Zev led her through the halls of the ship. The life support was running, though he didn't need it. He led her to the mechanical section, and started looking for the right wires. He had used some of the parts to repair himself over the years, and a lot of them to repair areas of the ship. He started looking through the wires, which he had neatly organized.
“Dang, you organize well,” She said softly, running her hand over the carefully organized wires and other electrical parts, “And even though these parts are all really old, we should be able to get something to work until I can replace them with newer parts.” Thesa started looking for the right wires as well, though she was very careful not to mess his system up.
"Is the war still going on?" Zev asked, glancing at her for a moment before returning to looking for the correct wire. "I…haven't had any news or contact with anyone else for the past thirty years." He picked up a wire, examining it carefully, then putting it back, and kept looking.
She nodded. “The war hasn’t stopped, and has no sign of stopping. Both sides are still going hard, though they’re running low on supplies and everything else.” There wasn’t any sign of the exact wire she needed, but she found a few she could twist together and make a makeshift wire that could hold together until she fixed it. She took the wires she could use and shrugged, “I don’t really pay much attention to the war. It helps fuel my business and that’s all I care about it.”
Zev nodded. "You will end this war, or make it last forever. When people find out about you…they'll want you. You are the perfect weapon, Zev." His creators words came back to him. "I see." He said. "I thought maybe it would have stopped by now…" He trailed off, and picked up a wire. "This should work." He handed it to her.
“Nope. The idiots that run the planets are exactly that. Idiots that show no sign of letting the others win. They almost remind me of spoiled toddlers in that way.” She said, taking the wire and nodding in thanks as she put the other ones back. “Do you happen to have any other wires by chance I could borrow just in case? Anything for the controls that might need to be fixed.” Thesa looked over to Zev and studied him again, still amazed to believe he wasn’t a human but an android.
Zev nodded, and pulled out a few more, handing them to her. "I…have a favor to ask again." He said. "Could you either unlock the cockpit, or take me with you? Otherwise…I'm stuck here for who knows how much longer." He said, looking at her. His face was expressionless, as was typical of androids. A human would have looked nervous, maybe bit their lip or fidgeted, but he just stood there, looking at her.
She shrugged and nodded, “Sure, I can do both even. As long as you help get my baby back up and running you’re free to come along as long as you want.” With the extra wires in her hand. She motioned for him to lead the way, “One more condition too, you gotta just stop staring at me. It’s the one thing that gives away your non humanness.”
Zev frowned slightly. "Okay. Why is that a bad thing?" He had asked a similar question, once. To his creator. Alexi. He had gotten the answer of: "Because you look so human. If you don't tell people what you are, they won't figure it out. Unless you do that stare of yours. That one that gives it away so easy." "And is it a bad thing that I am not human?"
"It's just creepy, and makes me feel weird," She admitted, shifting on her feet and playing with the wires. Thesa shook her head at his next question, "No, it's not a bad thing at all, just when you look so humanlike and act so humanlike, it's hard to remember you're not one." She eventually just stuffed the wires into her pocket, knowing she would mess with them as long as she could otherwise.
Zev tipped his head slightly. "I see." He said slowly. "So…you find it creepy and strange when i behave as any other Android would, because otherwise I act human, but you don't see a problem with me being an android? I believe there is a flaw to your logic." He said carefully. "Is it because you don't like the reminder that i am an Android or robot, rather than a human?"
"No..its just…" She shook her head and looked over at him with a slightly impressed look, "Damn, you're good." Thesa shrugged, "I don't really know. I'm just so used to being able to tell humans and androids apart that you're messin' with me. There's no problem with you being an android and acting like one, I'll just leave it at that. The staring thing though is something I wish Shokov would've fixed to be honest though." With another half shrug, she looked back towards the wires for anything she needed and decided this was it, "Before you can stump me again pal, let's get this door open or whatever."
"So you believe that androids should all look the same for ease of use, or if they must look different, they should act perfectly Human?" He asked, leading her through the ship to a closed and sealed door. He gestured to a small computer pad. "It requires a human bioprint."
Thesa wiggled her fingers, “Human bioprint, coming right up.” She walked up to the computer pad and placed her hand on it, waiting for a scan or beep or anything. “Androids can look however they want, but for convenience yes, I would prefer that if they look crazily humanlike- like you- that they would act humanlike.” She had never met an android quite like him, one who knew how to make a good argument and was quite as smart as him in the same quick thinking way as humans were. Though the lack of interaction with androids was part as well, too much time spent on her ship with Stabby- who was not the brightest of robots to exist, tended to smack into her when she was working and beep like something was wrong when she had just fixed something.
Zev tipped his head slightly, looking at her. "So you think that we need to act one way or the other, but not a mix of both? If we look human, we must be human in all ways we can?" The pad beeped, and the doors slid open with a groan. The cockpit was covered in dust. Zev stepped inside, tapping one of the computer modules to wake it up.
She sighed and wrinkled her nose, “You ask too many questions.” The dust was stirred as they walked in and she started looking around, causing her to sneeze several times. Her sneezes were quite big and loud, causing somewhat of a scene with the several times she did it. “I don’t know how you want me to answer your Android human question.”
Zev shrugged. The computer whirred to life, the screen lighting up. A video pulled up. "Zev. In the event you make it in here…" It was Alexi Shokov, as he had looked thirty years ago. "I had to leave because of the crew. The ship was still flyable, but…someone knows of you. I don't know how, I don't know who, but that's why we were attacked. They want you. Don't stay here. Don't fly the ship, they are tracking it. Most of all, don't tell anyone what you are."
Thesa came over as the screen looked up and gasped when she saw how young the inventor looked, watching the video along with him. “Well, already broke the last rule,” She said with a shrug, “I know what you are. And two, since young Alexi Shokov told you to not fly this, I guess were using my ship. Unless you have a desire to stay aboard and live forever.” Glancing around, she wandered away again and went to explore, tapping all the screens and watching as they lit up to the main screen of the ship.
"Run subprogram eight, section B-9." Said the video. Zev froze, eyes flickering slightly as he accessed the file. He blinked, frowning slightly. "Trust no one. Remember what I told you about the war." The video ended. Zev stared at the blank screen for a long moment, expressionless. The monitors all had outdated displays and news, none of them up to date.
"So, anything else you need me to do before I get to work?" She looked at him and pulled the wires out of her pocket, bending and messing with them, "The sooner I can work on my ship the better." Thesa wasn't in any big rush to get anywhere, but she would feel much safer away from the ship they were told was being tracked. The last thing she needed was someone looking for her.
"Zev. They know who you are and what you look like. Follow your instructions, and don't deviate." Echoed the subprogram in Zev's head. He blinked again, and turned to the girl. "I…yes. My apologies. By the way…what is your name? I don't believe you told me." He shrugged slightly.
Thesa rolled her eyes, "For a smart android, you're not very observant. My name is Thesa, told you back when I thought you were lying about being an android." She let her hands fiddle with the wires as she raised an eyebrow and looked to him, "Am I free to go work? The sooner the better to get back to a planet of any kind."
Zev blinked, accessing the memory file. "Oh. I'm sorry. I'm a little…I must have a wire crossed somewhere. I'm not usually like this." In a human, what was happening to him could be called excitement, at not being alone anymore, or happiness. For him, it just caused confusion. Slowly, he was gaining emotions, gaining humanity, though he hadn't realized that, thought it was simply a programming error. Then again, Alexi Shokov didn't make mistakes.
"It's alright android boy," She replied, turning and walking out of the control room, "If you need me for whatever odd reason, I'll be working. Might steal a few more parts just to let you know, but not until I get the controls straightened out first." With the wires in hand, she wandered back through the ship until she reached the massive hole and climbed back inside her ship. She dropped the wires by the open control panel and then wanderd away, going to get her tool bin and other needed items- like some food.
Zev followed her after a moment, thinking. "Is there anything I can do to help?" He asked, crouching beside her. "And may I come with you when you leave? Apparently I cannot stay on my own ship." He watched her with that flat stare again, before blinking and trying to watch her the way a human would, which only made him look awkward.