A Starship Called Starsong

Chapter 13

I was halfway back to the agricultural room before I realized what Tyndel had just done. When he had gotten me to replace my communication device, he had effectively made me Captain. I muttered, "And you wanted to make someone as slow and dense as me into a Captain?"

"It worked; I will be with you and will warn you if anyone else tries to trick you in such a way. You have never been promoted, so changing your communication device wouldn't be the most obvious way of accepting a new position."

I would forever be known as the person who was tricked into being promoted to Captain.

"It has happened twice in history, although not quite in this fashion."

I was still thinking about how to break this news to the others. 'Tyndel, of those who are currently on board, have any of them been employed on this ship for a shorter time than me?' I had decided that if I was to speak to him in my head, I should probably try to start with his name, just to differentiate my internal rambling from my actual questions.

"Two. One came onboard a year ago, the other 20 months ago."

So, I now had the lovely task of convincing 25 people that someone who had been here for a shorter time than them was now their Captain. There was no way to tell how the other two would react either. Tyndel was being remarkably silent on those details...

"If you wish assistance, you merely need to ask. Otherwise, I am trying to let you have the freedom to work in your own fashion."

It was a relief to know that he didn't plan to control every small detail of what I did. "I'll try to muddle along, although I will probably need your backup in some fashion or another. Did they manage to find everyone?"

"I will always support you in your role as Captain. I had to subtly assist, but all 27 of them are now gathered in the agricultural room."

I winced at that title, but thanked him quietly as I approached the door to the agricultural room. It was apparently going to take more work to get him to change his mind... The door opened at my approach and 27 people looked over. If I was lucky, I recognized half of them. Only two were Overseers, six were experienced assistants, and the rest were still in their first five years, just like I was.

Cynthia ran over with a relieved expression. "Oh, thank goodness you are okay!" she exclaimed, relief clear in her voice. "I was so worried!"

It was almost strange to realize that everyone here was quite worried, with some looking like they were on the verge of panic, while I was relatively calm. Then again, less than an hour ago, I had been similarly anxious and worried. Logan also came over swiftly and said, "Did you manage to remove the fuse? Nothing bad has happened so far, but we really need to get out of here."

I sighed. "No, I didn't manage it, but it turns out that we don't need to bail."

Logan looked at me as if I were crazy. "What do you mean that we don't need to?"

"I had a rather long talk with Tyndel – the AI – and he doesn't mean us any harm."

Logan sputtered, "But AIs can't really manage a conversation, they are more like computers that are able to convert words into speech. They are a computer - they aren't truly intelligent."

"Well, the upgrade corrected that. He is truly aware."

Logan shook his head hard. "That just isn't possible."

'Tyndel, are there speakers in this room?'

"Yes. And I am happy to assist with your plan." He had somehow picked up my vague plan even though I hadn't thought about it in words or even really organized my thoughts. It was now apparent that I would never be able to take him by surprise.