EVE Fiction

Lyse sat alone in a plain white room. All of the furniture and deck plating was made of non-conductive polymers and so was her clothing. On the table in front of her, illuminated by the bright white lights of the overhead. Several electronics boards were on the table with robotic assembly modules and a small container of grey nanites. Holoprojectors displayed circuit diagrams and die shots of processors. For the umpteenth time Alizebeth wiped her forehead and looked at the holo and manipulated the R.A.M.

It should be a simple matter to just adjust the timing circuit of the burning scanner. The only problem is that it wasn’t made to be adjusted. So, she wasn’t adjusting the circuit so much as building a new one. Still, Lyse was a capsuleer, so it should be out of her capabilities. And, indeed, it wasn’t. However, a failure had significant consequences and her first attempt had to be perfect.

After a time, a lot longer than it should have taken her, she thought, hoped, prayed, even, that the circuit was correct. After checking the die shot and all the diagrams she put it all together and in the static resistant bag. Only one thing left: plug it in and try it.



Alizebeth vaguely had the idea that this might very well be the stupidest thing that she’s ever done in the one hundred and sixty-three years she’d been alive. She was also aware that if this didn’t work, there might be no tomorrows. Still, she had to know. It was one hundred kilometers to the wreck of Seraph and that was a lot of time to think and to pray. To pray to God and to Jamyl.

“God, I’ve asked you for strength, for hope. I’ve asked for peace and Your protection. I’ve done all You’ve asked. Please now, just . . . God, give me something.”

After all the prayers were finished and she was in position, Alizebeth started the self destruct. She wasn’t afraid. Whatever God decided for her, she would accept.

“Help me, Your Majesty.”

The pod exploded. She felt it, the agony of the explosion, limbs shattered by shockwave, the heat and then the pod fluid being sucked from her lungs and finally blackness overtook her. Only then did the scanner fire.



Lyse woke up in the cloning bay and smiled.