The Watcher [Alien Nation #1]

Chapter 15

When Josh had first visited the little dot of nameless land a few miles out from the Shetland Islands, getting there had been almost as much of a challenge as filming the damn wreck. He'd had to pay a fisherman to take him, with insurance just in case something happened to his boat on the uneven shoreline, and hope the fisherman remembered to come back for him before sunset. He still didn't know if the fisherman had believed his ruse about being a nature photographer, but supposed he must have, as surely the fisherman would have just laughed in his face if he knew his real purpose.

This time, the flight from London to the isle took less than an hour, after he had given the...the man in the cockpit the right coordinates. He wondered how fast this thing really went, when the pilot wouldn't have to worry about slowing down or landing for a while.

He spent the flight sat awkwardly on one of the two low benches in the cramped crew quarters. They had no backs, and barely any cushions, though he guessed the crew weren't meant to have much time to use them. Around them were two bunks, set into the wall with sliding doors that sealed them like coffins. A black cat with grey fur around its ears sat on one of the bunks, watching him, unblinking.

Josh passed the time by gleaning as much information from the woman who claimed to be his cousin (he still found it hard to believe he had a cousin from space) as possible, mostly by bombarding her with incessant questions (how long have there been people in space? What's wrong with that girl with the blue hair? What kind of alien is the pilot? Do they eat people? Are humans their slaves? All of these were met with an irritated sigh and roll of the eyes) until she finally got bored of answering and handed him a device like a tablet, but with a screen that was transparent until it was turned on, and that needed to be unravelled like a scroll. It was simple enough to get the hang of it, and he soon found out that he was going to need at least a few years to answer all the questions the answers he found raised.

"Erri says we'll be landing in five minutes," said a female voice from a speaker on the wall. Josh raised his eyebrows in a silent question to the girl-Jules, he remembered. That voice didn't sound like the blue haired girl, it was too measured and gentle.

"Is that the computer?" he said.

Jules stiffened, but didn't look up from her own scroll-tablet thing. "Kind of."

"Like that girl with the tats? She's some sort of cyborg, right?"

"Avery is a cyborg, yes. The most advanced one ever created. She's more machine than human, really." Jules looked up at him with sharp hazel eyes, but Josh was good at telling when someone was trying so desperately to steer the conversation away from things they didn't want to talk about. He pushed harder.

"And this girl is a cyborg too, but not as good?"

Jules' eyes hardened.

"She's not a cyborg."

"So what, then?"

Jules opened her mouth to reply, but the disembodied voice spoke up first. "Jules, just tell him."

Jules shot a glance at the security camera in the corner by the door, but said nothing.

"It's all right," the voice continued, patiently. "Who's he going to tell?"

Jules sighed. "Fine." She turned slowly back to him, her dark eyebrows furrowed. "Cass-the voice you just heard-is a self-aware AI. She's meant to be like my personal assistant. Someone to keep track of my work schedule, help me go through information, give me someone to talk to while we're in space, that sort of thing."

Josh frowned. "Seems like you're becoming obsolete. Why can't she just do your job for you?"

If Jules was offended by this, she didn't show it. Josh tried not to be disappointed; provoking this stranger on her own ship was probably not a great idea, but he couldn't help it. He wanted to see if there was something, anything, behind that stony mask she was so determined to show him.