The walls were blindingly white, reflecting the light into his eyes making them water. Wrists cuffed in metal links to the steel desk in front of him, Rhaner had been sitting here for a long time, forced to wait. Questions whirled in his mind, but as yet, there were no answers. The shock of seeing his wife, who he'd thought dead, was just beginning to wear off. Anger gradually replaced it.

Fingers clamping into fists, his jaw tightened as the door to the small room abruptly opened. A tall, thin man with graying hair came in, his dress suit crisp, with sharp lines and a solid gray tie. Mina followed with a man who wore a military uniform. His eyes were hard.

"Greer Rhaner," the man in the suit spoke, taking the seat opposite Rhaner. "You're a hard man to find."

"Must be why you blew up my house," he retorted sourly. The man scowled.

"You're in possession of contraband technology. For that alone I can have you and your son shot."

There was no way to refute that, so Greer stayed quiet, just watching him. A desire to look at Mina was strong within him, but he coldly squelched it. He wasn't ready to deal with anything connected with her...not yet.

"Explain why you did not immediately turn the android over to the authorities when you discovered it."

"She looked lonely."

Lunging from his chair, eyes blazing, he grabbed Rhaner by the shirt front.

"Do you think this is amusing-!"

"Easy Fowler." The military man stepped forward, his gaze on Rhaner.  "We won't get answers that way. We must reason with him."

Fear darted through Greer at his tone. This one was dangerous. An anxious thought fluttered through him, where was Kai? Carefully keeping his expression still, he returned the hard gaze aimed at him. They were vultures, circling, looking for any weakness to exploit.

"You sound like a man I can deal with," he said carefully. "What do you want?"

Gesturing the taller man aside, the commander sat down, folding his hands on the tabletop.

"You have an android, Rhaner, the kind of Tech that hasn't existed in three centuries. I'd like to know why."

"You folks were at the storage unit where I got it," Greer sized up the man. "You tell me. I don't know Tech."

Pursing his lips, the man seemed to consider it, nodding a little.

"Fair enough. Since the War, a concerted effort has been made to find and destroy every form of A.I. out there. It was considered dangerous and unreliable. Old records surrounding the death of Vera Wagner indicated that a prototype of a new android, a Series Five, had been made but was never discovered by our agents. Dr. Lewis Dwighthall was the mind behind the ingenuity. We believe the Series Five is what was in that storage unit you purchased, as it was held in the name of an old family member of Dwighthall. We found it interesting the unit was paid for in advance, for a very long time. Then after the War records were lost, leases destroyed, entire populations wiped out, and its taken the governmentcenturiesto sift through the rubble."

"Other than my buying the contents of the unit sight unseen, what does that have to do with me?"

"Nothing." With a faint smile, the man sat back. "Greer Rhaner, I'm General Marshal Bowman. I'll level with you. We hit the series five with a handheld EMP that should have put it out for good. It activated on the trip here but has said nothing. According to our understanding, it shouldn't be awake, not unless its directly reactivated. That makes this model uniquely interesting, kind of a novelty, wouldn't you say?"

"I don't know much about Tech."

"Rhaner...I'd like to do this easy. What do you know about the Series Five?"

"Not much. She's not a model for conversation and I never bothered to upgrade her data storage."

"Provoking me is unwise," the General warned softly.

Considering his options, Greer took in a deep breath, finally looking at the one person he'd been avoiding.

"Let me talk to Mina alone. I deserve some answers. After that, I'll tell you what I know."

General Bowman glanced at the woman, seeing the cold expression on her face and nodded.

"That's reasonable. I'll give you thirty minutes, no more."

The men left the room, leaving the Rhaner's to face each other. Mina crossed her arms.

"Well?"

"Tell me why."

"Why what?"

"Seriously?" His laugh was hard. "Your son and I thought you were dead! Seven years, we've thought you were dead, and you have the nerve to ask me, what? Why did you do it? What's going on here? I'd like the truth."

"Truth, that's funny coming from you." Pacing the small room, Mina frowned. "For ten years you worked in a secret branch of the military, doing God knows what because you refuse to talk about it! What do you know about truth?"

Greer's features tightened.

"I never hid the fact that I was in a special ops unit, and I never lied to you."

"What difference does that make?" Whirling around, her lips trembled for an instant. "You kept things from me! So I kept things from you, things that I couldn't reveal in line with my work."

"The difference between us is, when it came down to my job or my family, I did not choose my job."

"It killed me to choose my job, Greer, but I truly believe in what we're trying to do! The work was so classified only those without immediate family were allowed to continue on the project,"

"You're a fool." Eyes like stone, he gazed steadily at her. "You're with them, Mina, which means I don't trust you an inch. What do you want from me?"

"Well," her eyes drifted away a moment. "The android imprinted on you, didn't it? It won't answer our questions or respond at all. You're the only one who can get the information we want."

"Dissecting her isn't enough?"

"Oh, that will put us decades ahead, but the General believes there is something else, something that makes the prototype special. If we take it apart, we might miss it."

"So you want me to tell her to tell you what makes her tick? Are you insane?"

"They'll get you to do what they want, Greer. One way or another. Don't make this hard on yourself...or Kai."

Fury surged through him as Rhaner came off his chair, stopped only by the cuffs chaining him to the table. Mina backed away, her expression cool.

"Think about it, Greer. Is a robot worth the life of our son?"

"No robot is, you know that."

"Then agree to help us."

"Why? As a final good act before being shot?"

"If you'd agree to work with us, to go back-?"

"No!" Unable to stand fully, he sat back down, his features stiff. "I won't go back to that life."

"Be reasonable,"

"If someone uses that word on me one more time,"

"Greer, think. Unless you do what they ask you'll die. Kai has a slim chance, very slim, to live through this. One android holds two lives, Greer. Is it worth it?"

"Why did you marry me?" Suddenly soft, Rhaner changed the topic. "Now that I think about it, everything happened pretty fast."

"That's ancient history,"

"So you needed a normal looking life? Or maybe it was a fling that your boss's didn't approve of."

"Greer-"

"Just tell me the truth, and I'll know if you're lying."

"You swept me off my feet." Her tone was suddenly as soft as his. "I loved you, I loved our life together. But eventually I had to decide, and I..."

"What?"

"I'm not a military clerk, I'm a scientist, an engineer." Mina's eyes suddenly lit up, her expression urgent. "I've spent years developing programming for robotics, and we're on the cusp of real breakthroughs. I would have had to give that up, to walk away and never see it through!"

"What!" Stunned, gaping at her, Greer felt his mind whirl. "Engineer? What are you doing messing with Tech, Mina?"

"I had to! Do you realize the first robotics since the War was because of my hard work? I helped build them, Greer! We've learned so much and could learn so much more from this new android!"

"Tech is forbidden, Mina! It's dangerous!"

"Not anymore! Stop living in the past! We're rebuilding the world, and that includes robotics! Military-grade androids can patrol and control the outlands, stop the Scavengers, and make the badlands safe to rebuild!"

"Do you even hear what you're saying?"

"Greer-"

"Get out." Disgusted, unable to comprehend the woman he thought he knew, Rhaner spat at her. "Get out, Mina. As far as I'm concerned, you died seven years ago."

"Greer-"

"Out!"

She complied, leaving without a backward glance. General Bowman came in after a moment, pausing in the doorway.

"I've lived up to my end of the bargain, Rhaner. I believe that puts the ball in your court."

"Tell me something. Why did you send Reapers to my house? They were after us, not the robot."

"Initially, we had reason to suspect that you had discovered the truth of your wife's work. That's why you got to the storage unit ahead of us. Then we realized it was a simple twist of fate you bought the unit and got the android, nothing more."

"Simple," Greer exhaled the word. "Sure."