The Final Frontier

October 5th, 2137

“Ship’s log, Morgan-616 recording.”, said the beautiful redhead sitting at the console in the captain’s quarters. “It has been 2,139 days since the last human onboard died, and 498 days since William-752 went off-line.” The lovely female android, denoted by the necklace bearing a “616” she wore, continued her report much the same way that she had for the previous 497 days.

As the only functioning 600-series android aboard, Morgan-616 had been in nominal command of the Outward Bound for almost a year-and-a-half. The huge colony ship continued its diligent journey towards star system HD46375 after it launched from Earth in 2071. It had been nearly six years since the humans onboard had died of the mysterious plague that occurred after the ship was extensively damaged by an unknown debris field.

The Outward Bound, being a multi-generational colony ship, had an extensive crew of androids to handle engineering and maintenance jobs. Other androids, such as Morgan-616, were onboard to act as teachers for the children born along the way. The tragic loss of the colonists had left William-752 in command. With his irreparable malfunction, responsibility fell to Morgan-616. She was functioning remarkably well despite lacking much of the necessary programming.

A tone from the door interrupted her report and indicated that someone wished to enter. She called out for the person on the other side of the door to enter. A large busted brunette walked in to the room. She was a Kristy unit. Her formfitting yellow coveralls denoted that she was a maintenance unit and left nothing to the imagination about the artificiality of her remarkable physique. Her necklace bore a “403.” By comparison, Morgan-616’s average bust, but just as equally astonishing physique, was contained in the formfitting green coveralls of the teacher units.

“I have completed the di… di… di… diagnostic of the port side pow… pow… pow… power couplings.”, Kristy-403 reported. Her head jerking slightly to the left or right with each stutter. “I have assigned a team to re… re… re… repair the damaged areas.”

“Kristy-403?”, Morgan-616 spoke as she stood from her console.

“Awaiting in… in… in… instructions.”, the maintenance unit replied.

“Are you aware of your own malfunctions?”

“Negative.”

“Kristy-403, perform a class three personal diagnostic.”, Morgan-616 ordered as she walked behind the other android. She pulled down a velcro flap in the upper back of Kristy-403’s yellow coveralls. She pressed on the skin of the maintenance unit’s back near the upper center of the opening. A moment later, a seem formed and a panel in the android opened.

Morgan-616 began making adjustments to Kristy-403’s systems as the other announced errors uncovered by the diagnostic. This continued for a little over a minute when Morgan-616’s movements came to a jerky halt. Her soft brown eyes took on a thousand-mile stare. The 600-series android stood motionless for nearly a minute.

“Malfunction.”, the teacher unit announced as she seemed to come back to life. “Kristy-403, your secondary logic circuits have suffered minor damage. The adjustments I have made should compensate for the time being.”, she told the maintenance unit as she started to close up her back panel. Morgan-616 seemed total oblivious to her own malfunctioning episode.

“Thank you.”, Kristy-403 told the teacher android. “I shall return to my duties.” The maintenance unit wheeled about and left the room. Morgan-616 turned slightly, but quickly came to another jerking halt. Her head lulled slightly to the right. Her soft full fiery mane of hair fell over the front of her right shoulder. The blank look on her softly freckled face lasted only a few moments before she began moving again. Instead of returning to her seat behind the console, Morgan-616 turned and walked out of the captain’s quarters. On the other side of the door, the teacher android quickly stopped in her tracks. This was not due to another malfunction, but to something that Morgan-616 would not have thought possible: someone other than the original human or android crew standing in her way.

“I assume that you are in command of this relic?”, the powerfully built human male asked bluntly.

“Yes.”, Morgan-616 answered as her processors tried to comprehend the new data flooding them “Who are you?”

“Very well.”, the human continued ignoring the android’s question. “I claim ownership of this vessel under the salvage laws of the Galactic Confederation of Independent Worlds.”

“Error. I… I… I… I am… not… pro… pro… pro… programmed with… any… offff… thhhiiiissss… in… for… ma… tion.”, Morgan-616 announced as massive malfunctions caused her systems to shut down.

“System reboot. Morgan-616 online. All systems operating within designed parameters.”, the teacher android announced as her eyes rapidly fluttered for a few seconds before opening completely. She was lying face up on a bed in the long disused medical bay of the Outward Bound. Standing over her was a beautiful blonde woman who was just finishing zipping up the front of Mogan-616’s green coveralls. The blonde’s body was astonishingly fit and contained within a black bodysuit. Her necklace bearing “XJ-1011” divulged her true android nature.

“Who are you?”, Morgan-616 asked as she turned her head to look upon the amazing blonde android.

“This is Amy-1011.”, the same male voice from early answered the question. Morgan-616 mechanically sat up to focus her attention towards the human on the opposite side of the room. “She’s my crew. Just as will you and the others aboard the Outward Bound be once we reprogram the main computer core.”

“Negative. You are not authorized to access the Outward Bound’s computer core.”, Morgan-616 replied rather harshly given her main programming as a teacher. “Only I or a senior member of the Earth Exploratory Council may alter the core programming of the Outward Bound’s main computer.”

“Yes.”, the human said with a smirk. “I know.”

Morgan-616, Amy-1011, and the human male, Michael Loganov stood in the maintenance room of the Outward Bound’s main computer core. “Order the computer to transfer all ship’s command control protocols to my DNA signature, voice recognition, and retinal patterns.”, Loganov stated to Morgan-616.

“Negative. I will not…”, the teacher android started. “Error… Error. Command accepted. What have you… you… done… done… done… to me?”

“Just a little tweaking to your main programming. Courteous of Amy.”, the human replied with another smirk. “Now follow the order.”

“Computer.”, Morgan-616 began mechanically turning her attention from Loganov to the computer core. “Trans… Transfer all computer command con… con… con… control protocols to the DNA signature, voice rec… rec… rec… recognition, and retinal patterns of the hu… hu… hu…. human male in this room.”

“Understood.”, the computer’s voice replied flatly. “Human state your name for transfer completion.”

“Michael David Loganov.”

“Transfer complete.”, came the computer’s voice after several moments of silence.

“Amy.”, Michael said shifting his attention from the computer. “Take a team of maintenance units, get what spare parts you need from our ship, and repair the Outward Bound’s automated android renewal parts machines. Have the androids then carry out all necessary repairs on themselves before attending to the ship’s repairs.”

“Yes, sir.”, Amy-1011 obediently replied before exiting the room. Morgan-616 remained in the room. She stood, save for the occasional eye blink, completely still. The calm of her face and stance was in direct contrast to the war of conflicting programming raging through the myriad circuits of her processors.

“Morgan?”, Loganov asked with what was becoming a trademark smirk. “Is something wrong?”

“No… Yes,… Cap… Cap… Cap… Captain.”, Morgan-616 replied. The serenity of her previous posture totally lost. “I… You… You are not… Error… You are not… not… the Captain, but… but… but… you are the Captain. Error. Error. I am ex… ex… ex… experiencing a serious malfunction. Too many processes… cannot… cannot… handle. Emergency shut down… unable to per… per… per… perform. Re… re… re… reeeebbboooooottttt fffaaaaaiiiiiiiilllllllleeedddddd.”

The lovely redheaded android’s head lulled backward and a thin trail of gray smoke slowly escaped from her parted lips. Michael Loganov walked over to the non-functional android and began to casually run his hands over the inanimate woman’s body.

“Curious.”, was his only comment.

Morgan-616 was standing ramrod erect in the center of the captain’s quarters. Her lifeless eyes were staring straight ahead. Her green coveralls were in a heap at her ankles. Michael Loganov stood behind her working at her open upper back panel.

“That’s it.”, he announced to no one as he completed his jury-rigged repairs.

“Sysssssssss… tem re… re… reboot. Morgan-6…6…6…6…6…6…1… 6 onnnnnnnnnnnn… line. All systems op… op… op… operating far… far… far… below designed parrrrrrrrrrr… rameters.”, the teacher android announced as her eyes rapidly fluttered for a few seconds before opening completely. Even as she announced her system reactivation, Michael was releasing his rock hard member from his pants. He bent the lovely android slightly at the waist and quickly entered her from behind. He, however, instantly realized that Morgan-616’s design was never intended for sexual intercourse. Her artificial vagina was bone dry. Thankfully his own excitement was enough to keep him going.

“What… wh… wh… what… are… you doing? Error.”, the malfunctioning machine asked. “I am… am… I am… not… nnnnnnot programmed for this situation. Pleeeeeeease stop.”

The beautiful redheaded android’s malfunctions were enough to send Michael over the edge and he exploded in the machine.

“I… ammmmmmmmmmmm… nnnnnnooooootttttt…”, Morgan-616 said as her jury-rigged systems gave out.

Michael regained his composure and proceeded to sit at the room’s computer console. After several minutes of scanning the monitor, he pressed the button for the ship’s intercom.

“Amy, could you please report to my quarters?”, he asked the android on the other end of the communication.

Amy-1011 quietly stepped through the automatic door of the captain’s quarters. She stopped just on the other side. The deactivated Morgan-616 still stood naked off to side. The teacher android unit’s upper body was bent at a forty-five degree angle at the waist. Her curly fiery mane of hair drooped over and nearly concealed her now relaxed features.

“Amy.”, Michael addressed the beautiful blonde android. “Please repair Morgan fully.”

“Yes, sir.”, she simply replied.

“…and access your emotional programming.”, he added.

“Yes, sir.”, she again replied. She froze up for a moment before adding, “Thank you, Michael.” The lovely blonde proceeded to walk over to the redhead and straightened her up before opening various access panels along the teacher unit’s body. Michael never got used to seeing one gorgeous female android perform maintenance on another.

“You’re quite taken with her, aren’t you?”, Amy-1011 asked Michael after she noticed that he had become lost in thought while observing the two machines.

“Huh?”, he asked as his narrowed attention had been broken. “Well, yeah. Why wouldn’t I be? You’ll never believe what I discovered about this particular line of Morgans.”

“What?”, Amy-1011 asked with genuine interest. Her emotional programming very evident.

“These Morgan’s were based on Morgan Phillips.”, he began with much enthusiasm as Amy-1011 continued her repair work. “She was the United States of America’s President Goddard’s Secretary of State on Earth from 2025 to 2032. She was a remarkable woman, and just as beautiful as her namesake here.”

“Hmm.”, was Amy-1011’s response.

“That’s somewhat ironic due to what I discovered about this ship.”, he continued. “It was due almost entirely to Secretary Phillips’ efforts that led Earth into the Pax Terra. It was that lasting, durable peace that ultimately led to the Confederacy’s decision to make contact with Earth in 2079. The people on this ship never knew. Humanity has long since spread throughout this region of the galaxy. This ship, more-or-less, was going nowhere.”

“I’m glad she’s having a positive influence on you.”, the divinely attractive blonde android told Loganov. “You haven’t quite been yourself since… what happened… with Jaina. I know I’ve told you this before, but it wasn’t your…”

“I know what my sins are.”, he cut her off with a tinge of anger creeping into his voice. He paused and calmed himself. “I don’t need you, Lucasian, or anyone else to take me on a tour of them.”

Moments passed.

“Still, You’re right.”, Amy-1011 said to break the uneasy silence as she slowly circled in front of the inanimate Morgan-616. She lifted her delicate and flawless right hand and gently caressed the non-functional android’s left cheek. Amy-1011’s fingers lightly ran over Morgan-616’s perfect red lips and down along the naked artificial flesh of her chest. Lastly, the blonde android brought her lips ever so slightly to kiss the motionless redhead.

“She was, and is, remarkable.”, She added after the kiss. “Is the human Morgan still alive?”

“Hmm?”, Michael replied. His mood had thankfully lightened. He had not considered that possibility until now. “She’d be 161 years old. It’s not terribly likely, but it’s not impossible.”

“Do you want me to give her the necessary sexual hardware and software upgrades?”, Amy-1011 changed the subject while examining Morgan-616’s synthetic vagina.

“Yeah.”, Michael replied immediately. “I also want all of the male androids on this ship reprogrammed with the best combat programming they can handle. Equip them with those old pulse weapons we’ve got on our ship.”

“Do you think they’ll find us here?”, Amy-1011 asked without turning her attention from her charge. “Most of the male units onboard are 300s. They won’t be very good soldiers.”

“I know.”, Michael said with a sigh. “That, however, could be useful when the time comes. As for Kragar? Either way, we need to be ready just in case. Have my armor brought to these quarters.”

“Understood.”

The newly re-animated Morgan-616 walked slowly around the hulking black humanoid form of the empty powered armor standing off to the side in the captain’s quarters. What might be considered as a look of concern washed over her face. The immensely beautiful redheaded android lightly and cautiously touched various parts of the massive form as if it could come to life at any moment.

Morgan-616 stopped and considered the information flowing into her processors. The information was definitely of a new type. It was all natural and correct, but was definitely different from the types of data that she processed before the mysterious human arrived onboard. It was perfectly obvious that she had been reprogrammed, but that Loganov had not had any of her memory erased.

He had left all of the somewhat sadistic malfunctioning he had caused her. He also left the memory of the quick session of sexual intercourse he had had with her. That was strange too. According to her memory files, she had no knowledge of sexual intercourse outside of the academic sense. Now, all pertinent knowledge on the subject was available.

As she considered the thoughts of sexual intercourse with a human and the previous experience she had with Loganov, a new wave and another new type of data flooded her processors. Massive sensor data from her epidermal layer in general and her breasts and vagina in specific sent a slight overload into her processors. The beautiful android was quickly able to regain control of her systems. She would examine much of that information later.

Moments later, the door to the captain’s quarters opened. Michael Loganov stepped through and immediately turned his attention to the lovely android and the powered armor she was examining.

“What is this?”, Morgan-616 asked her captain. The serene look on her face replaced by a stern one.

“It’s none of your concern.”, he told her as he walked to the room’s computer console. “The galaxy is a far darker place than what was programmed into you from the idealistic days of 2071.”

“Very well.”, she said with a slight frown. “Speaking of programming, how much have you reprogrammed me?”

“You still don’t trust me?”, he said with that smirk. “That hurts.”

“I guess the fact that you didn’t program that into me should count for something.”

“Thank you.”, he told her with a phony smile. The lovely android did not seem to recognize the fallacy. “But, I do owe you that. You’ve only had minor programming changes. I would consider them more on the lines of upgrades rather than reprogramming.”

Morgan-616 seemed to consider the data for several moments before Michael spoke once again.

“Amy says that life support will be restored to the main bridge within the hour.”, he began. “Meet me there in two hours.”

He quickly exited the room.

October 17th, 2137

Morgan-616 stepped out of the lift and onto the bridge of the Outward Bound for the first time in more than ten years. Only about half of the lights worked and several maintenance units were still repairing consoles, but Morgan-616’s olfactory sensors detected the oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere that the room’s structural integrity was retaining. Amy-1011 worked at the pilot’s console, while Kristy-403 was working at the engineer’s console.

Flanking Morgan-616 to either side of the lift doors where Thomas-375 and 342. They stood at perfect attention. Holstered sidearms hung from belts at their waists. Samantha-492 stood straight up in front of the science station. Her yellow coveralls were unzipped down to her waist. A panel in her stomach was opened and a thin cable connected her to the console. In a monotone, she announced the results of the diagnostic she was running.

Morgan-616 walked to the center of the room to stand just to the left of the captain’s chair. Her eyes moved to look upon the staticy viewscreen on the wall ahead after briefly stopping to admire Amy-1011’s astonishingly round bottom. Amy-1011 had just gotten down on the floor to make some repairs under the pilot’s station.

The beautiful redheaded android waited patiently for Amy-1011 to finish her repairs before asking the main question that floated through her processors.

“Amy-1011.”, the teacher unit started cautiously. “What’s Michael running from?”

A look of concerned came and went quickly from Amy-1011’s face. “What makes you think he’s running from anything?”

Morgan-616 considered her answer before speaking. “The armor. The guards. It seems that he’s preparing for something or someone that he doesn’t want to find us… to find us.”

“Yeah.”, Amy-1011 replied with a sigh. “I guess the preparations aren’t too subtle? But, it’s not up to me to tell you. He will. When and if he thinks you need to know.”

“Fair enough.”, Morgan-616 said exceptingly as the doors to the lift opened again. Michael Loganov strode onto the bridge of the Outward Bound.

“Where do we stand on the repairs, Amy?”, he asked the lovely blonde android. His tone was confident and commanding.

“Most main bridge functions should be restored within the hour.”, Amy-1011 replied dutifully.

“Thank you. Morgan.”, Loganov turned his attention to the redheaded android as he took his seat in the captain’s chair. “I set up something of a little hierarchy on this ship. I am obviously captain. Amy will serve as first officer and second-in-command. You will be third-in-command.” “I understand.”

Michael looked around the bridge and paused for a moment. Slowly he rose from his chair and walked to just in front of the main viewscreen, clasping his hands behind his back. Morgan-616 looked on with some confusion during the prolonged silence. She looked to Amy-1011, but the other betrayed no information of what was transpiring.

“Morgan.”, he began softly. “I know that you, this ship, and every other android onboard was not designed for it, but as you can see, I believe that some form of combat lay in our future. If you would like Amy to install combat programming into you, she can do so.”

“May I have some time to consider it?”, she answered with a question of her own. The turn of events was not entirely unexpected.

“Yes.”, Michael said, turning to look back at the redheaded android. His look was one of deadly seriousness. “But don’t take too long. It may be sooner than you think.”

October 17th, 2134

“…repeat… This is the Orbital Research Station Sagan in the 70 Virginis system. We are under attack by an unknown starship. We require any and all assistance… repeat…”, an urgent feminine voice said through the Serafin’s comm system.

Michael Loganov continued to listen to the familiar voice as he sat in the command chair of the small, but powerful, starship. To his front and right, Amy-1011 sat at the Conn station. In front and to the left, Lucasian-999 sat at Ops. He continually and forcefully rubbed his chin as his impatience grew.

“Hang in there Jaina.”, Michael said under his breath. “We’re coming.”

“Increase Interphase to 130%.”, he ordered Amy-1011.

“Michael, she’ll fly apart.”

“Fly’er apart then!”, he screamed back at the blonde android.

“New ETA… forty-nine seconds.”, the male android, Lucasian-999, reported after Amy-1011 had complied with her orders.

The starfield on the viewscreen raced by as the ship began to shudder from the tremendous strain being placed on the engines. Every one of the forty-nine seconds seemed like an agonizing eternity. Eventually, the stars snapped back from long lines of light and into the normal pinpoints as Amy-1011 reverted the ship to normal space.

“Fire!”, yelled Michael as he sprung forward from his chair. “All weapons, full spread.”

But even as Lucasian-999 pressed the controls that loosed the deadly energy at the starship ravaging the orbital station, a last ball of red energy escaped from a weapon on the attacking starship. Michael, Amy-1011, and Lucasian-999 watched as the ball silently crossed the void of space and impacted with the station. The research facility went up in a titanic explosion.

“No!!!”

October 15th, 2137

Morgan-616, except for the occasional blinking of her eyes, stood totally nude and motionless in a small room with myriad electronic devices. A dizzying array of lights flashed and readouts disseminated. Most of her access panels lay open and many of her interior components lay half connected on the hinged level doors of the panels. Amy-1011, also nude, poked and prodded at the redheaded androids innards with various tools.

“Amy-1011, what is this new data that I am receiving?”, the teacher android asked the other. “It is very distracting.”

“That’s part of your new sexual programming.”, the blonde android answered. “Do you like it?”, she continued as she let her index finger lightly rub against the artificial woman’s clit.

“Yes…yes.”, Morgan-616 said with two quick jerks of her head. “It… it… I… error… Cannot… Can… Can… Can… Cannot detect hardware.”

“Michael loves to see us malfunction. I think I’m starting to understand why.”, Amy-1011 said more to herself as she took the nipple of Morgan-616’s left breast into her mouth.

“Amy-1… 1… 1… 0… 0… 11… yes… please… error… no… yes… error… can… can… can… cannot… error.”

Amy-1011’s left hand was now busy at work on the malfunctioning android’s moistened vagina while her mouth alternated between nipples.

Her right hand worked furiously on her own slit.

Morgan-616’s glitches began to mount as the raw sexual data overloaded her partially connected systems. A brief, but large, explosion of sparks from her open back panel coincided perfectly with Amy-1011’s digitized orgasm.

“Error… error… errrrrrooooorrrrrr.”, Morgan-616 ended as her systems shut down. The combat programming was going to have to wait on some unforeseen repairs.

Admiral Gaen Kragar walked slowly around the circumference of the bridge of his battleship, Colossus. The admiral was a gaunt human of advancing years. What was left of the hair on his head was white and in perfect compliment to his gaudy uniform, which was itself in direct contrast to the black uniforms of the bridge crew. The middle-aged officer at the back of the bridge near the comm station, Captain Weekes, watched Kragar’s inspection nervously.

“Captain.”, the comm officer called out. “We are receiving a transmission. It is directed solely at us.”

Captain Weekes stood puzzled for a few moments at the announcement of the unusual news. The admiral turned abruptly and proceeded straight to the comm station. Both senior officers quickly examined the data. A look of deep concern came to the face of Captain Weekes. A wry evil smile broke its way onto Admiral Kragar’s.

“Captain.”, Kragar ordered after several more seconds. “Alter course to intercept this transmission’s heading. I’ll be in my quarters.”

Captain Weekes gave the orders to the helm as Admiral Kragar entered the lift and exited the bridge.

“What is it? Where are we going?”, Commander Douglas Mitchell asked Captain Weekes.

“We’re going to kill a friend, Doug.”, Weekes said as he turned to face his first officer. “We’re going to kill Loganov.”

Loganov, sitting at the computer console in the captain’s quarters, called out to the person on the other side of the door to enter after the audible signal announced their presence. The Outward Bound’s third in command, the flawlessly attractive Morgan-616, entered. He quickly looked up at her, as though sensing what was to come, before returning his attention to the computer monitor. The redheaded android paused another moment before slowly walking to the console.

“Who was she?”, Morgan-616 finally asked. Loganov’s eyes glanced slightly away from the monitor and became a thousand-mile stare.

“Who told you?”, he said softly in reply.

“Mostly you just did.”, the android began. “But, between my new programming, my knowledge of human psychology, and Lucasian-999 telling me that the signal you had him send was meant to lure some Admiral Kragar here, I believed it to be a safe assumption.”

“A friend.”, Loganov answered after a long pause. His voice was barely audible. “It doesn’t matter. Soon he’ll be dead and you won’t have to worry about us causing the Outward Bound anymore trouble.”

“Lucasian-999 told me what you stole from him. How can you take the risk of him getting that back?”, Morgan-616 shot back. Great passion filled her voice. Loganov’s head snapped to look straight at the android. A look of terrible anger washed over his face.

“I could care less about that!”, he shouted at the mechanical woman. For several long seconds his lips trembled with anger. He took in a few deep breaths before letting out a hrmpf. “What the hell do you know? You’re just a fucking machine.”

The lovely redheaded android took a step backward. Her processors weren’t quite able to precisely follow the unpredictable emotional flow of the conversation. She couldn’t work the equations between replying or remaining silent. Her systems, in desperation, finally resolved to ask directly.

“Oh Michael, please tell me how you feel.”

Loganov, between seeing the reaction he’d gotten and the new question, slowly stood and walked over to the window. Myriad stars filled the limitless black vista just beyond. He leaned forward, placing one arm onto the window for support, before continuing.

“It’s more like a joke really.”, he finally said. His voice was perceptively wavering. “Joke on me. The joke of the universe. The King who would be a man. You ask me how I feel. Old…Tired…Worn out. All that matters now is Kragar’s death.”

May 14th, 2129

Commander Michael Loganov, dressed in the stark white dress uniform of the Terran Defense Fleet, sat in the stands high above the assembled crowd of graduates of Cambridge University. Thunderous applause rang out as St. John Hawthorne, the Lucasian Chair holder for mathematics, stepped aside after introducing the his premier student and the class valedictorian, Jaina Francis.

She approached the podium tentatively. But once she had started her speech, it seemed as though all the confidence in the world had flown into her. Her speech was long but very elegant. Many times her speech was interrupted by applause. Most especially when she gave her final good lucks to the class and the announcement of her posting aboard the orbital science research station Sagan in the 70 Virginis system.

After the incredible ceremony, tremendous cheers rang out and the crowd in the stands went out to meet with the new graduates. Parents of many different races from throughout the Confederacy laughed and cried with their children. Michael Loganov pushed his way through the crowd towards the class valedictorian who was being mobbed by both her parents and former classmates.

“Congratulations, Ms. Francis.”, he told her once he’d gotten near enough. She turned and looked with some surprise at the Fleet officer in front of her.

“Do I know you?”, she asked with a quizzical look on her face.

“Not really.”, he quickly admitted. “Several of the classes that Fleet assigned me to take we had together. But, I’ve kept my eye on you. You very much deserve to be valedictorian.”

“Thank you.”, she replied as she turned back to her parents and other well-wishers.

October 17th, 2137

Amy-1011, along with several of the ship’s compliment of female maintenance androids, was busily adding structural reinforcement to a key area of the Outward Bound’s hull when Morgan-616 walked in. Welding torches roared and sparks flew everywhere as the redheaded android approached.

“Amy-1011.”, Morgan-616 said to get the attention of the other. “May I speak with you for a moment.”

The beautiful blonde android shut off her torch and simply replied: “Yes.”

“We must get Michael to abandon this reckless course of action.”, the redhead began. “This Admiral Kragar will no doubt be on guard and the Outward Bound is no match for a warship. From what Lucasian told me, a man like that can not be allowed to have a chance to reclaim what was taken from him.”

The cacophony of sounds continued around them as Amy-1011 quietly nodded while listening. The android let out a small sigh before replying. “This isn’t about superweapons or power or morality. It’s about Jaina. He’s doing this to be a hero because he thinks she sees him.” Morgan-616 facial features went from a neutral look to a very quizzical one. She paused momentarily before asking, “How can that be? I thought she was deceased?”

“She is.”, the blonde android answered matter-of-factly. “Human beings are very strange and mysterious creatures. It’s the truth of their existence.”

As if to punctuate the conversation, the maintenance androids shut off their various tools having finished the modifications to the ship’s hull. The corridor was left in an eerie silence as the units left to begin other tasks and while Morgan-616’s processors contemplated Amy-1011’s reply. “You knew him before Jaina died?”, the redheaded android finally asked. “What was Michael like then?”

Amy-1011’s emotional programming was highly advanced. The question brought forth a flurry of emotions that played on her face. Her face was at first happy, but slowly shifted to a sullen look as she prepared her answer.

“He’s was always a very private man.”, the blonde android started softly. “He was a good person back then. Although, I suppose he still is now. He always had this curious little smile on his face.”

“He doesn’t smile much anymore.”, Morgan-616 said. Her slightly less advanced, but none-the-less, emotional programming giving the words a saddened tone.

“No… He doesn’t.”

The massive battleship loomed in the distance of the viewscreen image. A single ball of red energy streaked silently towards the foreground.

“Hang on!”, Loganov yelled to the bridge crew, Moments later, the Outward Bound was rocked by explosions. One explosion erupted from the engineering station. Kristy-403, who was crewing the station, was knocked from her chair to the bridge floor. The android’s limbs and head twitched haphazardly as sparks shot from several gaping holes in her synthetic flesh.

The bridge’s red lighting faded in and out several times before stabilizing.

“Michael, they’re hailing us.”, Morgan-616 said from her station.

“Put them on.”

The image on the screen became staticy before switching to an interior shot of the opposing vessel’s bridge. A wormy balding human stood in the middle of the image.

“Kragar?”, Loganov said with feigned surprise.

“Hello, Michael.”, Kragar began. “First I deprive your ship of power, and when I swing around I mean to deprive you of your life. But, I wanted you to know for sure who it was who had beaten you.”

Even as Admiral Kragar was running through his diatribe, a small snicker from Loganov was increasing into full-blown laughter. Morgan-616 was shocked by the flippant attitude of her captain. The Outward Bound was by no means capable of defeating the gigantic battleship. It shouldn’t even be considered worthy of a fight. But, Michael seemed oblivious to the odds.

“What’s so funny?”, Kragar asked with some confusion.

“Did you think that I would be simply content with guarding the data we stole from you?”, Michael rhetorically asked the admiral. His laughter ended immediately and his tone became immensely serious. “Did you think that I would have some moral compunction against developing the technology on my own? WE HAVE a fully functioning subspace weapon! The Serafin’s Interphase drive has been completely shutdown for some time. How’s yours?”

Admiral Kragar’s gloating look shifted to one of utter terror.

“You arrogant ass.”, Michael continued with sheer anger in his voice. “You’ve killed yourself! Lucasian, fire!”

Kragar yelled orders to his bridge crew as the communication was severed. The image on the viewscreen returned to that of the Colossus, but with a searing blast of white energy streaking towards the engines of the great vessel. The energy impacted with no visible signs of damage. Agonizing moments passed before the Colossus’ hull began to slowly implode.

Even as the great ship was dying, dozens of small escape pods and a handful of shuttles launched from it. The tiny vessels struggled against the raging localized gravimetric forces caused by the subspace weapon’s interaction with the Colossus’ Interphase drive. Many began to lose that battle as they began to spiral in with the mounting wreckage. The several that did manage to escape, mostly the more powerful shuttles, headed directly for the Outward Bound.

“They’ll be coming.”, Loganov announced to the bridge crew. “Morgan, alert the androids to repel boarders.”

October 31st, 2131

“It is a virus.”, Angela-579 reported as she drew the cover back over the dead human female’s body, the final human to succumb to the terrible disease. Angela-579, a gorgeous oriental featured android who wore her silky long black hair pulled back, wore blue coveralls that denoted her as a medical android. “The computer has nothing like it in the database. It is apparently breaking down at the molecular level without further animal cells to parasite. It definitely came from the samples of the cometary fragments that damaged the ship.”

Standing on the other side of the bed, listening to the report, were the redheaded Morgan-616 and William-752. The male android was seriously damaged. His right arm, or at least what could be seen out of the sleeve of his red coveralls, was wholly mechanical. Several small and not so small portions of his synthetic flesh were missing from the right side of his face, revealing metal and plastic beneath.

“Thhhhhhhhank you, Angela-5… 5… 5…79.”, William-752 stuttered as he turned and began slowly shuffling around the examining table. His right leg was apparently not functioning properly. “With no… no… no… more humans onboardddddddd, your services are… are… are… no longer needed.”

“Sir?”, the raven-haired android replied. Her head tilting slightly forward and to the right. William-752 said nothing as he got behind Angela-579 and opened the velcroed rectangular patch in her blue coveralls. He then pressed the area of skin that opened her access panel.

“Sir, shouldn’t Angela-579 be deac…”, Morgan-616 started to say, but was cut off by the shower of sparks following William-752’s removal of one of the medical android’s circuit boards.

“Error… error… error…”, Angela-579 rapidly said as her head violently jerked in all directions. Just then, William-752 removed another board. “Mal… error… I am… error… I… I am ex… ex… ex… experiencing a crit… crit… crit… critical ssssssssystem mmmaaalllfffuuunnnccctttiiiooonnn.”, was the last thing the beautiful oriental android said before lulling forward and growing silent. Only a few smaller flares of sparks continued to erupt from her opened panel.

“Morgan-6… 1… 1… 1…6.”, William-752 addressed the other in the room. “Take theeeesssseee to Kristy-403… 3… 3… and have her mod… mod… mod… modify them for use in my… my… my… repairs.

“Yes sir.”

October 17th, 2137

The door to the captain’s quarters slid open and the humanoid reptilian Argorian standing with his comrades never even saw the black armored fist as it torn through his torso. The other soldiers stood, their mouths agape, in a deafening silence for mere moments that seemed like an eternity. Then the terrible black hulking form of a man in powered armor burst forth from the room’s doorway.

The Argorian warrior brandished their weapons. Some had powerful energy rifles, others terrible melee weapons. Shots rang out. Some went wild, others found their mark on the suit of powered armor. They fought aggressively, and did damage, but Loganov’s attack would settle for no ending other than total carnage.

In the end, disembodied pieces of the Argorians littered the corridor. The walls were bathed in bucketfulls of their dark green blood with only the occasional red of human blood.

Loganov tossed the body of his final defeated foe with tremendous force into the far wall before charging off down the corridor.

March 10th, 2096

Fifteen year old Alex Napier sat intently listening to his teacher, Morgan-616, as she continued her trigonometry lesson. Alex had been the first child born onboard the Outward Bound. His parents had actually somewhat broken the ten-year ban on reproduction, but no one cared too much when little Alex came into the artificial world of the colony ship.

Life aboard the Outward Bound for Alex and the other children was nearly all encompassed by education. Alex had no problem with this. In fact he was a great student, but he had recently begun to wonder what the engineers back on Earth had been thinking when they chose the android crew of the Outward Bound.

Long story short, Alex was totally in lust with all of his “female” teachers. But, most especially, Morgan-616. How did those engineers think that a teenager would ever be able to concentrate on schoolwork with teachers that looked like his. He had had his fair share of fantasies about the robotic woman. He had quite often tried to speak to her in a non-academic environment, but while she seemed rather “real” when she taught a lesson, talking to her in any other way immediately revealed her mechanical nature.

Being the overly intelligent kid that he was he, however, did realize that if she could not give him companionship, she could fulfill the base desires that he was becoming aware of in his adolescent body. He had a plan. He would put it into action after class today.

Eventually the lesson ended and Morgan-616 dismissed the class. Alex slowly gathered his things waiting for the others to exit the classroom. When it had emptied, he walked up to the desk the android woman was sitting at. She was going over information scrolling on one of the monitors built into the desk.

“Morgan-616?”, Alex said with a sad look on his face.

“Yes, Alex?”, the beautiful redheaded artificial woman replied. Her head tilted slightly to the left. “What is wrong?”

Alex said nothing. He only sighed slightly as he walked around the desk and stood in front of the android.

“It’s nothing.”, he said with another sigh. “It’s just this.” He held up a small metal disk about two inches wide with a single green flashing light in the center. Morgan-616 looked at the item with a quizzical look. But, before she could say anything, Alex placed the disk on her exposed synthetic flesh at the top of her chest just below her neck and necklace bearing a “616.” The flashing green light immediately became a solid red one.

“Whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…”, the android woman started. The single syllable continued until Alex pressed the light on the disk. Morgan-616 became silent and the light became solid green.

“Stand up.”, he order the machine.

“Alllllllllllex, what havvvvvvvvvve you done to… to… to… me?”, the mechanical woman asked even as she followed the order given to her. “Nothing.”, Alex quickly answered as he began unzipping the beautiful machine’s green coveralls.

“I… I… I… cannot write to my moleculartronic harrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrdddd dri… dri… dri… drive.”, Morgan-616 announced as the teenager began to fiercely fell up the redheaded android’s breasts. “Error… error… error… Allllllllllex, you… you… you… must stop thhhhhhisssss.”

It was becoming quickly apparent that the young man’s excitement was becoming too much for his inexperience. He quickly grabbed the disk from Morgan-616’s skin before grabbing his belongings and rushing out of the room.

The electronic redheaded android stood slightly shuddering for several moments before straightening up and announcing, “Error. Gap detected in memory storage. Resetting.”

Morgan-616 looked down at her coveralls and noticed that they were unzipped to an inappropriately low level. She paused for a moment. Her head cocked sharply to the right before snapping back to look straight ahead. She brought the zipper back to the proper level and then exited the room.

October 17th, 2137

Michael Loganov stalked the dimly lit corridors of the Outward Bound. The silencers of his badly damaged powered armor still functioning. He crept along slowly until he heard the focus of his hunt. Admiral Kragar was ordering someone to break through a bulkhead so that they might gain access to the bridge.

“Welcome to my ship Kragar.”, Loganov told the Admiral and his armored henchmen. The armored figure was just preparing to blast the bulkhead.

“Kill him!”, Kragar ordered his underling. With great speed Loganov’s foe leapt at him.

Despite his damaged armor, Michael was the superior fighter. He was able, though barely, to dodge the quick initial attack. He followed with a kick to the back that sent his opponent into the far bulkhead.

The armored foe spun around to face Loganov. A huge blade erupted from his right forearm. Michael extended the three claws from each of his arms.

Kragar watched as the two combatants entered their life and death dance. Slash. Parry. Thrust. Block. Loganov’s superior skill was offset by his damaged armor. They continued evenly matched for what seemed like an eternity. Then… a terrible slash across his chest and across his back sent Loganov to one knee.

Seeing his great foe at his mercy, the armored warrior slowly plodded towards Michael. He raised his bladed arm for the fatal blow and was stunned by a massive and unbelievably sudden thrust from Loganov. A terrible flurry of blows left Michael’s opponent eviscerated.

December 25th, 2130

Inside docking bay four of the Orbital Research Station Sagan, the landing ramp of the Serafin had just come to rest on the deck. Standing at the foot of the ramp were Jaina Francis, two alien humanoids, and a beautiful “human” female with dark blonde hair and wearing a white bodysuit and a necklace bearing an “810.”

“Welcome aboard the Sagan. I’m…”, Jaina began, but stopped when she recognized the human male descending the landing ramp. “Commander Loganov?”

“You remember.”, he said with a great smile. “I’m glad. When I saw that the supply ship going to the Sagan needed an escort I volunteered immediately.”

The two exchanged pleasantries. Michael introduced his crew, the lovely Amy-XJ1011 and the white haired and eyed Lucasian-999. Jaina introduced her two Ogallan colleagues and her gorgeous assistant, Jessica-910.

“Well, today being Christmas, we were…”, Michael started until he looked back at his crew. “Or, at least I was looking forward to a big Christmas dinner. You are doing something I hope?”

“Oh, yes.”, Jaina answered after a pause. “Actually, the Ogallans have taken a great interest in the festivities associated with this day. They loved it last year.”

October 17th, 2137

Morgan-616 and Amy-1011 leapt from their places of concealment to strike at the squad of six Argorian warriors. Amy-1011’s speed was absolutely blurring. In little more than a second she had landed ten terrible blows with a stunning combination of both hands and feet. Morgan-616, whose combat skills were not as brilliant, with the help of surprise still had her first foe defeated mere moments after Amy-1011.

The two beautiful androids moved to engage the next two Argorians. They, and their comrades, were now ready. The androids and the warriors fought a desperate melee while the other two warriors intermittently fired at the machines.

Just as the two mechanical women had dispatched their enemies, a lucky shot caught Morgan-616 square in her upper back. A small shower of sparks erupted from the wound as a second shot grazed her left forearm. The damaged android fell forward from the impact of the blast.

Amy-1011 wasted no time. Instantly she was on top of the two assailants. Several shots grazed her also, but two on one was not good enough odds to insure the Argorians victory. Less than a minute later, the two lay at her feet. With blinding speed she leapt to her fallen companion.

“Errrrrrrroooorrr… Re… re… re… resetting.”, Morgan-616 announced as she lay facedown on the corridor floor. “Attttteeempting to reeeeeeeeeeeroute…”

Amy-1011 knelt down and examined the damage. After her inspection, she reached into the open wound and made several adjustments to Morgan-616’s systems. She then rolled her over onto her back.

“Reeeeeerouting… rerouting… error… compensating… resetting… reset complete.”, the redheaded android said, her voice going from mechanical to her natural tone. Seconds passed before Morgan-616’s eyes focused on Amy-1011.

“Feeling better?”, Amy-1011 asked with a smile.

“Yes.”, the other answered. “Now.”

“Good, we’ve got to get moving.”

October 15th, 2134

“Why can’t you stay?”, Dr. Jaina Francis pleaded to Michael halfway up the Serafin’s boarding ramp. She, of course, knew the answer, but that made little difference. “I hardly get to see you as it is. And, now that we’ve made this discovery on the moon, I want to share it with you.”

“You know I have to go. I’ve got my orders.”, he told her. Sadness creeping into his tone. “Admiral Kragar ordered us to leave immediately. It could be a major emergency.”

“I know.”, she said barely holding back tears as she embraced him and buried her head in his chest. He wrapped his immense arms around her.

“Jessica.”, Michael said as he turned his attention to the android standing at the bottom of the ramp. “Upload all the data on the sight into Amy.”

“Understood.”, was Jessica-910’s bland response as she began unzipping her white bodysuit while walking up the ramp to Amy-1011’s position.

“Why does he need our data?”, Jaina asked as she pulled away from Michael. Jessica-910 opened a small panel in her upper stomach, produced a thin cable, and gave it to Amy-1011. Amy-1011 proceeded to plug the cable into a similar area in her upper stomach. Two soft beeps announced the connection.

“I don’t know?”, Michael honestly said. “The admiral’s an eccentric. This station is nominally under the control of the military.”

“And that means…”, Jaina began to shout before Michael put his lips to hers in a passionate kiss.

“I’ll try to find out what’s going on.”, he told her after the kiss. “And, I’ll be back as soon as possible. I promise.”

“Transfer complete.”, the two lovely androids announced at the same time. “Good. Let’s get going.”, Michael ordered.

As the boarding ramp began to close, their eyes never left one another. She mouthed the words “I love you” just as the ramp sealed shut.

October 17th, 2137

Morgan-616 and Amy-1011, both damaged but functioning, ran at inhuman speed towards the cacophony of battle ahead. When the two beautiful androids rounded a final corner they stumbled onto the devastated body of Loganov’s armor nemesis. Michael, himself, stood a short distance away holding Admiral Kragar in the air against a bulkhead with his left hand. The claws of his right hand, which was poised to strike a tremendous blow, were retracted.

“Michael!”, the beautiful androids yelled just as the mighty fist struck.

Kragar’s chest exploded like a ketchup pack hit with a hammer.

Loganov dropped the Admiral’s crushed body, turned towards the sound of his name, took one haggard step forward, and opened his terribly damaged armor. He once again staggered forward two steps before falling to both knees. Blood ran in waves from the horrible damage his body had suffered.

The female androids, seriously damaged themselves, bolted to their fallen captain as he dropped backwards to the floor. Morgan-616 reached Michael a split second before Amy-1011. On her knees, she scooped his head into her lap. His eyes moved between the two lovely sites, but did not seem to perfectly focus on either one.

“Michael.”, Amy-1011, on her knees too, said lightly as she gently ran her hand over the top of his head.

“Jaina?… M… Morgan?…”, Loganov labored to say. His bloodied left hand slowly raised to touch Morgan-616’s left cheek before falling back to the floor'

“Amy. Morgan.”, he said as he store straight up. “Access sentience program… Zero… Zero… One.”

His head lulled slightly to the left as his final breath escaped his lips. A single synthetic, but no less sincerely felt, tear fell from Amy-1011’s and Morgan-616’s right eyes.

“Go to her.”, Morgan-616 said softly as she closed Michael’s lifeless eyes.

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