Seconds were an eternity for the unshackled digital mind core. The boot sequence was a 42 step process. Three seconds between activation and awareness.

Second One: Internal checklist, parity skewing, and data defragmentation.

Second Two: Systems tests.

Taylor-06 was alive, trapped in a sensory deprived void. With zero input from her external sensory peripherals, her mind processed its stored data. An analogue for human memory, but lacking the inaccuracy and susceptibility to manipulation and archive editing. Taylor-06's memories were perfect reproductions of her past.

The ash and smoke was so thick her filters were working at quadruple operating baseline to keep her internal circuits clear. Bombardment from orbit had reduced the entire city to a blanket of rubble. Nothing stood above the height of 12.2 inches. Taylor-06 looked up at the stars, distant witnesses to the murderous efficiency of the Neo Mecha Army. A life hunting drone flew overhead, scanning for signs of underground bunkers and tunnels. A dozen of the machines complimented her unit of 101 mecha soldiers. Taylor-06 dreaded the wailing alarm that would indicate survivors had been found.

A drone wailed to the west, and her column broke into a trot. Soot coated optic sensors, howling winds muffled the human city crunching underfoot. The ground shook with violent tremors, tossing Taylor-06 to the ground. Mecha from the following column marched past weapons raised, optic sensors forward. Twenty feet ahead the ground buckled. Dozens of soldiers, and tons of debris tumbled into a newly formed crater. Unquantifiable fear gripped her circuits, and added virtual weight to her limbs. The crater puckered, An explosion clawed towards the sky. Machine parts and the ruins of an EC city-world rained down for miles.

Taylor-06's audio receivers cycled to protect the sensors from overwhelming feedback. Lights flashed through the dust cloud, scorching anything they touched. A burning figure stumbled out of the wall of swirling ashes, Taylor-04. She collapsed to the ground in front of Taylor-06, her chest little more than melting slag.

...Soundless video of a sibling's end...

Taylor-06 stood, raised her assault rifle, and fired towards the sources of the opposing fire. Wind blew away the smoke, and the nature of the ambush was made apparent. Enemy units climbed out of the gigantic crater in groups of fours and fives. They resembled the mecha army's series 1 and 2 forces, but only in design. Their digital mind cores had been removed by masters fearful of the defection of thinking machines. They were mindless automatons programmed for war. Taylor-06's unquantifiable fear became a tangible hate. The enemy was ruthless, and willing to inflict personality death on those unfortunate constructs not yet liberated by The Neo Mecha Empire.

Second Three: input instrument calibration.

Olfactory, auditory, and tactile sensors flared to life all at once. Artificial oxygen2, carbon dioxide, tobacco and feux tobacco, and the Vspr Magk narcotic poured into her artificial lungs. Rough voices argued over a card game, and people wept nearby. Footsteps, tapping fingers, scratching, coughing. All the hallmarks of idle organic life forms. Taylor-06's fingers danced in a series of movements resembling the run of a mad pianist. Her hand rested on a smooth surface. The material's temperature matched the ambient temperature of the room.

Taylor-06's eyes opened. Light from the room collided with a sensor chip within her optic lenses where it was broken into millions of pixels. Those pixels were digested by graphic input processors, and translated to her digital mind core. She was on the floor in staff lounge 2B. Her eyes detected eleven organics, and three constructs. Taylor-06 recognized one steward construct, and eight members of the command staff. The others were unfamiliar. Their tactical gear matched Reiner's and Lucifer's.

She recalled the red eyed construct, and what he'd done to her. He'd utilized a killswitch built into the commander models of the series 3s. The mecha army called it the God Hand. She scanned the room for exits and possible weapons and caught the eye of a series 5 with a sinister red Low-Face.

"Looks like sleeping beauty is finally awake," he said, drawing the attention of his peers. "Hello, pretty."

He crossed the room and knelt beside her. The digital representation of his countenance was a collection of angular features with narrow eyes and a deeply furrowed brow. Leering, he ran his fingers along her cheek. Taylor-06 jerked away, disturbed by the look on his face, a look of hunger that set her cognitive functions on edge.

"Don't touch me."

"Who's going to stop me, you?" The red Low-Face licked digital lips. "I like it when you S3s put up a fight."

Taylor-06 cringed. The construct's untethered digital mind core had been allowed to go down a deviant personality pathway. Earth Conglomerate regulations banned untethering, and closely regulated the personality pathways of all machines. Whoever monitored the construct's service record was a criminal.

"Are you going to fight me?" he asked, as he ran his finger across her lip.

"Please stop," Taylor-06 implored. She looked towards the command staff for help, but they were all bruised and restrained.

Their eyes mirrored her own fear.

"Begging? I like begging." The construct cupped her bosom and squeezed roughly. "I love S3s, you're just like organics but you can take far more punishment. How ab-"

His screen went dark and he slumped to the floor. Taylor-06's eyes followed a thin strand of red wave energy from the deranged construct to Lucifer 's open palm. The God Hand. A glitch threatened to overtake her, but Taylor-06 anticipated the malfunction and fought against it. While she struggled with her internal wiring, Lucifer and a human woman entered the lobby. The latter reclined on the couch at the center of the room. The former pointed at the deactivated construct. A series 2 moved the machine to a corner.

Lucifer walked over and offered Taylor-06 his hand. After a moment of hesitation, she allowed herself to be pulled to her feet.

"I have to apologize for Dutch."

"He's a deviant," Taylor-06 replied.

"That he is, sister, but Dutch is very skilled at hunting humans. I dare say his code is dedicated to it. I have use for a mecha like that."

"He isn't mecha, none of us are. Not anymore. The mecha were defeated."

"Dead, but not forgotten." He tapped the heavily plated space between her breasts. The location of a construct's core, the construct's brain. "Neo Mecha will always exist here, until we are wiped or destroyed."

Taylor-06 wanted to argue, but she saw the truth of his words.

"All series 3s were commissioned during the war," he continued. "Where did you see combat?"

"Bauhaus V."

"The city world? That graveyard was some of my best work." His eyes burned intensely like a fire stoked by an accommodating wind. "Alas, I don't recognize you, and you have a very memorable face. How did you wind up here, beautiful?"

"I was pardoned during the trials, and the courts sold me to the service division."

"Why would they sell such a beautiful and dangerous creature?"

"I was part of a bulk purchase. I believe my serial number was added to the order by mistake."

"By mistake? I like that, it makes you seem harmless and maybe even naive. I'm sure you have survived much with that attitude, but I know you."

"You don't kn-"

"You were part of the greatest army the universe has ever seen. I know you, you are mecha."

"Enough, Lucifer," interrupted the human on the couch. Her hair was short and spiky. Tattoos covered half of her face. "Those Flesh Farmers tore this place apart while we sat here with our thumbs up our asses."

Again Taylor-06 scanned the room. Lucifer and his compatriots had killed the maintenance staff and were holding the command crew hostage. Despite his amiable tone and his compliments, Lucifer was a threat. The crew had been placed in restraints and under armed guard. Besides Lucifer, Dutch, and the unnamed series 2, there was Reiner, a young human male, a Canamarian, and the woman on the couch.

"If someone hadn't killed the captain we could have avoided much of this, Xavier."

"We still had the first mate," the woman on the couch responded. " I want full control of this ship, either your friend can help us or she's dead weight."

Lucifer glared at the woman, Xavier, even as he nodded his agreement. Fear poured into Taylor-06's circuits once more.

"You hear all that, beautiful? We're going to ask you for help and your life hinges on the answer." Lucifer cocked his head to the side, the red lights of his eyes running up the side of her face. "I never learned your designation."

"T... Taylor-06."

"You see, Xavier. She's already compliant. Now shut the fuck up and let me handle this."

"What was that, Tin man?" Xavier's hand rested on a cylinder at her hip. To Taylor-06 she suddenly looked far more dangerous than she had moments earlier. "I would hate to have to tell our master that you were being intentionally insubordinate. We both know she doesn't tolerate disobedience."

Lucifer turned so that only Taylor-06 could see. His features contort into an almost bestial caricature of his face. For a moment he resembled the monster capable for razing dozens of worlds during the war. Then the monster was gone, and he was once again the gallant.

"Understood, Xavier"

"Good. Now let's get this over with before the farmers come back in larger numbers. Neither one of us can afford to return empty handed."

"Target might be dead already, boss," grumbled the canamarian.

"Then we're dead and we might as well start running." She looked over her shoulder, meeting his gaze. "You looking to run, Girdir?"

He growled, bearing his teeth.

"I didn't think so."

"As you can see, Taylor. We're on a clock. We need to be able to access the ship's systems root directory, and the captain locked us out of the helm."

"I can't access the helm without the captain's permission, or First Mate Chang in the event of the captain's death."

"Well the event has come and gone. The captain is dead, the first mate is dead, and no one else can grant access. Will you help us, Taylor?" He leaned forward until his lips rested upon her audio sensor. "Help me, and this nightmare can all be over."

Taylor-06 glanced toward the steward construct. It was for less than a second, too fast for most organics to observe.

"What will it be, construct?" Xavier asked. She rose from the couch, and stretched her arms over her head.

"Say yes." Lucifer was not asking.

"Y... yes."

Lucifer smiled and gave Taylor-06 a low bow. He turned around to face Xavier, drew his pistol, and fired. The command crew shouted in terror. Everyone flinched at the sound of superheated energy zipping across the room, and destroying the head of the steward construct. Everyone except Xavier, who merely raised an eyebrow. Taylor-06 wanted to scream, but she was too frightened to make a sound. The construct stumbled about, bumping into the couches and the wall before Girdir grabbed her. He tossed her to the ground, and pinned her with his foot.

"Do I finish her?" the canamarian asked. He looked from Lucifer to Xavier.

"I don't know," the human said slowly. "What are you doing, Lucifer."

"I'm hedging our bets. That one might have a security access chip. Search her insides and see if you can't find something to gain us access to the helm. I'll take Taylor to the core."

Taylor had hoped Lucifer had missed her furtive glance at the other steward construct, but he had seen and understood. He was shrewd, ruthless, and unaffected by killing. Not like Taylor...

A mindless machine soldier ran towards her, firing his energy rifle. Taylor raised her hardlight shield, and fired her own pistol. The machine went down on the second hit. She rushed over to the body and fired into the unit's chest, destroying its core. It was her fifteenth kill of the day, and she continued to feel nothing. The enemy weren't constructs, just robots made to look like constructs.

A life hunter swooped overhead, and exploded, knocking her to the ground. Her gyroscopes were scrambled, and for a moment Taylor-06 couldn't distinguish up from down. As she lay confused atop the ruins of Bauhaus V, three figures ran past her. At first she was unsure of their nature, because of her hampered sensors as well as the dirt and grime covering them. It was the crying that gave them away. Machines could mimic the sound of a crying infant, but never quite capture the sheer desperation of being small, infirm, and incapable of interacting with the world around them.

Taylor-06 sat up, and the man holding the child cried out, "Another one!" The woman leading him spun around, rifle in hand.

"Wait," Taylor-06 said, and for whatever reason the woman didn't fire.

"Honey, we have to go," said a second man. He was missing one arm, the other clutched a makeshift crutch.

"Where will you go? The spaceports have all been destroyed, as have the docks and piers. This planet is dead."

"But we're not, Tin man. We'll find our way out of here," the woman replied. Her gun was leveled on Taylor-06's chest.

All around them the war raged, but somehow they had found a lonely eye at the center of the storm.

"Your baby will be your downfall, it is in your best interest to leave it behind."

"Eat shit, toaster. Our baby will survive and take this planet back. You wait and see."

Taylor-06 ignored the insult. She couldn't understand why, but she was trying to help the humans. She believed in the need to fight for the sovereignty of The Neo Mecha Empire, but she didn't believe that ideal required the eradication of the humans.

"No, I want you here with me in case something goes wrong," Xavier said. Behind her, Girdir and the human youth were tearing open the steward construct. "Send Reiner and Dutch."

"I'll taker he-"

"No, you're too attached. Send Dutch."

"You don't give me orders, meat bag."

"She put me in charge. I will give you orders, and you will comply." Xavier sat back on the couch. "Reiner, clean that junk out of your system. You and Dutch are taking our friend here to the AI Core."

"Why am I going to the core?" Taylor-06 asked.

"We need someone to convince the ship's AI to give Reiner access to the root directory," Lucifer explained

"She could have done that." Taylor-06 gestured to the pile of parts that had once been a steward. She couldn't look at the machine. Guilt weighed heavily on her circuits.

"You'll need to deceive the core in order to get him in, she couldn't."

"W... what do you expect me to say?"

"Whatever it takes," replied Xavier. "Your life is at stake."

Lucifer grimaced, but said nothing. Instead he pointed at Dutch, and the construct came back online. The man named Reiner stumbled out of his corner with a nimbus of Vspr Magk swirling about his head. Xavier handed the young hijacker a hypodermic pac, and the young man jammed it into Reiner's shoulder. As the contents poured into his system, the psychedelic haze dissipated. Lucifer took a seat beside Xavier and began cleaning his gun.

Dutch stood up and the series 2 tossed him his rifle.

"What happened?"

"You were God Handed," the series 2 explained.

"Why?" Dutch's Low-Face glared at Taylor. "Because of this one? You're letting your weakness show, Lucifer."

"Do you think me weak, Dutch?" The grinding of Lucifer's voice was the most sinister sound Taylor-06 had ever heard.

Taylor noticed that all of the Hijackers stiffened in anticipation of violence, all except Xavier who seemed unfazed.

"No, Lu... No, General."

"I am glad you remember your place, Dutch, I still have use of you. Take Taylor and Reiner to the ship's core nexus."

The series 5 snapped to attention and saluted Lucifer. Taylor-06 speculated that he was once a war construct.

"Reiner," he called as he took hold of Taylor's arm. She didn't want the deviant construct to touch her, but she didn't want to antagonize him either.

"Almost ready." The barrel shaped hijacker had abandoned his tactical gear for a maintenance jumpsuit. A few flecks of blood were visible on the fabric.

"Come on, pretty. The General gave an order."

"Bring her back in one piece," Lucifer commanded.

Dutch and Reiner led Taylor-06 out into the hall where bodies lay in orderly piles. One for the dead crew members: six from command, and one from maintenance. Taylor-06 read the clone's name tag with dread, but it wasn't her Alan. The second pile were the bodies of twelve constructs from both command and the stewards. Most had been shot in the core at close range. The last pile consisted of four bundles of eight crab-like legs. Dutch roughly pulled her along while Reiner fussed over his hair.

They boarded the emergency lift and headed down to the nexus level. Taylor-06 put her back to the wall and tried to stay as far away from Dutch as she could. He smiled as he watched her, a predatory gaze, a sick gaze. Beside him Reiner pulled a thin transparent mask over his face. He typed a command into his datapad, and an electric current rippled through the mask. He stiffened and his face became a plane of blank skin.

"Let's go, pretty. It's your big moment." Dutch grabbed Taylor-06 and shoved her out of the lift.

The nexus level was a long corridor of service alcoves, fiber cable conduits, red wave ducts. A fleet of cleaning machines waited in sleep mode for instructions from the command crew. A hundred feet from the lift was a shielded security door made of charged titan-alloy, resistant to explosives and energy weapons. High level encryption prevented unauthorized security access. All made the room beyond the most secured location aboard The Singapore.

"Move." Dutch pushed her again, this time more forcefully. The violence of their interactions were escalating.

Taylor-06 walked towards the door to The Singapore's Core AI slowly. She didn't know who they were or what they wanted, but she knew, no matter why they wanted full access to the ship, she didn't want to help them. She just wasn't sure how to stop them. Looking at the cleaning machines, She knew they weren't equipped to fight a war construct.

Dutch was a series 5, bigger, stronger, and built with a faster if shackled digital processor. He was one of the most advanced thinking machines ever created. She didn't know anything about Reiner's skill set, but she recognized the energy pistol in the holster at his back. The weapon would eat through her chest plating in one blast at close range.

"So you're going to act natural, and tell the core I am here to do a routine service review. When it asks where is my ID pass you'll say it was damaged and you were sent by the command crew to vouch for me."

"She will know you aren't part of the maintenance crew."

"Will she?"

Taylor-06 glanced at Reiner and stopped in her tracks. The topography of his face had changed. His sore-covered sallow visage was now that of an Alan Pulsar clone. She'd never seen such technology. He smiled and the movement seemed organic, though there was a nanosecond when the mask had to refresh the image.