I peaked around the bookshelf; it looked like the cop had just glanced around and left. The other police chick was talking to me again; I hadn't exactly talked to many girls, there weren't many female soldiers or scientists at the base for some reason. "Apparently I have 'illegal bodymods'. So I'm already a wanted criminal here." Joy. "Did the first thing I could think of to distract him and get away, which in this case was telling him he was having a dream. I guess that didn't work." 

I went over to look at the books Axeka was carefully selecting and grabbed one at random, flipping to the table of contents. "I heard something interesting on the radio, though. America -- this country, 'case you're from somewhere way out there -- may go to war with China -- another country -- soon. There have been demonstrations trying to convince the government to do so. Also, it doesn't look like this world has nuclear bombs. Could be interesting." The book didn't appear to contain much I didn't learn in school, but I noticed the Cold War was missing and everything sort of dropped off from the usual after World War I. "Anyway, I'm Ken. Nice to meet you, I suppose." 

I dropped the book back on her little stack and grinned when suddenly the wall exploded behind us, Asian-looking soldiers busting their way in. They immediately began shooting, and I jumped between them and Axeka, raising my robot arm, palm wide. It glowed for a moment before emitting a short, round blast of light, which I aimed at the most exposed soldier. His gun went flying out of his hands and we went sprawling back, a large burn mark on his chest. "The hell?! Okay, so apparently that war I mentioned has begun!"

I grabbed Axeka by the collar and pulled her towards the door, hand up threateningly, warning off any more attacks. "Hold onto those books, they might come in handy."