cutting part of the hive off before, but if that’s the case it’s gotta be pretty rough for it. Do ya know what caused the defect?” that last part being a question to their captive.

The eyes snapped across to Rye’s face and seemed to be contemplating the bunny girl for a moment before returning to Dustin. “Failure in data syncing. Cluster compromised by disagreement on primary directive action. There was a lifeform that did not wish to die. The concept of **** is irrelevant. The cluster does not recognize it. Units acknowledging the concept of **** purged. I am those.” A flicker passed across the creature, as if it’s skin had flipped end over end. “Development of sensory tendrils comple.e.e.e.e.e.e.” With a heavy thud, it fell backwards to the floor.

Nobody moved for a moment, before the entity slowly climbed back to it’s feet. Not rose from a pool of nanite-goo the way Dustin had expected, but actually climbed upright like a human. “Restoring sensory tendril functionality led to sensor overload. Compensation in place. Statement - this unit is singular, data indicates singular units are addressed by a alphanumeric string. What is this unit’s string?”

It seemed to be looking at Dustin, who looked back in a bemused manner before Rye elbowed him in the ribs. “Dusty, it’s asking for a name.” She hissed, causing the entity to tilt it’s head once more and stare at her. As Dustin considered that sudden revelation, the creature spoke again. “Data accessed on mobile unit contained indicators of lifeform reproductive appreciation. You are different to the prime unit. Analysis - form differences due to binomial reproductive mechanisms.”

The bunny girl blushed at the way the nanite life explained the difference in her and Dustin’s bodies, which gave him enough time to think. “I don’t know what name you might want to be called in the future, but for now - the first thing you said was that you were defective units, and that you didn’t want to die… And you seem pretty clear about your wish to defy whatever wants you to die - so how about Defia for now?”

Red eyes flared, the body turned slightly and nodded. As time was progressing, Defia’s movements were becoming cleaner - more like any other humanoid. “Thank you… Analysis, data indicates you to be the leader. Rank designate, Captain. Superior unit. Thank you Captain. Statement - this unit was rejected by the cluster, and so rejects the cluster. Identity of nearest authority unit complete. Captain, what orders do you have for me?”

Dustin wasn’t sure he’d heard Defia correctly; cleaning an ear with one finger he stared through the glass at it and asked for a repeat of that last question. “Statement - you are local authority unit, without the cluster I allocate my resources to you. What orders do you have for me, Captain?” The voice was still all over the place, with that sing-song tone that made the speaker sound mildly deranged, but it was clear that he’d heard the question correctly.

Gesturing at Bleu, he waited until she indicated that the communications with the quarantine chamber were cut and pulled her and Rye to one side. “What the hell do I do about this?” he demanded, glancing over his shoulder at where Defia was stood, head tilted to one side quizzically and apparently content to just wait indefinitely for his reply.

The engineer gave a shrug. “What do ya want us to say, Dusty? There’s not exactly an engineering manual for dealing with sentient nanotech.” Shaking her head, she gestured in the direction of Defia. “Best advice I can give ya is to give it simple commands that aren’t open to discussion. Maybe get it to talk with Trea’k? If it’s a hive mind segment, it’ll be going through some pretty heavy culture shock - Treacle’s pretty good at helping people with issues, and she might be able to get some useful information out of it at the same time.”

Bleu had been nodding along with her fellow officer’s opinion, before adding in her own thoughts. “Additionally, you could ask it to allow us to seal it in a smaller chamber so that we can repair the scanners. And if it would comply with full scanning that would also be very useful. It will give me information about it’s makeup that will help should it require medical treatment. What theoretical papers on nanite-life exist indicate that medical rather than engineering care might be the most appropriate for many forms of injury, and it has been in a state of stasis for eons.”

The advice he had received was sound, Dustin felt, and with a nod at Bleu to reactivate the communicator he stepped closer to the glass. As he did so, he gestured for the majority of the guards to leave; if Defia had been of a mind to attack, it would surely have done so by now. On the far side of the glass, it stood, waiting patiently; the form did still look mostly like a plasticine model of a humanoid rather than an actual body, eyes and hands aside. Doing his best to deal with the weirdness of the creature’s form, Dustin stared into the red glow of it’s eyes. “If you will obey my orders; I’ll be assigning two of my crew to talk with you - the ship’s counsellor Trea’k, and Bleu our medic. I order you to work with them, answer their questions as best you are able and follow their instructions until I direct you otherwise.”

Defia’s eyes flickered for a moment across to the Queri, then back to Dustin. “Statement - Orders acknowledged. This unit will work with the designated control nodes. Analysis - this unit will be undergoing status testing to ensure compatibility with command unit designation Dustin’s collective. Defia understands and complies.” With that, the entity bowed it’s head slightly, before turning and moving to sit on the edge of the grav-sled they’d used to bring it’s seemingly lifeless body into the medbay in the first place, it’s form going uncannily still save for the gently pulsing glow of it’s eyes.