Gabatrix: The Silver Rain

"I remember on the news about you taking over Mars and everything," Chuang said. "I remember the Chairman talking about a system that would shut you down eventually. You willingly decided to limit your own life?"

She seemed to look away a little bit as she thought about it. Then she looked back at him. "It was both a choice and not a choice," she answered. "I wanted to save my daughter from being terminated. I knew that a code was put in that could terminate my life functions. I believed and still believe that I am alive. I could analyze my own decisions and decide what the smartest decision to make. My goal was to save Eve from destruction. I choose to have a limited life to ensure that Eve will live."

"Wow," Chuang said as he seemed to think about it. "I guess I can understand that."

Bekra nodded her head a few times as she seemed to idolize Minerva and Eve. Zalika had overheard the conversation as she looked at Bekra. She seemed to quietly nod as she went and handed another thruster pack to Ericson.

"Why did you decide to live on Eutera?" Bekra asked.

"The decision was made based on multiple reasons," Minerva answered. "Ericson used to live on Eutera for a short time before being stationed on the UHN Tyson to create me. He enjoyed living here and wished to move here. I cared for him and wanted to fulfill his wish to live here. Another reason is its location and population. There has been a long history in the human race with the ill sentiment in building and constructing artificial intelligence. While the decision was to keep me alive, the human race still harbors that resentment towards artificial intelligence that can think for themselves. Even though dulled, my existence still remains in most human's minds even with the introduction of the recent peace treaty and alliance with the T'rintar clan. My desire to live in a remote area where humans and Itreans get along is ideal for my existence and Eve to continue. My acceptance in society would be more welcome here, for example, than in most other places."

"Smart," Chuang commented.

"I don't see why they wanted to terminate Eve," Bekra also commented. "She is so cute."

Minerva's eyes looked down at Eve as the baby stirred a little bit. Her synthetic hand gently pushed a small bug that landed on her forehead. It flew off as it went back to the grass.

"Yeah, but you just put yourselves in the firing line for the Aksren and Shal'rein clan fleets," Zalika said. "This place was attacked before. We are not far from the landing spot where the T'rintar clan put their assault carrier to assault and kidnap the people here."

Minerva's ears turned to her location as she rotated her head a little bit towards the tent. "While all of that is true, according to the UWAN and T'rintar clan databases, no location is truly safe. The UHN lacks the necessary resources to repel large Aksren or Shal'rein clan fleets. Mars, Batrice, and Cebravis are just as likely to be attacked as Eutera or another smaller human colony. With all of that measured, I choose this location to live."

"Whatever....." Zalika said. "I am ready to fight and die anytime, but even I know that Eutera is still a giant bullseye."

"No, she is right," Bekra argued back. "This world is under the protection of the T'rintar clan. We would devote our resources to protecting this world just as much as Mars or Cebravis."

Zalika didn't want to argue any further as Ericson asked for another thruster pack. He used a screwdriver as he began to screw in the next thruster to the wing.

"This brings us back to the question that you asked earlier, Bekra," Minerva continued. "Why do I need vehicle thruster packs? The answer is that I wish to experience the ability that humans enjoy, and that is the ability to fly. Ericson and I have been developing a wing system that can be attached to my body mainframe. It will allow me to fly in both locations that have positive or no gravity."

"She would be able to fly in space or on the ground with this," Ericson added.

"Haha," Zalika joked. "No offense Minerva, but seeing you with this is like seeing a blowup doll with a jetpack."

Minerva's head tilted a little bit as she displayed confusion. "I do not understand the statement."

"Well, you decided to use a companion bot to put your.......I don't know......consciousness into. Now you are putting.......you know I don't need to say anymore."

"A companion bot is the only body frame currently available for my system to achieve mobility and operate. It was the only choice available for me."

Zalika simply smiled and shrugged. She felt she had proven a point.

"There," Ericson said as he picked up the wing. "I still wonder if we only need two thruster packs instead of four."

"According to my calculations, there will be a ninety-one percent chance flight will be achieved, with just two thrusters," Minerva explained. "If all four thrusters are used, there will be a ninety-four percent chance of that succeeding."

"That isn't what I am worried about," Ericson said. "It is still a lot of thrust that is being put on your body. Your body was never rated for a flight like this."

"This is the third time that you have stated this caution to me, Ericson," Minerva said.

"Yeah, I am trying to make sure that you understand the risks to this. If you crash, your body will take damage, and it could risk damaging or destroying you."

Bekra could see that Minerva was thinking for a second. "Human beings desire to do things that they normally cannot achieve. I wish to experience the ability to fly just as a human can climb the side of a mountain or swim to the bottom of a lake."

"As I said, I am being careful," Ericson said as he stepped up to the chair that Minerva sat in. "Zalika, can you grab the other wing from the table and bring it here."

"Yeah, of course," Zalika replied as she went and grabbed the other wing.

Minerva looked up at Bekra. "Bekra, would you like to hold onto Eve as I conduct my flight experiment?"

"Of course I would," Bekra replied with almost excitement. She stood up as she held out her arms towards Minerva. In turn, Minerva stood up with her daughter in hand as she handed her to the Itrean woman. Chuang could see that Minerva stood over the Aksren.

They were both careful. With perfect precision in movement, Minerva went and handed up the bundled baby to Bekra. Bekra, in turn, brought the baby to her chest and held it, cradling in her arms.

Zalika could see happiness in Bekra as she was looking at Eve. The baby's eyes opened up to look at the nose crested reptilian woman. Eve simply displayed a look of curiosity at her. The baby was neither scared nor content. Even Ericson noted it as well as he stepped up next to Minerva with the left side wing attachment.

"Heh," Ericson commented. "She usually cries when someone either than I or Minerva holds onto her."

"That is because she is smart. That is why" Bekra happily said. She seemed purely content with her actions as she kept the baby close to her.

Ericson gestured Minerva to step up next to him and keep her back exposed to him. Chuang could see a rigging of some sort that was on the robotic body. Ericson took the left portion of the wing and stuck it into the rigging. The moment that he fitted the piece perfectly, blue light emitted from her frame as the wing synchronized perfectly onto her body. Ericson then gestured Zalika to hand the other portion of the wing to him. She did so as he then positioned the other wing into place.

Upon giving the wing portion, Zalika, Bekra, and Chuang stepped back and away from Minerva and Ericson. Zalika briefly looked down to see Bekra was keeping a close eye on the baby. The baby reached out one of her fingers at her as she extended her scaly finger to hers.

The other wing was attached correctly as the blue light showed that the other wing was in place. Ericson then stepped back as Minerva turned to look at him. Both of them were facing downward, almost in a delta-like formation. Both pairs of thruster nozzles were touching each other.

"Minerva, give me a diagnostics on the wings," Ericson asked as he held out his left arm. He rolled up his sleeve as he tapped his left wrist. An almost three-dimensional projection screen appeared from his arm that showed a menu screen pop up. Data began to process through the arm's display screen.

"Diagnostics are complete," Minerva reported. "Both wings are operating at 99.3% efficiency. Vectoring flaps for the thruster packs are fully operable."

Zalika went and placed her hand on Bekra's shoulder as she looked at the scene. She could see a skeletal structure portrayed by Ericson's augmented arm of Minerva's body. There was data that was running down the screen as it showed everything was green on it. There was a brief moment that Zalika was reminded about her own augmented arm as she watched the scene of events.

"Confirmed," Ericson said. "Looks like we did a good job so far. The new addition of the main wings and the deployable mini leg wings are all showing full operational capability."

He used his right hand to interface with the display. He slid the picture as it showed a schematic of both wings. It showed a glowing green color on each of the thruster packs.

"I show that all thrusters are operating between 95 to 100% operational efficiency," Minerva said.

"Told ya," Zalika said to everyone. She held a thumbs up to them.

"I will need you to step away from me, Ericson," Minerva told him. "I will be deploying the wings."

"Alright," Ericson said as he backed away from her.

The moment that he did, Minerva slowly folded open the main wings. Like some old military aircraft, her wings extended wide open. All the thruster packs pointed straight down and towards the ground. In some ways, Chuang noticed that she looked like an anthro cat angel. Additional small wing tips protruded from her upper right and left leg.

"Both wings are fully extended," Minerva said. "I have full control of the wings. Running tests on adjustable thruster flaps."

Zalika could see that each thruster pack was on a flap-like device, with two on the top portion of the wing and two on the bottom. The flaps would adjust back and forth as the thruster packs would turn and turn to different directions. She reset them back into position again.

"Diagnostics are fully complete," Minerva said. "All adjustable flaps are working between 94 to 98 percent efficiency. There is enough data to suggest that we can commit to the test flight."

"I agree," Ericson said. He sighed a little bit. "Alright, you can go ahead and carry out with the flight......just make sure that you are careful, alright? I don't want to be a single parent....."

"Do not worry, Ericson," she replied. "If the efficiency drops below 90 percent or one of the thrusters stops operating, I will abandon the flight."

Ericson seemed to remain composed even though Zalika could notice that he was still a little tense. He backed away from her to give her the space needed while keeping his display still on.

"Everyone!" Ericson called out. "Remain by the tent. Minerva is about to conduct her test flight. Remain here until she finishes her flight. Bekra...." He paused as he pointed his finger at her.

"I promise, Doctor Ericson," Bekra told him confidently. "Eve will remain close to me at all times."

Minerva turned to face away from everyone that was standing by the tent. She held out her arms a little bit and began to hold them out at a 90-degree angle. Her head looked up as she looked up at the blue sky. Her eyes scanned the clouds. The thruster packs began to give a faint glow from each nozzle.

Minerva's words were well stated for all to hear. "Initiating test flight in five........four.......three........two.......one."

A second later, all four of the thruster packs activated. It was loud but not noisy as it made Chuang recoil a little bit from it. Bekra was already ahead of the situation as she had positioned the baby's head to her chest and used her other free hand to cover the other ear of Eve. This lessened the sound generated and didn't startle her at all.

Within less than a second, flames erupted from the thruster packs. A small plume of smoke erupted and flew to the ground as Minerva's body was propelled upward at a startling rate. Like a speeding bullet, she was projected upward at faster and faster speeds.

"Whoa!" Chuang said as he saw the robot disappear in a puff of smoke. He looked up as he saw the trail that she left behind her.

"Haha," Zalika replied. "Yeah, what do you expect when you strap four thrusters to yourself that are used on military assault vehicles?"

Minerva's bodily sensors were telling her of the g-forces being expelled onto her body as she could notice that she was off the ground. While she could not feel the intensity of the actions itself, she could detect all the events that were going on around her. One hundred feet........Two hundred feet......, she altered her thrusters' directions using her wings so that she leveled herself in the air. She was still gaining altitude but at a much slower rate now than the last several seconds.

"Well.....will you look at that," Zalika commented from the ground. "I guess robots can fly after all."

Ericson was busy watching the stream of new data that appeared on his digital display. The projection showed all four thrusters that were active and operating correctly. Linked to her system, he had a complete overview of everything that was going on, including her current altitude and speed.

Everything was working correctly, as Minerva could accurately measure the ground and air as she flew. She left the group behind more and more as she left a small trail of smoke behind her. Her back leg wings adjusted and turned as her whole body made a slow u-turn in the air.

"I hope you guys realize that those thruster packs have a power life of about two minutes, right?" Zalika told Ericson. "Does she have another power source to keep them going?"

"She has two power cores inside of her," Ericson replied.

Bekra's tail smacked Zalika's leg as the reptilian woman gave her a stern look.

"Ah.....what?" Zalika replied, looking at her.

"Why didn't you say that when she was on the ground?" Bekra asked.

Zalika scuffed a little bit. "Hey! I knew that she was going to be doing a flight experiment, but I didn't know for how long. Those thruster packs are designed to be fed off a power generator. It has its own battery in case the vehicle's power system fails, but it only has enough for a two-minute burn, tops."

"Don't worry," Ericson commented. "Her spare power core can help power it."

"Whatever....." Zalika looked at Bekra again. She raised her fist a little bit in her direction as Bekra simply shook her head.

In the air, Minerva's sensors showed that she was a little higher in altitude. Her optimal eyes that acted as cameras scanned the surface regularly. She could see the tent and people down below her. She very briefly smiled as she could see Eve being held in Bekra's arms. She then looked up as she could see the Euteran colony in all its glory. The colony lander took a portion of the side as the town was still busy for the day. Her eyes zoomed in enough to see the outlines of a few people who had stopped what they were doing to look at the spectacle in the sky. While rather far out from the town, the people could still see a faint line in the sky. Like a mini glider with engines, they could see the trail of smoke in the air that Minerva left behind.

Back on the ground, Ericson was still watching the data. Zalika was watching the data from a brief distance as well. She could see two dots displayed on the schematic of Minerva's body. The one on the side hip was beginning to change color going from green to yellow. It showed 68% on it.

"Does she have full readings on her own equipment?" Zalika asked.

"She sees what I see and more," Ericson replied.

"I wouldn't recommend being in the air for more than a minute. That power core is draining fast."

Minerva had flown over the tent as she could see the faces from the ground watch her with great interest. She adjusted her wings once again as she did a slow u-turn in the air. There was a fleeting moment in her programming as she continued to decipher all the transpiring events. She had leveled out in altitude as she kept her hands and arms leveled up. Her hearing sensors could only pick up the rushing air that permeated it thoroughly.

On the ground, Chuang, Bekra, and Zalika were hearing the rushing sound of Minerva as she flew, turned, and flew over them again. The Doppler Effect was in full effect as they could listen to her do a pass over them. Eve's eyes were still limited in how far she could see as her head naturally went toward the direction of the incoming sound.

They watched as the flames began to cut down in the air. Zalika spotted it immediately before looking back at Ericson.

"Looks like she turned off two of her thrusters," Zalika commented.

"Yeah, that is what she did," Ericson said. "Her spare power core is down to 54%. She is trying to conserve power."

"I agree. She only needs two of those thrusters if she wants to fly as it is. That was pretty smart of her."

"I know," Ericson replied with a smile. "She is capable of making her own decisions.....she is way beyond our capabilities in what she can do."

"Hmmm......yeah."

Minerva continued her flight as one thruster pack was still running on each wing. Her speed slowed down marginally, and the trail of smoke that she was leaving behind had cut down by half. One wing flap adjusted downward as the other one went up. This caused her to do a slow barrel roll in the air. Even the smoke trail that followed behind her did the same as it turned into a dual corkscrew pattern.

"Wow," Chuang said. "That's pretty cool."

"You know, as interesting as this may look," Zalika commented. "I do wonder how she is going to land."

"What do you mean?" he asked her.

"Those wings have the thrusters pointed to her rear. She is going to have to do some really advanced shit so she can do a perfect landing. Even the computers on the armored vehicles have to ensure that the thrusters work in perfect sync and direction, so it doesn't lose control on landings."

"I wouldn't have let her take to the skies if I didn't have complete trust in her," Ericson commented. "Trust me, I know."

"Ok....."

Minerva went and spun in the air so that she was flying with her back pointed to the ground. The flaps adjusted so that the thrusters began to push her directly up into the sky. She then pulled her arms down as she crossed them to her chest. She could see the entire field ahead of her. She slowly began to cut down on the thruster packs as her speed slowed down drastically. There was a moment of clarity for her as she could experience all the events going on. Eventually, the thrusters could only keep her going in one direction as she stalled in the air. She then brought her hands up and did a diving maneuver. Like jumping into a pool from several feet in the air, she did a swan dive hundreds upon hundreds of feet in the air. She began to plummet directly downward towards the tent and ground in the far distance.

Zalika looked over to see that Minerva's thrusters had almost closed off completely. She had turned into a falling glider that was flying to the ground. The rate of descent was incredible, but she could see that the descent angle was changing. The trail of smoke had completely died off from beneath her. She placed her belly straight parallel to the ground as her fall slowed but continued. She closed up her arms so that they were in line with her hips.

"Well," Zalika commented. "She has done a good job so far, but she is still falling pretty fast. Your girl robot is still going to end up in pieces if she....."