Bechimo
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
“Theo.”
Bechimo’s voice in bond-space sounded…tentative, which—Bechimo had mostly given up tentativeness as a mode.
Theo rapidly reviewed the projects under way. Absent this particular project—prepping to lift and start cleaning up the garbage—she couldn’t think of anything that might produce tentativeness.
“Yes?” she answered lightly. “Have you realized that the crew will be in your way on this?”
There was a short, sharp silence as if Bechimo had blinked.
“My crew will never be in my way. Never.”
This time, Theo blinked, breath-caught at the intensity—the passion—in his voice. Deliberately, she breathed in, nice and deep, and sighed the breath out.
“Was that,” Bechimo asked, voice cool now, “meant to be a joke?”
“Not entirely,” she said. “Partly, I was acknowledging that this is the beginning of a new phase for you—in your life. Always before, you’ve had to hide who—and what—you are. Val Con’s field judgment means—ought to mean—that you’ll never have to hide your true nature again.”
There was another palpable pause, somehow softer, as if Bechimo was thinking in a new direction.
“I had not considered,” he said eventually. “This bargain we have made with the portmaster will, possibly, hasten awareness of the field judgment and the new status of Complex Logics with regard to the law. Still, change will require time—quite a lot of time.”
Especially for those who told time like Bechimo, Theo thought.
“You’re right,” she said. “It’s going to take a whole lot of small steps forward—and some steps back, too. There’s a lot of changes that’ll have to be made, because that judgment has the potential to make a whole new future—”
This wasn’t a new thought, but it wasn’t any more comfortable on a second thinking. Almost, she wondered if Val Con knew what he’d done—but of course he’d known. He hadn’t crafted his judgment only to save Bechimo’s life or just to spit in Captain yos’Thadi’s eye. Val Con had wanted a future where AIs were fully integrated, and when the chance had come past him, he’d grabbed it.
Which led to wondering…why did Val Con want that future?
And that wasn’t comfortable thinking at all.
“Theo,” Bechimo said again. “I have a question.”
“All right,” she said, sitting back in her chair and closing her eyes, so she could concentrate on him totally. “What’s your question?”
“When you accepted your brother’s invitation to formally join the new extended family, did you consider what that might mean to us?”
Eyes closed, Theo frowned.
“I didn’t,” she admitted. “And now that you’ve raised the question, I’m afraid I don’t know why it should mean anything other than I—”
She stopped.
“This isn’t about Korval being on your disallowed list again, is it? I thought that was settled a long time ago.”
“It is not, and it was,” Bechimo snapped.
“Then I don’t understand the question,” Theo said. “Can you please rephrase or elaborate?”
“We are a bonded pair: captain and ship. We are we. Together, ship and captain are stronger, faster, more versatile, more able.
“By accepting the invitation to formally join a family, you have placed something—you have placed another allegiance—between captain and ship. We are no longer we when you are them.”
Theo took a deep breath.
“I’ve always been Val Con’s sister, my father’s child.”
“Yes…”
“We’re not the same; we’re different. We’ve always been different, starting with the fact that I’m human and you’re a starship. We each bring something to the bonding. We each bring different strengths to the bonding. That’s why your Builders decided that a bonded pair was the optimum model.
“My…induction into Val Con’s family doesn’t change anything between us. It’s surely not a threat to our bond. Nothing can threaten the bond, can it? The fact is that we are a bonded pair. Can you decide to leave our relationship and take up with another captain?”
“No!”
“Well, there’s your answer,” she said reasonably. “I have no plans, and no desire, to bond with another ship. We’re exactly the same as we were.”
This was greeted by a profoundly unhappy silence, interrupted by an announcement so brisk it sounded like a recording.
“We are cleared for lift, Captain. You are needed on the bridge.”
“In a minute,” Theo said. “I can feel that you’re not satisfied. Bring this to us again, when we’re not pressed for time.”
“Yes, Captain,” said Bechimo, still in that impersonal tone.
Theo sighed, and opened her eyes.