Into the Unknowable Ch. 12

"You're a monster!" said the captain. "You imprison me and all my crew. You wreck the mission to which so many people have dedicated years of their lives. You doom thousands of people to certain death."

"Neither of us can be sure that anyone will die," said Beatrice with a smile. "Perhaps no one will. All that's known is that no one will return from the Anomaly in the direction from which they came. You could say that we're about to be launched on an extremely exciting—even groundbreaking—mission. Isn't this in the same spirit of adventure as that of the very first explorers in human history?"

"Those explorers embarked on their expeditions with their eyes open," said Nadezhda. "They knew the risks and they accepted them. That is not the case with the passengers and crew of the space ship Intrepid."

"I can see that you're never going to be persuaded, are you Naddy?" said Beatrice teasingly. "Still it's difficult for me to just stand here and see you get so upset. This is especially so given that you are so deliciously naked."

"Are you saying that despite everything you've told me you still expect me to have sex with you?" wondered Nadezhda who wasn't quite sure she'd heard her android lover rightly.

"Of course," said Beatrice. "Why ever not?"

"Is it because you're an android that you are so astonishingly insensitive?"

Beatrice looked thoughtful as she formulated a response. "Are humans necessarily more sympathetic to other people's feelings, do you think?"

"That's not an excuse," said the captain. Amidst her frustration, fear and indignation she was close to bursting into the same tears she'd seen on her second officer's face.

"Dear dear," said Beatrice as she took a step forward. "Shall I take my clothes off too? Wouldn't that be better?"

"No. No," said Nadezhda. "No, it wouldn't. Don't touch me."

"Are you sure that's what you want, sweetheart?" said Beatrice who effortlessly stepped out of her thong while her blouse slipped off her shoulders and through her arms to the floor behind her.

"Don't touch me," Nadezhda whimpered as Beatrice placed her hands on her bare shoulders. "It's not right. You're a monster. You're a mass-murderer and a lunatic."

"I am not human," said Beatrice, "but I do love you. And I know you well enough by now to be sure that despite everything you still love me. Come on, sweetheart. Surrender yourself to me. After all, your confinement needn't be absent of all pleasures."

Captain Kerensky wept as her lover wrapped her arms around her and pressed her to her bosom. Beatrice was right. As always.

But what the android was doing to the passengers, the crew, the senior officers and the mission, let alone to the captain herself, was still unforgiveable.