Head in the Clouds

[Garrik]

"Yep. She's an HRD."

:: Garrik straightened his jacket again ::

"You can have one of these pretties custom made for about nine million. I may have to give her a test drive before the week is up."

[Lenina]

:: Lenina whimpered as Garrik took her by the wrist, leading her out of the bar ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

"Why doesn't that suprise me?" Sirus teased as he followed them out. "9 million's worth of robotics ain't gonna be a real woman though, whatever way you look at it"

The three emerged in the street of Port Town.

"You really intent to sell her?"

[Garrik]

:: Garrik smiled at his friend's cynicism as he wiped a tear from Lenina's cheek. He tasted it and smiled ::

"Wanna bet?"

:: He ignored the second question, handing her over to Sirus as he stepped away to have a word with a Vratix ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus frowned, looking down at the droid. He'd heard about HRDs before, but never had he seen one. It was certainly nigh on impossible to tell her apart from a human. She looked lost, frightened almost. It was a sad thing to behold.

"You alright?" he asked her, lost in his own thoughts before realising what he was saying. "Uh...I'm sorry darl', it's just..."

He trailed off, giving a helpless shrug and looking back over towards Garrik.

[Lenina]

"Please don't hurt me." she sniffled. "I'll do anything you say."

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus' attention remained on Garrik, trying to avoid eye contact with Lenina.

"I'm not gonna hurt ya, sweetie. Just, behave. We don't want no more trouble."

[Garrik]

:: Garrik finished talking to the alien, then motioned Sirus to come over ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

"Come on" Sirus said, beckoning Lenina to follow, but not cheking to see if she was as he paced over to Garrik and the Vratix.

"What is it?"

[Garrik]

"We're gonna go see about your ship now."

:: Garrik walked off, whistling as the Vratix took custody of the HRD and led her away ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

"My ship?" Sirus asked, his voice hesitant. "You haven't picked one out for me, I hope."

[Garrik]

:: Garrik raised a brow ::

"You're gonna fly a company ship and you're gonna be picky about it? What kind of operation do you think this is?"

[Sirus Blackjack]

"Well, ya know, it's..."

Sirus skipped ahead, moving in front of Garrik and stopping him. With his back turned to Garrik, he wrapped his arms around himself, rubbing his sides and swaying his hips.

"There's gotta be love, baby!"

He ignored the querying stares of people passing by, determined to get his point across.

[Garrik]

:: Garrik laughed, slapping Sirus on the back. After all these years, the guy was still crazy.

A short time later, they were standing in front of a TransGalMeg "Kihraxz" Assault Fighter ::

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus was grinning like a kid, his eyes wandering over the body like it were that of a woman. He still got a kick out of things like this.

"Oh yes, oh yes."

Suddenly, he wrapped Garrik up in a bear hug.

"There's the love! You feel it, right?"

Luckily for Garrik, it was only the datapad in Sirus' pocket that was digging into him.

Dropping his old friend, Blackjack moved towards the fighter, running his fingers along the underside of the ship.

"How much is she?"

[Garrik]

"It's a gift from the boss." he winked.

[Sirus Blackjack]

Sirus could barely contain himself. He hopped up and down, running around to the ladder and clambering up into the cockpit. He marvelled at the controls, flicking a few switches and pulling on the throttle. The engines roared to life, and Sirus hollered above the noise.

"Beee-yoouuu-teee-full!!!"