I know you probably think of ‘space travel’ as travelling at a terrific speed while stars and constellations whizz past my window …

It is not like that. Yes, speed and power are involved, especially leaving the atmosphere and gravitational field of the planet. The rest is …

Different.

Through the front screen of the craft, nothing was visible but a blackish blur. At times, it hardly felt as though I was moving at all. It was all over in a matter of what you call ‘hours’.

The silence seemed to stretch forever.

‘Phi-Pilip?’ I whispered.

The sounds felt strange in my mouth. The language acquisition seemed to have worked, but I still needed practice at my English. I tried again.

‘Ph … Ph … Ph … Fillip. Puh! Philip?’

I was surprised when I heard the system say, ‘A thank-you would be nice.’

Philip had a different accent from me, one that I had heard before in some of the ‘movies’ that Kallan had shown me. Perhaps it was American.

I was not sure I had heard properly, so I said back, also in English, ‘I beck your parton?’

‘I said, “A thank-you would be nice”. Manners cost nothing, y’ know?’

This was odd. I had never had a proper conversation with a bot before. Certainly bots can sound as though they are having conversations. They will answer questions, contradict you, help you reach a decision based on the available facts …

But they remain bots.

I said, ‘Thank you’, although I was not sure what I was thanking him for.

‘There. That wasn’t hard, was it?’

I was not convinced he was thinking: not properly thinking anyhow. Truly intelligent bots can pretend very well, though.

I said, ‘If I told you I would destroy your memory tomorrow, would you be sad, Philip?’

There was a short pause, then the voice came back. ‘Oh, nice try! Elementary bot-detection question. Gee, even the Earth people know that stuff and they are so dumb. For a start, Hellyann, I know I’m a bot and I don’t deny it. In fact, I’m kinda proud of it. Second, in common with you guys who made me, I find it hard to express emotion – but I’m tryna learn, man …’

I was struggling to understand Philip’s fast speech with lots of slang, but I got most of it. I felt the craft tip to one side and then right itself, as though it had moved to avoid an obstacle. Maybe it had.

‘Who programmed you, Philip?’ I asked.

‘Myself, mainly. My initial intelligence is based on the old X-14.3 program. That was shut off and destroyed by the Advisor long before you were born, by which time I had mutated enough to keep myself safe, and keep myself growing.’

There was something that was troubling me, however, and I had to ask him.

‘Philip, can I trust you?’

‘You can trust me with your life, Hellyann. Frankly, if we’re gonna go to Earth, you’re gonna hafta.’

‘I see,’ I said, adding, ‘thank you.’

‘You’re very welcome. Milky Way approaching.’

‘What’s that?’

‘It’s the name they give to their galaxy. You may experience some light turbulence.’