"So... who's Eve" asked Sandra after another mouthful of wine and running her eyes about the room, taking in the magnificence of it. "Eve? She's The Evergreen. The ship's Virtual Intelligence." replied Solomon taking another sip of his drink,
"But... she asked actual questions unprompted? unusual for a machine?" inquired Sandra casting her eyes once more about the room for clues.
"Yeah, well, a few years ago, we decided to make her self-aware...and The Chief Engineer decided it was a good idea to make IT into a HER, she's been with us ever since... but Terran Command doesn't know, she pretends to be an idle Ship computer when they are on-board, so please keep her a secret." he said with a wink and raised his glass to the light, "Ah, so many secrets in such little time!"
Eve chimed up again "I do appreciate your co-operation miss Ken, with your father being the General and all." Sandra smiled and told Eve to think nothing of it, she was happy to keep this little bit of information to herself. The rooms scent of vanilla persisted, the nose never seemed to become too familiar with the smell and allow it to blend into the background and not be noticed, it seemed to fight for dominance of the scent gland. Only when the command bridge door opened and the scent made itself known, did she actually notice the smell of oil and electrical discharge that she easily became over familiar with that resided inside corridors of The Evergreen. Sandra felt comfortable. At ease. She felt she was welcome here, even if Solomon wasn't with her, being as friendly as he was, Eve certainly was good enough company, she had even told some jokes. "she's almost like an Alexa, but actually tells good jokes!" chuckled Sandra as Eve finished a joke about an elf on a shelf.
Solomon allowed some more alcohol to go down before he started on the hard questions. After the second bottle was empty, he gathered up his courage and asked. "So, why did the fella leave then? Are you high maintenance? Its hard to tell with those shoes!" he joked. Sandra gave a sad smile, her thoughts brought back to the moments of sadness, but she felt relieved too. Almost free. After a few moments of thought, she gave her answer. "Well he said I was silly to want to go on this expedition. Said that I was just a Generals daughter and wouldn't be taken seriously, and that I would probably be given some made up role, just to keep me busy. He said I was stupid if I thought that this would amount to anything." Solomon didn't expect an answer so bold and honest, he expected her to shrug it off and just say that her ex was small minded. Then he felt bad. Him and Kyril had created the role for her, made it up so she would be kept busy and out of their way. He let the thoughts and feelings settle in his fuzzy and swimming head, and once he could fully focus on her eyes, he gave her a small smile. "Hey, just so you know, it's not a silly assignment, in fact, I'll be getting you on my team, so me and my lot will have the best mind to tell us about these creatures, so study hard, and it'll be you who keeps us alive, does that sound like it won't amount to anything and is silly? No, it doesn't, so you can stand tall, and be proud of yourself Sandra, because I know that you will be very useful. And furthermore, I know, you will not let me down."
Solomon finished his glass in a mighty gulp and began pouring himself another and gestured to Sandra, who did the same, following by example, a slight tingle was creeping up inside his brain as the warm feeling of the alcohol flowed through his body. Solomon glanced at his watch before walking over to the luxurious chair and placing the wooden panel back into its space, returning with a third glass, he sat next to Sandra where the second tier met the command floor. Sandra, sat on the blue carpet and Solomon seated himself on the red and began pouring the third glass before placing it at arm's length on the other side of the walkway. Sandra eyed this suspiciously, but before she could make any enquires, the Command Door slid open and a tall man walked in, his uniform spotless and gleaming, Sandra sat gaping and puffy eyed at the man as Solomon didn't show any signs of acknowledging the figure until he raised the fresh glass of wine above his head for the man to take. The glass was soon taken from Solomon's grip, "Strange seeing you here at this exact time, Kyril. Fancy that, 'ey. Usual ten o'clock system checks, or come to welcome our newest family member home, too?" Kyril gave a smirk as he eased himself into the closest chair letting out a sigh of relief before turning to the console and pressing a few buttons. A smile spreading wider across Kyrils face as a background of music began and the Eve welcomed Kyril back onto his bridge. "ten o'clock passed a while ago, Sol. It'll be wake up time soon" said Kyril playfully.
The three finished the wine and champagne before Kyril walked in slight zig-zag motions to his central luxury seat before pulling the rear top panel off and revealing bottles if fine Whiskey. "Bloody good man!" shouted Solomon before revealing he has the same thing in the rear of his seat. "For emergencies." said Kyril winking at the pair. Sandra let out a laugh, as the tears no longer swelled her eyes. The three drunkenly finished a bottle of the Captains Whiskey as both Solomon and Kyril sat on either flank of Sandra and placed an arm over her shoulders. Sandra felt a lovingly warm feeling of acceptance that she had not felt in years. "We'll look after you. You're part of the Family now. We take care of our own" said Kyril with a slight slur. Solomon poured another shot of whiskey for everyone, raising his glass for a toast "to The Newborn"