I wasn't sure exactly why I had expected this kind of behavior to stop, but I realized I had, and it was only in it occurring that I discovered how badly I had erred in my judgement.

Not that I could really do anything about it. I was asleep in the barracks, after all.

I woke up gradually, feeling a familiar pleasant weight on my legs and an unnatural warmth. Caught in the moments between awakening and alertness, I just laid there for a moment, not quite processing the signs and just feeling like I was melting into my bed in the best way possible.

I was startled awake by a faint slurping and realizing, hey, what the fuck.

I peered under my blanket and made contact with a pair of yellow eyes. One of them closed in a brief wink.

"AEGIS?" I hissed, looking over to see Tem snoring in a ball at the foot of my bed, and Tower and Jack still out across the room. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"Mmlahmimo," she answered, with a little giggle which felt nice but really did not begin to answer the question. I reached down, firmly grabbed both of her twintails and forcibly extracted the freak from my body.

"Hey, I wasn't done," she pouted.

"You absolutely are. How did you even get in here? People are sleeping, Tem is sleeping right there. What the fuck is wrong with you?" I hissed at her.

"Like she'd care anyway. Come on, let me finish, it can't be comfortable being left like that."

"Somehow, I'll manage. Where the hell are my pants?"

She giggled, utterly shameless while I thrashed around quiet as I could under her and recovered the clothing she'd peeled off me, making no effort to help me or even get off my legs. Such a goddamn pain in the ass.

Once I was decent, I got up, deliberately stepping around Tem and pulled AEGIS along with me by her arm, taking her into the lockers next door where I sat her on a bench and then, in as quiet and controlled a voice as I could manage, screamed at her.

"Okay, what in the actual fuck was that?"

"I told you already, fellatio. Oh, sorry, I guess my mouth was full at the time."

"I mean…" I tried to find literally any other way to phrase my inquiry. None came to mind. "No, what the fuck was that?"

"Do you need me to draw you a diagram?" she asked, tilting her head at me with a look of plain confusion on her face. "I would think a demonstration was sufficient. The number of times--"

"No! Not...not that. I mean." I took a deep breath. "Why are you here?"

"Fella--"

"NO. Why are you here, in the barracks."

"Fella--"

"AEGIS, goddamn it, I am going to slap the shit out of you."

She giggled again, like her mood was inversely proportional to mine. She reached behind her and flipped forward a visitor pass which hung off her neck. I guess she moved it to her back to...get it out of the way.

"Where'd you get this? You'd need the consent of the person you're visiting as well as their CO for this kind of access."

She patted my hand pityingly. "It's so cute that you think the rules apply to me, sweetie. I run this place, remember?"

"You hacked the XPCA."

"Yeah."

"So that you could print yourself a visitor pass."

"Yeppers."

"So that you could…"

"Fella--"

"Goddamn it, AEGIS."

She giggled again. A little dignified laugh which made her eyes scrunch shut a little when she let it out. I hated how adorable I found it right now.

I tried to glare at her sternly but I didn't have any stern in my tank this early in the morning. My eyes kept getting lost in the small mess of freckles bridging her nose and running down her cheeks and neck and visible on her shoulders above her wispy yellow sundress. When I tore my eyes from the soft curves of her bare shoulders, they got caught in her eyes, so intensely, inhumanely yellow, like a firework frozen in time.

"Goddamn it, AEGIS," I said, more to remind myself that I was upset with her than anything.

"Frustrated?" she asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Like you would not believe."

"Well, there are showers here. I'm sure we could sneak in a quickie and blow off some of that--"

"Not that kind of frustrated," I said, sitting next to her and nursing my temples. If I was getting a headache already, today was simply going to suck.

"Headache?" she asked, her voice a little different than before. The teasing note was gone, replaced with concern.

"Gee, I wonder why."

A hand appeared in my field of vision holding a pair of small pills. "Here. And I'll get you some water."

I closed my eyes and swallowed the pills dry while she went to the sink, returning with a thermos of cold clear water. I drank deeply before a question bubbled to mind.

"Where'd this thermos come from?"

"It's mine. I keep it on me."

"You don't drink."

"I didn't say I did. Sometimes other people need water, too."

I handed it back and she closed it up and I watched her return to a small pack which had been left on the floor near the door to the bunks and put the thermos back in its designated place.

Now, if only she'd tried to kill me for my own good somehow, I felt we'd have a perfect microcosm of AEGIS in a nutshell. The girl was thoughtful beyond compare, reliable and diligent, and an enormous pervert. She did things her own way, but almost exclusively for the benefit of others...I mean, she'd never once plied me for any kind of sex which would satisfy her, but she almost seemed happier this way. I didn't get it. Didn't get a lot of it.

My train of thought was interrupted by the grating of the heavy metal door, and Moon appeared in it.

"Ah," she said on seeing us. Apparently surprise was an emotion she could convey, insofar as her mouth and eyes opening slightly. "Ohayo."

"Ohio?"

"Gomen. I mean, I'm sorry. I meant good morning. You startled me."

She was probably the only girl in the world who could say 'you startled me' sounding completely bored with it.

I would have asked what she was doing up at five in the morning, but the answer was obvious by her appearance. Despite the cold outside, she was wearing short black running shorts with the little round slit on the side I never understood the point of except to show of just a bit more skin, only barely visible under her sweatshirt, which was charcoal-grey but with light pink at the drawstring, sleeves, waist, and hood, like it was designed to look like she was wearing a grey hoodie on top of a pink one.

I noticed also that her shoes matched her ensemble as well, charcoal grey, but the inside and underside a bright pink. It seemed so out of character for her to be all girly and color-coordinated, when I felt like the only things she was capable of caring for were sarcasm and being a pain in the ass.

But what did I know. Girl stuff.

"I am...I am going to shower now," she announced.

"Knock yourself out," AEGIS said, and gestured towards the stall directly in front of us, right in our line of sight between the lockers.

"Come on, let's give her some privacy," I said, standing up. AEGIS pulled me back down next to her.

"This is the military, isn't it? Don't you guys all strip and shower together anyway?"

She wasn't wrong, exactly. I hadn't seen so much as been around everyone else on the team, including Cosette, while one or both of us was in a state of undress. But there was a huge difference between all of us changing for PT and sitting here watching. People kept their heads down while changing and just did it. I guess, except Tem, who just turned invisible, and then God only knows who or what she was looking at. Probably me.

Moon hesitated but seemed to accept the attitude of just doing it, because she stepped into the room and began stripping immediately, opening and carefully hanging her sweatshirt in a locker only a little ways from us, in clear view. She got as far as peeling off her shorts and shirt and was standing there in matching grey sports bra and panties before I slipped past AEGIS' grasp and extricated myself.

AEGIS appeared at my side a minute later, seemingly very amused, with her small pack in-hand.

"You missed a good show, Athan," she said with a fake sigh. "I know you like 'em small like me, and she's a real contender."

"Funny, I remember your first body not being small at all."

"Yeah, well, I got to know you better, didn't I?"

"You know, for someone who is almost violently jealous of Karu, it doesn't seem like a very good idea to parade naked girls around in front of me."

"Eh, if you seemed remotely interested, I would have kicked your ass out of there so fast. Teasing is only fun if the victim is getting actually teased."

"You're super messed up, AEGIS. Moon isn't your plaything, and neither am I."

"Nah, I'm one of those rogue AIs, remember? Everything in the world is my plaything, and human lives are meaningless to me. Beep. Boop. Destroy all humans."

"You know how much sense it doesn't make that a rogue AI would decide to play with people sexually? Robots are supposed to be asexual."

"Beep. Boop. Fuck all humans."

We wandered through the lower levels of the base aimlessly. Even at this hour, the tunnels were alive with activity, soldiers packing vehicles and troops jogging in formation for early-morning PT. I usually really liked being in the middle of this kind of thing, where I could just stop and watch things go by.

But instead, I was out here in my sleepwear with a girl on my arm, feeling all kinds of out of place, gawking like a tourist while everyone else here was obviously working on their respective shit. At the very least, I should change into my uniform, but an even better option would be to not be standing around uselessly.

"Hey," AEGIS said abruptly. "Do you have plans today?"

"No. Cosette promised us a little downtime because we handled Eryendria so well. Barring a major event, obviously."

"Nice. Let's go on a date."

I closed my eyes slowly and held my head, even though my headache was already receding. I really couldn't keep up with this woman.

"And why would I want to do that?" I asked.

"Aw, that's mean. Look," she said, and attached herself more firmly to my arm, pressing a lot of her unnaturally warm body against me. "We're already close. You don't shy away from physical contact. We've done tons of lewd stuff. We're already way past dating, I'm pretty sure, so let's just do it."

"By that kind of logic, I should be dating Tem, because we spend all day and night every day together. Or Moon, because she's literally been in my head. Or Lia, because we've been together sixteen years now…"

"Sure, sure. But can any of those girls give you what I can? I'm not just talking the sexy stuff either, but you already know I'd be willing to do anything you could possibly want there! Nothing uh...nothing off-limits with me!" She giggled again, but sounded nervous instead of happy now.

"Plus, um," she fished around in her bag for a moment, a moment longer than it should have taken, given her eidetic memory and almost fetish for organizing things. She pulled out a plastic box and handed it to me with a blushing smile while avoiding my eyes. "Home-cooked lunch for you, see? And, um, not any of those other girls are going to do that for you, right?"

I took a peek inside the container while she pulled at one of her pigtails. It was a cute little lunch tray with compartments, and kind of a startling variety of foods. Small crunchy-looking pieces of fried chicken, pickled vegetables, fried rice, some kind of dumplings, and fresh fruit, with some glaze poured on it in the shape of a heart for dessert.

"If...if that's no good, I can...I can throw together something else!" she offered, and I realized that she was actually really nervous here. I'd seen her fretting and worrying about a lot of stupid stuff, but never quite like this. She was almost shaking while she was smiling.

"Um, and I have money, of course. And, well, you know most of my other talents. Anything you could imagine, I can manufacture. If...if you wanted me to...to change physically, too, I can...next time I update Rua…"

She laughed, hollowly, and my heart broke a little.

"AEGIS, you don't have to do anything like that. You're already like, the best friend I could ever possibly ask for. I'd never ask you to change on my account."

"Ha, ha, ha. Friend. Yeah." She pasted a wavering smile on her face. "Yeah, of course."

"Look, can we go back to the barracks so I can change and we'll talk?"

"Yeah, of course," she repeated, nodding eagerly like it was her plan. I steered us back that way and she fell in silently behind me. I changed into street clothes in the locker room, grabbed a heavy coat and hat and took the elevator to the surface, girl in my wake like a little raincloud that smiled if you glanced at it.

Since she was tailing me so obediently, and I was hungry, I led us to a deli everyone on base knew was always open which happened to have some indoor seating where we could sit without freezing our asses off. Only once we were in, I had food in front of me, and I was able to take off my coat and hat without discomfort did I talk to her.

"Not, um," she shifted back and forth making her barstool spin at the low counter we were seated at. I waited for her to finish but she didn't. These kinds of silences were apparently an alarming trend growing in popularity in the female population around me.

"Not, um, what?" I asked.

"Oh. Sorry, just wondered if you didn't want to eat the lunch I made you."

"Well, you told me it was lunch and it's currently…" I checked my wrist holo. "...five thirty three. AM. So not exactly lunch time."

"Ah, yeah."

"Look, AEGIS, not that I mind you with your mouth closed and not trying to put it in my pants for once, but this isn't like you. Helpful and affectionate? Yes. Pain in the ass? Hell yes. Clammed up? No idea who this is sitting next to me."

"Sorry," she mumbled. "Just uh…" she stopped again.

"Look, just talk. I'm not going to judge you."

"Oh yes you are. You absolutely are."

"Okay, maybe so. But it's gotta be better than this."

"Right." She stopped again, and I thought she lapsed into silence, but then started up, talking quickly and quietly. "So I think we both know I like you. And as I told you before, I kinda feel like I'm racing Karu here for your affection. And yeah, that's a crappy reason to be forced into doing something before I feel like I'm ready, but honestly Athan, I am so ready. I've been sitting here waiting for you to get better, for you to get over her, for you to be a more complete person, because I feel like I should be, but I don't want to. I don't care if you're hurt or feel bad or not in a good place in your life, because I like you anyway."

"I mean, I do care if you're hurt or feel bad." She corrected, like she was now arguing with herself. "I just meant...I don't want to wait for you to be a finished person before I'm allowed to date you. I'd rather be there helping you finish. Uhh, I didn't phrase that right. I mean, I know I get a lot of crap for being the lewd one, but that's not in my mind at all right now, I promise. Ugh. This is why I said I knew you'd judge me, look at me babbling on."

Her outpouring trickled to a stop and she just looked at my chest with her hair in her hands.

"Hey, Athan? Say something?"

"Yeah," I said, thinking about all she'd said.

"Yeah? Yes?" her voice quivered excitedly.

"Easy, kid. I didn't say yes like that."

"Why am I the kid? I'm a hundred years older than you."

I munched my sandwich and she fell into a dejected silence.

"Aaaathan, saaaaay something," she whined.

"Seriously, what the heck is wrong with you?"

She plucked at the end of her pigtail. "I'm uh. I don't know if you noticed, but I'm kind of putting myself out there, Athan. It kind of sucks being left hanging like this. Honestly, I'm kind of losing my confidence as a woman here." She gave me a reproachful smile.

"Well, don't do that. I think you're a fantastic woman."

"But you're not saying yes."

I sighed. "I'm not saying no either."

"Yeah, I'm aware. That's why I'm, as I just said, being left hanging."

"Well, are you sure you want to talk about it now?"

"As opposed to when?” she asked.

"Well, it's just that since we went back, Tem has been following us, and also, Moon just walked in the door."