Deep

Chapter 62 I need to know... I'm off to meet the wizard.

I sat and thought about what to do next. It would take Seki a while to arrange the meeting, so I delved into Tama Maru's ops. 

I've known Haberkorn for a long time, he knows his job. Su, I've not known for as long, however, she knows her stuff. Seki, I have known forever and her knowledge of ship operations is better than mine for sure. Yet, they were on opposite ends of the Alice argument. 

Why? They Can't all be right, can they? 

As I pondered the situation, I recalled a memory of my first commander. He said to me in his heavy Slav accent. 'Trust but verify. But trust first.' That was my first true lesson about command. 

If you trust people, it builds confidence in them and in you. Confident people work better. Sometimes the risk is too severe, and you need to confirm. The genuine test of a commander is to know when to trust and when to confirm.

This was a moment I needed to confirm. I trusted Haberkorn's experience and judgement, but the risks are too high. It is impractical for a commander to know all the details of ship operations; so I am probably wrong, however, I needed to reassure myself of the facts just to ease my mind. 

Ship ops was a massive folder and a daunting task to read through.

Are you sure you want to do this? I asked myself as I looked at a folder filled with thousands of documents. Yeah, let's do this. I scanned through the ops headings. I did not get far when Bob showed up.

[Hey, what ya doing?] he asked.

Eh? Oh, hey Bob. I'm going through ops to confirm something Haberkorn said.

[You doubt Haberkorn, why?]

His point of view is too disparate from what everybody else thinks, and I need to be sure.

[Oh, I see. What is this opinion that has you so concerned?]

He says that we don't need Alice to run the ship. So it would be unnecessary to have to end her to free up her core.

[But that's good news. Isn't it?] He asked, his voice hopeful.

Yes, it would mean I would not have to end Alice. At least In the short term.

[But you need to be sure?]

Unfortunately. It is a burden of leadership, Bob.

[Do you want some help?]

Sure. I said, uncertain of what Bob could do to help me.

[It makes little sense to look over your shoulder, so I'll set up a terminal here.]

Terminal? Bob pulled up a glowing multicoloured object from his pocket. He held it out in front of him. A moment later, it became fluid and transformed into a standing terminal. My mouth hit the floor.

Bob turned to me. [I'll need your permission to access the ship's network.]

What? A dialogue came up in my visual. -Virtual Machine @Bob is requesting permission to access the network. Allow? Yes. No.- Stupefied, I gave my permission without thinking. 

[Okay, what are you looking for?]

I had so many questions for him. But for now, I am just going with the flow.

Right. Conventional doctrine is that you lose the AI, you'll have to run the ship on manual control. Haberkorn is saying that is wrong and that the ship will continue to function normally unless something extraordinary happens. 

[Hmm. That's interesting, so you want to prove which principle is correct?]

Yes. However, consider that both could be true. I wanted to avoid us ending up with some kind of confirmation bias.

[Okay, will do.] He said and started working. I looked at him as he worked, and I smiled. He had changed much since the EMP incident. 

Seki called as I was about to dive into the Operations manual again.

'Yes XO?'

'I've spoken to Dr Wanner, and he is ready to have a meeting now.'

'That's good XO.'

'There is one catch, though.'

'Oh, what is it?'

'He insists we have the meeting in person, and with you only.'

'Oh, okay. Any idea why?'

'He would not say.' Her face showed some concern.

'Do you think he is some kind of security risk?'

'I dunno. I checked his credentials. They are impeccable and...' There was hesitation in her words, which prompted my next question.

'And what XO?'

'He has a COSMIC rating.' 

'Well, that's interesting,' I said. The COSMIC rating means he has a higher security clearance than I do.

'That's interesting, is all you have to say?' Seki asked with an arched eyebrow.

'Given all that has happened so far, XO, I'm not surprised by anything at this point.'

'Fair enough. So what do you want me to tell him?'

'I am under doctor's supervision, XO, so I'll have to get permission first,' I said. I gave her a crooked smile.

'Things would be a lot easier if you did not attempt to kill yourself,' she said, her voice dripping with dark humour.

'I agree XO. Let me talk to Cassandra, and I'll get back to you.'

'Understood.' She said, and disconnected.

Time to call my doctor.