CHAPTER FOUR

"There you are," said 88-XOR upon catching up to his companion.

"What are you doing?" the android said next.

"Oh, pardon me," he then exclaimed, mortified by what his optical sensors were reporting to him. He turned away and waited for the sordid business in front of him to play itself out. "Really," he muttered. "At a time like this."

Eighty-eight’s fellow android went by Lita. Her full name was AL33ta. She was short and bulky, with light brown skin and what might be called a Rubensesque chassis. She was Eighty-eight’s best and only friend.

She was also, if Eighty-eight were to put it charitably (which he was normally not inclined to do), a little too generous with her affections. She would interface with just about any operating system, anywhere, any time.

Even now, while the ship was being boarded and their very lives were in danger.

"Unbelievable," 88-XOR said, after a sidelong glance revealed that Lita was still at it over there.

The scene Eighty-eight had stumbled upon was his friend interfacing with a beautiful young woman strikingly dressed in gray. Or, to be more accurate -- and to 88-XOR’s great relief, since a literal human-android coupling would be a sin against nature, an abomination, a dirty, nasty, beastly thing -- Lita was interfacing with a small device the young woman had inserted into one of her data ports. It must have been fantastic data being exchanged, for the young woman was gazing deeply into Lita’s optical sensors and the android, for her part, was shivering and giggling ecstatically.

Eighty-eight was deeply embarrassed and secretly titillated. He had never interfaced with anything. And why should I, he sometimes thought, when Lita’s doing enough of it for the both of us?

Another sidelong glance triggered something in 88-XOR’s RAM. He had seen the young woman before. But who was she? And why was she fooling around with an android instead of trying to escape?

A third glance nearly overloaded Eighty-eight’s circuits, for the young woman was gone and Lita was right there in front of him, staring at him expectantly.

"Oh!" he cried. "You startled me!"

No need to state the obvious, Lita communicated in her buzzing, beeping, chirping way.

"I know it was obvious," Eighty-eight said testily. "But you know that I was programmed by humans and that they have a tendency to overstate everything. So who’s overstating now, hm?"

We should get moving, Lita said, before doing just that.

Eighty-eight wasn’t surprised by the abrupt transition -- with Lita, there was no other kind -- but the specifics of the thing perplexed him. "Going where?" he called after her.

When she didn’t stop, Eighty-eight had no choice but to give chase. "Going where?"

To Tanix, the other android said, as if it should be obvious.

"Tanix?" 88-XOR said. "How? Why?"

EV, Lita said. To find Hiro, she added.

"You don’t have permission to use an escape vehicle," Eighty-eight said. "Those are for humans! And who’s this Hiro you’re talking about? And why do you have to find him? Or her? You’re just an android!"

Adding to Eighty-eight’s frustration was the fact that he was having trouble keeping up with Lita, who seemed to be getting faster with every step. "Will you just wait a second?" he cried.

Can’t. The mission is time-sensitive.

"The more I learn, the less I know," Eighty-eight said with annoyance. Because he didn’t know what else to do, he followed Lita to the nearest EV dock.

Which was, to Eighty-eight’s surprise, deserted. "All the EVs are still here," he noted, observing a row of ten hatches, each with a green "Available" light glowing next to the access panel. "So I guess the battle’s going our way...?"

Unlikely, Lita replied.

"But then why isn’t anyone trying to get away?"

Because Activists fight to the death, for one thing.

"Well that seems a little extreme," Eighty-eight said, as Lita stepped inside the nearest escape vehicle.

Are you coming or not?

"As you well know, EVs are for human use only."

I identify as human.

Eighty-eight sighed. "You may identify as whatever you want, but that’s not what it says on your manufacturing certification. And rules are rules, however you and I might feel about them! Are we going to start letting anyone use an escape vehicle? Pretty soon they’ll all be full of...escaping predators!"

We have to go now.

"Besides that," Eighty-eight fretted, "this thing is awfully small. How do you know it’s safe?"

Safer than staying on board.

As if to underline the point, sounds of laser fire and cries of agony erupted from very close by. Eighty-eight flinched at the noises, and by flinching lost his balance, and by losing his balance fell through the hatch and into the EV.

You made the right choice, Lita said as she set the vehicle’s course.

"Why yes, I’m fine, thank you," Eighty-eight said, to his companion’s indifference.

The hatch closed and a low thrumming sound announced ignition of the EV’s engine. A split second later they were moving through space, headed for the planet below.

"Wait a minute," Eighty-eight said, having made himself somewhat less uncomfortable in the vehicle’s tight confines. "You said no one was trying to escape the ship because, for one thing, Activists fight to the death."

Yes.

"What was the other reason?"

That the IP will probably be watching for EVs and shooting at them.

"Oh," Eighty-eight said mournfully. "Well isn’t that nice to know."

Next Chapter: Chapter Five