11:56 (Universal Time)
Sunday, December 20, 2331
Small craft hangar complex, A.M.S. NOSTROMO
In low orbit around Providence, Alpha Centauri B System
With her private interstellar yacht FRIENDSHIP now safely parked inside one of the small craft hangars inside the NOSTROMO, Tina then switched off her yacht’s system. However, instead of getting up from her pilot’s seat and leave her ship, she pivoted her seat to face Janet Robeson and Spirit, who were occupying two of the passengers’ seats situated behind the two crew seats. Her facial expression was that of deep concern as she spoke to the retired politician.
‘’Janet, I need your wisdom and advice on something that is conflicting me. Now that we are officially at war with the Space Predators and that my crew and I have been reactivated from reserve status, I can expect the NOSTROMO to find itself into battle with little or no notice. When it concerns only myself and my crewmembers directly, I have absolutely no problems with that. However, we have our families, our children, living aboard. I have my own Misha and Janet living in this ship. Leaving them here on the NOSTROMO would expose them to great risks if I go into battle. On the other hand, if we send our families to safety planet-side, we would still not be assured that they would indeed be safe: the Predators could well attack one of our inhabited planets or moons and kill our families. Also, not having our families close to us is liable to hurt morale, for everybody. I intend to address our people this evening, after Chairman Langemann’s public announcement about the new state of war, but I am still not sure if I should order our families off the ship.’’
Janet nodded her head once slowly: she knew that Tina had already faced once a similar dilemma during the 2315 Uprising, when she had sent her crew’s families to the safety of Triton before leaving to fight nearly single-handedly the forces of the Terran Federation.
‘’Tina, there is a factor that is paramount about this decision: the fact that the Space Predators could attack anywhere, anytime, and this with no prior warning. Our families will be equally at risk on the NOSTROMO or on one of our space colonies. In fact, even Earth is not presently safe from a Predator attack. You are also correct about your worry that our families could be attacked while away from the NOSTROMO, in which case you could do little to protect them. I thus say this: keep your loved ones with you, here on the NOSTROMO, where you can at least fight to protect them. If some of your crewmembers wish to evacuate their families to a planet, let them do so but don’t order them off. Right now, despite being a combatant ship, the NOSTROMO is about as safe as any of our colonies, or Earth. The threat from those Space Predators is simply too fluid and unpredictable.’’
Tina thought that over in silence for a few seconds before nodding once.
‘’You make a lot of sense, Janet. Thank you for your advice. I will thus let my crew decide where they want their families to be during this war. Well, let’s leave the yacht and return to the Executive Deck: I will need to brief my command staff about the decisions of the High Council.’’
As the trio was riding an elevator cabin a few minutes later, Spirit spoke up.
‘’Tina, we just received a communication from Navy Headquarters. The Navy is sending a relief force of Space Marines to Glyyn, where they will relieve our androids protecting the Kiryns. Our androids should be back aboard the NOSTROMO by this evening.’’
‘’Good!’’ replied Tina before looking at Janet Robeson. ‘’Janet, since my whole crew has been reactivated from their reservist status, does that mean that our security androids are also now considered as active Navy personnel?’’
‘’Huh, I wouldn’t bet on that, Tina. Your androids are most probably considered by the Navy as materiel instead of as personnel. Why did you ask?’’
‘’Because, as reactivated Navy personnel, we are now officially paid by the Navy, following standard Navy rates of pay, instead of me forking out the salaries for my crewmembers out of my corporations’ revenues. I have been treating our security androids as persons from the start and paying them a small salary instead of a full salary, since they don’t have the needs of living humans, like eating and supporting a family. Yet, they have been doing a large part of the fighting up to now. Wouldn’t they deserve to be paid on an equal salary scale than that which applies to the Space Marines who are about to relieve them?’’
‘’Personally, I would say ‘yes’ to your question, but those paper-shufflers at Navy Headquarters may well sneer at your question and simply ignore it. Remember that there is still a lot of public prejudice and misgivings concerning your androids.’’
As Tina digested Janet’s answer, Spirit decided to jump in on that question.
‘’I believe that you have a point, Tina. Normally, if the Navy would have to carry Space Marines aboard the NOSTROMO, instead of relying for free on our androids, then they would have to assume the various costs of such a deployment, including their salaries. The only obstacle here would be the need to convince the Navy to consider our androids as service personnel rather than as simple machines. Unfortunately, existing laws and regulations about this are actually non-existent and the Navy would have to put in place a new policy about this, something that I wouldn’t bet on right now.’’
‘’But, if Karl Langemann would tell the Navy to assign the status of service personnel to our androids, then the Navy would be forced to pay salaries and upkeep to our androids, no?’’
‘’Yes…if you could convince Karl Langemann to do that.’’
‘’Then, I will contact him today about that.’’ pronounced Tina, making Janet raise an eyebrow.
‘’But, what would your androids use that money for, Tina? As you just said yourself, they don’t need to spend money on food or drinks, or to support a family, which they can’t have anyway.’’
Spirit decided then to reply for Tina.
‘’Janet, don’t underestimate the degree of individuality that our androids have developed since they were built, over three years ago. You may not have seen them eating in our cafeterias or restaurants, or drink in our bars and clubs, but they have developed personal hobbies and interests, spent on a civilian wardrobe, using their small salary allotted to them, and bought things that interested them, like art objects or musical instruments.’’
‘’Musical instruments?!’’ said Janet, surprised.
‘’Yes, musical instruments. The majority of our androids have actually developed a marked interest for music, dance and the arts in general, domains of human activity and productivity of nearly infinite variety and creativity. Developing their own artistic talents via the study of dance and music is how most of our androids spend their off time on. Did you really think that they simply returned to their apartments after their duty shifts, only to lay down still until their next shift? They don’t! They mostly read, watch documentaries or entertainment shows, listen to or practice music. Most of the people on the NOSTROMO do not realize that because our androids live on their separate levels of the Habitat Ring, below the levels occupied by our crew and passengers. You should go stroll a bit around the communal lounges on the levels containing our androids’ quarters: you could be surprised by what you will see and hear then.’’
‘’Er, I suppose that I could do that, Spirit.’’ replied Janet, a bit flabbergasted. ‘’Gee, I hope that I won’t then stumble on some kind of sex party!’’
Janet didn’t see the slight smile that then appeared on Spirit’s lips.
16:19 (Universal Time)
Apartment # 569-630, Habitat Ring Section
A.M.S. NOSTROMO, in low orbit around Providence
Alpha Centauri B System
Jehanne de Domrémy put down her backpack in the storage room of her apartment, then secured her disintegrator rifle and her pistols in their steel storage lockers. With that done, she then went to her bathroom, where she undressed completely before taking a quick shower, washing off the dirt and grime accumulated during her fight aboard the Predator ships and during her stay on Glyyn. Toweling herself dry, Jehanne, still naked, put her dirty uniform and the wet towel in the small washer-dryer machine installed in a corner of her bathroom and started its cleaning cycle. Her next move was to walk into her personal cybernetic maintenance facility, a fair-sized room with a nine square meter floor surface. There, she lay on the inclined diagnostic bed and initiated a quick but thorough maintenance diagnostic. If she would have suffered any kind of breakdown, damage or system failure, then her diagnostic program would detect it and would either effect a repair, if the damage proved minor, or would send her go for repair at the central robotics workshop of the ship, in the core section. While the diagnostic program did its work, Jehanne connected herself to the personal memory bank of her maintenance facility, to update the memories of her life experience, last recorded before her fighting in the 55 Cancri System. If she was ever destroyed, either in combat or because of a serious accident, those past memories would then be vital in allowing a new body to be built and then programmed, essentially creating a new her with her original, distinct individual personality as Jehanne de Domrémy and with all the past souvenirs and experiences that had helped her evolve and improve since the first day she was completed and activated. That process basically meant the same in her case as an old dream of Humanity: immortality. Jehanne thus religiously updated her personal memory bank every time she ran a diagnostic of her android body. Only minutes after entering her cybernetic maintenance room, Jehanne walked out of it and went to her lounge, where she briefly looked through the large windows to contemplate the forest habitat extending from below her balcony. Still naked and not bothering yet to put fresh clothes on, Jehanne sat down in the large sofa facing her holographic entertainment unit and switched it on while putting on the earphone headset connected to the unit. Selecting a video file showing a dance and music show, she then watched and listened to it carefully, memorizing the rhythm and tune of the music, along with the dance moves shown on the display screen by the Human dancers. After half an hour of watching and listening, she backed the recording to its start and got up from her sofa, then started imitating and practicing the dance moves while following the rhythm of the music. While dancing, she practiced as well the facial and body expressions of the dancers, with the camera integrated to the viewing unit recording her in action. Once she was back at the end of the show, she asked her apartment computer to compare the moves on the show with her own moves and got a very satisfying score of 87% similarity. Sitting back on her sofa, she next watched a historical documentary on ancient wars of the 20th Century, wanting to improve her knowledge of warfare tactics and strategies, including the parts about the lessons learned in combat. While her initial programming had included basic knowledge of military tactics and principles, she had a high interest about Human military history, which was as rich a subject as it was full of tragedies. The documentary she ended up watching was about urban fighting in large cities, a particularly bloody type of combat about which Jehanne wanted to learn more.
At seven in the evening, Jehanne switched her viewing unit to the Providence main news channel, where Chairman Langemann was due to make a public announcement about the new state of war of the Spacers’ League. Since she had been part of the first phase of the fighting, Jehanne didn’t learn anything new from that speech by Langemann, other than that the Spacers’ League was now mobilizing for war. In contrast, the commentaries’ part that followed, where the newscasters and a few ‘experts’ commented on Langemann’s address, proved a lot more interesting for Jehanne, who carefully listened to and analyzed the few negative comments and reactions from some of the interviewees and from the show’s viewers who called in to give their opinions. Some of those negative comments made Jehanne recollect historical lessons about the dangers of appeasement and peace at all cost, something that had showed up in nearly every war of the past. After a few minutes of listening to those commenters, Jehanne decided that they were not worth her time, so she switched off her entertainment unit and went to her storage room to get dressed and go out. Choosing which outfit to wear didn’t take long, as her civilian wardrobe was quite limited, due to the fact that her salary as a security android was small, thus limited her buying power. She finally decided on a pair of tight black very short pants, an orange tank top and a pair of ankle boots and dressed quickly, then left her apartment, locking the door behind her.
Using the nearest overhead gallery, which was part of an airtight security partition wall meant to prevent the accidental depressurization of more than one forest habitat at a time, Jehanne walked down the 500-meter-long gallery linking the Habitat Ring Section with the ship’s core section, looking from time to time through the large transparent acrylic panes of the gallery and eyeing the two forest habitats separated by the airtight partition wall. Since the NOSTROMO had yet to host paying passengers after its aborted docking with the New Horizon orbital station and its fighting in the 55 Cancri A System, she crossed path with few people while on her way along the gallery. When she arrived at the ship’s entertainment center deck via its northeast access airlock, which was left open at this time, she found herself in the eight-meter-wide peripheral hallway circling around the main entertainment establishments run by the commercial operators doing business on the NOSTROMO. Ignoring one of the two large cinemas of the complex, which was the closest to her, Jehanne turned left and went down the large peripheral hallway, passing in succession in front of the Moonlight Disco Club, the Pinball Video-Arcade Center and the Jupiter Sex Club, before stopping at the entrance of the Aperossimo Bar-Lounge and looking at its front advertising poster board. Taking a decision after a half-second, Jehanne entered and paid the entrance fee at the reception counter, then slowly walked into the main lounge, a vast room with tables and chairs set around a dance floor and a show stage. There were actually only a few dozen customers sitting at the tables and there were presently no musical band on the stage, recorded music being piped around via the amplifiers connected to the DJ’s booth. Jehanne thus went to the long bar counter set along one of the walls and sat on one of the stools fixed along the counter, joining about fifteen other customers sipping quietly their drinks. Making a sign of the hand, Jehanne made the barman approach her, then spoke to him in her soft, slightly high-pitch voice.
‘’One red Vermouth on ice, please!’’
‘’One red Vermouth on ice, coming up!’’ replied the barman before going to fetch the nearest bottle of red Vermouth and preparing her drink. The man put her glass on the counter in front of her within half a minute.
‘’Here you go, miss!’’
‘’Thank you!’’
Taking her glass with her left hand, she raised it to her lips and made a show of sipping on it. In reality, she simply wetted her lips with the red Vermouth, since she was not built to simulate the ingestion of either liquids or solids, except in very limited quantities that she would then have to discretely regurgitate during a visit to the washrooms. The artificial tastebuds of her tongue and the olfactive sensors inside her nostrils registered and analyzed automatically the composition of the alcohol, while the Vermouth added a temporary smell to her mouth. Putting down her glass on the counter, Jehanne then discretely looked left and right, eyeing the customers nearest to her. The one on her right was a mature woman of South Asian ethnicity, while the customer on her left was a very handsome (by human standards) young man with blond hair and blue eyes. That man seemed quite athletic and was also tall, Jehanne’s electronic eyes measuring him as being a good 186 centimeters-tall. However, he seemed to be plunged deep in thoughts as he sipped his glass of Scotch while looking blankly at the wall mirror and rows of bottles behind the counter. The young man then noticed that Jehanne was looking at him and smiled to her in return.
‘’Good evening, miss! I haven’t seen you here before.’’
‘’I rarely drink and, yes, this is my first time in the Aperossimo Bar-Lounge. I just listened to Chairman Langemann’s public address about the Spacers’ League now being at war with the Space Predators and decided that tonight was a good time to visit this club.’’
The man nodded soberly his head at her answer.
‘’The same here, miss. By the way, I am Pieter Nordlung.’’
‘’And I am Jehanne de Domrémy. Pleased to meet you.’’ replied Jehanne while exchanging a handshake with Nordlung. ‘’So, what did you think of the Chairman’s speech, Pieter?’’
‘’That it was balanced, factual and to the point, with no attempt at painting over what this war will mean for all of us. And what did you think of it, Jehanne?’’
‘’That we don’t have a choice: it is either for us to fight and get rid of those Space Predators or to eventually end up victims of those monsters. I however didn’t like much some of the comments from the so-called ‘experts’ who analyzed his speech and from some of the listeners who called in after the speech.’’
Pieter nodded again and pointed at the large video display screen set on the wall behind the bar.
‘’I also listened to those comments and some of them were definitely asinine, not to say idiotic. War may be a terrible thing but sometimes you are left with no choice but to defend yourself. History too often showed us what happens when you act like sheep in the name of pacifism. Then, the wolves around us will simply jump on you and devour you. In this case, the term ‘devour’ is most apt, I must say.’’
‘’Agreed! Are you going to have a fighting role in this war, Pieter?’’
‘’I already have started to fight, Jehanne: I am a fighter pilot and I fought the Predators in the 55 Cancri A System, when the NOSTROMO went to rescue the corvette MARCO POLO.’’
‘’You did?’’ said Jehanne, interest rising in her. ‘’I was also in that fight.’’
Her reply made Pieter scrutinize her more closely for a few seconds with curiosity. He finally seemed to understand what she was and lowered his voice to a near whisper.
‘’Are you a security android by chance, Jehanne?’’
‘’Yes, I am!’’ answered Jehanne, also lowering her voice. ‘’Centurion Jehanne de Domrémy, leader of the First Century.’’
Instead of repelling Pieter, her revelation seemed to attract only respect and understanding towards her.
‘’My fighter squadron was assigned to support your unit when you boarded that Predator resupply ship, Jehanne. Before that day, I didn’t know what exactly to think about your kind but now I only have respect for you: your assault was a textbook tactical masterpiece. Did you suffer any casualties in that fight?’’
‘’Thankfully none! Those Predators were done in by their own hubris and disregard for individual medium to long-range weapons. I hope that your squadron fared well in that attack, Pieter?’’
Pieter’s expression became sober before he answered her.
‘’We were successful in taking out the laser turrets of that Predator ship but it cost my squadron a fighter and its crew of four. Those four were good friends of mine and I came here for a drink in order to go over their loss.’’
‘’I am sorry to hear about your friends, Pieter. Let’s toast their memories together.’’
Pieter nodded and raised his glass, gently knocking it against Jehanne’s raised glass. He took a sip of his Scotch while watching her put her glass to her lips, something that prompted a remark from him.
‘’I thought that security androids couldn’t drink or eat.’’
‘’We effectively can’t, except in very small quantities meant for us to appear normal. Then, when we have a chance to go to the washroom, we regurgitate what we ingested. However, I have artificial tastebuds and olfactive sensors which allow me to analyze the content of what I drink or eat. Right now, I am simply wetting my lips with my Vermouth.’’
‘’I see! Spirit certainly designed you well.’’
‘’Actually, it was her daughter, Eve Silisca, who designed us security androids, using her own design as a starting template and then simplifying or eliminating certain functions while reinforcing our armament and protection.’’
‘’So, may I ask why you felt the need to come here and have a drink, Jehanne?’’
Jehanne slowly put down her glass before answering Pieter soberly.
‘’Pieter, I may be an android who can’t have true feelings. However, I was programmed with some advanced social skills, skills that I use to improve myself as a being as I live new experiences and have contacts with more people. Eve meant for us to become true individuals, with our own individual tastes, hobbies and non-combat skills, so that we could one day become as much of a true person as she now is.’’
Many Humans in the past had laughed at that notion of true personality in an android. Not Pieter, who slowly nodded his head in understanding.
‘’If you are at the stage of wanting to have an individual personality, then I would say that you are already a true person, Jehanne.’’
That reply made Jehanne stare into Pieter’s eyes for a moment, while her voice became very soft.
‘’Pieter, I may not be able to feel real emotions or sensations, apart from the basic sensations of vision, smell, taste and touch, but I understand how important emotions and feelings are to Humans and to other living beings. Would you like me to help you feel better and to go over the loss of your friends?’’
‘’How?’’
‘’By intimate contact between us. While I cannot feel true physical pleasure, I am more than capable of giving sexual pleasure. Don’t laugh, please: I already have done so in the past with men I deemed worthy of being my friends.’’
‘’And…you now consider me as a friend?’’
‘’Yes, I do! You showed your bravery and skills in battle and also are honoring the memory of your lost comrades. In my books, that makes you a most decent man. I also find you a truly handsome man by any Human standards. So, I would like to accompany you to your apartment, unless you are already married or have a living-in girlfriend: I wouldn’t want to hurt any existing relationship of yours.’’
‘’That is quite thoughtful of you, Jehanne. I will be most happy to host you in my apartment, which frankly started to feel quite a lonely one to me. Let’s go!’’
Pieter paid for both of their drinks, then got off his stool and gently took Jehanne’s hand before walking out of the bar-lounge with her.
Pieter’s apartment turned out to be situated quite close to that of Jehanne, two levels up and a hundred meters from it. It also proved to be a typical one-bedroom apartment of the type the ship provided to its crewmembers who were single. Jehanne, invited in by Pieter, then walked to the lounge at the end of the suite and looked around her at the decoration and artwork on display in the lounge.
‘’A nice place, Pieter. In comparison, my own apartment still looks a bit bland but I am working on it.’’
Pieter, not too sure how to proceed from here, stayed two paces away from her at first. Jehanne noticed that and turned to face him, giving him a wide smile.
‘’I can easily understand that this could feel a bit awkward for you at first, so let me try to put you at ease.’’
She then slowly stripped, first taking off her tank top and revealing a pair of medium-sized, firm breasts with brown nipples, then taking off her boots and ending by pulling down her pants. Pieter was then able to see that her groin area was free of pubic hairs and was as smooth as that of a baby, but featured a natural-looking vagina with a prominent clitoris. Her body, which was stocky but strong and fit-looking, sported a light tan color all over. Despite knowing that she was an android, Pieter couldn’t help getting an erection while looking at the now naked Jehanne. The latter noticed his reaction to her and, smiling, slowly stepped forward, gluing herself to him and proving at the same time that her body had the same kind of warmth as that of a living woman’s body and that her breasts were as soft as those of girls Pieter had dated in the past. Jehanne’s voice was very soft when she spoke while looking up at the much taller Pieter.
‘’Time for me to prove to you that I can be more than just an imitation of a woman’s body, Pieter. Just relax and let me do the rest.’’