in on the binding table.
"What do you think they're going to do with him?" The first asked.
"No idea. Probably ask him some questions I would guess."
One of the enforcers turned and addressed them from behind the window. "Release him. His charges are to be lifted immediately."
"Yes sir." The first crewman said. He unlocked the restraints. "Do you think the hidden ones would mind if we liquidated the prisoners?"
The second crewman just gaped. "Why would anyone do that?"
"Just curious." He said.
The two enforcers stood around the unconscious body. "Release Dale from the system. We're here to take custody of this man."
The first crewman fingered the liquidation command code into the system. "You know, some of us believed in eradicating the synthetics from the world."
"Why would anyone want that?"
"So question: Have you ever once seen the prisoner taglines?"
"What? No. There would be no point. All prisoners are reported as being organic upon incarceration."
"True. But once they're in, the computer recognizes the false data immediately."
"False data?"
"Most of our prisoners are synthetics."
The second crewman looked confused. "Why would we be detaining synthetics? They literally can't hurt anyone." He pause. "Why wasn't I told about this?"
"Because you're one of them." The first crewman hit the liquidation button and sirens started to blare all over the prison facility. "Time to leave I think."
Dirk looked to the glass window but the crewman were already gone.
"What are we supposed to do? They're liquidating the prisoners."
The table with Dale started moving back into the wall. Kane grabbed a leg and started to pull. "Help me with him!"
Dirk nodded, grabbing the other leg. Dale fell to the ground with a thump. "We can't wake him up here. The prison is already breaking the prisoner's minds down into mush. That means we've only got enough time to get out before the whole place melts down too."
"Got it." Kane said, shouldering Dale's body. "What about the ground crew?"
"You get Dale on the ship. I'll find where they went."
Kane nodded and started down the hall.
Dirk did the same but turned off towards the secondary docking bay. He only made it a couple steps when Kane called after him.
"Their ship just passed overhead!"
Dirk started back towards the first docking bay.
Seven's hands were pressed against the cockpit window as the prison melted into the ground. She hit the window in frustration. "Why does this always happen!" She yelled in frustration. "Why can't I just get what I want? It's so easy! All I want is Dale and it looks like I can't even have that much. You might as well shoot me now. I don't have a purpose if he's already dead." She looked around and lunged at Nick's gun, taking it from its holster before he could stop her.
"Seven, no. It doesn't have to end like this. Just put the gun down and we can talk this over."
"No, there's no point in talking. I've been led on for too long." She put the gun to her head. "Tell the computer I'm sorry." She pulled the trigger.
Nobody looked when her body slumped to the ground with a wet thud.
There was silence.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Ricky asked. Jenn came rushing in and froze when she saw Seven's body. She covered her mouth with a hand.
"What happened?" Jenn gasped.
"Seven was consumed by her lack of purpose. The prison where Dale is being kept has been destroyed. She had no reason to exist."
Jenn's voice was quiet. "No reason to exist?"
"No, losing Dale twice was too much for her. The first time she had the opportunity to cope alongside of him. But now she had no supporting arm to lean against." Ricky said. He patched in a signal to a medical transport. "A doctor will be here shortly to remove her body."
Jenn sat down next to Nick, stunned. Nick sighed and put his arm around her. She didn't refuse the offer and leaned in to cry on his shoulder.
A short while later there was a hailing from another craft who wished to dock with them. Ricky sent the all clear and the two ships locked together. A door in the back room slid open. Two men emerged in white coats holding a stretcher between them. They noticed Seven lying in a pool of her own blood.
"Is she already gone?" One of them asked.
"We haven't checked." Jenn said, wiping away the tears.
One took a pulse while the other slid the stretcher underneath her prostrated form.
"She's gone." The doctor said, standing and taking one end of the stretcher.
Jenn buried her face in Nick's shoulder again and sobbed.
"You may take her away. We request however you trace her point of origin and inform her computer that she is gone."
The doctor nodded. "What happened?" He asked.
"She suffered an emotional breakdown due to stress and incompatibility between herself and an organic."
The doctor sighed. "I've seen this happen before. It's always a tragedy. Were any of you close to her?"
Most shook their heads.
"We've only known her for less than a single sleeping cycle."
The doctor scrunched his lips together. "I'm sorry." The two men in white started back for the door. "We'll alert you once we've contacted her computer."
"Thank you." Ricky said.
They left.
"Why did she do that?" Jenn blurted out. "Who thinks it's a good idea to take their own life? She hadn't even been alive for a week. How was she to know things wouldn't get better?"
"The human mind is a fragile thing." Ricky said. "Would you have done things differently if faced with such a situation?"
Jenn shook her head. "I don't know." Her voice was thick. "I just thought..." She sobbed.
Ricky turned and maneuvered the ship closer to the prison. "You do not seem to understand the relationships these synthetics have with one another. You are only an organic and as such you cannot comprehend the depth of emotion felt between a perfect pair."
"How can you say I don't know? What do you know about emotion?"
Ricky traded a glance with Crystal. "Some things are understood by all creatures."
"You are sick if you think you can feel anything."
"I am not the one who chooses to provoke violence and emotion distress on others."
"That's unfair. I was imprisoned against my will."
"Your actions deem your choices to be radical in nature. You are only aware of what you want. You do not feel for other people."
"How dare you." Jenn said, gripping herself tightly against Nick.
"This expression you show on Seven's behalf is an outer reflection of your naivety. You do not care for Seven. You only care about how it makes you feel. You cannot understand what it means to be more than just an acquaintance."
Jenn's eyes filled with loathing. "I hate you. I wish you were the one who'd killed yourself." She shoved herself away from Nick and jammed the door opener until she could get through. Nick just sat, stunned.
"Can I be let off on the next passing planet?" He asked. He put his head in his hands and sighed, trying to rid his mind of the pictures.
"Yes, you can leave once we return to our planet." Ricky said.
"Thank you." Nick leaned back and closed his eyes, waiting until he fell asleep.
Ricky addressed Crystal. "Do you think she can be revived?"
Crystal shook her head. "The only possible scenario in which she can be revived is the event that any data pertaining to her personality and memories can be extracted. That would require approaching the computer directly to ask for reanimation."
"I think reanimation must be attempted." Ricky said.
"If so, she must be created without a pre-rendered attachment to Dale. It was too soon for her to be connected with anyone other than herself. She was too confused."
"That is how it will be done." Ricky said. "Once she is
reanimated, I will return to my repair shop and continue working as I have always done."
"I will join you there." Crystal said. "I can find those who need your help."
"Thank you." Ricky said.
When Shane woke up, the only thing he could remember was the three digits that unlocked his phone. And this scared him. That phone had been his only defense against the Overseers coming in and finding all the secrets he'd kept out of the prying eyes of the public. Now that he remembered them, his only assumption was the people on the ship that followed him had pulled those numbers from his mind until he could only see the answer that unlocked the gates into the Overseers' prey. It was too bad for his friends, he thought to himself, but not too terrible for him. They'd abandoned him when escape had been eminent and now he could know for sure that they'd receive their just reward. He laughed. At least he had that much.
He tried to move but found his arms and legs bound together with strong chords. He looked around, afraid of what he would see. Some kind of factory with parts being assembled on conveyor belts. This was an obsolete robot assembly plant. He frowned.
"So, you're Shane right?" A man said, walking towards him at a steady pace. He was wearing a suit that Shane found unfamiliar. The man noticed Shane's interested glance. "You like this? This is what I was wearing when you put me under. Did you know that?"
"Who are you?" Shane asked.
"One of the few who survived the obliteration of my planet. A planet destroyed at your hands."
"I had nothing to do with that." Shane said, trying to find a way to break free from his bonds. "That was Sarah's doing. I told her it was a bad idea but she went through with it anyway. Blame her if you want someone to yell at. I just follow orders and do what's best for the others."
The man laughed and set his hands on