A Measure of Life

Posted on Sat 27th Feb, 2021 @ 3:26pm by Captain Jason Harrington

1,021 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Business Not At All As Usual
Location: Harrington’s Quarters
Timeline: MD:1, 1930 hours

Jason and Mia weren’t just Captain and First Officer. They weren’t even just shipmates. They were really good friends. They weren’t intimately involved, not yet. That wouldn’t change, since Jason wanted her as his Second in Command. He wasn’t willing to risk losing her over a failed relationship. Granted, they got along almost perfectly as CO and XO, but who knew what would change if they got involved.

On several nights a week the two would meet in Jason’s quarters to have a quiet dinner together and discuss the day's highlights, if any, or just talk about anything that came to mind.

Jason found Mia easy to talk to, much more so than most women. Right now, he sat on a sofa in the large room that would be considered a living room. His shift had ended, and it was time to relax with Mia and talk about the meeting with the bots and see how it went.

The woman smiled at her boss. "You would not believe how ... hmmm, interesting, complicated, unusual ... a dozen adjectives probably fit the time I spent hammering out the agreement with the Exo-bots. Also known as Exo-quad. Each of them has a name and different skills, and together they make up more than one entity, so defining who we have a contract with was an interesting process." She paused to take a sip of her pre-dinner soda. "It might have driven you insane," she smiled.

"I can only imagine," Jason said as he nodded then smiled. "How far did you get with them?" He had done some digging of his own and had some news to share with her.

"Actually, I think we have everything worked out for a 2-year contract. They'll be paying back their purchase price, we'll be sharing the earnings from the cores they find, and everyone should be happy. I told them I was accepting their sentience, and trusting them to complete the contract. I think in two years, we should have three times our investment back, even if they decide to leave at that point."

"I also did some digging today, and it doesn't look all that good for the little bots. It appears that they weren't able to prove that the bots were alive or self aware, so they are not considered to be alive. They are just considered to be AIs and nothing more," Jason explained.

Merel nodded, "I'm not surprised, but then that's what happens to most A. I. life forms. However, I think we can still consider them sentient for our purposes, don't you? I mean, that's up to us, isn't it? It wouldn't hold up in a court of law, but hopefully we won't be in one. I told them we'd have to open banking operations as if they were our minor children, but they would have control of their own funds. I think that should satisfy them. They do consider themselves sentient, of course."

She thought about what it must be like to have to fight for recognition as a person. "You know, considering the jerk we bought them from, if he had anything to do with their application, it isn't surprising it wouldn't go through. I'm sure pulling one of the memory cores wasn't the only nasty thing he did to the group. I'd really like to know just how he got his hands on them in the first place. They're a lot higher quality than he should have had access to acquire."

"We do consider them sentient, I have no doubt. I'm just worried what might happen to them if they did set out on their own. Without a registered owner, they would be fair game for anyone that would like to capitalize on them. I know they have no reason to really trust us after the agreement has been fulfilled, but if they kept us as their registered owners then someone can't just come along and claim them."
Jason thought for a moment, "That might just be how he acquired them."

Mia nodded, "Or he stole them from someone else. Whatever their experience with Jaren, I'm sure they learned a lot from it. I think they know we're different. At the end of the two years, I hope they'll trust us ... even if they don't want to stay on. We'll work on the trust, and maybe they'll find enough to interest them in the times we're on a starbase, too. The issue will be work that challenges them. We're going to have to investigate that, and maybe talk to Peggy, who seems to be the spokesperson most of the time."

Jason nodded in understanding, "Perhaps we should talk to them and find out what kind of work they like or interests them and go from there." Jason imagined that deep down inside they had feelings and would actually enjoy certain types of work or even have interests outside of working.

"That's a good thought," Mia Nodded. "I missed that in my talks with them. Of course they'd have ideas about what they'd like to do! Do you want to talk with them about that? I think they should learn to interact with both of us equally. I know I have more patience with tiny details, but you have a broad understanding of some things that pass me by. I think they should realize that though we are different, we share some common beliefs ... like that they are sentient."

Jason nodded, "Sure, we can do that, it wouldn't hurt for both of us to talk to them at the same time." He took a bite of the fried chicken leg that had been making his mouth water ever since he laid eyes on it. It had a soft crunch to it, the skin seemed to be cook to perfection, but of course it was replicated.

Sensing that their conversation had reached the end point, Mia smiled and dug into her chicken Caesar salad. "Thanks for dinner, by the way. Your replicator seems to work better than mine. Maybe I'll put an Exo-bot on that!"

 

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