Highstrung Robot

Chapter Two: Mars Just Messes Up Everything

The next morning came around, only known by the time given on the digital clock on the wall. It was fairly early when Jake finally came out of the control room, everything fixed and built back up to it's best strength. He walked out, stretching and popping his back in the doorway, looking around to see if Adelaide had woken up yet.

Addie was still sleeping, not even moved from the position she fell asleep in last night. Soft snores escaped her as the ship still droned on and on through the morning.

He walked into the living room, dropping onto the couch taking up most of it. Doubt came up and jumped onto his stomach, purring loudly as Jake stroked him. "Hey kitty, what's up?" He asked quietly, knowing there would be no response.

The TV suddenly flickered static for a split second before turning onto the local space news station. The reporter droned on, until the screen flashed a bright red with big bold letters on the screen. "BREAKING NEWS: THE PEOPLE OF MARS HAVE TURNED AGAINST THEMSELVES AND NUKED THE AI UNIVERSE! I REPEAT THE PEOPLE OF MARS HAVE TURNED AGAINST THEMSELVES AND NUKED THE AI UNIVERSE!"

Jake glanced at the TV, uninterested muttering "Great...", before reaching for the remote and turning it off. Once the screen had gone black again, he placed a hand on his forehead, feeling a dull throb in his temples.

Adelaide walked into the room, peering around with tired eyes. "What was the loud noise?"

"The idiots on Mars decided to nuke shit." Jake said, picking up and the cat carrying him into the kitchen to get some medicine for his oncoming headache.

"No..." She shook her head in disbelief, her eyes widening in surprise. "No, no, no, no, no!" Addie rushed and turned on the television, seeing the same news report he did previously. "God dammit!" She slammed her fists on the couch in anger, rushing back to her bedroom to grab her portable communication lacrima.

"Would you kill the sound? I'm getting a headache and that's not helping!" He screamed from the kitchen, popping the pills in his mouth and swallowing them dry.

"MY FUCKING UNCLE'S ON MARS!" She screamed back at him, picking up the lacrima and dialing his number, waiting for the ringer to pick up.

"That's fan-fucking-tastic but you don't need the stupid noise to read what's on TV!" He screamed at her, putting the pill bottle away and coming back into the living room, scowling.

"Can you stop being a complete ass for one second! It's your fault you stayed up all night!" She rushed out of the room, dressed and her duffel bag packed. "I'm taking one of the side ships. I'll meet you over by Neptune in 3 days. If I don't come back, well...tell Doubt that he was fun to cuddle with."

Jake dropped the cat, who gracefully landed on the floor and ran under the couch, and hurried over to Addie, ripping the duffle bag out of her hands and throwing it across the room. "What the hell do you think you're doing? First you decide to leave for something that we aren't involved in and then you start talking like you're going to die? Yeah, not happening. Sorry, no suicide missions allowed." He said, trying to keep his voice firm and steady but worry obviously showing through.

Her eyes widened in shock as she looked over at the bag that was now near the dining room that they never used. She looked back up at him and gulped nervously, feeling hovered over due to their large height gap. "I'm doing what I have to, Jake. I am involved because it's my uncle, and he was basically my father growing up. And I'm not saying I'm going to die, I'm just using it as an in case of scenario. Nothing more, nothing less." She said in the calmest tone she could manage.

Jake stared at her, anger and worry flowing through him as his heartbeat sped up. "No, you are not involved, you are related to someone that is involved and I'll be damned if that 'in case scenario' shit EVER is used again." He said loudly, not quite yelling but not using a normal voice either.