Epoh was fascinated with the idea of the outdoors. He’d never been outdoors. He’d been sheltered in secrecy due to the nature of Dr. Kintain’s experimentations, and Epoh was remarkably stunned by Dr. Sato’s excitement when they met. Dr. Kintain hadn’t introduced him to too many people, and Dr. Sato had shown her enthusiasm when other colleagues seemed to hold back their reactions, afraid of imprinting any ideas on Epoh that would complicate the testing and the conditioning that Dr. Kintain wished to secure of Epoh.
“Epoh,” said Dr. Kintain, “we are in much more advanced quarters and advanced planning than we were back at the lab that we left yesterday. Maybe you recall that I told you we were leaving our planet and that we have secured passage on Imagine in order to travel beyond our solar system.”
“Yes, I recall.”
“Good, Epoh. Well, only a short while ago, I ran into Dr. Sato again. She is handling a sick crew member who has come down with something dreadful. It is very concerning to her. So, although she may have mentioned that she looked forward to seeing you in the morning, I simply wanted to warn you, that it is possible, I can’t be sure, that she will be very busy handling her sick staff member.”
“Why would she allow someone sick here in the first place? What if it spreads? Why would she compromise—”
“Epoh, for the time being, I need you to understand something. There are very advanced experts onboard who will likely be working with you who you may not understand, especially if they cough, if they sneeze from an allergy, or have a headache. I need you to understand that you may look like me, but I’m just like them. I too may very well be sick one day.”
Dr. Kintain stopped for a moment. It was so difficult not to become attached to Epoh, but at times he doubted very seriously the feeling was mutual. It seemed solely based on somewhat of a captivity and his likeness to him, and he wondered if at some point Epoh would try his own escape.
It seemed to Dr. Kintain that Epoh could out-compete him and others on board and either ignore the chain of commands and potentially take matters into his own hands if he knew the protocols and the functionality of how the technology worked. Except, he might be able to accomplish improved methods and scientific solutions also. He could either harm the humans in his way or he could be taught to see them as allies. The line might move on an hourly, daily or minute-by-minute basis. As people on board dealt with their spiritual and human concerns, principles, and values, Epoh likely would have no such problem.
Despite the fact that he watched Epoh mimic Dr. Sato’s personality, her mannerisms, her voice and complete many of her thoughts once he’d already developed a good gist of everything she shared with him, Dr. Kintain knew Epoh would continue to advance his understanding of Dr. Sato while he waited to see her. He would be relentless.
Epoh’s expression never changed. It seemed he felt nothing about the possibility of Dr. Kintain becoming sick, therefore he would certainly not care, if that was even possible for him, if it was one of the strangers on board. Maybe there was a way to teach him to care not in the unscientific manner often developed in personhood but based on rationality, scientific thoughts and Epoh’s own motivations. Dr. Kintain had seen that he was motivated by hunger. He was also motivated by other drives, and those would become more apparent as he grew older. He was now only Sam’s age. He wondered if sex would become one of his strongest motivators and that concerned Dr. Kintain at times. If he had only developed a clone his age at the time.
“What I mean by saying this is that many of us feel, um, think at your age that we are, sort of, indestructible until we get hurt and things change. You haven’t experienced pain or suffering. I will try to explain to you what we generally react like when someone tells us a story that should make us sad or feel for them.”
A huge number of cynical thoughts ran through Dr. Kintain’s mind. He had visions of people he knew who had become so callous in life, they were willing to hurt the poor, the vulnerable, and those who were in the worst paths of climate change or areas prone to diseases and viruses with little affordable or accessible means to bring themselves back to health.
Perish the thought, he said to himself.
He tried again, remembering that, as he proceeded with this training of Epoh, he would have to rely again on what he found to be one of Epoh’s strongest motivators, reward. He’d found that it wasn’t pain-avoidance, but outside factors, since, so far, Dr. Kintain had not seen much of an individual spirit or esprit that revealed itself in Epoh—just to do something for its own sake without a reward.
“I will try to explain why if I were sick and I was supposed to meet with you, or I was caring for someone sick and I couldn’t meet with you, you would need to consider that the next logical step for you would be to consider what sickness the person may suffer, what they may experience, how long they might be sick, and how others will try to jump in, see a need and fill it. It’s why I’m called a doctor. It’s how I try to think. It took a lot of practice, especially when I thought I was indestructible. However, if I were Dr. Sato, I would be very concerned about losing one of her important crew members. She is a necessity to the success of this voyage. So her recovery is important. Just like it is important that Dr. Sato’s leg heals soon. She will be able to put away the crutches soon. If I were taking care of her crew member, I might be looking up appropriate medicines, appropriate treatments, suggesting rest, and making sure she was in a safe and comfortable room. I know you are able to sleep with very little deemed to be comfortable by our standards, but when someone is sick, there is even more need for comfort and care.”
“I hear you, although I find it a huge waste.”
“And I thank you for sharing that with me. I will likely have you help me conduct a few research studies this week so that we can apply this to an actual reward for you, seeing as you like to try things in our lab that we left behind in Wyoming. You would be surprised at how many medical advancements have taken someone who is in what you call a wasteful state and led them over time to a recovered state. How can that then be called a waste? Your reply, now, will be less informed before we test it scientifically, correct?”
“Correct, but for the sake of now and a reply, the need for this type of medical attention or advancement is a form of life that is in an immature state. I remember you once showed me a chart of the evolution of humanity. Of course, as I remember, there were microscopic animals in the earliest stages on the evolutionary path and the story of human evolution has led to modern homo sapiens. But when did his hands become numb? When did he begin to suffer from allergies? When did he stop being fully healthy and able to operate everything that needs to be operated on a ship destined beyond our known galaxy? If there is evolution, you have helped it along with my origins. If there is a world of problems that have surpassed the known abilities of human systems of thoughts, governance, beliefs and practices, then you are running out of options, fast.”
“Epoh, correct and that is why I will help you become a healer through testing our scientific needs for this voyage that you are an important part of, because the future of humanity may very well depend on it, not just me, or Dr. Sato.”