Excerpt #3 Love in the Starry Deep

 

I continue working on this book, and love the couple and story. Am still recovering from covid in early December. Mild case due to vaccinations etc, but it really aggravated my asthma. Lung doc was right, "Just  don't  catch it." Oh well...

Excerpt # 3

Wil moved to an apartment on the Greenspace and is getting to know Marra, the animal/enviro specialist on the ship. 

Amalgams-- intelligent animals with cyborg hand enhancements to perform chores. 

Shortly after lunch, Marra gave a call to the head of Roboworks and explained about the amalgams. "I see signs of infection on these two that are helping the newcomer, Wil"

"Infection? That's not good. I confess I never inspect the little furballs too much." 

She didn’t mention she’d removed their hand appliances. "I really think I should look over all your amalgams to make sure they don’t have something contagious. I’ll culture it and see if it’s something that might spread to us."

"Funny, I never thought that they could get sick," Boydl, the head of the Roboworks Department, said. "But now that you mention it, they are animals with enhancements, not robots. You want me to send down their bedding and food and everything?"

"Yes, I think they will be here for a few days. You may have to slide some of your robots into their chores."

"That’s the thing. They’re not really efficient workers. I have them working in floor care and laundry. The robots are more efficient to do all the maintenance and repair work. I’m not sure what kind of work the amalgams were supposed to be able to do?" 

"I see. Why don’t you send me your data pack on them? Maybe I can pick up some clues from it."

"That'd be great. And if you want, I think we could transfer them to your department. They don’t seem to fit with Roboworks all that well." 

Marra couldn't believe how easily she was getting the data and oversight of the amalgams.

"Understood. I will evaluate them, and would be happy to move their oversight to Enviro. Right now, we are only transporting round fowl and frozen stock. Not much work for me this trip. Perhaps they would be better on New Fera helping with farming chores?"