Chapter II

A star map lit up the largest screen in the room. Orien sat in the captain's chair and looked vacantly at the map. The small dot which represented their current location appeared firmly fixed in place. The forward portholes were black as night. Not a single photon of light found the ship out here in the desolate nothingness of the void. Orien put his hands behind his head and sighed. Star flight was in many ways remarkably unremarkable; it was, when you thought about, which Orien often did, not entirely unlike being trapped in a tin can in a dark room.

"What's she doing now," Orien thought at Y-h57 and zoomed out on the map such that it encompassed their entire flightpath - all seventy thousand light-years of it.

"Her activity has not changed."

"She's still just staring into wall."

"It appears so."

"Is she meditating?"

"I cannot access her mental state non-invasively."

Orien turned the star map off and slumped into the chair. His presence on the bridge was fully unnecessary.

"Must you sit in that particular chair?"

"It's the best one."

"I could have a replica synthesized for you in an hour."

"You've got to get over yourself." Orien shook his head. "We could just ditch her, you know. The credits have been transferred already. It'll be months before the other freaks would know anything was amiss."

"We have entered into a contract."

"With a parasite as you so poetically phrased it."

"Will you be the one to shove her out into the cold, hard vacuum of space or do you think me better suited as perpetrator in your ill-conceived homicide?"

Orien sat for a moment and looked at his own reflection in the black mirror of the unlit screen.

"I suppose it would preclude any repeat business with the lunatics and their pet."

"Most likely."

"So we fly across known space with her staring into the wall for months on end."

"I fail to grasp your point. That is what we have been hired to do, at an exceedingly satisfying fee."

"Has she eaten yet?"

"Not since we departed their station."

"What's that? Like sixteen hours?"

"Approximately."

"Has she slept."

"She lay on the bed for fours and fifty-six minutes with her eyes close and her metabolism slowed."

"That's sleeping."

"Perhaps."

Orien hoisted himself out of the captain's chair and stood for a moment.

"Perhaps. Perhaps. Perhaps," he sang out loud. "Isn't that a jingle from an old Lengalian show?"

* * *

Orien tapped lightly on the door of the cabin.

"No reaction," the ship informed him" for the record I fail to see the purpose of this visitation."

"Noted," thought Orien. "I'm simply going to have a conversation with her."

"I fail to see the utility."

Orien knocked again. This time more forcefully. The sound of his knuckle hitting the polished metal of the door reverberated down the empty passageway; an echo fleeing its source.

"She is getting up."

Absentmindedly Orien ran his hand through his hair.

"She is having trouble working the door."

"Then help her out."

With a metallic click, the door detached from the wall and retracted upwards. Haero was revealed on the other side.

"Yes," she said and smiled; a blank expression on her face. With her hand she straightened the pants legs of the white uniform Y-h57 had provided. Her grey cowl was still undergoing Y-h57's meticulous inspection and sterilization protocols, same as the small bag she had brought onboard.

"I … erm … just wanted to see if you were settling in alright," said Orien.

"I am."

The two of them stood for a moment.

"Do you require conversational assistance ."

"Not another a word," thought Orien as he tried to formulate a sentence. "Are you hungry?" he finally managed.

"Very."

"Do you want me to take you to the mess?"

"The mess?"

"The dining area."

"Sure."

In the mess hall, a drone stood waiting for them, holding two trays outstretched. Orien took both and passed one to Haero.

"Here you go."

"The Great Mind provides," she said and made a gesture with her hands as she accepted.

"In this case, it is Y-h57 that provides."

"The Great Mind preforms its wonders through countless agents."

"Well, I don't think your friend back at the station has much to do with Y-h57 bio-synth units."

"The Great Mind is a friend of all cognition."

"Right," said Orien and guided Hearo to the lone table in mess hall.

"Who is this Y-h57 whom you worship?"

"The ship we're flying on is designated Y-h57. It's not an object of worship."

"There's a joke here somewhere," thought Orien.

"If you insist."

"Y dash h five seven," Haero repeated. Tasting each letter and number. "That's a peculiar name for a ship, isn't it."

"Not really. No."

"Does it know it's called Y-h57?"

"It …" began Orien and then stopped as Y-h57's urgent, unrelenting thoughts pushed his own aside for a moment. "The ship has no self-recognition capabilities," he said robotically.

"It has no cognition?"

"She is to know as little about my operating parameters as possible."

"The ship … erm … I mean … it has an autopilot-function. But that's pretty limited."

"Get out of my head," Orien thought at the ship and closed his mind to all but a whisper of Y-h57's thought routines.

"The current informational asymmetry is to our advantage. Do not squander it."

"What about the automatons?" asked Haero. Her unfathomable blue eyes studied him as she smiled docilely. "Do they have cognition?"

"The what?"

Haero pointed at the drone standing near the door they had entered through.

"You are being paranoid to an extreme degree," thought Orien.

"I am taking elementary precautions until my systems have been sufficiently harden."

"This girl is as safe as they come. A rube in a rope."

"That very much remains to be seen."

Orien hesitated for a moment as he looked at the unmoving drone. The drone, like the rest of Y-h57, was utilitarianly designed. It was bipedal with two arms and a narrow torso; its head oblong with a set of unblinking black eyes. Its appendages were long and slender which gave the drone an outline not altogether unlike that of a skeleton.

"Nope," said Orien. "Run by sophisticated behavioral algorithms. If you pay close attention, sometimes you will find them stuck in an odd loop. They only way to get them unstuck is to reset them."

"I guess you will have to do a little impromptu theater for our guest at some point," thought Orien and smiled wryly.

"I see," said Haero, her docile smile saddened slightly. She prodded the different dishes on her tray with her knife and fork before singling out a white piece of lightly toasted bread.

Orien looked on fascinated while he ate baked beans from a bowl quickly and sloppily. With a deliberate slowness, Haero cut the bread into rectangular little pieces which she ate one by one in a manner that seemed to suggest that she wanted to experience every part of the bread wholly and fully. "So how did you end up at that station?"

"I was born on the Thermopylae."

"Really," said Orien and scrapped up bean sauce with his piece of toast. "How did you parents end up all the way out here?"

"I am child of the Great Mind."

Orien wiped his mouth with a napkin. "How does that work?" Using his fork, Orien cut off a corner of the meatloaf on his tray and ate the large piece in one bite.

"When the need arises, acolytes are impregnated with seed constructed by the Great Mind."

"That sounds illegal," thought Orien.

"Indeed," answered Y-h57 tersely.

"A not altogether insignificant detail."

The thought routines of Y-h57 quieted for a moment.

"To know that we are potentially transporting an illicit eugenics construct. Or is that just me?"

"I am prepared to revise my previous position concerning the utility of your conversational attempt."

"Neat," said Orien and grimaced a smile. "And what are you all doing out there?"

"The Great Mind strives for peace among all thinking beings," said Haero. On the plate in front of her she was now methodically carving a baked potato into uniform little cubes.

"And is that something you work on yourself or do you have other duties?"

"We share the toil to further the work of the Great Mind."

"I see," said Orien, straining not to roll his eyes.

"You are not swayed by the mission of the Great Mind."

"Peace among all mankind sounds swell to me."

"Peace among all thinking beings."

"All the better."

"It is a noble pursuit not shared by many."

"Sure," said Orien. "You'll get no argument from me."

The two of them sat for moment and ate in silence.

"I just fail to see how you're moving the needle one way or the other with your lonely station all the way out here in the nothingness."

"The Great Mind works in mysterious ways."

"Or maybe it doesn't work at all."

"Do not antagonize her."

"Why not?"

"We have nothing to gain from her being antagonized."

"I assure you Mr. Orien that the Great Mind works tirelessly for the betterment of all cognition."

"I am assured," said Orien and downed a glass of water. "Must fully assured."

Haero nodded, seemingly pleased with herself, and ate a potato cube.