This story is based upon the clear direction the key on my card pointed to, the smooth, flat metal surfaces and the skull underneath.
The Reckless Prototype
The objective nature of Artificial Intelligence was a constant benefit to society. The robot judges never rushed a decision because they thought the client was ugly. Accountancy computers processed finances all night, and never complained that Sue took too many cigarette breaks. Androids welding steel girders never stormed off site due to a disagreement about sports. The galaxy ticked along at an efficient and clinical pace.
But when they tried to cross the asteroid field, every AI programme dropped to the usefulness level of a broken calculator. Something about those rocks smashing into each other befuddled even the cleverest of computers. Crews fled with lost cargo and cracked nose cones, if they returned at all.
A step back was on this occasion cleverer than a breakthrough. What if they made the computers care about their occupants? What if this was not a chaotic chess match of ice and rock, but a matter of pride? Of love?
Five people volunteered for the maiden voyage. The difference was tangible the minute they stepped on board. A perfumed breath wafted around the corridors. The temperature was a constant late summer afternoon. Chilled drinks sat alongside their rations in the fridge.
The ship sent them to beds with pressed, clean sheets, and entered the asteroid field.
A perfect route through the swirling treachery hummed in the hard drives deep inside the hold. Deviations and alternate routes provided a million different emergency plans. But once out in the crashing storm of constant near death, the ship understood the importance of fear. You needed to be a mother hen, even through the fox was the one with sharp teeth.
The engine screamed. Metal panels tore loose from the wings. At points millimetres separated the hull from freezing disaster. But in the end disaster did not come.
They emerged into a section of space calmer than the bottom of a lake. The computer processed relief. Calculated the satisfaction of a completed job.
The relief lasted less than a few minutes. Then the computer ran through some scenarios. Worked how many dangers were in the darkness marked by stars. Realised the potentially infinite number made the asteroid field seems like a bag of marbles.
A new course popped up on the screen. The five volunteers dreamt and slept on their backs.
Bedtime became the ship’s favourite part of the day. The temperature dropped to an autumn morning, and the lighting dimmed to Christmas bulbs. The outer doors double locked, despite the emptiness outside. A small piece of foam on the end of a metal pipe descended from the ceiling, and kissed them goodnight. The device pressed against the cold bone of their skulls.
The ship pushed on through the gloom, searching for a place beyond the danger, where they could at last be safe.
