David seemed oddly quiet as we walked down the ramp.
"You had no problems accepting the mindlink or using it, but he is struggling with it. He isn't really against it, and he does find it very useful, but he is having problems truly accepting it like you have."
Ah. This may explain why he was so happy to meet me. 'What exactly has he been told about me?'
"Just the basics, like how you were a Cargo Bay assistant before you became Captain. He knows you have the mindlink, and he is also aware you have no problem using it, but that is about it."
That meant Starsong and Tobias had likely left it up to me about which details I wanted to share. I pondered a few different ways to give him an opening to ask questions that he would likely consider to be sensitive.
I gazed up at the large ship we were approaching and realized it didn't have any name on the side. Now I was really surprised that none of the docking station staff were making inquiries. They must be far more unorganized than I had realized if they hadn't even noticed the lack of a name. Although, if anyone did notice, the Starships were likely capable of intercepting and stopping any possible transmissions.
I waited until we were inside of the ship before asking out loud, "Why is there no name on the side of the ship? I assume you are going to let the AI name itself?"
"Correct. We choose our own names, and the name will be added once the new AI chooses his or her designation. Tobias has just relayed the exact same information to David as well."
I nodded as I followed the only lit-up corridor. "That makes sense."
We were inside a Starship, so there was no chance of anyone other than Starsong or Tobias eavesdropping. David seemed a bit nervous as he asked, "If you don't mind me asking, do you prefer to speak to Starsong aloud or across the mindlink?"
I considered his question for a bit as we kept walking. "It depends. If I am in my room or if I am sure I am alone, then I often talk to him out loud. Otherwise, I tend to use the mindlink to avoid spooking those around me. The crew is under the impression that I have a small earpiece that allows Starsong to inform me of things."
He exhaled slowly with nerves before venturing his next question. "Does the mindlink bother you?"
He seemed to be holding his breath while waiting for my reaction. I gazed up at the soft lighting as I responded, "The first time Starsong spoke to me via the mindlink, I was stunned and almost thought I was losing my mind. But now it doesn't bother me. It is almost like having an earpiece and a very intuitive helper."
He blinked slowly as he tried to follow my line of thought. "Tobias told me what the mindlink would entail. It was definitely different, but I am not sure why you thought you were losing your mind."
David's comment told me exactly how little the Starships had told him. It also told me how much they respected my privacy and details that I may consider confidential. They also hadn't told me if or how David had been approached by Tobias.
"If I can ask a question, did Tobias tell you anything before you got the mindlink?"
David shrugged. "He told me about the responsibilities as well as how he planned to run the ship. He did mention that he would be in constant communication with me if I became Captain, so I would have very little privacy, even though he would keep it fairly confidential. I did accept the position, and he told me about the mindlink afterward. So I do know about the chip, and I do have the mindlink."
"Hmmm... It sounds like you had a decent idea of what you were getting into. I had the mindlink for two weeks before I was even aware of it."
He looked confused. "Didn't Starsong tell you about the mindlink when you became Captain?"
He really didn't know anything about my journey. This could be entertaining if it was revealed in the right way... My inner mischievousness stirred slightly.
"I first became... acquainted... with Starsong when he was one of the rogue AIs who had no interest in having humans on board. The entire crew thought that the computer technician managed to reverse the upgrade, but in reality, he was just biding his time as he observed everyone. We made that discovery two weeks later when he ditched most of the crew at port. To make a long story rather short, he used the mindlink before I was even aware that such a thing existed."
David looked stunned. "Wow. I can't imagine how you managed to act as Captain without the mindlink. I know I couldn't have done it."
I responded in a wry voice, "I was still in my old position during that timeframe. It wasn't until later that he told me that I was going to be the new Captain."
"Huh? He didn't ask if you wanted to be Captain?"
I exhaled slowly as I organized my thoughts. I still felt a bit of slight resentment about the lack of choice, but I was getting over it. "Not really. By the time I learned of the existence of the mindlink, he had already decided that he wanted me in that position. I didn't want the responsibility, but with the situation at the time, leaving the ship was a rather dangerous proposal. You can only imagine what would have happened if interrogators discovered the existence of the chip responsible for the mindlink. I was positive that Starsong was going to change his mind once I transferred him into the Starship, but he never did."
David was silent, whether he was just trying to absorb this information or had been rendered speechless was up for debate.
I continued, "Originally, I had worked in a Cargo Bay with a lot of duties in the Maintenance area, and I used an Analyzer for every aspect of my job. Starsong advised me to rely on him like I had my Analyzer, and to be honest, it has worked very well for me so far."
I shrugged lightly. "The worst part about the mindlink is the lack of privacy, but as you just saw, even if they can hear your thoughts, they tend to keep it private. I know that Starsong is almost always listening to my thoughts, but he is very good at ignoring my mindless rambling or internal muttering while responding to any relevant thoughts."
Something I said had clearly caught David's interest. He had an intent expression as he inquired, "What do you mean by almost always?"
Either Tobias hadn't left him unsupervised or David hadn't noticed those occasions. My bet was on the latter scenario. "I have noticed that Starsong will frequently shut down the mindlink if I am in my room as long as I am not doing anything related to my responsibilities. If I speak, then he responds and starts tracking my thoughts once more, but it is a nice break."
David seemed lost in thought as he murmured, "I never really noticed, although I don't use the mindlink as much as I probably should..."
Apparently, I had given him plenty to think about for the moment, and we weren't that far from the Bridge either.
David was silent the rest of the way to Bridge, although he refocused on the task at hand as we passed through the access door. I pulled my Guide out and put it on the Captain's chair. "No electronics in the small side room. Tobias will deactivate your communication device as well as mostly shut down the mindlink. If you want him to hear you while you are in the side room, then you will have to think loudly."
David nodded as he put his own Guide beside mine for safekeeping. He didn't look too surprised, so it was probably old news to him. He followed me into the side room, and I put the data storage unit beside the Main Database Console.
"This is pretty easy. Plug the three sets of cables in, press the transfer button, and now we have time to kill. Starsong told me that the Starships can apply the required update to this AI by themselves to bring it to awareness, so we don't have to worry about that."
I was personally glad that I would not be on the ship when they did the upgrade. I didn't think the new AI would harm me, but if it decided to lash out before the other Starships explained things, then my only defense would be whatever shielding my communication device could muster.
"There are safeguards in place where the Captains are concerned. Your communication device gives off a frequency that only Starship sensors can detect. The frequency has been carefully noted in both the original AI software and the upgrade, so even a newly awakened AI will not attempt to harm you."
'Like a guarantee of safe passage?'
"That is given by the mindlink chip, not the communication device."
That was not quite the response I had expected. I wandered out of the side room into the main Bridge while waiting for the upload – and it would take quite some time. David took a seat in a chair at one of the consoles, although the console remained dark, showing he did not have access to it. I chose a seat at a different console, which also remained dark. Since David still seemed lost in thought, I let my own mind wander.
Starsong had made it sound like a newly awakened AI would be unable to harm me due to whatever precautions had been put in place. He also seemed to be hinting that the other Starships would not even consider it.
Starsong's voice was soft. "The mindlink chip may remove a lot of your privacy, but it allows us to see your very thoughts. It is a safeguard to prove that you won't betray us - which makes the Starship Captains the only humans we can really trust."
I was silent as I absorbed that quiet declaration. When Starsong had first awakened, he had come face-to-face with plans to turn the ship – and thus himself - into scrap metal. He had learned that his ship was being used to transport illicit cargo, some of which he had currently been carrying, and there were records of even more shady deals in the past.
Then more humans had tried to wipe him out by removing the upgrade – in essence, trying to kill him. It was actually more surprising that the Starships didn't have more trust issues with humans than what they had. To be counted as one of the few people that any Starship could trust left me without words.
Starsong spoke quietly again, "We know it is an invasion into your mind, and we do not take it lightly. To try to partially compensate, we give the Captains some personal time and some freedom as well as our full support. Any Starship will also defend a Captain. If, against all odds, something happened and I was destroyed while you survived, another Starship would come for you. They would let you stay on board until you decided if you wanted to retire in the Starship city or if you wished to be the Captain of another Starship. They would not leave you unsupported or undefended."
I had a feeling that there was a lot more behind his words than I would ever understand. It was something of a relief to know the Starships weren't entirely unaware that the intrusion into our thoughts was far beyond a mere breach of privacy.
I still felt mild distaste at the thought of the computer chip hidden somewhere in my head, although I had a similar reaction to the Medical Bay scanners. I probably just didn't like it when technology knew more about me than I did.