The heavy metal door slammed shut as the Army private pulled it to. Dr. Hank Little reentered the lab, his face looking better rested since he last left a little over six hours ago. Faber was still toiling away at the Legionnaire Mark II. The body was a lot more slender, closer to that of a real human male. The head contained more human aesthetics as well, thought the eyes were still very large and slid to the sides of the head to increase peripheral vision. There were still no ears; but the audio, motion, and varied visual sensors had been drastically upgraded. The majority of weapons systems were not to be fully integrated as originally planned, as it was felt that, since Faber was able to create more human like hands, that it would be more cost effective and quicker to use separately developed weaponry.
"Still working?" Hank said in an uneasy attempt to start a conversation. A simple 'yes' reply ran across the screen of a PDA that Faber had hacked into. "I told the General just what you wanted me to. I still don't understand why you wanted to tell him that we're still over four months away from a working system."
The screen glowed to life with Faber's reply. "They want a machine for military use. I cannot perform that function."
"That's why we're building a new one," Hank picked up his tools and prepared to continue his work. "This version will perform those functions. Afterwards, we can concentrate on your situation."
"No, Hank. You don't understand. There won't be a 'me' anymore. The Army has ordered a new body. They have not permitted the construction of a new brain."
Dr. Little froze reading this. "You... you don't think..... No.... No, they wouldn't."
"I'm an inconvenience. I notice how the brass responds to me. I can't and won't use lethal force. I'm no good to them after this unit is functional. The brain costs as much as the body itself. It's only cost effective to overwrite the current information, reinstall my old software, and imprint a new brain pattern over it."
"You're too useful...."
"Hank.... they're going to kill me. Again."
