Young Writers Society

Ed was confused. How had things spiraled out of control so quickly? In less than a week, two people had died, his best friend was almost killed, his SECBOT was probably going to be destroyed, and he would be prosecuted and thrown in jail for tampering with the Company's SECBOT. He had had aspirations after leaving the military. He was going to become a ship's captain. He didn't know what kind, a merchant, a mercenary, hell, he'd even entertained the idea of being a pirate just for laughs. Now all of that was slipping away from him. He didn't even have Alex in the room to comfort him. It had been taken away down to a cleaning closet to hold it there for tomorrow's interrogations.

He rolled over in his bed, trying to fall asleep. It was still very early, but he didn't have much else to do. He reached under his bed for his emergency bottle of bourbon. He found it and raised to his lips. Empty. He threw it to the floor, where it shattered. He tried to get out of the bed to clean up the shards, but he couldn't summon the enthusiasm. He turned back over, staring at the underside of Dave's empty bunk. He wondered how Dave was feeling. He smiled to himself, thinking about how Dave was most likely trying to score extra tranquilizers from the infirmary staff. He missed Dave. The man always knew exactly what to say or do. It didn't always solve your problems, in fact it almost never did, but he could always cheer you up. He turned back onto his stomach and resigned himself to just lying on the bed for the next day or so. He fell asleep, dreading tomorrow, and wishing it to already be there.

He woke up to the brusque shouts of security officers. He pushed himself up and allowed himself to be led down the hall into a smaller room with just himself, the Commodore, the chief justice, and Alex sitting at the table. He lowered himself into a chair and looked to the Commodore for what he should do next. The Commodore turned to the chief justice. She looked at Ed and said,

"Do you have any questions before we begin the questioning of G-38-7?"

"No man I do not" he responded.

"Then we shall begin." She turned back to the Commodore. "Please let in the Company representative." He got up and pushed a button on the wall next to the door, and a small, weasely looking man entered the room. He sat down in between Alex and the Commodore. He had a messenger bag on his shoulder. From this, he withdrew a small computer and some connection cables. He connected the computer to a jack in Alex's head. He turned to Ed and pointed to the computer.

"This is a Company produced machine that detects anomalies in our bots. You coupled with it will test for lies in the robot's speech." A look of confusion crossed Ed's face.

"Okay, but how do you know I'm not lying and that I didn't program Alex to intentionally escape the lie-detecting protocols?"

"The robot has deep-coded protocols that are hidden to anyone but Company programmers and you were given a personnel chip to implant when you arrived here. The chip signals to us when you are lying or breaking rules." Ed's mind spun while he tried to think of all the things he had done in his two years on Decken.

"That seems like an invasion of privacy." The man looked up from his computer and scowled at Ed.

"This was in the charter agreement you signed when you came here." he said through obvious annoyance. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get this over with so I can get on a ship back home." Ed held his hands up in mock surrender. The man finished his preparations and nodded to the chief justice, signifying that Alex could be powered on. The chief justice flipped a switch under Alex's left on and motioned to the Company man to start the questioning. He turned to Ed.

"I will ask G-38-7 a quest-"

"Alex"

"Excuse me?"

"It's name is Alex. Not G-38-7." said Ed. The man stared at him for a moment.. He sighed.

"Fine. I will ask Alex" he said it as though it were from a different language. "a question, and you will confirm or deny it's credibility. Are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"Good. Now," he said, turning to Alex, "Who is you assigned protected quarry."

"My quarry is one First Mechanical Engineer Edward Buck." The man looked pointedly at Ed.

"Well at least you didn't screw up everything." he turned back to Alex. "And why is your programming different than standard Company protocols?"

"Rank F.M.E Buck tampered with my programming." A nod from Ed.

"And why would he have done that?"

"I am not quite sure of the answer. My memory banks appear to have suffered damage from the reprogramming. Words that come to mind are 'new,' 'Alex,' and 'again.' Another nod. This one slightly more solemn.

"Do you know about the murders that took place here?"

"Yes. I do."

"And what do you know about them?"

"I know the perpetrator." An audible gasp came from everyone but Ed, whose eyebrows shot up his forehead as he lifted his eyes from the table to look at Alex.

"Who is the perpetrator?"

"It is unwise for me to say."

"This is an order from a Company employee. Who is the perpetrator?" said the man, a vein pulsing in his head from worry or anger.

"It is unwise for me to say."

"Damn it! You will tell me who the perpetrator is!" Alex turned it's vision panel towards the enraged little man. It's head cocked ever so slightly.

"The perpetrator...is me."