Changing Aios

Reaching the door, Captain Dharma again did a facial and retina scan, the door opened again in both directions with a soft hissing sound. Before leaving the room, the captain fiddled with a panel on the wall, on the right side. The panel is quite wide, measuring seven inches, more like a C-Pad embedded in the wall.

"Hey," Captain Dharma called out to Ryan without even turning his head. "I will put this door in a manually operable state, you understand?"

"Good idea."

"It will be troublesome if you fail to change Aios." In a moment the captain had finished changing the door's automatic system to manual mode. "You might end up stuck in this room forever."

Ryan laughed out loud in response to the captain's joke. "You're so mean, Cap," he said. "As if expecting me to die without food in this room."

"Speaking of food," Captain Dharma turned around, hands on his waist as he looked at Ryan. "I'll have someone deliver food and drink for you. Also, the data of everyone on this plane. You need that."

"Whoa," Ryan laughed softly with a shake of his head. "You are so kind, Sir Boss."

"Damn you!" Captain Dharma snorted. "Remember one thing! After you're done—well, how long I'm not sure, but please, always keep this room clean, okay? I'm not kidding about this one."

"Gosh, Cap," Ryan shook his head again. "Am I that stupid not to know this?"

"Good, that's good," and again the captain turned around. "Just continued your job, and make it quick."

"Shit," Ryan grumbled, though he wasn't serious about his cursing. "Uh, one more thing, Cap!"

"What is it?"

"If there are drinks that contain nicotine, alkaloids, may I ask for a glass, a bottle, whatever? Most importantly, I need it."

"Yea, yea, yea…" Captain Dharma continued on his way. "I'll have them bring it for you."

Of course, Captain Dharma thought. He could confirm that since the afternoon, on the day he asked Ryan for help fixing the communication device on his left wrist right now—while still on Earth, and Earth hadn't destroyed all existing life—Ryan must not have slept enough until now, maybe not even at all.

In addition, the man must race against time to conquer and change the data in Aios' brain system, for the smooth journey of all of them later. Because of all that, Ryan certainly needs a supply of energy to be able to keep him focused and refresh his body. If the man were to fall asleep, this would be ridiculous and sad. The SC45 aircraft could be running forever without the supervision of the main computer.

Forcing Aios to activate at this moment, was tantamount to suicide. It is certain, that Artificial Intelligence will kill all those on the plane. Because Aios data and commands have not been changed.

Without the figure of the Lord of Pangandaran participating in the plane as the rightful owner, and already recorded in Aios' data, Aios would assume everyone was a stowaway, including Captain Dharma himself. Even though Dharma was previously the rightful captain on the ship, it's just that, without the presence of the figure in the fat ruler, Aios would have killed Captain Dharma for being considered a traitor—even though that was the fact.

There was nowhere to hide in any corner of the plane itself when it came to dealing with Aios, not before that Artificial Intelligence could be transformed. The Aios sensors will find them anywhere, as long as they're still on the plane.

The reasons that made Captain Dharma betray the Lord of Pangandaran, would not be accepted by Aios. All the sensors that complement the ability of the Artificial Intelligence, will not understand the problem of the captain's heartache by the fat ruler before. Aios' logic wouldn't justify that.

Captain Dharma continued his steps until he was on the outside, the double-leaf door moved shut again with a soft hissing sound.

"Okay," Ryan whispered to himself after being left alone by the captain, ten fingers poised on the laptop keyboard on his lap. "It's showtime!"

*

Let's just let Ryan focus on his solitude in an attempt to subdue Aios or else Captain Dharma who is now stepping into the main cabin and will soon be going upstairs to the cockpit. Let's move on, and see what happens to Aldi and Ely.

In their room, Aldi lay on his back in a slightly restless state, on the bottom bed. Both hands became props for his head, a soft pillow raiser. Aldi looked at the ceiling for a moment, and the next second moved towards the bathroom door, then back to the ceiling again. For some time, Aldi continued to act like that.

"Are you done?" Aldi shouted towards the bathroom door. "How much longer do you have to be in there, huh?!"

"You're so noisy!" Ely's voice came from inside the bathroom. "Patient…! You yelling like that just makes me dizzy, so annoying!"

"You, damn girl!" Aldi snorted loudly. "On Earth, you made it difficult for me to keep an eye on you. Even now, in outer space, you're still bothering me, you damn little brat!"

"Huh…?"

Ely shouted again from the bathroom, she purposely made Aldi more annoyed by pretending not to hear the man's complaint.

"What did you say? I can't hear you, the water from this shower is very heavy. Refreshing!"

"Damn you, little girl!" Aldi grabbed a pillow and covered his face. "I don't know why I have to be stuck with you? This is so unpleasant!"

"You know I can't hear you, right?" Elly shouted again. "What did you just say?"

Aldi was getting annoyed, he threw the pillow toward the bathroom. The pillow hit the bathroom door and lay on the floor.

In the bathroom, Ely was gasping to hear a bang on the bathroom door. But only for a moment, and she laughed again.

"Damn little girl…!" Aldi shouted. "Just hurry up, you're not the only one who wants to use that bathroom!"

"Huh?! What did you say?"

"Fuck you, you are annoying!" Aldi let out a long breath. "I also want to take a bath, kiddo. Hurry up, you little brat!"

Instead of hastily finishing her bath, Ely laughed happily while playing with the water pouring from the shower above her head.

"Damn it," Aldi mumbled half inaudibly, "how long have I not showered?"

TO BE CONTINUED ...