Daniels was leaning against the kitchen counter, mindlessly fiddling with Jake's climbing harness carabiner, when the intercom announced that someone was waiting outside the door.

'Come in,' she said weakly.

Her cabin's airlock opened and she saw Walter. It was quite surprising he visited her, but a small smile involuntarily appeared on her face. He was the one person she was most comfortable with. Maybe not everyone would call an android a person, but Daniels was not in the mood for such philosophical considerations. Walter was as real to her as anyone else on the Covenant. 

'Am I not interrupting?' he asked, calm and confident, as always. 

'Of course not. Come in.'

Walter crossed the threshold and approached her with a gentle, very polite expression on his face. Daniel loved that about him. It seemed nothing could throw him off balance. 

She liked to watch him too... Maybe she did it too often, but she just couldn't get enough of the precise, calm, and perfect movements that in her head contrasted so much with her husband's way of being. Jake was... well, he was chaos. Often completely out of control. She loved that about him, but sometimes his hyperactivity and lightheartedness drove her crazy. How much calmer life would have been with someone like Walter as a partner. 

Calmer but also duller, a quiet voice in her head spoke, very much like Jake's voice. She smiled slightly at that, but at the same time felt tears in her eyes. Remembering her husband was so painful... 

'I brought you something,' Walter said, placing a small package wrapped in brown paper on the table. It must have been something very special because the paper on the ship was worth its weight in gold.

Daniels surreptitiously wiped her eyes (although Walter probably noticed anyway) and reached for the package. Even before she unwrapped it, the smell of chocolate enveloped her.

'A few cacao trees in the greenhouse gave premature fruit, I thought they could be put to good use. It is cacao paste prepared according to the oldest recipes.'

She was literally speechless. Finally, she unwrapped the package and saw a small brown block, with here and there not quite crushed cacao beans.

'Such cacao is called ceremonial. According to ancient beliefs, it has a good effect not only on the body but also on the spirit, it opens the heart... in other words, it puts you in a slight state of ecstasy. Maybe it will be helpful for you.'

'You think of everything,' － Daniels sighed. 

'It's just my programming,' he said matter of factly.

'No, it's not.' Daniels looked at him. 'Thank you. I've never drunk ceremonial cacao, but I'd like to try it, however... I have no idea how to prepare it. Why don't you help me and we'll have a little private ceremony?'

'If only you wish it.'

'Sure. Come and tell me what you need.'

'A board and a knife for a start,' he said, standing at the counter and taking the cacao from Daniels. 

She handed him the tools he needed. 'Remember to prepare two servings, I'm not going to drink alone.' 

He nodded, a slight smile on his face.

Daniels sat on the opposite side of the counter and watched Walter chop the cacao block with sure, precise movements. Then he pours water into a saucepan and, heating it on the burner added in cacao. 

There was already something of a ceremony in the very preparation of the cacao. As if the android was reenacting a sacred ritual. The effect was heightened by the accuracy of his movements and lack of hesitation. 

Daniels was afraid to break the silence with questions, but finally, Walter himself broke it. 'Do you have a wooden spoon?' he asked, looking over the saucepan at her.

'Yes, in the first drawer.'

Walter took out a spoon and began to vigorously stir the cacao, which dissolved in the warm water.

Daniels prepared two cups, and the android poured a thick liquid into them. 'It cannot boil, then it loses all values. It's quite a large dose, the maximum you can take at one time, it will have an intense effect, but it will certainly not hurt you,' he said, handing her one of the filled cups. 

'You can give first aid if needed,' Daniels laughed quietly.  'Let's sit here.' She grabbed his hand and led him to the bay window where they could sit comfortably together and admire the space. 

Daniels marveled at the ship's designers that they had the readiness and the ability to build such facilities in all cabins for the crew, which theoretically were to be used for only a few days... Of course, if not for the emergency situation that had woke them up from hypersleep.

She sat sideways to the window, pulling her legs up to her chin. Walter took the seat across from her, one leg bent as if in a cross-legged position, the other still on the floor. He looked very comfortable.

'Cheers,' Daniels lightly nudged her cup with his and tasted the cacao. It was strong and bitter, she couldn't help and wince. She was about to ask for sugar when she felt a slight acidity on her tongue, followed by a nutty note...

'You don't seem to like it very much,' Walter remarked, also sipping his portion, but without flinching. 

'No... Give me a moment... The first second was very bitter, but now a wealth of flavors is revealed to me.'

'Cacao is best drunk without additives and it's not even that they reduce its health-promoting properties, but distort the taste, which is very important.'

Daniels took another sip, smaller this time. The initial bitterness was less, and then other sensations came.  'You seem to be a cacao expert?'

'It's all here.' He tapped his temple with a finger. 'And if there isn't yet... Well, I'm a quick learner.

'It's good that you have such a capacious head.' Daniels grinned. After the third sip, she felt something. Some sudden lightness in the chest... Tiny for now, but growing with every moment. 'Does cacao work for you too?' she asked.

'If so, we'll find out soon enough. However, I don't think it ides.'

Daniels looked at him carefully. 'I hope I didn't offend you with this question?'

Walter just smiled slightly. 'I cannot be offended, Daniels.'

'In that case, I hope I didn't make you feel sad?' 

'You can't make me sad either.' He seemed amused but also flattered by her concern. Or so she thought.

How easy it was to talk to him. In general, every interaction with Walter was so easy. He kept saying he was programmed that way, but Daniel thought it was more than that. She knew other androids, they were now becoming more numerous on Earth, and she had enough experience with them to know that Walter was special. He had a desire to understand people, as well as a huge dose of kindness and empathy, which other androids, whom Daniels had met, did not show. But it was hardly surprising since people, regardless of the androids' intelligence, including emotional intelligence, treated them simply like machines.

'What are you thinking about?' Walter asked, snapping her out of her reverie and once again surprising her with his extremely human behavior.

This time it was Daniels who smiled slightly. 'About you.'

Walter's expression showed polite surprise as she said that. Maybe it was the cacao, or maybe she just had to say it. Before the android could react verbally to her words, she added. 'And how lucky I am that of all beings, it is you, who are here with me.'