The Personal Touch

Posted on 01 Dec 2020 @ 6:27pm by Captain Mallory Thorne & Ensign Kat Walker

1,004 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Ab Intra
Location: Cargo Bay Two, Deck 27

The cargo bay was dark and silent, only a very few, very faint status lights visible, pinpricks in the dark, emanating from the wrecked walker occupying a central place in the space. As the door opened to reveal a visitor though, the bay's lights sprang on and a faint hum sounded from the wreck, cooling systems spinning up to keep the temperature on the AI core down as it cycled through its own waking-up procedures. Before long in a feast of shimmering light, the AI's holographic avatar manifested, staring ahead blankly for a fleeting moment before its sentience fully kicking in and focusing on the visitor, with a soft smile.

"Hello Captain. What can I do for you?"

Mallory still wasn't particularly social since...everything had happened, but she also knew she was the captain and didn't have the luxury of hiding away. Still, it was quieter and darker down here and that appealed to her current mood. Not that that was why she'd come... No, she was here for the form that materialized in front of her. She returned the small smile and nodded. "Ensign," she greeted. "I mainly came down to better thank you for your help in getting my ship back under our control and see how you're faring since."

"I'm - " Kat began, trailing off. She furrowed her brows, cocking her head slightly in a simile of deep thought, before continuing. "Unsure. I'm glad we got the ship back and am happy that I was useful, but - " she paused again, struggling with thought. The cooling system flared up again, indicating increased AI core activity.

"But?" Mal echoed, but not impatiently. Encouragingly, showing she was listening.

Kat remained silent for a moment longer before continuing. "It's frustrating, lying here, background diagnostics constantly listing all the things that don't work. Unable to move, to do anything. Yes I can roam the ship with my remote emitter, but - " She hesitated again, shaking her head lightly. "That's low res, low bandwidth, low fidelity, and the diagnostics keep listing, and I'm just running through my programming to try and optimize it and solving Gaussian integer problems just to keep busy - " the avatar sighed. "I'm sorry, it's unfair of me to say these things. I'm here to help. Not to complain."

Mal smiled, a touch wanly. "You're allowed," she said. "You're clearly self-aware, and confinement grates on anyone who is. Have you been able to come up with any ideas that might help you? We obviously cannot utilize your original mobile device but perhaps something else that could compensate and house you effectively?"

The AI considered for a brief moment, then shook her head. "Things are already underway to help me, move me to a modified fighter. That will at least stop the - " she trailed off a moment. "I'm not sure how to describe the everpresent diagnostics alarms. It's - uncomfortable. Highly so. I miss the freedom to do and move and - once the transfer is complete it should be better."

"I'm afraid, as you might imagine, I haven't caught up on several reports," the captain said ruefully. "How is that transfer coming along?"

"It's a slow process. We're still in the planning phase. After this comes manufacturing the cradle, modifying the fighter, the actual core transfer, and calibrating and testing functionality. Then bug fixing, flight practice - it's a long process, Ma'am," Kat furrowed her brows, glancing down a bit.

Mal nodded with a sympathetic expression. "Unfortunately, that is to be expected. Not only are we working under the conditions of our ship being our only connection to our technology now, but you are of an alien design to us as well, so merging the two is bound to take time."

"It is what it is, Captain," Kat offered. "The technology gap is something to keep in mind, yes. Mostly though, despite the frustration, I'm also fully aware how fortunate I am to have been picked up by this ship."

"I'm glad we've been able to help," Mal said honestly, "and I very much appreciate the help you've been able to offer us. Especially with the most recent...issue." Her eyes rolled slightly with her opinion of the recent issue.

"It's nice to hear you say that. Thank you," Kat gave a nod. "But I was just doing what I'm programmed to. And my duty."

The captain chuckled. "Even so, you should learn how to take a compliment or at least an expression of gratitude without downplaying it."

Kat seemed confused. Or, at least, something had triggered the 'emulate looking mildly confused' subroutine in her holographic avatar's control software. She remained silent for a moment, the sound of fans spinning up in her wreckage as her cooling systems kept up with greatly increased AI core activity. "I don't - understand," she eventually hesitantly ventured. "I really did not do anything particularly worthy of praise. Merely followed my programming."

Mallory smiled slightly as she considered. "One might say that's all any of us do, since we're all programmed in some way or another. But help is still to be appreciated, whether someone is trained or programmed to do it or not."

A soft smile, "I'm not sure it's comparable, though. My programming is, in its basest essence, a flow chart. Logic dictates a series of choices, predictable ones, that lead to a certain outcome. I can adapt my programming apart from my main directives, but other than that, logic governs my behavior. I find social constructs to be entirely confusing. But, I will do my best to learn."

"I won't belabor the point," Mal conceded, mainly because she didn't feel like a debate. She smiled tiredly. "I should probably be moving on, but we'll talk again soon. I look forward to the progress reports on your transfer to your new quarters, as it were."

"As do I, Captain. Thank you for stopping by," Kat smiled. The more time passed onboard the ship, the more nuanced her personality profile became.

 

RSS Feed