Young Writers Society

Aster

"Okay," Addy said, her upbeat self again. "You know how to contact us if you need anything else. See you around." She waved, and the group of three walked toward the exit.

Addy turned back to me. "You okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine," I said. I was very good at not thinking about things if I didn't want to. I put Astraea out of my mind, and swiveled my barstool around. With Jay, Gabe, and Inez gone, I could concentrate on those two robots.

Project 100

I snatched my finds back from '98 and flashed him a look. He may have been the closest thing to a brother, but I had come close many a time to dissasembling him. Now that he would shut his mouth to. I felt as if I was being watched. I turned my head, but met only multiple gazes. But I felt a gaze. The flirtacious stares and winks of female droids were not quite what I detected.

"Something wrong '1? Not enough ass for your tastes?" '98 chortled, necking his drink.

"Haha, hilarious. My humour emmiter almost exploded," I grunted, my voice filled with blatant sarcasm. I was about to dismount from my stool when I realised that I did see the stare. A human snapped their head away from my direction. It was them. As to whether it was a man or woman, I could not see.

"Hey, '1, what's up? You seem... distracted?"

"Wait here, get inebriated or something, I'm gonna go check something out."

I stepped from the stool, ignoring '98's childish giggles and approached the observer.

Aster

I swiveled in my barstool as one of the robots got up and walked toward me. He must have noticed my staring. As much as I tried to blend in, my unnaturally pale eyes gave me away quite often.

"Who are you looking at?" Addy asked.

"Those two robots," I answered, pointing at them.

"Hm," Addy remarked. "Looks like the Project series to me. We don't see those often." She turned casually back to her drink as the robot approached us.

"Excuse me," I said, addressing the robot. "I don't believe I've ever encountered a robot of your type. What are you, exactly?"

Project 100

Robot. I hated that word. Originating from the Earth language of Slavic meaning 'slave'. I contained my rage, but I knew it would overcome me eventually, that would be the time I should have gotten back to HQ.

"Series?" I laughed, shaking my head. "No, the 'series' was based on my design, undoubtably stolen from my design. I am Project 100, combat droid serving Arnold Lash, Overseer of Space Colony Lash."

I was unaware if these humanoids had heard of my commander. If they had, it would not gain '98 or myself any popularity in this place. And an awful lot of fatalities. "I have told a little about myself, which colony do you originate?" I implied.

Aster

"I was created in the Interplanetary Federation's human colony on Leva," I replied, specifically saying "created." I preferred not to talk about Leva at all, but when I had to, I made it apparent that I no longer resided there. "I now work on the IFS Endeavor."

"And I'm from Earth," Addy continued. "The original. Also from the twenty-first century; there was a time travel mix-up a while back..."

"I do not believe I've heard of your commander," I said. "Does he control a region near the IF?"

Project 100

"I don't believe so," I said, nervously. "Perhaps we should talk about something else, I came here to forget about my work," I lied, trying not to rouse to much suspicion.

"Ok then, not a problem," they smiled politely.

"Why are you here?" I inquired, "a casual drop in, or maybe you are here on greater business?"

Aster

"We're a little lost, actually," Addy explained, grimacing a bit. "Embarrassing for a ship of the Endeavor's caliber, I know...but still..."

"We've been chasing a rogue Umbrian ship for the past month," I added. "We were ambushed by some of their allies just a few parsecs from here, and we lost them in the fight. You wouldn't happen to know where they are, would you? They're in an interceptor called...I'm sorry, I don't speak Umbrian; we rarely ever communicate with them. I believe the correct translation would be Divinity."

Project 100

The divinity. Hm. I ran it through my processors for a few seconds, and something vague popped into my metaphorical mind. "The divinity. Yes."

The being's face seemed to brighten a bit, but that may have been the strobe lights around the club. "Based on the technology of the ship, I don't believe it was Umbrian of decent. To me it seemed within the technologies of the Ellisian Quadrant, so possibly Kelliphians or Wveets." I wasn't sure as to which species it was, I couldn't even guarantee that it was one of those two, but they seemed most plausible, considering one had been a species of mercenaries, and the others just willing to fall in line behind the strongest power.

"Anyway, their species I am unsure of, but I believe that they headed Rohgen-bound from here; so anywhere in the Rohgen Galaxy would be your best bet." I put my metallic palm to my mouth, and once again ran everything about the past three hours through my processors, but could not come up with anything more. "I apologise if this isn't much help. May I ask your name, by the way?" I queried.

Aster

The android thought through his story once again, hand on chin, and then asked for my name.

"I'm Aster," I replied. "And thank you, that helps a lot. I will look into the origins of the ship...both those species seem plausible to me, especially considering the captain's background..." I paused, wondering how I would explain exactly what Astraea had done.

"She's nuts," Addy piped up, swiveling in her stool. "Out of her mind. Complete wack job. I've never seen a programming error that bad in my entire life..."

"She's half-android," I elaborated. "Highly unstable, and the mastermind of all sorts of crimes against the universe..."

Omniyus (I know, original, but my username is actually a character from one of my earlier stories.)

I strode into the bar, looking for someone to keep me company. I looked at the bartender, who was serving some green slim ladies some rainbow colored drink. I focused on another group that peaked my interest, though. A group a two people and two Projects.

Projects. You don't see those very much anymore. I slunk into the background and eavesdropped curiously.

Project 100

Hm, a cyborg. Odd, just like my own master; Lash was so mad to preserve himself, he had not given a second thought to adding metallic life supports into his body. It didn't take him long to become, as '98 crudely put it, a brain in a moving metal jar. "Interesting," I said, wondering about the level of criminality this woman sat at. I couldn't think it possible that she could be anything higher than a leader of a crime syndicate; the line of business '98 and I worked for was much more brutal.

"You say she is half android, hm?"

The two nodded.

"And the other half of her..?"

Aster

I clamped my mouth shut tightly, sure that I wouldn't be able to make it through the explanation without deactivating my program. But Addy launched right into the story.

"The other half of her is what's left of Astrid Calvin," she said to the other android. "She was the lead scientist at the Leva lab. That programming error made Astraea really, really jealous of Astrid, so...well, things got messy after that. Let's just say that Astraea now looks just like Astrid, if you know what I mean..."

Omniyus

I looked at them. One name caught my attention. Astraea. Why would they be talking about my master? I tried to blend into the enviroment even more as my tension rised.

Aster

As I waited for the droid's reply, I noticed someone staring at Addy. I peered over at him, and he looked away quickly, strolling slowly in a circle.

I knew I should have looked away, so he wouldn't get suspicious, but I stared at him a little longer. I hadn't seen enough of his face to identify him, but he looked familiar for some reason. "Addy?" I said quietly. "Is that an..."

"An Umbrian?" Addy finished for me. "Hard to tell from this angle...but it's certainly a possibility. Why do you ask?"

"He was staring at you," I replied.

"Well, why don't I go see what he wants?" Addy said. Before I could stop her, she got up, sauntered over to the newcomer, and sat down on a barstool next to him. "You look lost," she said to him, smiling a little. "Looking for someone?" I frowned--was she flirting?

Kualat

'My kingdom for a drink right now.' I silently screamed, all the while outwardly radiating indifference. It was unusual for me to crave intoxication like I did right at that moment. Working lengthy shifts, day-in, day-out, surrounded by liqueurs and spirits and cocktails- and knowing what went into them- tended to put me off.
But at that second, I just wanted to make the pain go away.
The Umbrian had been seated for barely long enough to order a Tallboy when the girl took the stool next to him. She flirted like there was no tomorrow, and he squirmed like a worm on a line. It was agony to watch.
I lamented his light-weighted approach to drinking; the Tallboy contained barely enough alcohol to make a small rodent drowsy. Had it packed more of a punch, I would surely have downed it just to block out the unabashed flaunting of her feminine assets, or at the very least appreciate it myself.
The Umbrian shifted uncomfortably, eyes darting. It was clear as day that he would give a kidney to be free of the situation. That in mind, I slipped a shot of Ventaxian rum into his Tallboy before placing it by his elbow. A little unintentional eavesdropping put a name to the woman's face- Addy. I turned away, but felt her pull on my shirtsleeve.
I sighed, hoping she would order something very, very strong.