Prompt: EOS and Scott bonding time (bonus if it's over John) from tsarinatorment
"Has it got any better EOS?" Scott was tired, bone tired, too tired to settle but not too tired to worry. He had not been on the island for more than twelve hours in the last seventy-two and had now been grounded as unsafe to fly. That just freed him up for other work though, for as much as he had been on the go in the last few weeks there was someone who'd been getting less sleep than him.
"Not significantly. It is twenty three hours since his last rest period."
"Remind me of what we've tried." Scott said, running a weary hand across todays stubble.
"I have prepared milky drinks, played soothing music and increased the ambient temperature to promote drowsiness. He just poured another coffee."
"Did we swap the coffee out for decaf yet?"
"We tried that last week. He noticed straight away and had it replaced."
"Damn it. Any other ideas? He needs to get a decent night's sleep. Can you reroute all calls to island? He might sleep if he is bored."
"He would just get a head start on next week's maintenace schedule. I could always adjust the composition of the atmosphere slightly. A bit less oxygen and a bit less carbon dioxide might have the desired affect."
"Of all the things I miss up here, I miss Grandma Tracy's cookies the most."
"He wants Grandma Tracy's cookies?" Alan paused in his cleaning, confused.
A spike of fear and adrenaline battled for control, but Scott pushed them both down. "That's not John."
The twist in his stomach as Three launched. The sick feeling when Brains patched though to the real John. The numbness as he watched his brother's eyes slide closed, suffocating alone.
Scott blinked away the memory. They were past all that, long past, but still "Let's not have you mess with John's air supply."
"Of course." The small holographical representation of the mechanical body that housed the infinite complexity of the artificial intelligence focused it's lens on him. It could have been Scott's imagination that he was being scrutinised and assessed, but he knew better.
"What?"
"Have you tried talking to him? He has a great deal of respect for your opinions and authority, I'm sure that he would listen once you explained the concerns you have for his health."
The blinking light seemed very ….. earnest. But had she learned about sarcasm?
"John? Listen to me? Are you kidding? I haven't been able to get John to do what he's told since he got tall enough to reach the cookie jar himself. If I thought John would listen to a damned word I said... well, life would be a lot easier."
"I have a great analytic ability than any other system on the planet, access to every piece of information in human history and can extrapolate and interpret from it in a moment. And he doesn't listen to me either."
Scott smiled, gave a rueful laugh. "If he wasn't stubborn he wouldn't be nearly as good at his job. But I'm sure we can beat him together. Now, what other ideas do you have?"