by Guerin Zand
Still, a small fleet of these lightning class starships could be useful. I was thinking if we could manufacture a half dozen or so of these ships, we could set up a shuttle service of sorts. We could leave them based on Hell when not in use. When needed, we could have one of the fembots pilot the starship from Hell, or wherever it might be at the time, to where it was needed. This would really let our cruiser class starships focus on our primary duties. It would be almost as good as having more cruiser class ships, but not quite.
The size of the lightning class was about a third of the cruiser class. The physical shape and aerodynamic surfaces were all simply scaled down. There was only one main deck, with a small service crawlway below for running all the necessary plumbing and maintenance access. There was the bridge, a small mess and galley which doubled as a meeting/lounge area, four spacious crew quarters, a small transport room with docking ports, and all the power and ship engineering facilities between the crew quarters and the cargo hold at the back of the ship. It was roughly the size of the old Boeing 777 in length, which was rather small by starship standards.
As I stood at the bar in the Ryvius’ lounge, and all of these thoughts were going through my head, I suddenly thought that this was all starting to sound a lot like a fucking job to me. How had this happened?
All of my life I tried avoiding having anything that one could possibly describe as a job. Sure, I worked for a living, or let’s say I found ways to make money and get by, but usually I found ways to do this while still having fun. Being responsible for teams of Rangers and scheduling ship usage and crew assignments was boring, and that was what made it a job. I enjoyed the starship design part but having to manage all this other bullshit was going to get old fast. I just wanted to come up with stupid ideas, do stupid shit, and annoy as many aliens as I possibly could. This other stuff was why I originally teamed up with Roger, Katie, and Steve back on Earth when all this spaceman shit first started. What I really needed to do was find a way to get Roger out of his cushy little ambassador job back on Earth and get him out here to run all of this. I’d have to find a way to do that while making it seem like it was Roger’s idea, or at least not mine.
Maria and I finished our drinks and she went to let Trixy out of the brig and escort her off the ship. Once that was taken care of, I went to the bridge and we got the ship ready to depart Trinix. We were still hiding the ships portal drive capabilities from observers, so we used the star drive to get us out of the system before we opened a portal to Hell. As we approached the system where the planet Hell was located, I approached Maria at the pilot’s station.
“I need to enter my access code. I changed it while I was on the planet.” I started to reach over Maria’s shoulder, but she brushed me aside.
“I know. How do you think we got past the security when we came back for you?” Maria gave me a dumb look.
“You guessed my access code?”
“Seriously, Dad, you changed it to ‘password’. It was my first guess. Don’t you think it should be something a little more secure?”
“How many aliens would know the English spelling of the word ‘password’? And if they did, how many of them would actually think of that? Sure, it may be a bit obvious for humans, but not for all the aliens out there.” I smiled smugly.
“I’m not even going to waste my breath arguing about it with you, Dad.” Maria just rolled her eyes at me, turned back to her station, and brought the ship in for a landing at the spaceport.
Julie-bot came out to meet us in one of the little minivans. I had phoned ahead asking for the ladies to start working on adding living quarters for the rest of the Ryvius crew. The spaceport complex was huge, and there was a lot of unused space available. That was excluding the manufacturing facility.
The main complex where I had stayed was five stories high with approximately 50,000 square feet available per floor. We could easily house over one hundred people in that building alone very comfortably. The problem was, it was mostly empty space and we’d have to build out the individual modules. The only living space that had been there was the one in which I had stayed on the fifth floor, and they had just finished modifying that to my specifications to accommodate my extended family. They added individual bedroom suites for me, my wives, and two daughters, and increased the size of the living, kitchen, and dining rooms. Julie-bot informed me that they could speed up the construction of the other modules, but we’d have to take resources from the shipbuilding effort. I didn’t want to do that, so I told her to hold on the module construction for now. The crew could stay on the ship for a while and it would also give them a chance to customize their quarters if they liked. Also, we couldn’t start on the construction of the security system for the Trogan planet until after we had done a preliminary reconnaissance mission, and I wanted that first ship completed ASAP, so we could get that project started.
I explained to the crew that they would be bunking onboard the ship until we were able to get the facilities built out. There was actually a lot to do to turn this spaceport into a working base for our teams besides just the construction of the living modules. I started to hand out assignments to the crew. John Peiffer, our ship’s supply officer, and his assistant, Meiling Zhang, were assigned the task of making a shopping list of things we’d need, from food to toilet paper, and get a shipment arranged with our cargo teams. It was obvious with all the housing construction and shipbuilding, along with other projects, we were going to need more construction droids. I instructed the fembots to take some resources from the shipbuilding effort to help out with that. The galley crew was assigned the task of designing the galley and dining facilities for the main building. Everyone else, from cargo to security, were tasked with working with the ladies on the final design for the facility. It became apparent we were going to need more people, some permanently assigned to the base on Hell, so I placed a call to Roger to have him start working on that.
◆◆◆
After talking to Roger, I sat back on one of the IKEA-like futons in my family’s residence for a rest. Maria joined me and had brought me a drink from the bar.
“Thanks. I don’t know what I was thinking. Building a working base here is going to take decades, and it will be one of those never-ending construction projects. Why do I let myself get tricked into taking on these tasks?”
Maria took a seat in a chair facing me and plopped her feet up on a small coffee table thingy. “No one tricked you into anything, Dad. You’re just doing what you know needs to be done. We need this base. Roger will work with you to get us more people to help out, right?”
“Sure, but then it will become a security issue. It’s kind of hard to have a secret base if too many people know about it.” That just made me think how we were going to have to build out our security services. The whole thing was snowballing every time I looked around.
“What about making some more fembots, or how about some dudebots for us ladies?” Maria smiled as she took a drink.
“Absolutely not. I had the girls lock those designs away, so that’s not going to happen unless we get really desperate.”
“Yea, I noticed there were some areas in the archive that appeared to be restricted. What’s up with that? I tried ‘password’ and all of our birthdays. That didn’t seem to work.” Maria laughed.
“Well, I actually don’t have access to those areas either. I had the girls lock us out of a lot of what I found in the archives. Only I can access it, and only if I specifically request that access.” I finished my drink and put the empty glass down on one of the end tables.
“Why would you do that, Dad.”
“The same reason the Bree have abandoned this planet.” Maria shrugged indicating that wasn’t the explanation she was looking for. “Whoever set this all up was working on things even the Bree considered dangerous. Let’s just say I had an experience with just one of those experiments and it scared the shit out of me. Even these fembots have me a bit worried. They’re sort of an organ
ic construct that comes close to what I’d call living.”
“You think their sentient?”
“Not just that, perhaps they’re sapient. It’s hard to tell. When I first got here, it was like talking to a bunch of toasters. That’s why I started to have them work on personalities.”
“By assigning them characters out of old Earth TV series?” Maria raised an eyebrow.
“You can laugh, but think about it. Those were just baselines, examples for them to learn how to react as humans react. To smile when it’s appropriate. To learn how to react around humans. Once they develop their own personalities, I figured it would be easier to understand their actions and motivations. It’s kind of hard to understand what a toaster is thinking.”
“Sort of an advanced Turing test? I guess that would make sense. Since you already know what they are, you’re not testing them in a blind test. If, as they develop their personalities, we start to forget that they are constructs and start seeing them as people…”
“Exactly, Maria. Then it gets complicated. What do we do with them if they pass this test, if we see them as living beings? Should we be making more of them to be our servants, our slaves?”
“But they are programmed to obey you, Dad, or whoever is designated as their master. That doesn’t seem to be a trait of a sapient being.”
“Are you sure, Maria?” I raised both eyebrows in a questioning look. Maria shook her head and shrugged her shoulders to indicate she had no answer. It’s funny how your kids can communicate with you with only simple stupid looks. “Aren’t children programmed to obey their parents? Don’t they at some point in their life start to reject that programming?”
“I guess you could make that comparison. So, you think at some point they might rebel, and it could be a problem?”
“Maybe. I just don’t know, that’s the real problem. Like I said, the science behind all of this is way beyond us. Which brings up another issue we all need to discuss.”
“What’s that?”
“We now have access to a lot of Collective technology. Not just the technology, but the knowledge behind that technology as well. I don’t want to share that with the Terran system. Somehow, I need to convince Roger and the rest of our teams that I’m right about that. The Terrans need to progress at their own pace. There are still a lot of problems humans need to deal with before they’re ready for this sort of technology.”
“Then what does that make us, Dad?”
“I just don’t know anymore, Maria, but do you disagree with me?”
“No. Several of us, including you, have had access to advanced knowledge and technology in the past that we haven’t made available to the rest of humanity, but this is different, isn’t it?”
“I think so, Maria. I’m sure of one thing though.”
“What’s that?”
“This is just another one of Julie’s fucking tests.”
“Dad!”
“Seriously, Maria. She didn’t just make all of this available to me because she thought we were ready for it. As I was saying, a lot of what’s in the archives is research even the Bree have abandoned for their own reasons. I think one of the reasons is this knowledge is simply too dangerous, even for them to fool with. And it’s not that simple either. What I saw was so beyond anything we can understand. How do we even know what’s dangerous? Compared to some of the stuff I saw, moving a planet is child’s play. My first thought was to just leave this place abandoned, but I didn’t do that. The technology is just too tempting, but maybe I was right? We should just leave this place.”
“Let’s just say you’re right, for the sake of argument, Dad, and this is just another one of Julie’s test. Do you think she’d make all of this available to you if she thought you couldn’t handle it? I know you hate when she compares you to a child, but what if she thinks that this child now knows enough not to put his hand on a hot stove or stick his finger in a light socket? Maybe after Taes, she trusts your judgment enough to make this available to you. It’s only a test if she’s wrong.”
“You just can’t help but make excuses for Julie, can you? What if Julie is just one crazy psycho bitch from hell, and she’s just been waiting for me to destroy the universe, so she could have one good laugh?”
“Well, there’s always that.”
We both laughed. Maria got up from her seat and headed towards the bar. “Do you want another drink, Dad?”
“Where’s the rest of the family?” I asked.
“They're all in the kitchen working on dinner. I think Prima and Scirla are helping Gamma with another one of her cooking experiments. She wanted to make you something special from some Earth cookbook.” As Maria poured us a couple more drinks this sick smile came on her face. Then it hit me.
“OH, DEAR GOD, NO!” We had all been subject to Gamma’s cooking experiments over the years, and some of them, well actually a lot of them, didn’t turn out too well for the rest of the family. Her experiments, cooking would be by far too kind to call what that girl did in the kitchen, had even resulted in more than a few trips to the med center. “Let’s just tell her we didn’t know she was cooking and we grabbed a bite on the ship.”
“That’s not going to work, Dad.” Maria frowned. “I ran into her before I found you. She asked me to tell you specifically she was cooking tonight. I think she caught on to us the last time when we said we had to take a spacewalk to patch an atmosphere leak on an indestructible ship.”
“We weren’t that obvious, were we?”
Maria nodded in the affirmative. “Don’t worry. I contacted Soo-jin and told her to put the med center on standby alert. She’s down there now making room for all of us. Apparently the facility here in the main complex hasn’t been used in a while, so her, Tatsuya, and Kevin are down there trying to get it organized.”
“Maria, why don’t you just tell your sister her cooking isn’t fit for human consumption. Hell, even Alpha won’t eat her food.”
“You tell her. You’re her father.” Maria returned from the bar with our drinks and handed me mine. She took her seat again and plopped her feet back up on the table. “At least Alpha can run away and hide.” Maria laughed, but it wasn’t a happy laugh. “Remember that thing that Mom used to make? What did you call it?”
“Her Bibim-slop.” Anna was for the most part a great cook, but her attempt at the Korean dish, Bibimbap, was a different tragedy every time. “She knew we both hated that dish, but she would force us to eat it anyways. She’d say that sooner or later, she’d get it just right.”
“And she never did.” We both laughed and then the sadness of losing her mother crept up on both of us. “Why do you never talk about Mom anymore?”
“I don’t try not to talk about her, but I guess you’re really the only one I can share those memories with.” I took a small sip of my drink. “My mother’s first husband had died, and she remarried. My father was her second husband, and she never talked about her first husband except maybe to my oldest brother who was his son. One New Year’s Eve, we were at my grandmother's and I was snooping around in my grandmother’s dining room chest. I came across a picture of my mother and her first husband, a wedding photo I think, and I asked my mother about it. She looked at me with this most expressionless face, a look I had never seen from her before, and she asked me quietly to put that back and not ask or talk about it. I did, for some reason, exactly what she said without any question. The rest of her life, I never asked about her first husband again. I don’t know why, but that moment is permanently etched in my mind.”
“Why would that memory be so important to you, Dad?”
“I’ve never figured that out. My father never seemed like the crazy jealous type, and he had adopted my oldest brother. The only thing I could figure out it was my mother was just being sensitive to my father’s feelings, even if to him it wasn’t an issue. She really had a lot of old-fashioned values that she followed and lived by. But whatever it was, it made an impression on me. I guess now tha
t I’ve lost a wife, I can kind of understand what she must have been thinking and she was probably right. It’s probably why I don’t talk about your mother in front of others, especially Prima or Scirla. It wouldn’t be considerate of me to bring your mother up in any of our conversations.”
“You still miss her after all this time, don’t you, Dad?” Maria could tell this from the way my mood and expressions had changed since our conversation had taken this turn.
“Of course I do. I’m reminded of her every time I look at you, or watch you perform one of the many little idiosyncrasies you picked up from your mother.” Maria brushed her shoulder-length hair back behind her ear on one side of her face. “Like how you just brushed your hair back. Your mother would do it with the same hand, always her right hand, no matter which side of her hair she was brushing back. And her hand would make the exact same gesture as yours just did.”
Maria smiled as she realized what she had just done, and that I was right. “Is that why you sent me away to Bree-U? I reminded you too much of her for you to be around me?”
“No. I sent you away to be safe.” I paused for a second and simply smiled at Maria. “I couldn’t be sure that we would be safe on Earth after what had happened, and I couldn’t be around Milly. Everything was so messed up at that time. The only thing I could be sure of was that Julie would protect you.”
“You could have come back sooner though, Dad.” I could see Maria felt hurt about how things went back then.
“I’m sorry if you feel that I’d abandoned you, but that wasn’t the case. I just needed to be away from all of this shit. I needed to not be responsible for everyone else’s problems and just try and deal with my own. Up until I married your mother, I had been on my own for most of my life. I just went back to what I knew best.”
