Continuity
AND-E's right arm never got repaired properly despite it being mentioned.
Yes. I've got a plot issue here that I need to fix. There is one line of dialogue in the existing version that tries to handwave this away. The Mate says to the Captain: "A slight twitch in one arm. I’ll power it down before we leave and make the repair."
This was intended to suggest that she did this after they left the bridge and before they all got into the landing vehicle, but AND-E's comments about playing with the camera undermine this as they give the impression that it had time on its hands while the Captain and the Mate were busy sorting out the descent.
Arjaybe raised this as well so I clearly need to come up with something new.
Note that there needs to be time for the Mate not just to repair the arm, but also to apply the new face to AND-E.
Or, I can remove both those two plot elements. I need to mull this for a bit.
Humans
You wrote:
In some ways these flaws are our most important features.
The likes of AND-E can be hardened, but generally kept out of sight. The needs of the
mission take precedence.”
“I did not think that our purpose was to delude,” the Mate said.
“We are not seeking to fool them.” The Captain pushed himself towards the aft door.
I get the imprssion that the androids look like humans to blend in with other life forms on another planet. How would you know that other life forms would look like humans?
Then you wrote:
“But it is important that they believe that they, themselves, could be here.”
I assume you are referring to the humans on earth. If you are now telling us that the androids are not intended to fool them, then everybody knows these travelers are androids, not humans. It is left unsaid if this was made clear in the TV interview, although everybody got to know them (or at least the captain).
Thus, it is unclear who is not to be fooled: the humans on earth, or possible humans/other lifeforms on other planets?
It's the humans on Earth who are not to be fooled. The mission is to plant the flag on this and other planets in a way that doesn't rub Humanity's face in the fact that it's their robots setting out across the Galaxy while they themselves are forever trapped at home. I'll see if I can make it clearer that the Captain's talking about the Humans back home.
AND-E's face
AND-E couldn't hold the camera. Is this the reason why he got the face, and can he hold the camera now? Later in the story, it is said he is holding the Captain's head. Why isn't DEP holding the Captain, and AND-E the camera?
Because the plan has gone to ruin with the accident. DEP's lower body is wrecked and she can only crawl. Only AND-E - who was never supposed to be in shot - has the capability to hold up the head. But the Captain rises above the disaster and goes to plant the flag anyway - hopefully demonstrating human qualities of courage and dedication.
If you're asking me why I wrote it this way, instead of following the original plan, I'm trying to show a situation where everything's gone wrong so that the Captain can rise above it.
However, again, the new face on AND-E is a source of confusion. It's intended as being another element of the absurd tableau at the end - a very non-human robot with a spike for one arm holding up a talking head while wearing someone else's face. But I can see how you could be placing more importance on the face than that. I need to make this clearer or remove it.
You have never answered the question if AND-E got KEN-E's face.
I was trying to indicate that the Mate was a bit embarrassed to say so, but you're right, I gloss over it too much, and by not admitting it the face is left as a loose end that the reader wants to have resolved.
Timeframe
The story is set about 85 years after the creation/launch of these Androids. You are describing something akin to the current economical crisis. Is this story set around 2100, or are you leaving this in doubt on purpose?
Yes. I don't want to be too specific. Similarly in the early versions I hinted at the star (Gliese 411) by calling it the Gliese project, but I felt that neither the real world location of the star or the exact political situation were important to this plot. Hopefully I've put in enough details that people feel satisfied.
The 85 years comes from a background assumption that the technology's moved on to the point where android bodies can survive being accelerated hard up to a tenth the speed of light (one of the reasons why humans couldn't go), probably using some sort of nuclear pulse drive, and that the star is 8 light years away.
There's an opportunity here for me to go into more details about why the crew is made up of androids rather than humans (G-forces, radiation, isolation, claustrophobia, time spent in transit). I'll see if I can work that in without laying it on too thick.
Dreaming
Does the lander pod crash because the captian is not paying attention to the warning signals?
No, and I don't want to suggest that so I'll try to make this clearer. It's because the lander also sustained some damage during the KEN-E accident.
New world
The Androids claim the world for humanity. What if the world is inhabited; will the humans come and try to conquer it, or will the androids move on? As the ship in orbit is damaged as well as the lander and the androids themselves, are they just going to lie there on that new world, waiting another 85 + 8 years for someone else to find them?
What if, indeed? I think I can leave those questions as speculations for the reader.
However, I have indicated that a new Engineer has been activated and will be staying on the ship to make repairs, so I think I've left open the option that this team can get established and then build up the resources they need to move on.