Officer Fairfield became exasperated as she attempted to hail her captain once again. Something was wrong. Jennifer mulled over the peceding events, searching for errors in her own actions, as expected, she could find none. She insted came to the conclusion that it was the Captain's Earther bullheadedness that had caused this situation. Even so, fault was something to concern herself with later. Her captain was obviously in trouble, be it of her own making, and it was up to her to resolve the situation.
After a few more moments of wrestling with the computer, and with still no answer from the captain, Jennifer decided that the situation could not be remedied from the bridge, or at least not in its current state. Downloading a schematic of the ship's layout to her suit's computer, Jennifer readied her flashlight and opened the door from the bridge, heading out into the hallway towards the nearest power terminal. If she could reroute some power, perhaps she could bring power back to the Biology section before finding out what happened to Captain Silvia. In the meantime, she kept her commlink open.
Thankfully, the nearest station was located quite close to the bridge, in a section that still had power. Sliding the hatch open, Jennifer was greeted by a shocking disarray of power cables and couplings. Strewn in the rubble about the floor was also a human body. Rushing over quickly to it, Jennifer kneeled down to examine it. It looked to be in perfect condition, and soon she realized why: it was not a human at all, but rather an android. The synthetic flesh covering its endoskeleton gave it a perfectly human appearance, with delicate, almost oriental features, and long straight black hair, but its unnaturally pale cast, and the grey color of its eyes gave it away. It was dressed in a grey bodysuit with yellow markings that hugged its slim but rather generous form. Jennifer eyed it for a moment, before crouching over, feeling its temples for its emergency power switch. She had some misgivings about reactivating a strange robot, as despite its slight appearance it could overpower her and the captain combined many times over, but such concerns were empty paranoia. Androids had the Three Laws embedded deep in their most rudimentary consciousness. She pressed down on both temple simultaneously, and the android's eyes flicker, and it sat up. Jennifer brushed some debris off of it, looking around the room. "Android, are you fully operational? What is your designation?"
Turning to regard Jennifer, the android spoke in a soft but firm voice. "I am fully operation, ma'am. I am designated Systems Engineering-Logistics Adjutant, but please refer to me as SELA."
Jennifer nodded, and stood up. "I am Jennifer Fairfield, Science Officer of the ISSC ship Green Lady. I have docked with this ship on a salvage mission in accordance with Directive #067. I would like to know how to restore power to the Biology section."
"I can assist you, Officer Fairfield, but I must caution you," SELA said, standing up as well, "the Biology section was sealed and all connections to it cut. There was an accident inside it, and it has become extremely hazardous."
"Hazardous? How so? The scans we took before boarding all returned negative results for pathogens and lifesigns." Jennifer said, reeling somewhat from the revelation. What was going on in this ship?
"The laboratory sections were shielded against scanning. I am sorry, Officer Fairfield, but the rest of the information I have is classified." the android continued, impassively.
"Shielding against scanning is in violation of interstellar law..." Jennifer began, her brow creasing. They were in over their heads in this one. "SELA, my captain entered the Biology section, and I have lost contact with her. We must restore power and enter immediately."
SELA's face remained impassive, but she actually paused, an unusual gesture for a robot. "... if humans are in danger, it overrides secrecy protocol. The Biology laboratory contains experiments in biological weapons. We must hurry to rescue your friend."
"Biological weapons? Viruses?" Officer Fairfield's hand dropped to her respirator.
"Not viruses," SELA said, shaking her head slightly, "Professor Harding's research was into weapons that exploited human sexuality."
"Human sexuality..." Jennifer rolled it over in her mind momentarily before snapping out of it. Now was the time for action. But would she try to restore power first, or run immediately to the aid of Captain Silvia? Also, there was the question of what to do with this android...
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