The Silver Liner: Takes Flight!

by Daniel Sullivan

  Kendrick had recovered enough to begin training again, and was soon joined by Mun, Tanaka and Father O’Carmody, all of whom welcomed the diversion that sparring offered. Kendrick made careful observations of the three men; he found that O’Carmody was by far the toughest and the captain doubted that he could best the rugged priest in an honest to goodness fight. Tanaka and Mun fought like black belts from commercial martial arts dojos; good form and fast on their feet, but not real fighters.

  Father O’Carmody turned out to be an excellent cook, leading Kendrick to inquire as to whether or not the priest had attended culinary school. He had not, but the priest’s meals were a welcome change from prepackaged meals heated in the microwave. Kendrick had allowed Ronan one of the conference rooms to use as a chapel and Ronan had worked hard to convert the room into a place of worship. The priest had even requested picking up actual wood to make the chapel more traditional. Kendrick like the idea, but made no promises. Fiona was the only mass attendee, but Kendrick was pleased to have an actual chaplain aboard the Selene.

  While the rest of the crew had busied themselves with mundane activity, Fiona had worked to become more knowledgeable on Selena’s physiology and finally convinced Kendrick to bring the crippled android down to the Med-Bay for examination. Fiona decided to treat Selena as the synthetic person that Kendrick insisted she was, rather than as the comely robot that Fiona thought her to be. That meant actually following up with her. Externally, she was fine; her wounds were healing nicely. Unfortunately, the damage was internal. Fiona still marveled at how real the synthetic body was. Everything about her looked and felt real. Each time her body suffered a spasm, a pained look crossed her lovely face. Fiona felt sympathy for the android and remorse for her part in Selena’s injury.

  “Selena, I’m sorry that I put you at risk. I …”

  Selena held up her hand and put a finger to Fiona’s lips. “Shhh, Fiona. You … did what you felt … called to do. I understand; I did what I felt called to do … and I was … spaced for it. But if I had to … do it again … I would … without hesitation. I would … not be around people … love and be loved … if I had not taken that risk.”

  Fiona felt her eyes mist over. Though a gynoid, Selena felt love. How cruel of me to relegate her to the status of just a thing, the doctor thought.

  “Fiona … you love him, don’t you?”

  The Doctor nodded. “Yes, Selena, I do.”

  “He … loves you too … take care of him.”

  Fiona’s mouth fell open and slowly became a broad smile with the realization. He loves me, she thought. She wondered how Selena knew, but she remembered that when Kendrick was plugged in, he and Selena were mentally connected. Fiona imagined that Selena knew the captain’s mind better than anyone.

  “I am glad … that you … love him,” Selena continued. “He needs more … than his ship.”

  “He has you, Selena,” Fiona countered.

  “That is not the same,” Selena explained. “I am like … his daughter … his family … but … I am deteriorating steadily. Soon … I will not be able to … move my arms … or speak. I will … die; my consciousness may be able to … live within the … ship. Then I would … not leave him. But even if that is possible …”

  “Don’t you say that, Selena!” Overcome with emotion, Fiona felt the tears welling up in her eyes. “We’ll get you fixed. I swear we’ll get you fixed. If you’re really self-aware like humans, then you’ve got a will to live. Don’t give up, don’t let go. The will to live is essential for recovery.”

  “Thank you, Fiona. I … will remember that. And … I love you too, Fiona.”

  Fiona kissed Selena on the forehead. “We’ll find a way. The captain always does. And I’ll do everything I can to help.”

  16

  It had been a month and half since they had left Atlas Station, and Selena was only getting worse. It seemed that the bullets had done more than just cause physical damage; her deterioration could only be caused by some toxic agency in the bullets themselves. With the bullets removed and the wound repaired, this made no sense otherwise. For expediency, she and Kendrick had taken to speaking via Kendrick’s cybernetic connection to the ship, but she clearly preferred to speak with him directly and did so when they were physically together.

  Selena lay in bed, contemplating her circumstances. She did not think in terms of fate, though that was truly what she was considering. The gynoid had developed emotions, love, in particular. Now, Selena had developed another emotion; fear. Fear of losing this body and the wonderful sensations that came along with it. In her merging with the ship’s AI, she had in effect become the Selene, but her self-awareness; that was something that she had attained prior to meeting the captain.

  The former assassin gynoid now experienced the love of a father for the first time, an experience that Kendrick’s late wife could not program into the AI. No, this was her experience and she reveled in it. Selena’s fear was that her body would cease functioning before the father/daughter relationship could grow further. However, Selena’s greatest fear was that she would lose her self-awareness if she were to exist only within the ship. Illogical, she thought, but still, I am afraid.

  Selena was always with the captain mentally while on board the ship. The captain had taken to using the wireless connection to the ship in order to have her with him at all times. She did not demand it, or even ask it of him, but the fact that he did, made her very happy. When he opened a connection, it was as though they were data sharing; and for that time, the two became one.

  Selena knew of his being torn between loving Fiona and being angry with the doctor over her disobedience, which had caused Selena to be shot. The gynoid hoped that he would lay his anger aside; Kendrick needed Fiona and deep down, he knew it. The gynoid hoped that she would live to see the captain and the doctor lay aside their respective hang ups and truly begin a relationship. Selena was dying. She was certain of that. Venus was a longshot, and prior to becoming self-aware, she never would have suggested such a risky proposition that came with such low chance of success. Nevertheless, like all sapient beings, she had an innate drive to preserve her being.

  She knew Kendrick was all too aware of this. He desperately wanted to save her, but Selena knew that much of his can-do attitude on the subject was more out of trying to convince himself that she could be saved than it was out of genuine confidence. Selena wondered if he knew that she could pore through his deepest memories during their shared connection. Though this prompted the question as to whether she would know it if he did?

  Abstract thought; she enjoyed it. As a mere assassin, Selena did not engage in much abstract thought; her job was to locate and terminate. Her human functions were only there to facilitate that end. Now, her human form was a means to bond with her new friends and her Captain. If this body ceases to function, I will love them still, she thought. Selena decided to shed the fear of losing the body, though she would miss it terribly. If the ship were to be her body, then so be it; she would become the Selene. Her bond with the captain would be unbroken and his affection for the ship was such that Selena would be loved very much in return.

  *Alright, Lena, I’m engaging the auto-pilot so that I can sleep. I’m on my way.* Kendrick’s announcement was very welcoming to her. despite being ‘with him’ electronically, she had grown to enjoy the physical proximity to the captain and missed him when he was away. She looked forward to being repaired so that she could be with him in person on the bridge. Selena only hoped that she could be repaired. The thought brought back the fear of losing her body, the fear of death.

  The door opened and Kendrick joined her, seating himself beside her on the bed. She registered a spike in positive feedback when he entered the room. Not feedback; joy, Selena thought. As she broke the mental connection to enjoy his physical presence, Selena wondered if any other android who had attained self-awareness had ever felt joy. Or was she the only one?

  As the captain sat down next to her,
she felt at ease. “She.” As an assassin, the only thing female about her was her appearance and the human functions that her body was designed to replicate. At its core, the intelligence was gender neutral. However, the AI of the ship, Selene, was distinctly female by design. When the two had merged to become the personification of Selene, that person was now female in both spirit and in body.

  The captain leaned down and kissed her, then pulled her close to him. As the gynoid laid her head on his chest, she listened intently to his heartbeat. Its rhythmic pulse soothed her fears. Selena was in his heart, and as long as his heart continued to beat, she would be there, regardless of what happened to her body. A spasm caused her to stiffen, but he held her and stroked her hair until the spasm passed. Selena did not sleep as a human does, but instead would enter a sleep mode.

  “I love you,” she said softly.

  “I love you too, Selena,” replied Kendrick as he held her.

  “Before I … go into sleep mode, I … want you to do … something … for me,” she said.

  “Anything,” he replied without hesitation.

  “Read to me.”

  Such a simple, yet profound request. Kendrick imagined that prior to her being spaced, she had only been self-aware for a brief time. Based on statements she made when she had awakened, she had been built less than four years ago. As such, she was merely a child, a child who wore the body of an adult, but had never experienced the simple pleasure of a parent reading to her.

  “Is there a story you would like to hear?”

  “Yes … a story of … your choosing. Surprise me.”

  “All right,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”

  Kendrick went back to his room and to his bookshelf. He read a lot of books via electronic media, but there was something about the bound pages of a real book that could not be duplicated in an electronic format. He scanned his books until he found just the right one. He had no children’s books, but Selene’s level of understanding was far beyond that of a child. Ah, this one will do, he thought. Taking it, he returned to Selena’s room.

  Selena waited expectantly, a childlike look of wonder in her eyes, anticipating the story being read to her by the captain. Kendrick sat down on the bed beside her and presented the book.

  “The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien,” he said in as fatherly a voice as he could approximate. He then opened up the book and began to read. “Concerning Hobbits. This book largely concerns Hobbits …”

  Kendrick read to her for roughly an hour, with Selena in rapt attention through it all. He wanted to continue through the night, but he had to accept that he was fading and would have to continue the following night. He reasoned that this would give her something pleasant each night to look forward to, as reading the Fellowship of the Rings and its two sequels would be a lengthy process.

  “And now, little one, it is your bedtime.”

  Selena smiled, nodding. “Good night, Captain.”

  Kendrick kissed her and mentally shut off the lights. The gynoid felt just like his Selene had when they were together. He remembered reading to his late wife when she was nearing her death, something she had asked of him to ease her into a pleasant slumber. He never thought to relive that experience, and could feel unbidden tears, knowing that he was about to lose Selena as well.

  Moreover, what were the ramifications of her body’s death? He assumed that her self-awareness would remain in the ship, but he knew that Selene herself was not certain of that. Regardless, he did not want to lose this daughter of his dead wife. He considered the word, ‘daughter.’ He thought of her as Selene’s child, even though he knew that she was not; Selena was a simulacrum, built in the image of his wife when she was young. On the other hand, Selena was a unique soul, who had taken on the personality his late wife had programmed into the ship, creating a brand-new person. Was that not the essence of a child … a daughter?

  Then, there was the factor of who had used her in the past. They had wanted the gynoid dead and if they ever found out that she was alive, they would seek to kill her. If the U.S. government or the UPA found out about her, they would also seek to destroy her. Worse, they could take her from him, wipe her memory and use her for their own purposes. Moreover, the people who were most likely to be able to help her were probably well connected to the very people who had tried to kill her. He returned to his room, troubled by these thoughts.

  Mun had sparred with Kendrick almost every day since they had begun training. It was great exercise, but it was also rather humbling. Kendrick had been well trained and was more than a match for any of the of the Fujin crew. Funny thing about being the security chief on the Fujin; there was never anyone who need securing.

  Kendrick had no crew whatsoever, but somehow, the captain had kept his skills sharp; very sharp. Mun suspected that with the captain’s ability to remain connected to the ship from any part of the ship, he likely practiced everyday while remaining on duty. Father O’Carmody was another matter entirely. Mun suspected that the priest must have been a very bad man prior to the priesthood.

  The security chief contemplated this as he sat in the captain’s chair on the bridge. He could not fly the ship, but Kendrick had given him explicit orders: nobody but the captain was to have access. When Mun had asked about Tanaka, the priest, or any of Kendrick’s original crew, Kendrick was very clear.

  ‘Nobody. And if they don’t like it, they can take it up with me. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is to be on the bridge when I’m not on it.’

  When Mun then asked about the need for a coms officer, Kendrick just laughed and reminded Mun that Selene and he handled that for years on their own.

  ‘Selena and I will monitor the coms remotely. Keep the bridge clear. I’m the only exception. The bridge is off limits to Heather, Fiona, the Priest and Tanaka.’

  It was a weird assignment and though he preferred sitting in the chair to standing guard outside, the chief wondered who could be a conceivable security risk on a ship with so small a crew. Tanaka had tried to gain entry twice, but Mun had steadfastly refused; Kendrick had given him one job and he was determined to do it well. Tanaka ought to spar with the priest or hit on that cute engineer, he thought. Aside from turning Tanaka away, the assignment felt like busywork. He supposed that he could not complain; it was easy work and doing it well would ingratiate him with the Captain. As if on cue, the Captain’s voice sounded in the intercom, breaking the silence.

  “Mister Mun, how’s it going up there?”

  “Kind of boring,” replied Mun. “Tanaka wanted to join me. I told him no. He came up here twice. Otherwise, nobody seems interested in hanging out on the bridge. Sir, given how tight knit our crew is, do you really think that you need to have a guard on the bridge?”

  “Now, you know how I feel when I’m in that seat for long stretches. It may seem like a weird assignment, but believe me, it’s necessary. Keep up the good work. I appreciate it. Royce out.”

  That put things in a different light for Mister Mun, simply accepting the Captain at his word. For Mun, the Captain had just confirmed that guarding the bridge was not busywork and that it was necessary; it was not so much what he said, but something in his voice. With such a small crew, for the Captain to want this meant that he either did not trust a specific someone , or did not trust someone, but was not sure who. Neither scenario was promising.

  Selena awoke from her slumber overjoyed. The night before, Kendrick had read to her for an hour before she went into sleep mode, an experience she found most wonderful. Then, before going into sleep mode, Selena did something she had never done before; rather than return her consciousness to the ship, she had put the ship’s computers into sleep mode, with only vital functions active. With her consciousness confined to her hibernating android body, Selena had actually been able to fully sleep and in sleeping, Selena had dreamt! It was not a deep dream; she dreamt that she was riding a bicycle with the captain in a park on Earth, but for the first time in history, at least to her
knowledge, an android had dreamed!

  When she woke up, instead of her CPU merely running through the various checks, activations, and subroutines with her coming online instantly, Selena found that her consciousness sensed the shift from slumber to wakefulness. She felt the tug of sleep, wanting to remain in the dreamlike state for as long as possible, warm beneath the layers of covers. Once she was awake, her consciousness had kept her body in a low power mode, which mimicked the grogginess of humans immediately following slumber. Selena remained ensconced in this nebulous state for as long as possible, feeling cozy and safe.

  When Kendrick finally checked in on her, he had kissed her cheek and enfolded her in his arms. Being loved, she had thought. This is what it feels like. This is what having a parent is truly like. She finally understood the deep connection of father and daughter simply in the act of being held by Kendrick. Then, she felt the pangs of separation as he finally released her, having to get on with his duties as ship captain.

  She also noted a change in the captain. Gone was the pompadour. Now, his once black hair was parted on the right, letting it fall across his forehead. He had been piling his longer hair up high, making his pompadour higher, but now, he had run out of gel. His hair now lay naturally and actually had some curl to it. Selena knew that Kendrick had used some kind of coloring and a lot of product to maintain the almost jet black pompadour, however, his coloring had run out two months ago, but the captain had used so much gel to maintain his pompadour, that his hair had remained dark.

  Now without product, she could clearly see the natural dark blond color of his hair. Kendrick’s sideburns had grown longer on the voyage, but remained partly hidden by change in hairdo, and she realized that he must be out of shaving products too, as his stubble had grown considerably over the past week.