An Object Of Study

Socializing

Since David had given his permission I left the Habitat and took a stroll along the lake in the sunset. In fact the sunsets here were beautiful and some little romantic part of me wished for a beach to sit down and watch the sun sink into the ocean… I sighed and sat down on a stone to do exactly that, only that the sun would sink behind the forest. "Hey Jules!" I heard a call and turned my head. It was Robbie coming over to me.

"Hi Robbie? How's life?" I asked while she sat down by my side. "Same procedure as every day… you keep on living." she chuckled and slapped my shoulder. "Well, what you call 'living'… I think 'existing' might nail it. I mean, what can we actually do here? Five of us have disappeared into thin air and…" "Hang on… five? Is somebody missing again?" I interrupted her and she nodded. "Yea… Fitzgerald."

The name rattered through my head to find the face belonging to it. Female, brunette, tall and slender… yes, that was Fitzgerald. But what had been her department? "Without her we won't be able to get our plants to grow here properly… she was an agricultural expert. Let's face it, Jules. If we don't have an epiphany really quickly, considering that we happy few won't also vanish mysteriously, then we will all starve here as soon as the supplies run out…" She leaned her elbows on her spread knees and let her head hang down in despair.

"Maybe Mother or Walter can help… I mean, when we are finished with repairing the damages in the Habitat. I'm sure Mother has some stuff in her database that might help us, but some of the servers aren't running properly at the moment, so… wish us luck that we can fix this soon." I lied to her face.
Indeed I felt a little sting of guilt. Robbie was a pal, I felt that. It was a pity I had not met someone like her on Earth. Maybe I would have been more happy then… and maybe Len wouldn't have had the idea with colonization then. Well… maybe.

"The job of an engineer never ends, right? Why don't you take a day off and let Walter do the stuff on his own? I mean, he's there exactly for that. Or aren't you finished with him yet?" Robbie asked, nudging me with her shoulder, and a small shudder ran over my spine. I instantly hoped that we were away far enough for scans, superior sensory perception or whatever.

"No, his restoration is finished… and successfully so. I'm truly overwhelmed that I could rock it." I said, avoiding her question. She patted my shoulder. "Hey, great! Why didn't you say something? That screams for a Party. Let's go to my housing unit and we'll have a ball. I still got some cans of Aspen Light." she suggested with beaming eyes. It gave my heart a sting to refuse her offer… although… hadn't David given me permission to socialize with the others? And I socialized quite well with Robbie. In fact I liked her a lot. Maybe, if we befriended, perhaps I could protect her this way. Without me, our group was already decimated down to half. Whatever David was doing to them, maybe it would push Robbie a bit further down his list if I asked him to spare her. Maybe he would be gracious or at least generous enough to grant his pet this one tiny wish…

"Aspen Light? I'm in. I had no proper sip in a lifetime." I answered and we rose from our stones to head towards the housing units. After we entered Robbie locked and bolted the door, turned the lights on and closed the shutters.
"What are you doing?" I asked with surprise while she led me to the cooking station. "Protection. I've been doing this since Carter vanished and the others laughed about it, Hardigan the loudest. And look who's laughing now. I'm still here, Hardigan not." Robbie explained and opened her little freezer box to give me a can of beer. Then she took one herself, closed the freezer box and opened her can with a 'squish'. I followed her example and we clinked our cans.

"To our best Engineer on Origae-6. May there be nothing she won't be able to repair." Robbie toasted with a broad smile and we both took a long swig. Damn, my first beer after 10 years… and it tasted ghastly.
"I'm sorry, the expiry date is overdue, I'm afraid. But trust me, the alcohol in it still works, even if the taste is not the best anymore. And it won't affect your health, I promise. I already killed a six pack of that." "Expiry date? Are you serious? What beer is expected to last ten years?" I chuckled and took another long sip. Now I had adapted to the taste, so the fun could begin… or maybe not. I felt the alcohol in my head instantly, being not used to it anymore after ten years in stasis. I grabbed for the nearest surface when I felt myself staggering.

"Heavens, Jules… are you alright?" she asked, put her can down and grabbed my wrist for support. "It's okay, Robbie… I'm okay… only not used to it anymore. I might have exaggerated it and drank too much too fast. But I bet I will sleep wonderfully tonight. Shall we call it a night and I go home?" I asked and emptied the can.
"You what? Forget it, Jules, it's dark already. I won't let you go anywhere except to bed… here. Every housing unit has a bed for visitors." I looked at her in unbelief. "I… I can't sleep here, Robbie… Walter will be worried when I don't return. And we want to proceed tomorrow at ten with our stuff." I objected, but Robbie was relentless. "This is not negotiable, Jules. I could never forgive myself if you would vanish suddenly only because I let you out into the night. I'll take care of it that you're on time tomorrow, but I'm sure Walter will understand why I'm doing this. I'm only following the first law of robotics… taking care that you won't get hurt."

If Robbie only knew… of course this was the first law of robotics and of course Walter would have understood this. But David gave a shit about the laws of robotics. And I was his pet… his personal property… and his pet did not come home tonight. He had permitted me to socialize, not to sleep over. This could end up badly… especially for Robbie.
I was too dizzy to object any further and gave in to Robbie's will. After she had brought me to the small guest room I fell to my knees and prayed for the first time in my life that David wouldn't harm her… at least not as long as I was living.