This is a recent work of fiction which features an autonomous ship. You've seen the Icon of the Seas which started work in the last few days. How far can it go you might ask. Well there is chance that this novel will answer the question.
The Esperanza is the largest passenger ship in the world. It can accommodate 25,000 passengers who are looked after by 6000 crew. It has a flight deck with its own aircraft and is guided on its voyages by a sentient computer. There is only one thing wrong, it is hard aground on a reef adjacent to the Caribbean island of Grand Turk.
The International Maritime Organisation has sent one of its inspectors, Captain Eduardo Ramirez to determine the reasons for the accident, which should have been impossible. Ramirez must therefore interrogate the crew and the computer which, as it turns out, has its own agenda. He must report back to his boss in Singapore who holds previous errors of judgement against him.
Here is a sample section. Here Eduardo Ramirez is in conversation with the ship's computer:
‘Well, with all your cameras, surely you would have some record of what went on in the corridor outside the room, or even what happened inside it.’
‘No Inspector, I’m sorry, the cameras in that area seem to have failed or been disabled. I did notice during the day before the accident. I check the operation of the cameras several times a second, so I was aware; it’s part of the work on mean time between failures, and hence the reliability of the system, but it was going to take some human intervention to check them out and put them back into operation. Also I had noticed a camera failure in the surroundings of the Retiro and the associated swimming pool. That is always an area of interest for the young people who man the Control Room.’
At this I glanced out of the window which overlooked the space. Sure enough the third mate was checking out some bikini clad lovelies who were frolicking on the sand at the inner edge of the pool.
‘Do you think that if the duty deck officer had actually been close up to either of these young women, and they had covertly, or overtly, offered themselves for sex, he would have chosen to wait for a more suitable time.’
‘The young are a bit different. Justine and I are mature people. Often at our age we might have been married for years. Obviously we have been married, but to other people. We’ve made mistakes. You’ve got a record of them. And we don’t want to make any more The third mate has yet to make his mistakes, so maybe at the moment he doesn’t realise that even a one night stand comes with emotional baggage.’
‘A one night stand?’ queried the Ship.
‘Yes, an opportunity for two people to have sex which is taken up, but is not followed by further coitus or even friendship. It can be that the two people are from different worlds, only met by accident and will never meet again. Sometimes one of the two people does not wish to be emotionally committed, or they have found the experience in some way lacking in enjoyment. Someone may be broken hearted.’
‘Broken hearted?’ said the Ship.
‘Oh well,’ I said, ‘I might as well go through the whole gamut, then you’ll know all about how humans deal with love, life and sex. There is a symbol for the heart.’
‘Yes,’ said the Ship, 'I have a record of it, but it is nothing like a picture of the actual human heart. I see from my data that this symbol is a depiction of the fruit of the plant silphium which may, in ancient times, have been used as a contraceptive.’
I had heard that it depicted something else entirely, but I chose not to put the idea forward. But I was curious. ‘What about this silphium?’ I said.
‘An interesting plant,’ said the Ship. ‘It no longe exists, so all the information about it is taken from ancient writings, and the pictures of it from old illustrations. It is said that it only grew in a coastal area of what is now Libya, and that the inhabitants of the city of Cyrene made living from its sale, since it was in high demand as a perfume, an aphrodisiac, a medicine and possibly a contraceptive. It was so important that it appeared on Cyrenian coins in the third century BC, but it is said that demand for its use as a contraceptive resulted in over-harvesting, and hence its disappearance. So its association with sexual activity might have resulted in the use of the seed pod as a symbol of love.’
‘Anyway,’ I continued, ‘the symbol is basically unimportant, but the phrase is used to indicate how a person who has been dumped might feel. The emotional fallout can hurt, almost physically.’
‘So this has happened to you Inspector? You are speaking of it apparently from experience.’
It had happened to me, but it would be a surprise if it had not. If you reach the age of forty without having had a failed love affair, your experience of the world has been limited. I looked back. I had met a woman, only a couple of years younger than I was when I was in my mid-thirties. It was during the fallout after the Brazilian business, and the resulting acrimonious separation. My then wife had sued for divorce and the division of our collective resources, so I had had to hire a lawyer to look after my interests. It had been the lawyer. I had been surprised that we had moved quite quickly from her large office in a modern building in Singapore, to her bedroom, via dinner in an expensive harbour-side restaurant. I had fallen head over heels for her. She seemed to be funny, attentive and enjoyed my jokes. Once out of her formal lawyer’s suit, stripped down to her thong she had been memorable. But within a week it was all over. Not only did she dump me, she also withdrew from my case. I was left bereft, and instead engaged the services of a sixty- five year old Chinese lawyer, who did an excellent job. It took me some time to achieve equilibrium again.
‘I have had the experience,’ I said, ‘but let’s get back to the submersible. Hayward has said that he forgot to lock the door to the room on the previous evening, but that, combined with the fact that the cameras had failed, and the repair guys had been occupied mending the ones round the Retiro, makes me suspicious. I am not keen on co-incidences.’
‘So you think that Hayward could be one of those conspiring against us,’ suggested the Ship.
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