Stiles finished his water and pitched the skin in the ’cycler. “Can’t help us; it’d melt in here,” he quipped.
“Real funny,” Jimmy said. He was interrupted by a grinding sound reverberating throughout the ship. It sounded like a steel-bottomed boat hitting a rocky coral bank.
“Ship, are you okay?” Henrietta asked.
“Yes,” the ship replied. “I have contracted my forward hull sections another 0.02 percent to add additional reinforcement to my structural members. However, I am running out of available space to continue that remediation. Heat deflection is also becoming very critical, mostly due to the loss of my insulating layers from the contraction efforts. I will begin experiencing irreparable damage to my outer hull by this time tomorrow.”
“But you’re okay for now,” Henrietta summarized.
“Yes. May we continue with my lessons?”
Ali furiously tore into the sensor screen, checking for hull damage. He double-checked what was happening. Looking mildly relieved, he glanced up at Henrietta and nodded. He looked like a doctor telling the investigator to continue the questioning of a dying patient.
“Sure. Where were we? Oh, yeah. So, ship?” Henrietta asked. “What do you think? Sam is short for Samuel.”
That caused another round of humming as the ship thought through his choices. Henrietta was reminded of the time she could not decide between buying a red dress or black. Her mom threatened to make the choice for her until her dad gently led her mom off to the side to look at shoes. Twenty minutes later, she chose a shimmery gold one. “I think I still prefer Samuel. I do not see the material difference between Samuel, which is in my records, and Sam, which bears no relationship to my design elements.”
“Okay,” Henrietta continued. “But, you know, people like to use short, easy-to-say names when they talk to others.”
“Yeah,” Stiles interjected, “like Henry.”
Henrietta winced noticeably. He had to bring that up, of all times! “Besides that,” she replied quickly. “You still got to like the name.”
The ship thought for a moment. The purring actually started to sound excited as it went on. “Is Perry easy for you to say?”
“Exactly!” Henrietta replied with a smile. He made his choice without prompting. “So, we’ll call you Perry from now on.”
“Perry. I like that name—”
“Well,” Stiles interrupted sarcastically, “now that we’ve wasted two minutes giving it a name, we’re still no better off. I tell you, we need to get in the shuttle and leave.”
“Stiles,” Peter said, “would you quit suggesting that? It’s a mistake.”
“Shut up, Peter Pan.”
“Why is Peter Pan easier to say than Peter?” the ship asked.
“It’s not,” Peter replied quickly.
“Sometimes people are just stupid,” Henrietta answered.
“Speak for yourself! Listen, I still say the shuttle’s the answer. Let me take it out for a test drive. If I can maneuver and get back inside the hangar, you’ll know we can still use it.”
Henrietta could not understand why Stiles was so set on using the shuttle. They were making great progress and there had to be only a small breakthrough separating failure from success. She knew it deep in her heart. All I need is a little more time, you fool.
“Stiles,” Ali said, “the radiation is really bad out there. The latest readings indicate the shuttle might not provide enough shielding. You might get a radiation count of 750 passing through its hull.”
“You said that reading was still questionable.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Are the sensors fully calibrated, or not?” Stiles asked.
Ali shrugged. “No, they aren’t—”
“So you don’t know for sure, do you?”
Ali sighed. “It may be better out there, or it may be worse. Do you want to bet your life on that?”
Stiles was ready to pitch a fit. “Why can’t you all understand? This thing is a coffin.”
“I am sorry if I am a coffin,” Perry admitted.
“And as for your progress, Henry—”
“As for my progress,” Henrietta said, “just look at Perry now. He said ‘I think’ and ‘I see’ for the first time.”
“So?”
“So, that means he was not just accessing random bits of information, but processing from one thought to another. That’s a major step for him. And he just reasoned that ‘Perry’ is easy to say. How would a computer, let alone a broken one, know one word was easier for a human to say than another?”
“Easy,” Stiles replied. “Just look at the number of letters.”
“But he also exhibited a preference over two alternatives. He’s making progress, Stiles. You just got to be patient. When the snowball starts moving, there’ll be no stopping it.”
“So try the key again,” Stiles insisted.
Henrietta looked at Peter.
“Okay, I’ll try it,” Peter said. He inserted the yellow key and issued several commands.
“I am sorry, Peter,” Perry replied. “I understand what you are asking me to do. I can even detect the engines, but the connection still escapes me.”
Ali slid into the seat next to Henrietta, full of expectation. “Perry, if you can detect the engines, turn off the security overrides. Once you do that, I can initiate a manual start.”
Perry hummed for a few seconds. “I wish I could do that, Ali, but the security functions are the ones most deeply buried. It is my estimation those will be the last systems we will be able to unlock. I, myself, have no reference to those subroutines.”
Ali buried his head in his arms. “I thought we had it just then. I’ve been waiting for that connection to be made.” Ali began to sulk.
“Okay, so we leave and jump the shuttle immediately,” Stiles suggested desperately. “Won’t matter if the engines can move the shuttle or not; we just jump.”
“And with all that radiation, we burn up while we set the coordinates,” Jimmy said.
“Ali,” Peter asked, “are you all right?”
“No, I’m not.”
“It’ll be—” Peter began.
“—don’t say ‘okay’, okay?” Ali cried. “It won’t be okay.”
“But Henrietta is making progress,” Jimmy whined.
“Yeah, she is,” Ali admitted. “More than I thought possible. See, I was betting on her all along to open a few critical subroutines. Then I could hack past the security system. I just needed an entry point past the firewall. But I think it’s too late now.”
“Why,” Jimmy asked.
“I ran through the numbers half an hour ago. Without breaking into the systems right now, I think we’re too close; even for the ship’s engines. All that mass out there … just look at the size of that star.”
Ali activated the main view screen to make his point. The supergiant glowed with a malevolent ruddy glow, shrouded by a faint yellow haze. It looked like the dying embers of hell, and it filled nearly the entire forward view.
“How can the engines pull us away from that?”
* * *
Everyone long since made their way to the galley for dinner, except Henrietta who continued to work with the ship. Peter was growing tired of listening to Stiles complain about being ignored, so he called up a quick dinner and went back to the bridge with a tray of food. He set the offerings down on the console near the com station.
“Hungry, Arietta?”
She cracked a faint smile. “Famished.”
“Here; grab what you want.” Peter slid the tray closer to the young girl. He took a seat next to her and motioned toward the food.
“You ate already?” she asked.
“Nah; couldn’t stand Stiles spouting off back there. He’s so annoying sometimes.”
“All the time,” Henrietta corrected. “Take what you want,” she said, pointing to the food.
“Doesn’t matter much what I take. It all tastes the same anyway.” P
eter pinched off a small bite of a brown patty and put it in his mouth. “Yum; hamburger, I think.” He chewed it, but obviously did not think much of it. “Not as good a cook as you.”
Henrietta grinned, popping a chunk into her mouth. Her reaction was much the same, but it was nutritious. “And here I am … a vegetarian.”
“Don’t worry, that thing never lived,” Peter replied.
“Or if it did, I don’t want to know about it.”
Peter split the remainder of the food in half and handed the plate to Henrietta. Before she took it, Peter held on to the plate and asked, “Perry, you hungry?”
“That was a joke,” Perry stated.
“Yes,” Peter replied. “Which means you should laugh.”
Perry purred while he processed the comment. “I thought one only laughs at jokes that are funny,” he countered.
“All my jokes are funny.”
Henrietta finished another bite and stole a sip from Peter’s water bulb. “Don’t believe him, Perry,” Henrietta said laughing.
“Should I not?” Perry asked in alarm.
Peter looked at Henrietta with concern. He narrowed his eyes, silently warning her. It did not take Henrietta long to figure out what he was worried about. If the ship did not believe Peter, it might not accept his commands. Rebuilding a personality from scratch was more difficult than it looked.
“Only about his jokes,” Henrietta added quickly.
“Okay,” Perry replied, satisfied.
Henrietta finished the food and prepared to throw the plate away.
“Here,” Peter said, taking the plate from her. “You got better things to do.” He took the plate to the ’cycler and closed the lid. “I assume you didn’t want to eat the plate.”
“Only if it tastes better than the food that’s on it,” she said.
“Hmm, maybe it might,” Peter replied smiling. He opened the lid and broke off a small chip, popping it in his mouth. “Nah, no difference.” He continued chewing. “Well, maybe it’s a little better.”
The plates came from the same building-block proteins as the food stock, and only differed by the lack of flavoring and relative hardness. Once recycled, it was sanitized and went back into general stores.
“Perhaps you should try my walls,” Perry suggested.
“What?” Henrietta asked. This time she was alarmed.
“My walls; if you are looking for something that’s good ….”
Henrietta looked at Peter, unsure what the ship was suggesting. Was he offering himself in case they ran out of food? “You aren’t serious. Surely you aren’t suggesting we eat you.”
“That was a joke,” Perry replied. “Was it good?”
Henrietta looked relieved, and she lowered her guard.
“Yes,” Peter said chuckling. “It was excellent.”
“Then I am good.”
Henrietta was stunned at Perry’s comment. It was an unsolicited attempt to join in on a conversation. As far as she could recall, the ship only responded to questions or comments that were directed specifically to him. As much as anything, this was an attempt to be recognized, and be one of the guys. “Huh,” she said. “That’s new too. A sense of humor.”
“I have a collection of 5,243 two-line jokes, and 604 limericks. Would you like to hear them?”
“No,” Henrietta responded.
“May I ask a question, then?” Perry asked.
“Sure, go ahead,” Henrietta replied.
“I am still confused about names. Most everyone calls you Henrietta, including yourself. Stiles calls you Henry, but Peter calls you Arietta. There is only one of you, correct?”
“Yes, there are only five of us onboard.”
“That is a relief. I was concerned that I miscounted. According to my records, your full name is Henrietta Maria Moreira, but I cannot find any references to ‘Henry’ or ‘Arietta’ in your records. By the way, I believe Henry is a name for the male of your species. You are female, correct?”
Peter burst out laughing and Henrietta swatted at him. He continued to laugh and she hit him even harder, making him yelp.
“Yes, the last time I checked,” she replied.
“You have the ability to change?”
“Another joke,” Henrietta clarified. “You take things too literally.”
Perry considered what she said. “Should I take commands literally, then?”
“Yes,” Peter quickly replied.
“That is good. I shall endeavor to differentiate between a joke and a command in the future. As to your naming hierarchy, I am still assessing the logic strings associated—”
“You see,” Peter offered, “Stiles is teasing Henrietta because she does not like her name.”
“Like I do not like Sam?”
“Pretty much, yes,” Peter replied.
“Then, Peter, why do you tease her with yet another name?”
Peter stammered, “I’m not teasing.”
“He’s being kind, Perry,” Henrietta said. “He knows I don’t like Henrietta, so a few months ago he began calling me Arietta. I liked it; a lot. He’s the only one I allow to call me that.”
The ship purred. “I shall remember. Thank you.”
Peter looked relieved the topic ended. It did not take much for Henrietta to notice his discomfort. She considered stringing him along, but decided to let the little fish go … this time. So she changed the subject. “I think I got all his external monitors at one hundred percent while you guys were gone.”
“That’s good, Arietta. Now you’re an expert mechanic. We should tell Ali. He’s chomping at the bit to complete his astrometric assessments.”
She lost herself in thought for a moment, her smile vanishing. Very quickly, she became serious. “You don’t think we’ll make it out, do you?”
Peter did not answer, nor could he look her in the eyes. He would have given anything to be anywhere else now.
“Well?” she persisted.
“Ali doesn’t think so.”
Her shoulders fell. Henrietta took in a few deep breaths to control her emotions … again. Her feelings were running unpredictable lately and she could not figure out why. Well, facing death is a good enough excuse, she reasoned. She raised her long eye lashes and revealed her deep brown eyes to Peter. “Is he sure?”
“His estimates—”
Perry interrupted the conversation, “Henrietta?”
The ship sounded so forlorn now, in contrast to the humor he had recently shown. “Yes?”
“Are you concerned that we will die?”
She laughed softly. “You could say that.”
“Henrietta, I just did say that.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’m concerned we’ll all die,” Henrietta replied.
“I would not like that,” Perry replied. His voice had a very sad quality to it. Henrietta wondered if he were truly sad at the prospect. Perry remained silent for a moment, and then purred again. “I can now access my engines.”
For a moment, Peter and Henrietta did not hear what Perry said. For the life of them, it sounded like ….
“What?” Peter cried.
“My engines. I now have full control of the main engines and all auxiliary thrusters.”
Peter could not believe what he was hearing. He threw open the PA, “Ali, get up here immediately!”
“Be right there.”
Within minutes, Ali burst into the bridge, with Stiles and Jimmy following close behind. The newcomers looked around the bridge in concern. Nothing seemed out of place.
“What’s wrong?” Ali asked puzzled.
“Henrietta did it!” Peter shouted. “We now have a ship! That works!”
“What? How?” Ali asked.
“I don’t know,” Henrietta replied. “One minute we were considering our death, and the next, he tells us he’s operational again.”
“I was more concerned about your death, Henrietta,” Perry added.
Henrietta looked bewildered. If she
could have, she would have hugged Perry. “I must have triggered some emotional response in him,” she deduced.
“The snowball is on his own now,” Jimmy squealed. He looked around at the inactivity of his fellow crewmates, sitting in stunned silence. “So what are we waiting for?”
Peter realized Jimmy once again understood what no one else had the sense to consider. Peter patted Jimmy on the shoulder and ran to the command station to re-initialize the yellow key, inserting it into the panel.
“Captain Campbell!” Perry replied. “It is a pleasure seeing you again. Accessing Stage-One Navigational Data,” Perry continued. “Error—unknown referents.”
“What does that mean?” Jimmy asked.
“I’m not sure,” Ali replied. He ran to tactical and accessed the star maps Perry was opening. He immediately noticed huge gaps in every sector. Ali also noticed that not a single feature was labeled. It was just a confusing mass of unnamed stars, not much different than what they could see from their outside monitors.
“Perry, what’s wrong?” Henrietta asked.
“I have opened Stage-One Navigational Data but cannot locate any local referents.”
“So?” Jimmy asked.
“We are lost,” Perry clarified.
“Oh, great!” Stiles complained. “Out of the frying pan, into the fire.”
“Not now, Stiles,” Peter warned. “Perry, can you see that large star next to us?”
“I do not think I can avoid seeing it, Peter. It is a large, late-stage M1.5 supergiant with an associated bluish-white companion star of spectral class B2.5 orbiting approximately fifty billion miles away. They are enshrouded in a thick nebulosity which is obscuring much of the space surrounding us.”
“Turn us around and get us away from it!” Peter commanded.
“Clarification needed: are you requesting a course directly opposite our current one, leading us away from the unidentified stellar object to our front?”
“Yes!” Peter replied in triumph.
Perry hummed for several minutes. He stopped for a moment and continued humming again. “I am unable to comply with that command, Peter.”
“Oh, not again!” Henrietta cried.
“Explain to me the exact problem,” Peter commanded.
“Correction to previous statement: I am able to carry out part of your command. I am able to maneuver 180 degrees, however, the thrust required to break free of the gravitational hold exerted by the nearby stellar object is underpowered by 134.2 percent. The exact amount of thrust required would be—”