Chameleon Ch 11

“We already discussed this,” Jackson told Cerebrus. “What if we set Astrometrics as your quarters?”

“Captain, you don’t live on the bridge.”

“I’m the captain. I sleep where I damn well please. Don’t forget that.” Jackson was growing weary of arguing with an android. The damn thing was growing smarter by the minute. Soon it would be out smarting him. “And since when do you need to sleep?”

“I have performed every task you’ve set me to, and have taken on more and more as the weeks have passed by. I take no time off.”

“Let me review our roster and we can discuss this tomorrow.”

“I take no recreation time, I consume no food nor contribute any organic waste to our systems.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Dismissed.” Jackson turned away from the blue-eyed machine but it didn’t budge. “That means get out.”

“Yes Captain.” Cerebrus let himself out and the door closed behind him. Jackson could have sworn he felt the dawn of a headache, but he was simply low on caffeine.

“Maria,” he said to the computer, “show me the crew roster in ranking order.” Without any chatter the list appeared on his transparent screen in under a second.

Science Ship Maria Mitchell

~       Captain Thomas K. Jackson, Captain & Commander

~       Commander Quixote Kee, First Officer, Chief Engineer

~       Commander Phillip Adams, MD, Chief Medical Officer

~       Lieutenant Commander Ashish Chandra, MD

~       Lieutenant Chen Lee, Helm, Information Tech Specialist

~       Lieutenant Jay May, Navigation, Helm, Communications

~       Ensign Jean Rougeau, Navigation, Helm

~       Ensign Wilson Mills, PA, Chief of Nursing, Medic

~       Ensign Zoe Stone, Yeoman/Quartermaster

~       Senior Chief Petty Officer Stuart Watson, Information Technician, Communication System

~       Corporal Clayton Wagner, Security Chief, Armory

~       Jane Ferris, Doctor of Biology, Exobiology Specialist

~       Rianya Jackson, Life Sciences Technician Specialist

~       Rosalind Henderson, RN, Medic

~       Kym Byrd, Engineer’s Mate

~       Ron Painter, Engineer’s Mate

~       John Chin, Engineer’s Mate

~       Dean Bowen, Security Force

~       Shellie Barone, Security Force

~       Bailey Campbell, Chef, Galley

~       Jules Graham, Cook, Steward

~       Simon Harchett, Hydroponics, Steward

~       Keith Campbell, Maintenance, Operations

~       Tessa Livermore, Housekeeping, Operations

~       Danielle Davis, Maintenance, Housekeeping

~       Zalara Jackson, passenger (age 5)

~       Huntington York, passenger (age 8)

~       Cerebrus Astronomite, A I android, astronomer

What was Cerebrus doing on his crew roster? Jackson didn’t consider him a soul aboard any more than the electric beam melting blueprint machines, or Maria the computer.

He had twelve private officer crew quarters including his own; eleven were assigned. He had twelve doubles, Jane and Rosalind, Kym and Shellie, Tessa and Danielle, Keith and Bailey, Simon and Jules, Ron and John, Dean and Clayton had remained in the same cabin double even after Clayton’s promotion to corporal, so that meant Clayton’s officer cabin, formerly York’s, was empty, as was Scott’s.

“Bailey and Keith Campbell, please report to the doyen’s office.” He tapped the screen and slid a few names from one cabin to another until the floor plan was more equitable. The doorbell chirped.

“Captain?”

“Come in you two. Have a seat. Coffee?” They declined but Jackson filled his regular cup. “Everything going well with Honey?”

“She’s starting to open up a little, I think,” Keith said. “She asked for something the other day.”

“She asked if we’d take her to the gym. She rarely asks for anything,” Bailey said. “How’s Zalara taking it?”

“I think she’d like to make up, but not be sisters again, at least not room together. That’s why I asked you to come up. Do you mind moving to officer territory? It doesn’t seem right to me that you two and the girl are in doubles. I have enough of those. If you want to move to what used to be York’s cabin, then Honey will be back in her old bedroom and you two can have more room for yourselves. If you don’t mind being her foster parents.”

“That would work good for me,” Keith said. “I could use a little more room.”

“That’s a good solution, sir. Do you think she’ll mind us moving into her old place?”

“I think it might be just what she needs now,” Jackson said. “I’m guessing camping on the floor isn’t as much fun as it was a few weeks ago.”

“For any of us,” Keith mumbled. Jackson heard the sour note and had to empathize with Keith. He was overrun with girls in his own cabin. He wouldn’t change places with anyone for the moon, but girls took up so much more room than boys, more cubic meters, it seemed. He nodded in sympathy.

“It’s done. Get Danielle and Tessa to help at your convenience.”

“Thank you, Captain. This will be a nice change. I owe you an extra cube of sugar,” she said. Her round cheeks puffed up with a smile, her eyes twinkled just a speck.

“Nice surprise, thank you, sir.”

“Happy to do it.”

He looked again, with the open doubles and who was with who. That left him Scott’s room as the guest cabin, and six empty doubles. He moved Jane to her own double, leaving Rosalyn her own double as well. That left five open.

The stewards could continue to share, so could the housekeepers. It appeared as if things were a bit more comfortable and equitable. Without the science team, Dr. Gregory, Anne Wallace, York, and keeping Dr. Chandra, new housekeepers, well, things had gotten a little mixed up. It appeared he did have open space for Cerebrus. That would leave him four open doubles and one guest cabin.

“Cerebrus to the doyen’s office.” The doorbell chirped. “Come.”

“Captain Jackson?”

“Come in, Cerebrus. I found a room for you. There are two bunks but you will have it to yourself. It is at the end of the corridor on deck three.” Jackson showed the android his floorplan and where each crew member was assigned. Four cabins separated Cerebrus from the others.

“I see I’m assigned the cabin farthest from the elevator.”

“It’s also farthest from the heads, showers, and doesn’t have a window. It’s not a very suitable cabin for humans but I think it will work well for you. It will be quiet, no passing foot traffic, no one behind an adjacent wall distracting you.” Jackson watched the android’s limited facial features mimic acceptance.

“This will be satisfactory, sir. However, why was I not assigned to cabin B-1?”

“It’s officer territory. It wouldn’t be appropriate. Besides, that’s reserved for ambassadors, admirals, visiting aliens. You don’t need a private lavatory nor immediate access to the viewing deck.” Jackson wanted to tell him he wouldn’t give him officer quarters even if all the rooms were open; he kept that to himself. He waited for a reply.

“I understand, sir. This is where I am to spend my recreational hours and recharge?” Jackson nodded.

“You still have twelve hours on, twelve off, every day. You will still be on call as needed, and your shifts may vary, as I determine, or as any officer requests. If you’re not otherwise engaged, you will spend your on hours in Astrometrics. Have you learned how to run diagnostics and compile data for new cartography files?”

“No, sir.”

“I’ll meet you there at 15:00 and show you. New cartography should be processed at the end of each day, and diagnostics every ten days. We run a lot of systems checks to make sure molehills don’t become mountains.”

“Captain? What is a mole hill?” Jackson had a sip of coffee and reclined a bit in his chair.

“A mole’s a burrowing rodent on Earth. They make tunnels underground and push the dirt out, making a mound at each end of the tunnel. We want to make sure we catch small issues before they become large issues. Understand?”

“I understand, sir.”

“I’ll see you at 15:00,” Jackson said. Cerebrus nodded twice and stood fast. “Thank you. You’re dismissed.”

þ

Jackson stepped into Astrometrics five minutes before schedule, but Cerebrus was already there.

“Captain, you’re early.” Jackson ignored the remark, uncertain if it was complimentary, insulting, or just factual.

“Have you accessed the instruction guide for compiling the files?”

“Yes. I did about an hour ago. I didn’t read it, but I downloaded it into my neuromorphic net, and the information is available for my use.”

“Do you have questions?”

“None at this time, sir.”

“Let’s get started, then. The more you do it the easier it becomes.”

“I have found that to be true,” Cerebrus said. “Although I don’t grow neurons like a biological life form, I am able to direct photons across the fibrous optics creating a bridge for information to flow across as needed.”

“Wouldn’t that be easy to disrupt? Without a tangible, dedicated pathway?”

“I haven’t found a problem so far,” he said. “My networks are constructed to mimic a biological life forms’ DNA. They are folded over and over so photons, rather than traveling from point A to B along a line, can travel the shortest route with millions of options to get from A to B. A tree’s root ball is an adequate analogy.”

“Isn’t that technology from at least twenty years ago?”

“It’s been in use almost three decades, but has proven to be a reliable, no heat, low energy solution and is considered to be the best available technology today.”

“That’s good to know,” Jackson said. He’d never had an intelligent, cordial conversation with Cerebrus before that moment. At least he knew now that it was possible to do so. “Step one?”

“Do I need to go through each step, sir?”

“Yes. In order.”

“Very good.” Cerebrus hovered his hands over the screen as if he were preparing to type a letter. He tapped one icon, then another, and a third, and in short order the plastic fingers tapped so quickly they nearly blurred the motions. He paused and looked at Jackson. “I input too quickly.” He looked back at the screen and resumed tapping. “It’s completed, sir.”

“Are you sure?” Jackson had never seen it done so fast, and certainly never without at least one error.

“I’m certain.” The captain cleared his throat and unbuttoned his jacket. The room was suddenly warm.

“In that case, let’s have you run a diagnostic and clean up the variances. Every time we change velocity using the brake rockets or increase cruise speed, fire a torpedo, dock with another craft, and the like, the sensors vibrate just enough to cause a variance that compounds on itself. Every so many days it gets too large to be an acceptable difference.”

“I downloaded that instruction data file as well,” the android told him. His electric blue eyes reminded Jackson that he was not a person, but a machine. His comments couldn’t be interpreted as anything but factual, not complimenting or insulting. He found the more he interacted with it, the more it took on his personal mannerisms, tone of voice, and authoritative presence.

Cerebrus had come to them devoid of much personality. Jackson decided it might be best if he continued to interact with and be Cerebrus’ primary trainer. He could mold the android in his own image, so to speak.

“Go ahead, step by step, run the diagnostic, then correct the variances.”

“How does the ship know it’s making a mistake?”

“It doesn’t. It records every vibration into a file and it’s up to you to make the correction given the strength of each tremor and distance from the object. You need to calculate it. Algebra and physics should cover it. The equations are in the documentation.”

Jackson perched against the nearest tabletop and leaned back a bit. If he let Cerebrus go off on his own would he be able to figure it out without a formal lesson from him?

“Why isn’t the computer programmed to calculate and correct if the equations are available to it?”

“Because it can’t correct its own mistakes. That’s the difference between you and the computer,” Jackson said, realizing the truth of his own statement. “Humans are here because computers aren’t perfect.”

“Biological life forms are not perfect.”

“So, we check on each other for that reason.”

“I am making excellent progress,” Cerebrus said. Jackson could have sworn he spoke with pride, but, no, it was just another fact. That didn’t mean Jackson had to confirm the android’s observation. He had enough ego on his own.

“Carry on here; you’re off duty at 18:00.”

“I will stay here and continue to download operation instructions.”

“No, at 18:00 you stop and go to your quarters. That’s an order.”

The two of them locked eyes. Jackson blinked slowly, as did Cerebrus. The faintest hint of a smile appeared on the android face and the electric blue eyes powered down a couple of watts.

“Aye, Captain Jackson.”