Chapter 6

The young man skipped rope in his closet-sized cell, as he gazed moodily at the Martian sunset, and the barren brown landscape. Sutton had served out 4 years out of his 25 year sentence but even when he got out at 38, he knew his life would still be worthless. He had been given the choice of moving to a communal cell block two years ago for good behavior, but he had refused. He was too much of a waste of space to interact with the other juvenile offenders. He was better off alone. At least he had plenty of time to devote to his studies, and was already up to introductory college level textbooks. He paused and panted, out of breath, as his hissing mechanical limbs started to bleed off excess heat. A small shuffling of feet behind him caught his attention.

He whispered, "W-what the fuck?" Instantly his blood turned to ice as he heard soft breathing. Someone was in the cell with him! Had one of Nelson's goons been sent to finish him off? He whirled around to face the door with his fists in the air.

A cute Korean girl of 15 or 16 with long braided black hair and pleading charcoal-grey eyes stood with her back to the door. She was dressed in an exotic costume consisting of a pure white shirt and a long pleated blue skirt. Wasn't that some form of formal Korean costume?

A perplexed Monty lowered his fists, blushed, and blurted out, "Miss, how did…"

She put her finger to his lips to tell him to stay quiet, which he reluctantly did. She then pulled out a small scroll from her sleeve and handed it over to him. He broke the wax seal and looked over the brushstrokes, which he recognized as phonetic Korean text. Luckily, he had been studying some elementary level guides on learning Korean in an effort to learn more about his maternal grandmother who had hailed from Seoul. It took him a while to decode the words and put the syntax together. "A-appreciation, voice, restore…no restored, you. Oh!" Now he understood her heartfelt message! "Thank you for restoring my voice!" He looked up in excitement as the girl rushed into an embrace, and hungrily pushed her lips into his!

…

"Monty?"

The world was blurred out and matte grey. His head swam. He hurt like a son of a bitch!

"Can you hear me, my love?"

A pale face resolved into view, and he started to regain focus. "Uhhh shit! Is that you Kim Hyun-ae?"

A projected hologram of *Hyun-ae resolved into tight focus, and she flushed at her old name, "Good to have you back sir!" She was dressed up in a stereotypical white nurse's dress with white pantyhose complete with the little white cap with the red cross it! Her eyes looked down at him with deep gratitude and affection.

He groaned and tried to sit up, but failed and flopped back down on his recessed mattress. He felt tight bandages wrapping around his chest and arm stump. "How did I get back into bed? And how did my wounds get treated?"

"I tapped into the autodoc controls on the Princess' computer. It did most of the work."

He nodded as he realized that she had seen to it that the hydraulic arms and medical stores hidden above his berth's ceiling had given him the necessary burn and shock treatment after he had staggered back into the ship and collapsed. "Were you watching me the whole time like a stalker again?"

Oh geez, not the teasing again! She nodded and blushed, "M-my apologies. I can't help it!"

He smirked, "Go ahead and stare. You must have cut off my space suit off then."

"Sorry, but there was no saving it sir."

"Yeah…shit." He turned a bit pink in the cheeks as he took in her sexy outfit. "That…suits you."

*Hyun-ae giggled with delight! "Wonderful! I found in your ship's database, so I had a VR costume compiled to my specs. I hope you approve sir!"

He forced himself upright and nodded, "Cosplay as much as you like, but remember two things from now on. First; it's Monty and not sir. Second, it's our ship. You are my partner and fellow detective, as I promised. If Mason says otherwise, he can take this job and cram it!"

"Thank you!" She wiped a stay tear away. "I wish I could hug you right now!"

"Me too."

She leaned in and gave him a chaste kiss, although all he felt was a slight pressure and a flurry of wind.

He groaned and hauled himself unsteadily to his feet. He picked out his investigator longcoat and draped it around his half-naked body. The right sleeve draped empty. "Okay, let's go get *Mute."

She smiled ruefully, "I knew you'd say that. You can't help yourself if there is a friend in need."

"Yeah, stupid me." He powered up the main console and tied into the Mugunghwa computer. A familiar blond girl appeared on the viewscreen. "Wow! You made it!" Her blue eyes looked a bit melancholy. "Thank you for everything. I'll miss you." She presented him with two icons: "Take care *Mute," and "I'm a stubborn jackass and I still want you to come with me!"

He grinned and hit the second choice. Watching over his shoulder, *Hyan-ae giggled.

*Mute hung her head and sighed. "Why do I even bother? Look I know the batteries will be depleted in half a year at most. I know if I stay here there is no guarantee you can return fast enough. If I go with you, I can organize my own efforts to salvage the Mugunghwa. Maybe get that security officer job at the UCSA. Right?"

He smiled at the choices of "You bet," and "You're crazy!"

This time he selected option 1.

"Heh, I know. Even an irrational woman like me can see the obvious. I know I can't leave the Mugunghwa of my own free will. Here is the admin access code. I am decompiling myself for a systems check. You are free to access the last of the log files, but remember I have no way to stop you from downloading my AI construct with them. Not that you'll actually do that, right?" She presented the simple yes and no choices.

He lied and indicated yes.

She winked, "Okay, I'm going offline. Be sure not to download me by mistake! Promise?"

Once again he picked the affirmative answer. *Mute vanished, and he used his off hand to clumsily type in the command line prompt to download the logs and *Mute with them. He looked up at *Hyun-ae, "She's on her way over. Four days to kill before we can leave."

"Good. I don't like her, but I don't want her to be left alone to die." The ghost-like hologram patted him on the shoulder and took on a chiding tone, "Now it's time for my wounded knight to get back into bed! Your personal nurse will take care of everything!"

"Yeah, yeah," Monty replied with a sincere smile on his face.

…

Dispatch controller Rex Mason was agog, as he could see through the White Princess' cameras that his top field agent sat at his pilot seat short an arm, and he was flanked by two cute holographic AI projections on either side! He also saw Sutton and the blacked-haired AI dressed in a black uniform were wearing matching iridium promise rings on their left hands. "Um, is this the right ship?"

Monty snickered, "It is Rex. I think it's fair to say I got more than I bargained for. The Mugunghwa mission is a complete success! I'd like you to introduce you to my two new associates. To my left is *Mute, the security AI from the Mugunghwa who would be a superb asset to the UCSA!"

The short blond in a white dress beamed, "It's a pleasure Mr. Mason. I hope I can be of service to you!"

"Sure…"

"To my right is *Hyun-ae, my new field partner and my princess."

The black haired AI flushed crimson at the pet nickname, and buried her face in her hands.

"Huh? Partner?"

Sutton narrowed his eye, "*Hyun-ae are partners together from now on, or we'll walk. I'm sure we can go into the private eye business for ourselves if we need to."

Mason burst out laughing, "Damn boy! You were awfully busy these last two weeks! I'll put in a good word for you *Hyun-ae. I'm sure once you clear the security checks, you can keep Mr. Grumpypants company!"

*Hyun-ae smiled and bowed respectfully, "Thank you for your patience, Mr. Mason! I'll make you and the UCSA proud!"

Mason beamed at his display. "I'm sure you will! See you back on Earth in three days! Dispatch out!" He switched off the monitor and shook his head. He decided to invite Sutton and his harem over for beers once this was all over! He couldn't wait to hear the story behind this one!

End of File