Carpathia IV: Episode 146 - Dr. Minnie
Phobos's Quarters, NCCS Shadowdancer
Sleep. An entirely different proposition for an android. Phobos operated on a 23-hour waking schedule, with the last hour dedicated to "sleep," which was his daily time to turn off his brain and perform system maintenance. Typically, he preferred to do this before duty shifts since, after a nice hour of maintenance, he felt as refreshed as anyone who'd had a restful night.
After completing his morning routine, Phobos began the short trek to the bridge. A walk down the corridor and then a lift ride just three decks to his post. With such a short distance to traverse, he only passed two crew members on his way, both of whom stared at him quizzically as he gave a nod of acknowledgement and continued on his way. Odd, he thought. Most people gave him a return nod and perhaps even a smile when he passed.
Paying the odd behavior little mind, he entered the lift and took the short ride up to the bridge. When the lift doors opened at his destination, he found Commander Joust in charge. Teren, in his usual position at the security console by the lift doors started his usual greeting before suddenly cutting it short.
Teren: Good morning, Ensi...
Everyone on the bridge noticed that Teren cut off his greeting and turned and, as Phobos made his way to his station, none of them had a quick glance. Everyone stared, except Baal, who not only stared, but also looked like he might be ten seconds away from a five-alarm meltdown. Phobos took his seat and entered his command code to activate the console. Just as he thought he might ask the rest of the bridge if there was something wrong, Joust leaped out of the captain's chair, skittered across the ceiling, and dropped in front of him with a suspicious grin on his face.
Joust: Good morning, Ensign Leingod!
Phobos: Good morning, Commander.
Joust: You're ten minutes early for your duty shift today!
Phobos: Nine minutes, 32 seconds, Commander.
Joust bent his arms toward each other and shuffled them back and forth like a character from an old, corny kid's program.
Joust: That's the kind of can-do spirit we need around here!
Phobos: I like to do my best, Commander.
Joust: There's just one teensy weensy little problem.
Phobos: What's that, Commander?
Joust: We do require you to wear clothing while you're on duty.
Phobos paused before looking down. Yes, indeed, he was entirely naked. Nearby, it was now impossible to tell where Baal's face ended and his red hair began.
Joust: A uniform would be preferable, but, at this point, I think I'll take anything I can get.
Phobos: I'm sorry, Commander. I think I got confused between "put on" and "take off" this morning.
Joust raised his right foot and propped it on the side of his other leg while stroking his chin thoughtfully.
Joust: Hmmm... I think another visit with Doctor Minnie is in order. Trouble is, we can't have you traipsing around the ship like this.
Amenaru: No problem, Commander! I have you covered!
Amenaru opened one of the drawers under his console and started rifling through the contents, finally pulling out a handful of various types of colorful underwear.
Amenaru: Don't worry! They're all clean and there's more where that came from. What would you like? I've got rainbow zebra stripes, pink-on-pink hearts, black with glow-in-the-dark skulls...
Phobos: I guess the zebra stripes will do fine.
Amenaru: No problem! Silk, cotton, or microfiber?
Phobos: Just plain cotton, I guess.
Amenaru: Can do! Now, boxers, briefs, or bikini...
Joust: Just pick something you little weirdo!
Amenaru's ears sagged and he reached into the pile to grab the first pair that his hand touched.
Amenaru: Yes, Commander.
Amenaru darted to Phobos's station, boxers in hand, which he realized was probably the better choice anyway. Now wasn't the time for sexy, after all. Phobos slipped them on in a flash as soon as Amenaru handed them over.
Joust: I'll escort you to engineering, but after we stop by your quarters to get you a bit more clothing. Mikado, contact Minnie and tell her I'm bringing Phobos in for scan.
Mikado: Yes, Commander.
Joust: Teren, you have the bridge.
Teren: Yes, Commander.
Joust: Just one more thing before we go. Amenaru, do you really have six different versions of every underwear pattern?
Amenaru: Eight, Commander. You didn't let me finish before. You never know what a situation might call for!
Joust: Well, your apparent penchant for pointless preparation has come in handy, miraculously.
As Joust escorted Phobos to the lift, he turned back one more time.
Joust: Oh, and Baal. Permission to use the washroom.
Baal: Thank you, Commander!
Engineering, NCCS Shadowdancer
If one could imagine a sort of sick bay for technology, this would be it. At first glance, it looked like a normal medical diagnostic room, with a bed in the middle surrounded by all kinds of instruments. The tools, on the other hand, were entirely different. Rather than surgical and scanning devices, the room was full of spanners and sockets of all sorts. Phobos's outer body sat lifeless in a chair nearby, a chair which Minnie turned to face the wall since, after all, it was a tad discombobulating to have the lifeless shell of a friend facing you while trying to work.
On the bed itself, was actual Phobos, the 65cm tall version that lived in the outer body's chest cavity. Minnie opened Phobos's chest cavity and inserted a cable into his main interface.
Minnie: Put another one of you in there and you'd be a Matryoshka doll.
Phobos: Har har. Let's just find out if we can fix me.
Around Engineering, Minnie's fingers would often fly so fast across the consoles that hardly anyone could tell what she was doing, thus was the depth of her skill and experience. Now, however, they poked at Phobos's diagnostic computer with the utmost care and attention, double checking each button press as she went.
Minnie: I'm glad your dad sent this equipment along with us, but I'm still a bit unfamiliar with it. You let me know if anything is going wrong and I'll eject you immediately.
Phobos: Will do, Chief.
Minnie: I did a standard diagnostic last time, so I'll do the deepest scan available to see if that reveals better info. I don't know how long this will take.
Phobos: It shouldn't be too bad and you'll start seeing results while the scan is underway.
It certainly wouldn't be quick. 1%... 2%... The progress bar moved achingly slowly, but still it moved. All that was left now was to wait for results.
Minnie: While we're waiting, how have you been feeling lately?
Phobos: Completely normal, if I'm honest. I don't even realize I'm doing anything wrong until after the fact and even then I can only guess at how I ended up doing things the way I do.
Minnie: We might investigate the possibility of data loss somewhere, though I'm not sure how the standard diagnostic might have missed that.
As they spoke, the console went ding and Minnie turned right away to check it.
Minnie: Only 12% so far, but the mind map is complete. Let's see what we got.
Minnie glared at the screen in silence before finally mustering up a question for Phobos.
Minnie: Did I do something wrong? There's a green-haired girl waving at me.
Phobos: That would be my sister, Deimos. It's a long story, but she was transferred into my brain almost 20 years ago just before her body was destroyed. We can't transfer her into a different body until we can build new hardware sophisticated enough to take her. I talk to her sometimes, so she's not too lonely.
Minnie: If she's been there that long, she shouldn't be the cause of the problem. It looks like she's taking up about one third of your capacity. Is that right?
Phobos: That sounds about right, yes.
Minnie: That's fascinating. I hope I get to meet her someday. At any rate, let's see what else we have here.
Deimos made a grumpy face on the screen just before Minnie swiped her away and started looking more closely at the other parts of his brain.
Minnie: Hmmm...
