Page 10 of Redondo (Mates of the Mylos #7)
CHAPTER 10
THOMAS
I glanced around the quarters they’d given me. There was a very comfortable extra long twin bed with not one, but two nightstands. One held a lamp and the other a charging station with various ports. A closet was between the bed and a seating area consisting of a small loveseat, a coffee and side table, and an armchair, as well as what my information pack said was a replicator. It looked suspiciously like the one on Star Trek, only with a door on it which bore a notice in English saying the door would not open while the replicator was in operation. Another door on the opposite side of the bedroom area turned out to be a rather nice bathroom, with some pretty fancy looking shower controls that I suspected I’d have to ask the bathroom AI mentioned in the film about.
Alrighty then. I didn’t want to think of what mishap had led them to put the warning on the replicator. Nope. Totally not imagining anything freaky and stomach turning. Instead, I pondered the lack of a window or a TV and debated whether or not I should unpack my clothes. I decided that was a definite yes, as it would look terrible if I showed up in wrinkled clothing tomorrow for my audition. That was if my audition was actually tomorrow, as there were a lot of people to get through and only so many Mylos to do it, so as we were being shown our rooms, we’d been informed that it could take up to a week for us to be called in, with those of us being tested going first. Which, apparently, was roughly half of the adult applicants. Apologies were made, and the sting taken out of only having the clothes on our backs and one or two outfits by letting us know we were free to choose anything we wished from the ship’s stores to remedy our clothing shortage issues. We were also free to either replicate whatever we wished to eat or avail ourselves of the many eateries in the recreation zone. All free! That was hard to wrap my head around, but apparently that’s how shit worked within the Fleet. When it came time to ‘pay’, each person merely presented their Fleet ID, one ID per family unit, no matter if it was just one or a whole gaggle, and it was noted purely to keep track of general consumption.
It took me less than five minutes to put away what I‘d brought.
“Xeranos?” I called out, only half expecting a reply.
“Hello, Thomas! Or should I call you Tom? You may call me Xero, if you prefer, as my human friends all do.”
“Sure, Tom is fine. Um,” I rubbed a hand along the back of my neck. “I have a couple questions, but they might seem kinda dumb.”
“There are no stupid questions, just stupid answers,” he replied.
I laughed. “My granny used to say that. Okay, well, first, I was wondering why you guys don’t seem to do windows? There weren’t any on the shuttle, and I don’t see any in here. Or a TV.”
“We don’t like compromising hull integrity with the introduction of glass or glass like materials,” he explained. “However, just as with the shuttle, the nanites within the walls can configure themselves into a viewing screen. You can use it to watch vids or have them simulate a window with nearly any view you desire.”
Wow. Okay. “So, if I asked for a window I could look out on the side walls by the bed, how do I do that?”
“Simply ask me, indicating precisely where and what sort of view you would like.
“Okay, so if I asked to see what was outside the ship, it would show me that, even if that’s not what’s on the other side of those particular walls?”
“I would select a view that was outward from this side of the ship and one from the opposite side. Ones with especially pleasant views, of course.”
“Of course. And the TV?”
“Simply let me know what you’d like to watch. If uncertain, I can place a menu up for you to view.”
I had a pretty good idea that the list would be even bigger than my Netflix back home. Well, back when I’d had Netflix. I’d cancelled all my paid streaming services as soon as I realized I wasn’t going to be able to pay for them. See? I could be fiscally responsible!
“And I just need to tell you where I want the TV screen?”
“Yes. Just say, I’d like to watch it in bed, or I’m sitting in the living room, and I’ll put it in the most optimal location.”
“You know where everything is in here?”
“I can see if I look,” he admitted. “When you call me, I open my eyes and ears in here. I am as present here as I can be without having a physical body beyond the cameras and comm system.”
“But only if I call you?”
“Yes, unless I need to because of a perceived emergency, and you need to be checked on for your safety.”
Okay, that made me feel better. If it had been a human corporation’s AI saying that, I’d have been suspicious. But they used everything they captured to offer us services they thought we’d pay for, products they wanted us to buy, and to train their AIs to be smarter. Xero was like Commander Data, only without an android body to physically walk about, and he was Mylos. As the Mylos had proven themselves thus far to be above reproach and honest almost to a fault, my gut said I could trust Xero to not creep on me.
“Cool. My second question was, am I understanding it correctly when I say that if I go to one of the restaurants, I just need to tap the little icon on the tablet you guys gave me, and it will sync with the cafe’s system so I’m marked as paid?”
“That is correct. Were you thinking of going out? You are not only limited to the places aboard this ship. If an eatery on one of the others appeals, you may take a shuttle over and avail yourself.”
My eyebrows shot up to the top of my hairline. “And I don’t have to pay for the ride?”
“You do not indeed.”
“So, if I asked where I could get the most killer bibimbap, there’d be a Korean place to get it, and I could just fly over to it if it’s on another ship?” I fished.
“Yes. And if that is what you wish to eat, I can tell you that Seoul Food on the promenade here aboard this ship is highly regarded. It’s run by Seo-yun Park, who is mated to Kilnar, one of our junior medics.”
I’d plucked that menu choice out of thin air, but now that I knew I really could have it, I had a hankering for some. It was past the time I usually had lunch, though the tablet they gave me showed that it was only just after seven in the morning ship’s time.
“When do they open?”
“1200 ship’s time,” came the reply.
“Replicator it is,” I said, also eager to try that out. I’d wait and go to Seoul Food for dinner.
“Xero,” I called out, “I’d like…” Shit. What did I want? Oh! “I’d like a bowl of nabeyaki udon.”
I stared as the interior of the replicator lit up and a bowl of the delectable dish materialized. Damn. If I didn’t get one of the roles, I was going to miss just being able to ask for whatever my stomach decided it wanted. I walked over to it, opening the door to remove the bowl. It even came with chopsticks on a rest and one of those porcelain flat bottomed spoons you sometimes saw in restaurants, all of it on a small tray.
“Would you care for a drink?’
“Um, Ramune?”
“Which flavor?”
“Melon?”
“Someone will stock your chiller with some. Is there anything I can replicate for you while you wait?”
“Wait! No one needs to bring me just one soda!” I protested.
“I am ordering an assortment, including the requested Ramune, so you may have a selection during your stay. The request is already being fulfilled.”
Well, crap. I needed to be a bit more careful about what I asked for.
“Can you make some tea?”
“Variety?”
“Just some regular sweet tea, like they drink down south. I grew up in Georgia.”
A glass materialized.
“Thanks. Um, I’m going to go stretch out on the little sofa to eat. Could you put on a movie for me?”
“What would you like to watch?”
I had a lot of time to kill, and I’d missed the sequel to Knives Out thanks to being too broke to go to the movies and then having to cancel my services. “The Glass Onion, please.”
The wall shimmered, and then the ratings information for the film appeared.
“Thanks.”
“You’re most welcome.”
I smiled as I noticed he’d given me the space view we’d discussed hypothetically, too, the ‘windows’ right where I’d said. I settled down and began to eat, losing myself quickly within the movie’s narrative.