Upon Silver Devil: Chapter Four

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Dawn would be alright, she just got bored laying there alone and without a project to do.

Ivor nodded.

Silence dug the cookie out of her pocket and offered it to Ivor.

James smiled, amused. Hmm, he might need to make sure these two ate nutritious food as well. If they got addicted to sweets, Rigel would be mad at him.

Ivor looked at the cookie and tentatively took it, taking a small bite. Hmm, it wasn't that good. It was kinda stale.

He ate it anyway, oblivious to the fact Silence had licked it earlier.

Silence gestured that Ivor follow and would lead the way back to the kitchen where she and James had taken all the stuff out of the cupboards.

James followed along. "We have lots of great food options," he told Ivor, "you're gonna have lots of fun." He hoped Rigel wouldn't be annoyed with the mess.

"Are you really.. . a... a robot?" Ivor asked James. He was really curious and bewildered by the guy, he couldn't quite believe he was a machine, it didn't seem quite right.

"Yep, one hundred percent genuine robot," James said. "They do a really good job making us look organic, but there's no blood or anything." He considered, then clicked open the maintenance panel on his left arm so Ivor could see the data ports, power button, diagnostic lights, and coiled up data cable inside. "See? Roboty stuff." He grinned.

Ivor looked spooked. "but.. w.. why?"

Silence peered at the panel and reached out to poke at the lights.

James let Silence poke at his arm. One light labeled shone green, while another green light labeled blinked steadily. "Why am I a robot?" James asked, "Because the people who made me wanted to make a robot, I guess. Robots are useful, they can work hard and don't get tired the same way organics do."
He looked at the lights Silence poked, "The one that isn't blinking is the one that means I'm currently powered on. The one that's blinking tells whether my brain is working really hard or not," he explained helpfully.

"but you can't see it if the panel is closed." Ivor was just as bewildered as Silence, though less inclined to touch James.

Silence, clearly had never been taught about boundaries because now she looked up at James' face and touched his cheek.

"I.. d... don't think you should be doing that." Ivor protested.

She ignored him.

"The lights are only there for when you need to diagnose what's wrong with your android," James said. "The rest of the time, the android can just tell you what condition they're in, and you don't need the lights at all." He let Silence touch him, he'd never had a strong sense of personal space like his brothers did. "Weird how much like organics we feel, huh?"

Silence stared into his face, then nodded but she didn't move away.

"bu.. but you act.. like a real person..." Ivor protested. He laughed and made jokes and everyone treated him like another member of the crew? wth?

"Yeah, we're designed to learn pretty much the same way organics do, so we learn to be just like them. Makes us seem more normal and approachable or something," James said to Ivor. He looked at Silence, okay, this was a tiny bit odd. "Hi?"

Ivor touched Silence's arm and pulled her away, shaking his head. "She... she doesn't understand about personal space..." He explained, looking a little flustered.

James nodded sagely. "Fair enough. Just kinda takes you by surprise, you know?" He looked around the kitchen, "Okay, you guys should try to find something good to eat in here. Eggs are very nutritious, I think I know how to scramble them..."

Ivor nodded. "Alright..." Yeah he had no idea how to cook anything, not like he'd ever gotten a chance to learn.

Silence peered at the eggs.

James looked around and found a frying pan, which he set on the stove before turning on the heat. "So uh, first you heat up the pan I think? It's gotta be pretty hot, I'm guessing. Then you gotta crack the eggs in it." He got a couple eggs from the carton, cracked one on the side of the pan, and realized he needed his other hand to pull the shell open. "Crap! How do organics do this?"
He set the other eggs he'd picked up down, pulled the first egg apart, and watched it hiss and bubble into the pan.
"Okay, I guess that's right. This cooking is hard work, isn't it?" He asked the shifters. "Where's Rigel when you need him?"

Ivor watched all this, looking a bit uncertain. James really didn't know what he was doing did he?

Silence backed away a bit, as if convinced somehow this would explode.

James cracked a couple more eggs into the pan, and watched them sizzle violently. "It's gonna be okay! Can one of you stick some bread in the toaster? I think these eggs are done soon." He realized suddenly that he didn't have a spatula, and hurried to try and find it before the eggs burned.

Ivor and Silence exchanged bewildered looks.

"What... is a toaster?" Ivor asked.

"It's the box with the slots in the top. You put the bread in the slots and push the lever down, and it pops up again when it's ready," James explained. He found the spatula and hurried to scrape at the eggs, which had stuck to the pan.

(since Rigel is flying, he can't come help.)

Dawn slowly came out of her room, using the wall for support. She frowned at the commotion from the kitchen "What are you up to in here?" 'Supposed' to be up or not, she was concerned.

Ivor looked more confused than ever, picking up a slice of bread and looking around desperately for a box with a slot in it.
He winced when Dawn spoke up, looking over at her guiltily. "f... food.." He mumbled, he looked like he expected to be yelled at.

Silence tilted her head at Dawn, staring at her.

James yelped when he saw Dawn, and stopped scraping at the eggs to look at her. "Oh hey Dawn! You're supposed to be in bed! I'm making these guys breakfast. Or trying to, anyway."

Dawn shook her head a little and looked to James before making her way in the kitchen and pulling out the toaster from where it rested against the wall "Toast? James, you should turn the heat down on those eggs, it doesn't need to be high, that'll burn them."

Ivor hesitantly offered the bread to Dawn, she seemed to know what she was doing.

"Darn, wish you'd told me that two minutes ago," James said, turning down the heat and scraping forlornly at the pan full of slightly burnt and very dry eggs. "You're supposed to be in bed though! Go back to bed."

Dawn took the bread, showing him how to put it in and press the button so it would cook "You were making a lot of noise and I got curious." She said then moved to sit down. "The bread will be hot when it pops up from the toaster." She warned gently then looked to the cabinets "You will need plates and a butter knife to spread butter on it if you want, or jelly." She said then looked to Silence, 'showing' her what she meant in her mind.