Escape From Coruscant

[Samus Aran]

Samus ran through the dark corridor, dodging between the bright blasts of blue that sailed past her shoulders. She turned the corner and fired at the hatch. It began to open. She hammered it as the footsteps filled her ears. It opened at last and she fell through, turning only to see her Dark Reflection. Black and blue. The hatch closed. She ran.

Now it was cold. The ice surrounded her, chilling her to the bone even through her power suit. She trudged through the snow, glancing behind her. Through the blizzard, she could see nothing. For what seemed like an eternity, she slogged onwards through the seemingly endless landscape.

Then she was in a corridor again. It was absolutely silent. She kept her footsteps quiet. Something above. On the metal ceiling.

Tck. Tck. Tck.

She held her breath.

Tck.

She’d been here before.

She turned and crept silently back away in the direction she’d come. Back through the hatch. Into another room… she didn’t recognise. Was this the way out? She moved into the centre of the long room.

And then the dreaded sound came from behind her. The sound of the hatch opening.

She wheeled and saw herself. Not her dark reflection, but a different one. Clad in the same armour but brighter somehow.

She tried to turn and found herself moving slowly. As if through water. Agonisingly she wrenched herself towards the far end of the room. She fired at the hatch. It slowly opened. The footsteps behind her grew louder. She knew it was right behind her. She fired for the hatch ahead.

It wasn’t firing at her. She reached for the exit as it opened.

Her Dark Reflection stared back at her and her breath froze in her chest.

It took her by the throat and lifted her upwards. She raised her gun arm and fired into its face. The one that reflected her own. It ignored her. It threw her back into the centre of the long room where the other her waited.

The bright her and the dark her stood above her now, arms crossed. Her vision blurred and the figures crossed over. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. She was trapped in her own body.

And then she could move and the figure was gone. She sat bolt upright and scanned in a panic. She wasn’t in her suit now. The world seemed to rock unnaturally. She rolled and fell onto a hard metal flooring. It hurt. She scrambled until she found a door and her trembling hands opened it. The bright light hurt her eyes.

Suddenly she realised it had all been just a dream. The cold sweat on her brow was real. The pain, too.

The ocean.

That had been the strange rocking. There were out on the open sea. She struggled to recall the events of the previous day.

“Samus!” It was a new yet familiar voice. She turned.

The android for whom she’d risked her life. Right now he seemed less real than the dream she’d just had.

The android bowed his head a couple of times as if afraid to look her in the eyes. She turned away and leaned on the siderail instead.

“Where is Adam?” she asked.

“Part of the ship’s computer. He’s infected the systems.” A faint mechanical clicking as the droid arched its head. “He’s a … very wilful AI.”

Samus said nothing. “Take me to him.”

They crossed the ship. Samus had never been on a sailing ship before. In her mind, boats such as this were all rustic and wooden, but this one was metal, as sleek and modern as her own ship had been. A trail of blue light waked the waters.

The control room was exactly that. A large window allowed viewing of the world outside, but beneath it were an array of small monitors and human interfacing devices. She felt his presence the moment she stepped into the room, in the hum of the fans and the electromagnetism in the air.

“I see you’re awake, my lady.”

Samus scowled. She slowly turned to the android.

“Do you have a name?”

“Vitruvius.”

“Vitruvius, would you mind leaving us alone?”

The black-metal being nodded its head and did as such.

Samus stood with her arms crossed for what seemed like a long time.

“I’m sorry, Samus.”

“If you had a body I’d punch you right now.” There was no response, so she continued. “You… you tried to take your life. Again.”

The response was less calm than usual. “You know I’m ready to give your life for yours, Samus. I’m a secondary. You’re a Prime. You can always re-summon me if I die.”

This time Samus did punch Adam, in the best way she could, by smashing her right arm into the mass of computer systems. As she’d done so her suit had materialised around her, as if it had been there all along.

“You think you’re so fucking heroic!” Her yet un-helmeted visage glared up at the monitors, as if to focus on something. “You fucking dickhead!”

And with that, she strode out onto the deck. She stomped over the pristine metal flooring, angrily searching for somewhere, anywhere, that wasn’t here. It had to be the sea, she thought bitterly. She threw her arms over the side and leaned across the rail, staring as hard as she could.

She’d lost him twice now. The first time had hurt the most, of course. She’d been on the Bottle Ship. On a mission. He given his life up on some stupid, selfless act to save everyone else. That was Adam.

And then she’d been ripped into the Omniverse. Losing him again to the whims of fate. It was as though someone out there revelled in making her suffer. Was it Omni? Was he really the god of the universe or was it someone else? She wished she could punch them.

She knew she’d have to apologise to Adam. She knew it couldn’t have been an easy decision to make. And as much as his personality enraged her, it was also why she loved him.

She watched the ocean for a while. It was peaceful. She could see why people enjoyed sailing. It made her miss the silence of space, in a way. The hum of the ship. Just her and her thoughts.