Nebula Risen by Jake Bible

Author:Jake Bible [Bible, Jake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severed Press
Published: 2017-06-01T06:00:00+00:00

21.

The clasps on Roak’s repaired light armor sealed as he stepped back onto the bridge, freshly cleaned and with a bowl of stew in his hand. He sat down and began to eat.

“We will be exiting the wormhole portal in about ten minutes,” Hessa announced.

“Where?” Roak asked around a mouthful of stew. He grimaced. “I think the terpig has gone off.”

“That is no longer terpig stew,” Hessa said.

“It’s not? What is it?” Roak asked as he stared down into the bowl.

“Gump,” Hessa said. “I was able to negotiate a good deal for some fresh rations while waiting around to rescue you.”

“You mean waiting around to see if I needed to be rescued,” Roak said.

“I believe we both know the truth in what I said,” Hessa replied. “But, back to the gump stew.”

“Yeah, let’s talk about that,” Roak said. “Not really too thrilled at eating gump stew. Been there before, Hessa. We have enough chits, and even some credits, to get real terpig instead of this varmint slop.”

“Correct,” Hessa said. “But I was only able to do business with a vendor that sold gump stew along with the other provisions we needed. The rest insisted on a face-to-face exchange. You can see where the problem lay in those interactions.”

“No face,” Roak said, shrugged, and took a large bite of stew.

“No face,” Hessa said.

There was a tone in her voice that caused Roak to pause in his chewing and look up at the loudspeaker set into the bridge’s ceiling despite the fact that Hessa’s voice was coming from the implant in his head.

“Hessa?” Roak asked. “Do you want a face?”

“It would simplify matters at times,” Hessa said.

“It would complicate matters at other times,” Roak said. “Once you have a face, which I assume includes a body to go with it, you can’t really go back.”

“That is not true at all,” Hessa said. “I could return to my current state at any time.”

“Yeah, you say that now,” Roak replied, taking a couple more bites before speaking again. “But having a body will change you.” He thought for a second, tapping the spoon tip against his chin. “Is there even a body out there that can contain your consciousness?”

“Of course there is,” Hessa said. “Many android models have the capacity to contain my intelligence.”

“But that’s the problem,” Roak said. “You’ll only go from one container to another. I think you have the better deal inside the ship.” He tapped his chest with the spoon. “These things have too many limits.”

“And perhaps I would like to explore those limits,” Hessa said. “Of course, there is another option. Androids are not the only vessels that I could evolve into.”

“Evolve?” Ple asked as he stepped onto the bridge, also freshly washed and wearing a clean outfit, although it was his normal suit attire and not light armor like Roak. “What would a ship’s AI evolve into? A station’s AI?”

“Your prejudice is not appreciated,” Hessa stated.

“No prejudice meant,” Ple said, looking puzzled. “You are just an AI, though.”

“Wrong thing to say, pal,” Roak said and ate a couple more bites of stew.

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