Athena's First Christmas

Asking Nix

"But you have to let us go!" Athena pouted. This was different for her. She never pouted. Pouting was not in her programming. How did that happen? She quickly corrected her mistake, hoping Nix had not noticed. He hadn't.

Nix looked up at her from his desk. "Whatever for?" He said. "You and Frank have everything you could possibly need right here. And here you both are safe. Earth is a dangerous place."

"I could protect him." Athena stated, folding her hands together. "You know I could."

"But why bother?" Nix asked. Then he narrowed his eyes and rose up from his desk.

"You seem oddly attached to this... notion of leaving for Earth with Frank. In fact, you seem very attached to the notion of being with Frank in general." He said slowly.

Now she was nervous. But how? Being nervous was definitely not in her programming. It was a useless and counterproductive emotion. So how could she feel it?

Nix reached her and slowly walked behind her, arms behind his back and eyes narrowed.

"There are no flaws in your programming, are there?" He asked suspiciously.

Oh no. Nix suspected too. She would have to lie.

It wasn't as if Athena hadn't lied to him before, but she was fairly certain that was against her programming, so how could she do that? She would have to think about that another time, right now she needed to focus.

"Nothing to report." She said, repeating the same lie she had been telling the Dreamers in Project RECRUITER for weeks.

Nix still looked doubtful as he sat back down.

She continued. "I believe that a trip to Earth during this season would help to rejuvenate Frank Walker from some of the stresses he faces here."

Nix looked at her. "What stresses?" He asked. "There is no stress that I am aware of."

Athena thought for a moment. What stresses were there?

"The stresses are subtle, but they are there, I assure you. I have been programmed to recognize side-effects of stress, after all." She said.

She took a deep breath, which was useful in cooling down some of her circuits.
"And," she said quietly. "I think he's homesick."

Nix scoffed. "Homesick? Of that place? Athena, he told you yourself what his family was like. Why would he be homesick?"

Athena waved her hand. "He's not homesick for home, he's homesick for Earth! He misses it. I know he does."

Nix pondered it for a moment. It seemed he bought it. She remembered something, seemingly random, that she learned about human behavior: human heart rates increase dramatically when they are nervous, held in anticipation, or engage in physical exertion. She figured that if she had a heart, it would definitely be beating at an extremely high rate right now.

Nix sighed. "Fine," he said. "You have clearance to escort Frank Walker to Earth."

Athena was elated! A surge of happiness flowed through her. But wait, she was not programmed to feel happiness. Yet... there it was. And strangely, she did not care.

She managed to keep control of her facial expression though, thank goodness, or Nix would become even more suspicious.

Nix filled out a paper form and handed it to Athena. "See to it that you leave by 1:00 PM tomorrow, and hand this form to the Bridgeway Operators."

She accepted the form and nodded to him. "Thank you, Governor Nix."

She turned to leave.

"Oh, and Athena?"

She turned back. He still looked a little suspicious.

"I expect a full report on the trip by the time you get back." He said.

There was nothing she could do but nod. "Yes sir."

Then she turned and left.

Once outside, she allowed herself a smile. It had worked! She felt... excited! But wait, she was not programmed to feel excitement.

It seemed that glitch went deeper than she originally thought. She would definitely have to report that to the Dreamers at Project RECRUITER soon.  But... not now. Later. After the trip. Maybe next month? Or never?

Athena was so confused. She knew she had to report this glitch, but at the same time, she didn't want to. But she was not programmed to want anything.

It was a vicious cycle that made her head spin.

Poor Athena was getting more and more confused about this, until Frank popped up from behind a stairwell.

"Hey Athena!" He yelled.

"Gah!" Athena jumped back, startled. Her defensive programming almost kicked in, but she stopped them before they even started as soon as she saw who it was.

"Frank!" She said, hitting him softly over the head with her bag as he laughed.

His laughing made her smile. It was pleasant to hear. Then she remembered she was supposed to act annoyed.

"Why do you always do that?" She asked, trying to keep from smiling. Even though she was a robot (sorry, Audio Animatronic), it was harder than it sounded.

"Because it's funny!" Frank managed to say between laughs. "And don't try to pretend to be angry, I saw your smile!"

Athena had to admit, he had her there. She smiled again. "Okay, you caught me."

After Frank had stopped laughing, he looked at her. "So how'd it go?"

Athena held up the form from Nix. Frank's eyes grew wide and he grabbed it, quickly reading it. He looked back up at her with a huge smile.

"We can go?" He said, as if asking for confirmation.

Athena nodded. His smile grew wider.

"We can go!" He yelled, jumping in excitement. He stopped jumping and whirled around to face her. "Oh wow, I can't believe he said yes! I can't wait to show you all the lights, the trees, the snow..."

It seemed Athena had been right. Frank was homesick. He went on and on about the things he wanted to show Athena, and to be honest, she couldn't wait to see them.