Aubade: Chapter 7
Shrinking Cube
You’re a woman who’s woken up out of stasis and you find yourself onboard the spaceship Aubade escaping Earth. Forever. Last thing you remember is going to bed. On Earth.
In this chapter of Aubade, a sci-fi serial:
Sara is tasked with navigating a complex database system known as the "Incubator." The database is designed as a shrinking cube, and Sara must rearrange its sections from the inside. Accompanied by the support of her team, including Stapleton and Stormare, Sara embarks on the daunting mission.
As she progresses through the task, the cube gradually collapses, making it increasingly difficult for Sara to maneuver. Despite physical strain and mounting fatigue, Sara perseveres, driven by a combination of adrenaline and a desire to complete the operation successfully.
During the final stages, tensions rise as Sara realizes the potential dangers of the cube's design and questions the motives behind it. As she approaches the last entry point, she experiences a mix of anger, fear, and pain. With Stapleton's guidance and support, Sara follows the instructions, preparing for the critical moment.
Shrinking Cube
The shuttle ride was five minutes of hell, and ended with a nice smelly pile of throw-ups as soon as she had removed her helmet.
"Welcome to El Dorado ma'am, and next time aim for the bucket, please."
A hand reached out for her and she took her first wobbled steps inside the Defense station. And yes, there was a bucket labeled "Aim Here" that she almost tipped over as she stumbled forward.
One of Stapleton's men led her to a small dressing room where she was handed her bag. She brushed her teeth and changed into her black gym outfit. They had talked about crawling. Walking in and crawling out.
"As Stapleton probably told you ma'am, we tried, but when it came down to the last few seconds it became impossible to get out. It collapses on itself and only a person of small size can get through." The officer speaking was Envald Stormare, who had tried to solve the situation himself but found himself helplessly trapped inside a one by one meter cube until his crew finally came up with a method to reverse the steps they had managed to accomplish.
"Unfortunately it’s impossible to do this operation from the outside. It must be arranged, by a human, from inside the main frame. I don't know what idiot created this thing, but if we ever meet him again we've decided to let him live inside his hell cube and feed him unspiced gruel."
The men gathered around the table laughed, until they realized how inappropriate it was in light of Sara's imminent task.
"Sorry ma'am, we do of course appreciate you coming out here. Sorry about the uncomfortable ride here, and all that... and like I said before, we do appreciate you coming out here, this morning, to..."
Stormare was entangling himself in his own words and no one else had anything to add so Sara decided it was time to speak up:
"How long do you think it will take?"
Stormare seemed relieved to have something tangible to speak about and replied in a cheerful manner:
"Our recent test took about six hours. Max eight hours. Definitely not more than eight."
"OK, when can I begin?"
Stapleton was leaning against the wall. He pointed at the floating blueprint she had seen the night before.
"We'll have all that on your glasses. We'll be right there with you, you'll see each maneuver step by step. We just need your hands to do it because of that final biometric step which made it impossible for us to use a drone. And it's just that damned ending that will be the tricky part. You're going to have to be fast. You can do it, Hanley."
Both Jack and Sara looked at Stapleton as he said the name, and then at each other. Jack gave her a nod and a wink.
Sara sighed and tried to sound funny: "OK, well in case I don't see you gentlemen again, good morning, noon and night!" She was beginning to sense the adrenalin rush and felt a strange dizziness. She wanted this thing over with. It was unbelievable that she would have such luck as to get the honor to be trapped inside a shrinking box.
"Let's go take a look at our database. We call it "The Incubator", get it? In cube-ator!" Jack was also unusually giddy but nervous was probably a better word. He wouldn't stop talking. The only thing that shut him up was the sight of the Incubator itself. A room within a room.
"See how easy it is to get inside this thing!" Stormare walked in and Sara followed. He showed her the main frame, gave her the goggles, and began to describe how the cube would collapse in on itself with each reorganizing step.
"It really seems like a devilish idea to design a database of such size and then pack it this way, I mean it is insane." He kept checking all controls to make sure they were identical with the simulator.
"Could someone have done it on purpose?" Sara asked.
"That's the question," Stormare muttered while inspecting a particularly complex node of entry ways.
"Keep in mind, while you're working, that we’ve had the AI run this through our simulator thousands of times up to the biometric step, but if anything unexpected should happen," and he looked up at her with his almost kind eyes, "listen only to myself and the Commander, remember that, me and the Commander, no one else. No one else knows what the hell they're talking about. You hear that?" She could see that he was nervous now.
"Yes, you and the Commander. And one thing for you to remember, you listen to the Commander, ok? You listen to him. And, and make sure you get me out of this thing, no matter how long it takes."
She was looking around the room and was beginning to prescribe to the sabotage theory herself. Only a maniac would design this type of thing. And only a desperate woman would willingly entrap herself in this type of thing.
Before she went inside the cube she went back to the small dressing room and reprogrammed the password to her notebook and left it on the bottom of her bag.
After the first two hours the movement of the wall to her left was definitely detectable.
"It's decreased about a tenth of the volume capacity," Stapleton's calm voice reported. "Keep up the good work and let us know as soon as you need a break."
"I'm fine. I'll work for another hour or so until I take a break."
After six hours it became more and more difficult to enter and exit the cube. Soon it would, according to the AI simulators, collapse on itself. Sara was contorted in an almost impossible crouch. Her arms and legs were getting numb but there were still several sections that needed to be reorganized.
"Sara, hold it for a second, we need to check one thing." Stormare spoke fast. It remained quiet on the line and all she saw were the blurring blueprints and indicators flying across the sections. She was too tired to speak and tried instead to massage her legs and arms.
She had already thought about the exit. It had to happen fast. She would have to go feet first and they would literally pull her out by the feet as fast as they could. A sliding mat would reduce the friction, hopefully. Her mind was running and she no longer had any grasp of time. The blueprint seemed etched on her retina and she knew it by heart. The combination of blue light, pain and voices created a thick soup-like existence that increasingly drained her of all strength. She could not hold out much longer. Even with her muscle endurance strain.
"Sara, listen carefully, you're doing great and everything seems to be working out as expected. We're now going to begin preparing for the last entry before the collapse. Remember how we went over the lever system so you can already be lying down as it unfolds."
"What do you want me to do? Ah, got it, I see..." She was following the next commands on her screen. "There is something so archaic about this... structure, why the hell would anyone bother with this design when there are so many simpler solutions? The AI could do it by itself! Why this last step with the palm print? Like old cave paintings or something."
She was angry and in more pain than ever. Her vision was getting blurry and the fear that she had been suppressing for hours came rushing through. Her hands were shaking now, visibly so. She had to get out.
"Just a few more moments, get in position." Jack was now talking to her. “Now press your palm on the screen above you!” Sara followed the instructions and as soon as her hand had pressed the screen a timer began to count down. Two minutes.
"Where's.... Can I talk to Stapleton?" She wanted to make sure he was there to witness whatever happened next. And he had asked her to trust him. At least he could grace her with his presence at this moment.
"I'm here," he responded, "we can see you... you're doing great. Take a moment here, this is going to happen very fast. Don't get hooked on anything in there, keep your arms and legs absolutely within the limits of that sliding mat or else we'll have to pull you out with broken bones."
"I'm not doing so well... is this good?" Hopefully my legs are on the mat, she thought. Everything felt too heavy. Had she already entered the last code?
"Your legs need to be tighter, and move your arms up on your chest and brace yourself. Everything is ready... Jack should be tickling your feet just about now, can you feel it?"
She felt a thick rope around her feet. She felt a sudden urge to laugh. Of course she had been used. Again this must have been a test, or a trap. Or perhaps they needed someone they could spare to do the job.
"Stapleton? If something happens..." She was unable to finish the sentence. Her body strained to get air. Her chest was heaving up and down to such a degree that she moved visibly up and down the mat.
"We'll get you out! I’ll get you out!" Stapleton said. "I better do this, Jack." She could hear him move around. "It will be fast, I promise." Does he mean my death or rescue, she wondered and screamed:
"Do it now! I want this over with! It’s 30 seconds!"
Perhaps she was yelling, perhaps crying or whispering. It was not possible to think anymore. All those stories about people waiting for their executions and how their lives flash before their eyes are not true, she thought. I wish I had been stronger was her last thought before she felt the tug and the metallic sound of closing.
"Don't wait! Cut it! Cut it!" a voice yelled.
Press the heart button as a sign that you read this thing. I run this show unsponsored so far and will appreciate all and any support. Please consider dropping a few bucks in the Venmo below. This is my creative outlet. I must create or I am not.
Thanks for joining me on this cockeyed caravan! This is not your average newsletter, that’s for sure. Here you can read more about me. Follow me on Instagram.
Enjoying this space story? Check out No End Code, my sci-fi anthology and leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads.
