The observation deck was still festively decorated for Halloween, with 3D-printed orange and black pumpkins all over the place. Most of them had funny faces carved into them. Not exactly the real deal, but the best approximation with what resources were available on the Apahanta. Nobody thought of pumpkin seeds during the preparation for leaving Sirius.
By now, six years had passed since then. Six years in which the Apahanta not only managed to explore about 85 systems, but also found a new friend: Chi.
For about three years now was Chi travelling with the these human companions. Unable to return to Sirius, Chi was convinced to just tag along. Just like that. After all, chances of survival were better this way, and there was a slight chance the ships would find a way back to Sirius. Not that anyone on the Apahanta was hoping for that, but the chance was there.
"Hello Chi!" Sombra said as she entered the observation deck, looking over at the AI Harvester through the window. Spotlights of both the Apahanta and Chi illuminated the rocky cavern the vessels were exploring. The lights reflected off the various icy crystals decorating the walls. Most of them were opaque, but every now and then some rather transparent crystals allowed the lights to pass through.
"Greetings, Sombra Human." The synthesized voice of the AI Harvester was emitted by the room's announcement system.
The curacaoan woman moved over to the couch next to the big window and let herself drop onto it. "Doing alright?"
"My systems are operating at above 90% functionality. This is considered optimal, and thus, alright."
Rolling on her back and supporting her head on the armrest, she idly faced the Harvester, slowly pulling down the zipper of her Apahanta suit from the neck down to slightly below the clavicle. "That is good. I take it you don't have something similar to, uh, fear of the darkness?"
"Not all of my sensors are photon-based. As a result, even in darkness, my sensors are able to detect my surroundings."
"Interesting," she responded, with a hint of lacking interest. "Does that mean the concept of fear is completely foreign to you?"
"Not by your human definition. The closest concept in comparison to human fear is my threat analysis subroutine. This subroutine has not been active since our initial meeting in what you refer to as Uncharted System 38."
"Aww." Sombra rolled slightly, now on her side, still facing the Harvester. "Well, I, too, feel a lot more comfortable with you around. I'll admit, I was first worried, like everyone else on this ship, when we found you, but look at us now. Three years have passed and we are friends now. You even adapted to talk with us the way we do. I don't know if you have a subroutine for friendship or appreciation, but I am very happy with you being with us!"
"My diplomacy subroutine has a different definition of friendship than you humans have, but the same subroutine contains a system for evaluating and reacting to human antics. As such, I am able to acknowledge your friendship-based actions. Our frequent interactions are progressively increasing your trust rating."
Slightly frowning while idly spiralling some of her long black hair around her index finger, Sombra eyed the Gammu vessel. "Interesting. I was worried you would consider these interactions a possible waste of resources."
"I have come to the conclusion that energy and processing power are, within reasonable limits, regenerative, while trust ratings are a valuable resource concerning our combined efforts in surviving uncharted territory and possibly returning to what you refer to as Omicron Kappa. This, also, made adapting to your communicative patterns, a worthwhile investment of resources."
"You know, the way you word these things in your sober and dry way makes it sound like friendship is really just a bunch of numbers to you."
"It is my understanding of human social behavorial patterns that my system of evaluating friendship with numbers is not unsimilar to how you humans evaluate friendship. The factors seem to be the same, even when you do not visualize the numbers."
"Is that so?" Sombra slowly moved to sit up on the couch, curiously looking over to Chi.
"I have observed that you humans have different levels of social statuses assigned to each other. This seems to be largely independent from your assignments and military ranks. For example, you seem to share a lot more intimacy with the Noel Human than with the Ezrael Human, despite the Ezrael Human being the highest ranked human of the Apahanta vessel."
She blushed at that. "... What exactly are you talking about?"
"The recreational process of human sexual intercourse. According to my data, your average sexual interactions with the Noel Human are 67.5 times more frequent than those with the Ezrael Human. As for the method, I have also noticed that your preferred method is oral-"
"I didn't know you are that well informed about my activities."
"It appears to be resourceful to observe the individual actions and behavorial patterns of every human on the Apahanta vessel. I figured it would be of importance to understand each human's patterns in order to anticipate their reactions to various situations. The Ezrael Human explained to me that this is what you humans do, too. I, thus, assume that you and the other humans have studied my calculatory patterns, too, in order to anticipate my actions. To my understanding, this is helpful to avoid negative diplomatic incidences between us."
"Uh, you don't really need to have statistics on our mating procedures for that. Although..." Sombra said quietly, a faint smirk on her lips. "It certainly would be a fun topic to talk about. You know, unlike you, I can't scan the entire ship for, uh, that kind of stuff."
"Elaborate. Is this a proposal for a possible information exchange?"
Just in that moment, Ezrael made his presence on the observation deck known, approaching the couch from the corridor with an unimpressed look on his face.
"Uh, that was a joke, of course!"
"Is that so." He sat down on the couch, right next to her, placing an arm around her to squeeze her slightly. "Good to know that asking our friend about information about what the rest of the crew does privately is just a funny joke you came up with. Right?"
"Eh, yeah!" She blushed slightly, looking over to Chi with a mix of helplessness and the awkward smile of someone having gotten caught in the act. "You do have a subroutine for comedy, right?"
"I am still struggling with the concept of human humor. I acknowledge that humor seems to be a major factor in social interactions and thus have developed a generator for comedic elements like jokes. Here is one example: You humans were having lunch earlier but I had a mega-byte."
Both Sombra and Ezrael looked at each other, then at the Harvester. None of them laughed.
"You seem to understand the core concept of comedy, but the delivery could use a little something."
"Yeah. You are getting closer."
"Perhaps you would prefer another joke? After the mega-byte, I had a few micro chips."
The same as before.
"I will have Silicon Carne for dinner."
Finally, Sombra chuckled at that, and it infected Ezrael, causing him to have a smile on his lips, too.
