Ooh, this was a good one. The AI plays with its subordinates, then kills them when it gets 'bored.' Yikes.

"As wanton flies are we to the gods, they kill us for their sport . . . " King Lear, I think, and likely not accurate as I'm just using my main memory.

I really like the quote none the less for memory haze... thank you...

V.

H'm. Where have we seen THAT before? (he asks innocently)

(whistles)

Quate.

Whenever I think of ships' computers now, I don't think of HAL.

I think of Holly.

Holly? I'm not familiar Hauke, can you give me a hint?

V.

https://youtu.be/elZfflKkfxM

In the sun! Sun! Sun!

and there ya go...

V.

until Daddy takes her spaceship away...

*chuckles...

V.

Bwahahahahaha... I hadn't seen that series...

V.

I should have sent you this:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7ISFg5HYI7o

It kind of sums up the beginning of the series in an eggshell.

The last line always kills me!

thanks...

V.

Well....

Bunners

*Hugs the Buns...

V.

Low-internet vacations are the best kind!

Particularly if they produce tales like this...

well thank you M... very much... it even got more complicated because my spell check wouldn't work either... big bummer there...

V.

You had to rely on MEMORY?!

Horrors!

ROFL... yes... I think... that is... yes... what's left of it...

V.

that is a truth... but will they stay green?

V.

ahh... that was powerful and thought provoking, nice! I needed a good read today :)

Well thank you so very much Shanster... you're welcome to come read whenever you want...

V.

That was a very good story, the twists are quite interesting the ending even more so.

I do hope this story goes someplace because it's a very interesting premise to say the least. Also it's just in time for All Hallows Eve.

*laughs... 'Space Ghost'! Wait... that one was done already...

V.

The introduction has opportunities to go places cuz it's more than just ghosts

Oohh. Eerie. Nicely done.

Thank you Bobby... I much appreciate that...

V.

Interesting intersection of some well known sci-fi. To me it felt like parts of "2001" and "Moon" mixed together.
Those crazy AI...when will they learn.

I think my favorite AI has always been Robbie the Robot, with a close second being the Space Family Robinson robot... and then there is Bender...

*sighs with a smile...

V.

Robbie the Robot, as in from Forbidden Planet? Nice choice.
And of course that led to Robbie from Lost in Space.
Bender is awesome! :D ("Bite my shiny metal ass!")
I would have to ponder a bit to think of who my fav AI would be...

so very true...

V.

I was honestly expecting a dark, Stephen King esque ending and got surprised! Very well done

Thank you so very much Lu...

V.

So some Sci-Fi with a nice helping of comedy, mixed with the kind of tense, gripping horror which would make Stanley Kubrick blush, all blended together wonderfully. You managed to convey the mood and imagery of the piece with with an admirable amount of clarity too.

The start managed to get me into a false sense of security, I think. As it opened not unlike at least one of your past space-faring stories involving a single character and an AI. So I was still surprised when Cyril showed his inner HAL 9000 or S.H.O.D.A.N, I had also made the decision of reading this while listening to 'Jupiter and Beyond' and did it ever add to it.

As for any cons, at the start of page 2, you were missing an extra 'd' in 'addicted'. Aside from that, I didn't notice anything else wrong with this one.

-Hania

wow... thank you for that so very much Hania... as for page 2, I will actually do a victory dance here because for some reason (and I still haven't figured it out) my spell checker was not working. This caused me to really really 'work' at the edit, which was good for me. Perhaps my computer was rebelling because his distant cousin was the bad guy.

*smiles...

thanks so much...

V.

Well, took me long enough to respond, lol. But I really liked the idea of technological and organic interconnectedness. I feel, without some form of copy mechanic, it's an underrepresented idea in a lot of sci-fi.

well thank you... why not right? Who really knows what's out there. Thank you for the read...

V.

The way this AI does things reminds me a lot of GLaDOS. Sure, there's no neurotoxins, but you can argue that space is worse.

I'm not familiar, but when it comes to freedom...

V.

You haven't played the original Portal?! As Geek Wisdom describes it, it's the first sci-fi classic written in the medium of video games. I highly recommend it.

thank you... much appreciated...

V.