C: Bundled Nerves

Rafaela gazed at the display screen blankly, and touched her arm even though it didn't hurt. After the fright it had given her, she had expected… more. But the core system had simply released her from the medical pod and announced that it was finished with its initial calibrations, and then complained that it had no link to the network that it expected to be able to access.

The screen was filled with data. Everything from the available reaction mass to components that reported themselves as damaged. It didn't take her long to realize that something important was still missing after reading the section that reported that millions of coded messages were being detected on several different radiation bands. After sorting through it all for several minutes, she called the others back and reported everything that the system had done.

"The scout needs a modern com system," Rafaela announced, while ignoring the system's complaints about the unknown language.

Schmidt replied with amusement, "Of course. It's ready to install as soon as you decide where to mount it."

He gave his own recommendations while she wondered what other obvious updates the ship needed. She had put so much work into mapping the existing components and figuring out how to replace the nodes, but she had never actually considered upgrades for it.

As soon as the modern com system was installed, it would be able to access the networks and there would be a lot of data that she would need to buy. Offline navigation charts, language modules… she wondered if this system would even be able to access them.

They installed the com system before leaving the habitat near the junkyard where the piratical core engineer resided, in case they needed Brennant's help. But apparently the communication interface was a core level one, handled by the base system of the modern experimental core. The scout's system went into another long calibration session, but when it finished, the standard screens and logos appeared on the display.

It was inexplicably thrilling to enter the course back to their designated junkyard parking space, and have the scout carry the still attached repair shuttle back with its main drive under its own control, even though they maneuvered at speeds that the attitude jets could have provided on their own.

Schmidt and Bellamy began dismantling the framework they'd constructed to hold the two ships together, while Rafaela began feeding the new core data.

She didn't know if it was a feature of the experimental core itself, or of the beyonder system, but her worries over importing data modules turned out to be unfounded. It had no trouble importing data from the modules, and it was a relief when it finally stopped complaining about the unknown language and started responding to the language of her own home system. The system either couldn't, or refused to, she wasn't entirely certain from its phrasing, run downloaded applications, but she hadn't really expected them to be compatible.

By the time she had everything that she considered necessary loaded into the core system, and had completed the traffic system registration, she was beginning to fear that it had been a mistake not to take the decade old copy of a modern system. The beyonder system was no faster than the repair shuttle's system, despite the excellent core it was installed in.

The speed of its course calculations was approximately the same. The only reasonable explanation they could think of was that the algorithms it used were less efficient, but the core speed was making up for the difference. None of them saw the small spinning star in the corner of the display, or rather, none of them understood its significance.

--

Rafaela felt like a bundle of nerves when it was finally time for her to take the scout ship to the designated race registration station. It had been refilled, repaired, and cleaned up to the best of the SkyWater MOUSE team's capabilities. Flying deeper into the system center as a solo ship pilot was exhilarating, and a bit terrifying.

Bellamy and Schmidt had their own challenges though, since they were using a repair shuttle to deliver the load of water they'd brought in from the Cinder Sector.

SkyWater's Zhou Shu had greeted the news with more excitement than any of them had expected. They had known that the company would be in trouble if the minimum deliveries weren't met, but none of them had realized just how fragile the company's position was. The ships for her stepsisters had been financed directly through SkyWater.

Rafaela wasn't actually surprised, but Schmidt and Bellamy were incensed, after they realized that SkyWater wouldn't even get to keep the ships. Despite the extravagant expense, the two ships had merely been leased. The only fragment of good news was that even though everything was still on hold, the move to the new sector had not been cancelled.

The communication network with Eks Central allowed Schmidt and Bellamy to share every complaint with Rafaela almost as quickly as if the two ships had still been bolted together. Sometimes she wished for a less real-time connection, at others she was glad for the distraction. She wasn't doing any fancy maneuvering, simply following the course assigned by the traffic system, but she couldn't relax her vigilance over the core system.

She picked up a small traffic fine when the ship decided that another ship had come too close to potential collision range and suddenly performed an evasive maneuver. The slightly scary part of that had been the system's protests when she'd told it, "You can't do that!"

"A collision was prevented with a minimal course change," the ship insisted stubbornly.

The beyonder system spoke much more emotionally than any standard station or ship system that Rafaela had ever used. She knew that there were mods that would change a system's speech patterns to imitate more natural conversation, and even mimic emotions, but those mods weren't supposed to be able to alter the system's command processing.

"We can't deviate from the traffic system's assigned course," Rafaela insisted. "If it happens again we can only reduce our momentum temporarily."

"That is not an efficient option," the ship argued.

It actually argued with her, which scared her more than the fine or the potential collision. It took her a moment to gather her thoughts and ask suspiciously, "Will you follow my orders?"

"Of course," the ship replied grudgingly. "But it will result in a significant waste of my limited reaction mass." It sounded very unhappy about that.

After that outburst it began communicating other issues that it felt were unsatisfactory, some of which, like the medical pod supplies and lack of proper beyonder network, she knew about already but couldn't fix. Other problems were new to her, such as its list of stations and ships that were apparently within firing range.

Bellamy called to complain. "That old mouse! Zhou Shu refuses to resupply the repair shuttle with the ingredients for our favorite foods! Not that I regret giving your mother's ship a good supply of everything," she added quickly, "but SkyWater hasn't had to restrict our meals since the earliest days. It really makes me worry."

Rafaela began to wonder if the core system had a conversation pattern learning system that was being horribly warped by Schmidt and Bellamy. She didn't know whether or not to mention that the station itself had already been suffering from the lack of funds to resupply everything.

"Are they very expensive? Is there enough left from the repairs to fully restock the shuttle?" Rafaela asked hopefully.

"I told you that would be her suggestion," Schmidt commented from the side.

"We are not going to waste what few credits you have access to on such a small issue," Bellamy argued fiercely.

"We won't starve," Schmidt added more reassuringly.

"I just don't understand why Zhou Shu is helping that woman ruin SkyWater!" Bellamy complained.

The ship complained, "SkyWater is a misleading name for an orbital industry. Rain only exists on planets."

Bellamy took offense, "It's a good name!"

Rafaela rubbed her forehead.

Schmidt pushed his way into the area displayed by the screen in front of her and asked, "Was that voice the core system's?"

"Yeah," Rafaela agreed warily.

"I've heard legends about truly intelligent AIs," Schmidt said wistfully. "But more likely it's got a complex conversational module, since its pilot might be stuck with it for years at a time."

"It definitely doesn't have anything like the capacity of a city system AI," Rafaela pointed out.

--

A while later the ship told her rather smugly, "Your earlier statement was not entirely correct. None of the currently registered city systems can match my processing speed."

Rafaela stared at the screen full of sensor readings, and narrowed her eyes. "Does your conversational mode have an off setting?"

She felt like its answer was reluctant when it replied. "Yes."

She actually hesitated before instructing it to stop. She wished she knew what her mother's selections had been. She had always talked about her ship as though it were an old friend, but lots of people in the Cinder Sector did the same, and many ships out there had only the most minimal mods.

This was obviously the core system's default setting, and she was still learning about it.

"Another potentially hostile station has just come into range and begun targeting us with active sensors," the ship complained fretfully.

"Conversational mode off," Rafaela insisted.

The ship's tone was flat when it replied, "Authorized instruction acknowledged."

On the display screen a message announced: "System command setting changed."