As you are all aware, there has been spirited debate as to our new course of action, given the events of the last twenty-four hours. Many of you have advocated leaving the Alexander and making for safety alone. You have pointed out that without her main engines, the Alexander can only slow us down, and is not in a position to offer us protection. You have argued—and I cannot disagree—that we cannot trust the Alexander’s commanders.

Others say that even crippled, the Alexander offers some protection. Her crew may yet repair AIDAN, and the chance that she will be able to start her engines and use her weaponry when the Lincoln arrives may present a better opportunity for survival than simply hoping the Lincoln does not catch us once she has disposed of the Alexander.

Perhaps most compellingly, you have reminded me that many of our friends and family are aboard the Alexander. From the most recent conscripts—our top technicians, Byron Zhang and Consuela Nestor—back to the early recruits from among our crew and refugees.

The responsibility for this decision weighs heavily upon me, and I assure you all I have wrestled with it for as long as I can safely permit myself to do so. I am ordering the Hypatia to hold position with the Alexander. I believe we have at least an equal chance of safety in doing so, and I am not yet prepared to abandon our crew members.

We will keep our distance. If I form the view that the odds have shifted against us, should we stay with the Alexander, I will order our navigators to leave her behind, and I will expect your cooperation as we chart our new course. I know some of you will disagree with my decision, however we must remain united, and I expect you all to carry out your duties.

A memorial service for Captain Chau will be held in a few days—I know, as do you, that right now she would want us at our posts. I thank you all for your support. I am honored to serve with you.

Syra BollCaptain (Acting)—Science Vessel Hypatia
Wallace Ulyanov Consortium

Zhang, B: how u holding up, my petal?

ByteMe: fine. hungry.

Zhang, B: talk to lover boy?

ByteMe: yes

Zhang, B: you guys okay?

ByteMe: fine. keep ur mind on the job Zhang. flying death machine incoming. tick tock tick tock

Zhang, B: just trying to demonstrate concern. am told that’s what it looks like

Zhang, B: u seriously as frosty as u sound?

ByteMe: i’m shitting myself, idiot

ByteMe: tired hungry hungry tired not getting anywhere

Zhang, B: eat?

ByteMe: i’m holed up. step outside, might not get back in to keep working. chaos here.

Zhang, B: i hear u. even by my low standards, my hygiene is slipping. the service here is really unacceptable. i should complain to management

ByteMe: u ok over there? i saw the report from the bridge, when they took u.

Zhang, B: always okay, K. feeling mighty. we’re going to work this out. Getting delirious from tired, reckon that might be just the thing to help me see what to do.

ByteMe: they don’t get it, do they?

Zhang, B: course not. most of the ppl jockeying consoles over here now never dealt with AIDAN direct. One of the team leaders used to clean the food vending machines. I shit you not.

ByteMe: working this out is like watching one of Ezra’s geeball games. i get that there are rules, but every time i think i have them pinned down, someone calls a penalty that makes no fucking sense at all.

ByteMe: so if we can work it out and write a rulebook, we get to control AIDAN and live. If we make a mistake in there anywhere, then we don’t control it when it wakes up.

Zhang, B: and then it’s game over

ByteMe: their AI is insane. don’t they get that? it took hits at Kerenza, they asked too much of it, it went mad

Zhang, B: oh my god

ByteMe: ?

Zhang, B: OH MY GOD.

ByteMe: ????????????????????

Zhang, B: THAT IS WHAT WE DO

Zhang, B: we ask too much of it. of the Lincoln. we do to it what got done to AIDAN. we send it mad.

ByteMe: keep talking

Zhang, B: listen, we can’t win a direct confrontation with the Lincoln. not happening. what we need to do is damage them somehow, slow them down enough we can run for it.

Zhang, B: we target their drive systems, that’s the easiest way in. their engines. we screw their operating software so bad, they have to shut down completely and reboot. that gives us the time we need to run. restart like that takes forever when u don’t have an AI

ByteMe: with you so far. how do we get to their engines from here tho?

Zhang, B: the engines are coming to us, getting closer every hour. we have our pilots deliver it. right into their sensor array. Right where the sun doesn’t shine

ByteMe: deliver what exactly? tell me what you want, I’ll help.

Zhang, B: logic bomb

ByteMe: is that even a thing?

Zhang, B: it is now. we’re going to be fucking famous.

Zhang, B: WE WILL BE HEROES

ByteMe: slow down there. before you strap on ur superhero cape, tell me what a logic bomb is

Zhang, B: drive systems aren’t sophisticated computing, most of the software on a BT dreadnought isn’t bleeding edge. they don’t have an AIDAN. u and i code processor-intensive queries for the CPU that look legit but ultimately have no way to resolve.

ByteMe: and if we have the tasks self-replicate, it’ll just be layer after layer after layer of queries it can’t find an answer to

ByteMe: so, infinite loop until the drive computers crash

Zhang, B: genius

ByteMe: i hate to validate u this way, but genius

Zhang, B: we’ll have to turn AIDAN on to transmit it