This week with Arlene and Jeff:
..."My other wives and two other women assisted Ship with her point defense, consequently destroying many of your fighting drones in the process. My Clan Queen oversaw much of what the women did. Helen, a genius wife, oversaw the maintenance of Ship's engines, shields, guns and repair during the battle. Our navigator is a seven-year-old genius. Incidentally, she has recently discovered how to communicate instantly over stellar distances."
"What?" the First said as his attention riveted on what Jeff had said.
"That was the last hurdle we had to overcome before I could even think of leaving Earth to search for the race that built Ship's brain. Earth's only defense is Ship and her interceptor fleet. There are still many things that I would like to have happen before we leave, though, and one of those problems is the lack of a trained crew for Ship. She is quite capable of taking us anywhere without assistance from any of us, but… according to her, and she should know, she operates better if she has a crew, and she was built with that in mind. My wives and I were certainly not a trained crew, but…"
"You seemed to manage quite well from our standpoint," First broke in to say.
"Still," Jeff insisted, "we only assisted Ship. For instance, she chose the weapon that crippled your ship and fired when I told her to. I left the choice of weapons to her. If left totally to her own devices, she would probably have engaged your ship much sooner. I was reluctant to fire the first shot for fear of starting an interstellar war with Earth possibly fighting multiple ships with only one battleship, not to mention that I didn't know whether there were noncombatants aboard your ship. Still, we were lucky. I had never fought a space battle, and I was worried there was another ship hidden and waiting to sneak in to bombard Earth while Ship was engaged with your Raider."...
Have a goodun;
Roust