I have a number of characters here and I'm worried the scene is not clear enough - confused head hopping is my main concern. Not very long and is a full section.
Fingers crossed there are no comma splices, they follow me everywhere!
Enjoy....
Charlie smiled to himself as he drank his morning coffee; it was amazing what you could get used to. He was watching one of Laura’s multiples playing with Lizzie; they were dressing NannyBot, putting ribbons and other odds and ends of colourful material on the robot. Charlie had been against the idea of Laura playing with Lizzie but Trisha had talked him into it, the two women had become good friends. This morning Charlie thought Trisha was right, he could see Laura was being very attentive and caring, his daughters happy laugh and screeches making him smile.
‘Addy, Addy, ook at Nanny, ook, it unny.’
‘Funny, Lizzie not unny,’ he was trying to get Lizzie out of baby talk, but with little success. She just laughed and carried on playing.
‘Would you like more coffee Charlie?’ asked his robot Bill; who was hovering and waiting to serve Charlie with the steady patience of a machine.
‘No, I need to get going. Do you know if Trisha is finished her jog yet?’
‘Trisha will be here in minutes, she is almost done,’ replied Bill, his tone flat and empty.
Charlie finished his coffee in one quick gulp and handed his empty mug to Bill and the robot headed off toward the kitchen area. ‘Laura, I’m late, can you let Marco know I’ll be on my way soon.’
‘He knows. He won’t be happy you’re late, not this morning.’
‘Is he happy any morning?’
‘Not in the time I have worked with him, almost twenty years now,’ replied Laura, smiling and enjoying the shared joke.
Just then Trisha returned sweaty after her run. ‘Hey hon, I’m back.’
Fighting boredom was the biggest problem on board ship and Trisha had started keeping fit for something to do. Charlie looked at his wife feeling overweight and promised himself he would start exercising tomorrow.
‘I got to go, Marco is waiting,’ said Charlie, but no-one was listening. Lizzie was shouting and pointing at NanyBot, ‘ook, ook. Ook mommy.’ Charlie just sighed, gave his wife a quick kiss on the cheek as he left, getting a quick air kiss in return.
Charlie had to get to the other side of the ship; a journey of almost twenty minutes. He started with a short walk down the outside hallway, passing closed doors and empty rooms; the only sound the low hum of air conditioning. At the end of the hallway Charlie accessed transit tubes with carriages used to travel the ship. In the second week of the voyage Charlie had been allowed free access to the whole of the ship and he had spent days exploring. He soon stopped. The feeling of being the only guest in an empty hotel had settled Charlie’s curiosity. The crew quickly noticed that the Kerr family were becoming withdrawn and that was when Laura’s multiple had moved into the rooms next to theirs. They had found tasks to keep Charlie busy, gardening work in the air recycling sections mostly. It was physical work that meant he got his hands dirty; work Charlie enjoyed. After that the days slipped past almost un-noticed and a routine of sorts had developed.
But not today, today was different and a break in the routine of the last few months. Two indentured were going to be revived from suspended animation. Charlie had been asked to help because of his ‘social skills,’ a sensible request he thought, the spacers were an odd bunch and difficult to deal with.
The doors opened on to a large storage space that was mostly empty feeling like a lost and forgotten warehouse.
‘Charlie, you are six minutes late.’
‘Good morning, I’m fine thank you for asking Marco, how are you this morning?’ replied Charlie as he entered, deciding not to let Marco’s abrupt manner get the better of him today.
‘I have already revived one of them,’ replied Marco, pointing toward a small clump of machinery sitting near the middle of the empty floor.
What looked like a large yellow humanoid robot that looked to be built for strength, with hydraulic pistons on the arm and leg joints stopped what it was doing and focused on Charlie. It quickly covered the distance between them, moving silently across the empty floor.
‘I am Sebastian, Seb if that helps,’ holding out his foot long metal hand.
‘Charlie, nice to meet you.’ Charlie was unsure if he should shake hands or not.
Seb noticed, and laughed, ‘Sorry Charlie, habit. I forget what I must look like to you, what I am now.’ He laughed again, heading back toward the machinery he had just left, ‘let’s get started, Asil needs decanting. Unlike me, this will be his first time harnessed. Some Muppet from earth, signed up for the romance of space I’d bet.’
‘Then he will be disappointed,’ said Marcus.
‘The first interesting thing you have said this morning Marcus.’ Seb waved Charlie over, ‘ignore him, he has been too long in space. Ship life is boring, as I’m sure you have discovered Charlie boy!’
Charlie found he liked Seb, he had an easy manner that showed through his machines movements. ‘It’s been quiet around here ok.’
‘Not anymore Charlie boy, I’m here’ stated Seb, posing as he did so; the sight of a ten foot machine strutting made Charlie laugh.
‘We have work to do.’
‘Of course, sorry Marcus,’ replied Charlie, ignoring Seb’s hand actions.
#
System boot
..
….
……..
Security check
..
….
……..
Online
..
…
‘You are functional, respond,’ said Marcus, impatient as ever.
‘Ahhh for f*$k sake; let Charlie do it.’
A middle age man, slightly bald and a little overweight stepped into Asil’s sight line. ‘Can you both step back, your crowding him.’
‘Who are you?’
‘Welcome back Asil, I’m Charlie. These two are Seb and Marcus.’
Asil looked at the other two, one was a gray skinned heavily augmented spacer and the other was a large yellow robot – no not a robot – indentured, he could tell from the way it moved. ‘Are we there yet?’
‘Not yet, this is your acclimatization phase, as per you’re contract.’
‘Ignore Marcus, he needs to get out more,’ said Charlie, giving the spacer clear shut up hand signals. ‘How do you feel?’
‘Ok, a lot better than I had expected.’
‘It should feel almost natural mate, you’ll be used to your new body in no time,’ said Seb, releasing Asil from his shipping container. ‘Time for you to get up, we have work to do. Charlie lad, step back now, you don’t want to get in the way.’
Seb hauled Asil up onto his feet, both of the large machines swaying, almost unbalanced. ‘Easy to start with, let me help you,’ said Seb, his massive arms holding Asil up. The two machines stumbled slowly off, Seb supporting Asil’s weight, helping him along.
Charlie watched them both as they slowly moved away, feeling sad for Asil.
‘You look worried Charlie?’ asked Marcus, an unexpected show of concern from the spacer.
‘I just wonder what drove Asil to make his decision, to allow himself to be a machine.’
‘Asil’s decision is sensible. His brain is encased in a secure and protected armoured core, supported by a strengthened body. He is almost impervious to radiation. His brain is even backed up in case the worst happens. It is you Charlie I feel sorry for; you have no protection against unforeseen accidents and open space. The human body is weak.’
For Charlie, Marcus had done it again, ‘You’re a f*$king ray of sunshine,’ said Charlie, stomping off to join Seb and Asil – they were easier to get on with, when compared to the spacer.
Marcus watched Charlie walk away, wondering what it was he had said today. The truth it would seem; was not welcome.
Fingers crossed there are no comma splices, they follow me everywhere!
Enjoy....
Charlie smiled to himself as he drank his morning coffee; it was amazing what you could get used to. He was watching one of Laura’s multiples playing with Lizzie; they were dressing NannyBot, putting ribbons and other odds and ends of colourful material on the robot. Charlie had been against the idea of Laura playing with Lizzie but Trisha had talked him into it, the two women had become good friends. This morning Charlie thought Trisha was right, he could see Laura was being very attentive and caring, his daughters happy laugh and screeches making him smile.
‘Addy, Addy, ook at Nanny, ook, it unny.’
‘Funny, Lizzie not unny,’ he was trying to get Lizzie out of baby talk, but with little success. She just laughed and carried on playing.
‘Would you like more coffee Charlie?’ asked his robot Bill; who was hovering and waiting to serve Charlie with the steady patience of a machine.
‘No, I need to get going. Do you know if Trisha is finished her jog yet?’
‘Trisha will be here in minutes, she is almost done,’ replied Bill, his tone flat and empty.
Charlie finished his coffee in one quick gulp and handed his empty mug to Bill and the robot headed off toward the kitchen area. ‘Laura, I’m late, can you let Marco know I’ll be on my way soon.’
‘He knows. He won’t be happy you’re late, not this morning.’
‘Is he happy any morning?’
‘Not in the time I have worked with him, almost twenty years now,’ replied Laura, smiling and enjoying the shared joke.
Just then Trisha returned sweaty after her run. ‘Hey hon, I’m back.’
Fighting boredom was the biggest problem on board ship and Trisha had started keeping fit for something to do. Charlie looked at his wife feeling overweight and promised himself he would start exercising tomorrow.
‘I got to go, Marco is waiting,’ said Charlie, but no-one was listening. Lizzie was shouting and pointing at NanyBot, ‘ook, ook. Ook mommy.’ Charlie just sighed, gave his wife a quick kiss on the cheek as he left, getting a quick air kiss in return.
Charlie had to get to the other side of the ship; a journey of almost twenty minutes. He started with a short walk down the outside hallway, passing closed doors and empty rooms; the only sound the low hum of air conditioning. At the end of the hallway Charlie accessed transit tubes with carriages used to travel the ship. In the second week of the voyage Charlie had been allowed free access to the whole of the ship and he had spent days exploring. He soon stopped. The feeling of being the only guest in an empty hotel had settled Charlie’s curiosity. The crew quickly noticed that the Kerr family were becoming withdrawn and that was when Laura’s multiple had moved into the rooms next to theirs. They had found tasks to keep Charlie busy, gardening work in the air recycling sections mostly. It was physical work that meant he got his hands dirty; work Charlie enjoyed. After that the days slipped past almost un-noticed and a routine of sorts had developed.
But not today, today was different and a break in the routine of the last few months. Two indentured were going to be revived from suspended animation. Charlie had been asked to help because of his ‘social skills,’ a sensible request he thought, the spacers were an odd bunch and difficult to deal with.
The doors opened on to a large storage space that was mostly empty feeling like a lost and forgotten warehouse.
‘Charlie, you are six minutes late.’
‘Good morning, I’m fine thank you for asking Marco, how are you this morning?’ replied Charlie as he entered, deciding not to let Marco’s abrupt manner get the better of him today.
‘I have already revived one of them,’ replied Marco, pointing toward a small clump of machinery sitting near the middle of the empty floor.
What looked like a large yellow humanoid robot that looked to be built for strength, with hydraulic pistons on the arm and leg joints stopped what it was doing and focused on Charlie. It quickly covered the distance between them, moving silently across the empty floor.
‘I am Sebastian, Seb if that helps,’ holding out his foot long metal hand.
‘Charlie, nice to meet you.’ Charlie was unsure if he should shake hands or not.
Seb noticed, and laughed, ‘Sorry Charlie, habit. I forget what I must look like to you, what I am now.’ He laughed again, heading back toward the machinery he had just left, ‘let’s get started, Asil needs decanting. Unlike me, this will be his first time harnessed. Some Muppet from earth, signed up for the romance of space I’d bet.’
‘Then he will be disappointed,’ said Marcus.
‘The first interesting thing you have said this morning Marcus.’ Seb waved Charlie over, ‘ignore him, he has been too long in space. Ship life is boring, as I’m sure you have discovered Charlie boy!’
Charlie found he liked Seb, he had an easy manner that showed through his machines movements. ‘It’s been quiet around here ok.’
‘Not anymore Charlie boy, I’m here’ stated Seb, posing as he did so; the sight of a ten foot machine strutting made Charlie laugh.
‘We have work to do.’
‘Of course, sorry Marcus,’ replied Charlie, ignoring Seb’s hand actions.
#
System boot
..
….
……..
Security check
..
….
……..
Online
..
…
‘You are functional, respond,’ said Marcus, impatient as ever.
‘Ahhh for f*$k sake; let Charlie do it.’
A middle age man, slightly bald and a little overweight stepped into Asil’s sight line. ‘Can you both step back, your crowding him.’
‘Who are you?’
‘Welcome back Asil, I’m Charlie. These two are Seb and Marcus.’
Asil looked at the other two, one was a gray skinned heavily augmented spacer and the other was a large yellow robot – no not a robot – indentured, he could tell from the way it moved. ‘Are we there yet?’
‘Not yet, this is your acclimatization phase, as per you’re contract.’
‘Ignore Marcus, he needs to get out more,’ said Charlie, giving the spacer clear shut up hand signals. ‘How do you feel?’
‘Ok, a lot better than I had expected.’
‘It should feel almost natural mate, you’ll be used to your new body in no time,’ said Seb, releasing Asil from his shipping container. ‘Time for you to get up, we have work to do. Charlie lad, step back now, you don’t want to get in the way.’
Seb hauled Asil up onto his feet, both of the large machines swaying, almost unbalanced. ‘Easy to start with, let me help you,’ said Seb, his massive arms holding Asil up. The two machines stumbled slowly off, Seb supporting Asil’s weight, helping him along.
Charlie watched them both as they slowly moved away, feeling sad for Asil.
‘You look worried Charlie?’ asked Marcus, an unexpected show of concern from the spacer.
‘I just wonder what drove Asil to make his decision, to allow himself to be a machine.’
‘Asil’s decision is sensible. His brain is encased in a secure and protected armoured core, supported by a strengthened body. He is almost impervious to radiation. His brain is even backed up in case the worst happens. It is you Charlie I feel sorry for; you have no protection against unforeseen accidents and open space. The human body is weak.’
For Charlie, Marcus had done it again, ‘You’re a f*$king ray of sunshine,’ said Charlie, stomping off to join Seb and Asil – they were easier to get on with, when compared to the spacer.
Marcus watched Charlie walk away, wondering what it was he had said today. The truth it would seem; was not welcome.
Sorry.
