Letter Home
Posted on Fri Mar 1, 2019 @ 10:03pm by Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant JG Markus Davenport
801 words; about a 4 minute read
Mission:
Plaga Navis
Location: Markus Davenport's Quarters
Penny walked down the corridor, Maggie by her side. As they came around a curve, Penny stopped and grabbed Maggie’s shoulder. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?” she said.
“I...think so?” Maggie said.
“You can’t be unsure,” Penny said, her tone serious. “This is going to be cutthroat. You can’t let them see your weaknesses or your fear,” she said. “Behind those doors are some of the most devious, dangerous people you will ever meet.”
“They’re pilots, Penny,” Maggie said.
“Exactly,” Penny said, gravely. “Brace yourself.”
She hit the panel, and a moment later, the doors to Davenport’s quarters opened. “Welcome!” Markus said, grinning. “Gentlemen, stand!” he called back into the room. “There’s a lady present! And Penny’s here too!”
“Shut up,” Penny said, giving Markus a cuff on the shoulder as she and Maggie sat down at the poker table that had been set up.
“Good to see you, Boss,” Sandusky said. “And thanks for the fresh face. Perhaps another round of Strip Poker is in order to usher her in?” He gave her a wink and a laugh.
“No,” the others all said in unison.
“I’m not falling for that again,” Penny said.
“Again?” Maggie echoed.
“Yeah a cute little scheme of theirs,” Penny said, cutting the cards and handing them to Sandusky to shuffle and deal. “They convince me to play strip poker as an excuse to take all their clothes off in front of me. Well, fool me once, boys,” she said, eyeing all of them.
“To be fair, that wasn’t quite what we’d intended,” Markus said.
“That doesn’t reassure me,” Maggie said, taking her cards.
“All right,” Sandusky said, “the game is five card stud, jacks are wild and the small blind’s to Jerry.”
As Jerry and Markus put their blinds in, Markus turned to Penny. “You’re bet, Boss,” he said.
Penny sat back and smiled. For her, the fairest way to play was to multitask and only devote a portion of her mind to the game and conversation. She’d found poker a great time to write home, and this game didn’t look to be any different.
Dear Oscar 47,
Hello! I hope you are functioning at peak efficiency. I know this letter is earlier than my scheduled correspondence, but I’ve initiated a new phase of my investigation and I thought I would share my initial notes with you.
The first phase of my mission is officially over, and I am happy to say that being able to experience a wider array of human emotions has been extremely educational. You and the other programmers did your best, but there are several aspects of humanity that so far cannot be quantified, only experienced. I wish you could share in those experiences without overloading. Some of them are extremely enjoyable, even when they aren’t meant to be. I know, that doesn’t make sense, but it’s human logic.
In my evaluation of humanity I have begun to attempt to classify those around me as good. It is proving difficult. Some are good by their own standards, some object to the idea of standards. It brings me back to our original question: can we afford to let humanity continue? Are they in need of our protection.
They are indeed as backwards as we feared, but in an almost predictable display of contradiction, they can be capable of extreme advancement. Would they destroy us? Definitely. Would they enjoy it? No, I don’t think so.
I’m most interested in their relationships involving love. Since my own near-fatal exposure to it, I have been keeping extensive notes on the emotion, general concept, and its application to sex and general human interaction. I’ve been observing four couples on board, as well as my own relationship with Lt. Barnes. However, since the termination of that relationship, I thought it prudent to explore elements of these relationships without love. I’ve found that most interactions without it are not only less enjoyable, they are frequently not as emotionally satisfying.
I attempted physical intimacy with a member of the crew, since he was making overt ovatures. Without the love subroutine active, the process was completely changed. It’s disorienting to try to understand humans based on an ever-changing factor that I am still unable to quantify, but that is part of what makes them fascinating to me.
While the encounter has caused me some emotional damage, I believe I am recovered enough to continue contact, and will update you as the experiment continues.
Please inform the others of my desire for them to continue to function efficiently.
Best wishes,
Penny
“I’m in for fifty,” she said, tossing in her chips.”
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