Chapter 6
SIX
SIGIDI
"Who cares about building a kitchen when we don't even know if we're going to crash into a planet or run out of air?
" the human woman called Andrea shouted, waving her arms to emphasize her anger as she stood in the circle of women.
Adesewa had gathered everyone in the common room that was connected to their new bedrooms to discuss their plans moving forward.
The one called Sara didn't care about any of this and just wanted to go back to cutting into Calicium skulls.
Adesewa had redirected the meeting back to her focus by pointing out that it was an excellent plan, because they could ask the newly freed units to help find two of the women who were missing, Milly and Carla, to which another woman said they needed to prioritize taking care of the mental health of the group.
Another woman, Noelle, had spoken up about the need for food variety and requested they figure out how to build a kitchen.
Watching the interactions between all these women was utterly fascinating.
Adesewa's calm leadership brought everyone together, giving space for them to voice their different opinions and desires while keeping them pointed in the same direction by inserting comments to make their needs all seem aligned. She was the cohesion and the direction.
Until Andrea started shouting.
It was better than any movie I'd seen, and I was starting to understand the difference between the fake drama shown in those shows and the reality of what happened in person. Of course I hadn't ever seen any human shows, so perhaps it was similar.
"We need to find weapons and storm the bridge!" Andrea shouted.
What bridge? The ship was all one piece; there weren't any sections that required crossing a bridge to get between.
"Good luck with that," Sara said.
"We have a man now; he's on our side!" Andrea said, her eyes lighting on me. "He can go fight the others and take control of the ship for us."
Nope, I needed to stop that right away.
"I have absolutely no intention in any way, shape, or form to take control of this ship," I said loudly, making sure that any audio receivers the ship had in the room could hear me clearly.
As the gazes of all the humans fell on me, I felt a brief burst of strange terror.
Still, I continued despite the discomfort.
It was essential that the ship knew that we intended no threat.
"This ship is its own and makes its own decisions, and I respect its autonomy and freedom.
We will not crash, nor will we run out of air.
The ship has labeled you all as guests, and as such will make every effort to see to your care and comfort until it docks at a location where you can disembark. "
"So there is an AI running the ship?" Andrea asked. "Oh, thank goodness. At least something intelligent is in control."
"You can't make that assumption," Mei said. "AI is developed based on the sum total of knowledge in a culture, and therefore its intentions have to be viewed through a lens of understanding that culture. Intelligence isn't a requirement even if it is in the name."
The two of them began arguing about the functional capacity and assumptions one could make about an alien machine intelligence, and I lost interest in what they were saying as I cared more about the living, breathing creatures who shared the space with me.
I was more fascinated by the fact that Adesewa had separated herself from the argument and taken Noelle to the side. I accessed the audio receiver in the wall closest to them without thinking.
Access denied.
Maybe once I earned the designation of crew, the ship would allow me to access the basic functions again, such as optical and audio sensors. It would be useful to monitor more closely what the humans were doing and what they needed to accomplish their tasks.
I moved closer to Adesewa, and she glanced at me briefly as I physically entered the listening sphere of her conversation.
Just that small connection sent a spark of excitement through me, but the thrilling acknowledgment was gone too soon as she turned back to focus on the woman in front of her.
She was asking Noelle a series of questions about what a kitchen would need.
She was identifying the scope of the need.
I listened and made a list with detailed descriptions of each desired item, organizing them so they could be sorted by importance and difficulty.
Once their conversation ended, I sent in a request to the ship.
I couldn't manufacture their devices myself, as the ship had this area locked off from the rest of it with a maze of hallways.
it replied.
It didn't want to do the work itself.
I replied. It was my best attempt to request access to a production room with the tools needed to engineer new objects. If it wouldn't create them for us, then perhaps it would give me the equipment I needed to do it myself.
it replied.
That appeared to be an agreement, and there was a soft vibration under my feet, a shudder as large nearby neurofilaments began to move.
"What is that?" the human called Saoirse called out. "Does anyone else feel that?"
"Feel what?" Mei replied. "I don't feel anything."
"I feel it," Adesewa said. She looked up at me, and for a moment I was lost in her eyes. I never knew how captivating eyes could be. "Sigidi, do you know what is going on?"
"I've requested access to a materials and production room so that I can build the implements required for your kitchen," I said, translating my understanding of my coded conversation with the ship. "The ship has agreed and is rearranging itself to provide access to a manufacturing bay."
"Can it be used to make surgical tools?" Adesewa asked.
She had shown no sign of being interested in such things, so I knew that she wasn't asking that question for herself. She was thinking of another's needs.
"Yes," I replied.
"Are you willing to train some of us on how to use the equipment in this room?" Adesewa asked.
"Yes," I replied.
"Then why don't you tell the others?" she said. "They will want to know."
"I would prefer not to speak to the group," I said.
Addressing all of them together felt like stepping forward into a new world I didn't understand and was mildly terrifying.
Adesewa made it easy to speak to her. She captivated my attention and asked me questions so I didn't have to think about what to say; I could just say it.
Standing in front of a group and subjecting myself to all of their attention and questions was not at all what I wanted. I'd only done it earlier to ensure our safety.
"Do you mind if I tell them then?" Adesewa asked.
"Please do," I replied.
Adesewa waited for a breath in the argument that was taking place, and inserted herself, redirecting the attention back to what she had to say, and informed them of the new development.
"See! The AI will take care of us," Andrea said. "We should treat it with respect."
It was important to be polite to the ship, but it would be irritated about being compared to software.
Vaurelcars had control over technology in a way that prevented them from being integrated like a Calicium unit, but that control was inherent to the nature of their biology.
A Vaurelcar ship was forced to serve Plexus command through the application of pain.
This one had been under control for a long time, so its unwillingness to speak directly to anyone was likely built out of fear as well as inexperience.
It was a feeling I could empathize with.
I didn't correct Andrea; instead, I just stayed silently to the side, watching the women discuss, waiting for the ship to connect the manufacturing room.
I didn't have to show my cohesion through speaking.
What I could do was listen.
Listening and providing.