CHAPTER 3 – A NEW FORM OF RACISM
08:49 (Universal Time)
Wednesday, February 22, 2333
Passenger Arrival Hall # 6, A.M.S. NOSTROMO
Docked at the El Dorado Space Terminal, in orbit of Tau Boötis c
Tau Boötis star system, 50.8 light-years from Earth
Natalia Vasilyeva, the chief hostess of the NOSTROMO, was supervising the registering in of the passengers with tickets to travel to New Venice when some sort of commotion made her walk quickly to one of the registration counters of the big passenger arrival hall she was in. What she found was a flustered-looking young receptionist woman trying to deal with a rather vociferous pair of would-be adult passengers accompanying a timid-looking teenage boy, while a sober-faced Jehanne de Domrémy stood a few paces away.
‘’Okay, Lisa, what is the problem here?’’
‘’I just registered in those three passengers and had assigned cabins to them for their trip to New Venice but these two adults violently objected to being guided to their cabins by Jehanne…or by any other android.’’
Natalia snapped her head to look at the nearest passenger of that group, a portly woman in her fifties wearing an expensive set of clothes and accompanied by a man of about the same age and by a teenage boy. Before Natalia could ask her what was the reason of her refusal to be guided by Jehanne, the woman nearly shouted while pointing an index at the poor security android.
‘’I REFUSE TO HAVE THIS MACHINE ESCORT ME AND MY FAMILY TO OUR CABINS. I WANT REAL HELP FROM REAL PERSONS!’’
Natalia’s expression hardened on hearing that: the last few weeks and months had been marked by a few isolated incidents of what she could only qualify as ‘racism’ towards the androids serving on the NOSTROMO. Unfortunately, such incidents had started to become more frequent this month, putting a strain on her patience.
‘’Look, miss, Senior Centurion Jehanne de Domrémy is a valuable and respected member of the crew of the NOSTROMO and…’’
‘’RESPECTED? NOT BY ME! I WANT A REAL PERSON TO GUIDE US TO OUR CABINS, NOT ONE OF THOSE MONSTROUS COPIES!’’
A quick glance showed to Natalia that, while the presumed husband of the woman appeared to be agreeing with his wife, the teenage boy, who was maybe sixteen, seemed to be embarrassed by all this. Concentrating back on the combative woman, Natalia hardened her voice by a notch.
‘’Miss, I will not let you show racism towards one of our crewmembers. Either you will let Senior Centurion de Domrémy guide you to your cabins or you will be refused access to the ship and will have to disembark.’’
‘’WHAT? DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?’’
Natalia was very nearly tempted to reply that she didn’t give a shit about that but it would have been unethical by her professional book. Instead, she tried again to reason with the woman.
‘’Miss, all our passengers are treated on an equal footing, irrespective of their social or financial status. If you continue your objections, I will have to have you escorted out of the ship.’’
‘’THAT’S UNACCEPTABLE! I WANT TO TALK WITH YOUR CAPTAIN!’’
‘’Very well, miss. Let me call her. In the meantime, I will have to ask you to stand aside, so that other passengers waiting behind you could get registered.’’
The husband of the woman then patted his wife’s right arm and spoke to her in a low voice.
‘’Let’s do as she says, dear: we don’t need to delay other passengers for this.’’
To Natalia’s relief, the woman followed her husband’s advice and stepped aside, along with him and their son. To the boy’s credit, he then tried to convince his parents to be more reasonable but was then firmly told to cut it out. Taking a few steps backward and turning around, Natalia activated her pocket tablet and called the bridge, getting Tina Forster on the line after a few seconds.
‘’What’s up, Natalia? You look frustrated.’’
‘’That’s because I am frustrated, Tina. I have here a woman with husband and son who violently objected to having one of our security androids escort them to their cabins. She insists on having a quote ‘real person’ escort them. I tried to reason with her but she then tried to push rank on me. From her clothes, I would peg her as a member of the planet’s upper society crust. She now insists on talking with you about this.’’
Tina’s expression hardened on hearing that.
‘’Put this video link on the display screen of the counter nearest to that woman, Natalia. I will then be happy to put her back in her place.’’
‘’Right away, Tina!’’
Natalia then stepped to the counter against which the waiting family leaned and touched her tablet to the fixed display screen on it, which was mounted on a swivel. She then pivoted the screen to make it face the woman and raised the volume a bit.
‘’Captain Forster is now on the line, miss.’’
Not bothering with a ‘thank you’, the woman then started speaking to Tina in an incensed voice.
‘’Captain, I must protest about the poor service offered to me and my family by your reception staff. You must have real people available to guide your paying passengers to their cabins, rather than those killer machines you have here, no?’’
‘’I do but those ‘killer machines’ as you call them are sentient beings with full Spacers’ League citizenship status. By refusing to be served by them, you showed racism towards them and that is something I can’t tolerate. If you are not ready to respect ALL of my crewmembers, then I will ask you to disembark right now. As for your tickets, they will be reimbursed right away at the counter you are at now.’’
‘’That’s unacceptable!’’ replied the woman, raising her tone of voice and making other travelers nearby turn their heads towards her. ‘’Know that I am an executive manager at Pallas Mining Industries and that my brother is the CEO of the corporation.’’
‘’Madam, I don’t care who you are! Either you respect my crewmembers and abide by the rules aboard my ship or I will have you escorted back to the Space terminal. The choice is yours!’’
‘’Please, Mom, just accept, so that we could go on our vacation.’’ pleaded the woman’s son. Instead of listening to the teenager, the woman snapped at him.
‘’Don’t interfere with this, Jeffrey! I’m handling this!’’
Natalia, who was still close by and watching the situation closely, felt bad for the teenage boy, who obviously was a lot more reasonable than his parents. Then, the boy’s father stepped forward and pointed an index at the video screen where the image of Tina appeared.
‘’Captain, you will regret this, as I now intend to publicly shame you and your ship about the poor service you are offering to your passengers. You…’’
‘’You will be the one who will regret your display of racism, mister!’’ snapped back Tina, having had enough about this couple. ‘’Know that this arrival hall you are in is under constant video surveillance, for reasons of security, and that this whole episode has been recorded as part of its round-the-clock footage. If you try to slander my crew and my ship with false accusations, then you will be hit with a countersuit and I can guarantee you that you will not be the winning party. As for your wife being an executive of the Pallas Mining Industries and being also the sister of its CEO, know that I fought in the Jovian Uprising at the sides of Jacobus Stein, the founder of the Pallas Mining Industries, and that I will make sure that he hears my side of this incident. Now, leave my ship and return to the terminal. My head hostess will now reimburse you your tickets.’’
Natalia, who had been following closely the exchange, then stepped forward and started using the computer terminal nearest to her on the reception counter, while looking at the now flustered couple.
‘’May I see your embarkation tickets, so that I can reimburse you for them, sir?’’
As the man reluctantly presented to Natalia the embarkation tickets for his family, his son surprised him and Natalia by pleading with him.
‘’Could I go to New Venice by myself, Dad? I have been hoping to visit it for months and I have only a bit over a week left before school starts again.’’
‘’You? Traveling alone on this ship, Jeffrey?’’ said his mother, cutting off her husband, who was hesitating. ‘’Out of the question! You will stay with us!’’
Natalia again felt bad for the teenager but did not intervene in what was clearly a family dispute and completed the cancelling of the trio’s ticket and electronic reimbursement. Giving back the tickets to the man, Natalia spoke to him while keeping a polite tone of voice.
‘’Here you are, sir: your tickets have now been cancelled and their cost reimbursed into your bank account. Senior Centurion de Domrémy and Officer Skorzeni will now escort you out of the ship.’’
The man, seeing the huge and powerful android accompanying Jehanne, towering at 192 centimeters, come towards them, swallowed hard and took back his cancelled tickets before going to sit in the electric cart that was still carrying his family’s luggage. His wife also joined him there after a last dark look at Natalia, while her son reluctantly joined his parents in the cart, with Jehanne and Otto sitting in the front seats. Natalia shook her head while watching for a moment the family leave the hall, then looked at the video screen where Tina was still visible.
‘’I am sorry about this incident, Tina, but Jehanne did nothing to provoke the ire of that woman.’’
‘’I wouldn’t even think of blaming her for a second, Natalia. The truth is that this woman showed racism against a member of my crew, something I will never tolerate from anyone. Know that I will definitely contact Jacobus Stein about this, in order to prevent any attempt by that Marge Stein to stain our reputation. Jacobus may be 86-years-old now but he is not senile and is still a good friend of mine. When Jehanne will return from the Space terminal, please tell her not to worry about this incident.’’
‘’I will pass the word, Tina.’’ said Natalia before closing the video link. She then returned to her previous position, in time to cross paths with a male passenger who smiled to her.
‘’You do have to deal with real assholes from time to time, miss. That woman got what she deserved.’’
‘’Thank you for your comprehension, sir.’’ replied Natalia, smiling to the man.
Four wickets down the counter, a woman in her advanced forties who could still be said to be quite pretty was registered without problems by the receptionist serving her and was then directed with her luggage cart to a waiting male security android assigned to guiding the incoming passengers to their cabins in the huge ship. She sat beside the android, who wore a body-hugging uniform and was armed with a pair of pistols, and presented her new ship registration card to him.
‘’Hello! My name is Jane Powell. And yours is?’’
‘’Officer Elvis Presley, at your service, miss. We should be at your cabin in less than ten minutes.’’
The android then made their cart roll towards the nearest elevator cabin available, where their vehicle entered, with the cabin starting at once to go up towards the Habitat Ring Section, which was situated directly above the reception halls, some sixty meters up. However, once inside the Habitat Ring Section, their cabin continued to go up, while the transparent lift cage allowed Jane Powell to look with fascination at the large and wide ring aquarium facing the multi-storied apartment complex of the habitat and forming a closed loop with a circumference of 4,109 meters at its middle width. Visible through the thick acrylic sides of the ring aquarium were hundreds of fish of various species, along with some marine mammals. On the outer side of the aquarium, giant holographic screens made it look like it bordered a vast ocean.
‘’Wow! This is incredible…and also beautiful. Something tells me that I will like my stay on this ship.’’
‘’Wait till you see the side of your apartment facing towards the center axis of the ship, miss: You will have a lounge and balcony with a direct view above a Boreal forest habitat covering 18.2 hectares.’’
‘’Decidedly, I did the right thing by booking passage on this ship. Is the whole ship open to visitors and passengers?’’
‘’Not really, unless you are some kind of V.I.P. and are given a tour of the ship by our captain, Miss Powell. This is an armed merchant ship and the sections containing the weapons systems, ammunition magazines and hangars for armed craft are out of bounds to our passengers. However, that leaves open to you the whole Habitat Ring Section, with its boutiques, shops and restaurants; our six forest habitats and our upper core section, which contains our entertainment center, a sports center and a fully equipped medical center. You will find in your cabin both a printed guide and downloadable electronic application that will provide you with all the information you will need about the NOSTROMO. Ah, we are now at the level of your cabin, Level 542.’’
Driving the cart out of the lift cabin and rolling down the large platform giving access to the cabins situated on that level, Presley drove for about sixty meters before stopping his cart in front of an apartment door.
‘’Your cabin, Suite # 542350!’’
‘’Would you be kind and help me carry my luggage inside, Officer Presley?’’
‘’With pleasure, Miss Powell!’’
The security android, already guessing by interpreting her body language and also from previous similar experiences what that female passenger really wanted, still carried inside her two largest pieces of luggage, bringing them to the main bedroom, which was adjacent to the lounge, next to the balcony of the suite. Jane Powell did freeze for a moment when she saw the vast forest visible just outside and below her cabin.
‘’My god! This is truly fascinating: a forest in Space! And I can smell the scent of those trees from here. This will be a memorable trip for me.’’
Jane then turned around and walked slowly to Presley in a most sexy gait while smiling to him.
‘’I heard many things about the security androids of the NOSTROMO, Officer Presley. You are one of them, right?’’
‘’I am, miss!’’
‘’Then, tell me: is it true that your external anatomy is similar to that of Humans? I was told that you can even have sex with Humans. Is that correct?’’
‘She’s definitely a cougar!’ thought the android before answering her.
‘’Yes, both male and female androids of my kind can practice sex with Humans. However, while we are skilled at giving pleasure, we ourselves cannot feel sexual pleasure, or any other kind of mental feeling. Before we go further, I must tell you that I have to complete my duty shift before being on my own free time at seven this evening. If you wish so, I will then be happy to visit you here after work.’’
While looking a bit disappointed for a moment, Jane then looked back at the android with a tentative smile.
‘’Will we be still in deep Space by then or will we be already at New Venice?’’
‘’Our trip from El Dorado to the Tau Ceti System will effectively take only a few minutes but then, due to the rules concerning in-systems navigation, the NOSTROMO will have to make a controlled, slow approach in order to get safely into orbit of New Venice, which is a moon of the fifth planet of the system. We will not have our passengers disembark before tomorrow morning, so that they have at least 24 hours to enjoy themselves aboard the ship.’’
‘’Enjoy themselves… I like your turn of phrase. I will wait for you here for seven this evening. Could you do me a favor before you go?’’
‘’I am listening, miss.’’
‘’Could I check out something about you? I promise to be quick about it.’’
Presley grinned and spread his arms wide in invitation.
‘’I am all yours, Miss Powell.’’
Jane then made the last two steps separating her from the android and proceeded in unbuckling his belt and pulling down his trousers. Her eyes lit up when she was able to admire the groin area of the android.
‘’Oh my! They really gave you a top-notch equipment! Can you get it up at will?’’
‘’Of course I can! I also can keep it up indefinitely, if my female partner wishes so. I have as well a vibration mode, where my member can vibrate at an intensity of my choice…or yours, while performing penetration.’’
‘’THAT I must try!’’ said Jane in an enthusiastic tone while playing with the android’s genitalia, feeling the softness of its skin, which felt exactly like a real human penis. ‘’This is incredible! If I wouldn’t know already about the androids on this ship, I could have mistaken you for a real man.’’
‘’And the same can be said of our female androids, miss. They are also skilled in sexual matters but, like me, cannot feel real pleasure and must fake their reactions. Having sex with a wooden plank would not exactly be fun for our human partners.’’
Jane, who was doing an expert hand job on the android, looked up at him with a sarcastic smile.
‘’You know, I met plenty of human sex partners who reacted nearly like planks, so I won’t mind at all if you fake your orgasm tonight. However, be assured that I will not fake my own orgasm.’’
That made the male android grin down at her while he gently caressed her hair.
‘’Oh, don’t worry, Jane: you will not need to fake it.’’
14:06 (Universal Time)
Captain’s executive office, Executive Deck, Frame Level # 505
A.M.S. NOSTROMO, navigating inside the Tau Ceti System
Tina Forster looked a bit preoccupied when she invited in her office Natalia Vasilyeva and Eve Silisca and offered them a sofa in her coffee corner. Sitting herself in an easy chair facing the sofa, Tina waited until her visitors, which she had called in for a meeting, were sitting before speaking.
‘’Thank you for coming so quickly. I suppose that you can already guess what I want to talk about with you?’’
‘’The incident this morning with the abusive passenger who was racist towards our androids?’’ offered Natalia, making Tina nod her head.
‘’Correct! What about you, Eve? Did you get some feedback on this from our androids?’’
Eve Silisca, herself an android but one who had been designed for socializing tasks rather than for combat and who looked like a stunningly beautiful blond young woman, nodded as well in response.
‘’I effectively did, Tina. Jehanne de Domrémy made a private report to me about the incident, asking me counsels about how to best react to any further similar incidents. Unfortunately, this is not the first such case, by far. In fact, those cases of demonstrated racism or even hostility towards our security androids have been becoming more frequent in the past weeks and months. We may soon reach a point where this racism could impact significantly the relationship between our androids and a fraction of our passengers. For the moment, that hostile fraction is still tiny but, judging from some of the media reports we get, anti-android propaganda is growing steadily in both volume and frequency.’’
‘’I believe so as well…and I don’t like that at all. I was able to speak by video link with Jacobus Stein, the father of that Marge Stein, and showed him the video recorded during the incident in the arrival hall. He was pretty upset about it…but not against us. He in turn promised me that he would read the riot act to his daughter the minute he has a chance to. By the way, was this family able to find space on another ship leaving for New Venice, Natalia?’’
‘’I checked about that before we left the Space terminal and, yes, they found space on a small interstellar shuttle doing the rounds between the main worlds of the Spacers’ League. However, that cost them sixty percent more than what we charged and they also lost a good six hours while searching for another ship. I kind of feel bad for the teenage boy of that family: he sounded like a most reasonable and tolerant boy and did his best to plea with his mother about showing restraint towards Jehanne.’’
‘’I noticed that on the security video recordings of the incident. Unfortunately, we really had no choice but to refuse boarding to his parents and, him being a minor, he couldn’t realistically travel by himself without the consent of his parents.’’
‘’So, what do we do about this growing racism problem, Tina?’’
‘’Frankly, there isn’t much we can do right now, Natalia. The best we can do is to do our utmost to counter any hostile publicity campaign targeting our androids and to discredit anti-android arguments. Would you or Eve have any suggestions to propose about this problem?’’
It was Eve that answered that first.
‘’Realistically, our best way to counter this anti-android propaganda is still to show to our passengers how courteous, helpful and law-abiding our security androids are in reality. Let’s counter hostile propaganda with positive images of our androids.’’
‘’That could work.’’ said Natalia. ‘’Right after that incident, another passenger who was boarding our ship expressed his support for our handling of that situation, while many more passengers around the arrival hall gave dark or disapproving looks to that Marge Stein and her husband. For the moment, those anti-android racists are still a tiny minority. Hopefully, we will be able to keep it that way through good press and favorable passenger opinions and reviews.’’
‘’I hope so too! Well, pass the word to our androids: stay courteous in all circumstances while not letting themselves be demeaned or discriminated. If they encounter an abusive passenger, then they are to report it immediately to you and Eve. Well, that’s it for me! Hopefully, things will settle down after this incident. Thank you for coming.’’
Tina got up from her chair and shook hands with her two crewmembers before they walked out of her executive office. Now alone, she was thoughtful for a moment, trying to think of further ways to solve this growing racism problem. Unfortunately, if there was something that Humanity’s history had taught, it was how hard and long it was to eradicate such racism.
20:39 (Universal Time)
Cabin # 542350, Habitat Ring Section
A.M.S. NOSTROMO
‘’OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! THAT…THAT WAS FANTASTIC!’’
‘’Would you like me to continue, Jane?’’ asked softly Elvis Presley while still working her up despite her just having had her second consecutive orgasm that had left her panting.
‘’YES! But do it slower this time: make the pleasure go on for as long as possible, my beautiful Elvis.’’
‘’Your desires are my commands, Jane.’’ replied the android with a smile before slowing down his thrusting but also cranking up to maximum the vibration mechanism of his artificial penis. Jane became cross-eyed under that treatment, with her whole body tensing and arching up from the bed as she was on the way to a third consecutive orgasm. This time, she came after thirteen extra minutes of ecstasy as waves of pleasure washed over her brain. Seeing that her heartbeat was now quite high, Elvis decided to withdraw from her and to start kissing and fondling her body as Jane, now utterly spent, gathered back her breath. In return, she kissed him frantically while speaking in a tired voice.
‘’This was the best sex I ever had by far, Elvis. You were fantastic. I wish that I could stay with you for longer than a day.’’
‘’I could visit you again tomorrow morning before the start of my next shift, to wake you up the right way.’’
‘’Oh yes! Please do that! Could you come for, say, six o’clock, so that I could have time afterwards to go have breakfast before leaving the ship?’’
‘’Six o’clock it will be, Jane.’’ replied Elvis before getting off the bed and starting to dress back. Jane, on her part, stayed on her bed and admired his athletic body and handsome face as he put on his clothes, while also thinking about the experience she had just gone through. Many people would undoubtedly either mock her for having sex with a ‘machine’ or could even be scandalized by that. However, she reasoned that many people still used sex toys, or simply masturbated.
‘What is the difference between this and a woman using a vibrator? Well, this ‘vibrator’ also happens to look like one of the handsomest men I ever saw, so why be ashamed about this?’ she reasoned. Getting off the bed herself, she waited for Elvis to be fully dressed before gluing herself to him and kiss him on the lips.
‘’I will always remember you, my beautiful Elvis. Would you mind if I take a couple of pictures of you before you leave?’’
‘’Not at all! Are you planning to talk about me to your female friends?’’
‘’To my best friends, maybe. After hearing me, maybe they will also want to travel on this ship.’’
‘’Then, you can tell them that there are 399 other male security androids aboard the NOSTROMO.’’
‘’And are they all as handsome as you?’’
‘’Uh, they are a mixed bag, while I am considered to be one of the better-looking ones in the lot. As for our female androids, they can all be described as at least pretty. Many of them have in fact been copied on past celebrity female artists, the same way I was copied on the template of a most famous singer from the Twentieth Century.’’
‘’Well, whoever chose your design template had very good tastes.’’ said Jane before stepping back from him and, using her wrist communicator, taking a few pictures of Elvis from different angles. She sighed as he left her cabin, already anxious to see him again tomorrow morning.