Mars City Five

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The ship would be connected to a folding tunnel that curved underground, allowing passengers to move though the spaceport without breathing Martian atmosphere. Starr and Asher would be able to follow that to a larger hallway equipped with moving walkways, which would eventually lead them to the spaceport exit, and into the massive biodome that contained Mars City Five.
There would be quite a lot of androids around, guiding visitors, or otherwise busy. They had shiny "MegaBrainTech Android" badges, and looked very official.

"It's always interesting to be home," commented Asher, "I don't think I like it."

Mourn skipped ahead of everyone else, looking around and grinning. So much to see. He stared at the androids, and the terrans, and everything they were doing.

Esk rolled his eyes and kept focused. "I take it Terra doesn't have terriforming technology? Or do they just really like living in glass domes?" That sky did NOT look friendly.

"Mars was colonized before the Terrans had developed terraforming technology," Asher said. "They could terraform it now, but they prefer to leave it as is for sentimental reasons. There are enough planets under Terran control that they can leave this one largely in its original state."

"Plus I bet they sell lots of postcards because it looks unique," Moriah said.

Mourn's grinning and staring did attract attention. Some androids eyed him a bit warily, while the Terrans just looked curious.

"That's... really dumb." Esk remarked dryly. Hey, the Imperium would have just made everyone get the hell off, given them some temporary accomidation or encouraged them to move elsewhere and then gotten on with it. Still, the terrans didn't exactly NEED the land.
He shook his head.

Mourn didn't care that he was being stared at, he wanted to know all about this place. If there were any information kiosks or terminals, he was there.

"Think we should get him a leash?" Esk asked quietly.

"Maybe" Rigel said, looking over to Mourn then to Esk "He's curious, that's for sure."

Nova walked close to Asher's chair, though she made sure to give him personal space too.

Asher wheeled toward the exit to the spaceport, appreciating Nova's presence, as well as her respect for his space. It was nice to have a bodyguard in a place like this, it eased some of his concerns about being around so many Terrans.
He smiled at Esk. "Everyone seems reasonably happy with the decision not to terraform, whether it's a good one or not, so I guess it's worked out all right." He chuckled, watching Mourn, "He's sensible, he won't get into trouble. Probably."

Moriah followed Mourn, he was interested, and so was she, so it worked.
There were some info terminals, with maps of the city and and useful information about local businesses. There were also little pamphlets with the same maps and information, as well as historical notes about the city and its extensive history in artificial intelligence, and fun facts about the Three Laws of Robotics. The pamphlets were titled
[Mars City Five - The Empire's Center of Innovation]
and were jointly published by MegaBrainTech Industries and the city Chamber of Commerce. Definitely an unbiased source of information, then.

esk looked skeptical, Mourn wasn't what he'd call sensible. Smart sure, but impulsive and loud. Hmm. He stuck close to Rigel.

Mourn took a pamphlet and played about with the terminals, bringing up a map of where they needed to go.

The map showed that Mars City Five wasn't all that big and it was pretty flat, and that the BrainTech repair and support center was within easy walking distance. There was also a monorail they could take, which would drop them off pretty close to the repair center too.

Asher smiled sheepishly at Esk. Hey, he knew Mourn was risky to bring along, but he didn't want to put too much energy into worrying about that as well right now. He had enough to worry about already.

A pretty android woman wearing a glossy silvery version of the android badge walked over to Mourn. "Welcome to Mars City Five! Can I help you with anything?" She smiled a warm, friendly smile.

Mourn stared at her, then at her badge. "Why your badge shiny?" He demanded. "you important robot?"

"Maybe we should get to the repair centre, quickly..." Esk suggested.

Rigel nodded and looked over to Mourn with the android and Moriah. "Yeah, soonest begun, soonest done." He said more to himself than the others. He didn't really want to leave Mourn to wander here, even with Moriah at his side, but they had a mission to finish.

Asher nodded, agreeing with the others. "We'd better get going."

"Oh no, I'm not important," the android woman told Mourn. "The regulations are different here in Mars City Five, androids owned by MegaBrainTech Industries or the city are issued silver badges, so people will be able to tell us apart from privately owned androids." She smiled brightly again. "So we're easier to find if someone needs help finding something."
She looked at Asher, gaze flicking from his badge, to his wheelchair, and then back. Her expression flickered to uncertainty for a moment, before the smile came back, "I can take you guys to the repair center if you'd like help getting there. My job is to make sure your visit to this city is as easy as possible."

Rigel looked around at the others then shrugged a little "Sure, which way is the quickest to get to the repair center?"

"Yes, repair, got to fix robot." Mourn agreed. "i order part months ago, should be ready now, we come have installed. get Robot walking again." He nodded eagerly.

Esk said nothing, the sooner they got outta here the better.

"All right, I'll take you to the repair shop. We'll take the monorail, it's free to ride and faster than walking," the android woman said. She led the way.

Moriah followed eagerly, while Asher wheeled after, looking far less certain about this. God he couldn't wait for this to be over, he just wanted to be back to normal and away from this creepy city, not a robot in a wheelchair who needed a bodyguard. This situation made him feel soo conspicuous.
So uncomfortable.

Mourn trotted along with the guide android, looking around at everything excitedly.

Esk sighed and trudged after them all.

Rigel and Nova followed along with the others to ride the monorail to the repair center.

The android led the group to the monorail, which took them through the city, giving them a sweeping view of it. The city had obviously been carefully planned to look pleasing from above and to be efficient, but the buildings were largely designed with an industrial aesthetic and used a lot of reds and oranges in their color scheme, so the effect, combined with the shimmering dome that enclosed it all, was ever so slightly ominous.

The android guide didn't seem to mind it. She pointed out various sights as the train raced along, and offered a few helpful tips about good places to eat. Apparently she had a script of things to tell visitors about.

They reached the station near the repair center finally, and she pointed them to the repair building and wished them a pleasant visit.

Asher let the organics lead the way in, it wouldn't look good to have an android going first, probably.

A receptionist android smiled in greeting to the group. "Hello, how can I help you?"

Mourn led the way, marching right up to the desk and staring at the receptionist. "We got robot need fix see?" He pointed at Asher. "I order part, should be here."

Esk remained silent and poe faced, he could be quiet when he needed to be. He was watching Mourn like a hawk though.

"All right, let me have a look," the receptionist said. "Your names?"

"He's Mourn, I'm Seven series Three-Seven-Five-Four," Asher said helpfully.

The receptionist typed busily, looking at the screen. After a moment she looked up again. "All right, it looks like there's an appointment in the system. Is your owner here?"

Asher shook his head, and got the letter Starr had written out of his pocket, handing it to the receptionist. "My owner had other arrangements, sadly. He's," he pointed to Rigel, "acting on her behalf as my owner."

The receptionist took the letter and looked it over, then nodded and handed it back to Asher. "All right, that seems to be in order. Can I see both of your IDs please?" she asked Rigel and Mourn.

Rigel nodded and pulled his out to show to her. He wasn't sure if Mourn even had an ID, oops.

Mourn rummaged through his pockets and dug out a rather battered looking wallet, which he then dug through to produce some sort of identification. He didn't often have much use to prove who he was, but as a pirate sometimes you had to get into places but that was usually with false papers. Thankfully he did have a work pass for Vestia, she never asked for them but they were occasionally useful for buying beer and stuff like that.
He watched the android, tilting his head. "You get lots stolen androids?" He asked.

The android checked the IDs, looking them over carefully. She nodded at Mourn's question, "Androids do get stolen from time to time. Usually the thieves don't bring them here, but we have orders to be cautious anyway."
She handed back the IDs and looked to Rigel, "So the plan is for us us replace Three-Seven-Five-Four's lower signal relay, and repair any additional damage we detect, is that right? And his owner doesn't want his code updated?"

Asher winced a little at being referred to by his serial number, but schooled his expression into blankness.

Rigel nodded and smiled "Right, if codes need to be changed or updated, she will take care of that later." He said.

"Okay," the receptionist said, "That's perfectly fine. I can't give you an estimation of how long these repairs will take, as we haven't yet assessed his condition, but if there's additional damage then the repairs could take several hours or more. If you want to explore the city or something while you wait, I can contact you when the repairs are finished, or have him delivered to your ship." She smiled.

Rigel nodded and put his id away again. "One or more of us will be nearby."

"I will not leave him alone." Nova added "He is important to his owner"

Mourn nodded "Expensive robot, no want leave." He explained. "She stay with." He pointed to Nova. "Can come watch?" He asked. He was kinda curious okay?

----

"He'll be safe with us even if you don't stay with him," the receptionist said, "Our job is to repair androids, not damage them." She looked at Mourn and Nova uncertainly, "You're free to watch if you want, but I must warn you that some people find the sight of androids without their skin rather... unsettling. Generally we encourage people to go visit the gift shop while their androids are being repaired."

Asher looked uncomfortable. He wasn't sure he wanted any of his friends seeing his insides, but of course he knew it was safer to have his friends around, so it was probably a good idea for them to come with him.

Mourn cackled. "I engineer, fix robots anyway. Curious."

Esk tensed a little at the fixing robot comment. Still, it was better if someone was with Asher and the lunatic Felid would probably be so distracted by the engineering aspect he might be kept out of trouble for a bit.