Two weeks, a few too many parties, crashing another casino, and one angry hippo later we were back home. I must admit after not seeing that hunk of rock for a few weeks I was happy to be back home. The Rising Star had docked at one of Jupiter’s orbital space docks. From there we caught a flight back the Ganymede.

The Star itself would refuel while at Jupiter before continuing. It would be heading out all the way to Pluto and the Ort Cloud observatory before heading back towards the Sun.

Our flight landed at the space port. From the port we headed down to the parking lot.

“Hey the car is still here,” I said. It was a pretty slick vehicle. It had the latest maglev tech built into it that allowed for spherical wheels and 360 degree range of motion. It also allowed for the car to go pretty fast.

“It’s been a while,” Cat said, “Really missed that car.”

“You still have the keys?”

“Yup,” she held up a small object and tapped a button on the side. The car chirped and unlocked.

The ride home was uneventful. But then again after that cruise, daily life here was probably gonna seem boring. But Spitfire found the car and the dome that surrounded our city interesting enough so I guess I should be happy with that. We reached the house. It was a simple structure with modern architecture to it. The house was white with two stories. The shape was mildly pyramidal with a bit of a trapezoid shape to it. There was two car garage that connected to the side. A walkway connected the driveway to the front door.

Our home was in the suburbs of New Alexandria that surrounded the main city. The view of the city was nice but at night, nothing beats a great view of Jupiter as it glows in the night. The red spot still storming after all these years.

We stepped out of the car and walked towards the front door. I reached for the door knob and a small holo keypad appeared. I typed in the code and let the scanner scan my hand for verification. The door unlocked and we stepped in.

“Welcome to our humble abode,” I said before tossing my bag on the couch.

The door opened to a living room to the left of us. A den was towards the right. Right down the center was the staircase that led to the upstairs. Off of the living room was the dining room. Off from the den was the kitchen. All four rooms were connected. In the hallway between the den and the kitchen was the bathroom. The garage connected to the house through a door in the living room.

Spitfire tentatively walked in, unsure of whether or not she was welcome or not.

“Well come on in,” I said, “Don’t be shy. This place is as much your home now as it is ours.”

“Yeah lord knows this place doesn’t get used a lot,” Cat said as she walked in, “The only time we’re ever here is during the holidays and vacations.”

Spitfire stepped in, “You have a wonderful house.”

“You can thank Cat for that one. She gets paid the big bucks.”

“Damn straight.”

Cat walked up the stairs and towards her room. I sat down the couch. Spitfire sat in one of the arm chairs.

“Home sweet home,” I sighed.

“Oh!” Cat yelled from upstairs, “We have a guest bedroom you can use, Spitfire. That is if you want to. I mean, I’m sure Jett would love to have you share his bed with him an-”

“Shut up Cat!” I yelled fuming.

“Gosh you are easy to get!”

“That’s what I said!” Spitfire laughed.

I sighed. Two women in my life and all they seek to do are aggravate the hell out of me. One of them seemingly more than the other. Cough, Spitfire, Cough.

“Come on,” I said, “Let’s get you settled in.”

“Ok. Oh and I just remembered,” Spitfire said, “That explanation?”

Figured this was coming. She has to find out some time, “And you’ll have your explanation.”

We grabbed our bags and headed up stairs. Across from the stairs was the bathroom. It sat in the middle of the hallway. Farther down both ends were the bedrooms. Cat’s room and her office were on one end while my room and the guest rooms were on the other. My room had two windows, one overlooking the front yard, the other overlooking the garage roof. The guest room, now Spitfire’s room, overlooked the back yard and the garage roof.

Everything was exactly how I had left it. My model ships and planes were still on my dresser, my katana still on my wall, my bed still near the window to the front yard, my desk with my laptop. I tossed my bag onto my bed. Fuck it I’ll empty it later. I’d also need to get a new set of flight wings. Mine got pretty fucked up on the drop.

I walked over to my laptop and turned it on. The display activated and displayed my desktop. I quickly went on the internet and opened a few windows. Spitfire wanted her explanation so she was gonna get it.

“That bed in there is pretty comfortable,” Spitfire said as she walked in, “Hey, nice pad.”

“Glad you like it,” I said.

“So you were gonna tell me something?”

“Yeah,” I said. I went over to my computer, “You may want to sit down for this.”

***

It was a lot to take in. I basically had to explain to her the entire concept of how my world saw hers and how… different the points of view were.

She took it well enough, even going as far as to laugh at some of the episodes I showed her. A lot of them had apparently actually happened which made it funnier for her. I thought this was going to be difficult. She sure took it better than I did. She also got over the whole pony thing quite quickly too, and was quite understanding of our original confusion.

It was quite awkward at first. Not as awkward as being handcuffed to a thong rack but still. She certainly reacted to the whole, ‘hi, your whole world as you know it is in fact a cartoon about colorful talking ponies where I come from,’ thing better than I would have.

“So wait,” I asked her, “If the whole Best Flier Competition actually happened, did Rainbow Dash actually break the sound barrier?”

“Yup,” Spitfire said, “Don’t tell her this but that’s actually one of the marks you have to pass if you want to get into the Wonderbolts.”

“Really?”

“Um hmm. Granted it is a special trick, but nearly any pegaus can do it if they train hard enough. But what makes RD stand out from the rest is that she did her first Sonic Rainboom in flight camp.”

“So only a select few can pull it off?”

“Basically. In fact I think RD is the only pegasus outside the Wonderbolts right now who can pull it off. That I know of that is. There may be more but I haven’t heard about them if there are. Not many fliers actually care about their flight skills these days. But it’s always good to see someone like her working hard to reach something she wants. She is certainly up there on the list for the next wonderbolt.”

“I hear ya. It’s not that different here. A lot of people all over, mainly on Earth and the inner planets aren’t that fit. Out here is different since exercise is actually a law here.”

“Really? Now that’s something I’ve never heard of before.”

“Yup. While gravity here is normal 1 G there are a lot of jobs where people work in low to zero gravity. So it’s a law where people have to pass a mandatory fitness test every year or else they’re fined.”

“Wow. And I thought the wonderbolts was extreme. So how fit are you?”

“Oh I’m not all that special. Just average.”

“Yeah, and I’m a purple octopus. You are selling yourself short there. You have to be pretty fit to beat me in at all the stuff we did.”

“Well you could kick my ass in the air.”

“You don’t have wings so that wouldn’t be fair.”

“That wasn’t your attitude whenever we went to the water park.”

“Cause that was just for fun. But in all seriousness, you’re pretty fast and fit.”

“No I’m not,” I said. This conversation was going somewhere I did not want to go, “I’m just average. Normal. I don’t stand out.”

“We’ll see about that,” Spitfire smirked. With that she grabbed me and tossed me to the floor. Instinct kicked in. I flipped back up and on my feet and in a fighting stance.

“Come on,” Spitfire said, “You know any martial arts?”

“You saw the sword on my wall,” I said unsure as to where she was going with this.

“Good. All I needed to know.” She struck forward with her arm. Her strike seemed to come at me in slow motion. I could make a quick judgment of this situation here. She was striking with her dominant hand, leaving her less dominant hand in the defense. I could use my left arm to deflect her strike and hit her in the face. I could also duck low and take her to the ground in a sweeping motion with my leg. I could also easily break her arm.

But all of those would be rude. I decided on passive resistance. I reached up with my left arm and deflected her strike before returning to stance.

“Fast reflexes,” she purred, “Good. Let’s see what else you can do.”

“Spitfire please. I don’t want to spar with you right now. I- whoa!” I ducked down as Spitfire’s foot flew up and nearly hit me in the face. Balance was something I had developed over time. It came in quite handy here as I ducked and nearly smacked the floor with my head.

I stood up, “You almost hit me in the face with that!”

“Yup!” With that she turned and nearly gave me a roundhouse to the head. Alright, no more mister nice guy. I grabbed her leg and brought my leg out sweeping her other leg out from under her. I rushed forward and pinned her to the ground on her back. She gave me a playful smirk. Curses I’ve been had!

“Happy now?” I said rolling off of her and onto the floor next to her.

“Gonna stop selling yourself short?” she smirked back.

No, I can’t. She wouldn’t understand. Time to lie.

“Fine. I certainly hope you don’t torture Soarin’ or the other wonderbolts like this.”

“Nope. I only like making you feel awkward.”

“And why is that?”

“Because it’s funny when you get worked up!” Spits giggled.

“Why do I even bother?”

“Hey just be happy I don’t have you do pushups like Soarin’.”

“You’re not the boss of me.”

“I can go out and get a whip to go with those cuffs.”

I visibly cringed and turned a few shades redder. Curse you emotions. Actually, I think it’s time for some reverse psychology.

“And I can go out and get a gag ball,” I smirked. Spitfire blushed. I could see she was trying to one up me as she bit her lip.

“Yeah? Well I can go get a-” there was a flash right next to me where Spitfire used to be. I jumped up and turned towards the spot to where Spitfire used to be.

“Spitfire?!” I asked, “Spitfire?!” Oh god no! NO! NO! Where did she go?!

Cat came out of her room, “Jett? What are you yelling about?”

“Spitfire was here just a second ago but then she just… vanished!”

“What do you mean she vanished?”

“Let’s see here! There are so many ways I can say this; vanished, disappeared, phased out of existence, broke the fourth wall…”

“Have you considered the possibility that she may have just-”

“HEY!” a voice said. It was coming from the… roof?!

“HEY JETT! HOW THE HELL DO I GET DOWN FROM HERE IF I CAN’T FLY? HUH? COME TO THINK OF IT, HOW THE HELL DID I GET UP HERE?!”

“SPITFIRE?!” I ran towards the window that led to the garage roof. I opened the window and hopped out onto the roof. Spitfire was sitting on the roof of the main part of the house, looking for a way down.

“Oh good you’re here! How do I get down? I’m not exactly eager to jump from two stories onto the lawn without my wings to slow me down and I’m not sure I can hit the garage roof the right way.”

I sighed in relief, “Don’t ever scare me like that again!”

“Aww,” she put her head in her hands, “You were worried about me. How sweet.”

“No!” I fumed, “Just don’t want you leaving just yet until I have revenge for that incident with the hippo!”

“Yeah yeah. Now how about me getting down from here?”

“Jett? What the hell’s going on?” Cat yelled out the window.

“Spitfire’s on the roof,” I called back, “As for you getting down, there’s a ladder in the garage. I’ll get it.”

“Thank you!”

I jumped down from the roof and landed in the driveway. After tapping a few controls on the garage door it opened. I walked past my car and removed the ladder from the wall.

After setting up on the lawn I leaned it up against the house.

“Alright! You’re good!” I called.

She began her descent. I held out a hand as she reached the bottom. She blushed and took it. Cat ran out the front door.

“Aww,” she said, “You guys look so cute together.”

“SHUT UP!” We both yelled.

Cat turned and headed back in the house laughing, “And put that ladder away!”

***

After putting the ladder away and eating lunch Spitfire and I returned to my room.

“Ok,” I said as I stepped into my room. I went to sit down on my bed but Spits rushed past me and bounced onto my bed, taking my spot. She rested with her arms behind her head and one of her legs on her other knee.

“Really?”

“Yup.”

“Ok,” I continued, “So as I was going to say. It looks like you can jump from place to place.”

“Yeah. I think that’s how I ended up here to begin with.”

“Well it looks like you still have the ability to jump. What spell were you using when you ended up here?”

“We were doing a trick when I got stranded here. We were supposed to teleport using a spell that this magician gave us. I don’t remember how long it was supposed to last but it looks like I can still do it.”

“Can you teleport now?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I don’t know. When we were talking it just… happened. I’m not sure if there was anything I did to trigger it.”

“Maybe it’s something you have to will yourself to do,” I said.

“Maybe…”

“It’s worth a shot. Nothing ventured, nothing gained right?”

“Hmm, I’ll give it a shot,” she sat up. She closed her eyes. Nothing was happening. She soon began to look like she was straining herself. Her face was priceless.

I started laughing. Spitfire’s face cracked as she started laughing too.

“Stop it,” she giggled, “I can’t focus with you laughing at me.”

“I can’t help it,” I said, “You look funny when you make that face.”

She opened her eyes and sat up. She playfully punched me in the shoulder.

“What was that for?”

“For making me lose focus.”

“Fine. But maybe the teleportation thing can get you home. It is how you got here isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Spitfire said though she seemed bothered by something.

“Well maybe we’ll just have to keep practice. But first we have to figure out how you did that.”

“Yeah I guess.”

“Well I guess this explains how you ended up in my room that night.”

Spits blushed, “Don’t blame me. I don’t know how I did that.”

Oh I was gonna tease the hell out of her, “Yeah, sure you don’t.”

“Don’t flatter yourself.”

We laughed. Cat called from downstairs.

“Jett?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you go to the store and pick up some groceries?”

“Sure, what do we need?”

“I have a list for you and Spitfire. And don’t worry, I accounted for Spitfire being a vegetarian.”

***

We decided to walk. It was a nice day out so Cat decided we should get some exercise. We didn’t complain. The weather was nice and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. But then again there was barely a sky to begin with.

Spitfire and I walked along the sidewalk as we got close to the edge of the city. The city’s edge resembled was more like a small town than a city. The local grocery store and other businesses were just up ahead. Various sounds could be heard. Cars and trucks drove by. Other people were walking along the sidewalk nearby. Various sounds of everyday life. Everything was perfect.

“So…” Spitfire began, “When I jumped and ended up on the roof…”

“Yeah?”

“You seemed pretty worried about me there,” she grinned slyly, “Worried I’d leave without saying goodbye?”

“I, uh, um, well I have known you for a little while now…”

“Ah ha! You would miss me if I left! Admit it!”

“Ok I’ll admit you are my friend but I haven’t really known you that long enough to miss you like THAT.”

“You’d miss me and you know it.”

“What was it you said? Don’t flatter yourself.”

“Hey I’m just stating the obvious as I see it.”

“Well I don’t know how you see it but…”

Hold on. There’s a new sound that’s joining the chorus of noise. What is it? I think I recognize it. But that’s only something I’ve heard on TV. There’s a bus horn. It’s coming from down the street up there. There are tires swerving. Another horn is blaring. It’s a car. It’s skidding down the road.

Assess the situation. What do we know? A bus nearly went head on into a car. The car swerved out of the way. It’s skidding down the road towards us. There are several options here. I could grab Spitfire and attempt to dive out of the way. But with that there’s only a 30% chance that either of us will survive the car’s front tires crushing us. No. Second option; drag her out of the way. No, defiantly not. 50% chance I would survive and only 10% chance for Spitfire. The sounds of the car accident haven’t even reached her ears yet, let alone her ear drum or cochlea. And that car is traveling pretty fast; I’d say 100 kilometers per hour. There’s a third option; it has a 75% chance of Spitfire escaping without injury but a 100% chance of me taking a several thousand kilogram car to my solar plexus. If this one offers the greatest chances of survival for Spits, I’ll take it.

I reached out with my right arm. Using the greatest amount of leverage I could get I pushed her off the sidewalk and onto the green. She had a look of surprise on her face when she hit the ground. But she was out of the way of the car. Good. Now about that car.

I held up my left arm just as the vehicle impacted.

***

What the hell happened?! Its vitals are terribly unstable!

I don’t know! All we can tell is that there’s severe impact trauma to nearly 80% of its body. Wait! We’re getting footage now!

…

But… But that’s not possible! He just overrode his programing like that?!

It looks like he’s overridden his self-preservation protocols! How did he do that? That programing is written into his source code!

His matrix scans the situation and formulates options in high stress situations in picoseconds. The options he came up with here were either dragging her out of the way with him, or diving to the ground with her, or… sacrificing himself and pushing her out of the way!

Is his brain supposed to come up with that option?

No! In fact that should have been the ‘abandon and save myself’ option. But he just overrode his programing like that!

What does this mean? Can the others do something like this?

I don’t know! Emotional responses aren’t normally part of the decision making process in situations like this.

Are you saying that’s what happened? His EM card overrode his core logic?!

It’s the best I can come up with at the moment! I’ll try to figure something out but right now I have to track the progress of those paramedics!

I’ll get the Admiral on the line. He’ll want to know what happened to his son.

***

Spitfire looked up from the green. She was dazed but otherwise alive. What the hell just happened? One minute she was walking the next Jett is pushing her to the ground and out of the way of a speeding car while he takes the-

“Oh my gosh! JETT!” She got up on her feet and started searching. The street was in chaos. Farther up was a flipped over bus. But that’s not what terrified her the most. There was a car lodged in the side of a building farther down the road. The driver stumbled out, dazed and bruised but fine. That didn’t even warrant her attention for too long.

What had her scared was the sight in the middle of the road. There was the crumpled body of a kid. He wasn’t moving. She ran as fast as she could up to him. It was Jett. No. No please no!

He saved me. He pushed me out of the way and saved me. She was on the verge of tears.

When she got closer she gasped. Something wasn’t right. Jett’s left arm had a silvery metallic liquid draining off it. Some of it was skin colored but it quickly turned to liquid metal as it pooled under his arm. Beneath the liquid was a gun metal surface. His arm wasn’t real! There were several nodes along the arm that ran all the way up to his shoulder. His hand melted to reveal a plated surface with joints and pads on the fingers.

The rest of his body didn’t look better. Skin had been scrapped clean off just above his right eye. Where she should have seen bone there was a metal like surface beneath. On his right arm the flesh on his elbow had been ripped open to reveal a plated joint. Blood was pooling under his body.

His entire body was pulsing with a blue light beams that ran like circuits all along his body. They pulsed on and off as his systems fought to keep him alive. His eyes flickered from they’re normal blue to black and back again with the rest of his body.

Spitfire crouched down and held him in her arms, tears running down her face. He sacrificed himself to save me.

“HELP!” She called, “Someone help! Please!”

Sirens sounded off in the distance as fire trucks, ambulances and police cars converged on the scene.

***

“Well Admiral it appears your Project Titan is progressing well,” the secretary said.

“Glad you approve ma’am,” Admiral Halsey said coldly. This woman was infuriating. She was treating one of the greatest inventions in the history of mankind like it was a collection of Barbie dolls.

“But they’re only prototypes?”

“Yes ma’am. Eventually we hope to have actual infiltration agents all over Venus and Mercury. If this works correctly we can stop an all-out war before it starts with these things.”

“And what exactly are they again?”

The Admiral sighed, “They are semi organic synthetically built AI. They look, act, feel, taste, sound, and smell like a human. Accept they’re not. Imagine having the perfect sleeper agent anywhere in the system. So good they don’t even know they’re an agent.”

The secretary raised an eyebrow, “Ok I’m listening.”

“They lie in wait for years even, building up lives so that no one suspects them. It’s like chess madam. Position your pieces carefully, and then when the time is right you strike. They are the ultimate agents of sabotage and espionage. And best of all they work fast.”

“I’ve heard. But what are these claims that some of the scientists are making? That these semi organic/semisynthetic beings are the next step in human evolution?”

“I don’t know ma’am. Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t. Either way, we made them.”

“Is this really the next step though?”

“Look, ma’am. With all due respect, sixteen years ago you asked me to get you the best agent the Martian and Earth navies could buy. I did just that.”

“I understand that. What I need to know is that these things are safe.”

“They are safe. We have various blocks and systems in place to monitor and keep track of them where ever they go.”

“Good. And what’s this I hear about you adopting one?”

The Admiral cringed, “He’s my son. I know what you’re thinking but after Cat the doctors said she couldn’t have another. He’s not doing any harm. He’s giving us pretty good data on how they would react in all sorts of situations.”

“Like school?”

“Yes. He goes to school. From what he tells me he wants to join the Navy as pilot. After seeing the readings on them you have to admit he’d make a great pilot.”

The secretary laughed, “Yes he would. I’d hate to be the guy who happens to be on the wrong side of the barrel with him.”

“I’ll say.”

“Well Admiral I’d say your experiment is proving to be quiet useful. Carry on and report back here same time same place next year.”

The Admiral stood up and saluted, “Thank you ma’am.”

“Dismissed.”

He exited the room. After a series of long security checks he was allowed to leave the ONI building and enter the Martian atmosphere. Granted it wasn’t really an atmosphere but the processed air of the bio domes was still appealing.

As he entered his car his cell phone rang.

“Hello?”

…

“Oh my god what happened?!”