Snip

Elizabeth frowned looking to Polaris as she greeted those customers, then just sat down somewhere, “Except unless she changes she’s going to drive away all of my customers. it is obvious to everyone in here that she does not want to be in here.” Elizabeth looked to Scott with an arched brow. “I know she is your AI, but the impression I get from her is this is beneath her and she doesn’t seem to realize that if she does not make an effort here then she is done. Want my advice? Tweak her personality a bit, because if she makes it to where there are no customers coming in here I’ll have to close anyways and then she has nowhere to go regardless.” Elizabeth pointed out. She wasn’t being a bitch to be a bitch, she was a business woman and this was her business. The Bar/Lounge Owner had no time for someone who would damage that business.

Elizabeth Notta, Bar/Lounge Owner

“Would that I could,” Scott says with a sigh as he watches Elizabeth before looking back over the AI bumble her way through taking orders. “Take a seat if you would like. YOu see she isn’t mine, I didn’t build her. She came here with me for reasons.” He shakes his head, “And those reasons weren’t communicated to the right people in the right ways.”

After a long pause he shrugs, “I mean, if you would like, I can tell her to stay at one of the tables. She will actually do what you ask her to do if you ask nicely, but when… the original engineer made her she was built with specific fail safes.” As the topic becomes more technical he starts to come out of his shell, “You see her code tries to protect itself and self replicates. If part of it comes damaged she fails over to the next cluster of code. If, for some reason, she cannot fail over, she acts out. ” He starts talking wildly with his hands, “If you are polite she will behave, she doesn’t view you as a threat. If you are rude, she sees you as a threat to the ship and must be contained.” He shrugs, “She was made to run ship systems when no one else could. Not an emergency hologram, she doesn’t need her physical projection she does that for everyone else’s comfort, no when allowed she keeps track of everything and makes small adjustments speeding up response time. She isn’t as powerful as the main computer, she doesn’t do science or medical work, only engineering.”

He stops and waves his hand, “Sorry. I know you probably don’t care.” He beckons the AI to come back to his table, “I’ll have her just lurk.”

Woods, Eng

Elizabeth moved to sit, “And therein lies my problem. she’s been relegated to my domain and well I have customers leaving without placing an order because she does not wish to serve them and it shows. She isn’t smiling, she’s rolling her eyes and my customers can see that she does not wish to be here when she was designed for what her program has told her is a far higher calling than waiting tables. If she cannot follow orders and pretend to like the job regardless of her own personal feelings she’s of no use to me here.” Elizabeth said softly. She wasn’t saying any of this to be mean or cold or any of that. this was her business. if the people did not come there was no point for her to be here.

Elizabeth Notta, Bar/Lounge Owner.

“Could,” Scott meekly corrects before pointing with two fingers, “That pair of over there had already ordered and you sent her back with the drinks. That couple over there haven’t been waited on yet, and no one else has walked in in the ten minutes this whole conversation has been happening. Maybe fifteen.” He nods though and agrees.

“Pol. Come here,” the bowling ball of a man says. “Miss Notta and I have reached an agreement. You are to stay shut off until someone asks for you. No funny stuff either, ok? No messing with the thermal pads.” He narrows his eyes briefly at the young girl.

Pol, for her part, just looks at Elizabeth with something foreign in her eyes before shaking her head and blinking out.

Scott turns back to Notta and makes to leave, “Let me know if she gets into any trouble yes? Oh. I do recommend if you get into any hot spots, asking her advice. Odds are she saw something you missed.”

Lt. j.g. Scott Woods, Eng