E-UNIT: The Blue Angels of Death.

Chapter 147: Her.

V O L U M E . S I X : C O D E_R E S E T

Chapter 147: Her‎I am 05. A twenty-eight-year-old android, made by the one and only Nicholas Rivera. I entered service as a local police officer in February 2023 as a fully realized combat unit, while 02 and 01 were still in beta testing at the time.

1:00 AM. I stepped off the charging station the same way I do every morning and freed the seat for whoever needed it next, charging stations are scarcer now than they were in the bubble, though we've been short before and managed. I made my way to the catwalk along the hangar wall and pulled up my HUD, connecting to the main E-UNIT server. Dave has been working overtime on the backend and actually implementing what I ask of him.

‘ Something in his tone has shifted lately. More respect in it than I'm used to hearing from him.’ I opened my screens and got to work.

Hours passed. Organizing twenty-four hours of recorded footage and labeling each action takes patience, but I've done it long enough that it runs efficiently, this session cost me roughly two percent battery. I keep everything I capture in the E-UNIT server rather than on local storage. The SSD Reaper pulled from my head was just an overflow drive anyway. Sometimes I browse other units' folders while I'm in there. I like how different each one is from the others.

8:00 AM. I stood up from the catwalk. Below me, 03 was looking up at me from the hangar floor, covered from head to toe in dirt.

‘She was our acting captain for two years. Two years. I am going to maintain professionalism.’

"Good morning, 03." I braced for impact. "One question, why are you completely covered in dirt?"

"Yo, 05. Morning." She shook her head. Dirt particles distributed themselves across the surrounding area. "You won't believe what happened this morning."

‘I already believe it and I haven't heard it yet.’

"The city mayor turns out to be a long-time admirer of the E-UNIT. Wanted a personal meeting with 02. I stepped in trying to play it cool and told him 02 probably wasn't available, and he appreciated that so much he gave us the terrain attached to this building to expand into as an exchange for a meeting." Her voice had less enthusiasm in it than the content probably warranted.

"That's genuinely good news." I forced a smile and waited. “But…” ‘The dirt, girl… the dirt.’

"Right. And then me and 07—"

‘Of course.’

"—went to check out the terrain—"

‘It's a terrain. It sits there.’

"—and it wasn't exactly flat. Getting it leveled professionally would cost money we'd rather spend on charging stations. So we did the logical thing."

‘Do not describe that as logical, Don’t insult logic like that.’

"We leveled it ourselves."

My processor ran for approximately ten full seconds producing nothing useful. I tried to construct a scenario in which two androids physically flatten uneven ground without equipment. It's not a building with walls to bring down. It's not a pit to fill. ‘ How.’

"Can I ask how you did it?"

"Home secret sauce." She looked insufferably proud of herself. "I'll patent it before any other android thinks to steal the method. Anyway, 07 and I are going to keep doing it on the surrounding terrain and charge for the service. It'll bring in some money for the project. You should clear the charging stations for when we get back."

"I spent this entire morning conserving battery. What do you mean clear, what happened to the charging station—no."

"I sat on one to top up after the work." The smile she gave me is now permanently archived in my SSD against my will.

I went to my knees. The metallic sound echoed through the hangar. "Please," my voice did something unbecoming of a twenty-eight-year-old android, "just go make us some money. We need it."

She saluted and left at pace. I watched her hi-five 07 at the entrance.

‘I give up. I should have given up long ago. What is she. Who thinks like that. I can feel the processing load of trying to understand her producing heat in my internals.’

01 appeared from somewhere and saw me on my knees, which she apparently decided was an invitation.

"05. Welcome, my daughter."

"Daughter?"

"Every E-UNIT is my daughter in some capacity." The holy tone, present and accounted for. "I see you've finally reached the posture of enlightenment and chosen to join ‘us’ in 02ring. Though I should note, this particular position isn't the traditionally accepted way of expressing gratitude to the holy soul of 02."

‘This is exactly what I needed. A different variety of unhinged, delivered sincerely.’

Something occurred to me. "Wait, us? I thought it was you and 09."

"Oh, sweet child—"

‘Please don't call me that.’

"—we have eight members now. And the devotion only grows."

‘Crazier E-UNITs incoming.’

I got to my feet. "Listening to you causes thread damage. I'm going to map the city."

I crossed the hangar floor past several E-UNITs working alongside Dave who was still facing a screen trying to breach 02’s memory wall, and a new face, Albert. My database on him is almost empty. I've heard the name in passing since Elysium, but I'd never put a face to it until now. I jumped from the catwalk and crossed to them.

"Dr. Albert."

He moved his glasses down his nose to read the number on my hoodie. "05! Dave's told me quite a bit about you. Strong instincts for coding and backend systems, we may need you before long, so stay ready."

‘Trying to take control of the conversation before I can open mine. Not today.’

"I do find that kind of work engaging, yes." The smile came naturally. "Can I ask you something? You carry yourself around us like you belong here, but I've never seen you before. And 02 mentioned you called her Nick's best creation. Who are you to us, exactly?"

"Straight to it." His voice dropped a register. He kept the smile, but it was working now. "I designed your bodies. Mechanical engineering and aerodynamics. I was the one who proposed giving you the ability to fly."

‘He designed our bodies. That's, that's a strange thing to absorb.’ I looked at him directly. "You designed our bodies. So that means—"

"Yes." He laughed briefly. "I took a program and gave it something to walk around in, fly with, and speak through. You won't find another robot anywhere that moves through the world as naturally as you do. I studied every part—"

"Okay. I understand." I covered my audio sensors. ‘ How does he say that so casually.’

He and Dave laughed harder than the situation required.

"I know where your mind went," Albert said. "That wasn't my focus. And I didn't design you entirely from scratch. My eldest daughter is a competitive swimmer at Olympic level. I spent years watching how she moves through water, the way she ignores surface resistance, how her body navigates fluid dynamics instinctively. I used her as the structural model. Your proportions, your movement ratios, your face as a base template, a significant amount of that comes from her."

I stepped closer. "Has she seen you? Does she know she's been copied thousands of times? That her face is out here in the world walking around?"

He went quiet for a moment. "I'd like to ask her that. But she was young when her mother and I separated, and she stayed with her mother. I haven't seen her since."

‘That's not information I was looking for. File it anyway.’ I shifted direction. "How long have you been involved in this project?"

Dave took that one. "From the beginning. Him and the other three engineers, including Nick. Nick built the system and expanded the emotional architecture."

"Expanded it from what?"

"It started as a basic response system, threat detection, simple behavioral outputs. She built the foundation." Dave leaned back against a machine. "Nick saw potential in it and extended it into what you ended up with. The full emotional range. That's why no one could ever predict how you'd react to anything."

"Who is she?" My eyes lit. "Is she one of the four engineers?"

"No, but—"

Albert's arm came across, cutting Dave off mid-sentence. He laughed, but it was nervous. "I think that's enough for one morning. Help us by mapping the city first, think of it as a fair trade."

‘He needs time to replace the real answer with a prepared one. Not a chance.’ "Please, this matters to—"

"No." The smile left his face entirely.

I held his gaze. I looked for anything underneath the annoyance. There was something there, faint, present, not annoyance at all.

Fear.

"I apologize for pushing too hard." I turned and walked out.

‘Two new folders to open. Dr. Albert.’ I paused at the hangar door. ‘ And her.’

‎