by M. D. Cooper
It took some time to breach the signal, but the AMs on Phrysi eventually completed the task after listening to the greetings the various systems exchanged before passing knowledge.
Krai was unsurprised to see that the communication systems were all numerically based, the sleds speaking in a simple two-value system, layering complexity upon that. Most of the messages were directions from one machine to another, each one slowly deciphered by mapping messages to movements the sleds made.
It didn’t take the AMs’ assistance for kes to discern that most of the communication contained vectors, queuing instructions, and so on.
Though the very construction of the facility on the dead orb already suggested this, it was clear the strangers valued logic and order—though their thinking appeared procedural in nature.
Once the AMs understood how the interconnected knowledge streams worked, it didn’t take long to find ways to connect new systems to the streams. Krai directed them to make an attempt to join the system pool while carefully monitoring transmissions from the site, an eye on the stranger’s ship that was now nearing a minor-cycle’s communication distance.
If something went wrong and they decided to return, je would have several tenth-cycles to put spans between keself and the dead orb’s mining site.
The AMs sent the greeting commands to join the pool, and though Krai was expecting rejection, a positive response came from the system, and more knowledge flowed to kes pool aboard the Phrysi.
This information was also two-value, but with a new form of communication layered atop. Je had been hoping to find hints of the strangers’ organic language rather than the one they used for machines, and suspected this might be it.
The travelshell’s artificial minds labored to form the abstraction layer of information into a visual representation of what the strangers’ organic communication might look like.
If they’re organic.
Though any other possibility seemed unlikely, Krai wasn’t going to completely discount the possibility that the strangers could be an inorganic intelligence.
With a rudimentary understanding of what the strangers’ language looked like, je directed the AMs to proceed further into the facility’s knowledge pool, attempting to pass several different directives.
They all failed, but each attempt provided more language samples and knowledge stream responses, until Krai was relatively certain that je had identified simple words denoting agreement and disagreement.
After several more failures to pass deeper into the facility’s knowledge pool, the knowledge streams returned several words of disagreement, and then ceased communication.
Not unexpected, Krai thought. The fact that a one made a connection at all is surprising.
Before je had a chance to attempt another connection to the knowledge streams, a burst of small-wave light emitted from the refinery, traveling in a tight path to a point high above the dead orb.
The surge of energy illuminated a small probe that had, until now, floated quietly in the darkness. Several moments after the surge came from the refinery, the probe transmitted a stronger signal in the direction of the strangers’ ship.
Well, that tide has passed.
Krai knew that kes time was limited and considered the available options.
Directing the probe on the surface to destroy itself was a must, but before that, je couldn’t help the urge that told kes to investigate a little further before retreating.
What harm could come of it?
CHAPTER 6 - MIRA
STELLAR DATE: 12.22.8959 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: OASS Inquiry, approaching Jal Ina
REGION: Jal Enna, Bysmark System, Outer Alliance
Mira settled into her command chair, shifting side to side until the reactive polymers relaxed, and the seat conformed to her shape.
They were four hours out of Oranos Orbital, the Inquiry’s outsystem route taking the ship on a close approach to Jal Ina, the moon where Mira’s mother was currently working on a new housing project.
When the ship came within a half light second from Jal Ina, she opened up a connection and reached out to her mother.
Mira couldn’t help a soft laugh.
Her mother sounded incensed, but Mira knew it was an act—just one that often sounded serious enough to confuse observers.
Knowing her mother would ferret it out of her eventually, Mira jumped straight to the truth.
A derisive snort came across the Link.
she grumbled.
Mira wasn’t surprised her mother had changed the subject. She rarely went into detail about what had happened before the colonists settled the Outer Alliance systems. She claimed it wasn’t all bad, but she wanted to move forward, not live in the past.
Her mother’s response was preceded by a grunt.
mother replied.
Mira proceeded to go over the remainder of the crew, highlighting some of the items she’d found interesting in their files, as well as how she thought they might all mesh together. From there, conversation drifted to how her mother’s work was going and what her parents had planned for the next month or two.
They continued on until the light lag reached five seconds, and then agreed it would be best to sign off and save the frustration that delay added.
Mira held back a groan.
After closing the connection, Mira rose from her seat and stretched. “I’m going for a cup of joe. Anyone else want one?”
“I’ll take a cappuccino,” Brock said with his hand lifted. “But with good foam—oh, and chocolate sprinkles.”
Mira pressed her lips into a thin line. “Anything else, your majesty?”
“Well, now that you mention it, I—”
“Brock,” Emma hissed. “You want a gourmet meal, go get it yourself.”
He gave an innocent shrug. “But who will cover my station?”
“I will,” Janice said without looking up. “Or, you know, you could wait till your shift ends in twenty minutes.”
Face turning red, Brock ducked his head. “Uhhh…yeah. That’s fine. I’ll wait till then.”
“Good,” Janice said, glancing up at Mira. “Enjoy your break, Commander.”
“Oh I will,” she replied. “And, you know, I think I’ll have a cappuccino with lots of foam and sprinkles.”
“Chocolate,” Emma added.
“Of course.” Mira nodded. “Chocolate, without a doubt.”
Brock let out a low groan, and Mira strode off the bridge with a smile on her lips.
She considered using the small galley aft of the bridge, but didn’t think it had any sprinkles in stock, and torturing Brock was paramount.
A minute later, she was in the lower galley, setting up the espresso machine with fresh beans and the grind she preferred. It would be her one cup of high-quality coffee for the day.
The ship was well-appointed, but there weren’t so many rations that she could treat it like she was planetside at a café.
“Are you making them for the whole crew, Commander?”
Mira glanced over her shoulder to see Lorra enter the galley and amble toward the cooler, where she selected a few slices of ham and a bag of bread.
“You like coffee?” she asked the dolphin, shocked to hear it.
“Surprisingly, yes. It’s an acquired taste, sure, but once you get past the bitterness—or just add a lot of creamy goodness—it’s quite enjoyable.”
Mira chuckled while nodding. “Yeah, adding cream is the gateway, for sure. Eventually, you’ll drink it black to prove how hardcore you are, before finally settling into yummy versions like what I’m making.”
“Oh, I’m all for going straight to yummy,” Lorra said, a warbling laugh accompanying her words. “Oh shoot, forgot the mustard.” She set the meat and bread on a plate, and turned back to the chiller.
“Just mustard?” Mira asked. “What about mayonnaise?”
The dolphin laughed, quivering in her exoskeleton. “Seriously? I’ll admit that you humans were on to something with coffee, but mayonnaise? No with a side of not in all the black, no. That tastes like something you’d find floating at the bottom of the ocean. Like puffer excre—”
“OK, that’s all I need to know.” Mira held up a hand. “I’ll just take you at your word and note that you don’t like mayo.”
“While you’re at it, note that no one likes mayo. At all.”
“I know lots of people who do,” the commander insisted.
“They’re lying. Every one of them.”
Mira gave a good-natured laugh and set the espresso machine to pour a double shot while she added milk to the frother. “I’ll grant you that it’s a bit icky if you think about it too much, but a lot of food is like that.”
“OK,” Lorra said with a nod. “That’s fair.”
“So,” Commander Evans shifted the subject from food as the dolphin returned to the counter with condiments in hand. “How are things in engineering?”
“Not bad, Commander, considering how new this hull is. Chief Aqua and I have spotted a few things that will need attention, but nothing serious, and nothing outside of fault tolerances.”
“Seems like a bit of a miracle,” Mira replied. “This ship had a rather short shakedown before it came into our hands. I was expecting to find something terrible carefully tucked behind a bulkhead.”
“What about a skeleton?” Lorra asked. “I feel like that would be a bad thing to find behind a bulkhead.”
The human snorted a laugh. “I guess, but they’d be dead, so the worst would have already happened.”
“You’re very prosaic, Commander.”
“I try to be. Survival instinct from growing up with my dad.”
The warrant officer let out a low whistle as she smeared mustard across both pieces of bread. “I can only imagine. He must have been quite the force of nature.”
“Eh, he gets a bit of a bad rap. He’s actually really soft.”
One of Lorra’s eyes rolled around to fix Mira with a penetrating stare. “Are we talking about the same man? The general?”
“Yes, and he’s quite different than the feeds would have you believe.”
“What about the history we’re taught? He’s been hip-deep in the shit more than once…stars, deeper than that.”
Mira laughed at the thought of her father neck-deep in shit. He’d be so pissed. “I mean, sure, but so have half our parents and grandparents. Things sucked before we got here, plain and simple. That’s why we joined the OASF…to make sure it stays safe and those times don’t come back.”
Lorra layered her meat on, and topped the sandwich with the second piece of bread. “I mean, partially, Commander. I came for some adventure, too.”
“You came to the wrong place, then. We’re really just glorified security guards for planets.”
“And star systems,” the CWO corrected. “Don’t forget those.” Lorra took a bite, switching to the Link to reply as she chewed.
“If she gives you a tough time, blame me.”
The dolphin shook her head, another warbling laugh emanating from her long mouth. “Oh, I don’t think so. It doesn’t do to blame the old lady for something on the first day.”
“I’m not—” Mira caught herself and shook her head. “Well, off with you, then.”
She turned back to the espresso maker, pulling her cup out and triggering the machine’s clean cycle. After drawing in a deep whiff of the rich flavor, she set the cup down and poured in her foam, adding the chocolate sprinkles she’d warned Brock about.
Satisfied that it was prepared to her liking, Mira took a sip and sighed in satisfaction. “Oh stars, that’s just what the doctor ordered.”
She considered returning to the bridge, but instead leant against the counter and took another sip, then another, until the drink was gone, the words ‘bottoms up’ staring up at her through the remains of the white fluff.
“Oh what the heck, it’s our inaugural flight. I can totally have a second one.”
CHAPTER 7 - KYLIE
STELLAR DATE: 12.22.8959 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: The Barbaric Queen approaching Homestead Station
REGION: Independent Systems of the Lupus Cloud
Chuck, the ship’s AI, broadcast the message over the shipnet with images of his avatar wearing a chef’s hat and a multi-colored lei. He certainly was showing the signs of an AI who really needed a vacation—but then again, they all could use one.
Kylie barely remembered what those were, what with a decade of going from one war, to an infiltration assignment, to another war. At least it kept her busy and out of trouble…or the wrong sort of trouble, at least.
She plucked her ‘Kiss the Captain’ mug from the approaching servitor’s grasp and splashed some cream in her coffee, taking a sip as she watched Grayson finish frying up a special side dish of cheesy potatoes.
The Barbaric Queen’s resident chef, Jenny, let him play in the kitchen from time to time, and for that, Kylie was glad. She always liked Grayson’s potatoes best.
She hooked her finger around his belt and kissed the back of his neck.
He peered over his shoulder, lips pulling into a sly grin. “I like our mess hall dates.”
“Me too.” Goodness knew they barely got any time together alone, especially after Marie had come along, but despite the changes she brought to their life, Kylie didn’t regret anything that had happened since.
Kylie took another sip of her coffee. Even with the cream, it was far stronger than any person should enjoy, which meant it was just the way she liked it.
“Excuse me, Captain!” A short woman with blue hair pulled back into a thick braid scooted around her, brandishing a pair of oven mitts that matched her hair.
Kylie slid right over. “I wouldn’t want to stand between the chef and her oven.”
“It smells amazing, Jenny,” Grayson praised.
Jenny pulled a pork loin roast out of the oven and slid it next to the potatoes and the pot of corn on the cob. Dessert was her famous peach cobbler.
