Lieutenant Lance 002 eyed the monitor. A dark gray sedan stopped in front of the gate. The soldier on duty stepped to the driver's side window slowly. Turning to the second screen before him, Lance studied the array of sensor data being compiled from the vehicle. There were no weapons or explosives hidden anywhere and the two passengers were both human with minimal cybernetic augmentation. They posed no threat.

The phone rang next to him.

Lance picked up the receiver. "Yeah."

The guard on duty spoke. "A Lieutenant Petty is here to see Major Corbin."

"Send them in, I'll meet them downstairs."

"Yes Sir."

Lance hung up the phone.

He waited a bit longer and watched the sedan drive forward into the parking garage. He then left the control room. Walking down the short corridor leading to the garage entrance, he took time to look himself over briefly. He was still dressed in his camo fatigues from earlier. He fiddled with his uniform slightly, making sure it was neat and in order.

Opening the door at the end of the corridor, he entered into the parking garage. Not far away, he saw two people stepping from out of the sedan. Lance had not yet seen the doctor or the Lieutenant in person, but he recognized them immediately from their file photographs. He walked a little closer and then halted.

"Lieutenant Petty." Lance saluted her and turned to her companion. "Dr. Webber."

Petty saluted back, and walked towards him with Webber not far behind.

"Hello, Lieutenant um..." Lisa paused. She didn't quite know which name to refer him by. "Harrington?"

The bionid stared at her for a moment but said nothing.

Lisa cleared her throat uncomfortably. His reaction was odd. She wondered if she had made some kind of bionid faux pas.

"This way," he said. The bionid then turned, leading them towards an elevator. "The Major is waiting upstairs."

Webber and Petty followed him wordlessly. He didn't seem like much of a conversationalist, and the scowling expression on his face indicated he wasn't in a very good mood.

The bionid hailed the elevator and led them inside when it arrived. He pressed for the third floor and then stood back as the doors closed and the elevator began it's journey. Webber suddenly cleared his throat. "Hey can I ask something?"

Petty turned her head towards him, as did the Lieutenant.

"What?" Lance said.

"Okay..." Webber raised his finger questioningly. "You two are both Lieutenants right?"

She looked over at the bionid as he looked back at her.

"Yes?" Lisa said, eyeing Webber curiously. "Why?"

Webber then pointed to their ranking insignia on their lapels. "So why does he have one silver bar and you have two?"

Lisa couldn't fathom how Webber had come up with such an odd question. "USSD uses naval ranking for officers. In the navy one silver bar is junior lieutenant and two is full lieutenant. In other armed forces, one silver bar is first lieutenant and two is captain."

"Oh, so you outrank him then?"

"Well..." Lisa felt a little embarrassed. Webber was the one making the faux pas now. "Well technically, yes."

Webber nodded smiling happily. "Neat."

Lisa heard the bionid muffle a quick chuckle next to her.

The elevator chimed and the doors slid open.

"This way," he said curtly and led them into a carpeted hallway.

The interior was wide, with a high ceiling. Along its white walls were large plaques and glass cases, housing various pictures, badges and crests. Between them were doors marked with people's names and department titles.

The Lieutenant stopped at a door labeled 'Heavy Weapons Division' and opened it. Stepping through the entrance, he ushering for them to follow. Inside was a small office about ten meters square. There were three desks at the corners of the room, with the fourth being occupied by a coffee machine and a small fridge. At the back of the office was a wall, constructed of wood and opaque glass. In its center, was yet another door with the words 'Maj. Eric Corbin' written upon its front.

Lance walked up to it and rapped on the glass.

They heard a muffled reply. "Come in."

The bionid held the door open for them. "Go ahead."

Lisa and Webber walked past the Lieutenant and into the center of the room. She saw the Major seated behind a large black desk.

"Just a second," he held up his hand as he hastily wrote something down on a piece of paper.

The door closed behind them and the bionid stepped around and leaned against the wall next to the Major. He then pointed to the two chairs in front of the Major's desk. "Take a seat."

Lisa blinked, taken off guard by the way he practically ordered them to sit.

Webber seemed unfazed by it, and plopped himself down immediately. Lisa followed his example and seated herself slowly. She didn't like the way this bionid was treating them. She wondered if he had taken offense to the way that she had addressed him in the garage or perhaps to the way Webber tastelessly pointed out his lower rank. Whatever it was, it was clear they were both on his bad side.

"So what's on your mind?" Corbin put down his pen and smiled at them.

Lisa was a little surprised by the Major's first comment. She didn't know where to start. "Urn.."

"Go on," Corbin prompted her to respond.

"All right," Petty composed herself. "Let me start by first asking you what you were really doing at the crash site."

The Major raised his hands openly. "Like I said, we were there by chance. We overheard some of your radio communications and decided to render assistance."

Lisa couldn't tell whether he was lying or not, but he seemed somewhat honest. She decided to press further. "And when you got there, can you tell me what you saw?"

"We saw two cyberoids," he leaned back in his chair with his hands atop his head. "One of them, the female, seemed to be carrying something on her back. A body of some kind."

"You saw them?" Webber edged forward on his chair. "Were they all right?" "Couldn't tell really." Lance placed the bottom of his foot against the wall. "We didn't see too much of them before the construction cyberoid attacked."

"Did they give any indication of how they left?" Petty asked. "What direction they took? Anything?"

"Sorry." Eric picked up his pen and began flipping it through his fingers. "Now, why don't you tell us the whole story behind this. Why did one of your top pilots steal an F-38 and go AWOL?"

Lisa looked over to Webber. "Why don't you tell them. It's your project." "Project Geostar?" Lance asked.

Webber turned to the bionid in surprise. "Yes, how did you know?"

"Just heard it somewhere," the Lieutenant folded his arms cockily. "Go on."

"Alright." Webber opened his briefcase and produced a rather heavy looking binder. "I think this will explain a lot."

He handed the binder to the Major. "That's the technical manual for the Geostar Android, prototype version 2.2. The android body was designed by us and manufactured here in Cronus City. Its purpose is to fly Space Defense's new prototype spacecraft, the Geostar."

"So is this what we saw on that cyberoid's back?" Corbin flipped through the binder. "Most likely." Webber then rose from his seat. "You tell me. Is that what you saw?"

Eric looked over the detailed drawings in front of him. The design was immaculate. "Yes this is what we saw. So the escaped cyberoid, Suta. She was trying to steal this then?"

Webber nodded. "Actually, I think she succeeded."

"So it’s just an Android?" Lance edged closer to the desk.

"It's a bit more than that," Webber said. "The GS-02 is designed to withstand acceleration forces of 150 plus Gs. Its body is made of gravitationally compressed molybdenum-steel alloy. It has a modulus of elasticity of 900 megapascals."

"That's over ten times the value of steel's." Shade's brow furrowed in disbelief. "This stuff actually exists?"

"It's right there in front of you," Webber pointed to the binder. "But that's not the main part."

"More?" Eric rose an eyebrow.

"My major part of the project was to design an optical cyberbrain for the android." Webber flipped the pages of the binder in front of the Major. "USSD wanted to have a cyberoid pilot's consciousness stored into the brain, and plugged into the android body."

Shade blinked. "And you've accomplished this?"

"In theory it will work, yes," Webber said "But Suta was to be the first subject."

"So you were going to download her into your android?" Lance asked him.

"In essence," Webber nodded. "Yes."

"That'd be enough for me to go AWOL," Lance said with a chuckle.

"But why did she steal it?" Eric asked. "Do you think she is planning to sell it?"

"Well that is where it gets a little more complicated." Webber ran his hand through his hair. "I think the android itself might now be alive."

"Alive?" Eric glanced over at Lance who shared his look of skepticism.

"I know it sounds strange," Webber quickly dove into his bag again. "But just hear me out please."

Webber produced a few sheets of paper and handed them to Eric. "These are computer logs from the night of the incident. You can see that Commander Suta was in contact with the site: Cray17.satnet.gov."

"Okay." Eric waited for more.

Webber paused trying to think of the best way to represent everything. "All right. On that satellite is a program called MOTHER. Mother is an acronym that stands for Maternal Oriented-"

"Training Host for Empathic Response," Corbin finished for him.

"We're familiar with the program doctor," the bionid returned to his spot on the wall. "You are?" Webber was surprised yet again. "Not many people know about it at all." "In heavy weapons we deal with a lot of cyberoid cases," the Major explained. "Stuff

like Mother is required reading."

The bionid nodded. "Go on."

"Alright, well... The night of the incident, a large tile was downloaded into the android's cyberbrain through Suta's terminal." Webber then paused. "I think it was this Mother program that was downloaded. And I believe that that is what is now controlling the android body."

"The Mother program?" the Lieutenant said skeptically.

"I doubt that," Corbin scoffed at the idea. "The whole thing is basically a VR simulation. I don't think it has the capacity for artificial intelligence, much less the control of an android body."

"I know that," Webber agreed, "but think of this. The Mother program has been in existence for over thirty-five years. In that time it has been in contact with millions of cyberoids. I believe it may have somehow learned from the cyberoids it was hosting and over time has derived a consciousness of its own."

"You mean you think it's sentient?" Corbin rested down his pen.

A sudden light flashed brightly through the window. A hail of thunder pounded the glass, shaking it slightly. From outside, the soft whisper of rain was heard, as the threatening clouds finally released their contents upon the city.

The Major looked behind him and frowned. "Shit, I rode today too."

"What?" Webber cocked his head forward.

"Nothing," Corbin dismissed the question. "So you were saying. You think that this android of yours is being controlled by a sentient Mother program?"

Webber didn't like the way he put it. It made his idea sound ludicrous. "Basically yes."

The Major and the bionid shared another quick glance.

"Okay," the Lieutenant suddenly stepped towards him. "Going along with that. What exactly did you need our help with? You need to retrieve the android body I presume."

"Yes," Petty answered him. "I was put in charge of the investigation, but I've only been here a year and am not at all familiar with the city. I was hoping you could perhaps point us in the right direction."

The Major rubbed his jaw. "Have you done any detective work before?"

"Sort of." She then hesitated a bit. "Actually not much at all."

"Well basically we have no reason to open up an investigation on this," Corbin said. "So far this doesn't even fall into CDI's sector, much less my division. If you want our help you're going to have to request it officially."

"What?" Lisa rose slightly from her seat. "I told you before that I can't come to you officially on this. I thought you agreed to help me if I gave you more information."

"I will," the Major assured. "But you have to understand that this must eventually lead to something related to my jurisdiction or else I could end up in a lot of shit. Now if you can somehow link this to some form of terrorism, then we could get involved."

"Well she broke enough laws. Can't you just start an investigation based on the fact that she stole a piece of high-grade military equipment? That alone is treason." Lisa looked back and forth between the two agents for an answer.

Shade nibbled on his bottom lip. "That's still not sufficient. CDI can't go around chasing people for any old crime. We got the police and FBI for that. If she just stole it then it really does just fall into your department."

Petty sighed annoyed. "So now you're saying it's our problem after all? I remember at the crash site that you were very eager to get CDI involved. And now you don't seem to want to at all."

"I did not say that." Eric didn't like her change in attitude. "What I'm trying to tell you is that I need suspicion of terrorist involvement or intent, to start an investigation. CDI operates outside the judicial system with little to no legal bounds. All CDI actions must be devoted to the prevention and elimination of terrorism only. If we didn't have stipulations like this, we'd end up as bad as the CIA was before it got disbanded."

"Yes, yes I know." Lisa was very familiar with the CDI codes of authority. She had once spent an entire semester studying them. "So there is no way then?"

"I'm not sure. You have any ideas, Lance?" Corbin turned to the bionid.

Lance rested his chin on his chest. "I suppose we could pursue it on the premise that it's a potentially lethal form of heavy weaponry. That will put it in our division at least. That's assuming that it can be categorized as a military specification D or C class cyberoid."

Corbin looked for confirmation from the doctor. "Can it?"

"Oh yes," Webber said quickly, "no doubt. It's body is equivalent to light tank armor and it has a power to weight ratio of three point eight kilowatts per kilogram."

The bionid looked over at the Major. "That'd make it twice as fast as our Griffin mechs."

"Sounds like something a radical faction might want to get their hands on," Corbin grinned.

"So, you will start an investigation then?" Lisa asked.

The Major shrugged. "Sure."

She smiled with satisfaction. "Thank you, Sir."

"What leads do you have?" the bionid questioned her.

"Not many," she admitted.

"What about that construction cyberoid," Corbin said. "Do you have anything on him?"

"I do actually." Lisa removed a folder from her satchel and dropped it onto the Major's desk. "That's his profile. He was purchased by Dunnway Construction Limited a little over a year ago. There are some details on his model specifications but that's about it."

The Major opened the folder. "We could start here. Anything else?"

Lisa tapped her finger on the arm of the chair. "There is one more thing." Corbin looked up at her. "Yeah?"

Lisa paused for a moment. She considered mentioning her suspicion of someone higher up being involved. If one of the Admirals did have something to do with the incident, it would make sense for them to put her in charge to keep their tracks from being uncovered. She desperately wanted the Major's advice. She needed to know if the whole thing sounded idiotic or not. It could have just been a case of bad judgement on their part, or perhaps Admiral Quinnly had remembered her from Washington, and was giving her a shot at something big.

Lisa began to doubt herself. Perhaps that was it all along. Maybe Quinnly was just doing her a favor, a chance to prove herself. She would still like to hear the Major's thoughts on the matter, but there was also the secrecy of the Gunstar project at stake. She had already compromised enough security coming this far. But it was for a good reason. She needed their help in the investigation. There was no doubt about that, but she was just subcontracting them. After all it wasn't like they were going to take over her investigation.

"Hello?" the major waved a hand at her.

Lisa blinked startled. "Oh sorry."

"You said something else?" Corbin prodded her.

"Urn, no." Lisa looked about her and began to stand. "I'd like to thank you for your time and cooperation, Major Corbin."

"All right then." The Major stood and shook her hand. "I'll have Lieutenant Lance give you a secure contact number."

Lisa looked over to the bionid who nodded. "I'll escort you back to your vehicle." Webber rose from his seat as well. "Thank you, Major"

Corbin shook his hand as well.

Shade waited for them to leave his office before sitting down again. He placed his elbows on his desk and rested his chin on his clasped hands. He listened to the rain falling heavily against his office window as he looked down at the binder full of classified information in front of him. The meeting had gone smoothly. He had gotten more information out of her than he anticipated. She obviously expected him to do her footwork for her and then hand her nicely typed reports to submit to her boss.

Eric smirked. Petty would have a rude awakening. Something big was going on, he could feel it and he was going to find out what it was. A cyberoid pilot, a commander no less, stealing a prototype android with a cyberbrain capable of storing a human consciousness. The components alone made his nerves stand on end, he had to force himself not to seem excited during the meeting. He hoped he had done as good a job as Lance had; his subordinate had seemed almost bored. But on top of everything, the incident reeked of an inside job. Eric Corbin had waited a long time to uncover USSD's undertakings.

He almost couldn't believe that he had finally been given the chance to do so.