He had given up the clothing he wore for one of the black vacsuits, which hadn't been marked with a full skull and letters just yet. It took time for fighter pilots to become full crew on Triton, mostly because of the mandatory qualifiers one had to complete and pass before being assigned or paid.
Ashley's mind was drawn back to the present as Alice broke the relative silence;“It's strange not having him here. We've been working closely together for almost a month now, I got used to having him in the ready quarters.”
“I miss him too, not as much as you might though.”
Alice looked at her, a little amused. “Why not? You were with him on the Samson for all that time.”
“You're right. I'm worried about him.”
“He'll be fine, it's just a pick up,” Alice reassured her.
Ashley smiled back and nodded. “I know, it's the Captain, but I always worry when someone I know goes off ship. Or at least I did on the Samson. Guess some things never change. Wish I was more like him sometimes, just setting things in motion and not worrying after.”
“He was worried about you when you took the Cold Reaver, ” Alice said quietly. “He told me you could take care of yourself more than once, even told me straight out that he was sure you'd do fine on your first recruiting run, but I could tell he was still worried.”
“Really?”
“Don't tell him I told you.”
“I'll keep that one under shirt.”
“ Under shirt, I've never heard that one.”
“Something from home, used to say it all the time in the slave quarters. Guess it's because none of us were allowed to wear hats, I dunno.”
“It must have been hard growing up there.”
“Lots of work, but I was lucky. There were laws in place protecting us from beatings and stuff. We just weren't allowed to leave the grounds without a pass. The kids on the estate were brutal though, and we couldn't do anything about it. Still, it wasn't the worst way to grow up. Stephanie had it worse on the mining colony.”
“Do you keep in touch with anyone from home?”
“Yup. While I was planetside I was able to talk to a few friends. Most of them survived the AI virus somehow. Some are missing because they were still under bond and used the opportunity to escape, but I'm pretty sure they'll pop up.”
“I guess that's a real problem for some slavers, considering a lot of security systems are run by artificial intelligences.”
A mischievous, satisfied smile crept up on Ashley's lips as she nodded; “yup. Real big problem. The escaped are probably all safe, they probably weren't standing right beside AI run systems when it all happened. A lot of the business district went up in flames though, and other automation went down, so most of the people who learned how to do things manually because it was their job are pretty valuable right about now.”
“Like the slaves.”
“Yup.”
“Funny how that works,” Alice said. “One minute they're just servants then technology goes crazy and they're the most important people on the planet. Without them everyone else would starve.”
“That's what happens. I just wish we could do a recruiting run there, I'd love to pick up some old friends.”
“Maybe sometime.”
“Aye, maybe if we're ever out there. Not much chance of it though. It's pretty far off. Sometimes I miss the slave quarters, there was always someone around, and in the household I was in it was like we were all family.”
“I couldn't imagine. For what you'd call my childhood I always had Jonas. He carried me everywhere.”
It was the first time Ashley had ever heard Alice talk about being an AI with Jonas, and it gave her the opportunity to ask all the questions she normally didn't feel comfortable bringing up. “How long were you with him before you, um-” she found herself suddenly lost trying to find the right word.
“-grew up?” Alice asked with a raised eyebrow. “About seventeen years, he was thirty four when he let me loose.”
“Wow. No wonder you guys fit like father and daughter.”
“Does it look that way to everyone else?”
“Most people think you're his bio daughter, yup. People who know better don't bother correcting them. If something's close enough to the truth so it doesn't make a difference, well, then why not just leave it be.”
“I had no idea, I thought it was just the way I felt.”
“Nope, looks pretty much like you're his. The two of you remind me of a father and son I met who were part of a carnival once. They stayed on the next estate over for a few months while they worked off a debt to the household. His dad was this thin, wiry tall guy and looked mean all the time. Emris, his son, looked all skinny like he hadn't grown into himself yet, but you could tell just by looking at them that they were father and son. They walked the same, did things the same way, and his father was even teaching him his trade so they were both really good at their work. If they were working on something they only needed to say the bare minimum, and when it got technical, whoa, it was like they were talking in a different language.”
“What did they do?”
“They were mechanics, which, I know, you and Captain aren't, but it's just the way you two handle the bridge, even the way you kind of like to just go off on your own and think. Sometimes I wish I could do that, just go somewhere alone and figure things out but I end up hitting the ship stores or a materializer and I walk away with munchies. If I did too much thinking alone I gain two kilos in no time!” Ashley exclaimed exaggeratedly.
Alice couldn't help but laugh and nod. “That took some getting used to, stopping when I wasn't hungry anymore. I see your point though, I think I was just alone for too long after Bernice got married. Even before then it was always just her and I then everyone else. We didn't really let anyone get between us. Now I'm on a ship with thousands aboard. Doesn't look like I'll be starved for company.”
“Really? I'm still having trouble sleeping. I turn the lights down to get a few winks and all I can hear is my own breathing. I left a hologram on of Goodbye Wayne the other night real low just so I felt like there were people nearby.”
“The cowboy movie?”
“Yahuh, you've seen?”
“I haven't seen the newer version, just the one from the thirties.”
“That's the one! I like it when Wayne spits in Lorne's hat, it still gets a laugh.”
“I have a collection of the classics, even some from the film days on Earth, I'll have to-” Alice's command and control unit blinked and Cynthia came on; “We have incoming, Ma'am. It looks like a group of Eden Fleet ships.”
“We're on our way,” Alice replied. “Put the ship on high alert, I need everyone at battle stations. I'm bringing up my command interface here.” Alice said as she activated an interface on her command and control unit and started striding towards the nearest express car doors.
Ashley was just about to start running when Alice stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “On a ship like this it makes more sense to interface with your post remotely. Running will only distract you until you get there and you'll have to adjust to your station while you're out of breath.”
Ashley nodded, falling in step beside the other woman, bringing up the remote hologram of the helm. It appeared in front of her as though she was actually there and moved along in front while she walked. “This is strange, how are you looking at the bridge?”
“My cybernetic eye is interfaced with my C and C unit. I can see the bridge as though I were there. If my neural comm were still working I could give orders through the speaker system without talking.”
Ashley watched what the pilot and navigator were doing, what the Navnet was saying about the incoming ships and shook her head. “Those ships are four times our mass and launching fighter drones just like the ones that came after the Cold Reaver. They must have followed us, I'm sorry.”