One task of an unloader is paperwork. While true that it is all digital on tablets, it’s still paperwork. Matching delivery numbers, total packages, weights, and the like against a manifest. On this day the cargo pod that Dave was unloading had a discrepancy that needed to be looked at. Since he was the unloader of record, he was brought into the office to meet with his supervisor and the captain of the hauler in order to rectify the situation.
The Supervisor’s office was a closet. At least it was the size of a closet. A desk took up most of the space with two chairs on the door side and one chair behind the desk. As he entered the office, he noted that two of the three chairs were occupied. The supervisor, a being that looked almost human, but lacked a nose and had three eyes, motioned for him to sit in the empty chair on the right. As he took his seat, he looked over to the chair next to him and almost peed himself. Sitting there was a Plebescian woman. A woman he recognized from bleary memories.
“Well, Hello Dave.” The woman said with a voice that sounded like angels singing in a rock tumbler. It was a very odd sound but, wasn’t bad to Dave’s ears. He found himself frozen for a second as he stared, borderline gawked, at her. He definitely remembered the face, but was suddenly struck by her light purple skin, blue black hair in rows of braids from front to back, and pointed almost elflike ears set high up on the sides of her head. Then he noticed the look on her face and decided that staring would probably be bad.
“Well, Hello…. Um… I didn’t quite catch your name the last time we met.” Dave said. The woman raised an eyebrow and replied, “Well, you caught a projectile to the forehead. I’m surprised you remember anything. The name’s Voxamaria.”. Dave found a small smile crossing his face, “That’s a beautiful name, nice to meet you again.”. The look on her face didn’t change at the complement. In fact, it seemed like the scowl under the raised eyebrow got deeper. “I would say the same but I have to recall our last meeting.”
She spoke softly at first, “First, you stuck your nose into my business. I did not need or want your assistance with those three creeps. Second you denied me the pleasure of pummeling those jerks into submission”. She took a deep breath and then started to sound more and more irritated as the diatribe continued, “Then, I had to watch you get shot in the head, kill one of those morons with one punch and then vomit all over another. Not quite the tactics I would use to say the least.”
Dave opened his mouth to begin his apology, but she held up her hand and continued, “And THEN, I had to drag your passed out ass from the bar back to the docks, spend thirty minutes trying to convince the dockmaster to tell me which ship was yours so I could drop you off.” Her tone and pitch reached a quite aggravated sounding crescendo when she finished with, “THEN I had to convince some disembodied voice that I was not trying to steal from you or take advantage you as if I were some common criminal!!”.
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Dave stood wide eyed staring at the furious woman, unable to refute any of what she just said. The Supervisor decided that this would be the perfect moment to interject with, “I’m sure you two could finish this lovely conversation after we have taken care of the discrepancy paperwork. Just look pover the numbers and sign please.” Dave stepped over to the desk and verified his part of the document followed by Voxamaria. She immediately turned and walked out. As Dave turned to leave he saw the Supervisor shaking his head, but he wasn’t quite sure what whether or not it was in amusemnet for disappointment.
As he left the office he noticed Voxamaria walking away headed back to the docks. It was at this very moment he decided to take a bit of a risk. His only friend, the only person he even talked to was Cam. It couldn’t hurt to try and make a friend or two. Besides, he never like to leave things in a bad position with people and thought he would at least be able to explain himself. So onward he went at a bit of a jog to catch up to her. Getting within a couple of meters he raised his voice a bit to try and get her attention, “Hey Vox!” he said.
This, Dave soon discovered, was a mistake. She rounded on him with a look that could only be described as murderous. “My friends call me Vox, and you are no friend!”. Dave calm to a halt as fast as he could and slid several feet in the process. Raising his hands palms out in he said, “You’re right, I apologize Voxamaria. Not just for the name, but for the trouble I caused you on Uslaw” She continued to glare daggers at him. “I was just wondering if there was any way I could make amends for it. Maybe buy you a drink, or a meal?” He said while at the same time preparing for a beating.
It was a tense standoff as she continued to glare at him for the next hour. Well, it was only ten seconds but to Dave it felt like an hour. He decided to continue on and started to speak, “I’m goiong to be honest with you, when last we met I was very new around here. I didn’t know a whole hell of a lot and I really do apologize for the trouble. It’s just kind of hard being the only one of your kind around for light years and I was rather drunk at the time. That’s no excuse or anything, but it did affect my decision making skills at the time.”
Her face softened a little bit after he spoke although she still looked mad enough to rip the antlers off a moose. “Give me your comm info. After I’m done finishing up this unload and dock my rig, I will decide whether or not to contact you.”. Dave handed over the information and without a word, or time for him to say anything, she turned and walked away. “Well that could have gone better”, Dave mumbled right before Cam piped up in his ear with, “What in the world was that all about?”
Trying to explain how you feel to an intelligent alien AI isn’t the greatest of tasks to accomplish. Not because the AI is uncaring, or unfeeling or doesn’t understand. No. When you’re AI has downloaded and absorbed almost every book, document, movie, documentary and everything else on the subject of human psychology it knows all the concepts needed. So the only thing left is schadenfreude. Cam laughed for a good five minutes over Dave’s encounter with Voxamaria. “I think many young people on your world may call that encounter cringe.”, Cam said in between bouts of laughter.