Posted May 11, 2020, 12:56 p.m. by Lieutenant Junior Grade Eve (Engineering Officer) (Sharon Miller)
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Posted by Lieutenant Guy Freeman (Chief Counseling Officer) in Guy Freeman’s Office - Eve pays a visit
Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Eve (Engineering Officer) in Guy Freeman’s Office - Eve pays a visit
“This is a Martini, Eve.” He looked the glass and ordered another one “Do you still want to try it? It is a useful experience even without having taste and nutrients absorption. It makes you more… human.” Guy walked toward the sofa waving the other hand as he explained and sipping some Martini with the other. As he sat, he left the glass on the table and looked at it, waiting if Eve was to take it and try to be more human. “So,” he paused sipping a bit more of the alcoholic substance “you wanted to talk. Perhaps may I ask about what?”
Guy wasn’t that bitter as his usual. Androids were something different and he felt better than counseling some sort of human-ish person. And so he was actually enjoying being curious of counseling and attaining a dialogue with Eve.Lieutenant Freeman, Guy - Chief Counselor Officer
Eve studied the glass of alcohol intently for a few moments then, raising it to her mouth, she angled the receptacle so that the inner liquid was separated from her lips by a distance of 0.5 millimetres, then placed the glass back on the table and mimicked a swallowing of the imaginary drink she had just consumed.
“Delicious,” she offered her appraisal, having analysed that such a combination of ingredients would qualify as exceedingly satisfying for those who possessed the ability to actually ingest them. Eve, alas, did not. But as the Counselor had already observed, the act of doing so, or mimicking it as precisely as the android was able, did indeed make her appear more human.
Guy gave a look at the synthetic as she drank the drink. In the meanwhile, even his glass was dry like the Sahara desert and landed it on the table with gentle manners. “interesting,” guy thought as he kept his eyes stared at hers like curious as never before “well…”
Taking a seat on the opposite end of the sofa, Eve adopted an elegant pose, reminiscent of one glimpsed in historical data from the Terran 1950’s and ladies ‘finishing schools’ - one leg crossed over the other with the foot curled around the calf, back straight, shoulders square and hands resting gracefully in her lap. Her occular implants with their attractive, cerulean-blue irises, focused on the face of the man across from her and a delicate upturning of the lips was adopted to indicate openness and an eagerness to talk and to socialise.
But what should be the first topic of conversation? Even after so many decades of existence, the android still struggled with what humans liked to refer to as ‘small talk’. Were one to inquire about the latest developments in self-sealing stem bolts, or the recent advancements in integrating neural networks then she felt confident in her ability to deliver a most engaging and fascinating speech. But when the topic of discussion were to be chosen at random? Where was one to begin?
“I wish to know…how was your day, Counselor?”
- Eve (Eng)
The behaviour of Eve was certainly something that made Guy smile: “she” was pretty much acting like a true woman and that thing almost made him think he was talking to a human, but she wasn’t. “My day??” he asked confused “oh well… My day.” He looked at the door on their left like he wanted to escape “well my day was like a normal one, I guess. I got up, I ate pancakes with honey and then started my usual job routine: talk to the Captain, some talk with the XO about the psychological status of the crew, some talk with some problematic couple and some with new recruits.” Guy paused “Damn, today I talked a lot! Yeah…” Nervous, pretty much tired, it wasn’t a good moment that but it was still a patient and he agreed to talk to her. As he made another pause, he stood up and ordered a glass of water this time and started drinking it as he walked slowly back to his place “…Then I lunched, lonely as I took the habit to eat without anyone. Had some more hours with weird and exhausting people and now, there you are. We are talking. Just it.” another water sip and then Guy leaned forward “How was YOUR day, Eve?” the Lieutenant asked as he looked at the two glasses put on the table and laid down the third one with still some water in it. Back to stare the Synth, he felt really like it wasn’t that hard after all, and so he relaxed on the sofa and awaited some sort of reply.
Lieutenant Freeman, Guy - Chief Counselor Officer
As the Counselor described his day, the android’s face cycled through various appropriate emotional configurations - a gentle smile when he mentioned pancakes, empathetic sorrow when he described eating alone and lonely and finally concern when he mentioned being surrounded by ‘weird and exhausting people’. Eve wondered, momentarily, if he considered her weird and exhausting and silently activated her social manners subroutine in an attempt to decipher whether her arriving at his office in this manner had broken some kind of cultural custom or otherwise demonstrated ‘bad behaviour’.
Simultaneously to this, she launched into a verbal answer to his question. “My day was like a normal one…for an android. I got up, or more precisely, I activated my movement routines. I possess no ability for sleep but I am able to hibernate all but my core systems when my presence is not required. And in those moments you will find me as quiet as a mouse,” she grinned.
Her story continued after a brief pause. “I considered eggs and bacon for breakfast, but then I am unable to consume protein and instead mimicked eating an entire plate of it. After that, I proceeded to the engineering deck to check in with my department head. Lt Miz’uki is a Caitian,” her narrative suddenly veered off course, like a magpie distracted by a new, shiny object. “Her skin is soft and furry. Not at all like mine. Or yours. And she has the fluffiest tail I have ever seen!”
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