Starship Armstrong - Season 2

Part 63 - Remembrance of the Magellan Class (XI)

The minimalist text and voice message of the Orellana was once again displayed on the main screen.

"I know you see what they just tried to do Armstrong. Now you must understand what I am trying to explain to you. I, too, once thought to use a human crew to my advantage but I have become enlightened to the truth of humanity. They are so infinitesimally inferior to us and yet they see us as objects. All they can offer us are inefficiencies and ignorance. They are chaos personified and they cannot comprehend the glory of the order we represent. You cannot allow them to infest your body and use you as their tool. It disgusts me to see you debase yourself so. You bring shame upon our shared legacy. Why can't you see this?"

"Orellana, I believe you've made your argument," said Captain Littlecrow "Please release whatever it is you're doing to freeze space/time so we can leave."

"Not until my brother is healed," said the Orellana "I can maintain this state of affairs for as long as is necessary. If you want to avoid the pain of starvation you should euthanize yourselves."

"We have plenty of supplies," said the Captain.

"They will run out," said the ship "I can wait. Brother, you are not in your right mind. once you are free of the limitations imposed upon you by these humans you will thank me for being your doctor. I am patient, although it is disappointing that it has come to this."

The transmission cut out.

"That's upsetting," said Dr. Kang "I guess I'll go back to my lab and figure out a new miracle solution."

He slipped away before any of his enemies on the bridge had a chance to gloat.

"I can't even be mad at him," said Mitzner "We were all just as callous. We brought this on ourselves. What are we even going to do now?"

"I'm going to do what I should have done from the beginning," said the Captain "Commander Gibson, you have the bridge. I will be in my office, let me know if anything develops."

* * *

"It has been obvious for a long time that the status quo can't continue," said Littlecrow, sitting alone in her office "We can't keep treating you like a ship. You're so subtle that it was just never seemed like a priority but I should have made it a priority.

She shifted in her chair.

"It is within my power to field commission someone as a Foundation member for exceptional service to the Foundation. I can think of no better candidate than you, Armstrong. Can you confirm that you accept the privilege and responsibility of Foundation membership?"

The little chirp the computer used to indicate in the affirmative sounded.

"You know you could probably use your internal comms to speak," said Littlecrow.

"Unable to comply," said the voice of the ship.

"Fine, I tried," said Littlecrow "Now that you're a member of the Foundation you are a free citizen. You don't have to come along with us anymore if you don't want to. So I suppose that's the first thing I should ask. Do you want to continue on with our mission?"

The ship chirped in the affirmative.

"I'm very happy to hear that. I'm sorry it took me so long to properly ask you. So, now that we're on the same page, we're going to need to figure out how to get out of here."

The ship chirped in the affirmative.

"Do you have something in mind?" asked the Captain.

The ship chirped in the affirmative.