The Destroyer

Chapter Six

The Present

"Did you watch it all?" Abby asked Laszlo about his goals to get through every Star Trek episode from every related series, along with all of the full length feature films, within an hour.

"Sure did. You've seen it all, right?"

"Of course, who hasn't. I was concerned that if anyone knew you hadn't, it would ruin my reputation. You know, dating such a moron."

"Haha. You know, after watching Next Generation I realized, we are like the Borg in some ways."

"I have considered that. But, I think it's a little different. Each one of us is like the Borg since we have our own connected replicates. But the collective aspect amongst all of us does not control us. We are more like a society and we all have free will."

"I can see that. And the good news is we don't kidnap people and upgrade their body parts. Then turn them into zombies. We can each make our own collective from scratch."

"Some of the stuff was way off but that's like more than four hundred years ago. They got subspace communication right."

"Warp speed was a myth. So was the replicator and artificial gravity. But great imagination."

"I always thought it was odd that they could beam people around, which is highly advanced, yet when the explorers are on some new planet, they don't even have visual images going back to the ship. That's weak."

Who is your favorite character?"

Kirk, of course. He's such an emotional dude. Hilarious."

"I like Data."

"Whaaaat? Data's a machine."

"I don't care. He's sweet and he's not really a machine, anymore than you or I. You should identify more with him than a biological human at this point."

"No way. I believe the most important part is the origin of our consciousness. We have colleagues even now, that are like Data, spawned as protohumans. They are definitely off compared to us earthers."

"True. One of them was trying to hit on me. It was hilarious. A little creepy too."

"Hey, I wanted to ask you. We have been together long enough. Do you mind if we use nicknames? Is that too soon?"

"No, it's ok. I don't mind."

"Great, so what it your nickname?"

"Abby."

"Ha. Serious? What was it originally? Like, Abigail, or abracadabra?"

"No, always just Abby."

"Well then you do need a nickname. How about Abs?"

"I do have great abs."

"Who doesn't? I mean, everyone projects their own vision of a perfect body. Me? I stay ripped. But sometimes I even go a little Schwarzenegger if I want to stand up to some of these big egos. So, it's Abs?"

"OK, sure. I can't think of anything for Laszlo offhand, but I will make my proposal soon."

"Thanks, Abs," answered Laszlo, trying it out. "Talk to you after the briefing."

They were in the lecture hall/briefing room of the ship. This was a mission summary and checklist to make sure everyone was clear on their individual tasks as their position closed-in on the event horizon. They had been decelerating steadily for several years and were currently winding down their speed to reach the planned observation point, somewhere comfortably outside the horizon. While cruising at near light speed for most of the journey, their energy consumption had dramatically slowed the operating rate of the matter from which they were composed. It was an interesting dynamic that they commonly faced as they spread across the cosmos. Sub vacuum communication was swift, but replicates that travelled at near light speed were subjected to energy constraints and consequently experienced severe time dilation.