Luminary Of The Stars

Transport

Swarm. The word haunted Kaito, playing through his mind every other second. Swarm. What a word. 
Mere seconds after the announcement of the Swarm, the woman's terse voice had returned, instructing them to peruse a small fleet of shuttles that was presumably headed towards the Homeworld. Rantaro had vanished after being told that the most recent Abducted were most likely contained in the shuttles. He hadn't said it to anyone, but Kaito was certain that Rantaro had been hoping the destruction of the Imperial had halted the Abduction. 
He sat in the cockpit with only Shuichi and Kiibo for company. Kaede had offered to try and find Rantaro, and the others were most likely making their personal preparations for the work ahead. Kaito almost found it ironic. They had done so much work already, but their mission had hardly begun.
"Is this humor?" Kiibo asked suddenly. "I believe it falls under the category of comedic irony. If we continue to draw parallels between the insect-like appearance of the aliens, would it not be too much of a stretch to call the Homeworld the Hive?" he smiled hopefully. 
"What?" Kaito asked. His mind was still stuck on the swarm. 
Kiibo sighed. "It needs work, doesn't it."
"No, I got it." Shuichi said. "It's not really the time for jokes...but yeah, we could call it that."
Kiibo nodded. "Apologies. I'll try to do something more useful."
"Are you ok?" Kaito asked. Admittedly, he had no idea how to react to Kiibo. He'd never talked to a robot before. He didn't know robots like this existed even! Kiibo was remarkably human-like, something that unsettled Kaito a little. Before meeting Kiibo, robots were little rectangle thingies with flashing lights and metallic voices. He hadn't even tried to think about the paradoxes Kiibo presented. It was too much on top of everything else. 
"Why are you asking? Am I doing something that makes you uncomfortable?" Kiibo asked. "I can just go-"
"No, you don't have to." Kaito said quickly. "It's just-"
"I know." Kiibo said, crossing his arms. He sounded bitter. "It's the whole robot thing. I promise I'm just like the rest of you!" he almost sounded desperate. 
"Honestly, I almost forgot you were a robot." Shuichi spoke up. 
"What! I'm doing an even worse job than I thought!" Kiibo wailed. Kaito debated asking him if he wanted to be seen as a robot or a human. Kiibo seemed a little contradictory.
"No, I mean in all the craziness, you've been doing your best too." Shuichi said. "You're up here with us, working with us. To me, that makes you one of us, no questions asked." he blushed after speaking. "I didn't phrase that very well."
Kiibo's face lit up. "No! I understood perfectly. Thank you, if I could feel happiness I would be feeling warm and fuzzy right now."
"Are you sure you can't feel emotions?" Kaito asked. 
"I'm certain." Kiibo said. "The fact that I felt something similar to embarrassment after realizing Kokichi had made a fool out of me was an odd coincidence." 
Kaito raised an eyebrow and exchanged a look with Shuichi before laughing. There was something endearing about Kiibo. "Alright, I'll take your word for it. But seriously bro, stay. I need all the emotional support I can get right now."
Kiibo awkwardly patted him on the shoulder. "Was that an appropriate response?"
"Yeah, it was perfect." Kaito said. The conversation was helping his nerves. "Actually, can I ask you something?"
"Yes! I'm happy to answer anything, so long as it's not robophobic." Kiibo said. 
"Ok. So how exactly were you...born. Or made?" Kaito asked. 
"A brilliant scientist devoted his life to building me." Kiibo said. "When I'm fully operational I will be charged with helping the human race as best I can."
"So you're not fully operational yet?" Shuichi asked. 
"No, not yet. I should be capable of so much more." Kiibo said. 
"So, can you shoot lasers out of your eyes?" Kaito asked, growing excited. "Ooh! What about jet packs!"
"I do not have those functions! I'm not part of some science fiction plot!" Kiibo said, looking offended. The obscurity of the statement caused Kaito to burst out laughing. He'd had many random dreams over the years about meeting robots, but none of them held a candle to this real interaction. 
"Well, I'm sure you have all sorts of helpful skills." Shuichi said. "You're here for a reason. Did you get anything good out of those transmissions?"
Kiibo nodded. "I transcribed them in to written...words I guess, and gave them over to our intellectual team. I would have liked to help but...I do not think they like me."
Kaito found himself thinking that Kiibo was potentially less strange than Korekiyo and Angie. "Huh? Why do you think that? Angie seems pretty sweet, and Kiyo's a little cold, but I think he's a good guy."
"Angie keeps calling me the "Walking Sculpture" and Korekiyo just stares at me." Kiibo said sadly. "I'd like to get to know them. I feel like talking to them could enhance my understanding of humans!" 
"Well, just talk to them like you are with us." Kaito said. "I think you're totally awesome now! See? It's not so hard."
"You think I'm awesome?" Kiibo asked softly. 
"Hell yeah I do! Robot or not, you're super cool." Kaito said. 
"If I could blush, I would." Kiibo said. He looked awestruck by the compliment. He suddenly looked serious. "Forgive me for the sudden proposal, but would the two of you be interested in forming a companionship based bond with me?"
"I...huh?" Kaito asked. 
"Are you asking us to be your friends?" Shuichi asked. He had finally looked up. 
"Um, yes." Kiibo said sheepishly. "I find the two of you to be quite awesome as well."
Kaito grinned. "You have got to be the most pure, innocent thing I've ever met."
"I-I'm not a thing!"
"Nope, you're my friend." Kaito said. Kiibo beamed.