Flying was freedom. The crop duster never thought he could think it, and yet it was true. It wasn't tied to the chores he was bound to before he started racing… flying was so much more than that. He wheeled about in the high, sparse clouds, trying his best not to look down as he flipped into another high-g loop. G-force didn't matter so much, anyways… it just made the trick sound more death-defying than it was.

He startled a little when his train of thought was interrupted. "Crophopper 7, wrap your performance," a monotone voice said, somewhat garbled in the radio transmission.

"Roger that."

The next minute was filled with the most dazzling tricks he could think of, almost tumbling at one point, before he quickly descended, his landing greeted by smiles and cheers. The rather gray airbase was definitely making use of this uplift, and he was more than glad to help in providing it.

As soon as he got off the landing strip, Dusty was immediately greeted by a couple press vehicles, one of them holding a microphone. "Dusty! That was a fantastic show. Do you have anything to say to the folks at home?"

That was his cue. He cleared his throat, quickly recalling his lines. "Well, the military tour is meant to show off bases like Luke, including all the others I've been to already. They're doing everything in their power to make sure this world is a safe place… but they need help. If you're able to join or assist the military in any way, you should."

The news reporter quickly thanked him, turning back to the camera to say some closing words before cutting the live feed… the stories kept getting shorter and shorter, he noticed, even if it was because there was a lot of news to deliver. Or, rather, he thought that was the reason.

Dusty looked out among the crowd, getting a feel for how needed he was at the moment. The roar of a jet engine echoed through the base, quickly grasping the crowd's attention almost completely. He mingled a little, of course posing for a few pictures, and then began to maneuver himself towards the outskirts of the crowd. The attention shouldn't be drawn to him while someone else was performing.

Except he wasn't totally alone. A smaller black plane was watching from the barricaded outskirts of the base, a dark visor covering its eyes - it was probably watching the show like everyone else. Why didn't it come join the crowd?

Dusty paused, looking at it for a minute in curiosity… it looked familiar, even if he'd never seen a plane like it. It looked like a B-2… but it was much too small, and it had two vertical stabilizers instead of being without a tail. The white "EXP" on its side denoted that it was experimental.

He got a little closer. "Excuse me? Sorry to bother you… but I feel like we've met before."

The plane lurched backwards a couple inches, startled, before it quickly turned to retreat into the hangars.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to scare you." Dusty quickly followed, trying to keep pace. "...but I'd really like to know-"

The plane stopped, turning back to him for a moment and saying something… but he couldn't understand it. It sounded like it was speaking using a computer-type language, and its voice didn't give any assistance in determining its gender.

"I don't understand."

It paused for another moment before speaking again. "Go. Away."

He looked back towards where the show was being held, taken aback by the plane's words, and in that moment, it took the opportunity to continue its path back to the hangars. Dusty watched it go, disappointed and still trying to figure out how exactly he recognized it.

Wait. The initials on its tail.

"Is that you, Tera?"

The plane froze in its tracks.

How was that Tera? He paused, trying to figure out what to say. "...Clara told me to look for you."

Silence. A long, almost painful silence.

"She's been waiting for months."

The plane didn't move.

"Why didn't you call her? What happened? Obviously a lot, but-"

"They planned it," she snarled, her inhuman voice making Dusty jump back a bit. Tera paused. "You're scared."

"No, I'm not," Dusty countered, immediately becoming defensive. "Just startled."

"Liar." She turned around, facing him. He could only guess that her glare was icier than he'd ever seen it. "Would anyone even know who I was if I tried to contact them?"

"Probably not, but that's not the point. Clara needs you. She won't-"

"I hope they draft her."

"...what? How could you-"

"You said it. Everyone that has the capability should join."

"That's not what I meant… that's what They want me saying. I need to promote it when I go on tours like this!"

"Probably a good thing." She moved towards him, all her control surfaces upwards as a show of dominance. "If they weren't drafting people then I'd be scrap metal. Besides, they won't have to rip her wings or tail off or anything. Just get rid of the propeller. And once they fix her she's in for life. Keeps the public safe."

Dusty shakily retreated a little, wearing an otherwise defiant expression. "She's not you, Tera. And she needs to know you're okay."

"She'd be hurting more if she found out."

"Found out what? Just because you-"

"You don't get it. I. Can't. Leave."

"Says who? Just get the clearan-"

"I can't."

He paused, staring at her for a moment. "Is this because I broke up with you?"

"NO!" The continued roaring of jets kept the plane from drawing attention. "I shouldn't even be out here and you do this-"

"Well, when someone just disappears-"

"You don't need to know what happened." It was clear she was struggling to make her speech understandable… she barely even sounded female to begin with. She turned back towards where she was originally going.

Dusty sighed. "You're making it a bigger deal than it is."

"Do you know what it feels like to not be in control of something?"

He blinked. "What?"

"Answer the question."

Dusty decided to just go with it. Anything to keep this plane from trying to kill him… and she already wasn't running on all cylinders. "...you remember when my gearbox started failing? You weren't there until later, but-"

"That's not what I mean. Did you ever have to keep dusting crops? Could you stop when you wanted?"

"Well, yeah… I had a life back then, too. I trained with Chug and-"

"You raced. You raced until you couldn't anymore. Then you became a firefighter. And now you race again. Do you want to go back to dusting crops?"

He was even more confused than before, but answered the statement regardless. "No."

"That's what you're built for."

Crap. "But it's not the same for everybody. Some people love their jobs, and others just aren't a good fit… and then they figure out that they're more than that."

She was quiet for a second. "You're human."

Dusty's eyes widened. "...what…"

"Am I wrong?"

"...you… you're not supposed to know that…"

Dusty was cornered. Tera leaped on the opportunity. "You're as human as anyone. You think you're so great just because you can pick whatever the heck you want to do. Promoting it like it's what everyone's supposed to do when a lot of us can't."

"At least I can be a beacon of hope for some people! Tera, you don't understand what-"

"No, I don't. I can't even imagine a freedom like that. You don't have programming telling you what you want and don't want to do. I know I shouldn't be picking out the weak members of a crowd, but I do," she said, watching Dusty become more terrified by the second. She grinned. "You thought I was watching the airshow."

He tried to back off even further. "...something's wrong with you…"

"If I was supposed to be a civilian." She made a motion equivalent to a shrug. "But I'm not. Why do you think I tried to kill you all those months ago? You were smart to end our relationship when you did."

"...is this some kind of guilt trip?"

"No. It's not. I'm here because I could hurt people anywhere else."

They were silent for a moment, Dusty contemplating his next move. "I'm telling Clara. I made a promise, and I'm gonna keep it."

She couldn't get beyond the barriers. "Don't! It'll just-" her speech broke down into the original computer language he'd heard her use.

Dusty couldn't tell if she was distraught or angry. Probably a combination of the two, knowing her. He watched for a moment. "You're on that side. I'm on this side. The runway's over there. And they're not gonna move those fences until we're all out of here."

The stealth plane snarled, lunging at the weighted barrier in an attempt to get through it. All she managed to do was scratch her paint, some of her original silver showing underneath. "YOU IDIOT YOU'LL RUIN HER!"

"Maybe not. Clara can hold her own in a fight… maybe the military would do her good. If she does something that gets her drafted."

Tera was visibly fuming, heat radiating off her engines as if she were going to explode. "You're all the same. Humans. Are we just workhorses to you?"

He sighed. "...I can't reason with you right now. You don't trust me, anyways."

"I won't ever trust a human again. They've done nothing but give me false hope. I don't even know if I can hope. I don't have real emotions."

"Now you're not thinking straight."

"Would you? I wanna see you go through the kind of training-"

"Training? Don't even start-" A couple of cars meandered their way towards Dusty, giggling all the while. He caught a glance of them, quickly cooling the argument. "If you'll excuse me, I'm actually working right now."

"Working or flirting?"

Dusty ignored her, turning away and greeting the fans with a warm smile. "Sorry about my friend. What's up?"

They glanced at each other awkwardly. The braver of the two spoke up. "Friend?"

The crop duster looked back to see an empty tarmac, the slight outline of a plane quietly moving away from the point of conflict. He tried not to look too surprised. "She's... shy."

More nervous giggles. "You're adorable! Um…"

"Autograph?"

"Please?" One of them had a piece of paper, pushing it towards him hopefully.

He winked. "Sure thing."