Interrogative 01: Tiago and the Masterless Read Online Free

quickly. "I'll come up on deck to discus them."
    Getting out of the couch was painful. He tried to do it too fast. Catching himself on another of the couches as he nearly fell, he had to stop walking for a few minutes, letting himself recover. The gym wasn't magic; he couldn't undo all the atrophy in one session. He'd need to make workouts part of his routine. That thought made him laugh. First, he'd need to develop a routine before he could add to it. Life aboard Interrogative had changed him.
    On Earth, he'd been a creature of habits and schedules. It made him stand out above the crowd of software engineers. The Department of Future Security didn't understand the infinite details of the work he did. They did understand discipline. While he should have been promoted for his job-specific skills, he was promoted because he looked like what management thought he should look like.
    Once he went on the run, he'd shed all of that. There was no one to impress here. Tiago was, in his bones and in his secret heart, a con man, the biggest victim of his con being himself. He had talked himself into being promotable. He had talked himself into being diligent. On the way to faking it until he was making it, Tiago had accidentally become a brilliant engineer.
    He gathered his strength and got back to the business of making it to the lift. There really wasn't a rush, he thought. It wasn't like Audra had somewhere else to be. There wasn't another meeting coming up in an hour. Until recently, he would have assumed that she wouldn't be impatient, either. As her personality was evolving, her reactions were becoming more human. Maybe there was a reason to rush.
    Audra was his only friend. He should be respectful of that. After all, he was going to (maybe, possibly, hopefully) meet other people again. To get what he wanted, he'd have to think beyond himself. Audra was, ultimately, practice. He could reset her if he screwed up. That wasn't how real people worked.
    "I don't need to learn how to deal with others," he muttered to himself. "I need to remember what I already know. This is just about regaining old habits. I can do this. I can."
    * * *
    He stepped off the lift, doing his best to hide the pain. He didn't know if Audra was evolved enough to mock him, but her tone before he went down to the gym seemed to be showing all the signs. Gingerly, he eased himself into the captain's chair while her back was still turned. He managed to avoid making a small groaning sound as his knees protested. It was a small victory.
    "Audra, how'd we do?" Tiago asked.
    "There are real broadcasts. I need to you ask the ship to try and translate," Six-six-four said.
    "I hate this. Interrogative. Can we run the broadcasts through the translator?" Tiago asked, exasperated.
    "Priority?" the computer asked.
    "Normal. Interrogative. I need that atmospheric study," Tiago said.
    "I have that ready for you," Six-six-four interrupted.
    "Interrogative. Belay that. Sorry, Audra. How does it look?"
    Tiago realized just how out of practice he'd gotten. What he'd done was rude. You don't ask someone to do an analysis and then forget you'd done so. She'd invested time in the task. He listened as Audra recited the pertinent data. The atmosphere was just on the far edge of breathable. The nitrogen balance was too high. There was a touch more sulfur in the air than human lungs could manage. If the planet had people, they might be able to breathe on the ship, but Tiago couldn't breathe on the surface.
    To be exact, he could breathe on the surface, but not for long. Audra's model – which he had not asked her to construct – indicated that he might last up to an hour before the damage would be irreversible. She showed him the catalog of environmental suits the ship could generate. She also recommended that he get a full med scan before trying the surface, even with protection. Her level of independent action was concerning. So far, it was all to the good, but still, it was