Benson sat outside on the ramp, ignoring pretty much everyone, while 'petting' Garry. He ignored everyone, ignored everything, ignored the stares of the goat farmer, ignored his goat which was also staring at him, and most importantly, ignored the urge to go introduce himself to the new person. It wouldn't be proper, after all- [i]someone[/i] had to be different. The rest were all jumping over themselves to meet the new face- except the Grump, who was probably beating his head against the engine right now. 

So eventually he finished rewriting part of the [i]Heart of Gold[/i]'s processing unit so that he could have a backdoor and exclusive access at the input of a password, and shut off the admin desk. Pocketing it, he took Garry up in one of his hands and then rubbed his thumb from his other hand across the shiny domed plate that made up the top of the small machine's central processing center. He wiped off the rubber-coated feet of the spider-like device, and then held it up in front of him, staring right into the bot's "eyes." Small plates attached to the front of Garry shifted and moved, some moving closer to each other, some farther. Garry had been programmed with a rudimentary artificial intelligence- one that manipulated the plates in accordance to pre-programmed 'emotions.' When they were tight against each other, it was because the situation was dire, he was running out of battery, or all odds suggested that he would fail. When spread as far apart as possible, he was relatively 'happy'- and the other emotions ranged between that. Right now, the plates were all stretched out from each other, expressing relative enjoyment and happiness. 

Then he whistled, and Garry jumped off his shoulder and scurried off. Heaving a heavy sigh, he rolled himself to his feet, and walked back into the suffocating interior.

He passed people with only the simplest of his courtesy- to the 'Shepherd,' or whatever he called himself, he just said his usual, repeated many-a-times response to his attire, "Your clothing is ridiculous and outdated." To the Companion, he only said, "Garry likes your rabbit." To the captain, he reported, "Ship up to date and electronically sound." To the gunsmith, he said, "Welcome aboard. Don't go in my room." To the gunner, his face temporarily brightened- slightly- and said, "I bet I could break your safe."

Then he was walking past them all and was in his room, nice and quiet.

He dropped himself onto his bed and stared at the ceiling, feeling more apathetic than ever. Then he mentally waved it away, apathetic about his apathy, and started fiddling with the electronics in Garry's advanced little body.