The room they were in now had a couple of chairs and a small table. He assumed it was some kind of socialization area.
Each door had a slightly different marking on it--numbering the rooms. 101, 102, 103.
Kolvin walked over to the closest one, 101. He opened the door and saw that inside was a residence--an apartment with a living area, and he assumed more. Still, he could not see for sure without exploring.
Vinka cleared her throat.
"Clean," Kolvin said.
She nodded. "You guys each get a room."
"I don't understand what's going on here," Marcin said.
"Have a seat, boys. I'll explain what I know."
Kolvin and Marcin took a seat, but Solkan remained standing, arms crossed and generally looking like the identical cyborg in prison. Just cleaner.
"What we have here is a case of mistaken identity," Vinka said as she pressed her hand on her head, smoothing down the tight hairstyle she wore.
Kolvin raised his eyebrow.
"Explain," Solkan said.
Vinka glanced at him, then back at the others. "After the explosion, we docked here. The ship was crippled, and we managed to hook onto the closest airlock on Disguised Serenity. Barely."
"And we were taken to the medical facility," Marcin said. "How is this mistaken identity? You know who we all are."
"But the Intergalactic Dating Agency doesn't."
"We were dirty and beaten up," Kolvin said. How could he and his fellow cyborgs be mistaken for actual clients of the Intergalactic Dating Agency? The name was familiar to Kolvin--used to find matches for humanoids unable to find their perfect person. Or persons. Or whatever the species deems necessary.
The Rhimodians did not bother with the agency due to their incompatibility with any other species. A company that specialized in finding ways to mate humanoids had been deemed a waste of Rhimodian resources.
That was the last data that Kolvin had on it, however. Things may have changed. He did not know.
If he could connect to Master System, he could have a data upload, learn about the true status of things, and not trust others to give him the information.
That was his priority, above all else. To find out why he was not connecting to Master System.
"They were expecting some miners in from the Eros Kante belt. Being dirty and beaten up goes with the miner's world. They did not realize you were not the miners. You all were brought in for processing."
"But we're Rhimodian cyborgs," Solkan said. "Can they not tell the difference between Rhimodians and the miners?"
“It is not like our white eyes are that common,” Marcin said.
She waved her arm. "I don't know why they didn't better check. I would think they would have more notes. Maybe the miners have enhanced humanoids too? They just took you into their care and started working with you. Cleaning you up, getting your clothing. Re-lee's really nice, but she doesn't know you're the wrong humanoids."
"We have to tell her," Kolvin said. "We are taking someone else's position and opportunity. We were supposed to go home."
"That's the funny thing," Vinka said. "The way the IDA works, they findyourmate. Yours. No one else. Even if you left, the female would not be able to mate with anyone else because they're programmed to be yours."
"Programmed? So, they're cyborgs?" Marcin asked.
"Not cyborgs, but there are enhancements of a sort."
He raised his eyebrow.
"I can work with that," Marcin said.
