| |
Hannah was resting in berth E-11. Brother Anderson knew she was resting because her heart rate, breathing, and body temperature had fallen to within normal resting range. The location part was not quite as precise. Typically, it would be, but most of the ship’s subsystems were barely functioning, and personnel monitoring services was one such subsystem. In fact, all he could really tell was that she was somewhere in sector E. Had there been anyone else alive in the vicinity their signals would have obliterated one another but, things being what they were, at least this was one good thing.
Brother Anderson made his way toward deck E. He would not leave her alone like he had in the past. He only waited about an hour for her immediate anger to cool somewhat. Physiologically speaking, humans were for the most part quite incapable of overriding their own internal signaling mechanisms. A rush of adrenaline, ghrelin, or melatonin was a nearly unstoppable force. They were simple signals. Incontrovertible. Unmistakable. Not like words. So easily misunderstood. So prone to subconscious twisting. So reliant upon a myriad of multilayered infrastructural assumptions and expectations. So dependent on unspoken and unacknowledged social constructs. Constructs that he was only now beginning to grasp. Archetypes so deeply buried in the human psyche that no one had ever thought to explain them to a robot. A doctor. A priest. A servant. A brother. He would not leave her alone this time. This time he knew better. Presently, he knocked on the hatch marked E-11.
“Yeah?” Hannah asked.
“It’s me,” Brother Anderson replied. His robotic voice sounded different enough from Colin’s that no actual name was required. Even through the hatchway the timbre and tone were easily recognizable.
“Come in, I guess.”
The hatch swished open almost silently and his wheels rattled quietly over the threshold. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah.”
“I brought you something.” He held out a bottle of Roth’s. He had debated this with himself. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea. She tended toward borderline addiction and overconsumption. However, as a social gesture, it could go a long way to build trust and help Hannah open up to him emotionally. She needed to talk to someone. She kept things bottled up inside until they burst. “I was hoping we could have a chat.”
‘A chat, eh?’ thought Hannah. That’s what assholes always call it when they are about to shit all over you. It’s never a conversation, or a discussion. Always a chat. Like ‘ooh we are so casual and cool, we’re your buddy, your pal.’ Give me a fucking break. Whatever. She was too tired to argue with this robot. Just let him say whatever it is he thinks he has to say. She reached for the bottle and took a long swig.
“Look, Hannah. I’m sorry. I focus too much on the task at hand. I’m very practical, as you know. It’s how I am programmed. Honestly, It’s what I am designed for. But, in my role, even as a robot, as a doctor, and as chaplain - well, frankly, it’s not enough. I am trying Hannah. I am changing. I am trying to learn empathy, learn to feel things. My perceptions have been greatly expanded, you know. I think I can start to understand things that were never possible before.”
“Yeah?” She wasn’t convinced, but maybe there was something to this. He had changed a bit, she supposed. Was it possible for a robot to learn to feel? She doubted it. But it did actually seem like he was trying. Had he been a bit less of an asshole lately than he used to be? Still, why is he here? Hannah asked herself. Surely he did not bring her a drink just to sit and chew the fat. He wants something. He wants me to stop being mad. He wants to assuage my anger. He wants to control me. He can’t just let me be.
“I know why you are here, Brother. You think you can make me stop hating Colin, and play nice so we can all just get along.”
“I actually don’t know that I can do that, Hannah.”
“But you’d like to.”
“Of course I would like that. The fact is we are in trouble - all of us. We cannot afford to be divided when the ship is literally falling apart around us. Especially now. We have tasks we must perform and decisions we must make, and time is of the essence.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Hannah, you are aware of the communications shadow caused by the asteroid belt, correct?”
“Yes. Colin and I talked about that. We’ll be out of the shadow soon, right?”
“We are out already. I’m sorry, I didn’t mention it sooner. You and Colin were both asleep when we regained our connection, and then it was such an eventful day, I didn’t get a chance to say anything.”
“But you told Colin.” She meant the statement as an accusation, to expose the lie in his previous comment.
“No, not yet. I have not spoken to him since it happened.”
Really? Hannah was pretty sure that couldn’t be true. But it was not like Brother Anderson to lie so directly and explicitly. Was it possible for a robot to blatantly make a false statement? She didn’t know whether to believe him. Could it be true that he actually would want to talk to her about it first. Did he trust her that much? Or care about her? Or whatever? It was weird. It was almost like Hannah was his friend that he wanted to talk to. It didn’t make sense. “No shit?”
“No shit, Hannah. You are the first to know.”
Huh. “So now what?”
“Well, we are supposed to report our position and condition to Central Operations Fleet Command Center.” He paused briefly before continuing.
“But?” Hannah read between the lines of his statement.
“But, I am not sure that would be an advisable course of action, and I would like to discuss it further with yourself and Colin, and come to an agreement on how to proceed.”
“Except that I don’t want to talk to him.”
“Exactly.”
“And I’m not going to! And you can’t make me. And besides that shithead’s opinions don’t really matter to me right now!”
“I realize that.”
“So?”
“So, I’d like to hear from you exactly why you are so upset with him.”
“Fuck you! I don’t have to explain myself to you or anyone else. I’m mad at him cuz I am, OK?! Cuz he’s a fucking pervert, and I don’t want to have anything to do with him, and here I am stuck on a fucking piece of shit spaceship all alone with him, and this fucking sucks, OK?!” She took a long draught of the vodkatini.
“Right. You have every right to feel that way.”
“Good!”
“Because he’s a pervert, apparently.”
“Yeah!”
“Except...”
“What?”
“What if he isn’t?”
“Well, we both know he is! You were there afterwards when he did that to Suzzanne.”
“Yes. I was. She came to see me. You were with her.”
“Yes - she called me to come meet her and go with her to see you.”
“And she told you...”
“That Colin molested her.”
“Specifically, that Colin touched her breast, correct?”
“Um, no. That he groped her on the dancefloor.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes!”
“But that is not what she told me.”
“What?! Yes - it totally is!”
“Not exactly. I have archived audio files of her conversation with me. I can play back her exact words.”
“Great! Play it!”
“Alright.”
A young woman’s voice was clearly audible and easily recognizable as that of Suzzanne. A wave of sadness washed over Hannah as she heard it. She nearly burst into tears. She would have, had she not been concentrating on winning this argument. What was Brother Anderson getting at anyway?
Suzzanne’s voice continued:
“I was dancing with a few girls from navs, right? A couple of engineering guys bought us a drink, and they were dancing near us, but not really with us. Then this one dude, you know that guy Colin, with the wavy hair? Well, he is suddenly right in my face, and he’s putting his hand on my boob, and his buddy is right beside him laughing at me. So of course, I slap him and push them both away, but right after that I start to feel super dizzy like I know I’m about to pass out. Those assholes slipped me a roofie!”
“See!? He put his hand on her boob. She just said so! Besides, I was there when you recorded that. I already know this, so what?”
“So was Suzzanne passed out when you met her?”
“No.”
“And she was able to walk all the way down to med bay to come talk to me.”
“I mean - she was staggering a bit, I helped her, but, yes.”
“I wasn’t really sure what she wanted me to do, but she made an accusation about being drugged. So I had to check her blood toxins.”
“You took a blood sample?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t remember that.”
“Well, I did, and aside from significant blood alcohol levels, there was no evidence of any other drugs in her system.”
“So she wasn’t roofied?”
“Definitely not.”
“But Colin did grab her. He must have. Suzzanne wouldn’t just make that up.”
“But could it have been an accident?”
“How do you accidentally grab someone’s boob?!”
“Well, I did talk to Colin about this. He said that his friend Tommy pushed him, and that he dropped his beer, spilling it on Suzzanne and accidentally touching her breast. He also accidentally elbowed Stef in the face.”
“Oh. Well did Stef come to see you?”
“No, she did not.”
“Well, that Tommy is a fucking idiot, so that part makes sense. And Suzzanne did reek of beer. I remember that was weird because she always drank Roth’s. But Suzzanne’s not a liar.”
“I’m not saying Suzzanne lied, but what I want to ask you is this. Is it possible that perhaps Colin isn’t lying either? Is it possible that the incident was actually an accident, as Colin claims?”
Hannah thought about it for a moment. Some of the facts seemed to fit into both stories. Both scenarios were totally plausible. A girl gets roofied and groped on a dancefloor. A guy has stupid dickhead friends that push him into a girl. But why were no drugs found in Suzzanne’s blood test? And why is Colin acting like he did it? He said he was scared, right? That’s a stupid excuse, but it’s not a denial. What did he mean anyway? How does being scared make you grope somebody? That really doesn’t make any sense.