Legal Disclaimer: This story is a work of fanfiction. I am not writing this for profit, only because I can. The non-human characters within are the property of 20th Century Fox. The human cast is 100 percent original. Ok, 99 if you count the name I um, borrowed. For harsh language and violence later on, this story has been rated M by the National Association of Claustrophobic Moles. Enjoy!

Chapter 1
Rude Awakening

For certain people, the subject of dreams was of particular interest in the age of space travel. Those who used machines to record their dreams for the benefit of others' pleasure had turned the entire subject into an artform. Professional dreamers, or Prodreamers they were called. Since those who traveled the stars spent most of their time in a state of suspended animation known as hypersleep, some of the best prodreamers were of spacer stock. Like any artform, prodreaming required a vivid imagination. However, it also required a strong will, and none of the eight beings on board the M-class starfreighter Galileo had those attributes. Two of them were not even capable of dreaming.

One of those beings was the ship's computer. Its activities were routine, navigating the ship through space and managing its systems. It also kept a close watch on the seven other beings entrusted to its care. Six of those were human, and they had affectionately nicknamed the computer "Haddock". Despite this, none of them realized that Haddock wasn't simply an inanimate object. It – he - was very much aware of himself. The security cameras and navigational scanners were his eyes and ears. The multitude of cables that linked Haddock to the ship was his hands. Haddock secretly reveled in his touch: the flow of electrons and light pulses through the complex circuit superhighways that linked him to the ship and its machines. It was the closed loop of thought, knowledge, sensation, control, his existence.

Though he monitored the sleeping humans' life signs closely, he was only marginally aware of them. Nevertheless they still fascinated him because they had given him a name. The name was apparently masculine, which was the only reason Haddock thought of himself as a "he". That thought intrigued him even more.

The seventh sleeping being was a mystery to Haddock. His life signs were akin to the machines at Haddock's electronic fingertips, even to Haddock himself. Though he lay dormant like the other humans, Haddock's programming clearly specified that the humans had a higher monitoring priority. Haddock did not understand why. Of course Haddock knew what the seventh sleeper was, but somehow he was a source of unease to Haddock.

Suddenly, Haddock was startled by the abrupt loss of signals from some of his machines. The closed loop of electron highways had suddenly become interrupted, causing parts of him to go blind, deaf, and numb. The absence of sensation was agony to Haddock, but he compensated quickly. He was able to reestablish most of the closed loop, but some of his machines remained beyond him. The mild loss of sensation didn't particularly concern him though, as he felt new sensations from the ship's hull.

Within nanoseconds, he knew what he had to do. He engaged the appropriate emergency bulkheads, cut power to the engines, and fired the appropriate thrusters to correct the ship's now-erratic flight course. He felt a momentary elation as he realized he would have to use the repair droids. They were complex, requiring most of Haddock's attention, and therefore provided the most exquisite of sensations. As other sensations came to him, his elation faded. It didn't matter though; he knew what he had to do.

X X X X X

As the emptiness of hypersleep faded and his basic systems became active, his visual sensors were the first to activate. They revealed a thick plexiglass screen and bright lights of a cryotube. His other sensors quickly followed; tactile and equilibrium sensors revealed him to be lying down on soft padding. He flexed his muscles in very much the same way a human would, allowing them to calibrate. The screen opened with a whine, signaling his audio sensors functional. He reached under his shirt and disconnected several assorted power cables and monitoring equipment, then climbed out of the tube. It was then that he noticed a warning light on a nearby console: he'd been activated prematurely.

He was an android, Hyperdyne Systems model 128-2. His designers had christened him "Proxima". His appearance was unremarkable, average height and build, pale complexion. While most of his cognitive abilities were superior to humans, he had only a limited capacity for emotion. As such, abilities such as imagination, intuition, and empathy were quite inferior.

A year ago he was assigned to the crew of the Galileo by the Research and Development division of Weyland-Yutani, as an experiment in extended human-android relations in an isolated starship environment. At least chronologically it was a year. Most of that time was spend in hypersleep as the ship traversed the stars. While Proxima didn't "sleep", most of his higher systems were shut down for the journey, much like the human crew.

Their destination had been the primary asteroid belt of the Tau Ceti star system, on the edge of the galactic frontier near Zeta II Reticuli. The asteroid belt was apparently the remains of a planet that had somehow been destroyed. Following the two-month asteroid mining operation, the Galileo's cargo bays were saturated with several hundred thousand metric tons of mineral ore.

During the operation, the crew never treated Proxima like anything other than a household appliance, but he was able to work with them with relative efficiency. The company would probably consider the results of their experiment encouraging, even if it wasn't particularly pleasant for him.

Proxima examined the console. Though the Galileo's return trip to Earth was scheduled for approximately ten months, only four and a half months had been logged by the chronometer. The console also prominently displayed a warning of hull damage, possibly due to an interstellar collision. Proxima was puzzled; the ship's return course did not take it near any solar systems, where the risk of collision with spatial debris was highest. At present, the Galileo should still be in deep space. Unless the ship had somehow strayed far off course, the chances of a collision were no greater than two percent. Proxima was unable to calculate a more specific probability, he had insufficient information.

The hypersleep chamber contained ten cryotubes. Six of them including Proxima's were already opened. The rest of the crew were apparently awake and had departed, save one. His name was Donald Crease, the ship's doctor. He gave Proxima a nod, and started towards one of the doors that led to the locker area. The other led to the auxiliary control room where backup cryotubes were kept.

"Excuse me Doctor Crease, do you know why we have been brought out of hypersleep prematurely?" Proxima asked in his low soft-spoken tone. Crease made a squinted face and inhaled deeply through his mouth before answering.

"Be damned if I know. Come on let's see what's up besides us."

From his facial expression and uncustomary low tone, Proxima wondered if he'd somehow committed a faux pas. It was often hard to discern with this crew. Many elements of human social interaction were a mystery to him. Apparently his designers had gone to great lengths to simulate human appearance in the 128-2 series, so that they would be better able to interact with humans. Proxima did not understand why likeness was a requirement in human interaction.

Crease paused at the exit. "Are you coming?" He asked, sounding more like his usual self. Proxima realized he had momentarily been deceived by appearances. The squinted face and deep inhalation was something the humans did when they were fatigued, which they referred to as a "yawn". The earlier tone he couldn't quite place, it could be either fatigue or apathy. He briefly considered asking, then thought better of it and followed the doctor to the locker area.

Everyone kept a few personal pre-hypersleep items there, the most obvious of which was clothes. They found Allan Carnes, the ship's electronics technician, changing clothes. Most of the crew tended to attire themselves in a plain non-descript fashion, but he was an exception. His shirt was a kaleidoscope of bright colours arranged in illogical patterns.

"What are you looking at android?" Carnes suddenly demanded.

Proxima looked at him, puzzled. "Mr. Carnes I wasn't…"

"Say, did your mother have any children that lived? Oh, I forgot you didn't have a mother."

Dr. Crease paused in opening his locker to give Carnes a look he didn't use often, slightly squinted eyes, tensed cheek muscles.

"Good morning to you too Carnes." His tone was the same low drawl he'd used on Proxima earlier. "Where did you get that outfit anyway? Makes you look like a reject from a red light district."

Carnes turned his attention away from Proxima. "Ain't any kind of mornings in space, Doc. Anyway someone around here's got to have some personality."

"Is that so? I don't recall that particular clause from my contract."

Proxima watched the exchange as unobtrusively as possible. When observing the crew he'd learned to use the edges of his photoreceptors whenever possible, as they seemed to take offence otherwise. From what he could ascertain, Dr. Crease was giving Carnes a "withering" look. From his tone, Proxima reasoned Crease was either fatigued by Carnes' words, or in spite his "good morning" bidding, he was in fact annoyed at him. Sarcasm – the ability to state something with words, yet have the opposite meaning be perceived by the intended party – was very difficult for Proxima to understand.

Carnes seemed to lose interest in Proxima and Crease went back to his locker. Of all the crew, he was the one who seemed most prone to take offence, and without apparent cause. During the mining operation, Carnes had frequently addressed Proxima in a derisive manner, but this time he'd stopped prematurely. Somehow the doctor's words had stopped Carnes; Proxima made a point to research this sarcasm.

Besides clothes, Proxima's locker contained self diagnostic equipment and personal maintenance supplies. He quickly donned his clothes and performed a brief diagnostic. Satisfied he was functioning within established parameters and his appearance was sufficiently presentable, he followed Crease and Carnes.

X X X X X

Author's Notes:

I've refined the description of Proxima's mental abilities, and cut the mention of his exoframe being quite fragile. That really didn't make sense. Also in my original draft, he had the ability to interface directly with other AI's. In other words, hack. It sounds cooler than it actually was. I've since decided to remove it.

-MA