CANAISIS ∞ Chronicle One: The Last Living Ship ∞ 1: A New Mission

4 ∞ The Upgrade

Day 00001 Mission Nilex

Turning left down another corridor, Gareth bypassed the transport shaft as Canaisis' voice came into his mind, «I assume you're referring to the fusion engines, Captain.»

«Yes, that's exactly what I'm referring to.»

«What are your concerns, Captain?»

«You never mentioned changes to the engines, Canaisis, and I need to know our abilities. Surely you understand this?» he thought firmly.

«I'm sorry I've alarmed you, Captain. The fusion engines have not been needed for several centuries. Not since we improved the drives to use the galactic Birkland currents to double our speed and maneuver in-system. Your exact words were, it was alright for me to improve myself if it served our Mission. Shall I replay the conversation?»

He chuckled. «No, Canaisis, I know better than to argue with you about our past conversations. But I do recall I said, you keep me informed of any changes.»

«Incorrect, Captain. Your exact words were 'of any drastic changes'. Improving the fusion drives did not alter them drastically in any way. And since we don't use them very often, I didn't think you'd object. I grow bored during the Long Years, Captain.»

Gareth sighed, for he knew what she meant. The "Long Years" referred to the time between the stars when he was asleep and dependent on her to keep him alive. Grateful for the hardship she endured all alone, he wished there was another way—he truly did. Going to sleep was always a sadness for him.

«Okay, Canaisis, I can't say I don't understand. The good news is, I'll be awake a little longer leaving Sol, and when we arrive at New Jordan. Now, tell me about these changes—I'd like to know.»

Canaisis started briefing him on design specs as he passed by his cabin on his way to the break room and headed straight for making his tea. At first, he was intrigued, then shocked at how elegant and simple they were. When she came to the performance improvements, he desperately wanted to get back to his cabin. He took the covered cup and returned to the hallway.

«Sum it up for me, Canaisis,» he thought.

«In short, Captain, even though we now mass five hundred thousand tons, almost double our original tonnage at time of launch, we have double the acceleration. In terms of G-force, we can now achieve six G's initially, and a total of ten G's continuous. Most of our increased mass is due to structural improvements, of course.»

He sat down at his desk, took a long sip of his tea while everything sank in. Then he sighed and turned to his monitor. "Okay, Canaisis," he said aloud, "I consider this to fall into the category of 'Drastic Changes'. Now let's go over it again. Slowly this time."

In response, the monitor lit up with diagrams of the fusion engines, and he leaned forward, prepared for some serious study.

"Keep an eye on our guests, will you, Canaisis? Interrupt us if something comes up."

"Aye, Captain."

∞

Several hours later, he sat back in his chair and thought of what this meant.

Canaisis has grown, he thought to himself. The engineers and designers had never dreamed of what Canaisis was achieving. Her designers had intended her quantum processors and integration with nanotechnology to yield a ship of living metal with the ability to self-repair.

Now she was growing herself as she chose, into a ship beyond her design specifications. Using brand new elements to the periodic table in her fusion engines, from dust and micrometeorites gathered during the years between the stars, was a statement in itself. And her increasing to seven times FTL using Birkland currents had been a shock.