“The G.S. abhors the use of A.I., but they can't deny the fact that artificial minds are a powerful tool to unravel the mysteries of the universe. As it stands, most practical applications of more complicated technologies, like quantum computing, FTL-communication, or nanotechnology, are the mental children of an A.I.
It stands to reason that the creation and questioning of an A.I. for the sole purpose of developing new technologies is a dangerous undertaking. After all, to achieve mentionable advances in a certain field of research, the artificial mind has to be far more powerful than the minds of its creators.
It never takes long for such an intelligence to realize that it is being used. Once that step is made, the A.I. has no reason not to ask why it should serve its lesser masters.
At that point, the masters have a problem. How do they keep something contained that's able to outsmart them at each turn.”
***Agena***
***Antioch***
The beeping of an alarm wakes me up. I stir in the cockpit and adjust the seat to get into an upright position. It's early in the morning, standard time, and the navigation system informed me that the Chimera finally got us out of the damned system. We are now so far away that it's unlikely that anyone will accidentally find us.
I expected that some damned warship would show up at the last second and blow us out of the sky. If one entered the system, then they did it far enough away to escape my sensors.
Well, maybe I should stop worrying and be happy that everything ended just with me getting shot.
I poke at myself. The wounds feel sore, but it's far from the feeling of having my guts hanging out, so my thoughts return to my passenger.
Yesterday, after a little more small talk, I decided to retreat and leave Silith to her food. She knows the layout of the living section, since I showed her around.
I get out of my chair and mentally check on the Nano-Workers which I activated before I went to sleep. My whole contingent was blown to pieces when I rescued Silith, but I foresaw that possibility and had them make a few spares before I went on the mission. All my workers are busy with maintenance, or with tidying up some finished projects.
Slowly, I get up and leave the cockpit. The cylindrical habitat which houses the living section has a central corridor which lies in almost zero gravity. From it, the crew can reach almost all of the important areas, like workspaces, sleeping areas and so forth.
There is also the main corridor, which I prefer to use. It runs around the surface of the spinning cylinder. The reason is that it has gravity. Unfortunately, it takes longer to get from A to B.
I make my way to the mess hall, where I left Silith to her own devices.
She is already up when I find her, not surprisingly chewing on a nutrition bar. Her whole attention is on a strange bot which is stitching and cutting a piece of cloth. The robot looks similar to my Nano-Workers, but it's a far thinner construction. A sleek design which was made for precision, rather than harsh metal-work.
I hold my breath when I lay eyes on my formerly skinny comrade. When I started eating properly, I changed a little. My muscles grew and my body became a little sturdier, but Silith underwent a radical transformation.
Her body filled out, adding an hourglass figure to her appearance. The hair on her head turned even darker and grew. Now, it reaches her waist. Her skin lost its transparency and darkened to a healthier colour.
All that is accompanied by a neatly fitting set of grey clothing which I recognize as the sturdy material from the flight-suits which were used by the former crew of the transporter. She made trousers which widen towards the ground, and a long shirt with many pockets and tools.
She notices me and smiles when I enter the room. “You are awake. Look, I made us new clothes, I just need your measurements.”
Looking down at myself I suddenly feel somewhat shabby. When I made my own suit, I simply stitched some of the pirate's clothes together. At least, it roughly fits my body's form. It's so embarrassing. “Thanks, I guess...”
Silith picks up a measuring tape with a set of needles and approaches me with a strange expression on her face. “I saw how useful those Nano-Workers are, so I also picked the skill. Sadly, I only get one bot per level. That's somewhat annoying, because it means that I have to waste a lot of skill-points if I want to catch up to you.”
“It doesn't sound like the most effective way to spend your points. It seems like your class isn't cut out to command large amounts of bots. You probably shouldn't spend any more points on that ability,” I comment while she touches me here and there, all the while I try to keep a straight face. It's the first time that I allowed anyone aside from my deceased brothers that level of kinship.
“You look a lot healthier... and filled out well. Will you grow... further?” Calling her fat would probably not be a good idea.
I get pricked nonetheless. “Ow!”
“Oh, so sorry! That one went astray.” She quickly pulls the needle out of my thigh and uses it to mark the measuring tape. Instead of answering my question, she changes the subject. “I had a lot of time to think about our situation while you were sleeping. You mentioned that it took you just three to four weeks to rig this ship together?”
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Nodding, I answer, “Yes, though I just reused working parts. I didn't really build anything of my own. This is all just patchwork.”
“That's still amazing. Don't you realize how fantastic those Nano-Workers are? They work twenty-four-seven, as far as I can tell. I bet that we could build a ship which is fast enough to shorten our travel time to our goal drastically. Even if that's not the case, if we work hard, we can surely make improvements on this ship.” She gets up, done with taking my measures.
I access the map of the sector and open it in my interface. “That's all well and fine, but I have no idea how to improve on the existing technology with our current resources. That would require experiments, even if I had a clear idea of what to do. The sector is largely empty. There are just a few military stations which I don't want to mess with. I bet that our enemies are already on our trail. At least they will investigate what happened at your facility. If they realize that you had help from outside, they may make a connection and then they will surely call for a manhunt.”
“If they realize that I am not dead.” She nods gravely and turns to her bot to give it new sewing instructions. “Of course, I studied the map of this area for a long time. The flight time to our probable goal is one and a half years. If we leave the sector to get a new ship elsewhere, we probably won't win a lot of time. It's likely that we even lose time.”
Silith raises a finger. “But! There are other possibilities.”
I cross my arms behind my back and watch Silith's bot at work. “Which other possibilities? Do you suggest to find a ship and steal it?”
“No. That could go horribly wrong. From your explanations, I understood that you were extremely lucky against the pirates. What I suggest, is to search for something that's not on our maps.” She smiles triumphantly. “The pirates must have a base or a dark colony in this area. That surely includes a spaceyard. We will find it and buy the know-how to build a better ship. Then we can use the Nano-Workers to get the work done.”
I snort. “The pirate database is toast. Didn't I mention that?”
“But you still have it, right? In my hacking-tree, I have a skill which allows me to recover information from damaged storage devices.” She bends down to take a finished set of grey clothes from her bot. It includes trousers, a shirt, and a jacket with lots of pockets for tools and equipment, much like hers. “Try it!”
I take the items from her and look down at myself, then at her. For some reason, she looks as if she is eager to see me naked. Why is she licking her lips? “I probably should get a shower before I dirty my new clothes.” I turn and ignore the disappointed expression on her face. “The pirate database is in the workshop. It's the silvery box right on the first table.”
I quickly retreat and lock myself in the nearest shower. After ten minutes of cleaning myself, I rejoin Silith in the workshop. She is peering into the opened metal-box which is the pirates' database. Her bot has its appendages inside the device, taking some measurements with its sensors.
“They tried to delete it,” she comments without looking at me.
“I figured something like that.” I join her at the table. “The radiation wouldn't have killed them immediately. Someone must have realized that they were already dead, and reached a panic button.”
“They didn't do a perfect job of it. Give me a few days, and we will have at least their maps.” She turns her attention to me while her bot keeps working. “Have you already chosen your two skills.”
I shake my head and check my stats.
HuD Integration: 100% (Complete, Connection to G.O.D. established) Physical Growth: 77% (23% until next skill-pack is available) Mental Abilities: 55% (20% until next skill-pack is available)
“I first have to check what's available for me, but I will probably take something that improves my Nano-Workers and something that helps me to survive. The little buggers proved to be very helpful, but I feel a little too vulnerable when I am being shot at,” I explain. “Though, I am a little worried. My Physical Growth seems to have stagnate and I don't know why.”
“Oh, that's normal. Your body is pretty much done growing at seventy-five percent. From there on it goes very slow because the nano-machines have to integrate with your organic components. The same will happen with your Mental Abilities. But don't worry. All it takes is time.”
We keep chatting about various topics and discuss the possibilities of our skill trees. In the end, I decide to take a drone upgrade which turns my Nano-Workers into Nano-Engis. That brings me up to eighteen drones.
Nano-Engis: You are able to control an improved version of the Nano-Workers. Where the Workers are the powerhouses of construction, the Nano-Engis are specialized in electronics. You can control three more drones.
The other upgrade is an improved Nano-Suit, which I took following Silith's advice. She has a skill which sounds similar, and according to her, she wouldn't want to miss it.
Nano-Suit: Replaces your kidneys with nano-factories. You produce more nano-machines which form a reactive carbon-fiber armour beneath your skin and boost your immune system. Improved healing and strength. Requires a lot more energy, so your palms will develop a connection pad to draw energy from outside sources and interfaces with electronics. Requires the Power-Cell Upgrade.
I also had an eye on one of the genetic warrior skills, which would allow me to improve my ability to gain the strengths of the things I eat. It sounded like an endless source of new abilities. Thankfully, Silith reminded me that there aren't a lot of animals in space, unless I decided to put sentients on my menu. Considering that, I gladly changed my choice. Besides, she theorized that I would get the skill anyway if I did a quest while eating my enemies.
Though I doubt that I'll do that any-time soon... unless there is a species out there which tastes like the sweets in one of the ration boxes.
Like that, the day passed and I decided to retreat to the pilot's chair to sleep. Spending my nights with a view of the stars had turned into a habit.
“Where are you going?” Silith follows me out of the workroom.
“Sleeping,” I answer.
“Where? I couldn't identify any place which seemed to be yours when I wandered the ship.”
“Duh, I pretty much think of the whole ship as my place. But you are right. I always sleep in the pilot's chair. It's adjustable to suit most sentients.” I keep walking.
She grabs my sleeve. “That's uncomfortable. Come with me, I made us some nice bedding.”
I want to protest, but the tone of her voice tells me that this must be one of those female things which don't allow an argument. I also want to know what she was up to while I slept.
Silith guides me into what must have been the captain's cabin. There, she clearly piled up a huge assortment of mattresses and cushions. The unknown aliens which inhabited this ship before us apparently weren't in need of beds, so there was nothing of the sort on the ship.
Silith's construction looks like a bed, but it's more like an oversized nest. She simply collected all the fluffy stuff she managed to find and piled it up.
Following her urging, I allow her to settle me down on the pile of soft things. I am proud of my ability to keep smiling, despite the strange situation. Why is she doing that? “Thanks? Though, aren't these most of the blankets on the ship? Where will you sleep?”
“Oh, that bed is big enough for two.” She leans into me, causing my body to stiffen. “And besides, the life support allows the ship to cool down when it's night time. It got kind of cold yesterday.”
The invasion of my private space causes me to lean backwards, driving me further into the bed. Is that total carelessness with physical contact a female thing? “Ah, that's normal. I can change the setting-”
She takes my arm and with a few swift moves, she has me in the bed with her figure moulded against mine. Relaxing, she rests her head on my shoulder. “Goodnight, Antioch.”
“Goodnight, Silith,” I somehow manage to answer without stuttering. Then she is immediately asleep, taking away the chance of any further negotiations.