Gregori slammed the RELAY into the marked ON position. The MagnoMatic sensor on his holster began chirping frantically. He took a quick glance and saw the reading: 1,200 WEBER. “Shit” he scowled. “Warning: Magnetic flux exceeds standard operating levels for COMS Array Alpha. Please REFER to the OSWO guide section 3.1 and address immediately,” said a synthetic, CHEERful female voice over the ship’s intercom.
“Gregori! What’s going on with the COMS Array?” Corporal Sky barked over the intercom. The heat in the control room was suffocating. “I could cook a SMORE in here! It’s like the ship is having a FEVER,” Gregori quipped exasperatedly as sweat fogged his glasses. NEVER did he think Commander Dunbar would do something as crazy as ERASE the ship AI’s memory.
The brain of the ship had been expertly trained to operate the ship efficiently and maximize the length of the voyage. It would learn from our behaviors and use that to make every breath, every sleep cycle, and every meal tuned to the crew’s exact physiology and needs. “Please DETER from aggravating the ship’s already delicate state. We need to carefully configure the array and stabilize it long enough to re-download the ship’s AI. The more time you spend screwing around the FEWER moments we spend alive on the ship,” Sky scowled through the hiss of the speakers.