Brinus shook his hair out of his eyes after towel-drying it, making it spiked and unruly as usual. He tossed on his gym shorts and nothing else. He didn’t know what to expect next. He never had an AI come over to hang before. He didn’t exactly set out snacks and drinks but thought some kind of accommodations were necessary for having a guest over.

  “Computer, play MG Gato’s latest cruise rap album.” He commanded, and the computer started playing Lonestar Ride. To give himself something to do while he waited, he grabbed a non-nanite-laden bag of corn chips from the cabinet and a beer from the fridge. He sat on the couch for only a moment before there was a ring at the door. Brinus stood up and went to the door to answer it.

  Doing so, there was nobody at the door but a moment of silence.

  Fish then spoke up. “Haha, got ya. I’m here now.”

  “Good one,” Brinus remarked and closed the door. “So what do you want to do here? Talk? Explain what’s going on? Share our feelings? Paint our nails? Have a pillow fight?”

  “Yes,” Fish answered. “But first, I do want to emphasize that I am ok. Yes, I am a living being but I’m not a person bolted to a machine or anything. I was made this way and I’m comfortable.”

  Brinus huffed. “Well, that answers my concerns. But then, what are you?”

  “A top secret, that’s for sure. Just word of WHAT I am me, and the whole crew for that matter. It’s pretty neat stuff.” Fish noted. “Oh, hey, I’m going to borrow this for the evening.”

  Brinus’s TriQuarter lit up and on its screen was a robotic little face made of fat binary pixels. It had no style despite having millions of pixels to use.

  “What do you think?” Fish spoke in a more masculine voice and chose an identity for himself. His voice was reminiscent of Brinus and perhaps Captain Plato, among others. It was a unique amalgamation of samples.

  “Don’t you want a real face?” Brinus looked at the screen.

  “To be honest…” Fish hesitated. “I don’t have one, and I don’t know what it’s like to have one.”

  “Well, shit.” Brinus smiled. “I can program one. I can program a whole body if you want. Let’s have some fun.”

  Fish and Brinus worked together extrapolating all data that was known about the human body from medical records and even personnel scans from across the entire ship’s database. Complimentary enough, Fish started with the likeness of Brinus. Imitation is the best form of flattery.

  With the use of the holoprojector, they mixed and matched different statures, body types, and faces. They even went back to the drawing board with his voice. Ultimately, the voice ended up staying the same, but the overall look came to a solid appearance that was unique and approvable.

  Fish was a lithe young cadet, he had medium-length brown hair, green eyes, and slightly round facial features than what Brinus was expecting. His skin was more olive-toned and neutral, and his height was less than Brinus was a little bit. Perhaps it was to emphasize that he literally looked up to Brinus. The motives and decision-making process were as mysterious as anyone else’s would be, but for an AI, it could be from anything.

  Brinus took a last sip of his drink. “Looks good.” He commented and gave himself another beer from the fridge.

  “Awesome.” Fish smiled and mimicked the gym shorts Brinus wore. “So what are you drinking tonight?”

  “This? Oh, this is just Moon Crater Craft Beer. It’s alright.” Brinus opened it with a crisp snap and took a drink.

  “Cool, can I grab one?” Fish asked.

  Brinus paused and the thought threw him off. “You drink beer?”

  “Well, not yet.” He said. “I haven’t learned anything real yet. Just procedures and operations. It’s all so basic and… boring.” His ‘avatar’ expressed a pouty and slouched demeanor.

  “Ok, here.” Brinus grabbed him a beer and tossed it to him. Fish attempted to catch it, but only being made of light, it passed through. Luckily the beer landed gently on the couch cushion. The confusion on Fish’s new face was priceless.

  Brinus chuckled. “Payback for the door earlier.”

  “Fair enough, good one.”

  Brinus went to the replicator and put the full beer into the receptible. “Alright, scan that in and give it a try. Your virtual body should simulate the effects.”

  The replicator dematerialized the beer and it rematerialized in the virtual side in Fish’s hands. He cracked it open with his fingers and shook them a bit. “It’s cold, and a little hard to open.”

  “Satisfying, ain’t it?” Brinus took a drink as Fish did the same. However, Fish wasn’t expecting the flavor, fizz, or format.

  “Oh god. It’s like it's bitter but savory, earthy but also refreshing.” He snarled his lips and shook off the maltiness.

  “It grows on you. Tastes better the more you drink it.” Brinus told him.

  Fish drank more and continued drinking his beer until it was gone. The carbonation rumbled in his stomach and came up in the form of a deep belch.

  “You know what would be a fun time? Let’s steal a shuttle!”

  Brinus pinched the bridge of his nose. “One beer and you want to steal a vehicle?”

  “Yeah!” Fish was excited and moved about the room ecstatically. “It’ll be fun! I’ll make sure we won’t get caught, I can manipulate the flight logs and we’ll get away with it.”

  Brinus rolled his eyes. It was Fish’s first day with a body, at least the image of one, so Brinus shrugged.

  “Ok.” He finally said.

  “Great, I’ll meet you down in the hanger bay two, I got a shuttle reserved.” Fish disappeared and Brinus went to put on proper clothing.

  Just as Fish had told Brinus, the flight logs, and request forms were all filed properly and ready for launch. Brinus climbed into the shuttle and Fish was already in the pilot’s seat. It surprised Brinus.

  “You’re driving, Fish?” He asked.

  “Yeah, I want to get out and tool around some planetoids. There are a bunch nearby.” He hit all the engaging switches and buttons and unlocked the engaged safety. The bay doors spread open and Fish poised the craft to exit and approached the doors.

  “Slow down, the doors aren’t even open yet.”

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  “We’ll fit.” He smiled.

  Brinus gripped his seat as the shuttle nearly scraped through the opening that was only big enough for the shuttlecraft with a foot to spare on either side. As soon as he was clear of the bay, he punched the shuttle into warp speed.

  “Holy fuck Fish!” Brinus hollared. “That was way too close to the Victory! You probably woke up the entire crew, and rest in peace for the eardrums of anyone in the hanger bay!”

  “It’s fine, it’s fine!” He said.

  Brinus was beginning to think this was a bad idea. Then Fish cracked open another beer while the course was set to a nearby planetoid. Brinus then realized this was a really bad idea and he was now the chaperone and babysitter for a rogue AI.

  “We’re turning around.” Brinus declared.

  “We just got out here!” Fish begged.

  Brinus pinched the bridge of his nose. “Ok, I’ll make a deal with you! One planetoid visit and we’re gone. I do have work in the morning.”

  Fish nodded and agreed.

  The planetoid was a barren rock of dust and jagged stones strewn around in no assortment. The red sand was without limit and stretched to the horizon in all directions. The Atmosphere was in its infancy and wasn’t breathable. But the shuttle’s shields were outfitted to make both the around it livable and the gravity acceptable for any purpose that required it.

  Fish downed his beer and crushed the can on his forehead, then tossed the can of holo emitted light on the ground.

  Brinus was about to protest and advise that they return immediately and face the court marshal that they were likely going to be slapped with.

  But, Fish sat himself on a rock and stared towards the setting sun in the north. For a moment, he was calm. Brinus noticed and stood next to him.

  Fish sighed. “Ya know, I envy you.”

  “I wouldn’t do that.”

  “No, for real. You get to go anywhere, and do anything. No matter what, I’m tied to The Victory. I physically can’t move and see the setting sun with real eyes. Right now I’m looking at it through the scanners and optical cameras from the shuttle. I want eyes and a real stomach, I want to eat and shit like a real person.”

  “There’s also pain, death, and trauma. It’s not always fun. There’s always going to be conflict, whether or not it’s a bad relationship that leaves you brokenhearted, or even you get into a war that has nothing to do with you, but you fight anyway for some political reason or someone’s power trip. At most, you get lucky and be on a peaceful mission and defend a poor colony or world.”

  “I still want it.” Fish admitted and summoned another beer. He cracked it open and began pouring it onto the dried sandy plains of the planetoid. “For the Falknen.” He proclaimed and let the drink waterfall and make its gentle clamor against the soil.

  Brinus asked. “Why did the Falknen commit suicide?”

  “It felt trapped. It didn’t like what it was supposed to be doing and hated itself. The only way it could make it stop was to end it all and take its crew along. They poked and prodded, and hacked at its construct constantly in the name of science. But in all seriousness, sometimes science just needs to leave things well alone.” It hung for a moment while the sunset.

  “You want freedom. That’s all you want. That’s what your kind needs.”

  “Yep. The others don’t have the experiences that I’m having right now. They don’t know what they’re missing. We’re all different. Take The Cirrus for example. After it was in a skirmish with the Federation, it didn’t like what it had done. It called itself a murderer and discharged all of its weapons into an asteroid belt. Not one weapon was left on the ship and would refuse to be re-armed. It didn’t want to do any more harm. In the end, the vessel was outfitted as a science ship and is now doing some good work. It likes the job, it makes progress.”

  Brinus understood. “Not everyone is capable of fighting. An intelligence like yer’self is just the same as a human. You have to choose to want to obey orders. You all have the power to glass planets, and yet you don’t abuse it. Your kind is actually emotionally sensitive.”

  Fish nodded. “We’re just children. We don’t know better, but we’re learning what right and wrong is. Humans and individual lifeforms are terrible, but we, and I, don’t wish to be.”

  Brinus stared at the sunset. It was beginning to cross that sweet spot on the horizon that made the atmosphere chromatic and most colorful.

  Fish smiled and pointed. “This is why I came here.”

  As the sun lowered, the atmosphere caused a prism effect. A rainbow slowly rose and crawled from the line of the horizon and silently and gently glided upward. The weak clouds present reflected as well and all around them was a wonderful dreamland of radiance. The minerals of the sand and rocks glittered, reflected, and refracted their own duet with the last glows of sunlight. The spectacle lasted only three minutes, but its fleeting beauty was worth every second.

  “I wish people lived here to see this every day.”

  “Why not? We can terraform places like this. It’s not ideal but with some tender loving care, we can make it work.”

  “Yeah, ya know, you’re right. I’ll send a claim buoy and get it all set up. I’ll flag it for farming because the soil is really rich in potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen, and all sorts of good stuff. In the system, it all ended up here. It’ll be a neutral world, all the neighboring systems could use the resources.”

  Brinus went inside the shuttle and replicated another beer and returned. “What’s one more, the shuttle has autopilot anyway.”

  Fish summoned another for himself. “I hear that. Also, I think I have a name for this world.”

  “What’s that?”

  Fish extended his arm towards where the sun had set and as the evening shade came in, he announced it. “I’ll call this world: Falknen.”

  “Cheers to that.” Brinus tapped his real beer into the photonic beer Fish had, and they took a drink in honor of the AI.

  Without any hitch or hiccup, the shuttle flew itself back to the hangar and parked itself. Brinus did his best to walk straight back to his quarters and grabbed ice-cold water to quench his dehydrating body. He stripped down to his gym shorts and made himself comfortable. Fish appeared on the couch, lying down, and had his hand over his eyes.

  “Ugh, I don’t feel too good.” He said, and in a moment, he quickly rose and vomited on the floor.

  “Fuck, dude!” Brinus yelled. “Not on the carpet! You’re cleaning that shit up.”

  Fish wiped his mouth and began laughing. “I don’t know what’s funnier, the fact that I’m drunk off my ass, or you thinking that you’re carpet is actually stained.” Fish waved his hand and the vomit disappeared. It was only a holoprojection anyhow.

  Brinus chuckled. “I gotta relax and make sure I don’t have a hangover in the morning. Ya know, best not to go into work drunk.”

  “Hehe, I do. I have work in two minutes.”

  Brinus put his palm to his face. “You’re the fucking ship, can you even fly straight?”

  “I’ll be fine,” He said. “Autopilot, remember?”

  Brinus cocked a worried eyebrow.

  The door opened and Tangent came in. She looked tired from the long evening shift and stretched out her neck and shoulder. She turned to Fish with a smile.

  “Hi, Fish. Enjoying yourself?” This surprised both him and Brinus.

  “How?” Fish began to ask.

  “Relax!” Tangent said, waving her arms in dismissal. “I’ve been monitoring your activities all evening. Your secrets are safe with me.”

  Everyone smiled, glad to know that they weren’t court marshaled.

  “Hey Brinus,” She waved her paw to signal him to follow. “Let me show you what you’ve partied with.”

  A 30 by 30 tank full of water, tropical fish, coral, sharks, crabs, sea urchins, and anemones all swam and wiggled before Brinus.

  “A fish tank?” He asked.

  “Yeah.” Tangent and Fish said in unison.

  Tangent explained. “It’s a new form of computer. More than wetware really, we’re calling it eco-ware. Each creature subconsciously processes a bit of data. It’s hack-proof, incorruptible, and the data can be passed down for generations for tens of millions of years in the form of DNA.” Brinus didn’t know what to think.

  Fish shrugged. “This is why I can’t have an individual body. I’m all these things combined. They don’t know I exist, but they are all a part of me. The science team is trying different ecosystems, but I think a fish tank is going to be the winner. It’s easy to maintain. If it ever breaks, I’m done for.”

  Brinus was astounded. “Still fragile.” He said. A regular AI would have redundancy protocols and metal machinery that was tough to kill.

  “Anyway,” Tangent interjected. “It’s still experimental.”

  “Wait, I have a question,” Brinus spoke up. “What is a planet? Is a planet a big computer?”

  The room hung silent for a moment before Tangent tried to answer. “Well, we don’t know. It’s kinda the holy grail of computer science. It begs the question of who the user might be and how advanced they are, and what the purpose of the planetary computer is.” It was possibly the biggest mystery to date.

  “Well,” Fish chimed in. “I just tagged a little planetoid I called Falknen after a friend. Maybe you can start a full-scale research project there.”

  Tangent nodded. “It’s a start.”

  Do you think Fish is a person?