Arrival of The RX-2000

"Alright." The Captain nodded, adjusting herself in the seat.

'Josh, you conniving bastard, I think I've figured it out. Get back here.' Susan demanded.

"My woman calls. I think she might've figured out the riddle." Josh chuckled.

"Already? I thought you said it took you a year." The Captain said.

"She is an android." Josh shrugged, getting to his feet.

*******

"Nope." Josh said flatly.

"What?!" Susan cried, "I've done all the math, it's all there. That is the answer. Truth, lies and random!" Susan cried angrily.

"But it's not the right answer...and don't even think of looking in my head because the answer is locked away." Josh said.

"I wasn't gonna..." Susan said in a huff.

"Then how did you get this answer? Because it's conveniently the same as a false answer I've had in my head all day." Josh smiled, "I think you just don't want to admit I stumped you."

"I'm not stumped!" Susan said furiously.

"Okay, then here's an easier one. Why did the baby cross the road?" Josh said with a smile.

"Because his mother was on the other side!" Susan said, her face getting flustered.

"Nope, because he was stapled to the chicken." Josh chuckled, leaning forward.

He gave the enraged Susan a kiss on the lips and left her to fume. Josh simply walked back to their room and laid down on the bed, content and amused. Closing his eyes, he figured it was time to really take a closer look at his body, at each servo and wire. He started at his core, the Neutron-Star core. It was humming softly, currently at 99.9971 percent energy left. He branched out, looking at the servos that controlled his chest and back motion. They were some of the strongest, with exception to those in his thighs and lower back. He looked further, examining the strongest of his servos. Daniel hadn't been exactly correct when he said Josh could carry ten tons. Through careful mediation of power and usage of the surrounding circuits, Josh devised out how he could almost double his carry strength for a short period of time. Apparently ten tons was simply an estimate or maybe a safe limit to his strength.

"Josh!" Susan snapped from above him.

"What?" Josh sighed, opening his eyes.

"You've been in here two hours. I am stumped. Now I want sex." Susan demanded angrily, stamping her foot. She was naked.

"Angry sex? I can't say we've had that yet." Josh chuckled.

"You are just enjoying pissing me off aren't you?" Susan said, stripping off his clothes quickly.

"Oh very much so." Josh chuckled.

"Shut up and lie back." Susan said, throwing his clothes behind her.

"Alright." Josh said, putting his hands behind his head.

She climbed onto the bed and immediately put her lips around his cock. Susan sucked him until he was hard and twitching. Lifting herself above him, she pierced herself on his cock and moaned loudly. Josh winced at her forcefulness and put his hands on her hips.

"Hands...off. I want an orgasm...and now." Susan said, bouncing herself on him.

"Wow...this really is angry sex." Josh said, his smile widening.

She put her hands on his chest and slid up and down his cock faster. She began to pant and her juices dripped all over his lap. She was wetter than he had ever seen her and she felt hotter than ever as well. Susan's pussy made loud noises as she slapped against his lap. Her moaning started and she tossed her head back, her sea-green hair splaying out behind her.

Josh felt his pleasure rising and he gave a moan.

"If...you come...before me...I'll...rip you...in half..." Susan panted.

It was enough to deter Josh for a short while. Susan seemed to be peaking and her moans turned to gasps and shrieks. Her orgasm was forthcoming and wet. She came and squirted across his lap as she lifted herself off his cock. Susan pushed herself back down on him and her hot juices pushed Josh too far. He came and spurted up inside her. Susan gave a softening coo and rolled herself back and forth on him. She slid off him and into bed next to him.

"Happy?" Josh breathed.

"Oh yes...And I've got the answer too..." She smiled.

"You didn't." Josh said, sitting up.

"Oh I did..." She grinned widely.

"And you said I was conniving! You come in here, feigning rage and horniness and use it to distract me long enough for you to rape my brain." Josh said.

"Yup!" She smiled, "And the horniness was real."

"I don't like you anymore." Josh sighed, falling back into bed.

"Really?" Susan said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep, we're through." Josh said, giving her a kiss on the lips.

"That's why..." Susan kissed Josh, "...You're still kissing me?"

"Yea...'cus we're done." Josh smiled and kissed her again.

*******

"Why does she want us?" Susan asked.

"I dunno. I was talking with her before you came up with your answer for the riddle and she told me to come by." Josh shrugged.

"Well it can't be about our arrival, that's still a few days off." Susan pointed out, "Did she say anything?"

"Nah. We just talked about our relationship and about my life." Josh said, nearing the Captain's door.

Susan stood behind Josh as he knocked on the door. It hissed and slid open. The Captain was standing there in her yellow-gold suit and her hair was loose around her shoulders. Her eyes were ringed in black and she looked tired. She stood aside and they walked in.

"What's goin' on Captain?" Josh asked.

"Please call me Anna." The Captain said.

"Okay, What's goin' on Anna?" Josh chuckled.

"I want to ask you guys something." She said, sitting down on her bed.

Josh and Susan took seats at the table. Anna toyed with her fingers and twiddled her thumbs.

"I was considering resigning my commission." The Captain said, rubbing her hands together.

"What?! Why? Your an excellent Captain!" Susan said in shock.

"Well...After I've seen how happy you two are and...I've been looking back at my life..." She sighed, "I don't know if I made the right choice to devote my life to this."

"Because of us? Why? You could have a nice family and still be a Captain!" Josh argued.

"But since I've been seeing you two...I just...I don't feel the excitement of the fight anymore. I'm just longing for a still life now." The Captain said nervously.

"I don't know what to say...what will we do then?" Josh asked.

"You did equip us for battle and I don't imagine the army will let us go easily." Susan said with a scratch of her head.

"Oh that's not a problem. You just walk out of your own accord. The army won't go after two little androids like you when they've got a war to fight." The Captain sighed.

"What about that? I mean, we've got proof that it could very well be a fabricated war by Akyatoriama Robotics!" Susan said.

"So let's go take care of that. But I still want to resign my commission and settle down. I've spent years without even a home. I haven't lived on a planet since I was twenty." The Captain sighed, "I want to buy myself a house and settle down."

"Well if you want to." Josh shrugged.

"I suppose we can't stop you." Susan agreed, "But why did you think of this after seeing us?"

"You two are so happy together. You readily do anything for her and she goes into the meat grinder for you. I want that. I want to have someone that I can love like that. It'll never happen while I'm in the damn army." She cursed, "And it's a joke even thinking to have kids while your in the army. My genius ass went and signed up for another ten year stint last fall and I can't get out without resigning my commission, so that's what I'm doing."

"So what now then?" Josh asked.

"We go to Mars and try and get something out of this mess." The Captain said, standing up, "Thank you guys for the talk."

"I'm glad we could help." Josh shrugged.

The two of them went back to their room and Susan sat down on the bed.

"You think she's going to be alright? I mean...resigning her commission? What the heck?" Susan asked, lounging back on their bed.

"Maybe it's for the best. She seems truly unhappy here. She's skilled and all, but maybe this is the next step in her life. I mean, I sure didn't expect to fall in love with an android, let alone become one." Josh pointed out.

"Good point. Well let's just see how it goes down." Susan shrugged.

*******

A short time passed and the ship passed back into normal space around Mars. The Captain hadn't told anyone else of her plans to resign and she was acting like nothing was out of the ordinary. The Sabre moved into orbit around Mars and a shuttle started to transfer them down to the surface.

"So this company, Akyatoriama Robotics, how do we get in contact with them?" Josh asked Captain Anna.

"I've got them to allow us a military-related consultation. I've also got all the information on the android and such right here." The Captain said, holding up a small briefcase.

The shuttle reached the surface and they got off. It left and they were standing in an almost empty terminal.

"A surface shuttle will take us to Akyatoriama Robotics." The Captain said, "No need for winter gear."

"Alright then, let's go." Josh nodded.

They headed across the terminal and found a transport shuttle to take them across the surface of the planet. It was a twenty minute ride to Akyatoriama Robotics. They arrived in a nice, clean white lobby. A secretary greeted them and told them that their meeting was in nine minutes in conference room two. A man would come get them when they were to go.

"Wow...this place is different than I thought it would be." Josh said, looking around.

"It's always a nice, clean business front that creates evil things." Susan chuckled.

"Now don't talk like that while we're here. We need to smooth-tongue our way in to try and figure this out." The Captain said.

"I know, I know." Susan nodded.

A few minutes later, a squat man in a nice suit came down a hallway to greet them. He turned and lead them down the hall to the conference room. The three of them sat down inside and the man left. A minute later, a woman in a nice business suit came in and sat down across from them at the table.

"So, madam Captain, I received a message from the military that you wanted to inquire about some equipment you found on the field." The lady said.

"I was under the impression we would get to speak to the president." The Captain said.

"I speak for the Captain. I am his secretary. Now, what were your inquiries?" The Secretary said.

"Well, as you know, we are currently caught in a conflict with the rebellion. While fighting them, we discovered that one of my officers was an android, a very advanced model." The Captain said, passing her a photo of the android, "We disabled him and managed to siphon data from his mind. It turns out he was constructed here and is a nigh-indestructible android a century ahead of our technology."

"So you think we were infiltrating the military? Are you accusing us?" The Secretary asked.

"No, I'm not. The android said that both androids, Josh and Susan were supposed to be terminated on account of their traveling through time. We believe the rebels acquired the android and managed to get him into our chain of command. We were just wondering if you knew how the rebels came by such an advanced android." The Captain asked, passing two more sheets of paper to her.

"Well...this is a new classified model...it's still under heavy development." The Secretary said, "There is no way they could've gotten this. I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can tell you."

"Considering the danger of this situation, there will be an investigation into this if you can't tell us anything." The Captain said.

"If that's what you feel you must do, I cannot stop you. However, I must state that it won't do any good to investigate an obviously dead lead. Somehow the rebels got their hands on a prototype and there's nothing else to be said about it." The Secretary said, standing.

"Thank you for your time." The Captain said, standing.

They shook hands and the Secretary left with a quick stride. The Captain turned to Susan and Josh.

"That's it. She was lying in our faces and now I know all that I need to know. Tonight, we break in and find what we need to prove it." The Captain said.

"This is turning into a classic mobster's bank heist." Josh chuckled.

*******

Captain Anna, Susan and Josh were sitting in the lobby of Akyatoriama Robotics. Susan was busy trying to crack into the security system through a wireless link. She had easily discovered the security system's frequency and so they were sitting in the lobby while she worked. Josh and the Captain talked about inconsequential things to make it seem less suspicious as to why the three of them were sitting there. Susan was sitting in the chair, unresponsive to the world around her except for when Josh asked her a question about the progress.

"Got it." She said suddenly, "Their AI is deactivated and I have control of their security system."

"So what are we up against?" The Captain asked.

"Let's see...we've got motion sensors in the entire building, cameras on each hallway and a small group of night guards. I'll prop open a back door in the system and I can take control of it when we come back tonight. The doors are easily fooled and I should be able to turn off all the security without a problem." Susan said.

"You would think such an important business would have a better security system." Josh chuckled.

"They do have a great security system, but a mind like mine can crack a system like that without a single problem. It's like if you were standing in front of a locked house and a window is open on your right. An artificial intelligence would just see the locked front door and leave, but a self-aware consciousness could look around for another way in." Susan explained, "They aren't protected against someone's mind, they expect traditional methods of hacking or AIs trying to break in."

"Hmm." Josh shrugged.

"Let's get out of here." The Captain said, "We need to find an entrance on the outside that we can get in through. The tram won't be stopping here when they're closed and we'll draw too much attention by forcing it to stop here."

They boarded the tram and it left the station inside Akyatoriama Robotics. Looking through the windows, Josh pointed at a doorway out in the blizzard. It was a black door set against a gray slate wall. The street ran right by it and they should be able to get to the door without a problem.

"Good, that'll do." The Captain nodded.

She pulled out a communicator and relayed a message to the ship that they needed a particular crate delivered to the terminal they would be waiting in. The tram shuttle made the twenty minute trip back to the terminal and they took seats in the now-bustling terminal.

"So we just wait then?" Josh asked.

"Pretty much. I'm not bringing in any of the rest of my squad. I want it to just be us going in there, less chance of being caught. Now, Susan, did you pull the blueprints of the building like I told you?" The Captain asked her.

"I did, find me something to write with." Susan said.

The Captain reached into her suit and pulled out a square rod. She twisted it and pulled two halves apart. A thin transparent blue screen spread between them and she handed it to Susan.

"Just trace on it with a finger." The Captain told her.

Susan quickly traced out a top-down map of Akyatoriama Robotics.

"Here is the entrance and over here is the door we saw. It goes right into an employee passageway. Through there we can go down into the facility." Susan said, erasing the map and sketching a side view of the facility, "It goes down six or seven floors. Any further than that and the security system doesn't map it anymore. I'm assuming that they cut that section of the facility off from the upper floors because it's full of high security stuff. I also discovered that it's where the main system core of the facility is."

"And in that core is where we can get any shipping manifestos to the rebels." The Captain scratched her chin, "Of course. So we've got to get through the security system up here and down into the lower floors."

"That's the easy part. I can get us through the security system with ease, but it's those lower floors that I have no idea about." Susan said, tracing a finger down, "I don't even know how big those lower floors are."

"So we'll be flying blind then?" Josh said, looking at the screen in Susan's hands.

"Yes, but I think I might be able to hack into their lower network once we get down there." Susan said, "So let's get what equipment we can and go for it."

"We've got to be careful in there. They've got cutting edge robotic technology and if we meet any more like the infiltrator, we'll be in trouble." The Captain warned.

*******

The crate had arrived and Josh easily carried the three foot white plastic crate into a small room off the main terminal. He pulled the lid off and chuckled. The crate was full of weapons.

"I crated up a selection of weapons before we came down here. Sorry Josh, but we couldn't fit a tank in here." The Captain chuckled, looking over at him.

"Damn, I was hoping to destroy that building." Josh laughed, digging through the crate, "I don't think I need anything. It doesn't look like there are very many weapons here anyway."

The crate had a shotgun, an automatic, a few knives, two swords and a jacket in the bottom.

"Really?" Susan asked, putting on her belts of knives and swords.

"Yea, I'll just rip them apart with my hands." Josh shrugged.

"If you wish." The Captain said, loading a shotgun.

She loaded an automatic and strung a belt of grenades across her shoulder. In the bottom of the crate was a small black box wrapped up in a heavy white coat. The Captain first reached for the box. She lifted it out and opened it up. Inside sat a nonscript black pistol with some mildly strange lines and wires down the sides of it. She pulled the clip from the foam in the box and grabbed the pistol. Captain Anna loaded it and put it in a holster on her belt.

"What's so special about that gun?" Josh asked.

"Micro-fission tipped bullets. It will strike and vaporize nearly any target about four feet across." The Captain said, throwing the long white jacket around her shoulders.

The jacket reached her knees and started buttoning at her waist up. It was a heavy jacket to keep her warm in the cold, winter-frozen surface of Mars.

"I think it's about time. They'll be closing in a few minutes and their security will be changing places in about an hour." The Captain said, checking her watch beneath the sleeve of her jacket.

"Alright, let's go." Susan said, adjusting the two swords on her left hip and the knives across her chest.

Josh felt nervous with his bare hands, but he knew he could easily handle himself against most enemies. If nothing else, he could pick up weapons along the way or just beat them with some blunt object. He turned and followed Susan and The Captain out the heavy front doors of the terminal. The wind was blowing and snow swirled around the street in front of them. A car drove by, but other than that, it was pretty empty. The planet got pretty cold at night time, well below zero, and few people wanted to be out in it. Josh and Susan's bodies quickly adapted to the cold and they stopped feeling the frigid temperatures.

As they walked down the sidewalk, the Captain pulled her hood on and cinched it tight around her head. The walk was a cold hour long one and the snow was blowing wildly sideways by the time they reached the employee door. All the cars were gone from the parking lot and the blizzard would keep them out of view of the outside cameras.

Standing in front of the door, Susan walked through the backdoor she had put in the security system. Knocking out the AI, she took control of the system, shut off all the motion sensors and put the videos on endless loops. This would allow them to pass through the facility without problem. The door in front of them clicked and The Captain pulled it open. The hallway inside was empty and dark.