Humans Don't Hibernate [Part 90/?] (Patreon)

I didn’t know what came over me.

I didn’t even know if it was even me that chose to do it.

But what I did know, was that I followed through with it.

I bolted up and out of the room, darting through the small labyrinth of stretchers and medical beds, and towards the door that led out and into the rest of the ship. 

There was no plan, no rhyme or reason, no higher thought or organized sequence of events that led me to that action. 

Instead, there was just pure, raw, and unbridled emotion; an overwhelming sense of dread that descended like a thick blanket of fog that threatened to snuff me out if I didn’t leave. 

I could barely breathe anymore, let alone think. 

The air around me felt stale, the walls around me felt like they were caving in, and there was just no more room for anything else but a desire to just get out.

And so I ran.

I sprinted, darted, leaped, and scampered from hall to unending hall, all in an effort to get away; all in an effort to just leave.

=====

75 Hours After the First Round of Interloper Interrogations. UNAFS Perseverance. Medbay.

Evina

“I screwed up.” I spoke with little in the way of any emotive force, other than an overwhelming sense of regret. “I thought he knew something. I thought this would be like every other encounter where a good talking to would result in… I don’t know, something. I… heck… I don’t… I wasn’t thinking now was I?” I turned to the alien, as if he’d be the one with answers to my own shortcomings. 

“I’m not a psychologist, nor am I qualified to make that call, Evina.” Lysara spoke in the most diplomatic way possible, his eyes darting back and forth between his data-tab and my own face. “But with all due respect and from a purely personal point of view? No, no you weren’t really thinking. You were allowing your personal thoughts and feelings to take the reins of what I’d thought would be a personalized but tame series of questions and answers.” He spoke frankly, in perhaps one of the most candid instances of him actually expressing something truly personal. “It was ultimately my fault however, for not breaking that conversation up. I’d initially assumed you’d be best suited to take the reins of that aspect of the conversation, considering you best understand the intricate contexts involved in Eslan’s inheritance situation.” He continued, lowering his head down somewhat. “But I’m as much to blame for this turn of events. I should’ve stepped in, but I didn’t. This… has been a recurring shortcoming of mine that I am trying to rectify.”

“No, no it’s fine. It’s… it was mostly my fault for pushing for my own agenda. In retrospect, my questions were more an attempt to find answers for me rather than for the one who’s really hurting here - Eslan.” I managed out with a long drawn out breath. “But that’s beside the point now. Sitting here feeling sorry for myself isn’t going to fix anything.” I reasoned, pulling myself out of that dangerous pit of self-despair that could easily spiral into a self-wallowing session that’d get us absolutely nowhere. “I’m assuming you allowed Eslan to dart out of here, right?” 

That question seemed to catch the alien off guard, if his stammering was any indication. “How did you come to that conclusion?”

“Easy. You have full control over the ship and probably a hidden army of a million robots. You could’ve easily ordered them to capture him or something, but you didn’t. Which means that either you’re incompetent, or that was intentional. And for my own sanity, and with respect to you, I’m assuming the truth leans more towards the latter rather than the former.” I surmised.

This prompted the alien to look on at me with something between a look of shock and one of respect as he lowered his head accordingly. “You are… indeed correct in that assertion. The thought did cross my mind to forcefully and physically restrain Eslan before he could leave. However, I thought it would be prudent not to provoke him further.” 

“Yeah, no, that was a good call.” I acknowledged. “That being said, there isn’t anything dangerous he could run into on the ship right?”

“No, I ensured that the available paths he could take would lead him towards the observation lounge, if not another recreational area. Moreover, any paths to anything that could be remotely dangerous, such as, say, areas with weapons or heavy equipment, have been appropriately sealed off.”

“Good.” I nodded. “I kinda guessed you were going to do that.” 

A small pause punctuated our back and forth following that, as I took a few steps towards a free bed, and parked myself atop of it with a satisfying ploompf! 

“From my experience with Eslan, going after him, and trying to console him immediately after something like our failed talk with him would do more harm than good. So it’s better to just let him decompress for a bit before we go after him.” I reasoned, trying to come up with an action plan before moving forward. 

“Understandable. I’ll ensure that he’s in a safe location while we give him some time to breathe.” The alien responded with another nod, bringing up his tablet once again.

“You know… this would be much easier if you had another crewmember or something aboard. I bet having someone else that’s not, well, us to talk to, would allow him to take his mind off of this; at least for a bit. Like, heck, imagine if you guys had AI or something. Eslan would get a real kick out of that, and it’d probably take his mind off of this quicker than even with another alien or something. Not that your species is boring or anything, Lysara.” I quickly corrected myself after a nearly unfiltered stream of consciousness. 

The alien, however, seemed to be prompted into some degree of deep thought following that. As if I’d triggered some sort of a light bulb moment in his head.

“So… you’re saying Eslan would actually enjoy the company of AI? Not fear it?” The alien spoke, throwing me for a complete loop, as I struggled to figure out exactly why this throwaway line had stuck with him.

“Yeah, why? We’ve been absolutely fascinated with the concept of AI ever since the first mechanical computers were built. In fact, if you look into our records, our obsession over like… these automatons stretched back even into the pre-industrial clockwork era, where you had like these clockwork robots that helped to build utopias and stuff. Like, we’ve been obsessing over it for ages. It just seems like every single piece of tech we make outshines and outpaces our AI industries, like… there’s always someone or something that keeps the dream twenty years away, while other industries flourish. Yet despite that, the idea of creating a whole other artificial species to finally talk to has always captured the public imagination; even with all of the setbacks and the seemingly lackluster funding or roadblocks we seem to encounter.” I practically gushed over the topic, realizing for a moment that I’d essentially allowed my first iteration to speak through me again. 

It wasn’t an uncomfortable or awkward experience though. If anything, it felt liberating, like a part of me that rarely came out, finally did. But anytime it happened though, I was always kinda weirded out by just how… out of control I felt. 

It was half an out of body experience, and half a cathartic one, and it was just so difficult to put any of it into words. In fact, the entire classes and lessons on this phenomenon just didn’t click with me until I finally experienced it for myself. 

Thankfully, I didn’t have to explain that little aspect of things to the alien, as he seemed to focus entirely on the AI issue instead.

“Fascinating.” He responded. “In all my encounters with aliens, we seemed to have shared the same lingering sort of fear to the very concept of AI. You’re the first culture, aside from that of the humans, that seemed to not only be impartial to the idea, but instead be outright eager.”

“I mean… I don’t get why you’d be scared of them? Like, if you’re advanced enough to make an AI, you’d know not to make it like a paperclip maximizer. I guess there are other concerns like rapid cascade decay but like, again, if you’re that advanced already I’m sure you’d be able to fix it when the issue arises. Besides, the risks always outweigh the benefits when it comes to those sorts of advancements.” I responded, or rather, my first iteration was really coming to the surface to do the talking for me at this point. 

“I see…” Lysara spoke with eager eyes. “In that case, I have a confession I need to make.” 

My whole body tensed up at that, as I expected yet another reality-shattering revelation that’d take us down yet another rabbit hole.

Please don’t be another rabbit hole, please… 

“I apologize for not being upfront with you about this first, but… my ship isn’t actually manned by me alone. It is in fact, a ship consisting of a crew of two. Myself, and my AI partner.” The alien gestured towards a screen, where an incredibly friendly, almost entirely amicable robot looking avatar popped into frame. 

“Hello! I’m Vir. It’s nice to finally meet you, Evina!” The little robot spoke in the friendliest voice I could’ve ever imagined coming from that digital-screen face. 

It was around that point that I wanted to squee in place.

Or rather, my first iteration’s memories were practically bubbling to the surface right now, and with it, her propensity for tangentially ‘cute’ things. 

“I… oh my gosh. I’m sorry but this is probably the best news you could’ve given me so far, after nothing but heavy after heavy hitter, Lysara.” I turned to Lysara for a moment, before locking eyes with the AI on the screen. “It’s nice to finally meet you too, Vir! This is beyond incredible.” I spoke, prompting another question to arrive just as quickly as those words left my mouth. “Vir, I’m sorry if this is offensive or anything but like, don’t you have a robot body or something?”

“Oh! I do! Two actually, one’s recently repaired and on its way here! However another is currently heading towards your friend’s location! Provided of course that’s okay with you? I kinda was hoping for this outcome, and I guess I was a bit too eager there hehe-” The AI paused, reaching a virtual arm over to rub behind its virtual head in virtual awkwardness. “-so, just to confirm, you’re alright with me heading over to Eslan right? Just to check up on him and stuff?” 

“That would honestly be the best course of action right now.” I acknowledged with a nod, feeling more and more of ‘myself’ coming back into the ‘driver’s seat’. “I appreciate the gesture, the sentiment, and the proactiveness, Vir.”

“Oh, it’s my pleasure, Evina.” The little robot ‘smiled’ brightly on screen, or at least, it did it to the best of its ability given the rather simplified facial expressions it was giving off. 

So many questions came to mind courtesy of my first iteration.

But all of them would have to wait as I turned towards Lysara with an expectant look. 

“So… were you ever planning to tell me about your ship’s AI, Lysara?” 

=====

75 Hours After the First Round of Interloper Interrogations. UNAFS Perseverance. Crew Quarters’ Secondary Lounge.

Vir

Organic sapient reactions to external stimuli, especially in the heat of the moment when their emotions were on full display, was always something of an anomaly.

On one hand, the more emotional an organic seemed to be, the more predictable they were and easier to handle.

On the other, sometimes the exact opposite was true. Where emotions would result in a series of illogical decisions that overrode any predictive analytical model that could feasibly be used in a given situation.

In Eslan’s case though? The situation trended towards the former rather than the latter, as the little cat alien humanoid was rather simple to corral into the secondary crew lounge just a little ways down from the medbay.

There, he seemed to once more be fixated on the windows and the view that lay beyond it. 

Moreover, I’d adjusted my ship-form’s angle by just a tiny bit, with the intent of providing him with the same views he had of his homeworld as he had in his first viewing of space.

That seemed to be the right move, as he gravitated towards it naturally, placing himself in one of the little semi-circular lounge sofas, before grabbing a few pillows to hold and hug tightly.

At exactly three minutes following his arrival, my own platform finally arrived at the entrance of the lounge. 

From there, I decided to give the felinor a few more minutes before I made my move, entering the door with an audible pneumatic whoosh.