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The ship did not respond to her rhetorical comment.
She quickly finished her small meal and asked, “Ship—”
“Acknowledged.”
“—where do I set the tray?”
The panel opened and a light glowed in the empty space.
“Okay, that makes sense,” Louella mumbled as she set the tray in the niche.
The panel closed. Louella yawned and rolled her shoulders.
“I’m bored.”
The ship did not answer.
“Can I at least have a book from the library if I’m not allowed to go to the library?”
“Records show that you have been provided a verbal translation device; however, you cannot read any of the languages spoken on board.”
“So, that’s a no. I suppose you don’t have anything in English?”
“Negative.”
Louella exhaled a gusty sigh through her mouth. “What a pain in the ass.”
“Are you in pain?”
Louella smiled as she schemed on the fly. “Why, yes, I am. I need to go to sick bay.”
“An escort will arrive shortly.”
Once again Louella sat and waited. She stood when the door to the general superior’s quarters slid open to reveal a large, waist-high mechanical spider. Louella’s eyes widened and she took a step backward as the machine’s articulated legs delicately propelled it into the room. The bulbous head swiveled and focused a glowing blue light at her. She gulped and began to pant with terror.
“Human Louella Cordelia Jefferson, please accompany me to sick bay.”
“I-I’m supposed to go withyou?” That last word ended on a high-pitched screech.
“Affirmative.”
“Human Louella Cordelia Jefferson, your vital signs are elevated and increasing.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” she muttered, then took several deep breaths while the ship’s computer listened and the mechanical spider waited. She squared her shoulders and stiffened her spine and gave herself a little pep talk. “Okay, Lou, it’s just a machine. The big, mechanical bug isnotgoing to eat you.”
The listening ship responded to her self-directed pep talk, “Domestic devices do not consume flesh. You are in no danger from it as long as you do not attempt to access prohibited areas.”
Louella nodded.The ship isn’t so different from Alexa or OnStar. It’s AI, but more sophisticated than what we have on Earth, that’s all.“All right. Thank you for the escort.”
The metal spider waited. Louella stepped forward, eyeing the machine with ingrained wariness. When she reached its side, it spoke, startling her. “Follow me, human Louella Cordelia Jefferson.”
“Sure. Will do.”
She watched as the waist-high mechanical spider minced forward, its articulated metal legs somehow making only the softest of clicking noises on the metal floor as it led her down a corridor to an elevator. She followed the spider into the elevator and saw no panel of buttons or any levers through which the elevator was controlled, although a series of colored lights blinked across the spider’s lighted panel.
Although she felt no movement, she knew the carriage had moved when the doors opened to reveal a corridor lined with green-striped walls instead of the white-striped walls where the general superior’s quarters were located.
“Follow me,” the spider ordered.
