Light flooded the escape pod as the final remains of the Nexis Blue was destroyed. Some had their faces turned away while others watched in mute horror, over in a far corner soft crying could be heard. This was unplanned...it was impossible. Melee knuckles where turning a ghostly white from clutching her data pad so tightly. A picture of her and Orin was smiling back at her from the lock screen.

Across from her two of the crewmen were talking about how the whole of the engine room was lost and most of the bridge as well. It was a hollow feeling not knowing how many had survived. How many pods had made it off the ship and out of the blast zone.

"Mrs. Burett." A hand being placed on her shoulder brought her back from her dark thoughts, It was Cam a communication officer that had become a friend on the Nexis Blues maiden voyage. "We have received word from H-3. Dr. Burett is on board."
Relief like she had never felt before flooded her system. Orin was alive and safe and it felt like she could breath little easier now.For the first time she turned her eyes toward the burning wreckage of her home fore the last two years her thoughts going to KES. Of course she could rewrite his code but it wouldn't be the same. KES had been programed to learn a new AI would have different experiences and develop differently. Her husband was safe. They would figure out what to do next when they met up.

----

" Glade to see you coming around Dr. Could you try opening your eyes for me?"
Orin was sure he had never heard the assistant med officer sound so sure of herself before. So as much as the pounding in his head demanded he keep his eyes firmly shut he knew she needed to check his pupils for any signs of a concussion. What greeted him was a split second of blinding light and fire racing through his head.
"KES turn down the lights" the doctor groaned out trying to rub the pain away from behind his eyes and sit up. The hand on his chest stopping him half way.

"Sir, you are on escape pod H-3...the... the AI's system got cut right before we launched."

The words knocked him back down. KES was gone. Melee would be...." What about my wife she was getting onto..." oh which pod did KES send her to again?

" She is on pod H-1 sir. we will be meeting with them when we land."
Good. Good Melee was okay.

---
KES had never had a virus before. but he had extensive knowledge about what one did to the program. He suspected that when the data pad he currently resided in was forcibly cut from the Nexis Blue that it was the same thing. He had spent two hos his three years of creature tied into the mainframe of the ship and it was impossible to completely sever himself from it. A scan showed that while he did have some gaps his memory bank had still been whole.

with out the ship connecting the data pad to the escape pod he was trapped. KES was use to maintain a ship designed to comfortably house thousands. He hadn't be so confined since his early months of creations, even then he had free range of the Burett's house. with out a way to scan the area he couldn't predict the best course of action or even if any in the pod had survived the escape.

Overriding the pad back up system was easy but it wasn't made to processes a program as large and complex as himself. He was running slower the normal. Turning on the mic to the data pad KES addressed the possible survivors. "Hello I am K501E2910-S5729. I hope you don't mind but I found it prudent to stowaway"