Chapter 631 An Inadvertent Punthe special interview proceeding

Chapter 631 An Inadvertent Punthe special interview proceeding

“And how is the special interview proceeding?” Ayaka asked, though she knew the process had likely been finished in seconds, or perhaps minutes. Comparing things didn’t take long, after all; not for quantum computers, anyway. The only limiting factor was that there were a lot of items to compare, which would take at least a little bit of time due to the quantity, if nothing else.

{Due to the way Warrant Officer Lee was discovered and some anomalies in his scans, the interview will take extra time as the interviewer implements psychological testing measures to detect and prevent inaccuracies in the process or dishonesty on the part of the Warrant Officer,} the AI faithfully replied. The scope of the empire’s brain and memory scanning technologies had been hidden from it on a classified, encrypted server that it was unable to access in the normal course of things, so it naturally referred to the process as a “special interview”.

“If you use all available computing resources in the Proxima and shut down everything but critical infrastructure, would that speed up the process?” the fleet admiral asked.

{Yes, Admiral.}

“By how much?”

{The process would be completed in approximately 62 seconds, Admiral.}

“Then do it under my personal authorization, confirmation zulu bravo x-ray tango whisky foxtrot...” he ordered, attaching his own vocal confirmation code as shutdown protocol required. Each of the captains had a unique sixty-four character confirmation code for command override protocols that would prove they were in control of themselves when issuing certain orders.

In fact, much of that was being done already, with GEMbots having already dismantled the lander that had brought Joon-ho up to the Proxima, as well as much of the boat bay it had landed in. Everything that he had been in proximity to would be replaced with spares from the fleet’s spares inventory, from the smallest set screw to the largest pieces of deck plating, and everything in between.

{Procedure complete, Admiral,} the AI reported.

“Resume normal operations, Proxima, and display the results of the special interview.”

{Yes, Admiral,} the AI replied, then a hologram snapped into existence around the people in the room and they were transported to the timeless meadow.

The silence stretched as everyone in the conference room watched the events of the last few months playing out from Joon-ho’s perspective. Their implants allowed them to process the scenes much faster than living them, so the file played out from start to finish in just a shade under an hour.

Then it was over, and the spell was broken by the AI. {Playback complete,} it said, the two words snapping the attendees of the meeting back to reality.

“That... I have no words,” Dr. Standing Bear finally said. “I’ll... I don’t even know who to run that past. Xenobotany? Xenoanthropology? Xeno...” she trailed off and her eyes glazed over as she considered the ramifications of the first-contact interaction between Joon-ho and the trees. She began mentally shuffling personnel from research team to research team, forming the seed of a superteam that would take over as advisors for the diplomatic efforts that would inevitably come.

She barked a laugh and everyone in the room looked at her. “Seeds... never mind,” she said, shaking her head. “I just startled myself with an inadvertent pun.”Reêad latest novels at novelhall.com