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“I’m going to try to fix everything, I guess. I thought I’d figured it out before. But I’ve realized the issue wasn’t resources, it’s people. So I am going to try to figure out how to get people to be better. I’m not sure how, but with enough time, I can figure it out.”
“You’d have to install implants in every person to do that,” she said. “Otherwise, the best way to make people better is simply to be a better person yourself.”
“I don’t think I could get away with putting microchips in everyone. I was just going to try to figure out how to address the root causes of large-scale conflicts.” Which is why he’d created Q-Cells, an almost endless battery. They could have addressed literally everyone’s energy consumption needs and people had turned them into bombs.
“That’s called emotions. You can take away every motivation of greed, and you’re still left with love and revenge. They will always argue. Wars have started over women before, you know?”
“It’s not emotions. It’s resources and cultural differences fanning them. If I can perfect a universal translator, figure out how to convert energy to matter, and make an energy source that can provide and take advantage of that. Then we can get every civilization to a post-scarcity state. With unlimited resources, there will be nothing to fight over. Especially if I make it so widespread that the greedy people who convince others to fight for them can’t find people willing to do that anymore,” Quinn said, looking at her a bit annoyed she argued with him about this. Also, inadvertently, revealing that despite his attempts at a gruff exterior, he was an idealist.
She shook her head. “Why did you come after me, Quinn? On the Eikos?”
“Because Watson informed me you’d been drugged,” the man responded with a shrug of his shoulders. “Unless you mean why did I care? In which case, I think I had a whole mental breakdown about it and you were there.”
“Do you think those men had any intention of doing anything remotely legal after they’d drugged me? They did not know who I was, only that I served aboard the Callistar. Greed did not motivate them, but other things, and so were you when you crossed over to save me.”
“So, are you trying to talk me out of trying to figure out how to fix these problems?” Quinn snapped at her with surly irritation. “I’ll figure something out for slimy bastards. Stick them in a holo chamber or something like that. Problem, solution, Kira.”
“So, if you somehow achieve galactic peace, what’s next?”
“I don’t know. I guess try to figure out how to live a normal life. That, or ascend into some kind of higher intelligence. Either or.”
“Well, you’re part of the way to your first goal.”
“If you say so.”
A drone slid in his mental triggers sending for it automatically. His plate was empty. He was done; it responded.
“Hela could teach you to cook. If you’re going to be alone, you might as well have good food.” Her suggestion, the quickness, a plausible explanation by the algorithm he was developing came up, she stalled.
“I... hmmm.” His plan had just been to set up a drone farm that would gather up what grew, reduce it to a nutrient slurry and then add some of the pre-manufactured flavorings. But Kira had shown him that homemade food tasted a lot better. “Suppose I could.”
“She’s a better teacher than me, much more patient.” Kira began clearing the table, a drone helped. He noticed she didn’t complain this time.
“I’ll bear that in mind.” Considering Kira’s patience was a bit all over the place, he wasn’t actually sure what to make of her statement. Either way, he followed her up to the Astrium with no complaining.
She used the scanner to enter, then approached the projection ring. He waited patiently for her by the open door. It had been a mark of his respect to her since he’d not included any kind of bypass for himself. Admittedly, he could still get it open if he really wanted to, but he couldn’t do it easily.
Once inside, he found himself pleased that she had apparently approved of his changes to the room, since it remained as he left it. With the lights dimmed, and the star projector on, it would be easy to think they just walked into a forested clearing. In fact, the new silence he’d brought to the ship really helped with the illusion.
“This was really thoughtful of you.” Manually programming the projector, her eyes were down. “I’d never really thought to change it before, but you made it perfect.”
“I just researched serene spaces and cross-referenced with things I knew you enjoyed. It didn’t take that long to figure out or put together.” He fidgeted, uncomfortable with the praise.
“A lot of people wouldn’t have bothered. It was really sweet. Though, I am sorry I tried to hug you afterwards, I was meaning it to be grateful.”
She sat next to him with those last words. A sweet, closed-mouth smile played across her face as music played behind her. Soft and smooth, the melody flowed over them.
“Yeah, I figured that out. Didn’t help at the moment, but… yeah.” She was very touchy feely, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Falling into the warmth and comfort of the familiarity of their routine, the mattress enveloped him.
When he’d first sat down, he tucked his knees up to his chest. His body language instinctively went to what cut him off the most, slowly relaxing as the music played and the stars twinkled above. Enough to lean back and let his head rest against the pillow. He was, in some ways, good company for this, since he had no issue sitting in silence. Temporarily disabling his neural link, there were enough distractions in the room.
Kira got up to make popcorn, making a game of trying to catch it in her mouth, which she wasn’t very good at, and she laughed when she missed.
It took some convincing to get him to try, and he proved to be incredibly inept at it. With his neural net disabled, his coordination was laughably poor. Though she quickly picked up that razzing him was not the best solution, since he stopped trying when she did.
“It’s friendly teasing Quinn. I don’t mean anything by it.”
“You had to mean something or you wouldn’t have said it,” Quinn grumped out. He’d not taken off in a huff or kicked her off her own ship this time, but she pushed things too far, too quickly.
