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“Please list all rules and regulations related to assumed command if the captain is unavailable or incapacitated,” the electronic voice asked her.
“Oh fuck,” Apollonia muttered.
“That is not a rule or regulation,” it helpfully said. “If you would like to check your book, feel free now.”
She was tempted, but it felt like a cowardly move. Surely this wasn’t really supposed to help her learn when she could just check?
“You can look,” Jaya noted, glancing up from her desk. “This is an early exam. The point is not to catch you being wrong, but to help you become comfortable navigating information, Ms. Nor. No one knows all the rules and regulations early on.”
“I spent all last night studying,” Apollonia replied. “I know this.”
Ever since she’d told Jaya that she wanted to join the crew, the woman had been helping her to prepare for her Command Aptitude Test.
It was much more than simply a written test, she’d been told, but precisely what it would be was not something Jaya could tell her.
“Like with actual duty, we cannot prepare for every eventuality. We must learn precepts that prepare us to act in the face of calamity,” the Commander had told her.
Looking back at the screen, Apollonia knew she could do it. She’d never had a lot of chance to get schooling, besides the automated programs for children on Vitriol.
But she’d wanted to learn. She began to input the answers to the question.
Regulation 71.a stipulated that the Executive Commander took charge if the Captain was out of action.
72.a stated that in absence of the Executive Commander, the Chief of Operations would take control.
That one had surprised her; Jaya was a serious woman, clearly at the top of her field. But Apollonia hadn’t known she was third in line to command the ship.
It had to entail a lot of responsibility. But despite that, Jaya had taken the time, gone out of her way, to help a complete moron like herself.
Looking over her answers, Apollonia really didn’t feel like she was doing a great job. These questions had just stuck in her mind, but she didn’t think she’d really learned the rules that well yet.
She added two more. Each time she completed one, it noted her success, and showed the exact wording if she was off.
She’d missed two, but she’d gotten eight. That was good, right?
The next question was regarding rules about foreign nationals on the ship – another one she’d found herself interested in during her readings. It was lucky they were asking things she actually knew.
When the next question had also been on a topic she’d found interesting – that of rations for crew – she frowned.
“It seems like this is just asking me about the things I remember the best. But how can it know?”
Jaya glanced up again. “You are correct. Your system – all of our systems – notice where our eyes go, what catches our interest. Right now it is attempting to drill those aspects into your mind. It helps to form a core or basis for further learning.”
Apollonia stared. “You mean it’s watching me all the time?”
“Whenever you’re looking at it. You need not worry; all personal biometric data is kept internally in your system. It is entirely normal.”
“It’s creepy,” she said.
“Observation is universal and ubiquitous in the Sapient Union, Ms. Nor. We are an extremely open society, and we believe that it helps us all stay safe and free. Of course we have privacy at times it is appropriate, but-“
“Would it turn someone in? If they committed a crime,” Apollonia asked.
“That is a complex question – but no, they do not do that. It is unnecessary and helps people feel comfortable with their privacy – and helps prevent people from tampering with them to gain some sort of ‘edge’. But since many actions cause your system to connect to external systems, or you simply move within the scanning range of other systems, those ones will typically note illegal behaviour. It’s not a common occurrence, however.”
“But we are being monitored.”
“Yes.”
“Doesn’t that ever bother you?” Apollonia asked.
“Perhaps if I had not grown up in it, it would. Or if our conditions were those of an exploited class, watched by rulers who only viewed us as sources of profit or potential criminals, yes. But for me, I feel a simple comfort knowing that we do not have terrorism, no one need live in fear. Not of attack, and not of want or privation.” She hesitated, then nodded, as if admitting a caveat. “Save for in times of disaster.”
“Does that happen often?” Apollonia asked, sitting back and watching the woman curiously.
“There are nearly 15,000 human-colonized systems, and many times that in the entire Sapient Union. By dint of the sheer scale of our civilization, yes, somewhere within it there is a crisis going on at this moment. Likely not a massive one, but perhaps a colony is having a problem with its fusion reactors, or miners believe they are being mistreated and someone is attempting to hide dirty deeds. When such things happen, we learn of them because of the openness of our society and are able to respond swiftly and effectively to make sure it is put right.”
“Okay,” Apollonia said. What Jaya said made logical sense; without knowing about a problem it couldn’t be fixed. But, even though the officers she had personally met so far had seemed to be good people, it seemed impossible to think that all of them, everywhere, were.
“So how do you make sure that-“
She was cut off by a beep from her tablet. Looking down, she saw a priority alert. She’d set her system to block anything less than that.
“You should take that,” Jaya noted.
Clicking on the message, she just saw text.
“Your presence has been requested at Earth Command Headquarters,” it read, and she saw that Captain Brooks was the sender.
“You are not required to go, but I highly recommend it. Transport will be provided. Pack your bags and be ready to leave by 1600 hours.”
She looked up to Jaya, her face in shock.
“I’m going to see Earth,” she breathed.
Other Terrestrial 