Chapter 6

John

---

Captain Finley walked into the chaos that was soon to be his bridge. He carried a box of personal items into the adjoining stateroom and set them down on an elaborately carved mahogany desk.

A maintenance robot had a wall panel removed and was working on the mechanism that retracted the door into the wall. The eerie blue glow, from the reaction of nanomachines breaking and reforming molecular bonds where the frame and the deck joined, were reflected off the polished metal surface of the droid.

“Almost finished here Captain,” said the machine in its computerized voice.

“Take your time,” replied the Captain,“ I’m just putting a few things away.”

Through the open door, he saw Kei and Jimmy Burgess enter the bridge. They walked over to an access panel were a jumble of wires, and circuit boards spilled out.

Source

Captain Finley walked up behind them and overheard Kei saying, “When we tested it from the command chair it activated for point zero two, seconds then went blank, and we haven’t been able to reactivate it since.”

“Really?” said Jimmy amused, “Point zero two, seconds you say,” as if the amount of time had anything to do with the electrical problem.

John groaned and said, “You're wasting your sarcasm on her Jimmy, you should know that.”

Kei looked up and said, “Hello Captain! There seems to be some trouble with the view screen electronics.” Then to Jimmy, she said, “Was that sarcasm? I haven't mastered sarcasm yet, and directness is so much easier to understand."

"I'm sorry," said the young engineer, "Sometimes I forget you're still learning."

"I try to compare speech patterns from what I have learned, but I seem to fail miserably at humor. Padma tells me I take things too literally. Perhaps I'll get better at recognizing sarcasm in the future.”

"You'll catch on," said Jimmy, "then we'll have to watch out for you!"

They laughed together, and Jimmy bent over the tangled wiring.

John enjoyed interacting with Kei. Her positronic brain had access to vast amounts of information but learning how to be human was a challenge for her. Sometimes her lack of social skills reminded him of an innocent child learning about the world. Her spirit of honesty and innocence was unique and extremely attractive to him.

She was incredibly beautiful and the attention she spent on her appearance showed. She was stunning to most males and the envy of other women. He once heard her discussing beauty tips with a female crew member and was amused to find she reviewed the fashion and beauty periodicals daily to conform to what society expected of her," she said. Just being near her brightened his day.

Source

“Ah,” said Jimmy, “here's the problem.”

He removed two circuit boards from their slots, swapped them, then reinserted them into the panel. He opened another panel and reset a circuit breaker and said, “Okay, let’s give it another try.”

Walking to a console recessed in the command chair Kei selected the menu for the view screen and chose forward view. The blank wall before them turn transparent, and the moon glowed through the superstructure of the space dock. Jimmy stepped up and cycled through a 360-degree view of the starship to test all the exterior sensors (cameras).

“You won’t be able to test the telescopic abilities until astronomy has the telescopes online, but for now it seems to be working fine.”

“Thank you, Jimmy,” said Kei. "I knew nobody, but you could fix this so soon!.”

It pleased her to see the compliment had the desired effect on him. She was practicing methods of interacting with others that she learned from a book written during the twentieth century by a man named Dale Carnegie. The positive impact of the compliment encouraged her to address another topic that she wanted to discuss.

“Captain Finley,” she said gaining eye contact with him, the Carnegie book suggested eye contact.

“I composed a social interaction algorithm on male and female relationships, and I input observations of your body language and physiological factors. I compared several other test subjects too and found that we have a higher than average compatibility rating. You also have a strong desire to copulate."

Jimmy dropped his test set.

"I have never had the opportunity to experience this activity. I would like to arrange a private meeting to explore the possibility...”

“Uh, I have some things to do,“ said Jimmy and hurried toward the door.

“Wait!” said John raising his hand and pointing his finger at the ceiling. He glared at Jimmy and said, “Not a word mister! Understand?”

“My lips are sealed,” said Jimmy with a grin as he rushed out. They heard hysterical laughter as the door hissed closed.

Source

Clearing his throat, John said, “Kei, your innocence delights me, however, sometimes it is also shocking. I will admit I am attracted to you, but usually people go through a period of courtship before committing to…, uh," he leaned in and whispered, "copulation."

"Maybe you should review some information on human courtship rituals. Wait, let me be specific. Review courtship practices for couples of western cultures. Unless, of course, you prefer a male of a different culture that is.?” He looked disappointed.

"I would like to pursue this experiment with... you, Captain Finley. How do we proceed?”

He seemed to brighten.

​“I’ll tell you what,” said John putting an arm around her and guiding her toward the door. “Most relationships begin with a first date. How would you like to accompany me to dinner tomorrow? In a public setting!" he was quick to add. "I can be at your quarters at 1900 hours, and then we can walk together to the entertainment area. If that's agreeable, of course?”

“Agreed!” she said smiling up at him.

John watched her gracefully walk across the bridge deck and out to the corridor.

“She is an astonishingly beautiful woman,” he thought, "of course, I'd like to copulate with her, what red-blooded man wouldn't?" He hoped it wasn’t as evident to others as it had been to her.

Usually, the synapsis patterns that once were Julie were content to remain in the background as random memories with an occasional vague interest in Kei's activity. But suddenly these patterns demanded attention. She analyzed the feelings and determined them to be the typical female response to the human mating instinct. She liked the new sensation. She didn't know that what she was feeling was a young girl's euphoria over the infatuation of a desirable male. “Interesting,” she said to herself. She was eager to explore this part becoming human.

John returned to his stateroom where the maintenance droid was finished troubleshooting the doorway and was testing it by stepping up to it and observing the way it opened with a hiss then stepping back and watching it close.

“All finished sir. Is there anything else needing my attention?” it asked gathering up its tools.

“No, I’ll let maintenance know if I need anything else.”

“Very well sir,” answered the droid. Its tracked base whirred as the robot left the bridge.

John opened his electronic tablet and began going over the duty roster. The ship’s construction was almost complete, and he looked forward to exercising her Alcubierre/Fulton drive during the upcoming trial runs. The maiden flight would be her first attempt at FTL (faster than light) speeds.

After the AI’s turned the world upside down with technological advancements, a surge in space research began. The emergence of the compact fusion reactor enabled space launches without needing to carry huge loads of fuel. The solar system opened to human exploration. Lunar and Martian bases followed, and mining in the asteroid belt became commonplace.

With the help of the AI community and with his brilliant influence, Dr. Oliver Fulton, of NASA’s Ames research center, adapted his fifth-dimensional bubble concept to an Alcubierre warp drive. Soon NASA and the European Space Agency were sending FTL probes to distant stars and returning them within a reasonable amount of time.

Several of these unmanned spacecraft equipped with Quantumly Entangled Data devices discovered that life was the rule in the universe, but it appeared that intelligence was the exception.

Source

Almost every exoplanet found to be in a Goldilocks zone with sufficient water and an atmosphere, contained life forms. Life forms just emerging from the primordial soup to those teaming with aquatic and land roving species were ordinary. But none, as yet, proved to be inhabited by higher forms of intelligence.

The Global Space Agency sent out a spacecraft with a rhesus monkey named Angie as the passenger. Angie became famous as the first primate to survive faster than light speeds. Her mission was followed by manned missions to test physiology of extreme acceleration on the human body. The Cosmos was the culmination of these missions.

The starship was staffed, not by any one government, but by the most excellent minds from all over the planet picked exclusively by the AI community.

Cosmos' missions would be exclusively scientific, not military. All of the crewmembers registered as merchant mariners. It would, however, have a small contingent of skilled marines for security purposes and commanded by the Captain.

The ship had two rail guns mounted along either side of the stationary axel, and two high energy phased laser cannons, each mounted amidships that could swivel 180 degrees forward and backward to protect its flanks presumably from asteroids and space debris. The AI’s were reluctant to add these features because of the inclination of humans toward violence.

John wondered why they picked him to captain the colossal spacecraft when an AI could undoubtedly make faster and more accurate decisions in stressful situations. He asked Kei about this.

“Well, besides the fact that you are considered the finest merchant mariner captain in the solar system? It seems,” she explained, “that when faced with a life-threatening decision, humans tend to side with human authority in a crisis. Test show that artificial intelligence will choose correctly 99.87 percent of the time while a human is only 86.2 percent correct in his choice under stress. And your screening showed that you would consider both options and choose the better one."

“Well,” said John, “I hope you’re there for me to consult if I ever need to make those kinds of decisions.”

“Of course,” said Kei. “How do we humans say it?” “I’ve got your back?”

John reviewed the progress reports and saw that most of the ship’s construction would be on schedule for completion in time for the proposed test run. The hull coverings for the A/F drive ring were in production today and would be fitted by a droid crew before the end of the week.

Lydia, he smiled when he thought of the trip up with her, and her crew would have the consoles and circuit racks installed in the Astronomy Section and ready to hook into the external telescope arrays within the next two weeks. He was anxious to move the Cosmos out of the protection of the Space Dock.

John tapped his temple and said, “Sagan please.”

“Yes, Capt.?” came the reply of the lesser AI.

“How are we coming on filling the cargo holds,” he asked?

“We have finished boarding the crew and are configuring for cargo only runs,” replied Sagan. “Barring any delays with the ground suppliers we should finish on-loading carbon in the form of anthracite coal in two weeks three days six hours and forty-three minutes. There has been a slight delay in the delivery of copper, and it is unknown at present when supplies will be available.”

“Okay,” said John. “I’ll check on the copper with earth dispatch and let you know when to expect it, Finley out.” He tapped his temple to close the connection.

John rose from his desk and, dodged a team of droids working on the bridge systems. He made his way into the outer corridor of the large spinning ring and waited as the door to the Skyway opened.

The Skyway was a retractable connection between adjoining rings attached only when the rings were synchronously rotated. The short passage had transparent walls and ceiling and gave a breathtaking view of the outer workings of the vast starship. He walked across the Skyway to the Science ring. He watched as cars ran up and down the outer elevator tubes on the immense spokes connecting the rings to the central core.

Source

Leaving the Skyway, John turned left and after a short walk came to a large double door with Astronomy Deck stenciled on it. When it hissed open, he saw a team of maintenance droids securing server racks to the decking. At the other end of the room, another squad of droids was laying down, short piled, gray carpet.
He walked over and asked the nearest droid, “What’s the status of this task?”

“Completion of this task will occur at approximately 21:42 hours tonight sir.”

“Great!” he said. “Have your team begin bringing up the equipment that arrived for this section today. I’ll send authorization to the cargo dispatcher and arrange it so that it will be easily accessible for Dr. Jess and her people tomorrow.”

“Very well sir,” said the droid and turned back to its work.

After leaving the Astronomy Section, John walked down the ringway checking in at various departments to see how things were progressing.
When he passed the Biology Section, he saw Padma Berryman staring at her work monitor tapping a pencil on her forehead.

“Padma? Got a second?” he asked.

“Yes, Captain, certainly."

“You know we will be taking her out,” indicating the starship, “in a few weeks and we decided to keep a skeleton crew on board. You aren’t on the required personnel roster, but I’ll be needing the services of your husband. If you'd like to stay aboard, I can pull some strings and make it happen.”

“Oh, Captain,” said Padma with a huge smile. “I’d like that very much, and thank you.”

“I will arrange it then,” he said.

He waved and continued on his rounds.

---

Thanks for reading Chapter Six
in my first attempt at
Science Fiction
Read Chapter One here

Thumbnail Source

---

---

---