Sensorized

"The environmental control system is a fundamental system of the Starpoint. This projection shows the basic operation of its four subsystems for temperature, air, lighting and artificial gravity," explained MPAD-24. "For additional information, specifications are available for viewing."

The triplets seemed intrigued by the three dimensional transparent projection of the ship. One by one, it grabbed their attention, and they let go of you to take a closer look at the ship projection instead. "Ooh look. That dining hall," said one of them excitedly. She tried to touch it, but the image just wavered in response. After seeing that, each of them joined her in running their fingers through the image and watching it shimmer in response. Eventually they stumbled across the zoom function which captivated them even more. "This fun to use. Thank you for showing," said the nearest.

While they played with the projection, you decided to investigate the subsystems further, starting with temperature. As you selected it, MPAD-24 suddenly morphed into a floating view screen similar to the one you'd used in the medical bay. Navigating it was incredibly easy. As you examined details for the temperature subsystem, you realized it was quite advanced, especially how the temperature controls were fully automated and integrated with a multitude of tiny sensors throughout the ship. The system was so sensitive that it could detect even minute temperature fluctuations due to changes in body heat as the crew worked, or when they moved between rooms or corridors, and it automatically compensated for the resulting thermal variation, maintaining a nearly static temperature to a precision of more than 6 decimals. By comparison, Earth-based heating and cooling systems were lucky to keep the temperature within a half a degree of a fixed point at best, and they usually took several minutes to adjust to variations. Even more intriguing was the sensor capability which captured a multitude of data across various spectrums. The entire ship was filled with them. "Is the sensor data being used for other functions?" you asked.

"Currently, only the environmental system is using this sensor data, but the information is available if needed and it is periodically recorded. For a further demonstration, additional parameters must be selected or defined," explained MPAD-24.

Promptly a new menu was displayed listing a multitude of sensor data parameters that could be used, along with existing filter criteria that could be selected , as well as options to create new filters or customize existing ones. Many seemed mundane, and not much use to display, but a few categories looked very useful. You selected an option to display life forms, and instantly the projection of the ship was filled with well over a hundred small glowing dots, each representing one of the aliens on board and yourself. Next you refined the selection to just show Cunis, and most of the dots vanished, leaving about 40 or so. The majority of them were scattered across level three, either in the dining area, or the passenger rooms along the other side of that level. A couple more appeared to be in one of the research labs on the science level while another one was in a hallway of that level - that was likely Tawny. Three more were shown in engineering, exactly where the triplets were standing. After a small modification, you also found a way to display labels with each dot, listing a name or designation for each based on a cross-reference from the ship's database.

"That's you," you announced while pointing at the three dots, now labeled Daisy, Jasmine and Shasta. You finally had a way to figure out which was which, and you saw that Daisy was the one wearing yellow, Jasmine wore light blue, and Shasta wore lime.

"Oooh, that me?" Daisy asked. Each of them tried touching the spots, curiously acting as if it might somehow affect them. At the very least it should buy a few more minutes of entertainment, giving you time to continue exploring the sensor capabilities.

Next you selected also displaying all synthetics on board. The entire ship lit up, and you realized it must be showing all the built-in systems of the ship as well as any others. After a slight modification you found how to restrict it to mobile synthetics, and the ship no longer glowed as brightly while a few dozen new dots remained lit. Most were concentrated in the lower levels, while a few were scattered among the upper floors. All had short designations usually comprised of a series of letters and numbers. A dot for MPAD-24 was now displayed next to the triplets. Meanwhile, you searched for 6T9, and eventually found her on the sixth level. But something seemed unusual. The sensor data for her area seemed erratic, and her dot and those for two other synthetics in the same room seemed to be fading in and out.