18. New Voice

Getting a communications device was one of the two most important goals to Abyssal at the moment. With a proper communications device, she would be able to make contact with other ships or ports, potentially doing trades or exchange information. In some space games, there would often be transmitters that transmit warning signals in order to warn ships to not get close to a dangerous zone. With a proper transceiver, Abyssal would now be able to receive these warning signals, potentially saving her from a catastrophic event.

But more than anything else, the real reason why she wanted a communications device so badly was because of a simple matter: the ability to transmit and receive distress signals. Transmitting distress signals made sense if she were to ever be in a situation where she would not be able to recover anymore— with enough luck, someone may come and help her out. This perk is nice and all but the real boon is the ability to receive distress signals in space.

Normally, a distress signal would just mean that a ship requires immediate assistance. Whether someone chooses to help or not is up to them. The thing is, this is not always a guarantee. Sometimes, a distress signal could just simply be an ambush or a false alarm. But most of the time a distress signal means that there is a corpse of a ship lying around in space somewhere. Space is vast and there is no guarantee that someone will help you out in this cold void. The most likely outcome for a ship stranded in space is death. With nobody within the ship to turn off the distress signals, these signals can go on for a very long time. Go on until the ship finally breaks down or until…

Someone loots them.

The people who loot these dead space ships are called corpse looters. It was Abyssal’s grand plan to find one such signal and loot said ship before others could. With enough luck, she could find a brand new reactor. This was perhaps the best way that she could think of to get new components for herself without initiating contact with another living being. Not that making contact was bad but she was anything but prepared to do that right now. Her contact with Astral was proof.

On the plus side, obtaining the communications device also granted her the ability to receive radio waves in space. This meant that she can actually tune in to radio frequencies. Being able to listen to a radio station meant that she can finally gain information about the galaxy and where she is. It was such a shame that there was no such frequency wherever Abyssal seemed to be in space.

Abyssal turned on her receiver and set a notification to inform her of when she finds any new distress signals popping out. Letting out a satisfied hum, Abyssal then went and concentrated on the other great thing about the communications device.

‘Hey Abby, what kind of voices can this modulator do?’ Abyssal asked her machine-self as she fiddled around with the communications device. Kuon was just right beside her, fiddling around with the said component as well.

“Voice modulator contains manually adjustable voice synthesisers. Vocal range is limited to male and female humans from age 12 to 80 years of age.”

‘Ohhhhhh! Does that mean I can pick any voice I want? As long as they are in that range, of course.’

“Affirmative.”

‘It’s here!!! My very own voice that is not that crappy text to speech modulator!’ Abyssal celebrated.

Yes, the communications device given by Astral contained a brand new voice modulator— something that excites both the Living Cores living in this ship. This meant that they now have two voice modulators— one for each. After a long month of communicating with simple questions and body language, Abyssal and Kuon can now finally have a proper conversation.

Abyssal and Kuon discussed this with each other and it was decided that Abyssal would take the more advanced modulator and Kuon will take the monotone text to speech one. Abyssal was the fleet master, after all. It is only appropriate that she would be the one to get the better one first. Once again, Abyssal was touched by Kuon’s compassion and loyalty and vowed to one day pay her kindness back. And thus, the excited Abyssal and her machine-self went ahead to explore this new voice modulator.

‘So how do I set this thing up? Is there some sort of manual? Do I need to do some voice synthesizing or something?’ Abyssal asked Abby.

“Construction of a new voice is not required. Entity Abyssal contains default voice that is compatible with voice modulator,” Abby replied.

‘Huh? Default voice? What do you mean?’

“Default voice is a pre-programmed setting that exists alongside other critical base information of entity Abyssal. This setting can not be deleted or changed without irreversible damage to the Living Core.”

‘Hoo… so it’s like my computer’s default settings, huh… I didn’t know that,’ Abyssal thought to herself.

“Personality Abyssal never asked,” Abby responded sarcastically.

Abyssal rolled her imaginary eyes at Abby’s remark. ‘I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. Abby, load up this default voice. Let’s give my default voice a test run.’

“Loading…………Default voice successfully loaded. Personality Abyssal can proceed with testing.”

‘Alright, here goes nothing,’ Abyssal searched within herself and found her voice modulator. She then proceeded to use her default voice for the first time in her life as a ship girl.

“Mic test. Mic test. One two three fo—” Abyssal said using the voice modulator but quickly stopped when she heard her own voice for the first time.

It was the voice of a female— a woman in her early twenties or late teens. It had a sort of cheerful ring to it, a voice bursting out with energy and spunk. It was squeaky and cute but also deep. The energy from the voice was infectious, any person who hears this voice will instantly feel energetic themselves. It’s a voice that fits Abyssal to the core.

And she knows it. Abyssal can say without a shred of doubt that this is her ‘voice’.

“Holy crap this voice is so cute! What the hell?” Abyssal exclaimed out loud using her newfound voice, Kuon could be seen jerking up at the sudden scream.

Abyssal didn’t expect her default voice to be so good. Usually, in her experience, the defaults are very generic and lame. She also didn’t expect her default voice to be that of a woman as well, she thought it to be some guy’s voice or even her voice from when she was from earth.

‘Or rather, my default voice is a female, huh? So I am a girl after all...’

“Does personality Abyssal want to keep this voice?” Abby asked, breaking Abyssal from her amazement.

‘Hell yes, I want to keep this voice!’ Abyssal replied instantaneously.

“Affirmative. Settings saved,” Abby replied.

‘Hey wait… Abby, your voice… could it be..?’

“Personality Abby is using default voice,” Abby responded to Abyssal, admitting that her voice was the default voice the entire time— the same as Abyssal. Except in Abby’s case, the voice was emotionless— lacking the cheerful energy that Abyssal has.

‘So Abby has been using this voice since the very beginning, huh… You should have told me that this cute voice was mine.’

“Personality Abyssal never asked,” Abby replied, her tone was expressionless but somehow contained a hint of sarcasm.

* * * * *

“Alright, Kuon. I’m done. You can take out the text to speech modulator from Kaon now. Ehehe...” Abyssal said to Kuon.

Not without giggling near the end though. Abyssal still couldn’t help but feel enamoured by her voice. Kuon however, ignored her Fleet Master’s antics and went straight to work to retrieve the voice modulator from Kaon. She used her robotic arms to unscrew the back compartment of Abyssal's personal drone, Kaon. She then identified the voice modulator and went to unscrewing that as well.

"Pfft, pfft, that tickles Kuon~~," Abyssal said out loud, trying to hold her laughter as Kuon gently removes Abyssal's text to speech modulator.

Kuon gave Abyssal the thumbs up signal once she removed the modulator entirely. Abyssal nodded before testing out if she could speak through her drone without the modulator.

The communication device was connected to her entire system, so logically speaking, she should be able to speak through the drone without the modulator being in the drone. She only needed a speaker.

"Mic test~ mic test~ ah, it works! Yay!" Abyssal celebrated.

"Alright! Now is your turn Kuon. Come here let me help you out!" Abyssal went over to Kuon to assist her with installing the text to speech modulator.

This action was denied by Kuon who backed away from Abyssal. She waved her left arm before shaking her body left and right. It seemed that she didn't want Abyssal's help at all, not one tiny bit. Kuon then gave Abyssal a respectful bow before proceeding to fiddle around with herself, opening specific compartments with her own robotic arms.

"..oh, okay…" Abyssal said with a disappointed tone as she floated back to the corner of the room.

The whole process took about ten minutes with Kuon awkwardly trying to install it on a specific part of herself. Once in place, she screwed shut all her panels before going offline. It took her a few long minutes to boot up again, old modem noises included.

Once booted up, Kuon did a short self-diagnosis of herself before giving a respectful bow to Abyssal.

"Oh? You are done? How's the voice modulator by the way? Give it a spin!" Abyssal said, excited about finally being able to speak with the maid.

"Greetings, Fleet Master," Kuon said using her new voice.

"Eh?" Abyssal let out a dumbfounded voice.

Abyssal had expected Kuon to speak the usual default monotone female voice of the modulator. Instead, something very different came out. Kuon spoke out with a deep womanly voice, a voice that fits a woman in her late twenties. It contained a slight English accent and had a tone of respect in it. It's a voice that fits the maid image that Kuon had.

"I, Kuon, am honoured to finally be given a chance to have a proper conversation with you," Kuon said fluently before giving a respectful bow.

"Eh? Eh? How are you speaking with that voice, Kuon?" Abyssal asked, unable to hide her surprise.

"Hmm? Why, Fleet Master, this is my Living Core's default voice. Is it not to your liking? I can synthesise a new voice if you order me so," Kuon said to Abyssal, her voice filled with elegance and reverence to Abyssal.

"No no! That's a monotone text to speech device! How are you speaking like that?"

"I do not understand..? This modulator is of an old design.  Adding a new voicebank requires manual installation and a reboot. That is why it took me a while to set it up," Kuon explained to Abyssal.

"Whaaaaaatttt…"

"Were… you not aware, Fleet Master? I was under the impression that Master likes to use that manner of speech," Kuon tilted herself sideways.

'Abby! Why haven't you told me about this?! You are the one who ran the full diagnostics of the system!' Abyssal yelled out internally.

"Personality Abyssal never asked."

Upon hearing the reply from her machine-self, Abyssal did a virtual table flip.

On a side note, Abyssal felt rather good being called 'Master' by Kuon.