Steel Beneath the Skin (3 page)

Aneka looked at her, feeling cold. She wondered absently whether she should have that kind of physical reaction when she was made of steel and plastic. Of course Ella had said she was partially organic… ‘I think there’s some stuff you’re not telling me again.’

There was a soft thud as the pressure door shut. Both Aneka and Ella looked around to see that Bashford had entered the isolation room. Ella frowned at him. ‘You said…’

‘And now I’m ignoring what I said. Tell her about the War.’ He moved to stand behind Ella, looking closely at Aneka.

‘Your time was a pretty big one for the Jenlay,’ Ella began. Apparently she considered that and added, ‘You remember “jenlay” is what we call what you called humans, right? Anyway, it must have been not long after you were… captured because it was a xinti ship that crashed and suddenly jenlay had faster than light drives. Within a generation we were out there among the stars and we discovered the Herosians, and then the Torem. And then it all went to gopi. The Xinti came in like they had a divine purpose, sweeping across the galaxy and wiping out anything in their path. The Herosian home world went first, then Old Earth. The Torem brought out some old technology from somewhere and turned the tide. It took almost a century, but we eventually drove the Xinti back.’

‘The Torem pulled out after Xinti Prime was turned into an asteroid belt,’ Bashford continued. ‘The Jenlay did the same eventually, but the Herosians kept going until there were no xinti left. The Xinti burned Earth, we shattered their world.’

Aneka looked at him for a second wondering what he wanted from her. ‘Good?’

‘Good?’ he repeated. ‘Is that all?’

‘Look, these “Xinti” took me out of a desert, did God knows what to my team, ripped my mind out of my skull, and stuffed it into a robot. I’m not Aneka Jansen, I’m… her ghost. They killed me and couldn’t even let me die properly. I hate them, but they’re all dead. I can’t even get any payback.’ She sagged. ‘I can’t go home because home is deader than I am. A thousand years gone. My parents and brother died… They probably never knew what happened.’ Her head fell forward onto her knees. ‘Shit.’

There was silence for a few seconds and then Bashford said, ‘Drake and Gillian asked me to talk to you, see whether I believed this “mind emulation” thing. Gillian’s convinced, but not impartial. Ella’s
very
partial. Drake wanted my opinion.’

‘And?’ Ella asked.

‘I believe her. So… You’re going to be let out of this room. You’ll bunk with Ella, partially because you’ll need help adapting to life aboard ship, and Ella’s a psychologist. And partially because we don’t want you alone at any time. You’ll have a member of crew with you at all times. You’ll stick to the common rooms and your cabin unless we take you somewhere else.’

‘That’s fair,’ Aneka said. She was feeling cold again. ’I’m not entirely sure I’d be so trusting. Do I get a kinky spacesuit to wear?’

‘You don’t need one,’ Bashford replied. ‘This is a standard ship-suit. Add gloves and a life support helmet and it’s a functional vacuum suit. Standard policy is to wear one at all times in case of sudden decompression. The analysis on your body suggests you’re quite capable of surviving that circumstance without.’

‘I’ll need something to wear,’ Aneka countered and her voice sounded distant, even to her.

‘I’ll show you the fabricator system,’ Ella said. ‘Not that you
need
to wear anything.’ Considering the outfits the two of them were wearing, they were clearly not shy of their bodies, but Aneka felt the need to be at least somewhat dressed before she walked around the ship. At least she thought she did. Right now it felt like it did not matter much. Actually, nothing mattered much.

‘Great,’ she said, hearing the numb quality in her own voice, ‘but I think I’d like to lie down for a bit. I think the shock is starting to settle in.’

‘We’ll leave you to rest,’ Ella said, looking a little reluctant to leave, but she did, leaving Aneka to stretch out on the bunk.

She realised she was shaking. A high-tech, synthetic body and she was shaking. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep. It did not come easily.

~~~

Aneka stepped through the door of the one communal rooms on the ship, her steps faltering a little as she heard the conversation dip. She knew it was not her choice of clothing, even if her outfit would have caused a stir in any restaurant on Earth. She had selected a sleeveless, high-hipped leotard made from a black, plastic material called Ultraskin according to the fabricator, which stretched over her skin and was translucent enough to allow medical sensors unrestricted access because Ella had said that was the reason for the semi-transparent quality of the ship-suits. The translucency varied to give a bit of form and expose some cleavage, she liked the way it hugged her body, and it met her requirement for something to wear while suggesting she was not worried that everyone else was more or less on show, even if she was not really used to it. She felt a need to fit in.

Ella had also suggested that not everyone would be entirely happy about her being a robot, or a “synthetic” as Ella insisted on referring to her as. ‘Jenlay aren’t too worried, mostly. It’s… Well… There was a strong prejudice against it after the Xinti War, but practicality won out eventually. For most people. Most jenlay anyway.’ Aneka’s confidence had not been bolstered by the statement.

Now she was walking in to meet the rest of the crew and it was clear that some of them were either nervous about her, or they did not like her much. The mess doubled as a briefing room and the centrepiece was a circular table with ten chairs around it. Currently there were only six crew, which left plenty of free spaces, and that was fine with Aneka since a couple of the crew did not look like they wanted anything to do with her.

As far as she could tell, these were the youngest ones. Shannon Patton was the Captain’s second and if Aneka had not seen her on duty earlier she would have guessed the woman was there to just keep Drake’s sexual frustrations in check. Relatively short, big in the bust and hips, narrow in the waist, pretty and blonde, she looked like some sort of space bimbo but was quite professional when the situation called for it. Monkey was the other “problem.” He was a good looking kid with a fit, muscled body, a shock of black hair and an attempt at a goatee, and he watched Aneka constantly when he was near her. The look in his eyes suggested that he was not watching her figure.

Drake had never given his first name. He was ex-military, Aneka could tell by the way he kept his brown hair cropped short against his skull, the way he held his body, the lean muscle stretched over a solid skeleton. He was handsome, rugged. His nose had been broken at some point and had healed a little crooked; it just made him a little unique. None of the crew were ugly, or even average, but Drake was the only one with any form of imperfection. He was more used to keeping his emotions hidden as well, but Aneka got the distinct impression that he was at least a little wary of her.

That left Bashford, Gilroy, and Ella. Bashford maintained a professional neutrality, apparently unconcerned about the being they had found drifting in space. Gilroy was also professional, but there was a hint of enthusiastic interest. The scientist seemed to think of Aneka as a potential source of huge amounts of information, once her memory returned anyway. Ella was… Ella waved for Aneka to sit beside her, a big grin on her face as she sat down next to Gilroy. Aneka had not quite worked out the young woman’s angle yet, but she seemed keen to spend as much time with her new find as possible.

‘You’ve at least met everyone, right?’ Ella said as Aneka sat down beside her.

‘Yeah, in passing at least. Is this really all the crew?’

‘This is a fairly small ship, Miss Jansen,’ Drake said. He had a confident, commanding voice to go with that military bearing. ‘Three hundred-six tons, warp-capable, automated to a high degree. Shannon and I are really all that’s required, and that’s only for the active parts of the mission.’

Aneka nodded. ‘So you guys…?’

‘Ella and I handle the actual science,’ Gilroy said, ‘Bashford and Monkey are facilitators. They get us in, do the heavy lifting, keep us safe, generally make sure we can do what we came to do.’

‘Right.’ Aneka looked around the table. Everyone else was eating, but she did not feel hungry and had no idea what her dietary requirements were. Presumably if she had organic parts she needed to eat… Patton’s pretty blue eyes were watching her. ‘Hey, is anyone in the future ugly?’ It was a calculated question and it produced the result she was hoping for; suddenly everyone was laughing. Aneka did not care whether they were laughing with or at her, they were laughing.

‘Yes,’ Gilroy said, ‘but you won’t find any in a spaceship crew.’

‘Nano-surgical techniques and body reconstruction,’ Ella said, ‘plus a few centuries of gene modification. Being unattractive is a choice. Even being slightly imperfect is a choice, like Drake’s nose. He could have had it fixed, but it’s a non-disfiguring, distinguishing feature.’

‘I like it,’ Patton commented, smiling and leaning up against the Captain.

‘So do I,’ Ella said, ‘but it
could
have been reconstructed perfectly. In an environment like this, where we’re stuck with each other for a long time in a confined space, being unattractive would just be… rude.’

‘As long as I’m not being rude then,’ Aneka said, smiling.

‘Oh no, you fit in nicely.’ Ella smiled back and Aneka got a distinct feeling that she had figured out the girl’s “angle.”

‘The Xinti did a really good job on your body,’ Patton said.

Aneka looked down. ‘I think they perked my boobs up a bit, but this is what I looked like before, as far as I can remember anyway.’

‘Perked?’ Shannon asked.

‘Yeah.’ Aneka poked at her right nipple through the thin plastic. ‘I don’t remember this being quite so… perky. They were a little more rounded…’ She looked up in time to see Ella staring before the scientist looked away quickly, her cheeks colouring. ‘Anyway, they didn’t change much. On the surface. I guess what’s underneath is pretty different.’

‘Just a little,’ Gilroy replied. ‘Under that skin is a layer of some sort of mono-crystalline armour, which is making further analysis a little difficult. Your eyes and ear canals are cybernetic, and your skeleton appears to be metal of some sort. We can detect both organic and synthetic organs and devices, but not clearly enough to identify. The Xinti had technology a thousand years ago that we still haven’t matched. You probably have capabilities you have no idea about.’ Her head tilted slightly, thoughtfully. ‘For example, you have no trouble understanding us?’

Aneka frowned. ‘No. You’re speaking English… Even if it’s English that’s got to have changed over a thousand years…’

‘Exactly. In the last five hundred years we know there have been changes in pronunciation, additions of words, sometimes from other species, changes in the meaning of words. The change in the name of our race happened sometime prior to that. I think that we must be speaking something akin to “English,” whatever that is, since you understood us quite well on waking up. However, I suspect your internal computer system is running some form of translation software which is bridging the gap. Anything else you may have in there is likely to emerge with practice.’

‘Ella keeps calling things “fridgy.” I figure that’s like “cool”?’

‘Like cool,’ Ella replied, affecting a slight drawl, ‘but cooler.’

Aneka shook her head, grinning. ‘So, I’ve got this computer in my head which is translating for me without me even realising it?’ Gilroy nodded in reply and Aneka frowned. ‘I’m not sure I like that. I mean, how do I know it’s not messing with my perceptions?’ Her gaze flicked to Patton and Drake.

‘That’s why Shannon is a little cold toward you,’ Drake said. ‘Monkey too. His father’s in the Navy so he’s heard plenty of stories about what the Xinti were capable of. You seem like a nice woman, but there’s something of a prejudice against mechanically altered humans, intelligent robots, that kind of thing, due to the Xinti and we don’t know what kind of conditioning they may have put into that computer of yours.’

‘I don’t know anything about the Xinti, but I’d have to agree with you. I don’t like it either.’

Drake nodded. ‘Didn’t think you would. And that’s why I’m
giving you the benefit of the doubt.’

Aneka bowed her head to him. ‘Thanks. I’m not sure
I’m
willing to give me that.’

~~~

Ella’s cabin was built for two people, like most of the cabins on the ship. Drake and Gilroy had single occupancy rooms, though Ella said that Patton usually slept in Drake’s. There were actually rooms enough that everyone could have had their own, but sharing cut down on the life support requirements.

Two bunks took up one side of the room, what would have been a headboard at home being replaced by some sort of computer equipment, and there was a small table with two chairs, one of them located so that it could be turned around to use the console which also acted as an entertainment centre. Off to one side was a cubicle with a sink and shower, and Ella vanished into it to wash as soon as they got back to the room. Aneka sat on one of the chairs, her eyes scanning the room. Everything was gunmetal grey; somehow Aneka had expected space to look more like “Alien” with a lot of white plastic and smooth surfaces hiding jagged, crusty metal.

Ella clearly used the bottom bunk. The bed was made, but not as neatly as the upper bunk, and there was a small, tablet-like computer lying on the pillow, maybe some sort of digital book. The wardrobe beside the shower cubicle was open and Aneka could see another of the ship-suits hanging there, a helmet on the floor, and a few other bits and pieces of clothing which looked unsuitable for use on a ship.

‘Aneka?’

She looked up at the sound of Ella’s voice. The cubicle door was not fully closed to let them talk. ‘Yeah?’

‘I was wondering…’

When the sentence did not look like it would continue, Aneka decided it needed a prompt. ‘Wondering what?’

‘I was wondering whether you’d like to have sex.’