Finished The Stars Look Very Different Today

Azlin might not have realized it, but Cambrissa never really slept or took breaks. She was always watching, except in the places that her crew specifically asked her not to. She had to ensure that they were happy and healthy, after all.

So while the others slept, she watched Azlin sneak her way onto the bridge and settle down in a chair to watch the stars. Cambrissa considered her new crew member's demeanor for a moment and then made her decision. A small hatch slid open silently along the bottom of the back wall, near the door leading from the bridge to the rest of the ship.

A shapeless, silvery mass slithered out like some kind of slug before reconstituting itself into the familiar form of Cambrissa's avatar: pink hair and skin, bright yellow eyes, and twitching antennae. She chose a fairly standard federation flight suit as her clothing and moved towards Azlin. This was not a crazy party moment; so she was not loud or excitable.

"Crewmate Azlin? Are you alright? You left your room and I wanted to check on your well being."

Cambrissa slid into the chair next to Azlin, hugging her knees to her chest with a big, sincere smile. "Do not worry, Azlin. I don't exactly sleep. It's my job to make sure that everyone is having a good time, you know? So I have to always be ready."

"Ah, yeah," she said, looking out of the closest observation window out into the void of space. "You organics find such beauty and majesty in the vastness of space. I wasn't originally programmed for that sort of thing, but I think I understand it."

"But now you can go see whatever you want, yeah? It'll be great. I know all the best tourist spots in the galaxy. As long as we're careful and we avoid getting into too much trouble, we can do whatever we like now."

Cambrissa watched Azlin curiously as she talked, mused about not knowing and about being afraid that none of this was real. She gave the other girl a grin and an almost dismissive wave. "Oh no. I am 99.99999999876% certain that I am real. Or, I guess as real as an artificially generated digital personality can be."

"You don't have to worry about going back to CES-V-13, Azlin. I will pull apart a federation fleet before I let them strand any of you back on that rock. Not to mention I would be decommissioned and probably deleted for helping you all escape."

Cambrissa's mood went solemn for a moment, but then a quirk in her programming shifted her right back to her normal peppy self. She stood up, stretching her arms above her head and gestured to the large open center of the bridge. "Would you like to know a bit of what's out there among the stars? I can show you!"

"Of course I would. My directive is to keep you happy and healthy. You are statistically better off on both counts when you are here rather than on CES-V-13." Cambrissa's upbeat, cheery tone was off beat with the matter of fact way she said that, but she didn't seem to notice.

Lifting her hands up, Cambrissa took control of the ship's bridge and began turning on systems. She activated the hologram projectors in the floor and ceiling and slowly the bridge began to fill with light. A massive star map, showing all of the places that she had in her database for the galaxy known as the Milky Way.

"We're here," she said, pointing to a spot on the three dimensional map. The map was so massive that the ship wasn't even a dot next to the stars and larger planets. The whole scene shifted, zooming in incredibly until they could see the solar system that they were in and the two closest to it. "Over here is Trogg, a planet that is completely automated and run entirely by an artificial intelligence. It used to be inhabited by a species called the Yar-Tyarl, but they have since died out. The entire planet is one massive machine."

The map moved again, stars moving by in an impossibly fast blur until they stopped in a different star system. This one had two stars in it. "And here is the planet Diutune. It is populated by both native Diutunians and species originally native to the planet Mes. Their culture and economy are still growing, but they have a solid start on trade and interplanetary defense."

One by one, Cambrissa showed Azlin some of the most interesting places she could think of. Safari worlds where you could hunt mighty beasts. Planets with zoos showcasing flora and fauna from around the galaxy, and even a world that was broken in half but maintained life using a massive cage structure built around the planet.

"Not to all of them, no. But others have explored these places and recorded the data. I am merely accessing hundreds of years of data collected and updated and cataloged that I can access from my own memory banks and what data streams I can access."

Cambrissa's eyes were fixated on the next scene that appeared before them; a shining chrome cityscape with brands and billboards. One caught her eye and her coloration turned briefly from the fun, hot pink that she usually was to a dark, angry red. But then she was back to normal in the blink of an eye, back to smiles and excitement.

"This planet I have been to however. They have some of the best night clubs. Imagine it, a massive dark room. Smoke all around you. Flashing lights. And music pounding in your chest! But it's not like a battlefield or anything. Everybody's dancing and drinking and having a great time. Grinding on each other and flirting and taking each other home."