Andy- 'Got red on you'

<Snip>
"I have a cunning plan." she added. Andy didn't want to leave her
alone to the rabble underneath, and tried to grab her arm to pull her
along with him. Rosette growled at him, and pulled away. "GO!" she
whispered. she pushed him away, and turned to the gap in the vents.
The enemy were all staring up, guns pointed at the gaping hole.
<End snip>
Who: Andy
Where: Ventilation shafts
When: 10 minutes after Rosette's offensive
The janitor moved through the ventilation system unhindered as he had
done many time before. This time he was moving as though he had rocket
pants. For the first time in an entire week he had no idea what he was
doing or where he was going.
It was kinda surreal actually. In the span of a minute, Andy was
separated with only people that weren't fully comprised of metal that
he would even remotely have called a friend.
Andy was confused, scared and angry; a dangerous combination to be
sure. His conscience screamed at him for both abandoning a promise and
leaving a woman behind, regardless of her skill or apparent lack of
care for her own safety. It didn't take long for his own guilt, a
different creature all together, to chip in. If he had simply left her
along and taken Rufus then she would probably be alright. Not
suffering the various scenarios that the Australian man's twisted mind
was conjuring up.
"No, not my fault… not my…fault." Andy's breath was getting more and
more laboured as he moved onwards. A strange throbbing pain was
beginning to get more noticeable in his chest as he moved onwards. One
that wasn't all together familiar. It wasn't heartache… or guilt. Hell
it wasn't even indigestion.
The ventilation suddenly forked off into the larger maintenance
tunnels, this one being a ladder shaft. He took the easier path.
Jumping onto the ladder he moved downwards. Bringing him closer to the
guts of the ship and away from whatever would give chase.
Andy looked down end the ladder. A small room was at the end, no doubt
a maintenance hub where he could find a terminal. It didn't take long
for him to get here. It was just a few feet away from the bottom. But
just as he was about to take the next step his head suddenly span and
his foot slipped on something.
He didn't have time to look as his arms detached surrealistically and
he fell away from the shaft. The cleaner blacked out before he hit the
ground.
It took a few minutes before Andy would think straight.
Face up from the ground, his head turned to the left. The rugged
terminal was clearly in view and throbbing with an electronic glow.
Andy tried to pull himself up but found the task to be remarkably
difficult to do so.
He was beginning to pant and wheeze as he dragged himself up to the
terminal.
Thankfully the computer was still working. To be honest he had left
the Computer work to Rufus simply out of convenience. Besides, the kid
was the head scientist aboard the Blue Dwarf! Even if not for that he
had to know more about this technology than some nameless Bogan from
the 50's!
But Rufus wasn't here right now. So he had to do it.
Andy's hands dug into the side panel of the computer and tore it open
with practiced ease. You skimp on security, you're going to get
hacked. A single hand dove in as the other assaulted the keyboard with
blistering speed. The cleaner didn't even need to look at the switches
and wires he was pulling, just as he didn't need to observe the keys
he was tapping.
Numbers began to fill the screen like an eloquent ballet. This was so
easy it was almost laughable. That said he always tried to clean up
after he was done, at least whenever he touched terminals like these.
Dispensers where easy to crack and security didn't care much about a
multi-national giant loosing some profit. When you start touch
terminals like these though… they get a little more upgrade-happy.
That was never a good thing.
A sudden and forceful large thrust of pain jabbed him in the chest. He
growled it back like a dog forcing a stray cat to stay away from its meal.
"There." Andy was never much for verbal narration but it helped keep
him focused. "I'm in." The system was cracked wide open. Now all he
had to do was find what they had actually done and reverse it. First
point of business, get Holly back on line.
Within a few minutes the locks on the AI were dispersed. All they had
done was stuck him into an infinite loop. Having the AI repeat the
same task over and over again, that was, idle system process which
kept the ship functioning. Then simply break the loop by stating that
the 'idle system process' was finished. What were they employing as
hackers anyway, primary-school children?
Then again thrust of anguish hit him yet again. Was that fall back
there harder than he had thought?
Suddenly, the text on the screen was pushed aside as Holly's
magnificent balding head made and entrance.
"'Sup dude?" The program asked with a cocky grin. "Well, you don't
look too good. You sure you're alright?"
Andy shook his head at the AI's questions. "No, I'm fine. I just hit
my head. Now look. Blue Dwarf has been taken over by a pack of
pirates… or soldiers… or pirate-soldiers. None of that matters! You're
the AI of the ship with an IQ point total of well… whatever you have.
Do something!"
Holly crocked an eyebrow at the cleaner. "Well, they've locked out
access to the engines or anything else really important for that
matter so I can't control the ship. But well, they haven't touched the
sub-systems so guess I'll have to get creative. Stay away from the
toilets, drink dispensers and possibly explosive consoles for now, right?"
However, the AI's head disappeared without a response.
He was really beginning to dislike Holly.
Andy gave deep sigh and looked down at his keyboard. He first noticed
that something was wrong when he couldn't see the keys on the board.
They'd all been covered by a fluid-like substance. Then he saw that
his fingers where covered by them. "What the…" The cleaner looked back
to the ladder. A small puddle of red fluid lay before it and a crimson
liquid dripped off the handles.
Andy suddenly realised why his chest hurt so bad. As the cleaner's
mouth began to fill with the putrid taste of iron, he looked down to
his chest. There it was, half an inch wide and all the way through.
Nerve-endings burnt to a crisp, ability to sense hot and cold gone.
The hole just below his chest slowly leaked blood like a broke sewer pipe.
He'd been shot.
Shock began to set in. His hand shook and he dropped to the floor. In
the corner of the room he noticed a pile of old rags. They would be
old and filled with grease but they where the only things that could
save him. The janitor dragged himself over to the mound and grabbed
the first.
Pain that was masked by the excitement and adrenaline soon began to
wrack his body as he slowly dressed his wounds. A few to soak the
blood, the others worked as bandages. Each one tighter and tighter
than the last, he realised that there was a very real chance that he
could still die anyway.
His work done; the cleaner sat himself up against the wall, scared,
fading and alone.
<To be honest, I have no idea what to do next. Your move...?>