l. His eyes only, of course."

Odeon didn't particularly like that idea, for no reason he could
pinpoint--he'd taken the examination so Imperials could learn about
Kingdoms people, after all--but he nodded. "I suppose so."

"In that case," DeLayne's voice broke in, behind Odeon, "you wouldn't
mind if I also send him anything I learn from you."

"No--but he did say he wanted to get his data in person."

"What's the difference if I send him the ship's record tapes of our
conversations, or he talks to you himself?"

Odeon frowned. "The ship tapes everything? You don't have any
privacy?"

"Everything in the public areas, yes. Admiral Columbus, please tell
Captain Odeon how you handle monitoring of private quarters."

"Yes, Captain," came from the air, startling Odeon. "I monitor those
only for sounds of distress or people requesting my attention, and
permanently tape only those situations; everything else is wiped
automatically within approximately one microsecond."

"Your ship talks to you?"

DeLayne and Drulet both chuckled at Odeon's incredulity. "Yes, she
does. All Imperial ships of this class or higher--which means all but
couriers or landers--have AI-level ship-comps."

Odeon was silent for a moment, then he said, "Okay, I'll bite; what
does that mean?"

"Sorry," DeLayne said. "That's a ship-wide computer complex enough to
be classified as an artificial intelligence. That means that if you
didn't know you were talking to a computer, you'd think it was a very
intelligent human. I gather you're not too familiar with computers?"

"That's one way to put it; I've never used one, and only seen a few.
None of those talked, and I never heard of any being intelligent!"

DeLayne chuckled. "Any time you want to talk to one, address her the
way I did. She'll answer you, as long as you don't get into classified
information."

"That may take me a while to get used to. No offense intended, Admiral
Columbus."

"I do not have feelings, so I cannot take offense, Captain Odeon, but I
thank you for the courtesy."

"You're welcome," Odeon replied automatically, before turning to
DeLayne. "Even the little bit I've experienced so far--this Sickbay
and talking to your ship--is awesome. It makes me feel . . . I don't
know. I'm competent enough in the Kingdom Systems, but it's pretty
clear none of us are anything but total incompetents in your terms. I
don't like that feeling."

"Neither would I, in your