The heavy rumble of thunder descended from the gray washed sky and echoed throughout the concrete walls of Cronus City. The rain continued to fall with a light whisper as it pattered steadily to the ground. Barro walked through obliviously; her light gray uniform, now stained with dark gray patches where the rain had soaked through. Her duffel bag hung loosely in her left hand; its weight supported by her tensed muscles.

The train station loomed ahead of her. She thought about hurrying to its shelter but decided she was already too wet for it to make much of a difference. Barro crossed the empty street towards it. She could feel the rain soak through her shoes as it made its way in small rivulets towards the open drains. The station itself was of simple design. There were no arches, no Neo classical or Greek themes that the city was famous for, just plain, rectangular and functional. The entire front section of the building was built of paneled glass that served as both wall and window. The only distinguishing marks on the building at all were the letters spelling ‘South Cronus Train Port’ across its front.

As Barro approached, the two automatic glass doors swished open with a puff of cool air. She stepped inside and felt the damp patches grow icy cold against her skin. There were very few people occupying the station, and there was no train present at the boarding gates. Suta glanced at her watch and saw it was close to 1700 hours. Her train was due to arrive at a quarter past. She had time.

Barro exhaled sharply. It was quite a long distance from downtown Cronus to the train depot, and Barro had done most of it in a rather brisk walk. The fact that she was lugging thirty-kilogram bag the entire time did not help her respiration much either. She tossed the wet bag to the floor and sat down facing the glass wall as the rain continued to fall outside. Barro felt better now that she was within the terminal, but the coldness began to make her tremble slightly.

Staring outside she could faintly see her own refection on the glass. She removed her hat for a moment and ran a hand through her shoulder length black hair. Her face was a bit wide, with a squared off jaw and full cheeks. Her sharpened nose sat above her thin lips and just below and a pair of light gray eyes. Her skin was a naturally dark tan and reasonably soft. Her body was somewhat small in stature but well formed. Barro stood only a little over one and a half meters in height and had a toned muscular structure. Most women would envy having a body like hers, but to Suta it mattered little. The military saw to it that her body would always be in shape.

She held her hat in her hands and brushed away the excess water before it soaked into the soft gray felt. She rubbed the slightly altered naval crest on the front of the brim and wiped clean the letters USSD placed below it.

The four letters were everything to her. Her career. Her home. Her life. United States Space Defense was all that was important to her. The only thing that mattered. At leastthat was true until today. Until that woman.

Her face flashed quickly through Barro’s mind, and the deep uneasiness of confusion and uncertainty grasped her again. So many questions probed her. Who was the woman? Why was she there? How did she know how to find her? But the most puzzling question loomed above them all.

How could she even exist?

Barro quickly dove her hand into her jacket pocket. She fumbled inside it for a moment, then finally withdrew the data disk from within. She held it aloft before her, examining it.

It was a common optical storage cartridge, with a three-gigabyte capacity. Barro flipped the light plastic device over in her palm and saw it was unmarked externally.

Would this hold the answers to her questions? It would no doubt answer some. Barro wondered if she was perhaps jumping to conclusions. Maybe she did know her from somewhere and just forgot. Extremely unlikely, but possible she supposed. Perhaps the woman was just mistaken, although she did call Barro by her first name.

The more she eyed the disk, the more she needed to know what was on it. If only she had some means of viewing it. Barro scanned the interior of the station. At the far end she saw a row of public phones, and next to them a public terminal. It was not the best thing to use, but it would be able to read the disk. At least she hoped anyway.

Commander Suta donned her hat and gathered her heavy duffel. A spark of uncertainty and excitement flashed through her stomach as she nearly ran towards the terminal screen. The bag was again discarded to the floor as Barro reached into her jacket pocket for her wallet.

The data tenninal was a simple device, consisting of a monitor, a keypad and an array of input jacks for various devices. Being inside a train depot, the terminal was luckily in quite good condition. Barro tapped the keypad and brought the main screen to attention.

Welcome to the Cronus City Public Access Network

Terminal S-l l l3 | South Cronus Train Port

Saturday August 17“‘ 2047

Please deposit $1.00 for the first minute[ .50 each additional minute] or insert your credit card or debit card.

Barro produced the driest five-dollar bill she could find, and fed it into the machine. With the whirl of an electric motor, the note was snatched from her hand and quickly gobbled up. An audible ‘Thank you’ was then chimed in a pleasant female voice.

Barro looked at the keypad and decided to bypass it. This was her normal course of action with most terminals, but here she was consciously taking a slight risk. Public terminals were havens for all sorts of viruses; most of them placed there as a source of entertainment for bored hackers. In most cases people used viral filters when connecting to public tenninals.

Barro’s own filter was internal of course and as good as any on the market. But a viral infection was far more dangerous to her than to the common user. To someone else it would mean replacing software and perhaps hardware, to Barro it could practically mean death itself. She almost stopped to rethink her decision, but her urgency and faith in her own defenses pressed her on.

Barro eyed the neural jack on the terminal. Mentally she aimed for it. In a fraction of a second, a slim, fiber optic wire sprouted from her wrist. It spurred outward smoothly like strand of spider silk. The thread bent to face its target, then as quickly as it had appeared it connected itself to the terminal port.

Optical laser drives began to whirl within the terminal and information began to

appear on the screen.

> Neural initialization detected

> Loading Neural software - NeuroTech NeuroSoft v2.l

................................ ..Complete

> Searching for Neural interface device...

Device is: NULL

> Error no device found!

> Checking interface connection...

> Connection established.

Transfer rate 7233 Kbyte/sec.

Warning: Transfer rate exceeds max safe limit of 1500 Kbytes/sec.

> Select interface parameters.

Visual : YES

Audio : YES

Tactile : YES

Olfactory : NO (Not supported by device driver)

Taste : NO (Not supported by device driver)

Barro smirked. There was no taste or smell. But then, it was only a public terminal after all. And it was running a rather cheap interface program at that. It was not that important anyway, she reasoned. Barro entered the last keystroke to accept the parameters then slowly the World around her began to fade.

Masses of data began to flow through the thin neural cable. Slowly a table of twirling icons began to take shape in the air in front of her. Barro looked down towards her pocket and withdrew the data disk. Carefully, she inserted it into the terminal drive. The drive accessed the disk, and a new icon began to form. She could barely make out what it was with her real life optics in the background. Barro searched the program utilities. She found the interface options and minimized her real life feeds.

In an instant, Barro's vision of the terminal shrank and became a small window the size of one of the icons. The sound of the train port disappeared with it, leaving Barro in a vacuum like black room with only the spinning icons in her presence. It was a fairly tasteless setup on the programming side. No audio, no tactile, just a command screen. Sparse yet functional she supposed.

Barro gave a quick glance to the small window portraying the real world about her.She set the parameters for it to maximize if there was any tactile or audio input above acertain level. Barro then looked to the drive icon, which appeared as a small rotatingdiamond with an ‘A’ hanging undemeath it. Suta tensed a bit as she examined it.

Whatever was on the disk lay just beyond it. Barro had no reserves that she would viewthe disk, but it worried her that she might find information she did not particularly wishto know.

She accessed it anyway and the other icons scattered.A single cube emerged from the darkness. Below it the title of the file appeared.

Barro.vif (2247 Mbytes)

A virtual image file labeled with her own name. Barro didn’t know what to make of it.It was quite large for the type of file it was, and the name did little to ease her curiosity oranxiety.

Barro accessed the file.

A small information window appeared. Within it, several commands were being

automatically displayed.

> Loading Virtuview ..... ..done

>Virtuview| accessing file: Barro.vif

A small horizontal bar appeared and began to fill, showing the percentage completion

of the task.

2% complete..

5% complete..

7% complete..

The processor was extremely slow. Barro brought up the clock displaying her

remaining usage time.

> You have 00:03:22 left on your account.

Barro sighed. Hopefully there would be enough time. She could always insert more money anyway. She figured it would be best to do so now rather than have it cut off unexpectedly. Barro minimized the viewer window just as it reached 19%. She went to shift to the window containing her real life senses, in order to retrieve the money from her wallet.

Suta’s full vision and hearing returned to her with a flush of excitement and sound. Barro suddenly realized that she had not yet given the command for it to do so. Her preset parameters had been set off. Barro looked about herself confused. She could hear the automatic voice of the PA system announcing the arrival of a train. As if to emphasize the announcement, a small virtual window popped open inside her head and announced the same message.

There was a train now docked at the boarding gate. Its doors were open and streams of commuters were flowing from it. The air soon filled with the dull murmur of conversation, as people collected their luggage and sought further transportation throughout the city.

Barro eyed the virtual clock. It read 5:07pm. Her train would be leaving shortly. She checked on the progress of the viewer. Only 63% complete. Could she risk missing the train? No, that would look very bad to her superiors.

Suddenly, Suta became aware of a man approaching her. Quickly, she cleared the icons to get a better view. He was matured, perhaps forty or so. Wearing a light gray dress uniform, with his hat tucked neatly under his arm. He was dark-haired, with a pleasant boyish face and an innocent, almost naive smile.

Barro enhanced her optics and read his tag. Webber was his name. The stripes on his arm told her his rank as a staff sergeant. He was USSD, no doubt from the base to escort her. Barro looked at the viewer again. Still only 87% complete. She gritted her teeth. It would certainly look bad to greet her escort half jacked into a terminal, and the train would be leaving soon as well.

Barro sighed and stopped the viewer at 93% completion. She ejected the disk and logged out from the terminal. Her vision returning to nomial,the screen flashed a calculation of her remaining time and its monetary equivalent. Then with a mechanical chunk, it deposited a debit card with her remaining time as credit.

Barro pulled it from the slot and deposited it in her jacket pocket, just as the sergeant

came to full attention before her.

“Commander Suta,” he greeted her in a mild, yet, confident voice. He then saluted smartly.

“Sergeant.” Barro retuned his salute.

“Welcome to Cronus City, Ma’am,” he extended his hand with a smile. “I’m Michael Webber.”

Barro shook it firmly. “Nice to meet you.”

“I hope I didn’t rush you.”

“Pardon?”

“Whatever you were doing,” he pointed to the terminal. “I didn't mean to make you stop.”

Barro couldn't help from blushing a bit. “No, I was just checking my mail.”

“Oh, I'm sorry then,” he apologized. “If you want some privacy to continue-”

“I said I was finished.”

Michael Webber paused, abruptly silenced by the Commander’s curt response. Was Suta normally this rude? He wondered. He was going to have a hard time if she was.

“Well... ah,” Webber struggled to collect his thoughts again. “Why don’t we get on board then, Commander. The train will be leaving in a few.”

Suta only nodded and then reached to collect her luggage from the floor.

“Oh, allow me,” Webber offered courteously, racing to pick up the duffel for her. He immediately felt the folly of his action, the heavy weight of the bag straining his ann.

“God,” he grunted. “Must have a couple of cars in here, eh?”

Webber chuckled at his own joke, but the Commander apparently found little humor in his statement. She gave only a quick smile and then proceeded on towards the boarding gates.

Webber smirked, following suit behind her. He should have known Suta lacked a sense of humor. They probably should have sent an officer to meet her anyway. Webber could sense she had a slight superiority complex. He wondered where she had picked that up from. Still, she was of higher rank at this point and Webber had to respect that.

“So how was the trip from Luna?” Webber tried for general conversation again.

“Very short,” was her only reply.

“I see...” Webber repositioned the duffel over his shoulder to carry it more easily. “I must apologize for us having to route you through civilian transportation. The test facility is not fully completed yet.”

“It’s all right sergeant. I got a day’s leave to explore the city.”

“You mean a cyberoid?” she grinned.

“Well yes,” Webber shifted slightly. “I tried to phrase it a little better. Some cyberoids take offense to being referred to so bluntly.”

“Well there is no need with me,” Barro shook her head. “It’s what I am. Just as you are a human. Right?”

“Just didn‘t want to seem rude that's all. Sorry.”

“You’re very apologetic.” Barro crossed her legs turning further towards him. “Aren‘t you, Sergeant?”

“What?”

“You shouldn't be so quick to apologize for your actions. It makes you seem doubtful of your own decisions.”

Webber was silent for a moment and then finally nodded. “Yeah I guess you’re right. But I suppose that comes easy for you doesn’t it?”

Barro shrugged. “It’s just how I am.”

“Apparently,” Webber smiled. “So how long have you been with USSD?”

“All my life of course.”

“Which is?”

Barro smirked at him. “Is this a roundabout way of asking me my age, Sergeant?”

“I suppose so,” Webber said grinning. “I know how you women are about that sort of thing.”

Barro began to chuckle, amused by his statement. “I'm twelve and a half”

“Really? Twelve? That’s quite old isn’t it?”

Barro shrugged. “I suppose I am one of the few to reach my age. Cell deterioration due to growth acceleration becomes irreversible after about eight years, even with Cell rejuvenating drugs and treatments, most don’t live past that. The low gravity of the Moon has allowed me to live so long I believe.”

Webber nodded and smiled awkwardly, apparently not understanding a Word she had said. “You know what’s funny?”

“What’s that, Sergeant?”

“When you told me your age, I still got the vision of a twelve year old girl in my head.” He then smiled warmly at her, as if she were indeed the young girl he had just described. “I guess we’re just patterned to think that way naturally. No matter how much we know.”

“Well I guess in some ways I am just a little girl,” Barro smiled back at him. “I mean, I don’t know everything. I don’t even know if I have a mother.”

Webber’s brow furrowed, his tone becoming suddenly serious. “What was that?”

“Nothing,” Barro suddenly realized what she had said. “Not important.”

“No wait,” Webber turned his Whole body towards her. “You said something about your mother?”

“Um... No,” she lied. “I asked do you have a mother?”

“Of course,” Webber answered quickly. He then rethought what he had just said and to whom he was speaking. “I mean yes I do.”

“What is it like?” Barro asked him quizzically. “To have a mother.”

Webber stared curiously at the Commander. ”Well, I don’t know. I guess since she’s always been a part of my life, I can’t really describe it too well. I just couldn’t imagine not having her there.”

“Do you have a good relationship with your mother?”

“Yes I do,” Webber nodded slowly. “Do you feel you have some sense of matemal yearning?”

“No of course not.” Barro blinked and tumed away from his questioning. “I was just being curious.”

“I see.” Webber nodded again.

Barro looked back into the Sergeant’s trusting eyes. Part of her wanted to tell him everything that had happened earlier. Tell him about the woman she had met. The disk. About the strange new feelings that were welling up inside her. But her better judgment ebbed her from that. She really didn’t know this Webber at all, and she had an image to uphold as a pilot and an officer. She could not let petty emotions get in the way of that.

“Are you all right, Commander?”

Barro realized she was staring at him. “Oh yes I’m fine.”

“You know it’s not unusual for a cyberoid of your age to experience some forms of latent, instinctive regressions and yeamings. It’s usually due to a hormonal imbalance,

which affects the normally repressed regions of the organic brain lobe.”

“What?” Barro grew suddenly apprehensive. “How do you know all this?”

“Actually...” Webber blushed. “I just happened to see it on a television program once. It was pretty interesting though.”

Barro smirked. She didn’t too much like the idea of being diagnosed by a television program.

“Maybe you’re just nervous about the project,” Webber suggested. “Are you?”

“The project?” Barro was not certain of the protocol when dealing with high security information. But she assumed that if the Sergeant already knew about it, his clearance was adequate. Still, she would not want to elaborate on the subject. Indeed it would be an easy task, considering she did not know much about it herself. “My only knowledge is that I’m to be a test pilot for a new space craft.”

“Is that all they told you?” Webber seeming almost concerned.

“That and the fact that I had been specially picked from a large array of pilots for the project. I was fortunate to get the opportunity.”

“You mean they didn’t even brief you with an overview of the project itself?”

“No, there wasn’t time.”

“And you consented, not knowing the full scope of the mission?” Webber was beginning to get openly upset.

“Consent? For what? The mission?”

“The transplant.”

“Transplant?” Barro did not like the sound of that word.

“My god, they didn’t even tell you did they?” Webber shook his head in disbelief.

“Tell me what?” Barro herself was now growing upset. “Exactly how much do you know that I don’t, Sergeant?”

“Look, maybe I shouldn’t say anything else till we reach the base.”

“Well that's good.” Webber attempted to smile at her. “So how do you like Cronus City so far?”

Suta shrugged. “It’s big. I didn’t get to see too much. Spent most of my time at a museum. But I learned as lot about the city’s history.”

“Really?” Webber switched the bag to his other shoulder with a grunt. “That’s nice.”

“When will it be operational?”

“When will what?” Webber wiped a film of sweat that was building on his brow. “Oh you mean the base?”

“Yes Sergeant the base.”

Webber paused before answering her. He was really beginning to detest her attitude.

“Most of it is finished actually,” he said after a while. “It’s just that the runway needs to be modified to handle the added load of space vehicles and a launch platform needs to be constructed. But it should be finished in a month or so I believe.”

Barro nodded. She was hardly listening to him. The contents of the disk kept plaguing her mind. If she only had a few more minutes to spare, she could have seen what was on it. The frustration of the whole situation was starting to irritate her.

“Commander?”

“Pardon?” Barro became aware that the sergeant was speaking to her again. They were at the entrance gate, where a middle-aged woman stood patiently smiling.

“Your ticket, Commander.” Webber held up his own. “Do you have it?”

“Yes I do.” Barro retrieved the piece of plastic from her jacket and handed it to the woman.

“Thank you, miss,” the woman smiled politely. “Your seats are third car row 21, A and B. Please have a pleasant trip.”

“Thank you,” Webber received the stubs, “you have a good day.”

“You as well, dear.” The woman then waved them into the train.

The Sergeant led the way through the interior of the cabin, hauling the duffel bagstrenuously in front of him. Barro could see the hard time he was having with it.

“Why did you even offer to take my bag?”

“Ma’am?” Webber was taken off guard by the Commander’s sudden question.

“Why did you carry my bag?” she repeated. “You must know that I’m much stronger than you are.”

Webber really didn’t understand what she was getting at. “It was a gesture of kindness and respect, ma’am.”

“Respect for what?” she taunted. “Respect for me as a superior officer or respect formed as a woman?”

Webber saw hazard lights flashing around her question. No way was he going to answer it outright. He paused and then addressed her as cordially as possible. “If the Commander wishes to carry her own bag, she may do so. N0 disrespect was intended on the sergeant's behalf.”

Webber then stared Barro in the eye causing her to grin all too casually.

“No sergeant,” she leered at him. “I think you are doing just fine.”

Webber grumbled inwardly as he nearly broke his back storing the heavy duffel into the overhead compartment. He wiped the sweat from his brow and offered the window seat to the Commander. She accepted without a word of thanks or as much as a smile.

Webber sat in the aisle seat next to her. He didn't like the Commander’s personality very much. He should have foreseen it though. Being a pilot and rising to her rank would no doubt cause a rather large ego. On top of that there was the fact she was made to be confident anyway. The combination served up a rather mean attitude he supposed.

The PA system chimed and warned of the train’s departure. Shortly thereafter the slim vessel soundlessly began propelling itself along its magnetic railing.

Barro felt the slight jolt of acceleration in her back as the train began to build speed. Through the window she could see the boarding gates of the station quickly slip by. The train pushed onward into the light rain. Barro glanced at the overhead monitor showing a camera view from the front of the train as well as the current speed. The digital numbers flashed quickly from 80 Km/h, to I20 to 160. Barro turned her head and saw the raindrops on her Window begin to streak backwards. The train’s speed increased even further until the water streaked horizontally and was finally swept clean. When Barro looked at the monitor again the reading hovered close to 480 Km/h.

As a pilot, the acceleration of the train itself did not impress Barro much, but the fact that such performance was attained by a ground vehicle certainly did.

The downtown of Cronus City swept by in little more than a blur. Soon they were out of the city completely and surrounded by the greenery of the suburbs. They had gotten past the thunderstorm now as well. Fresh beams of sunlight poured from the sky and filled the cabin with their brightness.

Barro yawned in the sun’s Warmth, feeling almost as if she were awakening from a dream.

“Are you tired?” Webber leaned towards her.

“No, I'rn fine,” she yawned slightly again. “It’s just that this is the first chance I've had to sit down all day.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Webber nodded. “I've been going pretty much all day myself.”

“Sergeant.” Barro turned her head towards him.

“Yes, ma’am?"

“I hope I did not give you the wrong impression of myself earlier.”

Webber looked back at her confused. “I'm not sure I know what you mean, Commander.”

“I'm just not used to informal introductions,” she admitted. “To tell you the truth, I'm really not sure how to talk to you now.”

Webber raised an eyebrow. “Do you mean you don’t know how to address me?”

“How to relate to you, I suppose, is a better term.” Barro then chuckled. “I guess you could call me socially deficient.”

Webber smiled. “I don't think you're doing that badly, Commander.”

“Thank you,” she smiled back at him. “Do you have the same problem of relating to me?”

“Well I...” The Sergeant paused for a moment. “I suppose so. I mean I've never really just talked to someone like yourself before.”

Barro’s eyes narrowed. “Sergeant Webber. I want you to tell me what you meant by the term transplant.”

“I’m sorry ma’am, I really can’t. I don’t know if I should.” Webber’s face started to grow pale. “I am sure the Commodore will have you briefed on everything once we reach the base.”

Barro was not going to leave it at that.

“Webber. The only time that I know of, when a cyberoid has to give a form of personal consent is concerning the suspension of cell rejuvenation processes. I don’t know Why, but I was not informed of this before leaving Luna. If you have information concerning this, it is your duty as a member of Space Defense, to relay this information to me. Do you understand?”

Webber didn’t like the idea of being pressured this way. How the hell could they have transferred her and not tell her? Were they expecting to go ahead with the project without her consent?

“Webber!” the Commander shouted at him.

Passengers seated nearby snapped their heads at the quick disturbance, then respectfully minded their own business. Webber starred into her glassy gray eyes, his own face growing stark and white. What if he had told her something she wasn’t supposed to know? But she had all right to know. Not telling her would be gravely immoral. But was he the one to tell her? Dammit, they should have done this before she even left Luna. Stress knotted his stomach. What the hell was he supposed to do?

“All right, Commander,” Webber exhaled deeply. “I’m just a technician so I don’t know a whole lot. They are working on a new test vehicle, USSD that is. It’s designed to reach tremendously high speeds.”

“Is that it?”

“No, I mean extremely fast,” he stressed. “This project is on the same scale as when the sound barrier was broken for the first time.”

Barro arched an eyebrow interestedly. “How fast?”

“Well, the reports I got said target velocities were on the order of ten to the seventh kilometers per hour.”

“The seventh?” Barro jerked her head back. “That sounds impossible. No engine could propel a vessel to such speeds. Not in a practical sense anyway.”

“Believe me,” Webber said, “they’ve already done it. Test crafts have already broken into the two percentile light region.”

“And how long did it take to reach that?” Barro was still a bit skeptical. She almost laughed. “Several months?”

“3982 seconds was their fastest acceleration time I recall.”

Barro calculated the figures in her head. “Are you certain?”

“Yes.”

“But that would require an average acceleration of around. . .” Barro paused, the numbers seemed laughable. “Over fifteen hundred meters per second squared?”

“Yeah, around 150 Gs,” Webber nodded. “The engines are actually capable of delivering three times that amount. Of course they’d probably explode in about ten seconds too.”

“But how? What are they using?”

Barro saw Webber glance around newously and she suddenly realized that she was practically shouting.

“Sorry,” she ran a finger through her hair embarrassed. “How do they achieve such thrust?”

“Don’t ask me, I’m not with the engine design team. But I’m sure they’ll give you some explanation on how it works. It basically uses magnetic drive engines I think or some variant there of.”

“Magnetic?”

“That’s right.”

“So how long has this project been going on do you know?”

“I think it started in 2017.”

“USSD has kept this under wraps for that long?” Barro was amazed. “Makes you wonder what else we have going on upstairs. Think if they can achieve that already.”

“Well anyway, I hope you see now why I was a bit reluctant to tell you about the project. Especially here.”

“I agree,” Barro nodded. “If I were you I wouldn’t have said anything.”

“What? But you practically made me!”

“At any rate,” Barro dismissed his protest. “They want me to pilot this?”

“Well yes,” Webber said. “As far as we know the vehicle designers are having problems testing the various prototypes using an unmanned system. Sensors and control devices falling out of range and what have you.” “And where have all these test been performed?”

“I believe they launch from Luna and have tracking satellites positioned in orbit around Ganymede. Getting the satellites out there is what took a great majority of the time.”

“But they launch from Luna?” Barro suddenly felt very much in the dark. “You mean I’ve been stationed right where you have been testing. And I haven’t noticed?”

“No, no. The test site is on the far side. Though I think they do sometimes route supplies through your base.”

Barro shook her head. This day was turning out to be the strangest in her life. “So wait. Why did they bring me here to Earth?”

“The research base on earth is for the pilot control system. We really won’t have much to do with the Luna base till we finish down here.”

“Speaking of piloting,” Barro shifted in her seat. “How am I expected to pilot a craft capable of producing such forces?”

“Ah,” Webber paused. “That’s where the transplant I mentioned come into play.” Barro frowned. “And just what do they plan to do?”

Webber paused in silence.

“Well?” Suta prompted. “Are they going to upgrade my body to a D-type to withstand the G force?”

“We do plan to upgrade your body,” Webber answered. “But even a D type cyberoid has an organic brain. And that would be crushed.”

“So? What do they propose then?”

“We’ve developed a new cyberbrain which uses an advanced optical processor. A processor which has been thoroughly tested and we feel confident can accommodate a sentient consciousness.”

“What?” Barro felt her stomach churn. “Store a consciousness? You’re telling me they’re going to try to download me into some AI!”

“Well its not an AI really. It’s just a processor. You‘ll still be-”

“I don’t care,” Barro shook her head forcefully. “In fact I don’t like the sound of any of this.”

“Please, Commander, settle down,” Webber tried his best to calm her.

“Look, I want to know why I wasn’t informed of any of this before I left Luna,” Barro glared at him. “And just how do you know so much about this project for being just being a technician?”

Barro could tell he was hiding something.

“Well you know-”

Barro’s hand snapped outward, snatching Webber’s tie-clad throat. He lurched abruptly and let out a stifled gurgle.

She leaned her face towards his. “Just who are you, Sergeant Webber?”

His eyes stared into hers, trembling like a frightened child, but his mouth remained shut.

“Who are you!”

Webber swallowed hard then finally answered.

“All right, my full name is Dr. Michael Webber, I’m a cybernary engineer for Genesis Corporation. I joined the project on a contract from USSD. I had to design an android body capable of piloting their new vehicle.”

Barro gritted her teeth. “So you’re not even in the military. You bastard! Why the hell did you put on this charade?”

Doctor Webber struggled a bit in her clenched grasp. “Calm down Barro dammit!

Your superiors wanted me to evaluate you under non controlled circumstances, without pretense.”

“So what did you find out, doctor?” Barro spat. “Did I pass your little test?”

“Look it wasn’t my idea, Barro. I was the one who handpicked you as the pilot candidate!” Webber finally pulled free from her. “Testing you like this is the last thing I wanted to do.”

“If you’re the one who picked me, then why wasn’t I informed of the details of the project?”

“You were supposed to have been!” Webber retorted. “I gave a twenty page extract of the project to the Commodore to be sent to you. I don’t know why it didn’t get to you, but I was informed that you had agreed to all the terms and were on your way here.”

Barro hardly heard him; a single image ripped her mind with a burning sense of violation and indignation.

“Now I see,” she glared at him coldly. “This was all part of your test as well.”

Barro withdrew the small plastic disk from her jacket. “It figures. Trying to see if I could keep focused after filling my head with your bullshit!”

“Stop lying to me!” Barro yelled.

She rose sharply from her seat, oblivious to the gawking civilians about her. She stepped across the fake Sergeant and stormed through the cabin doors and into the next car.

Doctor Michael Webber watched Barro leave. There wasn’t much he could do to try to reason with her right now. He glanced at the stripes on his arm. The Commodore was an ass. Webber knew he should have been sent as another officer. But why the hell put him up to this anyway? He was certain Suta could live up to the project requirements. If there was anyone who was an expert on Barro’s capabilities, it most definitely was him. There was no need for this at all. Of course now it was a matter of just getting her to agree to the project at all.

Webber reached inside his coat and stopped the voice stress analyzer hidden within it. She seemed fit psychologically, sort of. The last outburst worried him a bit, but the evaluation was over as far as he was concerned. Barro was okay.

Webber sighed. Then slowly he got up and followed the cyberoid into the next car.

“At least I hope she is.”

**********