"Hey." Jason deftly deflected the nearest monitoring camera with a quick jab and slipped into the back door of Center Neptune Control. "I heard about what happened. Zark's out for maintenance. How're you holding up?"  

Trying hard not to cry, I limped over to him. He removed the tape, inspected my injury with a wince, and re-wrapped my leg. Then he hugged me tightly. I snuggled into his embrace with a contented sigh.

When Chief Anderson first gave me this assignment, I never imagined that Jason and I would become close. Without intending to, I'd unlocked the secret to a relationship with the Condor. He's not fond of chatter. But if you leave long enough pauses in the conversation, he'll step right into them. In the past few months, he'd confessed his thoughts on the team: his power struggles with Mark, his secret crush on Princess, disdain for Tiny's over-eating, worry over Keyop's stutter. 

I didn't intend to reveal my secret mission to him, but the last time he visited, I shared my concerns. I didn't expect him to pick up too much - we've got that language barrier to contend with - but he's clever. 

He set me down and looked me in the eyes. "I've thought a lot about what you said. Or what I think you said. Let me make sure I've got this right. Chief Anderson assigned you here to keep an eye on Zark. He thinks Zark may be malfunctioning or possibly working for Spectra, but he doesn't have any concrete evidence apart from some bizarre communications to Susan about his fosdic sent over an open channel."

I nodded twice, slowly.

Jason sighed. "That's what I thought. So the Chief wants you down here to keep Zark sane if he's cracking up from loneliness or to be a witness if he lets something slip to Spectra." He looked at my leg and frowned. "But now you're injured and who knows if it was really an accident? I hate leaving you down here! You've got my personal code, right?" 

I nodded again.

"Okay, use that if you ever need help. It sends a private message to my wrist communicator. If that tin can ever hurts you ..." His voice trailed off and I could see real malice in his eyes as he looked toward the adjoining room where 7-Zark-7 takes his ten-second oil breaks. 

Refocusing on me, he added, "That reminds me. I brought you something." He pulled a wad of folded paper from the right front pocket of his jeans. Unfolding the paper, he spread it out on the floor. I walked over to get a closer look. It was a schematic for 7-Zark-7. I cocked my head and stared at G-Force's gunner.

Jason laughed at my expression. "Where did I get this? I stole it from maintenance." He pointed to an area that would roughly correspond to the groin, if the egg-shaped robot had a groin. "See here? That's where Zark's over-ride switch is. I don't know if Anderson showed that to you ..."

He glanced at me and I shook my head. "Well, he should have. Just in case." We stared at each other for a long moment. Then I leaned into him, sighing, and he wrapped an arm around me.

For a minute, I felt all warm and happy, recalling the single time we shared a car ride together. I've worked constantly since I was assigned here, and one day, I guess Jason felt sorry for me. He kidnapped me from work and took me to the track. I spent the afternoon crawling around under the engine of the G-2 with him. It was heavenly.

A commotion in the main hall startled us and soon a familiar, overly-sweet voice rang out. "I'm back! Maintenance assures me that it will never happen again. I'm so sorry. How are you feeling?"

Jason rolled his eyes. I opened my mouth to reply but he put a finger to his lips. Just before he slipped out the side door, Jason patted me on the head and handed me a wrench. 

"You're a good dog, 1-Rover-1," he whispered. 

I wagged my tail at him before turning around to face my duty.