(Co-written with VindicatedPurpose)F.S.S. SalientThe Admiral stood at one of the many observation decks watching the stars held high in the blackness of space. His hands were crossed behind his back, and he turned to look at Max who was bubbling at the nearby terminal.
"Calm yourself lad, we're past those pirates now," he sighed, "I don't know what's going to happen to you. I might have to have you quarantined and extracted by officials to be examined," the admiral resumed staring blankly into space.
"Why? It's not like I am damaging the ship.....". Max noted, looking at the Captain. Granted, the hologram wasn't technically what he was seeing out of, but it was close enough. "Also, extraction sounds painful....though, if I had to guess, I still won't feel any pain......Captain sir?" Max certainly was thinking of interesting things to say. "Captain Sir" was his latest one. He had said "Frak" before.
"No, but you are here illegally, and I could get into a lot of trouble for that...Max," Aronimus addressed the young A.I. with his name for once, "I know you haven't damaged the ship," the Admiral could only wonder. He paused for a moment.
To think that the mission simply started out with traveling to the Arcturus System to investigate a disturbance had evolved into this. Pirates ambushing and on the verge of crippling the most advanced of Federation warships, then an unknown A.I. suddenly springs up into the system of the ship. Not to mention intelligence regarding insurgent operations in the region where they were headed. The admiral often wondered if it was just a dream, but he knew it wasn't, it was just something that was highly improbable, not impossible.
Max did however think about this. However, in a bit of defense, he pointed out "Well, technically, I don't know how I got on board. It wasn't my choice. So technically, I did nothing wrong...". He was a bit more blue again now, instead of green. That was when he asked "How did this happen exactly anyways? DO we know who put me on here, or if this was some freak accident or whatever?"
"Easy lad," the Admiral was a bit startled as the young A.I. was firing off questions, Aronimus knew he had a lot to think about and Max had a lot to wonder about, but the Admiral believed his questions would be answered in due time.
"No, you did nothing wrong," he paused, "If I knew the answers Max, I would tell you. I have a friend, I believe he's working somewhere in the system, that may shed some light on your predicament. Walk with me, Max," the Admiral began to make way to his cabin. Max followed him, holographically, jumping from terminal to terminal.
"So Max, how are you enjoying my ship so far?" the admiral hoped to entertain the youngster as best he could. Perhaps this was the beginning of a grandfather-like attachment.
"Pretty good. Luckily, this ship has adequate memory space to run three A.I.s. Just imagine any other ship. The Salient is special in that it has an excess of data storage space. Just imagine if this was a scout ship......".
"I'm not sure I follow," for the Admiral, this wasn't exactly his cup of tea for a conversation.
"Well, I'll put it to you this way. An A.I. needs space to properly operate. This....A.D.A.M...." He glowed red, if only for a moment, at the mention of him. The Admiral managed to catch the mere second of Max's change in color.
"He is a new type of A.I. It's probably why the Salient has upgraded memory, to allow room. Well, essentially, to operate, they need space, more space, to be capable of advanced operations, wiring sub routines for counter measures, and the like. Then, there is TAU, he's cool, your second A.I. To have them both operating, you would need even more free room. You need this free room for them to write code and such, otherwise, it could potentially overload their work capacity, and make them unable to fight off certain attacks, because they could end up clashing with each other. The Salient has actually enough memory to run five A.I.s separately without lag. I find this interesting. Probably part of your experiment with A.D.A.M. You don't know if he will end up being able to grow in size beyond his original programming, and therefore take up more room. Also, you would need some more room set up for TAU."
"Of course, this is mostly speculation, Sir Captain". Max seemed to like talking to people, especially to the admiral. He now often called him "Sir Captain", and as far as people could tell, he only gave people nicknames if he liked them. That's when it just occurred to him that he might not fully get it, and the real meaning behind his question, causing Max to momentarily glow pink, out of embarrassment.
"Umm....basically, think of a person. A person needs space to work, they can't work in a cramped closet. Now put multiple people in that closet. Even more crowded, less capability to work. The people need room to work. The A.I.s need memory space. Sorry, does that help?"
"Indeed it does," the Admiral drifted off, "Max, are you sure you have no idea where you came from?"
"No, but I would like to......" Max said with at least a bit of determination.