I didn't actually intend to speak to Vegeta when my foot touched ground on the island where Tater had 'exiled' the impressively large group of Saiyan warriors. At the end of the day, while Pepper was right about Novem's time being wasted, she wasted quite a bit of the android's time on whims brought about entirely by her boredom.
In fact, nearly all of Pepper's little 'complaints' and 'problems' surrounding her pregnancy had nothing to do with the baby at all, and everything to do with the much simpler fact that she simply couldn't train like she did before.
For example, Pepper didn't get morning sickness. She just didn't like to get up in the morning, because a morning spent asleep was a morning efficiently wasted.
She didn't really get abnormal cravings, either. She just ate around twice her normal appetite. Other physical issues, like swelling or soreness? Yeah, right… no. Saiyan physique.
And as for her mood swings? She was PEPPER, and she was bored, and she even had something to blame her boredom on. For someone who'd spent the last seven months deprived of most of her favorite hobbies, her mood was actually surprisingly good, overall.
That was not because Novem went out of its way to act as my wife's personal maidservant.
It was still pretty early when my foot hit the hard grey rock.
A few men with tails were already out, wandering about or brawling with each other down by the shore. When they saw me dropping out of the sky, a few of them immediately moved to intercept me, but the moment that Novem shot out of one of the buildings in the center of the island, they all went stiff as a board before finding other things to do. I was pretty sure that one of them would naturally go tell Vegeta, but I honestly didn't care.
"Hello. I have drafted designs based on the preliminary analysis of the ship's exterior framework, however the data-sync between our technology and the Frieza Force technology is turning out quite rough, so the downloading of their systems is still in progress." Novem explained to me as it led me to a spot towards the outer edge of the makeshift camp.
"This place looks kind of bleak." I said.
"No complaints about the island itself so far. They seem to be used to efficient, military-style compounds. The only complaints so far have been of the expected variety, about being confined in the first place. They seem to find the bland, barren atmosphere of the island familiar, and thus mildly comforting." Novem analyzed.
I nodded. If the Saiyans were fine with it, then the island's blandness didn't particularly matter to me either. Still… "And Vegeta?"
"He asked for information, then shut himself into a dormitory to recover. Requested to be informed when anyone aside from me arrived." Novem told me.
"And I'm guessing that you didn't bother with that, huh?"
"Would you like me to?" Novem asked.
I shook my head. "Speaking of not informing people… I heard through the grapevine that you've been doing… certain things for Pepper, behind my back." I asked, tilting my head to glare at Novem from the side.
Outwardly, the android didn't react at all… aside from a small, tiny tic. Its pupils slightly shifted in size. It broke through the encryption lock on the Saiyan shuttle's entrance as it inwardly searched for the best possible response to my observation.
The door opened as it found it. We slipped inside as Novem's mouth began moving again. "She told me that she required help. I only assist Miss Pepper when I have nothing else to do… as an excuse to perform analyses on the pregnancy…"
"You're making her day easier, Novem. That leads to her getting bored quicker. You know that, just like you know that there are thousands of better uses for your extra time… such as doing absolutely nothing." I argued.
"However, she asks first. As such, she gets the priority." Novem argued.
I rolled my eyes, "So you just don't want to say no, then." I translated.
The android couldn't deny that without lying, so it didn't. "Spending more time around Miss Pepper allows me to better analyze the baby's health and developmental stage." It argued.
I rolled my eyes, "So three times a day isn't enough to get an accurate read, then?" I noted, "How does making Pepper's bed for her, rubbing her feet, shaking down neighborhood kids on her behalf, and flying to West City to buy twelve cakes directly from the bakery help you get a better read on the baby?"
"Miss Pepper asks…" Novem wouldn't meet my gaze as it muttered that weak excuse.
"Jump through that wall, swim to the deepest pit in the furthest depths of the ocean you can possibly find, and shut off all of your ki reinforcement." I ordered.
Novem simply ignored the order, palming its way past the lock on the Saiyans' med-bay door.
I slipped inside as the door opened, "That's what I thought. You may have core commands, but you also have discretion. You don't have to follow orders just because someone gives them, Nov." I explained, "If you keep doing everything for Pepper, I'm going to build another android and give it half of your chore-load. I swear I will."
That was the worst possible threat I could ever give Novem… taking its hard-won responsibilities away from it. You see, Novem's core commands were basically just restrictions hard-coded into it in order to keep it from going insane. Not once had I actually programmed anything about 'service' or 'following orders' into it. To me, it was basically just something that existed in that grey area between 'child', 'pet', and 'successful experiment'.
It'd chosen, for itself, to take up as many responsibilities as it could possibly handle, because it liked being useful, relied on. That was the real reason why it enjoyed doing things for Pepper… which was a massively annoying quirk.
Which it wouldn't be doing anymore. I was being entirely serious in my threat to make another android and give it Novem's chores… which were things that actually needed to be done. Helping Pepper was more of a side-hobby that Pepper happened to like because it fed into her laziness, giving her more time to think up complaints that she didn't actually care about, but wanted to voice anyway for the sake of making me just as annoyed as she was about the whole situation.