Taken for a Ride

Posted on 02 May 2021 @ 6:05pm by Odin & Ensign Kat Walker

1,802 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Home

"Odin? Are you here?" Kat asked, her voice directed nowhere specifically. The Captain had said that the strange woman known as Odin now inhabited the ship, an expression that had made Kat curious as to the nature of this being. As for herself, she'd manifested in her human like avatar, sitting on top of the fuselage of her fighter body.

It took just a moment for the ship's newest inhabitant (only "true inhabitant," if one was being literal) to arrive. She looked around until she spotted the true AI and smiled. "Hello, Ensign Walker. How may I help you?"

Kat smiled what her programming told her was a 'warm, friendly' smile. It was close enough. "Hello Odin. The Captain suggested we have a chat, and I do have some questions I would like to ask you, if that's alright. Would you prefer I come down to the hangar floor, or is up here more convenient for you?"

Odin tilted her head in an emulation of thoughtfulness that she seemed to favor. "Neither of us are corporeal. We don't need to sit or rest, and we are guaranteed both of being able to project our voices to be heard and to hear. Does it really matter where either of us sit?"

"I have been programmed to adjust my behavior to offer smooth and comfortable interaction with other life forms, this would satisfy that part of my programming. Though I suppose that, in the grand scheme of things it would be a mere indulgence at most," Kat offered. She stood up on the fighter then jumped off, shifting briefly to her four-winged paravian form to glide down, circling Odin once and landing before her, back in her humanoid form. "However, I do have a physical component, a mobile holographic emitter within my projected volume, currently at 89 percent battery."

"Your winged form was fascinating," Odin commented, seemingly not taking up much with the bit about the mobile emitter. "What brought you to choose it?"

At the compliment Kat smiled, nodding her hand, folding her hands over each other in front of her. "Thank you, Odin. It's called a Microraptor. An extinct form of paravian dinosaur. I found it interesting in its size, color and shape, one of the rare flying creatures from Earth's history with four wings rather than two. It's small enough to be useful in navigating the ship without the animation clipping the bulkheads, yet large enough to offer the crew of this ship something viable to interact with should they desire to."

Odin considered this for a moment. "Do you find they do interact with this microraptor?" she asked. "Do you speak while in the form?"

"Some do. Some have come out and said they like the form - more that one than this one, which I also find amusing," Kat smiled. "I can speak in that form, it's just an animation projected around my remote emitter and doesn't affect function," she answered. "I do have some questions for you as well, if that's alright."

"Certainly," the AI-ish answered easily. "Ask away."

"What is your nature? You're not a pure AI in that you are not code running on bespoke hardware, as far as I know," Kat mused, putting a finger to her chin and tilting her head a bit; her programming told her that looked 'contemplative'. "You were a unique and separate being entirely before becoming bound to the ship, weren't you?"

"I was," Odin replied with a nod. "I'm still not even sure what I am. I have no form now, even if I concentrate." She held up a hand and it flickered. "But you're right, I'm not an AI in any usual sense. I was not created, nor planned, nor am I attached to specific devices beyond, apparently, this ship."

Kat nodded slowly, maintaining the look labeled 'contemplative'. It seemed to match the discussion. "So you are not software running on the computer. Are you bound to a specific part of the ship? For example, the space frame, the computer core or the warp core? Or just to the ship in general?"

The AI-Not AI tilted her head again. "I don't know," she said flippantly. "We haven't figured that out yet. I can't...feel it, I guess you'd say, but I've tried to leave and I can't. Nothing happens."

"Do you feel more at home in certain parts of the ship? More connected?" Kat asked, observing carefully. "Do you have control over the ship or parts of it, like me and my combat platform?" She motioned behind her, where her Valkyrie fighter wiggled its flaps - used for maneuvering in atmospheric flight - with a soft whirring sound of the actuators powering them.

"No control that I've learned so far, but admittedly, I haven't tried all that hard. I don't want to piss the captain off." Odin winked, then considered for a few moments. "I feel a little more...connected the closer I am to engineering."

"It could be that Engineering is where you're bound to," Kat offered, tilting her head slightly. "It might be an idea to ask the Captain if you could have someone try to fly you away from the ship in a shuttle, carefully of course, to see if distance from the ship affects you. I'd offer but I'm bound to a certain range from my AI core and cannot pilot a shuttle nor carry your form as passenger in my fighter," she offered, shifting her expression to illustrate a faint sadness.

Odin smiled a little. "I don't need to breathe. I could ride atop your fighter, really."

"That would be an interesting sight to be sure," Kat smiled. Meanwhile she opened a channel directly to the captain, using some of her other threads to multitask.

"Ensign Walker to Captain Thorne, requesting launch permission for a fifteen minute flight test that would help us further determine Odin-being's nature and relation to the ship?"

"Permission granted, Ensign," came the reply a moment later. "We'll make sure Earth Air Space knows you're coming out for a stroll."

"Thank you Odin Actual," Kat smiled before quirking a brow and addressing Odin, "Though I guess the phrase 'Odin Actual' could cause some confusion. In this case it's meant to address the actual captain of the ship," she explained. "I've got permission to launch, if you want to run this experiment?" as behind her her fighter started its main power on before launch sequence. "Perch yourself so you can readily signal to my main camera. I will go very slowly and stop as soon as you signal. Be aware though that there is a small amount of drift and I cannot stop on a dime, so signal in time before things get too uncomfortable. Is this alright?"

"Sure!" Odin-Not-Actual replied cheerfully, clapping her hands together. Much like a child, she was fascinated and excited for almost anything and everything. She moved her avatar to perch as directed on the craft, 'settling in'. "Ready when you are."

"Launching now. Please hold on tight, I will try to be as gentle as I can," Kat offered, the holographic avatar watching as the fighter activated thrusters and lifted off, keeping as steady as it could, inching forward towards the hangar bay exit, as the hangar doors slid open, revealing the dark emptiness of space outside, with only a forcefield to keep the air in.

With a giggle, Odin hunkered down against the craft, even though she had no actual 'need' to. She gave a thumbs-up to Kat's camera.

Kat 'waggled her wings' by rolling left and right a bit in acknowledgement, inching out into space. She kept a steady but gentle pace, simply putting distance between her and the ship, ready to slam the proverbial brakes if given the signal to.

For perhaps ten to fifteen minutes, even if she wasn't exactly paying attention to time, Odin just enjoyed the thrill of the ride. It was something entirely new, because even if she'd experienced time in space before, it hadn't been like this. This was different...and rather exhilarating. But after about that time, she began to feel...weird.

Weird was the only way she could describe it. Frowning, she raised both hands and made her best STOP motion.

One benefit of being an AI was perfect focus. Another was instant reflexes. So the moment Odin started making a gesture, Kat fired her retrothrusters and pulled her nose up, pivoting the bulk of the fighter's frame around her cockpit's location, coming to a halt in as short a distance possible, without jerky motions. She remained like that for a brief moment, allowing Odin a moment to adjust if necessary, before resuming the pivot and adding a roll to bring her back on a level plane with the ship and firing her impulse engines to make the trip back in less time than it took getting here.

Pretty much as soon as the stop happened and they started going back, the weird feeling faded. Odin was able to lean against Kat's Valkyrie again and just enjoy the way the travel felt until they reach the Odin's flight deck once again.

Noting Odin's seeming enjoyment during the comfortable portion of the flight Kat decided to pull into a lazy 360 roll, before lining up with the hangar bay and going in to land, landing comfortable and starting the post-flight power down sequence. "How was that?" Kat's avatar materialized when the fighter entered the hangar bay and made its way over to its parking spot.

Odin laughed as she moved off the fighter. "Until it got weird, it was pretty amazing," she declared easily. "I'd hoped I'd get a bit further before an effect, but hey, it was at least expected."

"I am glad to hear," Kat smiled. "And now that I have a base line comfort zone range for you on file, I would be happy to take you in a flight again some time. You seemed to enjoy it while it was still comfortable."

"Not having to breathe or worry about corporeal matters can come in handy," Odin quipped.

"Indeed, it does," Kat smiled. "Thank you for coming down here, Odin. I've asked all that I wanted to ask. Though if you have any more questions of me, I'll be more than happy to answer them to the best of my abilities."

Odin smiled back. "Not at the moment," she said. "I'd like to reflect a little on the flight and the feelings of it. Thank you for taking me out. It was quite the experience."

"You are very welcome. Pending situation and permissions we can do it again some time, should you want," Kat offered with a nod.

"You bet!" The AI-Not-AI winked and then swung around and sauntered happily off the flight deck.

 

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