Chapter 3

Translated by SkyTL Edited by SkyTL

Chapter 3: Migrant ship Astoria

From the moment I woke up, it took me several days to go through the physical examination and prepare myself. Fortunately, despite the fact that I had skipped many procedures and escaped into a cryo-sleep pod, I had not suffered any serious damage to my body or mind.

In the meantime, the medical container had been detached from our starship Eos and delivered to the immigrant ship Astoria.

And now I’m standing in front of the door of that medical container.

“We’ve received a transmission from Astoria.”

As Riza said, the communication line outside the container, that is, to Astoria, was opened.

An unfamiliar voice comes from a speaker attached to the door.

“Welcome to Astoria, human Lyle, and R. Elizabeth. I am R. Ira, the management system of this ship. I welcome you all.”

On the other side was Astoria’s management system.

As I had imagined from her name, Ira also seemed to be a female-type robot. Compared to Riza, her voice coming from the speakers was more clerical and mature. Apparently, the Astoria captain, who was probably dead by now, was a much more decent person than Captain Baker, who had taught Riza to speak in a strange way.

“I’m Lyle Baxter. Nice to meet you, Ira. Thank you for having me.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lyle. Do you have any requests for your life here?”

“We would like your full cooperation in the repair of our ship and the investigation of your ship. Is there anything I should be aware of before I come aboard?”

“Yes, there are currently twenty-two simulants living in Astoria in addition to myself. Two of them will be under Lyle’s care. They will follow you according to the three principles, but it would be helpful if you could treat them as human equivalents to the extent possible.”

“The simulants are artificial humans manufactured by Ira. I will take care of it.”

I couldn’t tell which way Ira was looking, so for now I gave a small nod toward the ceiling.

It seems that the artificial human she manufactured, or rather the robot with biological parts, is called a “simulant”. I’ll keep that in mind.

Anyway, what is a simulant? Did Ira give it that name? It seemed like a very bad name for a robot.

“Please open the container and proceed. The simulants would like to welcome Lyle.”

“I understand, Ira.”

I replied, and then I looked at Riza. She nodded silently and took a half-step toward me.

She is supposed to use this childlike humanoid body to go with me to Astoria. This child-like body is a reflection of the late Captain Baker’s hobby to the fullest, but its performance is well known. If she wanted to — and of course, if the three principles allowed it — she could overwhelm me in the blink of an eye, even with ten men.

She is now my most trusted colleague, a good friend, a wonderful teacher, a strong bodyguard, and an extremely obedient and talented servant.

I made sure Riza was by my side and reached for the door.

The door opens easily with just a light touch from me.

When I exited the medical container, I was no longer in the familiar facilities of Eos, but in Astoria, connected by a pure white corridor.

According to prior information, the power situation in Astoria seemed to be quite tight, but the corridors were generally bright. In this day and age, the order of electricity use is different from when humans were crawling around the earth. This is no time to skimp on a little lighting.

I walked down the aisle for about two minutes.

Just as I was beginning to think that it would be tiring to walk such a long distance with a body that had just woken up a few days ago, Riza and I came out into a slightly open hall.

The hall was domed, with a simple design of the gray floor and pale cream walls.

I don’t like things to be too complicated, so I rather like the simplicity of this area.

As I stepped into the hall, I saw two girls standing there with rather tense expressions on their faces.

Shockwave.

It was sudden, but I managed to keep my composure as I suppressed my violent heartbeat and swallowed my saliva.

Thanks to the pictures Riza had shown me beforehand. I managed not to make the mistake of screaming first.

“It’s an honor to meet you. My name is Lyle Baxter, and I am a Type 2 Operations Engineer aboard the space research vessel Eos. This is Riza, from the Eos management system.”

The title I gave myself, “Type 2 Technician,” meant that I was the second-tier of the Eos crew, so to speak.

The crew of the Eos is divided into two groups, the first group of technicians and the second group of technicians.

Even though cryosleep is a well-established technology, it still causes some damage to the human body, and its safety is greatly affected by the human body’s ability to repair itself, especially its age. In other words, it is desirable for the crew to be as young as possible; but on the other hand, it is also desirable for them to be more experienced in terms of ability.

Therefore, we have a system where young technicians are brought on board as apprentices and trained during the mission, and in essence, I am that apprentice technician.

I said my slightly pathetic title a little too loudly, smiled at the girls, and asked.

“How about you?”

“Welcome, Lyle. I’m Charlotte of Simulant. It’s a great honor to meet a real human being. We will follow you according to three principles… I’m the newest Simulant on the ship, but I’m sure I can be of great help to you. It’s true.”

The petite girl introduced herself with a rather nervous look on her face, then gave a beaming smile.

She looked a little younger than me. The Simulant, whose name was Charlotte, was a vivacious, red-haired girl who was more cute than beautiful.

She wore a light-colored blazer, a dark blue skirt, and white sneakers. She did not look like a robot or a navigator. She was dressed as if she were a normal human student. And her eyes were full of curiosity towards me.

But this seemingly emotional girl was also an artificial robot, and she was probably just trying to put me in a good mood.

Well, I don’t feel like getting angry when a robot gives me a fake smile.

“Hello, Charlotte. It’s nice to meet you.”

I said, smiling at Charlotte.

I then turned away from Charlotte and looked at the other girl. The girl looked a little stiff under my gaze, but finally opened her mouth when Charlotte poked her in the side with her elbow.

“Lacey.”

The girl named Lacey greeted me with just that one word, plain, and simple.

She was a beautiful girl with silvery hair that gave her a somewhat fragile impression, and she was wearing the same clothes as Charlotte. In contrast to her partner, this one gave me the impression of being clerical, and lacking in sociability, but if she was really a robot too, this was probably just another way to get me in a good mood.

—Contrary to popular perception, modern robots have some degree of individuality.

This is mainly due to the fact that the standard of the first principle, “do no harm to humans,” which is the most important of the three principles, varies from individual to individual. It is natural to recognize that causing physical damage to humans is almost totally prohibited, but we have much discretion when it comes to mental damage.

Of course, having said that, the robots’ personalities are still restricted to some extent. Riza, the robot closest to me, has a unique appearance due to the perverted Captain Baker, but her personality is not so outlandish.

In that sense, Lacey looks like a robot, but she is actually not very robotic. This is because being as unsocial as she needs to be, is not very beneficial when interacting with humans.

“Nice to meet you, Lacey. You’re, um… How do you say… You’re a Simulant too, aren’t you?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Lacey nodded blankly in response to my question.

I wasn’t sure if she understood the meaning of my question. It is said that robotics has the technology to psychologically analyze the thoughts and actions of robots, but unfortunately, I have not mastered such technology.

There are so many questions I want to ask her, but should I ask them here and now?

I thought for a moment, then shook my head and decided to end the conversation right there. I’ll think about her later.

“…Yes, I see. Well, I look forward to working with you, Lacey.”

“Yes.”

Lacey nodded humbly.

Having shelved the issue for now, I looked around at the two of them and urged them to continue.

“So, we’re going staying here while I report back to Earth and repair the aircraft. Would you guys be willing to show me around?”

“Yeah, okay, sure. I’ll show you around.”

Charlotte gives me a gut pose. It’s a caricature of a gesture, but there’s a subtle embarrassed smile on her face. It’s a fine piece of work.

Riza thought it was pretty good, but more than that, she murmured in her mind that it was a very blunt robot. This is a robot made by a robot, so it doesn’t know what’s going on in the world.

And this one…. I glanced at Lacey and sighed.

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