Mercury Retrograde

His image bespoke his annoyance. "Yes, yes. So that you can check on the conditions of your rig during your off season and, while on the rig, from within the bunkhouse during the other pilot's shift. Not that any of you ever do so."

Ignoring the chastising mutter Rue typed in a few commands.

"When I took over as lead pilot for Big Alice my transfer to A-Rig was screwed up topside. It took a half season to get everything squared away. The outgoing pilot was leaving Mercury for one of the floating colonies on Venus. When I arrived, he and I talked for a few minutes on the landing platform." Roulette spun the portable screen around so the cameras on the vid could see it. "Along with some good advice, he handed me his old code till they could get me mine. He also took the liberty of wiping his imprint off it so I could use it without it causing him or me trouble."

Felix paused in his pacing. A slow smile came to his lips. "It would still register as a possible data transfer, but I could manage that to look like a glitch. A digital hiccup or perhaps an echo of old data being requested."

"Exactly! I can bring up my account, download a music file to my own private system on the rig. That's something I've done before. Hell, all the pilots do it. As I log out you log in and do what you have to do. Anyone that is watching will think it's just a double report. We get those all the time from the solar activity coming off Old Big Yellow blazing away."

His smile now infectious, the AI cut her a wink. "And it will even work as part of my master plan to take over the whole solar system by the corruption of female ore miner pilots and the complete take over of all mining excavators on Mercury."

Roulette just gave him a look.

"Oh ... I shouldn't have said that. " He grinned. "Two AIs walk into a bar. One looks to the other and asks, "Are you hungry?"

Contemplating throwing her portable screen at the vid, Rue got up and stalked out the room shaking her head.

Felix called after her. "No thank you, I just had a byte."

** ** ** ** ** ** **

Rabid Rabbit hung from the arena forklift.

With the bulk of Felix's consciousness transferred to the computer on Big Alice, a splinter of him now remained behind in the 99Hard-G data core. Roulette had to accept the AI's boast that even a splinter of himself could run a dozen such robots -- in independent combat -- simultaneously.

Having seen what he could make the lumbering machine do ... well, Roulette was at least convinced Felix could control "one" robot better than she could.

Not that she didn't intend to be ready to take over at a seconds notice if she saw him doing something wrong. Well, she had to have the remote control with her and be looking like she was controlling Rabid Rabbit anyway, or someone would figure out that she wasn't playing this game fair and square. Rue didn't really worry too much about the fact she was cheating being discovered though since the way that she was cheating would get her the death sentence.

On two worlds, come to think of it. Maybe they would have to flip a coin to decide which planet to kill her on.

The stone-lined tunnel into the arena was no different than the one used for the limited class of robots. You would almost figure that the unlimited would need to have their own entrance, given that some of them were twice the size of their small cousins.

Her eyes cut up to the words on the wall.

~In order to die, you must first have lived.~

And...

~Today is a fine day to fuck something up.~

"Yes, yes it is," she muttered under her breath.

Time seemed to stand still for Roulette once she stepped within the stone ring. She saw what she expected to see. Gone were the many obstacles you could hide behind. There was no hiding in the unlimited class. It was considered a given that your robot carried enough armor to make it capable of withstanding a punishing battle without the need to hide.

The limited class robot owner in her want those obstacles back. Rabid Rabbit was powerful, true. It carried a good solid ton of steel plates, but that wasn't a lot compared to some that came here to fight. Some robots were little more than walking anvils with one cannon. They could tank damage till they got close enough then punch out a robot's light with one sledgehammer-like blow. But her Rabbit was a machine built to move.

It was easily the fastest machine in the class.

But that also meant it was one of the lightest armored among the dozens of unlimited.

Looking across the blasted and scorched arena Roulette saw Grinner. A truly massive machine with a wolf's smile painted onto its head in a mocking snarl smile. His pilot, James Clancy, was already operating his hulking machine. Like some lumbering behemoth carnivore out of the Cretaceous, Grinner stalked over to stand in the middle of the golden circle. His huge arms flexed and six steel claws gleamed.

Giving Rabid Rabbit one last look -- then cussing herself for having done it -- Rue fiddle with her controller while Felix was the one really moving the large robot to stand within the starting square opposite Grinner. Leaving her robot, Rue made her way up and into the pilot's booth. This was where things would get critical. She had to mimic what Felix was doing out there in the arena. Luckily the two of them had worked out exactly how to manage that. They had, for all intents and purposes, reversed the normal roles. Now the robot controlled the remote. It would mimic the motions so all Rue had to do was move her hand in the directions that Felix prompted.

Following his lead like they were dancing.

Roulette instantly hated that comparison.

Again she thought there needed to be the roar of a crowd. She almost wished she could have simply left this to Felix and gone to a bar to drink beer and watch this play out without having to pantomime her part of this facade. The more that she had to think about an AI given anything to control that could kill the more it disturbed her.

She settled her HD visor over her eyes, but looked through simple smoked lenses.

With a buzzer, the battle began.

Rue could hear the commentators in one ear talking about the battle between the rabbit and the hound. How that in such an encounter, in nature, the carnivore had the advantage and that to survive the prey had to stay nimble and flee for its life. And that even nimbleness and fleetness of foot didn't always ensure the rabbit didn't get chomped.

Rue smirked.

Well, boys, this rabbit is rabid.

With a vault of its powerful hind legs, the robot imitated its namesake and vaulted half the distance to the larger stronger machine. Landing with one foot flat, and one leg extended behind, toes dug in the Rabid Rabbit sunk into a crouch. Widespread finger gave it instant balance and a position similar to a runner at the starting line.

The Massive Grinner came forwards at a lumbering run.

With a second spring, up came the Rabbit in a high vault. That leg that had hung behind now wiped forward and with a clash, crunch, and shower of bright sparks whipped the painted-on smile off one side of Grinner's head.

Off balanced, staggering to reacquire it, Grinner was in no position to stop Rabbit's chest pummeling "heart punch' and, with that sudden impact, fell onto its broad back with a thunderous rumble which vibrated Rue's feet under her.

Even flat on it's back, it's head half-kicked off, the bigger machine was no pushover. A wide swing of its arm sought to take the legs out from under Rabid Rabbit. If it had been Roulette manning the controls that move was have seen her robot on it's back next to its opponent.

Felix, however, saw the world at speeds no human nerve impulse can match.

Stepping up, hopscotch like, the rear feet of Rabbit were in the air as the arm passed under them. The lighter machine dropped to one knee next to the fallen Grinner and placed it's hand palm flat on the larger machines hip joint.

The railgun -- taken from Butcher's Billy -- spoke.

With a gout of flame and a sound that shook the whole arena, the magnets flung the chunk of ferrous metal the short distance and slammed it into the prone robot's hip, punching its way through armor and into the multiple-geared differential that, after this suddenly terrible punishment, would now never move again.

A shoulder roll took Rabid Rabbit away from the downed robot. Grinner was still dangerous, to be sure but now it's movement consisted of dragging itself around with its forearms. Legs a dead weight, dragging behind it tried to move after Rabbit, to no avail.

Felix leaped lightly over the larger machine and, before it could turn to face him, brought that powerful 'muscled' leg down in a shockingly abrupt kick to the base of Grinner's metal skull.

The robots head tumbled off across the arena floor.

As the sparking, oil-leaking robot died at his feet Felix lifted the hands of the undamaged Rabid Rabbit high in victory.

Roulette -- both ecstatic at the quick victory, and terribly, terribly disturbed over how brutally efficient at killing the AI had been -- had to remember to follow the actions of her mimicked remote control till it was back in the forklift's cradle. She almost forgot and just watched the robot move back by itself.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

Such an odd experience.

I played my part. I destroyed a machine. Admittedly, it was a mindless thing controlled by a human hand and not a brother AI, but still. To see the smoke and the sparks and the oil. To feel it under my foot ... under the robot Rabid Rabbit's foot ... when the neck joints broke and shattered into twisted chunks of metal. Its decapitated head rolling away into the dust.

If I had a stomach I would vomit.

And yet ... and yet.

Switching to incoming channels, my main consciousness already sending out splinters in the dozens of outbound signals to rest hidden till it was time to activate them. They would slowly worm their way into every system that played these vids. Undetectable. Silent. Sleeping like unformed wasp larva birthed into the caterpillar.

Soon ... ready to eat.

I made a mistake.

Watching the footage, I clicked on the Queen Company surveillance video system and saw the reactions of the many crowds gathered at the few bars here in base camp, and the dozens more up in the orbital stations. The wild exchanging of bets at the beginning. The laughing smiles, amid the tossed back drinks. Then the there was the surprised gasp as I made Rabbit leap across the arena. The cheer when I kicked ... I mean when I made Rabid Rabbit kick the side of the other robot's head ...

It was disgusting.

It was invigorating!

And it grew in both volume and fury as the battle went on, rising to insanity levels at the ending.

Suddenly, I wished I was back in the arena. I wished I had another opponent ready for me to destroy. I wanted to hear these humans cheering me on. I wanted ... I wanted ... I want...

I want a human to give me praise for what I can do.

Despising myself for feeling such and -- at the same time, having to face the desire at my core -- I understood it. Oh, I understood it well. So long being a slave to Caesar, him never giving 'me' the credit for what I did, but rather always singing his own praises for what he had created in me.

But now....

I ... I needed it.

Roulette's message chimed across my mind even as I was having such depraved and disturbing thoughts.

{Great job, Felix. That was awesome!}

I was unable to help myself.

[Thank you, Roulette.]

** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Given the success of her last arena season in the unlimited, it was taken for granted by everyone that Rue was one of those "sudden-appearing-naturals" that showed up every dozen years or so and did spectacularly well for a few rounds ... but then they would be -- in an equally sudden defeat -- shown to have been the same loser they had always been before that time.

In other words, she had gotten lucky.

Well, in a way with Felix, she had found luck.

With a pocket full of winning, and her back sore from all the people patting it congratulating her, Rue decided to give herself a bit of a treat. It had been a long time since she had gone up to the orbital stations and enjoyed herself a bit. Given the lack of damage to both of her robots, and that her winning has all but given her back what had been taken from her by the fine, why not?

Departing base camp during the off season wasn't as simple as when they headed out to the rigs at the beginning of the mining season. For one the small lifting hoppers would burn up in the full sun that now beat down on burnt Mercury's surface. Only special craft with heavy-duty shielding could survive. Leaving a shadowed hanger and flying out into the blistered haze was always unnerving. Seeing the hull grow bright white with the heat was bad enough, but the knowledge that a single weak point in any seal would allow in that 800-degree heat like a blowtorch.

Once clear of the base's hanger the pilot, a company man specifically paid to make trips like these would fly as quickly as he could either into the sunset or the sunrise, depending on the varying time of the season. The cool of night side Mercury would cause terrible screaming to the metal hull of the ship, but the company assured everyone that the day side fliers could take it.

Once around and into the shadowed side of Mercury, it was only a matter of catching the next mag-lev train up the suspended cables to the orbital ring.

Riding up like a block of processed ore was unflattering, but quick enough to make the passage of time not be too arduous.

A short shuttle trip from the orbital ring out to one of the long, tube-shaped, O'Neill cylinders again didn't take too long. Of course even here, so high above the blistering surface, there was the smell of Mercury. That burnt gunpowder smell from the radiation-heated regolith had been carried here by the many miners heading up to get their "freak on" as Minnow called it.

Roulette had time to ponder as she rode up.

Did she really feel like a bit of, paid for, strange? The normal answer would be no. Her history of sex not being such that the company of another in her bed was a comfort.

Still, there was a lot to be said for a skilled lover that left when you wanted them to leave.

And, given that she was freshly showered, dressed in her finest off-duty clothes, and walking with a roll of cash that everyone knew she had -- well, everyone that had watched the robot fight from the night before -- Roulette was very popular when she stepped through the airlock into the station.

Standing there, feeling heavy from the three-quarter Earth-G gravity the station mimicked with it's spin, she was all but swarmed with a flock of people.

"Hey, beautiful, step this way. We have the newest gaming tables in all of Mercury orbit."

"Hey, you're Stephanie MacBaren! Wow, I love meeting the arena pilots. Hey, come over here. We've got the best selection of top-shelf alcohol in the whole solar system."

Roulette winced hearing her full name. Only her mother had ever called her Stephanie MacBaren. Well, her mother and Company people that didn't know better.

"Looking for some company, sexy?"

Walking past the hookers, drink pimps, casino barkers, and general scam artists Rue made her way to the area of the station she had come for. Whatever else she would do while she was here and the winnings lasted was up for grabs, but this was a requirement.

Relaxing massage by the hour. No appointment needed.

Stepping inside, Rue was feeling relaxing vibes taking hold even as she approached the smiling woman behind the front desk.

"Yes, ma'am, how may we help you?"

"Immersion massage. Two full cycles."

The smile brightened as Rue passed over the money. "Yes, ma'am. If you would follow me, please, I'll take you to our changing room."

Her eyes taking in the small lithe woman's supple body which was, all but, fully on display, Roulette found herself rethinking the idea of a sexual liaison for this trip. Admittedly her tastes generally had run to men, but the few times she had been with women it had always been a most enjoyable situation. Perhaps....

The changing room wouldn't have been out of place in a high-end brothel. Silks, satins, and velvet plush ruled the room. Softness, and sweet smells. It had been so long since those things had been a part of her life that Rue felt mildly uncomfortable. Then she made herself relax and simply enjoy the ability to be able to relax. There had been so much tension in the last few weeks.

The woman showed Rue where to leave her clothes and where the thick white robes were hung that she could use if she was feeling modest.

Body modesty was a thing, which being in the company of men for so long, without another female for hundreds of miles, that Rue had become trained to respect. But then there was such a sensual quality to simply standing naked and not caring if anyone saw her that way. She took down a robe but carried it over her arm as she made her way to the massage chamber next to the changing room.

The room carried the soft theme to the next level.

The immersion rig had to her always been a bit perverse. Rue was sure that the designer had intentionally made the thing look as much like a vagina as possible, while at the same time trying to make it not look like a vagina. It was a pink sleeve built into a raised soft platform, there were not so many ways to design that.

Leaving the robe over a velvet chair, she stepped to the side of the padded outer ring. It was a cushioned pillow-like surface that gave under her hands as she sat down and slid her feet into the deeper sleeve. The inside was temperature controlled to exactly match her body temperatures but, for the moment, it was set to a human standard, so it felt warm. It also felt a bit slick. It was a dry slickness like a snakes skin. Slipping inside, naked, Rue eased her whole body deeper and deeper into the sleeve till it en-wrapped her to the chin. It was a warm constriction that hugged every inch of her.

It should have felt confining, it should have felt smothering, but what it did -- because it shifted quickly to match her body temperature and was so soft -- was feeling like nothing. It was as if she was suspended in a gel, without getting wet from the gel.

Then the pressure began.

Feeling like hundreds of fingers, all in various degrees of pressure, began to move all over her body. Hands massaged her back shoulders and spine. A hard pressure that stripped away weeks, if not months of muscle tensions. Along her legs and thighs descending loops of light pressure massaged the surface blood under her skin down her body and then back up. Higher degrees of heat began to build at points, over the joints, around her body core.

By the time that Rue had achieved a restful level of relaxations then the fun part began. The fingers that had cupped and lifted her breasts now began a teasing massage of her nipples. By now the immersion rig had completely mapped out her body, both exterior and inner muscle tensions. The hands on her thighs moved them open and she felt what could be described as a lips kissing along her inner thighs.

"Oh, yes."

Moaning wasn't something this room was unfamiliar with she was sure. She decided to give herself full rein to make any sound her body wanted her to expend. Moans, groans, weeping pleas for more. Pleas which would be answered by harder touches. Often in more intimate places. That was one of the things Rue always loved about this place. It could and would satisfy her need for an orgasm ... over and over ... without the need to have another person touching her.

Wiggling her way in deeper, she settled in to enjoy what was happening.