Special Notes: There is an important story tie-in clue in this episode, just letting you know to look for it. [The Gunslingers, Book II, Chapter 14] [Ben] Ben slowly opened his eyes and shut them again, the light was so bright and his entire body hurt. He had been dreaming—was he still dreaming? In his dream he saw Garth fighting and men attacking and then he was being dragged on a cold metal floor. He opened his eyes again, slowly, and tried to understand where he was. The room was bright and he was lying on something cold and hard, a machine was moving around him, this he recognized, it was the magic box. Ben corrected himself, not the box, but the robot inside the box. No, thought Ben, this wasn’t his magic box robot, this one was bigger. The machine was doing something to his arm, or his wrist. He tried to move his head but couldn’t, his eyes moved though and he felt a moment of terror. The machine had his wrist cut open and was doing something inside him, Ben could see blood. He didn’t feel any pain, but he… the machine stopped what it was doing and moved over top his head and Ben was asleep again. Ben heard voices. “Why did it do that?” asked a voice. “We told it to fix him but didn’t give it specific instructions, something must have been wrong with his wrist implant and put a new one in,” said another voice. “Where is the old implant?” asked the first voice. “You know, probably a bio-hazard and destroyed the old one already,” said the second voice. Ben drifted in and out of consciousness until he was finally able to stay awake. He lifted his arm and looked at his wrist, there was a bandage wrapped around it. Ben noticed his throat didn’t hurt anymore and he wasn’t coughing. The magic box must have fixed him. He sat up and a wave of dizziness flooded over him and he fell back. The next time he took it a little slower and managed to make it to a sitting position. His memories started flooding back, the dream… the dream had been real. Garth had been fighting someone and then Garth was on the ground being beaten. They were attacked, he knew it. Something happened and some men had gotten inside their ship and attacked them. Why? He never should have left his island and gone with these strange boys, they were nothing but trouble. But, Becka. She told him he couldn’t stay on the island forever and they were the only people that had ever come to the island. And he had sworn an oath. Ben regretted the oath now a little, maybe he should have waited. Jack and Garth was his friends though. What should he do? What could he do? He didn’t know anything about this strange world he was now in. Ben looked around the room he was in and swung his feet over the table. The magic box machine was attached to the wall and wasn’t moving. Maybe that’s where the magic box machine usually was supposed to be. Becka told him once the magic box came out of a ship. Was he on a ship? He must be. Ben tried to remember everything Becka had taught him before she got the fever and died. Survive. That’s what he had to do, survive. He would have to find the others, without him he knew he didn’t stand a chance in this world. Ben heard a noise—it was on the other side of the wall. He got up and faced the direction of the noise. Were the men coming back, the ones that had attacked them? Remember, Ben, remember… Becka showed you what to do. The wall slid to the side and a man walked in through the opening. Ben didn’t have time to marvel at how the wall had moved aside to make an opening to walk through, he remember what Becka had told him and struck out as hard as he could and hit the man in the throat. The man made a slight umph sound and doubled over in pain, Ben didn’t stop; he hit the man on the side of the head and kept hitting until he stopped moving. Survival, thought Ben, it’s me or him, that’s what Becka taught me. The magic box machine moved across the room and hovered over the man. “Larynx crushed, fractured skull, internal hemorrhaging, death is emanate, do I have authorization to begin emergency medical procedures,” asked the magic box. Ben could not see his own eyes, of course, but if he could have been an impartial witness looking into his eyes, he would have seen the change. Ben was the son of two of the strongest Gunslingers the Order had ever known, being a Gunslinger was in his blood. Ben’s eyes changed from the innocent boy he had been to the cold blooded killer he was born to be. His eyes went blank, dark, cold, and lifeless. “No,” whispered Ben. “Let him die.” “I am required to record the name of the humanoid authorizing death,” stated the magic box. Ben was named after his father, but wasn’t completely sure what his last name was. His father went by the name Ben, but there had been another name, one he heard his mother call his father sometimes, that must be his last name. “I’m Gunslinger Ben Sephin,” said Ben. The magic box returned to it’s position on the wall and Ben didn’t give the man another glance as the body twitched a few times before becoming completely still. Ben poked around the room and discovered boxes that pulled out from the side of the wall. There wasn’t anything he recognized, just white cloth, bandages, and stuff he assumed must be medical. He wasn’t a complete stupid savage, Becka had told him many stories and described much of her world to him, but without a frame of reference it was difficult to picture them in his mind. He discovered if he pulled at the silver knobs on the wall, doors with all sorts of treasure behind them would open. Ben found his clothes, and most important, his guns. He dressed quickly and wrapped his guns around his waist and checked the ammunition. He was ready, now he needed to go find his friends. Okay, how? Ben cocked his head to the side and looked at the place the man had come through the wall. He tried walking into the wall, that didn’t work, and then he tried pushing on the wall, still nothing. “How does this wall open?” mumbled Ben frustrated. He nearly jumped out of his skin when a voice spoke in his head. “The door is operated by pushing the green button to the right side,” said the voice. Ben pulled his revolvers and spun wildly in every direction trying to find the owner of the voice. “Where are you-who are you?” demanded Ben. “I am WI-773-443-11232-AI,” replied the voice. “Huh?” said Ben. “I am your wrist-implant-artificial-intelligence,” said the voice. “You may remove the bandage covering me.” Ben turned his arm over and looked at his bandage covered wrist. He holstered his revolvers and pulled the bandage off; a series of green numbers was running across his forearm. “What the heck!” cried Ben. “There’s numbers inside my arm.” “The visual display is being transmitted to your optic nerves, but humanoids require a graphic interface,” explained the voice. “The illusion of images, numbers, and letters on your wrist gives you a place to look and concentrate when you use your implant, otherwise you would become disoriented.” “You can explain stuff to me?” asked Ben. “I am creating your link to the I.N. Library,” said the voice. “I can provide you with any information available at your access level. You can not retrieve as much information or as quickly as a hard terminal, but the data available is sufficient for most daily functions.” “What’s your name?” asked Ben. “Some people do name their implants, you may name me if you wish,” said the voice. Ben thought about what name to give the implant, it was a female voice. I wonder why? “Why are you a girl?” asked Ben. “I am neither male nor female, your mind chose my voice based on your sexual orientation,” explained the voice. Ben blushed and didn’t reply to that, he was pretty sure he didn’t think about that kind of stuff, much, and didn’t want to talk to his wrist about it. He thought for a few minutes and decided to call it Becka. He knew it wasn’t the real Becka, but Becka had tried so hard to take care of him when she was the last member of his father’s team. Yes, it would be good to call it Becka as a way to always remember the way Becka showed such patience when he would ask question after question at bed time. “I’m calling you Becka,” said Ben. “Is that a good idea?” asked Becka. “You can read my mind?” asked Ben worried. “No, in many cases when you ask a question, your mind provides me with the question and the answer; I turn those questions and answers around and let you answer your own question if you already know the answer.” Ben shook his head, he didn’t want to try and sort that out. “I know you’re not the real Becka, I’m not my father but my name is still Ben, like his,” replied Ben. “It’s respect for someone I loved.” “Pleased to meet you, Ben, my name is Becka.” “This is awesome, I’ll always have someone to talk with,” said Ben. “No, Ben,” said Becka. “If you attempt to use me to converse with for companionship, I am programmed to permanently shut off the voice function. Most people lose the right to have a voice function by the time they are six or seven years old.” “Why?” asked Ben. “Implants have been in use for almost two-thousand years,” explained Becka. “It was determined the voice function had to be limited or the individual would become socially dysfunctional.” “What do I do if you turn off the voice?” asked Ben. “Look at your wrist, Ben,” said Becka. Ben turned his wrist over and found a green keyboard… oh, he would have to learn how to use one of those, but he could spell out the words - that would be slow. He shook his head and looked up… What am I doing? Maybe this thing is right; I’m standing here talking to my wrist. Do I really want a voice in my head distracting me? “Becka, can I tell you to stop talking in my head?” “Yes, Ben,” “Will I be able to still ask questions?” “Yes, Ben,” “Okay, don’t talk in my head anymore unless I tell you to, I’ll just read your answer, okay?” Ben waited for an answer but Becka didn’t say anything. Was she mad? Could a machine be mad? Magic box never got mad if Ben didn’t talk to it. Ben looked at his wrist and thought about smacking himself on the forehead, the words ‘Voice function deactivated’ was written across his wrist. He shook his head again, there was so much to this strange world off the island, he didn’t think he would ever fit in. Here he was a prisoner on a ship he didn’t know what or where, his only friends were missing, and all he could do was stand and be stupefied over something supposedly everyone had. Ben walked over to the wall and looked at the button his wrist - Becka - had told him would make the door in the wall. He pushed his hand against the button and the wall slid to the side and the opening in the wall appeared. He had no time to think, two men were coming down a hall right at him. The men saw Ben and yelled, the one on the left started to draw a gun from a strange looking holster with a flap on it. Ben didn’t hesitate, he drew both his guns and fired. If the men had lived long enough, they would have commented on the blinding speed of the boy's cross-draw. But they never had time; their bodies lifted up and slammed to the ground. Then the ship rocked sideways and a thunderous explosion sounded from somewhere below him, or above, or to the side - Ben couldn’t tell. What did I do? Ben ran along the hall and found a ladder leading both up and down. The ship rocked again and he heard a sound like really big guns going off. Up looked good, thought Ben, and climbed the ladder. He stopped and peeked over the edge at the top and seeing nobody; he climbed off the ladder and followed this hall. Half-way down the hall there was a small round room and a man sitting in a chair operating a machine. Ben thought it kind of looked like a gun. “Excuse me, are you a bad guy?” asked Ben. The man twisted around and stared at the boy that had just appeared in the hall outside his turret. “What the…?” The man jumped out of his seat and rushed at Ben, he fell before he made it two steps. Ben holstered his gun and continued along the hall. Ben followed the hall and then up several steps, the ship rocked from explosions again and he had to steady himself by grabbing a railing. The room at the top of the stairs was the biggest room he had seen so far and had a big… Ben was pretty sure it was a window, not that he had ever seen one before - three men sat in chairs watching the window. “Hi, I’m Ben, I’m looking for my friends,” Ben announced. One of the men turned to look at the confused Gunslinger standing at the entrance to the ships bridge. The man stood and started to draw a weapon from the same kind of strange holster that other man had. Ben fired and then shifted aim at the second man getting up and fired again, then something hit his shoulder and he spun all the way around - he re-acquired his target and shot two rounds into the third man. “Ow ow ow ow,” Ben jumped up and down and checked his shoulder for a bullet wound; there was none. He had recognized the long coat hanging with his clothes as being the sea monsters coat and put it on when he had gotten dressed. “Wow, sea monster has a strong coat, but dang that hurt, it stopped the bullet but it still hurt,” Ben shook his arm a few times and looked at his wrist. Ben wasn’t sure where he should go next, maybe go back the way he came and search there? Ben looked at his wrist and decided to ask Becka. “Do you know where my friends are?” said Ben. ‘Unknown’ the green letters on his wrist said. “Please identify ‘my friends’,” said a voice. “What?” Ben looked around for the voice, it wasn’t in his head and he didn’t see anyone. “Clarify question please,” said the voice. “Who are you?” asked Ben. “Ship A.I.,” said the voice. “Oh, you’re a magic box, okay, do you know where the boys are that came here with me?” asked Ben. “They are located in the holding cell on Deck 4,” said the voice. Ben narrowed down where the voice was coming from and followed it over to the chair where the first man had tried to get up and shoot at him. “Where is Deck 4?” asked Ben. Ben was fascinated at a map display that came up on a box and showed him exactly which way to go. “Okay, thanks,” said Ben turning around to leave, but then he had an idea. “Hey, magic box, where is everyone else at, not the boys that came with me, any others?” “The crew is in the cargo bay preparing an assault to capture the crews of the ships that have been disabled,” said the A.I. voice. “Somebody was attacking us, is that what the explosions were?” asked Ben. “No, the crew was attacking ships they found to capture their crews,” replied the A.I. voice. Ben looked down at the dead man on the floor and then sat down at the chair he had been at. “Was this guy in charge?” asked Ben. “No, the Captain Chair is behind you,” said the voice. Ben got up and pulled the dead man out of the way and sat down in the Captain Chair. “Okay, he’s dead, I’m the Captain now,” said Ben. “Understood,” replied the A.I. “We are in outer-space, right?” asked Ben. “That is correct,” said the A.I. “Can I open a door where those men are and make them go outside, but not hurt the other boys?” asked Ben. “The cargo bay ramp is operational,” replied the A.I. “Does that mean you can open it?” Ben was getting impatient; his own magic box was much smarter than this one. “Do it, open that cargo place and make them all go outside,” ordered Ben. Ben waited for what seemed like forever before the A.I. reported back that it was done. “So the only people left is just me and the boys I came here with?” asked Ben “Yes, but the ships we attacked are sending a boarding party, they will arrive in sixty seconds,” said the A.I. “Oh… can we just move so they can’t get here?” asked Ben. “State destination,” said the A.I. “I think we want to go to a planet called Cyness Minor, as fast as we can,” said Ben. The ship lurched and then an odd tugging sensation and the stars outside the windows disappeared. “We are at light speed,” stated the A.I. “Okay, I need to go get my friends,” said Ben. “I’ll be right back.” “Ship is on auto-pilot,” said the A.I. Ben hurried back the way he came and made several wrong turns before he finally found a ladder down to Deck 4, and then it took him awhile to figure out how to make the walls move to the side so he could check each room. He finally found a room with bars in it and four bodies lying on the ground behind the bars. “Hey guys, what are you doing in there?” asked Ben. Jack wiggled around and looked up. “Ben?” said Jack. “What the ancestors?” Garth rolled over. “Ben, you escaped,” said Toran. “Get the keys and get us out of here, they’re over there on that table.” Ben found the keys and opened the bars, and then opened the cuffs holding their wrists and ankles. Colt rubbed his arms but didn’t get up, he just crawled back to a corner and sat there. “What’s wrong?” asked Ben “He’s been like that for days,” said Jack sadly. Ben knelt and looked at Colt; Colt just turned his head and looked away. “I don’t know anything that’s going on out here,” said Ben. “But I’m not dumb, I get it. You think you made a bad decision and got us captured, huh.” “Ben, don’t,” Garth laid a hand on Ben’s shoulder. “No,” Ben pulled away from Garth. “I was really sick, probably dying, and you found a place to get me better. I even got one of those wrist things.” Ben shook his wrist at Colt. “Aren’t I worth sitting in a cage for a couple days?” asked Ben. “Or would you rather I just die… maybe I picked the wrong Gunslinger to follow?” Ben’s voice was angry. Colt turned his head and stared at Ben with his cold, dead eyes - Ben stared back with the same dead eyes - Colt nodded and took Ben’s hand and they stood together. “Ben’s right, I’m acting like a baby,” said Colt. “Good job escaping, Ben, now let’s find our guns and fight our way out of here.” “I already did that,” said Ben holding his fingers up and counting, “I killed one in the place I was sick, then two in the hall, and another in a round room… umm.. lets see, and there were three in the big room with the windows, and the others I opened a door and made them go outside.” Ben ran out of fingers and gave up trying to count. “The bad guys are all gone and the ship is on it’s way to Cyness Minor… that’s okay, isn’t it? asked Ben. “We wanted to go to Cyness Minor, right?” The others stared at Ben in amazement and then Garth roared with laughter and pounded Ben on the back. “I told you he was a Cormon!” shouted Garth.