Chapter 28

I sat at the table and sipped my nano drink, working on the report, when Eva came in. She nodded to me and prepared herself a cup of coffee before joining me at the table. I let her drink her coffee in peace and continued working on my report, knowing how much she disliked being disturbed during her morning routine.

After a while, she put her cup on the table and asked,

“What are you working on?”

“The report for Amin”, I said.

I avoided looking at her, not wanting my systems to switch to full capacity and start analysing why she had asked about it. Why hadn’t she said her usual “Hi, how are you?” and instead used the way Androids greeted each other? It felt good, but it was also an anomaly. She must have noticed my confusion.

“Did I say something wrong? Sorry… I just wanted…”

I shook my head and smiled.

“No, I just wondered why you asked it.”

“I asked Raul… I wanted to understand you better…”

She looked down at her cup and sighed. My systems relaxed as I understood what had caused the anomaly.

“You can read my manual if you want.”

She laughed.

“You…you are so efficient, Rea.”

I smiled brightly.

“You too.”

She played nervously with her cup.

“Shall we make this rapport together?”, she asked without looking at me.

I nodded and moved my chair next to hers, and we started to work. It took us more time than I had anticipated, mostly due to Eva’s lack of focus. I assumed she was still tired after our flight, but I didn't mind it. It had been a long time since I felt so relaxed around her, and our time reminded me of how things used to be before the anomalies appeared. All her confusing actions today could easily be explained by her tiredness or her effort to mimic our culture with a very incomplete database.

We were going through the report for the final check when Amin and Raul walked in, looking for a coffee before their shift, and they joined us at the table.

“You can rest today”, Amin said.

Raul chuckled.

“I cannot imagine Eva would be happy doing nothing the whole day.”

“Right…”, Amin smiled.

We stopped taking days off soon after we arrived at the station. It was easier for everyone to carry on with their well-established routines than to break them and be restless all day, trying to find something to do with very limited entertainment options. That was yet another thing that our time in Antarctica hadn’t prepared us for very well.

“Want to come to the gym?”, Raul asked when he had finished his coffee and put the empty cup on the table.

“Sure...”, Eva nodded. “If you want to lose…”

They left, bragging about their prowess and the training regimens they used, and I wondered what I should do now that the flight had disrupted our routines. According to the schedule, I should be resting for several hours until our watch starts. I could fall back into our routine by staying online longer, but I knew Eva would need a few days to adjust.

Still, it was a lot of time to fill, but at least here on the station, I could find myself some tasks to do. I ran through my database and checked the maintenance logs. I smiled. Of course, no one had had time to check and refuel the shuttle after we returned. I could do it, I thought. It would keep me occupied for at least a few hours, depending on her state after the deep space flight. I was looking through the maintenance procedures when Amin checked something on his pad and looked at me.

“Abedi will wake up soon. Do you want to come and visit him?”

“Of course”, I smiled. “Tanvi will be relieved, she’s been so worried.”

“He was really lucky…”, Amin said quietly.

“Both of them were…”

“Rea?”

He looked at me, and my systems tried to predict what he would ask of me. For some reason, he was always very considerate when he asked any of us to do something that was beyond our duties.

“Could you take Tanvi with you today? It would be better for her if she had something to do rather than sitting alone with her thoughts.”

“Sure”, I nodded. “I planned to do some maintenance on the shuttle anyway, so she can help me with it.”

Amin smiled.

“Good idea.”