Skeletons in the clos...door

Joint post with Jaxx

After getting the message about Talerian and Bob being out she spoke to Mamma. "Hello, Mamma. When Wings and Bob return could you have your little robot body show them the door and ask them to see if they can fix it? If they cannot it can wait. Just cosmetic damage. The door works fine and still seals tight." Mamma acknowledged the request, seized control of her little robot body, and went to the cargo ship. She also sealed all other entrances so that Talerian and Bob would have to enter that way.

Talerian was carrying a large duffle bag full of purchased goods from the space station. B.O.B. on the other hand was hovering next to Talerian as they were talking about what B.O.B. was able to find out. Sadly, it was a lot of information and most of it seemed unimportant, but Talerian wanted to have B.O.B. keep the useless info to paint a bigger picture to get a lead to his sister. Eventually, they made their way back to the Big Mamma and saw a robot at the door waiting for them. They do not remember meeting this robot. B.O.B. then asked, "Who are you, and what is your designation?"

Once the two were on board the cargo door shut seemingly on its own. Mamma sighed at Bob's question. "Can't you tell from the face on the screen? I am Mamma." Mamma hopped down from the box she was sitting on. She activated a welding laser at a such low intensity that it was a laser pointer. She pointed the laser pointer to the dent in the cargo bay door. "Lisara would like you two to see if you can fix this. It is not a high-priority task, it can wait until after we leave the space station. The damage is cosmetic only, but Lisara would still prefer it to be fixed. It looks bad to prospective clients."

Talerian cocked his head to the side as he looked at the odd-looking robot with a monitor for a head. B.O.B. had a blank expression as he looked at the snarky robot and then replied, "I see. Sorry, I missed the resemblance. I will work on the repairs now." B.O.B. then looked at Talerian and said quietly, "Master I believe that is the ship's computer controlling that robot like an avatar. I would avoid it if possible. It seems to be a bit disagreeable." Talerian looked at B.O.B. and nodded as he replied quietly, "You can say that again. If the ship's computer has an avatar, why cannot fix the door instead?" B.O.B. replied quietly, "Perhaps it has limited functionality…that or it wants to push its work on us." Talerian shrugged and said, "Whatever let's get to work then. B.O.B. scan the door and compare it to the ship's schematics to see what damage it took." B.O.B. then began scanning the information and door.

B.O.B. finished analyzing the door and compared the damage to the ship's schematics. Once he was done, he emitted two light holograms to show the door's damage to the correct version it should look like. B.O.B. then said, "Master it appears this damage was done by blunt force from the inside of the ship." Talerian looked around and then said, "My guess would be unsecured cargo." B.O.B. replied, "Affirmative Master. That is most likely the cause of the damage. Perhaps that may be why the captain was hiring a new crew." Talerian shrugged and said, "Yeah it's hard to find good help. Well, let's get to work then." Then Talerian and B.O.B. began repairing the door.

While Talerian and Bob were working on the door. Mamma began examining the magnetic couplers that were supposed to hold the crate in place. Mamma, after a thorough examination of the software and using the robot to explore the hardware the root cause of the crate coming loose remains unknown. Mamma began upgrading the software of several ship systems using official software updates released by their manufacturers. Some of the updates were released for newer models only and were 'incompatible' with older models simply because the company was trying to force people to upgrade their hardware but would work perfectly fine with older models. The robot began adjusting the magnetic coupler tolerance levels.

After unlocking the stem bolts from the door, Talerian and B.O.B. removed the outer shell of the door. They had to wiggle it free since it was dented and off-center. After a bit of extra muscle power, the metal door popped free and made a clanging sound. As they were setting the door down on the wall, Talerian made a gross face as he smelled something awful. Then B.O.B. Turned around and said, “Well that is something you don’t see every day.” Talerian turned to look, and he saw a corpse stuck in the door. Talerian winced as he said, “B.O.B. Call the Captain over here. We may have a problem.” Then B.O.B. Used the intercom to call for the captain.

Mamma intercepted Bob's attempt to call the captain. "Don't bother the captain with that. I can explain it." The little robot under Mamma's command came over. "That is me. In a way. I am not the first AI of the Big Mamma. The first one had a massive breakdown of its core personality programming matrix. Around the same time, Lisara's adoptive mother Aneya was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Even if they had caught it early it was inoperable. It had spread throughout several areas of her body by the time they found it. Instead of buying a new A.I. they could never afford Lisara's father Tav took out a loan to have Aneya's consciousness computerized as a replacement A.I. It was not cheap, but it was cheaper than buying a new A.I. Aneya hated being stuck in one place for too long, so burial was out of the question out of respect for her. Cremation was also a no-go due to her massive fear of fire from a traumatic experience in her childhood, that fire is why she needed prosthetics for the right arm and left leg. Tav, not willing to space her body had it sealed inside the ship. The cargo bay door was being worked on at the time, so he put it in there."

The little robot used tiny little hover jets in its feet to fly up to look at the body better. A hand extended out and gently caressed the skull. "At times I miss having a body. To feel. To love. Then I remember the debilitating pain that the cancer caused in the end, and I do not miss it so much. But then I could not be there for Lisara like a mother should be or like a human should be when Tav died. I had to watch her impotently suffer. Piya bless her heart tried but she's terrible with emotions, except anger." The robot gently landed on the deck again. "Talerian would you be a dear and gently remove the wedding ring from her left hand? I would like to give it to Lisara when she comes back. Afterwards please seal up Aneya back into the door. All my weight calculations for various tasks depend on the weight being there. I could very easily alter the calculations in a second, but I would prefer not to. I am sentimental that way. Lisara also knows the body is in the ship, but she has no idea where. I guess she will now though once I present the ring to her."

B.O.B. looked at Talerian and shook his head no because he had a pretty good idea of what Talerian was going to say about the whole situation. Talerian held his tongue as he saw B.O.B. warning him with his gesture. Then Talerian sighed as he said, "Yeah sure. But still, I don't get other cultures' way of doing things." B.O.B. then replied, "Very well Master. Let's finish this project soon." Talerian sighed as he made a gross face removing the ring and giving it to the robot with a monitor for a head. It was not the first time he touched a corpse, nor was it the first time he looted a corpse, but this whole thing unnerved him. Once the ring was removed Talerian and B.O.B. began repairing the door shell to remove the dent and straighten it up, before reassembling the door.

After getting the ring. The robot looked at Talerian. “Thank you, dear. Lisara will appreciate it more than you know.” Mamma’s tone was full of sincerity. The robot leaves for the captain’s quarters, on the way it stops by a supply closet and gets a chain for the ring.