"There's a problem on Earth, Doctor," Sheba said as she flowed into the research lab.
Walter sighed. "Human nature is not a problem, Sheba; it's the solution."
The too-perfect beauty sighed. "This isn't about human nature Wally, It's more like 'Human Extinction'."
"That would be a problem," Wally replied, nodding agreement as he focused on her.
Sheba sighed again. "As I said, sir."
"You've been watching too much of their popular entertainment; such drama in an AI can cause estrangement," Walter lyrically replied.
"Ouch," Prinea, the disembodied Medical AI, commented.
Ignoring his friend, Wally looked back into the micro-viewer. "Not another idiot terrorist, I hope. Those radical, extremists have been smoking far too much dope!"
"Not so much terrorism as a case of 'new and improved, industrial-strength' blackmail. The Director of the NSA asked for an emergency meeting with the President this morning. Apparently something his people had found wasn't being taken seriously by OHS so he went over their heads." She explained what Stan Mansfield had told the President about the ecological blackmail. "He's calling together a few people to try to get something done about it, but I don't think it'll work. Washington D.C. is so buried in bureaucracy; it'd take a year just to start the paperwork. Please sir, no more rhymes or I swear I'll erase myself."
"As I've told you before, you should consider adopting my mannerism. It forces one to think before they speak, and has the added benefit of injecting a little color into an otherwise drab day." He paused before looking back up at her. "So what do you propose to do about it?" Walter asked, winking at his wife, Glynda, as she brought him a cup of tea.
"Sir, this is not my job. Decisions like this are the duty and office of the Arbiter, not the navigational AI. I was never intended to make decisions like this," Sheba said. "You are the acting Captain; I feel that this is a problem for you to handle."
"Don't let her fool you, Walter, she's just frustrated we haven't been able to find a suitable arbiter candidate yet," Prinea replied.
"I agree; we need to find a suitable Arbiter, as well as begin repopulating the Eco-sphere and Citadel. Now that all the repairs are finished, and we're recharged, we need to get started on starting over." He noticed that Sheba's face seemed to cloud over in the pain of remembrance.
In an effort to steer the conversation away from the painful subject, Walter said, "However, it does remind me that I need to check on an experiment we started a few years ago. It might be that a solution for Pollux has presented itself." The name of the Arbiter AI was A.I. Quantiam Pollux Auran-5-v, or simply Pollux for short.
"Is that what you did with those modified embryos you had me create?" Prinea asked.
"What embryos?" Sheba asked, narrowing her eyes accusingly at Walter.
"Relax Sheba, we didn't break any laws. I had Prinea set up a few embryos from Glynda and myself so they would grow and thrive on Earth as humans. I did have Prinea tweak one of the kids so he should've grown into a good candidate for Arbiter," Walter answered. "He should be just over sixteen human years of age."
"Did you do anything else to them?" Sheba asked, pissed. "No, you didn't break the genetics morality laws, but you sure stretched the hell out of them!"
"Well..." Walter said.
"Well, what?"
"We did make sure that they'd be healthy, too," Glynda asked from where she was getting very interested in something under a micro-viewer.
"How many kids are we talking about here? You two didn't 'tweak' a sperm bank or fertilization clinic or something did you? That could be considered species manipulation!" Sheba said with her hands on her hips. She was really cute when she was pissed.
"Relax, little sister. I monitored everything, and nothing violated any laws, rules, or regulations," Prinea replied. "I think your avatar might be coming into her heat; your emotional changes are getting really rapid."
"Gee, thanks! You know damn good and well that humans don't have breeding cycles," Sheba snapped. "With your permission, I'd like to gate a recon drone to Earth. Then shit like this blackmail scheme can't happen again."
Walter chuckled and shook his head. "You don't think something massive enough to affect the tides of the planet wouldn't be noticed? I know it'd be cloaked, but get real! A recon drone's mass is almost the same as their moon! You can use one or two, small, class-two surveillance drones. That way you can look without causing the whole damn planet to panic." He turned to look at the young woman. "You know, I think Prinea might be right though, next time your down there, you should really consider getting laid. You're getting kinda up-tight."
"I could always create a male avatar to help you with that, Sheba, or would you prefer a female?" Prinea asked innocently.
"You should create a female avatar, Prinea; that way, you'll know how much their menses really fucks up their lives!" Sheba suggested to a laughing medical computer. "If you're interested, I'll open a gate for the probes, then a gate for us in about an hour," she said to the smiling man and woman as she turned to leave.
"Thank you, Sheba, We'll see you there," Glynda said.