The Pallas

As the Pallas silently glides across the inky black of space, it places its penultimate card upon the green felt of the artificial poker table.

“Uno.” Pallas states, plainly.

“If we were playing with actual cards, I would throw them at your face.”  Grumbles Amelia, the captain and sole crew member of the freighter, the Pallas, at her ship’s AI. She takes one last look at her fist full of digital cards and closes the game window on the bridge display console. 

“I do not have a face.” Pallas responds. 

“Good, because I would punch it.” She mutters.

Whether the ship heard her remark or not, she would never know, but it asks, “Perhaps a different game to fill the time?” They had been afloat for three days, and would be for another four. The supply run was long, but not long enough to justify the cost of cryo, so all they could do was wait around for a week. They had reached the point of mind numbing boredom.

Amelia lets out a defeated groan and slumps her head against the blank display console. 

“Would the captain prefer a movie or television show?” Pallas inquires.

“The captain would prefer to be spaced.”

“There is also the exercise bike you had installed. Some exercise could take your mind off the time, and you have only utilized it once in the past month.”

“I know how many times I’ve used it Pallas, shut up.” Amelia snarks, glancing over at the bike that had been converted into a coat rack. “I need something new to do.”

“Perha-” Pallas pauses as a small red notification appears on the display console near the captains nose, “Motion detected in cargo bay six.”

“Wait, what’s detected in the what?” Amelia blurts out as her head pops off the console. 

“Motion detected in-”

“No I heard that part.” She interrupts, pressing on the red notification brings up a grainy video display of the affected cargo bay. “Did I forget to tie something down again?” The display renders the low resolution image of the inside of an ordinary shipping container, with all of the goods seemingly secured. 

“I don’t see anything moving. Are the mag-locks all on?” She asks.

“Magnetic locks secured.” Pallas replies.

“Is the motion alarm still-” a noise from the feed silences her question. “Did that sound like…?” She trails off.

Tap tap tap. The sound reverberates through the container and emits through the live security feed. 

“Oh crap, is someone in there?” Amelia jumps from her seat. “Is it a stow away? Is it a pirate??”

“I am detecting no humans or machines in the cargo area.” Pallas responds as the rhythmic tapping continues.

“Thank you, Pallas. That is…helpful?” She grabs a heavy wrench from a nearby toolbox. “Welp, only one way to find out what’s in there.” She states as she heads for the rear door of the bridge.

“Captain, are you forgetting something?” Pallas asks.

“Nope, got this bad boy.” She motions with the wrench.

“Very well, Captain.”

The door the bridge whooshes open and the captain departs through them. A moment later the doors open again as the captain reenters the bridge. “You meant pants. I should put on pants.”

“Yes, Captain.”

*

One pair of pants and a short walk later, the Captain is outside of cargo bay six. The tapping is apparent here.

“You’re sure there’s no one in there?” Amelia says into her ear piece.

“None that I can detect.” Pallas responds.

“That was the least reassuring way you could have said that.”

“I was simply stating that if there is anyone, or anything, in there, I am unable to detect them, Captain.”

“Stop helping, Pallas.” She retorts, as she presses the control panel to open the door. She takes one step into the cold cargo bay, and glances around the area. The room falls still, with no sound of tapping and no sign of any tapper.

“Whoever is in here, knock it off! I have a wrench!” she demands. “And a, uh, a gun!” She lies, hoping she wasn’t as obvious as she sounded in her head. The bay remains silent. “Still nothing?” she asks, quietly into her ear piece.

“I only detect you in the cargo bay, Captain.” Pallas answers. “No other movement.”

“Fair enough.” Amelia then addresses the cargo bay. “Well, guess I’ll just space the whole cargo bay since you don’t want to come out! Too bad Charlie Station won’t be getting its shipment of-” she turns to check the panel by the door, “- fresh... drinking water,” she gulps “and emergency food supplies.” 

The room ignores her awkward threat.

“Well,” she doubles down, “guess I gotta space the whole thing then! Sucks for the people at Charlie Station! This is on you, not me!” She shouts to the cargo bay as she backs out and locks the door behind her. “Nailed it.” She assures herself.

“No further motion detected in cargo bay six” Pallas assures her.

Tap tap tap.

“Motion detected in cargo bay six”

“I heard, Pallas!” Amelia yelps, wrench raised high above her head. 

Tap tap tap. The noise is coming from just beyond the door this time.

“Um, w-who’s there?” She quavers. No response. “Anything on the camera?” She whispers to Pallas.

“The cargo bay appears empty.”

“I feel like you’re saying things in an intentionally scary way at this point.”

Tap tap tap.

“Too late,” she scolds “you’re just going to have to wait in there until we get to the station.”

“Captain,” Pallas interjects, “the cargo bays are not suited to contain biological material. The bays have been cooling since we departed.”

“I don’t like where this is going.”

“If there is a person in there, it is likely they will freeze to death before we reach our next dock.”

“So I should open the door to an invisible, potential murderer?”

“It is much more likely a scared stow away.”

“How much more likely?” 

“You told me to stop telling you the odds on things. Would you like to rescind that order?”

“Depends, will these odds make me feel better?”

“No.”

Tap tap tap.

“Screw it,” she asserts, “Just gonna space the whole thing.” She marches over to the control panel and begins pressing buttons.

“It seems you are trying to eject priority one cargo. Are you sure you want to do that?”

“Yup.” She states, her finger hovering over the last button. “Does Charlie Station really need this delivery? Or is it a ‘just in case’ kind of thing?” She asks after a long pause.

“News reports show that the station suffered accidents in both the water treatment and food production facilities.”

Tap tap tap.

“Of course.” She concedes. She turns her attention to the door. “Look, if I open the door, do you promise not to try to murder me?”

Tap tap tap.

“Right.” She sighs. “Well, we all gotta die sometime. Today might be our day, Pallas.”

“Automated response: Sorry, I cannot respond right now. I am currently being backed up to Lima Station.”

The door to the cargo bay opens. A small black bird appears in the doorway.

“It’s a bird.” She says, stunned. She pokes her head into the cargo bay to see if there is anything else around, but finds nothing. “How did a bird get on my ship?”

“I do not know, Captain.”

“Oh welcome back, Pallas.” She quips. “You alright? Got everything backed up?” 

“Yes, Captain. Thank you for your concern.”

Amelia rolls her eyes, and sees the bird hopping around the hallway, inspecting the new area it has discovered.

“It didn’t show up on the cameras.” Amelia remarks.

“Perhaps the camera resolution was to low to pick up something so small at that distance.”

“Okay but you said there wasn’t anything alive in there.”

“I said there were no humans or machines in there. You did not ask me to scan for birds.”