Have you noticed that Ash sometimes concludes his sentences with "Yes?"? I have just finished watching Alien for the 1000th time and I think he adds "Yes?" every time he is telling a lie, somehow circumventing his programming not to do so.
Is this observation correct? Yes? Is there any other evidence supporting this theory?
Here are some examples of such exchanges between Ash and the crew:
RIPLEY: Have you tried putting that transmission through the ECIU?
ASH: Mother hasn't identified it... Yes?RIPLEY: Ash, that transmission... Mother's deciphered part of it, it doesn't look like an SOS.
ASH: What does it look?
RIPLEY: It looks like a warning. I'm gonna go right after them.
ASH: What's the point? I mean by the time it takes to get there you'll... they'll know if it's a warning or not. Yes?RIPLEY: It's a pretty big risk for a science officer. It's not exactly out of the manual, is it?
ASH: I do take my responsibilities as seriously as you, you know. You do your job and let me do mine. Yes?RIPLEY: Okay, what about temperature? What happens if we change it?
ASH: Let's try it. Well... most animals retreat from fire. Yes?
Yes?
, but it seems clear that Ash has no problem in lying.