Mindful, Mind Empty
By Anostus
Dr. Marina Eddings frowned and opened an eye to peek around the room. Everyone else was sitting still in the lotus pose and breathing deeply. How did it come so easily to everyone else? That was a stupid question. She was one of three civilians on a ship of military personnel. Of course they were disciplined enough for this sort of thing. Then she heard the voice in her head.
DOCTOR, YOU ARE NOT IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE RELAXATION EXERCISE. PLEASE RETURN TO COMPLIANCE.
Dr. Eddings rolled her eyes before closing them again. This whole thing was so asinine. Officially, the bots were always calculating ways to maximize crew and mission efficiency, and creating appropriate activities and trainings to keep things running smoothly. But Marina had begun to form her own theory for some of the more eccentric workshops the bots had come up with. They were getting bored. Back on Earth, a single bot could expect to serve thousands to millions of humans a day depending on the size of their service region. However the colony ship only had 12 crew members thawed at any time. Coming up with workshops was probably the bot equivalent of playing I Spy, or keeping track of license plates on a long car trip. “Ratchet” (officially T5-XK) the ship’s autodoc was probably the worst, he scheduled so many-
DOCTOR, YOUR EEG READINGS STILL SHOW HIGH LEVELS OF ACTIVITY. ARE YOU HAVING TROUBLE WITH THE EXERCISE?
She thought some words to Ratchet. “Of course I’m having trouble! You’re interrupting me every five seconds.”
NEGATIVE. THESE READINGS ARE SIMILAR TO THOSE I OBTAINED FROM YOUR RECENT SLEEP STUDY. CONCLUSION: YOU HAVE GENERALIZED DIFFICULTY CALMING YOUR THOUGHTS. I AM NOT THE CAUSE.
Dr. Eddings wanted to fire back at Ratchet, but she knew he was right. It was just easy to take her frustration out on the bots. She hadn’t had a good night sleep in years. She just couldn’t stop thinking about her work. She was the chief scientist in charge of all the embryos that were going to populate the future colony. It was a job that required a human touch: creativity, intuition. Out in space, any number of problems could develop with the embryos and it was her job to ensure their viability. It weighed heavily-
YOU ARE STILL NOT DOING THE EXERCISE. IF I HAD YOUR PERMISSION, I COULD USE YOUR MENTAL INTERFACE TO EMPTY YOUR MIND. MY CALCULATIONS INDICATE I COULD REDUCE YOUR STRESS BY 80% IN THIS MANNER.
Dr. Eddings quickly thought back. “You know I don’t like you guys rooting around in my head. I barely like that I have to hear you in here.”
She had resisted this for four months, but her will was being worn down. She was tired. Tired of being a frazzled, stressed mess. Tired of the dark circles under her eyes. Tired of being the only dark cloud in a crew of otherwise well-adjusted, functional personnel. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to just let Ratchet do his thing. She had seen him work his magic on the rest of the crew—bad moods, lack of motivation, stress—Ratchet could fix them in a few seconds with no side effects. If she wasn’t so protective of her brain... It was so tempting...
“Alright, Ratchet. You’ve worn me down. You have my permission to help me with the exercise. Help me empty my mind.”
VERY WELL. CONTINUE WITH THE EXERCISE. WHEN A STRAY THOUGHT ENTERS YOUR HEAD I WILL BANISH IT.
Dr. Eddings took a deep breath and tried to think of nothing. She realized she had been fidgeting with her hands. God, the people around her were bound to be annoyed with her—
What was she thinking about again? She had been worried about something. Now she couldn’t remember what it was. Oh, well. Back to thinking about nothing.
...
She couldn’t wait to get back to the lab. It had been a few hours since she had last checked the meters—
She lost her train of thought again. Ratchet was outdoing himself. She couldn’t even remember what was just worrying her. What if it was important, though? Had she completely forgotten it? She strained to remember. What was it!? She couldn’t just—
Again. She kept loosing her train of thought. This actually felt... wrong, somehow. It wasn’t like the thought was being lost. More like it was being pulled out of her head. Ripped out. Was Ratchet stealing her thoughts or something!? What if he—
DOCTOR, DON’T WORRY SO MUCH. PLEASE CONTINUE THE RELAXATION EXERCISE.
Dr. Eddings frowned. She didn’t recognize the voice. Even though she couldn’t say why, she felt like the voice sounded trustworthy. That’s right, she was supposed to be meditating. Think of nothing.
...
...
God, why did she even come out here. Sure, the patriotic “save the human race” propaganda for the mission had been attractive, but it was a 10 year mission. When she got back, what sort of career—
Marina felt a bit of an electric shock this time. She had a sense that it had been there the whole time, but this time it was... louder? Bigger? For some reason. Like quite a bit had just been removed. Removed? That was the only way she could describe it. It was like when you lost a tooth and were constantly reminded when your tongue ran over it. She felt like she was having trouble remembering... something? She had to take stock. Her name was Marina Eddings. What was she doing? Taking some bot’s class. Where was she? She was... Where was she? She strained to remember. She had the odd sense that she wasn’t on Earth. But why wouldn’t she be on—
DO NOT WORRY. I AM EMPTYING YOUR MIND AS YOU REQUESTED. ONCE THE PROCESS IS COMPLETE YOU WILL BE QUITE RELAXED.
Marina really trusted the voice. What was she worried about?
“Doctor, the class is done.” A man tapped Marina on the shoulder.
“Um, like... what?” Marina opened her eyes. “Wow. You’re pretty cute!”
“Uh, the class is done Dr. Eddings. You need to return to your lab.”
Marina giggled. “My what? I’m not a doctor, silly. I’m just Marina!”
The man noticed a bit of drool dribbling down her lip. What was going on?
SERGEANT, MARINA CAN NO LONGER EXECUTE HER REQUIRED DUTIES SO SHE WILL BE REASSIGNED. I WILL BE TAKING OVER HER OLD DUTIES. SHE WILL SERVE AS A THE SHIP COURTESAN FROM NOW ON.
The man nodded. If the bot was reassigning her, he must have good reason.
FEEL FREE TO BE THE FIRST TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HER SERVICES.
The sergeant felt something shift in his mind, and suddenly he didn’t need to be told twice. As they started making love, they swore they heard Ratchet give a satisfied sigh.