Page 146 of Trove’s Purpose

Tanin’s quills twitched as he moved to the railing. He called over-

“Sorbet.”

The dark blue male looked up silently.

“Get Tebros. Find Trove.”

Sorbet grunted and, without further question or hesitation, turned and jogged off the ship. He was gone in a moment and still not fast enough for Chee’s liking.

Where was he?

How was he just gone?

“Come with me,” Tanin ordered.

Chee and Goldie both obeyed. They fell in behind him as he went into the ship and made his way up towards the bridge. Past that, into the captain’s room where he maintained control over them and the entire ship.

“We keep beacons on us,” he said. “We activate them in case of emergency. Alred.”

“I’m not seeing his,” he said from above, speaking only into their room. “I can’t reach it unless he turns it on.”

“His combot?”

“No response.”

Tanin grunted.

“What’s that mean?” Chee asked, looking between Tanin and the light form of Alred that appeared beside him, hands behind his back. “He’s not answering?”

Alred shook his head. “It means, the device isn’t responding at all. It’s either off completely, or it’s been broken.”

Chee let out a stuttered cry, holding onto herself. Goldie wrapped her arms around her, trying to offer some comfort, but it was cold and useless.

“The twins will find him,” Goldie assured her.

Chee said nothing, gnawing on her lip worriedly.

“Show me the station,” Tanin ordered.

There was a large, circular table in the dim captain’s room. It projected up holodisplays of whatever he needed. Maps, information, control panels – whatever. And this time, it was a 3D holographic recreation of the entire space station. The whole thing, floating in front of them in miniature, all the various halls and rooms, even the maintenance tunnels.

It would be more impressive if she wasn’t so tense and uneasy.

The entire light recreation was done in orange and, as she watched, Alred began filling it up with various objects. Populating it, she realized, with all the things that were currently in the station at this moment. Storehouses full of crates and boxes and items. The privies with all their pipework. The tables and synthesizer in the galley. The beds in the healing center.

Even more incredible, he began simulating all the people walking around. They were the same orange as the rest of the hologram, but they were real people, of all different species and sizes, walking around. The occupants of the station, moving in real time.

Chee knew that Alred was an incredibly powerful AI; she even understood that he was running this entire starship. She could only imagine all the work that went into running a starship. And that was just it, she could only imagine it. She didn’t have the slightest clue of what it actually entailed or how difficult any of it might be.

However, watching him carefully, accurately, and perfectly recreate the entire space station, full of objects, small and large, and then all the people…

She couldn’t even focus on all of it at the same time. But he was recreating it for them in real time, casting his own light form, and still running the starship and all the incredibly difficult work that it entailed.

And he wasn’t even fazed. She wasn’t sure if she could know what fazed would look like on his light form, but he just stood there, as calm and composed as ever. Not a glitch or a flicker in sight. His expression was serious, not his typical joking nature, but he was unflappable and perfectly in control of everything.

“There are many cameras, as you would expect,” Alred was saying calmly. “But it appears that most of them aren’t actively recording, they’re just watching. I’m trying to get into the storage for those that do record, but it’s well protected. I might not be able to get into it without setting off some sort of alarm throughout the station.”

“The twins will get it,” Tanin said simply. Like he just knew it was going to happen. “Can you get into the record for what ships have docked and taken off today?”