[hider=Title of Recording: Artificial Intelligence]
“Artificial Intelligence (or AI) has been around for pretty much as long as machines have. The definition of intelligence is being able to understand logic, abstract thought, maintain understanding, and being self-aware. While artificial is something made or something… insincere. Then again, I’ve often found things with ‘normal’ intelligence can be just as insincere as well.”[/hider]

Ryen continued to wave. He had to see her, he just had to. The crowd around her was a cacophony of voices and sounds. She felt less a part of herself and more a part of them. She was riding on the waves of energy, adrenaline pumping through her veins. There easily had to be a hundred of them crammed together. Some were angry, some were pleading, some were as panicked as Ryen felt, but none of them were happy. I was clear the ring leader wasn’t pleased by the situation also.

[b]”…Shut up!”[/b]

Just like before the crowd quieted a bit. She could just barley hear him. Feeling a bit of her energy drained, Ryen lowered her arms to her side but continued to stand on the seat of her bike. She wanted to make sure she could see and be seen.

[b]”Who said they were doctors?”[/b]

Ryen felt deflated as a few of the crowd pressed forward. Speculative whispers circulated throughout the crowd, making it impossible to hear what was going on. Before Ryen knew understood what was happening, the sound of a shot pierced through the air. The crowd angrily pressed forward and then back again. The tidal wave of bodies crashed against her bike, causing Ryen to lose balance. More noises exploded. Without warning she was on the ground amiss a tangle of legs, dangling tentacles, and other appendages. The swarm of bodies was still moving. Instinctively she curled into herself and covered her head with her arms. More shouting erupted from the front of the crowd. Someone cursed as they tripped over prone her body. 

[b]”You’re lucky that was a warning shot.”[/b]

[b]”Up!”[/b] Something tugged at the back of her jacket collar, lifting her to her feet. [b]”You’ll get crushed down there.”[/b] Before she could thank him for the action, the man had already disappeared into the crowd. Up at the front, the ring leader announced something and all hell broke loose. The crowd became an angry ocean. In the distance she could hear an insistent high pitch beeping. Was it some kind of bomb? Ryen didn’t have long to think about it as human and alien alike started ramming into each other, in an effort to get away from the noise maker. Something slammed into her chest, hard, almost nocking the wind out of her. She felt dazed as she clung onto the handle of the bike, using it to anchor herself. Towards the center of the crowd she heard people yelling. The beeping started to speed up, then stopped altogether.

[b]”… Welcome aboard!”[/b]

The crowd around her had significantly thinned, and Ryen could just make out through the crammed bodies, the face of the ringleader and the man who’d picked her up off the ground. [b]”What just happened?”[/b] Ryen said to a Beetlebung standing next to her. It did what, Ryen could only guess, was a kind of shrug. 

Ryen continued to watch as the ringleader called on a rather shy woman. The woman had shiny brown hair and looked a few years older than Ryen. What the string of words she could catch the other woman was an information gatherer and she looked as frightened of the ringleader as Ryen felt. Around her, more people began to peel away from the crowd. The young woman looked to her left and saw there was a clear escape path. She was wasting time here, precious time she couldn’t afford to lose. Plus, she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to be a part of this.

[b]”Who here is a mechanic!”[/b]

Ryen didn’t even have to think about it. [b]”I am!”[/b] Arms went up and waved in the air. Meanwhile the crowd around her bellowed their irritation. When the ringleader shouted for the mechanics to come closer, Ryen tried to obey. A nervous feeling sat low in her belly as she struggled to the front of the crowd. It wasn’t easy going, and a few members of the crowd made it purposefully difficult to pass. It didn’t surprise her that she was the last mechanic to arrive.

Ryen recognized a few in her group and from what little she knew about them, she suspected she had a good shot at the position. Dr. Zarks, a Alborege who arrived a few years ago, was droning on about his advanced bionics. Ryen turned her attention over to the crew members that had already been chosen now that she had a better view. All were young, although all were older than her. She didn’t recognize the doctor or the technician but Alexandrion was a big city so it wasn’t surprising. Suddenly, Ryen realized that the soldier from before was waving at her. Quickly she gave a small wave back and turned her attention to Dr. Zarks.

[b]”And that is why I would make an impeccable mechanic aboard your ship.”[/b]

The girl eyed the ringleader, trying to judge his reaction to the Alborege’s speech. Indifferent? Uninterested? Neutral? The next alien mechanic launched into a speech about his research in the area of “The medical uses of easily grown biosphere flora”. Half-way through the speech Ryen let out a small sigh. Or at least she thought it was small, but from the looks she got from her fellow mechanics, it was obvious everyone heard her. Feeling sheepish, the young woman studied the cement floor. 

By the fifth alien’s speech, Ryen felt jittery. Nothing any of them said seemed to have an effect on their ringleader. What was the man looking for exactly? She wished she knew why he’d picked the other crewmembers. Meanwhile her stomach was doing summersaults as she considered what she should say. There were plenty of good scientists here and other mechanics with far more experience then she had. Would he take pity on her if she told him why she needed to get off the planet immediately? The stern line of his mouth told her no. How to convince him then?

The six aliens stepped back, allowing the human mechanics some room. After some minor squabbling, the order of their speeches was decided, with the “real scientist” going first and the progeny going second. Ryen could barely hide her irritation at the woman standing next to her as she took a few steps forward on her fuchsia stiletto heels. She was the kind of woman other women liked to hate. She was tall, curvy, and had straight black hair that fell just past her shoulders. She was attractive and she knew it. Unconsciously, Ryen brushed off the dirt on her jacket from her fall.

[b]”I am Dr. Sara Thif.”[/b] The woman announced and reached up to tuck a strand of black hair behind her ear. It reminded Ryen of the advice columns she used to scour through in grade school. [i]”Flirting isn’t just about words- it also involves body language! Touching your hair, making eye contact, leaning closer all show him you’re interested.”[/i] [b]”I think I would be a perfect addition to your crew.”[/b]

Ryen fought the urge to groan. Had the woman really purred the last word? She’d just have to hope the ringleader wasn’t picking up what this lady was dropping. [b]”I assisted Dr. Kenth, the Dr. Kenth in the discovery of a method for re-application of anti-ionization anodes.”[/b]

[b]”I also helped him!”[/b] this came from the gentleman at Ryen’s right. He had blonde hair streaked with grey and a clean cut suit. One look from Dr. Sara Thif, however silence him.

[b]”As I’m sure you know,”[/b] she continued on, her cantor still smooth as silk, [b]”Anti-ionization anodes are critical in a ship because they prevent ordinary wear and tear.”[/b]

[b]”From uncontrolled oxidation or in layman’s words, rusting.”[/b] This was from the man again.

[b]”Yes, Dr. Perthel, I was getting to that. They are also used in water recycling units to combine with the excess chemicals used during the treatment process. This creates larger particles that can then be filtered out.”[/b]

[b]”As I’m sure you’re aware, these rods must be replaced periodically, and are quite costly. As of yet no one has been able to find a way to recharge them. Well, I mean there are ways, but they end up being more costly that the original…”[/b]

[b]”Dr. Kenth and I discovered that there was a way to reuse these rods. Anodes, as I’m sure you’re aware, release electrons and therefore start the flow of current. By double oxidizing the anode with the aid of a demagnizer, you can easily charge an energy cell.”[/b]

Ryen felt like she was sitting in the middle of an air-tennis court, as the two scientists lobbed words back and forth across her head.

[b]”You’re boring him, Dr. Thif. What he really wants to know about is the combat capabilities. Under Dr. Kenth, I looked into…”[/b]

[b]”Who cares about that? Most ships are loaded up with more than enough fire power. Taking out a few collision meteors is the child’s play. What you should really be using the rods for is extra power to…”[/b]

They argued back and forth for a good five minutes, until both finally calmed down enough to realize the ring leader didn’t appear to be interested in them anymore. This was ideal since Ryen was still standing in between them and once or twice she was worried they’d come to blows. 

[b]”So then,”[/b] the ringleader said frowning, [b]”Why are either of you special?”[/b]

Ryen was so stunned by the question, she forgot what she had planned on saying. Why was she special? Well for one, her genius of a father implanted a memory chip in her brain when she was a child. And for another, someone had just murdered that same father and was possibly, no probably, going after her next. But she wasn’t about to tell this stranger that. Especially, when he eyed them like they were flecks of lint. Well then, what should she say? But the man on the other side of Dr. Thif spoke up before Ryen could even open her mouth. 

[b]”I’m special because I graduated second in my class. I’ve been a mechanic on three different ships, one that flew all the way to Trina Eriva. And, unlike those two, I’ve got real world experience. Sure you can sit in a lab all day and twiddle your thumbs and work on meaningless things like laparoscopic antenna and using old anodes to power fuel cells, but in the end how useful are they?”[/b] Ryen peered around Dr. Thif to look at the speaker. Something in his words didn’t add up. If he was a scientist’s child and he graduated second in his class, why was he only working as a mechanic? [b]”As for her,”[/b] Ryen almost jumped as the man met her eyes, [b]”The only thing special about her is her father. I suppose you must want to get out from under his shadow.”[/b]

Ryen just continued to stare at the man. She didn’t understand his venom towards herself nor did she remember them meeting before right now. It wasn’t too surprising that he recognized who she was though. Her father had always been big about publicity. 
	
[b]”He’s right,”[/b] Ryen said, looking into the ringmaster’s deep blue eyes. [b]”I’m not special.”[/b] The crowd that had gathered started to settle down a bit, but Ryen couldn’t hear that because of the ringing in her ears. What was she doing? This was not the speech she mentally rehearsed. [b]”My father is Dr. Arleth, most known for his contributions to Artificial Intelligence. In fact most AIs from automated trash collectors to merchant and cargo-ships have had their logi-tecx matrix improved by my father. I am not my father, but I have worked under him all my life.”[/b]

[b]”The AI is the brain of a ship, but the mechanic is her limbs. She tells them was is wrong and it’s their job to fix it. A ship is useless if her mechanic doesn’t know what they’re doing.”[/b] She turned to the three people by the ship’s airlock, [b]”And a crew is useless without a ship.”[/b] The man in the white lab-coat, the one Ryen assumed was the doctor, just shrugged. She didn’t like that he seemed so careless. She didn’t like that he smoked. She didn’t like that he wore his lab coat around like an overcoat- the purpose of the garment being to protect the patient and the doctor and help promote a sanitary environment. Ryen very much doubted that coat could have been called sanitary for a while. The solider smiled. The female technician shuddered.

[b]”Besides being an adept mechanic, I have other skills.”[/b]

[b]”Yeah, like what?”[/b] this reply came from the same prodigy.

[b]”Well, I can…”[/b] This part was hard. This went against everything she’d been taught. For years she’d go to school and learn the basics and then she’d go home and the real work would begin. Every evening, most weekends. During dinner, after story time. Languages, word definitions, the history of the Federation, important scientific advancements, a basic catalogue of alien races, the stats of thirty-seven planets under the Federation’s control, native plant species of Syrae, the placement of major galaxies. Simply hearing it and repeating it back wasn’t enough. Sometimes she had to read it, sometimes she had to write it, sometimes she had to build it. Short term memory can hold about nine facts. But simply putting something into short term memory is not enough. Information must be placed in my brain’s long term memory in order for the memory chip there to work. 

At first Ryen’s father tutored her out of the sheer fun of learning. Then it became a sort of challenge to him to see just how much information she could store and recall. Her mother didn’t like it, and thanks to her urgings Ryen some much needed breaks in the routine. As Ryen got older, her father’s attempts to stuff information into her brain became more adamant. She started to rebel. She couldn’t understand the point of knowing everything if she couldn’t show it. She hated playing dumb. 

Her parents fought more often while Ryen struggled to memorize the information in the books her father bought. Sometimes it took hundreds of times for her brain to place information into long term memory. Sometimes the facts were wrong. But sometimes it only took once. She could still remember what her father’s voice sounded like when he explained that her mother wasn’t coming back. How the house felt when there were no arguments. Ryen was only eleven at the time.

After that, her father stopped tutoring her, out of guilt, and turned his attention to other pursuits. Two years back, when school ended, she started working with her father again. Only this time the research wasn’t focused on Ryen. Ryen was just one of many lab assistance in her father’s perpetual obsession with intelligence- artificial and otherwise. 

[b]”I can speak three languages fluently,”[/b] she announced, offer a broad smile. [b]”Common Tongue, obviously, and intergalactic Shgardunish, and…”[/b]

[b]”I can speak five.”[/b]

[b]”Five?”[/b] a red eyebrow went up as she peered around Dr. Thif. Even the two human scientists seemed surprised at the man’s statement. [b]”Really, five different languages fluently?”[/b]

Just like the good doctor, the man shrugged. [b]”It’s not that difficult.”[/b]

Ryen bit back the urge to call him a liar, it was childish even if it was true. [b]”Well, I also…”[/b]

[b]”No one cares.”[/b]

Ryen fumed. Around her she could feel the crowd growing restless. This entire affair had gone on long enough. She needed to think of something fast. Then it occurred to her, if the ship was as new as it looked, it was possible it had an AI designed by her father.

[b]”Ship, 706-55539,”[/b] she said reading off the ship’s front plate, [b]”-20193-883. I am assistant 7099 colon gamma 5. I need you to run a quarry for me.”[/b] She waited for the ship to reply but nothing happened. Ryen went on regardless. [b]”Would it be possible for me to use the verbal code 78-hexaB22998-1-57 to override your weapons controls and order you to shoot this man?”[/b] she pointed to the mechanic who’d been harassing her.

[b]”No.”[/b]

It was a distant sounding mechanical female voice.

 [b]”Please repeat,”[/b] Ryen commanded.

It was slightly louder this time. [b]”No.”[/b]

[b]”And Why not?”[/b] Ryen said feeling bemused instead of annoyed, her arms folded across her chest.

[b]”Because you’re not the captain.”[/b]