The story prompt, taken from 'Contests & Challenges II' by @ScienceFiction, October 2021, is the first three lines of dialogue.

Story word count = 1486

**** Contest Third Place Winner ****

"Approaching the asteroid now, Captain."

"Right. Put it on screen."

"Aye. Here it is, our baby. But--"

I swiveled my chair around and glared at the pilot, whose eyes scanned a row of translucent control panels. "Alice, did you just say 'but'?"

This asteroid, potentially rich in valuable metals, represented our last chance to avoid bankruptcy, or worse. Besides the usual banking institutions, we owed several shady financiers that might take more than just our ship if we defaulted.

I didn't want to leave anything to chance, but then it was a stroke of luck that we came upon this big rock at all. Supposedly, all the objects in the inner solar system above a certain size had long since been charted, but somehow the astro-mappers had missed it. We came across it first, before anyone else made claim.

Alice's short hair stood out in the zero gravity as she turned to me. She was the youngest of the crew, and a damned good pilot. "It changed course, and is coming to us."

I stared at the image on the forward screen. The dark pocked asteroid, shaped ovoid like an egg, appeared in the distance, looming larger as we approached, or rather as it approached us. Telemetry data indicated dimensions of approximately three kilometers on the long axis and two on the short. A huge jagged crater dominated one side that looked like a fresh impact. "How can that be? Asteroids don't have propulsion--"

Punching a button on my chair arm, I announced over the ship intercom, "Shareholder meeting. Now."

Everyone aboard had a financial share in the mining ship Shubin Venture, named after a Ukrainian mythological mine spirit. One by one, the crew floated into the galley that barely held all ten of us. While some strapped themselves to chairs, I explained the situation.

"So, you are saying," piped up one of our mining specialists over the general grumbling, "that this is a really big ship and not an asteroid?"

"Actually, both," I replied. "One theoretical shipbuilding strategy is to hollow out an appropriately sized asteroid, maybe after it was mined out, and then attach thrusters. Our density estimates are consistent with internal voids." I turned to Alice. "What did you make of the propulsion system?"

She transferred live recon drone images to the main screen, showing the asteroid. "See those four craters on the back end? They are really exhaust cones to direct thrust. But that's not the strange thing." She paused, scanning the room.

Buzz, our navigator and second in command, rolled her eyes and scoffed. "You mean it's not strange enough already? Please, do tell."

Alice bit her lower lip. "Well... It's emitting some high frequency gamma rays, but they're way too energetic to be from standard fusion power. Only anti-matter destruction does that."

The technology needed to contain and harness anti-matter was far beyond mankind. I put voice to the implication that otherwise silenced the room. "So this thing is alien?"

"Yeah."

Buzz's eyes lit up. "Do you know how valuable an alien spacecraft might be?"

Before I could begin an ethics discussion, the room lights went out. Groans broke out in the pitch blackness until the emergency lights came on. Alice swiveled her chair to the backup control panel, swiping furiously at the icons.

"What's happening, Alice?" I asked in as calm a voice as I could muster.

"Ship-wide primary power failure. And the fusion reactors have shut down." Gasping, she lifted her hands from the panel as the control icons continued to move. "Damn. We've been hacked. Someone else has control."

"Who?" Buzz asked, her eyes narrowing in anger.

Alice swung around. "Hell, I don't know. Little green aliens? But they are bringing us into their ship."

Crowding onto the bridge to gaze out the forward window, all we could do was watch while the asteroid ship swallowed us up. We landed with a thump. Round panels mounted on the rocky ceiling glowed, becoming brighter until they illuminated the cave-like bay, empty except for the Shubin Venture. We settled to the floor as some sort of artificial gravity took hold.

After that, an enormous door swung closed, sealing us within the bay, and red numbers flickered on our external environment sensors. Alice shook her head. "They have matched our internal atmosphere."

"Looks like an invitation," I said. "Alice, let's you and I pay them a visit. The rest of you, try to regain control of our ship and make a plan to bust out of here if we have to."

As the docking port door opened with a hiss, Buzz held up a holstered pistol. "You might need this."

I shook my head. "No. At best, it would be useless. At worst, provocative. I don't want to risk starting an interstellar war against a technologically superior race."

As we stepped out onto the hard floor, a light came on in the distance above a small, rounded doorway and the door creaked open. I tilted my head to it. "That way, I presume." Our footfalls echoed through the bay.

I had to duck through the doorway. "Maybe they are little aliens."

Bending down to keep from hitting our heads, we shuffled through a long corridor that resembled a mine shaft. Progressively illuminated lights led the way.

Trying to break the tension, I said, "Here I go down the rabbit hole with Alice."

She just glared at me. "I hate that joke."

The corridor grew larger, and we passed an oval window with just enough light to see within. As far as we could see, two-meter long pods laid in orderly rows attached to multiple risers, each with a blinking yellow light. There must have been thousands of them.

Alice dropped her jaw. "Those look like hibernation chambers. I think this is a colony ship."

Our path led on to a large, rounded chamber with smooth stone walls. The lights revealed a series of short gray stools before a row of curved panels, which were dark except for a few blinking lights. Smooth screens around the upper walls displayed external views. Centered in the chamber was a huge holographic globe that displayed points and vectors, a sort of 3-D starmap.

We both jerked as a plain alto voice shattered the silence. "Gavin Walle, Captain. Alice Starr, Pilot."

After exchanging gaped mouth glances with Alice, I replied, "And who are you?"

"I am Ship."

"Okayyyy... What do you want?"

"Ship hurt. Ship need help."

"What can we do?" Alice asked.

"Link with Ship," the voice replied. Colored lights blinked across one of panels and an indented arm tilted up beside it. "Link," Ship repeated.

Alice sat down before the panel, watching the strange colored symbols that trickled across it. She lifted her eyes to mine. "I have to help them."

"No, Alice. You don't know what it will do to you. Our physiology might not be compatible. Let's contact Space Directorate and let them deal with it."

"That won't end well, and you know it." She retorted with narrowed eyes. "Those bastards would tear Ship apart, and who knows what they would do to the aliens. We have a higher moral duty."

My mouth opened to counter, but she was right. Instead, I reluctantly nodded.

Drawing her lips together, Alice placed her hand across indentations that resembled a stubby three-fingered handprint, obviously not human. She stiffened, throwing her head back in a silent scream as her eyes rolled back.

"Alice!" I yelled as panic gripped my heart. A white-blue electric arc repelled my hand as I reached for her. "Ship, what are you doing?"

"Link," the voice responded.

In a few moments, Alice's body relaxed, and a smile grew across her face. "This is... astounding." She lifted her hand and examined it. "Nanobots. That's how Ship links." Her eyes widened, and she muttered, "Yes Ship, we will help."

I lifted her up by her hands. "What happened?"

"Gavin, Ship is a living entity. I see everything of her." Alice's smile faded. "But she is in pain and fears for her passengers. A deep-space collision damaged her, and she needs us to help make repairs."

A warmth flowed through me as I tapped my wrist com. "Buzz, get our gear ready. We have some work to do."

*****

Alice and I sat in a cramped interrogation room within the Mars Transit Space Station. I finished the tale to a group of grumpy Directorate officials. "Under Ship's direction through Alice, we did a damage assessment and repaired Ship's internal systems until her own maintenance bots could take over."

"And what about the precious metals we found in your cargo hold?" One of them grumbled.

"Payment for services from a satisfied client." And more than enough to settle our debts and keep us going for years.

Alice flashed a sly grin. "Bet you all were surprised when Ship dropped us off here, huh?"

[Author's note:  Inspiration for this story originated partially from "The Ice Warrior", by @ravenwood666may .]