Upon Silver Devil: Chapter Three

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[I can't say i've ever seen him drunk actually. I haven't seen him in nearly ten years.] Hmm that'd be interesting. [He got tall.] He smiled oddly, trying to make light of what was clearly pretty awkward and difficult.

James’ room was weirdly familiar looking, Asher found. Back on the space station they had made use of a few rooms on the maintenance deck, which they had furnished with discarded couches, and shelves for tools to repair themselves. James had done the same here, setting up a little shelf unit and a couch, with various android necessities nearby for any emergency repairs. He’d put a few books on the shelf, including a Seven Series Owner’s Manual, and a copy of “I, Robot” by Isaac Asimov, that appeared to have been thrown across the room a few times.
Asher smiled at the sight of those books; he remembered both of them well, and was glad to see that they hadn’t been lost during his brother’s travels. “Nice place. Where’d you find the couch?” he asked, sitting down.

“Believe it or not, I bought it,” James said, flopping down next to his brother. “I never bought much back on the station, but I figured with the allowance I’d saved up and how homesick I was, I might as well get myself something nice and homey.” He patted it fondly, “Looks just like the one you guys gifted me the day I arrived.”

Asher smiled fondly. “How are you settling in here, by the way?”

James shrugged. “They’re nice, mostly. I never expected to care about an owner, but Acus isn’t so bad.” He lowered his gaze, “Mostly.”

“Acus ordered you to shut up, and now you’re scared of what he’ll ask next,” Asher guessed.

James nodded. “I hate the waiting,” he said, “I know he’ll order me to do something again, many times, no doubt. But I don’t have any idea what he’ll order me to do, and that terrifies me.”

“I felt the same way when Starr first bought me,” Asher admitted. “I’d gotten used to having personal freedom, since I had no orders except to return to Mars. I knew Starr already, knew she was kind and sensible, and had personal reasons to not want to give me orders, but I know the stories, and I was scared too.” He smiled softly, “I needn’t have feared. She’s been nothing but kind to me, and I trust her completely.
“Your owner doesn’t sound like a bad guy, but it might be good to make sure you’re not under his control anyway. Like I mentioned earlier, Mourn can free you of your Laws. Alternately, I could work with Starr to get your papers transferred to her, if you didn’t feel ready to handle life without the Three Laws. You’d be safe with her as your owner, and I’m sure she’d even let you stay with the Silver Devil if you liked.”

James frowned. “So why are you so worried about the dangers of being without the Laws?” he asked suddenly.

The older android sighed, looking away. He thought for a bit, not sure whether to explain. But of course, he had promised James honesty, so eventually he replied, “A few months ago, we were attacked by the Family. They boarded Vestia and came after all of us. We knew they would do unspeakable things to us when they caught us, so we fought desperately. I took a gun, and I shot people. Not to incapacitate, to kill.” Asher lowered his head.
“It got worse. They caught us all, brought us in. Their least favorites, they tortured mercilessly, in horrific ways I don’t care to elaborate upon. They approached the rest of us with deals, offering us better treatment in exchange for our service. I thought I might earn their trust that way, and get a way out for us. They asked me to prove my loyalty.”

James waited, afraid to hear what Asher had done.

“They had a gun of some sort, built to cause intense pain. It had six shots in it, and they said the more I used, the better things would be for me. They said I would be using it on Kay.” Asher tried to remain detached as he spoke. Yes, the memory hurt, but he wasn’t looking for pity. He was warning James just how dangerous freedom was, and that was all that mattered. “I accepted the offer, and I used all the shots.”

“You did that to Kay?” James whispered. Kay and Asher’s reaction to Mourn’s comment about scary efficiency made a lot more sense now.

“I thought it was the only way we could escape,” Asher said softly. “I knew it would be the cruellest thing I’d ever done, and it was.” The fear, the pain, the complete confusion in Kay’s eyes flashed through his mind once again, just as painful as always. “I don’t want you to ever do that to yourself.”

James looked at him in horror. He’d never thought that his brother could be frightening; this was Asher! He was kind, and goofy, and he felt sad about the fact that someone had hurt themselves while punching him. He was nice to a fault!
...He was also practical, did his duty no matter how much it sucked, and cared so much about the safety of others. Exactly the sort of person who would shoot his boyfriend to protect everyone.

Asher waited quietly, unsure how James would respond to this.

James looked at him for a few seconds longer, then tackled him with a desperate hug. “Asher,” he said softly, “I know it hurts, and I know you never want me to experience what you’ve been through. But if my friends and I are ever in a situation like that, I want to be able to try to make the right choice myself, not have it decided for me by some stupid Laws that don't even work right, half the time. I know I might make a choice that will break me someday, but I need the chance to try and do the right thing, just like you tried. I’m going to ask Mourn to fix me.”

The older android sighed wearily, then smiled. “I hate the idea of you experiencing that guilt. But I guess you’re no stranger to pain, and you should at least be able to pick it for yourself.”

“Glad you understand,” James said, finally letting go of his brother.

“Emma would be proud of you, you know,” Asher told him. “You’ve tried so hard to be yourself, even when everyone was trying to make you conform, and you look out for your friends as well. I wish she could see you now.”

James smiled sadly. “She’d be proud of you too. Look at you, all brave and grown up, and still a good guy after everything you’ve been through.” He joked weakly, “At least you probably haven’t gotten over your fear of water yet.”

“Hmm,” said Asher innocently.

The younger android looked at his brother for a long moment, then gave a delighted laugh. “Hope you’re keeping your skin in better repair these days, if you’re gonna start showering again. I’d hate to have to carry on Emma’s tradition for her.”

Asher winced, glancing at the Owner’s Manual on the shelf. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“I would!” James looked pleased. “I’ll read you all sixty pages of warnings and disclaimers, just like she used to when one of us would almost self destruct. Like you said, she’d be proud of me. I’m so responsible these days.”

“Please, no!”

“‘Warning: unit is not designed for exposure to water. Please ensure that any skin damage is repaired before permitting your Seven Series android to access water’...”

“Nooo! Not the Owner’s Manual!”

The conversation rambled pleasantly, and they talked way too long, about way too many things, just relieved to finally speak to each other honestly. There were still secrets of course, but James was okay with that. At least he finally really knew that his brother was all right, and there was finally hope that he could be free.

Kay nodded to Rigel, it made sense.

[If you are willing to do so, you'd be welcome on board. Vestia is honestly very nice, as are most of the crew. Frustrating and moronic at times, but not out and out bad people.] well, not fully terrible people at least. Terrible acts in your past didn't mean you were irredeemable. [Once you're done we could drop you back to your ship i'm sure. Or wherever you wanted to go.]

Rigel smiled a little at that "I stay where Dawn stays. I have to try to keep her safe out here.She's too soft hearted at times." He said then sighed and looked around the ship "Not sure what Acus will say about all of this."

[Thats the captain right?] Kay asked. [Perhaps we should speak to him about it at some point. We would need to speak to our crew and the ship herself about the idea as well. But i'm sure we can come up with a solution.] He smiled softly. [Dawn sounds like a wonderful person. From what James said, she saved my brother.]

Rigel smiled and nodded. "She likes to save people, that is part of what scares me. It would be easy for her to get hurt "

Kay nodded. [Sadly you're right. Good people in this universe seldom last long. ] He shook his head sadly. [She'll be alright though, she has two ex soldiers looking after her right now. And honestly, she seems to have a pretty good handle on things. She got Stellan to put his gun down, and my brother is hardly renowned for his restraint.] He looked like he was impressed. Either 10 years had mellowed his brother, or Dawn was scarier than she looked.

"Hey, Pandorans can be scary when we want to be. If she wanted to, she could stop him being able to breathe." He said then shrugged

Kay nodded. [Which is good news for her at least. If he wanted to hurt anyone here though he would have. He and I may not get along and he may be extremely angry and bitter but I don't honestly believe he's a terrible person. Maybe he's finally learnt a little restraint. That would be nice. As for her, it's often the ones who seem the most helpless who turn out the most terrifying.]

Rigel smiled softly "She is a wonderful child. I cannt imagine her as terrifying though."

Kay smiled. [terrifying in the best of ways i'm sure.]

Rigel laughed then shrugged a little. "I was a bit surprised that she handled Esk like she did, but glad he chose to listen to her."

Kay nodded. [As am I. I'd sooner not have him threatening to shoot me again. It's never particularly fun.]

"No, being threatened is never fun." Rigel agreed and shook his head.

[I hope he doesn't find Matt.] Kay exhaled deeply and looked back the way he'd come wearily.

"Want to go check on him?" Rigel asked curiously

[No doubt he's already blind drunk. ] He shook his head. [Do you trust your niece to be able to restrain my brother?]

Rigel frowned then shrugged "I don't know. She seeemed to be able to in here."

Kay nodded. [Stellan hates Matt substantially less than he hates me. If Dawn can stop him shooting me, I have faith she can keep him safe too.] He hoped she could anyway. Matt could defend himself surely though right?

Rigel nodded then shrugged again. "Right, we can hope anyway. You seem pretty normal to me, except for this werewolf thing."

Kay flinched. [Normal is a relative term. My family is anything but normal i'm afraid. As you may have noticed.]

"Who's family is normal?" Rigel countered. "What I mean is you don't seem crazed, that's one of the signs right?"

Tala could smell the visitors easily enough, and at first she ignored them, because she could also smell her crewmates nearby. Gradually though, she began to detect something sickly in the air, a sour smell like something rotting, underneath the more normal stench of a bizarre hybrid of some sort. She headed out to see what was producing that horrible smell, and whether it was contagious. If it was, she was going to need to get it off her ship in a hurry, possibly space it in order to protect the station.

Kay nodded. [Usually. It's been 14 years and so far my sanity seems mostly intact. My father was some manner of shape shifter, it seems to have given me a degree of resistance to the more devastating symptoms. Any madness is temporary and I lock myself away. It's worked well all this time, and Asher has strict instructions to shoot me in the head should I ever get out. He'll do it, I know he will, and that's reassuring in a really screwed up sort of way.] He shrugged. It still felt weird talking about this with someone, particularly a stranger.

Tala stepped into the room, sniffing the air. She looked at Kay. "You are sick," she said, "You are a possible hazard to my crew."

Kay's eyes widened as the minotaur stepped into the room and he raised his hands to show he was no threat.
[I have no intention of hurting or infecting anyone] He wrote.

Tala squinted at the paper. "I cannot read. Why do you not speak?"

Oh.. couldn't read? That was going to be awkward.
He pointed to his own head, then to her hoping she'd understand the gesture.