Symphony of Destruction (The Spindown Saga, #1) by Ken Goudsward

Author:Ken Goudsward
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sci-fi, Science Fiction, spaceship, explosion, virus, isolation, robots, self-awareness, emotional
Publisher: Dimensionfold Publishing
Published: 2019-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 38

Hannah reclined on a bed in med bay, at Brother Anderson’s insistence. For once she had not argued with her doctor, but allowed him to run his diagnostics. She leaned on one elbow, as the robot moved to the other bed where Colin was seated, wincing slightly as the doctor dabbed ointment onto his burns. They were small, and there were only a few. He would rather have simply ignored them, but Brother Anderson insisted on applying a disinfectant cream.

“...well, you will just have to wait a minute,” the robot was telling the man. “It’s too late to go in without a pressure suit now anyway, so it makes no difference.”

Colin started to protest, but the robot cut him off.

“Besides, this way we can all work together to come up with a plan, instead of just running off half-cocked.”

‘Work together’ - Colin noted the reference to their previous conversation. The robot was using his own argument against him. The realization gave him pause. He decided to shut up and go along with it. Maybe this would be a good opportunity to include Hannah in a planning discussion.

Brother Anderson continued, “Decks A through D are now inoperable and beyond repair. They must now be considered inhospitable even for simple traversing. We should be safe here in deck E, but we are going to need to gather supplies from the other decks”

“What kind of stuff do we need?” Colin asked, hoping to give Hannah a chance to jump in with ideas.

Brother Anderson was quite aware of Colin’s ploy, of course, so he avoided any obvious answers, instead mentioning a true but somewhat impertinent fact; “There are some medical supplies on deck B, I think.”

“What about food?” Hannah offered.

“Yeah, definitely!” encouraged Colin. “The only thing down here is a handful of protein bars, and we’re almost out!” He continued, “Hannah, how much food do you think is left in the mess hall?

“Oh, tons! - I barely made a dent in the supplies.”

“Oh that’s excellent!” Colin answered her. It was excellent. It was excellent that there was lots of food left, although that was no surprise since half the crew had died halfway through the trip. But it was excellent also for the fact that Hannah was engaging in their conversation, and that they were taking the food supply as a shared problem for which they had a quick resolution - an easy win. This was great progress. Colin didn’t bother to hide his pleasure as he gave a generous smile to both Hannah and the doctor.

“Perhaps the two of you could use the pressure suits, and make a supply run?” Brother Anderson suggested. It was too much too soon though, and Hannah became noticeably uncomfortable at the idea of being alone with Colin. “Or, we could all go.” the doctor corrected himself.

Now it was Hannah’s turn to shoot the doctor a knowing look. She did it subconsciously, not noticing the implications of using such human subtlety toward a robot. “I think I need to rest for a while, actually.

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