After hacking her own creation, Andrea clumsily staggered out of the now open pod. Apparently, her boots had a small compartment where she kept a number of her tools, not to mention her armor had pockets full of them too.
She had just panicked earlier and forgot all about the tools.
She felt a little dizzy, a side effect she expected after using the pod. Resting her back against the pod, Andrea tried to have a recollection of whatever happened.
Her memories were hazy and she only remembered they were attached and only three of them made it to the room.
The First person who came to her mind was the commander but as soon as she remembered his name, a heavy feeling crushed her heart.
'He's gone too..' from her memories she drew the painful sight of the squashed commander.
'No,, you're a soldier Andrea.. and soldiers don't cry, I'm not gonna.. sniff.. I'm not gonna cry..' Andrea's resolve had never wavered, not even as she kept saying this, but her eyes betrayed her inner emotions.
Mind you, she still is a human and human don't really have full control of emotions.
At first, only a teardrop could be seen on her tired face but it soon turned into rivulets of tears.
"AAAHH!!" Andrea reached a breaking point when she finally remembered Rina.
"Noo.. nooo.. tell me it's not true," she kept screaming. She wanted this to be all but a dream. It had to be.
She pinched her fair skin but the pain only confirmed her fears.
"You can't just leave me alone here Rina, you idiot!" She said to herself.
"Who said I'm leaving you,, such a cry baby," a voice chided.
"Waah!" Andrea yelled.
"Is that you Rina?!" she wiped her tears knowing if her friend found out she cried, she'd be in for a long tease.
"Hahaha! Hahaha!"
Rina couldn't help laughing at Andrea's futile attempts. She was now fully integrated to the ship's system.
She no longer needed lights for vision, not that anything could be hidden from her in the ship. Rina had her own share of surprise as well.
She had never seen such a weak side of Andrea's. Her friend was such a hard-headed lady with steely resolve. Seeing her break down because if her supposed death touched Rina. She'd be crying if she had a "body", and the subtle thought of a ship leaking fuel as tears only made her laugh bitterly.
Andrea was now even more confused. She knew her friend long enough to recognize her voice. What was getting her nerves wrecked was why she was hearing it from Midnights intercom.
'Could she have gone back to the control room? If she did, how did she survive the hyperspeed? This is tiring.. I'll just ask Midnight' Andrea walked to the intercom and pressed the button to start Midnight. She was sure Midnight had gone to stasis as soon as they went into hyperspeed.
BUZZZZ!
Andrea cocked her head with a confused expression. Midnight was just an AI and had to be started. The ship had another basic AI which maintained it.
She was confused since the button only buzzed if the other end had a receiver, who is Midnight in this case.
HIHIHI!
A giggle went through the speakers.
Andrea felt goosebumps on her skin. The immediate thought that came to her mind was that something had hacked into the systems.
'But why does it sound so much like Rina?' she thought.
"Rina, whatever games you're playing, just stop now okay?"
"Who's playing games?" Rina said playfully.
As soon as Andrea heard this, she sighed in relief. She could now confirmed it really was Rina.
Walking to the door, Andrea tried to push it open but it broke down at the slightest push. Sighing, she stepped on the door and walked to the control room.
Along the corridor, she saw bloody patches of green and red, testament to the explosive pressure in hyperspace.
'Even the overpowered Naga can't take it, huh?' she said with a sad smile.
She was now even more curious. If the strong Naga warriors couldn't help being crushed, how did Rina do it?
This and more questions popped into her mind. When she reached the door to the room, she couldn't open it. She didn't know if she was afraid or too curious.
Rina got restless looking at Andrea stand in the hall like a statue. She opened the door to the control room and Andrea screamed.
"Midnight?" she called out. "Are you in there Rina? This isn't funny anymore?!"
When she got no response, Andrea pursed her lips and stomped into the now open room, ready to lash out on whoever was doing this.
When Andrea entered the room, she had a mixture of emotions. Relief. Shock. Sadness.
She was half expecting to at least find Rina there, but she knew deep down in her heart that it was impossible.
Her spirit lowered, Andrea slumped into her favourite chair.
Her breathe turned ragged and she started crying silently. Her best friend, almost a sister, was truly gone.
Rina seeing this now questioned herself if she had overdone it. With a soothing voice, she said quietly, "I'm still here, okay? I'm not gone yet."
This time, Andrea didn't react at all. She thinks oyt loud, "Now I'm hearing voices," she chuckled softly. "I must be going crazy."
"No you're not?!" Rina was now getting worked up. "Or maybe you truly are crazy? I'm not a ghost, okay?"
"Whatever," Andrea had no more energy to fight ghosts after what transpired.
Rina seeing this, started seething with childish anger. When this happened, the lights started flickering in a spooky way. The displays along the terminals suddenly lit up and an angry emoji-like face replaced the planet on the screen, not that Andrea noticed any of this.
"Why don't you look outside," Rina forced down her anger and times down her voice. The face on the screen looked creepy with a sinister smile.
Andrea ignored her again, clearly down on her spirit.
"I'm not intere.. What's going on?!" she was about to turn down the voice's recommendations when she caught aight of the creepy face from the corner of her eyes.
"Finally noticed," the face rolled it's "eyes", if they truly existed. "Hey! Snap out of it?! It's me , Rina and before you say anything else, yes, I somehow replaced Midnight."
Horror registered on Andrea's face. Standing up, Andrea moved closer to the display. She never expected anything like this at all. A moment later, the initial shock turned to sudden grief then bitter happiness.
"I.. I..." no words formed in her mouth. She suddenly felt her feet were too weak for her body and slumped down.
She didn't reach the floor however, Tina had already moved the nearest seat behind her. While connected to the ship, Rina's senses were heightened extremely. Even before Andrea lost consciousness, she had already registered her lowered heartbeat and caught her with the chair.
...
"Poor Midnight, I hope she gets to heaven," Andrea said slowly. She still had trouble believing that Rina "replaced" Midnight.
"Come on," Rina rolled her "eyes". She was now in a projected form standing beside her friend. "Aren't you even happy I'm here? Or was Midnight a man?!" she said full of sarcasm.
Andrea's cheeks turned a bright red color when she heard this.
"Are you nuts?" she said, almost screaming. "I saw her almost like a friend,, at least she didn't tease me.." her words trailed off.
"Pst.. whatever. We should try to contact whoever is down there," Rina changed the subject abruptly. She sounded weird.
"*Giggle* Are you jealous?" Andrea decided to revenge.
Rina blushed in shame and turned to look at the "earth" below them. She felt childish for being jealous of an AI.
"Ooh please, you will always be in here," Andrea pointed at her chest and smiled.
"Hhmp.." Rina feigned ignorance. "I have tried sending signals down there but it seems.. empty," she said quezically.
Andrea frown at this, looking carefully outside. That was when she noticed something.
"If this is Earth, who added the other "moons"?" When she said this, Rina also frowned and ran a scan of their surrounding.
"This isn't Earth!!"