Chapter 5
“There will be a moment of discomfort during the docking procedure,” said the stewardess, beaming at the Naizes . “Please remain seated and don’t be alarmed.” Kwait’s gaze followed the stewardess’s bum as she sashayed away.
“I think intelligence must be inversely proportional to the allure of a woman’s bum,” said Kwait absently.
“I certainly hope that’s not the case, father,” Streemly said reproachfully. Kwait reddened. “I didn’t mean ...” He was saved by his stomach trying to leave by his ears. By the look on Streemly’s face he was not alone in his discomfort.
“I ...” Streemly held her stomach. “think... I’m ... going ... Aaah ...” She sighed with relief. “Some fuzzy logic would help with the gravity switching there, I’m sure.”
“I think we’ve arrived,” Kwait said unnecessarily.
*
Kwait and Streemly boarded Marshia through a narrow passage, forcing them to walk in single file. A tingling in the base of the neck told them they were being subjected to a thorough scan. The passage opened into a gigantic chamber of indeterminate shape. Hundreds of purple-clad people worked and walked around hundreds of workstations. Only those who shared the floor with the Naizes also shared their orientation. Off the floor, there was no “up”. People moved and walked around walls and in mid-air at impossible angles.
Kwait and Streemly gawked around them. Streemly was the first to speak. “How come their change doesn’t fall out of their pockets?”
A warm, crystal clear woman’s voice spoke from inches behind their heads. EACH MEMBER’S RELATIVE MOTION VECTOR IS MAINTAINED BY AN INDIVIDUAL
GRAVITONIC PROJECTION.
They spun round to face the owner of this strangely intimate voice. WELCOME ABOARD DOCTORS NAIZE AND NAIZE.
They looked back down the deserted passage.
“May I concur with thatsentiment. ” This time a man’s voice sounded from behind them. They spun round again.
“I am West. I have been appointed by and therefore represent the Board of Governors on this expedition. I hope the transitory phase from the planet’s surface was correspondent to your expectations?” A well-built man of thirtyish stood before them, hand extended to Kwait. They shook hands. “It is a singular honour to meet the man and daughter team whose endeavours made this all possible,” saidWest , indicating the chamber.
“Thank you,” said Kwait. “I ... We have never seen our work ...” Kwait was lost for words.
“We knew all this was possible in theory,” Streemly helped her father. “But to actually see it put into practice ... Well. It’s just fantastic.”
“Yes,” West drawled. He looked faintly amused. “And by the puzzled expressions you had earlier, I think you must have been communicating with Marshia.”
“Marshia?”Streemly asked.“The ship?”
“Yes,” West drawled again. “That disembodied voice at the back of your head. That’s Marshia.”
Streemly looked around uncertainly. “Hello, Marshia,” she ventured. HELLO ONCE AGAIN DOCTOR NAIZE.
“Marshia speaks to us individually or collectively,” explained West, turning and drawing Kwait and Streemly along with his body language. He addressed Streemly, “I presume Marshia responded to you even though I could hear nothing, Doctor Naize?”
“Yes, she did. And please, call me Streemly.”
“And I’m Kwait.”
“I’m justWest I’m afraid.” West paused, frowning, trying to find the right phrases. “ Marshia’svoice seems to emanate from your right shoulder when speaking to you alone.Sort of conspiratorially, if you like. And from behind when others in the neighbourhood can hear too. Demonstrate please, Marshia.”
UNDERSTOOD.THIS IS A GROUP STATEMENT.
Both Kwait and Streemly nodded.
THIS IS AN INDIVIDUAL STATEMENT.
Kwait and Streemly smiled, nodded and aha’ed .
“I tell you this because you will be interacting with Marshia for just about everything you need. And now,” West clapped and rubbed his hands together, “a quick tour and then I’ll show you your quarters where you can freshen up for dinner this evening with Captain Phoenix. Agreed?”
Without waiting for a responseWest was off as if pricked by a pin. West reminded Streemly of one of those red-beaked birds you sometimes see at the sea shore. Its progress was a series of quick dashes punctuated by moments of stillness, study or frantic probing. Only in West’s case, his dashes were punctuated by bouts of vague arm waving with lots of “Well, you probably know more about this than me anyway.”
*
It turned out that the huge, busy chamber they had first entered was referred to imaginatively as A Deck. Everyone on A Deck was monitoring some part of Marshia. Marshia took care of her own electronics, but people were needed to monitor and maintain the vast amount of mechanics on board. Robots, though clever enough, having use of Marshia’s vast intelligence, were not sufficiently adept and so were mainly used for simple cleaning or labouring.
*
The first stop on the tour was the spherical Gravitonic induction chamber. Here, they quickly learned that all they had to do was step meaningfully in any direction and at any angle and Marshia would provide a highly localised gravitational field, or Gravitonic Projection, to keep them feeling upright. They could stand anywhere in the room and at any angle and still feel quite comfortable as if it was everything else that was the wrong way up. Kwait’s and Streemly’s first tentative steps up the wall were quickly superseded by a raucous game of 3D tag. This quickly degenerated into a mock gymnastics with, at one stage, Kwait balancing on his nose apparently supported by Streemly’s left earlobe. West tolerated the pair’s antics for a few minutes before drawling, “Ye-es,” and ushering them flushed and giggling out of the induction chamber. “On a more serious note,” West cut through their chuckling,
“that, umm, feature, is available everywhere except your sleeping quarters.” Kwait and Streemly looked suitably solemn. “Apparently, Marshia had trouble with some crew members beating themselves senseless during ‘flying’ dreams.”
He then mumbled, “Engineering please, Marshia.”
UNDERSTOOD.
The world moved.
To Kwait and Streemly it seemed as though the entire ship, its people and contents were manoeuvring as one to avoid them. While the three of them stayed perfectly still with respect to one another, walls, people, machines, everything seemed to move out of their way. They were,they soon realised, “flying” in perfect formation under Marshia’s careful guidance.
West looked at the Naizes with a twinkle in his eye. “I love this bit,” he said. After the induction chamber, the rest of the tour was pretty dull. They were shown the huge Gravitonic Projector capable of generating a gravitational field akin to a black hole just outside the ship’s hull. Marshia travelled through space by “falling” in the direction of the projected gravitational field. They visited the Scanner chamber where their new bristling Gravitonic Scanner was housed next to the much larger, conventional Beta scanner. A quick round of the recreation areas, bars, eateries and games chambers and West paused, consulting his analogue wrist watch.
He clapped and rubbed his hands together. “Well, I think that’s enough for now. I think you’ve got the hang of it.Dinner in one hour. I’ll see you then.” He mumbled something to Marshia and was flying off along the corridor.
Kwait and Streemly looked at one another.
“Try it,” said Kwait.
“Marshia?”Streemly said to the air. “Could you take us to our quarters?”
YES, DOCTOR NAIZE.
Streemly looked quizzically at her father.
Nothing happened.
“Take us to our quarters please, Marshia,” said Kwait.
UNDERSTOOD.
And they were off.
: Speculate