Ally or Alien: A Sci-Fi Novel by Mars Dorian Page A

looked like oversized, cybernetic insects. Despite the traffic, every one seemed to follow a pattern where each unit fitted into the greater whole.
    eLoom took charge and rotated her head.
    "Oh, and you can take off your helmet. Like the climber unit, we have made this a welcoming place for humanoids like you—in fact, we wanted this planet to be a center for a cultural encounter. We believe that humans and Newtype alike will live and work in peace on Mars."
    If there's a future for this planet, that is.
    Bellrock flipped open his helmet and stopped the oxygen recycler. Dr. Rao followed up and breathed in the air from the spaceport's life support system. The oxygen tasted sweet and refreshing. It reminded Bellrock of bubblegum with mint flavor. Asset eKazumi schlepped the mobile creates and gearbacks with her exoskeleton. She stuffed them into the capsule of the nearby tube opening before she flushed with it. Bellrock was just about to enter the tube when he felt eVax' breath on his back.
    "Please don't vomit over eLoom again."
    Dr. Rao whispered something but Bellrock decided to ignore it.
    "Don't worry. If I feel something creeping up my gamut, I make sure I aim at your direction first."
    Facepalm on Dr. Rao right there. eVax groaned as he climbed into the one-man capsule in a melodramatic way. Bellrock followed up with his partner and traveled through the pipelined transportation system. Before he could even think about his destination, he was already there.
    A whoosh was all it took.
    The second he stepped out in front of the spaceport's many exists, eLoom and eKazumi greeted him like interplanetary tour guide sisters. Bellrock noticed a platform with dozens of Newtype in different gears traversing the deck. Some wore regular skintight tech uniforms, others owned some kind of bulky attachments or even extra arms that seemed to merge with their body. When the Earthlings approached the platform, every Newtype in the area craned their necks and gazed at the duo with mouths wide open. A genderless unit touched Dr. Rao's curly hair and grinned with bewilderment. 
    "Magnificent. I have never seen a primate with my own optical sensors."
    "Nice to meet you, too."
    A half-circle gathered around the travelers from Earth. It was surreal for Bellrock, to say the least. Here he was, on a planet millions of miles away from home, standing on their MagLev platform with a hostile alien not too far away, and he and the doc were the most exotic organisms around. The young scientist seemed smitten, almost enamored with the units that looked like females. They touched his skin and hair—Dr. Rao's little groupie moment.
    Bellrock stepped next to him and entered his whispering range.
    "I have to disappoint you, doc. Not a single one of them carries genitals. You have more luck impregnating a crowbar."
    The doc frowned and sent Bellrock a stare filled with vitriol.
    "I'm a xenologist, remember? I probably know more about Newtype than you do, sir."
    Bellrock was surprised by the aggression of his statement. The doc must have realized that too, because he quickly shifted his attention back to the Newtype group. One unit of the androgynous-looking crowd stepped forward and focused on the captain exclusively.
    "Hello Mr. Bellrock, is that the proper way to address you?"
    His actual rank was that of a captain, so a 'sir' was more adequate, but who cared. The Newtype didn't seem to have any chain of command anyways.
    "Yeah."
    The genderless unit said,
    "We are pleased to meet you, Mr. Bellrock and Dr. Rao. We hope your arrival will mark the beginning of a new harmonious relationship between our races.”
    "Well, we see how it goes."
    He faced eLoom and whispered.
    "How do they know our names?"
    "Through the network. Every active unit is connected to it."
    Bellrock nodded. Their version of the net must have been some kind of omnipresent cloud that stored every Newtype's consciousness in real-time. Basically the commlink on steroids.