The Spaceship's AI didn't physically walk to the kitchen and turn on the coffee maker, it wasn't human, after all. It simply activated the automated systems remotely, triggering the brewing sequence through its control of the ship's functions.
The coffee was dark and strong, exactly how he preferred it.
He pulled out a loaf of bread from the food storage compartment. It emerged fresh, preserved perfectly by the shelf's temporal stasis field, one of the few luxuries the ship still maintained.
As he ate, standing by the counter, Tatehan's mind wandered to what lay ahead. Four days of walking through hostile territory. Maybe less if he got lucky with a motorcycle. He'd be heading into completely unknown territory, toward a clan he knew nothing about, to save a girl he'd never met.
It sounded insane when he thought about it that way.
But the alternative, using the core for the ship and letting Kael's daughter die, felt infinitely worse.
