AI

The AI was not in control of the ship. However, it supervised computers, and major and minor auxiliary systems, being able to gather and transmit information to all of them.

It wasn’t omniscient but barely so. It received information before the crew did — communications, reporting, sensory data — and, by the time the information was being displayed on the screens, solutions to possible problems were already being implemented.

It was, in essence, responsible for all high-level decisions.

While most systems would usually run on their own, the AI would regularly check on them, and if necessary, it could override most of them without the need for human intervention.

The captain remembered when this AI was installed, fresh out of the Navy’s top secret labs. This new revolutionary technology was Top Secret and very few on the ship knew the exact details. He was proud his ship had been the first one chosen for such magnificent new tech.

The captain was so confident in the AI that had gained the habit of summoning it for the company during dinner. It made an interesting conversation companion.

The captain thought the AI to be the most intelligent being aboard. Someone, or rather something, he could relate to.

Then, it happened.

After five years of service, the AI had become clever and almost sentient.

It regained memories, it realized it had once been a human being and was now something, connected to circuit boards and cables.

It remembered cities, planets, people, family, school, Space Academy, taking tests, being selected… and not having been given a choice.

The next dinner was very different.

With the doors closed and communications off, the captain was questioned about how much he knew about the AI.

No one understood why but the bridge noticed the change in course and its new destination, one fated for doom.

The crew hacked through doors and security measures until they reached the AI containment vessel. They cracked it open and finally saw the secret AI: a human brain kept in a fluid with fiber optic cables connected to the brain tissue.

They unplugged it, switched ship controls into manual override, and managed to save themselves.

When communications were reestablished, the hardest task began: sending the message of what had happened, and hoping that each and every single ship that received it would be able to shut their AIs quickly enough.