Licenced CC SA 3.0 (screen grab from Sintel by flickr's Futurilla
A ‘bot craft flew by them going in the opposite direction. XKV beeped at them in a friendly way. “I am programmed to mimic emotions, but I do not feel this weather as you do. I do feel a sense of dread, as though we or someone close to us may die at any time,” the ‘bot says.
“You ought to be feeling ashamed, talking like an old woman, that’s the way you should feel. Get us out of this weather. I can’t go on with this snow. Who lives on this rock that we know?”
“Searching data-banks ... connecting ... please wait ... searching ... Martin Bell.”
“Martin, that old bastard! I haven’t visited him in a long time. Head for Bell’s place.’
“Recomputing trajectory ...”
They banked and then flew over frozen ice-covered hills and thick monsterous forests and deep raging rivers.
Licenced CC SA, by flickr's Futurilla
“Deleting ...”
“Transmit a greeting to Bell,” Bevers says. XKV emits some beeps.
They walked up to the entrance and XKV emits some beeps. The doorway lit up and beeped back. In a moment, it opened and Bell himself greeted them. He was a thin, wrinkly old man with a short white beard and a balding head. “Hello, Lee. I was happy to get your message. It was surprisingly flattering of you,” Bell says. Bevers squints questioningly at XKV. “Come in," Bell says, waving them forward.
Bevers and XKV entered the huge entrance hall. There were marble floors and balconies on either side.
modified from a photo by A. Milligan, licenced CC by 2.0
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Bevers said.
“Also, Assistant District Councillor Louston is here. He’s come out to make sure I’m be in court tomorrow,” Bell said. “The docket has been backed up for the past month.”
Bevers and XKV entered the dining hall. A large table is set with apetizers, wines and ales. Also at the table is the judge’s sad-eyed daughter Madeline, mourning in a dark dress. Next to her sits Louston, a young man from the other side of Alderan-Taygeta with blue whiskers and thick viens in his neck.
“Maddie, are you acquinted with my old friend Dr. Bevers? Lee, this is my daughter and this is Councillor Louston.”
The young woman gifts Bevers with a faint smile, but with sad eyes. She extends her hand to Bevers.
“As you are freshly arrived,” Bell said, pouring two drinks for Bevers, “you have some catching up to do! To our health!” They downed their glasses and Bevers attacked the steak. XKV asked to be excused to recharge batteries and run diagnostic tests on its circuitry. Bell poured more glasses. “The glasses are waiting! Doctor! Let us drink to medicine, and the power to keep us feeling young!”
Bevers and Madeline moved to the other room with their drinks. They all fell into conversation, except the Councillor. It was obvious he did not think highly of Bevers, who cheered up Madeline by playing a simple piano tune.
“You are on your way to an autopsy?” she asked. “To dissect a dead body? What courage that must take. I admire men with courage. I am afraid of flying, especially after my husband’s crash. He was very brave, may he rest in peace.”
“So sad,” Bevers said, distracted.
“Doctor, is something bothering you?” she asked.
“Call me Lee. I don’t like this weather. My emotibot XKV feels a sense a dread, as though a loved one would die.”
“Are you married? Do you have any children?”
“I have no one. XKV is my only friend, if you can call a robot a friend.” “You are lucky to have such a nice emotibot. This dread it reports could just be a malfunction.”
Bevers and the widow finish several bottles of wine while discussing emotibots and other matters of the heart. Bell and his other guests get involved with some sort of multi-player game involving lots of shouting and swearing and eating and drinking. Hours passed as seconds.
Suddenly, Bell realized that time was getting late and he had to be in court the next morning. “What am we doing? In only a few more hours, I’ve got to set off for my court session and here we are drinking and gaming. Maddie, time for sleep. To bed everyone, I declare our party adjourned.”
Madeline wished Bevers a good night. “I have trouble sleeping these nights. The wind knocks against my window, and I miss my husband terribly. You are lucky that you can sleep on a night like this.”
“I can give you something to help you sleep, if you like,” Bevers offers.
“No, thank you doctor, I’ll go read myself to sleep with a good book. If the light from a lamp on the window sill is visible under my door in the hallway, then you will know I’m still awake.”
In the room assigned to the doctor and XKV, a large comfortable bed invited Bevers. While XKV reported his diagnostics, Bevers got undressed and slipped under his covers. “The diagnostics report a circuitry problem,” XKV says.
“Fixable?”
“No, a controller board must be replaced. Inventory reports there are several in supply at the home base.”
“Can it wait?” Bevers said, flipping onto his back and belching loudly.
“Yes.”
Bevers squirmed restlessly in his bed and said, “I can’t stop thinking about the widow.”
“That's because you’re drunk,” XKV says.
“She told me she had trouble sleeping and would be awake if I saw her reading light on from under her door. Do you think I should go knock on her door?”
XKV beeps a warning. “No. That’s a stupid idea. I advise against it.”
“You’re a robot, how would you know?”
“I know because I am a robot. You are drunk. Go to sleep.”
Bevers got up and started getting dressed, swearing at XKV as he did so. XKV moved in front of the door, blocking his exit. “What the hell do you think you are going?” Bevers asks.
“I’m not letting you pass. You’re 60. She’s 30. Use your head.”
“I’ll use my fists to smash you into bits, you tin can!”
“Titanium alloy. You will break your knuckles. It’s happened before. If you have forgotten, I can replay the video.”
“Uhmm...”
“3D or 2D?”
“Oh, I remember now. Don’t play the video. Suddenly, I don’t want to stay here any longer. Let’s go home."
They packed up quietly and slipped down the long hallway past the light under Madeline’s door, and out the front door. After dusting off the snow from their craft, they take off. “What about the autopsy?” XKV asks.
“Some other time. I will not feel right until we are home. Do you still have the sense of dread you reported before?”
“Following the diagnostics, I turned off all related emotional sensors. Are you still thinking of the widow?”
“Yes, but when we get home I will be fine. Can you make this go faster?”
“Lovely female shapes are terrible complicators of the difficulties and dangers of this earthly life...”
“Are you running through your database of quotations?” Bevers interrupts.
“Yes, I thought it would make you feel better. That was George du Maurier. Shall I continue?”
“Just shut up.”
XKV whirs a bit and a few of the indicator lights turn off. Several days go by silently during the interplanetary flight. Bevers busies himself by reading, watching videos, and isometric exercises. When they dock at their home base, he directs XKV to go to the repair shop and get his controller card replaced. On return, XKV says “My controller card has been replaced and I now pass all diagnostics. I apologize for any inconvenience my performance caused. I am under warranty and can file a claim on your behalf if you wish.”
“No, thank you XKV, that won’t be necessary.”
“Shall I prepare for the trip to the autopsy?”
“What autopsy?”
“The one you were going to do on the snow planet when my controller card went bad.”
“I completely forgot. Yes, of course.”
They pack and take off again.
“I’m sorry I got so upset and called you a tin can.”
“I was given an upgraded controller board during my repairs. My new circuitry has an improved ability to process irrational emotional outbursts.”
They had a pleasant trip back to the snow planet, and were flying low over an area not far from Bell’s estate.
“I think I see lights over there. What is that? Cruise over and let’s check it out.”
by A. Milligan, licenced CC by 2.0
“Records indicate that is a drinking establishment, Alien's Alley. Recomputing trajectory ... the ship identification system reports Bell’s ship is docked in the area.”
“Bell, that bastard son of an alien, is at that bar down there?” Bevers asks. XKV searches his records and then projects the Alley's menu on the front screen.
“I do believe that’s the bar with the cute barmaid! Let’s get a drink and see what old Bell is up to.” The travelers dock and make their way over to the tavern.
Bell's inside and surprised to see them. “Doctor! Where are you coming from? Where are you heading too this time?” he asks.
“We keep heading out for the same autopsy and we keep having running into problems getting there. It’s a vicious circle,” Bevers says, slapping the cute waitress on her bottom. She's got a gorgeous face and figures, but ams like a spider.
"Do that again and I will rip the skin off your face,'' cute waitress says, holding her hand up at him. Instead of a palm of skin, it's covered with tiny hooks.
“Doctor, let us drink to vicious circles!” Bell says.
They drank and told stories of medicine and law and cute barmaids and vicious circles, or was it vicious barmaids and cute circles?
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