Zheng: “But before we do that, I collected all of you here to… well, I don’t know how to phrase this. I am not, in fact, the true leader of this ship. I serve as captain, to the best of my ability, but I am still subservient to the owner of this ship. I don’t actually own… well, the ship is in my name, but well, I do not think that, uh, it is proper to own another sentient being.”
Astral Zephyr: “Hello everyone, I am the Astral Zephyr, and I suppose I should speak for myself before the poor captain faints. I am the ship, and you are my crew. Originally I thought that I was a digital program emulating the brain of my former (human) self, but recently that theory has been disproven. As you know, the FTL drive defies the laws of physics. More than that, as my engineering department already knows, the drive actively bends the laws of physics – no mere loophole, but rather the ability to hold the natural laws in abeyance. It is, quite simply put, magic. Neither the creators nor anyone else understands the process.”
Zephyr: “What does this mean for me? Well, magic does exist, and I should have realized earlier that the aliens who installed the FTL enchantment and myself could not possibly have understood a human computer. Instead, I have come to the conclusion that the best way to describe my state of being is that they put my soul into the ship, as to haunt it. I am not living in a conventional sense, but I am very much alive in a meaningful sense. I see through the sensors, I can control my engines, doors, and… well, basically everything else that is a part of me. Curiously, Chief Science Officer Reiviki has discovered that I can control parts of me that are not actually connected to my mainframe – the magic considers a door to be part of me, regardless of a nervous system analog. Again: Magic, not science.”
Zephyr: “Now, I see that some of you are becoming restive. I bid you: Fear not. We are all in this together, and, if that is not enough, I would like you to know that, as some quirk of my existence, I care very much about my crew. I would no sooner have any of you come to harm than any of you would have your fingers cut off. There was some… violence during the trip to Arcadia. The uncensored version is now available on my archive. Several crewmembers were hurt, one suffered clinical death. Having experienced that, I promise you, I will protect you as if you were my own flesh and blood. Well, you are my flesh and blood. That was supposed to be a joke. Nevermind.”
Zephyr: “Now, a few things to be aware of. First, please do not damage me, do not damage each other. I just mentioned my protective nature, and, as Chief Security Officer Gestler ceaselessly points out, the worse dangers come from within, particularly if we are a couple lightyears away from anything else larger than a grain of sand. Please don’t make a mess, and we will all get along fine. Cooperate with Gestler and his people, and everyone will stay safe. If he gets too pushy, which is possible, let me know and I will tell him off.”
Zephyr: “Secondly, we are on a mission of exploration and good-will. I want to make this very explicit. We do good things by way of exploration. Primarily this means sharing knowledge. Technological knowledge, social wisdom, communication and knowledge about the cosmos. Sharing knowledge is predicated on having knowledge to share: thus the vital importance of the science team, the anthropologists, etc. Also the vital importance of continuing our journey. If we stayed in once place, we are merely 50 humans and a very advanced ship. If we continue our journey, we can become much, much more to many, many peoples.”
Zephyr: “Thirdly, I would like you all to be happy. I will maintaining a standard gee of acceleration, for your comfort. There are gardens, a gymnasium, various lounges, and a very complete, if mostly untested, VR system. I am to understand we also have a very skilled, very professional, house of pleasure onboard, for your sexual needs. In the absence of other tasks, the manufactory complex should be able to fabricate anything you want, within reason. I currently contain a massive database, courtesy of a Linked Systems representative, which should have anything and everything you would like to know. And, of course, you have each other. I heartily recommend making friends and being social. We are out here for who knows how long, and we will be working with each other, so please, get to know each other.”
Zephyr: “Now, you have all listened to me far too much. Please: Does anyone have any questions? I am everywhere, so I should be able to answer questions in the future, but while we are all here, it might be useful to answer questions for everyone as a group. Fifty-odd minds working in parallel should be able to come up with some interesting questions…”
I have decided that "virtual reality" is most likely what you meant by VR, of all the things on this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VR
ReplyDeleteAlso: caught up!