Sequence by Adam Moon

scrub the unit when his mind screamed out in terror and his consciousness died in a flash.

Endless Assault
     
    Admiral Chaybo was out of his chair, yelling instructions. “Spread the ships out. Each ship is to concentrate their firepower to one spot. This big bastard isn’t going to go down as easily as we thought.”
    “How thick is that hull anyway?”
    “So far it’s thick enough to withstand a full-on assault. Don’t worry , even the largest, thickest egg will eventually crack.”
    “This might be a marathon rather than a sprint.”
    “I’m fine with that. We can’t allow them to escape again. Get to work, people.”
     

Mechanical Man
     
    When Chris awoke, he almost screamed. His entire field of vision was different. It was no longer binocular … but it was better: panoramic and highly focused. He moved his arm and saw it hover in front of his face. It was a metallic tentacle. He could feel several other arms just like it. At first it was tricky to isolate them but he soon got the hang of it. As he was waving his tentacles around like a madman, Number Four’s robot face swam into view.
    He said, “Let’s get you to your guns. It’s time for you to do what this unit does best.”
    Chris nodded his oversized head. It was odd that he had no desire to breathe. He tried to gulp but he couldn’t. It was strange to have such limited feeling in his extremities. But the weirdest part was that there indeed was a foreign presence in his mind with him. He didn’t know if it was the past occupant or not, but it sure as hell wasn’t a part of him. The unit must have preserved a small part of Number Three’s consciousness, and since Number Four had decided scrubbing it would take too long, Chris was now stuck with it. He wondered if it was a part of him now. He wondered if it would come back with him when his consciousness was put back into his real body.
    To see his lifeless body lying there on that plastic table was surreal. There was now an alien respirator over his fleshy , gaping mouth, and a series of tubes snaking from his veins.
    Number Four saw him staring and said, “I put you on life support until you’re done. You’re safe. Now get to work. ”
    Chris jumped down from the docking bay and hit the deck with a dull thud. Somehow, he already knew where the main turret was located. It was in the command station. When he voice-activated it, it would descend from the ceiling. He wondered if the memory was that of the last occupant or if it was a built-in memory, available to anyone who wore the mechanical body.
    He decided he didn’t care. Something profound had changed within him. He was eager to get to work. He was born for this , despite the fact that a few minutes ago the notion had scared him half to death.
    His new body ached for action.

Warfare
     
    When they got back to the command station, everything was in disarray. He didn’t remember the ship sustaining so much damage, but maybe it had happened while his thoughts were being transferred over.
    Samda was standing beside the first m ate. Apparently he’d woken her from stasis before he found out that the captain thought it was a terrible idea.
    Chris couldn’t be certain but he thought he could detect fear in her smooth features.
    She took a single, giant stride forward and placed her baseball mitt sized hand on Chris’ robotic shoulder.
    She said, “You’d better do a good job , little Earthman, because otherwise we’re all going to die horribly.”
    Chris ignored her and brushed the hand away. Instinctively, he said to the ship, “Give me turret controls.” It wasn’t instinctive to Chris but rather to the robotic suit he was residing within.
    A circular hat ch opened up like a mouth and a half-egg shaped seat descended under its own power until it was suspended in midair three feet from the floor with nothing to support it from above or below.
    Chris didn’t hesitate. He sat in the half egg and it held his bulk easily. As soon as