The Space Between

Chapter Twelve: "Unleashed"

Mark hesitated to step into the room. He couldn't take his eyes off the robot as he said cautiously. "Nobody told me there would be an android up here..." Wanda crossed her arms under her chest, stating out coolly. "Would it have made a difference?" Mark turned worried eyes on her, answering seriously. "It might have. Yes." Miles looked him over closely, asking curiously. "Why is that?" Mark clenched his jaw, backing up a bit to put his back to the wall by the hatch door. Miles read him like a book, following his eyes to the android and back before saying softly. "Oh... Automatonophobia?" Wanda blinked, completely perplexed as she asked Miles. "Auto-what?" Miles waved a hand dismissively as Hiro turned to them, saying in a light commanding voice. "Guys, hush." Hiro looked back to Robonaut, asking bluntly. "Robonaut? Where did the crew go?" Robonaut tilted his head, stating out simply. "I'm sorry. I don't understand the question. You came from outside." Hiro shook his head, rephrasing slowly. "Where was the crew BEFORE we arrived?"

Robonaut turned his head to look out the large window that looked out at space. They waited patiently, until it looked back to answer coolly. "Unknown. I'm sorry. Some of my data seems to be corrupted." Mark shook his head, telling the others seriously. "We should go." The military pilot chuckled, nudging the other military personnel as he teased out. "Aww... The engineer is scared." Mark pointed to the robot, snapping out. "Yes, because I'm not stupid! For all we know, he killed the crew and lured us up here!" The military pilot laughed, until Hiro snapped out at all of them. "Hey! Calm yourselves! It's probably just a computer glitch." Mark shook his head. The hairs on his arms were standing up. Something about the place felt wrong and his sights were set on the Android. The android was always to blame. He didn't trust it. Hiro pointed to the two military personnel and Miles, snapping out. "You three get back to the ship. The rest of us will have a look around to learn what we can."

The Military pilot scoffed, gesturing for the others to follow him. Mark locked eyes with the man. He didn't like him either. He was too smug. The pilot moved to the open hatch, when it suddenly closed and locked on its own. Mark jumped away from the door, his heart fleeing from his chest. Hiro whirled around to confront the robot, yelling out. "What are you doing? Open the docking bay door!" Robonaut stood very still as he told them in a nice voice. "My apologies, Captain. That was not my doing." Hiro tensed as he asked a little uneasily. "Why did the door close?" Robonaut responded promptly. "The door was closed manually from the control room. The system is undergoing an update and needs to reset. I'm afraid that all Docking Bay doors will be offline until the update is complete. Sorry for the inconvenience." Wanda moved closer to Mark, discreetly uttering out over his shoulder. "We need to get to the control room and see what's going on. If we can't get that door open... We won't be able to go back home. And worse yet... If the coms are dead in the control room... We just lost our only way to contact Ground Control, if you turn out to be right."

Mark swallowed nervously, mumbling out. "Then let's hope that I'm wrong." Robonaut turned waving a hand toward a hatch door across the way as it said warmly. "Shall I escort you all somewhere in Space Station 01?" The military pilot hit the closed hatch door, walking over as he said aloud. "I don't know about the rest of you. But I need a drink." Hiro narrowed his eyes on the man, growling out. "We are on a mission. As Captain-" The pilot straightened up defiantly retorting as he pointed to Mark and Wanda. "No. THEY are on a mission to fix all this. And YOU watch them. I'm off-duty until you need to fly again." The pilot looked to the robot, smugly asking. "Now. Which way to a stiff drink?" Robonaut nodded its head, then began to walk as it told them over its shoulder. "The lounge is this way. Please follow me." Hiro didn't follow, he stood shaking his head in disbelief. Miles moved closer, saying in a low voice as the two military people left. "I'll write a report on their behavior if you'll sign off on it." Hiro nodded, but muttered out darkly. "Nothing we can do about it for now though. Let's just get this over with."