MTs - Chapter Two (PG)

In the privacy of his chamber he shed the stifling disguise. The suit he had crafted by gutting a captured Sarvos unit was oppressive to wear but offered him total concealment and excellent protection. I cannot be careful enough. These are volatile times and I must not take any chances. He sat at the command console and viewed the events of the day as seen and heard through the artificial sensory receptors of MT-01.

What he watched told him his M.A.I.M. troopers had performed flawlessly on Alcray. His countless experiments with the blending of gendrone and sincroid technology had been well worth it. The MTs were a perfect balance and possessed the optimal traits of both beings. Soon he would be able to initiate the first phase of his plan. He was about to terminate the program when something he heard struck him as odd. He listened to it again.

"MT-01, this is MT-52. The CMRI tracked the arrival and departure of a small ship on the planet during our maneuvers. Data on any life forms is inconclusive. Advise."

"Check its signature against the database of known vessels in the Glyos system and dispatch two short range fighters to scan the standard search radius. Report back with any findings."

He played it one more time just to be certain but there was no mistake. MT-01 had received vital information and given orders without consulting him first! He found himself elated, irate, and...terrified. The embedded protocol dictates that he should have automatically contacted me. Instead he handled it himself and never alerted me to this potential dilemma. How can this be? He ran a comprehensive diagnostic analysis of MT-01's central processor. The results showed no malfunctions or modifications of any kind.

This is what I ultimately want, is it not? A synthetic life form with the sentience of a sincroid and the resilience of a gendrone? That may have been true but he had not yet given the trooper the behavior he was demonstrating. MT-01 had somehow developed the ability on his own! After much deliberation he decided that the best course of action was to say nothing and observe his second in charge closely.

Halfway across Glyos, the ship carrying the MTs made its way back to base. MT-01 had joined MT-52 in the cockpit and stared straight ahead into the blackness. An almost invisible cable connected the two gendrones via hidden ports in their upper legs. Data from the patrol he had sent out earlier streamed into him from the pilot. It was foolish of me to speak aloud. Now he will scrutinize me even more. I must be cautious moving forward...