“Is there anything I can do to help you at all? Earn our passage a bit.”
“No. You relax,” he turned, closing out one of his documents. “Alred says it will take another four or so days until our generators are recharged enough to attempt another swing. So, until then, we’re just cruising.”
“Swing?”
“A subspace swing. Moving a ship through subspace means you can travel faster than light without consequence, but it requires a subspace generator. And I’m afraid ours is old, and it takes a while to recharge. Until it does, we can only move under the speed of light.”
“Oh, I’m in no rush,” Garnet assured him quickly, smiling. “Now that I know I’m not in any danger, it’s actually pretty cool. I never really thought about leaving Earth before, but I’m here now, right? Might as well enjoy it! So, who are you guys? A delivery company, right?”
“Correct,” Tanin watched her as she looked around his ship model. “This is the Humble Delivery Service.”
She snickered, giving him a look. “Humble Delivery Service?”
“Seemed like a good name.” he shrugged off her teasing giggle. “And it is true. We’re not a large delivery service. It’s just us. My company is this ship and crew. We specialize in hazardous deliveries. Including deliveries to dangerous territories if necessary.”
“And that’s how you found us?” She turned to face him again.
“We were hired to fetch your chest out of a pirate infested area of space. The shinuk king who hired us no doubt thought you were well hidden. And you might have been, if it weren’t for Alred.”
“Your computer guy?”
“Computer guy?” Alred popped into being beside them, making her jump slightly. “That’s the best way you can describe me?”
“Were you eavesdropping?” Garnet frowned.
“Don’t worry about him,” Tanin reassured her calmly. “He can’t really help it. And he’s nosy. If he hears his name, he simply has to pay attention.”
“Anyone would respond to hearing their name spoken. I just happen to have ears all over the ship to hear it with,” Alred countered snootily, making her giggle before he faced her. He gave a deep, formal bow. “I introduced myself before, but you were probably a bit too preoccupied to remember. I am Alred van Hamass Recall-12.”
“I remember,” Garnet assured him as he stood straight. “I guess I’m just a bit confused. You’re an AI, right?”
“Something like that.”
“So, you’re a computer program?”
“Essentially.” He sounded so amused, even looked it despite his lack of face.
“Alred is a recall,” Tanin said simply. “An undroitt recall. His species, the undroitt, has been extinct for thousands of years. All that’s left of them are the AI that were made based on scans of the last of their brains before they died out completely.”
“To be perfectly accurate, I’m the twelfth recall of the original scan of the biological Alred that forms my person,” he interjected. “I am still classified as a sapient species, however. My species is species number nineteen in the Coalition, in fact. We’ve been members longer than most. We just aren’t a biological species any longer.”
“Oh,” Garnet said, starting to get it. “So, you’re not an artificial intelligence. You’re like an un-artificial intelligence. A computer, but you’re a real person at the same time.”
“Correct. As it happens, I’m not listed as a crew member, so anyone who looked at the crew roster of the Humility wouldn’t find out about me. It’s very handy in the cases where someone tries to sneak something by the captain. Because I am not a true AI, I am not bound by codes in the same way regular AI are. I can easily jump into other devices and look at their codes. As I did when I looked into the chest and found the life support system that alerted us that something more was inside.”
“Recalls live in the technology space,” Tanin continued, knocking his fist against the side of the console. “The entire ship is technically Alred’s body. His light form is just a creation he makes so we have something to look at.”
“Wait,” Garnet narrowed her eyes on Alred. “Are you telling me that you can seeanywhereinside the ship?”
“Yes. But don’t worry. I don’t look into the private rooms unless invited. The others have already lectured me about that.”
She made a sound in her throat, still glaring suspiciously. She didn’t think she’d care if a computer saw her changing, but he wasn’t just a computer program, and he was still a male, right?
Or… was he not? He was as smooth as a doll downstairs, but his voice and the rest of his nude body was completely masculine. She honestly didn’t know, but she wouldn’t be comfortable with some random female or non-binary person staring at her changing either.
“You can relax. I wouldn’t do that. I havesomemorals,” he chuckled.
“You also have work to do,” Tanin said, giving him a pointed look.
