Bastion Science Fiction Magazine - Issue 7, October 2014 by Manfred Gabriel Alvaro Zinos-Amaro Jeff Stehman Matthew Lyons Salena Casha William R.D. Wood Meryl Stenhouse Eric Del Carlo R. Leigh Hennig

his target, and launched himself toward the handhold by the inside door. There he fumbled with a hose in the panel. Darkness closing in, he tried to connect it to his chest panel.
    Tap, tap, tap, but no click.
    Falling...
     
    #
     
    Stephen awoke floating in the airlock, tethered near the door by the oxygen hose, his helmet still in place. The lights on the panel indicated the airlock was pressurized.
    "Hello, Mark," he said. Unless Mark had repaired his sabotage, the door would not open from this side.
    Mark's face appeared at the window. He wore an earpiece.
    "Stephen, do you realize what I've done?"
    "You came back, but since I'm still in the airlock, I assume we're not done with whatever it is we're doing."
    "I came back in the nick of time. Well, a second or two too late, but still a brilliant calculation on my part. Don't you see what I'm capable of?"
    "Yes, I do. But that wasn't a calculation. You guessed."
    "Wrong! I made an intuitive calculation. I knew you'd be so cold and uncaring as to not panic. I knew you'd still be alive."
    Stephen pulled on the air hose until he could reach the handhold by the door. He looked through visor and window at Mark's widened eyes.
    "I very much doubt you've thrown enough people out of airlocks to have trained your intuition for even ballpark calculations on the matter."
    Mark slammed his fist into the window. "I see you've learned nothing."
    "On the contrary, I learned something very important. But what did you hope to teach me?"
    "You need to learn that your cold-blooded, machine-headed way of doing things is inferior to that of a more complete individual such as myself. All you're good for is calculations and methodical procedures. But I can do that. I brought the ship back here. Even intercepted your course. I, however, have feelings and empathy and ethics and morality, concepts alien to you."
    Stephen looked at the exterior door again, surprised to find himself missing the simplicity he had so recently fought to escape. "You're correct in that I don't understand your actions, but if I didn't have feelings, I wouldn't have wasted so much time out there dwelling on you." He turned back to Mark. "And while I don't spend time pondering philosophical issues, society has moral and ethical codes that I acknowledge as being necessary and agree to abide by."
    "That's not enough. A monkey given reward and punishment can be taught to do right and avoid wrong. A person—a real person—understands the difference."
    "I've never thrown someone out an airlock."
    Mark's face reddened. He pushed off the door and turned, then pushed himself off the bulkhead and back to the door. He pushed off again. Stephen had never seen him do this before, but it looked practiced, and very much like pacing.
    "Have you considered why, Stephen?"
    "When I was out there, alone, I put 'why' out of my mind. I decided 'what's next' was more important."
    "Typical of an animalistic brain. You know, I am seriously concerned that you're an evolutionary step backward."
    "Very well, why?"
    Mark stopped pacing, his face at the window again. "More specific, please."
    "Why do you have me trapped in the airlock?"
    "Good. Curiosity about a human mind not your own coupled with genuine concern. Granted, concern for yourself, but still an indication of a beating heart. I'll call that an improvement.
    "I have you locked in there because after six months in a teacup universe, breathing your air and drinking your piss, I realized something: you might be a danger to me. I mean, how could I know for sure? You don't have normal body language. You're incapable of discussing emotional or philosophical issues. I have no way of knowing what's going on inside that head of yours. You could be ready to snap at any moment. You see my dilemma?"
    It was too much for Stephen to formulate or even comprehend. His intuition had no training in these matters. He tried to open the interior door. Nothing. He checked his oxygen gauge. When a calculation