"Everything in the public areas, yes. Admiral Columbus, please tell Captain Odeon how you handle monitoring of private quarters."
"Yes, Captain," came from the air, startling Odeon. "I monitor those only for sounds of distress or people requesting my attention, and permanently tape only those situations; everything else is wiped automatically within approximately one microsecond."
"Your ship talks to you?"
DeLayne and Drulet both chuckled at Odeon's incredulity. "Yes, she does. All Imperial ships of this class or higher—which means all but couriers or landers—have AI-level ship-comps."
Odeon was silent for a moment, then he said, "Okay, I'll bite; what does that mean?"
"Sorry," DeLayne said. "That's a ship-wide computer complex enough to be classified as an artificial intelligence. That means that if you didn't know you were talking to a computer, you'd think it was a very intelligent human. I gather you're not too familiar with computers?"
"That's one way to put it; I've never used one, and only seen a few. None of those talked, and I never heard of any being intelligent!"
DeLayne chuckled. "Any time you want to talk to one, address her the way I did. She'll answer you, as long as you don't get into classified information."
"That may take me a while to get used to. No offense intended, Admiral Columbus."
"I do not have feelings, so I cannot take offense, Captain Odeon, but I thank you for the courtesy."