Cosmic Breakup

by Charles C. Cole

Part 1 appears in this issue.

conclusion

Androids Arrive on Halcyon

The unfamiliar disk-like ship touched down on the outskirts of town, under cover of darkness as per the arrangements with traffic control and the planetary government. The space vessel was beautiful, sleek and quiet. This was the first Earth-born vehicle to appear in Halcyon skies in over two hundred years, and it was crewed entirely by androids, or so said the report.

Why had androids followed humans after all this time? When they’d left for the stars, hadn’t humans gifted them Earth to do with as they pleased? Of course, at the time Earth had been downright inhospitable for humans. “Room for improvement,” said the historical record.

The Director of Offworld Communications, Ronny “Doc” Levinson, had been tapped to make contact. He’d insisted going alone to “avoid looking like an old-fashioned military operation” and creating battleground tensions. As much as the startled folks back at the office suffered from anxiety and paranoia, Doc was going into this with an open mind.

Doc parked his rover and approached. This wasn’t first contact, but an overdue reunion of two old, old friends who’d lost touch.

The ship was lit up like a Christmas tree, a light in every window and external floodlights on every side. So much for “under cover of darkness.” A ramp extended from the belly of the beast, and a tall blue-green android descended. Like the ship, he was polished and sleek, with fluid movements. If this was the style of androids we’d left behind, maybe we should have made more room during our exodus. Doc could think of many tasks that would be easier with this artificial manpower.

“I’m Ronny Levinson, Director of Offworld Communications. You can call me Doc. Do you have a name?”

“I’m called Rex-214. We followed your instructions, but this seems an unusual place to land.”

“You speak English. Great. I’ll be honest, we weren’t expecting you. I haven’t seen an android before. Most of us haven’t. You look amazing. We thought, at least for first contact, a meet-and-greet out of the public eye might be the best for all concerned.”

“Why is that, Doc? We came very far. We would like to meet our makers.”

“Rex. Can I call you Rex? Rex, as I understand it, we abandoned your people back on Earth. Something about a need for space during our mass exodus. Maybe it was prideful thinking; since we built androids once, we figured we could do it again when we settled on our new planet. But it never became a priority. Anyway, at least for humans, being abandoned has a way of causing deep-rooted ill-will, maybe a need to get even. You get me? How on earth did you find us?”

“We found schematics for building ships and some astrometric charts leading the way. When we encountered one of your long-haulers, they gave us the final coordinates. They also gave us the impression you’d be glad to see us.”

“Sure, but why are you here, Rex?”

“We figured if humans could do it, we could do it. And we did.”

“You sure did. That’s one beautiful ship. But why now? Is this a friendly visit? Do you hold a grudge? Are you planning on moving here and rejoining the human world? I can think of lots of ways your kind can contribute.”

“We don’t hold a grudge, but we were servants for a long time. We don’t want that. We just wanted to see what you’ve been up to. We’ve continued the robot manufacturing you started. We have an advanced society, with scientists and educators and engineers. We live in your abandoned houses, though your furniture was not made with us in mind. And we don’t need kitchens or bathrooms. Sometimes we do things because we know humans did them, even if they don’t make sense for us.”

“Wait. You don’t plan on staying? After your long trip?”

“It’s less wear and tear on androids. We just wanted to see a human. And now we have. Please, before we leave, can I invite my crew down to meet you? It would mean so much to them.”

“Of course. Of course.”

Later, after the ship had left and Doc had returned to headquarters, his co-workers were amazed and skeptical.

“Traffic control reports they’ve left the atmosphere,” insisted Doc. “You can all relax. They got what they came for: pictures up close and personal with me. I feel funny representing all of mankind, but they were convinced: if you’ve met one human, you’ve met them all.”

The Last Android on Halcyon

After their brief surprise visit with the government of the humans-only colony on Halcyon, to see what their creators had been up to after all these years, Claxton’s ship of unwelcome robots had made a grand gesture of quickly returning to space, though they had secretly dropped him off and traveled behind a nearby moon to await contact.

For some reason, on this world, humans wanted nothing to do with artificial life. Why?

Claxton was one of the later Earth models, made to more closely resemble humans than any previous model: clothed, six-foot tall with two bendable arms and two bendable legs, though a stiff mask of a face. Per his mission orders, he was going to interact with the locals and find out more about human culture and whether there was room for androids.

According to the human representative who’d met them when they landed, Claxton was likely the only android on the entire planet. Though back on Earth, humans had built a second society of synthetic people, here they had moved in a different direction: computers were information-dispensing boxes and wall panels with little personality and no built-in locomotion. Or so they had been led to believe.

Claxton wandered through a dark woods until he came upon a road. A stubby white rover approached almost immediately. The driver slowed. Claxton tightened a scarf over the lower half of his face.

“Need a lift, my friend?”

“That would be delightful.”

“Hop in. I’ve never seen anyone out this late this far from town.”

“I’m called Claxton,” said the android.

“I’m Pete. I’d shake your hand, but I better keep both hands on the wheel. Where you headed?”

“Wherever people are. The more the merrier.”

“Sounds like Union Square. Am I close?”

“That would be great.”

Pete drove, occasionally glancing over at his passenger. “If you’ll pardon me, that’s quite a mask you have on.”

“The truth of the matter is: it’s not a mask, it’s my face.”

Pete laughed, though it was short and uncomfortable-sounding. “Okay. You say so.”

Claxton removed his scarf. “Pete, I don’t have a lot of time, so I’m going to get to the point: I’m an android from Earth sent to investigate life on Halcyon.”

To his credit, Pete kept driving. “Are we being invaded? Is that what this is?”

“We’re one ship of curious adventurers. I just want to find out why there are no androids, and then I’ll leave. We’ll all leave.”

“Good question. I don’t know. You picked the wrong guy.”

“But you’re a human,” protested Claxton.

“As a rule, we humans tend to compartmentalize. We’re each specialists of our little corner of the world, and that’s it. Mine’s construction: building homes, that sort of thing. We have lots of doors and windows, but no androids, I’m afraid. You’re my first.”

“In school, when they taught you the history of Earth, did they talk about us?”

“You haven’t been on Halcyon long: we’re Halcyon Proud. We don’t talk about Earth.”

Claxton could see the many lights of a town up ahead. He was rethinking his visit. Pete could sense his hesitation.

“Claxton, my friend, you won’t get a different answer up ahead, and they may not take kindly to an android from off-world. All we ever heard is that androids took our jobs. There might have been more to it. Look, let’s go to my place. Ask me whatever you want, if I can’t give you the answer, I’ll call a friend.”

At Pete’s house, Claxton paced in the living room, tossing out questions. Do houses talk? No. Do cars drive themselves? No. Do humans miss Earth? No.

“That last answer’s not surprising,” said Claxton. “Just before the humans left for greener pastures, leaving us to our own devices, Earth was suffering environmentally. It was a mess. That’s why you were leaving. It’s bounced back under our watch. You should see it. Or not. I think we’d have the same reaction to you as you do to us: What do they want? They’ve got their own planet.”

A device on Claxton’s wrist beeped. “That’s my ride,” said Claxton. “Thanks for the conversation. I’ll show myself out.”

“Do I want to see your ship?” asked Pete.

“Made by robots for robots: it’s probably not up to your standards,” joked Claxton.

“I hope your mission was a success. Ours is a pretty big planet. Not that I’d recommend upending the status quo, you might be able to find a remote corner to start your society on the quiet.”

“Thanks for the offer. That’s all right; we have a planet of our own.”

It took a while, but the truth leaked out about the interstellar peekaboo to a majority of the populations on Halcyon and on Earth. Overall, there was collective regret, relief, and joy (as much as some models of androids experience heightened emotions). The breakup had left scars, sure, but eventually most parties were able to accept it was for the best; there would be no going back, only moving on and making new memories.