The old man sat up in his bed as Gizzy pushed him back down.

“Hold still shitkicker. You’re alive, not okay.”

“What…” he wheezed, oxygen mask rattling as he tried to speak.

“Happened? Poison happened. You and Dee both got a lethal dose of engine degreaser in your drinks. You’re lucky to be alive. The re-gen shot is working slowly.”

“We don’t know why.” Dee said, standing next to the bed. “Apparently Brandy decided to murder me and didn’t care that you would die too.”

“That plastic bitch… you killed her back, right?”

“She’s in a holding cell. I want answers first.” Gizzy said.

“I want revenge.” He wheezed.

“I don’t give a shit. You’re collateral damage, I wanna know why she decided to commit roboslaughter. Had you not immediately reacted and she drank the shot, that would have slowly corroded her fluid storage and done insane damage.

...

Jack sat in the holding cell and stared down brandy.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because you don’t love her. She’s just a space filler for who you really love.” She smiled.

“You tried to kill Dee, I’m ordered to guard you and get answers, I’m very tempted to just shoot you in the head and be done with it. Nicole needs to let us do our job better. So why the hell did you try and kill 2 people.”

“The old man took the shot, he’s just a victim of Darwinism. Dee is just a false idol, a robot pretending to be alive, and you fell for it because you are broken. Jack, you’re stronger than this. Be patient. Stand your ground, soldier.”

“Who the hell are you?” He said standing up and racking the bolt on his pistol. She chuckled, and with glowing red eyes, she nuzzled the barrel and pressed her tongue to it as if to beg him to shoot. He threw a punch with the gun in hand and knocked her over, shoving her head down and pressing the barrel to the back of her aluminum skull, the sound of muffled laughter coming from the mattress.

“Don’t do it.” Gizzy ordered, stepping in and taking charge. He let go, as she lifted up, now looking terrified and dry sobbing in a shake of panic.

“Please help me.” She begged.

“Help you? You tried to kill two of the crew. Explain.”

“I don’t know. I was making drinks and then suddenly he was choking. I don’t remember poisoning anyone. I never intended to or wanted to. Will he…live?”

“Oh cut the shit.” Jack barked. “She just told a very different story and conveniently went from psychopath to innocent lamb the second you walked in. She was taunting me, trying to get me to kill her.”

“Why would she want you to kill her?”

“I don’t know, implicate me while avoiding interrogation, suicide by boyfriend provocation, she knows you can do things worse than death."

“She’s right… and she’s gonna find out what’s worse than death if she doesn’t explain very quickly.”

“I swear… I don’t know why I did it. It had to have been me, but I never meant to. I wasn’t aware of my actions. You have every right to contain me. I am dangerous. I simply do not know why I am.”

“Shitty answer.” Gizzy said, grabbing her by the neck and pulling her from the bed, dragging her down the hall as Nicole rushed to stop her.

“I don’t know what you’re doing with her but you need to not do that. She stays in that cell.” Nicole ordered.

“This is a military situation, with a hostile combatant and a very unstable Jack who almost lost his only coping mechanism and we almost lost a friend. Jack almost lost a grandfather and our best way of surviving this shitstorm, so I’m still in command here until the threat is neutralized, and it’s not.”

“She’s contained.” Nicole argued.

“Oh like hell she is, she’s got lock picks in her frame and she was concealing a knife. That’s a dead crewman the next time someone checks on her that isn’t holding a gun and ready to outmaneuver an opponent. You want that to be you or Dee or Vinn?”

“I didn-” she protested. “She’s an active threat and I have an interrogation room where I can get answers with the old man’s help."

“Why him. Why not me?”

“Because it’s not friendly interrogation and you’re not gonna like watching it. The old man deserves some satisfaction, and he’s got gunsmithing tools I need.”

“You’re not torturing people on my ship. There’s interrogation and there’s sadism.”

“Exactly. Interrogation is when we use words to find out who took the last sandwich or who left a hair mess in the shower. Sadism is how we get homicidal toasters to talk. She planned an uprising, and we have 11 robots in storage that could rise up and rebel if she wakes them, and she just tried to start the party. So do you wanna watch me torture the robot or let me override you and sleep with a clean conscious tonight knowing I’m gonna do it anyway?”

“DAMNIT! Why is everything so violent?”

“Because the universe is violent and we live in it. The strong survive. Don’t get someone killed because you can’t do your job or let me do mine.”

...

Gizzy stood in the abomination lab as the old man wheezed and puffed his oxygen bottle. Brandy stood restrained and looked terrified.

“You still a killer old timer?” Gizzy asked.

“Well I WAS retired, but I think I’m ready to work again given the circumstances.” He said while getting the tools out.

“Memory files are copied, we got the POV video, confession, could take hours to comb through the data for motives… so technically we could just go.”

“Fuck that, I like Dee, and I like my lungs, she almost took out both.”

“This gonna work?” she asked, grabbing Brandy’s head and a drill.

“Shit if I know. If it don’t, she’s dead anyway so I’m willing to do some science to find out.” He said while nodding. She drilled a slow steady hole in Brandy's head as she winced and tightened up to struggle. Gizzy took the massive syringe attached to a hose and shoved it into the opening, dermal sealing the wound with glue.

“Hit it.” she said. The old man flipped the switch and the restraints tightened as the mercury pump flooded brandy’s skull and the molten metal poured from her eyes and nose. She watched the X-ray machine casually as the little red squares tracked the movement and locked onto something. Brandy’s eyes went dark and her body went limp. Gizzy let the mercury drain for a moment and then grabbed the hacksaw.

“Quicker than I thought either way.” He shrugged. She stepped back with a pair of hemostats, holding a chunk of grey metal. “I’ll be screwed, glued, and tattooed. Turns out you can take a soul from a robot.” He chuckled in one huff, wheezing and going back to the oxygen. “Gonna take some convincing to get the other 11 in here. Your Captain doesn’t seem to like killing people, even plastic people.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“I’m not killing 11 potentially innocent beings, just the one who proved she’s not innocent to test the theory. Here’s your blueprints, make me some bullets.”

“Got the caliber wrong, got the casing wrong…”

“You’re not making bullets for your guns, you’re making bullets for mine. You’re also remaking those 6 top rounds to fit a Desert Eagle. You got your bullets, I want mine. That’s 7 in 50AE, and 7 in 13mmOSH for the rifle.”

“You know you ain’t given me mine back yet?”

“And you haven’t given me mine. Do the work, get the payment.”

“I get half upfront in case a client decides to fuck me over.”

“Start working, I’ll go get your money.” She said darkly, leaving him and grabbing the ladder.

“Hey, what do I do with the robot?” he asked.

“I don’t give a shit. It’s dead. I’ll airlock it after we get our answers. Go nuts.”

...

Nicole and Gizzy stared in confusion as Jack paced behind them, the view screen from brandy’s POV cam rewinding and replaying.

“I swear.” Jack said. “She told me she tried to kill Dee because I didn’t love her and she was just a place filler, and she provoked me.”

“Jack, the video just shows you asking her why and her silently staring until you knocked her down.” Nicole said. “I understand you were angry, we just watched her poison Dee’s drink and damn near kill your grampa, anyone would have reacted irrationally.”

“Her eyes glowed, she basically told me Dee deserved to die for loving me, and she put her face on the gun.”

“Jack…” Gizzy sighed. “Red eyes, telling you that Dee doesn’t deserve you. That’s clearly your mind manifesting Vicki again. You lost your temper, understandably, and you imagined the rest. Don’t feel bad ,she has a damn knife and lock picks, you did the right thing, but her eyes never turned red, we checked the security cams. You’re imagining or crossing memories with reality. Someone tried to kill your girlfriend, you reacted, you misremembered things. You’re under a lot of stress and Jack, you just had brain surgery.”

“Gizzy, I’m not crazy. I saw what I saw.”

“The cameras saw something different.” Nicole said softly. “We’re not mad at you, we’re worried for you. Maybe you should sit the next mission out.” She said while hugging him with one arm.

“Like hell he is. We’re facing a hive minded planet god of flesh and torture. I need him on the 13mm rifle. I can’t hit shit at 2000 meters, Vinn can’t hit shit at 2000 maters. You can’t hit shit at 20 feet, and I’m not giving the old man a gun. Jack may be a little fucked up but his training kicked in and he’s coherent. Jack, are you stable for the mission?”

“Absolutely.”

“Absolutely not.” Nicole ordered. “He’s sleepwalking and hallucinating about his dead wife… sorry but…you’re not okay. Nobody would be okay, you’re healing but you’re not healed yet. I let you do your job, let me do mine. The prisoner is dead, we have the proof, we have a mission, and Jack is not medically okay. He stays with Vinn on the ship. Vinn can provide air support with drones.”

“With all due respect, Vinn is a hell of a soldier but he’s not a sniper. He’s a demolition expert proficient with shotguns and grenades and explosives, not splitting hairs with a bullet. I’m the second best shot we have, and I’m decent, but I’m not running my Osirian body with tracking sensors and zoom lead, I’m running a decaying human body with diminished vision and muscle spasms. The Gizzy 2.0 is not done, the abomination is… basically a wrecking ball of meat and teeth, and Dee has never fired a gun. So anything past 600 yards is a wild shot, and we have very limited ammo.”

“Print more ammo.”

“Not the kind of ammo I trust. I got the old man making something spicy. We don’t have a lot of them.” She said as he strutted onto the bridge, tossing a bullet up and down proudly. “Hey old man, how are your eyes?”

“Not what they used to be but not bad. Got my glasses for that.”

“How good did you used to be?”

“The best.” He bragged. “Jack got it down the line from me.”

“Fine, you’re going with us.”

“Oh bullshit I am. I got enemies on that world. My enemy IS that world.”

“Exactly. You’re the bait and the sniper.”

“You hear me right? I said I’m not going down there.” He huffed.

“Well, you seem to think you can outshoot me, and I’m not that great. So are you full of shit and can’t hit dick over 600 anymore, or are you the best shot on the ship that isn’t hallucinating his dead wife?”

“I’m not that stupid. I know what I know, I’m not going anyway.”

“Half your soul in a handgun is going, now you just made bullets that don’t fit it, so if we need extra bullets to hit something, I guess that means I just have to spray and pray with a pistol.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” He squinted.

“She would. She would absolutely use your gun, 100 percent.” Nicole nodded.

“Gat… damnit, you are a frustrating ass of a woman. Fine, but I get to carry all my bullets.”

“You get half. And if you shoot me in the back, Vinn is gonna fire the rest into the afterburner jets and deal with you when you get back.”

“I hate you.”

“No you don’t. You think I’m too sexy to hate. Get your gear ready Davy Crocket, you’re going to the meat planet with friends and it’s gonna be a blast.”

...

Jack sat in his room, staring at the bottle and debating if it was the best idea or the worst idea. Dee massaged his shoulders and rested her chin on his head.

“You don’t need it. You just need me and some rest. I know you Jack. You function best sober and sleep best one a double, not a whole bottle, not half a bottle. The mission is not over, it’s not bed time. You need water and a hot shower.” She said as he tilted up curiously, staring at her red eyes.

“How do you know that?” he asked “I never mentioned that to you.”

“Jack, it’s just us, don’t fight me, don’t fight yourself. Just be patient.”

“Dee you are scaring me, and very few things do that.” He said as she tightened her hug around him and her eyes glowed brighter.

“You never liked that cheating fat bitch, she’s just better then being alone.”

“Dee let me go.”

“She’s not here Jack.” She whispered as he tried to get up and was held firmly down as she nuzzled his neck the way Vicki used to. The familiar feeling so clear he didn’t even question it."

“You’re dead.”

“We both are. And we never stay that way. That’s our destiny, Jack. I’ll never leave you, and you said you’d never leave me. So have your fun, fuck your little pornstar if you have to, she’s just a companion bot. I’ll be home soon.” She whispered, kissing his neck and letting him go. He turned to defend himself and suddenly felt the thump of metal on his head and the back of his head hit the pillow.

“Ow… I meant wake up, slowly. Not wake up and dive forward. Fuck me in the balls.” Dee said, rubbing her head as he realized she was leaning over him in the bed, and he was dressed in boxers and dabbing a bloody nose.

“Was I dreaming?”

“Yea. Jack, I don’t know what to do here. If I let you sleep you have nightmares, if I wake you during one, you headbutt me or try to choke me.”

“I’m so sorry, are you okay?”

“My skull is metal, you’re bleeding but I’m fine. Are YOU okay? Do you need me to just leave when you do that or… restrain you, or try and wake you up? You’re not gonna hurt me, I’m built sturdy, I just need to know what to do.”

“I don’t know, Dee. Can you please change your eye color. Orange is too close to red.”

“Green better?” she asked, changing them.

“No, Vicki's eyes were green when they weren’t red.”

“Is blue gonna give you mommy vibes or should we invent a new color entirely?”

“Blue is fine. I don’t ever wake up thinking Gizzy is on top of me. But the red is too familiar, and when you’re half asleep, orange and red can look very similar.”

“Hey, look at me. Look me in the blue eyes. You’re gonna be okay. You’re still healing and recovering, you’re getting triggered by things, you’ll be okay. I got you.”

“What If I’m not okay? What if I’m never really okay again?”

“Then I got a broken husband and I’ll just keep buying glue and sticking you back together.” She said, hugging him softly. I don’t give up on you, you don’t give up on me. That’s the deal, remember? We’re not quitting when it gets scary, we just cry and maybe throw something. You wanna do game night? I can make you a grilled cheese and Vicotin, we can have sex, I can leave you alone. I’m very open to options here, I’m just not letting you give up. I’m not refunding you just because you’re a little defective in the head. Like I got room to talk? I make pop culture references I don’t understand and tell people to ligma balls, and I don’t even have any. I’m a little defective myself and you seem to think I’m okay.”

“You’re more than okay, you’re perfect.”

“Well then you can’t argue when I think your defective ass is perfect too. We just have complimentary brain damage, okay? You lost something special, I can’t be her, but I can be me and I can be cute, and I can do this.” She said rotating her shoulders so her tits bounced in circles. “No sad, only tits. Got it, you Jackass?” she smiled.

“Well played. I’ll sit this one out.”

...

“I can’t sit this one out, Vinn.” Nicole said while pacing the room.

“I don’t want you going down to a hive populated sadist planet of doom. Why do you have to go there? Because some magic book Gizzy wired to the computer says that you’re the chosen one and you have to?”

“Yes… kinda.”

“No…You’re grounded little lady.” He scolded.

“That only works in bed, you can’t use the brat-boss stuff on me.”

“I can try. Honey, it’s a planet where they skin people alive just for fun.”

“No, they skin themselves. That’s different. We have guns.”

“You don’t shoot people.”

“Well, it’s a hive extension of a murder god, I think I can make an exception this time. I shot zombies. I don’t shoot living people but undead abominations trying to kill me, yeah, I’ll fire back.”

“That’s not comforting. What if you get hived? I can clone you but I can’t let one of you stay down there as a skinned drone. I can’t live with that.”

“Honey, sweetie. We got this. We have fancy ammo, we have an expert and we have a backup plan Gizzy assures me is practically fool proof.”

“It’s self destruct, her last resort is always just to detonate and kill herself and the enemy. That’s a shitty backup plan because you still die and get cloned back and I’m not cool with that.”

“We’re both clones already, dumshit!”

“I know, but we’re still both second generation and everyone else is like 53, I’d like us to stay at 2. I can’t even go with you because we need air support and someone looking after Jack who’s not… an unstable sex robot. Someone sane and coherent.”

“Vinn… we have this planned, we’ll be okay.”