Treecy was so bored. Without the game, she couldn't make use of her powerful mind. Trying to live at the slow pace of the people of the squadron was impossible for Treecy. She joined up with the military in hopes it would give her enough to do that she could erase some of the boredom but it was barely working. She started reading the books in the proto-game the ship had while playing some of the war games and watching the video feeds as part of the security job but she still had plenty of attention left to wallow in her boredom.

Her presidential level of authority gave her access to all the manuals on the ship's technology which was so basic to her that she came up with simple improvements for nearly every system. She started sending them to the chief engineer who immediately knew the value of most of them at a glance. Her new boss, Lieutenant Dedmon, was still a little standoffish but seemed to be gaining a little respect for her diligence and attention to detail.

Treecy's third day of work as an acting ensign was the most exciting day yet! An alarm claxon went off and Colonel John's voice came over the com channel, "Red alert! Security to the NCO mess hall!"

Treecy watched as Lieutenant Dedmon shot up out of her seat. She called over her shoulder, "Acting Ensign de Santos, you're with me!"

Lieutenant Dedmon ran over to a locker by the door and punched in a code and pulled out two stun sticks. Handing one to Treecy and carrying one herself. They ran through the main hallway toward the back of the vessel. After descending two floors they entered the NCO mess hall and found a huge brawl happening. Treecy and Lieutenant Dedmon made quick work of knocking out the worst of it with quick taps of the stun stick against the back of the brawler's heads.

Once the NCO's fight was broken up and order was restored Lieutenant Dedmon started to question people about how the fight started. The first crew member started to give an answer, "Ma'am, you see Corporal Brenner was saying that he thought that uh... A certain celebrity was the most beautiful girl and I said that uh... I had seen better." He looked at Treecy de Santos just long enough that Lieutenant Dedmon caught it.

Lieutenant Dedmon's eye started to twitch and a vein pulsed on her forehead. She shook her head and said, "Ok. I get it. You, you, and you. Come with us, the rest of you clean this fucking mess up."

Lieutenant Dedmon walked at the front and Treecy walked at the back as they escorted the three men to the brig. After the men had been situated in the brig Lieutenant Dedmon heard one of the men saying, "I swear it was worth it. Did you see that ass?"

She stopped in her tracks and then walked back to the men and looked at the man who spoke and angrily pointed at him and said, "You know women aren't objects. I realize that Acting Ensign de Santos has got a great body, but she is still an officer and you will show her the proper respect. Am I clear?"

One of the men stifled a laugh while the oldest of the three cleared his throat and tried to wipe a smile off his face.

Lieutenant Dedmon frowned hard and then asked the oldest one, "Speak, why are you two laughing?"

"Pardon me, Ma'am, it's just that PFC Green wasn't talking about Acting Ensign de Santos."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

An odd silence hung in the air before Lieutenant Dedmon turned and walked away. The three men couldn't help but notice that she was swaying her hips a little more than previously.

Back in the security chief's office Lieutenant Dedmon looked over at Treecy and asked, "Miss de Santos, how are you doing?"

Treecy looked over at her superior officer and smiled, "The work is within my ability to complete."

"No, I mean, how are you doing? Are you ok? I know it's more than a little bit of culture shock being here."

"Oh. Well, I am sad and bored. I miss Ben, my ex, for the last six years we were always in contact through the game." She closed her eyes for a moment.

"He's the one that caused you to take your vehicle through the stargate?" Lieutenant Dedmon asked softly.

"Yes, Benten Googlememe. I met him when I was fourteen. He already had a Popski of 4 and I thought he was the most important boy in the world. He invited me to play the game with him and it was the most fun I had ever had." She smiled and then continued, "When he tossed me aside I felt like my world had ended."

Lieutenant Dedmon made a snorting noise and said, "I can't imagine anyone tossing aside a woman like you, honestly."

"Here I am someone special, but back home I was just another girl." Treecy shrugged, "It's all about your scores back home."

"I have been wondering about that, can you explain Popski?"

"Popularity Score... So, it's basically like... There are ten people in a room. Your Popski is how many of those ten people will know you or want to know you. Like, I don't know... Say a great singer with a hit song comes into that ten-person room and seven people know them or want to know them because of the song... That person would have a Popski of seven." Treecy touched her lips in thought, "It's a lot more complicated than that, but that's how it works in theory."

"So this Ben Googlemeyer guy would be known by four people?" Lieutenant Dedmon frowned, "Is that good? It doesn't seem like a lot."

"An average person has a Popski of three." Treecy shrugged. "I'm probably not explaining it well enough... There are 201 people on the Nemo right now, I am guessing that not every member of the crew can name each person, is that accurate?"

Lieutenant Dedmon nodded, "I can name most, but not all without some external assistance."

Treecy nodded as well, "But do you think everyone could name Colonel John?"

"Easily." Lieutenant Dedmon nodded.

"Then Colonel John within the squadron would have a Popski of ten. Ten out of Ten people could identify him. PFC Green from the fight though... He would be known by the people who had worked closely with him but not the people outside of that circle."

"Ah I think I understand, so the more people you include in the circle the lower the average would be." Lieutenant Dedmon rubbed her chin in thought.

Treecy nodded, "I had a Popski of 3.99997 which dropped to 3.500001 after I was no longer Ben's girlfriend. It wasn't that people forgot about me, it was just that Ben's popularity made me more popular by extension. It made people more interested in knowing me."

Lieutenant Dedmon scrunched up her face and then asked, "So it's not just how many people out of ten know you, it's how many people out of ten are interested enough to want to know you?"

"Mm, yes, it's more like that. I'm sorry, my AI chip doesn't have the words to describe it exactly." Treecy looked a little depressed.

"You also said you were bored, like all the time, or right when I asked? Is it your assignment?" Lieutenant Dedmon tapped an icon on her display.

Treecy blushed and waggled her hand a little before saying, "It's because I don't have access to the game. The destroyer's entertainment is too basic. Normally I have three or four things to do at the same time, so only having this job and the limited entertainment here isn't enough to engage my mind. I wrote several new puzzles and other system improvements for the Nemo and the other destroyers but they are pending approval from the Colonel and the squadron's chief engineer."

"Wait, you mean you did that while watching the monitors and writing your reports?"

"Yes, ma'am. I also got high scores in several games of capture the flag and one vee one duel. Ah, and I read most of the library's technical manuals. I also found some fascinating documentaries about the political makeup of the Federation."

"And you did all that while writing this report? What do you think about our AIs?" Lieutenant Dedmon looked a little concerned.

"They are very primitive. You were all very brave to head out into deep space with such a simple program. My personal neurolink was able to find hundreds of flaws with the network just by logging in to it."

"And you can upgrade it with all you are also doing?" She blinked unbelievingly.

"Mm, easily. To me all of this technology you see as state-of-the-art is not even at the level of my toys as a child." Treecy made a face and then added, "I'm sorry if that came across as bragging, I am just coming from thousands of years in the future from the world you left."