The previous parts of this story were not rated PG15. Part 3 is, and has a violence caution. While some chapters may not fit these ratings, it is for all of Part 3.

To Not Let Go

Part 3 Chapter 1

For three months, we had tried to figure out what was allowing Amos to make such incredible changes and a possible way of stopping him. What we found was strange, to say the least.

We were seated in John's and my living room. Also present were my family and Rashda Smythe, who was now the commander of the ship. Rashda, like all of us except Pearl, was bonded and married. His wife, however, was downstairs in the area controlled by Amos.

We knew Amos had to be aware that she was there, and why he had demanded that Rashda be placed in command was beyond me. Rashda definitely had problems with Amos. Since Amos took control of the downstairs and the command center, we had not spoken to any of our friends. Rachel, my counselor, was also caught below.

We had no way of knowing what Amos was doing to those below. Marc and John had sealed the doors to the DMZs with codes that only they knew. Marc had demanded that he be allowed to continue to work, and he was doing so like a man possessed. Not that any of us blamed him.

We were determined to know what was happening, and although we had sealed off the access, we were working as hard as could be.

Dad was working on the nanobots, trying to figure out what made them work. How they could make him change so fast was still a mystery.

Before long, it was hoped that we would find a way to get into the downstairs without endangering ourselves. At present, we weren't sure if Amos had booby-trapped the way down.

I was sitting in my home office, playing some very melancholy music. I was still feeling useless. It was as if I was a third wheel. Amos had all but made me useless. I felt like I had no real purpose on the ship.

There was a knock on the front door. Even though I didn't feel like talking to anyone, I opened it, and Dad and Mom stood there.

“Come in,” I told them almost lifelessly.

“You don’t sound like you’re doing very good, Rose,” Dad said as they entered.

“I’m not, Dad. I’ve been removed from command of my own ship by that ass downstairs.”

He nodded, then told me. “We’ve figured something out, Baby.”

I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to be called Baby, but I didn’t say anything. He was my dad, and I loved him very much. He could call me whatever he wanted. I wasn’t going to argue with him.

“What’s that?”

“I've found a way to turn off the bots' ability to be controlled by an outside influence."

I stared. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Why would I kid about this?” he asked.

“Dad, that’s incredible! What do we do?”

He grinned. “It’s so simple, I’m surprised we didn’t realize it.”

“Okay?”

“I suppose we weren’t supposed to know…”

I couldn’t take it anymore. “Dad!”

He laughed, then told me, “There’s a switch in the case for your memory crystals. That switch turns on or off the wireless connection between your crystals and the computers.“

“The crystals resonate on a frequency that the bots are tuned to. That frequency is the only one that the bots in your body can react to. By turning that switch off, your crystals would have to be plugged into the computers to have the programming changed."

Wordlessly, I removed my necklace and opened the back. With my little fingernail, I moved the switch inside, then closed it and put it back on.

“What if I’m infected by some other bots?” I asked.

“Those bots will be destroyed by the bots already in your body.”

“Why would Amos leave that weakness in the bots?” I wondered.

“He programmed the bots to not let us think about it. My guess is he never thought we’d figure it out.”

I shook my head. “I think it’s a great idea to switch off the wireless link, but I can’t believe he never made a fail-safe on this.”

He nodded. “I know what you mean. He did everything else redundantly. Why not this?”

“Exactly, Dad. Was this some kind of trap for us to fall into?”

“We've checked everything we can think of, Rose," Mom told me. "We don't see any other way they could be controlled."

“Mom, I know you and Dad have really covered a lot of ground, but it just seems too easy. You know?”

“I know, Sweetheart. I’m just telling you what we’ve found.”

I understood, but I was very uneasy. It just didn’t seem to make any sense to me.

“Have you turned yours off?” I asked.

“Yes,” Mom answered. “Both of us have.”

“Have you told Rashda?”

“Not yet,” said Dad.

“We’d better, then,” I told them.

We arrived at the auxiliary bridge, and John gave me a dirty look. I wasn't even supposed to be on the bridge. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

“I just told her that I’ve found a way to turn off the bots.”

“Turn off the bots?” Rashda asked. “I thought we had no immune system without them.”

“You’re right,” Mom told him. “However, we’re not talking about shutting the bots down completely. Only turning off their wireless connection to the computers.”

John stared at us. “You’re saying you have a way to beat Amos?”

“No,” Dad told him. “Not that, but he can’t control us anymore.”

We met in the briefing room. Usually, I wasn't allowed in the command center at all. We had no idea what Amos would do if he found me there, but it was a good test of what he could do to us now. John didn't like the idea, but my parents and I figured it was the best thing we could do. We had turned off the connection to our bots, and if Amos noticed, he might do anything. What surprised me, however, was that nothing had been done yet. If Amos was going to, or even could, respond, why had he not? Another mystery to solve.

Rashda sat at the head of the table, and he seemed to be uncomfortable with me sitting at the table as well. At first, I thought he felt like John, but he quickly dispelled that theory.

“I must admit, Rose, it feels strange to be in command with you sitting here as well. I am so sorry that I need to be sitting in this chair right now. I hope to change that as soon as possible.”

“We might be able to sooner rather than later,” Dad told him.

“I agree,” Rashda said, then looked at Doctors Jack and Sylvia. ”The Richards have figured out how to block us from the manipulation of Amos.”

Mom told the same story they had to those in the auxiliary control center, and Sylvia looked at the locket she always wore. It was a different design than my necklace. Her crystals were in her rooms, and the locket controlled them, via the crystal frequency. She opened the locket, and I saw a picture of her and Jack before her transformation inside it. She rubbed her finger along the surface of the image, and it momentarily vanished, replaced by some words. Then the picture was back.

Other people removed their crystals or controllers and opened them. John couldn't get his finger inside to flip the switch, so he handed it to me. I turned the connection off and gave it back.

A moment later, Jack asked my mom. “Are we sure?”

“We’re sure it will protect us now, but we’re not sure if Amos will retaliate.”

Paula nodded. "We've cocked the gun now." She hadn't changed her watchband yet, but she took it off. There were several crystals in it that pulsed in the same color as mine. She opened the back of the watch and put her fingernail inside. A moment later, she closed it and put it back on.

“We need to get everyone to do this,” Rashda said.

He flipped a switch beside him and spoke loudly and clearly. He told them what Mom and Dad had found and how to sever the connection.

Marc turned on a screen beside him, and he watched as lights started turning off all over our half of the ship.

It wasn’t immediate, but after about fifteen minutes, the last of the lights went out.

We were free.

It took us about two more weeks before we came up with an idea that sounded good for getting into the downstairs. Nothing seemed like it would work, but we desperately wanted to see what Amos had done. We had no way to track the people below. We were able to track the people on the upstairs side because we were able to program their crystal vibrations into our computers. It took some time, but we were able to make it work.

Finally, we were able to come up with a way we thought might work for getting downstairs. We were able to make a handheld scanner that would detect the vibration frequency of anyone's’ crystals. It was decided that we would send a team of six into the downstairs to scope things out.

I was entering the briefing room and was shocked when I saw Rashda sitting in my usual chair. The head of the table was empty. Everyone stood when Rashda said, "Welcome back, Commander."

I didn’t know what to say. My mouth dropped open, and I said, “Why are you giving it back to me right now? We don’t know if this is what Amos is waiting for. He might be waiting to see if I take command back!”

“While I doubt that, Rose, I will concede for now.” He got up and walked back to the head, and I sat down in the chair he had vacated. I have to admit, there was a part of me that wanted to regain command, but I didn’t dare yet.

Rashda called the meeting to order, and we talked about how we were going to get a party down. We weren't sure who the people should be, but as we spoke, I became more and more convinced that I should be one of them.

John was dead set against it. “Absolutely not!” he almost bellowed when I suggested it.

“Why, John? Why not?" I was yelling almost as loud as him now.

We shouted at each other for quite some time, and I could see that people were getting very uncomfortable, but I had to make my point. What it came down to was I was going. Plain and simple.

Rashda listened quietly, then finally broke into our argument. “Rose, I will make you a deal."

Six of us were waiting to enter the DMZ. I stood waiting as Marc unlocked the door. John was standing on the other side of the door from me and was glaring. I tried to look away, but I couldn't. He was concerned for me, and that was touching, but at the same time, this was my ship, and I'd be damned if I was going to let some sicko dictate how I ran it.

Paula was beside me, and in reality, I don't think she was any happier with me that John was. Marc stepped back when he opened the door, then he glanced at John and me. He shook his head and then stepped through the doorway himself. I took one look at my scanner and stepped through. As I did, I heard John say, "She is so stubborn!"

As I did my best to melt into the shadows, Paula said, “You married her,” then stepped through herself.

Paula was a gutsy woman. She never made her people go first. Her two security men, Bob and Shane, came through next, followed by John. He glanced at me, shook his head, and closed the door, spinning the wheel to lock it.

We were committed.

We worked our way through the large corridor to the J shaped channel, which led to the command center. Whether anyone would be in there was anybody's guess. The ship had several centuries before anything would be crossing its path, so there was really no need.

Just in case, however, we slipped through to the command ring. We split up, and three of us went one way, while three went the other. No surprise, John accompanied me, along with Bob. Paula, Marc, and Shane went to the left.

I held the scanner while we made our way around the ring. It was dark, and the scanner would show if any bots were in the area. It was programmed to let me know if any of our team was near. It would recognize the frequency that they used, but it would locate the signal of any other bots as well. I kept a close eye on it.

About a third of the way to the other side, I whispered, "Wait!" John and Bob both froze in their tracks. Over the years, John and I had learned sign language as a hobby, and we were very fluent in it. I doubted that Bob knew it, but when I signed what I saw on the scanner to John, Bob nodded as well. He hurried across the corridor and waited there. He signed for John and me to position ourselves on either side of the door, and he would trip it. When whoever was in the room came out, we were to incapacitate them.

I looked at John, and he shrugged, then moved to the right side of the door. I moved to the left, and Bob slowly moved to withing range.

We heard the chime of the door as it warned anyone on the inside that it was going to open, and we braced ourselves.

The door swung slowly inward then stopped. A moment later, some kind of nightmare rushed out of the opening.

I had never seen anything like it and hoped never to again. It moved with superhuman speed toward Bob, who reflexively jumped out of the way.

I screamed. I tried not to, but this thing scared the crap out of me! It stopped almost immediately and turned it's head completely around and stared at me. Its eyes were incredibly large and unblinking. I saw that it appeared to be covered by chitin, or something to make up an armored shell around it. It wore no clothes, and its hands swung up backwards. They had claws that looked as sharp as a knife blade, and they were flexing as it seemed to consider cutting me to ribbons.

It jumped. I don't know how it could do it, but it seemed to be able to move whichever way its head was facing equally well. It flew through the air at me, and I ducked, hoping to at least get out of the way of its blades.

I heard a gun go off multiple times, and as I hit the floor, I thought, "Well, so much for stealth," then I felt a crushing weight on me, and I blacked out.

I woke up a few minutes later. I was hurting, but even as I lay there, I could feel a couple of broken ribs mending. About ten minutes later, I was able to stand up. I thought the creature might have cracked a couple of vertebrae, but there was no pain now.

“Let’s go,” John said as he started down the corridor.

“Wrong way!” I called after him.

“No, it's not. You're going back upstairs."

I ran to catch up and planted myself right in front of him. "I. Am. Not."

“Rose, would you stop trying to be the leader? Let others do their jobs?”

“Really! And who put me in command on N21 all those years ago? It was you! I didn’t want command back then, but you said I was the only one you trusted! So why won’t you trust me now!?”

He stood there, and I saw his face go through multiple contortions. He was obviously trying to figure out something to say, but it just wasn’t coming to him. Finally, he turned around and started walking. “Come on.”

I was glad he was looking away because I broke into a wide smile.

We didn't encounter any more creatures, but as we got closer to the bridge, I heard what sounded like someone crying. Suddenly, I realized who it was. "That's Paula!" I cried and started running.

“Dammit!” I heard John say, as he and Bob started running too. We rounded the corner into the Bridge access tunnel, and I stopped. I could just see Paula inside the bridge. She was sitting on the floor, her knees drawn up to her chest, weeping. Marc was standing outside the doorway, looking in, and he was absolutely white.

Shane stepped in front of us, holding out his hand to stop us. “Please, don’t go in there,” he implored. “It’s horrible.”

“What is it?” John asked.

“Fred’s head is sitting in the security position.”

“Where’s his body?” I asked.

“We don’t know.” Shane started turning gray. “Uh… Kari’s head is sitting on Marc’s console. We don’t know where her body is either.”

I stared at my sister, then pushed by Shane. I stopped and gave Marc a hug and told him I was so sorry, then moved to my sister.

I knelt down and pulled her to me, cradling her in my arms. I heard John speaking softly to Marc. “We’re gonna get this bastard, Marc,” he said. “You can count on that. He is not going to get away with this shit.”

“Bob, would you please escort Marc and Paula back to the upstairs?” he asked.

“No!” Marc shouted it. “I am going to personally kill that son of a bitch!”

“I’m going to help,” Paula said as she sat up. She looked me square in the eye. “I am going to cut his head off and feed it into the recycle bin, bit by bit.”

John looked back and forth from one to the other. “As stubborn as Rose,” he muttered.

“You’re damned right, Marc said as he pushed off from the wall.

“Fair enough.”

“Paula?” I gave her another hug.

She nodded once, then rose unsteadily to her feet. "I want Amos dead," she growled. "I want him completely and irreversibly dead."

She walked over to Marc and stood in front of him. “Whoever finds him first kills him. The other one gets to destroy his memory crystals. Deal?”

He shook her hand. “Deal.”

She turned to her officers. “If one of you has the opportunity to destroy that bastard, you will not do it. You will detain him for either Marc or myself. Is that clear?”

They both nodded, and she turned to John and me. “The same goes for you.”

“Wait a minute!” John began.

“I MEAN IT, JOHN!" I had never heard her so mad. "I had him killed once, and apparently the guy didn't do it properly. Well, that's not going to happen again! He took my baby sister, and he killed my husband and my best friend. He doesn't get to live, DO YOU UNDERSTAND, JOHN? ROSE?” We both nodded.

There was little else we could do.