Oh, damn. I thought as the large male cyborg walked towards me. Rusty started barking at him, and I heard another beep of an accepted reservation. I glanced at the door as it opened and a female cyborg came in. She did the same scan of the subway car that the male did, and saw me and the male cyborg. She started walking towards me, too.

What's going on? I asked myself as the male cyborg stopped a couple of feet away. Rusty barked non-stop, and the cyborg knelt down and extended a crude mechanical hand towards the robotic dog. Rusty growled, then stepped close. A moment later, Rusty wagged his tail and came back to my side.

What the hell? I thought, and picked Rusty up. I popped open his back panel and hit the button for text display.

“So, where are you headed?” The cyborg asked. I ignored him as I checked Rusty's logs, and looked at the last access attempt on Rusty's access point.

Okay, that's just weird. I thought. Either he has Rusty's security codes, or he hacked him.

“Hey, I'm talking to you!” The cyborg said, swung one of his mechanical arms at the chair in front of me, and dented the metal. I looked up at him; but I also kept working on Rusty. It had been a long time since I had used the interface, but with Amanda 'riding' Rusty, it was child's play to use the cyborg's own access point to hack him back.

“That's better.” The cyborg said and smiled crookedly. “Tell me where you're going.”

“Apparently on a ride with an impolite idiot.” I said. “The System has been notified of the damage you've caused to government property, and the Points have been deducted from your account for it's repair.”

The cyborg raised his arm again, only this time he was aiming for my head instead. “Why you little-”

“CRUSH!” The female cyborg yelled. She stepped over beside the male cyborg, and I couldn't help but compare her to him. She had shoulder-length wavy red hair, a nice athletic body with curves in all the right places, and she was just as tall as me. I found that a little odd, because usually cyborgs go for the height mods when they get upgraded.

Her eyes and ears had been replaced with sensible mods; they weren't flesh-colored like the high end models, but they at least had a humanoid shape. Her left arm and both legs looked like they were replaced as well. I couldn't hazard a guess at what might have been replaced internally.

Crush, on the other hand, looked like he had an actuator arm instead of a humanoid-shaped one. He had goggle-like eyes, and his ears looked like big speakers. Just by the look of him, I knew he'd spend the least amount of Points he could to do the most amount of upgrades at one time.

“Take it easy!” The female cyborg said and tried to calm Crush down.

“This pipsqueak just docked me Points!”

The female cyborg laughed. “No, you just docked yourself Points.” She said. “He didn't report you. His dog doesn't even have a System interface, in case you hadn't noticed.”

“What?” Crush looked down at the open panel that I was still furiously typing on. “Then how...”

The female cyborg pointed to the multitude of cameras that lined the subway car. “The System recorded you doing the damage.” She said. “He's just telling you what you should already know.”

“Bah.” Crush said. “He still insulted me.”

“Yeah, but you are being a little stupid.”

“Hey!” Crush said and turned to her with his raised hand. “You-hurkkkk!”

“Got it.” I said as the cyborg known as Crush froze solid. “It took a while, since his interface is so old.”

“What did you do?” The female cyborg asked and looked at Crush with wide eyes.

“I put his external mechanical parts into servicing mode.” I said and smiled. “He'll be stuck like that...”

“HHHMMMM!” Crush tried to speak, but because his mouth was made of metal, it didn't move.

“No, it's not permanent.” I said to him. “The cycle only lasts for an hour.”

“HMM!” Crush grunted.

“I don't want any trouble.” I said. “If you give me more, I can activate the cycle again.”

The female cyborg stared at me. “Are... are you going to do that to me?”

“Of course not. I don't do things like this at all.” I explained. “When he hacked my dog, though... he gave me his access point.”

“What an idiot!” The female cyborg said, then laughed. “I'd apologize for him, but it wouldn't mean anything.”

“Getting to hear your voice is pleasant enough.” I smiled at her. “I don't need an apology.”

She walked around the immobile Crush, and sat down beside me. “Is it okay if I sit here?”

“What if I say no?” I asked her.

“I'll sit about 2 inches to the left.” She said and grinned at me.

“I don't think I could bear having you that far away.” I said and laughed. I held a hand out for her to shake. “I'm Jack.”

She took my hand and gripped it gently. “I'm Alyssa.” She said, then stopped moving. “Oh, damn.”

“You need a bit more practice if you don't want to use your real name in polite conversation.” I said. “What were you supposed to say?”

“Gridlock.” Alyssa said and sighed. “It's a stupid code name, isn't it?”

“Only for such a beautiful woman.” I said and glanced at Crush. “He would have been a better choice for it.”

“I told them that, but they said to just go with it.” Alyssa said. I looked at her from head to toe, and smiled.

“If you have to do something like this again, can I make a suggestion for a code name?”

Alyssa nodded.

“Cyclone.” I said, and she smiled. “Judging by the shape of your limbs and the much lower weight compared to him...” I motioned to Crush. “I bet you're pretty fast when you get moving.”

“I am.” Alyssa said. “When I went in for the surgery, they really tried to push the heavy mods on me.” She shook her head and pointed to Crush. “Can you imagine my tiny little head on a body like that?”

“No, I won't imagine that at all.” I said. “I'd much rather keep your look just the way it is.”

“Thank you.” Alyssa said. “When I opted for the lightweight materials and the muscle boosters instead, they said I was crazy.”

“Now you're one of the people they come to first with a task.” I said and smiled.

“How did you know that?” Alyssa asked, surprised. “No one knows my rank! It's blocked!”

I couldn't help but laugh. “They can get hundreds of cyborgs like Crush every day; but finding someone like you, that knows what she wants and is willing to get it no matter what others want for you?” I shook my head. “You must make more Points every day than he does in a week.”

Alyssa nodded. “I knew the System had assigned you a high priority for a reason.”

“The System?” I asked. “What do you mean?”

“When you registered your little trip on the Cross-Cavern Tour, my squad was assigned as your bodyguards.”

“Squad?” I asked.

There was three more beeps of accepted reservations, and the subway car's door opened to admit three more cyborgs. Two males just as big as Crush, and another female. This woman had chosen the heavy mods just like the men did.

I sighed. “Are you only escorting me to my destination, or are you coming along?”

“We're your shadows.” Alyssa said. “System's orders.”

Dammit. I thought, and looked down at Rusty for a moment. Amanda had a message for me.

They have the proper authorization codes.

I deleted the message and looked up to see the others standing around Crush. “Can I ask your squad not to crowd me so much?”

“You can ask.” Alyssa said, then smiled. “It's okay, Jack.” She said. “This will be fun.”

I thought back over our meeting, and wondered if it was all contrived to get her close to me.

“Can I ask you a personal question?” I asked.

“Go ahead.” Alyssa said.

“Did you plan this whole setup to get close to me?”

Alyssa didn't answer, but I saw the slight flush to her cheeks.

“You could have just introduced yourself right away.” I said, then looked down at Rusty. “For that matter, the System should have informed me it was sending you.” I sighed. “I'm not someone that can easily reject the System's recommendations.”

It was Alyssa's turn to sigh. “You weren't supposed to know we were your bodyguards, but once my cover was blown, there wasn't any need to keep lying to you.”

“There was never a need to lie to me.” I said. “It was nice meeting you, Alyssa.” I said, and didn't look at her. “You can move over that two inches now.”

“Don't be like that.” Alyssa said and put a hand on my arm. “I'm only trying to do my job.”

“I know.” I said. “That's the problem.”

“What?”

“You came in here, acting nice and flirting with me.” I said. “I flirted right back because I do think you're pretty, and it's always nice to talk to someone as smart as you; but, would you have acted that way if you just saw me on the platform? At the common market?”

Alyssa looked a little uncomfortable, but she didn't respond.

“I didn't think so.” I said and looked at the rest of her squad. “I always thought normal people had a bit of prejudice against you; myself included.” I admitted to them. “You're stronger, faster, smarter, and can do things that show your bravery and courage.” I turned my head and looked at Alyssa right in her cybernetic eyes. “I never realized that it's you that look down on us, though.”

“That... that's not...” Alyssa tried to speak, but her squad mate interrupted her.

“That's right.” The other female cyborg said. “You norms are slow, weak, and are always getting in the way.” She said. “I've lost friends and colleagues defending the Cavern from excursions from the other...” She looked at the other cyborgs. “Never mind.”

“You mean from the divisions of cyborgs from the other Caverns.” I said, and laughed as the three cyborgs stepped back slightly, and almost took fighting stances.

“How do you know about that?”

“Apparently, you weren't briefed on me properly.” I said. “I don't know how you can be effective bodyguards without all of the relevant information.”

“We don't need to know what you know.” She responded and stepped forward again. “We protect you from threats, and that's that.”

“What threats?” I asked her. “Physical? Hacking? Emotional?” I smiled at her. “You totally blew it on all three counts, thank you very much.”

“Wh-what?”

“Don't tell me I have to explain it to you.” I said. “You're smarter than me.”

“Crush threatened you physically.” Alyssa said when she finally spoke. “He hacked your robot dog.” She looked at me, and I thought she looked sad. “I caused you emotional pain.”

“There you go.” I said to her. “I really wish we'd met under slightly different circumstances.” I smiled at her, with all the warmth and encouragement that I could muster. “I think we could have hit it off spectacularly.”

“I think we would have, too.” Alyssa said, sadly.

“So.” I said and looked at the other female. “What other threats can you not protect me from?”

“Now listen here...” She started to say, but was interrupted by a low klaxon sound.

“Please take your seats. The tour is about to commence.” A mechanical voice said over the intercom. The front door of the subway car, that led to the crew area, opened and Sandra stepped out.

“Welcome to the Cross-Cavern Express Tour.” Sandra said with a booming voice.

I looked at her neck, and she had a throat microphone taped to it.

“Over the next three hours, we'll see all the sights from this side of the Cavern to the other.” She said confidently.

I grinned like a schoolboy at her professionalism.

“You'll see the Generator, the Main Storage, and the Reclamation Compactor when we reach the other side and the System turns us around for the return trip.” Sandra said. “There's lots of wonderful things to see along the way, and I'll point them out to you as we go.” She smiled a big fake smile. “Please enjoy the ride.”

The subway car started to roll out of the tour station, and I looked at the sights that Sandra pointed out, even though I'd seen them a dozen times on this same tour and under her tutelage. After an hour, Crush unfroze and turned to glare at me. I shrugged at him and then pointed out the window at the jungle bio-dome. He grunted and sat down in one of the seats, and it cleared the way for her to see me.

“Jack!” Sandra said, and it came out loudly because of her throat microphone. I laughed and waved to her, and she looked at the cyborgs around me. If I had been alone, she would have come over to me and conducted the tour personally. With other passengers to look after, her pride in her work kept her rooted to her position and she continued the tour.

I could tell she was itching to ask me what was going on, but I wasn't going to tell her until we stopped at the turnaround point. That way, I didn't interrupt her job or mess up her well-rehearsed script. The three hours passed quickly, despite my unexpected company, and the subway car pulled into the switching station.

“That concludes the first leg of the tour.” Sandra said. “While we depart the car to let the System turn it around, allow me to show you the sights from the platform.”

I stood up to leave, and so did the cyborgs. “Excuse me.” I said to one of the males that stood in front of me.

“Crush is checking the platform.” He said. “Wait here.”

“What's he checking for?” I asked. “It's a platform. People stand on it.”

“They can also blow it up.” He responded, and I laughed.

“No, they can't.” I said. “Don't tell me you're not tied into the sensor network.”

“That's classified.” He said.

I turned and looked at Alyssa. “Okay, can you tell me if your squad had basic mission parameters set?”

“I...” She looked at the male cyborg for a moment. “No, I can't tell you.”

“If your mission was to befriend me, you are really messing it up.” I said to her, and her face flushed red. I still held Rusty in my hands, so I looked at his display. After I hit several buttons and typed a message to ask Amanda to hook Rusty into the local sensor net, his display changed to show the place was clear.

“I don't want to call your tech's skills into question; but, even my dog can access the sensor net.” I said and held the dog up for the large male to look at the display. He frowned at the dog, and then at me.

“I don't need your stupid toy to do my job.”

I laughed and looked at the cameras around the subway car. “I really hope they are recording all of this.” I said. “If they aren't, or if they somehow 'delete' the footage, I'll send them copies.”

“Excuse me?”

“They need to know how well you people do your jobs, right?” I asked him, and he scowled. “You aren't protecting me right now. You're hindering my progress, and you're making me lose the time I need to go where I want to go.”

“You'll follow our orders for your own safety.” He said.

“I'm not a part of your squad, nor do I have to listen to your 'orders'.” I said. “Now step out of the way, or I will make you step out of the way.”

“I thought you said you couldn't do that to us!” Alyssa said, and I smiled as I sent a message to a friend of mine.

“Oh, I'm not doing that.” I said and smiled at her. “Because I don't have to.”

Crush had checked the people on the platform and none of them were a possible threat. He was about to access the local sensor net when he heard a loud rumbling. People on the platform that were waiting to get on the tour for the return trip, stared as a huge metal tank-like robot with three large actuator arms rolled down the tracks towards the platform.