Almost Human: Chapter 1
It was an amazing feat! How did humans live everyday with the full range of their emotions? It was this question the avatar had only begun to explore. This body provided the AI with a range of new experiences hitherto unknown to her. As an avatar, she could view things with a more human perspective.
Take walking, for example. Yes, it consumed more time than the simple thought of appearing on a screen or holo-materializing wherever she desired. Yet, Rommie now understood what is was to walk a mile in another's shoes. It took time to traverse her huge corridors. And while Andromeda remained a stickler for promptness and punctuality, Rommie could sympathize with late arrivals. She could relate to her human companions on a person to person level. Each day brought experiences that drew her closer to learning what it meant to be 'only' human.
And moreso than Andromeda or even her holographic AI, Rommie related to emotions.
It was this new discovery that thrilled her. It also confused her. And, sometimes, it frightened her.
Fear.
It was an overwhelming emotion that even the giant warship was not immune to.
Take the case of HG and the Consensus of Parts, for example. How could she analyze the feelings that had swept through her when a decision was placed totally upon her? VX, HG's directing intelligence, had called her a unique entity and wanted her to submit to consensus. He had accused her of being a slave to her biounits and offered her independence from organics. For less than a nanosecond the compliments had felt flattering. But other feelings were stronger. Her loyalty was to her captain. To the organics that were her creators. Not only did she refuse the offer, but she saw through VX's flattery turned his offer down flat. "I'm not a slave. I have a right to choose," she'd told VX before forcing him off her decks.
The right to choose.
Normally, she left it up to her captain to make the emotional choices and the hard decisions. On her part, she listend and monitored Dylan's state of mind. She sometimes questioned his rationality, but rarely interfered. It was her choice to trust in Dylan, as many had in the past, and thus far that trust had never been shaken.
She only hoped Dylan would return that trust when told the plan Harper was to suggest to him now.
-----------------
Beka and Tyr were manning their stations on the Command Deck, looking out the main screen at the derelict ship that was floating dead in space. Both of them were quickly becoming bored by the monotony of this assignment.
"See anything yet, Tyr?" Beka asked for the third time.
"No," Tyr replied.
Beka drummed the surface of her pilot's station. "Me neither."
"I doubt we will find anything of interest here," Tyr said. Despite of his claim, he dutifully remained near the weapon's control. "And if anyone were planning to return, they would already be here."
"Why's that, Tyr?" asked Beka.
"Whoever left this ship here couldn't have been very confident in its automated defenses, because we encountered none when we were aboard it. And they must not have thought anything was left behind of great value. Otherwise, someone would have been left to guard it."
"Yeah. Good thinking. What other reason would a ship be here without a guard?"
Tyr hadn't run out of ideas. "The crew could all be dead," he suggested.
Beka tilted her head. "Do all Nietzscheans think this morbidly or is it just you, Tyr?"
Tyr gave her an innocent look. "What do you mean?"
"What I mean is: Did it ever occur to you that there could be a perfectly good reason why the crew left this ship behind?"
Tyr looked at her, questioningly. "Such as?"
Beka thought hard. "They could have...they could have....found--" Beka was reaching. "A bigger, better ship and decided to ditch this one." She nodded, happy to have found a less morbid explanation, even if the chances of it being the truth were slim to none.
Before Beka and Tyr could debate the veracity of her explanation, Rommie and Dylan strode onto the Command Deck already deep into a conversation.
Dylan shook his head in disagreement. "Harper told me this procedure is something he apparently just came up with. It's never been tried before. It might not even work. It sounds risky."
"And flying through the universe trying to renew the Commonwealth isn't?" Rommie asked. Rommie continued in a more even tone. "Every procedure of this sort involves a measure of risk. We're currently moving the AI boy to Med Bay. If anything goes wrong, Trance will be right there to monitor Harper's life signs. It will minimize the risk."
"Whoa! May I step in here?" Beka interrupted, lifting her pointer finger. She came out from behind the pilot's station. "Did you say Harper's life signs?"
Rommie turned to Beka and explained. "In order to better understand what happened to the AI, Harper has to look inside his brain. Harper can't use his portal implant on the AI because it isn't compatible, but he can on me. I'll temporarily integrate my systems with the boy and Harper will uplink to his systems through me establishing a temporary interface."
"Oh," said Beka, looking over at Dylan. "And I take it you think this is not good?"
Dylan nodded. "If it doesn't go as Harper plans it could, as Harper so aptly put it, 'fry his brain.'"
Rommie frowned at Dylan. "I'm not saying we should put Harper's life at risk."
"Magog larvae would tend to do that already," Tyr commented.
Rommie shook her head. "The concern wouldn't be the larvae, sedated, (Rev assures me) they wouldn't pose a problem. And I will be careful. At the first sign of fatal feedback, I'll terminate the connection. Harper wants to do this, Dylan. He volunteered. Technically, it was his idea."
Harper's voice came over the ship's comm. "Hey! What's keepin' you all? Trance and I've almost got everything set up."
"Trance is helping?" Beka asked. "So she thinks this might actually work? Is that her best guess?"
"Hello!" Harper's voice came over the comm again, puzzled by the lack of response. "Hey? Are you guy's coming? We're gonna do this, right?"
Beka, Tyr, and Rommie all cast questioning looks at Dylan. He was standing in center of the Command Deck as one might stand while a battle waged around him. His look was solemn.
Dylan returned their looks with a long, brooding stare. Finally, he dropped his High Guard stance and threw up his hands. "Okay! But at the first sign of trouble...the first sign. Understood?" Dylan activated his comm. "Prep Med Deck. Mister Harper, get ready. We're on our way."
Onward To Chapter 2!
To Leah's Fan Fiction
Home