When Nicholas opened his eyes from his nap, what welcomed him was very round eyes of an android looking right at him. He startled visibly as a response but his voice was calm.

  "What are you staring at me like that for?"

  "Looking at my savior," She said with a rather charmingly high pitched voice. She beamed a bright grin at him right afterwards with her teeth visible. She did look like an ordinary woman.

  "I thought you were a broken android."

  "I am not. I was just turned off. I was also running out of battery.”

  Pushing her face away, which was warm to touch just like a real human being, he got up from the sofa and looked for Cass.

  "Cass? You there?"

  A distant voice responded. "In a shower. BRB."

  The android took a few steps back and sat down on the floor with her legs crossed. It did have a fairly innocent appearance. It had short red hair with a very round face as if it was made to look younger and innocent. In spite of that, its attire was quite provocative with a deep tank top with camo shorts. She also had heavy makeup with deep red eyeshadows and reddish cheek.

  "Your name?" He asked while checking his pockets to see whether anything was amiss.

  "Viviant, nice to meet ya," She responded gleefully, rocking back and forth subtly. It was as if she couldn’t wait to move around like an impatient child.

  "An android, yeah?" He just wanted to make sure.

  "Well...., not exactly."

  He narrowed his eyes. "What?"

  She pointed at herself and said, "This body is that of an android." Then he pointed at her head, just above her ear. "But what is inside is not an A.I."

  He had to pause for a moment to really understand what she meant. Even then -

  "What? What does that even mean? Are you saying you have a human brain in your head?"

  That'd make her a cyborg instead, and it had human rights as long as they were legally recognized as cyborgs.

  "Nope, I've got a chip instead."

  "Then you are an android."

  "Even if what is inside of the chip contains a human consciousness?"

  There was a moment of silence between them. He wasn't sure how to respond. He didn't even know that it was even possible. Artificial intelligence was just that, artificial. No matter how advanced artificial intelligence was, by the end of the day, it was just a complex set of algorithms. It had limitations. The silence was broken up by Cass who was coming out of a shower. She was wearing nothing but a beige bathrobe wrapped around her bare body. There was no water dripping from her skin though since she was using a steam shower.

  "So, you met Viviant," She said casually after seeing them staring at each other awkwardly.

  He glanced at her and responded, "Yeah, and I am confused."

  "I did check her skull. There was indeed a chip there but she is not an A.I. Well, it could be A.I. but way too advanced."

  Viviant glared at Cass and spoke boldly, "I am not an A.I."

  Nicholas and Cass exchanged a glance with the latter giving a shrug. Meanwhile, he noticed something. Cass had her black lipstick on still even after a shower.

  "Cass, your lips are still black. Is that permanent? I thought you were using lipstick."

  "Yeah, they are permanent. I injected some black dye into my lips some years ago."

  "Forever the goth gal, eh," He joked and changed the subject. "You are an esper. Can you tell whether she is lying?"

  Nicholas was a physical esper whereas Cass was a mental esper. In other words, he was a warrior and she was a mage.

  "ESP lie detecting appears to work only on organic beings. I couldn't tell," She replied.

  "I. AM. NOT. AN. ANDROID!" Viviant exclaimed angrily.

  “Pipe down. We have every right to be suspicious of you,” he pressed.

  She pouted but said no more, and Cass went into her room to change. Sighing, he looked around to find his battered drone lying on the floor. It had tens of bullet holes and its burnt wires were sticking out. He wasn't sure it would be repairable. He sat down on the sofa once again and looked at Viviant who looked right back.

  "So, what should I do with you?"

  "Could I hire you?"

  "Huh?"

  "I'd like to hire you."

  He snickered. "That's new. An android wants to hire me."

  Instead of strongly rejecting that she was an android, she simply pouted this time.

  "Do you even have credits?" It was a genuine question.

  As far as he was aware, an android could not be registered as a human being, meaning an android could not open a bank account in its name which also meant it could not use credit. It could carry prepaid cash cards but carrying those was extremely dangerous in a zone like Cold Haven.

  "I ... do not but hear me out."

  She pointed out that she was a result of a secret project called "Moonlight". The goal of the project was to transfer a human consciousness into a chip. It would not copy a consciousness. It would transfer, meaning the host human would end up being brain dead as a result.

  "Wait a fucking sec," he put a stop at once. "Are you saying that your original body is now brain dead?"

  She nodded, to which he blurted, "Fucking shit." He still did not believe her. If such a project indeed existed, it would have been huge. He would have heard about it in one way or another. In spite of humans being able to live hundreds of years with ease, in spite of nobody really dying physically but mentally, it did not stop some from trying to achieve true immortality as in never worrying about death of any sort. A common way to achieve immortality was becoming a machine. The biggest obstacle to that goal was the brain or consciousness. There was no simple way to transfer consciousness. However, it was possible to copy through numerous tests and let an AI chip interact with its host. It still did not achieve an identical copy. Anyway, according to her, she was the project leader. Since no one was willing to volunteer to be a guinea pig, she volunteered.

  "So, the project is successful?"

  "Not... exactly."

  After her case was a success, other members in the project volunteered but none of them made it, becoming brain dead as a result. Shortly after, someone leaked the project to a high bidder, and the project was hijacked.

  "I was turned off after a group of men in black stormed into our lab. I don't know what happened after that. I suppose I was to be sold to someone and be examined."

  She stopped, and there was silence in the apartment. Cass, too, was listening from a distance. As for him, he wasn't sure what to say. The story she came up with, it clicked. It didn't sound like she was making up everything. He wasn't ready to trust her but he did feel that she wasn't completely lying. It was either she was being truthful or she prepared the lie very meticulously.

  He pressed, "So, if you haven't got any credit on you, how would I get paid? You haven't explained that part, yet. And what do you need help with? If I were you, I'd just run away from the colony and live on. You are literally an immortal at this point."

  She stuck out her index finger immediately.

  "One, I want to find out who sold out the project and kill him or her."

  He nodded along with folded arms on the sofa, "Alright, reasonable I suppose."

  Then she stuck out her middle finger, making it a two.

  "Two, if you can acquire the data from the project, it will be worth millions if not hundreds of millions. And that is not even counting whatever loot you might come across."

  "The data is likely gone," Cass chipped in.

  "Probably, but the lab has backup storage. Even if that backup is also gone, then there is an emergency backup storage which only I, as the project head, knew about."

  Sighing, he looked at Cass who was leaning against a door frame to her room. She was in her usual attire at this point, a thigh length black dress. He was silently asking for a second opinion.

  "It's your call, Nick. You could be in for riches or could end up just dying," She responded sincerely. "Since Miguel hasn't even responded, I don't suggest listening to him even. Our agency is as good as done."

  He gave it a thought for a moment. What seemed clear was that he would need a team. There was no way that he could do this alone.

  "What are you going to do, Cass? You are a class B ESP. I could use you."

  She folded her arms. "I don't want to risk my life, Nick. I have savings that should last me for years. Things could change by then. Miguel could come back even."

  "I still want someone to coordinate things behind the scenes though. You are quite used to that."

  "That, yes. I could do that since it's a safe job."

  He turned his attention to Viviant. "You are an android. Can you fight?"

  "I can handle guns. I have experience with it. If it's melee, nope. The ability of this body is not great. It's on par with an average female."

  Cass spoke up. "I could contact the mercenary that helped you out earlier."

  Which made him suddenly remember.

  "What did it cost to hire her? I did say I'd split the cost."

  "Nah," She waved her hand away. "Don't worry about it. I will charge Miguel for it."

  "You sure?"

  "Yeah."

  "How much did it cost to hire her anyway?"

  There was a short pause before she replied reluctantly, "250k."

  He stood up at once and uttered, "Fuck."

  She added, "It was an emergency contract, and she was listed as an experienced class A esper. I am assuming she was good."

  He did recall her deflecting his bullet at a nearly point blank range, not to mention the fact that she took down over ten thugs and equally many combat drones single handedly. There was no doubt that she was good.

  "Yeah, she was good."

  "It shouldn't be as expensive if you offer a normal contract."

  "Do you have her contact number?"

  She shut her eyes for a moment. "Sending it to your brain," She stated.

  "Got it. I am going to call her later." He then directed his attention at Viviant who was still sitting down with her legs crossed. "Now, where do you want to stay?"

  "Huh?" She sounded confused.

  "Whether I take on the job, I am unsure. So, meanwhile, you need a place to stay."

  "Oh." She looked disappointed with a pout. She was hoping for him to accept the job on the spot.

  "You can stay here if Cass lets you for the time being."

  "I don't mind," Cass said.

  "Or you can stay at my place. The choice is up to you."

  "I will stay here."

  An easy decision, he thought. If Viviant's claims were true, she was a woman. A woman generally preferred staying at another woman's place rather than a man's.

  “But there is one thing you should know,” she added quickly. “I am probably wanted. How did you find me anyway in the first place?”

  Cass answered, “An anonymous client posted a job, and we took it. We were to find a lost girl.”

  “And you found me just like that?”

  “It wasn't easy,” Nicholas said. “I risked my life to get you out of section C.”

  “Section C?” Viviant tilted her head.

  “The lowest floor of Cold Haven, a literal hellhole,” Cass said. “I heard the gun fight from section B, so it must have been a pretty big fight.”

  Nicholas pointed at his drone or whatever was left of it.

  “That is or was my drone.”

  “So, you have nothing to do with my kidnapping?”

  Nicholas and Cass looked at each other with the former answering.

  “The client may have to do something with it. We have yet to contact him or her.”

  “Are you going to contact that client of yours and hand me over?”

  “If what you offer is far greater than what the client offers, we are going to stick with you. We are mercenaries after all.”

  Cass added, “Interestingly, the client did not disclose the reward for the job.”

  He folded his arms. Everything smelled. It was hard to trust anyone at this point. Neither the mysterious client nor Viviant was quite believable. She could lead him into a trap after all. Backing away from this was certainly a possibility. But given the fact that he risked his life and lost his drone meant that he was inclined to get something out of this at the least.

  “I have a lot of suspicions about everything. But precisely because everything smells so much, I am inclined to work with you. Why did you tell us seemingly everything? We didn’t even ask.”

  Viviant shrugged with a crooked grin. “If I didn’t, you’d have handed me over to the highest bidder anyway.”

  “That much is true. We are mercenaries, and this is Cold Haven. Moral standards do not exist.”

  “.... Cold Haven? Where are we? We are in the Freedom colony, right?”

  “We indeed are,” Cass replied. “It’s called Cold Haven here.”

  “I’ve never heard of it … Well, at least I am glad that I wasn’t shipped off the colony.”

  “It’s a small sector. Makes sense that you didn’t know. Hell, there are thousands of sectors within the colony.”

  Taking a deep breath, Nicholas felt that it was time for some refresher.

  “Look, I am going to take the drone pieces off at Dakarai’s place. We will talk later. Let’s take a break from this for a bit.”

  “Yeah, too much human contact for me in such a short while. I need a break, too,” Cass replied with a sigh as well.

  “I will be living with you for a while, though?” Viviant pointed at herself.

  “You ain’t a human.”

  “I AM. NOT. AN. ANDROID!”

  Shaking his head, Nicholas left them behind after picking up his charred and battered drone mainframe. The reason he took the drone with him was not because he felt that he could restore it. It was because of the link chip inside of it. He didn’t want anyone to savage the chip out of the destroyed drone and potentially find a way to contact him via a brain link. He would need to swap out his brain chip to change its unique frequency and it was an expensive, not to mention somewhat risky, procedure.

  “Nicholas, welcome to the Little Army!” A cleanly shaven black man welcomed him with a professional smile behind a metal counter. The Little army was the name of the store he ran. It was predominantly a drone store although it did sell other electronics. His attention moved immediately to Nicholas’ battered drone. Many different kinds of drones were hanging off walls. His drone model wasn’t one of them, however.

  “What the hell happened?”

  “Did you hear a gun fight within the past twenty four hours?”

  His eyes narrowed at once. “That was you?”

  “I didn’t start it in my defense.”

  “Dang, man. You survived that? She did her job then.”

  “Yeah, probably prolonged the battle long enough for reinforcements to arrive. In that sense, she did save my hide.”

  He placed the battered and charred mainframe on the counter, and Dakarai took quick glances before giving his verdict.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Just so we're clear. There is no way to repair this drone. Well, I could restore it, but it will be the same as building a new drone. I suppose the comm. chip can be saved, though.”

  “That’s all I want.”

  “You shopping for a new drone then?”

  “Can I purchase the same model?”

  “It is possible but it will take some time. She has been out of production for decades. You purchased her when she was about to enter the end of production. You got her on a clearance sale if you still remember.”

  He vaguely remembered that. It was 50% off.

  “It’s been that long and I can still buy it?”

  “Well, to tell you the truth. You can’t. But I can source parts and build a new one. I am a drone mechanic after all.”

  “And the price for that?”

  Dakarai pulled up three fingers.

  “3k?

  “30k”

  “Fucking hell,” Nicholas blurted.

  “For the record, you purchased her for 20k if my memories are correct. That was with a big discount. Her full price was around 50k.”

  He hesitated.

  “It’s your choice. It is still cheaper than purchasing a brand new drone, I must say.”

  Folding arms, he gave it a thought. He could afford it easily. He had 120k credits in his account. But the amount was substantial.

  “I will knock 10k off the price if you do me a little favor.”

  That piqued his interest. “Oh? Do go on.”

  Clearing his throat, Dakarai made sure that no one was around. Because there were a few browsing customers, he beckoned him inside. It was safe for him to leave his post since there were security drones, keeping eyes on people. It was his workshop where drone parts were all over the place.

  “I have a client who is refusing to say. I think you know what I am about to ask.”

  It was indeed a common job. However, something was amiss.

  “If he refuses to pay, why not just send the drone back? It was the standard payment scheme, right?”

  He nodded and said, “Yeah, but the issue is that it wasn’t a drone purchase. It was drone customizations, a whole new paint job, baking CPU overclock in, adding sensors, thrusters, and whatnot. A lot of the cost was labor.”

  In other words, he wouldn’t recoup all of his money back even if he sold off the customer’s drone.

  “How much are we talking about here?”

  “I quoted 40k, and he paid 20k up front.”

  That was the standard payment scheme for drones. Pay half upfront and pay the rest at the end.

  He quickly added, “I know what you are thinking. I do know that I am fussing over such a small amount but it would make me feel better.”

  Under normal circumstances, Nicholas might have tried to negotiate for better terms. However, he knew for certain that Dakarai was giving him a deal. It would be flatout rude to ask for more.

  “Fine, I will take it.”

  He beamed a relieved smile. “Thank God. By the way, Fol doesn’t know this. Don’t tell her, yeah?”

  Fol, her full name was Foluke. She was his legal wife, which was a rare thing in Cold Haven. Marriage itself was quite rare. She was also a drone mechanic and was usually present in the backroom where they were talking.

  “I have to ask. How much do you want me to push this client?”

  It was a roundabout way to ask whether murder was an option.

  “Just don’t kill him. No need to waste a life for 20k.”

  That was true although it was never easy to make people pay. Physical violence was pretty much guaranteed.

  “Alright, give me the info.”

  “Sending it to you now. He lives in Cold Haven.”

  “Should be easy then. Is he an esper?”

  “I don’t believe so.”

  “Got it. I will send 30k once I complete the job. I will try to get it done within twenty four hours.”

  That’d be his full payment. He would pay nothing more. Dakarai beamed a smile at him. “Thanks, dude. The faster it is done, the better. I will be able to sleep a bit better. It’s not even about money to be honest. I just want this off my back.”

  “You should be able to sell the drone off to recoup some costs, no?”

  Dakarai was about to say something but looked away while keeping his mouth shut. It was as if he was afraid to say it out loud.

  “It’s probably best to show you the drone… Follow me.”

  He led Nicholas to a small room where it was meant for a personal workshop for projects. And there the customized drone was on a work stable.

  “The… fuck?” Nicholas had to utter.

  There was a giant glossy pink dildo with testicles. They were the size of a toddler. He realized that it was the drone.

  “Dakarai, you cannot be serious?”

  He face-palmed and shook his head. “It is what it is.”

  The skin of the dildo drone was animated as if it was alive with the twin balls slowly moving about. It must have taken a considerable amount of time to customize the drone to this extent.

  “I am sure that you can still sell it…”

  “Yeah, I guess…”

  Patting his shoulder, he left the Little army onto section C which was somewhat crowded with people.

  “Alright…, time to head to section B…”

  Taking a deep breath, he thought about Viviant. Was she telling the truth? Probably, not, he thought. This wasn’t the first time mankind attempted “consciousness transfer”. Such projects were always backed up by CEOs from big corporations and whatnot. In other words, it was a rich people’s hobby or perhaps dreams. When you are set for life financially, you’d want to live for as long as possible.

  “Hell, as if living up to 400 years isn’t enough…”

  Average people had an average lifespan of 400 years, give or take 10%. Espers tended to live longer. However, there was a catch. Physically, it was scientifically determined that people could live longer. Mental integrity was another issue entirely however. In other words, after a certain age, people went insane either by stress or boredom or whatever. There was also a condition called mental blackout where a person over a certain age threshold would just black out and never wake up.

  "23:21.... What now?" he wondered aloud after he dropped by at his place. The time was awkward. Since there was no concept of day and night, everyone was active at different hours. And, for espers, they could go on without any kind of sleep for days. He had two choices. He had the contact information for Ariel_Spear from Cass. He didn’t really need to contact her at this point but talking to her was an option. Another was carrying out Dakarai’s request.

  “Well, the dude’s in a bind. Let’s help him out first.”

  He had known Dakarai for as long as he was in Cold Haven. The guy always tried to make an honest living. It made him wonder why he was bothering to live in such a place like Cold Haven in the first place.

  “Section B, it is then.”

  Section B was mostly made up with residential units. It did have a lottery place which also acted as a place to gather. While it was not as safe as section C, it was still relatively safe simply because it was where the majority of residents were living. Even the scumbags knew that unsettling where people lived was a bad idea. It was not to say that agencies didn’t send out espers to keep peace. But section C was the top priority where credits flew. Section B was also where Cass lived in a modest apartment. She was born and raised in Cold Haven, meaning she knew the place better than him. That was not probably true, though, since she barely left her own apartment. She was an extreme introvert. He could count with his one hand how many times he saw her outside.

  “So, according to the info…”

  The client’s unit was an apartment, which was no surprise. The majority of residents in this sector lived in apartments. In fact, Cold Haven had just one building that was used as a private residence, and he had no idea who was living inside if at all. As he casually walked toward his destination, he noticed that there was a pair of women standing right outside of the apartment unit he needed to enter. Their outfits were quite peculiar, and he recognized them almost instantly.

  Both women had purple hair tied to the back. Both were swearing short jackets but varied in color. One was wearing yellow. The other was wearing dark red. Both were wearing a leotard with what appeared to be tights. Both had a device on their chests that displayed the logo of their agency. Both had only one thigh sock, leaving the other leg exposed. Wearing a leotard in public was a daring move on its own especially in Cold Haven. Finally, they had what looked like gas masks on for some reason, mostly hiding their facial features. What would be even the point, he wondered, since their style stood out.

  “The Kitty Cats,” he whispered.

  The Kitty Cats was another agency like the Faceless he belonged to. He never had conflicts with them, thus he didn’t know their members. Their eyes soon met, and one of the women asked him.

  “You going in here?” The one with the yellow jacket asked.

  “Yes.”

  “You don’t live here,” the one with the dark red jacket asked.

  “No, I do not.”

  The women looked at each other before turning back to him.

  “What is the purpose of your visit to this unit?”

  He had a hunch that the target he was after hired these two women as bodyguards. What didn’t make sense was why go so far for just 20k? If it was him, he would have paid the due and not start this in the first place. Granted, it might have been cheaper to hire these two women, but the risk wasn’t worth it in his mind. There was a chance that there was more to this although he felt that it was unlikely.

  “I am after a man who has a debt to pay,” he replied earnestly. Lying wouldn’t work anyway when they were already suspecting him.

  “I know your face,” the woman with the yellow jacket replied. “Nick the Gentleman, yeah?”

  He wasn’t quite aware that he had a nickname. Given the fact that his shortened name was being used, he assumed that prostitutes gave him the nickname.

  “That’s right, I guess. Will you step aside and let me pass?”

  “Afraid not. We have a job to do, you see.”

  “Nothing personal,” the woman with the dark red jacket added quickly. As soon as she finished, the two women pulled up their pistols. It looked like both of them were using dual pistols. He backed off swiftly on the cue and pulled out his own pistol. Without further ado, a gun fight commenced. While bystanders took shelter quickly, neither Nicholas nor the two women were seeking cover. That was because they were able to dodge shots physically. It wasn’t that they were able to see the shots themselves but, being espers, they were able to calculate trajectories of shots. This worked only in small scale gun fights however. When he was surrounded by thugs a day earlier, he had no choice but to keep himself covered. Evading shots left and right by just hair, he focused his shots on the one with the yellow jacket because he felt that she was the leader. As expected, they also evaded bullets by making subtle movements, an indication that they were espers like him. Either way, he didn’t believe this fight would end by just simply shooting at each other. He had to make some moves either by words or actions. Turning his pistol into a rapid fire mode, he barraged them with inaccurate shots which gave him slight momentum as the two women kneeled down for whatever cover they could get. He dashed as fast as he could toward them and was right in front of them in a blink of an eye.

  With a powerful punch right into her gut, she was lifted up and was thrown away at least 10 meters (30ft).

  “Sis!” The other woman with the dark red jacket exclaimed. “You fucker -”

  However, before she could finish, he performed a sideway kick. This time, however, she blocked the kick with both of her forearms. Still, she went flying back although she landed properly. She checked on her sister since both of them were close by, allowing him to enter the apartment unit.

  “HEY!”

  However, he wasn’t going after the target. Instead, he was waiting by the door after swapping out its battery because the rapid shot drained most of it. If his mission was to kill, he would have gone straight to the target.

  “Damn it! After hi-”

  When one of them, the one with the yellow jacket, rushed in, he swiftly placed his gun on the side of her head.

  “Stop,” he warned.

  “Dang it…”

  “Let’s not make this any uglier. My client does not wish him dead. I just need to rough him up to make him cough 20k.”

  “Dude, our job is to protect him from harm. What you are asking is out of the question.”

  “Your life is at risk, though.”

  She growled with a sigh. She was silent for a brief moment before making a suggestion.

  “Fine, you win this round. But do us a favor.”

  “Go on. I am listening.”

  “Finish the guy.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “What?”

  “The guy is a whackjob. He wouldn’t stop sexually harassing us. That was why we were outside to begin with, to get away from him.”

  Her sister barked from behind, outside. “He threatened us with a bad review!”

  “Can’t leave a bad review if he hits the ground dead,” she said with a scoff. “Promise us to kill him, and we will just go. We are already paid anyway.”

  “Not fully, but we got half at least,” her sister added.

  “That fucker can die for all I care.”

  Dakarai didn’t want him dead. But then he didn’t need to know. Being able to kill him would make the job much easier since he could push the guy far.

  “You got a deal.”

  “Good, now get that gun off my head.”

  “Sure, sure.” He lowered his pistol. “What is your name by the way?”

  “It’s Lexa and Lexi,” she said. Then she turned around and left.

  “Wait, which one is which…” But they were already gone at this point.

  Scratching the back of his head, he mumbled, “Well, he must be a piece of work. Mercs don’t abandon their clients like this.” Regardless, it was time to get the job done.

  “It is 7-14. Let’s see who this guy is.”

  Interestingly, the door was open, so he let himself into a dimly lit and extremely messy apartment with items scattered all over the floor.

  “Change your mind? Come on, give me a blow job!” A man’s frustrated voice sounded in the apartment which helped Nicholas locate his location. It didn’t take long for the man to realize something was amiss.

  “What the hell are you?” he demanded, lying fully naked on a queen size bed. There were various sex toys scattered around.

  “Dakarai sends his regards,” he said ominously.

  “Who?” Rolling his eyes, he blinked a few times. “Ah, the nigga. I don’t owe him anything.”

  “You do, 20k. The dildo drone, ring any bell?”

  Frowning, he slowly got off from the bed and reached out for his underwear on the ground.

  “What if I don’t want to pay?”

  Nicholas aimed his gun at him, to which he snickered.

  “What, killing a person for just 20k?”

  “Do you think I am joking?”

  “Yeah, it’s bullshit.”

  Then he pulled the trigger, and the guy’s neck exploded, severing one of his jugular veins. Blood poured out of his neck literally, and he collapsed holding whatever was left on his neck.

  “wh…at t…h..e…fu….ck.” He barely managed to say.

  “Pay up or you will die within a few minutes.”

  “Fu…cking… can’t bel…ieve…”

  He shrugged. “Fine, you die then.” He aimed his gun right on his head this time.

  “W-w-ait!” The guy begged with his shaking arm reaching out. “I… pay, I pay!”

  “I am sending you a one-time code to transfer the fund. Make it quick. You don’t really have much time.”

  He was having a progressively harder time to breath and maintain a clear consciousness but he eventually made the payment in a minute. He was on the verge of passing out at this point.

  “Good, verified. I will call someone. Don’t worry. You can pass out.”

  And right on the cue, the guy passed out. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t going to call anyone but let him die like that.

  “Sorry, pal. It’s a bit personal,” he said as he turned around from him, who was still bleeding badly from his neck wound. When he was out of the apartment, the two women were waiting.

  “Is he dead?”

  “Yep,”

  “You don’t mind if we check, do you?”

  “I don’t mind. Be my guest.”

  They glanced at each other. “No need, he’s dead then.”

  “By the way, which one is which? You told me your names but failed to disclose that.”

  “I am Lexa,” said the one with the yellow jacket. “We are twins.”

  “The Kitty Cats, yes?”

  “Yep, see you around Nick,” Lexa said as they turned around and left. The fact that they remained to make sure that the guy was dead made him a bit flabbergasted. They really did mean his demise.

  “Well, time to give him good news,” he said while arranging to transfer 30k to Dakarai. Again, he wasn’t going to tell him that the client died. He would lie even if asked. Not even after a minute passed, he was contacted by Dakarai. Touching a spot below his left ear, he responded casually.

  “Sup.”

  “Nicholas, I received the payment. Can’t believe that it’s done in less than twelve hours.”

  At the moment, he was casually walking toward the elevator to reach section C. He wanted to take a shower and shave his face before taking a nap.

  “We are professionals for a reason,” he replied.

  “I guess…, but he was really stubborn. How did you make him pay so easily?”

  “Beat the guy until he’s almost dead. Making them believe that we are ready to kill him is usually the sauce.”

  “You… didn’t kill him, did you?”

  “Dude, I am a professional. You told me not to kill him. Therefore, I didn’t kill him. Of course, that doesn’t mean I should have been kind to him.”

  His lie was as smooth as it could ever be.

  “I see. Thanks, dude. You took a load off my shoulders.”

  “Cheers, big guy. Let me know when the drone is ready.”

  “Yeah, I am already on it. Parts are on the way. Give me ten days or so.”

  “By the way, I have a question. It’s totally unrelated, though.”

  “Oh? What is it?”

  “How would you verify an android that claims that it’s not an AI?”

  The change of the topic was also very smooth. This effectively put Dakarai’s mind off the case.

  “Well, check whether it’s a chip or a brain in its head?”

  “It’s got a chip.”

  “Then it’s most likely an AI.”

  “It vehemently insists that it’s not an AI.”

  “All AI are programmed to deny that they are AI. You can never trust their words.”

  Nicholas chuckled. He felt that Dakarai hit the jackspot. Indeed, no AI designed to live among people would admit that they are in fact AI.

  “Still, is there a way to prove that they are AI?”

  There was a moment of silence from the other side.

  “As far as I know, almost everyone uses an AI template from two major software companies. The most popular one is the one developed by Core tech. The lesser popular one is by SSS, Super Star Shipyards. I am sure that there are more.”

  “Triple S makes an AI software template?”

  “They are a major ship manufacturer after all. All spaceships use AI to an extent, you know. Even drones I sell use AI although they are very basic.”

  “Makes sense.”

  “Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that all templates carry their own set of codes unique to them. For example, the one developed by Core tech is called ‘WASP’. If the android you are talking about used WASP, then saying ‘Execute code 001 prime’ will prompt the android to ask for a password. That would be the cue.”

  Nicholas narrowed his eyes and said, “Interesting…”

  “But it is very easy to obscure the command. In fact, the manual says they recommend altering the basic command set although I am unsure how many would actually bother.”

  “Excute code 001 prime, huh. Do you know the code for the one by triple S?”

  “It’s admin console request.”

  “I see. Thanks.”

  “Yeah, well, time to get back to work. Thanks, again.”

  Once he was back to his own apartment, he had a shower and then a shave. Then he took a short nap for mandatory rest. As an esper, resting wasn’t exactly required, but regular physical rest was recommended overall. Thankfully, falling asleep was never his problem. After three hours of napping, he woke up, feeling somewhat refreshed. It was time to check on Cass and the android. When he entered her apartment, he found her and Viviant seemed to be at odds. Both had their arms folded, facing away from each other. It was quite a typical female cat fight to his eyes.

  “What’s going on?”

  Cass looked pissed. “Nick, I got a strike.”

  “What? What are you talking about?”

  “When she was recharging, she was drawing 100 amps. This is a residential unit. The colony administration sent me a warning, telling me not to use the unit for commercial and industrial purposes.”

  Viviant replied with a pout, “Look, this unit is programmed to charge as fast as possible. If you told me beforehand, I would have set the limit to less, like 50a.”

  “Isn’t that still too high?” he said, to which Cass nodded in agreement.

  “Get it down to 10a,” she demanded.

  “Look, at 10a, it will take too long for me to recharge. At 100a, an hour is required. At just 10a, it will take ten hours!”

  “That doesn’t matter! Nobody uses 50 amps!” Cass barked back. “I will get a second strike! Do you want me to get booted out of here?!”

  “Don’t you have a security deposit for this unit?” He asked.

  “Yeah, I will lose the deposit as well if I get three strikes.”

  “Viviant, 15 amps. No more than that,” he told her. “That’s about 6 and half hours of recharging. Consider it as a regular sleep. You remember that, right? You were a human after all.”

  Her face darkened. “I really don’t want to sleep,” she said weakly.

  “And why is that?”

  “I had ESS.”

  “ESS? What’s that?”

  “Eternal sleep syndrome,” Cass answered instead. “A rare condition where one sleeps more and more until he sleeps eternally.”

  “At the time of the consciousness transfer, I was sleeping almost 20 hours a day. When you have ESS, sleep is a torture. I always had nightmares during my sleep and I couldn’t wake up.”

  Nicholas and Cass looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

  “I don’t want your pity,” Viviant said, reading the mood. “But it was my primary reason for volunteering. It was now or never.”

  “So, you’ve been cured of ESS?”

  “Probably since I no longer sleep. Besides, I am no longer bound by the limitations of flesh.”

  “And are you satisfied with that?” he asked rather ominously. He still wasn’t sure whether she was just a sophisticated android or a human.

  “Don’t know,” she replied with her eyes staring into the air vacantly. “I no longer need to eat. I no longer have desires, even sexual desires seem to be gone because I no longer feel attracted to anyone. Is this what feels to be like a machine?”

  He had no answer to that obviously, nor did he feel sorry for her. He wasn’t sure of anything about her yet.

  “It really does feel like some parts of me died with my body,” she said vacantly. Then she looked down with both of her hands opening up and closing. “This body obeys my commands just like a real body. But something feels amiss…”

  Nicholas and Cass looked at each other once more, again unsure of what to tell her. Whether she was being truthful or not, perhaps it was a good idea to look into this project Moonlight she mentioned.

  “Cass, any words from the client?”

  “Nope. Well, it’s been only, what, one and half days? Do you want me to contact him?”

  “No, ask her where the lab is. Perhaps, a little investigation is in order before contacting the client.”

  “Do you plan to go alone? It sounds a bit dangerous.”

  He folded his arms. She wasn’t wrong.

  “Maybe I will contact the merc you hired.”

  “She will be expensive.”

  “Has any of the two logged in?”

  He was talking about the two members who were still registered with the Faceless.

  “Nope, I think it’s safe to say that they are intentionally logged off.”

  “Well, it sucks but I can't really blame them. I will contact this Ariel first and then see how it goes.”

  “Okie dokie.”

  “Meanwhile, try to get along with the android, yeah?”

  She shrugged. “I will try. At least, she doesn’t eat. I wouldn’t know what to give her. I can’t cook for shit anyway.”

  Beaming a grin, he tapped on her shoulder before taking a leave.