I could only look to the coldness of space.

Over the next few days, the two continued to meet at that same table. Omega wondered for a moment why no one else ever sat at the table - but his experience with Trigger's possessive nature and explosive temper answered that quickly. His suspicions were confirmed when he realized that the other inmates weren't bothering with him either. It was merely a matter of time before there was enough tension worked up among the population to cause a confrontation. But Trigger was appeased by the extra medication for now and didn't care for another fight.

After nearly a week Omega finally discovered exactly what his new programming would be. The newer cybernetic brains were far more efficient than his outdated and already damaged human one. They would merely replace his barely functioning brain with a newer, more advanced model. That was, of course, not his opinion. He rather liked his brain, even if it was the cause of his insanity. He tried to broach the subject with his friend.

"The Generation 15 models are quite good. I wouldn't mind having one," Trigger commented.

"But what about my personality? The new models might be efficient but they don't even have emotions or-"

He was interrupted from behind. "Emotions - worthless things aren't they?"

Trigger looked up from his food. He growled in a deep voice that promised violence. "Go away."

The confident reply was mechanical. "I won't. I want to sit here."

Omega realized that this person was much further from humanity than anyone he had met before, even his doctors. He looked like a young man in his early twenties, but his eyes were hollow and grey. Omega imagined that he saw nano-machines crawling underneath the man's skin. Trigger, though agitated, could not possibly win a fight against him.

"It's alright Trigger. I think he's the friendly type."

Trigger closed his eyes, not really caring. If Omega said he was a friend, then that's exactly what he was. Besides, he wanted to enjoy the rush from the morphine he had taken from a few people earlier. Blocking the sights and sounds around him, he gave his body over to the oblivion.

"You are Omega, aren't you?" the cyborg asked as he sat down. "I've heard a lot about you."

Omega nodded quietly. His reputation, not for anything he had done, had again preceded him. It was a well-known fact to anyone with any education that he was the last of his kind, the only living person with a completely unaltered human brain. He, like Trigger, had been an experiment. No one had been born with a fully-functioning brain in nearly a hundred years. It was ordered before his birth that he should be allowed to live as much of his natural life as possible and that he should always be observed. It was a test to see if a human being could survive in a world no longer constricted by their weaknesses.

As a child he had been made fun of by others; but instead of wallowing in misery and self-defeat, he discovered strength in hate. Though he didn't have the stomach for killing, he often visualized another person's destruction. When he met Trigger, he found a way he could comfortably realize those aspirations.

"Who's that?"

Omega didn't feel like conversation and the metal-head had begun to annoy him already. "That's Trigger. He's a bit violent. I don't recommend pissing him off."

"So I've heard, but I wasn't asking about him. I was asking about the other one."

Omega had never noticed that there was someone else sitting at the table. He tapped Trigger's shoulder, and asked him who that was next to him.

Through the haze, Trigger only managed a few words. "Oh. . . That's Kernel. Quiet one. . . doesn't. . . can't talk."

Omega studied Kernel for a moment. There was nothing distinguishing about him except for the wall of silence that seemed to surround him. He turned his attention back to the cyborg. "And you would be. . .?"

"I'm Switch. At least that's what I call myself. My serial number has too many letters and numbers in it for most humans to remember."

This Switch character was obviously a product of Generation 15 programming. Omega's skin crawled as he examined the human skin that probably concealed a host of mechanical wonders so common in the world he lived in. He even thought he saw evidence of a skeletal armour protruding from inside his shirt.

"And what you are you here for?"

"A bit of this and a bit of that. I've been on the waiting list for some time. I was finally granted an upgrade last week. Now they're just doing some body-work before I get discharged."