Simulacra, Platinum, and Ice
1. Maintenance
Andy was staring out one of the windows of the station, watching Seven bounce around ponderously in that bulky suit, trailing the thick tether. She wasn't really supervising, but it was a bit more than gawking. The exterior repairs always made her uneasy, after what had apparently happened to Four. The risk was why they sent out the AI, of course, but... She didn't want to see any of those get hurt, either, especially not Seven. It would be better if they had dumb systems to handle it, but of course that wasn't feasible. It would probably be out of the cards even if the proper proprietors of the station had invested anything other than the bare minimum to keep their mining operation running. The equipment was hopelessly dated, and 'skeleton crew' didn't do the situation justice. Five AI synths to manage all the repairs, and one human engineer to oversee everything and work out a solution for anything they couldn't. And then her, because dad just hadn't had anywhere else for her to go.
Andy didn't hate it. She was used to it by now, for all the flaws and problems. She got lonely, but she'd be lonely if she was somewhere her dad wasn't, and... Apparently things had gotten bad back on the station where they used to live. This was the least bad option. Andy sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Maybe soon a good option wouldn't be too much to ask.
Her thoughts were yanked back to the window by the sight of Seven coming her way, gradually moving past in little hops. Her feet must have been landing just below the window. Andy offered a small wave. Seven stopped for a moment after that, and Andy imagined that was returning the gesture in spirit. It made her laugh a little. Things certainly weren't all bad.
She kept watching Seven, for lack of anything better to do. The repairs seemed to be going fine. That wasn't a surprise, since all the AIs knew what they were doing in any routine circumstance, and seemed almost as good as real people at improvising. They were certainly much better than she would be, as much as she had picked up from watching them and talking with her dad. That was just as well, since she wasn't really intending to follow in her dad's footsteps, but... Figuring out what to do with herself was a puzzle she didn't want to take another crack at solving just then. She just tried to focus on watching the spacewalk.
Suddenly a spray of fragments burst out from the hull. Seven recoiled, and Andy shrieked in surprise. But she could see the impact point, and it was just scratched, not a puncture. There wasn't any threatening hiss of air being sucked into the void. Her relief was cut short when she noticed the gashes torn in Seven's suit.
She dashed for the airlock and the spacewalk controls. When she got there, she turned the knob to send more oxygen through the tether. With any luck that would be enough to deal with whatever was leaking, and the shrapnel wouldn't have been moving fast enough to cause Seven anything worse. Was it a micrometeoroid? It had to be. Why had bits of the hull almost exploded outwards from such a shallow impact? Had it really hit it that hard and only left a scratch?
It felt like forever before Seven docked in the airlock. Andy breathed a sigh of relief, but her stomach was still in a knot. Finally, finally, the door opened and Seven stumbled through, still in her suit. The damage did not look superficial, having ripped through several layers, but that was all Andy glimpsed before she just started helping Seven unsuit.
She was bleeding. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't just scratches, either. Andy stared with wide eyes at the cuts. Seven looked up at her, tears in her eyes, and smiled. "Thanks." Andy didn't know what to do.
It was maybe another minute or two before one of the other AIs arrived with a first aid kit. Andy let out a shuddering breath, and turned away when she got to work. Seven would be alright. That damage wasn't too bad, right? And the synths were grown to be more resilient than people were. She didn't want to ask. Better not to make herself a distraction, too. They were eerily quiet, with only little noises of pain from Seven every so often. Andy stood there, trying to keep herself calm with deep breaths. It wasn't really working.
Andy finally felt a little bit of relief when her dad got there. He looked at the two AIs, and then back to her. "Oh, Andy. What happened? I got scraps over the comms, but... I guess they're a bit focused on patching up, over status updates."
Andy swallowed. "I was watching Seven work. Something hit the station and threw up a lot of little fragments, and it cut her up pretty bad. So I ran over to give her extra air, she got herself back in, and now..."
Finally, the synth playing medic spoke up. "She should be fine, given time to recuperate. Don't worry."
Andy's dad smiled, and then clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Great work, kid. Maybe your call was the difference between this and losing another of 'em. Corp would not have liked us having to cook up an Eight, and then we really would have been down on manpower for a bit."
"Yeah." Andy swallowed and looked down. It was stupid, but she couldn't meet her dad's eyes while he was talking like that. He was right, but it was also more than that. She would have missed Seven. It was embarrassing, but it wasn't something she could fault herself for. Of course she got attached to the AIs. They could pass for company, while she only had one other actual person around. Not even that many friends elsewhere who she still kept in touch with, either. And, beyond that... The synths were other girls. Kind of, anyways, at least they definitely looked the part. Andy tried to shove all those thoughts out of her mind. That was too many conversations she did not want to have with her dad yet.
Thankfully, he just kept smiling and didn't press whatever it was that must have been showing on her face. "I'm proud of you, Andy." She smiled at that. He squeezed her shoulder a little. "I mean it. You're shaping up to be a clever and reliable young man."
Andy smiled wider and really hoped it didn't show that she wanted to fold in on herself. She wanted to tell him, finally. For a second, she thought she had the courage, but then it all collapsed. Not right now. There was too much to deal with, and she was still shaken up, and...
Her dad laughed a little, though it was obviously fake. "Sorry, sorry. You're just so easy to embarrass, kiddo."
"Yeah. Just can't help it, I guess." She tried to cough up a laugh of her own, but it was even faker.
An awkward silence stretched on for a few seconds before the AI spoke up again. "Okay. Seven should be fine. I'll take her elsewhere to recuperate and then return to my duties." Andy's dad nodded at that. The other AI gently lifted Seven up to her feet, and Seven slung an arm around her shoulders.
On an impulse, Andy blurted something out. "Do you want some company, Seven? I could sit and talk."
"Oh. That would be appreciated." Seven managed to put on a smile despite the chest wounds.
Andy took that as an excuse to duck out of her dad's hold on her shoulder, and offered herself as another support for Seven, if she needed it. Seven didn't take her up on it. "Bye, dad. Hope nothing else goes wrong today."
"Hey now, don't jinx it."
Andy didn't find a laugh for that.
The walk to the nearest quarters was uncomfortably quiet. The synths weren't exactly chatty normally, but they were more talkative than this. Andy hoped it wasn't a bad sign. She could start talking, but what did she even say in this situation? She could ask about Seven again if the other—oh, that one was Three—had more, but... Even if she was only an AI, questioning her condition with her right there felt wrong. Andy started wondering if Seven was worried for herself. Could she be?
When they got to the room, Three helped Seven lay up on the bed, which was more like something you laid down on at the doctor's anyways. Then she wordlessly scuttled off, presumably to attend to whatever she had ditched for this emergency. Andy took a seat in the excuse for a chair the cheapskates had furnished the room with. It was utter shit, and couldn't even excuse it as just for synths, she and her dad didn't get better. Awkward silence stretched on for a few seconds, and then Andy sighed.
Seven looked up at her. "Are you alright?"
Andy frowned. "Seven, I should be the one asking you that. I mean... You could have died, you know?"
Seven nodded her head. "I am aware. I am glad I made it through with minimal harm. I should be able to recover soon, and then continue to do my duties."
"Right." Andy chewed at her bottom lip. She didn't know what else she was expecting, but it wasn't the answer she wanted to hear. "Was that all, though? I mean... Don't you feel relief just for yourself? Aren't you glad you're alive, not because of what you can still do for us, but..." She trailed off, not sure how to say more.
Seven turned her eyes down. She was lost in thought, or at least Andy thought she was. People said they could be hard to read, but she felt their faces were pretty much human. It was a minute before she looked up, and her expression seemed hesitant. "Am I supposed to?"
That made Andy stop to think. "I'm... not sure. I wouldn't say you're supposed to, but I just think it's normal. I'm not a synth, though, and can't really imagine how you really feel about anything. If I imagined myself bleeding out in the vacuum of space, that would be..." Andy swallowed when the thought actually popped into her head. Seeing the station drift away, going limp, losing heat and air and... So many things left unsaid. She shuddered. "I can't imagine feeling okay with a prospect like that." Andy hesitated for a moment. "Or even risking it. You're braver than me." Maybe that was a bit much.
"I think there would be a certain poetry to it."
Andy pulled back in surprise, eyes wide.
"Had I died in space. Were your father to let me drift off, or recover the suit and then jettison my body. That would be poetic." Seven stopped there for a few seconds before continuing. "Because of the circumstances of my creation. I was only created since Four was lost in space. It would be fitting were I to die the same way." She canted her head slightly. "Both of us, floating out there. It would be something like meeting her."
"Oh." Andy was quiet for a while. She wasn't sure what to say to that. In a way, she saw how it could be nice, but... "So you think about Four, then?" She had never met that one. That accident had come before her dad took up the job watching things.
"How could I not? I owe my life to her death. That's a debt. One which utterly pales before that I owe you, your father, and the company, of course. Yet a debt. At times I wonder what she would think of me. I suppose it's because I can never know that the thought still recurs. Oh." Seven put a hand to her mouth for a moment. "I have been speaking oddly. Please forgive that, I can only blame the circumstances. I hope that was not offputting, Mister Andy."
"Just Andy is fine." At least she hadn't said Andrew when she went all formal.
"Oh. Sorry, Andy."
"It's fine." She made herself brighten again. Best to just swiftly go past that. "And the rest was fine too, honestly. I wasn't bothered by anything you shared, don't worry. Frankly, I'm glad you're talking at all, I had been worried how bad it was. I'm glad you're not in too much pain."
"Oh. No. It is quite painful." Seven smiled in a way that looked embarrassed. "Only, you had wanted to talk, so..."
"Fuck, Seven! Shut up and rest, then! Don't—That matters more than my urge to chat. Okay, okay. Do you need painkillers? Uh, wait, can you take painkillers?"
Seven shook her head slightly. After a moment, she spoke up quietly. "Not meant to."
"Great... Okay. Is there anything else you need that I could get you? Or that you want?"
Seven shook her head again. Then, after a hesitant moment, she closed her eyes.
Andy pinched her brow. Of course. How could she even talk evenly while hurt like that? She had been making noises of pain before. Only a couple moments later had Seven murmuring a couple more again. Could synths just stifle that like it was nothing? She was a little jealous, but only for a moment. Being able to suppress it would not be worth having to suppress it. She hadn't even meant for her to do that, Seven just took it that way because...
Maybe trying to understand how an AI felt was a doomed errand from the start. As much as they looked like a person, they weren't one. Some people would swear up and down they didn't feel at all and just acted well enough to fool people, but if so, Andy was definitely among the fooled. She had been a lot more open to that idea before the move to the station and meeting Two, Three, Five, Six, and Seven. Her dad hadn't changed his mind at all, as far as she could tell, which was a little puzzling. Even if he felt he knew better going in, with all but proof right before his eyes...
Andy glanced back over at Seven. She didn't look that different. The most glaring thing was the barcode on her cheek, but that was just a tattoo. If she really looked, she could see how Seven's head was a little small and especially round, and even shut her eyes were too big, but it really wasn't anything that stark. If her mouth was open, the blunt teeth would be a giveaway, at least. Andy's gaze turned to her eyelashes. They looked pretty long, but she wasn't sure if that was a synth thing, exactly. Andy sighed, quietly.
She was jealous, if she was being honest with herself. She wanted to look like that. Not like a synth, not exactly, just... They looked so feminine. Softer than she could ever be, dainty and demure, and their faces were, well, cute. Her feelings, frankly, were stupid. They weren't that feminine, really. Their short hair and work uniforms were pretty utilitarian and androgynous. The only reason most synths were female was so they could play surrogate mom to a new synth if the proper incubation tech wasn't available. And it was kind of insulting to associate women with synths, even if she was one, and—
Andy pinched her cheek. Stupid. She looked over at Seven, who looked like she was dozing. Andy idly rubbed at where she'd pinched herself and felt stubble under her fingers. She bit back the groan, and got up from her seat. She would let Seven rest, then. When she was out of the room, she stretched a little, just to shake off the feeling of that awful fucking chair.
She started for her little bathroom. She was going to get a new shave. She would have to talk to her dad about getting a permanent solution for that. She wouldn't have to come clean about all of it, all at once. Right? Plenty of boys wanted to keep the smooth face look.
It was a problem for later, either way.
