Chapter 30: Coincidental Evolution — Part 6

Vertigo shrugged. Vertigo had never been a technician. She’d been a Class One Assassin, raised in ranks from a Class Three Prostitute. She’d never had a strong grasp of the mechanical world. Hers was a world of political espionage and brutal murder. Seva showed Vertigo the computer explanation of all on-board systems, as a means of explaining what should have been impossible.

“When the ship was damaged, it lost some of its primary memory. The plans for life support and physical structure were completely lost. The repair drones had memory of system tolerances, but no actual hard data to create a new system with. So the ship’s computer system researched its environment for the answers. It used plants and bacteria from its surroundings for air quality control, and scanned animals to recreate hatchways and ship-wide surface structures. Layers of alga remove toxins and waste from water and a special organic process oxidizes the air. As for the mechanical aspects, it had a basic design in its memory, tolerances for the ship’s frame as a whole, but no real blueprints. It had stored within it the processes for creating all the alloys and composites needed for repair, but no real shapes to put them in. So even the frame of the ship is no longer strictly mechanical in nature. The ship’s computer only had a scant knowledge of pulse deflectors and weapons systems. It has created pulse deflectors that can draw on many energy sources; including energy from the enemy’s own weapons. The mass cannons use a replicator, and can draw resources from outside the ship, or even from the structure of the ship itself, converting them to mass rounds during heated battles. In battle it’ll be able to draw in materials for repair and mass cannons by tractor beam and work them directly to suit its needs. Finally, it has made its weapons a more integral part of its design. Plasma cannons now have a tighter packet of magnetic force holding them together, and they can be shot at many different frequencies, making it harder for the enemy to deflect an attack. Also, the power output is boosted significantly, and the entire skin of the ship can be involved in the process. I would argue, after studying the ship’s matrix that it has created a whole new branch of scientific study.” Seva giggled at the thought.

Vertigo scratched her chin, having studied the same information that Seva had. “Does this ship have a reproductive system?”

Seva considered the question. “It thinks it does. I guess we’ll know if it works when it tries to put out a child.” Seva let her finger rub across the Kindred’s control console. It felt almost warm to the touch. Probably a part of life support’s temperature control system. “It sure feels alive.”

Vertigo let the thought of it sink in. “This ship is alive.” Vertigo said, after minor consideration.

“If it is, I must say I am a little jealous, given all the toys it was born with.” Seva said.