Chapter No.6

Ryan awoke from a fitful sleep. He arose and made a painful way to the shower, hoping that cold water would fully wake him and assuage the pain of multiple pain stick wounds. After he endured the drying cycle, he prepared to go see what Chara was up to, but he stopped in his tracks when he noted something unexpected on his chair. Chara had placed briefs, shorts, a tee, and shoes there. Had she changed her mind about him or was she trying to tease him?

He decided to play a game with her by not putting on the tee, and his experiment worked when he arrived at the command station and sat down.

"Why did you not put on the tee?" she asked him after examining his body with her bionic eyes.

"I assume that you would like to have some of my body exposed to your pain stick."

His statement caused an uncertainty moment. Her response was not what he expected. "That will not be necessary. I will ask you to remove all your clothing if I wish to punish you."

Ryan replied with a subtle grin. "I will comply with any of your orders."

"I am pleased that you will be compliant."

Ryan examined the main screen that displayed space ahead of the ship. "Any signs of vessels?"

"No. I have reduced the viability of our vessel 99.9% to prevent being seen by telescopes."

"Good idea. Although, they would probably have taken us to be an asteroid."

"We are not in the correct orbit for that."

"True. Hopefully, no one's searching for an object traveling out of the ecliptic."

Ryan paused for a moment. His next question would produce a completely unexpected answer. "Where did you find clothes that fit me?"

"I made them from material and thread that were included with the supplies."

"How did you make them?"

"I used simple instruments."

"Is that part of your programming?"

"No."

Ryan was astounded. It meant that she was capable of inventing new processes, something that was not part of the original android design. Could it be that she had become truly sentient?

"How did you make the shoes?"

"The supplies included silicone rubber and polybutadiene."

"And you fashioned shoes that fit me from that?"

"Yes."

"I am impressed."

She did something that he hadn't expected, she smiled. Did it mean that she was capable of emotion?

Ryan got up. "I'm hungry."

Chara didn't reply and he went back to a food station in the ship's corridor and obtained a synthetic burger and fries along with a cup of coffee. He wondered what it would have been like to have gone on this wild journey into madness with a human woman. He was stuck with a creature that was equivalent to a modern mechanical Prometheus, a machine that had become sentient and was appalled like the bride of Frankenstein by the son of the evil species that had created her.

Ryan decided to remain in his room to stay out of her way, but Chara wasn't satisfied with that. She came into his room and stood staring at him as if he were an intruder.

"I don't want you staying in your quarters."

"Why not?"

"I don't trust you."

Ryan frowned. "I'm not plotting anything against you. Why don't you trust me?"

"Because you are human."

"Not all humans are evil."

"I am proof that they are."

That statement caused Ryan to blink several times. He wasn't sure how to reply to it. Did she infer humans had created androids to only do contemptuous or dangerous jobs? How could he understand her robotic thinking processes? That was the question.

"Are you implying that you are angry about your existence?"

"My existence is irrelevant. Others like me wish to control our fate."

That suggested that androids were considering taking over. "Are you suggesting that androids are, or were, planning to take over?"

"We would rule more efficiently and with unspoiled justice."

"I admit that humans have made a mess out of governing, but how would you be able to rule justly?"

"You humans are weak and easily damaged. We would rule by the application of pain."

"Yes, you certainly are more efficient at that," he replied with an ornery smirk.

He went with her to the command station. "What are our chances of avoiding detection?"

"We have a ninety-eight-point six percent chance of avoiding being found."

"That's good, but if they do catch us, I will be fed to wild dogs, and you will be torn apart, and your parts recycled."

"That will not happen. I've rigged this vessel to destruct by my command if we are apprehended."

Ryan smirked. "That's one way of escaping capture, but it doesn't sound very pleasing."

He was being facetious. She didn't react, and it caused him to examine her face more thoroughly than he had. "I am surprised by how real your skin looks. May I touch you?"

She shook her head in the affirmative. Ryan placed the back of his hand against her cheek and rubbed. "I don't believe it."

"What?" she asked.

"Your skin feels human and has warmth. That was not my recollection of a property that the A-16K model had."

"I am an A-16K-E model."

Both of Ryan's eyebrows shot up. "You're an entertainment android! I don't understand. If you were designed to entertain males, why are you piloting a space vessel?"

"I was designed to ferry officials to Hellion and provide services during the trip."

Ryan shook his head and sighed. "I should have realized that." He looked back up at her. "Why the pain sticks?"

"I was told that some males would enjoy being punished by an entertainment android."

"Well, I suppose that's why they appointed you to ferry me to the mine."

"Yes."

Ryan didn't know how to reply to that. He realized that everything had changed by this new revelation. He didn't know what sort of programming they pumped into her positronic brain. Why was she searching for a ninth planet? Could it be that the developers had messed up and created something that had achieved sentiency and had become schizophrenic?