George sighed. Well this year was turning out great. First his daughter gets killed in the line of duty, then his son goes from statue to homicidal maniac back to normal and now he’s in the hospital with a mass driver wound to the head.
He sighed again. Well at least the injuries weren’t fatal and the damage was minor. He looked over the files on his computer.
His office sat on the edge of Olympus Mons, the Admiralty and many other parts of the Navy were housed inside the dormant volcano while the Martian capital city sat above. He rotated his chair and stared out of the glass windows at the red Martian landscape laid out like a carpet before him. Various Domed cities could be seen in the distance along with various highways and power transfer systems that stretched along the surface.
The files on the computer were not things he wanted to deal with at the moment. Fleet movements, ship deployments, personnel reports, etc. Not what he was worried about at the moment. He shrunk everything before logging into Facebook.
Various status’s of people he knew popped up. Including one from his wife whom he sparingly saw to the point where they were only married on paper.
Our Latest line of ships hits the markets on Monday! Can’t wait!
But one of them stood out form the others as it was the only one he was interested in. The profile of Jett D. Halsey.
Today I finally got to leave the hospital. And I also learned from my two best friends the reason I was in the hospital to begin with and why I can’t remember the last few days. Turns out that while I was at prom the football captain decided to shoot me in the head with a mass driver. Took two rivets to the head and three to the back. Yup, I go to school with some great fucking people.
Fuck my life.
Well at least he’s back to normal. Same cynical attitude back at the helm.
The Admiral sighed, “It’s not like I can blame him. It’s not like he’s had a good year so far.”
“Sir?” A voice said.
The Admiral looked up from his computer. Hawk stood at the door.
“Hawk, what the hell are you still doing here? I thought the Night was headed to Eros.”
“Well if you looked at your fleet movements you’d see that I don’t leave until next week.”
“Ah leave me alone. You try to keep track of four fleets with three hundred ships each.”
“Point taken. So who were you talking to?”
“Ah I’m just talking to myself. Private life problems,” he sighed.
“I know that look. What happened now?”
“Oh my son just got shot in the head a few days ago. He went to Prom and took two rivets to the head and three to the back, courtesy of the football captain.”
“Ouch, that’s rough. Is he alright?”
“Well physically yes, but psychologically I’m not sure. From what I’ve been told he’s been exhibiting symptoms of schizophrenia ever since he regained consciousness. That and there’s no telling what this will do to his trust in people.”
“Yeah. He never was the most trusting of people.”
“The sad thing is he has every right to be suspicious of everyone. We kept his identity as secret from him for that long; it was only a matter of time before something happened. It’s really sad because he was actually starting to make progress.”
“Progress? What do you mean by that?”
“What I mean is that you can literally count the number of friends he has on your fingers. But lately from what Caitlyn told me before she died was that he’d been spending a lot of time with this girl named Spitfire who just happens to now be his roommate. Ever since then he’s been more social with people, more outgoing, he even started to make friends. All thanks to this girl apparently.”
“So what appears to be the problem?”
“I don’t know. I’m worried he’ll lose his trust in people again after this. After he lost his arm was when it all started. I’m scared that the progress he’s made will be taken away by this. It’s a shame really, I saw the way that girl looked at him during the Summer’s end Celebration. I guess I was hoping something would happen between them.”
Hawk smirked, “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch George. Now, I may not be as involved in this project as you but I know for a fact that the white haired one will be damned before he lets all that progress go down the drain like that. Now he may not be ONI’s favorite but still. Just let Dane do what he does best; fuck up other people’s plans.”
“Now how do you know so much about Dane?”
Hawk stood up, “Please Admiral, if I know my cousin, he’ll do what needs to be done.”
With that he turned and left the office.
“Damn,” The Admiral sighed, “What else don’t I know?”
***
A few hours Earlier. Red Spot Hospital.
Jett sat in his bed. Spitfire had just finished telling him the events that led to his hospitalization, minus a few details. Mainly her heart felt confession where she confessed her feelings for the android in front of the entire junior and senior classes.
Though one eye was covered by the bandages around his head it was easy to see he was angry. Though this time he seemed to be in control of himself. His one exposed eye flashed from blue to red.
“We were really worried about you Jett,” Spitfire said.
He said nothing. His eye drifted to the window.
“Jett? Are you okay?”
He remained silent. The joints and plates on his arm flexed and opened lightly. Celestia only knew what was going through his head at this moment. Actually, Spitfire wasn’t even sure that Celestia would know what he was thinking.
Finally Dane spoke up, “Listen, why don’t you wait outside for a minute, I’ll talk to him.”
“O-okay,” she stood up and walked out of the room. Dane closed the door behind her.
After a few seconds in silence Jett spoke, “Do you finally see why I don’t go to those things? Especially at that school.”
“Okay, this was just a onetime thing. And you pretty much proved to everyone that Ryan was as crazy as you thought.”
“He shot me in the head because he wanted Spitfire. I’m not even doing anything with her. We’re not even interested in each other.”
Dane rubbed the back of his head, “Well he was a bit crazy. And I’m pretty sure all those who doubted you will feel a bit stupid.”
“Why would they listen to me now?” he said bitterly, “They ridiculed me for so long whenever me or anyone else tortured by that creature tried to say anything. If it takes them something like this to get their attention then they aren’t worthy of my forgiveness.”
“Jett, he was an idol at that school. A fraking Demigod. And you were there since day one saying he was a bully and egotistical sadist. Now I’m not saying you were wrong in doing so but at that time you were calling out the most popular person at that school.”
“You think I gave a fuck? After what that guy did to me and others? I hope he rots in the ort cloud. Fuck him.”
“Jett, you have to learn to forgive people.”
“You expect me to forgive him? I’ll sooner turn on Subroutines 127-159 and fall in love before that happens.”
“I don’t expect you to forgive him. In all honesty if I was in your position I wouldn’t either. What I’m talking about is forgiving the others. Those who doubted you.”
“Why should I?”
“Because it’s part of being human.”
“I’m not meant to be human.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes, Do you remember what he said? ‘You are a machine. You are not human. You will never be happy. You will never be sad. You will never be angry nor will you be joyful. You will never hate. You will never love nor will you be loved. You will never feel anything.’ Do you remember that?”
“Yes, but you’re also forgetting something. Do you remember what he said after that? Prove me wrong. So why don’t you?”
“Look at me. I’m a machine.”
“Do you want to know why I’m so happy? Why I’m so crazy? Because when I found out that I was a machine, I chose not to believe that that’s all I am.”
“That’s easy for you,” Jett said raising his gunmetal arm, “This isn’t exactly easy to ignore.”
“Jett,” Dane laughed, “You have no idea how wrong you are. I have to ask you something. Why do you think Spitfire hangs around with you all the time?”
“The answer to that is a lot more complicated.”
“I don’t think it is. Whatever business that goes on between you two doesn’t have an effect on this. She hangs around with you because she likes you. She doesn’t see an android, just a person…”
***
Spitfire waited outside the room. She sighed. Jett was bitter. And had every right to be. She fell to the floor. Her heart ached seeing him like this. She hated seeing him angry at the world.
She wanted him to be happy, to smile, just to be him again. She wanted to courage to tell him how she felt about him. But she sadly doubted he felt the same. He never showed interest in anyone. Why would he be interested in her? A girl with wings.
Sure they were friends. In fact they were best friends now. After everything they went through together they were almost inseparable. He didn’t see the famous Wonderbolt or the pretty girl. He just saw her for… her. For whom she was. And that was all she wanted from a boy.
Dane opened the door, “I fixed him.”
She stood up and walked into the hospital room. Jett was sitting in his bed; he was staring at the blanket, just thinking.
He looked up when Spitfire entered. He smiled warmly.
“Hey Spitfire,” he said.
“I, uh, hi,” she said.
Jett turned to Dane.
Fine, I will try to be human. I still don’t know why though.
Would you believe me if I said that it was worth it?
No.
But are you going to?
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t.
***
Present.
I stepped back into mine and Spitfire’s room. Everything looked the same as when I last left it. My classmates were kind. Many were apologizing for not believing me about Ryan or asking if I was okay. I accepted the apologies and answered any questions about my mass driver wounds but after a while it became annoying. Fortunately we made it to our dorm before it got to extreme. Hopefully we’d be left alone.
We’d made it back to the dorm intact. Fortunately the school had said neither of us had to do the homework assignments or projects we’d missed when… well, when I was hospitalized. Dane quickly fell back into routine. It was Saturday so Dane simply left to do whatever he wanted. Like usual. This time he’d probably bother the girls swimming team.
I walked awkwardly over to the bed. The only things I brought back with me from the hospital were the Tux with the rivet holes in it and the cello I purchased while I was sitting in the hospital. I placed the cello case down on the floor and tucked it under the bed.
My bandages were still there on my head and back. They itched a little but that was easily rectifiable. I sat down. I turned to Spitfire. She looked sad.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
She looked up, “Nothing, it’s just… It’s just that… I was really worried about you.”
“Hey,” I said walking over to her bed and sitting down next to her, “I’m fine. I’m built like a tank. It’ll take a lot more than a few shots to the head to kill me.”
“I know but… you just looked so…. Lifeless. I was scared you wouldn’t be the same person when you came back.”
“Hey now,” I said putting my arm around her. She jumped at the contact. Weird, “I’m alright. Everything will be fine. Ain’t no grave can hold my body down.”
“What?” she laughed.
“Ain’t no grave. Johnny Cash song?”
She deadpanned.
“Oh my god, how is it you’ve been here on the order of two months and never heard a Johnny Cash song? Elvis? Beetles? Jimmy Hendrix?”
“Nope. But there I have heard of these people named Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber.”
I gave her a look. The, ‘are you fucking kidding me?’ look. It must have said something to her.
“Don’t worry; I didn’t like any of their stuff anyway.”
“Good because that is not music.”
“Well then what is?” Spitfire asked. Good. Glad she wasn’t worrying about me anymore and her mind was on something else.
I grinned, “Strap yourself in ‘cause you’re in for a ride.”
I pulled the cello case out from under the bed and opened it up. The heavy wooden instrument sat lying in a bed of fuzz. I picked it up out of the case. I leaned it against the bed before walking over to my computer and loading a few programs
“Okay,” I said, “This is an old relaxing tune.”
I sat down on the bed and grabbed the cello and bow and began to play.
As the melody came to an end I heard clapping.
“What was that? Was it a classical piece? Cause I know Octavia would love to hear that!”
“Nah that was something from the 21st century. A band named Coldplay did it. That was just a cello cover of it.”
“It was nice. Got anything else?”
“Sure, there’s this. I can’t really play this since I don’t have an orchestra lying around somewhere but this is still a nice song.”
“I… I… Whoa,” Spitfire said, “That was amazing.”
“Yeah, always loved that one.”
“Got anything electronic? Like dance or club music?” she asked.
I grinned. And by grinned I mean grinned to the point where it was almost a Glasgow smile.
“Like you wouldn’t believe.”
***
Dane walked back inside the dorm. Overall he’d had a successful day. The swim team was nice. The girls looked nice in and out of their swimsuits. The showers were roomy; the pool was reserved for three hours. It had been a VERY good day.
His hair was still wet but he didn’t care. Jett was probably still confined to the dorm until he fully recovered.
He walked into the living room and flopped onto the couch. Slowly he began to hear something. A noise. A light beat.
Music! It was music. Dane stood up. He followed the sound. It led him to Jett and Spitfire’s room.
♫Vamos a la playa
A mi me gusta bailar
El ritmo de la noche
Sounds of fiesta♫
He opened up the door. Well this was certainly interesting. Jett and Spitfire were… dancing. Interesting indeed. All the black haired android’s inhibitions were gone as they bounced about.
“♫Vamos a la playa!♫” they both sang aloud to the song laughing. Dane smiled. It was good to see him having fun.
“Well I see you two are having fun,” Dane laughed.
They stopped dancing and turned to the door. The music stopped too. Funny, they both had sheepish looks of ‘ah shit you caught us’.
“Having a party without me?”
“N-no,” Jett said with a red face, “We’re just listening to some music.”
“Yeah, we’re just having a little fun,” Spitfire hopped down from her bed, “Just a little music.”
“You sure you weren’t doing something else?”
Spitfire and Jett turned red.
“Fuck you asshole. I fucking bet you had your face buried in carpet that entire time you went to ‘watch the swim team’.”
“Well not all of it was carpet,” Dane said with a red face.
Jett just looked at him with a deadpanned face.
“You are literally the entire embodiment of what I hate about the human race.”
“I thought Ryan was the entire embodiment of what you hate about the human race.”
“No he was the entire embodiment of what I hate about the human race, society, media, everything. Unfortunately you also have the honor being the embodiment of everything I find good about the human race.”
“Aw, I’m touched.”
“Yeah well don’t get used to it,” I said.
A silence followed.
“So that’s all you two were doing?” Dane asked.
“What are you insinuating?” I asked.
“Oh nothing,” he said smugly, “Just that you two might be more than friends.”
Spitfire’s eyes widened and she cringed making the ‘NO!’ sign with her hands. Jett failing to notice turned to Dane with an unamused look on his face.
“You know what, get out. We were having fun,” he said pushing the android out the door.
“Hey! I live here too!”
“Well this is our room. You said so yourself so get out.” He closed the door and locked it. The music resumed.
“I can still hear you.”
“We don’t care!” Spitfire called.
♫ Vamos a la playa
A mi me gusta bailar
El ritmo de la noche
Sounds of fiesta ♫
Dane laughed. He walked across the hall into his room. He flopped onto the bed.
“I just don’t get that kid,” he sighed, “The stage is set, all he needs is the spark.”
He rolled over onto his back. Looking over at his desk he pulled a small computer off of it. He logged onto the school’s website and began his work.
“Nah,” he said as he began scrolling though events.
“No. Not gonna work. I don’t even think he’d go for that. No. No. No! NO! NO! Damn it!”
He almost tossed the computer but stopped, “Wait, what’s this?”
He scrolled through it, “Geology report… yadda yadda yadda… ooh. This is nice. Student…. If they achieve a grade higher than… oh yes, this will work out nicely.”
He reached over and grabbed the calendar from the wall. He tapped an arrow on it and watched it flip through the months.
“Ah ha! Here we go,” he smiled marking off the date. February 17th 2413.
“This is gonna be a good year.”
***
Well it was that time of year again boys and girls. Yes that wonderful time where you get five days off from school. That special time before Christmas but after Halloween. The day where we’re all happy, we eat lots, get fat and fall asleep. That’s right folks; Thanksgiving.
400 years into the future and not much had changed about the holiday. Still ate turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, etc. Still spent time with family and friends, laughed lots and the usual good stuff.
Only if you were a robot with a dysfunctional family then there were problems. If you were Dane well then you were probably… well fuck Dane for now and no not literally. Jett never had been one to enjoy spending time with family. In fact the only person who he was ‘technically’ related to who he didn’t want to outright kill was his father. Other than that his friends were his only family he really needed. But as is the holidays they all normally went home.
Anyway, back to our little Astro boy.
***
“No! I am not coming to Earth!”
Spitfire sat at the table staring across the school cafeteria to where Jett was nearly having an aneurism yelling into the phone.
“No! And do not call me Daniel!”
…
“No! I’m not gonna be your play thing to show off to your rich friends!”
Spitfire sighed. This didn’t sound good.
***
“Why do you still insist on using that arcane name?! Jett. So pre-pubescent.”
I was gonna lose it. I was seriously considering reaching through the phone and hitting her.
“It’s my NAME.”
“No, Daniel is your name. It’s on your birth certificate.”
“Well in case you forgot, which isn’t unlikely for you, I wasn’t born! And I’m not Daniel. I’m Jett.”
“Why can’t you just use your name?!”
“Because Daniel’s dead! He died when I learned what I am. I’m Jett the android, not Daniel the Human.”
***
Jett returned to the table. He let out a sigh before letting his head fall to the table top.
Spitfire was concerned, “What’s wrong?”
He looked up. His eyes said it all. It was almost funny. There were some people in Spitfire’s life that she could never read. Her father, Tempest Wind and former captain of the Wonderbolts was one of them, but Jett was one of the few people who were different. She could almost see what he was thinking just by looking at him.
And he was thinking about killing someone.
“My mother wants me to come to Earth for Thanksgiving,” he said without much enthusiasm, “She wants to spend time with her only remaining child,” he finished sarcastically.
“So what’s wrong with that?”
He shot her a look that could have blown a hole in the fabric of reality before quickly realizing his mistake.
“Sorry. Just that Caitlyn and I were never anything other than trophies or toys to be shown off to her rich friends. Cat kind of got along with her but I hated her. I still don’t like her.”
“Why’s that? And why was she calling you Daniel?”
He sat up. He turned towards the window looking out through the tinted windows towards the sun.
He sighed, “Daniel was my name. My original name. I never told anyone this but… Daniel was the person I was before,” he raised his arm, “this. Daniel was the human.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”
“No it’s not your fault. Just after my accident I reinvented myself. I figured why keep the name when that person was as good as dead? Because he was as good as dead. My dad let me rename myself. I guess he figured it was my way of dealing with it. Maybe it was but I don’t know. My mother never approved of my new name but I kept it. I stayed Jett Halsey.”
He looked towards his phone before shoving it in his pocket.
“Later I found out that my dad wanted to tell me what I was from day one. He felt that if I was going to be staying with them then I had the right to know. But she said no. She kept my identity from me and then said nothing when I got tossed onto this odyssey that’s been these past few years.”
“Oh,” Spitfire said scooting closer to the robot, “I’m sorry. If there’s anything you need, just tell me.”
He laughed, “I got over most of that a while ago. It’s just that she loves bothering me or fucking up my life at the worst possible times. I just wish she would leave me alone unless she actually wanted something to do with me.”
Spitfire nodded. They sat in silence for a while. Jett started tampering with a holopad. Spitfire sighed inwardly. All she wanted to do was tell him how she felt. Not that hard. So why couldn’t she do it? They’d both become lifelong friends. They’d both had tons of fun with each other. Hell she’d confessed herself in front of half the school. So why was it so hard to tell the only person that mattered?
Dane returned to the table with a tray of food and instantly started digging in.
“So guys,” he said with a mouth full, “My parents say I can bring a few friends over this year. You two wanna come?”
“Sure,” Spitfire said, “If we’re all going then sure.”
Jett sighed, “I don’t think I’ll go. Cat and I always did something special and… now that she’s gone… it wouldn’t be the same. It just wouldn’t feel right. Sorry but no thanks.”
“It’s alright,” Dane said, “I know how much she meant to you. Forget I asked.”
Spitfire frowned. She couldn’t really expect him to not feel sad at a time like this. Jett stood up.
“I’ll see you guys later,” He said walking from the table out of the cafeteria.
He looked terribly sad again. So alone. She hated seeing him so sad. It pulled on her heartstrings like nothing else had. She was going to do something about it.
“I don’t think I can come with you this weekend Dane,” Spitfire said standing up.
Dane grinned, “I figured as much lover girl.”
“Fuck you,” she grinned, “I’ll catch up with you later.”
“♫ You are my sunshine. My only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. ♫”
“Asshole.”
***
Jett was sitting in the library. He had a holopad in front of him and was playing with a holographic asteroid when the door opened.
“You are a hard person to find,” Spitfire said sitting next to him.
“Yeah,” he sighed.
“I’m not going with Dane,” she said, “I’ll stay here with you.”
“Spitfire you don’t have to do that. If you want to go with Dane you can. I don’t want to be the thing stopping you.”
“I know,” she said smiling, “But I want to stay. I’d rather stay with one of my best friends and keep him company rather than know he was alone.”
Jett turned, “I still don’t get you.”
“Good,” she smirked, “Maybe someday but not today.”
“Girls,” he scoffed.
Meanwhile Dane watched everything from up above.
“Idiot!”
“What was that?” Jett asked.
“Shit.” Dane bailed into the computer lab before disappearing back towards the lunch room.
Spitfire shrugged, “Beats me.”
Jett sighed, “You really want to stay here with me?”
“Yes,” she replied then under her breath, “There’s nowhere I’d rather be.”
“Well alright then,” Jett said, “Guess we better find something to do for the next five days.”
“Yeah, I was thinking that…” she cringed slightly.
“You were thinking that…?”
“I was thinking tha… ah…ah… ach-” and she vanished; only to reappear on the other side of the library lying against a wall. The librarian looked up and gave a ‘sshhh’ sign to Jett who gave a sheepish look.
He ran across the room towards Spitfire who groaned.
“Ow,” she said, “That one hurt.”
Jett crouched and helped her to her feet, “You have got to get that under control. Tonight we’re gonna practice.”
“Practice? Aren’t you afraid someone will see?”
“No. Everyone always leaves including a lot of the teachers. The only people who are staying are a few teachers and the Techs. And even then they’ll leave the day of the Thanksgiving before returning.”
“So we’ll have this whole place to ourselves?” Spitfire said with a sly grin.
“At night we will. During the day we’ll see people around. Why?”
“Oh nothing,” she grinned, “Just thought we’d get into some mischief.”
Jett crossed his arms.
“Alright alright, we’ll just get my jumping under control.”
“Good, ‘cause so far that’s the only connection to your home we have.”
“You really think I can get home like this?”
“I don’t know,” Jett said, “But I’ll be damned if I don’t try. Come on. Geology is starting soon.”
***
“Alright class! Sit down and shut up,” Mr. Stone said (Yes I did that on purpose); “I’ve got a few announcements to make.”
We were sitting in your typical class room. The various lab units in the back of the room were the only real difference. Various crystals and other types of rock were scattered across the room. Mr. Stone was you typical geology/history freak. He had a passion for his work both in history and geology. Crazy, eccentric, a genius in his own right, loved by his students. His classes were rigorous but even with the work load the class was still fun.
“Field trip time,” he said, “Now, for those of you who are keeping track and have no lives, Dane.”
Everyone laughed.
“Relax Dane; I know you’re always neck deep in box.”
And a third of the class turned red.
“Alright! Now, for those of you who don’t know already, which I’d say that’s a lot of you, there is a field trip coming up for those of you who are taking the accelerated classes that conclude at the end of February. Now for the rest of you, you can choose to take accelerated versions of the courses you are currently taking academic classes. But anyway! The trip! The trip is a special program for those who are doing well this year. If you have a B+ or higher then you will be eligible to go.”
“How long will we be gone?” one girl asked.
“Where will we be going?” another guy asked.
“I’m getting to that. Now! We will be taking a trip to Earth-”
A loud cheer erupted. I however stayed silent. Earth. My mother was there. But then again so were a few of my friends. But they would be in school so seeing them would be moot. But I’ll wait to see what he has to say.
“Hey! SHUT UP! Yes, Earth. Birthplace of humanity, yadda yadda yadda, we go over this in my history class. If you wish to learn more about Earth from before 2100 then I suggest you take my human history class instead of my Geology course but back on track! Now, we’ll be there until March, yes a long ass time, but consider this the only paid vacation you will ever get. Also consider it motivation for getting your grades up! Now, as it still classifies as a school trip you will be required to do some degree of work.”
A moan went up from the class.
“Ah you big babies, all you need to do is do a one page report on a national park while you’re there. It’ll take like ten minutes. Just need to show up at one of the parks while you’re there, take a few field notes, take a few nice pictures of the place, report done! The rest of the time you have to yourselves which is like two months so calm down! You can pretty much go anywhere on the planet while you’re there so get over it.”
Again another loud cheer. A few ‘I knew taking this class was a good idea’s popped up.
“Now there are a few ground rules,” Mr. Stone continued, “First, you will be broken up into groups of three, you will also need to have a chaperone just in case a few of you decide to do something like go to Vegas and get- well I’ll stop there. You have access to most of the planet but there are some places that are off limits.”
He started passing around a list of locations. No one said anything. I guess no one was planning on heading to any of these places anyway.
“Now, off limits are the Bikini Atolls for obvious reasons, Chernobyl, a few middle eastern territories, a few parts of Russia, some parts of the United States territory, northern England, bits of South Africa, you all know this. Just please avoid these areas at all costs. We don’t need anyone dying.”
The places that were off limits weren’t off limits because the school didn’t want the students seeing some strippers or getting laid. In this day and age it would be pointless to try. The areas that were off limits were contaminated with high levels of Gamma Radiation from the remnants of the Last Great War. Or World War III in some books. Use of radiation based weapons was banned by soon after to prevent further damage to Earth’s biome but there were still spots that would kill within hours of exposure.
“Now! To end on a happier note, here are your permission slips. Just get them approved by your current legal guardians and we’ll be fine. And be sure to get your chaperones cause without them you cannot go!”
I grabbed the slip and got ready to crumple it up only for Dane to smack me across the head from behind me. Spitfire was looking at her slip.
“No. Bad android.”
“Dude what the hell? I don’t think I want to go.”
“Come on! It’s a free to trip to ANYWHERE you want to go to on Earth! You really gonna pass this up?”
“Yes. I know if I go I’ll get harassed by my mother… And I don’t want that. If I get the paper signed by my dad he’ll have to tell my mom.”
“Well what if I could get the Admiral not to tell?” Dane said.
“How would you do that?”
“I have my ways,” Dane grinned.
“Even if you could what makes you think I’d still go?”
“This,” Dane said turning Spitfire’s head.
“Hey I was trying to read here,” she complained.
“Jett doesn’t want to go,” Dane said, “Change his mind.”
“What? But why?” Spitfire asked.
“You already know why.”
“Come on,” she pleaded, “it will be fun.”
“You don’t even know much about Earth. How do you know it would be fun?”
“Uh me?” Dane said, “You may not be willing to use that underused supercomputer you call a head but not me!”
“See? It’d be fun! Come on.”
“Plus we have our group right here if you go. And if you don’t we’ll be stuck with someone else.”
“I don’t know…”
“Please?” Spitfire said giving me the big puppy dog eyes.
Goddamn it.
“Give me a minute to think.”
Concentrate… and… ha! Here we go.
Acc popped up in front of me followed by Happy and Wrath. After discovering I looked like a schizophrenic when talking to them I quickly devised a different method of communicating with them.
So? What do you think I should do?
I’d take it! Happy said.
I would go too Wrath added you’ve been quite the angry boy recently and it’d help if you gave me a break for a while.
Just do it dude Acc said come on. Look at them. Actually just look at her. You’d really rather stay here than spend two months in any paradise you choose with that? You must be crazy! Do it!
Do it! Do it! Do it! Happy cheered.
Alright! Jesus Christ, I hope you won’t bother me like this on the trip.
Only if you aren’t enjoying yourself Happy said.
Alright I’ll go. Thanks for talking.
Anytime big guy. Anytime Wrath said before he and the others disappeared.
“Hello!?” Dane yelled, “Earth to clueless! Come in clueless. Huston I think we have a problem cause Apollo Jett isn’t responding.”
I opened my eyes, “Dear god, shut the hell up already! I’ll go. Now for the love of god shut up!”
“There,” Dane said, “See? Told you. He just needed a little push.”
“Awesome!” Spitfire said.
“Alright, now that I’m going, here,” I said handing Dane my slip, “Talk to my dad about it and then give it to me when I need to sign.”
“You got it boss.”
“That still leaves the problem of who’s gonna be our chaperone. My dad can’t do it with his whole Admiral Job thing. So who’re we gonna choose?”
Dane got a grin on his face, “Oh I have an idea that I think you’re gonna love.”