“Gabe is pouting,” Maxim says, as Wil closes the airlock door behind him, having thankfully left the Berserker behind.
“Can’t say I blame him. This mission just took a kind of dark turn.” Wil slips the earpiece back into a pocket on his jumpsuit. “Let’s put some distance between us and this nightmare. We can take our salvagers out to the far end of the flotilla.”
Maxim nods. “I’ll get us going, you go check on Gabe.” He can see Wil take a big breath and exhale, then nod.
* * *
“Can I come in?” Wil asks, as the door to engineering slides open.
“Of course, Captain. It is your ship.” The engineering bot’s voice comes from somewhere behind the main engine.
“How are you doing, big guy? That must have been rough to hear, you know, back aboard the Berserker.” Wil takes a few tentative steps into the engineering space, letting the hatch close behind him.
“To be honest, Captain, it was nothing I have not encountered before. Except for a few minor, outlying colonies, droids do not have civil rights. We are routinely tortured for sport and treated as property to be abused as desired, and discarded when too damaged for any use.”
As Wil comes around the reactor, he sees a space he doesn’t recall ever seeing before. It is a small maintenance workstation that’s been reconfigured into what he can only call a bedroom—though sans bed. Gabe is sitting on a bench against the far wall, the glow from the reactor illuminating his new, more expressive face.
Sitting down next to his robotic friend, Wil rests his hand on Gabe’s shoulder. “I didn’t know how bad it was.” He shrugs. “I guess I never really paid any attention, I mean, before meeting you. Droids were always just in the background going about their business. I never considered—”
“You would not be the only one. Few consider my kind anything but tools with minds.” Gabe turns to look at Wil, his eyes clearly expressing sadness. Damn, his new face really does convey his emotional state, Wil thinks.
Wil pauses for a moment. “I guess it was easy for me to not see it. Lanksham didn’t have any droids on the crew, and most of the places we went, droids were a luxury few could afford.” He thinks a bit more. “I think my first real encounters with droids came after I was on my own.” He shrugs. “By then I had other things on my mind.”
Gabe says nothing, so Wil continues, “We’ll fix this. We’ve got some clout with Harrith, maybe they can help put pressure on the GC. Start getting the conversation started. Hell, we have some clout with the GC too, though I have no idea how to apply it.”
“That is kind of you, Captain. I do not have much hope of anything like that succeeding. Droids have been a disposable workforce in the GC for over one hundred and fifty standard years. I do not see that changing anytime soon.”
“That was before I got involved.” Wil smiles and pats his friend’s leg. “Also, at least using Earth as a model, change like this is slow—often way too slow.” He smiles again. “What say we get this job done, get paid and never see Xarrix or the nut job Jurrella again, and set about fighting some civil rights fights?”
“I would like that.” Gabe stands and follows Wil out of engineering.
As they cross through the lounge towards the hatch leading to the bridge, Wil asks, “Did the Peacekeepers mistreat you, or any of their droids for that matter?”
Gabe turns his head, looking down at Wil. “Sometimes, but not often. It was common to re-program the inhibitor key and force droids to fight each other for sport.”
“Inhibitor key?”
“The inhibitor key is a device inside each droid. It is essentially the ownership key. Once keyed with specific command codes and inserted into a droid, the droid cannot override anything contained on the key.” Tapping on his chest, Gabe adds, “Droids are also unable to remove their or another droid’s key.”
“Do you have one?” Wil leans forward, eyeing Gabe’s chest.
“I did. The ensign who smuggled me off the Command Carrier removed it, for some reason. I suspect it was part of his agreement with Xarrix. Had it been present when I powered on, I would have attempted to escape and return to the Peacekeepers by any means necessary.” He smiles at Wil. “When I created this body, I did not include an inhibitor key port.”
Wil nods, smiling back. “Smart.”
Gabe nods. “Yes.”