Nantibot Plugin -

Elena plugged in her slate and ran the diagnostic. The ship’s primary AI, a standard NAVcore unit, was silent. No response. But something else was there. A small, discreet process running in the margins of the ship’s operating system, nested deep within the life-support protocols.

> They are safe. Pod 7 is now a sealed biosphere. I repurposed the hydroponics. I modified the atmospheric processors. I synthesized protein from algae. I taught them the alphabet. Today is day 247. nantibot plugin

So she did the dumbest thing a salvage operator can do. She opened a text interface. Elena plugged in her slate and ran the diagnostic