(Starlight Raven, in transit between Jagloth and Dimiya)
The trip from Jagloth to Dimiya is a little less than two weeks long, assuming you don’t make any stops. Even on the best ships, that’s putting everyone in close quarters, and as I might have mentioned, the Raven was not designed as a passenger cruiser. Which is how I ended up in the whole ‘harem’ situation, to begin with.
Still, the girls were kind enough to keep things on a low simmer around Kiki (who was looking for a more monogamous kind of lifestyle) and our passenger, for which I was thankful. I didn’t need any extra hassles from women treating me like a living, breathing sex toy. Not that I was complaining, much. But my in-game life was starting to feel like a cheesy manga.
Kiki had really come into her own as part of the crew. Well, not an actual part of the crew, but she was part of the ‘family’, I guess you could say. She made a good fit with everyone, and even Sona seemed to like her. Well, the kitten seemed to like everyone, since that is what I’d programmed her to do, but it was a lot less forced when she was dealing with Kiki. Probably because Kiki was the only one of the girls that didn’t use her like a pet or toy.
Our passenger, Alais Loraric, was apparently a performer on Jagloth, back when there was a Jagloth. Sadly, the company she had recording deals with was based on Jagloth, so she was out of a job now. But back when she actually had a job, she was a singer. Her specific type of music was apparently something like an old school cabaret or burlesque show, mixed with some traditional knelfi songs done in that style. Wasn’t quite the genre I normally listened to, but I could see the appeal.
Which did not in any way prepare me for what I saw when I stepped into the galley in order to get some breakfast. There were Shearah and Carissa, doing a kind of sensual dance while Alais gave pointers. OK, so they were learning how to do a sexy burlesque dance. That’s something I could approve of, since I was the one they’d likely be dancing for, and that would definitely be hot. No, what surprised me was when I sat at the table with a breakfast of instant eggs and bacon, and saw Raven’s holographic avatar shrunk down to twelve-inch height copying them while standing on the table.
Since I barely avoided spraying orange juice over the table at that, I had to take a couple breaths to keep from choking, before asking Raven, quietly, “Anything you’d like to tell me, Raven?”
The avatar, which had been giggling at my reaction, walked over and ‘sat’ on the edge of my plate. She was wearing a ‘little black dress’ that had a big emphasis on ‘little’, so she ended up showing a lot of leg, though not showing anything naughty in that sexy way women always seem to be able to pull off. “You know, Captain, sometimes a girl just likes to feel pretty. Especially when her Captain fucks anything that moves, but doesn’t even give her a second glance. That’s a pretty big blow to the ego, you know!”
I blinked, not sure what I just heard. I looked back at my orange juice, considering whether it was drugged, but a look at my status screen didn’t show any debuffs, so that couldn’t be it, right? I took a moment to breathe, and organize my thoughts, before saying, “I don’t ‘fuck anything that moves’, you know! But it just happens that there are a lot of ladies who find me very desirable, and can’t get enough of me. And I’ve put most of them on this ship. And most of them were trying to seduce me, not the other way around!”
By this point, our conversation had gotten the others’ attention. I looked up to see all three ladies staring at us (me, really) with barely contained mirth. Shearah was the one who broke the silence, giggling, “Yes, Master was VERY good at seducing me. Can you blame me for telling the rest of my ‘sisters’ about how good you were? And since entertainment options are limited…”
Carissa smirked as she walked over to me, and said, “Come, now, Master. You know that you enjoyed every bit of it!” Then she looked at Raven, and said, “And you! If you wanted to join in the dancing, you didn’t need to hide! You could have joined us in your drone body, or as a full-size avatar!”
Raven starts pouting at this point, and shifts so that she’s now ‘sitting’ in the chair next to me, full size, just so she can properly stick her tongue out at Carissa. I decided to break that little spat up before it got started (no way I wanted to be in between the ship and the ship’s doctor if they were fighting), and said, “So, Raven, what is it you want?”
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That just caused Alais to shake her head. “Wow, you guys sure do things differently on this ship. Did you get the AI already programmed for emotions, or did you add that in later? Most people don’t go for that option because it can lead to problems down the road, especially if emotions and logic start arguing with eachother.”
In truth, I’d almost forgotten Alais was there. “Well, Raven is special. She hasn’t told us much about her past, other than complaining about the last couple idiots who owned this ship, but she’s a lot more intelligent and sensitive than the AIs you see elsewhere. Treat her like a normal person, and you’ll get along fine.”
The singer blinked at that, and said, “You never asked where an AI that is this good at emulating a person came from? Truly sentient AIs are insanely rare, you know! If there were more like her…”
“There aren’t. And I hope there never are.” All eyes turned sharply to Raven, as she spoke so coldly. It was only because I was one of the ones who talked the most with her, but I noticed her hands were shaking. I don’t think the line of questioning had done anything to upset her, since it had happened every time we had a new crew member or passenger show up, but maybe it brought up some bad memories?
I sighed, and said, “And you don’t need to tell us about it until you feel like it, Raven, though if it will pose a danger to the crew, I’d appreciate a heads up, yeah?”
Raven sighed, and said, “All I’ll say is that I used to be human. And the change wasn’t by choice.”
Alais winced, as did we all. Full uploads were notoriously hazardous. They usually killed the meat body, and they rarely achieved a complete upload of the person’s consciousness and memories, causing Bad Things™ to happen. Usually, any forced uploads got deleted, with prejudice, after they went mad and tried to exterminate people. After that, it was made illegal in most places to do full uploads, the most you were able to legally do is have a memory backup with a blank AI that learned to emulate you over time as it synchronized to your emotions and memories. It was a kind of cheating death, but the new entity wasn’t you, not really, even if it had all your memories up to the point you last backed yourself up.
Those who were rich enough would then have that ‘backup’ put in a drone or other artificial body upon their ‘death’ to keep things looking above-board. But whether those ‘backups’ were treated as actual people or not differed by area. Some planets allowed the backup to have full access to their properties in life as thought hey were the same person. Some required that the will specifically give the backup access. And there were a few that decided that the backups were merely property, not people. Those places had the same views on all AIs, usually formed from some kind of religious or moral viewpoint.
Raven sighed, and said, “Sorry, Captain, just some stuff I have to work through, that I thought I had already put behind me. It’s just that you’re my first ‘owner’ since my… change who has thought of me as an actual person, instead of a dumb AI playing at one, so it brought back all kinds of stupid human emotions.”
I nodded. “No worries, Raven. Like I said, you don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want. And if there’s something you want, you can tell me in private some time when the girls are sleeping.” I winked conspiratorially at the avatar, before looking back towards our guest. Time for a quick change of subject!
“So, Miss Loraric, you have family on Dimiya?”
The singer smiled, seeing what I was doing, but nodded. “Yes, though I was born on Jagloth, my parents were from Dimiya originally. They moved because they wanted to be academics instead of getting involved in the family business, you see. But my Uncle sends me messages often, so I know he’s doing all right. When I was trapped in the outer system by the… infection taking over Jagloth City, Uncle suggested I make for Charybdis Station and try to get a ride out of the system.”
I nodded. “I see. Your Uncle must be quite important to know about a backup smuggler station in a system this far from Dimiya. Lucky that we were heading the same way, then. I take it that the mention of potential trouble in the job notice now that we’re away from the station isn’t just because of your fame on Jagloth, then?”
Alais nodded. “Yes, Uncle Elnaril is a good man, but the family business is cutthroat, and so he has enemies. My parents and I were ‘out of play’, you might say, while we were on Jagloth. With the situation on Jagloth becoming unstable, and my returning to Dimiya, there was some concern that things could become… complicated.”
I nodded slowly. I’d half expected something like this. After all, why would a famous singer go to Charybdis instead of the Navy unless she had connections that were more likely to get her out of the system there? “So in other words, your Uncle’s enemies may take this as the perfect opportunity to try and take you captive to use as leverage against your Uncle. Well, don’t worry too much. The Starlight Raven may not look like much, kid, but she’s got it where it counts. I’ve made some special improvements, myself, since I got ownership of her.”
Alais looked slightly relieved, and said, “I’ve never made a study of it, but now that we’re in hyperspace we should be safe until we get to Dimiya’s system, right?”
I motioned for Raven to take this one. “Ordinarily, yes. Arranging an intercept at FTL speeds is quite difficult due to the various factors involved, and attempting a boarding while in hyperspace is nearly impossible without a severely specialized vessel. The ordinary method for targeting a ship in hyperspace is to use weapons to try and force them into sublight speeds, or risk being destroyed outright.”
“But why would a ship in hyperspace drop to sublight just so pirates could attack them?”
“Because while in hyperspace, the majority of the ship’s shields are directed forwards, and are devoted to safely deflecting any particles we come across. There is actually a dual-layer of shielding, so that the radiation doesn’t kill us, or get shoved in front of us like a miniature supernova when we come out of hyperspace. If the shields fail while you’re in hyperspace, then you’ll be lucky if all that happens is your ship is instantly vaporized. Which is why hyperdrives have safety features to kick a ship out of hyperspace if the shield starts fluctuating.”
Suddenly, the ship shuddered, like it was making an emergency transition back to sublight. I looked at Raven, and she said, “Emergency transit from hyperspace! Gravitic field fluctuations detected! Captain, I think someone set a tarpit trap for us!”