Chameleon Ch 14

“Was I really in there?” Zalara asked, poking her mother’s tummy with a small finger.

“Yes, you were,” she said. Tom leaned up against Rianya as Zalara crawled between them. Blankets ruffled and the youngest Jackson sank deep under the covers, laying her head on the amazing bump.

“And you have another baby in there now?”

“Another little girl, your sister,” Rianya said.

“Tell me about the day I was born.” Rianya yawned and looked at Tom.

“I don’t remember much,” she admitted. The child looked at her father with expectation. He smiled as he thought back, hoping he could put it into words.

“You showed up ahead of schedule. It was night time, and Mama and I were in the long-log house on the beach, by the fire. Everyone had gone to bed.

“We weren’t supposed to be on the beach. We were supposed to go back to the village, but it was too late. So, Dr. Clarke helped Mama, and someone had gone to get the Shaman and your grandmama and your auntie, Anju.” He remembered it all, vividly, but where to go from that point in the story he wasn’t quite certain.

“Papa was very worried,” Rianya said. “He thought you were upside down,” she said slowly. “And Dr. Boo was afraid you might be stuck. But everything was okay. I was tired so Papa stayed up all night, holding you, and he wouldn’t let anyone else take you, not even Dr. Boo.”

Zalara snapped her gaze from Rianya to Tom, then shifted to put her head in his lap.

“And you were the most beautiful baby I’d ever seen,” he added, stroking her hair. “You were so quiet, and we counted your fingers and toes, and we knew you belonged to us because your feet are like Mama’s and your hands are like mine.” Tom got the words out, but if continued to talk he was going to have an emotional overload.

He hadn’t thought about that night in a long time. So many things happened so fast he knew he’d forgotten some details. Zalara didn’t seem to care anyway.

“I needed to sleep after all that.”

“This is the ‘happy’ I felt in you, when Papa was hurt.” The adults shrugged at each other with their eyes. Tom had no clue what Zalara was talking about, and that wasn’t the first time, nor would it be the last. “I’m hungry. Can we go get breakfast?”

þ

“Why do you get shore leave but I am not on the schedule?” Cerebrus asked of Rougeau when the man arrived to take the day shift.

“I’m not going, but I still think you could figure that out,” Rougeau said. “What do you want to do on a carbonaceous planet?”

“All experiences contribute to my matrix and my ability to combine scenarios for problem solving.”

“I don’t think the captain is obligated to offer shore leave to machines,” Mr. Lee chuckled. The droid turned his head to stare at Lee with his eyes at maximum.

“I’m not a robot. I’m an A I Droid.”

“Sorry, Cerebrus, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

“You didn’t; my emotional responses are limited. But I am not a single-function robot. I am advanced electronic technology with a neuromorphic photon net.”

“You have moving parts,” Rougeau said dryly. He sat at the navigation helm and began to transfer the controls from Cerebrus to himself, checking status and projects as he went.

“I can wash your uniforms but that doesn’t make me a washing machine.” Lee snorted!

“You’re getting a good sense of humor!”

“I wasn’t trying to make a joke. I was trying to explain my status.”

“I’m too loyal to Captain Jackson to suggest you ask him to put you on the schedule,” Rougeau said. He looked at Cerebrus directly. “It’s 07:01. I relieve you.”

“Come on, I’ll buy you a cup of coffee,” Mr. Lee said to the android. “A peace offering.”

“Your offer is hollow. I can’t ingest food or drink.”

“It’s a saying, ‘C’; I didn’t mean for real.” The two of them left, stepping into the elevator as Lieutenant May stepped out.

“I relieve you,” May called at Mr. Lee as the door shut.

Cerebrus followed Mr. Lee to the mess, but didn’t select any items from the buffet, of course. Lee piled a plate with eggs, a couple of waffles, topped those with freshly-packed berries from Novissimus, picked up a glass of tomato juice and wandered to a table with his large, white shadow.

“I hope you don’t mind if I eat in front of you,” Lee joked.

“I understand, that’s a joke, but I have learned that a joke is only funny if everyone laughs.”

“I’m laughing,” Lee assured him. “Why are you here? Don’t you have to go recharge or sit by the charge unit?”

“I only need to have maintenance, and an energy charge, every ten days.”

“How do you measure your success in learning? Or do you? I mean, we go to school, or we get paid, get raises, promotions.” Lee shoveled a fork full of scrambled eggs in his mouth.

“I’m not certain I understand your question. Why is it necessary to measure the education if it serves the purpose?”

“I never thought about you not having an ego. You remind me a bit of the captain, and he has plenty.”

“In what way?”

“Good morning, Chen, Cerebrus.”

“Good morning, Captain.” Cerebrus said.

“Sir!” Lee almost jumped to his feet. “Good morning.”

 “At ease, Chen, we’re off duty.” Rianya and Zalara followed Jackson through the door but headed straight for the buffet without greeting each person in the mess, as the captain did whenever he had the opportunity. Lee took his seat.

“Of course, you’re welcome to join us but I see you have better company this morning.” Cerebrus looked from Lee to Jackson and back to Lee.

“Thank you, another time.” He turned to leave but stopped when Cerebrus addressed him.

“Captain Jackson. I need to speak with you as soon as possible.”

“Catch me in an hour.”

“Captain?”

“In an hour, Cerebrus.” Jackson held up one hand. “In the doyen’s office. Not here.”

“Yes, sir.”

Cerebrus and Lee both watched as Jackson ran the buffet and retreated with Rianya and Zalara to the captain’s mess.

“Don’t ever do that,” Lee said. The electric blue eyes brightened for a moment, then returned to their normal royal blue tone. “That’s what I mean. The captain is in charge, not you. He gives the last word, he tells you what to do and when, and for good reason. You can’t do it back to him.”

“Since Captain Jackson doesn’t treat me as a member of the crew, I don’t see why I have to act like a member of the crew.” Lee almost dropped his fork.

“How does he not treat you like part of the crew? He gave you your own quarters and you don’t even sleep!”

“He calls me by my first name, never Mr. Astronomite. I have no title such as Ensign or Lieutenant. I do not get dependable time off for leisure activities. I’m always on call. I don’t get shore leave. I am not paid.”

Lee couldn’t believe his ears. He looked hard at the android and nearly had to ask him to repeat himself.

“Okay, Mr. Astronomite, I’m going to tell you something and you better place it in the first file you read every day. You are not a human.”

“Commander Quixote is not a human. Rianya Jackson is not a human.”

“Let me start again.” He clanked his fork on the unfinished plate of eggs and waffles. “I have served with Captain Jackson for seven years. Sometimes he calls me Lieutenant, sometimes Mr. Lee, and when we’re not on duty he calls me Chen. He can call me whatever he wants to. He’s the captain.”

“And is he ever in error?”

“Rule One: the captain is in command. Is he ever wrong? See Rule One. He’s earned that rank. It’s not just given to him because he likes more stripes on his shoulders.”

“That doesn’t answer why I’m not considered a member of his crew.”

“You might be educated, but you have a long way to go before you’re wise, ‘C’. Why do you need pay? Why do you need shore leave? You’re an android.”

“I am a slave.”

Lee stood up and shoved his chair back, folding his arms across his chest and verily snorting at the yappity machine masquerading as a living thing. He left the table without another word, grabbing a glass of fruit juice on his way out. He stopped at the doorway and looked back.

“Don’t ever say that again.”

By every definition, he was a captive slave to whatever Jackson wanted. He worked alone in the Astrometric room, measuring graviton waves, logging pulsar coordinates, calculating distances of different cosmic phenomena. When he had done several hours of that he was told to report to the bridge and operate a station. After an entire shift of that he reported to Quixote in engineering for any overflow projects or work. On a good day, he spent two hours in his quarters, plugged into the data port, uploading electronic content stored in the Earth’s ELDW, aka the Extremely Large Data Warehouse.

He thought since he was not a drain on resources that he should be entitled to things that the biological crew perhaps didn’t. Sleeping, eating, producing organic waste, breathing, washing… all these activities he didn’t contribute to. Was he to be denied something in exchange?

He wasn’t sure what, exactly. He wanted at least what they had. That would be fairer, although how to be compensated for his marginal footprint and larger contributions were unclear. He checked his internal chronometer and discovered time had progressed to 07:30. He had another 50 minutes until Captain Jackson would speak with him. For the duration, he retreated to his quarters where he could download, then access for edification, the protocol for the treatment of artificial life forms.