(Photo by Pavel Danilyuk)

Morning came and Matiew became immediately aware of the noise surrounding him. It wasn’t the raucous sound of panic. Instead, it was the sound of dozens of people all trying to be quiet. Whispers, blankets and pillows being slowly shifted around, even a few chairs and beds getting scooted from place to place.

No one had turned on the hallway lights yet, at least, so the heavier sleepers were still blissfully unaware. Matiew could have lied there for a while longer but instead he pressed the call button. He needed a bathroom, a shower, and some clean clothes. All of those things, currently, required a nurse’s assistance.

Today’s nurse was Gemma. Matiew hadn’t met her before, but sometimes that was preferable. Gemma didn’t talk much, just got down to business. All the hospital staff were busy taking care of those who were injured yesterday so Matiew wasn’t sure if this was how Gemma usually handled patients. Regardless, Matiew was ready for the day in just under fifteen minutes. It was a new record, although his aching ribs were a reminder why quick wasn’t always better.

As soon as Gemma was done, she turned on her heels and left.

“Thank you,” Matiew called after her and she gave him a very short wave of acknowledgment without looking back at him.

He didn’t try to engage any of the other hospital staff in conversation after that. He just maneuvered his wheelchair through the packed hallway. He had a meeting to get to but it wasn’t for another hour or so and he wanted to make some visits.

One of the larger rooms inside the hospital was filled with members of the RCC. They’d all inhaled a fair amount of the caustic fumes and needed oxygen while their lungs healed. Being separate from the majority of the other patients, their room was both dark and quiet, allowing for them to still be asleep. There was, however, one notable exception. Closest to the door, Rine was propped up in her bed, her portable workstation set up beside her. Her eyes were bloodshot, both from the gas and from her lack of sleep. Like many of the others in here, she also had a number of chemical burns on her face and hands.

As soon as Matiew entered, Rine looked up at him. Then, just as quickly, she looked away. She had been typing away when he first entered but now she sat motionless.

“I thought the doctors weren’t allowing any workstations in here,” Matiew whispered.

“They got tired of me trying to get back down to the RCC,” Rine said, still not looking at him.

“What are you working on?” he asked.

“Testing out methods of preventing robots from doing what BaBS-Y did. Limiting them to one primary directive, making certain jobs and roles available only to humans. That sort of thing.”

“Smart,” Matiew said.

Rine nodded and coughed briefly. It sounded ragged and painful but she didn’t wince or make a face. She just took a drink from her water bottle and then went back to sitting still.

“I came to see if you wanted to get something to eat?” Matiew said.

“I should really keep working,” Rine shook her head.

“How about I take a look at what you’ve done so far while we eat breakfast?”

Rine’s shoulders sagged and Matiew saw a tear run down her cheek before she turned away from him under the pretext of adjusting her oxygen hose.

“I’m not hungry,” she muttered.

“Yeah, I know the hospital food’s not so great,” Matiew said, “but I was thinking we could go down to sector twenty to that sandwich shop, Nadia and Sascha.”

“I don’t think they want me leaving right now,” Rine sniffed and wiped her face.

“Worst thing that could happen is they tell us to go back to our beds.”

Matiew was already beginning to spool up Rine’s oxygen hose and placing it on her bed so it wouldn’t get caught on anything. Rine didn’t reply but she didn’t try to stop him either when he swapped her over to the portable oxygen tank and set it next to her. Unlocking the bed’s wheels was a task in and of itself but he managed it in the end.

“Hold on,” he said and then braced his wheelchair against the foot of Rine’s bed.

He used on hand to maneuver his wheelchair while the other hand held onto Rine’s bed. Together, they began to move out of the room. It hurt a fair bit for Matiew to do this but he didn’t allow himself to show it.

At first, their slow progress went unnoticed. They were in a sea of hospital beds and no one was paying that much attention. It was as they were passing by the final nurse’s station that someone finally took notice of them.

“Excuse me,” the nurse behind the counter said.

The counter was high enough that Matiew and the nurse couldn’t see each other until the nurse stood up. Until then, all they’d seen was Rine, sitting up in her bed, gliding by.

“Just going to get some breakfast,” Matiew said casually and without stopping. “We’ll be back soon.”

“You can’t just leave like that,” the nurse insisted, now coming out from behind the counter and stopping their progress.

“We won’t be long, I promise,” Matiew assured the nurse. “We just really need a change of scenery.”

The nurse turned to Rine and then back to Matiew.

“I need to check your files,” the nurse said, “make sure neither of you are scheduled for a check up or medications while your gone.”

It took a minute or so to confirm that, no, there was nothing scheduled for either of them besides bed rest for the time being. Rine could apply her own medicated creams to her chemical burns and besides her oxygen and some steroids she took before bed, there wasn’t anything else either of them needed.

“I don’t want you taking an entire bed, though,” the nurse said and had another powered wheelchair brought around for Rine. “Don’t wear yourselves out,” was the final bit of instruction before Matiew and Rine were allowed to leave.

The Thesis was quiet as they made their way down to Nadia and Sascha. Very few people were up and about, and those who were didn’t make eye contact as they hurried to wherever they were going. Everyone was still in a mild state of shock or panic.

Matiew worried that the sandwich shop wouldn’t be open but as it came into view he saw the familiar couple inside the empty restaurant. When they saw Matiew and Rine approaching, they immediately hurried out from behind the counter to hold the door open for them.

“Hello,” they both beamed at Matiew and Rine. “Our heroes of the hour.”

Matiew waved and shook his head, although he did grin. It was nice to have some people who were glad to see him. Rine, on the other hand, just looked down at her lap.

“We aren’t heroes,” Matiew said. “But we are hungry for anything that isn’t hospital food.”

“Of course,” Sascha clapped his hands and both he and Nadia returned to their usual positions behind the counter. “What sounds good to you? A roast beef sandwich? Grilled chicken? Veggie?”

“Nothing too heavy for us, I think,” Matiew said. Even though he hadn’t been as exposed to the gas as Rine had been, his throat was still fairly raw. “Let’s have two BLTs on white bread. Sound good?” He asked Rine who nodded.

“Right away,” Nadia said and soon Matiew and Rine were at their table with their sandwiches.

Matiew ate slowly, relishing the good food, but Rine only poked at hers. Like many of those who had elected to stop helping the RCC when BaBS-Y had given them that offer, Rine was clearly embarrassed and ashamed. There were a few from the RCC who were upset with those who, like Rine, had taken the offer, but by and large most people were at least understanding if not fully accepting of their decision.

“Jancy’s up and about,” Matiew said, unsure of what else to really say. “She and the rest of the council are still discussing BaBS-Y’s…uh, situation. They’ve asked Min and me to go answer some questions. You’re also invited to come, if you like.”

“Am I in trouble?” Rine asked.

“No one’s in any trouble,” he assured her. “This is all just about BaBS-Y and how best to move forward.”

Rine shrugged and moved to take a bite from her sandwich but then stopped halfway there. For a moment her expression was blank but then tears began to flow and she shut her eyes tight.

“I don’t deserve this,” she said, putting the sandwich back down. “I should have stayed and helped you all. Maybe then we would have actually won. Maybe then no one would have gotten hurt or died. Instead I ran away and hid in a corner.”

“Hey,” Matiew placed his hand on hers and held it tight. “I don’t blame you, Min doesn’t blame you, Jancy doesn’t blame you. Everyone on the ship was basically given the same choice you were given and nearly everyone took it. Half the Thesis council took it, okay, so don’t blame yourself. We all did our best. You did your best.”

“I ran and hid,” Rine sniffed.

“So did I,” Matiew said. “At the end there, I hid along with Min and Jancy. We left everyone else out there in the main office while we barricaded the door.”

“We hid too,” Nadia said from where she and Sascha had been sitting and pretending not to listen in on their conversation. “You had huge robots trying to kill you. All we had were a couple of sweeper bots bumping into our chairs but we still locked ourselves in the kitchen. We could have fought the robots, kick them or spray them with condiments, but we didn’t. At least you did something. Maybe others did more than you, but most of us did nothing.”

“But it was my job!” Rine had a coughing fit after her brief outburst but Nadia didn’t let the conversation drop.

“Your job is not to fight crazy robots with your bare hands,” Nadia said. “You job is not to be terrified for your life. Your job is to repair robots when their motors wear out, or to update their protocols. No one on this ship has, in their job description, fight insane robots. I checked,” she added when Rine looked like she was going to argue that point further. “You did your job and more. That doesn’t mean I think you should just smile and be happy. I think it’ll be a while before any of us are just happy again, but you don’t need to add guilt to everything else.”

No one said anything else after that, but Rine did finally eat her sandwich and she did seem to enjoy it. That was all Matiew could really hope for and he was glad it had gone as well as it did. He needed to have that conversation with her, but he’d known it would never have gone so well there in the hospital. Min and Jancy were similarly taking turns with the other members of the RCC, making sure they were okay and that they knew there was no ill will towards any of them for the decisions they’d made. Some of those conversations went better than others.

“Thanks, Matiew,” Rine said when they’d returned to the hospital and she was situated again in her bed. She declined the offer to join him and Min in the Thesis council meeting. She was tired and her throat was too raw for that much talking.

Matiew patted her hand gave her what he hoped was an encouraging smile.

“Get some rest,” he said, and then left.

Now it was time to finally decide what to do about a certain robot.