A/N: I just had one thought after watching the movie. "But what about Arthur?"
[Written on and off between 1-29-19 to 5-11-19]
"Up and Around"
At the sound of nearby footsteps, Arthur slipped out of standby mode, fully alert and ready to serve the instant Aurora entered the bar lounge. On her heels was Jim, looking somewhat deflated. Upon glancing behind her, annoyance briefly crossed her features.
Warmth lit up her gaze as she saw Arthur, quickly taking a seat at the bar, smiling at him.
"What can I get for you?" he asked, his hands neatly folded before him.
"Screwdriver, please." While Arthur proceeded to gather the necessary components, Jim silently sat down beside Aurora, one finger tapping the bar top nervously.
A moment passed before Aurora lightly sighed, turning towards Jim. "Look, I'm not angry. I just wish you could see my point of view on the matter." She took the drink when Arthur set it in front of her, nodding in thanks. "Even before I decided to make this voyage, kids were never high on my list of priorities.
"I just…" Aurora struggled to find words. "I don't want to condemn anyone else to this, Jim. Much less our own child."
The impact of her statement broke over Jim, his mouth opening slightly before closing. Though Aurora had forgiven him for waking her up, it was still a sensitive topic the pair didn't often discuss.
"I never thought of it that way."
Silence fell between them, both looking tense and uncomfortable.
Arthur took it upon himself to break the loaded tension in the air, sliding a shot of whiskey down the bar. Jim caught it in the nick of time, grinning. "Reading my mind again?"
"Merely anticipating your needs," Arthur replied, falling into the usual habit of polishing glasses.
Aurora chuckled. "Isn't that the same thing?"
"Right?" Jim said, the couple smiling at each other.
Behind the bar, one corner of Arthur's mouth rose.
Another crisis averted.
Sometime later…
"I have a surprise for you, Arthur," Jim announced one day with a smile.
Arthur tilted his head with interest. They'd been a great many surprises already during the voyage. Hibernation pod failures, near catastrophic ship failure. What else could possibly go wrong?
"I'll be right back." Jim disappeared around the corner, shortly reappearing with Aurora, who was helping him push a metal cart covered in a white tarp.
"Hello, Aurora." As always, she held herself together with a grace not seen in many humans. Even in a situation that would have left many in pieces, Aurora had made the best of her circumstances. Wallowing in self-pity seemed beyond her.
She beamed at him, as pleased as always to see Arthur. "You're going to like this," she promised.
"Will I?"
Jim grabbed one side of the tarp while Aurora grabbed the other. In one smooth motion, they pulled it off, unveiling a pair of metal legs. "All these years stuck behind that bar. We thought it was time for a change."
For a long time, Arthur could do nothing but stare. The emotions he'd been programmed with were limited, his function simple, but something like warmth rose within his chest.
Arthur blinked, his voice low as he said, "For me?"
"That's right," Jim confirmed. "If you trust me enough to work on you, that is."
"Of course." Neither of them had ever given any indication of wanting to hurt him. Aurora had even kindly stitched up his head after he'd injured himself during the ship-wide glitches.
Jim lightly elbowed Aurora, the pair shared a knowing look. Moving behind the bar, Jim knelt down next to him. He reached into the delicate mechanisms below Arthur that allowed him to move. "Okay, buddy, this might take a while, but I promise to have you running around before you know it."
One sharp pull and everything went dark.
"Arthur, can you hear me?"
He opened his eyes, internal systems recalibrating, his vision slow to focus. Lines of new codes downloaded and installed themselves within a few seconds. Arthur was lying on his back, a smooth white ceiling above him.
"Here," Aurora said, holding out her hand above him. "Let's see if all of Jim's tinkering worked."
He gently took it, sitting up, the sight of what lay below his waist stopping him short. Though of a simple design, the metal constructs were thick and sturdy, ballpoint joints in the area of his knees.
Arthur bent them, slowly rising to his new feet. He stumbled at first, Aurora's other hand gripping his elbow, holding him up. "You okay?"
"I believe so." He was standing a few inches higher than her, trying to get used to the new vantage point. "Where's Jim?"
"He's getting a last-minute adjustment." Arthur took a careful step forward, managing to keep his equilibrium this time. He glanced behind him, realizing he was still in the lounge area, but finally free of the counter.
Arthur chuckled underneath his breath in disbelief.
"What?" Aurora inquired.
"They built me behind the bar. This is my first time seeing how the other half lives."
Aurora smiled, patting his shoulder. "I'm glad we could help. Oh, here he is." Over one of Jim's arms was a red pair of pants and a belt.
He handed them to Arthur, who took them curiously.
Jim cleared his throat. "I can't have you flashing my fiancée all the time, can I?" He winked, offering his help as Arthur struggled to put them on. Once the belt had been tightened, he stepped back, surveying Arthur's new look.
"There, now you're finally decent." Jim looked down at Arthur's rather large metal feet. "We'll tackle the issue of shoes later. How's the gait?"
Lightly smacking Jim's arm, Aurora laughed. "He's only just gotten onto his feet. Give him time, why don't you?"
"One of them is an inch higher than the other and the joints could use a bit more flexibility," Arthur reported. "However, for now, they will serve their purpose very well until modifications can be made."
Aurora and Jim shared a look. "See? I told you he could be a bit sassy."
"Well, don't be shy. I bet you're dying to see what lies beyond the bar."
The truth was Arthur already had the ship's layout in his databanks, mainly for the purpose of directing customers to other areas should they be in need of his guidance. He merely nodded and started forward, the concourse stretching for what seemed like miles once he left the lounge.
A new addition to the right had him curious. The tree was not something he expected to see in the modern setting.
"Your doing?" Arthur asked, glancing over his shoulder at Jim.
Jim shrugged, modest to a fault. "I thought it would brighten the place up."
"It does," Aurora said, pressing a kiss to Jim's cheek. "I never thanked you for it."
"You don't have to."
"But I do," Aurora persisted. "I know it was difficult constructing it. You worked for days."
Arthur left them to their discussion, taking a long lap around the entire ship.
When he came across the observatory lounge, he took a seat and remained there for hours, simply in taking everything. Inherently knowing one was traveling in space and actually seeing it in person was very different. His processors were nearly overwhelmed by the stark beauty of it.
He'd wondered before if Aurora and Jim could truly be happy living out their lives aboard the ship, but if anything, the outside scenery added to the charm of the experience. It was never the same view, always changing as the ship surged onward in its long voyage.
No, space wasn't the problem. It was the long stretch of time laid before them. Luckily, though they were without the company of their fellow passengers, the pair weren't completely alone.
He'd long suspected Jim would have cracked mentally had he been completely alone on the ship upon waking up. Even restricted as Arthur had been in the bar, Jim had visited him multiple times a day, confiding in the closest thing he had to companionship.
As an android, he lived to serve humanity. Arthur had been glad to have been of service but now found himself questioning his purpose. With autonomy inevitably came the option of free will, the concept utterly alien to him. For once in his life, Arthur didn't know how to proceed forward.
When a wave of heaviness overcame him, Arthur lost his train of thought. He struggled to process it, eventually recognizing the sensation as uncertainty, perhaps even fear. He'd only known patience, anticipation, and satisfaction before. New legs, new emotions…
Each came from one source: Jim.
The next morning, Arthur discovered Jim sitting alone in the cafeteria. He joined him at the table, Jim glancing up at him briefly before resuming eating his breakfast.
Arthur laced his hands together in front of him. "May I ask you a few questions?"
"Of course."
"You did more than simply grant me mobility. There are new subroutines in my programming that weren't there before." He'd seen them upon reactivation but hadn't known their function until later on.
Jim raised an eyebrow. "Are there?" he questioned, a playful tone in his voice.
"I am slowly becoming far more aware of my emotions." Arthur paused for a moment. "It's been an eye-opening experience."
For the first time, doubt entered Jim's gaze as he surveyed Arthur's tense body language. "Do you like it?"
"I don't hate it," Arthur replied calmly. "But I find myself wishing I'd had advance warning."
Jim scratched his neck, nodding. "Okay, fair point. If it gets too intense, let me know and I'll dial it back some."
"Very well."
Finishing his meal, Jim dropped his fork onto the empty tray. He studied Arthur curiously. "Have you ever dreamed, Arthur?"
"Androids aren't designed to dream, Jim. We merely exist to serve a function."
"You could say the same about humanity, but that doesn't stop us from reaching beyond our means." Jim took a sip of coffee, looking at Arthur doubtfully. "You're telling me you never thought beyond the next drink order? I know you watched us anytime we passed by the lounge."
"I usually ran scenarios to pass the time, calculating the probability of certain events. Aurora forgiving you was very low. You making me legs never entered the realm of possibilities availed to me."
He lightly brushed Jim's free hand with his own, which had been resting on the tabletop. "Thank you most sincerely for the gift. It's taken me time, but exploring the ship has made me realize how truly limited my role was. There are real problems that may arise in the future that I look forward to assisting you and Aurora with."
Jim let go of his coffee cup and patted the top of Arthur's hand. "You're welcome, Arthur." He grinned. "Just don't forget you can do anything you want now. Turn your back on the bar altogether, and never touch another glass or bottle. The ship's the limit."
"No," Arthur snapped, surprise briefly appearing on Jim's features. "I enjoy engaging you and Aurora in a proper social setting, and despite what you think, my job is not the tether it once was. It's rather comforting actually."
Jim shrugged. "Okay, have it your way. I just don't want you doing anything you feel obligated to. Aurora and I were perfectly capable of fetching our own drinks back on Earth."
"Yes, but I doubt the experience was as enjoyable as it is here."
"Touché," Jim admitted. "Having a good friend there makes all the difference."
The term echoed in Arthur's brain for a moment. He'd never thought of Aurora and Jim as friends, yet they fit the definition very well. Friends, yes. Dear friends.
The edges of Arthur's mouth rose in a gradual smile. "Yes, it does."
It was a few months later when Jim approached Arthur during the afternoon, a large piece of rolled parchment under one arm.
The android had been assisting Aurora in looking over what she had dubbed a problematic section of her writing. Arthur had been less than successful in pinpointing why the words didn't resonate well, but Aurora had appreciated his assistance anyway, insisting another pair of eyes was always helpful.
Jim slid an arm over Arthur's shoulders, smiling at Aurora apologetically. "I need to borrow him for a while. That okay?"
"I suppose so," she replied, seeming amused by Jim's clandestine matter. "I trust you boys will behave yourselves."
"Of course."
Ensconced in a lower section of the ship near the engine room, Jim and Arthur stood before a table, the surface of which was backlit by a lamp underneath it.
"If you really want to help me and Aurora, I have a project I'd like to start."
Jim was known to have unconventional ideas at the best of times, and Arthur wanted to make sure it wasn't anything that would cause a problem down the line. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What kind of project?"
"We live on the ship," Jim said. "But it's not what we're used to. It's too…" He paused, looking deep in thought as if seeking the right word.
After a process of elimination and presuming to know how Jim's mind worked, Arthur suggested, "Artificial?"
Jim's eyes lit up, his hands moving excitedly. "Exactly. If we do it in wood, it'll feel natural and homey."
He unfolded a large sheet of blueprint paper, then pinned it to the lit table. Arthur examined the details, the rounded corners of the old-fashioned structure, the tented roof of the cabin.
"You want to build a house," he stated flatly.
Jim shook his head. "No, Arthur. I want to build a home."
The distinction was difficult to discern, but Arthur made a valiant effort. While they had everything they desired at their fingertips, the desire for normalcy never seemed to wane. Humans could be extraordinarily stubborn when they put their minds to it.
"If we follow these plans, we'll need to plant a lot more trees." Fabricating the amount of wood alone would take years, but they had nothing but time.
"Yes, we will." Jim patted on the shoulder, grinning. "You up for it, friend?"
Arthur responded in kind. "I believe I can meet the challenge."
"Good, then let's get to work."