Fabienne Gschwind - Star Map

Lex went to the computer room, which was connected to the Astrolab, where she logged in with Kiki. Through her data interface, she reviewed a small portion of the AI programming each day. The common hypothesis was that some subspace radiation was causing errors in the computer code, which was the reason robot ships crashed so often. But neither Lex nor other programmers had ever encountered induced errors. Lex loved spending time with Kiki. To her, Kiki was almost human, even her best friend. She enjoyed spending time in the logically clear world of program code. Here and there she made changes and improvements. Apart from that, Lex liked to work on her "baby", programming her own AI according to her needs.

It was almost one o'clock and Lex had to stop her work. Even the best AI programmers could not spend more than three hours at a time in an AI environment. After that, the risk became too great that she would get distracted and some faulty code would creep in.

Lex crossed the short corridor to the lounge. Here were the kitchen and dining room, as well as the gym and a cozy sofa area with multimedia screens and library.

At the same time, Nemo and Joe arrived, as well as Jay, who mostly crawled out of the simulation box exhausted and retired to his quarters to change.

At noon they had a light meal with soup and bread.

Every day there was an emergency drill in the early afternoon, this could be just a simple briefing where Jay went over the instructions again or a full simulation. Today there was only a short drill, and everyone had to get into the emergency space suit as quickly as possible. After all, people were on the ship to intervene in an emergency. So, it was logical that all possible scenarios had to be practiced. Shortly after, people went either to their quarters or to their workplace and performed their psycho-hypnosis program. Many techniques taught them to focus, or to remain calm in life-threatening situations. In the meantime, the crew had reached mastery in this, and they enjoyed also practicing all together as a group. Three times in the last few years they had barely escaped catastrophes and that was only thanks to the fact that everyone in the crew had quickly mastered the situations calmly and thoughtfully. When such situations occurred, it was as if a switch was flipped, everyone was immediately in the flow and acted as one.

Afterward, they had coffee and cake.

After fourteen years of being together day and night, everyone knew each other as well as they could.

They chatted a bit about the morning routine, talked about fitness training, and everyone explained what they would be doing in the remaining afternoon, and most importantly, they planned the evening activities together. Twice a week they all played theater together, once they played music together, and the remaining two evenings were movie or game nights.

Anything that could be done in the confined space of the Abhysal was considered to be an ideal hobby. Logically, everyone loved subspace, and job-related courses or distance learning were highly valued as pastimes. Everyone had been on mapping ships for at least 25 years, and the list of degrees was correspondingly long. Joe now has a degree in chemistry and even an honorary doctorate in sensor technology. Nemo was a nuclear physicist and a graduate gravitational engineer. In any case, all but Jay were world-renowned experts in the field of subspace technologies. Joe, Lex, and Nemo worked together to develop improved gravitational plates or other new gear and engines, and they had a superbly equipped high-tech workshop and an even better equipped general research laboratory. Sponsored by Nemo's vast fortune.

In addition to these scientific activities, Nemo was a gifted tailor and Joe was no less talented. One of the empty quarters had therefore been converted into a sewing studio. Nemo and Joe had a lot of fun sewing military uniforms from all eras for Jay. Jay mostly wore typical soldier clothes and loved everything that had a military design. They had also designed ship uniforms for the whole crew and occasionally the whole crew would dress up and Jay loved it.

Lex painted, carved, and made pottery. Another empty quarter was therefore the creative studio. Jay partially tore his hair out when he discovered bales of fabric and other crafting equipment hidden in Abhysal 's huge cargo: "If we ever crash-land on a planet, we'll have enough materials to open a municipal opera house, including a playhouse, a ballet, and a supermarket for handcraft supplies!”

Of course, musical instruments were not to be missed, and by now everyone had reached a good level. Nemo played the accordion, liked to wear a sailor costume with it, and sang shanty. Lex played church organ and could play Bach cantatas for hours. Milo played violin and Joe played cello and piano. Jay had long resisted taking up an instrument, but then he discovered the bagpipes. Unfortunately, it was relegated to the far corner behind the reserve fusion reactor.

Lex also studied religious studies and art history. Milo didn't need another hobby—subspace exploration took up all his time. The only time he met with the crew was to do theater.

Acting was a required subject in school, just like singing, so everyone had acting experience.

The crew had rehearsed over 100 plays in the last few years. Their repertoire ranged from Greek tragedies, classical plays by Goethe, Shakespeare or Molière to all kinds of plays from the last centuries, such as Gottfried Xianghu M'Munga, famous poet of the 23rd century. Sometimes they reenacted iconic movie scenes and occasionally an act or two from an opera.

The evenings together ended in great laughter. All in all, it can be said that the crew managed their lives very well and, apart from their seclusion, led happy lives.

The most common question asked by the crew was about their sex life. Everyone had agreed on one simple rule. No sex with the others. Lex had taken a vow of devotion of her own, but she claimed to be asexual and not interested in the others. Nemo had been taking pills that dampened his lust since he was a teenager because the fear that he would turn into a psychopathic monster and rape someone was deeply embedded in his subconscious. Milo had very different things on his mind. Jay and Joe used the simulation box, which was also an excellent tool for this purpose.

Thus, the essentials were settled.

"The Block" was Abhysal 's nickname. Whether any designer had ever seen its design remained uncertain. Most people who saw the Abhysal said it was the most hideous spaceship ever built.

It was essentially a pear-shaped cylinder, littered with humps, bays, and crooked fins.

"Takes some getting used to it." Joe had said when she saw the Abhysal . "At least we're inside and don't have to see it from the outside," Nemo said with a shrug and got in.

But the interior was about as bad. Depending on where you were in the seventy-meter-long spaceship, there were anywhere from 5 to 11 decks. The interior designer had also accomplished the feat of creating a quarter-deck. Thus, the hydroponic garden was on deck 2 1/4, right next to the fission reactor, which extended from deck 6 to 11.

To complicate matters, the vertical levels were divided into horizontal zones, but they were all different sizes and three-dimensional. The stasis room for food was on deck 8 1/4, zone A, area 65, to give one example.

But once you got used to the system, the Abhysal provided a huge adventure playground. Ladders, poles, conveyor belts, and even a small chairlift were used for transportation on the ship, which was also desperately needed. The only thing no one could understand was how they got the idea to install a chairlift. After all, it was assumed that the chairlift only served to mentally distract the ship's crew.