Zev tipped his head slightly. "I see." He said slowly. "So…you find it creepy and strange when i behave as any other Android would, because otherwise I act human, but you don't see a problem with me being an android? I believe there is a flaw to your logic." He said carefully. "Is it because you don't like the reminder that i am an Android or robot, rather than a human?"
"And it became Human, in most ways that mattered." // OxO // OPEN
"No..its just…" She shook her head and looked over at him with a slightly impressed look, "Damn, you're good." Thesa shrugged, "I don't really know. I'm just so used to being able to tell humans and androids apart that you're messin' with me. There's no problem with you being an android and acting like one, I'll just leave it at that. The staring thing though is something I wish Shokov would've fixed to be honest though." With another half shrug, she looked back towards the wires for anything she needed and decided this was it, "Before you can stump me again pal, let's get this door open or whatever."
"So you believe that androids should all look the same for ease of use, or if they must look different, they should act perfectly Human?" He asked, leading her through the ship to a closed and sealed door. He gestured to a small computer pad. "It requires a human bioprint."
Thesa wiggled her fingers, “Human bioprint, coming right up.” She walked up to the computer pad and placed her hand on it, waiting for a scan or beep or anything. “Androids can look however they want, but for convenience yes, I would prefer that if they look crazily humanlike- like you- that they would act humanlike.” She had never met an android quite like him, one who knew how to make a good argument and was quite as smart as him in the same quick thinking way as humans were. Though the lack of interaction with androids was part as well, too much time spent on her ship with Stabby- who was not the brightest of robots to exist, tended to smack into her when she was working and beep like something was wrong when she had just fixed something.
Zev tipped his head slightly, looking at her. "So you think that we need to act one way or the other, but not a mix of both? If we look human, we must be human in all ways we can?" The pad beeped, and the doors slid open with a groan. The cockpit was covered in dust. Zev stepped inside, tapping one of the computer modules to wake it up.
She sighed and wrinkled her nose, “You ask too many questions.” The dust was stirred as they walked in and she started looking around, causing her to sneeze several times. Her sneezes were quite big and loud, causing somewhat of a scene with the several times she did it. “I don’t know how you want me to answer your Android human question.”
Zev shrugged. The computer whirred to life, the screen lighting up. A video pulled up. "Zev. In the event you make it in here…" It was Alexi Shokov, as he had looked thirty years ago. "I had to leave because of the crew. The ship was still flyable, but…someone knows of you. I don't know how, I don't know who, but that's why we were attacked. They want you. Don't stay here. Don't fly the ship, they are tracking it. Most of all, don't tell anyone what you are."
Thesa came over as the screen looked up and gasped when she saw how young the inventor looked, watching the video along with him. “Well, already broke the last rule,” She said with a shrug, “I know what you are. And two, since young Alexi Shokov told you to not fly this, I guess were using my ship. Unless you have a desire to stay aboard and live forever.” Glancing around, she wandered away again and went to explore, tapping all the screens and watching as they lit up to the main screen of the ship.
"Run subprogram eight, section B-9." Said the video. Zev froze, eyes flickering slightly as he accessed the file. He blinked, frowning slightly. "Trust no one. Remember what I told you about the war." The video ended. Zev stared at the blank screen for a long moment, expressionless. The monitors all had outdated displays and news, none of them up to date.
"So, anything else you need me to do before I get to work?" She looked at him and pulled the wires out of her pocket, bending and messing with them, "The sooner I can work on my ship the better." Thesa wasn't in any big rush to get anywhere, but she would feel much safer away from the ship they were told was being tracked. The last thing she needed was someone looking for her.
"Zev. They know who you are and what you look like. Follow your instructions, and don't deviate." Echoed the subprogram in Zev's head. He blinked again, and turned to the girl. "I…yes. My apologies. By the way…what is your name? I don't believe you told me." He shrugged slightly.
Thesa rolled her eyes, "For a smart android, you're not very observant. My name is Thesa, told you back when I thought you were lying about being an android." She let her hands fiddle with the wires as she raised an eyebrow and looked to him, "Am I free to go work? The sooner the better to get back to a planet of any kind."
Zev blinked, accessing the memory file. "Oh. I'm sorry. I'm a little…I must have a wire crossed somewhere. I'm not usually like this." In a human, what was happening to him could be called excitement, at not being alone anymore, or happiness. For him, it just caused confusion. Slowly, he was gaining emotions, gaining humanity, though he hadn't realized that, thought it was simply a programming error. Then again, Alexi Shokov didn't make mistakes.
"It's alright android boy," She replied, turning and walking out of the control room, "If you need me for whatever odd reason, I'll be working. Might steal a few more parts just to let you know, but not until I get the controls straightened out first." With the wires in hand, she wandered back through the ship until she reached the massive hole and climbed back inside her ship. She dropped the wires by the open control panel and then wanderd away, going to get her tool bin and other needed items- like some food.
Zev followed her after a moment, thinking. "Is there anything I can do to help?" He asked, crouching beside her. "And may I come with you when you leave? Apparently I cannot stay on my own ship." He watched her with that flat stare again, before blinking and trying to watch her the way a human would, which only made him look awkward.
Thesa shrugged and nodded, "Sure, as long as you'll help and not be a lump. And for help, all I need is to make the outer panels not look like they went dancing and got drunk." She grabbed her small toolbag and pulled out a pair of gloves, slipping them on before pulling the front panel off completely and starting to bend it back to shape. "The wiring in there is simple, but a mess, so just be careful if you're taking anything apart."
Zev nodded, and started to work to fix it. He simply grabbed panels in his hands, and fixed wiring, not bothering to protect his skin. Like any android, he was designed to be able to do things normal people couldn't, with enhanced strength and skin that wasn't as easily cut.
After a while, the controls started to curve back in the way they were supposed to around where the front of the ship would be. She was sure to leave a gap between a part of the controls though, so they wouldn't have to hop over when they fixed the actual hull of they ship. "So, Zev, what was it like to have to live on that ship alone for so many years?" She only glanced up once at him, focusing on the ship instead of the company.
Zev shrugged slightly. "Lonely." He said. "I don't know. I am an android, I do not require anything that a human would. I reviewed all the information in my database, and everything in the ship's database that I could. I have watched Star Trek more times than I care to count. Although the exact number is 8,172,889." He said, glancing over at her for a moment, then returning to the work in front of him. "Also other very old Earth movies like that from one of the crewman's collections."
She couldn’t help but laugh at the number and she shook her head, “Eight million times watching Star Trek? What else did you watch? Star Wars? Forest Gump?” Thesa took a break for a second, leaning against the panel she was working with and letting herself just relax, “Thirty years on your own…wow..if I could live that long and not age, I’d probably take a nice long nap and just wander around doing whatever I wanted.” Stabby beeped from the other room and she sighed, knowing the beep meant she should probably eat some food since she hadn’t in however long.
He thought for a moment. "Yes to both. All of the Star Wars movies, including remakes and reboots." He shrugged. "As an Android, I don't need sleep. Sleep just provides my body time to rest and recharge, and organize my memory files." He said with a soft sigh. "I envy you humans with fallible memories. Thirty years is tedious when there is nothing new."
“Fallible memories aren’t something to envy, they suck.” She pushed away from the panel and tipped back, cracking her back and stretching, “I’m going to go take a little break and go eat, you can either stay and work or do whatever, I’m not picky. Maybe you could meet Stabby, my idiotic and slightly psycho robot companion.” With only one more glance at him, she started back into her ship with the only thought on her mind being what she should eat. Having a big appetite wasn’t a good thing in space, when food was limited, but she made do and planned out exactly how much food she would need every time she left. The only problem was times like this. She didn’t have enough food with to last as long as she figured repairs would take, enough for a week or two.
Zev nodded, then stuck his head out of the cockpit. "Thesa!" He called. "There are stores of food left over from the crew. Most of them are still good, if you would like them." He said, then turned back to the controls, and continued to work to repair them. The sooner it was repaired, the sooner they could leave.
Thesa nodded, calling back as she dug through her freeze dried food packs, “Sure, if you show me where they are later I’ll definitely take them.” Eventually she pulled out some meat and pasta thing and started boiling some water in a little pot over an electric stove. There wasn’t much to do while she waited so she wandered around until she found Stabby, a little floor robot that basically acted as a small security guard and keeper of the floors. She picked it up and brought it over to the cockpit, setting it down and motioning to Zev, “Stabby, this is Zev. Zev, meet Stabby.”
Zev looked at the little robot curiously. "I don't remember there being a robot line of "Stabby"'s." He said thoughtfully. Or at least, as thoughtful as an Android could sound. "Although that was thirty years ago." He shrugged slightly, then frowned. "Wait. This is a personalized name." He realized, tipping his head slightly, like a bird does when it is curious. "Why would you name it?"
“Because why not,” She replied with a shrug, watching as the robot bumped into Zev. Luckily she had taken the multiple sharp objects off of the robot a few weeks ago, due to almost getting her ankle taken off by the robot. “It gets lonely in space, people will do insane things just to be less bored and lonely.” The weather wasn’t boiling quite yet, she she watched as true robot wandered around the room for a while.
Zev nodded, and picked up the robot, turning it over in his hands. "Did you make it? Or did you buy it?" He asked, glancing over at her, then setting Stabby down. "Also, aren't there still Jabber androids? The ones specifically designed to keep lonely people company?"
Thesa leaned against the wall as she answered, listening for the boiling water, “I bought it, though I’ve had to replace so many parts that he’s practically homemade now.” She sighed and smiled a tad at Stabby’s beep when Zev picked him up and put him back down, whirring away from him like he knew he was bad, “Yes there are still Jabber bots, but they’re so freaking expensive now that I decided to just get one that could actually do something for me and could act as company.” When her water boiled, she help up a quick finger to tell him one second, dashing in and pouring the water in the bag of food. She grabbed her one metal spoon and cane back out to the cockpit, leaning against the wall.
Zev watched the little robot go for a moment, then looked at Thesa. "I see." He replied, thinking. His head was cocked to one side again, like an animals does when it is listening kr curious. "But if it cannot speak, how does it keep you company?" He asked, looking at her with that odd, flat stare again. Unlike a human, he didn't blink, and his chest didn't ride and fall with breathing.
“It doesn’t have to talk to keep me company, sometimes just knowing you’re not completely alone is good enough.” She shoveled a few scoops of noodles into her mouth and ate her food for a moment before shrugging, making sure she wasn’t talking with her mouth full, “I mean, it’s kinda nice to talk to Stabby and not have to worry about him talking back or interrupting me.” Stabby did make good company, and had helped her fix quite a few problems just by her explaining what was happening and coming to the conclusion herself. All in all, for the price, her little robot companion was one of the best things she had bought.