A man's voice responded after a second. "Confirmed, Captain Strain. How's your new ride?"

"She's beautiful," Lily answered. "Please pass my thanks to the technicians who were able to rig up the railgun instead of the standard rifle."

"I'll do that, Captain. Good luck. Stand by for launch orders."

"Confirmed."

"Captain Strain?" Sunshine's voice asked.

"Sunshine?" Lily asked, surprised not only at the tone and familiarity of the biomech's voice, but that it had spoken to her without her initiating it.

"Correct, Captain," the biomech said. "In addition to my self-learning artificial intelligence system, I have been programmed with extensive algorithms to interface with green pilots, allowing me to predict certain events and to take actions when within established probability thresholds."

"I didn't know that," Lily said with a frown. "This had better not interfere with my ability to pilot."

"Only in near-fatal situations when an alternative is available," Sunshine said.

"So you're telling me this now to forewarn me?"

"Negative, Captain. Part of the programming requires I make suggestions to aid and enhance your piloting abilities."

"Okay, um," Lily paused and realized that this unexpected ability of her biomech could prove very handy. Or potentially distracting. "Thank you, Sunshine. Can I disable this at any time?"

"Yes, you may."

"Good. Sunshine, open Omega Platoon comm channel."

"Channel open, Captain."

"Sunshine," Lily said, knowing that prefacing any statement with the biomech's designation would keep her words private. "Please proceed with informal privacy settings."

"Acknowledged."

Lily wondered if she was smiling again. She felt giddy. "Omega Platoon, report status."

"Hawkins, ready to engage." First Lieutenant Alex Hawkins was the first to reply. He was in her platoon juggernaut class biomech.

"Blain, ready to engage," her scout, Second Lieutenant Kray Blain followed.

"My ammo feed is jammed," Second Lieutenant Ela Case growled into her ear. "Wait, it's cleared now. These things are amazing!"

Lily fought to keep her laugh out of her voice as she asked, "Lieutenant Case, is your dreadnaught ready?"

"Sorry, ma'am," Ela responded immediately. "Ready to engage."

A touch of laughter tinged the final member of Lily's platoon to report in. "Brief, ready to engage."

Lily smiled at Jessa's tone. She was in a myrmidon, like Sunshine, except Jessa hadn't earned enough points and goodwill in training to swap out the standard seventy-five-mm rifle for something better. Her people were good; they'd been training together for the better part of a year now. She was the youngest, but she was also the best pilot in the group. She'd won their respect in the simulators and consistently scored at or above the top of every test to earn herself a commission to platoon leader. Now she had to keep her head out of the clouds and keep it! Fortunately for her, on Venus the clouds were few and far between.

"Stand by, Omega, deployment light is still red. Keep your heads up and remember this is for keeps this time."

A chorus of verbal salutes and encouragement followed. Lily smiled to herself. "Sunshine, suspend Omega comms to audible only."

"Acknowledged," the biomech responded.

Lily rested silently in the biomech, familiarizing herself with the displays and controls again. She was barely into her second pass when Sunshine announced an incoming control circuit message.

"All platoons, you are cleared to debark. Good luck, pilots." The message came at the same time the clamps holding the biomechs in place in the ship's hanger released.

"Sunshine, for Omega comms: Green light to debark!"

Lily knew her message was relayed when she saw the biomechs under her command begin to move out. Her heart leapt into her chest as she took her first step and felt the power of the massive organic muscles that powered her twenty-five ton robot beneath her. She didn't just feel it move; she felt the muscles contracting and picking up the armored leg through her implant. It took her breath away.

Lily struggled to regain control of herself. It really was like nothing she'd ever imagined! The sims were a 2D video game compared to piloting a real biomech. She felt a shiver run through her body-her real body. It was a welcome relief from the growing warmth in the padded cocoon that protected her.

The deployment from the hanger to the field outside of the starship was a success: only two of her biomechs ran into each other. Two other platoons ended up in heaps of fallen robots, leaving her men and women chuckling and offering snide comments on their private comm circuit. Lily agreed with them, but she kept her thoughts to herself. They had a long walk ahead of them from the starport and she was beginning to realize her biomech did lack one thing: decent cooling in the cockpit!

Chapter 38.

"Will you just sign the damn contract?"

A laugh burst out of Krys's mouth before he could stop himself.

"This is funny to you?" Shelby spat.

"No! I-you just-"

"I've risked my career to make you a citizen!" she fumed. "I'm doing it again to help your renegade friends! I've done everything for you and have plans for us! I'm not going to be stuck running an ag colony the rest of my life!"

"Whoa," Krys said. He held up his hands. "First off, I laughed because you swore. Normally you're jumping on other people for using that kind of language."

Shelby clamped her mouth shut for a moment and then nodded. "You're right," she admitted. "But you're so damn frustrating! Why won't you sign a contract with me?"

Krys sighed. "I never said I wouldn't."

"Then why don't you? You can move in with me. It's a bigger residence. At least until we get out of here. Is it because we've never, um, been together?"

"No!" Krys blurted as the heat rushed to his face. "That's not it."

"Krys, it's okay if that's it. If you're scared, we can wait. I have enough space you could have your own room. Look, believe it or not, but I've never done that either. I want you to be my first, though."

Krys stared at her and shook his head. "You're ol-I mean, you've been all over and done so much."

"I'm old?" Shelby asked with a laugh. "Then maybe you should respect your elders? Appreciate my experience and know that I'm trying to help you down the right path?"

"I didn't mean that. You're not old," he protested. "I just meant that you've been through all your schooling and isn't there officer training and all that? I just can't believe you never had somebody special before me."

Shelby's face froze for a moment. She licked her lips and turned away. "I've always been working. Always been focused. That's what I was taught."

"So what changed?"

She stared at him and then shook her head and looked away. "I just want us to be together. Why do you have to analyze everything?"

Krys shrugged. "I like you. I want to know more about you. See what makes you tick."

"Tick?"

"Yeah, you know, like an old-fashioned watch?"

She blinked. "Um, no."

Krys sighed.

Shelby's eyes softened as she smiled and said, "You're too young to be so old."

"My mom told me I had an old soul," he admitted.

Shelby stiffened for a couple of seconds. When she relaxed, she spoke slowly at first and then sped up as she gained traction. "Okay, well, you changed things. I saw this crazy kid out in the forest who had no idea what was going on. But I saw your eyes. You were curious. Worried and scared, but you wanted to know more. You wanted to understand. It seemed like it would be an even greater crime to take that from you."

Krys grunted. "Well, um, thanks."

Shelby laughed.

"Are you still trying to figure me out?"

"Always," she said. "But I'm happy with you. You are exciting. You're smart. You're caring. Why shouldn't I want to be with you? There's only a few years between us and we waited until you were legal."

"We waited?" Krys asked. "We still haven't done anything! Well, at least not that."

Shelby chuckled. "True, but not for lack of my trying!"

"What about Mr. Strain and the others? Any progress?"

"I don't want to do that with anyone else."

Krys gasped and shook his head. "Oh wow," he muttered. "That is not what I meant!"

Shelby grinned at his discomfort and then sighed. "It's complicated. I can't let anyone know about them. I have to make it known that I need resources and find some ways around certain roadblocks. It's going to take some time. A lot of it."

Krys frowned. "But you're still trying, right?"

"Krys, it took me how long to make progress on your citizenship? Two years? Maybe more. And all because of the confusion regarding who you really are."

"I know who I am."

"That's not what I meant," she groaned.

"It's just important that they don't get forgotten," Krys said. "And after what happened to them-to us-I want to make sure they don't get overlooked."

Shelby frowned and then put a hand on her hip. "Wait a minute, are you blackmailing me?"

"What? No!" he backpedaled.

"Of course I'm going to help them. It helps all of us-why wouldn't I do it? That's what I believe in, Krys: that we need to help each other out so we can all reach our potential as individuals and as a race. Now stop changing the topic on me."

"Oh, um, okay." His stomach relaxed for a moment until he realized they were back to talking about the ridiculous social contracts again. "Tell me something. If these social contracts are all about convenience, then why are you talking about wanting to take me with you when you leave? And why are you putting up with me not agreeing to one whenever you bring it up? Wouldn't it be more convenient to just give up and move on?"

"You're a bad influence," she muttered. "Convenient, yes, but that's not what I want."

"It seems silly. All the stories my parents told me and everything I used to read and watch talked about dating and having relationships that mattered. The new ways aren't like that. Even worse, I have a hard time finding any of the books I used to read when I want to show you what I'm talking about. Why should I have to agree to a legal contract so I can call you my girlfriend?"

Shelby's mouth opened and closed. Then she chuckled and nodded. "Okay, that does sound silly. I told you why I'm trying. I like you. I enjoy spending time with you, and I want to do more of it. We get along great, usually, and I think we both have really bright futures ahead of us. So why not share our lives for as long as we can? And maybe, just maybe, some of your outdated romantic ideas have rubbed off on me. Don't let that get out, though. I don't want it hindering my chances for promotion."

"Why would it?"

"Same reason you can't find your books and shows on the net. The ideas can be considered subversive. Confusing. People can get the wrong idea."

"I've read stories like that too," Krys said. "I thought they were fiction."

She blinked. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He sighed. "All right, fine, I'll do it."

Shelby's eyes widened. "You'll sign it? And move in?"

He nodded.

She grinned. "This is going to be great! Trust me, Krys, everything's going to work out great for us!"

"Okay, let's do it. But one more condition."

Shelby sighed. "What now? I can only risk so much for us, you know."

"For us?" Krys repeated. He grinned. "Don't worry. What I want is for you to read some books."

"Some books? Oh, you mean banned books, don't you?"

Krys shrugged. "Books I have on my systems. I don't know if they're banned. If they are, shouldn't they be on a list somewhere? Otherwise how are we to know?"

"If they were listed that would be as good as making them avail-oh!"