Drifting through space, while dull, was how the majority of Larson's time was spent. One might call it hurtling when compared to speeds on a planetary body, but the speed didn't really matter until you hit a cloud of dust. To combat this the ship shot out a beam that would charge particles, which would then be flung around the ship by its magnetic field. Similar to the way the earth protects its inhabitants from solar harm with its Poles.
While charged particles blowing through a ship might have a number of worries for a passenger, Larsons main concern was that one would go through his reinforced data center.
In mans quest for space, man had turned to machine to do his dirty work. The first true settlers of the stars were artificial intelligences. Instead of having to lug along food, oxygen or any cryogenic chamber, the machine needed a few spare parts and an atomic energy cell. The thing that was built to improve mans life amongst the stars, had replaced it.
That is until man joined machine. The company that developed the caging technology, also put a patent on its use with star travel. So for many years the company had sole rights to many stars. Officially at least.
Larson had joined with the rival Human company Hcentric to survey some meteor belts for development. For the stint he was taken out of his body and plugged in.
Having never experienced the actual core, Larson didn't know what he was missing. His CVI(Connected Visual Interface) was that of an old science fiction movie, there was a captains chair and a number of crew surrounding him on the bridge.
"New communication downloading sir." Said the blonde communications officer Heather.
"when its complete, patch it through" Larson said
He pulled up his scheduler, a few days were left floating on the stellar map.
"Just a few more days sir." Said the brunette medical officer Julie.
Larson popped the screen closed rapidly.
"well id be lying if I said I wasn't counting." Lar's eyes looked sheepishly down.
"Com up" Heather called out. An image popped on the screen. It appeared to be the Hcentric seal.
"Confirmation?" Larson called back to the security officer. A large black robot standing behind him kicked to life and began looking over the symbol.
"Confirmed" came a monotone reply.
"Do to energy concerns you are to go into hibernation." Said a mans voice from the communication.
Lar's eyes tightened. He had never heard this voice over the communication channel.
"Systems officer" Lars called out coldly, "double check our estimates."
"Sir they are the same" called back Tiffany.
"What in the hell is thi.."
In the darkness, something was wrong, he didn't know what. He reached out for his sensors, he couldn't feel the heat coming from starside. Where was his navigation sensor? Something was off. Worry set in. Because of energy requirements for the ship, Larson experienced one of the few things that boxed personas don't, sleep. The company had created a sleep simulation software. The program begins with screenings at home, the dreams would be categorized then his daily activity would be measured. Larson had a feeling that thought process was being altered but he didn't know how ~runcodeEchoS;
Suddenly Sarah's face appeared before him. He touched his face against hers, cheek to cheek as he often did. He could feel the warmth of her face.
"I, I, don't know how." He said aloud
He could feel her body shift beside his. He could still feel her cheek beside him but now he could see her face.
"Its ok, the." Her words became jumbled and poured over one another.
Larson knew she still carred, but not in the same way.
In the cold ubiquity of space the plasma engines came alive. He was on course.
Larson's girlfriend had recently left him.