A bad dream? Or pain?
Khoth brought up his exo-suit’s scanner to check Jace’s vitals. The suit had access to a database of all Alliance species biology, including human ones. But before his suit could even complete the scan, a holographic screen--similar to what he saw in the Exarch--appeared floating above the pool.
He watched the flowing lines that likely indicated heart rate, breathing and brain waves. The lines were green and looked regular. But he was no expert on humanity. So he wasn’t sure if these were good or bad and was about to search the database when the holographic screen updated. In Thaf’ell. in fact, in the dialect he was familiar with.
The information on the screen told him that Jace’s condition was good. There were also links to various dissertations on human biology, also in the Thaf’ell language. There was also grayed out information on the Pilot with a capital “P”. That information, apparently, was locked from him.
Khoth frowned as he asked, “Gehenna?”
He glanced from his suit’s holographic interface where Gehenna had communicated with him before to the screen over the pool. There was no greeting from the AI on either device. He turned to look at the “squid”. A tube--not filled with liquid though--was plugged into the clear glass “skull”. There were no lights inside the skull and it appeared quite dead. He hoped that Gehenna was sleeping and recovering in the same way that Jace was.
“Gehenna?” he found himself calling again.
The screen’s initial appearance, not to mention it changing to reflect what he wanted to know without him directing such actions, felt very much like that moment in the Exarch when it had shown him Haseon.
It did not show me. It was a glitch of some kind.
Was this a glitch? Or some kind of coincidence? Perhaps he had just stepped in the right place for the tank to appear. Perhaps the ship had simply aligned with the language in his suit. These were all far more likely things than… what?
Gehenna thought she was conned, that the Osiris, itself, had used her to get to Jace. Is the Osiris another AI too?
He stepped back towards the doors to the Core, watching the holographic screen to see if it so much as flickered. Nothing happened. It remained there. Static.
“Turn the screen 45 degrees,” Khoth said out loud.
The screen moved so that it snapped towards him.
“Interesting.” His eyebrows lifted.
The Exarch had a voice function though it never seemed to work well. But perhaps the Osiris’ system was better suited to oral commands.
“What is the remaining time that Jace will remain in the tank?” Khoth asked.
Immediately, a timer appeared on the bottom right corner of the screen. It was counting down from 10:21… 10:20… 10:19…
Khoth felt a wave of relief and happiness that Jace would be released from the tank, hopefully recovered. A quick once-over again of Jace’s form showed him that the young man had gained considerable muscle. His sex organs appeared the same. Considering he found them quite perfect, there was no need for them to change. Flushing hotly, he wondered if his observations were not unseen. It certainly appeared that someone or something was observing him.
“Osiris?” Khoth asked.
There was no answer, as there had been no answer when he’d called for Gehenna. Yet that might not mean the Osiris was the one watching him. While Gehenna had been clear that the Osiris was not like her, it was clearly independent in some tasks. So perhaps it did not speak or communicate in the way he anticipated. Perhaps it was waiting for him to ask it something and did not simply respond to its name.
Or perhaps it is simply ignoring me.
“Osiris, I wish to ask you about your makers,” Khoth stated, hands crossed at the wrists behind his back.
No response again. But was there the smallest flicker in the lights?
“Osiris, did the Altaeth create you?” Khoth asked.
He waited. Nothing. Not even that flicker of light.
“Osiris, what is your purpose?”
Nothing.
“Osiris, why did you choose Jace as your Pilot?”
Despite it seeming that he was speaking to himself, he still had the distinct impression that he was being listened to. He licked his lips as the sensation was unnerving. He found himself looking over his shoulder, expecting to see something behind him. But there was nothing there. Just the Core chamber.
