Bestial Planet

Chapter 13: A New Beginning

"Don't mind the captain. What do you remember?"

I glared at her.

"Right... The triplets and Yora haven't finished the translator yet. I'll just ask you that later..." We stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before she spoke up again. "Are you hungry?"

I nodded yes. Lancieta seemed to have been roused from her sleep at the sound of hunger and she stumbled to her feet.

"I'll get it Panzer! Don't move, I'll be right back!"

Even though she never let me out of sight she always got me anything that wasn't readily available. She had some kind of portable monitor on her arm, or was it in her arm... I never asked. Roisin told me she avoided sleep for multiple nights in a row to make sure I didn't stop breathing during the lowest point of my sickness. Something which wasn't necessary as the disembodied voice made clear multiple times.

"Can I tell you something?" I looked at Roisin curiously and she continued. "The captain's always wanted a child but we... Androids can't have children. Some of us... choose to cease function because of this, it's a hard thing to come to terms with. Adoption is possible but it isn't as easy or available as it was here on Earth. Andromedian society puts a major emphasis on family so generally a child has many parents as they believe that, to use an Earth term, 'It takes a village to raise a child." She paused for a moment, unsure of if she should continue or not. "When she found you the first time, she said she felt something inside her come alive."

She folded up a screen she'd been watching my vitals on and sat down in front of me as she continued.

"When an Android talks like that others get excited. Some say that's when we come the closest to having a soul. It's still an argument if we can have souls. Sentience is fine but a soul means you're really alive. After living for at least a thousand years, Lancieta's achieved something few ever can. That's why she's so drawn to you, so attached. She feels like you're a part of her soul. To be honest it's as selfish as it is selfless."

I tilted my head in question but Roisin just shrugged her shoulders and removed the I.V. from my arm. Lancieta burst back into the room a few minutes later with something that smelled wonderful.

"I made this yesterday but you fell asleep before dinner so I saved it for today. I hope you don't mind dinner in the morning." She had a giant smile on her face as she brought the plate over to me. She'd made an eating table so I didn't have to strain my neck downward to eat. Drinking was the irritating part. My tongue could "grab" water but it was nowhere near a mouth full. Panther lips are difficult to control, I'd already bitten myself more than a few times; eating was fine, drinking drove me nuts. I missed my human mouth desperately.

Before I finished my "breakfast" I moved some of the noodles around my plate and snorted at Lancieta. This was the first time I had actively "spoken" to anyone first since I tried starving to death. She came over and looked at the plate.

"T - Y... What does that mean?"

I didn't make any movement that would explain it to her. I just finished eating and tapped her leg with my shoulder as I left the Medical-bay with the empty plate in my mouth.

"Wait! What does T. Y. mean?!"

Vould cleared his digital throat before responding.

"It is Earthling shorthand for 'thank you', Captain. Have you been studying Earth's culture at all?"

"Oh, Thank You Vould." Lancieta said, ignoring the rest of his rude reply, smiling to herself.

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