more on exiles

"Yes, I was built at birth to be the perfect soldier." Mars said simply. 

" Built at birth…Oh like a clone!" 

Mars looked at her for a long moment then shook his head.
 "No, after conception, my father approached a Gene-scientist who regrouped genetic data within my mother’s womb and added and separated certain chains in order to form me into the desired template. The result was that from birth I was more apt to excel in things that would make me the perfect soldier."

                        

Mags sat there a long time mulling this over. It still sounded like she had just stepped into that Robot movie.
"So uou are saying your father wanted you to be this killing machine- this perfect soldier so you could go about killing people efficiently?"
God, she hoped he would tell here something- anything else that would convince her that he was something else other than a horror movie reject.

Mars looked at her until she started to blush.Then he shook his head and she began to breather again.
"Yes." Damn. "No" What? that made it worse right?
"I mean he did have me genetically altered" mars began again. "But he wanted me to be- designed- templated to become a general. But his political rivals bribed the Gene-Doc to be a genetic mistake instead."
Mags shot him a look, one of utter confusion then she thought she understood-
"So, you’re just a screw up then?"

Mars shook his head again. "No. The Gene-Doc had his own agenda, he made me into some-kind of super

soldier template. So now I am just efficient- as you say damnably efficient."

"So, let me see if I have this right." mags stood up and walked out into the road then turned to face him. "You’re saying that soldier’s are efficient and general’s are merciless and what you just did was because you were born or templated or designed or something to be efficient."

Mars looked up at her, considered his gun, made an adjustment, then nodded.

Mags threw up her hands. I am so completely screwed, that's what i am.
"That’s crazy. I mean that's insane, God! I mean you just killed a man and called it efficient- that means your whole life’s been crazy!"

He had the nerve to raise one quizzical eyebrow at that.

"You can’t just- You can't just go around killing people arbitrarily like that." she realized she was flapping her arms and made herself stop. "You just can’t."

Mars checked the sights on the gun and made another adjustment then peered up at her.

"No? Why not."

"Because it’s inhuman!"

"I am not human- or at least I am....not sure I am human."

"Well you look human and- Well we don’t go around killing people we don’t like."

"I don’t kill people just because I don’t like them."

"Oh? Well, what do you call that? You obviously did not like him!"

"Efficient."

"Oh no- you are NOT going to start that again." She stopped and then with a nod decided a change of attack might work- reverse....reverse pyschology. "Did you like him?"

"No."

"AHA! So you killed him, because you did NOT like him!"

"No." mars said calmly not taking the bait. "He would have killed us whether he liked us or not. I killed him because it was effic.... because it was the logical course of action."

"I give up!" she said and flounced back over and collapsed into the grass beside him. She knew immediately it was a mistake- the long grass was pokey and very uncomfortable, so she sat back up in a huff.

"Besides I haven’t killed you." He added dryly.

"What? You don’t like me?" Mags said all mock horror and poked at him in the ribs.

 Mars looked down at her hand. They looked at it together. She left it hovering right next to his skin.

"That depends." he said.