Free The Pattern Ship (The Pattern Universe) by Tobias Roote Page A

responded.
    “Do you require anything else?” it asked.
    “No. Actually yes, please. I would like more food,” Zeke asked.
    He deliberately moved closer to the wall where the door would be, anticipating that would be the direction it came.
    Ship obviously detected the shallow subterfuge and dashed his hopes of an escape or view of the outside world.
    “I detect that your body requires no sustenance at this moment, your digestion is at optimum efficiency, you will require food in four hours and forty minutes as humans measure time.”
    “I see, so I am being monitored. You said you are called Ship so are you the Ship’s computer?”
    “Yes, I control all functions on the ship,” it responded.
    Zeke was impressed! Ship, whatever it was, seemed capable of answering multiple questions and deciding which ones were rhetorical, and which required a response.
    “Ship, why is there no door to my room?”
    A delay, as if pondering the response.
    “Because a door is presently not required.”
    “and when one is required?” Zeke asked almost knowing what the answer was going to be, but it needed to be said.
    “When a door is required, it will be provided,” Ship responded.
    “How will you do that, Ship?”
    “I am unable to answer that question at this time.”
    “Ship, I require a door” Zeke commanded, ever hopeful.
    “Unable to accept the command. You are not a Maker” Ship actually explained.
    “If I am on a ship, where is the ship located?”
    “I am unable to answer that question at this time”
    “When can I speak to a human, your Maker?”
    “As soon as my Maker is fully reconstituted I will make him aware of your request,” Ship reassured him.
    “What do you mean ‘reconstituted’?”
    “I am unable to answer that question at this time”
    “Ship, is there anything I can do, I need entertainment?”
    “I can provide you with your planet’s internet services if this will help you. I can also provide any TV stations or music channels available on your world. I cannot currently provide you with a telephone device to communicate with. This is a purely technical issue.”
    “You are very accommodating Ship, do you treat all of your prisoners this well?”
    “Human, you are not a prisoner. You were dying, you are now healthy. That which was killing you was removed from your system. The Maker purely wishes to observe your recovery. That is all.”
    “Aaah! Yes, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to sound churlish. Its just that I am not happy being locked up in here,” he admitted a little defensively.
    “When the Maker found you, were you not locked up in a small room?” Ship asked.
    “Um! Yes! I suppose so, but I had done that for my own protection,” Zeke countered.
    “Quite so!” Ship answered making the parallel between protection there and here obvious.
    The sound of human voices suddenly startled Zeke and he swung around to find a forty inch screen embedded in the wall. It was showing a news report, the CNN logo indicating a US channel. A remote control hung off the wall.
    Below it a small desk had appeared, also a small screen and a keyboard and mouse. There was a typist chair with wheels pushed underneath it. The screen showed a browser navigated to a news page.
    “I believe this should meet your needs, Human. It has been copied from a typical design from the area you frequented. Please let me know if it doesn’t suit. It can be ‘modified’.”
    “How?... How did you do that?...” he was speechless.
    Zeke realised he would not yet get a response from Ship as to just how it had achieved this fantastic feat of electrical and structural engineering. He had already examined these walls with a fine focused pair of eyes. Those walls had no seams. The Ship had made all of that electrical gear while he wasn’t looking. This was some clever stuff going on here. He was impressed.
    “Ship?”
    “Yes, Human?”
    “Thank you, Ship.”
    “You are welcome, Human.”
    “Ship?”
    “Yes,