Angry Jasper-Fourteen

There was no use. There was just far too much on Kate’s mind. As much as she needed this, it just wasn’t going to happen. Kate reached down and tapped the fat little silver robot on the head. Buzz looked up from between her open legs at her with a perturbed expression. She had picked him up used in a rummage sale for a bankrupt mining operation on some barren asteroid. Buzz was an antique model with jerky and awkward moves, and it had cost Kate a pretty penny to get him working again. The pair had been fast friends ever since. The spinning vibrator on the front of his head whirred to a stop.

“Did you?” Buzz asked with a hollow little groan. Kate closed her legs and sat up.

“Can’t.”

“Not even close?’

“Sorry,” she frowned.

“Could have told me ten minutes ago. Damn near ran my battery down.”

Buzz detached the vibrator from his nose socket and stowed in a storage spot in his leg. He could see that something was bothering her. Buzz hated that he even cared enough to ask the question. With a wave of his stubby mechanical hand the light in the ship, dimmed to a more romantic tone, brightened. Kate was sitting on a big red heart-shaped bed adorned with shimmering maroon satin sheets and fat pink pillows. There was a small lavatory to one side. A black lacquer serving bar separated the flight deck from the rest of the ship.

“All right, drama queen. What crawled up your tail and died, besides Governor Maury?”

Kate wrapped a sheet around her shoulders and looked out into space. She paid no mind to the ship following at a distance.

“Ask you a question, Buzz?”

“That depends. Want to hear the answer?”

“What am I doing, running around the solar system, tramping around for the rebellion. Where is this…”

Buzz cut her off with an exasperated sigh. “How many times are we going to have this same conversation?”

She turned and started to speak. Her expression was just pathetic. Buzz had half a mind to slap her.

“Don’t say it,” said. “If I hear that name one more time I’ll blow a friggin’ gasket!”

In fact he might even blow two, and a couple of springs! Kate flopped onto the bed and twisted around there for a moment in anguish.

“Why do I love him, Buzz?” she moaned. “Why couldn’t we be happy, work for the Corporation and retire to an idyllic little town on the wheel. Settle down, have a normal life like other folks, maybe a kid or two.”
“Why?’ Buzz asked indignant. “Because you’d blow your damn brains out!”

“I don’t know,” she lamented, unconvinced.

He went to her. His tone softened. “Well I do. Sweetie. This is the life you have because it’s the one you crave. Can you see yourself baking cookies for the PTA bake sale, cleaning house all day waiting for Jazz to come home from work-whatever it is he might do honestly?” He stroked her face. It had been a long time since he had seen her this bad. “Could you do all that knowing about the rebellion?”

“Most folks get by just fine never carrying a wit about the rebellion. It’s so far away that the rebellion isn’t even relevant to their lives.”

“But it is to yours, and you’d sooner die than walk away from a just cause. Now get dressed we’re coming up on the moon.”

Buzz hobbled towards the flight deck and prepared for landing at Cygnus Prime, the once sprawling moon colony. The place had fallen on hard times and now was a dumping point for refugees, smugglers and riff raff from all across the solar system. It was a dangerous enclave, and Buzz hardly relished the thought of landing there.

Buzz knew something was wrong when Kate failed to join him on the flight deck. He needed her there as they landed, particularly at CP, where the space Traffic Control left much to be desired.

“Kate, get your ass up here!”

He turned to find her lost in thought, staring down at the floor, holding tight to one of the big pink pillows. His tone softened.

“Baby, we’re going to land in a minute.”

“I’m out, Buzz,” she said distantly. “After we transfer the credits over to the rebellion I, I…” there were tears in her eyes. Her gaze was so very far away. Kate’s expression was dejected and broken.

It wasn’t quite sympathy he felt, but rather a certain muddiness in his components. He had been programmed for crisis resolution, and Kate was a near constant emotional crisis. Mechanical things he could deal with easy enough. When he saw Kate that way it damn near overloaded his circuitry.


“Why don’t we take a break,” he offered. “Get away for a while.”

“No, Buzz,” Kate shook her head, “I want out. I’ve decided.”

“Okay. Just as long as you don’t junk me too.” It was the best he could do for a joke.

Kate managed a smile and stroked his egg-shaped silver head. “You’re my best friend.”

“Just cause I can get you off!”

She giggled despite her mood and rubbed his arm cold metal arm. “It helps.”