Thesa shrugged and nodded, "Sure, as long as you'll help and not be a lump. And for help, all I need is to make the outer panels not look like they went dancing and got drunk." She grabbed her small toolbag and pulled out a pair of gloves, slipping them on before pulling the front panel off completely and starting to bend it back to shape. "The wiring in there is simple, but a mess, so just be careful if you're taking anything apart."
Zev nodded, and started to work to fix it. He simply grabbed panels in his hands, and fixed wiring, not bothering to protect his skin. Like any android, he was designed to be able to do things normal people couldn't, with enhanced strength and skin that wasn't as easily cut.
After a while, the controls started to curve back in the way they were supposed to around where the front of the ship would be. She was sure to leave a gap between a part of the controls though, so they wouldn't have to hop over when they fixed the actual hull of they ship. "So, Zev, what was it like to have to live on that ship alone for so many years?" She only glanced up once at him, focusing on the ship instead of the company.
Zev shrugged slightly. "Lonely." He said. "I don't know. I am an android, I do not require anything that a human would. I reviewed all the information in my database, and everything in the ship's database that I could. I have watched Star Trek more times than I care to count. Although the exact number is 8,172,889." He said, glancing over at her for a moment, then returning to the work in front of him. "Also other very old Earth movies like that from one of the crewman's collections."
She couldn’t help but laugh at the number and she shook her head, “Eight million times watching Star Trek? What else did you watch? Star Wars? Forest Gump?” Thesa took a break for a second, leaning against the panel she was working with and letting herself just relax, “Thirty years on your own…wow..if I could live that long and not age, I’d probably take a nice long nap and just wander around doing whatever I wanted.” Stabby beeped from the other room and she sighed, knowing the beep meant she should probably eat some food since she hadn’t in however long.
He thought for a moment. "Yes to both. All of the Star Wars movies, including remakes and reboots." He shrugged. "As an Android, I don't need sleep. Sleep just provides my body time to rest and recharge, and organize my memory files." He said with a soft sigh. "I envy you humans with fallible memories. Thirty years is tedious when there is nothing new."
“Fallible memories aren’t something to envy, they suck.” She pushed away from the panel and tipped back, cracking her back and stretching, “I’m going to go take a little break and go eat, you can either stay and work or do whatever, I’m not picky. Maybe you could meet Stabby, my idiotic and slightly psycho robot companion.” With only one more glance at him, she started back into her ship with the only thought on her mind being what she should eat. Having a big appetite wasn’t a good thing in space, when food was limited, but she made do and planned out exactly how much food she would need every time she left. The only problem was times like this. She didn’t have enough food with to last as long as she figured repairs would take, enough for a week or two.
Zev nodded, then stuck his head out of the cockpit. "Thesa!" He called. "There are stores of food left over from the crew. Most of them are still good, if you would like them." He said, then turned back to the controls, and continued to work to repair them. The sooner it was repaired, the sooner they could leave.
Thesa nodded, calling back as she dug through her freeze dried food packs, “Sure, if you show me where they are later I’ll definitely take them.” Eventually she pulled out some meat and pasta thing and started boiling some water in a little pot over an electric stove. There wasn’t much to do while she waited so she wandered around until she found Stabby, a little floor robot that basically acted as a small security guard and keeper of the floors. She picked it up and brought it over to the cockpit, setting it down and motioning to Zev, “Stabby, this is Zev. Zev, meet Stabby.”
Zev looked at the little robot curiously. "I don't remember there being a robot line of "Stabby"'s." He said thoughtfully. Or at least, as thoughtful as an Android could sound. "Although that was thirty years ago." He shrugged slightly, then frowned. "Wait. This is a personalized name." He realized, tipping his head slightly, like a bird does when it is curious. "Why would you name it?"
“Because why not,” She replied with a shrug, watching as the robot bumped into Zev. Luckily she had taken the multiple sharp objects off of the robot a few weeks ago, due to almost getting her ankle taken off by the robot. “It gets lonely in space, people will do insane things just to be less bored and lonely.” The weather wasn’t boiling quite yet, she she watched as true robot wandered around the room for a while.
Zev nodded, and picked up the robot, turning it over in his hands. "Did you make it? Or did you buy it?" He asked, glancing over at her, then setting Stabby down. "Also, aren't there still Jabber androids? The ones specifically designed to keep lonely people company?"
Thesa leaned against the wall as she answered, listening for the boiling water, “I bought it, though I’ve had to replace so many parts that he’s practically homemade now.” She sighed and smiled a tad at Stabby’s beep when Zev picked him up and put him back down, whirring away from him like he knew he was bad, “Yes there are still Jabber bots, but they’re so freaking expensive now that I decided to just get one that could actually do something for me and could act as company.” When her water boiled, she help up a quick finger to tell him one second, dashing in and pouring the water in the bag of food. She grabbed her one metal spoon and cane back out to the cockpit, leaning against the wall.
Zev watched the little robot go for a moment, then looked at Thesa. "I see." He replied, thinking. His head was cocked to one side again, like an animals does when it is listening kr curious. "But if it cannot speak, how does it keep you company?" He asked, looking at her with that odd, flat stare again. Unlike a human, he didn't blink, and his chest didn't ride and fall with breathing.
“It doesn’t have to talk to keep me company, sometimes just knowing you’re not completely alone is good enough.” She shoveled a few scoops of noodles into her mouth and ate her food for a moment before shrugging, making sure she wasn’t talking with her mouth full, “I mean, it’s kinda nice to talk to Stabby and not have to worry about him talking back or interrupting me.” Stabby did make good company, and had helped her fix quite a few problems just by her explaining what was happening and coming to the conclusion herself. All in all, for the price, her little robot companion was one of the best things she had bought.
"Strange. How do you know he is even listening, then?" He questioned, going back to fixing the wiring. Something clicked, and his left wrist twitched, then froze up. He stopped, and reached over, peeling back his skin again all the way past his wrist,and started doing something to the joint. Thirty years in space without repairs wasn't good for any android or robot, and he was no exception.
Thesa shrugged, “He’s not listening, I know that.” The single serving of food was polished off quickly and she watched with curiosity as he messed with his internal workings. “Whatcha doing?” Stabby whirred back into the room and bumped into her, beeping before turning and continuing his path back into the cockpit. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, dipping back into the other room and throwing away her trash before walking back in and resting a little longer.
"Fixing my hand." Zev replied. "One of the smaller fiber optics broke 16 years ago. I replaced it with a wire, but…I really need a new fiber optic at some point." He said, continuing to try and fix it. "The wire is just a patch job, so to speak. It does the job, but not as well or as quickly." His computer, of course, could compensate for that, but it wad aggravating.
“Ah,” She nodded, cracking a small smile, “Well, put it on your wish list and maybe I’ll get it for you when we get to a planet.” She crossed her arms and chuckled, eventually going back and getting to work. The panels were all fixed and now she had to just work on all the wiring in the whole thing.
Zev's hand clicked again. He frowned slightly, and tugged. Perhaps a little too hard, since his whole wrist and hand came off. "Do you have a laser screwdriver?" He asked, looking up at Thesa with his left hand held in his right. "Because I have broken my hand off." He looked rather comical like that.
She glanced over at him and laughed softly, shaking her head, “I might? I’ll go check quick.” Thesa stood up and pulled her gloves off, tossing them down by where she was working and jogging into the other room to try to find one. “I have a flathead one,” She called out to him from the other room, “Will that work? It’s for fixing Stabby, but I’m certain it’s interchangeable.” With the screwdriver in hand, she walked back, holding it out to him with look of both doubt and hope.
Zev took it, sitting down and putting the hand on the console. He now had a stub on his left arm, the rolled back skin looking rather strange, and a little gross. "Yes, this should work. Thank you." He said, working on the hand. He picked it up, and pressed it to the stub, tighting the parts that were supposed to hold it in. "I have been in need of repairs for…a good while." He explained. "I may be a superior android, but even i need repairs."
“You’re welcome to use any of the tools in my ship to repair yourself,” She said, already pulling on her gloves and going back to work. Quietly, she hummed to herself, barely making any sound as she just enjoyed having someone’s company. Robots were just as good as humans in the companion and company category. For a minute she worked fine, until the main wires needed unhooking and reattaching, which was a pain and took way too long.
"No, they are repairs that i cannot carry out on my own." He replied as he worked. "I can do patchwork, quick fixes, but I cannot fix it permanently." He kept working on reattaching his hand to his arm. After a few minutes, he finished up, and started rolling the skin back over top. Technically, he shouldn't even be able to do that with his skin, it wasn't designed to open like that, but he had discovered that by peeling apart the seam from an old repair, he could peel back the skin and do those little repairs. He could only roll it to his elbow though.
She didn’t even glance over at him as she answered, “Guess we’ll have to visit a proper android repair shop.” There were small bits of cursing coming from her as she worked, both from the wiring not cooperating, and the various bruises she was gaining from smacking her arm or head against the metal accidentally. Even with two people, just the controls would take several days to rewire and get running, plus fixing the actual hull of the ship, and screens. She figured it would take them two and a half weeks to finished.