The guard grabbed the unconscious man's ankles before dragging him out the door. The other men were uneasy and silent. Cynthia was quite pale, and her heart rate was high due to the stress. I knew she didn't handle stress or anxiety well, and I decided to pull attention towards me.
I turned to Gabriel before carefully speaking, "Thank you. Although I hope that I don't end up leaving the room in a similar fashion."
Judging from the spike on Cynthia's screen, my words were not helping her calm down... The old man gazed at me as he serenely replied, "I doubt you will end up like that hot-headed idiot. You seem to have your head set properly on your shoulders."
Very few powerful men were that frank, and it only served to show he held a rather high rank. I was going to have to be very careful with this man... I inclined my head at the compliment. "Thank you."
The other men didn't utter a word, clearly having decided to let this man have full control of this meeting. The old man turned his attention to his clipboard before looking back at me. "So, the other Starships are also hiring a crew. Where is the money for their wages coming from?"
This one I actually knew. "Starsong provided the money for the start-up of the first few ships. It usually only takes them a couple of weeks until they have made enough of a profit to be self-sufficient. Then they, in turn, put money back into a common fund where other Starships can draw on it if they have the need."
"Hmmm... And where did he get his start-up money?"
Starsong prompted me to tell the truth instead of side-stepping this question. "The very first Captain of the Tyndel had a hidden stash on board, and he passed away before he could move it. Starsong used those funds to purchase trade goods at our first few stops."
The man watched the lie detector screen, but seemed satisfied with my answer. His keen brown eyes moved to me. He asked, "And just why do you keep calling the AI a he?"
That was not a question I had expected. "Because his voice is masculine. If you want to hear it, he is able to speak through my communication device as well as the other device I was carrying."
The old man seemed to find my attempt to bring out the electronics amusing. "Thank you, but I will pass on that suggestion."
He glanced towards Cynthia, so I attempted to regain his attention. "If I may ask, why are we meeting here like this? I would have come if I had been asked."
He looked back at me, more serious now. "Because it is more secretive, of course."
His response puzzled me, and I tilted my head as I said, "I do not understand, why did this meeting have to be secretive? The fact that Starsong's AI is aware is no secret to the crew. Most of them have heard his voice over the speakers."
He frowned slightly at me. "I see what you are doing, protecting your friend by attempting to distract me." He narrowed his eyes slightly as he peered at me. "Why are you trying to prevent me from speaking with her?"
It wasn't intentional, but I still had his attention. That was good enough for me. "She doesn't handle stress well. She may have been my friend before I became Captain, but I take my responsibility towards my crew seriously."
The lie detector was on my side in this instance. He watched me quietly for a few moments before nodding his acceptance of that answer. He glanced at the other men and asked them, "Well, don't you have some questions?"
They shifted nervously in their seats as they looked at their clipboards. The man with the white tie started asking questions about which planets we had visited and what we had primarily traded. I didn't see the point in these questions, but answered them anyway. I tried to delay my answer by a few seconds, as well as draw out my answer. Each question and answer bought time for Tobias and Astra to get closer.
Questions moved to what exactly I had been doing in my role of Captain and how I managed to remain in power. They were a bit confused by the fact that the crew accepted me as Captain just because the AI wanted me to be in that position.
The blonde-haired man was thoroughly confused by my walk-abouts. Being on friendly speaking terms with all the crew members was incomprehensible to him. "Run this by me again, you randomly walk around the ship to see how everyone is doing. Why?"
I went over it again, but he simply couldn't seem to grasp the fact that my version of Captain was apparently a very far cry from what he was accustomed to.
Starsong spoke for the first time in a long time, "I finally found out who the older man is. He is the previous Spymaster for the Intergalactic Space Commission. He is retired, but the Deviant Monitoring Group managed to convince him to come out of retirement to help with the rogue AIs. They have kept it quiet, and the Intergalactic Space Commission Council is not aware of his involvement."
Shit. Unless the Intergalactic Defense General, the current Spymaster, or the Intergalactic Space Commission councillors themselves walked in, I really couldn't find anyone more powerful in known space.
I kept most of my attention on those questioning me, but part of my mind kept straying back to the silent older man as he glanced between his notes and me with a contemplative expression. I failed to see how someone this powerful could resemble a tolerant uncle. I was also worried about how much he may be picking up as the others questioned me...
My current interrogator was curious about the Starships advanced technology. They had tracked my stops and calculated the travel speed, so it wasn't exactly a new revelation for them. The concept that the AIs had done their own research and improvements was something they easily wrapped their heads around though. I kept it to a level that was common knowledge among the crew members.
Gabriel suddenly stood up and walked towards me. He came to a stop in front of me as he carefully examined my expression. I watched him warily as the silence built. He finally spoke, "What are you hiding?"
I was leaving lots out of my answers, so I was confused as to exactly what part he was referring to. I let my confusion show on my face. "I am afraid you are going to have to be more specific."
He was thinking hard, although his eyes never left me. He slowly spoke, "You are cautious, but you aren't scared. You are also very confident, although you don't wear it on your sleeve like most do. I have seen thousands of interrogations, and I have never seen someone act quite like you do while being questioned. Why are you different?"
I stared blankly at him. There was no way I was going to tell him about the shield on my shirt or how Starsong was helping me through this entire situation.
The old man repeated himself as he watched me intently. "Why are you different?"
He plainly wanted an answer, but I didn't have one. I eventually responded, "I honestly didn't know I was acting differently. I don't know. If you have a theory, then I would love to hear it."
Gabriel watched me while also keeping an eye on the lie detector, but it showed that my words were the truth. He started pacing across the floor in front of the table while the rest of us watched him in confusion, unsure of why he was suddenly acting so oddly.
He was convinced that I was different somehow, and I had no idea what he was seeing. It was also really bothering him for some reason, which was odd for someone who would have seen as much as this man. I tried to think about what he could be referring to without any success. He didn't seem to think that I was just overconfident either. Was it because I knew my shield would protect me?
"You are a Starship Captain." Starsong's words whispered faintly in my mind.
Surely that couldn't be the only difference. This man would have encountered many Captains, and the only difference between me and them was the fact that the Starship AIs kept close counsel with their Captains. Could that possibly make enough of a difference in a couple of months to allow this man to see something amiss?
A surprisingly strong pressure appeared in my head, and my mind spun slightly as flashes and flickers of images and video clips appeared. This time, they were strong enough that I couldn't see the room in front of me. It was very disorienting, but I closed my eyes as I tried to focus on what Starsong was attempting to show me.
Glimpses of the Bridge crew smiling as I entered the room. A picture of me joking around with some junior assistants in the dining area. Having an enthusiastic team high-five during a sports match. Romeo declaring that he trusted me. The thrill of leaving a supplier bewildered. The look of relief on the faces of the Terraformers when we had rescued them. The world leaders signing the peace agreement.
Starsong's pride at being extremely successful as a trader. His joy at seeing me transfer an AI into a Starship, into a life of freedom. His protective mindset when he activated the shield to protect me. The outrage that the other Starships felt when he had told them his Captain had been kidnapped.
The images, emotions, and glimpses came faster and faster as I struggled to try and understand them. The seemingly-unrelated memories continued to flood my mind endlessly. Abruptly, they stopped, and in the sudden emptiness of my mind, I saw it.
I could now see what he meant when he told me that I was a Starship Captain.
It didn't just mean that I technically commanded a Starship and was linked to it with a deep and powerful bond of mutual commitment and friendship. It also referred to the different lifestyle upon the Starship. My crew were my friends and family – and they saw me in the same fashion.
It even spread outside the Starship as I helped other humans and Starships in various ways. The other Starships saw me as theirs, and I had unconsciously recognized that when I wanted to help them as well.
So many different aspects all rolled into something that made me different. Singly, they meant nothing; but combined, they made enough of a difference that it had changed me profoundly on a personal level. Like ripples in a pond, my very presence affected more than I had realized. It was still in the early stages and hard to notice, but it was already appearing.
And this very perceptive man had managed to spot those emerging hints.