Everlost

Clawing out of the ruins of burning metal, the automated voice in her helmet warned of increasing temperatures. No shit, she thought before one final blow to the escape pod’s emergency lock, prying the doors open with the axe blade. Stumbling through the opening with her tool bag slung over her shoulder, she scrambled away from the shuttle before it was engulfed in the inferno.

A shuddering breath left her lips.

“P.I.M.A,” she huffed, “atmosphere composition?” Small flecks of white fell on her helmet’s visor. Snow?

System Error: Please reboot. Rebooting. Analysis Incomplete. Scanning... 5%, 6%... 7%...

The Pioneer Intelligent Modular Agent, or as Veronica deemed it, “Pain in my ass.”

She brushed the snow off her uniform and wiped the front of her helmet with her sleeve. Planet Vita? Definitely not like the pictures.

She was greeted by an ink-black eternal night with pinpricks of light serving as its only decoration. Mountains of ice stretched towards the dark expanse as if it were trying to gut the sky’s underbelly, the lands coated in a thick blanket of snow and ice. Not a single organism in sight.

“Well, there goes any chance of breaking out the swimsuit...” A particularly cold breeze made her shiver.

Analysis complete. Conclusion: Atmosphere inhospitable.

“Yeah, yeah, good on ya,” Veronica said half-heartedly, glancing at the tool bag she saved from the wreckage. Phillip’s bag. She unzipped it, digging through the contents. “There’s gotta be something...”

It wasn’t long before she found the PocketAir device. She clipped the small device to her front pocket before returning to the ship. It lay smoldering in the snow.

Veronica searched the ship for supplies that survived the crash. There were fire-proof compartments in the ship’s cockpit with canned provisions and clean water that would give her enough time to wait for a response signal. If she could get a response out, that is...

Examining the controls of the shuttle, she wondered if she’d be able to get it up and running again. “I’d need blueprints of the ship, though,” she mumbled to herself.

Analysis: 57% complete... Error. Rebooting. Analysis: 0% complete. But first she was going to fix this damn A.I.

P.I.M.A.’s voice distorted as she ran the next test. The program was so full of bugs and glitches that she cursed the bloody dipsticks who overwrote the original code. “Just what terrible things did they do to my babies?” She whined. The little trinkets she created in her free time were the only things she could really confide in during her time on The Escapade.

No one cared to speak to her back then. Maybe it was because of her affinity for machinery, or perhaps it was because they could never separate her from her parents’ reputation. The nights where she tinkered with their circuitry and metal shells were the nights where she felt the most alive. There was no love for Veronica Elin James, except for the love between child and creator.

“I miss Phillip,” she sighed. What would he do if he were here with her? Surely, they would have figured something out together by now?

His parts were scattered throughout the main ship during the accident. Trampled by the other passengers in a panic as they rushed to save their own skin. Phillip was the first one to alert her of the anomaly, but he was also the first one to die. They're all dead because of me.

If she had fixed the glitch in P.I.M.A before entering the asteroid field, they would all be on Planet Vita. She should have stayed back on Earth when the core collapsed. Now, the voices of the dead drilled through her skull. What use was she as a technician if she couldn’t even prevent the deaths of her crewmates?

Veronica clenched her hands tightly to keep them from shaking, gritting back tears. I should have died on the ship instead.

“P.I.M.A., run the diagnostic.”

The fog of her breath clung to the inside of her helmet as she scaled up the side of the ice mountain; her muscles ached. She used her axe to chip out a few footholds as she climbed. Phillip would have been able to do this in half the time, she thought bitterly as she swung her leg over the top of the cliffside, pulling herself to safety.

“Where is it?” Veronica squinted, hand shielding her eyes from the red starlight. “There!”

A field of scrap metal glittered crimson in the dwarf star’s glow like a forbidden treasure. She slid down the slope of ice. The scrap yard was an inventor’s paradise. Nuts and bolts and motherboards, “Oh, my,” she said after finding the corpse of a small robot body. Cradling its head in her lap, it was like a bootleg model of Philip, she noted, the parts were mostly made from ship scrap.

“But how?” Veronica mumbled, “Just who built you?” A pit formed in her stomach as another question took form in her mind. And what wanted to destroy you?

Movement caught in the reflection of the small bot’s visor. The hackles raised on the back of her neck when she heard the dragging of footsteps. She whipped around. Axe at the ready.

Only to be met with the vast expanse of the way she came. Veronica chuckled in spite of herself.

“This planet is making me go crazy...” The axe fell to her side. Turning her attention back to the matter at hand, she hooked her arms beneath the robo-child, it’s lanky limbs dangled helplessly. “Upsie-daisy. You’re coming with me, mate.”

Repairing the poor bot was easy enough. The core energy source was out of juice, and some oil lines were severed, but the overall structure was left with a few dents and scratches.

“Righteo. You should be good to go lil buddy,” she said wiping the sweat from her brow. The PocketAir device was still holding strong while her helmet’s filter was charging, the long auburn locks spilling over her shoulders, free from its confines. It was getting stuffy in there, anyway.

She sipped from her water supply before booting up her new drone buddy. They weren’t as tall as Phillip, head just reaching below her ribs. The whirs of the internal fans filled the silence as she waited for a response.

Their visor flashed with a buffering signal, bright eyes replacing it not long after. Veronica let out a breath she didn’t know was holding. The bot shrunk away in fear.

“Hey, buddy, it’s okay,” Veronica cooed, attempting to coax it out of the corner. “I’m not gonna hurt you.” She reached her hand out, as if to touch a wild animal that would flee if it felt threatened. “I just want to ask a few questions, alright, mate?”

The drone’s breathing began to slow. Funny, I don’t remember programming that...

“W... What do you want from me?” The drone’s voice trembled, clearly feminine.

“Your name would be a nice start,” Veronica quipped softly.

“L-Liza,” she whispered.

Veronica pat her head, “Okay, Liza. We’ll start small: how are you feeling? Any aches or pains I missed?”

Liza examined her body, flexing her hands once, then twice. “I feel... surprisingly well,” she looked up at Veronica, “Thank you.”

She smiled, “No problem, I could use some company. Can I get you anything?” The drone shook her head. “Coolio, then let’s talk. How does a little bot like you end up in the scrap heap?”

Liza’s fingers twitched, “The... scrap heap? I-I don’t remember...”

Veronica rested her face in the palm of her hand with a hum, “Is that so? Then, what do you remember?” She took another swig from her water bottle.

“I was,” The little drone fought hard to remember, “walking with my master.”

Veronica choked, “There’s other people, here? Meaning, I’m not the only one?” She couldn’t tell if she was elated or terrified.

“Well, it used to be just master...”

There was another person here all this time. The thought hadn’t crossed her mind, “How long were you offline? Do you know?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t--”

“Then, what about your master’s base? Surely, you have the coordinates stored somewhere,” Veronica grabbed the robot by the shoulders until she shrunk away. She cleared her throat, “I’m sorry. I suppose I’ve just been alone for so long...”

“I’ll take you there,” Liza said after a while.

Following Liza was like having a hound traverse the woods to find prey. They crossed terrain that Veronica had never seen before. Turns out there were plants here, they just enjoyed burrowing in the snow, entangling like crossed wires and circuit boards, giving the planet a life of its own.

“Master’s base lies beyond the cave,” The drone pointed at the wall of vines covering the entrance.

How long had it been since she faced another human being? Sweat clung to her hands, like congealed oil. The art of socialization always eluded her as a child. What type of greeting would befit their situation? Did it even matter at this point?

Veronica swallowed past the invisible hand clamped around her throat, looking to Liza for support.

The robot took the lead, once again, dragging her forward by her elbow. “Come on, there’s no time to waste.”

They pushed past the vines into the darkness. Liza felt around for something. The plastic of her slender fingers scrapping lightly against the walls before a rudimentary lighting system revealed a vast array of inventions and scrawled notes lying around.

Veronica looked at the contraptions in awe. She reached out to touch one of the machines that seemed eerily similar to the one she designed in high school.

“Like what you see?” An older voice came from behind.

“M-master! You’re--” Liza bounded to the older woman’s side, “I thought you--”

“Died? I’m very much alive, thanks,” The woman took off her helmet, much to Veronica’s horror.

“Wait--”

“It’s fine. You see that thing over there,” the woman pointed out a contraption no larger than the palm of her hand. “Look familiar?”

Veronica took out the PocketAir and held them up side-by-side, “But that’s... how?” Veronica looked at the woman in disbelief, removing her own helmet. It was the first time she took in her appearance. Auburn hair fell in thick tresses around her shoulders, some parts bleached with age. Eyes shimmered dull like unpolished emeralds and lined with the feet of mirthful crows, but none could mistake the uniform of the Escapade’s technician and a rusted axe strapped to her waist. Her heart sunk in the pit of her stomach.

“Mom?” Veronica’s jaw dropped in disbelief.

“Jeez, I don’t look like that old hag, do I?” The older woman lamented, “Try again.”

Veronica looked at the faded nametag on her breast pocket. Technician: Veronica E. James. “I’m... you’re-- So, all of this was created by--” Veronica’s hands flailed to convey what words failed to. A certain madness that only oneself could decipher.

“On ya, ace,” Her older self grinned wryly, giving her a small salute.

“So... you were the one who made the scrap yard?”

Wincing, she replied, “Yes... and no.”

Veronica frowned at the adult she would become, “What do you mean?”

“In all honesty... there’s only so much you can do by yourself. It took me years just to get that PocketAir prototype working at that size... but you felt them, right? The presence you can’tquite explain. They even scrapped my Liza. As for why... even I don’t know,” she pat Liza’s head somberly.

“But who is ‘they?’”

“The Abysmal,” The word hung in the air like a curse. “I have an inkling of what they might be...” Gesturing for Liza to come closer, she pulled out a holo-recording. “I found this message fifteen years ago, months after I landed.”

Liza projected the recording through her visor. A glitch carried through the transmission. It was another version of them with a scar down her right eye. “I don’t have much time—stop that ship—break the cycle—too late. You must not fail!”

Her screams cut in and out as her skin melded with the planet’s essence, darkness consuming her until she was unrecognizable, the creature’s voice screeched and rasped, “Too late...”

Veronica clung to the wall for support as her knees trembled. “We-- We’re going to turn into those things?” Bile stung the back of her throat like battery acid.

A firm grip on her shoulder shook her out of her panic, “Don’t you dare lose hope. It’s the only thing that’ll keep you safe, here, kid. The other Veronica left blueprints. They sacrificed their humanity for us to break this cycle. You really want to piss away their lives like that?”

Tears threatened to fall, but she wiped them away with conviction settled in her bones, “Give me those damn prints, Granny V.”

The three of them worked until their fingers bled oil. Working from dawn till dusk until the moment the next ship crashed down. Each passing day, Veronica could see Granny V wither away. Her skin turning ashen grey, and her cheeks hollow. “Don’t lose hope, V. We’re almost finished with the preparations.”

“I’m fine, kiddo. Don’t worry about me,” she would shoot Veronica a thumbs up before carrying on like normal.

Liza would break down more often as the years passed, and Veronica made a trip down to the scrap yard every so often to replace the troublesome parts. The machine will work this time around. It has to.

The machine was only half the trouble for the trio. Veronica could feel something grip her heart whenever she thought of the faceless crew members of The Escapade. How crummy was I, she thought one night, I never bothered to remember their names, did I?

Then she saw it, black tendrils emerging from the planet’s white surface, curling around her legs and making quick headway to bury itself in her heart. “Granny V!” She screamed, paralyzed.

A blinding flash of light filled her vision. The ink black veins of the planet screamed in agony as they retreated beneath the white blanket of snow. Veronica collapsed into a pair of robotic arms.

Granny V held up her new invention. “Damn, I wasn’t sure that would work. You alright, kid?”

“I’m fine, thanks,” she said, but it came out in an intelligible slur of word soup.

“Yup. I believe that happened after master’s first time, too,” Liza spoke as she carried the limp technician.

“Exactly so. Although, I didn’t have a cool older self to save me. You might just be the luckiest duck of all of us, huh?”

“If being paralyzed is lucky, then sure,” she grumbled. The effect didn’t wear off for hours. They took the remainder of the night to rest before moving on to the final phase of the machine. Veronica was very pleased to find that she could properly hold a screwdriver in the morning, “Thank bolts! I thought I’d never move again.”

“Don’t be a baby, it gets worse over time. Just keep your head high, kiddo. Don’t lose hope,” Granny V pat her on the back, “We got work to do. Chop, chop!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Granny V sighed, “You really do have a way of making me feel my age... Now toss me Phillip.”

Veronica froze. The name was still ice in her veins, “What?”

“The Phillips screwdriver?”

The younger technician shook her head as if to clear away the fog before tossing the screwdriver, “Y-yeah, sorry. I dunno what came over me.” Liza gave her a concerned look. The same look that Phillip would give her when she was troubled. “I’m a’right, Liz.” Her wavering voice betrayed her. If I could go back for you Phil...

Granny V stifled a cough, her frail body shaking. This planet was wearing her away, year by year. She knew her time was near.

A transmission was caught in the radio. “Mayday! Mayday! Can anyone hear me?”

“Hurry, Master! The ship is entering the atmosphere!” Liza cried as they pushed the machine outside the cave. The Abysmal had found them, claws at the ready to reduce their hopes to scrap.

“We’re almost there!” Veronica gave one final shove to the machine and let the ice take over in momentum. Granny V did not join them. “V! What are you doing?” she screamed.

The black tendrils of the planet latched onto her legs, keeping them planted to the ground.

“My time’s run out, ace. I’m afraid... this is as far as I go,” Granny V handed her the last gadget they prepared together as a last defense, pressing the button.

“What? No! I-I can’t do this without you!” Her eyes blurred with tears, staring at the dark glass of Granny V’s helmet. Veronica didn’t need to see to understand what face Granny V was making.

“I am always with you. I am you, after all.” She gave one last salute, “You did good, kid.” Her body morphed as the tendrils impaled her heart. A bloodcurdling shriek shattered Granny V’s helmet, revealing a faceless monster.

“No!”

“Master!”

The Abysmal screeched from outside the plasma shield. Veronica grit her teeth, aiming for the shuttle. She was done being alone. She screamed as the cannon fired, lighting up the sky in a beam of energy.

Clawing out of the ruins of burning metal, the automated voice in her helmet warned of increasing temperatures. No shit, she thought before one final blow to the shuttle’s emergency lock. Prying the doors open with the axe blade. Stumbling through the opening with her tool bag slung over her shoulder, she scrambled away from the ship before it was engulfed in the inferno.

A shuddering breath left her lips as she lay on the soft grass. Her eyes glazed over as both moons of Planet Vita hung in the sky. She spotted six burning dots in the distance, relief weighed down on her chest as she brushed herself off to reunite with the other survivors.

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