Nightime mullings

Posted on Sun May 25th, 2014 @ 4:36pm by Lieutenant Nuala Takabe

163 words; about a 1 minute read

Nuala watched the video link of the water storm from Thebes IV. She didn't know why but watching the water in its violent behavior seemed to relax her.

She felt a little hungry. A cup of onion soup and black bread appeared in the food dispenser.

"Thank you." she told the computer. "You foolish girl your talking to a machine." Nuala said aloud to herself.

"Yes, nothing but a machine." Nuala thought. She was a scientist. She used logic and empirical data to reach conclusions. There was no evidence that the ship's computer was self aware. The ship was simply attuned to each crewman's algorithm and could predict what the would want to eat next. No more complex than Pavlov's dogs. Until there was some evidence of sentience, she had to treat the ship like a collection of metals and polymers.

Still, something inside her believed it to be alive. The clash of emotions and logic reminded her why Vulcans make good scientists.

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