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! REPORT
They Know (Part 4) -NO AI
3D Render by slofkoskyThe climb from the maintenance artery to the Command Center was a horrific trek through the station’s dying infrastructure. Eydis ascended the ladder rungs with Baxter firmly tucked in her left arm balanced with upward movement. Above them, the high frequency bursts from the invaders vibrated through the metal, a sound that made Baxter whimper against her chest with every blast. She ignored her own internal warnings about structural fatigue and overheating servos. Her world had narrowed to the thump of a dog's heart and the illogical hope that Martin was still alive.
When she finally kicked out the service grate onto the Bridge, those thoughts were instantly replaced by a cold, sharp horror.
The air was heavy with the copper tang of blood and the stench of burnt plastic. The Command Center, once the brain of the station, was a tomb. Crewmen she had nodded to in the mess hall were slumped over their consoles, their bodies strangely preserved while their minds had clearly been the only things the invaders harvested. There was no dignity here, only the quiet flickering lights of failed systems.
Eydis set Baxter down. He didn't bark. He just sat by her heel, the neon parrot held firmly in his teeth, his eyes fixed on the shadows.
Her fingers danced over the fractured glass of the main terminal. The data painted the massacre in a deeper clarity, the system running at a fraction of normal behavior.
Crew Status: 96% Vital Signs Terminated.
Communications: Main Array 100% Offline.
Emergency Alarms: Disabled by internal sabotage.
Tactical: No record of how the breach occurred.
It was as if the station had simply been deleted from the inside out.
She searched for the only ID tag that mattered. Martin. The screen flickered, a mocking "UNKNOWN" pulsing in amber. Her processors stalled for a microsecond. In the world of an android, "unknown" was a void she couldn't fill with logic. But then, a flicker of data from the secondary bay:
Escape Pods 1 through 3: Deployed.
"He might be out there Bax" she whispered, her voice barely audible over the crackle of a nearby electrical fire.
She knew she couldn't fight them, not here and not alone. With the main comms dead, she bypassed the modern digital arrays and tapped into the station’s legacy burst transmitter, an older, low-power analog system meant for deep space beacons. It was slow, primitive and would take hours to reach Earth, but it was all she had.
"Station Breached. Unknown Floating Entities. Harvesting human brains. Ultrasonic stun frequencies. Survivors Evacuating."
She pulled the map of the station’s sub-levels. There was one pod left in the auxiliary bay, tucked behind the shielded cooling towers. It was the safest path left on a ship that was dying.
"We have to move" she said, her sensors picking up the wet, rhythmic thuds of something heavy moving in the hallways behind them.
Probability of surviving: 12%
NOTES:------------
Geesh, sorry so long. Too much to explain in one scene. I tried to keep the length down...
NO AI, just the free Google Snapseed and free Affinity Canva post edits.
PART 3 here:
https://www.renderhub.com/gallery/91891/they-know-part-3
When she finally kicked out the service grate onto the Bridge, those thoughts were instantly replaced by a cold, sharp horror.
The air was heavy with the copper tang of blood and the stench of burnt plastic. The Command Center, once the brain of the station, was a tomb. Crewmen she had nodded to in the mess hall were slumped over their consoles, their bodies strangely preserved while their minds had clearly been the only things the invaders harvested. There was no dignity here, only the quiet flickering lights of failed systems.
Eydis set Baxter down. He didn't bark. He just sat by her heel, the neon parrot held firmly in his teeth, his eyes fixed on the shadows.
Her fingers danced over the fractured glass of the main terminal. The data painted the massacre in a deeper clarity, the system running at a fraction of normal behavior.
Crew Status: 96% Vital Signs Terminated.
Communications: Main Array 100% Offline.
Emergency Alarms: Disabled by internal sabotage.
Tactical: No record of how the breach occurred.
It was as if the station had simply been deleted from the inside out.
She searched for the only ID tag that mattered. Martin. The screen flickered, a mocking "UNKNOWN" pulsing in amber. Her processors stalled for a microsecond. In the world of an android, "unknown" was a void she couldn't fill with logic. But then, a flicker of data from the secondary bay:
Escape Pods 1 through 3: Deployed.
"He might be out there Bax" she whispered, her voice barely audible over the crackle of a nearby electrical fire.
She knew she couldn't fight them, not here and not alone. With the main comms dead, she bypassed the modern digital arrays and tapped into the station’s legacy burst transmitter, an older, low-power analog system meant for deep space beacons. It was slow, primitive and would take hours to reach Earth, but it was all she had.
"Station Breached. Unknown Floating Entities. Harvesting human brains. Ultrasonic stun frequencies. Survivors Evacuating."
She pulled the map of the station’s sub-levels. There was one pod left in the auxiliary bay, tucked behind the shielded cooling towers. It was the safest path left on a ship that was dying.
"We have to move" she said, her sensors picking up the wet, rhythmic thuds of something heavy moving in the hallways behind them.
Probability of surviving: 12%
NOTES:------------
Geesh, sorry so long. Too much to explain in one scene. I tried to keep the length down...
NO AI, just the free Google Snapseed and free Affinity Canva post edits.
PART 3 here:
https://www.renderhub.com/gallery/91891/they-know-part-3
slofkosky
Karma: 10,468
Sun, May 03I very much appreciate it ElorOnceDark! Baxter will be okay, I think.
cool cinematic scene setup. Very good. 12% are pretty good odds for her. considering
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slofkosky
Karma: 10,468
Sun, May 03I totally agree that 12% seemed very high, but with more to put into story, I wanted at least half from the last scene. The more she discovers the more the probability drops. Thank you so very much Tenserknot!
As others have already said: a very exciting cinematic scene. It's astonishing that Eydis bonded with the dog's heartbeat. This is one of those moments that makes it clear how unpredictable artificial intelligence can be. A goosebump moment, despite the palpable heat... Interesting and elaborate environment construction.
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slofkosky
Karma: 10,468
Sun, May 03Samara! Thank you for saying my friend. She has been designed to bond with people and other living creatures, unless of course they're hostile. Thank you about the environment too. This took so much work and time. I changed the "bridge" so many times that it just ended up here. And if you really analyze things, they're not really laid out very well. Plus I was lazy and didn't add in other "dead" crew members into the scene which was my goal.
Thanks again my friend.
Thanks again my friend.
Thomas, please DO NOT EVER apologize for the length of your story. It is worth every moment we spend reading it. I look forward to your stories and artwork. They are a bright spot in my day. That is what I love about the galleries - getting to enjoy and encourage the art and writing of others! This is another brilliant episode (not sure if that's what it is called) in your story. I want to get down on the floor and cuddle Baxter to let him know he is going to be alright! This is a fabulous cinematic scene. This line is brilliant and really give us a view into who Eydis is becoming, "Her world had narrowed to the thump of a dog's heart and the illogical hope that Martin was still alive. "
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slofkosky
Karma: 10,468
Sun, May 03Kirsten! The stories, they just keep getting longer and longer. I keep cutting lines to keep em down but...
I whole heartedly thank you for saying what you said. It's fun filling out the life of a character like Eydis and Baxter. As for Martin, now that I'm finishing up the final scene, I never introduce him other than by name. It's bad writing but trying to keep the amount of scenes down it was a necessary cut in my mind.
Thank you for reading these and following along! I so appreciate you Kirsten.
I whole heartedly thank you for saying what you said. It's fun filling out the life of a character like Eydis and Baxter. As for Martin, now that I'm finishing up the final scene, I never introduce him other than by name. It's bad writing but trying to keep the amount of scenes down it was a necessary cut in my mind.
Thank you for reading these and following along! I so appreciate you Kirsten.
Incredible environment, and a compelling story. I feel totally sympathetic towards Eydis and Baxter, and am rooting for them to survive.
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slofkosky
Karma: 10,468
Wed, May 06Hey thank you once again Blue Flame! I really appreciate it my friend.
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