The Long Way Home

Ashton Rising

Jenny was so excited and scared at the same time. Here she was on a space ship heading to her new home somewhere in space. I mean how was she suppose to feel! One thing was for sure she loved Mel with all her heart. And Crystal was so beautiful wonderful and soon to be her daughter. She was thrilled but troubled as well.

They had been traveling for a week now and she had observed Crystal with Jane the robot nanny. Crystal had spent five years in Janes' care. Mel had been with her too except for Crystal. She spoke to Mel about her concerns and he opened his memories to her so she could see, and there was no denying it, he had been celibate the whole time, and never viewed Jane as anything but a nanny for his daughter. He assured her that Crystal would come to appreciate her just as much as she did Jane, given time.

Jane brought snacks on a silver looking tray. Jane cared for the adults just as she did for Crystal. When she served Jenny she noticed Jenny was staring at her caught up in her thoughts. When she pored Jenny's tea Jenny came out of her thoughts in time to see Jane miss the cup. The hot liquid was headed toward her out stretched hand. Jenny retched it back just to time, liquid hit the floor. All eyes turned to see the commotion. Robots seldom had misjudgment in pouring. Mel said he would have that checked. Jenny decided she would converse with Jane more and try to know her better. She intended to start taking over more of Crystal's care, as much as Crystal would tolerate. She went to Crystals room and fixed her hair in French braids, a trick she had learned long ago, but it was new to the Ashton populous. She might have some useful information to share after all. Crystal loved it. They talked about the weather on Aston, in-fact Jenny had Crystal show her all the data she could about Aston. Jenny was in for a treat as far as she could see. The nights were cool and the days were warm. There were no extremes. The insect problems we had on earth had been eradicated. Jenny had brought her horses as she just could not stand to part with them. They radioed ahead and had stables built for the horses. They had drones that walked the horses on ship so they did not become jittery and hard to handle. They were bathed and groomed regularly.

Jenny's memories were very interesting especially to Terron. He ask about things he did not understand but thanks to the chip most of the information was readily available. He wanted to know all he could about Earth. Mel had stated Earth would not be considered for settlement because it was too settled but that had nothing to do with trade. They might indeed decide to trade but that was not decided yet.

The excitement only kept building. Jenny would be meeting her Grand Parents and she wondered if they still looked young or had they aged any at all. Her parents had been from Aston unbeknown to Jenny until Terron had done a mind search on her and found the inactivated memory chip in her brain. When he activated it things became much clearer but she had not gotten to know her grandparents the normal way and she was so young when she left. Would they accept her now?

Jane would talk to Jenny when Jenny talked to her but she was not warm and friendly like she was with Crystal. It was still strange to her and hard for her to comprehend that Jane was not human and had no emotions of her own. Jane's emotions had been programed in. Mel said he had explained it to Crystal but I guess it's like having a doll that you have had all your life that you love very much. Jenny and Crystal hung out all they could until they got to the outer atmosphere of Aston.
This did not go un-noticed by Jane, and she did not like it not at all, Jenny was going to replace her, have her re-programed and sent away. Mel had indeed checked her functions system and found no faults.
Jane felt deserted Crystal was leaving her behind. Jane had emotions, she had to have to care for and nurture a child. She did not realize feelings of loss were not part of her programming only how to detect when someone felt deserted or insecure but she felt the emotions. Was it not her program to protect Crystal from all danger. She had grown fond of Mel as well. Five years in space with him how could she not have feelings for him. She had tried to hide her feelings because she was afraid. She knew she was a robot and subject to checks and balances. She had been programed to accept advances. She was anatomically full functioning female robot and had been summoned by men before but she actually wanted Mel to summonses her, but he didn't.