There was an unwritten rule of the universe in general and life as a Cyborg in particular that if one was to ever take advantage of a peculiar moment of good fortune, they would be hearing about it within the next two and a half days.

Two days had elapsed, and Taiga was beginning to realize that not even mutiny would exempt him from that particular rule.

The patrolman was winding his way through the natural hill valleys, probably having seen them and unaware that Taiga had seen him. Lu was oblivious to the whole affair, and Taiga was happy to keep it that way--he had no way to gauge whether or not she might call for rescue if given the opportunity, and he didn't want to risk it.

They were in the last verges of wasteland as they headed west, and the landscape ahead was beginning to fade into sparse forest and flatlands. The terrain ahead offered minimal cover--but, then again, the ground they were on at the moment didn't offer too much in the way of hiding places, either. There was the occasional small rockface--one of which they were passing at the moment--but none of them were oriented in the right direction to allow for hiding.

Having evaded a confrontation at Hawk's Pass, Taiga was beginning to realize that he wouldn't be so lucky twice in a row. The most he could do was to make sure that when--not if--they ran into each other, he had the upper hand from the start.

"Lu?"

Lu glanced at him. "What?"

"See that rockfall up ahead?"

"It's hard not to."

"Let's rest there for a while."

Lu folded her arms, narrowing her eyes. "Is this some newfound concern for my wellbeing or are you actually getting worn out, 'borg?"

Taiga sighed. "I have a name," he pointed out.

"You have a designation. 'C1128513,' right?" She smiled, but it was a smile laden with antipathy. "I have a head for numbers, you know. And the numbers I remember tell me that there hasn't been a recorded case of a cyborg mutineer staying away from the military's clutches forever. Sooner or later, they all get caught, and I'm guessing that your time is coming right along."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Taiga shot back. "Well, so what if no one's ever done it before? There's a first time for everything."

"There's a ranger a bit behind us who would like to argue differently."

Taiga cursed mildly, glancing back. "How did you know?"

"You think you're the only one with eyes? Ears?" Lu snorted. "Either way, why not? Let's take a break. Maybe we can invite the Esthar Long Patrol over for tea and crackers."

"I knew you'd see it my way," Taiga snarled back, taking a determined step forward. The ground underneath his foot cracked, loosening a few pebbles and dislodging them slightly.

A silence born of mutual annoyance descended then which, by providence or miracle, lasted until they had reached the rocks. Taiga sat down, mood still severely soured as he watched Lu clear away some of the larger stones to make a seat for herself.

"So," he drawled, reaching for a deadpan tone and falling somewhere in the realm of exasperation, "for the sake of argument, let's assume that the ranger catches me and drags me back off to be reconditioned. What do you do then?"

Lu glanced up at the sky. "Go back to a normal life," she said. "A job, a son, an apartment in Esthar."

"A son?"

"Not that it's any of your business. Cyborgs can't have children, can they?"

Taiga didn't respond the the biting remark, so she went on.

"He's in a boarding school," she said. "Some high-level training academy on the coast. He comes home every once in a while for vacations. I hardly ever see him any more."

"Where's his father?"

Lu glared. "Why should I tell you?"

Taiga groaned inwardly. "I never knew my parents," he said. "Don't know if I have any siblings, cousins, anything. My unit was my whole family--that and the ICI. You can't imagine how lonely it gets out in the desert sometimes."

"So you talk to your pet computer to keep you awake," Lu filled in. "What do you do, ask it for weapon manuals?"

Taiga took a rock, bouncing it across the ground. "What is it with you, anyway? I just want to have a conversation. If you're right this will all be over in a few minutes, and you'll never have to think about me again. Is it too much to ask--"

"Yes!" Lu shot him an look filled with venom, and Taiga was taken aback despite himself.

"Why, in hell?"

Lu tossed her head, looking up at the bright sky. "You really want to know, 'borg? You really want to know?" Her lips tightened, becoming a pale line across her face. "Because I watched the news casts of the Sorceress War. I saw what happened to towns--cities, even--after you went through. 'The New Hope Of The Esthar Forces,' they called you. They called you that because you could soak up damage like no human, because you could go someplace and kill and kill and kill without stopping, without feeling. There was a reason you never saw Esthar troops deployed with cyborgs, you know. I found that out the hard way. You want to know why my son is short a father, 'borg?"

Taiga digested that for a moment. "The Havelburg Massacre."

"When you swept through that town, you didn't bother to distinguish between civilian and hostage. You didn't care what age, what race, what nation--you slaughtered, and that was it. Somewhere in one of those mass graves you didn't bother to dig, my husband is rotting."

Taiga shook his head. "I wasn't even there," he said. "I saw it on the news, just like you probably did." He gestured angrily. "You know what I did during the War? I sat on the coast and made sure no one attacked the supply ships coming in from Esthar. Sure, I fought. I have fifty six kills on my record--and I remember every one." He was fighting the urge to stand up, to tower over her, and it was only making him angrier. "It's easy for people sitting at home to point fingers and blame others. It's not so easy when you're on the front line, when you have a chip in your brain that shunts orders to you and you can't listen. You don't even know me, and still--"

"Aha!" Lu had ridden the force of his vehemence up, and was now standing above him. "You want to peg everything on that ICI you cyborgs get? Is that it?" She took a step closer. "That same thing is inside your skull, Taiga C1128513, and it makes you the same as every other cyborg out there. It doesn't matter if you killed my husband, if you were even really there. I know that, given the order, you would have done the exact same thing without ever hesitating or--"

"DAMMIT!"

Taiga grabbed the nearest rock and lurched to his feet, looking for some way to vent that wouldn't involve tearing Lu limb from limb. He twisted around and, with all the force he could muster, threw the stone--

Target lock.

--right at the head of the Ranger, who was breasting a hill not too far away.

The aim of the ICI held it true to course, and it hit the man squarely on the forehead. He fell over backward, leaving Lu and Taiga to stare.

"...uh," Taiga said after a moment.

Lu gave him a dark look, which Taiga ignored. Gingerly, he picked his way over to the man's fallen form. Lu followed, making noises of discontent

"I suppose he's dead, isn't he?" Lu asked, leaning against the rockface. "Tell me that was an accident, 'borg."

"It was an accident," Taiga snapped. "Dammit, I was hoping this wouldn't end in violence, I wasn't going to initiate--"

Something caught his eye, and he stopped. The Ranger's shirt had the top button left undone, and the glow of dull metal could be seen against his skin. Taiga pulled the collar down to see exactly what it was--there was a metal plate with rounded edges, a small logo and a tiny red light. It seemed to be grafted directly into the man's skin.

"This guy's been enhanced," Taiga said. I must be a bigger bounty than I thought....

"That's nice," Lu snapped back. "So that means that if you hadn't killed him on sight, he might have been able to take you down." She snapped her fingers loudly. "Well, damn."

One of the man's eyes opened, and Taiga jumped back. Dazed, the patrolman groped for his gun, found it, and sat up. His other eye opened, and locked on Taiga.

Less than a second elapsed before he had the gun leveled and ready to fire. "Freeze," he hissed.

Ah--

Taiga C1128513, came an urgent chime. Analysis: Threatened.

Ah, SHI--

Directive: Attack.