Blood Impulse

Part 12.1 - TAKEN ABOARD

Homebound Sector, Haven System

Admittedly, this was not the first time Montgomery Gaffigan woke up in pitch black place with no idea where he was. The difference was that this time it was not a byproduct of losing a competitive drinking match on a Frontier station, and this time, his hands and feet were painfully bound.

He was laying on something cold and hard. By the humidity of his breath on his face, he could tell his head had been covered. "Well, shit." This was not how he'd intended the day to go.

His comment was rewarded with a swift kick to the back. "He's awake, sir."

"Fuck you, too." Monty muttered, quieter this time.

"Get that bag off his head, Sergeant," came the dark reply, "Let him see where he's going."

The cover was yanked off his head, and Monty looked around, finding himself on the floor of a Rhino dropship. He could see the cockpit in front of him, its digital controls glittering, and beyond that the stars in all their glory.

An unfamiliar Marine stood behind him, his boot digging Monty's aching lower back. Then there was the pilot. Not much of him was visible, just the rank stripe on his sleeve. It was silver. An Admiral, Monty realized. Unfortunately, judging by his height, it was the wrong one.

"How are you feeling, Monty?"

This voice was softer than the others. Monty turned towards its owner, confused. How could she know his name?

She smiled a little, an easy smile that seemed to hide another meaning behind it. Monty just stared at her white hair, recognizing her from the rumors. It can't be.

The Singularity's Ghost. But how? Why?

She tilted her head where she sat in the copilot's seat, "Monty?"

"Oh, don't toy with him, princess." Reeter chuckled. "It would be cruel, considering what you're planning to do to his friends." She held a very particular desire for their corpses.

"You do not need to bring such things up in front of him, Charleston." The Lieutenant seemed to recognize her. If he was mistaking her for another, then that was very useful intelligence.

Her voice was recognizable the moment it turned cold against Reeter. It had echoed down the halls of Base Oceana. She was the reason he'd been caught, the reason he was here. "What are you?" Despite appearances, she was not human. The cowardly General Quentin was right about that.

"Let me introduce myself properly," she began to smile again when she turned back to Gaffigan, reserving her contempt for Reeter alone, "I am the Knight Industries AI fragment designated Manhattan."

AI fragment? Montgomery Gaffigan could only stare. Was that possible?

"But..." he struggled to wrap his head around it, "What are you doing here?" Whatever else she really was, she was the ghost, wasn't she? She was the entity that at least acted as such? So what the hell was she doing here with Reeter?

Such a statement should not have been confusing. Perhaps Reeter had damaged the Lieutenant in the act of knocking him unconscious. How annoying. "I'm an AI, Monty. I can appear wherever I please as long as there are holographic projectors to support me. Technology itself is my domain."

Holographic emitters? The Singularity wasn't equipped with any, yet in all the rumors Monty had heard, the ghost was somehow bound to the ship. And how could any part of the Singularity not side with Admiral Gives? The figurative heart of the ship was rumored to love him, and after the weird shit Monty had seen, he actually believed it.