Meet the kids

Uhm, Hi, Niomi. Hello, Hazel. How did you get in?

I'm five and I told the ship to open up and it did.

It did? Ship, would you like to explain?

Human orders take precedence over nonhuman orders. Door open command accepted.

Wonderful. My security system can't keep out a five year old.

In your defense, there's not many things that can.

Meet the kids

I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow.

A job fell through, so I stopped by to see if you'd like to go shopping today.

I tried to call you, but Sam has this ship set up as a 900 number.

Five credits the first minute and another credit each additional minute.

That would explain why we never get any calls from telemarketers

Meet the kids

Sure, shopping today works for me. Give me a few moments and I'll be ready.

I need clothes. I'm down to one wearable outfit, and if something should happen to that, I'd have to rely on Sam or Helix to go out and do laundry.

Normally I wouldn't worry about someone destroying my clothes in the wash. With Sam or Helix, I'd consider that one of the lesser disasters that could happen.

Meet the kids

Wait a minute. I trusted Sam to get us a job yesterday and he came through. So why don't I want to trust him today?

The food! Sam scavenged the remains of my meal. Instinctively, that makes me want to lower his rank in the pack. This feeling isn't valid.

Canine emotions are kind of like having Richard Nixon as president. You have to listen, you want to trust, but you'd better verify.

Имеется в виду Уотергейтский скандал, когда республиканцев поймали на прослушке оппозиции перед президентскими выборами, а затем были предъявлены доказательства того, что их успешно прошедший выборы претендент Никсон препятствовал расследованию, что в итоге привело его к отставке перед угрозой импичмента

Meet the kids

The simplest way to align my feelings with how I know I should feel about the captain is to eat with him.

I'd better cook for this. I know Sam's diet is wider than mine, but I don't know enough about him to try a human dish yet.

Humans have some good cookbooks, but one has to be careful about using recipes from a species that can thrive on okra and marshmallow peanuts.

Про маршмэллоу я писал, okra – бамия, гомбо, окра (однолетнее растение семейства мальвовых; лат. Abelmoschus esculentus) – плоды африканского происхождения, употребляются в пищу как овощи, добавляются в супы и соусы.

Meet the kids

Shower is done, teeth are brushed, and a little cinnamon rubbed into the fur.

Humans like the scent. It's all right, but it's not decaying buffalo. There's a scent that… well… you just want to roll in it.

It's ironic that my nose is a hundred times better than theirs, but I still have to ask them what smells good.

Meet the kids

Ship, when Sam wakes up, please tell him I went shopping with Niomi.

Understood.

No humans are involved here. I don't HAVE to obey. It's my choice if I tell Sam or not.

But if I don't tell him, I will no longer be trusted. My alarms may be ignored. Survival will be reduced. By the third law, I MUST obey this order.

Whew. For one terrifying moment, I almost thought I had free will.

Перефразированный Вольтер – “Люди считают, что имеют свободу воли, когда не имеют понятия о причинах своих действий” (Tambov)

Meet the kids

Hello. Hope I didn't keep you waiting long.

Not at all. This is my other daughter, Almeda.

Hi, and before you ask, I'm a genetic colonist.

She likes to bring that up because even though I gave birth to her and raised her, it's convenient for a teenager to claim she's not genetically related to her parents.

[!2.0]MOM!

Поселенцы привозят и выращивают чужих детей, очевидно, за серьёзные бабки (Robot Spike)

Meet the kids

Hello, Almeda. I'm Florence Ambrose.

[!1.3]DOGGY!

Ms. Ambrose.

[!1.3]DOGGY!

Ms. Doggy.

Unless we want to spend all day here, I think that's as close as we're going to get.

No, her name is Ms. Ambrose.

[!1.3]DOGGY!

[!1.3]DOGGY!

Meet the kids

No worries. Hazel will start calling you Ms. Ambrose once she sees other people doing it.

[!1.6]DOGGY!

[!1.3]DOGGY!

Or she may backslide.