"Strange. How do you know he is even listening, then?" He questioned, going back to fixing the wiring. Something clicked, and his left wrist twitched, then froze up. He stopped, and reached over, peeling back his skin again all the way past his wrist,and started doing something to the joint. Thirty years in space without repairs wasn't good for any android or robot, and he was no exception.
"And it became Human, in most ways that mattered." // OxO // OPEN
Thesa shrugged, “He’s not listening, I know that.” The single serving of food was polished off quickly and she watched with curiosity as he messed with his internal workings. “Whatcha doing?” Stabby whirred back into the room and bumped into her, beeping before turning and continuing his path back into the cockpit. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, dipping back into the other room and throwing away her trash before walking back in and resting a little longer.
"Fixing my hand." Zev replied. "One of the smaller fiber optics broke 16 years ago. I replaced it with a wire, but…I really need a new fiber optic at some point." He said, continuing to try and fix it. "The wire is just a patch job, so to speak. It does the job, but not as well or as quickly." His computer, of course, could compensate for that, but it wad aggravating.
“Ah,” She nodded, cracking a small smile, “Well, put it on your wish list and maybe I’ll get it for you when we get to a planet.” She crossed her arms and chuckled, eventually going back and getting to work. The panels were all fixed and now she had to just work on all the wiring in the whole thing.
Zev's hand clicked again. He frowned slightly, and tugged. Perhaps a little too hard, since his whole wrist and hand came off. "Do you have a laser screwdriver?" He asked, looking up at Thesa with his left hand held in his right. "Because I have broken my hand off." He looked rather comical like that.
She glanced over at him and laughed softly, shaking her head, “I might? I’ll go check quick.” Thesa stood up and pulled her gloves off, tossing them down by where she was working and jogging into the other room to try to find one. “I have a flathead one,” She called out to him from the other room, “Will that work? It’s for fixing Stabby, but I’m certain it’s interchangeable.” With the screwdriver in hand, she walked back, holding it out to him with look of both doubt and hope.
Zev took it, sitting down and putting the hand on the console. He now had a stub on his left arm, the rolled back skin looking rather strange, and a little gross. "Yes, this should work. Thank you." He said, working on the hand. He picked it up, and pressed it to the stub, tighting the parts that were supposed to hold it in. "I have been in need of repairs for…a good while." He explained. "I may be a superior android, but even i need repairs."
“You’re welcome to use any of the tools in my ship to repair yourself,” She said, already pulling on her gloves and going back to work. Quietly, she hummed to herself, barely making any sound as she just enjoyed having someone’s company. Robots were just as good as humans in the companion and company category. For a minute she worked fine, until the main wires needed unhooking and reattaching, which was a pain and took way too long.
"No, they are repairs that i cannot carry out on my own." He replied as he worked. "I can do patchwork, quick fixes, but I cannot fix it permanently." He kept working on reattaching his hand to his arm. After a few minutes, he finished up, and started rolling the skin back over top. Technically, he shouldn't even be able to do that with his skin, it wasn't designed to open like that, but he had discovered that by peeling apart the seam from an old repair, he could peel back the skin and do those little repairs. He could only roll it to his elbow though.
She didn’t even glance over at him as she answered, “Guess we’ll have to visit a proper android repair shop.” There were small bits of cursing coming from her as she worked, both from the wiring not cooperating, and the various bruises she was gaining from smacking her arm or head against the metal accidentally. Even with two people, just the controls would take several days to rewire and get running, plus fixing the actual hull of the ship, and screens. She figured it would take them two and a half weeks to finished.
He nodded. "Yes. Unless you have a Repairman aboard, though considering what you said about expenses, I doubt it." He replied, finishing with his hand and starting to work on the ship again. He was silent as he worked, not even blinking.
She shrugged, cursing again as she accidentally smacked her head against the panel, “Everything is expensive now. It’s really just the cost versus the actual need of the object that helps me decide. A repairman wasn’t something I needed, so it’s not something I got.” A proud smile crossed her face when she got one wire free and she connected it back up, moving onto the next of many wires and connectors and everything else needed to run the ship.
Zev nodded. "I see." He replied, continuing to work. "So has inflation risen? And is it caused by the ongoing war, or by something else?" He asked, curious. He would have to ask if he could plug into her datastream later and receive news of recent events that had happened, within the last thirty years.
“The war, duh.” She sighed and sat up straight, rolling her shoulders before going back to work. With the war going on, prices had been jacked so they could afford to keep fighting, though it was making it hard for most citizens to survive. There were talks of revolts on both sides, but no one had the money or supplies to start, so people kept to their expensive buying and working non stop to support families.
Zev nodded thoughtfully. "Both sides are too evenly matched." He said slowly. It was true. The two sides of the war were too evenly matched for either side to gain a distinct advantage over the other, and so they were simply locked in conflict.
Thesa nodded. “They are, which is not making it easy to survive when you need food to live and parts for ships.” She yanked another wire free and reattached it to where it belonged with another tiny smile. Her eyes scanned for another wire as she continued, jokingly asking Zev, “Are you still working? Otherwise you’re not getting a ride.”
Zev glanced at her. "Unlike humans, I can divide my attentions and still succeed at both jobs." He replied calmly, still working. He stopped for a moment, eyes flicking from side to side as if he were reading something, and then kept working quickly.
(I just realized that Zev is a lot like Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation XD)
(XD I’ve saddly never watched Star Trek, but I believe you)
“Now you’re just rubbing in your supposed superiority,” She said with a face that said she was joking. She had no clue if he understood joking, or sarcasm, or any other human thing like that, but it was fun to joke even if they didn’t get it. It was really probably quite obvious, but she didn’t get too much human interaction besides things to transport.
(XD you should, its amazing XD)
Zev blinked, frowning slightly, then his expression cleared. "Oh. That was a joke." He said, with a soft sound that could almost be called a laugh. Then he kept working. It was obvious just from his behavior that there was something…different, about him. That he possessed something other androids did not. Some spark.
Stabby whirred back into the room for a minute, bumping into walls and almost escaping into Zev’s ship before turning around and heading back into her ship. “You have a lot to learn young android,” She replied, a tiny grin on her face as she went back to work. Wire after wire, repair after repair, and replacing thing after thing that was broken.
"Young?" He protested. "I am 37!" He said, glancing at her. "I am designed to appear to be in my 20s. But I am 37." He looked back down at the wiring and kept working on the controls and wiring.
“Ah, but young android, how many of those years have been spent on a ship with no contact to the outside world?” She countered with another grin and a sparkle in her eye, “Hm? You’re still young and inexperienced.” His age didn’t surprise her, androids could be hundreds of years old and they wouldn’t look like they’ve aged a day. She kept the information in her mind though, incase they needed to know it so he could get repairs.
Zev shook his head. "I am not young. I was…how old are you?" He asked suddenly, still working on the wiring. Something was different. He knew that. He could feel it just in the way he spoke to her. Not the way he used to speak to Alexi, or any of the other humans. It sounded…more like the banter that flowed between two humans, rather than speech between human and android.
Thesa shrugged, “Twenty, but with much more experience in this world than you have.” She yanked out a very rusty and corroded wire from the panel and sighed, chucking it to the side and grabbing a different wire to replace it. “I think you’re nickname is going to be Little Android now, it fits you.” With a little bit of work, she got the new wire into place and decided to take a tiny break so she could talk to her new company.
"I was seventeen when you were born. I may not have as much experience, but I have impeccable memory, and i only have to be taught something once. I also contain the knowledge of all the other 25 Shokov models." He replied. "Don't call me Little Android."
“I’m calling you little android,” She replied, “And sometimes knowledge isn’t the same as experience.” With a sigh, she leaned back against the controls so she could talk. For some reason, it felt natural for her to be talking to him, even though most of the time she was with an android, she addressed them as if they were no more than any other robots. She was talking to Zev like she would someone she knew well though.
Zev shrugged. "Can I use your dataport later to catch up with the news and stuff?" He asked, still working. "I would like to know more about what changes have or havent happened. Also, with your permission, i would like to message fath-Alexi." He said, not looking up. "It would be relief to him to know I am alive."
Thesa thought for a minute and nodded, “Sure, though with the message to Alexi, I’d like to warn you, he’s not as young and as lively as he was in the video.” Eventually, she got back to work and messed with the wires some more. It was clear she wasn’t really working though, mostly messing around.
Zev nodded. "I am aware. He would be in his sixties by now." He said. Alexi Shokov had been a prodigy, producing all those androids and building up his business while in his twenties and thirties. Of course, it had been thirty years since then.
“And he doesn’t really answer fans when they message or contact him, I may know from experience.” Thesa was a huge fan of his work, and speaking and working with him was one of her dreams. He didn’t really communicate with fans though, and had slipped into the shadows to enjoy the rest of his life by himself. She understood his decision though.