“Do you mind if I take my shirt off?” asked the wolf.
At first, Luke had insisted that his new partner shouldn’t. The risk of background radiation in the kibble was, for most life-forms, still too high even after the decades that had passed since the end of the great war. However when the cybernetic wolf pointed out that such radiation posed no risk to himself - and, indeed, that the presence of the protective suit simply got in his way - the fox had relented. 
For the next three days, Luke watched as the cybernetic wolf as he worked through the ruins of the kibble, pumping on the heavy hydraulic lifts and cables that loaded forklift loads the size of buildings into the back of their truck, ready to be cleared. 
The kibble, so called for its scattered and broken terrain, was the last remnant of the great war that had changed the face of the world and stood as a lingering memory to what had once been. Following the third world war, almost a hundred years prior, the international landscape had been irreparably altered, allowing corporate interests to move in and restructure much of the geopolitical world. The great war would forever be known as the largest trade conflict in recorded history, one in which hundreds of smaller corporations were either bought out, eradicated in a hail of nuclear fallout, or managed to survive only as backing parties for the world’s remaining political nations. Much of this region of the sprawl was under the sovereign ownership of the Deo-Sentai Consortium, and they had a vested interest in clearing as much of the kibble as possible in order to reintegrate the wasteland into a habitable - and, more importantly, profitable - region for expansion.
Watching Cybe working the heavy machinery that cleared the rubble had, over the days that followed, become something of a preoccupation for Luke. The wolf’s taught muscles seemed to heave each time he grasped ahold of a hydraulic lever, his broad chest smooth and firm in the haze of the mid-morning miasma. The fox watched him through the protective layer of his radiation suit, feeling just a little vulnerable and, ever so slightly like a voyeur. 
Not for the first time, Luke found his gaze moving down towards the rim of the wolf’s waistband, wrapped as it was around the being’s smooth, hard pubic crest. The sight brought a flutter to his chest, and the fox wondered if this was the thrill that many found in centuries gone as they had watched the productive labours of men at work. 
With a nervous intake of breath, he asked, “Cybe?”
The wolf looked up. The hair on his head was tousled and messy, and he brushed his hand back through it. Luke wondered if the wolf realised that the sight of his strong under-arm muscles sent a nervous thrill through the youngster. “Yes, sir?” he asked. 
“I was just wondering” asked Luke, “your arms. Their tensile strength must be quite considerable.”
Cybe gave a light chuckle. “Top of the line” he replied. “I could probably punch through a concrete wall, if it weren’t too thick. Not that I’d want to” he grinned.
The fox nodded. His eyes continued to assess his new companion. “And your fur?” he asked. “I know first generation androids only had plastic, but I’d guess yours is a polymer? What about your legs, can they…”
His words fell apart as the wolf looked at him. Luke felt a shudder at the expression on the wolf’s face - his eyebrows arched, muzzle curled down. Sadness. A lump formed in his throat. 
“Please” said the android, “stop looking at me like that. I’m not a car.”
A small sensation of guilt swelled up somewhere high in the fox’s chest. He looked down. “I’m sorry” he muttered. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. If that’s the right word?” he asked, without any certainty. Did the android, he wondered, even have feelings of its own? “It’s just,” he stuttered, “I’ve never met a robot like you before, and…”
“I’m not a robot!” said Cybe, sharply cutting the fox off. 
Nervously, Luke lifted his hand to his lips, realising that he had said the wrong thing.
The android seemed to inhale for a moment, letting the silence fill the conversation. With smooth strides, he walked over to one of the vehicle’s many hydraulic presses. Bracing both hands against the lever, he pushed. Normally, the lever would require both operators to maneuver it into place, but with the wolf’s mechanical finesse, it slid in with only a grudging hiss of air. As if to echo his point, the grabbing mechanism that hung almost a mile above the truck began to descend down into the kibble, ready to scoop up its findings. 
“That” explained the wolf, with a level voice, “is a robot. Mechanical apparatus, designed as tools. The word comes from ‘forced labour’ - a slave.”
“I’m sorry” sputtered the fox, scrambling over the truck’s assorted debris in order to make his way towards his companion. “I didn't mean it like that. Really. I don’t think of you like that, I like you.”
The words struck Luke with an unexpected force. He realised that he did, indeed, like the android. 
“I like you too” replied Cybe. 
A quick flutter passed abruptly through the fox. He looked at the wolf, gazing into his eyes. They were deep, soft and bright, and as Luke watched they blinked. Something about that startled him. “Did you just blink?”  he asked.
“Does that upset you?” asked the wolf. “They’re automated to do that. Most biological lifeforms find it uncomfortable if androids do not blink. It reminds them of dolls. But if it makes you feel better, I can deactivate it.”
A heavy rumbling churned through the horizon as the scoop finished its descent and closed around a vast clawful of rubble. With a cacophonous roar, it began its ascent once again. 	As the claw’s noise faded, Luke asked “What about your brain?” 
The wolf didn’t glance up from the control panel that now held his full attention. “What about it?” he asked.
	“Is it mechanical too?” asked the fox, staring at his new companion with unrestrained curiosity. “Or is it biological?”
	Keying in a short string of commands into the truck’s hydraulic pump, Cybe hit the switch, forcing the vehicle to lurch under the weight as another carefully-measured ton of radioactive debris began its tumble downwards into the truck’s cavernous basin. He turned back to the young fox and offered the boy a warm smile. “I’m don’t know” he replied, a little playfully, “I’ve never seen it myself.”
	Scrambling cautiously over the back seat to stand beside the wolf, Luke stuttered, “But isn’t it important? I mean, doesn’t it matter if you were born or built? If your thoughts are programming or…” 
	The words fell to a slow end. Cybe canted his head slightly to one side. “Or what? Real?”
	Luke looked down. He hoped that he hadn’t insulted his new friend. Almost immediately, the fox wondered if it were even right to think of the mechanical being as a friend. 
	The wolf let a smile cross his muzzle, and the fox’s concerns were vanquished. “I think that they are” he replied. “But that’s just my perception.”
	Another rumble, and half a skyscraper collapsed into the back of the truck’s storage hold, forming a concrete waterfall that splashed with toxic plumes of dust and detritus. The pair watched, measured and careful. 
	“How can you not know if you’re an android or a cyborg?” asked Luke. 
	The wolf gave a casual shrug. “If I am an android, then I was built. But if I am a cyborg, that means that I was once a biological being, like yourself. If that’s the case, then I would have existed before my body was built - but I have no memories of that. We should head back to the depot.”
	The smoothness in which the wolf had brought the final point into the discussion caught Luke by surprise. “Oh” he replied. “Yes, it is about time.”
	The two scrambled back through the hatchway into the cockpit and sunk into the soft foam of their chairs. Once more, the wolf plucked a thin data cable from a compartment in the armrest and programmed in their route. “What is your first memory?” he asked.
	Luke inhaled, trying to reel his mind back. He paused for a moment, before saying “I think it was my mother. We were at the park - the botanical one, downtown. It was the first time that I had ever seen a tree.”
	The wolf nodded. “”Are you sure that they are real?”
	“What do you mean?” asked the fox. 
	“Your memories. You asked about my brain” he replied. “My first memory is waking up in the construction facility. I don’t remember being built, and I don’t remember a childhood before that. But you” he said, “you remember a childhood. How sure are you that those memories aren’t just part of your programming?”
	Luke blinked. “My programming?” he asked, his voice rising in pitch. “I’m not an android!”
	“Are you sure?” asked the wolf. “You’ve never seen your own brain. It could be a mechanical apparatus. Your memories could be programmed data. There’s no way for you to know.”
	“I know” replied the fox. “I would know if I were an android.”
	The wolf turned, and smiled again. It was a broad smile, reassuring and comforting. It spoke of warmth - and for a moment, Luke was sure that there was just no way that a mechanical being could manage to smile quite like that. 
	“I think I understand” said Luke. “It’s just, I’ve never met an android like you before.”
	The truck began to turn, rumbling like a great behemoth as it rejoined the roadway and began to gradually work its way through the city’s circuit-like road network. 

	“Do you want me to help you with that?” asked Cybe.
	The fox flushed. Plucking his arms free from his jumpsuit, he struggled to lower the zipper, flexing his arms uncomfortably. He glanced at the wolf, who was already topless, and felt a sudden rush of intimidation. “No” he said, a little uncertainty. The thought of the handsome, muscular android helping him to strip had a strong appeal to him, but Luke shook his head at the offer. “You’ve been out in the kibble without your suit” he pointed out.
	The wolf nodded, his lips forming another gentle smile. He slid the legs of his jumpsuit down from his thighs, easing his paws from the unisuit. Scooping it from the floor in a single smooth motion, he strode to a disposal slot that sat flushed with the wall and carefully deposited the suit, ready for it to be recycled. 
	As he did so, Luke found his eyes once more drawn to the wolf’s nude form. Despite his best intent, his gaze lingered on Cybe’s crotch, staring wide-eyed at the wolf’s considerable length. A warm blush filled the fox’s cheeks. 
	“You’re looking at me again” pointed out the wolf. 
	Quickly, the fox turned his gaze down towards the tiled locker room floor. “I’m sorry” he muttered. 
	The wolf stepped closer, facing Luke. Gradually, the boy’s eyes turned up once again, running slowly across the hard body of the wolf. “Are you really so fascinated by my body?” asked Cybe. 
	Tentatively, the fox nodded. 
	The wolf placed his palms squarely against his bare hips. “Would you like to come to the showers with me?” he asked.
	Luke knew what he wanted to say, but the words refused to come to his lips. He tried to find them, struggling mutely, and eventually only managed a quick nod. 
	Nervously, the fox rose to his paws. Shedding the last of his uniform, he once more felt as though the powerful wolf that walked beside him dwarfed him in both height, build and proportions. 
Luke followed along behind the android, pausing as the door to the shower cubicle slid open with a begrudging hiss. Stepping into the narrow jet-powered washing cylinder, he realised with a growing timidity just how close he was to the wolf - close enough to make the fur on his chest stand bristling on end. “But the water?” he asked. “Won’t it, like, damage your machinery?”
	The wolf gave a chuckle. “My skin is a trans-polymer plast-alloy membrane” he said, as though that in itself constituted an explanation. Then, noting Luke’s confused reaction, added “That means that it’s water-proof.” He held out a hand, catching the warm water that splashed down around the pair. 
	The hair atop his head quickly slickened back, cascading down around Luke’s neck and shoulders. Warmth surrounded him, steam billowing up around himself and Cybe. The fox tried to resist the urge to look down, maintaining his gaze on his companion’s eyes. The thought occurred to him that the wolf’s eyes themselves were quite beautiful. 
	Luke panted, his heart pounding in his chest. He lifted his hand to towards the wolf’s chest. “Can I touch you?” he asked.
	With a soft smile, the wolf said “I wish that you would.”
	Gently, the fox placed his fingers against the wolf’s chest. The softness of it startled him, and his palm moved against the wet fur. The tips of his fingers brushed against the fur, at which point the wolf gave a soft and pleasured moan.
	“You feel that?” asked Luke.
	Eagerly, the wolf nodded. “There are over twenty thousand nerve endings in each square inch of my skin. Although other areas have more.”
	Luke leaned closer. He was entranced. “Can I touch more?” he asked.
	Placing his palm on the fox’s shoulder, Cybe nodded. “Please. I want you to.”
	Moving gently and tenderly, the fox let his fingertips trail downwards, snaking their way through the soft fur of the wolf’s belly. Luke watched as the android’s breathing quickened in excitement. Cybe moved closer, his grip on the fox’s shoulder tensing a little as Luke’s exploring touch slid its way down over the wolf’s crotch. When the fox’s fingertips found their way around the wolf’s thick cock, the organ seemed to pulse in response.
	Luke almost pulled his hand back. But the wolf’s gasp - heavy, eager and pleasured - coaxed the fox into staying his hand. 
	He closed his grip as best he could around the wolf’s growing shaft, squeezing down lightly. Cybe responded with visible enthusiasm, his hips arching against the fox. The android’s eyes slid shut, lids fluttering. Luke let his fingers explore along the wolf’s cock as it swelled against his palm. The fox tugged it, amazed at the enthusiastic reaction. “It’s so hard” he whispered.
	Through his heavy moans, Cybe nodded. “It’s fully functional” he whispered, barely audible over the hiss of the shower. “And has more nerve… oohh…” he moaned, leaning more of his weight against the fox as a ripple of pleasure flowed through him. 
	“Do you really feel that?” asked the fox, 
	The wolf nodded. “My body is built to register both pleasure and pain.”
	“Pain?” asked Luke.
	“Yes” said the wolf. “Do you want to spank me?”
	Glancing down at the wolf’s considerable length, the fox shook his head. “Maybe later” he said. 
	Still the wolf moved heavily, his strong hips bucking in the rhythm of Luke’s movement. The fox marvelled at Cybe’s hefty thick member, watching as the pert foreskin slid back and forth, back and forth in ecstatic rhythm, all the time the wolf gritted his teeth in straining pleasure. 
	Letting out a sharp, throaty cry, the wolf bucked forward. His climax his hard, pulsing through him. Thick splashes of hot fluid splattered across Luke’s hips, splattering in heavy ropes over the fox’s stomach. In that moment, the fox let out a surprised cry, almost stumbling a step backwards. “You can do that?” he cried, eyes wide.
	The wolf panted, chest heaving, his plumb shaft trickling the last of his juices as it hung pendulously between his thighs. “My penis is equipped with…” he struggled to catch his breath, “a nanotech generator that creates…”
	“You’re breathing” said the fox, his face etched with a mixture of confusion and amazement.
	Almost immediately, the android stopped. “I am sorry” he said, quickly rising up from his hunched posture, the heaving of his chest abruptly stopping. “I hadn’t noticed.”

	As the fox finished drying his fur, he watched the android. 
	Luke’s mind lingered on the sensation of the wolf’s synthetic flesh against his. The thickness and liveliness in the wolf’s arousal, the heat that coarsed beneath his fur. 
	Tugging his denim jeans onto his hips, Cybe gave Luke a soft smile. “Would you like to have dinner tomorrow?” he asked.
	“Like, on a date?” asked the fox.
	Cybe nodded, “If you like.”
	Rubbing a few beads of leftover decontaminant water from his eyes, the fox found that he didn’t need to think twice for an answer. But just as he was about to answer, he paused. 
	As the wolf pulled on his boots, Luke caught sight of a small mark upon the wolf’s right heel. It was small, no bigger than the wolf’s paw-pad, but formed much like a perfect circle outlined in pitch black. Indented only slightly against the wolf’s foot, the fox saw the certain image of a stylised letter ‘C’, enclosing a smaller-case ‘t’. 
	He recognised it instantly, and knew immediately why his companion had taken the name that he had. The android was a product of CyberaTech Industries.
	“Sure” he said. “It’s a date.”