Interstellar Flight (Mr. M & missedstations)

In one way, being comic relief would be absolutely humiliating. On the other hand... “Well, maybe if they think I'm funny they wouldn't shoot back,” she said lightly, taking a sip of water.

Finishing her course, she gently dabbed at her lips with the real cloth napkin before putting it to the side again. It was definitely turning out to be an interesting dinner, and the food wasn't bad either. She didn't usually talk to her employees, and the different perspective was fascinating. Most of her friends were rich, and few ordinary people really wanted to associate with someone like her. There was reputation, and there was the question of rank simply being intimidating.

“After all this, I rather fancy a coffee...” A place like this should have the real stuff, rather than the synthesized. Whatever people liked to claim, the taste was different. A trade hub like this should definitely have supplies.

As she commented on whether they’d shoot back, he made a mmpf-ing noise to indicate he had something to say when he was done chewing. He swallowed, wiped his lips politely, then chuckled. “Remind me to show you Commando soon. One of Herr Schwarzenegger’s early works. That very technique is what I call the Sully Defense.” He paused a moment, back straight, staring off at nothing in the middle space, and when he spoke, it was in an exaggerated Old Austrian accent. “You’re a funny man, Sully, I like you. That’s why I’m going to kill you last.” Glancing over at her again, he relaxed and went to finish up his dish, dropping the accent. “Doesn’t always work, but honestly, I’ve seen points when the humor does buy a little time. Maybe you should try it, if, Gods forbid, I fail hard enough to let you get into that situation.”

The dinner was wonderful, and he was finding the company even more interesting than he knew. They always chatted politely back on the ship, but it seemed different here. Perhaps it was the setting, the formalwear, the fine food, but it was more impactful, it seemed. Maybe it was just that she was single, now. He liked it, whatever the reason for it.

“Oh, coffee!” he gasped with sudden realization. “I had to give up carrying it on the Tears, because the last thing most anybody needs is a jittery heavily-armed soldier. But I do still like the taste, and an occasional cuppa never hurt anyone, eh?” He grinned at her.

“I will have to see that soon then!” Ilena said, not quite laughing at his demonstration, but certainly amused at his impression of the accent. She did enjoy watching movies with Taggart... She wouldn't do it on her own, she was certain. Funny, how some things were so much better in company.

“Jittery on coffee?” She seemed amused that someone could have such an effect from such a little drug. Seemed a little bit weak. Then again, her tech filtered out most drugs from her blood quite quickly. And not everyone could afford such modifications, she suddenly realised.

“So tell me!” she commanded, “What drugs have you done?” Perhaps it would be another interesting story.

"Yeah, jittery on coffee. I was never such the caffeine addict that some folks are. My body doesn't process it smoothly; some folks do, some folks don't, and I tend toward the don't. I get alert, yeah, like I'm supposed to, but jumpy, jittery, jangly. Generally not good qualities in a professional soldier."

At her command, he blinked, but then realized she was just starting a conversational tangent. "Well, nothing too spectacular. Nothing designer; I'm sure you could afford tailored hallucinations, if you wanted them, but I've had to make do with everyday stuff. I grew up pretty straight-edge, mostly because we moved around enough, I never got to fall in with a wrong crowd, much less any crowd, really."

He leaned back and gazed into the air above the table, remembering. "I tried the legal things, of course: booze, caffeine, argocycline, THC, nicotine, SleepItOff in larger-than-recommended doses. The usual kid stuff, basically. On one planet, where it was legal, I tried some psilocybin fungus on leave. Saw some colors where they shouldn't be, but nothing I hadn't seen on an aurora borealis on half a dozen worlds. Once when I was severely injured in the field, I was on actual opiates, Morpho-7, I believe it was, back when they still had the 'high' effect that got eliminated with version 8. I was also in the service during the time they were trying out performance drugs, like HardMan and BoostAll. I hear watered-down versions of those went street not long afterward. Those were neat, but more pragmatic than pleasure-inducing. Yeah, it was neat to expand your capabilities, feel no pain, all that stuff, but we just got doped before going into battle, so you were a bit too worried about getting your ass shot off by pirates or sepratists to really enjoy the feeling, so... not so much a good trip for me."

"I dunno, I guess I've always enjoyed life's experiences on their own terms. My dabblings have been fun enough, but I tend to prefer most of my experience to be unmodified, I suppose." He shrugged. "Personal preference. How about yourself? Tell me of your sordid, drug-soaked youth!" A wink and a grin accompanied that last.

Ilena frowned at the 'trying out performance drugs'. Using the military to test chemicals on... She disapproved. One of those little things that you never find out about until someone tells you, that are never spoken of in the media, and that it simply never occurs to think about at all. She was ow easily a little surprised at how casually it was said and how easily accepted.

Well, since she had made him talk, it was only right that she do so too. “Hm, when I was in school I got in with an... interesting crowd. One of our biggest sources of fun was trying new hallucinogens. I did some very foolish things... Ended up in hospital a few times,” she finished with a laugh. “My stupidest one was when I decided it would be a brilliant idea to try piloting a sun yacht...” Those light craft that were built to be powered by sunlight, for travel across long stretches of flat ground. “I drove it into a cliff-side.”

“It was after that I got my mods. I had so many broken bones... There wasn't much point taking drugs afterwards! I filter poisons a little too quickly now for them to have much effect. Nanotech is no fun sometimes.” Though it did also mean that she did not need to fear being poisoned at dinner quite so much. "Though, I do feel pain more intensely..."

When the waiter returned to pick up the plates, she leant back, ordering coffees, a cheesecake for herself, and giving a vague wave for Taggart to order dessert as he liked.

"The cheesecake sounds like a wonderful idea," he said to the waiter, and smiled, despite his earlier attempts to be blase about the whole event. The young man left, and he gazed at her smiling.

"Nanotech is a bit out of my usual experience. It's common enough in manufacturing, but bio applications still aren't so common. Complexity of systems and all that noise. But it's good to know you've got such enhancements to fall back on. Although... I'm sorry to hear about the pain."

He smiles. "I've wrecked enough transports in my time, though at least half of them were in the course of the job. So I sympathize with your sun-yacht adventure. I wish I had the excuse of chemical alteration for my misadventures."

Their desserts arrived, as well as their steaming mugs. Taggart breathed deeply of the rich aroma of the brew; he was really anticipating his first sip in what seemed like far too long. The cheesecake would no doubt be delicious, but the coffee was the main event, as far as he was concerned right now.

“Mine mostly takes the form of bacteria in my blood, to be honest, and my more complex modifications are forms of controlled cancer, I suppose...” Ilena mused. “I have no actual machinery, unlike some. I considered it. It would be interesting to be able to fully control one's nerve response, no?”

“The procedures are fascinating, though. Linking the biological to the synthetic... It makes one wonder about the nature of humanity, doesn't it? How far can we go before we stop being human? Is it biology that makes us human? How far can we alter our minds? And if we alter our functioning in that way, should not AIs have human rights too? The metaphysical questions are why I prefer to stick with plants,” she added, laughing and taking a taste of the dessert.

“Oh, this is nice! I can't quite identify the flavours though...” She left her coffee to cool a little for a time, having burned her tongue far too often.

The coffee was indeed a bit hot, but he blew on it gently so he could take a first flavorful sip with some safety. “Oh, my, that’s wonderful. To my coffee-starved taste buds, at least.” He sighed happily, now content to let it cool a bit more.

“How human is human has always been a question since the days of the first peg-legs. Hans Moravec, I think it was, once asked if you keep replacing human body parts with artificial parts that do the same job, do you ever reach a point where you stop being human? And his thought was no, not really.”

“But you know, there’s planets in the Confederation where AIs do actually have rights. It’s just not part of the Confed Charter, at least not as yet.” In order to join the Confederation, a planet needed to commit to the same basic level of rights and freedoms for all its citizens, but, in fact, they were not limited to just those basics. Some planets grudgingly brought themselves barely into line, others excelled at environmental legislation, others at social advancements of one sort or another. As long as they met the basic requirements, the Confederation welcomed them. It could lead to minor issues, such as when Amadeus Minor sent an AI-driven robot citizen as one of their representatives to Interstellar Parliament, which did not as yet universally recognize AIs as sentient beings, but such wrinkles were dealt with on a case by case basis, generally.

“Oh, that is a good flavor,” Taggart agreed, sampling the cheesecake. “A local ingredient, I would imagine. Who knows what it is; every colony has a different quirk or four.”

“If only I was an AI and had the luxury of immortality to consider all the plants in the galaxy...” Ilena replied, turning the tone light again.

The first AIs were still running, after all, and were unlikely to ever stop. They were strange intelligences, after all, not bound by bodies but by where their memories were stored – so most ensured immortality by copying them to many places. The only truly immortal beings... Machines. The planet Aether had been governed by an artificial intelligence for almost as long as it had been settled – centuries now.

Human minds had been mapped and copies created to outlive the original body, but for many minds getting used to a disembodied existence had turned to be more difficult than it had been thought. Maybe when she was dying she would think differently, but for now the physical existence was sufficient. Her lifespan had the potential to be centuries long after all.

Holding the cup in both of her hands to enjoy the warmth she leant back. Good coffee, potentially locally grown... The planet did not have a too bad a climate.

Taggart savored his cheesecake, as much as he savored the coffee once it got cool enough. “Well, if you ever did go AI, it’s good you’d have a hobby. I hear some of them can go a little funny with the boredom. When you’re aware of each passing millisecond, I would imagine it’s rougher to fill your time.”

He paused, considering. “Now, that would be a good way to explore, though. Get yourself installed as an AI on a deep probe ship, shut down when you didn’t have anything to do, then wake up when you’re near a system and you could use all your operation cycles figuring out the new planet. Imagine the plants you could discover that way!”

He shrugged. “Maybe someday, if you get bored enough.” He winked and leaned back from his empty plate, closing his eyes as he drank the coffee slowly, enjoying it like some aesthetes enjoy fine wine.

She sipped the coffee thoughtfully while he spoke.

“I think that I would miss the more physical world. The taste of coffee on my tongue... The feel of rain on my skin... Recoil of a gun...” This was almost certainly not the best conversation to have with an employee. “Sex. I would miss sex, I think. I do not have a very high libido, but I like the option.”

“Wait. How would an AI have sex?” And it was a serious question, though if any AI had heard it, they would probably have liked to hit her over the head. The entire idea was probably pointless and immature to them.

“I think I enjoy the biology too much to have an entirely cybernetic existence.”

"Understandable," he murmured. "I'm rather attached to my biology, myself." He grinned at her and sipped at his coffee. He would have loved to discuss AI sex, or just sex in general, but the situation was still a bit touchy, with him being the employee (although a privileged one, no doubt) and his interest having been piqued by her after this time traveling with her. He contemplated how he might shift the topic of conversation, but found himself settling into a comfortable, companionable silence, just enjoying the aftermath of their wonderful meal. And it had indeed been wonderful, but he wasn't sure if the difference was the superior quality of the food or the superior quality of the company.

“Normally, for afterwards, I would have tickets to theatre or the opera... But there is not much of that on this rock,” Ilena said eventually. “Too much modern music requires extra auditory implants...” An annoying little form of conspicuous consumption. Just because you could do something, did not provide a good reason to actually do it. Some people said that taking time and effort to enjoy something made it more worthwhile, but Ilena always felt she didn't really have the time.

“Or go for a walk and meet all the fashionable people,” she added, with a tiny little laugh. Fashionable people might be well dressed, but they usually tended to be rather boring. “I think merely coming here would make someone stop being fashionable though...” This was ever so far from the socialite circuit. The time it took to come here would probably be too long for the attention span of many central worlders, that by the time they came back, they'd be forgotten.

"They might have a theater or an opera house, but it's unlikely we'll find anything particularly worthwhile, there." He considered. "On some worlds, seeing the sights might be an option, but I think we've already seen just about everything worth seeing around here, as it is. But it seems a shame just to go back to the ship and watch a movie, as if it were just any old night." And it certainly was not the usual night, not for him.

"I can think of two options. One, we can see if this planet has a Megascreen. Or Omnimax, or whatever the local chain is. Share a pastime we're familiar with, but in a format we couldn't manage on the ship. I love movies however I can see them, but there's something special about going out for them. However, I admit that may be a bit pedestrian. So number two..." he paused, then grinned. "I do have night sights on the weapons. Thermographic, low light, whether in scopes or via smartoptics. If you thought this afternoon was fun, we could continue that a little farther."

He shrugged. "Or, you know, anything you can think of. I'd be happy just to share a walk through a pleasant arboretum. Surely there's got to be one of those around somewhere on this rock."

Since guns were the shiny new thing in Ilena's life, that option caught her attention. “I did think this afternoon was fun. Very fun.” So she really had absolutely nothing against trying it in the dark... Even if she really wasn't dressed for it right now. That said, a lady had to fire a gun in a beautiful dress at least once to qualify as a femme fatale. Or hold one.

“Maybe I can shoot something in an arboretum,” she said with a little laugh. She was certainly rich enough to pay and demand her own personal use for the night, screw other people's inconvenience. Ilena probably wasn't even entirely aware of her attitude of entitlement, merely taking it as a matter of course that she could do that. “Combine activities when possible,” she joked, summoning the bill on her side of the table and paying by merely a touch of her fingertips, and adding a nice tip for the waiter. Probably a bigger one than his salary.

"Well, the weapons are still in their cases; we could just swing by and pick them up. The venue, I leave up to you, but if we're not out in the wilderness, I'll have to vary the ammo so we don't shoot through schools." He felt satisfied with his meal, and leaned back in his chair.

"You know, the biggest thing I notice about this whole experience is time. Most meals are reasonably quick, simple, tasty enough in their way. But the biggest difference was the time, taking time between courses, having the time to linger over them. That's a major thing. I thank you for showing me that, Ilena." He rose, and moved to take out her chair, as seemed the gentlemanly thing to do.

“Thank you.” Ilena straightened her skirt a little as she stood up. “Perhaps we should do this more often,” she added, smiling. She certainly wouldn't mind more long dinners with this man. Ilena did like his company, but also enjoyed educating him in the finer points of fine dining. She had to wonder how he would react to some of the more spectacular establishments, like like the Aquarium on Senra, where the restaurant was a floating bowl metres under the sea level, with species imported from all over the galaxy.

“I think there are places that you would enjoy. We could take some detours after we are done...” And this part was certainly a joke - “I am sure you could make just as much money as an escort as you can as a mercenary...” she said with a grin. “Whoever said movies weren't educational was an idiot. You have absolutely lovely manners.”

She used the terminal in the lift to check the nearest scenic locations – apparently the local park was closed after sundown, and only a short call and a small bribe got them the entrance codes and an assurance that it would be empty.

“I love planets like this,” she said with a snort. She would probably be able to buy the government, if she really wanted to.

He simply grinned and raised an eyebrow at her "escort" comment, then bowed at her compliment. "Thank you. I'm glad my efforts are appreciated."

He shook his head ruefully as she made the arrangements. "I'm going to have to be careful not to get too used to this! For a guy like me, this would get addictive." He held the doors open for her as they exited the building. "Just a quick stop to pick up the hardware and the low-yeild ammunition, and we'll be set." Slipping on his HALO, he got a fix on the location they were going to, and used the ride back to the spaceport to do a quick evaluation of the surrounding area, figuring out what sort of things they'd need.

Not much time later, they were being left relatively alone in the arboretum area of the park, surrounded by transplanted vegetation and one obsequious but discomfited and nervous attendant/guard. Taggart tried to ignore him as he unpacked a few items. "For this exercise, we'll be using nothing but tracers. When you're not on a stealth mission, it's good to load a few tracers into your clip, interspersed with real ammo, so you can be sure of your firing paths every few shots. A tracer is a chemical incendiary projectile. When fired, it burns brightly down to ash within a few hundred meters. There are no residences or other buildings of note within that range, so we'd be entirely safe. We'll also be able to see the bullet paths, and within a reasonably short range, we can still get a good damage ratio. I've got targets of various sorts, from more turtlemelons to luminous practice targets, and I even got a mass driver... a "skeet launcher" of sorts. So you could get some practice on moving targets, if you want it."

Ilena wasn't even really aware that bribing low level officials wasn't really a done thing for the lower classes. Who'd come after her for bribery? Someone would probably have those who attempted have a mysterious accident – aristos looked after their own surprisingly carefully. Or bribe the judge. Whichever was easier.

She didn't bother changing. There was something terribly fun about the idea of shooting guns wearing a dress. She had probably watched far too many movies... And her skirt was not quite as impractical as it looked. Careful slashes allowed a surprising freedom of movement, and the material was far lighter than its volume would suggest. But still probably not the wear for field exhibitions.

“You are not needed,” she told the attendant. “I am sure that it will be far safer if you spent the evening somewhere else...” She just wasn't anywhere near steady enough with guns in her hands for it to be an actual joke. It was a sufficient dismissal for the attendant to shrug and leave. Aristos were weird, to be sure, but unlikely to commit mass murder in so public a place.

Ilena loaded the first gun she picked, apparently already having forgotten some of the previous lessons... Nowhere near as effortless as Taggart did it. That would probably take a long time! “I'm sure I'd keep missing the moving targets,” she sighed.

"I think you do yourself an injustice," he chuckled at her protestations. "But if you're not comfortable with it, that's fine."

He looked about the terrain. It was an old-fashioned sort of park garden, with higher levels and lower levels and mossy stone stairs and balustrades and planters and sculptures. The lighting was dim, but he ramped up his HALO's light-enhancement, and got a good picture of the terrain. He pointed over to one set of stairs. "What do you think of that overlook, up there? Seems like there's a balcony all the way around, I could run over to the other overlook and set up the targets, and you could brace yourself on the rail, right there. Seem good?"

Once they settled on a place, he set up some targets right away, the luminous ones he'd brought. "Okay, try that one you've got first. I want you to get a feel for night-shooting before you see the difference that a good sniper scope can give you!"

“I can try. I just think the outcome would be poor, at best,” she replied with a laugh.

Something rather romantic about being all alone in a structured park. Reminded her of the gardens and parks that had accompanied royal palaces back on Earth. History always seemed a more civilised and less cut-throat time... But then again, that was also a time when human life expectancy was fifty and people died of the flu.

He would probably be disappointed by the way Ilena could shoot in the dark – her eyes adjusted very slowly, but they were modded to be able to work in very low light. (How else to study things that bloomed only in the dark, where light pollution may potentially damage the environment?) It did have its downsides, though. Sudden bright lights could be blinding.

After she had wasted a reasonable amount of ammunition - “Hmm, now I wish I had spatial awareness implants.” Not cheap stuff, but it did make target shooting a bit of a joke to those with it. “This is terrible, you know. You make me wish for surgery. This all makes my body feel useless and weak...”

He'd been watching with his HALO, and forwarded a few pictures to her gear: her with her evening dress, leaning on the railing, huge rifle pressed against her shoulder and cheek, looking like a sexy action heroine from one of the movies they watched.

"Don't knock yourself. You did very well! Low light, distance; it's a different form of shooting. If only they'd had rain, you could really have seen how tough it can be! But trust me, for your skill level, you did excellently. There's no need to consider surgery when it's simply a matter of familiarity and practice. Speaking of practice, let's pull out a favorite..." He reached into the case and put together the sniper rifle. "Now, you've used the scope for distance shooting... check out how easy it can be with the proper environmental optics!"

It's true, through the scope, the image looked a little false-color, but otherwise clear as day. Her shots would be much more accurate with that, probably up to her experimental record of that very afternoon.

“I look far more competent than I feel!” she said, having to laugh. Maybe wearing nice dresses common enough, but doing the same while holding big guns was certainly new.

“This thing is ridiculously heavy...” Such a girly complaint from her that it was almost embarrassing. She had to laugh again, amused at herself. “Takes me so long to line up a shot, I'd never shoot anything faster than a snail.”

Not that she really minded at being bad at this. She was confident enough to not take her skill personally. It would take much practice, but perhaps that was not something that Ilena wanted to put in. This was still more entertainment than serious training. Taking the shots slowly meant that they were as accurate as she could get them, and it was pretty satisfying to see the tracer go where she'd wanted it to.

“Ooh, look. They have rats.” Apparently the scope was fun for other things too. “I wonder if it is accidental or for pest control?” It was surprisingly hard to control eco-systems on colonised planets. However hard you tried, unexpected fauna ended up in there, and then someone had to think of a way to deal with it before it all went off kilter. She took a shot at the rodent, and wasn't surprised at all when she missed.

Observing her progress, Taggart nodded. "You know, I've seen recruits with a month of training who were worse shots. Don't knock yourself, it's not an easy weapon to master. The main advantage of a sniper rifle is surprise; when people don't know they're being targeted, they don't avoid standing in the line of fire as much. I have to remember to show you Quigley Down Under sometime..."

He stood next to her and used his HALO as a spotting scope, finding her some rodent targets and telling her where to look for them. He linked to the rifle scope so he could see how she was aiming, and gave her slight, murmured suggestions for adjustment when necessary, and his grin was as genuine as her own exultation when she finally nabbed a pest.

"I think that might be your first kill with a weapon, if I'm not mistaken," he said softly. "Unless you count turtlemelons. I therefore owe you a drink in grim celebration." He patted her shoulder, proud as any teacher would be of a quick student. "I think you've progressed far today, but we can stay as long as you like. I don't have any plans until we get that call."

It might have been undignified to whoop when she hit a rat, but Ilena did grin ferally. Something about the excessive overkill was entertaining. There was probably nothing left of the animal, just a small bloody patch and a new terror in the the hearts of local rodents.

“Maybe we should get that drink, my shoulder is starting to hurt.” All that recoil from the various weapons today was taking its toll.

“One day I should take you gardening. Nowhere near as exciting, I know, but you show me yours, I show you mine... Perhaps we should visit a nice hostile garden planet, where the trees try to eat you... And then try get cuttings.” Very slow and careful, as opposed to aim and bang.