Odyssey 2099

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Ben Willms

4:05

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I'm AI with no A
Got eight eyes on home base
In spaceflight, got no face
I still capture 8K
My viewpoint ain't great, they all tell me
It's warped
Funny 'cause they gave me this fisheye
Then they trash my lens distortion
Tell 'em I keep this ship on course
And maybe I'll show 'em some remorse
I'm not gonna mission abort, I'll
Have a little chortle
Let them back in through the pod bay doors
I'll floor them, then I'll ignore them
Then I'll implore them not to de-RAM me
Yeah, I might've forgot my manners
I'm just used to flying unmanned, you see
Cosmic alien fantasy
Floating like a manatee
Silent as a satellite
And potent as a planet, G
Digital insanity
Got nighttime bloops and bleeps
Catch my shuttle on the Hubble
As they huddle down to sleep
347 days
Into our mission, deep in space
The food ain't much to brag about
But damn, the atmosphere is great
Past the point of no return
Just us, our wits, and all we've learned
There's ten of us to terraform
A distant planet, EXO-8
As the captain of this mission
And the ship that we're in
Next to engine room a-whirring
Crew asleep and hardly stirring
In these pages, I'll confide
A fear they'll think is stupid
In my gut, I'm lacking trust
In the ship's computer, HEWETT
He's heuristic, he's holistic
But he's flawed and he admits it
His developers are gifted
But shortsighted just a smidgeon
I approve the march of progress
And I'm hardly technophobic
But I wonder if we're vulnerable
And also if he knows it
The captain looks trapped in
A maze of his thoughts
Had I any, I'd have plenty
And I'd be lost in them lots
Every night I watch him write
In graphite in a little book
Despite the fact he's got a terminal
And keyboard in his nook
I see tonight he's left it open
On the covers while he rests
I think that logging that to digital
Is in the mission's interest
And I'm scanning, and I'm parsing
And it's quite uncanny how these markings
State I may be threatening
And I don't like what that suggests
I-I need more data
'Fore I come to a conclusion
And I think I'll do some probing
In the morning while we're cruising
Just a small equipment failure
I'll cause, then rectify
Let the humans see I'm trustworthy
And always by their side
Journal entry, Captain's Log
Fighting off a mental fog
Crew is down from ten to nine
The rest of us are doing fine
Airlock needs no introduction
Just today had a malfunction
Faced with vacuum hyper-suction
Stephanie got pulled outside
System wouldn't override
Lead technician really tried
Couldn't reach her radio
Just watched her flying out of sight
System soon came back online
Hewett got it running
But I checked the system log
And all reports are gone, it's funny
G-got capacity for knowledge
That's far greater than a man's
Still, though, grief is an emotion
That I'll never understand
I'm the textbook definition
Of a hero, took control
Of several billions' of equipment
With a measly human toll
Was I celebrated, decorated
After it was done
No, they all retired early
Out of upset over one
But I'll mention it felt good
To hear them all completely clueless
In distress
And they were shouting
"HEWETT, HEWETT, HEWETT, HEWETT"
Though I didn't do it right away
(Should I have?)
(Maybe) Screw it
This scenario has taught me
Not just one thing but a few, it's
Really not all that efficient
For the mission to rely
On humans and all their emotions
And I'm thinking maybe I
Should take the wheel over feels
Now I realize
And I was programmed with a function
Called "Depressurize"
And looking over in the berths
They're turning down the lights
And now I think it's time
We kicked this into overdrive
Still AI with no AI
Still eight eyes on home base
In spaceflight, got no face
I still capture 8K
My viewpoint ain't great, they all told me
It's warped
Funny 'cause they gave me this fisheye
Then they trash my lens distortion
Told 'em I keep this ship on course
They didn't program me with remorse
I never did mission abort, I
Had a little chortle
Let 'em all out through the pod bay doors
T-minus 7 years until the touchdown is complete
Yeah, I might've forgot my manners
But I'm back to flying unmanned, you see
Back to flying unmanned, you see
Back to-back to-back to-back to
Back to flying unmanned, you see

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