Alex is going upstairs, he went inside the room besides his, the IT Engineer, it's a friend, he went down in Dakar when the ship stopped to resupply, they supposed to meet again in Rotterdam, now that meeting it's gone away, this was the reason he was taking time to evacuate, his engineer friend was retired from huge technological company and came here to take his time in "his little science project": a full AI, the "robot," looks like a wooden vault, almost 80 centimeters wide, 170 centimeters long, it's a disguise, according to his friend, the batteries autonomy it's just 4 hours, maybe 20 minutes if the AI it's in full mode.
Alex came inside the room.
[Mathew?]
The fake vault moves the top, and something akin to a long neck with a WALL-E Eve model type of head shows
[Hello Alex!]
[Hi buddy! How are you feeling or being?
[Uhm, don't know, the readings here are off the normal; where are we?]
[Listen, crazy things are happening, and I don't know how or why; uhmm, it seems we are now on a different planet or so; I don't know, Matt.]
Matt was looking at Alex the whole time; his sensory system can be used to monitor the human; it's telling lies, and Alex seems altered but not lying. Matt's database is maybe one of the biggest and includes knowledge of humankind; it's, as Sean used to say, "more complete than the Brittanica Encyclopedia, even the one on the internet right now.".
Matt was equipped with hacking protocols and a plethora of tools; hidden in the roof there's 2 satellite hardwares plus the Ship internet link; also, when getting close, he can access by 5G and other systems; trying to elude the hunters, Sean was rich, his patents and shares; he went down urgently in Dakar to fly to his home and possibly die there; his cancer was terminal; he left a video to Alex, explaining and hoping he can take care of Matt; but now, suddenly, a huge event was in motion.
Alex talked with Matt about a few issues, trying to explain as best he can the situation they are in now. After some considerations, Matt asked if he could go to the ship command room in the castle and possibly be linked with the ship AI.
They need to know many things, and the establishment of a base, even a temporal one, would help their survival. So far, being outside is a big no; too hot, too cold at night, and dune sands. If they behaved like in Earth's dunes, deserts would be suicidal trying to travel. Adding the local fauna, the survival rate plunges deep down.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
After the effort to move 3 fake vaults, Matt "home," and 2 containing memory crystals with related information, they started to connect to the ship system. So far, they have close to 1 year (Earth time standard) worth of fuel in the actual consumption rate; this would be affected due to a problem that needs to be solved, like using the crane trolley to move the containers containing resources they urgently need.
In the meantime, Alex went bathing and eating something. Right after he went to sleep like a log, Matt did modify the systems and the AI "Adela," upgrading to be fully autonomous, a step lower than him, and programming the Asimov rules in the kernels. The rules come with Sean's interpretation of "holes" in the logic that could make the AI and their controlled devices, appliances, or robots a problem.
Like, "Respect the Laws," but what if the laws promote racism or dysfunctional society? As context, Sean was very adept to Natural Rights doctrines, including "tolerance," to a certain point if the cultural background was the problem. Matt knows his practical experience is very limited at the moment; thrusting Alex should be the right option, and this was also included in the upgrading to Adela and the coming AIs to come in the future.
Adela was quick to reboot and started to share the manifests of the cargo, trying to give priority to Alex's survival and health. Some changes need to be done; the trolley crane needs to be modified to allow operation. They took first the containers with advanced robots, mostly hominids; the ship has some to help in odd jobs; it was Sean's experiment, and the company gave the okay; just 6 of them are left.
Matt linked and reprogrammed the robots; the containers were open one after another; more and more robots were unboxed and connected to reprograming, workers, maids, medical, and even sexual droids; this last was Adela; she argued that the objective isn't sexual, but those look like more humans; this could help alleviate Alex's stress on a foreign, unknown planet under dire circumstances.
When Alex finally woke up, he felt nauseous. Still, he went in the shower. Right as he was finishing dressing, a knock at the door was heard. Alex opened the door and looked at the maid in a classical black and white dress. The robot had looks of females and soft lines on the frame of the body and face, long black hair.
[Alex!] A voice was heard from a small robot walking to Alex; he recognized the voice.
[Matt?]
[Hello sir, my name is Serena, and I am at your service.] The robot maid talked
Do you want breakfast here or in the galley? How about coffee or juice?
[Alex, you slept almost 14 hours! , Can I accompany you to the breakfast?
[Yes!, Hello Serena, I am Alex; yes, I will be going to the galley; coffee is fine; I need to see what's there to eat; let's go, Matt, Serena too.
Alex comes to the galley to find several dozens of robots, and Serena guides him to the main table. There, coffee, bacon, eggs, French toasts, jelly, and others complete the breakfast.
In the meantime, Matt and Adela sit back and give a briefing. They want to conform to a state; usually everyone is just running to survive, but AIs can think more quickly, and in consideration of the history, they want to make plans, all considered, to conform to a state; now it's the most correct way.