Entry 36

To my surprise, Ven did not argue further with Blaue. He let her lead John and me towards our rooms. “Please go inside,” she instructed. “Before I continue the grand tour I would like you to check out your rooms to check they are satisfactory. If there is anything you need, please let me know.”

“You’re not going to shut the walls behind us,” I responded uneasily. I did not like the idea of doors I could not open and close myself. I could just imagine that this was all some sort of elaborate trap. I would step into the room, the wall would close behind me and I would be stuck forever.

“No, I will not,” Blaue said with a kind smile. “Now, please. If you would check your room.”

Still feeling uneasy I glanced at John. He smiled at me and nodded, indicating I should do as I ask. So I stepped through the threshold and into the room.

The room was small, barely five feet by five feet, but it was colored light lavender, making it seem larger than it was. The bed was a hole in the wall, like in a lot of science fiction movies, except upon it was a large fluffy purple pillow and purple sheets. I stood in the threshold, stunned by all the purple.

“We knew we were picking up an Earth girl, so we had time to prepare,” Blaue said from behind me, her voice anxious as if waiting for my approval. “If you don’t like purple, I can easily change the walls. If you step in further, I can show you the other amenities of the room.” I stepped in mechanically. Blaue followed me in.

“Do you see this?” Blaue asked, pointing to a small raised square on the wall. It was like the raised part of the wall Ven had touched to access the directory when we were in the Society. “If you touch this square, part of this wall will become like a screen, like a television.” She smiled as if proud of her use of the word. “I have several Earth shows and movies downloaded. They will be older shows than you are used to, since we had to pick up the transmissions from outside the solar system, but I hope you find them enjoyable.”

“If you touch this,” Blaue said, motioning to another raised square on the other side of the wall, “It will reveal your rest room. It has your basic shower, toilet, and mirror. And if you touch this one,” she pointed to one on the same wall as the bed, “it will reveal your closet, which I took the liberty of stocking with clothes suitable for a human girl. If you find the clothes disagreeable, let me know. We can arrange to acquire more.”

Blaue fell silent, watching me carefully, as if waiting for my reaction. It took me a moment to find my voice.

“This is wonderful,” I said. Blaue beamed. “Purple is even my favorite color. How did you know?”

“I didn’t,” Blaue answered. “Ven wanted me to color the room blue because his sister likes blue, but I figured I would try something more feminine first.” She paused. “I’m also rather fond of purple myself.”

“Then why do you wear so much blue?” I asked.

“Because of my name, of course,” she laughed. “Der Blaue Stern. It means the Blue Star. And Ven prefers blue. I have to appease him in small ways, since I do so love thwarting him in large ones, like getting your brother a room.”

“My brother,” I repeated. “Why do you call him my brother but Ven doesn’t?”

“Ven has very strong feelings about synthetic and organic sentients,” Blaue responded with a sigh. “I’m an Artificial Intelligence. I know what my feelings are. A sentient is a sentient, whether synthetic or organic. Either way, they are my superior. My programming does not recognize a difference in authority between the two.” I frowned, finding this all hard to take in.