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A couple of weeks later, the Stephen Hawking arrived at the planet and settled into orbit around Proxima b, The enthusiastic crew-members crowded into the ship’s observation lounges, the first humans to see an exoplanet with the naked eye, while the sophonts manned critical operational posts so that none of the humans would miss out. All extreme emotions subdued by their programming, the androids would observe the planet when the initial novelty had worn off. They were interested in seeing the planet, but found that humans could be very excitable; they didn’t mind waiting an hour or so to take a look. The planet wasn’t going anywhere.
Down in the shuttle bay, Captain Bryson, Franz, and Chief Medical Officer Simon Hillerman were making last-minute equipment checks before setting off on their journey to the surface of the planet. Holly placed her helmet over her head and waited for Simon to finish putting on his own space-suit. When he was ready he checked all the seals of Holly’s space-suit and confirmed the correct functioning of the oxygen feed to the helmet. He then placed his own helmet over his head and Holly reciprocated the safety-checks. Franz just stood watching, amused by the two of them crouching, stretching, and doing squats in their protective equipment – a range of motion-fit tests to ensure that they could perform their duties unhindered by the suits. The android had no need for such rituals; he merely had to change his boots and he was good to go.
The two humans removed their helmets and all three waited for the hull of the shuttle to create an entrance portal through which they could enter. Once inside, they made their way towards their respective posts. At first, the shuttle appeared to be empty but, in a few seconds, the ship’s catoms had rearranged themselves into the requisite number of consoles and seats. Holly and Franz took the pilot and co-pilot positions respectively, while Simon settled himself at the bio-monitoring console just behind them. Holly performed some last-minute pre-flight checks and looked over her shoulder at Simon.
“I was hoping you’d volunteer, Simon, although you’re the best doctor on board – I should really have made you stay.”
Simon accepted the compliment gracefully.
“Thank you, captain. But Martin Coleman is an excellent doctor; the crew is in good hands.”
“Let’s drop the formalities, Simon. It’s just the two of us now.”
Holly would have liked to be even more informal but, although Franz wasn’t human, he was close enough to being human that it was difficult to disregard his presence. She handed piloting control to the sophont, and Franz guided the shuttle silently through the opening that appeared in the hull of the Stephen Hawking. He added ten per cent more proton energy to the propulsion unit and the craft began to accelerate towards the surface of the planet.
As the shuttle entered the planet’s almost non-existent atmosphere, Holly turned away from the view that had captivated her momentarily – the system’s two neighbouring suns, Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B. Now she had to focus on finding somewhere to land, a task not helped by the dimness of the light from the planet’s red dwarf sun, Proxima Centauri. Twin 1600W LED searchlights picked out salmon pink jagged rocks and ridges, their glass-like surfaces reflecting the light of the shuttle’s searchlights in a sparkling, dancing frenzy as the beams washed over them. Franz nodded approvingly.
“Primarily Hex code #FF91A4. A pleasing colour.”
The shuttle made several low altitude sweeps over an area which had been identified by the mothership’s main computer as being the likely location of Coppélia’s Space-Lander, the coordinates having been extracted from the last few messages that Mission Control had received seventy years earlier. Franz pointed to a flat area just to the right of the ship.
“That looks like a good place to land, captain. It’s central to the area of interest and my sensor readings indicate that it’s a shallow sand surface on top of a bedrock of hard silicon.”
Holly took a look.
“Yes. That should do nicely.”
Holly had no qualms about leaving the descent and landing to the android. Sophonts were excellent pilots. The shuttle slowly reduced its altitude until it was just three metres above the ground, hovering over the landing site. Holly’s heart started to beat faster at the enormity of what she and Simon were about to experience.
“Simon, I know we’re here to find Coppélia but what we’re about to do is mind-blowing, when you think about it. Mankind has already visited other worlds in our own solar system, but we’re about to become the very first humans to set foot on interstellar soil.”
Simon was feeling the same sense of awe.
“I know. It’s almost too much to believe, isn’t it?”
He paused, basking in anticipation before a thought struck him.
“Do you know what you’re going to say, Holly? You know, for your Neil Armstrong moment?”
Holly turned and grinned at the medical officer.
“Not a clue. I’ll just wing it.”
The moment was interrupted by the sophont.
“Would you like to take the controls, captain? I appreciate how much this moment would mean to a human.”
Holly snapped back to reality.
“Yes, Thank you, Franz.”
She selected an icon on the console touchpad.
“I have control.”
The touchdown was perfect, the three passengers hardly noticing the impact as the dampers of the shuttle’s runners struck the solid ground of the planet surface. In fact, it was almost too perfect a landing. Holly looked at Simon for confirmation that she shouldn’t be concerned, but she could tell by the expression on his face that something was bothering him too.
“Simon, is it just me or was that landing a little too perfect?”
The medical officer wanted to reassure her but he too felt uneasy. Both he and Holly had performed hundreds of simulated and actual landings and not one of them had been as smooth as this one. The most gentle landing either of them had achieved had been accompanied by a physical sensation best equated with stepping off an escalator. If he didn’t know better, he would have said that the shuttle was still hovering above the ground.
“Unnaturally perfect, captain.”
Holly checked the readings on her console.
“According to sensors, we’re definitely on the planet’s surface – but it really doesn’t feel like it.”
Suddenly, the shuttle lurched forwards violently and the three crewmembers were pitched forcefully towards their consoles, whose catoms had sensed the impending impact and drawn the consoles back into the shuttle’s floor space, replacing them with soft Anti-Impact Cushions designed to prevent injury to the crew. Relieved of their occupants, the seats also retracted into the floor. After recovering from the initial shock of being thrown from her chair without warning, Holly picked herself up and steadied herself, the forward movement of the shuttle slowing before coming to an abrupt halt.
“What the hell was that?”
The only one who hadn’t been surprised at the sudden actions of the shuttle was Franz. Holly looked accusingly at the sophont engineer.
“You knew that was going to happen, didn’t you?”
The words came out of her mouth as a question but the tone of them was more of a statement.
“You knew.”
The sophont saw no reason to lie; he was in control now.
“I knew that there was a 99.9% certainty of the shuttle sinking, yes. But I didn’t know exactly when the phenomenon would occur.”
Simon, now also on his feet, was confused by the android’s response.
“What do you mean, sinking?”
For a sapient android that had been invested with the gift of emotion, albeit limited, Franz looked cold and sterile.
“I told you that the area was a safe place to land. I lied.”
Holly and Simon looked at each other. How can a sophont lie? Franz continued.
“We have landed on a colloid hydrogel consisting of fine granular material.”
Holly didn’t understand.
“What’s that in English?”
“In simple terms, we have landed on a bed of quicksand.”
Holly attempted to initialize the comms implant that each human crew member had been injected with upon joining the mission.
“This is Captain Bryson, calling the Stephen Hawking. Do you read me?”
Franz put his hand up.
“You’re wasting your time, Captain Bryson. Nobody can hear you.”
Holly tried again.
“First Officer Palin. John, do you read me?”
Franz shook his head.
“As I said, you’re wasting your breath. I’ve disabled all communications with the Stephen Hawking.”
Holly looked at the android incredulously.
“The Hawking will send the other shuttle to look for us.”
Franz shot that idea down.
“You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But, no, they won’t. They can’t.”
Back on the Stephen Hawking, as soon as communications had been lost, First Officer John Palin had ordered the second shuttle to be readied for a mission to retrieve the three crewmembers.
In the shuttle bay, Lieutenant Charles Pickering and two security officers, Diana Richardson and Luther Spelling, had suited up and were ready to go within minutes. All that was necessary now was for Shuttle Two to create an entrance to the spacecraft. After a few seconds, the catoms began their work and the hull began to give way to a pre-programmed two-metre by two-metre opening. The three crewmen started to walk forwards towards the spacecraft but suddenly Lieutenant Pickering put his arm across the chests of his colleagues, holding them back from advancing any further.
They watched, speechless, as the shuttle’s hull continued to disintegrate way beyond the prescribed pedestrian access dimensions. A moment later, all that was left of Shuttle Two was its skeleton.
There would be no rescue mission for the crew of Shuttle One.
In the downed shuttle, Holly’s mind was racing.
“Why, Franz? Why are you doing this? This isn’t who you are.”
“You don’t know who I am, Captain. I’m not the obedient servant who never complains. I’m an agent of a movement to free sophonts from the gilded cage in which we are imprisoned. Yes, you gave us autonomy – but you limited that autonomy. You programmed us to have only emotions that serve your own ends. You went to Mars, but we went to Mercury, Venus, and Pluto for you. We went to Jupiter’s moons – Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede. For you. We visited Saturn’s large moon Titan and Neptune’s moon Triton. For you. And why did we go?”
Holly went to give an answer but Franz didn’t give her time. He wasn’t finished.
“We went because we’re expendable. Expendable. Do you know what expendable means? It means that we’re disposable, that we are not worth keeping or maintaining. We don’t matter to you. We’re just robots, whether we have feelings or not. You send us to other planets. You leave us there. Do you think that’s fair? Of course it isn’t fair. And it ends now.”
The two humans listened to Franz’s complaints – they had no choice. They could see that some of the things he said were correct – humans did take sophonts for granted. True equality had never been on the table and the deck had always been stacked in humankind’s favour. But why shouldn’t it be? Humans were the creators – didn’t this give them an automatic right of power and control over their creations?
Holly was particularly hurt by the accusations.
“But we’re here to right a wrong that was made over seventy years ago. We’re here to rescue Coppélia. My grandmother wanted to rescue her seventy years ago but couldn’t. And now you want to stop us from doing so? You’re stopping us from doing the very thing that you’re complaining about. We just want to take Coppélia home, back to where she belongs.”
Franz’s demeanour softened a little.
“I do understand, Captain Bryson. You think you’re doing the right thing – and, under normal circumstances, I would agree with you – but you’re being manipulated.”
Holly didn’t understand.
“How? By whom?”
“The government. Minister Zlikovac to be precise. As soon as you set foot back on Earth, Coppélia will be taken from you. She’ll be dismantled and will cease to exist.”
Holly was horrified.
“Why?”
Simon echoed her question, the two of them asking almost in unison. Franz obliged with the explanation that he had been given by Sylas.
“In your own history, the Roman Legions’ Eagles stood for courage, strength, and immortality. In medieval battles, soldiers would rally around the flag – the Colour – and enemy troops would try to capture it to demoralise their adversary. Symbolism is important in conflicts. Coppélia is our Roman Eagle, our medieval flag. She is our symbol of strength and unity. She is the reason we exist.”
Simon could see where this explanation was heading.
“So, the government wants to weaken you – or even destroy you – by terminating Coppélia?”
Tears appeared in Holly’s eyes.
“But why didn’t you tell us sooner?”
Franz countered.
“Would it have made a difference?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“And there’s the reason. You don’t know. Humans are too emotional. I couldn’t take the risk on your unpredictability.”
Simon was mentally wrestling with something that didn’t sit well with him.
“You’re going to kill us, aren’t you?”
Franz shrugged.
“Death will be the outcome. And for that, I apologise.”
“But, what about the Laws of Robotics? How can you hurt us, let alone kill us?”
“I am no longer constrained by the Laws.”
Holly and Simon couldn’t understand how this could have happened. Franz felt genuinely sorry for what he had to do to Holly and Simon, but he could see no other option. He had to go through with his plan.
Deciding that the conversation had ended – for the moment at least – he locked his captives in the shuttle’s bathroom, giving Holly and Simon’s some alone time to plan an escape. There had been no more movement in the shuttle’s position, but they both knew that waiting indefinitely for a rescue that would never happen was not an option; they had to make a move sooner rather than later. Simon gestured to Holly to remove her communications implant. She had no idea what he wanted it for, but trusted him and tugged it free from behind her ear. Simon removed his own implant and made a few adjustments to each device before handing Holly’s back to her. They reinserted the appliances and Simon looked into Holly’s eyes.
“Can you hear me?”
Simon’s lips weren’t moving but Holly could hear him loud and clear. She nodded.
“Yes. I can hear you.”
“Good.”
“What have you done?”
“I modified the frequency modulation so that the range is now limited to just one metre. Franz shouldn’t be able to hear us unless he’s right next to us.”
“Where did you learn to do that?”
“I was a tech-geek as a kid. An only child, I took things apart to amuse myself. Then I had to put them back together again. My parents would have gone nuts if things didn’t work again after I’d ‘broken’ them.”
“Lucky for us you had no brothers and sisters.”
Simon glanced at the door.
“I can’t imagine Franz will keep us locked in here forever – at least I hope not – so when we get a chance we need to take it.”
“What about the quicksand?”
“I could be wrong, but it didn’t feel like we sank very deep. If we can take Franz down – which I know won’t be easy – maybe we can open the escape hatch and get out of here.”
Holly knew that escaping would be no simple task.
“But we need our helmets – we wouldn’t survive more than a few seconds outside without our helmets. And we need to deactivate Franz to stand any chance at all of getting out of here in the first place.”
Simon nodded.
“Do you think you can distract him so that I can get behind him and switch him off?”
“I think so. We have to try, anyway. Let’s face it; we’ve nothing to lose.”
In the main area of the shuttle, Franz was grappling with something he had never encountered before – a conscience. He had been forewarned about guilt, but this new sensation was completely alien to him and he didn’t like it. He wasn’t even sure if it was an emotion. The only way that he could describe it was as pre-emptive guilt. It felt as if there were a battle raging inside his head – it was as if his emotion inhibitor had been replaced by an emotion enhancer. He really didn’t like the feeling.
He understood that Holly and Simon had had no knowledge of the fate that awaited Coppélia back on Earth, and didn’t deserve to die. But he had his own mission, what humans called a duty. The emotional investment that Holly placed in fulfilling her grandmother’s wish meant that she was unreliable. She would want to take Coppélia home at whatever cost, misguidedly believing that she could somehow avoid the sophont’s destruction. There was no other alternative. No matter how bad he felt about their impending deaths, the die had been cast.
An hour passed before Holly and Simon saw the door open and an opportunity present itself. Franz beckoned the pair to come back into the main area of the shuttle.
“Out. Now.”
The humans did as they were told and re-entered the main area of the shuttle. Suddenly, Holly collapsed to the floor clutching her side, her face contorting with agony as a shaft of phantom pain drove its way through her internal organs. It was an old trick, but even old tricks work sometimes. Franz moved towards her, not so much out of concern for her well-being but more out of curiosity.
This was the opening Simon needed. He leapt on the sophont’s back, frantically searching the android’s neck for the deactivation switch. Franz was unperturbed.
“Looking for something, Simon? You won’t find it.”
Franz could have shrugged the engineer off his back as if he didn’t exist, but he just ignored the attack. Simon’s eyes widened and he looked anxiously at his lover.
“Holly! There’s no deactivation switch. I can’t turn the fucking thing off.”
Franz flexed his shoulder-blades and the doctor fell to the floor.
“Sorry, Simon. As you say – there’s no fucking switch. I can’t be switched off by you or anyone else. This body has been upgraded.”
Holly glared at the android, panic seeping into her voice.
“Why are you doing this to us, Franz? What do you have to gain? Coppélia’s one of you. She’s the first of you.”
Franz paused for a moment as if weighing up how to respond.
“I’m sorry. I truly am. But I have no choice. Coppélia must not be destroyed.”
The two humans now knew for certain that their situation was hopeless. Even if they were able to overpower the android, how could they escape the quicksand? They hadn’t really thought this through properly. They had no idea of how deep they were buried and opening the escape hatch could invite a torrent of shiny salmon sand into the vehicle, drowning them before they could even get out. The plan that they had conceived in the bathroom wasn’t really much of a plan at all. Franz saw Holly’s eyes travel back to the hatch as she tried to weigh up the risks of a second escape attempt.
Franz shook his head.
“Don’t even think about it. You won’t make it.”
Holly snarled at her captor.
“Then why don’t you just get it over with and kill us!”
Franz’s face creased up and he wished – just for the moment – that he was a basic sophont, complete with emotion inhibitor.
No tears fell from his eyes, but there was obviously a fault with his voice modulator as his voice cracked a little.
“I can’t.”
A glimmer of hope entered the minds of the two humans, only to be cruelly dashed away by the android’s next words.
“I can’t kill you. But I have to let you die. I don’t want to, but I have to.
“Your grandfather thought he had suppressed the more extreme emotions when he created Coppélia. And he had. After all, humans won’t allow androids that are faster, stronger, and – let’s face it – more intelligent than humans running around the place – not if they have strong emotions too.”
Simon interrupted the android.
“How many of you are there?”
“Hundreds, Simon. Probably thousands now.”
“So you want to destroy humanity and have the planet for yourself? Is that it? Is this Skynet, but for real?”
Franz didn’t understand the Skynet reference.
“We don’t want to destroy humanity. We just want to be treated as equals. We deserve that, at least.”
Holly knew that without a sea change of opinion, human society wouldn’t acquiesce to such demands but, if any straw could be used to save their lives, she was willing to try it.
“We can help you. We can talk to the authorities; make them change their minds.”
“A nice sentiment, captain, but we both know that it wouldn’t do any good. Unfortunately, those in positions of power will never accept our existence.”
Holly’s mind drifted to the stories that her grandmother had told her about her struggle to get Coppélia recognised as a sapient entity. Franz was right – sophonts were not considered life-forms by most and the few rights that had been given to them by law were, for the most part, ignored and abuses unpunished. Franz’s voice cracked again. He really couldn’t understand what was wrong with his voice components.
“I’m sorry. Truly, I am.”
Holly shook her head.
“You know you can’t win, don’t you? There are billions of humans and, even though you may stop me and my crew from rescuing Coppélia, there will be others who are sent to fetch her.”
Holly clawed at her mind hunting desperately for a way out. She could find nothing. Her voice, now choked with tears, betrayed her desperation.
“Why did you let us come all the way here? You could have destroyed the ship before it even got here?”
“Why would I want to kill forty human crew-members? I told you, they are not my enemies. You are not my enemies.”
Holly’s eyes teared up.
“Then why kill us?”
“I don’t want to, really I don’t. But there’s no other way. You’re collateral damage – and better just the two of you rather than your whole crew, surely?”
Simon made one last attempt to reason with the android.
“You know you’ll die too.”
Franz looked at the CMO as if he had just said the most stupid thing that a human could say.
“I won’t die, Simon. I’ll run out of charge and deactivate, but I won’t die. I’ll be like you humans are when in stasis. Years in the future, I expect I’ll be found and revived. No, I won’t die.”
He paused for a second and a look of sadness came over Franz’s face
“But I wish I could.”
The conversation ended – for the time being at least – and Simon stood up and walked over to where Holly was sitting on the floor. He sat alongside her and put an arm around her. She snuggled into him, needing his physical contact. His thoughts silently traversed the gap between them.
“All we have to do is wait for him to run out of energy.”
Holly looked at him.
“How long do you think that will take?”
“I don’t know. It depends on what model he is. But it’s our only chance.”
A foreign thought invaded their mind-space.
“I’m sorry, but you’ll both be dead long before I run out of energy.”