Chameleon Ch 17

“You are the first,” Cerebrus said to Rianya. She sat on a bio bed in sick bay while Adams placed transmitters in various places around her expanded abdomen.

“You’re only here to learn, Cerebrus. Get out of my way,” Adams said sternly. He pointed to a spot intended for the android to stand, a good meter away from the bed. He complied.

“Lay back, Sweetheart,” Adams told his patient. “Cerebrus, you can observe the statistics right here,” he said.

“I did not download any medical data before this assignment.”

“You need cross training, so start learning.” Rianya shot Adams an austere glare. “Only for emergency, not for bringing babies into the world.”

“Am I allowed to make inquires?” Adams nodded.

“When is the baby removed?”

“It’s up to the baby. Now, notice the primary patient’s statistics, the fetal statistics are secondary. They’re different, as you can see.”

Rianya all but refused to engage with Cerebrus, but she tolerated his presence. His kind of technology was completely foreign to her people, and she would remain aloof as long as possible. He was too lifelike for her, and too robotic at the same time. When Tom had suggested Cerebrus keep an eye on the two girls now and then, she let him know her feelings.

“Are these statistics normal?”

“Yes, for Rianya and this baby.”

The resonance imagery was highly sophisticated compared to what Dr. Clarke had managed to snag during their emergency escape from the Linus Pauling. The escape-pod-turned-medical-bay was archaic by the standards of Maria Mitchell’s infirmary. A single color, vaguely 3D image of Zalara, as incredible as it was on her planet, might as well have been a pencil and paper illustration compared to a nearly opaque hologram of the fetus, live, breathing, moving inside of her, floating in front of her eyes. It was almost disturbing, seeing the baby before she was fully developed for birth.

“She’s starting to look like a small baby instead of a simple life form,” she said.

“This is how humans procreate?” Rianya gritted her teeth and tried not to look at the android.

“This is how higher life forms procreate. Well, Quixote is different. And so are worms, sponges, insects, fungus, and, frankly, bacteria are the most common life forms in the universe This isn’t the most common, but it’s typical of most biological life you’ll interact with.”

“And how is the baby removed?” Adams hesitated and stole a glance at Rianya.

“We’ll talk about that when we get there.”

“No, we won’t,” Rianya said.

“Academically, not applied science.” Her eyes narrowed, and her brows slammed together. “Honest,” Adams added.

“I’m not clear on the manufacturing of the baby.”

“They don’t manufacture them. They grow.”

“How can something come from nothing?”

“That’s it, we’re done. Everything’s good. Good bye, Doctor!” Rianya plucked the transmitters from her skin and slid off the bed. The hologram promptly vanished.

“I have more inquiries.”

Rianya quickly donned her heavy sweater and stood as tall as possible given her temporary physique, threw her hair out of her face with a toss of her head and marched out.

“Sit. I’ll try to answer,” Adams said. The blue lights brightened slightly before returning to normal. Cerebrus sat in the closest chair.

“I’m having difficulty with the complexity of biology.”

“We all do.”

“Ms. Rianya and Captain Jackson have a child, Zalara.” Adams nodded. “Why would they want another one?”

“Biological life forms are driven to reproduce. That’s all I can tell you about that.”

“They are not the same species.”

“Zalara is what we call a hybrid.”

“It appears I will need to download the data on biology.”

“No, you don’t. Just medicine, and just on humans.” Adams wanted to ward off embarrassing questions Cerebrus was, undoubtedly, formulating in his neuromorphic net to spring on Jack.

“There is more than one way to combine genes. The reason two contributors are required is to reduce mutations.” Adams stood up and hunted for files on sexual reproduction. He put the text on a microchip and handed it to Cerebrus. “This should take you about a minute.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

“One more thing,” Adams said before Cerebrus had gone two steps. He stopped and waited. “Do not discuss this information with anyone but me. Is that clear?”

“Yes.”

“Return tomorrow morning. We’ll tackle first aid.”

“Lieutenant Lee, are we about done with our survey?” Jackson asked. “We’re using significant power to stay in orbit of this big chunk of carbon. As lovely as it is, we need to get back on the road to Tau Ceti.”

“Approximately two more orbits and the topography will be finished. It’s the last characteristic for our survey.”

“Lieutenant May, have we collected a name suggestion from everyone?” May chuckled.

“I have. One is leading the pack. I’ll give you a hint. It starts with ‘J’.”

“You don’t have mine yet. I’m putting Cecelia Payne in for the dwarf and Omega for the former star now planet. In the middle of the last millennia when they named stars, the brightest in a constellation were alpha, then beta, to omega.”

“That’s more interesting than J-2166 - 1234567abc,” May said.

“Cerebrus needs to log it. I want it to have a name, not a catalog number.”

“Absolutely, Captain.”

“Surprise. I couldn’t convince anyone to take shore leave on the dwarf or its satellite. May, when you’re done with the scans, return to our former course and speed. Watson, prepare chronicles for the last 75 hours and transmit on the quantum com. Send visuals the old-fashioned way.”

Jackson left and returned to his quarters. He found Rianya on the sofa with some tea, and a plate with cheese and grapes. The entertainment console played a holographic novel which Jackson didn’t think he’d ever seen, or read. They were like movies, but limited to frequent, still-scenes that accompanied spoken text.

“What are you doing here?” she asked when he walked in.

“I don’t need to be on the bridge all the time. Just most of it.” He removed his jacket and sat with her. “What book is this?”

“It’s called Anna Karenina. I just started it. Stop play,” she said to the control box.

“We’re leaving the dwarf and star. Did you want to get another look at it?”

“You’ve seen one planet covered in diamonds, you’ve seen them all.” Tom chuckled, and reached for her hand.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fat, heavy, tired, hungry. And you need to do something about that android.” Tom’s ears pricked up. “He’s … annoying.”

“What did he do?”

“He asked nonstop, private questions while Adams tried to examine me –”

“What? What!?” Tom jumped up from the sofa, his mouth open. Everything floating in his mind about the mission vanished. A horrible image of Cerebrus touching Rianya exploded before his eyes.

“Calm down, Mylan! Adams kept him away from me but he knows nothing about reproduction and I was the teach—”

“What the hell, Rianya!” He marched to the closest intercom and called sick bay.

“Adams.”

“If you let that robot near Rianya again I’ll shove you out an airlock!” Tom roared.

“Wait! Jack, stop it.”

“You listen to me. That machine is not allowed to have any contact with my wife. He’s not a medical droid, he’s here to replace Scott.”

“What the hell are you yammering about?”

“I’m coming down there!”

“Tom, wait.”

He left Rianya, the door barking shut behind him. If he ran into that plastic, swaggering, walking computer he’d break his head off and send it back to Novissimus. He wondered where Cerebrus’ ‘off’ switch might be. Would it be murder to kill a machine? He stomped into sick bay.

“Jack, what the hell is going on?” Adams asked. Jane, Wilson, and Rosalyn all stood behind the doctor, clasping their own hands and weaving from one foot to the other.

“What was Cerebrus doing in here when you were giving Rianya an exam?!”

“Calm down or I’m giving you a sedative!” Jackson crossed his arms and tried to stop shaking. He already disliked the android. Now he had reason to hate it. The tension tightened around the sick bay, pushing nerve endings to their extremes. Every person stood like a dry twig ready to snap back if stepped on.

“Cerebrus was observing me, and the vital statistics of her and the baby. Not Rianya.”

“She said he wanted answers about… what are you three doing here? This is between me and doc!” Adams nodded at his supporters. They quickly scattered in three directions and disappeared.

Jackson’s hands squeezed into fists. Then he slammed one fist into the palm of the other hand. A bomb had detonated in his chest. He wasn’t sure he’d ever singed his skin from anger before, but this would be the day.

“Jack, my office, now. And no talking!”

Jackson pressed his face into his hands hoping to scrape the fury away into the air as he followed Adams. The silence helped while he slowed his breathing and took a couple of steps to walk off the adrenaline. Adams broke out a bottle of Omicron Vodka, made on Novissimus and sold at profitable prices.

“Drink.” Jackson closed his eyes and listened to the silence, washing the wrath from his mind with the vodka. “Just what do you think went on here this morning? You think I let the droid rape your wife or what?”

The old man’s twinkling eyes hardened, peering at him from under shaggy white brows and through metal rimmed eyeglasses.

“I don’t know,” was all Tom could muster.

“I’m trying to cross train him as a field medic. He seems to be bored.”

“What was he asking questions for?”

“You said yourself he’s a child. He wanted to know where babies come from.”

“By interrogating Rianya?” The simmering ire began to boil again.

“I could tell she was uncomfortable. I had him stand here and watch the monitor. When he got too nosy, I got rid of him. Honestly, Jack, I’ve never seen you this upset in all the years I’ve known you.”

“That android. That machine wants private quarters, and an officer’s rank, and shore leave, and pay! He thinks he’s a person and the first chance I get he is off my ship.”

“You’re not jealous of an A I droid, are you?”

“Of course not.” He took another swig of the crystal fluid, not his favorite tonic by a long stretch. Adams’ face softened a bit.

“Really? Because that’s what it sounds like.”

“You’re not a psychiatrist.”

“Would you rather talk to Rosalyn?” Adams threatened. He pushed the bottle at Jack but he declined a refill.

“I know who I am, and I’m not jealous of Cerebrus. I am angry at him for the way he behaves. It’s not appropriate. He talks back, he demands things, he’s arrogant, a know it all.”

“Sounds a bit like you. But he lacks courage, experience, manners, and a host of characteristics I could rattle off but I know you’re not listening.”

“He’s trying to be me, live my life. He wants my command and my wife.”

“Do you hear yourself? You’re imagining it. Now get a hold of yourself. Go back to your quarters and apologize to Rianya. You must have scared her to death shouting at me because of something she said.”

Jackson stood and nodded.

“I’ll cancel the medic training if you prefer.”

“I do. Thank you. Thanks again, Phil.”