"Hello, commander," said the T-doll. Her voice was soft and warm and her eyes were vibrant green. "I am all you need."

Kovacs was captivated. Her face, her body, all of it designed specifically to attract him by some product research team in some office. But in his heart, there was such a surge of relief and joy at his salvation, that he immediately and subconsciously forgot this woman was not a woman at all. She was his valkyrie, naked and bathed in the blood of his enemies; she was an angel with soft words and a warm touch for his desert-wracked body and his trauma-stricken soul.

"Yes," was all Kovacs could say. All he could think to say.

Her smile grew, and she moved closer inwards to him, nearly kneeling upon his lap, her hand rubbed his cheek gently.

And then reality returned to Kovacs in one great rush. This was no woman. This was a T-doll who had just massacred five humans, mostly at his own indirect command. This was not a she. This was an it. And it was his most valuable tool for his own continued survival.

"I want to get up," said Kovacs, and the T-doll nodded and withdrew. Then offered a hand to pull him up.

He took its hand and stood, unable to stop himself from gawking at its nakedness. Kovacs had recently explored every inch of that body in his efforts at cleaning it, both inside and out, in all of its most intimate areas. But now that the T-doll was operational and moving, there was something different- some subtle liveliness that gave new vibrancy to the synthetic flesh.

And it was gazing at him, smiling, its bare breasts speckled with blood. He gazed back at it, unsure of what to do or say, noting that it did not maintain eye contact, but broke it to avert its gaze briefly, to then look back at him. Why would it do that? There was no particular reason for it, except that humans tended to do that when talking to each other. On a lark, he watched it continue its pattern of looking at him and averting its gaze. It did it every 4 seconds, as on the dot as he was able to count in his head.

Kovacs realized suddenly that he would be standing here forever if he did not give the T-doll an order. While he found himself alarmingly appreciative of the doll's naked body, he did not want it wandering around naked all over the place. That just seemed… weird. He wanted it to get dressed, but he had not found any clothing in the MBV. His gaze shifted to the corpses on the ground. Something there would have to do.

"Here," said Kovacs, reaching for the half-package of cleaning wipes he'd used before. "Use this to clean the blood from yourself."

"Yes, commander," said the T-doll, and it immediately focused its entire attention on the package. It gently took the package from him, took out a moist fabric, and then immediately applied it to its own breast. It slowly wiped a clean swath of skin, leaving behind a semi-erect nipple gleaming with the moisture of the sanitizer.

Kovacs forced his gaze away from HK416 and turned his attention to the corpses that littered the floor. If the T-doll was shorter or taller than an average woman, Kovacs had not spent enough time around real women to judge. But it was certainly shorter and smaller than himself and all these dead varjagers.

Lacking a better option, Kovacs went for the smallest corpse and began stripping it. Luckily, it was the second man that the T-doll had killed by stomping his head, so no bullet holes to be found. The man's clothing stank and was slightly damp with sweat, but at least it was almost entirely clean of blood.

Kovacs glanced at the T-Doll and found it to be wiping clean the inner side of one of its perfectly shaped thighs, its hand quite close to its own groin. Perhaps noting Kovacs' glance, it looked back at him, too. Their eyes met, both pausing their own actions briefly.

Feeling ashamed at looking at her while she was busy with… her own tasks, Kovacs jerked his gaze away and began unlacing the dead man's boots. His cheeks began heating up. He was blushing? Why was he blushing! She was just-

IT! It was just a T-doll that was cleaning itself. As he had ordered it to do!

Kovacs suddenly felt impelled to ask something of the T-doll. Humans said things and dolls responded. That was the natural order of things!

"W- what is your name. Tell me."

"HK416," said the T-doll. "Remember this name, this… extraordinary name."

He glanced at it, wondering at the strange phrasing of its response. The doll was cleaning one of its knee caps now. ..Extraordinary name? HK416? It just seemed a random collection of letters and numbers. Hardly a name at all!

Kovacs remembered that the neural core's start up sequence had labeled itself as 'HK416'. Maybe that was some generic placeholder, or maybe even a sort of serial number- like a factory default setting. Perhaps he had missed a chance to assign the T-doll a real name somewhere during the set-up process?

"HK416…" mused Kovacs, tugging off a boot from a dead, stinking foot. It sure was a lot of syllables. And felt awkward to say.

"Yes, commander?"

He purposely didn't look at it, concentrating on his own task. "That takes too long to say. I'm going to call you 'HK' for now."

"...dumme entscheidung…," said HK416.

Kovacs blinked. Was that… German? He looked at the T-doll and found it to be now clean and blood-free- but it was also naked and glistening slightly with the moisture of the wet towels. Something about the indirect light of all the flashlights on the corpses made the t-doll's body even more voluptuous, something about the shadows it cast upon itself as it stood there, looking at him.

Knowing some German, Kovacs narrowed his eyes at HK416. "Did you just say: 'dumb decision'?"

HK416 blinked in a very human-like expression of surprise. It averted its gaze, then looked at him again. Kovacs had the odd sense that this particular shift of eye focus was not pre-scripted. There was something… decidedly organic in the way she'd reacted to him just now. It gave him goosebumps.

"Apologies, commander. But shortening my name to just 'HK' will create ambiguity. Ambiguity is dangerous in a combat situation."

Kovacs forgot for a moment that she was naked. "What ambiguity? What are you talking about?"

"There are other T-dolls with designations that begin with 'HK'," said HK416.

Kovacs looked at her, incredulous. "Are there any other T-dolls here?"

"No."

"Then what are you talking about?!" Kovacs rubbed a hand over his face. What was he talking about? Why was he arguing with her… No… this… this machine. About it's name.

"Forget it. Your name is what I say it is. It's 'HK'. Got it? HK?"

HK416's eyes seemed to pierce him and it had a very serious look on its face. But then it thrust out its breasts and stood at military attention. "Yes, commander. My name is now HK. What's the next order of business? For HK?"

For some reason, Kovacs felt like he was being mocked. But it was just a machine. He was imagining things. He tossed HK416 the clothing he'd salvaged from the dead man at their feet.

"Here, get dressed. It won't fit, but it's all we have, for now."

HK416 deftly caught the clothing and it looked at the dingy canvas pants and jacket with a stoic expression. It then began to get dressed. Kovacs watched, somewhat wistfully, as the T-doll's curvy figure disappeared behind excessively baggy men's clothing. The pants wouldn't stay up, but HK416 solved that problem itself by ripping the belt off another corpse and trying it around its waist.

"How do you know German?" asked Kovacs, curious.

"It is installed in language files," said HK416, rolling up its baggy sleeves to re-reveal its shapely, bare arms. "I am also equipped with this language: English. As well as: Japanese, Chinese, and Korean."

Kovacs blinked. Weren't those eastern languages? "How do you know those last three?"

"They are pre-installed on my firmware."

Its firmware! "Do you have any other information stored there? Do you have any information from your prior time inside this MBV?"

HK416's facial expression didn't so much as seem to change, but it grew hard- or maybe that was a trick of the room's dim light. It looked away from him and did not immediately look back.

A silence stretched in the room.

"HK?" prompted Kovacs. What was it doing? Accessing files internally? "Do you?"

"Yes," said HK416, still not looking at him. "My chassis has stored three days of data prior to shutdown."

"Great!" said Kovacs. This was just as he'd hoped! "Do you know where the access key to the bridge is? Is there a hidden spare?"

HK416 turned back towards him, seeming thoughtful. "Yes."

"Take me to it."

"Yes, commander," said HK416 with a nod. "Please allow me to arm myself?"

Arm itself? "Uh.. sure?"

HK416 immediately moved amongst the dead varjagers and collected their weapons and ammunition. It put the two long rifles over its back, a submachine gun off each hip and the third on its front; and then various pistols, knives, and ammunition clips vanished into various pockets. HK416 now appeared as a short, silver-haired woman, wearing vastly oversized fatigues, with an entire armory strapped to its body.

"Do you need all of them?" wondered Kovacs aloud.

"Never leave weaponry in an unsecured location, commander," said HK416, strapping one of the flashlights to the underbarrel of a submachine gun with some tape it had procured at some point during its looting operation. "I will take point."

"Okay," said Kovacs, a bit surprised by HK416's suddenly assertive behavior.

HK416 raised its new weapon to a ready position and moved out into the wider darkness of the brothel's main room. It swept the darkness with its weapon in what Kovacs thought was a very soldierly manner. He supposed that was to be expected from an elite military neural core, right?

Kovacs followed HK416 as it led him back up the stairs to the third floor, waiting patiently as it checked corners carefully. The doll obviously thought there might be enemies in the darkness, and he was almost tempted to rush it along. But for all he knew, there were more dangers inside the MBV now. He'd fallen asleep with the door unlocked, like a moron, after all.

On the third floor, HK416 led them back into the master bedroom. The sweep of the gun's lamp landed upon the stained bed sheets, the spot where Kovacs had found it. The light froze there, HK416 becoming motionless for a long moment.

"HK?" said Kovacs, mildly concerned.

At the sound of his voice, HK416's light began sweeping the room again and this time it settled on a large, gaudy lamp that stood in the corner of the dark room. It approached the lamp, reached out to pull it down, and then reached under the blind to pull out a small card. It turned and offered it to Kovacs.

"Operation complete," said HK416.

Kovacs took the card with excitement. Now he could get into the bridge and see what this place was all about. He turned and headed for the door, but a warm hand suddenly grasped his wrist.

"Commander!" said HK416, slightly testy. "In an unsecure area, you follow me. Always. I go first."

Kovacs felt a flash of annoyance at being ordered by a T-doll. He was supposed to order it! His chest puffed up as he was about to snap at it.

"It's my job to protect you, commander," she said, her green eyes piercing him where he stood. "I can't let anything happen to you."

"Uh," said Kovacs, her sudden intensity surprising him. "All right…"

HK416 lifted her weapon again and led them back out of the suite and towards the bridge door. It. It lifted its weapon and went towards the bridge. Fuck. Was it the eyes? It must be those green eyes!

Kovacs stepped forward and swiped the card on the security box near the doorframe, then he was pulled gently to the side by HK416's arm, getting him out of line of sight of anything that might be on the other side of the opening door. When the bridge door opened, HK416 entered, weapon up and ready. Kovacs followed.

"Clear," said HK416, its light flashing about the room.

The bridge seemed rather larger than Kovacs had expected, but other than that, it was a bridge. It had various computers all about, a few chairs, and a sort of observation aisle with windows- but with the steel shudders down, nothing could be seen outside.

Kovacs used his flashlight to identify what looked like the main console. A slow review of all the available buttons revealed a relatively user-friendly design theme. There was even a button that was clearly labeled: 'Ignition'. Kovacs pushed it. Nothing happened.

Well, the MBV had been sitting for a long time, and there had to be some reason that whoever killed the previous owner had not stolen the MBV for himself or herself. The engine being broken was a pretty good reason for that. He just hoped that wasn't actually the case- he'd much rather drive out of this desert in his 300-million sardis MBV…

HK416 was standing nearby, watching him.

"There's a hatch to the engine compartment over there somewhere," said Kovacs with a wave of his arm. "Go secure that room, too."

"Yes, commander," said HK416.

But before it went to his task, it closed the bridge door behind them and locked it. Then, it searched for the engine room hatch, opened it, and hopped down into the darkness- a loud clang of metal echoing in the room below as it hit the steel stairwell below.

Meanwhile, Kovacs tried a few more promising buttons. No hope there. He checked the other computer terminals and found various utility controls and dials: plumbing, electric, air temperature and humidity, radar and motion sensors, etc. etc. But nothing that promised any sort of control over the main engine. In a final act of desperation, Kovacs rummaged through any compartment, shelf, and drawer around the bridge in the hope of finding the MBV's operator's manual. Nothing.

But he did find, wonder of wonders, a package of unopened water bottles and a half-full box of sweet grain bars. Bridge snacks! Lifesaving bridge snacks! Suddenly realizing how thirsty he was, Kovacs snatched a water bottle and guzzled it. He ripped open a grain bar and took huge bites, frantically chewing, and then washing it down with more water.

Kovacs thought this was surely the most delicious meal in his entire life.

HK416 suddenly hopped back out of the darkness of the floor hatch, her flashlight bouncing as she landed lightly. Kovacs turned towards her, his mouth full of food and with water and crumbs staining his clothing.

She looked at him curiously. Was she hungry, too? She probably hadn't eaten in a long time.

Kovacs offered a grain bar to HK416. "Want one?"

HK416 stared at him. "I do not require food, commander."

Kovacs blinked. "Oh… Right."

It didn't require food because it was a robot with a battery. Why was that so easy to forget? Over and over? Kovacs drank more water and looked at HK416 thoughtfully. It looked back at him stoically.

"The engine room is clear and secure, commander. I locked the other accesses."

Kovacs nodded, his mouth again full of grain bar. "Gwood wurk."

"A simple task for a tactical doll," said HK416, its chin rising slightly.

If Kovacs didn't know better, he would have thought that was pride. Man, the programmers of this neural core really outdid themselves on this one. He took another swig of water and watched HK416 as it watched him. It didn't eat? Then was that wash basin downstairs really just for pleasure doll aftercare? That seemed a bit excessive.

"Can you eat and drink?" said Kovacs.

HK416's eyes seemed to glaze over slightly. "This body has that module, yes, commander."

"Does it do you any good? Can you get any energy from it?"

"No, commander."

Kovacs took a bite of grain bar and chewed thoughtfully. No energy, but it could eat. Just for show then? To be able to eat dinner and drink for show- just like a real girl? And then the masticated food and liquid must be stored in some sort of internal storage, which… would then be emptied into that sink downstairs. That must be it. Small mystery solved.

But it was still watching him.

"Do you…" Kovacs wondered aloud. "Want to eat?"

HK416 looked at him, her expression lightening into a sudden, soft smile. "If you want me to eat with you, commander. I would love to do so."

Something about its smile, combined with its scavenged clothing and arsenal of firearms created an odd, uncanny sensation in Kovacs stomach. Whatever emotion the doll had just tried to emulate… the programming of it hadn't quite landed right. In the instant of that smile, Kovacs had seen the machine behind the mask, and it was unsettling. Almost as unsettling as suddenly thinking of the thing as a human woman.

"T- that's all right, HK. This is all there is in the entire place, and we're pretty far from a shop. I better keep it for myself."

"Yes, commander."