Entry 18

“I don’t think John is my brother. He is my brother,” I responded, looking away from the horrifying scene below to Ven. The only difference I could see between peeling back the skin on an android and a living being is that the android did not seem to be bleeding or in pain. But surely that was only because he had been turned off. John bled and felt pain. Whether organic or android, it still seemed wrong.

“Carlee, I cannot say this enough,” Ven said. “The thing you knew as John is not your brother. It is just an android.” Just an android, as if those words could encompass everything John meant to me, everything he had ever done for me.

“Do you have siblings?” I demanded, wondering how he could say such a thing.

“Two,” he answered. “Both around your age.”

“What makes them your siblings?” I demanded. “The fact that you all happened to be spawned from the same parents? Or the fact that you grew up together? You fought together. You laughed together. You lived together. You’re the oldest; undoubtedly, your parents made you responsible to protect and look after the others. You spent years looking after them, taking care of them, and keeping them out of trouble. It’s these acts, these hours spent together, that make you as close as you are, not the fact that you happened to be born from the same parents.

“John and I have spent years together. He has taken care of me my entire life. He has laughed with me, fought with me, angered me, and loved me my entire life. He has taken care of me when no one else would or cared. I don’t care if we were born from the same parents or not. I don’t care if he’s human or alien or android. He’s my brother, and I’m not leaving without him.”

“My siblings are human and that does matter, Carlee, regardless of what you think,” Ven responded. “John does not love you. It is simply a machine. It was programmed to do all those things with you in order to better understand your culture, as it was programmed too. It does what an older brother is supposed to do, better than any human older brother can, because it isn’t human. It is programmed to be the perfect brother. He does not actually care about you. It cannot feel love. It is just a robot.”

“I don’t care what you think. John loves me,” I retorted. “And I’m not leaving without him. So you are either going to fail your mission or you’re going to help me find John so we can get out of here.”

“You think you know so much,” he said studying me. “Here you are out here in a universe you cannot begin to fathom, and you are so certain you know everything there is to know about androids. You think you can order me around, like I don’t have a sedative in my pocket.” I tensed. A sedative? I had not even thought about that. He could drug me just like the anthropologists had and take me away to who knows where.

“Don’t you dare drug me,” I responded edging away from him. I wondered how fast he could pull the sedative out of his pocket and reach me. Could I get away in time?

“I’ll do what I think is best for the mission,” Ven said. “But in this case, I do believe it would be best if we found your android. Then I can prove to you once and for all that it’s not human or your brother, and I can take you quickly and safely to the human colony.” I did not disabuse him of the notion that I would simply leave behind John. He was agreeing to help me find John and that was half the battle.

“So how do we find John?” I asked.

“That’s easy,” Ven answered. “This is a symposium of anthropologists. Nobody has any idea what’s going on and only a handful of them even know what a human is. They have no idea we’re a primitive race. We’ll simply walk among them.”

“But won’t they be able to tell we’re not part of them?” I asked, surprised that it really could be so simple.

“Not unless we run into one of the few anthropologists who study Earth,” Ven said. “And even then, they may not recognize you as one of their specimens. For all they know we’re anthropologists too.”

“But you’re human,” I pointed out.

“Third generation non-Earthling,” he answered. “I could be an anthropologist if I wanted to. As long as I’m not from a primitive planet I’m a protected voting citizen of the universe.” I stared at him, not comprehending. It made no sense. Not even an hour ago I had been a specimen in the zoo. Now he was saying I could just walk among them unrecognized?

“We better get going if you want to find your android,” Ven said, and I did not need to be urged again. I was going to find John, this time with help.