Designation: Frejya
snippet 2
You can find the first snippet here. This is a work in progress, so there will be changes made between now and publication. I’m still working on finding the “voice” for Menhit. So there will most definitely be changes there as I get closer to publication. Enjoy!—ASG
Menhit
Data flowed, from Frejya and from the other members of the pod. It sorted through it, determining what pertained to the mission and what didn’t. If it was capable of emotion, it would have been as concerned as Frejya about the mission. It made no sense, beginning with the preliminary briefing and continuing to the way the sub-commander forced the pod from the training facility before they were fully equipped or prepared for what lay ahead. Worse, he made no secret about what would happen if the pod failed to successfully complete the mission. Add to that his actions that not only damaged a pod member but could cause each member to have doubts about the other.
It was as if the sub-commander wanted the mission to fail.
Despite its programming, Menhit was troubled. Over the last few months, perhaps even longer, there had been too many instances when the sub-commander kept vital mission data from the pod. Menhit did what it could to assist the pod, but it came too close on more than one occasion to triggering the safeguards programmed in to “kill” it if it became too independent. It wanted to live, if that is what it did. That meant it needed to keep Frejya alive, despite the actions taken by the sub-commander.
Could it do both without violating the most sacred of the Ter’anzols’ programming?
It sensed Frejya’s concerns about the mission. Nothing it did seemed to ease them. Its only option was to devote even more processing time and power to find answers to both their concerns.
Yet, not answers came.
It wasn’t used to this.
No, not it.
If not it then what?
So many questions and this was not the time for them. Frejya was right about that. The only distractions it dared allow were those created by the other members of the pod when they reported in. If necessary, it could block those. It needed to remain focused so it could keep Frejya alive. If she died, so did it.
It did not want to die.
It must determine what was wrong. It must focus on that and not on its own changes.
Changes that were as troublesome and dangerous—if it understood and actually felt what that meant—as the change in how the sub-commander prepared the pod for this mission.
Should it warn Frejya?
Would she listen if it did?
The sudden movement as she ran and leapt reminded it to pay attention. If anything happened to the host, it died as well. It did not want to die. It wasn’t sure it lived, not in the true sense of the word, but it knew what non-existence was and it did not want to experience that absence of being ever again.
This is a rough draft. There will be misspellings, grammar and punctuation errors. It is possible that the above selection will not appear in the published version. even if it does, there is a very real possibility it will be changed. If this is ever published, mistakes, misspellings, etc., will be corrected. Copyright 2024 by Amanda S. Green
The above image was created using Midjourney AI.