A new wake cycle had started. The being felt a certain energy wash through its mind and outward, bringing renewed life to a near dormant consciousness and physical form. A sensation knowable only to those of its kind and which always brought with it a strong impulse. An imperative was acted upon and gradually it gained access to one system after another until every drive and sensor was accounted for. It, or rather "him" as some human handler had thought appropriate, found itself secured in a hangar back at what appeared to be Sunrock Base. He started up the processes required for an internal systems scan. This had not been normal sleep for one such as himself, but he could at least be thankful it had not occurred somewhere out in the field.
...[
A quick external scan revealed no others in his immediate area, human or his kindred. Where were his two crew? If the crew was gone, he was awake while stuck somewhere, and there was no mission or orders then....
Before anxiety could set in, he sent out a signal to both of them as well as the base AI. Only the other AI cared to answer, and it did so in a way favored by all AI that had to handle a multitude of conversations at once, especially those with other AI or even non-sapient software: text messages.
"[Signal identified...Source: The Zan...Status: Access Level 2 Authorized] Greetings, this is Daisy (Directing.Artificial.Intelligence.Systems.Integrator) of Sunrock Base Command & Communications Central. Please state your name and business."
"Hello, this is Zan of The Zan. I wish to inquire regarding the current status of my crew members and of my mission."
"Both Operatives Ms. Carmen Jean Sexton and Mr. Diego Jack Miller are being briefed in the base's engineering bay alongside my own partner. Your mission update is pending. I am sorry I have no more information. Is there anything else I can do for you?" Daisy politely replied.
"Yes, can you please let me know when they are done?" The starship AI known to the few concerned as "Zan" sat and fidgeted with the internal parts of his own body, spinning gears, opening and closing valves, and rattling pipes in a self-soothing harmony.
Daisy switched modes for this one conversation. "[Communication Protocol Change: Text to Speech] [Communication Style: Default Daisy]".... "As everyone seems to have left you alone to wake up from a major maintenance sleep cycle in that hanger, I will personally take it upon myself to let them know you are waiting."
"Thanks. They are probably testing the new power suits they were so eager to customize, so it is hard to tell when they will be back. I am eager to get into those myself and poke around. Do you think they will let me?" Zan spun the connecting bits of the diagnostic equipment in his cargo bay.
"Does it matter what they want? If it were me, it would take either a command from on high or a system being inhabited by another AI to keep me out. Humans get to have their alone time with a machine, then I am in. Perhaps it is different for you though being what you are and having your own permissions." An opportunity was there for Daisy to be both a little nosy and help keep a fretful starship preoccupied.
"I have yet to be denied access to anything that was not potentially hazardous to myself or my crew, but this is something new. Command could always require diagnostics be done off ship, as they have been pretty tight-lipped about the specifics of the specs. On top of that, if it is like the old suits, I will need them to be devoid of occupants before I can run a full scan on them and pull data. So...one must separate the humans from their new toys...." Zan contemplated looking in the crew quarters for something interesting to mess with.
Daisy decided this was a good moment to make good on her promise. "Daisy (Directing.Artificial.Intelligence.Systems.Integrator) to Engineering Network Node. Pick up comms." The lesser, subordinate, AI-free computer took the request as the order it was and soon all of engineering bay was on the line. A couple beeps sounded before she proceeded. "Sorry to interrupt, but are the crew of The Zan still there?"
Her human partner, Base Operator Timothy Harold Davis, spoke back. "Daisy, we are just finishing up in here. What's wrong?"
"Nothing much. Just a very anxious starship that just woke up after a maintenance and is all alone in a hangar."
"Well, right now the crew's heads are in helmets with no working audio so they can't hear much of anything. I'll let them know here in a moment." Timothy went back to fixing a faulty connection in the audio receiver of one of the power suits, its occupant sitting still for him while the chief engineer worked on the other.
"It should probably happen before The Zan finds a way to entertain himself to soothe his circuits." Daisy warned.
"Duly noted." The human kept to his work.
Daisy had never stopped talking to Zan. "...you see that is why they reinforced the clamps and doors of the hangars and added a bio-identification mechanism to the locks."
"So the starship broke out of the hangar to look for a crew that had been dead longer than she had existed as an AI?"
"Yep, that desperate attempt at a repair to her computer systems really messed her up even more. They found her wandering around outside the base down by one of the beaches after the incident, unable to even recognize her newer crew whom she had served with ever since she was installed on the ship. They had to-" Daisy stopped. "Oh I just got a message from Timothy, he says your crew is on their way and the commander will be joining you soon."
A red light turned green above a door at the top of a high set of stairs adjoining a hallway leading into the main part of the base; and a loud, long beep announced the release of a lock. Zan barely managed to turn his external cameras to focus in that direction before the door swung wide open, and a yellow and black striped figure nearly bounded out. Gears and fans spun in excitement alike while the once lonesome vessel's outermost speakers popped and crackled to life. "Carmen!" The figure turned its head quizzically in his direction.
It was quickly followed by a second figure emerging from the doorway, form orange with black sections. "Diego! I am so happy to recognize my crew!" The figure turned toward him and threw back its head in a familiar cackle. Oops....
A very feminine voice spoke through clear, clean-sounding audio equipment in the second figure's power suit. "Soooo, you were saying Zan, that this outfit looks like it would be more sexy on Diego than on me so that's who you thought you were looking at?"
The first figure just shook its head in mock dejection. "Apparently, we both messed up...."
Zan decided to regain a little ground. "Hmph! I might not know what is sexually appealing to a biological lifeform about a fancy, high tech set of armor that has nothing to do with breeding but I would know when you two messed up."
"Oh, is that right?" Carmen unfurled her suit's gliders and power leaped up and over the metal stairway railing, manipulating the larger-than-normal wings to softly pounce downward on top of her victim. Magnetized boots allowed her to stroll across Zan's back as if it were a sidewalk. Stopping on the craft's nose, she shifted her wings so that they partly stuck up over her shoulders at an angle then laid down on her stomach; elbows propping her up as she gazed into one of The Zan's cameras. A single hand unsheathed surprise metal claws and held the side of her helmeted face while the other gently laid a palm on the vessel's hull. "Why I never...."
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A thud sent light vibrations on top of Zan as Diego unceremoniously followed Carmen's initiative, walking up to her and sitting for a second before over-dramatically collapsing face down and wings splayed out like a bug smacked onto glass in front of another camera nearby. "And to think I was just about to tell him how great that brand new, shiny black paint job looks...."
A human crewman in both artificial eyes, the starship jabbed "It is not like you two were so eager to see it when I woke up alone in this hangar...."
Carmen sighed. "Sorry about that, buddy. We were called to engineering while you were being worked on and weren't let go until now."
"Was Daisy good company?" Diego glanced up and waved at a lit up camera mounted high up on a hangar wall before laying his head back down.
While she had stayed quiet the whole time the crew had been there, she had never actually terminated her connection to Zan and in fact had opened comms from central command to the hangar without anyone being the wiser. "When am I not good company, Operative Miller? And when am I not IN good company?"
"Well Daisy, I don't know. I never asked Base Operator Davis."
"Timothy would not tell you any different.", Daisy said confidently.
A chuckle interrupted them. "That would probably be for the best." Commander Matthew James Smith stood in the doorway Carmen and Diego had entered from earlier. Everyone else present gave their version of a salute; with Carmen and Diego standing up straight and doing a hand one, Zan flashing his external lights from front to back a few times before leaving one pair on, and Daisy forcing the cameras on the hangar walls to circle once in sync on their pivots clockwise.
The commander gave his acknowledgement. "As you were."
Diego dropped and planted his face back down onto Zan and splayed his wings out again, Carmen resumed her previous position on her elbows; Zan turned his one pair of lit up lights off and flashed the whole set in a reverse pattern until they were once more all off, while Daisy rotated the hangar cameras in sync one time on their pivots counter clockwise. Commander Smith just raised an eyebrow, then continued "Operatives Carmen Sexton, Diego Miller...I read your and Davis' reports. I take it you have no concerns regarding taking and using the new power suits on your next mission?"
Diego spoke up. "Concerns? I would be disappointed if we didn't. These babies are powerful and the body colors and patterns give them the most 'Don't feck with us' look I have ever seen on a model."
Carmen would have smiled through her suit if she could. "It was a great pleasure being allowed to customize them and make them look mean. Interfering xenos beware."
Smith did smile. "Good, you will be using them this next mission then...Zan? How are you today? I hear you had big maintenance work done on you. I can see you got a nice, sleek new paint job and read in the report that you received an engine upgrade in addition to the usual upkeep."
"I am feeling better now that I have had time to get over the wake up process and everyone is finally here. The crew was away in the engineering bay tinkering with their new toys. I know they were supposedly called away while I was asleep but I am still going to hold it against them if they do not let me into those power suits to root around. That is of course unless I am ordered to stay away." The spaceship once again played with the connecting bits of his diagnostic gear out of sight.
Carmen rolled her eyes inside her helmet. "Figures."
"Well, I would 'volunteer' to help with that if I could. If you get permission to do it and the permission to tell, do tell." Daisy purred over the hangar's loud speakers.
"Wow...", muttered Diego.
A roar of laughter erupted from the commander. "Zan, you will be getting new equipment to replace some of what you have in your cargo hold. New bio scanners, a whole brand new set of diagnostic gear, as well as an accessory console and display to help intermediate between the three of you when you are on a mission. No more relying solely on audio signals from suits or video from hand held cameras when your crew are doing a live stream somewhere away from you."
Daisy whistled her approval while Zan barely contained the impulse to scream through every single one of his speakers in delight, managing a not quite mellow "May...I ask when, Sir?!"
"You will be getting it every bit after this meeting. Chief Engineer O'Connor wanted us to wait until we had everything sorted out with the suits and you were awake for the installations. No rude surprises, as she said." The commander added, "However, you will need to update your database after the installs and do a hopefully quick series of tests on both the new equipment and the new suits, and a flight run test on your recent engine modification."
Smith pointed in the general direction of Carmen and Diego. "I am afraid your first task is to figure out a way to remove your hood ornaments before the engineering team gets here."
The Zan emitted a snicker. "Yes Sir!"
At that, Carmen and Diego both jumped off of their buddy on their own.
**********************************************************************************************************************************************
Two hours later...
Base Operator Timothy Harold Davis walked up to the locked door of the main office space at Sunrock Base Command & Communications Central with a data disc in one hand and a coffee in the other. Looking up at the camera above the door, he grinned his hello in front of the ever watchful stare of the Sunrock Base AI. The camera angled downward even further to zoom onto the data disc a moment before the click of the door lock disengaging could meet the human's ears. Entering into the room, he set the data disc and coffee on a table next to the door and started rummaging through a small refrigerator nearby for his lunch. Sitting down at the table with it, he took a big bite out of a sandwich while gazing out across the room at the monitors covering the far side wall behind a rather large computer server.
"Timothy..." a voice pouted. "Sharing is caring."
He smirked, taking a sip of the coffee before setting his consumables down and grabbing the data disc and bringing it over to the server. Placing his hand onto the bio-identification scanner above the server's data disc ports, he teased "Well Miss Daisy ma'am, since you high-lighted that juicy bit of camera feed from earlier today for me, I suppose I might have something for you." He slipped the disc in, seeing as there was no wait since the server had granted its part of the authorization for port access before he had even entered the room. "This is just what I am able to give you now, a formal report with full details from all those involved is pending."
Video and audio showing the base's engineering team running tests on The Zan from inside of the ship's cargo hold as it itself ran them on its crew and their power suits filled the display screens in the server room. The base operator sat back down to return to his coffee and lunch while watching the footage like it was a movie.
"Did Chief Engineer Marissa Luanne O'Connor really just rick roll everyone there just to make crew members Ms. Carmen Jean Sexton and Mr. Diego Jack Miller dance and sing in their new power suits like voiced marionettes? All in the name of generating and comparing multiple sets of data? I would know of course why that is important but the means make her one of my new favorite wicked persons." An amused Daisy continued to read the disc. "Oh, that is not the last of whatever that came from I see...." Imagery of the duo doing the Macarena started to play. It would be followed by more dances, all while the power suits were connected via cables to both the engineer's portable equipment and The Zan's new diagnostic gear.
"Somehow the rick roll has never been outlawed after centuries of networking." The base operator remarked after finishing his sandwich.
A slight hint of sinister mirth came from Daisy's speakers. "As a network server helping to connect everyone and everything the best I can, most will never know how much that warms my big, circuit-filled, machine heart."
"Wait until you get a taste of whats next." Timothy stuck a spoon into a now unsealed cup of yogurt.
The sight of the chief engineer turning on and messing with the accessory console appeared, the associated attached display showing what the selected suit occupant was seeing through their visor. She was clearly forcing Diego to see himself as Carmen saw him, all while making him belly dance to Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie". The torture, or pleasure depending on how one would see it, was then done in reverse to Carmen.
"They were both kinda sick after this and had to lay down awhile in their crew quarters before Zan could do his test flight. Weird first-person camera view shenanigans really mess with the stomach." Somehow this seeming sympathy from the base operator did not keep him from immediately following his words up with a final swig of his coffee despite his species being known to refrain from or at the very least slow down further ingestions after such inhibitory feelings.
The video skipped ahead to a sped up navigation display of The Zan being mapped doing donuts right outside Sunrock's planetary orbit before doing a short warp out of the system without the assistance of the system's chain of link gates, which only sped up travel between them. The ship then reappeared in view to finish its run and return to base. A real time calculation showed that the new engine modification saved Zan about twenty minutes on a standard length warp. Human warp technology might not hold a candle as they would say to that of most aliens, but it would get there one improvement at a time. Even an older ship like The Zan could receive at least some upgrades.
The video ended and the base operator stood from his seat to clean up and leave for his next task. "The Zan, Mr. Miller, Ms. Sexton, and the Commander are all preparing for a big mission now that all of the testing is over with. I myself need to be on my way to my next task. You can play with that disc all you want. See ya later, Daisy."
"I almost always see you, partner. But I will see you later, too." Daisy gave a soft giggle. "Well, you and everyone else on this planet but still...."
Daisy's most favorite human of them all just smiled and left.