On the Persistent Problem of the Pilgrim named Morgenstern

[Coliz]

Inside the Morgenstern, December 1st, 835 AS

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Service Corridor 2 "Inheritance Procedure"

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“I am beginning to suspect,” Hans muttered to no one in particular, while ducking under a pipe that seemed to have been routed in a moment of acute despair, “that she cannot actually read those maps.”

They had been walking through the narrow service corridor for nearly ten minutes, following Dr. Huber, who advanced with the untroubled certainty of someone either entirely correct or constitutionally incapable of considering alternatives.

Without turning, she raised one hand.

“It should be exactly beyond this bend.”

A beat later, it was.

The service doors of the astro-cartographic deck emerged from shadow ahead of them.

Hans stopped.

“Well,” he said quietly, “that is mildly unsettling.”

Huber reached into an internal pocket of her uniform and handed Hermann a datapad. Old casing, Rheinland military manufacture, by the look of it. But reconditioned. Orbital markings added discreetly near the interface ports.

“Courtesy of your company,” she said. “Your technicians reactivated surviving command credentials.”

Hermann looked at it, not immediately taking in what she meant.

Huber continued, as though explaining filing procedures.

“Mark yourself as captain of the vessel. With command authorization active, we may stop forcing every hatch electronically.”

She said it the way one might discuss elevator access.

Hermann took the datapad.

The screen stirred at once.

Ancient software—newly coerced into modern obedience—came alive.

A pale interface unfolded.

Then a voice, dry and almost offended to still be employed:

Visual and tactile identity confirmed.
Captain Hermann Schmidt.
Acting custodian, OS&C vessel Serendipity.

Albert frowned.

“Oh, that stupid Serendipity name”

Huber blinked.

“Serendipity?”

She looked genuinely puzzled for a moment.

“Yes,” Albert said. “That was the name on our registry, at least when it was bought.”

“Ah.” A pause. [color=#40BF40]“I had forgotten.”

She sounded mildly disappointed in herself.

“It surprises me,” she added, “that you still haven’t corrected it.”

Hans gave a tired half-smile.

“It has been a complicated few weeks.”

That, if anything, was an understatement so compressed it almost qualified as engineering.

But Hermann was no longer listening.

Because the screen had changed.

A single line glowed before him.

Accept command authority of vessel?

He stared at it.

For a moment the corridor, the delegation, even the persistent hum of the ship seemed to recede.

Accept command.

As though that were a thing one answered casually in a corridor. As though one inherited a century-lost exploration vessel between administrative inspections.

He thought, absurdly, of von Tanner. Of logs read on dead terminals. Of a captain speaking into the dark believing no one would ever hear him.

And now this. A bureaucratic prompt.

Waiting.

Huber glanced over.

“Well?”

Not impatient. Just practical.

Hermann pressed. The datapad pulsed.

Command confirmed.
Captain Hermann Schmidt.
Orbital Spa & Cruise | Serendipity

Albert grinned.

“Well. Congratulations.”

Hans gave him two light taps on the shoulder.

“Commander.”

But Hermann was already frowning.

He began tapping rapidly at the interface.

“What are you doing?” Albert asked.

“This.”

He changed the designation manually. For a second the old system buffered on this sudden lines of command inserted.

Then accepted.

Command confirmed.
Captain Hermann Schmidt.
Orbital Spa & Cruise, OS&C|E.V. Morgenstern

Silence.

A small one.

But not empty.

Albert looked at the display.

“…That is better.”

Hans nodded. Considerably.

Huber observed all this with the expression of someone watching people become sentimental around access credentials.

“Very moving,” she said. “Can your inheritance open the door now?”

Hermann stepped toward the hatch.

The system sensed the newly authenticated command signature.

For a second, nothing happened.

Then the doors began to open with the reluctant dignity of machinery that had served under a previous captain and did not change loyalties lightly.

And the Morgenstern admitted its new one.