Mar 23, 2354
Brenda, who was now five and a half months pregnant, was beginning to show a significant baby bump. Her JANKI, one of several specialized AIs she had fabricated at the colonies, which she had named Spock, always hovered nearby to help her out. At present, it was creating gravity assists to make her more relaxed. Brenda found it interesting that part of the AI's matrix was to provide a physical presence. Unlike other JANKIs which would usually communicate via programmable matter in the air, Spock opted to remain physically close to her, perhaps for reassurance on a subconscious level.
Richard was living with his Halo on, his primal nature demanding that he be as capable as possible at a moment's notice. He wore a pale blue, formless gown that reached his knees. He was lying on the floor, which Mushkin made comfortably spongy, deep in thought, playing with his hair as he pondered the future of their offspring. Richard had struggled to come to terms with their son's conversion to a colonist since Rik had spent five years as a human before the procedure. During that time, Rik had acquired fundamental human skills such as talking, eating, and even urinating. It was a matter of concern for him that their daughter, who would be born as a colonist, might lack the essential skills required for the human experience.
Richard couldn't help but wonder whether any newcomers would bring their colonist children with them, leading to a divide among their offspring in the future. He did not want to see the emergence of two distinct groups, immortals and colonists, who were so biologically different that it would make interaction between the groups challenging. Richard had lived through such a situation in the colonies where Janice had altered the colonists' senses and abilities, essentially creating a different species.
Richard's concerns momentarily dissipated as he switched his focus to the idea of baby names. "What do you think about the name 'Idea'?" he asked Brenda.
Naming conventions had reached a peculiar state in the colonies. With a wide range of cultural backgrounds, names began to feel like they were merely a meaningless collection of letters. Immortals tended to be a quirky bunch: some preferred conventional, familial names, while others indulged in creativity and eccentricity. In essence, anything goes when it comes to naming conventions.
"I have never been fond of words as names," Brenda replied in her usual forthright manner. "However, I do like the cadence. How about Iea? It has three letters and three syllables, and sounds pleasant to the ear."
"Iea, Iea, Iea," Richard rolled the name around on his tongue. He then posed a question to the AI, "Mushkin, how does Iea sound as a thought?" Richard highly enjoyed confusing the AI.
"I'm afraid I don't understand the question, Richard," Mushkin replied.
Returning his attention to Brenda, Richard said, "I still prefer Idea, which I think is a great name, but Iea seems like an acceptable compromise. Let's send a message to Janice and ask if anyone else has ever used it. If not, then I say we go with it."
Given the distance between them and the colonies, the round trip message would take about 15 hours, meaning they would receive a response approximately an hour before they reached the sphere.
The ship was near enough to the sphere that it could have extrapolated a three-dimensional view of their destination from various sensors, but Richard desired to watch his son practice his newly acquired abilities instead. Rik skillfully controlled two brightly colored miniature armies in battle with each other using programmable matter manipulated by his mind. Although Mushkin was doing the heavy lifting, it still looked impressive. "My son, the JANKI," Richard thought with mixed emotions of pride and trepidation.
Enrikk played for a few hours as his father watched, but he gradually lost interest. The soldiers stopped moving and turned into dust, with the battlefield they had fought over. Then even the dust become a part of the floor.
"Dad, I'm hungry," Enrikk said.
"Mommy's hungry too," Brenda chimed in from across the room.
A couple of weeks had passed since they had exhausted their stock of natural food gathered from The Farm. Thus, Richard instructed Mushkin to have the fabricators produce three meals without any specific food requests. The AI always seemed to know what he desired better than he did.
As the ship continued its journey to the sphere, Richard, Brenda, and Rik enjoyed the meal that Mushkin fabricated. Seeing the food grow out of the table surface always served to remind Richard how synthetic it was, despite fully understanding that the process was no different from the fabricators. Knowing this, Mushkin directed the meal, assembled out of sight, to float over to them.
"Have you ever wondered if the new arrivals will have a preference or taste for natural foods?" Richard posed to Brenda.
Brenda shook her head. "It's hard to say. I've heard that some Immortals enjoy the texture and experience of natural food. But no scientist worth his salt is going to spend time gathering and preparing a meal when it's more effective to dedicate time to research. To be honest, until this returb trip, I hadn't had real food in over 100 years."
"And colonists don't even eat, they absorb nutrients directly from the air," Rik added.
Richard frowned. "I hope they know how to eat. I wouldn't want them to miss out on the experience entirely. A girl I once knew, your step-brothers' mother," he hesitated for a moment and gave a nervous glance at Brenda before continuing, "had never eaten. I introduced her to a confection, and she practically spat it out."
Brenda appeared oblivious to Richard's glance, engrossed in her hamburger, but Richard sensed a trace of jealousy beneath her forced laugh. Rik listened with interest, and his smile wavered upon sensing his father's anxiety. "What's a confection?" he asked.
Brenda interjected, "It's a delicious, sweet delicacy that comes in various shapes and sizes. It could be anything from candy to cake, pastry, chocolate, or any sweet dessert you could name," Brenda's tight smile was betrayed by her eyes as she added, "Your father had quite the sweet tooth."
Brenda turned her head towards Richard and without any prior mention of the topic, said, "You know, we never celebrated your 350th birthday."
Richard looked at her with a perplexed expression and paused before replying, "I don't think I've celebrated a birthday since I was 100. Where did that come from?"
"I don't know, baby hormones, I guess. Don't mind me," Brenda said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Message packet from Magnus has been received," Mushkin announced as the detritus from the meal was absorbed by the table.
"Why Spock?" Richard asked, dismissing the message. "I never thought of you watching ancient two-dimensional shows. The sci-fi must seem laughably antiquated."
"I'm sorry, I don't understand," Brenda replied, looking bewildered.
Richard nodded. "I was referring to Mr. Spock from Star Trek, an old 2D show from the late 1900s. It was before our time. Mr. Spock was part of an alien logical race. I find it fitting."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Brenda admitted, shrugging her shoulders. "I named him after Dr. Benjamin Spock, the famous baby doctor from around that same era."
Richard shrugged in reply.
As the table dissolved, Richard reached up reflexively to check if his Halo was on. Once assured, he thought his chair into one of those beloved marshmallow chairs with stiff backs. Usually, most of his belongings would come out in a pale blue hue, which he attributed to Mushkin's influence. However, he realized that this time, it was his personal subconscious preference.
In an act of defiance, he changed the chair's appearance to black and thin yellow stripes to set it apart from his usual things.
"Play message," Richard commanded.
"Hello, pod Primacy-1," boomed Magnus's voice through the cabin's speakers. Richard had to focus on the man's words, not the image of a hulking wizard that the name and vociferous tone implied. Despite this, he couldn't help but be reminded of the Wizard of Oz, the titular character from the famous movie who had a little man behind the curtain pretending to be a towering and mighty influence. In terms of intellect though not even Brenda could match him.
Our sensors indicate you are about 20 hours away from matching our orbit and speed. We want to welcome you home to the Triple R and hope you don't regret telling us to make the place our own," Magnus's impish voice came through the speakers, sending a shiver down Richard's spine. Magnus had a reputation for practical jokes and unpredictable antics.
"What the hell is the Triple R? And did you really tell them to make the place their own?" Richard asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"I told them to make themselves at home. You know Magnus; he'll probably claim that English isn't his first language," Brenda said, trying to ease Richard's growing tension.
"Do you think of us as Primacy 1?" Richard asked.
"Well, we dissolved the pod at least three times, so I'm pretty sure the colonies don't. Besides, outside of that, I don't think it matters. We are raising our children in our own space under our sovereignty. I don't think any other designation is necessary. And I never did like Janice reserving Primacy 1 for my pod," Brenda replied.
"Well, you did create it," Richard pointed out.
A long pause hung over the room as they both retreated into their private thoughts. Brenda noticed that the meal had put Rick to sleep, and he was now floating a few inches off the floor, tucked back out of the way.
"Should we send a message back?" Richard asked.
"I've already acknowledged receipt of the message," Mushkin replied.
"He wants us ask questions. Well screw him... Wait, rescind that order," Richard said, trying to inject humor into his voice, but jealousy crept in. He felt inferior to Magnus and that was not a feeling he experienced often.
"Ship, give us as much information as possible on the sphere," Richard demanded, changing the subject.
There was an imperceptible delay as four AI vied for control, but one emerged victorious, assembling data from hundreds of sensors to construct an image of a massive floating sphere taking up most of the cabin's center.
"Can we see inside?" Brenda asked.
"Not from this distance with these sensors," the ship replied.
"What the hell is that thing?" Richard said, surprised and confused.
"Where's our original entrance?" Brenda asked, and a small area began to glow red, indicating where their breach of the hull had been sealed.
"I don't care, look at that!" Richard exclaimed, pointing emphatically at a structure near the equator. It was a significantly larger breach in the hull, circular and large enough for a ship to enter. Sensors could not detect any mechanism for entry, and Brenda suspected it was probably a gravity field.
"Ship, confirm if it's on the transparent material," Richard asked.
When the ship confirmed it, Richard said, "Damn, that's ballsy."
"Ship, what's the communication time lag?"
"1.8 minutes each way," the ship replied.
"Damn it, I need to know. Record a message. Magnus, what the hell is the Triple R?" Richard said, decisively.
Three and a half minutes later, Magnus's voice boomed again. Richard was annoyed that the man had probably been sitting at the microphone waiting. "Relativity Riddle Resort," he said, and that was all.
Richard was not keen on playing any further games with Magnus and was determined not to engage him any longer.
Richard fell into a funk. The interlopers had rebuilt the transfer assembly, which he considered impolite to do without seeking permission. However, he could see it as a welcome back surprise since their previous assembly had been a crude design, tailored specifically for their needs. But the naming of things was his domain, and everyone knew it. So what if he had not named the sphere in six years? He would have gotten around to it. Magnus's actions were disrespectful and inexcusable. It was not the best first impression to make.
"Why don't you come to bed and let me ease your tensions?" Brenda asked.
Richard acknowledged the positive impact of pregnancy hormones on Brenda's caring nature and tried to banish negative thoughts from his mind.