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Humans Don't Hibernate [Part 118/?]
🕑 Added 2024-10-30 01:04:38 +0000 UTC109 Hours After the First Round of Interloper Interrogations. UNAFS Perseverance. The Armory.
Evina
Thwwwoo-BANG!
Thwwwoo-BANG!
“You know, you handle yourself quite well for someone who’s just leaped over centuries’ worth of weapons development.” The AI spoke cheekily, his robot body leaning up against the wall just behind the security table of the ship’s shooting range — a small, but very heavily armored portion of the ship that felt distressingly cramped, but for a very good reason.
You wouldn’t want to punch a hole through to space after all.
My first iteration was quick to remind me of that fact.
“Well… it’s not too different from a regular gun. Or… what was it you guys called it?”
“Slug-thrower, chem-shooter, there’s lots of slang for chemically-propelled kinetic weapons. But to touch on the former point, yeah, nah, there really isn’t much of a practical difference now is there?” Vir chuckled in that synthesized digital ‘voice’ of his.
“I mean… it feels the same, I grant you that. But how it works is just… really fricking wild if you ask me.” I responded without hesitation, taking another moment to prove my point by aiming down range at a recreation of the cyber-beast — made courtesy of Vir’s seemingly endless patience with my oddball requests.
Thwwwoo-BANG!
A massive fist-size hole formed straight through its ugly mug.
Thwwwoo-BANG!
Thwwwoo-BANG!
With two more forming around its torso and groin.
“The handling of this thing is incredible. Shoots like a trainer-gun, with the umf of a high-caliber battle rifle, but with the impact of a big-bore shotgun.” I remarked enthusiastically.
“The gun itself is only one part of the equation. The other part is the weapon’s operator.” The AI spoke confidently through a synthesized and chirpy tone of voice. “So give yourself some credit there, Evina. Because I doubt most folk could transition well into dealing with a railgun.”
“You’re too kind.” I responded, taking a moment to place the gun back on its rack, safeties on, and the chamber checked for any latent rounds… not that there’d be a risk of anything going wrong, given its nature.
“Hey, I’m just telling you how I see it, Evina. You’re a tough cookie, and a grizzled survivor. You should be proud of that, or at least, proud of the skills you’ve been able to hone.” He continued, clearly in an attempt to address the very issue that brought me here in the first place.
I… didn’t have a response to all of those compliments though.
And it was clear the AI realized that no sooner than a few seconds after that awkward silence descended on us.
“My peptalk isn’t helping matters much, huh?” The AI offered with a shrug.
“No, it’s not that, it’s just…” I attempted to respond, to give him something, especially after all the effort he went through to set up what was in effect a one-person amusement outing. “I’m sorry, Vir. It’s my fault that I’m just so… out of it. You’ve honestly done way, way more than you should. Honestly, I was expecting you to shoo me back to my room with a glass of warm milk, some cookies, and maybe something to help me sleep. I… never thought you’d actually go through with my insane requests.” I managed out frankly, reaching up a hand to rub the back of my neck.
“Well, first off, don’t apologize.” Vir responded sharply, with a single finger held up to prove he meant business. “All of this was my pleasure, and honestly, I can definitely vibe with wanting to put some more holes in that monster of a cyberbeast.” He continued with a brief glimpse of what I could only describe as his ‘evil face’, as his face-screen lit up in a flurry of red just for a second, before returning to its default blue-on-black color scheme. “Secondly, I’d be a bit nervous too if I knew I had an appointment with a false god just a little bit after lunch. So having the jitters and being unable to sleep is fair game, to be quite honest.”
“But… aren’t you also going to be meeting with the interloper, alongside us?”
“Indeed I am!” The AI beamed back.
“So… are you saying you’re also nervous about all this?” I reiterated, cocking my head as I did so.
“Sure am.” Vir replied affirmatively, staring back with those two unwavering blue dots-for-eyes at my face filled with genuine disbelief. “What? You thought I was just saying that just to share fake empathy?” He continued in a cheeky, almost teasing tone of voice. One that added yet more contrast to his self-admitted frame of mind.
“No, it’s not that. It’s just… you don’t really seem… bothered by it is all.”
To which the AI simply shrugged in response. “If there’s one thing to understand about AI, Evina, it’s that we’re really really good at compartmentalizing things. Now, I’m not going to be doing that to a fault of course. There’s a healthy limit to these sorts of things, and I’m not one to just keep you in the dark about how I really feel. However, I also understand my role here. To express my nervousness or anxiety outwardly would be a detriment to this whole mission. As such, I’d rather be here, as a strong shoulder to lean on, to be a reliable pillar amidst what is understandably a lot of turbulent waves.” Vir spoke with an earnestness that broke through the underlying artificiality of his synthesized voice. To the point where I genuinely felt something stirring inside of me, prompting me to take a few steps closer towards the AI’s robot body.
“I hope I wasn’t too upfront there, of course.” Vir clarified. “This is by no means an attempt from me to ask for pity or anything like that. I’m simply trying to be earnest about what is very much new territory for those unused to interacting with—”
The AI stopped, just as I felt that cool squishy outer membrane of his platform, my arms soon wrapping around his lithe torso.
However, no sooner did I cause the AI to stop in the middle of his explanations, did I pull out of that impromptu hug, returning to where I stood just a moment ago.
“Thank you, Vir.” I replied simply, choosing to let my actions speak for itself. “You’re more real than most organics I’ve met in my life… and all of my other lives too.” I offered, as I observed the AI’s screen face shift to what I could only describe as a pink tinting of its coloration, before returning back to its original blue hue.
“I appreciate the gesture, Evina.” The AI replied with a bit of a frazzled, but appreciative tone.
“I know how it feels to be the one carrying most of the weight of a struggling ship. Well… not a literal ship mind you, but you know what I mean. It’s… difficult, to say the very least. And that’s just with normal stresses involved.”
“Well… I wouldn’t say surviving in the post-apocalypse are normal stress levels, Evina.”
“Nor is making your way in space adventure dystopian nightmarescape.” I countered with a cheeky, fangy smile.
“Touche.” Vir admitted with two half-’closed’ eyes, as a silence, a satisfying silence descended on the both of us now.
“There’s just under five hours before sunrise… or, at least, whatever the space equivalent of that is.” I began, taking a moment to check the clock at my end of the range. “I should get going if I’m going to have a chance at catching some shuteye.”
“Good idea.” The AI acknowledged. “Though, just know that if you need an extra hour or so, we’re more than happy to delay the mission for you. I know Lysara would definitely appreciate an hour delay to his alarm clock… even though he hates to admit it.”
“No, it’s alright. The last thing I want is to be the cause behind the mission’s delay.” I countered.
To which Vir nodded once in response, as we both left the range, and went our separate ways.
That was, until I got lost and Vir’s platform returned to guide me back to my quarters.
=====
117 Hours After the First Round of Interloper Interrogations. UNAFS Perseverance. Shuttle Bay.
Lysara
To say I was peeved when I realized I’d woken up three whole hours past my original alarm, would’ve been an understatement.
However, that annoyance quickly wavered and eventually subsided the moment Vir explained his reasoning for doing so.
And that was the end of it.
In all honesty, that extra two hours made a world of difference.
This was because despite having the Vanaran equivalent of human ‘coffee’ capable of being synthesized, it was a poor idea to take any of it prior to a prolonged or intense mission. This was because unlike human coffee, luark tended to have a very sharp dropoff after its peak effect, resulting in something akin to a ‘sugar crash’, if only more extreme and selectively focused on higher cognitive reasoning centers.
Regardless, a quick breakfast was still had amongst what I was now referring to as ‘the crew’, despite the ‘unofficial’ status of the two felinors being a matter of contention we’d have to deal with after all was said and done.
After which, we quickly descended and began our pre-mission briefing, tackling the primary objective of our expedition back into the moon.
Evina was given one more chance to withdraw.
To which she maintained her commitment, despite the risks involved.
Moreover, she, along with Vir, made an excellent point — the interloper had asked for her specifically, or at least, in a roundabout way.
Bringing her would prove a point to the interloper, and if anything, it’d allow us to see how it would react to her presence.
And with little in the way of any offensive or interloping capabilities, we should very much have the upper hand when it comes to security.
However, even with all of the mission specifics dealt with, the back and forths continued even as we reached the shuttle bay.
This included plenty of reassurances to Eslan, who accompanied Evina all the way into the shuttle, as he gave her a few more words of encouragement just before the doors closed.
“Don’t do anything outside of what Vir and Lysara asks you to do, alright?” He urged sternly.
“Sure thing.” Evina responded with a nod.
“I mean it, Evina. This is not just life or death, this is like… galaxy ending stuff we’re dealing with.” He continued, doubling down on the severity in his voice… even though it was clear the concern there was more so for Evina’s safety more than anything.
“Eslan, I promise I won’t do anything dumb, alright?” Evina reaffirmed, eliciting a nod from Eslan just as the shuttle’s rear doors began to close.
However, just as the doors were beginning to fully shut, it was clear the felinor couldn’t help but to get one last laugh in.
“But since I’m already kinda dumb… I guess that promise might be moot.” She jabbed, garnering a shocked and frustrated expression from Eslan, right as the doors fully closed.
With a self-satisfied chuckle, and a shrug, Evina quickly accompanied me towards the cockpit. At which point, we began our final checklist, triple-checking the ship’s position relative to the moon with Vir; before finally making our departure.
“We do this carefully and cautiously.” I spoke softly, turning towards Evina just as we left the confines of the shuttle bay. “We comb through the primary sites of interest first, just so you can cross-reference anything that might stick out to you.
“And just so we can see if my presence might activate something within the facility too right?” Evina shot back.
“That’s part of the plan, yes. But don’t worry, Vir’s forward expeditionary group is already present, ready to react to any developments that may arise.” I clarified.
“Gotcha.” The felinor responded with a nervous sigh.
However, whilst I wished to reassure her of the certainty of the mission… I couldn’t help but to feel a certain sense of unease dawn upon me as I looked down onto the white and battered surface of the moon.
“Security-wise, I’m certain of how things will proceed.” I spoke, in as reassuring of a tone as I could muster. “It’s how things will proceed with the interloper that I’m quite anxious about.” I clarified, eliciting a nod from Evina, who remained silent as we continued our approach.
