Well, it was Saturday. Universally a good day. Unlike MONDAYS. Evil days. But today was one of those days to have fun and do all sorts of crazy antics.

I rolled over and out of my bed onto the floor with a thud.

“Ow,” I said.

I pulled myself up off the floor and onto my feet. I put my hand to my head and activated a system’s diagnostic. Well my internal systems are all repaired perfectly. Micro fractures sustained in the accident have been repaired, the flesh on my arm and head has returned back to normal. But the LM storage tanks in my upper arm were only at 1/3. Not enough to form a complete covering but enough for me to do some fun things with it.

I let the new field emitter do its job and watch the LM compound flow out of the nodes in my arm. I modified its flow so it focused on my fore arm.

There were so many things I could do with it, form armor plating, laid back thorns, crystalline shards, blades. That was probably the most useful function. I could form sharpened knives and with the material. It could rearrange its structure so it became as strong as my Tritanium katana on the wall.

But for now the material would stay in the storage tanks in my upper arm. Go with the norm.

I walked up to my night stand and grabbed my phone and put on a pair of headphones. Music always did wake me up in the morning. I strolled into the bathroom while nodding my head to the latest Deadmau5 beat.

I looked at myself in the mirror. Yup, bed head. Spitfire was probably gonna get a kick out of this. Well one of the advantages of being an android is that I don’t need to use the bathroom all that often other than bathing or brushing my teeth.

I reached into a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of hair gel. I spiked my hair up, down, to the sides, all over the place before finally moving into its normal position. I turned around to leave just as Spitfire opened up the shower curtain.

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” we both screamed. I quickly deactivated my sight while Spits covered up with her wings.

Oh shit how much did I see? How much did I see? Nothing? Good. Now there’s still the problem of getting myself out of here while blind.

I grabbed my head and pulled my headphones down around my neck.

“Why didn’t you knock?!” Spitfire asked, “I was taking a shower in here!”

“Why wasn’t the door closed?!” I responded, “How am I supposed to know if anyone’s in here?”

“Uh, you could’ve heard that the shower was on?!” Spitfire retorted.

“Uh, I was wearing my headphones and listening to music?”

“Uh, well I’m naked so get out?”

“Uh well what happened to being casual?”

She stopped. I couldn’t see her facial expression considering my blindness. Well not really blind, just my sight was off.

“Uh, you know what just get out. I have to dry my hair and a certain android is making it quite awkward for me.”

I smiled, “Ah ha! Doesn’t feel good does it? This is how I feel whenever you put me in these situations; like dragging me into a dressing room, or pinning me to the ground like that, or HANDCUFFING ME TO A THONG RACK.”

“Will you just get out of here so I can dry my hair and wings?”

“Can you point me in the direction of the door? I can’t see right now.”

“What do you mean you can’t see?”

“I mean I shut my eyes off. Look, there isn’t any color in them right now.”

There was a silence. I guessed she was staring at them.

“Turn,” I turned, “Turn, turn, turn, keep going… and… stop. Now walk forward.”

I stepped forward and smacked the wall. Spitfire giggled.

“You’re mean,” I sulked.

“You love me and everything about me.”

“I’m beginning to question that,” I joked.

I felt hands on my shoulders as I was turned in the correct direction and shoved out of the bathroom. The door closed behind me. I reactivated my sight.

“Ugh! Guys,” Spitfire said.

“UGH! Girls!” I said back.

I walked into my room and removed my night shirt. My artificial arm started at my shoulder and went down from there. I could see the connections that ran from it to my body.

In spite of that I smiled. Spitfire and I hadn’t exactly met under the best circumstance or gotten off to a good start but it was nice to know I could talk to her about anything now. She was one of the nicest girls I’d ever met. In fact I think she’s the only one who doesn’t just look at the fact that I’m missing an arm and label me a freak. She sees me as… me.

I pulled on a T-shirt and a pair of shorts over my boxers. I pulled on a pair of socks and my sneakers. This was the first time in weeks I actually got to wear clothes from home.

I wondered what we were going to do today. Not much probably. Life here wasn’t all that interesting during the summer.

Spitfire emerged from the bathroom with her hair back to its normal flame like shape and a towel around her body as she stepped into her room.

I flopped back down on my bed and turned on the TV embedded in the wall. The news was the same old same old. Nothing I gave a serious fuck about. I was about to shut it off when I got a call on my phone.

“Hello?”

“WHAT UP?!” Dane’s voice echoed through the speaker.

I held the phone back as I cringed, “Jesus Dane! Believe me when I say that all of Earth doesn’t need to here you when you talk.”

“Yeah yeah,” the joker said, “So you wanna hang today? If you’re even in New Alexandria right now.”

“Yeah I’m in New Alexandria. We got home yesterday.”

Spitfire stepped out of her room and into mine. She was wearing a short sleeve shirt with a pair of jeans. She had her Wonderbolts dog tags around her neck and some fingerless gloves on her hands.

She bounced onto my bed behind me, “Hey, who ya talking to?”

“Dane,” I said.

“Who’s that in the background?” Dane asked, “Is that your flame headed girlfriend?”

“SHE’S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!” I yelled, “And yes that’s her.”

“Ah,” he said slyly, “Don’t worry big daddy. I see you baggin.”

“If you don’t shut up right now I will leave this house and come down there and slap the shit outta you.”

“Go ahead. Do it. I’d like to see you tr-” Click. I hung up. I turned to Spitfire. Her outfit did look nice on her.

“Come on,” I said, “We’re going to go pay Dane a visit.” I got up off my bed and headed for the stairs.

“Ok,” Spitfire said, “Is he… is he-”

“Is he an Android like me? Yes. In fact, he and I are the only one’s aware of what we are.”

“You’re not the only one?!”

“No. There are sixteen other models scattered across the solar system. I’m number 7. Dane is 8. We both learned what we were through… unpleasant experiences.”

“So you lied when you said he was your cousin?” Spitfire looked a tad bit annoyed.

I sighed, “That was before you learned what I am. I didn’t want you to find out at the time so I lied to protect myself. I’m sorry.”

Spitfire looked away before returning her gaze to me, “Ah whatever. I guess I can understand.”

“You’re too good to me,” I smiled.

We walked past Cat who was watering plants in the front yard, “Cat! We’re off to slap the shit outta Dane! Be back later!”

“Be back by midnight!” she called, “And try not to get hurt again!”

“Yeah yeah, I’ll be fine.”

We started walking down the sidewalk away from the city into further into the suburbs.

“So…” Spits began, “What’s it like being an android?”

What? That’s an unusual question. No one’s ever cared enough to ask. Why would she be interested? Curiosity maybe?

Because she cares about you asshole.

She can’t care that much.

Are you high? You totally opened up to her on the roof last night. And she listened.

Humph. Why would she care though? Our relationship doesn’t go beyond me helping her return home.

I think it goes beyond that. You took a CAR for her.

Instinct, nothing more.

Well maybe to you but she put her arm around you and said, and I quote, ‘you’re my friend. And that’s all that matters to me.’ She’s the only one who’s cared enough. She’s your friend and you know it.

I’m going to lose this argument aren’t I?

Technically it already happened and yes, you lost. You only win the ones you want to win and I can safely say you did not want to win this one.

Asshole brain.

“What’s it like being an android?” I responded, “That’s an interesting question. I mean, I’m good at school work and stuff since I remember every second of every day. But there are a series of blocks in place that prevent me from accessing my full range of abilities.”

“What is your full range of abilities?”

“Well I’d be faster, stronger, more agile, android stuff. I wouldn’t need to go to school since I could download everything from kindergarten all the way up to my tenth year of college in a few minutes and be done with it. I could assimilate knowledge faster, all sorts of things. Ultrasonic hearing, superhuman sight, everything.”

“But you can’t do any of that right now?”

“No. There is a signal that’s being constantly transmitted to my head that keeps them in place. It stays on at all times, and allows… whoever’s job it is to monitor me to keep track of my vitals. It was kinda creepy at first knowing that people were watching my vitals in some unknown place but eh, I got used to it.”

Spitfire cringed, “Eh, I don’t think I could ever get used to that.”

“Hmm,” I responded. A silence followed. There was something I’d always wanted to know. I’d never asked Cat at all. She wouldn’t understand and neither would anyone else. But maybe Spitfire would answer. It was the one question I wanted an answer to. Something I thought I used to know but now, I’m not so sure.

“Can I ask you something?”

Spitfire turned, “Sure.”

“What does it mean to be… human?”

***

What does it mean to be human?

One of the most asked philosophical questions in the history of humanity. Something a lot of people would say they knew the answer to.

‘See this?’ they would say holding up a picture of their family or friends or lovers or something like that, ‘that’s what it means to be human.’

But for an android? Things like that would not have meaning.

Spitfire found that a difficult question to answer. She was alive and always had been. She had always known what she was. She’d always had a family, friends, and past boyfriends. She thought she’d known what it had been to be human. But to explain that to someone who quite literally had no idea? It would be easier to explain quantum physics to a baby and have them understand every word.

But something about the way he asked made it impossible for her to say no.

“That’s… extremely difficult. I don’t think I can accurately explain it. I mean, I guess it’s the privilege we all have to find our way in the world. To do what we want with our lives; to be able to express ourselves. To live good lives while we find our purpose in life and meet others along the way.

I guess part of being human means having friends and family. Becoming close with others…”

“Like you and your Wonderbolts team?” Jett asked.

“Yeah, well kinda like that. We’re all pretty close but, I do have friends outside the team.”

“Like?”

“Well Cloud Chaser is my training partner at the gym when I exercise. Sometimes RD and I go on flights together. Soarin’, sometimes, decides to share a pie. But overall we’re all socially active. Parties, dances, clubs, or sometimes just a movie night. It’s all fun.”

“I don’t have that many friends. I can quite literally count them on my hands.”

“Well who are they? Do you do anything with them?”

“Well there’s Dane, Jared, Cody, Josh, Dave, Tim, Zach, Adam… you.”

“How come you never talk about these people?”

“Well Cody, Tim, Adam, and Zach live on Earth. We only talk when we play Video Games or whatever. Jared lives in the next town and Josh lives on the other side of town. We all go to different schools, except for Dane and I. We go to Charles Lindbergh Academy of flight and Astronomical Sciences. Basically a school about space.”

“That’s pretty cool. Not as many friends as me but still.”

“Yeah well I have a list a mile long of people who don’t like me.”

Spitfire looked confused.

How can someone not like him?

“Why? You’re the nicest guy I know here.”

“Well the only reason those people I listed are my friends is because they’ve looked past… This and saw me for me. The others only see my arm and assume. The reason I’m stuck with this metal monster is because I’m not completely organic. If I was I could have a completely new arm regrown and look normal. But like this? I’m just a freak to them.”

“Well doesn’t that liquid metal stuff make your arm look normal?” Spitfire asked.

“Normally yes, but the school is located in low orbit in Jupiter’s upper hemisphere. The field emitter in my arm can’t form complex matrices like… normal looking skin in a strong magnetic field like that. If I had something the size of a football on my arm it could compensate but… that’d make me look even more like a freak.”

Spitfire looked angry. She looked towards him, “Hey! You are not a freak. If you having that arm makes you a freak then I’m even more freakish with my wings.”

He laughed, “Spitfire, if the people in my school knew you had wings under your shirt along with your already good looks you’d have an army of followers larger than the catholic church. Every guy in the school would want to date the Angel Girl. Me? Not many want to even be seen with the cyborg.”

“I thought you were an android.”

“They don’t know that. With this arm I look like a cyborg to them. With you it’s totally different.”

“Humph. So I’m going to have to go to school with you?”

He sighed, “Yeah. Unless we can get you home before then.”

Spitfire grinned, “I don’t know. This whole experience has been like a nice vacation for me.”

“Well you’re gonna have to go home eventually. It’s where you belong. And I’m not sure how Soarin’ is gonna do as captain.”

Spitfire cringed. Shit she forgot. With her gone Soarin’ automatically assumes position as captain, “Oh no. Soarin’ cannot be Captain. No offense to Soarin’ but he sucks at keeping the team fit!”

Jet laughed, “Well you can kick his ass up and down the locker room walls when you get home.”

They continued their walk down the road. But something was nagging in the back of Spitfire’s mind. Sure she was excited about having a way to get home now but still. Something about this place made her reluctant to leave. Was it the tech? Maybe. The food? While it was delicious, No. What was it? Finally it clicked. She’d made a friend here who had done more for her than nearly everyone else she knew. A friend who stuck his neck out for her, even if he stuck out a little more than his neck, to save her life. While she wanted to go home terribly, it didn’t mean she was going to be entirely happy doing it.

She sighed and whispered so softly that it would have given Fluttershy a run for her money, “I’ll miss you…”

***

Dane’s house looked pretty much like mine. There were a few cosmetic differences but other than the simple tree in his yard it was the same as mine.

Dane’s head emerged from the leaves, “Well look who showed up. And with the girlfriend.”

“That’s it!” I said running and jumping up into the tree, “Come here man!”

“You ain’t gonna do NOTHING!” he taunted.

“Oh really?”

All Spitfire saw was a rustling in the leaves as I followed him up the tree.

“Hey! What are you doing with that? That’s your prosthetic arm! Dude that thing’s made out of metal!”

“I know! Now come here!”

“No! Get away from me with that!”

“NO. YOU ASKED FOR IT.”

“Aw come on! I was only jo-” SMACK

Dane fell out of the tree and hit the ground with a thud. I landed next to him.

“Dude! That fucking hurt!” he said rubbing his face.

“Oh suck it up you pussy. At least you still have all your body parts,” I said brandishing my arm.

“Sir, I think I’m not the only one with a few screws loose. And isn’t that arm normally covered up?”

“I got hit by a car yesterday,” I deadpanned.

“Oh, well that explains the loose screws!” Dane laughed.

Spitfire spoke up, “This guy… is an android?”

Dane looked up, “Yeah, what about it? We’re both androids. Wait. She knows?”

“Kinda hard not to when half you can see the components under all this,” I said.

“Oh, okay. Hey between you and me girl, this guy’s own family doesn’t know he’s an android. I think the only people who know are his parents and sister. And now you! You must be special. This guy hardly talks to anyone! Let alone a girl!”

“Shut up Dane,” I seethed, “We’ve already gone through enough awkward moments without you around.”

He cocked his head sideways and grinned, “Like?”

And Spitfire opened her mouth, “Well I handcuffed him to a girls underwear rack.”

He just stared at her for the longest time before cracking up and flopping to the ground in a fit of laughter. Yeah I could tell this would probably not be the last time I heard about Spitfire handcuffing me to a thong rack.

Dane finally got his breathing under control before speaking, “Girl if I tried to do that he’d use that robotic arm of his to rip mine off! He must really like you or something!”

“Keep talking like that and I will rip one of your arms off.”

He got up and high fived Spits, “Oh if only I had a picture of that!”

Spitfire opened her mouth before I shot her a glare that could blow a hole through reinforced Tritanium armor plating.

“DON’T YOU DARE.”

“What? What happened?” Dane asked before the realization finally dawned on him, “Oh my god you got a picture of it! You HAVE to show me!”

Spitfire looked at me with pleading eyes before talking, “As much as I would love to antagonize him, I can’t. He’s already done too much for me.”

“Aww, you guys are dating! How sweet.”

“Which arm you wanna keep?” I stated cracking my artificial knuckles.

“Oh shut up. I was just kidding. Besides, it’s not like you’d even have the balls to ask her out anyway.”

“Hey fuck you asshole.”

“Eh you’re just being a pussy.”

We laid there on the lawn for a while, enjoying the nice summer weather. It would have looked quite odd for an earth kid. Looking down from above it would have looked normal enough. Just some kids lying under a tree in the front yard with sun shining down. But from our point of view it would have seemed strange. It was bright as a normal earth day outside only that the sun was A LOT farther away. That and there was a black sky with the stars above. But to us, well maybe not Spitfire, but to Dane and me it was just an average day.

“So what do you guys wanna do today?” Dane asked, “As relaxing as this is I’d like to do something.”

“Well what did you have in mind?” I asked.

“How about the Geofront?”

“What’s a Geofront?” Spitfire asked.

“A Geofront? It’s a large underground area that people live in. New Alexandria has seven of them. The number 7 Geofront extends down to Ganymede’s underground ocean. It’s pretty cool ‘cause it’s on the edge of a series of underground caves that lead all the way down to the larger ocean.”

Spitfire sat up, “Can we go see it?”

“Yeah I guess,” I said, “And it’s not like we have anything better to do at the moment. Oh and before I forget, do you eat fish?”

“Well yeah! I mean I kinda have to if I wanna stay healthy on a vegetarian diet. Need to keep fit.”

“Ok good, because down there, they have this giant glacial shrimp caught in the bay down there that is to die for!”

“And I could get Gin to let us into that club of hers later tonight,” Dane said as he sat up against the tree.

“Cool,” Spits commented.

“Oh and we’ll have to dress warmly,” I said standing up.

“Why?”

“Well this Geofront happens to be located in one of the coldest ice shelves on this moon and they can’t really temperature control it so, we’ll need some winter clothes.”

“Does this mean shopping again?” Spitfire grinned mischievously.

“Don’t even talk about that. I’m not reliving the sports bra scene, the fire place scene, and definitely not the handcuffs.”

Dane started laughing, “Wait wait wait wait, what happened with the sports bra and the fire place?”

“You don’t need to know,” I said, “So we’ll meet you back here in an hour about? The hitch a ride to the Geofront?”

“Yeah sounds good.”

“Cool,” I sighed, “And yes Spitfire, we get to go shopping.”

***

“Well that went well,” I said as we exited the store and began the walk back to Dane’s house. Dane and I didn’t really need anything other than a light jacket but Spitfire needed something a little heavier. She wore a winter flight jacket that made her look even more like an aviator than she already did.

“Humph, I’m still a little mad I didn’t get to drag you into a dressing room.”

“Hey, now that you know I’m a machine I can use my arm to break those cuffs should they ever find their way onto my wrists again.”

“Well that’s no fun. I enjoyed handcuffing you. Gave me a challenge.”

“Well I’ll issue you one; I won’t break the handcuffs if you can get them on me somehow. And not when I’m sleeping.”

Spitfire seemed to consider this, “Deal.”

Under my breath I whispered, “Like that’s gonna happen.”

We walked along towards the suburbs and Dane’s house. Spitfire pulled her aviators over her head. Hmm, no use lying to myself, she looked pretty nice in that outfit.

“You look pretty in that outfit,” my mouth said without consulting my core logic.

Spitfire blushed, “Oh shut up. You’re just saying that to get throw me off guard.”

“Maybe. It worked didn’t it?”

“Curse you. Yeah it did actually.”

I laughed. Hmm, how else could I mess with her?

We reached Dane’s house. The white haired android had a light hooded jacked on. I wore a simple leather jacket with light insulation. All I needed.

“Ready to go?” Dane asked.

“Yeah. So who’s driving?”

“You’re the one with the car. You drive. That and even if I had a car I wouldn’t trust myself in that tunnel.”

“Ugh, fine I’ll get the car,” I pulled out an object the size of a small flash drive. This object looked a lot like a flash drive except this actually connected into a car. It had a few small buttons on the side. I tapped one and sat down and waited.

“Well aren’t you gonna go get it?” Spitfire asked.

“Why go get the car when it can come to us?” I responded.

We waited a few minutes before the car showed up. It used the same spherical wheel technology as Cat’s car. My car was sleek and looked fast just sitting there. It was a silver color and had enough room to seat four people comfortably. It was powered by two hydrogen fuel cell engines in the front and back of the vehicle allowing it to travel a lot faster than most cars. It had a top speed of 700 KPH.

I stepped up and opened the doors.

“Dude, I gotta get a car like this,” Dane said.

I walked up to the passenger side door and opened it up, allowing Spitfire to ride shotgun.

“Aw come on dude! I wanted that,” Dane whined.

“It’s just a seat,” I sighed.

“Yeah but I wanted it.”

“You’re really gonna make a big deal of Spitfire getting the front seat?”

“Yes!”

“Get in the back.”

“No.”

“GET in the BACK.”

“No.”

“BITCH GET IN THE BACK SEAT!”

“Ugh, fine.”

“Thank you asshole.”

Dane hopped in the back seat while I climbed into the driver’s side. The console looked modern and high tech. There was a smart glass screen in between the two seats. The back seat was unremarkable. I tapped an icon on the screen and a steering wheel began to emerge.

“Are you really driving manual?” Dane asked.

“Yes I am! Now both of you put your seat belts on because you’re in for a bumpy ride!”

Spitfire gulped, remembering the roller coaster and Dane paled for… other reasons.

***

“I’m sorry! I couldn’t hear you over the sound of how awesome I’m driving!” I yelled as we sped down the highway. We were on one of the high ways that lead down to the lower levels of the planet. From there we could get in an elevator that would take us down to the number 7 Geofront.

To maintain a certain degree of efficiency while traveling downward the road was angled at nearly 45 degrees. Nowadays car accidents rarely happen unless someone is purposely driving down the wrong side of the highway on manual. Most people simply preferred to enter their destination and let the car do the driving for them. I personally preferred a more… hands on approach.

We were weaving in around cars at a speed of about 500 KPH. Everyone else kept it low at a comfortable 480 KPH. Speed limits were about 550 KPH on the speedway but no normal vehicle would travel that fast unless directly ordered to by the occupant.

At these high speeds, a lot of people preferred to keep the windows tinted as not to be able to see how fast they were truly traveling and how close some of the cars came, (Even if there was no actual danger), when changing lanes.

But my reckless driving? If it could be called reckless, was revenge. Spitfire for the incident with the hippopotamus and Dane for simply being an asshole.

“Watch that car!” Dane screamed from the back.

“Relax,” I sighed and turned the wheel, weaving the car around the traffic.

“What are you doing?!” Spitfire screamed from the passenger seat.

“Getting Revenge!”

“WHAT DID WE DO?!”

“Spitfire: hippo. Dane: you’re an asshole sometimes. Like today! Oh look! Here’s our exit.”

I turned the wheel and cut across four lanes to the off ramp that was more of an up ramp that lead to one of the super elevators that offered a significantly faster way of going down than taking the nearly hundreds of miles of ramps that went back and fourth down to level 7.

I grabbed the clutch which looked more like the throttle on a passenger jet and yanked it down a gear. The car quickly decelerated from 500 KPH down to a reasonable street speed of 60.

“So how was that?” I grinned like the devil himself.

“NEVER AGAIN!”

“Ha! ha! And that’s why I’m top pilot at the school!”

“Cause you’re CRAZY?!” Dane asked.

“No, cause I’m a boss at driving and flying.”

“Really now?” Spitfire said finally catching her breath.

“Yup.”

We pulled into a large open area. There was a large squares tower that went straight down the center of a large chasm. This was the express elevator to level 7. Four elevators went up and down in 10 minute increments loading and offloading various vehicles.

We pulled into a line of vehicles that were next to board. The chamber we were in was large. You could fit several football stadiums inside with enough room to spare. Soon elevator arrived and eight lanes of traffic all moved onto the elevator. Once on board the entire deck of cars rotated so we would be able to drive straight off when we landed. For now we got to enjoy the ride down.

***

Well Dane was fast to fall asleep. The guy was surprisingly silent when he slept. Spitfire went unconscious soon after.

I stayed awake or I guess activated is the word that applies for me. I guess now was a good time to contemplate my existence. If I was a machine how could I prove that I was truly sentient? I have memories yes, but then again so do computers, I have friends and family but the same could be said about any computer whose owner has developed an affinity to it. Certain responses could be programed into a computer to simulate sentience. Was that all I was? A series of complex but pre-programed responses to certain types of stimuli? How can I find out? My emotions are programed pretty well, though a few remain… elusive to a person like me.

If I don’t have the full range of human emotions how can I prove my sentience? The truth is that I couldn’t. Hell, this entire train of thought could be preprogramed and I’ve just randomly chosen a thought scenario in which to execute. Hell my entire personality is probably programed. Dad would probably know but he wouldn’t tell me. Dane doesn’t even give a shit about it. But that could be easily programed into him.

Do I even possess free will? Or are all my actions again dictated by preprogramed responses? I looked at Spitfire and Dane. If I wanted to I could end them both. But do I want to? Is my will just a simple illusion? My ethics? My morals? Everything that can be considered a personality, was it all predetermined from the start? Is there anything about me that is truly just me? What is ‘me’? Am I even an individual? They could be altering my programing right now. My thoughts could be all be what their writing. They could be composing my next thought right now. And I wouldn’t ha-

WARNING

PROCESSOR OVERLOAD IMMINENT

DISCONTINUE CURRENT CYCLE OR YOUR CURRENT CYCLE WILL BE TERMINATED

DO YOU WISH TO COMPLY?

I sighed. Humans don’t have this problem. I can see why they wanted to keep our true identities hidden from us.

DO YOU WISH TO COMPLY?

I sighed again.

YEAH YEAH, JUST SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY!

ACHKNOLEDGED

PROGRAM TERMINATING.

THANK YOU.

Great, my thoughts are dictated by how much I can process. In hindsight I have more processing power than a normal human. Hell a normal person wasn’t even physically capable of thinking about one subject for that long with that much intensity to even risk an information overload on that level. Only at the point where I’m getting a warning a normal person would have quite literally thought themselves to death.

Heh heh, I have a fucked up mind. Someone thinking themselves to death! Ha! Fuck first world problems, android problems are even worse!

Spitfire stirred and rolled over.

I wonder what she deals with on a daily basis. She has to keep a flight team fit and ready for their next show. She has to keep them in line during training and in formation in flight. Maybe the Wonderbolts were like a military organization, like the Void Hawks. Hell when space came into the picture there wasn’t much of a need for an Air Force anymore. Everything in space was handled by the Navy and all planetary operations were handled by the Marines and Army. The Void Hawks were kinda like the old Blue Angels in Old Earth. But instead of being blue the Void Hawks were white, to stick out on the black background of space.

And you’ve become distracted again. What were you last thinking about? Oh yeah, what does Spits deal with on a daily basis? On top of all the training? Probably the paparazzi, maybe a stalker or two, having her actions analyzed on a daily basis? Or maybe no one even knew what she looked like without her suit. Nah. Even with it on it wouldn’t be hard to see the resemblance.

Oh look we’re here.

I shook my head. No more giant thought calculations for today.

I nudged Spitfire as the elevator finished its decent. We were in a chamber similar to the one we had left. She moaned quietly before opening her orange eyes and peering at me.

“Hey,” I said, “We’re here.”

“Oh, cool,” she said rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Dane was still sleeping quietly in the back seat. I touched the screen on the console and flipped through a list of sounds.

“Watch this.”

I selected a Sports air horn and turned the volume up as high as it would go.

“Cover your ears,” I grinned deviously.

Spitfire smiled and put her hands to her head. I simply lowered my volume. I tapped the play button.

The loudest most annoying noise you could ever hear, and no it is not some poor bastard’s wife nagging him all the way to the depths of hell, blasted through the car.

Dane let out a scream so loud it could probably be heard over the noise of the air horn. The sound ended and we uncovered and reactivated our ears.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!” Dane screamed.

“A wake up call,” I laughed, “We’re here.”

“You didn’t have to do THAT!”

“Yeah I did.”

The vehicles in front of us began to drive off the super elevator. We soon followed and left the facility. We drove along inside of a tunnel until we emerged into the open of the Number 7 Geofront. We drove out of the tunnel and across a bridge and onto a road that ran along the edge of the city. The city itself was would look almost surreal and something out of a dream or Inception or something. It looked like a modern bay city. Spires reached up to the rounded, dome like ceiling of the Geofront. Various buildings surrounded the taller city elements and gave the city a dated, bay town aesthetic. The bay was something else. It was crescent shaped and had various docks and dry docks all over it. Various vessels were docked or floated about in the bay. A lot of them were tourist or exploration and science submarines. There was also a large group of fishing vessels that caught a lot of the moon’s sea life. Beyond the bay one could see the caves that extended farther out and deeper into the moon.

We drove along the edge of the city.

“How far underground are we?” Spitfire asked as she took in her surroundings.

“I’d say we’re about 45 miles underground. And the normal high temperature for the day is…” I pulled up the local weather report for the city, “about 5 degrees Celsius. So it looks like you’ll need that jacket after all.”

“So what do you wanna hit first?” Dane asked.

Spitfire’s stomach growled. She gave a sheepish grin, “How bout lunch?”

“Sound’s good. Then we maybe we can hitch a ride on a tour sub and get a look of the caves. That’d be fun.”

“And then we’ll hook up with Gin.”

“Still can’t believe she lets us in that place.”

***

Well we had an overall fun day. Spitfire got to sample this town’s finest sea food, (As Cat had forgotten to take that card from me and I was probably going to pay for it next chapter somehow or another. Wait. Next chapter? Where the hell did that come from?), and we got to view to awesome ice caves that lay beneath the surface of Ganymede. Now night was falling so to speak. Actually, they just turned the lights down. And with that the temperature dropped a few degrees below zero.

Dane knew this town a little better than me and led us deep into center of the city. Soon we came to the entrance of an unassuming looking skyscraper or ceiling scrapper I guess would be the correct term. The top of the building had an almost clamshell like roof that opened up in the night where the warmer air had accumulated giving the ceiling area a comfortable 22 degrees Celsius. Tonight was like any other night. The place wasn’t packed to capacity but still was filled.

We stepped into the building and found and elevator. It was a normal skyscraper with the normal layout. We stepped into an elevator and rode it to the 87th floor. We stepped out and into a large hallway. Various doors led all sorts of places but only one was important to us.

“Which door is it again?” I asked.

Dane pulled out a key. It was an old key. At least 150 years old. It fit into an old fashion key lock. And it only unlocked one door in the whole building.

Dane led us to an unremarkable looking door. It had a simple door lock in the handle.

“This one,” He said and slipped the key inside. The door unlocked and opened. Dane looked down both ends of the hall, making sure everything was clear before dragging us inside and shutting the door. A light turned on to reveal… a completely empty room. Accept that there was a hatch on far side.

“Come on. The club is another five stories up, and we’ve got some climbing to do,” Dane grinned as he opened up the hatch. A cool air rushed in as the hatch opened up to outside of the building.

“Well upward and onward,” Dane smiled and hopped out hatchway.

“Did he just jump out of a window on the 87th floor of a sky scraper?” Spitfire asked.

“No, he landed on a piece of scaffolding four feet down.”

“Asshole you ruined it!” Dane called.

“Dude, I got hit by a car the other day. She doesn’t need to be freaked out by you falling to your death. Though with your hard ass head you’d probably do more damage to the road that it would to you.”

“Dude I swear you two are dating.”

“WE ARE NOT!” we both yelled.

“Yeah yeah, just get your collective asses out here. The boss is gonna flip when she sees us!”

“She’s the one who told us about this way up to club to get around the bouncers. Why would she be surprised to see us?” I asked.

“Well she’s not expecting us today is she?”

“Dude, why wouldn’t she be expecting us? It’s fucking summer. Where else would we spend our time?”

“I don’t know. Also, we have to bring Cody, Tim, and the rest of the gang up here sometime. They need to see this place.”

“Well not all of them are rich as all fuck.”

“Would you shut up and get out here?”

“Fine,” I walked to the hatch and hopped out. The scaffolding was latched onto the side of the building from the top of the club. There were a few railings on it, for instance where we were standing but for the most part it was unprotected. The whole reason it was here was a construction crew had forgotten to remove it after repairing damage to a window panel and Gin was content to let it stay.

There was a ladder over to the right of the hatch that led to the small service balcony behind the club.

Spitfire hopped out behind me, “Whoa… This place is high up.”

“Yeah, that’s why the club earned the nickname ‘The Mile High Club,’” I laughed.

“The Mile High Club?”

Dane and I exchanged glances, “You wouldn’t understand. And I don’t feel like explaining aviation history and law right now.”

Dane hopped on the ladder and began climbing. Spitfire approached the ladder next.

“Ladies first.”

“Oh shut up.”

I laughed as we climbed the five stories up the service balcony. I climbed up over the ledge. Dane and Spits were waiting. Muffled music could be heard pounding away. Dane opened the door and we stepped inside. We were in a storage room. Various boxes of all sorts of things were here, spare bar stools, extra lighting for the dance floor, all sorts of supplies. Another door led off to a room that stored all the liquors and other alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages.

The door we wanted led out to the other portions of the club. We ran out of the room and down a hallway, passing the kitchen, the other door to the beverage room, the cooler and the rest rooms.

The music was getting louder the farther in we got. We emerged inside a dimly lit room with various strobes and spot lights and amps all over the place. There was an elevated dance floor in the center of the room that had a series of couches surrounding it. Two stairways led up to it. On the opposite side of the room was the DJ station. All around the room were chairs and coffee tables and couches that allowed guests of the club to relax when they weren’t pounding away on the floor. On our side of the room opposite the DJ station was the bar. There was a stair case at one end of the room that led to the second floor. There were various booths and tables for eating. There was even a promenade for walking in the open, crisp air of the night. Those who wished for a respite from the party below could visit there for a while before returning to rave the night away. Opposite the stair case was the main entrance. Two bouncers stood guard.

We had emerged just behind the bar. A girl stood at the bar. She had sandy brown hair that was spit down the middle and straightened to the point where it almost looked too straight. One side was slightly shorter than the other and none of it fell in front of her face. She was wearing skinny jeans and sneakers and a tank top.

That was Gin. Well what we called her anyway. Her real name was Grace which was nearly the opposite of her personality. If there was one way to describe her she would be the result of what would happen if Twilight combined Pinkie Pie and Vinyl Scratch. Yup the craziest combination of woman you could ever get.

“Aw come one girl! How bout we ditch this place and… you let me take you down to my place for a while and show you some of my… special moves.” Gin was the bartender of this fine club but the job came with some… unwanted difficulties?

“How ‘bout you take your special moves and SHOVE THEM UP YOUR ASSHOLE?!” Gin yelled slamming a glass on the counter hard enough so smash the bottom.

“Geez calm down girl! So how do you like it then?”

“SECURITY!”

Two men in suits appeared next to the guy. How they heard her is beyond me but somehow they did.

“Yes ma’am?”

“Get this asshole out of my club! And make sure he never comes back!”

“What? Why you bitch! I’ll come over this counter and strangle you!” the jock yelled.

“AND I’LL BLAST YOUR GODDAMN HEAD OFF WITH THE EIGHT GAUGE UNDER THE COUNTER!” Gin yelled back loud enough for the DJ to stop the music and everyone to stare at the altercation at the bar.

Yeah that was Gin. Hot headed and head strong but smart enough to know not to do anything too rash. Like blasting a guy’s head off with the shot gun she kept under the counter. She was quite a girl. She managed to save up enough money and get enough loans to buy the flat atop this building and turn it into a night club at the of ripe age of 23. She’d turned a once empty flat into one of the most exclusive and wildest clubs in New Alexandria. Now 25 she’d paid off all her loans and earned quite a large sum running the club. Though it hadn’t been all easy. She needed to know what to play and what DJ’s to hire so she could attract people to the club. And that’s where we came in.

It’d all been quite a blur but we’d all been in pretty bad places at the time. I’d just gotten my arm sliced off and well, Dane was having the skin regrown on his after a fight at school, and Gin had just gotten rid of her second stalker. Needless to say at that point we became a sort of dysfunctional family of two androids and a bartender. And now we had a flame headed angel girl to add to it. Couldn’t get any better.

She leaned against the counter and sighed as the guy was dragged away. She reached under the counter and pulled out a bottle of Plymouth Gin and took a swig. Geez this girl can handle strong stuff. The music resumed and everything went back to normal.

“That’s Gin?” Spitfire asked.

“Yeah that’s her,” Dane said.

“She’s almost like an irresponsible sister to us,” I smiled.

“Don’t you already have a sister?” Spits asked.

“Well yeah but… Cat was always like a mother to me, since I don’t really see my actual mom anymore. But Cat’s done a fine job of filling that role. Come on, let’s go introduce you to her. You both have so much in common. You both love to humiliate me!”

“And what has she done that’s worse than what I’ve done to you so far?”

“She got let us get drunk and filmed it,” Dane said with a laugh.

“What’s so bad about that? I’ve gotten wasted out my mind before,” Spitfire said.

I whispered in her ear, “Drinking age here is 18. I have no idea what it is where you come from.”

“16.”

“Well lucky you.”

We strolled up behind the bar and leaned up against the counter right next to her.

“Get out from behind the counter before I blast your heads off,” she sighed.

“You’d really blast our heads off?” Dane asked.

Her face lit up and she turned around, “Guys! What are you two doing here?! I wasn’t expecting you guys until Monday! And I see you brought a friend!”

“Uh, hi. I’m Spitfire,” Spits said holding out her hand.

“Pleasure to meet you Spitfire! I'm Gin. Owner and bartender of this fine establishment,” Gin said grabbing her hand and shaking it with vigor. Yeah this girl was something else. One minute she was getting ready to kill someone and the next she was happy and crazy as ever.

She finally let Spitfire’s hand go, “What are you guys doing here?”

“Eh, we got bored upstairs so we thought we’d come down here for the day,” Dane shrugged.

She put her hand to the back of her head, “Heh, how much of that did you see?”

“Enough to almost feel bad for that guy. Almost,” I replied with a grin.

“That guy was an ASSHOLE.”

“We noticed.”

“So what can I get you two fine androids today?”

“Eh, whatever you got,” Dane said.

She reached under the bar and pulled out a clear colored liquid. She poured it in a cup and added a few drops of something else to it and watched as it glowed blue before settling on a cyan color.

Dane being the irresponsible drunk he is downed it in one shot.

“So who’s Spitfire again?” Gin asked.

“Oh, uh, she’s just a friend.”

“Ah… I see…” Gin said. Few. I swear if I had to deal with one more person saying we were dating I was gonna blow a fuse in m-

“So how long have you too been dating?”

“FUCK MAN!”

Dane began laughing and fell off the bar stool he was sitting on.

“What did I do?” Gin asked.

***

Well Dane is a fucking idiot. The only android that would possibly be stupid enough to leave his inebriation subroutines on. And now he knocked out on the floor.

“I swear Gin one day you’re gonna get arrested,” I laughed.

“Uh, I don’t recall there being anything in the law books that say I can’t give alcohol to androids. And if that moron didn’t want to get drunk he could easily flip the switch,” Gin laughed from behind the counter.

I’d let Spitfire go off and have fun on the dance floor. I carefully kept track of her with my HUD function and made sure no one got to close for comfort.

I personally wasn’t one who liked to get himself into situations where his behavior would be judged by others. Specifically the dance floor. But it was still fun to sit here and watch people make asses of themselves and the music was nice.

Dane himself was passed out on the floor. I still don’t know why he left those functions on. Suddenly a warning flashed across my vision.

I stared at the dance floor. Well it certainly looked like someone had fucked up somewhere as the asshole Gin had tossed out of her club was back and harassing Spitfire.

“Hey! I said NO! Now get away from me!”

“You know you look hot when you’re angry. That gives me an idea…”

I turned to Gin, “Hold on I’m gonna go show this dude the business. Can you have security ready? Again?”

She sighed, “Don’t tell me that asshole is back.”

“Ok, the asshole isn’t back and he certainly isn’t causing trouble with Spitfire.”

She sighed again and pulled out a pump action eight gauge shot gun from under the counter, “You want this?” She said as casually as someone would ask if they wanted something to eat.

“Geez girl! Put that thing down!”

“I wasn’t lying when I said I’d blast his head off.”

I held up my still uncovered and robotic looking arm, “I think I can make do with this.”

I stood up and sauntered my way into the crowd of people.

“Come on girl. It’s just a one night deal. It’s not like we’re gonna see each other again. Unless you want to.”

“I said NO! Now get away!”

“Come on! I can show you some things I bet you haven’t seen before,” He reached for her shoulder. Her arm came up fast and slapped his hand away.

“Get away from me you Creep!”

The guy reached for her more firmly this time, “You’re gonna enjoy this.” He gripped her shoulder in a vice grip.

***

Spitfire was scared. She’d dealt with guys like this before but not someone so aggressive or obtrusive. And now he wouldn’t let go.

Suddenly there was a third arm. It was gunmetal appendage and was gripping the man’s arm in a vice.

“Hey buddy let go!”

“Not until you do!” It was Jett.

“Hey come on man! You’re ruining my chances!”

“No. She doesn’t want to go with you, she doesn’t want to see you, she doesn’t want to know you. Now leave.”

“What did you say? Excuse me but I don’t answer to you! How do you know what she wants you Cyborg FREAK?!”

“Two things, what I said was nice guy for: GET THE FUCK OUT. And she’s my friend so how about you leave before the owner of this club does something you’ll regret.”

“Hey, if she’s your friend you can pick her up later! Now buzz off! I’m trying to do something here.” He reached over with his other arm and backhanded the android. Jett’s head flew sideways before slowly returning to its original position. But something was different. Was it the light? Spitfire couldn’t tell but she thought his eyes looked… different somehow.

Jett took his arm and shoved the guy onto the floor and off of the dance floor. The Guy growled and threw a few curses his way before standing up and running over to the android. He raised his arm in a strike but was caught in the neck by the much faster arm of Jett. His prosthetic was gripping the man’s throat.

Again with the eyes. The looked… red.

“It would be so easy to kill you right now,” he smiled in a sadistic grin, “There are so many ways I could do it.”

The man looked scared as the android tightened his grip.

“I could simply… Squeeze the life out of you,” his grip tightened for emphasis, “I could dig my fingers into your neck and tear out your esophagus. I could so easily break your neck!”

Suddenly his eyes looked… human again. They returned to their normal hue. Jett should his head. He stared at his arm that gripped the man’s neck.

“Get out of here.” He shoved forward and tossed the man to the floor. Gin’s security, which needed to do a better job, picked the guy up and dragged him away as he gasped for air.

***

What the hell happened to me? What the fuck was that? Did I just threaten to kill him? What the hell was that?

Spitfire looked at me with a peculiar look. Like she wasn’t sure what had just happened either.

She walked over, “What was that?”

“I… I don’t know. I just say him hurting you and… I don’t know what happened.”

Spitfire looked skeptical before smiling, “Well anyway, thanks for that. That guy wouldn’t leave me alone! He was so… blah, he was creepy! Whatever you did to him he deserved it.”

“That’s the thing. I don’t know what I did.”

We walked back over to bar. Dane was still asleep, leaning against the counter.

“Yeah I called the police. That guy won’t be coming back anytime soon,” Gin said.

“Good. That guy was harassing you and Spits. Fucking creeper.”

“And here I was hoping I could use that gun.”

My phone began to ring. I pulled it out of my pocket. It was Cat. I looked at the time. Just shy of 11:30. We should be getting back soon.

I answered, “Hello?”

“Where are you and what the hell is all that racket in the background?”

“Oh we’re in the Level 7 Geofront! We’re hanging out with Gin!”

“Oh! Well get your ass back up here! We have to get ready for the reunion tomorrow and we have to be on our best behavior!”

“Ugh, Fine. We were having fun too.”

“I don’t care if you were having sex! Just get up here!”

“Geez calm down. Fine. See ya in an hour.”

“You too, bye.”

I hung up and turned to Spitfire, “We have to go. Tomorrow you’ll get to meet my family.”

Spitfire grinned, “Sounds like fun.”

***

Whoa Jack!

What?

Something weird just happened with the monitors.

What?

The screen went red and this random binary code played across it. Is that normal?

No mention of it occurring in past reports. Maybe it is maybe it isn’t. It’s not like the Navy gives us access to the records of the other models.

Yeah maybe.

It’s probably them just fucking with us to keep us on our toes.

You’re probably right.

I’ll make note of it. For now let’s continue as usual.

***

Well we said goodbye to Gin and began to drive back upstairs so to speak. Guess who had to carry sleeping beauty all the way back to the car?

Bastard weighed a ton.

I drove the car back up the road towards the elevators. The city looked beautiful at night. I wasn’t in the mood to drive manually so I set the car to automatic. I stared at the passenger to the right of me.

Spitfire had fallen asleep as well. She snored lightly as her head leaned against the window of the car.

She looked pretty cute like that. Like a sleeping kitten cute. Her hair still managed to look like a candle flame atop her head. It was pretty cool. I wonder how it did that.

Hmm, ACTIVATE SCAN.

Hmm, no hair gel or anything like that. So it just stayed that way? Curses. There has to be some explanation for how it maintained its windblown, flame like quality without falling down over her face. Meh, at figure it out later. At least when it got wet it behaved normally enough.

I sighed and leaned back in my seat. The one thing that bothered me about the underground was that I couldn’t see the stars. I always loved the view of the cosmos. It was always so peaceful and tantalizingly beautiful.

Suddenly there was something on my arm. My good arm for once. I looked over. Spitfire had rolled over and was resting her head on my shoulder. Her arms gripped the console and my wrist.

Heh, she looked like a sleeping baby almost. So peaceful. Still can’t figure out why she does… that though.

She feels safe around you.

Yeah right. Kids in my school don’t even feel safe around me.

You took a car for her and stopped a potential rapist.

By nearly killing him.

Well you have to admit a near death experience would have done that asshole some good. And you should be happy that he ran into you and not someone who’d make that near death experience not so near.

But I don’t do that. I don’t nearly KILL people.

Well maybe nearly killed him was a little strong. Maybe you just roughed him up a bit?

That’s what you call threatening to tear out his esophagus?

I wouldn’t call it a threat. Maybe an empty promise.

You’re an asshole.

Oh shut up and enjoy the view.

What view?

You know what I mean.

I sighed. These conversations with myself were annoying sometimes. So what did I mean by enjoy the view? There wasn’t much to see down here. And Dane wasn’t much to look at. Ironic considering we share the same face. So what did I mean?

I stared at me shoulder. Spitfire? Well I guess. I mean she was pretty. Even I could see that even without a… complete group of emotions. She was quite a looker as dad would say. The label, ‘Angel,’ applied pretty well to her. It described her perfectly. She had the wings and the face of an angel. I just hope no one else finds out what she is. She hasn’t seen the worst my species is capable of. Hell that guy in the club was probably the worst she’d ever dealt with.

Hey enough with the bad thoughts and enjoy the view!

Fine.

Well, she may not be as beautiful as the stars but she’ll do just fine until then.