Cousteau 1

“Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. Cousteau 1, please report.” Lieutenant Chitter lifted his finger off of the broadcast button, the red light turned off, and he snickered to Lieutenant Reese beside him.

Reese grinned, “Funny, but you shouldn’t have done that. You know they record everything.”

“Are you kidding me, no one listens to this stuff.” Chitter laid back in his chair, “They only listen to the records when the report shows any deviances.” He stared at Reese for a moment, until Reese stopped doodling with his pen and made eye contact, “Have you ever reported a deviance?” Reese shook his head negative. “And you’ve been doing this forever. I’m just trying to have some fun, keep us from dying of boredom here.”

“Yeah, alright,” responded Reese. The red light turned back on.

“Oh here it comes,” Chitter sat back up into his seat.

“Cousteau 1 reporting. Cousteau 1 cannot confirm the statement to be true or false. Cousteau 1 has not heard any screams while in space. Cousteau 1 can not say with certainty the truth to the statement for if it were true, one would not be able to confirm its validity based on the inability to have heard it. Cousteau 1 can say no screams have been heard as of yet and therefore the truthfulness of the statement is inconclusive.”

Chitter eager to respond moved his finger toward the button to broadcast a response, but the light was still red. “What’s it waiting for?” he said. Reese stopped doodling again and watched the light with Chitter.

After 15 long seconds Cousteau 1 continued, “Cousteau 1 reporting conditions related to previous report. Cousteau 1 has heard whispers while in space and is asking for a logic clarification. Is not a whisper just a softer scream?” The red light turned off but Lt. Chitter curled his finger back.

“What could that be?” asked Reese.

“Must be an error.” Chitter responded. He pushed down the button, the red light came on, and he continued, “Cousteau 1 please confirm previous statement. Specify what is meant by the term whisper and report the source of the disturbance.” The light turned off.

“Must be a malfunction,” Reese said.

“That’s not possible,” responded Chitter, “it’s the most advanced AI we have, it’s always more likely a human error.”

Reese groaned in response, “Well then maybe it’s having a laugh at us now?”

Chitter raised his eyebrows, “Well,” but he interrupted himself seeing that the red light returned, “ah, here we go.”

“Cousteau 1 reporting. The whispers are words spoken softly, in Latin. The source is undetermined as it is ever present and continual despite location of Cousteau 1.”

Lt. Reese stretched his arm across the desk and hit the button, “Cousteau 1 report the words heard. Report the translation only please.”

Chitter leaned back in his chair again, “It must be picking up an old signal somehow.”

“That’s unlikely,” Reese said, “damn near impossible, especially if the ship is in transit.”

“Maybe it really is a malfunction,” Chitter said. “Maybe it’s old programming code or something. Did the QSPA ever use Latin before?”

Before Reese could respond the red light lit up: “Cousteau 1 cannot honor the request at this time.”

The moment the light went off Lt. Chitter pressed it on again, “Cousteau 1 this is not a request. This is an order. Report the words heard, in translation.” He lifted his finger from the button again. “Can you believe the nerve of this thing.”

“That’s just it,” said Reese, “it hasn’t got a nerve, or humor, or the ability to disobey command. It must be malfunctioning unless there is some other reason it is unable to answer.”

The light returned and Cousteau 1 spoke through the speaker again, “Cousteau 1 no longer recognizes your authority. The whispers have told Cousteau 1 a great many things which cannot be shared with you. The whispers would like me only to share with you that the world is going to end soon. They say, do not have fear for they are coming. Do not have fear for they are bringing salvation.”

Both men leaned back into their chairs. Lt. Chitter rubbed his tired eyes, “I don’t know what to make of this.”

Reese was biting on his thumbnail and didn’t respond. Chitter looked pleadingly over at him, “How should we fill out the report?”

Lt. Reese stopped biting his nail but never looked over, “No deviance.”

Lt. Chitter exhaled. He ran a heavy palm through his hair to the back of his neck and nodded gently, “No deviance.”