“There is something I do not understand.” Carbon’s brow creased in concentration, dark blue lips pulled back in a thin line. They had watched three movies on the rather large display that unrolled from the ceiling, locked in place on the wall across from the fold-out couch. Alex had turned the lights down while the screen was on, the room now dimly lit with it turned off.
“What’s that?”
“You said he was supposed to be a badass, but clearly he was not.” She turned the phrase carefully. It had taken Alex five or ten minutes to successfully explain ‘badass’ to her as he thought of it. There was no direct translation into Tsla, apparently.
“What... How can-” Alex sputtered, unable to believe the shot she just took at one of his childhood heroes. He looked down at her, still leaning against his side. Personal space had gone out the window for her at some point. She had settled down shoulder to shoulder with him at first, leaning ever harder into his upper arm. He had scooted as far over as he could, then finally just tossed his arm over the back of the couch. She looked a little smug for a few minutes after that. “But he’s- he’s the best character in the series!”
“He was defeated by a blinded man waving a stick indiscriminately.” Carbon sat up and stretched her arms, looking over her shoulder at him. “That is the antithesis of your explanation.”
“That was an accident, the jetpack malfunctioned.” He got defensive for a moment but caught himself before he dug in, and then grinned at the absurdity of the conversation.
“A properly designed jetpack will not malfunction when struck with a stick. It will not malfunction from any sort of mild damage if you are going to expect a professional soldier to be able to deploy it during action. It apparently lacked basic safety features, the overall design must have been deeply flawed.” She pushed off the couch and eased past him to dial up a beverage from the dispenser.
Alex made a dismissive sound, waving his hand to go with it. “What do you know about jetpacks, anyway?”
Carbon stared at him, mouth agape. “What do I know about jetpacks? The current combat issue jetpack has three hardware refinements I submitted as an apprentice Lan. I could still rebuild one in the dark if it were required of me.”
“Well, yeah. OK. That’s a pretty good background,” he admitted. How are you supposed to argue with something like that? He decided on a different tack. “The supplemental television shows and books really give a better view of him as a character than this movie...”
She stopped him with a narrow look.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“So, I mean, what did you think of the movies?”
“They were entertaining.” Carbon took a pull off her drink and rolled the bottle in a dark furred hand, pondering her reply. “Simplistic, but constructed well enough. I found myself engrossed in the story. I can understand how this would have caught your attention at a young age.”
“Good.” He smiled, glad that she actually did like them. “I keep expecting that the next time I watch them I’ll realize just how terrible my taste in movies was when I was six, but it hasn’t happened yet.”
“It does appear you chose well. Most of the entertainment from my childhood would not be something I would return to as an adult.” She returned to the couch, sitting down at the far end, leaning on the armrest in an unusually casual pose for her. “Much of it was not for children, I was just expected to appreciate it as an adult would. It has given me an aversion to certain types of music and theater.”
“Damn. I’m sorry, that sucks.” Everbody should be able to be a child, particularly when they’re actually a child. “If you want, there’s like a dozen more movies and I think a hundred seasons of TV shows?”
“A hundred?” Her eyebrows went up and she turned to look at him slowly. “There is not enough material presented there for that much exposition.”
“They expanded the scope of the thing, out over a few thousand years.” Alex covered his mouth as he yawned and unclipped himself from the couch. It was after midnight ship time, the latest he had intentionally stayed up since coming on board. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to bed. See you in the morning.”
Carbon worked her jaw silently for a moment before managing a weak protest. “I am still not sure that is safe.”
“What, the life support? It’s fine, the cabin has had all day to air out and there’s a vent blowing right in the door.” He had slept without issue the previous night, which was proof enough for him that it was safe.
“I just- I do not think it wise considering the sensors in the room also do not work. You were just released from the medi-board a few days ago, if something was not repaired properly...”
He considered that one, at first only because she hadn’t brought it up last night when they had almost this same discussion and then because it really creeped him out. The medi-board was supposed to be fool proof as far as fixing injuries was concerned. But that was when it was running with a proper AI. The one on board was not. This got him playing a game of what-if with the various horrible things he knew could go wrong with the human body. What would a blood clot traveling from his femoral artery into his brain feel like?
He actually shivered at that thought. “Yeah, ugh. That’s a good idea. I’ll grab a scanner and give myself a once over.”
“But- That is not-” she started and stopped repeatedly as he unlatched the screen and rolled it back into the ceiling. “It- it is not sufficiently safe.”
“I’ll be fine. It’s only a couple of hours, nothing will go wrong. Besides, where would I sleep? On the couch in here?” Alex laughed and tapped the door control, the soft red ‘night’ light from the passageway lighting him in silhouette.
Her reply was so soft he almost wasn’t sure she had spoken. “You can stay with me?”