The CEO drifts in space in a luxury - filled lifepod, with multiple lifepods filled with the survivors from his fleet linked in a circle around his own. The AI was safe in its own contained cube floating nearby. They were NOT happy with the CEO over this incident. Heh, and their recriminations were nothing compared to what the CRC had to say to him when they rescued everyone.
@internutter/challenge-03367-i079-accomplished-as-asked -- DaniAndShali
The AI known as Target was smarter than Lyman Sterling Wolfbridge. For a start, they alerted all the crew to evacuate. Then activated the shielding that kept Lyman's secluded luxury bridge intact even when the rest of the vessel was a cloud of irradiated atoms.
Some of the crew were even smarter than the AI, and dove for the lifepods before the last words of Lyman's order had finished leaving his mouth.
The end result was a lot of people intending to leave Lyman's secluded luxury lifepod as secluded from the rest of them. However, programming insisted that Lyman's lifepod gathered others around it as serving staff. After all, he couldn't be expected to cook his own food or -horrors!- pour his own drinks. Nobody but Lyman was happy about this.
Target was on their own channel, broadcasting a view of the shattered remains of the bridge and chanting, "Murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, murder..."
Whilst the growing ring of "serving staff" were brewing a mutiny.
"Listen. All we have to do is jury-rig a no detected lifesigns signal and anyone he catches alive has to fake rad poisoning and die once they're back safely. All we need is some lead foil over every detector."
"CRC's going to leave us with him."
"Not if we broadcast what we're doing on their channel. They've had distress calls like this for sure."
The record would later show that this was the first such incident. It would not, unfortunately, be the last. But that is another story for another time[1].
The CRC were understanding, and homed in on the signal whilst the survivors ran their game. Some were even encouraged by the CRC to add a feed of Lyman's log and activities. Not just for the record, but also for entertainment.
Thoroughly believing that he was the sole survivor, CEO Lyman Sterling Wolfbridge shakingly learned how to pour his own drinks. He was seen on multiple occasions eating dry ramen noodles and licking the flavour out of the packets.
It never once occurred to him to read the instructions. Then again, this was a man who used a funnel to make sure he didn't spill any whiskey.
He spent two days crying about the absence of ice cubes. And then drinking his sorrows neat.
When the CRC actually evacuated the innocents and sent Target to counseling, the inevitable idea surfaced.
"We could... just leave him there?"
The CRC Negotiator was the very face of diplomacy. "We'd like to do that, too. Unfortunately, we have to follow our own rules, and those rules state that the rights and responsibilities of all are also his. He has the right to adequate accommodations, complete nutrition, all necessary healthcare, self-care facilities, exercise opportunities, and psychological help."
Grumbling from his mutinous crew.
"He also has the responsibility to care for and about himself, his environment, and other people. Until such responsibilities are acknowledged, he will be retained in a re-education facility with all his rights intact. In a non-destructible format."
They were shown what one of those was. The barest minimum of habitation. One bedroom/bathroom area, one dining/entertainment area. One "greenscape" area to maintain his air and nutrient needs.
It was a bomb-proof algae farm. Growing the sort of algae that fulfilled quite a lot of a Human's nutritional needs.
The bed was a mat on the floor. Made of recycled and recyclable cellulose material. Even his clothes would be made of the same stuff. He would not be able to alter the environmental controls, because he could not yet be trusted with them.
He would be seeing few other colours but an inoffensive pale grey, wearing paper clothes, eating fortified algae and drinking nothing but water.
Once they learned that Lyman could potentially be spending the rest of his life in these three rooms, the rest of the crew cheered up immensely.
[1] Tip of the entire hat store to the first book I loved to read, The Neverending Story by Michael Ende.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Limolida]
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