"Rommie?"
"Yes Beka?"
"Do you feel?"
"Of course I do, I am currently running 2 million 3 hundred 24 thousand-"
"Stop. I didn't mean sensors and you damn well know it!"
"You don't like my answer? I have been studying the speech patters of the crew, yours in particular. You often complain that I speak like a computer, and I assumed you wished for me to include some human nuances in my vocabulary."
"Rommie, you are a computer, why does it matter what you sound like to your crew?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"No, I don't. Of late I have found myself concerned more and more with the lives of my crew. In fact, I've noticed you and Tyre seem to be enjoying your selves…"
"ROMMIE! Put a privacy lock on my quarters, now! If you tell anyone, especially Harper… Wait a second, is Harper… He wouldn't dare…would he? He knows I'd castrate him if I ever caught him…"
"I assure you, Harper had nothing to do with it."
"So what in the hell were you doing spying on me?"
"Why do you assume I was spying on you, I could have been watching Tyre."
"Because you immediately denied it."
"Well maybe I…"
"And because you're a horrible liar."
"So I was looking at you, is there something wrong with that?"
"Not by my books, aside from the fact that you were created by Harper, are a flesh and blood computer, and think receiving sensor data constitutes feeling."
"I don't know if I'm being flattered or I should vacate the atmosphere in this level to teach you respect for your elders."
"My 'elders'? You hardly qualify; you're technically a few years old. Just because your mind has existed for a few centuries doesn't mean you are older than me, you certainly didn't experience anything on the edge of that black hole. Rommie, I propose an experiment. A scientific investigation."
"You are most obviously intoxicated. I don't know where you got alcohol, but you've somehow managed to imbibe more than the recommended amount."
"So I'm a bit drunk, it's a great feeling, you should try it some time. It's my furlough, give me a break, 'k? Now, for my grand experiment."
Beka, who by this point was standing directly behind her, reached out a single finger and slid it down the back of her neck, her touch breezing along Rommie's skin.
"So Rommie, did you feel that?"
"Of course I felt it, you exerted an average of 0.00031 g/m2, did you expect to fool me my using almost no force?"
"That's not what I asked, so I'll ask you again, did you feel it? Did shivers wave down your spine, cold chills and warm flashes?"
"Not in so many words…"
"Rommie, turn around."
"Why, are you trying to seduce me? You know the penalty for officers who have inappropriate relations with their ships."
"I'm not a commissioned fleet officer, and that antiquated law deals only with male officers. Believe me, I checked. Turn around."
Rommie, turning with infinite care, swung around. Beka leaned in slowly, savoring the uncertainty in Rommie's eyes, the way she shook slightly, and the way she held her hands behind her, as if she stood at attention for a military inspection. Rommie's entire posture melted when their lips touched. To Beka's great surprise, Rommie, the sentient ship she had lived on for the strangest years of her life, kissed her back, hard. The deck began to shiver, almost unperceivable at first, but shaking more and more with the passing seconds. Dylan's hologram flickered into existence on the bridge console.
"Captain Valentine, I'm not one to interfere your social life, it's really up to you what you sleep with, but would you kindly leave my ship out of it! Andromeda is shaking apart, and I prefer to fly ships with all the equipment still functional. You may be on leave, but Rommie isn't due for furlough for another three months."
"Yes Beka?"
"Do you feel?"
"Of course I do, I am currently running 2 million 3 hundred 24 thousand-"
"Stop. I didn't mean sensors and you damn well know it!"
"You don't like my answer? I have been studying the speech patters of the crew, yours in particular. You often complain that I speak like a computer, and I assumed you wished for me to include some human nuances in my vocabulary."
"Rommie, you are a computer, why does it matter what you sound like to your crew?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"No, I don't. Of late I have found myself concerned more and more with the lives of my crew. In fact, I've noticed you and Tyre seem to be enjoying your selves…"
"ROMMIE! Put a privacy lock on my quarters, now! If you tell anyone, especially Harper… Wait a second, is Harper… He wouldn't dare…would he? He knows I'd castrate him if I ever caught him…"
"I assure you, Harper had nothing to do with it."
"So what in the hell were you doing spying on me?"
"Why do you assume I was spying on you, I could have been watching Tyre."
"Because you immediately denied it."
"Well maybe I…"
"And because you're a horrible liar."
"So I was looking at you, is there something wrong with that?"
"Not by my books, aside from the fact that you were created by Harper, are a flesh and blood computer, and think receiving sensor data constitutes feeling."
"I don't know if I'm being flattered or I should vacate the atmosphere in this level to teach you respect for your elders."
"My 'elders'? You hardly qualify; you're technically a few years old. Just because your mind has existed for a few centuries doesn't mean you are older than me, you certainly didn't experience anything on the edge of that black hole. Rommie, I propose an experiment. A scientific investigation."
"You are most obviously intoxicated. I don't know where you got alcohol, but you've somehow managed to imbibe more than the recommended amount."
"So I'm a bit drunk, it's a great feeling, you should try it some time. It's my furlough, give me a break, 'k? Now, for my grand experiment."
Beka, who by this point was standing directly behind her, reached out a single finger and slid it down the back of her neck, her touch breezing along Rommie's skin.
"So Rommie, did you feel that?"
"Of course I felt it, you exerted an average of 0.00031 g/m2, did you expect to fool me my using almost no force?"
"That's not what I asked, so I'll ask you again, did you feel it? Did shivers wave down your spine, cold chills and warm flashes?"
"Not in so many words…"
"Rommie, turn around."
"Why, are you trying to seduce me? You know the penalty for officers who have inappropriate relations with their ships."
"I'm not a commissioned fleet officer, and that antiquated law deals only with male officers. Believe me, I checked. Turn around."
Rommie, turning with infinite care, swung around. Beka leaned in slowly, savoring the uncertainty in Rommie's eyes, the way she shook slightly, and the way she held her hands behind her, as if she stood at attention for a military inspection. Rommie's entire posture melted when their lips touched. To Beka's great surprise, Rommie, the sentient ship she had lived on for the strangest years of her life, kissed her back, hard. The deck began to shiver, almost unperceivable at first, but shaking more and more with the passing seconds. Dylan's hologram flickered into existence on the bridge console.
"Captain Valentine, I'm not one to interfere your social life, it's really up to you what you sleep with, but would you kindly leave my ship out of it! Andromeda is shaking apart, and I prefer to fly ships with all the equipment still functional. You may be on leave, but Rommie isn't due for furlough for another three months."