Starship Armstrong - Season 2

Part 29 - Ignorance Is Bliss (III)

"You must have the wrong planet," said Galen.

"I can assure you that we do not," replied Dr. Kang.

"If my planet had been annihilated in nuclear fire I would have noticed by now," argued Galen.

"I'm not entirely convinced that you are a real person," said Dr. Kang "I am, however, convinced that we are currently in orbit of the planet the old imperial maps call Zethes."

"Pay no mind to Dr. Kang," said Captain Littlecrow "None of the rest of us do."

"At your own peril," sniffed Dr. Kang.

"I don't know what to tell you," said Galen "To the extent to which I can believe my own eyes I am confident that my planet is doing perfectly fine and I am a real person currently living on it. I can see my garden through the window from where I sit. Here," he moved the holoprojector to the side, so that a lush garden was now clearly visible through an open window "See all the flowers and sunshine? If we stop talking for a moment you'll hear the birds chirping."

"I propose we put it to the Turing Test," said Dr. Kang.

"That actually sounds like fun," said Galen "I would be only too happy to participate."

"We're going to put that on the back-burner for now," said the Captain "Once we trace the signal-"

"Oh," interjected McAfree "Were you waiting for me? I finished that a while ago but I was waiting for a break in the conversation to bring it up."

"Well?" asked the Captain, tersely.

"It's coming from the junk ring," said McAfree "So Doc's probably right and this guy's just a simulation."

"I beg to differ," said Galen.

"Professor Myron I am sufficiently convinced that you are a human being-" began Littlecrow.

"What a nice thing to say," said Galen.

"-Which means something very unusual is going on. We're going to perform some diagnostics on the ship but it would be helpful if you stayed in contact in the near term. Could you call us back in two standard hours?"

"I would be happy to," said Galen "Until then."

His image disappeared from the screen, replaced with the image of the dead world they had been investigating.

"Nothing that man said since initiating a conversation with us implied that he's a genuine human," said Dr. Kang "You have a personal relationship with him, don't you?"

"Dr. Kang," said Captain Littlecrow "The last person I would discuss any aspect of my personal life with, no matter how trivial, would be you. Lucky for me I'm not required to explain myself to you. All that you have to worry about is the fact that for the time being we're going to operate under the assumption that Professor Myron is exactly who he says he is."

"Very well," said Dr. Kang "As always I will save the day singlehandedly due to having one hand tied behind my back. Come along, McAfree, we're going to need to personally calibrate those probes if they're going to be able to track down the source of the signal in all that mess."

"Whatever you say, Doc," said McAfree, getting up from the chair. The second she had vacated the seat Marceaux reclaimed it.

"Everyone else: we're going to do as complete a diagnostic scrub of this ship as is possible away from a starbase. The first thing I want to be sure of is that the data we're receiving is correct. The simplest answer would seem to be we were mistaken as to the origin point of the signal."

"Aye, Captain," said Commander Gibson "I'll get in touch with the engineering team."

"We're going to get to the bottom of this,' the Captain said.

* * *

"We're run every test we can with the equipment we have and everything seems to be working within normal tolerances. The readings we've been getting from the planet would appear to be accurate," said Gibson.

"That's not reassuring," said the Captain "Bridge to the Science Department: How are you coming along with those probes?"

"I have located the likely source of the signal within the junk halo" came Dr. Kang's voice in reply "As soon as we get our next message I will be able to confirm this. If my count is accurate that should be in twelve standard minutes."

"What do you think is the source?" she asked.

"There is a large orbital structure that appears to be intact and fully powered nestled in with a pile of dead satellites. Looks like an imperial hack job. K-0.8 or .09. Some interesting looking hyperspacial heat sinks make me think there might be an advanced computer inside there. Like the kind one might use to simulate... different things."

Littlecrow could hear the smug grin in his voice. She didn't know if she could face Dr. Kang if Galen turned out to be a computer program.

"We should have a look at that, whatever it is, either way. Put together everything you'll need for an away mission to the orbital structure. You'll leave once Ga- Professor Myron calls and we know if it's the source of the signal."

"That certainly sounds more interesting than anything happening around here," replied Dr. Kang.

"Lieutenant-Commander Mitzner, you're babysitting Dr. Kang," said Littlecrow.

"Why am I always on psychopath duty?" asked Mitzner.

"You're just a people person, Lieutenant-Commander," said Gibson.