My girls and I were gathered in my room on the Iridescence since this was one of the few places we didn’t need to worry about being eavesdropped on.
"So... Reports?" I asked, looking at my girls seriously.
Ries peeked up at as she laid on my lap, "Mmm.... Ship repairs are proceeding as expected, Boss~ We should be done with it soon~"
No surprises there. Ries was keeping the entire thing on a strict schedule and she was quite rciless with the thieves working on the ship.
There was no way in hell she was letting them damage the ship any further than they already have.
Sohow, under her guidance, they were actually pretty competent ship chanics though not by choice.
I then turned to Mara and she nodded, "I looked into Anthony and what I found is a little... Concerning."
I raised an eyebrow at her, "Concerning? How? What did you find?"
"You said that Theresa ntioned him saving her back when there was a company retreat at a Pleasure Station, correct?"
I nodded, "That’s what she told ... Don’t tell that’s not what really happened?"
Mara shook her head, "It’s a little bit more complicated than that. I tried to read his mind while I interacted with him to guide him towards that topic but... I believe he’s a Psionic, Captain."
I tensed up, "What? He is?"
She nodded, "I could not read his mind at all, Captain."
"You an... Like he blocked you out or sothing?"
"That’s right. And the only type of people who are able to shield their mind are Psionics, Captain."
I grimaced, "So you’re telling ... He’s a Psionic hiding here and pretending like he’s a normal person? And we might have potentially pissed off a Psionic as well?"
"I’m afraid so, Captain..."
"Do we know which family he belongs to? Or is he a rogue Psionic?"
Mara shook her head, "Unfortunately, I do not recognise him... So he could just be either one to be honest, especially seeing that he’s in the Inner Colonies as well..."
This made things a little complicated then...
I was about to ask the girls if they have any suggestions on what we should do with this new information when the red haired Renata standing at the side started to chuckle.
"Ehehehe~ That’s not the case at all, Daddy~"
All of us turned to her, confused by her words.
"What do you an, Renata?" I asked.
She giggled, "Ehehehe~ He isn’t a Psionic, Daddy~ Not even remotely close!"
"Eh? But he’s able to block Mara’s mind reading though? Is there so other way to block a telepathy’s mind reading skill if the other party isn’t even able to control Psionic energy?"
"Well~ You have not considered the other possibility at all, Daddy~ Like for example... His mind couldn’t be read not because he’s blocking it... But because he has no thoughts for people to read to begin with!"
She then puffed up her chest like she had said the most obvious thing ever while the rest of us just looked a little confused.
Renata raised a finger, "That’s because Anthony is incapable of thought, Daddy!!"
I blinked at her before tilting my head, "Are you just trying to say that Anthony is stupid, Renata?"
My eldritch maid giggled, "Ehehehe~ That’s funny Daddy~ Maybe he really is stupid~"
I stared at her and she just looked back at cutely.
"Umm... I seriously don’t understand, Renata..." I admitted.
As though only just realising it, Renata clapped her hands together in surprise, "Oh!! Sorry daddy!! I forget that I think differently sotis~ Ehehehe~ That guy isn’t human~"
...
"What?"
She nodded, "He’s an android, Daddy~"
All of us were just staring at Renata after she said that and the eldritch maid was just smiling at innocently.
"Wait... Anthony’s an android?"
"That’s right~ That’s why Big Sister Mara isn’t able to read his mind because he doesn’t actually have an organic brain to be read~"
Mara humd, "Hmm... This would actually explain it if he isn’t a Psionic."
Amber frowned, "Wait... You’re telling that he’s an android... That’s pretending to be human?"
Renata shrugged, "I don’t know if he’s pretending to be one or he actually believes he is one~"
I tilted my head, "He... Believes he is one?"
Ries gasped and sat up from my lap, "Wait... You aren’t suggesting that he’s so kind of spy that was planted here and programd to believe he’s human just to fit in?!"
Noooo... Ries... Why did you leave my lap? Now it feels cold and lonely...
Yumiko took one look at the space that the catgirl vacated and imdiately ca over to lie on her back with her head resting on my lap, showing her belly.
Well... Obviously I had to give her belly scratches right there~
Renata shrugged again, "I only know that he’s an android. I don’t really know what’s his purpose here."
Ries clutched her head, "But... But for the android to be able to act like this and pass itself off as a human... It has to be an AI that is above Class Three!!"
"Oh, it most certainly is~" Renata agreed casually like it was no big deal. "If we go by the standard classification, I believe it’s a Class Six~"
And if I rember correctly... A Class Six AI was completely illegal..."
Ok, this is definitely a really big deal.
"Wait... How did you even know that he’s an android to begin with?" I asked.
Renata tilted her head, "Hmm? I an... I can just sense it?"
Huh... I guess since she absorbed that AI, she could also sense other AIs around her as well? I guess that would make sense...
I turned to my girls, "What should we do then? Is he the only android on the station? Are there others besides him as well?"
Amber raised a finger, "We might as well just confront him directly. That’s the fastest way, right?"
"What if he... I dunno... Self destructs or sothing? Maybe activate a hidden network of androids to start taking over the entire station?"
Renata pointed at herself, "If Daddy wants to, I can do a wide scan of the station to see if there’s other androids?"
"You can do that? Umm... What do you need? And would it trigger the androids or sothing if you do?"
"Mmm... I don’t think so? It’s similar to a network ping~ If I get a response from soone that is supposed to be a human, I know it’s an android right away~ And since they are living within a space that is connected to the GalaNet, getting network pings is normal~"
I’m... Going to pretend I understood what she just said and nod along.
"So do you need to do anything before you’re able to do that network ping thing? Like maybe connecting to the station’s security terminals or sothing?"
"Nope~ I can just do it right now, Daddy~"
Renata stood straight up and stared into the air, my eldritch maid just remaining still for a good few seconds before she blinked and started moving again.
"Mmm... This is interesting... There’s more of them inside the station, Daddy. A total of ten of them including that guy~"
There’s ten androids hidden in the station... That’s passing themselves off as humans?
The fact that there’s more of them can’t be a coincidence, can it? Was this planned? Were they all placed here intentionally by soone... Or sothing?
I paused for a mont before looking back at my girls.
"Do you think... There’s a conspiracy going on where the androids... The AI... They’re planning for another rebellion?"
All the girls did not answer imdiately as they couldn’t say for sure either.
I sighed, "What do we do with this then? Do we really just go and confront him or pretend that we don’t even know about this?"
Renata giggled, "Ehehe~ You can confront him if you want, Daddy~ I can lock down the network in an area so even if he tries to contact the other androids to trigger sothing, no ssages will be sent out~"
Hmm... I suppose in that case...
As much as I didn’t want to deal with more trouble... I’ve now beco involved with this guy because of Theresa... And I don’t really want to find out that things beca even more troubleso because I didn’t deal with it when I had the chance.
So I might as well just deal with this right now instead of ignoring it.
Besides... If it turns out that he’s dangerous... I’ve already been given the greenlight to terminate him if I need to. So if things go south, we can also just tie up all our loose ends without anyone else raising questions.
I nodded at the girls, "Let’s get Anthony sowhere private to question him, alright?"
The girls nodded and began to move.
Now let’s see what you’re doing here as an android, Anthony...
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