Level VII

“Check this out, Jon. This is so cool.”

Royal Technician Lombarr (or was he a Captain? The Queen commissioned him a captain when we were fighting the Zerg on Throneworld. I don’t know if he retained the rank or not ) seemed awfully excited. The only time he’s excited is when he’s got some kind of new gadget to show off. He confirmed this by holding up some sort of component.

“So, what is it?” I asked.

“When you see this thing in action, you’re going to plon!” He held up the blinking device even closer to me.

“I don’t think that I’m plonning yet,” I answered. “What is it?”

“This, my friend,” Lombarr paused to let the tension build. “Is a Level VII Artificial Intelligence Module!”

My eyes lit up. “A Level VII Artificial Intelegence Module! Really?”

“Yeah!” Lombarr’s eyes lit up even more at my excitement.

“A Level VII?”

“Uh huh!”

“An honest-to-gosh, no-foolin’ Level VII Artificial Intelligence Module?”

“Honest-to-gosh,” the technician guaranteed excitedly. “I’m not kidding.”

“What’s a Level VII Artificial Intelligence Module?” I asked flatly.

“Only the smartest, most advanced computer in the galaxy,” he answered with a snort. “And I’ve got even better news for you, too.”

“Which is?”

“You get to have it!” he said excitedly.

I paused for a moment to try to word my response carefully. I couldn’t think of any diplomatic way to answer.

“That, uh, I don’t really need anything like that,” I answered. “You should probably keep it.”

“No way, this one’s for you,” he insisted. “The Queen wanted you to have it.”

“The Queen?” I asked. “Really?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “It’s to thank you for everything you’ve done for her. You know, like saving her from the Zerg and everything.”

“It was really more of a group effort,” I countered. “Why don’t you give it to Major Rocksun?”

“The Queen has tried numerous times to reward the Major for all he’s done,” Lombarr replied. “He never takes them. Sometimes I just can’t figure out what drives a guy like that.”

“Then how about Hudson?”

The technician snorted, then quickly composed himself. “I need someone who can take care of it. Who knows what that guy would do it.”

“OK, so if I take it, what am I supposed to do with it?”

“Oh, you can plug it into your ship,” Lombarr answered. “It’ll be your copilot, it’ll maintain all your systems. Believe me, it’s a huge upgrade from what you’ve got.”

“Yeah, but I just got the Danger Sled the way I like it. I don’t want it all pulled apart so you can put that thing in.”

“Are you kidding? Look,” he pointed to a slot on the device. “It’s got Intergalactic Serial Bus. You can just plug it right in and it’ll go.”

“I’m still not that comfortable with the idea,” I replied. “I just don’t know.”

“The Queen would really appreciate it if you took it,” he persisted. Look, we’re testing these things for use in our fleets. Not only would you be getting a new computer, you’d be doing us a favor by testing it under real conditions.”

“Ah, so I’m your Guinea pig, huh? Alright, I can test this thing out. Run it through the wringer.”

“Thanks for your help on this Jon,” Lombarr smiled gratefully. “What’s a Guinea pig?”