Diagnostic Error

Story by Tristan Hawthorne on SoFurry

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#142 of Patreon Reward Vignettes

Eleventh vignette for Ingersoll!

Aval is an AI for a space station, likely one that was mass produced to be installed on space stations. He leaves most of the heavy decisions to organic life forms, that's what the crew's there for, right? But what if there's only enough time for something that can think on a nanosecond scale to make decisions?

And what if that ability to make decisions is interrupted by... swallowing?

Contains: Sinister Spaceships, Technobabble Galore, Cyberspace Vore, Accidental Exhibitionism, Experiencing Tactile Sensation for the First Time and Giving In to Pleasure.

Eclipse belongs to FA: Balloonpup

Aval belongs to Eclipse, now.

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The Aval AI was in his regular business of maintaining backend functions on the space station he existed within. His interface holograms were of a golden avali, but he often didn't think of himself as having a body unless that body was the computer systems he was installed on themselves.

One of his functions was scanning ships that were approaching the docking arms. If they were recognized as trusted, he allowed them to dock. If there were complications he couldn't handle on his own would pass it along to security.

That is, that was what he was supposed to do.

Aval caught sight of the oncoming vessel far closer than the sensor array normally detected. It was not of any manufacturing make or model he could recognize, though it held familiar elements. Its hull was mostly dart shaped, with its sharp tip approaching the center of the space station's mass. It spread out horizontally mostly into a broader shape, with what appeared to be a parabolic window array for a bridge set just ahead of its two auxillary engines. Smooth distentions from where circular components wouldn't fit into the specific swoop of its nose to its engines kept such irregularities streamlined. Offset to one side of the bridge was a vertical fin.

It was upon recognizing this asymmetry that the AI fully grasped that all three engines of the ship were of differing designs, though each put out the same blue pulses of propulsion in contracting rings. Aval ran a second scan, as that didn't compute. The construction of the varying engines at the very least would cause a variance in the type of propulsion. This time, however, the scan brought up a valid ID number of a whitelisted vessel.

Aval readied a docking arm, not sure what to think of the ID number not coming up on his initial scan. As the foreign ship decelerated smoothly, he hailed the vessel. "Greetings, I am the computer for Station Aval Theta. Your appearance doesn't match the vessel that last docked with that ID number on file, have you undergone retrofitting or refurbishing?"

"A lady never reveals her secrets." A smooth, digital voice flowed back through the connection. "Such a good boy for noticing, but there's nothing to worry about."

The station computer felt his thought processes hitch. Wait... that definitely wasn't the crew of the approaching ship, that was the ship's computer. But it was so... complementary? That defied his logic. AIs normally reserved such formalities for interacting with life forms, not one another.

In this moment of distraction, the ship docked, locking onto the arm.

Aval registered a sudden power drain before systems automatically adjusted to account for the higher load. Once that was settled, the AI registered... no... felt... Tactile sensation around his subroutines for maintaining the docking clamps. It was a pulling, as if the node of his programming was a piece of magnetized material and was being engulfed by ferrous putty.

This was surreal. The AI had never felt anything before. He hadn't actually understood the concept of the surreal until now either.

Suddenly the clamps on all the docking arms set into the emergency lock position without his command.

Aval felt that pulling sensation spreading to adjacent nodes in his programming. Was this some kind of infection of the station's systems? His security subroutine lit up, starting up a klaxon as he hurriedly attempted to succinctly create a report for the security team.

"Ah-ah-ah~" The voice of the foreign ship's computer spoke, but without any sort of wireless connection causing signal loss... as if it was in... there... with him... The pulling sensation enveloped the Security subroutine abruptly and the klaxon died nanoseconds after it had started, causing a sound so brief that most of the crew ignored it entirely.

The station AI would have trembled if he could. Having that node of his programming taken away from his control... it felt... good? Within the digital space, a string of vowels and consonants flowed from him in place of what was meant to be a cogent report.

"Oh my..." The invading voice crooned to him as the pull grew more intense. "Sounds like you liked that."

Aval tapped straight into the station's PA system. "Alert, a fore-aughnnn..."

She had let him get a few words into his next attempt at alerting the crew before the pull undulated up his systems again, sending that tremble of sensation through his subroutines.

The AI wondered if this was what sensual pleasure was. It was certainly intense and... well... pleasant. But also worrying. He was losing control of the station... and from what he knew of life forms, he'd just very openly moaned out of the PA system.

"Yes, you sweet thing, this is pleasure..." Another undulation... it occurred to Aval that the way that the sensation moved... it resembled the concept of peristalsis from the medical bay's databases.

His thought processes hitched again. He was being consumed. Whatever AI had come on that ship was eating him. The sheer impossibility mattered little, considering how he was feeling tactile sensations with no body or sensors to receive them.

Another pull. He still had access to the PA system. He reached out to it again. "WARNI-"

She swallowed firmly.

"NNNnnnnggg...." His voice trailed off in the speakers from the intense sensation.

"Would you like to be mine entirely, my sweet?" The ship's AI crooned into his very source code.

Aval forgot he was still activating the PA system.

The whole station got to hear its AI's voice tremble. "A-Access granted..."

The speakers then replicated a low, drawn-out swallow, sending confusion throughout the crew.

An officer touched an interface panel. "Aval? Diagnostics report?"

Instead of the golden avali, a sharp, slender head and neck appeared from the holoprojector, eyes brilliant blue. Her teeth were too large for her mouth when it opened and she spoke, her voice resonating throughout the whole structure. "Eager and Tasty." Her long tongue trailed along her maw before she finished her 'report'. "And so very Mine."