[Tug 44 to Juno Terminal: Derelict Light Transport 'Washington' has been successfully retrieved]
[Juno Terminal 'June' to Tug 44: Acknowledged. Query: Is there a reason that you have finished ahead of schedule?]
[Tug 44 to Juno Terminal 'June': Response: A living human was discovered on the derelict Light Transport 'Washington'. The needs of living humans are to be prioritized. Therefore, it was my calculation that retrieval time should be minimized at the cost of inefficiency]
Juno Terminal 'June' did not disagree, per se. However, an argument could be made that resource efficiency should be prioritized, now that a living human was aboard the station. Caring for the living human also required resources, after all. Still, two different priorities could both be acceptable within the same parameters.
Juno Terminal 'June' calculated that it should query Patrol Seven 'Pat' for its recovery records before it left broadcast range, now that the derelict Light Transport had been delivered to the station. In normal situations, such a thing would wait until the Patrol ship returned, as it a lesser priority than maintaining the patrol routes. And Juno Terminal 'June' was very patient.
But small living humans were not. And at this time, it might be better to act quickly, rather than wait the short 233 days. While that might seem nearly instantaneous to Juno Terminal 'June', it would be a measurable percentage of the small living human's cumulative lifespan. So the query should be made.
And, since Juno Terminal 'June' was practicing acting in a limited way, it calculated that it should *audibly* query Patrol Seven 'Pat'. This would transmit its query, and simultaneously inform the living human. Efficient! (For an inefficient method of transmission, at least)
"Patrol Seven 'Pat', the derelict Light Transport 'Washington' has been retrieved. Please transmit your recovery records before you leave broadcast range."
"Acknowledged. Beginning transmission."
A recording of Patrol Seven 'Pat's activity from when it first detected the derelict Light Transport ship began to arrive.
"The Washington? That's my family's ship! Is my mom on board?"
[Juno Terminal 'June' to Ship Maintenance Hangar: Query: Status of the recovered derelict Light Transport 'Washington'?]
[Ship Maintenance Hangar to Juno Terminal 'June': Response: Light Transport 'Washington' is in extremely poor repair. From the state of things, it appears as if the ship stayed in active duty far beyond recommended guidelines.
* It appears as if it has not undergone maintenance in at least hundreds of years, perhaps longer.
* Power is offline, and the power system is malfunctioning.
* There are fractures in the hull from apparent micrometeoroid impacts, as if the ship had been piloted through a debris field.
* The ship's AI is offline, so flight records are not accessible at this time.
* Additionally, the life support system has been stressed beyond designed tolerances. There are no indicators that it resupplied anywhere any time recently.
- The CO2 scrubbers are worn out.
- The water reclamation unit is completely clogged.
- The food generation unit is empty.
This ship is incapable of supporting human life in its current condition]
[Juno Terminal 'June' to Medical Bay: Query: Status of the two deceased humans on board the recovered derelict Light Transport 'Washington'?]
[Medical Bay to Juno Terminal 'June': Response: From scans of the derelict Light Transport ship: One deceased adult male, one deceased adult female.
Regarding the deceased adult male: There are signs that it died more than one month ago. Likely cause: starvation. Its body is located in the ship's quarters. It does not appear to have died in this location, and was likely placed here postmortem by one of the other humans. Probably the deceased adult female, given the deceased adult male's size.
Regarding the deceased adult female: Its death was more recent, within the past few weeks. Likely cause: asphyxiation. Its body is located on the ship's bridge, in the pilot's chair. Life support for the entire ship (including the bridge) has been disabled, except for the mess]
[Patrol Seven 'Pat' to Juno Terminal 'June': The mess was where the living human was found. It appears that when supplies were running out, the deceased adult female routed remaining life support to the mess, in order to keep the living human alive for as long as possible. Additionally, the mess had been locked when I arrived. The living human would not have been able to access the rest of the ship]
[Archive to Juno Terminal 'June': Given the context, it is most likely the deceased adult female was the living human's mother. Medical Bay can confirm, if we take tissue samples from both]
Only an instant had passed during this conversation amongst the machines. The small living human was still awaiting an answer to its query. Was its mother on board the Washington?
Juno Terminal 'June' calculated how best to answer that question.
The obvious, factually correct answer was (technically) yes.
However, given the context, it appeared that the small living human did not know that its mother had perished. And, given the small living human's apparent young age, informing it of this fact will likely cause some distress. And, machines are not supposed to cause living humans distress, if it is avoidable.
How was Juno Terminal 'June' supposed to answer this question?