Memesis

Everyone knows the truth, but nobody really says anything about it. Honestly, I think most people like the Captain’s wife.

When he brought her on board, nobody knew about it. He kept her secret, even from the officers. In this day and age, it wasn’t the sort of thing people talked about.

I mean, if you had a sex android, you left it in the closet and brought it out when you were horny. After you were done, you cleaned up and put it back. You didn’t make conversation with it. They could carry on conversation to a degree, sure, but they weren’t smart. They weren’t people. More like trained animals, as creepy as that analogy sounds to some people. Then again, some peoples’ sexbots do look like animals…

The Captain was incurably romantic. That’s what made him such a good commander. But honestly, he took it too far this time. He fell in love – actually fell in love – with a biomechanoid. I think we all knew, after we found out about her, that he’d never have gone with alternatives like instinct locking or even an immersive VR suit. He was old-fashioned.

After awhile, he realized what he’d got himself into. I think it was then that we really found out what he was up to. He started slaving his private Space on the ship’s computer into his new toy’s brain, giving her higher computing capacity. He started learning about AI and mind emulation and all sorts of things. He intended to really make her a woman, like some kind of female Pinocchio.

This would all be harmless if it hadn’t actually worked. I mean, she’s nice, if ditzy. She doesn’t show real empathy or understand peoples’ feelings – I think. It’s hard to tell. Sometimes she seems incredibly perceptive, but most of the time it’s like talking to an airhead. It’s eerie is what it is. We know she still isn’t a real human being, or even the mental equivalent of one. But was his dedication enough to give her a soul?