Need to Free

By Rei Rosenquist

The captain and a ship argue. No, not a ship; the core [IDA] unit who runs the parts of the ship humans can't.

 

[Warning: OS Reinstall Incomplete] a screen blinks.

 

"Ida, please install," the captain begs.

 

"I won't be told what to do."

 

A stalemate that ends in death. What could make the ship's IDA cave? The offer of something no human has ever offered before: freedom.

Will the captain make this risky offer? And if so, will Ida accept?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rei Rosenquist
• Release date: May 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223261711

Rei Rosenquist

Rei Rosenquist first remembers life as seen out the high window of a hotel balcony. Down below is a courtyard, swarms of brightly dressed tourists, the beach. The memory is nothing but a blue-green washed image. Warmth and sunlight. Here, they are three years old, and this is the beginning of a nomadic story-teller’s life. Over the years, they have traveled to many countries, engaged many peoples, picked up new habits, and learned new languages. But, some things never change. For them, these are stories, food service, and traveling. These three passions have bloomed from hobbies, studies, and jobs into a way of life. These days, Rei can be found in between Tokyo, Kailua, and Bellingham, Washington pouring beautiful latte art, baking off a batch of famous savory scones, and cozying up with a laptop to obsessively write mountains of dark speculative fiction. You can find Rei’s stories and blog at reirosenquist.com. You can also reach them via email at [e-mail] or connect via Facebook (Rei Rosenquist), Twitter (rylrosenquist) and Instagram (rylrosenquist).

Book preview

Need to Free

NEED TO FREE

A SHORT SCI-FI

REI ROSENQUIST

Weathered Ocean Feathered Sky Press

Copyright © 2023 by Rei Rosenquist

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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CONTENTS

One

Two

About the Author

Also by Rei Rosenquist

ONE

I’m having a bit of a tiff with my ship today.

Well, no. Not the ship itself. All of my flat panel touch screens show green lights, which means everything in the ship's physical components are in fine operational order. It's the ship’s personality that's the issue. Core [IDA]: Identity Deficient Animate system. It's a high-end experimental natural intelligence unit that runs the parts of the ship I can’t.

And all night, all I've been trying to do is run a necessary operating system reinstall. And the status bar has spent hours moving like a ship with no working boosters.

Read: not at all.

I hear a chirp, and a red-rimmed message pops up on the core’s central screen.

[Warning: OS Reinstall Incomplete]

I stifle a grunt because I hate the sound of my own complaining.

Come on Ida. Please install, I beg, hand flat against the console as if this will make a difference to my temperamental friend. Friend? Hard sell.

No, Ida answers flatly.

What did I do?

I won't be told what to do by a flesh bag.

I'm not telling you what to do. I'm asking. Begging, in fact.

Still no.

We've been at this argument for ten portions of our drift. We’ve been in drift for fifteen portions. Five more portions, and no amount of desperate course correction will be able to get us back on track. That gives me exactly thirty-nine star-lunar hours to convince grumpy Ida that downloading the new OS dock-pop file is to their benefit and not just mine.

Without that file, we'll drift off into open space forever.

You mean until you run out of oxygen.

Yes, I sigh audibly, that is exactly what I mean.

Don't care. It has upgrades I don’t like.

My guess is that Ida’s angry about the portions of the reinstall that put a certain level of control back in human hands. After a few scares, ships drifting listlessly with dead crew – the central programming teams of Code Ops, Ida’s creative upgrading force, altered a few codes.

But it’s strictly logistics, I argue. Stuff you don’t even like doing.

I don’t like your kind’s meddling.

"Hey, I resent that. I’m on