7Seven Secret Space Guppies
I didn't expect this story to be longer than SSSG, oh well. More reading, more fun. Enjoy the 17th chapter!
Chapter 17: Spitefulness
"Hello HQ? Here is the ETS approaching, back from Mars!"
"Hangar 7 is accessible. Go and land in it, HQ over."
"Roger that, Molly over."
In a couple of manoeuvres, Gil landed their ship in the hangar. They all got out. Sergeant Flynn arrived inside the large room and approached the group.
"You got back! That must mean you succeeded in your mission. I would never allow you back in if you failed haha! But enough now, Valen asks to see you all. You know the way..." The 7 nodded and walked away.
A couple of minutes after, they arrived at the briefing room. The squad wanted to sit down.
"Hello guys! No no, don't sit down, this isn't a briefing, your next one is only tomorrow." Valen came closer and looked happy. "Finally. You all succeeded once more! I've never thought we would get this far... But it isn't over yet. As I said earlier, your, hopefully last briefing, will be tomorrow. Take time to rest, cure your wounds, etc."
The Guppies thanked him and left to their quarters. Deema immediately jumped on her bed and sighed. Milou ran to Gil
"How exhausting! All of this!" She declared.
"For sure, but I do like it. Action is addictive!" Gil responded.
"I prefer not to think about the future..." Goby mumbled.
"Well you guys do what you want. I'll go to the medbay for this wound at my shoulder, oush. Completely forgot it. See you for dinner!" Molly said and left. Gil looks at Zooli.
"You must solve it today." He said to her. The rest looked.
"I know..." Zooli responded.
"Ohh, I think I know what it's about..." Deema said. "Don't worry Zooli! We are all on your side!"
"Really?" Everyone nodded. She smiled a little, and left the room too. "I'll turn on my radio, if the situation degenerates..."
"And here you go Sergeant. You were lucky with that shoulder." A nurse said.
"Time for a nice little walk." Molly thought while leaving. She entered the Circle again. Zooli ran at her from behind.
"Molly!"
"Oh shi, Zooli, you scared me! Are you practising your surprise attacks on me?"
"No. Molly, I've tried to ask you something, several times. The moments weren't rightly chosen, but now there are no enemies around..."
"Depends on what an enemy is. Or there might be infiltrators around..."
"Molly, I'm trying to solve something. Let me talk with you." Molly sighed. She couldn't find an excuse to leave.
"Go, on." The 2 started walking.
"You see, I don't think it is clear between you, me, and Gil. There have been a lot of tensions and..."
"Oh there have been, really..."
"I think you're just jealous, for nothing..."
"Look, I've tried countless times to convince myself that it was just jealousy! But my gut feeling tells me it is more!"
"Your, gut feeling?"
"Yes. Yes! What, we have! Guppies! Lobsters! Living creatures, made out of flesh and blood!"
"But that doesn't stop you from having good manners. You often say small comments and that makes me feel b..."
"No Zooli! No! You have no feelings. You can't feel!"
"The technology I'm made off does allow me to feel..."
"Exactly! They are artificial! You are made out of technology! We aren't!"
"Your jealousy is based on nothing! You convince yourself that I am flirting with Gil, but I am not! He is a friend and..."
"A friend? Not in the slightest. And don't pretend that I'm blind! I know what I see!"
"You have the wrong perspective! Look at me for a moment! Look at how similar we are! Everyone treats us the same! Except you!"
"We are far from similar Zooli! Do you know where you were born? Who your parents are? How old you are? Do you have any childhood souvenirs?" Zooli was silent.
"No, but..." Molly grinned.
"I know! You were born in the robotics department, WPP HQ in Antarctica! Your 'parent' is scientist Jiang! And you are around 6 months old! The technology advanced so hard, and it ended up by creating machines like you! That present themselves as similar to us, but they aren't! You aren't! Why hasn't this been managed better?"
"You question, my existence?" Molly was silent for a moment.
"That's enough, This must stop. Let's find them!" Gil said, standing up. He and the rest left their quarters.
"I don't even know the reason they added you to our team..."
"How weird it might sound in your ears, you hurt me with your words! I deserve more respect from you! This is not how you treat a soldier!"
"You question my commanding abilities? We won't be here without me! Look you're a good soldier and..."
"You came too late with your compliments. I think it's pretty clear! You don't consider me equal to you, and you started to justify that opinion with the fact that, in your eyes, I am flirting with Gil! But that contradicts what you say. You claim that I can't feel, but I can flirt?"
"Don't forget we have a mission tomorrow, the most important one ever! And you are threatening the unity of the squad!"
"You blame me for you being jealous? We wouldn't be here now if you showed a bit more respect towards me!"
From one part of the Circle, The rest of the ETS finally found the 2, still arguing.
"STOP!" Gil shouted. Everyone was silent.
"It's about to happen..." Goby whispered.
"I'm not pleased at all with what I see! Why can't you just get along? Molly! Do you really consider her inferior, just because you think she's flirting with me?"
"No, Gilly I..."
"Yes! You are right! Zooli is a robot! She isn't like us at 100%, but only 99%! And at first you never cared about that robot-being of her, until you started to have illusions! You had to search for something to blame! I, I... am disappointed in you! In how you speak, in how you act! Argh!" Nobody spoke after Gil. They just looked.
"Let me expl..." Molly tried.
"I don't want to hear it! One last time! You are right! She is a robot, BUT FOR OUR SAKE LET US THINK SHE IS A GUPPY! IT COSTS NOTHING TO DO THAT!" Gil was panting. "I, I have to take a break... Sorry..." Gil left with Goby and Nonny. The girls stayed.
"I suggest everyone goes and think about what the other said. And clear everything out." Oona proposed.
"We'll stop, not make it worse... Or tomorrow's mission will fail." Zooli said. She walked away.
"And I advise you to go talk with Gil first." Oona said. Molly stood there alone.
"Why, is everything complicated..." She thought, and walked away too.
The rest of the day felt very long, and miserable. The group was split between Molly and the rest. Molly wandered around, thinking. The group didn't eat together, and Molly didn't sleep in their quarters.
"Attention. The ETS must present themselves to the briefing room in 30 minutes." The loudspeaker said. The next day started.
Molly got up from her bedroll she placed in a storage room. She wasn't hungry, and went to the briefing room early. The rest of her teammates arrived a bit later. Valen, Laurent, McCrab, Flynn and Moon were all present. The 7 sat down, but didn't say anything to each other.
"Good morning everyone. You all look very sleepy. Probably the stress." Valen started. "I won't remind you the importance of this mission. Bluntly said, if we fail, the world is lost..."
Nobody reacted. Valen raised an eyebrow. McCrab took the word.
"Ehem, let's talk about the operation. Operation Lunatic, the name chosen by Sergeant Flynn, will probably very similar to our final attack on the HQ on Earth. We attack with a lot of means, and you infiltrate the complex, destroying it from the inside." Still no answer.
"And as before, I and Sergeant Flynn will closely assist your attack." Moon added. Molly looked and nodded. Valen expected more of an answer, but remained silent.
"Let me continue then." He projected a hologram of the OD HQ. "Tycho crater. The secret force-field covered it completely, with all their installations in the middle, surrounded by another large concrete wall. The anti-air is too strong to drop you from above. And the damage reports of the ENB aren't positive either. It will take at least 1 week to repair it."
"Corporal Gil and soldier Zooli will just accompany the rest of the squad via the ground." McCrab added.
"Exactly! Together, you guys are stronger. Now comes the most important part. The ETS will attack from the west. Moon and Flynn will cover you. Because we can't launch airstrikes at them, you will have to bring a nuclear detonation charge with you. Place it on the walls and go through. Don't worry, your spacesuits protect against all radiation and heat. Only the shockwave could hurt you. Just make sure you can hide in a nearby hole from the explosion."
"And after that, what will we do?" Zooli asked.
"Past the walls, where you will breach it, there is a small outpost that serves as a station for high-speed underground trains. Use them to reach the core, the centre of the HQ. As always, that's in the middle. We ignore if there is an underground complex, the only thing we can see from outside is a very long and thin tower going up with a glass dome on top. Around it are unknown OD installations."
"As you might already think," McCrab continued, "if we want to destroy this complex, the most efficient way is to destruct the core. And a core will probably be under the surface. When there, you will have to improvise your way to it, and make it explode."
"And when you guys all got in, they will probably search for you. They know who trained you! They know how good you are! So we will have an opportunity to slip in and clear the whole area. So look twice when you see a lobster. It might be us!" Flynn said.
"Any questions?" Valen asked. Nobody answered. "Okay, you can all leave. But ETS, please stay a moment."
The 7 stayed while the rest left. They all sat back down. Valen sighed and turned to them.
"Something clearly is wrong. What is going on with you guys?" He asked. Nobody knew what to say. He looked at them, waiting for an answer.
"We had, some disputes..." Zooli started.
"I hope you understand we can't afford any problems inside your team."
"The problems, aren't from yesterday... Molly is jealous that I am a lot with Gil, and she accuses me of flirting with him." Molly didn't react. Zooli continued. "And I think that Molly isn't treating me like I should be..."
"I must admit, and I'm not too informed about it, but Zooli's integration in your team was a, social experiment. To see how people would react to a nearly identical robot version of them."
"Yes and Molly doesn't consider Zooli as one like us, while she clearly is and..."
"Gil, calm down!" Valen added. "Both are right, and wrong! Technology can't progress fast enough, but our minds, questions, ethics etc. can't keep up with the change. We couldn't predict what result this experiment would give. It's normal that there are different opinions about it."
"Molly only started to hate Zooli for her robot-being after she thought she was flirting with me! But it is wrong!" Gil continued. Valen listened and nodded slowly.
"Molly, are you jealous?" Valen asked. She looked down and nodded. "And is it justified you think?" Now she hesitated.
"I've repeated it countless times..." Zooli added.
"You know, when I was still in the civil world, I used to be a school principal. Sometimes, it happened that I had to solve problems between kids. I think, with what I said earlier, we can't solve this issue right away. But we can learn to tolerate each other first, and staying realistic." Now, Molly sighed and nodded.
"I still hope for a solution..." She answered.
"Now, Shake hands with Zooli. Look at her, you will see a robot with complex emotions. How much does that differ from you? Go." Molly and Zooli turned to each other. Zooli reached out to her. Molly took the hand and they shook.
"I've been dragged by my feelings..." Molly said.
"I hope we can get along better from now on." Zooli replied. Molly nodded and released the grip. She turned to Gil. He smiled and hugged her. The rest clapped and cheered a bit. Everyone, even Molly and Zooli, smiled.
"I will have to bottle up this jealousy..." Molly thought. She still felt, different.
The group's ties were healing. Valen was reassured. The operation of tomorrow wouldn't fail because of internal problems any more. But Molly still has to apologize for her misbehaving...
It always feels special when I write the last chapters of a story. I look back and see what I've written. And I look the other way, for what must come next. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It was by far the most 'emotional' one. Imagine for a moment, if we could create robots that look like us as much as they ressemble the Guppies, would you consider them as humans? An ethical debate for the next century! See you later!