“Good Morning, Gary…”

He stirred in his cryogenic bed, as Grace’s pleasant voice tried to awaken him from his slumber. Since he wasn’t to be re-frozen for a few years, he turned it into a temporary sleeping cot, it had a reasonable soft white memory foam mattress inside of it, a cozy light blue blanket, and a small pillow for his head to rest on.

“Mmm-muh…” Gary replied back.

“You must perform the daily tasks to maintain this vessel.” She stated. “Please, proceed to the kitchen to be issued out your breakfast ration.”

There was no response from him, other than a drawn out snore. He had fallen back to sleep, and turned on his side, avoiding the bright light she activated above the bed. She repeated her instruction, and he totally ignored her yet again. After a few more repeated attempts, Grace activated the ships collision alarm. The loud, and rather high-pitched whine, caused Gary to spring alive and fall out of his bed in a panic.

“What is it? What’s going on?” He shouted in a fright, picking himself off the floor, wearing only a pair of underpants. “What’s coming at us?”

Grace immediately turned off the alarm.

“I apologize doing that, Gary. But you would not wake up. I needed something to get your attention.”

“Mission accomplished,” He grumbled. He plunked down onto a chair near the bed and placed his left hand over his chest. “Nearly gave me a heart attack, girl…”

“You have no irregularities in your previous medical scans,” She informed. “It is unlikely you will have such a condition.”

“Not yet…” He glared upwards. “But if you keep waking me up like this, it might be a possibility.”

After regaining his senses, Gary stood up, scratched his behind, and let out a loud yawn as he stretched out his arms. It was another beginning day for him. He sauntered through the interlinking corridors, heading towards the kitchen section. Event though the ship was massive on the outside, with its large engine and spinning rings around the slender body, the inside was narrow, yet spacious enough for one man to be reasonably comfortable.

There were no doors separating each part. The archways would turn on and off the lights as he came through, saving the power until he entered and exited the sections. If all the lights came on, one could see down the long stretch of tunnel till the very end. Each section was designed for a specific function. A big part of it was for storage and supplies, but most was devoted to hydroponics, printing rooms, a laboratory, everything he needed to remain alive for millions of years.

Breakfast was rationed with micro-cubes that were freeze dried and then heat-hydrated back into it’s basic components. While it might if not looked very familiar, its most basic form, it tasted and smelled like the real thing.

“Bacon and eggs…” Gary smiled as he walked into the kitchen area.

Grace had already activated the process, and preheated his meal for him. The cafeteria-like setting, with a few tables and chairs, and a long built-in wall with cabinets and appliances, left nothing to the imagination. It was bland in colour, white and black, with everything smooth and flush to the wall. It was designed to be simple, clean, and functional. Everything was automated, compostable, and made to be sustainable.

“Would you like some coffee, Gary?” Grace asked as he walked up to the counter, pulling out a tray from the side dispenser.

“Absolutely,” He replied. “Cream and sugar please.”

A section opened up in front of him, revealing the coffee station, and his heated breakfast mini-trays still sitting in the opened oven. He pulled them out, giving a slight yelp as they burned his fingers, and took the cup of coffee as it finished pouring in with cream and sugar mixed in.

As he took his tray over to the table, he gave a quick glance upwards to where the lights had switched off in the corridor. He paused for a second, before placing his items down, and did a double take, as if something caught his eye.

“What was…” He squinted, peering into the dark.“Grace?”

“Yes, Gary?”

“Is there… uh… is there something here?”

“I am uncertain as to what you mean.”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Gary finally plunked his tray down and took his seat, still gazing up at the darkened hallway.

“I thought I saw something move… just over there.”

“There is no one else on this ship, other than you, Gary.”

“Huh…” He stated, still glaring over at nothing. “I could’ve swore I saw… something.”

“There are no other lifeforms, other than yourself.” She affirmed.

He shook his head and looked away.

“Yeah––yeah you’re right. Whew! I think need to wake up a bit more. A good swig of this coffee will perk up my brain.”

As he gave gulp of his hot beverage, he contemplated the possibility that he might be experiencing a type of anxiety. He is, after all, alone on a very big empty spaceship. Isolation has been known to bring rise to some form of paranoia and heightened fear. There had been some discussion about this with various psychologists on the effects of deep space missions. They warned him of possible mental stresses, periods of unrest, and over exposure to sensory deprivation. All those factor into a possible underlying psychosis.

Gary felt his mind was too superior to succumb to that. He heeded their words with little regard, and focused all his energy on getting this ship up and running. If something were to happen along the way, to him, or this ship, he would deal with it as needed, with the aid of his artificial Intelligent computer. He had contingencies on top of contingencies, making sure his survival was assured no matter what. Still, that moment of seeing something at the corner of his eye concerned him greatly. But would he share that with Grace?

“Would you like me to do another full scan of the ship to be certain?” She inquired to him.

“Nah…” He stated, taking another long sip of his coffee. “I think my brain is trying to catch up with the rest of me. I just need to eat and get my sugar levels up, that’s all. Guess I’m still trying to adjust to the quiet around here.”

“You did have a busy life, on Earth, that is.” Grace conceded. “We could attempt another transmission before leaving the sector entirely. It might take a few years for a response, but…”

“I’ve nothing left to say to any of them.” Gary interrupted her. “I told them I didn’t want anything beamed in my direction, I’m through talking with that era of humanity. All I want now, is to travel ahead, and talk with an evolved society that thinks at my level.”

“I see…” Grace stated. “And you think they, humanity that is, will be just as advanced as you upon our return?”

“Absolutely,” Gary snickered. “They’re so slow, that it will literally take them hundred, if not, thousands of years to reach the pinnacle of evolution, and be my equal.”

Grace had to process that philosophy for a second. Gary’s smug and egotistical view was something she had to analyze and cross reference. Her data banks were chock full of information on humanity, ranging from psychology to physiological genetics. All of human knowledge was at her disposal. And with Gary being her prime subject, she would use her expanded memory drives to observe, record and hypothesize about his mental capacity. She wouldn’t aggrivate him, but she wouldn’t coddle him either. Humans have fragile egos, and balancing the correct phrasing of words in accordance is something she needed to master.

“That seems a bit harsh.” She finally retorted. “You may be slightly augmented, but you are still a bi-product of that era as well.”

Gary laughed at her response and clucked his tongue.

“Touché, Grace, touché… the point I’m trying to make here is, that I’m only interested in conversing with our future kind. They’re the past. And let’s leave it at that.”

“As you wish…”

Gary nodded at her acceptance and finished his meal in peace. Grace said nothing more about it, as he requested.

* * *

Over the many weeks, Gary preformed a ritual of duties, did minor tasks, and stated to grow tired of the monotony of them day after day. His sleep was constantly being interrupted by Grace, as she would alert him to sudden problems that were almost trivial to Gary. He had to instruct her not to wake him for every minor issue. It could wait, until he was done his sleep time, or if the situation was far more dire than it was.

But something else was troubling Gary, besides his sleeping trouble, he was becoming lazy and dysfunctional. Tasks weren’t being done as often and the frequent checks on engine status was largely ignored by him. Then, one day, he decided not to do them at all. Grace was persistent that they were to be done, but he felt otherwise. Instead, he read his infinite collection of ebooks, audios, and the printed ones sitting on his shelves. When he grew tired of them, he then watched the equally numerous movie titles and tv shows that were uploaded to the ship’s library.

When he grew tired of those as well, he started to write his own books. Chapter by chapter, he would cave out an epic drama, fantasy or thrilling science fiction adventure. But his mind would wander, the books becoming incomplete, and he was back to rewatching old tv shows and movies again. Boredom was setting in. He felt restless at times, heading to the mini-gym near by and working out to selected music tracks he chose, or those by Grace, based on his musical preference.

Grace was a great companion for him. Having someone just as smart as him was all he ever wanted in life. Back on Earth, he always felt like he was surrounded by lower intelligences. His fellow human beings weren’t as well endowed as he was, both in brains and… well… the ladies didn’t seem to complain. Sex was always pleasurable, but, he could do well enough without it, if need be. His mind was more focused on equations, engineering, and other more elevated matters. Occasionally, he would step down a notch, enjoying the simpler things. Nothing wrong with cartoons, comic books, or even video games—just as long as they were done with some kind of intellectual class.

The one thing he hated doing the most, though, was media interviews. How he loathed talking to those reporters, online debates, and pandering to the social media elite. They asked him all the wrong questions, or tried provoking him into saying something to stir up the masses. He remembered the last one he ever did, just before he boarded his ship and left that world for good. The last interview he’d ever be bothered with. Sometimes he’d re-watch it just to laugh at his own comments. That broadcast must have been the most watched event in human history––and the biggest middle finger he’d ever given to humanity.