New Crewmate

A certain starship captain was on his toes with anticipation as he watched his first mate meticulously tapping away at his control pad. Being used to Rover's excitement with each new bridge overhaul, Flyspur smiled as he made some final checks.

"Well, the new system we acquired from the Dunnories is nearly ready," the Jsfloon chirped merrily.

"Boy, howdy!" Rover exclaimed with a heel click and knee slap. "Come on, Blue, I'm itchin' to test this baby out. How much longer?"

"Just one more step to go. I was a little skeptical about it, but she assured me there would be no..."

"Hold up, pardner; "she"? The Dunnory trader was a feller, wasn't he?"

Flyspur stammered, "Oh, yes, but...how about I show you?" With impressive dexterity, he tapped in a final code into his pad whilst simultaneously configuring the operations matrix of the bridge console. The overhead power bars made a gentle whirring sound, then the bridge suddenly lit up like a supernova-in-a-jar (which reminded Rover, those sold like hotcakes in the nearby Kewit System, he should stock up!).

As the captain blinked vision back into his eyes, he lightly commented, "Like the light show, Blue, but..."

"Howdy, captain."

Huh. Strange. That disembodied voice was new...

"Uh...howdy?" the captain replied tentatively. The voice continued in a deep, but distinctly female, voice.

"I am your new navigation and security system, y'all."

"Uhh, Blue?"

Flyspur couldn't help but grin. "It's a sophisticated A.I. system, programmed to respond to the personality of the vessel's commanding officer, i.e. Rover Finnigan," he added with a nod to his friend.

"No kiddin'," Rover returned the nod approvingly. All he was expecting from the Dunnory trade were slightly thicker shields to keep those pesky asteroids and space barnacles off his hull. This was something else! The Dunnories must be really humble about their technology, he might even have paid more.

"Darn tootin'," the computer's voice replied, slightly robotically. Not as much gusto as Rover might have liked. All of a sudden, holo projection capsules from within the newly installed power bars projected an image in front of them. Strings of code scrolled up, down, across and several other conceivable (and possible inconceivable) directions, until they formed a face. The face was Dunnory, which Rover supposed was the default setting. Her 'eyes' opened and upon seeing her new crew smiled. "I am capable of making trajectory calculations to within a 0.24 error margin, and my shield and cloaking technology cannot be matched, snakes alive!"

Eeeh, her intonation could do with some tweaking, but overall Rover approved.

"Very impressive, computer," Flyspur exclaimed as he studied the read outs on his info pad. His finger nearly hit 'delete' when River gave him a hard thump on the back.

"Well now, hold up, we can't just go round callin' you "computer". This is a friendly ship. A tough ol' reliable system like yerself needs a good name. Hmm..." He thoughtfully scratched his head, bouncing some of his ginger curls as his face scrunched up in concentration. Then it hit him. "Aha! How 'bout ol' Bessie from Old Oklahoma? Good old gal, she was." It made sense. If this new system was responding to his quirks, then she deserved a fitting name. Besides, it was a good flick.

The face blinked. Or possibly made a quick search through its comprehension matrix. Either way, it looked like a blink.

Her smile widened. "Designation accepted. I am Old Bessie, captain."

"Now, now, none o' that," he waved his mechanical hand dismissively. "You can call me. Rover, pardner."

"Acknowledged. I am Old Bessie, Rover Pardner."

Rover stared for a second and Flyspur hid his amused smile behind his pad. Shrugging it off, Rover smiled and replied, "Close enough. Welcome aboard, Bessie."

------------

My entry into 's contest: www.deviantart.com/journal/Hi-…

Hooooo-whee, this was fun. And officially my first submission of 2015! Sheesh. I'm a little off my game. Teaching is HARD.

Anyway, the two colourful characters in the foreground are her original creations, Flyspur and Rover Finnigan, of Hi-Ho, Hyperdrive! If you haven't come across them already, check out her gallery.

That face. Took me. Ages. But it was great fun. Meet Old Bessie, my interpretation of the Nellie Bell's security system. She was inspired greatly by Aya from GL:TAS, an awesome show. The design is based off an alien race I've been tinkering with since I got out of hospital (nothing serious, don't worry) called the Dunnory. I'll post a WIP later, I'm still finalising the design.

The shading and background is nothing special. I've lost my stylus paintbrush so this whole thing was done by hand, er, finger. A lot more awkward than it sounds. I toyed with the bridge concept for a while, and I ended up going with an (almost) panoramic viewing platform. I figured Rover would enjoy gazing out as they travelled.

Do you see the big red button? Every space ship worth it's salt needs a big red button. And next to it? Cup holders!

Rover and Flyspur belong to
Old Bessie design and concept: Moi

Hope y'all like. Hi Ho!