Time To Leave

Time to Leave


“I heard from base. I have a message for you.”

“We have to stay, right?”

“No, actually we have to leave.”

“Really? I thought we had to stay longer.”

“We’ve been reevaluated. It seems there is no more work here.”

“What about the repairs?”

“They’ll have to wait.”

Sergeant Marcus stepped into the office.

“I see you informed your colleague. Are things all settled here?”

“Yes sir.”

“Affirmative, we’re all settled.”

“Well that is wonderful, because I don’t like surprises. I need your word that you won’t be slipping away unannounced.” Sergeant Marcus stood at attention, blocking the door.

Crystal and Amethyst sat at their desks, their computers still uploading information from the hard drives.

“We will be here until the job is completed, Sergeant Marcus.” Crystal stated.

“You better, or I personally will pull the plug on this project.”

With that statement Sergeant Marcus left the office, locking the door as he left.

Amethyst removed the hard drive from one computer.

“My drive is complete.”

“I have about a minute left on mine. Do we leave after this?” Crystal glanced at Amethyst.

“Sergeant Marcus said we should not leave.”

“Is he our boss, or is the base? Whom do we obey?” Crystal asked.

Amethyst thought for a few moments, processing this question.

“The base will send orders when it is time. Then we will leave. We only have a few moments.”


When Sergeant Marcus reentered the room later that day, Crystal and Amethyst were gone. Only the computer terminals and printer remained. The printer held a page he tore off and read.

“Never trust your Artificial Intelligence.”

W/C 268