Chapter 4
19 hours since Jim woke up:
Jim made his way to the elevator and headed back to the hibernation hall where the other passengers were.
"Please buckle up and secure any loose items." said the robotic feminine voice in the elevator.
He hit the button for the Habitation Module, and buckled in.
"This elevator will experience a momentary lapse in gravity." said the robotic feminine voice in the wall.
The short ride. Then he exited the elevator.
"Habitation Module." said the computer.
He made his way to the hibernation hall. There again was hundreds of sleeping people. This was not the only hibernation Hall. There were several Hibernation Halls within the habitation module.
He looked around, examining a hibernation pod every now and then. A middle-aged African-American man. An oriental-asian teenage girl with long brown hair. A middle-aged Caucasian woman with short blond hair. One circle of 6 pods seemed to house a family. A middle-aged couple in the first and second pods. While the third pod had what seem to be a girl in her late teens. The 4th pod had a boy in his early teens. The fifth pod had a boy who was a pre-teen. And the sixth pod had a girl barely older than a toddler.
There had been some controversy among doctors and fanatic hundreds of years ago about putting younger children into hibernation. But the people who had perfected and re-perfected the hibernation technology over and over again for hundreds of years claimed that putting a young child into suspended animation was medically harmless.
Jim was vaguely aware of a little piece of fun fact and trivia that centuries earlier when scientists had first discovered how to put a human into suspended animation, that the first few test subject of the prototypes of the first technology of it had suffered massive organ failure if the reanimation process was done incorrectly.
But other than that, today all medical experts say that it's 100% harmless as long as it is done correctly. And that hibernation pods are supposed to be perfect.
He eventually found his own hibernation pod. It was a standout among all the others as it was the only one that was empty and the only one that was open.
When he found the Pod he look it over. The glass of the hatch was fine, though he wasn't sure that would have anything to do with anything. The lights inside were operating fine. As a mechanical technician he handled the metal on the side at the grooves and on the console panel. It's said that the occupant had been discharged. He found a function saying 'Full Diagnostic', and activated it. There were a series of words and numbers that flash by on the little touchscreen worth and said 'diagnostic complete'. And then claimed that the hibernation pod was operating at 100%, except that the 'Time and Date', were offline.
'No Time and Date?' thought Jim with curiosity. 'Is that normal after an occupant discharge?'
He found the circuit board panel on the side underneath the console. He tried to slip his fingernails into the groove but he couldn't. He needed to find himself some tools. He fiddled with his hibernation pod for about another hour until he determined that until he got himself some tools and attempted to take the thing apart, he wasn't going to figure anything out.
Well, that was it. Jim Preston was all burnt out. He couldn't think anymore. He was backed into a corner while on a ship in outer space. He had no way to get himself out of the situation. In actuality hadn't exactly thought of everything. Though the additional things that he had not yet thought of little did he know would not work either, but none the less he needed to relax his mind a little take a load off. He went back to the Grand Concourse to just walk around. It's what he would have done on Earth. He would have gone to a mall or taking a walk on the bike trail.
As he walks yet shut down his brain so he now felt a little better trying not to think of his dilemma.
As he was walking for the first few minutes, looking at all of the different shops and establishments, he then stopped and then backtracked a couple steps because he thought that he saw some movement out of the side of his eye in what seemed to be the ship's Pub.
The artificial intelligence Arthur, was a recently constructed new model that had been installed into the ship. Recently being just before they had left Earth.
He was one of the more advanced artificial intelligence, personality-wise. He was programmed to actually act human; or at least as close as the A.I. programmers could get it. His primary function was simply to tend bar and serve the customers. And doing that was all that mattered to him. The ship's food synthesizers could artificially manufacturer any quantity of pretty much any drink or beverage known to man. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. As a bartender at a pub he normally suggested some alcoholic beverage to a customer that is trying to enjoy themself. However if the customer asks for water, he will serve them a glass of water. If they ask for a Coca-Cola he will serve them a Coca Cola. If someone asks for a glass of spinach juice he would need to wait a minute while the food synthesizer actually artificially manufactures and dispenses it under the bar, but none-the-less that is what he will serve. His artificial intelligence programmed personality was programmed to make him bond with his customers. To be a trustworthy confidant to the passengers and crew on the ship. Though he was designed to physically look human, and programmed to be fully Interactive personality-wise, he was a feeble imitation of a real human being and more or less just a complacent 'Yes Man'.
For the 120 years that the passengers and crew were in suspended animation he would basically just stand behind the bar perfectly still. As a robot he doesn't get bored or impatient of the passage of time. But that is a moot point anyway, for when there are no passengers around he goes into low-power mode where he's not even conscious. He had been awakened by the ship's systems that had detected the presence of a potential customer. So he came online and started polishing a glass and wiping down the counters. Though both the glasses and the counters were flawlessly clean. Not even any dust, as there was nothing in the Grand Concourse that really produced any dust. Plus the janitorial robots around the ship were supposed to clean everything regularly while the ship was on low-power mode.
Arthur was polishing a glass in the pub when he heard some footsteps up ahead of him near the entrance.
He looked up and noticed a customer walk-in.
"Hello." said Arthur casually while smiling. And then put his attention back to the glass in his hand that he was polishing.
"Oh my god. It's good to see another face." said Jim Preston with a tone of relief. "I thought I was the only one awake."
Arthur misunderstanding the words coming out of his mouth merely computed the meaning as that people should be sleeping at that moment.
Arthur didn't really consider that everyone was still in hibernation, only two remark on business of the day within the Grand Concourse.
"Who wants to sleep on a beautiful day like this?" said Arthur.
"No," said Jim, "you misunderstand, we're not supposed to be here."
Arthur interpreted that that there was something between the two of them that they would both get in trouble for if word about it got out.
"Well then in that case I won't tell if you won't." said Arthur with a smile.
Jim, thinking that Arthur was a human being, was confused by Arthur's remark.
"What?" said Jim in confusion.
"Our little secret." said Arthur with a smile.
Arthur then put down the glass that he was polishing and gave Jim his undivided attention.
"What can I get for you?" said Arthur with a smile.
"What?" said Jim again with confusion.
"You look like a whiskey man." said Arthur merely guessing but not really knowing.
At this point after the day that Jim had had he thought that he could actually use a glass of whiskey, though he was still confused by the behavior of the man in front of him.
"Okay?" said Jim shrugging his shoulders in surrender.
He then saw Arthur turn on the spot and glide to the far side of the bar where he took a bottle of transparent brown tea-colored liquid and then glided back over to his original position.
Jim sprinted right up to the bar to look over the edge where he then saw that from the waist down the man was just mechanical gears that were connected on a track in the floor.
"Oh," said Jim in comprehension. "You're a robot."
"Android, technically." said Arthur.
Arthur placed a napkin on the counter as a coaster, placed a clean empty glass on top of it and then poured an inch of the brown liquid into the glass.
"Arthur's the name." said Arthur.
"Jim Preston." said Jim.
"Nice to meet you Jim." said Arthur with a smile and then he put the bottle back.
Jim took a tiny sip of the strong cough-medicine-tasting liquid. And then set the glass down.
"Do you possess any technical knowledge about this ship?" asked Jim.
Arthur pretend to think about it for a second as he didn't actually need to think about it but he was following his primary function to act 'semi' like a human.
"I don't know." said Arthur. "I know a few things."
Arthur in fact did possess extensive knowledge about the ship, but of course unless asked, like he just was, he was programmed to merely carry out his primary function which was to bond with the customers and tend bar.
"What do I do if my hibernation pod malfunctions?"
Arthur's artificial intelligence scanned the data banks for an appropriate answer to the question that came out of Jim's mouth.
"Oh, hibernation pods are Fail-Safe." said Arthur adamantly with a smile. "They never malfunction."
"Well mine did." said Jim.
"Impossible." said Arthur as he began to polish a glass with his clean washcloth again.
At this point Jim was so fed up with everything on the ship saying that, that he decided to give Arthur's logic circuit a good workout.
"Tell me Arthur, how long until we reach Homestead II?"
"About another 90 years or so." said Arthur.
"And tell me, when are all the passengers supposed to wake up?"
"Not until the last four months." said Arthur giving his answer straight out of the database through his mouth.
"Then answer this question Arthur, how is it that I'm sitting here with you, having this conversation, right here right now...with 90 years to go?"
Arthur was about to give an immediate answer like his primary function was supposed to but his logic circuit then actually did have a problem; it was faced with a concept that it couldn't comprehend where his logic circuit actually then crashed, but a fraction of a second later his redundant systems did their job by giving it a quick reboot and he still remembered the entire conversation right up to the moment of the logic circuit crash. And he simply gave the answer that his logic circuit had crashed over.
"Hmm, it's not possible for you to be here." he said with a smile.
"But yet here I am." said Jim.
"Anything that you would like to talk about." asked Arthur, detecting the concern in Jim's voice and offering his function of bartender wisdom.
Jim thought about that for a second. And then he can sit in an idea, 'why not just go back into hibernation?' He was not entirely sure how to do it, or if the hibernation pod could, but it was worth a try.
"Is there any way to go back into hibernation after someone comes out?" he asked Arthur.
"I don't know." said Arthur. "I'm not a doctor."
"When we bought our tickets and were ready to disembark from Earth we were taken to a facility where medical staff put us into hibernation."
"Well, I'm sure that you will think of something." said Arthur.
Jim downed the rest of his drink.
"Thanks for the drink Arthur."
"Anytime Jim."
Jim suddenly wobbled on his bar stool and held his head.
"It's only been about 21 hours since I came out of my stasis pod." Said Jim. "I think I'm still suffering from post hibernation sickness. I'm going to go back to bed. I'll see you tomorrow Arthur."
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