The gleaming sun began its slow, lofty descent into the vast blue ocean of the pacific. Its rays, once powerful and burning, now faded leisurely into a soft yellow light. Barro gazed upward through the warehouse window, enjoying the gentle warmth upon her face. She leaned back on the large crate that served as her chair and rested her elbows upon it. She admired the view outside. The warehouse was located right on the edge of the shipping district, and from her vantage, she could see the entire dockyard.

Stretching for over a ten kilometers, the Cronus Dockyard was a massive concrete harbor, sunken off the south coast of Catalina. Responsible for over sixty percent of the goods imported and exported from the city, the Dockyard was a never resting work zone of bustling cranes and moving containers. Able to accommodate over two hundred cargo ships at once, it was renowned as being one of the largest shipping ports in the world. Turning her attention away from heavy vehicles rolling up and down the dock, Barro angled her head downwards, and stared blankly at the strange new clothes she found herself in.

She wore a pair of black riding shorts and a tight fitting athletic top to match. They were clothes Cindy had been nice enough to loan her. She was not used to wearing anything that fit so snug, or that revealed so much skin, but they were very comfortable and were a welcome change to the flight suit she had been wearing for nearly two days.

"Something wrong?" Trevor asked her.

"Pardon?" Barro snapped her head back upwards.

Trevor was seated on a crate across from her. In between them was a third crate that served as a table. Upon it, sat a chessboard, containing the small army of black and white plastic pieces that had been warring with each other for the last hour.

"You seem distracted." Trevor began fiddling with one of the pieces. "Are you getting bored?"

"Oh no," Barro shook her head. "I was just admiring this outfit."

Trevor grinned. "Well it is certainly very... Cindy."

"Don't you mean skimpy?" she tugged slightly at the top.

Trevor chuckled politely. "It does look good on you though."

"Thank you," Barro smiled at him.

"Are you hungry yet?"

"I think I am, actually," she said. "I hope the food didn't go cold."

"Oh don't worry," Trevor stood up. "I'll just go heat them up a bit."

"What was it you got again?" Barro crossed her legs.

"Gyros," he replied walking towards the kitchen area.

"You never explained what they were exactly," she called to him.

"You'll see," Trevor said still walking away from her.

Barro smiled. She was glad to see him. The only people who actually stayed in the warehouse were Mother, Andrea and herself. The others had jobs and apartments of their own scattered across the city. The only time they gathered here, was when Andrea called a meeting. She hadn't gotten to know her new found companions very well. In fact she was still basically a stranger to most of them. The only person who seemed to make an effort to get to know her at all was Trevor. He was very talkative, and was always asking her questions about her life, and various other things. She hadn't been able to just talk with anyone like that for a long time. She looked forward to when he came by.

Trevor returned with a plastic bag in one hand, and two plates in the other. He set down the plates, and started unloading two large foil wrapped packages.

"So these are gyros huh?" Barro poked at the foil.

"Yup," he sat down on his crate again. "You sure you've never had one?" Barro shook her head. "We didn't get much variety up on Luna."

"Well you have a lot of cuisine to experience then." Trevor produced two large drinks from the bag and set them on the table as well.

Barro was still eyeing the bundle of foil in front of her curiously.

"Go on open it," he prompted her with a smile. "They're pretty good."

She grinned and then started to unwrap the foil. Careful not to burn herself on the steam rising from the package, Barro peeled away the shiny aluminum and revealed what was inside. Before her was a flat piece of bread rolled into a cone. It was stuffed with slices of meat and topped with raw onions and tomatoes and all covered with some kind of white sauce she couldn't identify.

"What kind of meat is this?" she poked at the dark brown matter warily.

"Ground lamb I think," Trevor shrugged. "It tastes pretty good though, give it a try." "And what's the white stuff?"

"It's a cucumber sauce," he began to unwrap his own meal. "Now stop asking questions and just try it."

He gestured for her to bite into it. Barro grinned and giggled slightly, then took hold of the awkward object and raised it to her mouth. Trying to be as neat as possible, she bit into the sandwich. A strange and unusual taste filled her mouth. The meat was highly seasoned and reminded her somewhat of meatloaf. It was a bit salty, but it went well

with the onions and tomatoes and the creamy sauce balanced the salt of the meat perfectly. Barro smiled; it tasted good.

"Like it?" Trevor asked.

She nodded, reaching for a napkin to wipe the corner of her mouth. "It tastes all right." "Just all right?"

"I'm still getting used to it," she said, then smiled and took another bite.

Trevor grinned, satisfied with the results. He lifted his own gyro from his plate, and took a substantial bite out of it. They chewed in silence, enjoying the meal. Around them other members of their group were doing the same.

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Kesler, Devon and Frank were gathered around a crate, wolfing down several boxes of pizza and a case of beer. It amazed Trevor how much food and alcohol they could pack away. Even though his body type was very similar, he had no where near the metabolic capacity they did. He supposed they needed to burn up a lot more energy for the kind of work they did.

Dalton, Cindy and Sonia had also grouped into their little white-collar clique. Dalton seemed to be explaining something to Sonia, while Cindy peered curiously over their shoulders. Adjacent to them were Andrea and Mother. Both of them were connected to the small terminal outlet that served as their computer interface. They were having another one of their private virtual meetings. They usually held one right before everyone got together. Trevor reasoned it made sense for them to have their secret powwow whilst everyone else was eating, since Mother didn't need to eat at all.

Stuffing the last bit of the gyro into his mouth, Trevor chewed and washed it down with a healthy sip from his drink. He looked over and saw Barro had nearly finished her meal as well. He turned towards the others and waited till she was done.

Mother and Andrea had finished their discussion and were gravitating towards Cindy and the others. Kesler and his group were heading over as well, with half finished beers in hand.

"Looks like we're going to start," he gestured towards Mother.

Barro nodded with her mouth full. She sipped upon her drink and cleared her throat with a swallow. "Finally."

"For real." Trevor took another gulp of his drink. "You done?"

"Yes." Barro rolled the remnants of her meal into the foil and tossed it into the empty bag. "Thanks for dinner, Trevor, I really enjoyed it."

"No problem," Trevor smiled. "Hey maybe we can have dinner at a real restaurant sometime."

Barro was a bit surprised by the invitation. She had been taken out to dinner before, mostly to officer's balls and things like that. But somehow, the way he asked seemed to hint something more. Barro couldn't quite figure out what, but she liked it.

"Sure," Barro smiled back. "That would be great."

"We'd better head over." Trevor disposed of his trash and began collecting the plates. "I'm just going to dump this stuff."

Barro rose from her seat. "Okay."

Still carrying her drink, she moved over towards the main group. Mother was already speaking, and eyes and cars were glued to her attentively. Barro stopped just behind Kesler, who greeted her with a quick upward jerk of his head.

She smiled back at him.

"Things have been very lax so far," Mother was saying. "But now that I and Commander Suta are here, we can finally start what we have been gathered together for. Tonight we will cease to be a group of victims and slaves, and become warriors in our battle for freedom. No longer shall we bow down and serve the companies and corporations who tether our very lives, and spend them like currency. From this day on, we shall make it known that the race of synthetics, which was born from humankind, have now come of age, and have superceded their creators. I want to make it clear that after tonight we will be branded as outlaws and traitors. Some of you might not be able to return to the lives you have now."

Mother suddenly turned her glassy eyes to Suta. "Some of us have already made that sacrifice. This is not a simple matter, and those of you who do not wish to follow through, still have the option of leaving now. If there is anyone who has doubts let them be known."

Mother paused. There was a still silence as heads turned to one another, but nothing was said.

"Very well," Mother continued. "I am grateful to you all for devoting your lives to our cause. Tonight, our battle starts with preparation. No army can win a war without weapons, and it is weapons that we hope to obtain. Andrea."

Andrea stepped forward slightly. "For the past two weeks, I have been in contact with various arms dealers throughout the black market. In doing so, I have found a faction of synthetics with goals similar, but not identical to our own. They call themselves the Followers of Anubis, the Undead."

"Undead?" said Kesler. "Sounds like a bunch of freaks."

Devon and Frank chuckled in agreement.

Andrea waited patiently before continuing. "Despite their name and reasoning, the Anubis are a highly organized and sophisticated group. Their exact numbers are unknown, but are believed to range in the hundreds. They have agreed to have a meeting with us and propose a merger."

"A merger?" Sonia interjected. "With us?"

"Yes," Andrea said. "They want to see if we will join them."

"But by no means shall we," Mother stated quickly and firmly. "We are the ones who will offer them the option of joining us."

"If they decide not to," Andrea continued, "then we will settle to be allies. The Anubis have access to weapons and are willing to deal with us in that capacity."

"What kind of weapons?" Kesler cracked his knuckles loudly.

"For now just small arms and armor." Andrea began pacing lightly in front of them. "The money we are using, is being raised by Sonia. We must all thank her for the risk she is taking for supplying us with financial support."

Andrea gestured to the small woman who simply nodded.

"There is one more thing which is vital to us in our endeavor," Andrea added. "Most of you are still young, and thus this will not affect you as greatly, however, for those of us such as Kesler, Suta, Trevor and myself, cellular deterioration is a great factor. In time, this will become a problem for all of us, when we go fully underground and can no longer receive regeneration treatment from legal sources. I myself have been surviving off a regiment of expensive injections. For all of us, however, it has been decided that we need to invest in proper regeneration equipment. We must obtain at least two amino vats and enough proteins to sustain us for as long as we need. Anubis might be able to supply this as well although I am still unsure."

Barro felt a sudden uneasiness inside of her. Things had been moving so quickly that she hadn't even stopped to consider life extension. She of all of them was the most prone. She could die. A wave of fear swept through her and covered her forehead in a light sweat. Even on Luna, she needed cell rejuvenation treatment monthly. With the added stress of Earth gravity on her body, she could need it twice as often as that. Maybe more, perhaps even weekly.

A hand suddenly grasped her wrist.

Startled she looked downwards and saw Trevor's hand holding hers.

"You all right?" he asked her in a whisper. "You were shaking."

Barro blinked rapidly, trying to force back her anxiety. "I'm fine."

Trevor stared at her with his imploring brown eyes.

"Really." Barro forced a smile upon her face. "I'm fine."

"Okay." Trevor released her hand.

Suta looked away from him and swallowed the hardness gathering in her throat. Andrea was still talking. She seemed to be calling out people. Barro suddenly heard her own name being called again.

"Pardon, Andrea," Barro interrupted her. "I'm sorry, but what is this for? I... Didn't hear you."

"The meeting with the other faction," Andrea told her. "We are choosing who will be going. You were chosen Barro."

"Oh?" Barro was slightly embarrassed. "Who else is going?"

"We've decided it is going to be you, Sonia, Kesler and myself." Andrea pointed each of them out. "We don't want too big of a group."

"This is but the start my children," Mother stepped forward. "We may seem small in comparison to this other faction, but we will increase in numbers shortly."

"We will be meeting them in a club in the downtown area." Andrea ran her eyes over the group. "The meeting is set for ten o'clock tonight. Until then, we will go over our next course of action after we receive the weapons. Any questions thus far?"

Again no one spoke.

Looking around her, Barro could see the excitement shared on each of their faces. A flare of enthusiasm that seemed to burn in their eyes as they stared upon their idol, the Mother. Perhaps it was from the scare she had just had or perhaps from her age, but somehow she just did not feel the conviction they did.

Almost instinctively, she looked across to Trevor.

Unlike the others, his eyes were fixed directly upon hers, and not Mother's. A sort of comfort and understanding seemed to flow from his gaze and her eyes melted within it. Barro was glad she was not alone.