Semper Ad Meliora

The small Morning Room felt too cramped and crowded. The room was only meant for the passenger being revived, the doctor, and the doctor's assistant. In this case, that was one young Alia Pine, Dr. Desiree Hans, and MEDI-Bernard. But joining them on this godforsaken day was a robot beside the bed that introduced itself quite emphatically as Oliver Bicchetto—rather, Oliver Jacoby Bicchetto—and recently promoted Second Captain Charles Krewson in the corner. Both of whom insisted being there because of one Dagan Mecca, the man du jour, who was supposed have joined their get-together already.

It was an uncomfortable silence in addition to the crowd. The girl had her expected panic after she woke up, had no idea where she was and couldn’t move—a scary mix for even the adults in the room, let alone a ten year old. It took some minutes, but Desiree, with a little help from Oliver, managed to calm her down by telling her it wouldn’t last long.

“It’s like sleep paralysis,” she explained. “It’ll go away.” Except chryo-paralysis usually lasted longer, from several minutes to several hours. Many times, it didn’t wear off until the person actually fell asleep again.

But she didn’t think it was appropriate to mention every possibility to her.

The disorientation wore off before they got to the Morning Room, and, naturally, she began calling out for her mom and dad. As Bernie was carrying her—and before either Bernie or Desiree could say anything—Oliver took the girl's hand and explained with a sincerity of someone much younger than the boybot looked that Dagan would be there soon. It said he wanted it to be with her in the meantime. And that somehow worked.

Desiree knew that would not have helped her in a panic. She knew from experience. So she let the surprisingly effective android stay.

And then Krewson walked in, exclaimed that Dagan should have been here before him and sent the child into another panic. Desiree was the one who made him stand in the corner and keep his mouth shut. He wanted to sit in the chair, but she refrained from shouting as she explained he was allowed the corner or waiting outside the room. He complied.

Now that there was that calm again, Desiree found herself itching in her self-control. She simply stared at her clip board and read as it scrolled through the inputs Bernard was entering into the terminal behind her. Suffocatingly aware of the intruders in her peripheral, she read the data and needlessly double-checked everything that scrolled by. She still wanted to kick them both out, but she was a reasonable person. She thought they might as well invite the First Captain in too and get every conscious human on the ship in the room.

This child wasn't even supposed to be awake.

“So, uhm...” Alia started up, looking around the room. Her voice was small. Everyone she could see looked at her, even Bernie, briefly. “What do you guys like to do for fun?”

Krew smiled from his corner. He met her before they boarded the ship and she had asked him the same question. It seemed like that was her go to icebreaker.

“Oh, reading numbers and checking life support is about all that gets me pumped these days.” Desiree looked back to the board. Krew frowned.

Alia nodded, though, like she knew what exactly that meant. Oliver jolted.

“You moved! That's very good, isn't it?”

“See? I told you you'd start moving soon.” She wasn’t even reading the numbers now, she was just staring at them. The head and the feet were always the first to wiggle.

“I like all kinds of football.” Oliver moved right on to answering Alia. “Played both soccer and American football almost every day with my cousins at home.” Robot cousins? Krew raised an eye brow. He really wanted to talk to Gerard Bicchetto.

“Me too!” If Alia could have sat up, she would have very quickly. Instead, she just beamed. “My brother was teaching me how to play football before he got sick. I suck a regular football though.”
“I could teach you! I’m the best at that one.”

“You talking about soccer? Soccer is regular football,” Desiree said.

“Oh—Jesus! Where you born a hundred years ago?” Krewson stood straight from his leaning in the corner, shaking his head at her. Was she for real? “That’s a bit of an old fashioned argument, isn’t it? And, at her?”

She snorted. “I did not give you permission to speak!”

“I’m more of a golf and motocross fan myself.” Krew huffed and took his turn to answer the question, frowning at her. “Bikes are fast and fun.”

“Were you born a hundred years ago?” Desiree’s eyebrows went halfway up her forehead. “No one moto races anymore.”

Bernie turned around from the console and looked back and forth between the two of them. “Yes, you both were born more than a hundred years ago.” It looked at everyone. “We all were, in fact. And no one’s had the chance for racing, doctor.”

Pursing her lips, she simply looked at Bernie for a long moment. She nodded. “Well, it is a strange combination of hobbies, anyway, golf and motorcycles.”

The door slid open, revealing the man Desiree was waiting for to finally show up. He was animated, in the middle of asking a question before it was all the way across, but she didn't hear any of it.
“You, Blödmann!” She very nearly threw her clipboard when she passed it to Bernie and stomped across the room, unceremoniously shoving Dagan back out.

“Dagan! No, wait!” Alia yelled. The door slid back shut behind them.

“Uh... Don't worry,” Krew backed into his corner again. “They’ll be just a moment.”

Outside, Dagan backed away from the doctor as fast as he could step to get her to stop shoving him.

“What the h—what is wrong with you?”

“Why do you think you are in charge here?” Desiree growled. She looked like she might attack if he moved at all. And he partly expected her to.

“What the hell are you talking about?” He looked at the door she was blocking. He wasn’t the mood for this.

“You are awake for two tiny seconds and you decided to wake a child when she is not needed to! First the robots and now you! This is not the protocol of—”

“I am the Third Captain!” He barely managed to keep an even voice in reply to her growling. “And this isn’t the kind of emergency that gives you all the power over the rest of us! There is no protocol for this situation, Doc! No one planned for this situation!”

“So this gives you the right to behave in any manner you wish?” She crossed her arms and he rolled his eyes, going to step around her. She stepped in front of him. And again when he tried going the other way.

“This is not the time to forget that rules exist, Mr. Mecca!”

Dagan pursed his lips and bit down, taking a deep breath. He took one step back and pointed at that the rows of softly humming tubes to their right. “How many have died already?” She didn’t answer or look.

“I know you know. How many of them have died already?”

“Four thousand eight hundred seventy-four.” She turned stiffly to squarely face the pods. She and Bernie had verified the number officially the day before. It had been on her mind ever since, and she could hardly comprehend the thought of standing next to that many dead people.

His breath hitched at the number. “And how many are unresponsive?”

She shook her head. “Two thousand fifty-six, so far…” With more having the possibility to fail, but it was obvious that was what he was trying to lead her to.

“So you'll forgive me if I don't want to leave a ten-year-old to that uncertainty.”

“You could have simply checked her status and then waited for permission from the other captains,” she sighed.

“It's better to ask forgiveness than beg for permission.” He didn’t care if he broke every rule on the ship while doing it. “It’s way too uncertain for every person and you know it. Besides, Krew was for it, too.”

Desiree nodded. Of course Krewson was involved too. “Did you at least tell Sage?”

Hah. Nau would have convinced him to wait with all his might. No, he was just going to find out about Alia when someone else told him or he actually saw her.

“Look,” Dagan swept his eyes from the pods to the Morning Room. “It’s not like I woke up the entire population. Lia's the only one I was worried about.”

“True compassion.” Desiree fought between frowning and smirking, so essentially sneered. Fake care for the all the people.

The Morning Room’s door slid open just enough for Krew to stick his head out.

“Hey,” he started with false wariness, “I hate to interrupt your very important conversation, but I’ve been needing to talk to Dagan for a while now.”

“What for?” both asked.

Krew bobbed his head and stepped out, sliding the door shut behind him. “Nau wanted to wake a couple of the engineers and interview them to make sure they’re not saboteurs.”

“Heilige Scheisse!” Desiree’s face dropped. With wide eyes, she looked at Dagan. “That is a possibility?” She had seen CON-001’s video. She was the first one to see it after Bernie woke her up. That made sense!

“A small one,” Dagan quickly said, “according to Nau. We just have to rule it out.”

“We just have to rule it out while we fix the ship,” Krew said. “Or else we’ll have an even harder time. But we can't talk about it, ‘cos—”

“Because they will hide it.” She nodded. “I understand… Who is first?”