Rocket City Blues

and sightseers came to look out over the marvelous, shining city and the contrasting lunar landscape that surrounds it, he peers out with long-range electronic viewers. The unique filters inside them allow him to see through the protective coatings of the dome wall that keep out UV rays, small meteorites and other potentially harmful space agents. He gazes out far past the wall, to the rapidly growing community of small portable shelters on the maria just east of the colony. These modular quarters, laid out in neat, orderly rows, surround a group of more extensive, central structures. With each passing day, engineers begin fabrication on more and more of these buildings, the small city spreading slowly across the moonscape like a blossoming mushroom.
Beside him, she’s also taking in the expansive development through her viewer. Like him, she wears a light blue waist jacket, brand-new and stiff, fresh out of the box. Velcroed to their sleeves are holographic rank and unit patches of the newly organized Colonial Militia. Both of them look like shiny toy soldiers, crisp and smart under the Holiday Tree.
“I count four battalion crests on the headquarters module,” he states, scanning the camp once again. “Looks mostly like light infantry and HoverCav.”
“Our spies inside the Authority say they’re waiting on the mechas to arrive from Mars before they try to breach.”
“Then we need to wait, too,” he tells the young woman with long, blue hair and big, aqua-colored eyes. We’re gonna get one chance. We gotta make it count.”
“I don’t see any air cover,” she notes.
“Why would you?” he shrugs. “They don’t see a need in it. They’ve already taken control of the Spaceport, so they think the city’s been cut off. They think it’s going to be a complete ground-and-pound operation inside the dome.”
“Gonna be interesting to see how their shiny, new army stands up in its first major war,” she muses. “This won’t be pirates or bootleggers.”
“I’m more curious to see how our little bunch holds up,” he sighs. “I wonder how many will actually stand and fight if the shooting starts.”
“If?” She seems genuinely surprised. “You think negotiations will succeed?”
He lowers his viewer and looks at her. “No, not really. Both sides are just stalling to get their pieces into place.”
“The Authority won’t talk long. They can’t afford to look weak. When they break down, we’ll have to be ready to move fast.”
Sighing, he shakes his head. She’s far too eager. “Nobody ever wins a war, Starr.”
“Then, why fight?” she asks, turning to look at him curiously. “Especially you … you’re not even a citizen. You don’t even have to be here …”
“What? You mean I can leave?” His eyes open wide in mock surprise. “Holy shit! Why didn’t somebody tell me?”
She laughs, shaking her head. “Stick to flying, lover. Your future as a comedian is questionable.”
“I think our futures as a whole are in question if we stay here, li’l darlin’.”
“Then, why stay?” She’s genuinely confounded. “It’s not too late to get out.”
He looks down, contemplating his situation. No, technically, it wasn’t too late. But his mind had been made up weeks ago. He says aloud what’s been in his head for quite some time.
“'‘Cuz, some things just have to be done.”
“Do you think we will win?”
He rolls his eyes. “You ask a lot of questions for an android. You have a computer processor for a brain. C’mon! You’ve already figured the odds.”
She sighs. “Yes, but I wanna hear what you think.”
There is a long uncomfortable pause between them as he contemplates. Finally, he replies, “No, I do not.”
“I’ll never understand this ‘lost cause’ mindset some of you humans have. It’s almost like you’d rather lose than win.”
He doesn’t answer, save for a quick glance sideways at her. The blue jacket, the rail pistol strapped into a military-style flap holster riding low on her hip and, of course, the skin-tight flight pants tucked into commandeered, knee-high Space Guard officer’s boots. “Y’know … You look purty sexy in that there get-up.”
A sly smile forms on beautiful, full lips below her viewer. The man definitely has a way of changing the subject. “Oh? And just what will that get me, flyboy?” she purrs.
“Anything you want … Lieutenant.” He drops the viewer, letting it hang around his neck. Moving behind her, he slides his arms under the waist of her coat. His hands meet at her navel, pulling her to him.
“Mmmm,” she lets her viewer fall and lays her head back against his shoulder. He smells her perfume glands activate and breathes the scent in deeply. Her eyes are closed, and she speaks dreamily. “Be careful what you promise … You know I will hold you to your word.”
“I’ve always been good for it …” he mouths into her ear hoarsely, and then a part of him feels a piercing pain of guilt. There’s one woman who might disagree. He shakes it off and looks down at the colony, sprawled out below them. “You ever done it in front of a whole city before?”
“As a matter of fact, I have,” she giggles naughtily. “But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do it again.” She presses herself back hard into him, her ass grinding against his groin lustily.
“Such a bad girl!” he mockingly chastises.
“Yes, I am. I’m a naughty girl!”
“Just think …” He cocks an eyebrow. “You’re the first android ever to hold rank in a standing army. Well, if you can call this an army.”
“Which pretty much guarantees permanent deactivation if I’m captured … or we lose.”
“I’m sure they’ll find something … demeaning … for you to do first … after all, you are an ‘Andrea’ model,” he teases her, his hand moving down her belly slowly.
“No, they’ll never get that satisfaction out of me.” She shakes her head, as her eyes open, her face seriously stoic. She turns to him.
“I was just kid—”
“No! Seriously, if it comes to that, I’ll overload my processor and fry my internal circuitry … memory and all.”
He freezes, looking down at her.