Sensya Unit Moon (for bobby)

[*starfruits*]

Tatsuya had just disposed of the remnants of jellied strawberries and glass, his expression as grave as one picking up the pieces after a heart-wrenching battle, when the womanly voice filtered into the scene. Exchanging a glance with Yue, the redhead nodded, and turned back to the two little ones in their respective corners. He then drew forth and sidled by his little brother, bending his knees a tad to reach him.

"Alright, 'Zuki... we gotta just go to take this, an' we won't be long," Tatsuya began, ruffling his little brothers golden locks warmly, "If we're longer than 10, ya can move," seeing the little boy's brown eyes, not unlike his own, shine hopefully, the young man continued, "just, not a second earlier. Ya got that?" Fangs drew into view as he grinned at Kazuki’s hearty nod, "That a boy!"

As the palm of his valiant parent smoothed over his head, the metallic score that resonated was particularly calming, and Pritz' blue eyes shone a calming blue that bounced from the wall in which he stared, to the autobot's lower thigh as the younger entity nodded, raising a hand in a confident, soldierly salute.

With that, the two departed for the main telecom chamber, the supple rubber flooring singing under their heels as they made for the dome-like chamber, fully aware that a number of Sensya's members did not house the technology, or indeed, the energy to transmit for a lengthy period of time. That, and haste was of highest importance due to the many revolutionary captures and hostage crisis that had passed unheeded in Celeres and Sensya years previous. Dawdling could not be afforded.

As the footsteps of their guardians ascended out of earshot, or at least out of Kazuki's strained hearing, the little bot turned his attentions to the young blond in the far side corner of the room, and with a short clip of his right index finger to the back of his left palm, the covet for his punishment boot, his blue eyes narrowing ever so slightly with the brief pain that the move imparted to the vulnerable 'flesh' beneath, before he stretched, attempting to banish away the remnants of his tears, and then forced himself to strut over to his human companion manfully.

"If I have to wait any longer I'm gonna bust a gasket!" Pritz uttered hotly, arriving by Kazuki, raising his hands to knead the other boy's shoulders with friendly affection, before his sensors detected heat, and his optics fell upon the reddened, rounded pair of orbs that were Kazuki's bare buttocks. With a jolt of his hands and legs, the minibot gasped, softly swatting the blond on the back in a gesture of comradely praise, "Whoa, you got it real good, Zuki! Maybe not as bad as ME, but you took it like a real manbot!" Absently, the youth's blue fingers touched at the sore flesh, the handle feather-light, fully aware of the pain that would explode across the shapely mounds if he were to be too forceful, "Yeah, you must be made of braver stuff than I thought!"

The bot's short attention span soon snapped into oblivion, and he turned to stare after the path that the two comrades had waged as they turned for the telecommunication centre, and his antenna flickered, "I guess we're not gonna be able to listen in this time..." he complained, folding his arms and then leaning against the cupboard from which the two had been dragged out from beforehand, "It's not fair! The only real fun that happens around here is everything that we’re not allowed to join in!" he paused, dwelling petulantly on that factor, and then turned to his blond friend, tilting his head, "Hey, how about we get something for your butt? It looks real sore..." the artificial youth would have complained about the sting that claimed his own hindquarters, but his pride came before comfort when he was alone with Kazuki, and so, stubbornness won out, "Maybe some cream or something? Yoghurt? Strawberry syrup?" Pritz' eyes shone playfully as he bent forward at the waist, hands cupping together at the top of his thighs, "Not like I'd know the difference against your butt anyway! It's on fire!"

***

At the telecom chamber, Tatsuya and Yue arrived within a moment of the governing voice tone of the Motherhood to announce the transmission, "Incoming transmission... Hiroboshi Ares of Celeres. Initiating contact."

The gargantuan computer screen lit up, several hundred million pixels dashing and flooding over the shining surface in a matter of split-seconds, and soon a pallid face, accompanied by platinum blond tresses, rosed fashion glasses and a fashionable shirt burst into sight. The fiery-haired youth instantly frowned, leaning back and resting a fairly-muscled arm on a silver railing, "Aw, man. I thought it was gonna be someone who wouldn't make me wanna kick myself into a coma..."

The young man who inhabited the screen blinked, and soon clicked his tongue, wagging a finger at the other man, though a smile soon graced back upon the graceful features, "Now is THAT nice? Here I was, doing you a big favour, and as usual, you just want to curse me. You ought to learn some manners, Tats~!" The young man turned his attentions to the autobot at Tatsuya's side, and ignoring the fiery-haired youth's suggestive sneers, he smiled graciously, seeming to grow more coy in Yue's presence, "Oh! Hiiiiya, Yue-sama~! How are you, today? And how is Pritz-u and Kazuki-chan?"

Tatsuya glared hotly at his childhood friend, before he stormed forward, growing agitated with the friendliness that had passed him so easily, "Oi, oi! Ya went ta the trouble of contactin' us in a crisis, 'Res, an' DON’T tell me it's a social call!" he then seemed to glower, turning off to the side and uttering quietly, "'Sides, it's not time fer yer visit 'til Friday, right? So ya gotta have somethin' for me."

Ares smiled tenderly, his gentle yet striking features warming, "For you? Not so much. For Yue-sama~!"

Tatsuya rolled his eyes, and sulked, folding his arms and leaning back against the railing, seemingly distant, but taking much heed of the following flow of information. He disliked Ares, yes, but he loved him like a brother. Not that he'd ever admit it. There wasn't a moment when the two weren’t arguing about something or other, but, Ares was a journalist, a friend, and a valuable, if questionable ally. Whatever he had to say was important. In any matter.

The white-haired man suddenly drew up a newspaper, and pointed to the central picture that framed it, "This man," he began, in all seriousness, "has tried to contact the underground," he allowed the words to sink in for a moment, before he continued on, diligently, "His position in Celesian society is pretty high. He's a prominent figure. A scientist under the governing wing," Ares paused, waving his hand a tad disinterested, "aided the invention of quite a couple of things. Something like that."

"I played bloodhound for a while, and if my sources are right, which they always are," he turned a glittering grin down at Tatsuya, who snorted, and smirked at the ventured statement, "he wants to join the revolutionary movement. Particularly, you guys."

The youth with diminutive fangs eyes widened, and he scowled, "...What?"

[bobby]

Kazuki had worried about Pritz' coming out of his punishment corner and had said so, "Tatsuya and your Daddy said we had to stand here for 10, and I'm not movin' before then." Zuki shed a few tears and gingerly touched his shiny little behind. "I don't wanna another spankin'....nuh uh!"

Pritz reassured his little friend, "Hey, how about we get something for your butt? It looks real sore......Maybe some cream or something? Yoghurt? Strawberry syrup?"

"NO! Pritz I told you. I don't want Tatsuya to .......whatta have in that jar?"

*************
Above them, Tatsuya and Yue were still watching the transmission The unfamiliar face of an older man with thick gray hair and a heavy gray moustache appeared. It was accompanied by a voice that the boys recognized as belonging to Ares, the young journalist from the city of Celeres. That was a bad city, both boys knew.

"This is Dr. Hezukawa, a brilliant scientist in the field of physica, genetics, bio-chemistry and bio-engineering. He is the pioneer of the Hezukawa Effect which enabled people to be digitally transferred from one place to the other via automatic atomic reconstitution. Unfortunately, the big wigs of Celeres seized the plans and aren't making it available for possible mass usage. They say it's unstable.

He has a son named Akira (A handsome young face with dark hair was flashed on the screen) who is married and has a young daughter and an infant son."

Two children were shown. The girl was about seven and she was holding a one year old boy in her lap. Both children were dressed in sailor outfits, The little girl, in her blue dress and wide naval collar was completely adorable.

"Hezukawa has been accused of not being in compliance with the best interest of Celeres....he has even been accused of wanting to defect with his family to Sensya."

The face of Hezukawa disappeared and the handsome, if somewhat overly femanine, face of a slyly smiling Ares took its place.

"So Yue, what do you think? I think you two should meet the dear Doctor and the sooner the better."

Yue leaned his chiseled features toward the screen, knowing that they would be transmitted to Ares's receiver. "Thank you Ares for the information. It IS very interesting. I would like to discuss this in private with Tatsuya and then we'll get back to you." The robot's eyes changed from a mild green to a busily spinning gold. "We also have two little scamps to rescue from punishment corners." The robot chuckled and Ares cocked an eyebrow.

"Oooh, did someone get a spanking?" he asked and winked.

Tatsuya groaned and ran his hand through his red hair impatiently. "Whatever," he said. "We're signin' off now, Ares. Later!" and clicked off the screen.

"I'm sure the boys have rescued themselves at this point," Yue said calmly, "but I did want to get off so that we could discuss this Dr. Hezukawa without Ares."

[*starfruits*]

"Don't be such a baby, 'Zuki," Pritz scolded, self-righteously, rooting noisily through the cupboards which were lined along both sides of the larder, "'sides, it's not like we're going anywhere!" His bight, wide eyes flickered to a contented green as his digits found what he was sought-after, and he soon returned to his friend’s side with a smiling gaze as his arms braced behind his back as though he were hiding a birthday present, "Look what I got~!"

As he swiftly sent a jar before him, holding it at arms' length, the little bot allowed the human youth to stare and regard his findings with a voice of question, which he soon answered happily, "It's just some cream for sore-spots, or something," his gaze grinned playfully, "it'll work for that I bet!" he gestured to Kazuki's naked rump, "wanna try it out?" without allowing his best friend the chance to answer, he pressed his blue palms to the boy's shoulder blades, ushering him forward gleefully, "I can help ya put it on!"

***

Ares' expression dropped from cool confidence to dismayed rage as he noted his friend's thumb reach for the receiver of the transmission, and began to protest the impulsive action, before his image split and dispelled like an explosion of dew over a waxed leaf, leaving the two comrades alone with the weight of their thoughts.

Tatsuya pressed a thumb and a forefinger to the bridge of his nose, and ran both digits upwards to knead at the flesh between his eyes, in a manner of aggravation, 'I don't like it, Yue. Ya KNOW I don't."

The young mechanic scowled, and wrenched his gaze and tanned façade away from the robotic entity at his side, and turned to the silver railings with which he had previously used to stand, "Ya can't trust nobody from that damn place... if they think they can fool us that easily..."

"But why would an old coot like that wanna move from the spacious comforts of the lap of luxury to come HERE?" The fiery-haired youth wrinkled his nose somewhat, feeling his mentality pulse with a vague frustration, "What's this bastard's motives? Ta come here...?"

The fleeting words of his childhood friend returned to him, smiling lips arching self-righteously as the journalist uttered words that he barely knew the meaning of. So, the old guy was at odds with the government officials? The very people who the Sensya Revolutionary Force rebelled, protested and politically riled against? Perhaps due to a sense of antipathy, for having a primary vision in their old age, having a dream ripped from them and hidden away in secrecy was one of the world’s singular, most terrible vices. Tatsuya had seen it before... head soldiers losing their keen eyesight, bikers having their arms ripped off by heavy machinery, military women losing fertility due to underhanded combat... where did all that hope go? What did those dreams turn into, if not resentment against those who had taken them away?

Silence sifted through the domed chamber, and the lean young man uttered quietly, fists clenching tautly upon the silvered railings which held him, "But, maybe this guy is for real, Yu'. Maybe he's just as pissed with the Celeres government as we are..." the youth turned, launching to apology for his coarse language, but then recalling that Yue had heard him say a damn sight worse in the heat of exasperation and conflict, "We could use th' intellegence..."

[bobby]

Kazuki was spun around by the mini bot who was almost as much like a brother to him as the Big Brother he idolized.

"I dunno, Pritz. Maybe Tatsuya doesn't want me to put anything on my behind." Zuki put his thumb to his mouth and gnawed it a bit. He sometimes put it into his mouth when he had trouble falling to sleep, but he certainly wasn't going to do that self-soothing action in front of his friend.

"Don't be such a baby, 'Zuki," Pritz scolded, self-righteously "Look what I got~!"

Pritz had been making, not a little noise, as he went through things in the larder and now he set a jar before Kazui.

"It's just some cream for sore-spots, or something," his gaze grinned playfully.

The robot's strong blue plams turned his little blond friend around so that his bottom was facing the robot. Kazuki heard Pritz make another clicking sound that meant he was impressed at that power of Tatsuya's palm.

"It'll work for that I bet!" he gesturing to Kazuki's naked rump, "wanna try it out? I can help ya put it on!"

Still not too sure about the whole thing, Zuki found himself propelled toward the same spot his Big Brother had sat. Only this time Pritz took the seat and encouraged his human friend to 'assume the position,' as it would be easier to apply the contents of the jar.

Gingerly, little Zuki trustingly laid his body over his friend's metallic lap.

"It's not gonna hurt is it, Pritz?" Zuki said, sniffing a little in concern for his tender bottom and, at the same time, filled with boyish affection for having such a true blue friend who would help a fella when he's just gotten his bottom almost "spanked off" by an angry Big Brother.

With assurances, Zuki tried to relax over Pritz' lap while the cheerful little bot set about his work.

*********************************************
"We've very fortunate, Tatsuay," Yue said, placing an amazingly large hand on his hot blooded friend's shoulder. The red head stiffened and then puffed out some air to relax. "Sensya has done exceedingly well considering the limitations we face by living underground.'

'However, we still have a great deal to do if we are not only to survive, but thrive. I continue to worry about our atmosphere down here. The Gunner theory is that unless we can do a better job of replicating sunlight, in two or three generations we stand the risk of infertility in our young people. And needless to say, that includes yourself Suya!"

The red head turned around to look into Yue's eyes. Yue knew that the virile young man wouldn't like the thought of anything challenging the power in his loins, not even nature, but he also knew that they possibility was real.

"From all that I've heard, Hezugawa is someone with the background that could easily help us in the area of climate, genetics, and even horticulture. We have generations to feed in Sensya. We have to go beyond our hydroponic hothouses. The food there is serviceable but not the same as we would produce in sunlight.

I have been doing my own work in that area, Suya, but I can only go so far. I recommend that we allow Ares to contrive a vacation for Hezukawa and then allow him to enter Sensya under the tightest security."

Then Yue raised his palm where a time read out was instantly displayed. "I'm concerned about our little boys below. Giving them corner time so near food was a bit risky. Let's go and make sure that there is still a pantry left for us."

There was a warm whirring sound that made Tatsuya smile despite their difficult decisions. It was the deep, warm sound that meant that Yue was laughing.

[*starfruits*]

In the bowels of the Dalmus Corporation pantry, to youths settled into a quiet moment of boyish affection and comfort as Pritz took Kazuki's petite hand in his own, his blue eyes growing to a friendly tone of aqua-green, and he cooed his reassurance with a mewl, a noise somewhat out-of-place in a machine, but one that perfectly suited the offspring of Sensya's epic autobot defender.

Helping the young blond over his small lap, the metallic child gave a short whimper of pain as his behind was forced to press down, his receptive sensors noting the action, and thus sending several waves of pain through artificial neurons and up to the little one's mentality. The whimper was stayed with a hearty gulp, and Pritz pouted a tad, kicking out his legs once, twice, and thrice in order to calm himself, before his endearing eyes smiled, and he dipped his rubber-clad fingers into the pallid mixture that dwelled in the jar beside him, scooping out a hefty amount to compensate for the agony in his own backside. Staring down at the little human's rump, Pritz flinched somewhat in concern for his dear friend, but soon swallowed back that concern as his small hand went about applying a fair amount of cool balm over the sore buttocks.

Hearing Kazuki's cry of revelation, the bot's left hand drew back to accompany its brother, and Pritz began to knead the sore, swollen cheeks with care, the touch of his little fingers barely noticeable, yet very present together with the cream that came with them, "Ne, feels good, huh?" he ventured happily.

***

As Yue reasoned against his avid, prideful objections and complaints, Tatsuya could not help but keep a frown draw upon his handsome features, his fangs pearling and a low growl of hostility stirred, and rumbled in the depths of his throat. The cybertronic organism, one of his longest known and trusted friends, had a way of putting his rebellious thoughts into perspective, allowing his mind to drift in himself, but at the same time, reeling those thoughts into reality and reason.

As the terrible truth of the infant mortality question serged into being, Tatsuya bit his lip, the motion so deliberate and fixed that he could have drawn blood if he were not so fixated on blood loss as another one of his more personal dilemmas, and reflected on the possibilities that Dr. Hezugawa's research and expertise could offer those in need in the vicinity of Sensya. It was enough of a bargain. They were down, and if a possible alternative to their lighting crisis was not found... the fiery-haired youth grimaced, slamming down a clenched fist against the wall situated behind him, and stalked away from it, fingers twisting in their palm-bounds.

For a lengthy instant, Tatsuya stood stationary, silent but jaggedly tense, his diminutive canines revealed in his vexation and frustration, yet soon that agitation was stayed into a swift, lulling calm, and he soon uttered grudgingly, "He can come. He can work for the good of Sensya, but one slipup, one downfall, one shred of evidence that suggests he's a mole..." the young man raised his penetrating gaze and continued with vehemence, "he's packin' with bruises!"

"I'll contact Ares later, unless ya wanna do it," Tatsuya glanced to the side with vague hope, rotating an arm in its socket, soon blinking as Yue once more brought him down to Sensya with the recollection of their 'caged' charges, and the redhead grinned toothily, Yue’s laughter sending him into calm, "Heh... sure."

***

Pritz jumped as his perceptive antenna detected the advance of his guardian, and he immediately rose to his feet, the action causing the little blond over his thighs to fall, "Oops! Zuki, it's Pops and Fangs!"

The little bot hopped down, gathering up the bewildered Kazuki, and forcing him to jog over to his own corner with swift haste. He then had his friend face the wall, and dabbed the back of the other boy’s shirt over his naked bottom in order to rid them of their balm-smeared shine, and soon made a run for his own corner.

The haste of the motion had left a patch of ointment on the wooden flooring, which send the little bot skidding, only to have him cry out and fall flat on his muffler-clad face having slipped up on the liniment just as he reached his confined destination, "...Owie!"

[bobby]

Dr. Hezukawa was not an impulsive sort of man. He was a deep thinker who keep careful notes in the old fashioned manner represented by the many, painstakingly, hand-written journals he had composed.

He bemoaned the fact that these journals were no longer his private possession. The next government in Celeres didn't recognize private possessions, as such. Their moto was one that rang out through the anals of recorded time as patently dangerous, "For the Good of All!"

"I have never seen," Dr. Hezukawa had said to his trusted young assistant Kimi Miroto, "a time where the 'Good of All' didn't turn into the good of a handful of selfish individuals."

A large monitor flashed on over head in Dr. Hezukawa's laboratory and the face of Shay Khan, self-appointed President of Celeres appeared.

Khan had the high boned, narrow face of a weasel. His eyes narrowed by more than nature shifted constantly as if he were always on the look out for an enemy.

"Hezugawa, we've made the contact," Khan said. "Are you packed and ready?"

"Have they agreed to have me in Sensya?"

Khan sneered. "They will. Ares will conduct you personally."

Dr. Hezugawa bowed. His face maintaining a hard-won rigid stoicism.

"Hezugawa. You don't want to do anything to jeopordize our agreement. Anything. Your granddaughter is just fine at school. She doesn't know anything about her new teacher, but rest assured that Miss King knows all about her and about our...'arrangement.' There is a class trip coming up. Miss King is taking the children white water rafting and although all precautions will be taken for the children's complete safety......accidents do happen."

Hezugawa gritted his teeth, but he only dipped his head again.

"Tomorrow you will leave," Khan said, and his smirking face vanished.

Dr. Hezugawa turned to Kimi Moroto. "Kimi. I need to be alone. Please bring those samples to the readout station."

Kimi bowed and left. Dr. Hezugawa opened a small black bag he had kept form his earliest days as a physician. He took out a small black case and opened it.

It contained two vials that glowed with a green light. "This must do the job," Hezugawa thought. "For the sake of Sensya and Celeres."

**************************
Zuki shambled out of his corner, encumbered by his lowered pants and underpants to help his buddy up and into his corner. "You okay, Pritzie," the asked, patting his metallic buddies metallic bootie. "Wish tha cream could work for you," Zuki sniffed.

Then the little boy hurried back to his punishment corner just as his Big Brother and Yue entered the chamber.

[*starfruits*]

A lone figure clad in a Gucci leather jacket, together with pinstripe chestnut and deep cream trousers stood beneath a highest skyscraper, his gaze traveling skyward for a fleeting glimpse of genuine clouds, the sun and universe spread before him, perturbed by the caging buildings and industry that hampered the clear blue of the picturesque canvas.

Ares turned to his side, a hand falling to his pocket to touch at the small, rounded and golden watch which inhabited it, before his violet eyes fell upon the battered old minicar purring under a steel pillar, silently awaiting his choice to take it out into the open... or into the underground. It was the only way to travel undetected in Sensya... with an old banger like that.

Leaning back against the pillar spread beside his classic, if vintage old vehicle, the platinum-blond pressed a leather-glove clad palm to its hood, gently caressing it as though the machine were a fond, dearest pet to him, his gaze raising to the darkness of the car parks centre fixedly, 'Doctor... have you forgotten the set meeting time? Or is it your courage that has abandoned you?'

With that, the young Celeres journalist weaved an arm into the humming yellow vehicle, and closed off the engine, bringing the murmured drone to an end as he drew down his rosed glasses in order survey the lighting surrounding him with greater depth.

***

The two comrades had been talking to one another, seemingly grave as they skirted around the corner of the corridor which led to the Dalmus Corporation pantry in which the two young ones have been sentenced and chastised, and Tatsuya soon broke into a reverberating, toothy growl and he bounded into the room, surging in and catching his little brother about the waist, "Raaawr! Ya should've left when ya had the chance, lil' boy!"

The fiery-haired individual then grinned, heaving the little blond up and into his arms, tossing him up shortly to catch him without harming beneath his arms or his sore backside, and he nuzzled Kazuki with token rough-house brotherly affection, "Now you'll have no mercy against me! Mwhahaha!" he growled in a voice strained to sound particularly banal and menacing; much like ghastly cartoon villains who twirled their guns and trapped damsels on railway tracks.

His boyish flare soon diminished for a moment as he held his little brother to him, rocking him gently against his lean body, radiating gentility and concern, "We're cool now, Bro... ya took yer punishment real well," he nestled the youth into the groove of his neck, and kneaded the thick golden locks, and squeezed the boy tight, returning back to his coarse brotherly charms, "An' ya won't break a promise again, will ya?"

Pritz glanced from his corner at his guardian, and turned, his eyes seeming bluer than they ever had been, and he made as though he were wiping them of their tears, before he turned and scampered towards the older bot, weaving around and in and out of his legs in a playful and decidedly one-sided game of tag. After a moment on this, the little bot soon glanced upwards, small hands pressed upon his father's knee and rotating an ankle in an endearing manner to gain sympathy.

[bobby]

A shadow separated itself from a pillar behind Ares and a deep, slightly rough voice said, "Mr. Ares, I'm sorry to be late. It took me a little longer than I anticipated to leave my dwelling and come here undetected. I wore this...."

Dr. Hezukawa reached into his spotless white shirt and took a round disc out. It hung around the doctor's neck by a chain of platinum.

"It is magnetic?" Ares asked. The journalist had limited scientific knowledge, but he knew enough about digital scams to know that a magnetized disc, if properly designed, would wreak havoc with remote cameras pointed at it.

Dr. Hezugawa bowed. He reached into his tweed jacket and took out another medallion, "For you," the man said simply and bowed slightly again.

Hezugawa watched Ares look at both sides of the ward, back at the Doctor, and then slip it over his head.

He opened one door of his beloved transport. "Your coach, Cinderella!"

************************
Kazuki shrieked when his Big Brother bounded into the room and snatched him up in his strong arms with their big hands with the long fingers.

Kazuki gurgled a delicious belly laugh when Tatsuya tossed him up in the air and caught him. Then, when his Brother tucked him into his arms and held him against his chest, the little boy put his arms around his Big Brother's neck and held on, his little hands clasped behind Tatsuya's neck.

Zuki admored him Big Brother and thought that if he couldn't have a Father that Tatsuya was the nearest thing to a Daddy he would ever have, and he was enough for the little boy.

Zuki wrested his head in the crook of Tatsuya's neck and as the red headed young man put his hand into his little brother's heavy blond hair, Zuki gave Tatsuya a warm kiss on his cheek. This the younger boy always did a little shyly hoping that Tatsuya would be receptive to the strong love that beat in the little boy's heart.

Perhaps in response to the kiss, Tatsuya put on a stern face and said, "An' ya won't break a promise again, will ya?"

Zuki shook his head and then looked worried, "Suya? I never mean to break a promise , but sometime....sometimes I forget. But I'll try real, real hard." And the little boy clearly meant it.

Then Zuki looked down at Pritz plaing around his Father and the little human boy called, "Uncle Yue, why don't you pick Pritz up and throw him and hug him too?"

Yue's eyes turned to a deep amber and then, as he looked down at his playful technological offspring, the amber glowed into gold and the great Robot made a deep laughing sound. He reached down, and though Pritz tried to scamper around to the back of his Father, Yue caught him and did indeed toss the little robot into the air.

Then Yue's eyes turned a deep green and he folded the metallic body to his chest. Reaching inward, Yue mentally played with his genetic matrix and his chest took on a warm temperature the atoms of his chest cavity flexing as if to simulate breathe.