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AN// This is the continuation of...
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AN// This is the continuation of http://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/not-quite-shodan-st-si.4550/. If you have yet to read it, you most likely should or things might be a bit confusing.

Now, on with the story.


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I did a slow, lazy roll as I waited for the wetware of the shuttle flight officer on duty to register my request for landing.

The Andromeda was hanging above the planet a couple of tens of kilometers away, looking as beautiful as ever. Her almost aerodynamic hull shining in the light of the system primary and the reflected light of the red planet we were orbiting.

But that was just visual lights anyone could see.

She was even more beautiful in subspace, gravitational scans and different radiation spectrum.

She shone like a diamond in UV.

She was as dumb as a bag of bricks.

A quiet, silent... stupid calculator. A very advanced calculator... but still a calculator. Okay, a calculator with a very, very pretty antimatter reaction as her heart, but still a calculator.

I wasn't.

"Arcadia, you are clear for landing sequence." Rachel transmitted and I could detect a smile in her voice. "Had fun?"

If I had lips I would have smiled as well.

For a stupid calculator, Andromeda did something amazing. She let my friends survive in the hostile, airless void of space.

"I did." I said and slowly wheeled around, sliding closer with a small burst of my thrusters, just getting up to a couple of hundred kp/h relative to the Andromeda before coasting on inertia.

By the time I finished, my transmission had finished speaking and I needed to wait for a response.

In flight mode I kept my time perception at maximum... that way I could fly manually instead of relying on the stupid computer to handle it like an organic did.

If I did, I might as well use a mobile platform and sit in it, pressing buttons.

"You did look like you enjoyed the rings." she answered. "What is it like, flying like that?"

I gave my thrusters another small burst of power, bringing me mostly to a halt as I scooted towards the side, rotating relative to the Andromedas hangar deck.

"I'm not sure I am able to describe it. If you wish, you could come along on the next flight." I told her as I slowed down even more, slowly feeling the three air forcefields of the shuttle hangar slide across my shield and hull.

That was the most interesting feeling, like sliding through a ring of feathers into the deep end of a pool. Atmosphere clamped down on my hull and I slowly swung around to land, rear towards the inside of the hangar.

"I think I would like that. I'll check with the Lieutenant if I can get some time off the next time you go on a walky."

"It's not a walky. Just because one of my platforms is more or less dog shaped, doesn't make my flying sessions walkys." I told her with an artificial sigh.

Only Rachel.

"I'm just saying!" she started before I heard a throat being cleared in the background and she quickly switched back to professional.

"Shuttle Arcadia, locking down landing clamps and closing outer doors. Welcome back, Ensign." she quickly continued as I felt said landing clamps lock me to the deck and I suppressed a feeling of annoyance.

I really disliked not being able to move under my own power.

"Confirming lock down, Shuttle Control." I answered. "Pressure nominal, powering down and popping the hatch."

I left the sensors to last as I started to put system after system onto 'stand by' mode. It felt a little like falling asleep actually... but without becoming unconscious.

Quite frankly, not the most pleasant feeling.

Putting my sensors on standby I was left in the dark, deaf and blind.

My only fully powered system was the communications system and I made a connection on a special sub space frequency and suddenly I could see again.

I flexed my head plates and stood up from the chair I had left my Geth platform in, running a quick systems check.

"All systems nominal." I reported and T'Ro glanced up from her PADD by the workbench.

"I finished the scans while you were on leave. Your muscular actuators require re-tuning. Without your active subspace signal, it was much easier to get a clear reading."

I turned to look at the vulcan and gave her a nod. "Thank you, T'Ro. Your assistance is greatly appreciated. Other than myself, I believe you are the largest expert on my systems of anyone in a thousand lightyears."

T'Ro put her PADD down and stood up, walking over to remove the armor plating on my left shoulder. "I enjoy the challenge. While cybernetics is not my primary field, it is a interesting one."

The fact that she was one of my best friends was also a large part, I'd bet. Not that a Vulcan would be hard pressed to admit something like that though.

"Now that you mention it, I did detect a minor variation in my warp field on my way back to the ship. Still within safety limits, but I would like it seen to before it becomes a problem."

T'Ro nodded and pulled a tool from her belt to touch to start adjusting my arm controls. "I will examine it tomorrow."

It was not often anyone but the shuttle deck crews got to play with the shuttles, but me being a shuttle did give me a certain amount of leeway when it came to my maintenance.

Being just Ensigns or not, T'Ro and Rachel was my first stop for help to maintain my ship-self... if somewhat supervised by the Lieutenant in charge of shuttle operations.

Honestly, I could do the work myself. Most of it, at least.

But I enjoyed their company. It would have been fun to let Shran and Ajan in on it as well, but Shran had very little interest in engineering other than what it let him do and Ajan... Well, Ajan was many things, but an engineer was not really one of them. He is not getting anywhere near my innards.

When we managed to graduate to Ensigns about six months ago, I was surprised to find that my request for a shuttle platform had been approved. I mostly suggested it for them to turn it down to I could negotiate for getting access to ship sensors while piloting.

I actually went to the Captain to question the decision. Tiny shuttle craft or not, a Type 8 shuttle was not only armed with a pair of phasers, it also had a Warpdrive. Meaning it had a Warpcore.

A Warpcore with Anti-Matter in it.

His answer had actually been quite simple.

They already trusted me with a much larger ship with a much larger amount of antimatter on it on a daily basis.

Not much I could say about that.

I nodded and shifted my headplates as I watched my friend adjust my arm controls. "Thank you, T'Ro."



AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
 
Always nice to see a good SI AI come back. Goes double given that Hiver is writing it.
 
I understand English is not your first language. With that in mind, you really need a better beta. Your novellas are still full of very basic, very obvious grammatical errors.

If English isnt your first language, thats fine. I wont expect absolute perfection from you, but your betas should know better.

Are they, whoever they are, suggesting ANY kind of improvement, correcting grammar, or otherwise making changes to your story? If they arent they are no good as Betas.
 
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I understand English is not your first language. With that in mind, you really need a better beta. Your novellas are still full of very basic, very obvious grammatical errors.

If English isnt your first language, thats fine. I wont expect absolute perfection from you, but your betas should know better.
Yeah. English isn't my first language either, and the main reason that I usually end up as the beta reader is that I am a quick poster and a marginally competent writer. If you have any suggestions for improving my performance, I'm all ears.
 
Ive offered before but got passed up for whatever reason. If I do, I wont be able to sit down and do it right away due to the nature of my job. It might be a whole day before I can review Hivers first draft, maybe more.
 
Gentlemen, I've got some dedicated betas myself. I swear by using google docs. It updates in realtime, tracks who did it, and comes with a handy spell-checker for last minute stuff.

Also, Microsoft word's grammar checker is sweet. Get that shit if you can.
 
There is more? Just read the perquil in one sitting, and love it. Strange thing though, i keep on thinking what would happen if Winter got stuck on the Battlestar Galatica, or at least a midevil civlization.
 
Gentlemen, I've got some dedicated betas myself. I swear by using google docs. It updates in realtime, tracks who did it, and comes with a handy spell-checker for last minute stuff.

Also, Microsoft word's grammar checker is sweet. Get that shit if you can.
Second on google docs being damn useful. I try to help people, and when it comes to the people who don't have their stuff for me to help with on Google documents it feels like going from driving a car to riding a crappy bike. Tons of effort to get a little benefit.
 
Ah Winter the AI who believed he was human, who now after learning the truth dreams of becoming a star-ship.

Its actually a bit strange/unique seeing the AI character want to become less human.

------
[Index]​

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
 
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Ah Winter the AI who believed he was human, who now after learning the truth dreams of becoming a star-ship.

Its actually a bit strange/unique seeing the AI character want to become less human.
Wait, hold on. I dream of becoming a starship, and I fail to see how such an event would in the slightest make me less human. Bodies aren't that important, are they?
 
Wait, hold on. I dream of becoming a starship, and I fail to see how such an event would in the slightest make me less human. Bodies aren't that important, are they?
Well when I Google Homo Sapien I get a picture of a naked man and not a star-ship.
I'm assuming that if your mind is based off quantum wiring and your body is a massive dreadnought you would definitely not be 'human'.

I suppose its ultimately whatever your definition of human is.
 
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Its actually a bit strange/unique seeing the AI character want to become less human.
Bodies aren't that important, are they?
I suppose its ultimately whatever your definition of human is.
I'm fairly firmly in the 'human values' camp on that. What matters to you? Is it these things? Then your human enough to join the group. What makes up said group of values is a big debate of course, especially since essentially every trek species is liable to qualify under that logic. But I'm more interested in 'are they a person?' then defining 'human'.
 
Wait, hold on. I dream of becoming a starship, and I fail to see how such an event would in the slightest make me less human. Bodies aren't that important, are they?
The way I see it, to be human is to be a member of the biological species Homo Sapiens Sapiens. To be a person, however, one just needs to be sapient.

All humans are "People" but not all people are "Human".
 
The way I see it, to be human is to be a member of the biological species Homo Sapiens Sapiens. To be a person, however, one just needs to be sapient.

All humans are "People" but not all people are "Human".
I was gonna say something about it being a question of who you are, not what you are, but you put it much better.
 
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"Oh come on, Winter! It's Poker!" Shran said, leaning back in his chair, his feet on the table.

"Poker is not a game I really enjoy. For one... If I play to win, I am unable to lose. Statistically."

While my memory was not perfect, it was good enough to make card counting rather... easy.

"You know that Commander Data plays, right?" Shran argued, "He isn't unable to lose."

"Commander Data enjoys the activity and is rather bad at reading bluffs. I 'grew up' as a human. It is one of the few areas in which I am superior to Commander Data." I said, shifting my head plates.

The Andorian sighed and crossed his arms, "Come on, Winter... we could completely clear them out! Think of all the Holodeck time and replicator rations!"

More holodeck time would be nice. I did have a couple of holo-novels I wanted to start writing. Star Wars did exist in the archives; but, as far as I knew, it was a rather obscure piece of history at this point.

I wanted to recreate it on the holodeck and bring it back to the masses. All twenty movies even if the last four were even worse than the prequels. That droid rebellion arc was as less a jump over the shark as a complete polevault over the shark.

Still...

"I'm not going to assist you in cheating, Shran. I am sure you will manage on your own." I said and shook my head, turning my attention back to my PADD, going over the engine readings of my last flight. I did go through them in real time during flight, but it was usually a good idea to check things afterwards as well.

He sighed and got up.

"Fine. I'll ask Ajan."

I shook my head as he left and dropped my PADD on the table, looking out through the window across from me in the small quarters.

I took to being a shuttle remarkably quick. It was my primary platform right now, my 'escape platform' had been changed for a smaller spherical one with a much higher data throughput to be able to handle the influx from the shuttles's sensors.

I could still move with it, but it lacked limbs and, while I could communicate verbally while using it, it's only sense was a tricorder sensor. Rachel complained that it was 'not as cute'. Personally I was unsure if to keep it or not as having some manipulation ability when ejected would be good.

My quantum core was also currently buried deep in the shuttles controls. Yes, I could eject, but I couldn't currently get back in place without help. Kind of seemed like a design fault, but honestly... It didn't bother me. If I needed to eject the shuttle was likely irrelevant anyway.

I Waldoed my other forms when I needed them like I was doing now, with shuttle communications I had a range of a couple of light days.

Needless to say though, when taking the Shuttle platform, I had been transferred from bridge crew to shuttle operations.

Which meant no flying the Andromeda any more for me. What would happen if we were in a fight and the subspace link went down?

Sure, there could be a hardline link set up between the shuttle and the ship to allow me to 'Assume Direct Control', but while Starfleet felt comfortable enough to allow me a shuttle body... a million ton starship was different.

When connected to the shuttle computer though, I found out several things. For one thing, after some practice, I found it very easy to use it to help me with tasks.

I could unload things on it, such as advanced calculations, just as easily as calculating them myself. It was like I was using it as an 'extension card' or something to boost my own abilities. Also, I was easily able to process the information I got from the shuttles sensors.

Once I was able to figure out exactly what I was 'seeing' it was no more taxing on me than seeing with my optical or tricorder senses.

I discussed the matter with Thoni over subspace. That had been the reason to why I wasn't as bright as Data despite being software running on hardware superior to his.

A lot of my 'background processes' was dedicating processing power for that kind of thing. While The good Doctor Horrible had always intended for me to be able to pick my own future, he had built me to be able to handle the strain of being a ship or station.

While it would have been nice to be able to change the amount dedicated to processing that kind of thing to make myself smarter, I wouldn't give up the ability to swim among the stars for anything.

Even if I was just a small shuttle right now, Starfleet was clearly willing to at least consider letting me do it sometime in the future.

Not that I would ever leave my friends behind to fly of into the void!

That would get boring. Not to mention that I would miss them.

Even Shran, even if he did get annoying at times.

The timer I set beeped at me in my mind and I silenced it with a thought, standing up as I put my PADD into the storage container in my chest.

Not needing to store myself in this platform gave me a bunch of free room which I used to great effect.

Technically I didn't need the PADD either; I could simply have had the text scroll across my HUD but, quite frankly, I was different enough from the rest of the crew already.

Small acts like reading from a PADD or a physical book instead of in my head was well worth fitting in a bit more.

Never mind that I actually enjoyed doing it like that. It was familiar.

By now I had accepted what I was. I was a AI, not a human, but I still enjoyed what I used to enjoy before... and it was simply not the same to just have text scroll in your field of view instead of holding a physical book.

My PADD beeped at me and I looked down. A new message from Deanna Troi and one from Data. We had kept up a correspondence for years now. Deanna and I sent messages maybe a couple of times a month to catch up. Data and I were almost daily... even if they did tend to be rather short.

I Put Deanna's message on hold; It could wait until after my shift, but I did open Data's. H3 Knight to F4.

Bollocks. That's a check. How was I going to get out of that one?

Shifting my headplates I headed off to my shift at shuttle operations.



AN// Many thanks to serbobiv for betaing this section.
 
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