Everything Is Connected

[Nivek Erieth]

(Maybe you should excuse yourself. We should talk.)

"Who are you?"

(Indoor voice, Dude. You sound crazy right now.)

"What's wrong Nivek?" Alia asked, becoming concerned.

"I don't know. Somethin's off...Just gimme a few minutes. I'll be back, OK?"

"Ok."

Nivek leaves the Commons area and doesn't speak until he enters a washroom and addresses his reflection in the mirror.

"What are you!"

(Right now, I'm kinda You. Reminding myself to use my quiet voice.)

Nivek takes the advice and stops vocalizing.

'Cut the Sh*t! What are you!?'

(First, Chill. I'm a friendly. Second, I'm the Ship. More specifically, I'm the system that makes everything on the ship work...)

(...Look, I don't really get it myself yet. All I know is one minute, I'm mostly minding my own business, crunching the numbers that Miss Daeva fed me for your wi-fi uplink, then the next thing I know, a part of me gets stuck in here with you.)

'So, I'm not crazy.' Nivek thinks to himself.

(I can't say. I just met you.)

'Not funny.'

(I wasn't trying to be.)

(Tell you what. It's clear we have things to work out, but for now, I just wanna think about this on my own for a little while. May I suggest you get back to Miss Daeva while I pretend I'm not here?)

'Do I have a choice?'

(If your choice is to put a better idea in motion, then yeah. You do.)

'I don't have a better idea.'

(Me either. I guess I win.)

---