Now that the test of the new Hermes AI had been successful, everyone went back to their assigned troop deployments to disseminate the results and inform everyone of the performance that they could expect.

“Hey, is it true?” Cali asked from behind me when all the top brass had dispersed.

“Is what true?” I asked back and turned around to face her.

“Word is that you and your longtime girlfriend broke up.” Cali said, and I could hear the hope in her voice.

“Well, we...” I started to say, and she put her hand over my mouth.

“I don't care why.” Cali said. “Has anyone else stepped in yet?”

My eyes darted to the side and found Alyssa, who animatedly discussed the test with her fellow squad mates. She was making lots of hand gestures and the others laughed as she talked and they responded with their own hand gestures.

“Paperwork?” Cali asked and I nodded. “Which one? Guaranteed Child Contract?”

I shook my head.

“Exclusivity?”

I nodded.

“Dammit.” Cali said and smiled. “The little bitch beat me to it.”

My eyes widened and Cali smiled.

“I told her I was going to snatch you up the first opportunity I had.” Cali said and stepped close, then spoke in a soft and raspy voice. “I can still feel your hands on me.” She said and closed her eyes. “So nice and warm.”

I reached up and touched her hand with my synthetic one, and she opened her eyes and moved her hand away from my mouth. “I've only got one real hand now.”

“I know, and that makes you all the more rare.” Cali said. “Do you think she would mind if I borrowed that hand for a while?”

“I honestly don't know.” I said. “I'm kind of the first person she's committed herself to, either by word or by form. She could be completely possessive, or it's possible that she couldn't care less.”

Cali laughed. “That's a wide range of possibilities.”

I shrugged. “I was in a long term relationship with someone that wasn't in the same relationship that I was, so I'm way out of my depth trying to guess what a woman thinks.”

“You poor thing.” Cali said and gave me a hug. I hadn't noticed that she had taken off her combat harness, until her chest pressed against mine and I discovered that she didn't have anything on under her camouflage unitard. She was also quite happy to see me.

“Cali...”

“It's okay. I understand.” Cali said as she let me go. “You are an odd man and you have odd views.”

“I do?” I asked, and she nodded.

“Who signs an exclusivity form so soon after meeting someone?” Cali asked. “You needed to feel some security, so she gave you what you wanted.” She said and smiled. “She's a lot smarter than I gave her credit for, that's for sure.”

I opened my mouth to dispute Cali's analysis, then I thought about it. It did kind of come out of the blue, and I barely hesitated about signing it. I thought. “She really is smarter than me.”

Cali laughed. “On that note, I better get over to my assigned area.”

“Sure.” I said. “Thanks for your help, Cali.”

“Anytime, Handy.” Cali said and walked away. I watched her go and admired her, just as any man would admire a good looking woman who walked by them. It took her about ten seconds before she came to a stop, then she turned around and walked right back to me.

I let a slow smile spread across my face as she got closer. “Back so soon?”

“How did you do it?” Cali asked.

“I have friends in high places.” I said. “Or I just made an unrefusable request and they agreed to my demands.”

Cali shook her head. “There's never been more than 5 people per squad.”

“You're not actually a part of Alyssa's squad, you're more of an adjunct.” I shrugged. “An associate? An add-on? Whatever you want to call it, that's what you are.”

“I'm not going to ask any more questions.” Cali said and grinned. “You got me off the combat rotation, and that means more to me than anything else in the world.”

“That's why I did it.” I said. “You do a great job when you're out there, but we both know your heart's not in it.”

Cali nodded and looked at Alyssa's squad. “What do they think about it?”

“After this little test today, I think they are going to love you.”

No sooner had the words left my mouth when Crush turned to look at me and saw Cali.

“Ranger! Sick moves today!” Crush said and held up a mechanical hand for a high five gesture.

Cali laughed and hopped a little to smack it. “I could say the same to you and that monster you use.”

Crush held up the multi-laser with the rotating barrel. The automatic rotation cut down on the overheating issues of the barrels. “She performed just as well as you!” He said and kissed the closest barrel, and everyone laughed.

“Okay, we should get back to base and hit the rack.” I said, and everyone nodded. Alyssa and her squad went back to their transport and took Cali with them, and I climbed back into the tech transport's front passenger seat. “Move out.”

Both vehicles made it back to the barracks with plenty of time to spare, and we all disembarked and gathered in front of the vehicles.

“Get as much sleep as you can.” I cautioned them. “We have an early morning deployment and we need to get to the site as quickly as possible.”

“We are going to smash them good!” Crush said. “I can't wait!”

“Dismissed.” I said, and they all went to their assigned buildings.

“Sir! If I could have a moment?” One of the lab technicians asked and I nodded. “We recorded and broadcast everything, and sent a copy to you.” He said. “We can't send you the technical data over the com channels, so you need to get it yourself.”

“I'll grab it right now.” I said and entered the tech transport's rear hatch and sat down at one of the consoles. “Hermes, prep a compressed download of the technical readouts for me.”

“It's already done, Handy.” Hermes said.

I sighed at the nickname. “Thank you.” I said and pulled a lead out from the console and plugged it into one of the ports behind my ear. I initiated the download and prepared for it to take a while. To my surprise, it happened fairly quickly and I disconnected myself barely 20 seconds later.

“See you in the morning.” Hermes said and I gave the large structure a little wave and left the vehicle, then the lab technician hit the button to close the hatch. Guards were arranged around the vehicle to ensure no unauthorized people were going to enter it, and I left it in their hands.

Mostly.

Amanda? I thought to my AI.

“Yes, Jack?” Amanda asked and she popped her head out from the bushes not too far away in front of me.

Monitor all electronic and visual signals on the vehicle and let me know if anything happens.

“You got it.” Amanda said and walked over to the vehicle and climbed up on top of it. “I'll keep a close eye on Hermes for you.”

“Thank you, Handy.” Hermes said through my internal communication protocol. “Hello, Amanda. It's nice to meet you.”

“It's nice to meet you, too.” Amanda said happily. “According to the System, you're my half-brother.”

I tuned out the rest of the conversation and checked where my own sleeping assignment was, then headed to the building and went inside. I went up to the top floor surprisingly, which was high officer country, and found my room. I opened the door and Alyssa was inside. Her combat harness was hung on the chair by the bed and she had half of her camouflage unitard off.

“You looked so sexy when you exited the troop transport before the test.” I said and shut the room's door.

“I was equipped from head to toe for combat deployment.” Alyssa chuckled. “I don't think you could even see my face!”

I chuckled as well and walked over to her as I slipped off my own combat harness. “I knew it was you.” I said and knelt as I helped her slip off the rest of her unitard. I slowly stood up and ran my hands up her legs, across her hips and waist, then up her arms to her face. She had wide eyes as she looked at me, and I smiled.

“Wh-what are you...” Alyssa tried to say and I cut her off with a kiss. She put her arms around me and kissed me back. After a few moments, she opened up my unitard and pulled it off of me as she knelt, then she did the same hand movements to me as she stood back up. “That felt almost as good giving as it was receiving.”

I gave her a big smile and cupped the sides of her face with both hands, then there was a knock on the door.

“Maintenance!” Nurse Deloris said. “Are you decent?”

“No.” I said.

Alyssa grabbed her unitard and slipped it back on in a flash. “Okay.”

Nurse Deloris opened the door and walked in with a bag. “It's just a quick checkup, so it won't take long.” She said and put the bag on the bed. She opened it and pulled the two leads out of a portable maintenance kit and plugged them behind my ear. After she hit the diagnostic button and started to pop part of my arm apart, it beeped at her.

“Is there a reason it runs so quickly now?” I asked.

“The communication between your cybernetic parts is increasing as your brain adjusts to the flow of information.” Nurse Deloris said. “Soon, I won't even need to plug you in for more than a few seconds.”

“These new bio-memetic parts are a breakthrough, aren't they?” Alyssa asked.

“If they can get this test case approved as the first successful human implantation, I suspect they are going to start mass producing the parts they need for all the cyborgs in the service.” Nurse Deloris said.

“No, they won't.” I said, and both women looked at me with a question on their faces. “They will approve the technology, but they won't be replacing any existing parts with it.”

“What? Why?” Alyssa asked.

“Because of how I reacted with the security scanner.” I said. “It almost killed me to have the old software running the new parts, and since current cyborgs have several different operating systems for their different parts and upgrades...”

“Oh.” Alyssa said and sat down on the bed. She looked at her legs and arms, then reached up and touched her ears. She had them all done at different times and each had slightly different programs to run them properly. “You're saying the new parts won't be compatible.”

“They would have to replace everything on you with the new parts, including the cerebral upgrades.”

“Not only would that be too expensive, that extensive of a replacement surgery might just kill me.” Alyssa said and sighed. “I thought... I hoped...”

“There's nothing wrong with how you are now.” I said. “Believe me. I've touched every inch of you, and I haven't found a flaw yet.”

“You ass.” Alyssa said, then she smiled. “You just admitted that you were looking for flaws.”

“Hey, it's not my fault. If you weren't so perfect, I wouldn't have to look so hard.”

Alyssa rolled her eyes. “Deloris, is his friend this cheesy?”

“He's French.” Nurse Deloris said and popped my leg back together. “Everything he says is cheesy.”

Alyssa laughed and she joined in. Nurse Deloris finished the maintenance check a few minutes later and covered my synthetic parts with lubrication to seal them again.

“We have to skip the bath in the morning.” I said, and she nodded. “Depending on how the battle goes...”

“I'll do the bath and the maintenance check together tomorrow night.” Nurse Deloris said and packed the bag up, then left after saying goodbye to us. Alyssa walked over to the door and locked it, then she slipped off her unitard and tossed it across the room.

“I'm invoking clause 28b of the Exclusivity agreement.” Alyssa said, and my eyes widened.

“Alyssa...”

“I won't waste another moment with you.” Alyssa said and walked over to me. “One of us could die tomorrow, and I won't face those odds without being with you as much as I can beforehand.”

“But... I mean, I need breaks... and food... and probably...”

“Hush.” Alyssa said and laid down on the small bed. “No excuses.” She said and smiled. “Do your duty.”

I took a deep breath, gave her a field salute to make her laugh, then jumped on her.

The morning came a lot quicker than I thought it would, and we were both exhausted when light appeared in the window. There were two quick bursts from the klaxon siren, then an announcement.

“All right you grunts! Rise and shine!” A deep male voice said. “You have ten minutes for muster, breakfast and to get to your assigned transports.” He paused for a second then yelled. “MOVE IT! MOVE IT! MOVE IT!”

Alyssa and I climbed out of bed and gave ourselves a cursory cleaning, put on fresh camouflage unitards, and slipped on our combat harnesses.

“I don't feel like doing this today.” I said as we left the room. “I just want to stay in bed.”

Alyssa smiled and took my hand, which was against regulations. Neither of us cared at the moment.

“I meant to sleep.” I said, and she laughed.

When we went outside, we saw that we weren't the only ones not quite ready and willing to be up so early, and it struck me as funny. I imagined they had all been in bed together before the big battle, and none of us were in any shape to fight. I shared my humorous thought with Alyssa, and she readily agreed to my assessment and laughed as well.

No one sat down to eat breakfast, despite there being actual food available, and they all took brown algenate discs instead to eat on the way. We managed to get to our assigned transports on time and the entire force moved out. The transports were much faster than the crawlers they normally used, so we made it to The Fall only a couple of hours later. Unfortunately, because there was over ten thousand of us, it took multiple trips all the way up on the main lift to get us all to the third level from the top.

Someone hadn't taken that into consideration when they drew up the deployment schedule, so now we were about half an hour behind our estimated time of arrival. Normally that wouldn't be a bad thing, except that now part of the setup and deployment time for the troops was going to be reduced because of it. This was going to be a battle with the largest amount of participants this year, and like the last battle I had participated in, the outcome of this one was going to determine the distribution of some very crucial resources.

I wasn't privy to what those were at the moment, mainly because the higher-ups liked to keep those things to themselves until the battle is either won or lost. Personally, I think they do that so if we lost, they could lessen the impact of the loss by saying it wasn't that good of a deal anyway. If we won, they can drop the whole thing on us and make us enjoy the victory that much more.

I sat in the passenger seat of the tech transport as it drove away from The Fall, and in the back we hauled what I hoped would be a decisive factor of the coming battle. It was unfortunate that I didn't know exactly how decisive the presence of Hermes was going to be, because I might have done something about it if I had.