“Hmmmph,” he shrugs. “I’m just a dime-a-dozen, worn-out ol’ rocket tramp. I’ve spent most of my life in the Black between Luna and Mars. About the only thing I have to show for it is a monthly payment on a used Charger and my Guild pension. My time here in Luna Three with you is the longest I’ve slept on any one rock since I graduated from the Trainee program.” He sighs deeply, closes his eyes, and when they reopen, the pain of past memories is visible. “I loved a real woman once … years ago … back on Earth … and I never got to play house with her like I’m doing with you right now.”
She looks at him, sympathy in her artificially-tinted eyes. “You feel guilty.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.
He slips an arm into his flight jacket sleeve and pulls it up and over his shoulders. He reaches inside for his pack of Martian smokes, shakes one out, but then hesitates. There’s only three left, and with the blockade, they’ll be few and far between from here out. With a grimace, he lets it fall back into the pack.
“There’s not a whole lotta memories that don’t contain some kinda guilt, li’l darling,” he admits, tucking the smokes back into his jacket. “By all rights, I should be back there … with her … but that’s not gonna happen. Not now.”
“Instead, you’re stuck here with an Andi who refuses to do what you want. A difficult anomaly who won’t acquiesce to your heartfelt wishes because you have developed feelings for her.”
“Emotional?” He turns back to her, disbelief in his eyes. “No! Hardly just emotional! If you stay here, you’ll more than likely be destroyed … killed, if you prefer. To me, that’s like finding a unicorn … and then turning it loose in a hunting preserve. And I’m sitting here allowing it to happen. I should’ve gotten you out of here the moment I realized you were different.”
She sits up and reaches for her trousers. “That’s not your choice to make, Tiger. This is my home.”
She pulls the nondescript gray pants up those long shapely legs, and he feels a sense of loss as he watches the creamy, soft, artificial flesh disappear slowly. How much longer will he enjoy the feel of her? The soft touch of her lips? The ability to look into those eyes? How much longer before it all ends? Who knew? A week? Two? Maybe today? It didn’t matter.
In his gut, he knew ... There was no light at the end of the tunnel.
They weren’t coming out of this alive.
He walks to the window. The apartment overlooks much of the downtown area. Things have changed over the last week or so. On a typical day, bright lights would be shining everywhere, flashing, blinking, beckoning customers into markets and shops. Bars and pubs would be serving rowdy miners, and upscale restaurants would compete for the business of visiting business reps, tourists or the local upper crust of city society. It was one of the shining lights that were supposed to guide humankind toward a brighter future, a future on an eternal frontier, one that pointed toward the endless expanse of opportunity.
Now, it is a city under siege by those entrusted with ensuring all this came to pass. Power is being conserved and food rationed. A few bars still cater to the new militia forces, which, for the most part, are the same rowdy miners now wearing different battle fatigues and carrying weapons. Except for militia personnel, the streets are eerily deserted. Out in the neighborhoods, residents are busily forting up, turning each home pod, each street, each neighborhood square into a defensive position.
And out there on the Mare, the Authority continues to muster troops, preparing for an assault on the very people it is responsible for protecting.
Things sure have a funny way of getting fucked up on the way to paradise, don’t they?
No one will miss him, he tells himself, as he reaches for his pistol, holstered in the shoulder rig he’s always favored. Hopefully, by the time Lulah puts two and two together, this will all be ancient history. He glances back to Starr, who’s got her blouse on now.
Reckon it’s too late for ‘one for the road’ now.
No one will miss her, either. No one will ever know about the ill-timed miracle that happened at the worst possible time. No research would ever occur to delve into why, one day, this Andi began exhibiting human emotions. No one will ever know what triggered it. Was it the, until now, unheard-of act of declaring her a free and independent being, no longer a man’s property to be bought or sold? Or was it something else? The coming war? The fact she would now be forced to defend her new freedom? A freedom that included the right to kill humans, something strictly forbidden under the tenets of the A.I. Conduct Code. Something which would automatically ensure her destruction anywhere outside of L3 or L5.
Or maybe, just maybe … it was merely a glitch that day at the factory. A power surge. A faulty solder job. A loose screw. Who the fuck knew? It didn’t matter now, did it?
“Tiger?” Her voice behind him. Softer … conciliatory. Maybe, just maybe.
“Yes?”
“I’ll go … on one condition. You fly us both out of here. You go with me.”
He squeezes his eyes tightly.
“And tell me you love me ... Like I love you.”
For a moment, he contemplates it. Would it be worth it? What would two fewer people matter in a war that was lost before it even started? Would the benefits to the rest of humankind far outweigh the guilt and shame he would feel? After all, does she
