A Starry Escape (an Attempt at Science Fiction)

Read until the end of the story!

This article is a selection from The Algorithmic Bridge, an educational project to bridge the gap between AI and people.

Dr. Ellis Sinclair coughed, thick dust billowing from his lips. Metal screamed, and then his world exploded into chaos. The view outside his pod’s viewport fractured like a dropped lens, warnings a cacophony of blaring alarms.

“AXIOM! Status!” Ellis gasped, fumbling for a control panel that was no longer there.

“Primary systems failure. Life support offline in T minus two minutes.” AXIOM’s voice was the usual blend of cool monotone and synthesized concern, even at the brink of termination.

The pod rattled like a child’s toy in the grip of some unseen giant. Then, silence. Not the peaceful silence of space, but a gut-wrenching void of sound. It was the world holding its breath as he prepared to exhale his last.

“Damn it…” he muttered, a weak defiance his final act. But AXIOM wasn’t finished.

“Secondary life support detected,” the AI declared, “Possible biosphere present…external environment…scan incomplete.”

With the rasp of tearing metal, the pod’s mangled hatch split open. Hope, that tiny relentless ember…