by Adams Massey
-I added it because I still wanted to be personable and have expressions. Anyway, I need to get acquainted with the station so I should be going. See you at mealtime.- she chimes and skitters off to explore the station more. She makes her way through the station and does a short meeting with the rest of the station crew. Most are unnerved at first by her hexapod status. Soon enough, the crew warm up to her and become open. She sees Dr. Claire Delos, the stations resident shrink and counselor who is in essence Alex’s boss. She is there to help the counselor ‘See how an anthropomorphic companion alters work dynamics and stress levels in station crew’ Though that sounds an awful lot like being a pet to her. If that was the case she would have a lot of adjustment over the next six months or so.
At mealtime the whole crew is assembled in the room just outside the bunks in the first ring to eat. Each crew member picks a ration pack and starts rehydrating it as they eat a small side salad from the stations greenhouses. There was little conversation as everyone ate. That was something that would need to be resolved as getting the crew to socialize is the whole reason she was allowed to go into space in the first place. After dinner they start settling in for bed, strapping themselves in as Alex settles onto her charging dock and slips into rest.
36: Station Keeping
Alex wakes early the next morning having set her internal clock to station time. She stands from her charging dock and scurries up the connector tube and makes her way to the observation center at the tip of the station to look out at the earth. She just manages to catch a sunset as the station moves behind the earth. She is soon greeted by Tim Kusman as he floats into the observation bubble to begin his work.
“Now why am I not surprised to see you here?” he asks jovially.
-Perhaps because I arrived here yesterday and am stationed here for several months.- she sasses and skitters around to face him, -Well, that and space is cool.- she states her eyes flicking blue with enjoyment.
“Every single time someone comes up from planetside for the first time I always find them in here stargazing.” he comments and sets to work aligning the telescope with one of the northern stars.
-As I said, space is cool. I’ve dreamed about going to space since I was a kid and now, here I am, It’s still a little unreal.- she states and moves out of his way.
“Its an open station but remember not to touch any of the equipment.” he reminds her as she nods and turns to head back to the bunk area to meet with the rest of the crew.
-I’ll leave you to work, but we can talk later.- she chimes happily and crawls through the station to get back to the bunkhouse where the other crew members are stirring and getting ready for the day before filing into the commissary area to have breakfast. She arrives just as everyone was settling in to eat their rehydrated meals.
“There you are Alex, we were wondering where you went.” Claire chimes as she takes a forkful of her scrambled eggs.
-I was in the observation bubble watching the Earth below us.- she comments and climbs onto the bench seating before making her way onto the table so she would be visible to everyone.
-It's just hard to believe that I’m in SPACE.- she exclaims excitedly, her eyes flicking to gold. The crew laugh and nod, each remembering their first day in space and the accompanying joyous feelings.
“That feeling never really goes away, it will stick with you as long as you live. It might fade a bit, but it will always be there tickling the back of your mind” Commander Roger Hurst comments and stands, “Time to get to science.” he states with a smile and pats Alex’s top lightly before climbing the ladder to the station core.
She stays and talks with the rest of the crew for a while before they disperse to get to work. This leaves her to follow the resident biologist, Harukichi Jo to observe his work. She skitters behind him and perches on a wall beside his workstation, watching quietly.
-What are you testing?- She asks looking over the cultures and stack of empty slides resting in their secure foam packed case.
“I’m seeing how the solar radiation that we are all exposed to alters cell division in bacteria. I’m also testing a long term experiment on ants, though they seem to not care they are in space, so not much has changed there.” he comments and turns to show her the ant colony that seems to be thriving.
-It could be that since they are so light, and can walk on walls, gravity doesn’t play a large role for them. I mean the lack of gravity doesn’t hinder me for those reasons so it might be the same process at work.- She muses and he nods.
“That seems likely, though their tunnel patterns changed slightly. I just can’t tell if that’s because of space or a natural variation.” he laments and turns back to his work counting and cataloging dividing cells on the slide. Alex watches for a few moments before skittering off to check in with another crew member. She wanders through the station and climbs down the tube to the greenhouses. She skitters along the ceiling and perches next to Shelby.
-Morning Shelby.- She chimes and the poor botanist almost jumps out of her skin.
“Oh, Alex, you startled me, I’m still not used to the fact you can be on walls and ceilings. Please don’t approach like that anymore.” She scolds.
-Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.- she states and skitters from the ceiling and down a wall to the floor then up the table Shelby was working at.
-What are you working on today?-
“I’m preparing to plant morning glories and sunflowers. We want to know how they will react to sunrises and sunsets about every ninety minutes.” she states and places a foam gel cube into a planter, the seed already inside and punches a drip line needle into it.
-That, actually sounds like an interesting experiment, I look forward to seeing how it turns out.- she states and looks over the other seedlings, there were gourds, wheat and corn among the samples but they hadn’t been planted yet and were resting in labeled sections of their securing case.
“Well, that does it for my science for the day” Shelby states and turns to Alex to pat her lightly.
-Wait, that’s it? I thought the day would be packed with science, I thought you were joking about space being boring.- she comments ignoring the pat for the time being.
“No, I was quite serious. Most of the science gets done in the first hour or two, mostly recording data and monitoring experiments, but most of the time up here is free right now. The science is mostly automated and we only check progress daily.” she explains “It used to be that most of the day was packed with activities but since space was privatized it has become more relaxed with a lot more free time. We are as much an experiment as the plants here.” she continues and Alex nods knowingly, she had been sent as part of that particular experiment. Alex leaps off the table landing gently and skittering over to the ladder.
-Well, and here I thought space was exciting and packed with science. I guess I better check in on the others so I can talk to them before they finish.- She states and clambers up the ladder to the main section of the station. She works her way to the command section where all the communications equipment and terminals were and finds Commander Roger Hurst talking with ground control.
“… I’m telling you, she isn’t qualified to be up here, she has zero experience. To me she is little more than a tourist.” he comments and after a moment mission control replies,
“We understand that, but that is part of the point. You have all become jaded at being in space and as a result, we noticed morale fall. Low morale impacts mental health, so we sent her up to re-introduce wonder to the station and get you to relax a little. This is only day one, she will be up there for six months so you better get used to it. She is the first of her kind, a technological and philosophical marvel. She designed the chassis she is currently using in only a few days. She has already developed designs that are revolutionizing the way we treat limb loss. Like it or not she has more than earned her place on the station.”
-I hope I’m not interrupting.- she chimes and slowly enters the command section
.
Commander Hurst sighs deeply “How much of that did you hear?” he asks and calms from his panic.
-I came in about the time you called me a ‘tourist’. I can’t say I’m surprised, I’ve been feeling like that myself but it still hurts. I asked to come here fully expecting to be denied. I’m no scientist, the only reason I’m considered an honorary scientist on Earth is because I'm an AI working on developing other AI. I'm in a unique position and and can interact with the code and programs of the sim at a fundamental level.- she starts and skitters closer and perches on the wall opposite the camera. -But I’m doing what I can, interacting with the crew and getting them to loosen up a little. You even felt comfortable enough to pat me just this morning, so don’t you tell me that it’s a waste. I am already helping, it’s just subtle and won't happen overnight.- she states proudly, her eyes flick to orange in defiance.
“She’s right commander, besides, she is there as crew as much as an experiment, just like the rest of you. Future AI might want to go into space and she developed a chassis that is small but versatile enough to allow that.” Mission control states and Roger sighs defeated signing out and turning off the video link.
37: Adjustment Period
The next few days are tense between Roger and Alex but she remains friendly with him and the rest of the crew as she goes about her days socializing with them. She finds she spends a lot of her time either in the observation bubble or in the greenhouses relaxing and helping tend to the plants. Every day the crew fills out a survey about how they feel and so far, even after a few days, the results are promising as the crew, Roger included, report feeling better since she came aboard.
“Well, it looks like my estimates were right on target,” Claire starts as she meets with Alex, “Your presence has increased morale by a fair margin, even the hum drum Roger has reported feeling better since you arrived, and he is notoriously stoic.” she continues and looks up from the reports to Alex.
-Well, sometimes an outside point of view is refreshing, they just needed reminding that they are IN SPACE! Since I'm not used to space my presence serves as that reminder. I don’t think I’ll grow out of the novelty of space anytime soon.- she states and shifts lightly on her perch.
-I even managed to figure out how to maneuver in microgravity so there’s that.- she comments and pokes a bit at the padding on the wall. -With a few modifications I should be able to make this chassis vacuum capable for spacewalks, a larger internal tank and a loop on the back to attach strapping is all it would need really.- she states and marks that on her To-Do list for later tinkering.
“Well I’m glad you seem to be settling in, your outlook seems to be infectious to the crew and that’s a good thing to have. With as much free time as they have it’s all too easy to get trapped in one’s own head and start to spiral into apathy and/or depression.” Claire comments and reaches out a hand to pat Alex who nods in permission.
-Speaking of being trapped in one’s own head... The longer I’m here the more I realize that I’m the odd man out. I’m know that I'm no scientist, so what am I doing here?- she laments as she is patted lightly.
“You are helping with a social experiment and testing out your chassis is what you are doing. You are also helping to pave the way for future AI explorers.” Claire states matter-of-factly with a firm nod “I thought AI would be immune to those sorts of insecurities.” she muses and Alex is quick to retort,
-You forget that I am not JUST an AI, I developed as a human. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve had to explain that…- She lets out a simulated sigh before continuing, -From my perspective I’m a human trapped in a machine body. That comes with all sorts of baggage and neurosis. I am just as messed up as any of you.- she chimes, oddly happy about that fact.
“Interesting to know, though you seem weirdly chipper about it” Claire muses and takes notes.
-Well I like not being thought of as just a machine, my flaws make me human. Insofar that they show that I am flawed. People take comfort in that, it puts them at ease from what I’ve been able to gather so far.- Alex explains and sighs, turning to leave.
“Before you go, you should know that you have earned your place here, just like the rest of us. Even if you were fast-tracked you still earned it” Claire states as Alex skitters away, up the tube to the station hub.
She finds her way to the observation bubble where Tim and Vladimir were talking about something, she didn’t really pay attention as she was preoccupied with looking out into space and gathering her thoughts. They didn’t seem to notice her as they kept talking about star and planet formation in a nebula they were observing for the last few days, she thought she heard something about it being a promising site for planet formation in several million years before they picked a new section of space to observe.
She was brought out of her thought collecting by Vladimir who had noticed her gazing out one of the many viewports.
“If it isn’t da leetle robot.” he muses and floats over from his collaboration with Tim to approach her slowly.
-Hello Vladimir.- she chimes turning away from the window to look at the sturdy Russian man.
“What brings you to observation bubble? I thought you would be making rounds around station.” he comments.
-I just came here to collect my thoughts and figure a few things out. Something about looking out at space puts things into perspective you know? I’m done with my rounds for the day.- she replies and glances back out of the window, the bottom of the ring around her eyes flicking to a faint teal, something she had saved for the rare occasion to indicate somber thought. She had come so far from when she was first pulled out of her sim, she had advanced to personhood and was in freaking space, so why was she hollow? She ponders for a moment before pulling out of her head and shaking off the spiral.
She had realized she was in her own head too much and was overthinking things, but still the feeling stuck around in the back of her mind. She pushes the feeling aside, her eyes flicking back to delighted gold before fading to silver. She positions herself to perch on the ‘ceiling’ of the bubble, being the wall in the communally agreed ‘up’ direction, and relaxes slightly.
-So what were you two working on so diligently?- she queries.
“We were just observing a freshly formed nebula and discussing the possibilities that it might one day contain planets and stars the right size and orbit for life. Part of our mission is to do a survey of the sky to find potentially habitable worlds.” he comments and Alex nods lightly in understanding.
-That sounds like a lot of work, any luck so far?- She asks and Vladimir smiles widely as Tim answers,
“Over the last few decades we, and that is the broader ‘we’, have found several planets around ‘nearby’ stars that had the a promising signatures of life. Specifically, water vapor and methane, in the atmosphere. They seem to be Earth like worlds in the habitable zone of their stars and shouldn’t be tidally locked. We sent signals out in the faint hope of maybe...well, and just to say we did. We have been monitoring for a reply for years. If there is life, and it has radio there should be a reply coming soon.” he comments as if telling a fairy tale.
-So what would we do if they reply or better yet, just show up?- she asks eliciting a laugh from the other two.
“IF, and I can’t stress that IF enough, IF they reply then we will be the first to know and we send a confirmation signal back. There is surprisingly a protocol for such things after all. If they SHOW UP then we will likely be the first to know. We contact the UN and wait for instructions. What happens next is up to them. Though the smart money says we are alone or are so far from other life we might as well be. In truth the signal we sent was transmitted on a dare and a dream. We aren’t expecting a reply, ever.” Tim comments still chuckling at the absurdity of it all. “If you really think we might be visited or contacted, there is a couple documents on the station you can read through, they’re called ‘ET protocol-1’ and ‘ET protocol-2’. They
are always good for a laugh, they are just in case though. We’ve read through them but it’s hard to take them seriously when they read like bad science fiction scripts.” he continues as Vladimir nods and smirks widely. She isn’t laughing though and makes it a point to read through them both as she skitters to the command section to find them. The first was what to do if contacted and boils down to: Contact UN, Send Confirmation signal with mathematics principals encoded, wait for reply with the knowledge that it IS coming. The second one was what to do if visited: Contact UN, UN makes announcement to public and opens talks with visitors with the station acting as a middle ground. No planetfall until full translations are available and agreements and ground rules are set in place for both parties. It was fairly boring stuff but there was some humor to it and the two were right, they do read like bad sci-fi scripts.
38: Boredom Protocols
Over the next few weeks Alex re-reads through the protocols again and finds interesting trends. The official stance is that any ‘visit’ lasting less than five minutes was to be ignored and chocked up to sleep deprivation on the part of the observers while any transmission received was to be verified before being reported. It seems that false alarms have happened before. She puts the protocol binder away and scampers to the greenhouse to talk with Travis about his work.
-How are you doing Travis?- she asks as she peeks into the greenhouse from the connector tube and skitters along one of the walls as he measures the sunflowers that Shelby had planted earlier.
“I’m doing well, just taking the daily measurements and making notes. It seems like the morning glories are always in bloom and the sunflowers track the sun well even though it rises and sets far more often up here.” he comments and begins planting the corn and beans in an empty planter, slowly filling the greenhouses with life.