“My master, the curvature of the galactic space has slightly altered our ship’s course and we shall arrive to the star Asteroin somewhat later than planned.”
“And when should we expect to arrive at this goddamn planet, my dear?” asked Valentin lazily.
“According to my calculations, it will take as long as we already have flown, if not longer.”
“That’s unbearable!” the expedition’s director exclaimed in indignation. “Can anything be done in this situation?”
“No, nothing, my master. I have already attempted every possible solution I could, and have brought the ship’s course back to the correct direction. The universe is cruel and unpredictable,” GAS philosophized.
“The space curvature can permanently alter the physical appearance of any crew members who are awake, so for that reason I suggest that you and Elya go into stasis for the remainder of the flight to Hop. This way your bodies will remain intact, and time will pass much faster for you.”
“Really? And what about the kid?”
“I will take care of Arcad. As he is a growing child, his body is not in danger of being affected by the curve. However, he also can’t be put into hibernation while he is maturing, so during your sleep my assistants and I will raise him in lieu.”
“But how will I be able to manage the flight?”
“When an emergency occurs, I’ll wake you up, my master.”
‘Oh all right, go ahead, ‘cause I’m sick and tired of lying on the couch and watching the TV serials over and over about ten times now. I can’t wait to arrive there, but you are wasting our time. Just give us a separate room to hibernate in.”
“Certainly. We’ll prepare the appropriate accommodations right away.”
Elina, though, wasn’t quite eager to be put into sleep along with her “master,” especially since a month earlier she had seen GAS’ assistants pushing a half-awake recruit into the ship’s airlock chamber and then with a special pusher launching him into the dreadful dark space. After accidentally having seen this cruel execution these robots carried out on an innocent person, she asked Valentin about it.
“Valia, how could they do something so merciless to a living human being?”
“He violated orders and dared to wake up ahead of schedule, for which he was punished,” Valentin sternly answered her question.
And as such she was afraid that if she was left on her own without Valia around, GAS would order its heartless mechanical beasts to jettison her overboard into space like unnecessary waste. Her paranoia was fueled more so by the fact that the synthetic GAS was jealous of Elya over the toddler, trying to limit the time she was spending with the child, and repeatedly telling Valentin, “This stupid bimbo can’t teach Arcad anything good.”
GAS arranged separate rooms for his master and the mistress and successfully put them into sleep until their arrival to their destination, while turning its attention towards raising the toddler as it saw fit. To GAS it was quite amusing to see a little human, having absolutely no knowledge of any kind and seeing no worlds other than the nursery where he had been living practically his entire life, talking only to GAS and its robots.
In the three following years it had took to escape from the unforeseen intergalactic gravitational field, GAS taught Arcad to speak, to read and type on the board computers, introduced him to the ship’s design and explained to him where they were flying to and their mission. The boy was quite gifted, learning everything on the fly, as if it was a captivating game. And because he knew nothing beyond his room, he assumed that this was all that the whole world had to offer and nothing and nobody else existed out there – it was just him, GAS and the two mechanical lookalikes of Arcad, carrying out their orders. And as for the documentaries GAS had shown him about Earth and the people living there, he believed those to be strange fairy tales about non-existent worlds among the far away stars, not worthy of any serious attention.
