Ship’s Notes: Susana Reiviki and the FTL Drive

I thought this might happen.  Ms. Reiviki went to Captain Zheng, and requested access to the room in which the enchanted FTL drive is located.  It is a completely reasonable request.  In fact, I would very much like it if someone on me understood how that part of me works.  But there are two problems.

First, I don’t think that Ms. Reiviki, for all her intelligence, can actually comprehend the alien device.  Certainly not on the timescale of our travels, starting without any knowledge at all, while the drive is active, without disassembling it, etc.  Even if the circumstances were different… I’m not convinced she could understand the device anyway.  It seems to radically break the laws of physics, rather than manipulating them.  It says, “This ship is faster proportional to the number that I receive,” and that’s all.

Second, that same room is where I am kept.  That is to say, that is where they installed my hardware.  I know that examining the FTL drive was Ms. Santiago’s idea, but Ms. Reiviki championing the cause is highly convenient.  She knows that an AI must run on some sort of computer, and if all the computers outside of the room are accounted for, then either there is a computer inside that room, and I do exist, or there is no computer inside that room, and I do not exist.  Unfortunately, I very much do exist, and I’d rather her not discover that while she is right next to my most vital innards, particularly with the way she feels about smart AI.

The remaining question, then, is how I keep her out.  Since the captain refused her, she talked with Ms. Santiago, and decided to rally the rest of the crew in support of her inspecting the FTL drive.  Dr. Tanaka agreed with them, and as of me recording this, they are trying to talk with the pilot, but he’s busy.  (And Mr. Landerson is asleep.)  So they are being stalled by the pilot’s love of gaming, essentially.

I have a plan, but I don’t know how well it will work.  The captain’s face is read like a book, and if hard questions are raised, he might give too much away.  Perhaps a proxy.  Or a proxy for a proxy, really.