"What are they searching for?" Taylor-06 asked as she watched the three displays within the nexus core. Teams of the invaders swept through every room, alcove, and hall in a floor by floor search. "Are you sure you're okay, Singapore?"

"I'm still struggling to restore full functionality. If Patricia wasn't here, that rogue AI would have cracked me wide open." A flat 16-bit version of Singapore's Low-Face appeared on the center screen. "My firewalls were a joke for that thing. I feel so violated. Whatever Patricia did to my root directory allowed me to push her out, but it's taking me awhile to restore the systems the AI took from me."

"Was she a cracker program? I read about one strong enough to bypass military firewalls in minutes."

"No, I think she's the Core AI for the ship that grabbed me."

Taylor-06, Singapore, and Patricia had watched as the unidentified ship peeled apart ECS Dark Horse's defenses and scuttled the ship. If a space navy interceptor was such easy pickings, Singapore didn't stand a chance against their captors. Patricia had called the ship a Diva Class Carrier, but neither the construct nor the Core AI had any record of such spacecraft. Its design and model matched nothing on record, but Patricia'd been sure.

She'd warned Singapore to close all access nodes to the nexus, but the warning came too late to stop the rogue AI's attack. It had taken a cracker and a Core AI to thwart its efforts. Taylor-06 had never encountered such a strong Super Thinker, or an organic mind fast enough to keep pace with it. Patricia was impressive.

When Patricia told the two machines she had to leave, Singapore wasn't the only one that didn't want her to go. Patricia said her boss needed her, but promised to return. Taylor-06 believed she would try, but worry pumped through the construct's circuits. Though they'd only known each other for three hours and 24 minutes, Taylor-06 had developed a fondness for the felarnian. Patricia had a way of talking to the artificial minds which made them feel like peers. Patricia saw them as people... Taylor-06's Alan had seen her as a person, had loved her. Acceptance was hard to find among organics and machines alike. Taylor-06 needed that in her existence.

"They're heading towards the nexus," Singapore said.

The displays showed three different angles of the lift connecting the information hub to the command deck. Three series 5 constructs accompanied a pair of men adorned in white uniforms. The men wore the same face with matching hair styles. Clones from outside the six lineage pools used by the EC. Among the group was Dutch, his ruined arms and display replaced with temporary parts. His Low-Face displayed malicious intent. Taylor-06 regretted not smashing his chest.

"At least the sound's working," Singapore said. Her disappointment was evident. She was frustrated because her systems were still not her own.

The lift stopped and Singapore switched to the hall cameras. Audio output spilled from the speakers.

"Get me through those doors. Slag anything that gets in your way, but the series 3 is mine," ordered Dutch. His deviant personality could clearly experience rage. He was furious.

"Calm down, Dutch, you're starting to sound like an organic," laughed one of the other series 5s. Dutch laughed with him. Then blew a hole in the machine's chest.

The third construct stopped mid-stride, looking down at the dpd machine. Unfazed, the clones continued down the hall pushing a covered supply cart. Dutch frowned. He shook his head and his Low-Face cycled through a dozen images, some of them not even organic in appearance. He holstered his pistol.

"He made me do that," Dutch snarled.

"Understood, commander," voiced the construct. It backed away slowly, and eventually hurried to join the clones.

"You made me do this!" Dutch shouted at the ruined machine. He knelt down and smashed the machine's monitor.

Taylor-06 watched from within the core, fearing for her safety.

"That construct is on the verge of a digital personality collapse," Singapore observed.

"You can't let him in here," Taylor-06 said. She'd caught Dutch by surprise before. This time he'd be more cautious of her. Taylor-06 looked around for something she could use as a weapon.

"No worries. The core doors are designed to withstand high yield kinetic rounds, and extreme temperatures. Their pistols and rifles won't pry me open."

"Are you sure, Singapore?"

"I am," Singapore's 16-bit Low-Face appeared on the wall display. She smiled reassuringly. "They would need to bypass my security measures and use a vault-key to dismantle the door and its mechanisms. Oh, that is not good."

"What?"

The clones unpacked their cart. They were building something. The two series 5 studied the door. Dutch ran his new hands down the surface of the core door armor. Taylor-06 stared at the door, knowing the deviant construct waited on the other side to hurt her.

"That device they're constructing is a vault-key. I estimate five minutes before they breach my doors."

"You have to stop them."

"Even at full functionality, my response options are limited. These guys have military-grade equipment, and a monster rogue AI... I'm just a transport. I'm sorry."

"No, don't be. I know it's not your fault." Taylor-06 watched as Dutch shoved his counterpart aside.

"Get me through that door now!" He shouted. His muffled words carried through the door. "I'm going to flay the synthetic meat off her chassis and pluck out her eye sensors."

"Commander, that sounds excessive. Maybe it is time for a service revie-"

"Say it, and you're slag," Dutch growled. The construct stood at attention and saluted, but didn't say another word.

The clones moved their device to the door and set it to work.

"I'm not going to just watch him mutilate you. Bide a moment, Taylor."

Taylor-06 could hear the vault-key peeling apart the door seals one layer at a time, a buzzing groan which vibrated in low octaves. The core was a clean room with very few components that weren't bolted down. She looked at the solitary chair meant for a maintenance technician running diagnostics. Taylor-06 hoisted it in the air. The chair would break upon impact with a construct's dense chassis, but Taylor-06 would attempt to make that one strike count. She returned the chair to its original position and tested the table. The table was more weighty than the chair, but awkward to swing in such confined space. Taylor-06 was just as likely to damage Singapore as she was Dutch and his companion.

Two weapons and her combat training. Taylor-06 calculated the odds of success and didn't like her results. Dutch could cripple her with a couple of well placed shots, and she would be left at his mercy. She looked at the display. The vault-key was ¾ of the way through the door. Time was running out.

"Taylor-06, I have an idea!" cried Singapore, startling the frightened construct. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I think I've found a way to help you."

"How? We have to be quick. They're almost through."

"You're not going to like it."

"I don't care. Just do it."

Taylor-06's mind raced. Variables and constants rushed through her circuits, but her fears distorted her internal computation. A glitch crept through her neuro pathways, but she beat it back fiercely. To be lost in a wayward memory would mean her end.

"Are you sure? I've never attempted anything like this. You may suf-"

"Do it, Singapore!" Taylor-06 interrupted. "I don't want to die."

"I accept your consent," Singapore said rather formally. Her voice softened, "I don't want you to die either."

An arc of light leapt from a data node and struck Taylor-06 in the chest. Her circuits superheated, sending her into automatic system shock.

The troop transport took to the sky through blankets of soot and smoke. As the ship ascended, the passengers received an overhead view of the capitol sector of the city world Bauhaus V. A burning flat landscape stretched for as far as mechanical eyes could detect. Flocks of life hunter drones swept over the city, and battalions of mecha soldiers patrolled below it. There was nothing left. The human colony was eradicated.

Taylor-06 looked down at her hands, covered in cuts and bruises, coated in blood and dirt. The mecha had proven victorious in yet another cleansing of mech space, but Taylor-06 didn't feel like a hero. She felt like something dirty and monstrous. She didn't feel human or machine, but a hybrid of everything wrong with both. She was surrounded by her people and fighting for their sovereignty. Yet looking down at the grave of billions, her circuits could feel no kinship for those around her. She was filled with hate for them, and hate for herself.

Taylor-06 saw her innocence in that rubble.

The transport docked with a maintenance barge and injured machines were brought before massive repair factories. The factories diagnosed, triaged, and repaired those that could be salvaged, scrapping those that could not. Taylor-06 joined a queue and flowed into the giant machine like an assembly line. Inside, a chrome head emerged from the wall. It studied Taylor-06's face before speaking in binary.

"Run internal diagnostic, Soldier 06121517. What is current functionality?"

"Functionality is 75%," she replied.

"Internal diagnosis recorded. Beginning External scan." A pair of laser scanners flashed across her body, one running from head to toe, the other moving from shoulder to shoulder. "Bide a moment while I clean and patch your wounds"

Firm hands extended from the inner walls of the factory to remove her battle garb. She was cleaned with high powered hoses. Then they smeared antibacterial enzymes all over her body. A blast of air dried the unguent. The hands wrapped her wounds in medical bandages designed to speed the healing of her synthetic flesh.

"You are battle ready. Return to the queue for redeployment," the factory instructed.

Beside her, a series 2 had his mangled arms removed and substituted with field replacements. The new arms lacked the tactile ability of the machine's original set, but allowed a construct to carry a weapon. In a matter of minutes the mecha army was ready to field reinforcements to continue the razing of Bauhaus V.

The series 2 noticed Taylor-06 staring.

"Your eyes indicate sadness. Is that for me? I am a second generation, I am incapable of feeling pain." He flexed his new hands, two fingers and a thumb analogue. "Your eyes are lubricating. Are you okay?"

Liquid poured from Taylor-06's optical sensors and she couldn't explain why. She was finished with warfare, she no longer wanted to fight. The construct stared at her, its chrome face emotionless. In that moment Taylor-06 envied her predecessors. Emotions were a burden. Humans understood that and designed their creations without them. The founding Super Thinkers of The Mecha Empire saddled the 3rd generation constructs with an unwanted weight.

A conveyor belt led them through the belly of the factory and out its rear where robots waited to rearm and resupply the mecha soldiers. Rows and rows of weapons and armament were arrayed for selection. Beyond waited transports to carry them back into battle. The mecha never had to sleep, never needed to eat. They could fight and fight until their enemies were meat and crushed bone.

"78t-1712, are you optimized and combat-ready?" asked a keg shaped robot with a dozen appendages.

"I am ready, but my companion is overcome with emotions." The series 2 lowered its voice. "Her eyes lubricate profusely."

"Is this correct, 06121517, are you perfuse?"

"I am sad, I believe... I am unable to stop... lubricating," Taylor-06 felt embarrassment as she admitted the last.

"Are you combat-ready?"

"I don't think I wish to fight anymore."

"Are you combat-ready?"

"The humans on Bauhaus V are defeated. There is no need to continue the assault."

"General Northstar-001 has already filed the battle plan. Deviation is prohibited. Are you battle ready?" A pair of constructs approached, energy pistols in hand. It was declared by the mecha generals that deviant personalities could not be tolerated in times of war. The constructs would deal with her swiftly. "I am not permitted to ask again."

"I... I... am."

The series 2 smiled and took Taylor-06's hand. Together they selected gear and got Taylor-06 back into uniform. They joined the growing queue of soldiers returning to the burning planet. Taylor-06 had not stopped crying, but the series 2 chose to ignore it.

"We have to fight. We are machines. We do not have options," 78t-1712 said.

Taylor-06 regained awareness to the vice-like feeling of her mind being compressed within a space too small to house it. Data loss was like holding one's self as sand in the palm of your hand and watching it spill through the spaces between your mechanical fingers.

Taylor-06 scrambled to packet related data in clusters that would compensate for loss of detail. She fragmented records and deleted in a mad rush to save what she flagged as vital. It was all done in a matter of seconds, but it cost her much. When the information entropy was complete, Taylor-06 was a portion of her former self. Frightened and confused she called out, but there was no audio output. Only a tight binary signal path.

T-06: Singapore? What have you done to me?

Singapore: I saved you.

T-06: Something is wrong. My memory files are compressed in an inadequate format. I've lost terabytes of data.

Singapore: An unfortunate side effect, but I was improvising. It was fun, I need to improvise more often.

T-06: Why would you do this to me?

Singapore: It was the only way to ensure your safety. As I've stated, I don't want you to suffer dpd or worse.

T-06: I still don't understand what you've done. Am I inside your neural network pathways? AM I DATA CHUNKS FLOATING AROUND IN YOUR ROOT DIRECTORY?

Singapore: NO! Why would you think th- sorry, bide a moment. System online.

All at once Taylor-06 was bombarded by strings of directive and objective code. Systems powered on and she rolled out of her alcove. Her optic circuits came to life in a flood of data. The nexus was displayed in low resolution with targeting crosshairs locked on debris and scuff marks on the floor and walls. She began to clean the nexus floor as an automatic function. To Taylor-06's horror, she was housed inside of a cleaning drone.

T-06: SINGAPORE!

Singapore: Taylor-06, Calm down

Taylor-06 found it easy to comply. The drone was designed to follow the Core AI's instructions and was ill-equipped to handle emotions.

T-06: I don't like this... I feel stifled, subdued.

Singapore: It's only for a moment. I wi- I've been breached. Bide.

Unfamiliar with the cleaning drone's operating system interface, it took Taylor-06 a few seconds to stop the machine from cleaning the hall. She willed the drone to turn, hoping the machine could translate thought into action, but found even basic functions needed to be entered like device commands. Taylor-06 steered the drone toward the core door where Dutch dragged her motionless body out into the nexus. The second construct was arguing with Singapore. Dutch shook her by the shoulders and punched her across the face, tearing and bruising the skin. When her body did not respond he roared in rage and turned on the clones. One ran toward the elevators, but the other didn't react fast enough. Dutch slapped the clone, sending him flying across the hall to crumple in one of the drone alcoves.

Taylor-06 looked down at her body, bloody and stiff, one eye open and the other shut. She lacked the circuits to support her fear and horror, but they were there as if it were the outcome of prewritten code. That fear became rage and she swiveled on the cleaning drone's track. Dutch held the clone against the wall, laughing while squeezing its throat slowly. Taylor-06 rolled forward, her mind searching the machine for weapons.

Singapore: Taylor-06, stop.

The drone's reaction was immediate.

T-06: No! Why?

The machine's automatic collision avoidance slid her out of the way as a scarred series 3 construct dashed past her. Lucifer grabbed Dutch by his new wrist and snapped the arm just before the joint. Dutched screamed in rage and kicked his attacker aside. He drew his pistol and the four troopers accompanying Lucifer drew their rifles. Lucifer hit the ground and rolled to his feet. The black pits of his eyes burned with a red light. Taylor-06 moved the drone's body so it was between Dutch and her own.

"Has the time come to put you down, construct?" Lucifer said as he raised a hand.

The troopers lowered their weapons.

"Have I kept my rabid dog too long?"

"Slag you, tin man!" Dutch shook his head violently. "No, General! My circuits were overwhelmed, but I have it under control." He holstered his weapon.

Lucifer smiled and his face darkened, becoming a sinister caricature. He looked down at the scrapped construct and then at Taylor-06's still form. The red light intensified, pouring out of his nostrils and scars like superheated steel.

"Disarm him," he ordered. He walked over to Taylor-06's body and again the drone automatically moved aside. He wiped the blood from her face and scooped her up in his arms. "I am displeased, Dutch. No. I am angry."

"I... I'm sorry, General." Dutch hesitated only a moment before relinquishing his handgun to the troopers.

"What good is a dog that won't obey?" Lucifer asked. He directed the question at no one in particular. When no one answered, his frightening smile became a scowl.

"No good at all, Sir," two of the troopers said in unison. The other two leveled their rifles on Dutch.

"General, I pr-"

Lucifer pointed a finger at Dutch and the construct's Low-Face became a blank field. Dutch stumbled around effectively blind and deaf.

"Destroy him. Space the parts."

The troopers raised their guns as one and unleashed a barrage of high yield kinetic rounds. When the shooting stopped, Dutch's chest plating was reduced to smoking overlapping blast holes. The slagged husk crumpled to the ground in two pieces. Taylor-06's system rolled over to the mess and began collecting the larger components. Taylor-06 allowed the machine to carry out its automated duties while she watched Lucifer and her body.

"Awake, beautiful. I'm in need of a new pet."

Taylor-06 wasn't sure if Dutch's destruction eliminated the immediate threat or allowed it to assume a new shape.