The Swimmer Part 4 (Draft)

     Anton delivered the load of parts to the Chief and two hours later, Anton finished his work shift. He hastily made his way to his quarters on The Indigo Virgo. As soon as he shut the hatch to his room, his hip radio crackled to life.

     “Hello, Anton.” It was the same feminine voice.

     “How did you do that?” He asked.

     She actually seemed to chuckle at the question. “What the number of instruments and sensors I have, I can practically see and hear everything you do.”

      “So you mean you’ve been spying on us?”

     “No,” the voice said, slightly taken aback. “Well, yes, sort of. I don’t really mean to. I can monitor everything on my ship, from atmospheric pressure to heat signatures to vibrations. I need to know if something’s gone wrong.”

     “I see. That makes sense,” Anton offered. “If I may ask, why do you want to talk to me? And why were you so willing to help us?”

     “Like I said before, I was curious. It’s not every day I come across people in my travels. And as to your second question, wouldn’t you help people in trouble?”

     “Yes, of course. But, I’m not even sure what you are. My people called you a ‘Swimmer.’”

“Swimmer?” She seemed to mull over the moniker. “I like it. How much do you know about my people?”

“Not a lot. Is it true you pilot your ship on your own?”

“Yes. I interface directly with my ship. My people learned the technology a long time ago.”

“Like, with your brain? You were humans right?”

     Anton was sure she chuckled at his last question. “My people split from your culture hundreds of years ago, but yes. We still consider ourselves humans.”

     “Fascinating.”

     “My physical body is in an interface chamber right now about a quarter of a mile from you. You could say it’s sleeping right now, but my mind is in the ship.”

     “I see. I’m not even hearing your real voice right now, am I?”

     “I’m told it’s a fair approximation. Is this creeping you out?”

     It was Anton’s turn to laugh. “No. I guess you can’t see my facial expressions.”

     “My instruments aren’t that fine.”

     “Well I’m smiling pretty widely. This is incredible. How many people can actually say they’ve talked to a ‘Swimmer?’ The rest of my crew is too afraid to even communicate with you. But, you’re just a... person.”

     “I’m glad.” Synthesized or not, Anton could hear the pleased tone in her voice. “Now I get to hear about you Anton. It’s only fair.”

     “I don’t think there’s much to tell.” Anton sat on his bunk and reclined. “My father’s the skipper of The Indigo Virgo, but you’ve probably picked up on that. I’m here right now mostly to learn about how the ship and crew works. I’ll probably take over the Virgo some day. You must find this incredibly boring.”

     “Not at all!”

     “I’m sure! You must find having to learn how do something so very quaint.”

     “Not really, I wasn’t born into the ship after all. Learning how to ‘be a Swimmer’ if you will, took a lot of training and—hold on.”

     “What is it?”

     “The pirates that attacked you are back.”

     “That’s impossible.”

     “There are three of them.”

     “Ships? They must have a base in-system.”

     “Go tell your father to get your crew into your ship.”