An Unusual Pair, Part 4

Over the next week, Caleb continued to observe Hope as he took her to various parts of the local area, testing her ability to traverse and overcome difficult terrain and obstacles. On the surface, this seemed like business as usual, but there was a frostiness between the two that clearly was not there before.

The cause of this was, of course, the terse conversation they'd had that first night. Hope seemed unaffected by it all, but she nevertheless tried to avoid engaging with Caleb too much, despite constantly badgering him about his evaluation of her prior to then. It was clear to him that even if she wasn't feeling apologetic about her comments, she certainly didn't want to discuss them if she didn't have to.

As for Caleb, while he was initially annoyed with her callous comments, that had given way to a more sympathetic intrigue. Based on her reaction and how she acted that night, he had realized that Hope was far more human than she gave herself credit for. She had clearly lashed out that night out of irritation, which led her to say such mean-spirited things. If she was really the emotionless robot he thought she was, she would never have ended the conversation like that, nor would she be so reticent to speak on the subject again.

Caleb thought again to the way Hope was raised, locked in a growth chamber while information and knowledge was artificially downloaded into her brain. Caleb now had a better understanding of Hope; though she looked like an adult, she was more like a child that didn't seem to know what to do with her emotions. She had never been taught to control them, and he doubted Computer would see the point in including such matters in her educational downloading.

In an odd way, this gave Caleb some relief. He worried that Computer somehow really had found some way to create unfeeling, lifeless remainers who were only focused on completing their tasks without understanding the intention behind them. After all, most of the remainers volunteered for this duty because they truly believed in making the world a better place, and wasn't that what they did?

Nevertheless, though he knew that Hope definitely had some humanity within her, it was clear that she was suppressing it, either consciously or unconsciously. It meant nothing that Hope had these human aspects to her if he could not make her aware of them. He needed to make her understand that her humanity was not a drawback.

This had occurred to him during an incident that occurred two days ago. He had been leading her through a thick forest that had developed in the northwest, and thick thorny branches and vines made the place a rather prickly habitat to walk through. He had taken her through the forest as an attempt to see whether she could determine the safest route to go through, but his plans were thwarted by Hope charging through the vines uncaringly, paying no heed to the thorns that stabbed and stuck in her skin.

“Why did you just walk through the thorns like that?” Caleb asked after they had made it through the forest. “You could have avoided them if you were looking closely. At the very least, you could have cut through them.”

“What's the point of that?” Hope asked blankly. “Any damage that thorns could have done to my body would have been repaired thanks to my nanomachines anyhow. Going straight through was simply the fastest route to take.”

“That's...” Caleb started to argue, but he stopped. He knew Hope wouldn't listen to anything he had say if he didn't frame it in the viewpoint of practicality. “It's still better to avoid unnecessary damage to your body. Nanomachine cells don't last forever, after all.”

Hope had huffed, but she had seemed to listen. And now, at the end of her trial week, the two of them were on their way back to headquarters in order to give Computer a report. It was probably one that would only tell Computer what it already knew, yet it was essential nonetheless.

Caleb wondered how much longer he would have to look after Hope. He doubted Computer would care all that much about Hope's lack of humanity, and he had remembered it suggesting she become his partner. If that was the case, he doubted he could ever work well with her. The other remainers may have coddled him too much, but Hope seemed like she would leave him for dead if she ever found him inconvenient. It was a sobering thought, but it felt quite realistic as well.

He had little time to think any more on that subject, as the image of the headquarters began to appear over the horizon. Caleb and Hope trudged on towards the large building. He noted that though she seemed as stoic as always, there was a sense of anticipation in the way she moved that he would have almost mistook it as excitement.

Before the sun had reached the highest point in the sky, Caleb and Hope found themselves standing in front of the massive monitor once again. Computer's polygonal blue head appeared within seconds of them arriving and he quickly scanned Hope's body before Caleb was even able to get out a word.

“My scan indicates no issues with the physical makeup of her body,” Computer concluded before turning to Caleb. “Do you have any problems to report at all?”

Caleb glanced over at Hope and sighed. “No, not particularly. At the very least, she can take care of herself. I do have some misgivings, however.”

Hope's eyebrow twitched. Caleb didn't expect her to show such an obvious change in emotional expression.

“In what way do you have issue with her, Caleb?” Computer asked with a hint of artificial curiosity. “Please, feel free to speak openly.”

Caleb ignored Computer's invitation. No doubt it believed Hope would have no problem hearing whatever issues Caleb had with her, but he knew better. He cleared his throat. He needed to convey his concerns without actually saying something Hope might object to.

“To be honest, there was little I could do in the way of testing without a proper job for her to do,” Caleb explained. “I've confirmed that she'll have no problem traversing through hardy terrain, but there's much more to a remainer's job than that. I'd like to accompany her on a real job just to make sure that she can do the job properly.”

This was Caleb's compromise. He had genuinely believed that he couldn't properly evaluate Hope without watching her do some actual remainer work, and he doubted Hope would object to taking on an actual mission herself, even if she had to take him along with her. At the same time, it'd give Caleb more time to work on getting Hope to open up. Not a bad move, even if he was the only one who noticed.

Computer didn't seem to have any objections. “Very well. I suppose there's no reason not to. But there are quite a few roles out there for her to fill. Do you have any preference, since you'll be working with her for the time being?”

Caleb thought, only for a moment. “Give her a scavenger job.”

“Are you sure?”

“Sure. Surveyors and scavengers work together, right? I've been doing both by myself for a while now, but if I have to have a partner, I'd rather have a scavenger.” He turned to Hope. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“Not at all,” Hope replied with a blank expression. Caleb presumed that the decision-making process was a bit more complicated in her own mind, but didn't bother to push the subject.

“In any case, I've obtained a mission that will be appropriate for the task at hand,” Computer remarked. “Some time ago, I had another remainer team look into reports of leftover military artifacts discovered a few days south of here. They reported the presence of several old-world tanks buried in the sand. I want you two to go there and make sure the tanks are dismantled and don't have anything inside of them that might damage the local wildlife.”

Computer's avatar then disappeared, replaced by a map with the location in particular being highlighted. “I suppose that isn't too difficult,” Caleb mused as he studied the map. “I mean, even if something goes bad, that area is all desert, right? Should be a cinch.”

“Then I hope you'll be able to give me a successful report on your return,” Computer replied blithely.