Entry 40

Sometimes I have dreams that feel so real that they feel like memories. When I wake up, I am convinced they actually happened. It’s very disconcerting when I fully wake up and realize something I thought happened had not actually happened at all.

As I woke up that morning after our escape from the Society, however, the opposite occurred. In my half asleep full awake state I was sure that the events from the day before were just a very realistic dream. Surely when I woke up I would discover I was at home in my bed – not in a hologram as I had dreamed – but in my actual bed I would wake up and discover it was yet another school day. Life would be as normal.

I lavished in that certainty as I floated between a sleep state and an awake state. I was expecting my alarm to go off any moment to wake me up for school. Ntil I heard it, however, I would just float on the edges of awareness.

But the alarm never went off. I drifted closer and closer to awareness without ever hearing my alarm’s grating tones. The worry that I forgot to set it and might be oversleeping caused me to wake much faster. I essentially woke myself up and looked about wildly for my alarm.

My room was pitch black, a pitch black I had never before encountered in my life. Usually even in the middle of the night light from the street snuck through the window. My alarm clock also gave off light as did my iHome. My room was never this dark. I could see absolutely nothing.

Then I remembered how dark my room had been last night when I went to sleep. No light broke the darkness because there were no windows or doorways. I was in a ship.

“Lights, please, Blaue,” I called. Instead of lights filling the room and completely blinding me, a weak light appeared in one corner. The orange light did not overwhelm me but just provided enough light for me to see everything in my room.

“Good morning, Carlee,” Blaue’s bodily voice said. “The lighting in your room is currently at the lowest setting. As you wake I will brighten the room at small increments so your eyes have time to adjust to normal brightness.”

“Thank you,” I responded, surprised that she was so considerate with the light.

“No need to thank me,” Blaue responded. “Ven and I had a long talk when he first became my captain about the sensitivity of human eyes. My last captain just had me turn on full lighting every morning. Ven found that very unpleasant.”

“I can imagine,” I said. “The lighting seemed very bright yesterday.”

“And that’s not my brightest setting,” Blaue responded. “When you’re ready, let me know. John is awake and waiting for you in order to eat breakfast.”

“Oh, ok,” I said. I swung out of bed and got to my feet. “Tell him I’ll be ready in like fifteen minutes.” I did not foresee needing too long to get ready in this technologically advanced ship.

“I’ll let him know,” Blaue responded.

I quickly got ready, taking a shower and discovering more clothes in my closet. Blaue had to advice me on how some of them were worn. I ended up in what seemed like a short gray halter top dress but was worn over a tight long sleeved pink shirt and tight pink pants. I don’t normally like tight clothes but the gray dress was not tight at all, making me feel much more comfortable.

“You look wonderful,” Blaue commented. “In that outfit you would fit in nicely on the Human Colony.”

“But John won’t fit in regardless of what he wears,” I responded as I laced up my shoes.

“Not all humans are the same, surely you know that,” Blaue said. “Don’t judge the colony based on Ven.”

“So the entire colony doesn’t hate androids?” I asked.

“No,” Blaue answered, “but androids are outlawed on the colony accept in extreme cases. It all had to so with the Android Acts.”

“The Android Acts?” I repeated. “Can you explain those to me?” I had been hearing a lot about them, and they seemed to limit an android’s activities. However, other than that, I knew nothing.

“Yes, but perhaps it would be best if I explained it to you and John during breakfast,” Blaue said. “I’ll join you in the mess.”

“Alright,” I answered heading towards the door that Blaue had opened for me. It struck me as odd, however, that John would not already know about the acts. Should he not as an android know everything?