Free Interrogative 01: Tiago and the Masterless by Charles Barouch

Scan Lieutenant Audra Manuel. Interrogative. As captain, I induct her into the crew. Please document all of her identification points."
    "Completed," the computer said.
    "You took me apart so you could make me a full crew member?" Audra asked.
    "Yes. Thank me later, or maybe kill me later, but right now, we have a ship to regain. Interrogative. Where are the impostors?"
    The lack of an answer was frightening.
    "Lights are still on and I can detect a faint breeze from the air recyclers," Audra said. "Also, I'm not crumpled into a heap. So the computer is still running. It just isn't answering."
    "They're attempting to regain control somehow. Sims don't need as much life support. I need to hurry before they figure that out."
    "We need to hurry. You are not in this alone. Not anymore," Audra said.
    "Interrogative. Open the door."
    Nothing.
    "What do we do now?" Audra asked.
    "Emergency protocol. We need a military uni… Nellie has a uniform! We have to hurry."
    "What are you talking about? Uniforms?" Audra asked.
    "In the event of a computer failure, every uniform has a local."
    "What's a local? I don't understand," Audra said.
    "A local allows you to control the tech immediately near you without the ship's computer. Help me look in the back of the closet. Nellie has one because I generated her with a barely modified uniform. I didn't take the time to set her up with other clothes."
    "She won't know," Audra said.
    "She's a sim, of course she'd know. Wait… why don't you?"
    "Why would they program sims with rules for when the computer is down? Think about it," Audra said.
    "Good point. Less talking, more looking."
    "You have one in the back of the closet. Why do you have one? You hate the military," Audra asked.
    "Long story. It'll be in the left sleeve," Tiago said as he grabbed the the shirt and pulled the slim sliver device out. "Let's go."
    "Local. Open the door. Audra, come on."
    They headed toward the lift. The local opened the door just as the lights went out. Tiago had a moment of panic as the doors closed, but the lift was still working. When it opened on the bridge, they stepped out cautiously.
    "Local. Lights," Tiago said.
    "No one here," Audra said.
    "Let's see if we can restore control. Local. Turn on the captain's station."
    Nothing. He hadn't expected it to work. Tiago crouched down and popped the panel off the base of the captain's chair. He pulled three circuit boards after noting their order. He got up and popped a plate on the left side of the science station. He plugged the boards in, one at a time.
    "The board tester is working for basic POST diagnostics. These are working. The captain's chair should be working. The problem is with the ship's computer."
    He put everything back where it belonged. To fix this, he'd have to find the saboteurs. He thought about the size of that task. The Interrogative was essentially a sphere, three miles in diameter. That made the command floor about seven square miles. Most of that was equipment and impact buffers, but that still left over a square mile of open space. The floor contained the bridge, engineering, and the primary supply storage for the maker unit. The command floor was in the middle of the sphere, so all the other floors were smaller. Still, he'd have two hundred floors to check, without any computer assistance. If he and Audra split up – not his first choice – it would still take far, far, too long. In his nearly two years aboard, he'd barely seen any of it. Besides, they couldn't split up. She couldn't operate the lift.
    "How do we find them without the computer?" Tiago said.
    "We use the computer," Audra said. "Come on."
    Tiago didn't question her. He was happy to not have to lead. What ever idea she had, it was one more than he had.
    "Local. Open the lift door."
    "We need to go to life support," Audra said.
    "Local. Lift to life support."
    When the lift stopped, the doors opened into darkness. Audra nudged Tiago and he remembered that he had to ask for