Chapter 8
Kei
Kei sat alone in her quarters. She dragged an overstuffed chair in front of the view screen and set the display to view the outside of the starship. She watched the scene as the sensor rotated with the movement of the vessel until the moon was in sight.
“Freeze image,” she said.
“Tweetle,” replied the apartment's computer.
The view outside stopped moving across her field of vision. Kei sat down and composed herself for the sleep cycle her human body required every eighteen hours.
She resembled a queen sitting on her throne. Her feet were planted flat on the floor, and her arms rested regally on the arms of the chair.
The only indication that she slept was her one closed eye. Her prosthetic eye remained open and active and fed information to her positronic brain.
It was during these times, when her body rested, that she checked with the AI community or solved problems associated with the starship construction.
While resting, Kei monitored the background buzz of sleep or the semi-conscious awareness as dreams manifested themselves. Dreams were mysteriously irrational. The images and events produced by the vestiges of her human brain had no basis in reality, but for her human host, they were real indeed.
She often wondered if this peculiarity of the human psyche was, perhaps, the origin of religion.
This part of the novel has been removed for editing. What originally followed was an exchange between the AI and a computer scientist on the merits of religion. Someone whom I highly respect pointed out that the argument was decidedly one-sided and after reading the text I had to agree. Therefore I will revisit this chapter sometime in the future and give the opposing side a better chance at convincing the AI of the existence of a supreme being. Removing this part will not affect the outcome of the story.
In the end, the AI's agreed that some humans needed spirituality for their well being. Others embraced science and were content with their mortality. Some seemed more advanced than others. Some were flawed psychologically and were a danger to others. Some loved, some hated, some dominated, some submitted. The diversity of humanity was astounding. The group as a whole seemed to be on a grand path of species evolution whose future probably included merging with the emerging artificial intelligence.
“Humans will believe what they want,” said Tianhe-I at the second Council of Ten.
And so, the AI’s left it alone and decided that as humans adapted to their new technology, they would discard the crutches of religion and embrace their humanity.
Sitting there, thinking back on the progress humankind made since the awakening of the AI’s, she became aware of a dream that was vaguely progressing in the back of her thoughts. She closed her bionic eye and focused on the biological synapsis firing in her cybernetic brain.
Captain Finley held her close as they danced. They moved with her arms draped over his shoulders, and his around her waist. The pair swayed to the rhythmic sound of music. She focused on her surroundings but the dream state was never clear, it was almost as if she were viewing the world through fogged glass.
They danced on a floor with colored lights embedded in opaque white tiles. These squares changed color to the tempo of the song. A pattern search of the dream sounds identified the tune as Hey Jude. This song must have been a favorite of Julie’s once. She swayed in Captain Finley's arms and was aware of the sensation of his breath, warm against her neck. In the dream, she stroked the short hairs at the base of his neck, and he pulled her tighter to him.
The dream morphed. The way the dreamworld changed was always a bit disconcerting to Kei’s positronic brain, and it took her a moment to reestablish the connection.
The two were no longer dancing. Kei saw John, shirtless, supporting his body above hers. She reached up and placed her hands on the gentle swirls of short soft hair covering the pectoral muscles of his naked chest and with a finger brushed a stray lock of hair from his eyes. His gaze shifted down to where her pale bare breasts were exposed. The tight hard nipples invited his parted lips, and she felt a warm moistness and heightened sensation in her groin.
In the dream, Captain Finley rested his weight on his elbows and nuzzled into her neck. His lips brushed against her shoulder, and his breath was soft against her ear. She yearned to feel the weight of his body press against her. He rose up on his arms and looked down at her naked torso. His eyes met hers, and she anticipated his joining with her. She wanted him, and the feeling was ecstatic. Her legs parted, and her hips raised.
Kei awoke!
Damn! She very rarely used human expletives but, well, just, DAMN!
Why would her biological brain decide to awaken just at the best part of a dream?
Her legs were weak and trembling and her nipples hard, but she couldn’t be sure if that were because of the dream or the low temperature she preferred while sleeping. These feelings of becoming human were so exhilarating at times but so frustrating at other moments.
Kei ordered black coffee and buttered toast from the MA and checked the time on her HUD. Zero Five Fifty. She would shower and meet with the astronomy team when they arrived to unpack their new equipment.
As she bathed her thoughts wandered to the progress that Padma Berryman was making in the attempt to transfer AI computing ability to a biological human.
The other AI’s of the Council of Ten had decided to forgo attempts to join with a human until more data was available.
If Padma were successful in combining the data strand to a DNA molecule, it would be a huge leap forward in an attempt to join AI processing power with a human, but it still wouldn’t allow the other nine members of the Council to become human. Perhaps it never would.
Kei, at first regretted the joining, but the longer she shared this body with her host the more she felt the wonders of life were worth the effort. The other AI’s would have to make their own decisions. Becoming human also meant becoming mortal.
She tapped her temple to activate her neural implant and selected Cosmos Uniforms from the list displayed in her HUD, then chose a female coverall designed by a fashion firm specifically for the starship. A few approved accessories to jazz up the spartan clothing then matching lingerie completed her wardrobe. She exported the images to the bedroom’s molecular assembler and engaged the device.
Once her outfit constructed, she dressed and left for the Astronomy Lab.
Thanks for reading Chapter Eight
in my first attempt at
Science Fiction
Read Chapter One here