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Settling on that topic she chose it as she didn’t think commenting on his appearance was likely to make him want to stay for dinner. As she set a glass of water before him, she said, “I’ve never seen the Callistar this clean, thank you.”
“Yer welcome.” he shrugged his shoulders. “I had to sterilize some places and figured I’d do the rest.”
Reaching up to her ear, she put a finger behind it, touching her communicator. Tapping it once put all non-emergent communication off for an hour. It also kept Watson out of her brain for the same amount of time. Not that he could not listen through the main communication array, but she wanted to focus on Quinn.
“Are you getting enough sleep?” Eyeing him, she pushed his silverware over on an old-fashioned cloth napkin.
Quinn picked up the wine and sniffed it before frowning. He took a small sip, his lips curling around the curved goblet, his frown remaining. “It’s a bit…” He trailed off, choosing to answer her question instead. “Naw, probably not. Not much I can do about tha’ though.”
The tinkling of silverware on their plates followed his ambiguous statement. He chewed with his mouth closed; she noticed. “Do you just not sleep well? There are some aids down in the med bay that can keep dreams out.”
Watching for his reactions, she realized her statement sounded concerned, but to him it could come across much differently. He may have believed she worried about him being able to finish his tasks, so before he could reply, she added, “You should take some breaks too, Quinn. Constantly working is not good.
“My brain has a quantum computer core embedded in the soft tissue. Sleeping medication doesn’t work on me,” Quinn grumbled softly. “Can’t take any medicine that messes with my brain chemistry too much.”
He worked methodically while eating his food, formulating a science experiment across the fine china. The potato dissected into sections, each one with different toppings as if he were testing the combinations.
She outright starred, not because of the way he ate, but because quantum computers were insanely complex, insanely expensive, and insanely experimental. Even the most diehard cyberware junkies didn’t get machinery directly placed into their brain. They had some neural implants that would connect to a person’s brain, but only superficially. However, that was a far cry from opening up your skull and sticking a computer inside of it.
“Is there anything that helps?” She could get him something from Eikos or have it brought in.
“Music. It’s why I keep it so loud most of the time. Helps drown out other thoughts. People can’t multitask, just split focus. I can think about two things, or more, at the same time. Makes it hard not to always be thinking, but if the music is loud enough, then I can focus most of my mind on the songs while I work. Doesn’t help as much when I’m trying to sleep.”
Quinn answered methodically. Falling back into his mechanical voice. She discovered through further probing that she could inadvertently put him into the headspace he had been when he’d been somewhat incarcerated and his handlers were checking on his “health.” Automated responses explaining what details they wanted to know.
“Is there anything else you enjoy?” Keeping the focus across the table didn’t feel wise, but her curiosity drove her forward.
“Working? I enjoy making things… or I did.” He wore a frown, as if it were permanently implanted as well. “I guess just music otherwise.”
“You need a new hobby then,” Kira suggested. “What about painting? Or drawing?”
“Hobby?” He looked up at her. The ring of light inside of his eyes seemed to flash brighter for a moment. She’d seen it before, when he worked.
Is he looking for an answer? She thought to herself.
“Yes.” Drawing her knife down, it screeched on the plate and she readjusted her angle, catching an annoyed look Quinn cast in her direction.
“Harm,” he muttered. “Doing something just because you enjoy it… Maybe you are right, I could try a hobby.”
“You’ll find most of the crew have them. Max’s is getting into others’ personal business,” she joked lightly, giving him a smile that quickly flatlined. “He means well, of course,” she spat out quickly. Her last joke hadn’t been taken well, and the rush gave her away. She worried about this one as well.
The quizzical look she received and accompanying silence made her feel guilty. Her face blossomed red across her cheeks. Attempting to move along quickly, she asked, “Is there anything you want to know? About the crew or the ship?
“Know about you or the ship? You mean, besides, what’s in Toke’s records?” The man confirmed that he had read up on all of them. That he’d sliced into Toke’s computer network and took what information he wanted was no surprise. Thus far, as it related to anything scientific, there seemed to be nothing Quinn couldn’t do. It was people that were far too much for him to handle. “I... huh... never thought about that. It was discouraged.”
“This isn’t-” she was about to say Paradigm, but the reminder might have been too much for the man. Choosing her words carefully wasn’t a particular skill she was great at. “You are a person, Quinn, not some piece of property. Normal people can have a conversation and ask questions in return.”
“I’m a pretty far cry from normal,” he said with a snort. Closing his eyes, he let out a long breath. “Where are you from?”
Was that a joke? Maybe there was hope for him yet. She swallowed down the laugh that wanted to come up from deep within her at hearing him say something akin to normal.
“Preatoria I believe.” She wasn’t completely certain it was the major planet of what made up the Praetorian system, but her heritage was that, as far as she was aware. “But I grew up on Toke’s coattails. I never stayed in one place for long.” If she asked him in return, it might dredge up memories, so instead she’d ask, “What’s your favorite thing you’ve ever built?”
“Preatoria? A whole ‘nother world. I wanted to be from somewhere. One of the nicer researchers was from Ireland. I thought the way he talked sounded interesting. I copied it.” Reaching up, he scratched at his chin. “I guess Gary.”
He let out a low whistle, and a pocket on the front of his coat wiggled. A gecko popped out, or it had the shape of a gecko, but it appeared to be made of crystal with gigantic eyes the color of jet. The little thing shimmied its way out of his pocket, down his arm, and onto the table to explore.
Kira felt enormously giddy. Creatures in space were rare, leaning across the counter lowering herself a little to look at his creation. Her enthusiasm carried over into her speech. “Gary is adorable! What sort of gecko did you base him off of?”
