Astray Among The Stars

Chapter 34: Blues

Solar Date: Thursday, January 25 2198
Mission: Day 1572

Ensign's Log.
I have gathered the necessary parts to repair Sparky as the captain has ordered me to fix him by the end of today. I've already spent eight hours assembling what I have and will test him soon. Hopefully all goes well.

Roger soldered the circuits, making sure every last wire was connected. He placed the solder down, but the stand fell over, the heated tip burning his hand. "Fuck!"

He yanked his hand back, shutting the tool off. He squeezed his burned finger, gritting his teeth. "Mother fucker! Shit!"

Once the pain subsided, he resumed his work, eventually finishing and reassembling the droid—with the exception of limbs. He turned Sparky on.

"Green is not a creative color!"

"Sparky?"

The droid's camaras focused on him. "Where is your father? Do you know how angry he'll be that you didn't eat any vegetables?"

Roger flipped the off switch. "Piece of shit."

He turned the droid on again, hoping the reset would solve his problems.

"Beep beep lettuce."

Roger shut the droid off with a sigh. Frustration boiled within him. "Why the fuck won't you work?"

* * *

"Greetings, Roger."

"Hey Toasty."

"What brings you to the mess hall?"

"I need your help with reassembling the medical droid, Sparky. He's the same model as you and works fine except his language is broken."

"Did you reset the language database?"

"Yes."

"Did you wipe any added vocabulary information?"

"Yep."

"Did you reset his behavioral database?"

"Yes."

"What about the back up hard drive?"

"Back up?"

"It is located in the back, middle access panel. You have to manually delete items with an analog connection."

"All right thanks. I'll be back if there's any other issues."

* * *

Roger smiled, plugging the wire into Sparky. His connected tablet opened to the files. Deleting what he needed, the boy turned Sparky on one last time.

"Sparky?"

"Roger. What happened? Where are my limbs?"

"It's a long story."

"Oh. May I hear what happened?"

"The Christmas singing that someone programmed triggered a glitch in your ethical programming and a few other systems. You rampaged through the ship beating up pretty much everyone until we trapped you and shorted you out with the fire supression system."

"What happened after that?"

"Well, then one day you turned on again somehow and attacked Tevra in sickbay. Then she destroyed most of your circuits, tore off on of your arms and dented half of your body."

"Oh dear. Was she all right?"

The teen smiled. "Not a scratch."

* * *

Roger entered the elevator. "Hey, Prill."

"Hello."

"Where you heading?"

"Mess hall. And you?"

"Infirmary. Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Yes."

"What's the difference between a Ponegian and a Kotarin?"

"Oh, you mean Keltalis? His species is called Kotarin, but he is nationally a Ponegian."

"Oh okay. Thanks."

"How are you feeling?"

"I healed pretty quickly. Now that Sparky's repaired, I'm a little less worried about Tevra with someone who can keep an eye on her twenty-four seven."

"What is twenty-four seven?"

"Each day on Terra had twenty-four hours. A week composed of seven days. Basically twenty-four seven means all the time."

"How. . . how come everyone calls Corporal Holloway and Assistant Commander Sloan by their last names instead of their first, yet you and I and others go by our first names?"

"I'm not sure honestly. . . I know the captian first called Holloway by his last name instead of Harris and it stuck with the rest of the crew as an old habit. For Sloan. . . I guess it's because he was called by his last name as an astronaut and preferred it."

"Hmm. . . interesting."

The elevator doors opened. "Later, Prill."

"Goodbye."

Roger walked off. He sighed as he entered sickbay. Rand looked up from her microscope. "Did you need another dosage?"

"No, I'm fine. I'm just here to see Tevra."

"Oh, okay. I'll give you two some privacy." Rand closed the office door, continuing her work.

Roger smiled. "Hey, Tevs." He took hold of her hand, his other hand stroking her cheek. "It's. . . it's hard with you like this. I miss you hanging around at my side. You've been with me so much that I've forgotten what it's like to be. . . alone. I know you'd probably doubt me if I said it, but I love you. I really do. And nothing in the whole universe could change that. . ." His smiled faded. "but. . . I— I still don't know if you really feel the same, or if your emotions are just slaves to hormones. And honestly there isn't really a way I can prove that until after you are completely yourself again. . ."

Roger looked down. "I know it sounds like bullshit. . . yet I keep asking myself if I really deserve you. I keep asking why I ended up with you. And I keep asking myself how you could love someone like me. You're smart, bubbly, cute, and outright beautiful. You have the capacity to care about me like no one else has and you've known me deeper than anyone—maybe even better than myself. Yet, maybe you were just forced into this by instinct. Maybe it always has been an illusion."

* * *

Holloway sighed, working with Roger on repairs. The teen would often spew out his thoughts during work. Today was no different.

"You doubt yourself too much, kid. Look, we've all seen how Tevra's constantly with you and the way she looks at you. And don't forget how you two were stuck in that cave together, and how you and her spent a few days running the ship. Come on, you saw how she looked at you at the promotion party dance."

"Now," he continued, "I don't know much as you or Prill do about this. . . alien hormone phase shit, but all I'm saying is that after all you two have been through together, how can you doubt her feelings now? Come on, Ronnie, do you really think after knowing her like the back of your hand that she'd have absolutely no feelings for you at all? I know Polla less than you know Tevra and she still loves me. Just because you doubt yourself, doesn't mean she'll doubt you, even if you think she will. Don't drag yourself down. Hormones or not, the girl loves you."

"I guess you're right."

"No. You know I'm right. You're just feeling depressed and lonely because of withdrawal from your girlfriend. And I know her situation is pretty grim, but you seriously need to distract yourself and cheer the fuck up. Go to the mess hall and eat some ice cream. That's an order."

Roger smiled. Holloway always knew how to fix his doubts.

"Thanks, Harris."

"No problem, kid. Now, go get some ice cream. You deserve it."