“Not to leave you on a cliffhanger, but that’s probably a good place to take a break.” Vince announces. “There’s a few things I need to prepare for tomorrow.”

  “What do you have going on?” I ask.

  “I’m finally headed back to work, training the kids. This little vacation has been nice, more than nice, but I can’t just leach off of Silver’s good will forever.”

  “You don’t have to work if you don’t want to.” I remind him.

  “Your arcs can be better spent elsewhere.” He says with a small shake of his head. “Appreciate it though.”

  “Want to pick this up tomorrow then?” Lucas asks.

  “Maybe this weekend.” Vince says, pushing himself out of his chair. “I’m going to be busy catching up.”

  “We can start after game night!”

  “Sounds like a plan. You all have a good time.”

  Ivy waits for the door to close before standing up herself.

  “I’ll go keep him company. I doubt his thoughts will be kind to him tonight.”

  “Well, what about you two?” Lucas asks as Ivy excuses herself. “What do you want to do?”

  “Do you want to see the kids?” Cassie asks.

  “I’m already with them.” I admit. “Their classes started an hour ago, please don’t interrupt them. They were awful to settle down today.”

  “Really? What got into them?” Lucas asks.

  “There was a birthday, and I may have brought some sweets.”

  “Oh you’re fucked then.” Cassie shares with me her pure, sweet laugh. “You know they’re going to expect more for every birthday now, right?”

  “I’d want to treat them even if I didn’t have to. They all deserve it. But maybe I can bring something with less sugar next time.”

  “How’s the one girl you brought in doing? Maria?”

  “Alice is still taking care of her. She’s really good at listening to my lessons though, she seems really smart even if she isn’t engaging in them. But that’s ok, I know things are tough for her.”

  “Just give her time.” Lucas says. “She’ll come around.”

  “I know, I am.”

  Cassie thankfully abruptly changes the subject before I can think about Maria more.

  “So, how’s your group doing?” She asks Lucas. “I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to them lately.”

  “Oh! They’re doing great!” Lucas responds. “A little restless since Silver wants us available to help with any riots, but we’re excited to head back out.”

  “You’re sticking with them then?” Cassie asks.

  “Yeah, I think so. It’ll be nice knowing you guys are safe at home though.”

  “Just stay safe, please.” I beg. “I know I have a lot of support, so I won’t react like C-1 did or anything, but it’d be tough to deal with you not coming back.”

  “Hey!” Lucas steps forward and pulls me into a tight hug. “We’ll all stay safe. They’re just as good as you all are. I’m not about to leave you and Cass behind, not before I get to see your wedding.”

  “They better be.” I whisper into his chest and glance at Cassie, her face instantly red at the idea. “Or I’ll come rescue you, just like we brought Vince and Ivy back.”

  “I’m counting on it.” He says. “Now come on! Don’t let me get you down!” He lets go and steps back. “What do you two want to do today?”

  “Something easy, I want to work on a personal project I’ve been meaning to get started.” I answer.

  “Oh yeah? What is that?” Lucas asks.

  “Don’t tell anyone else, but Kismet passed me the mechanism the AI city used to recover dirt from sand.” I answer. “I want to turn one of the floors of the tower into a garden, and I need to get it done before the next caravan arrives. They’re bringing a collection of seeds with them.”

  “Ugh, we’re going to have to get gassed to get in there, aren’t we?” Cassie asks.

  “Probably, sorry. You don’t have to come in though! I also want it to give the AI who came here a little taste of home, especially the birds. And hopefully we can make a disinfectant that doesn’t burn eventually, or maybe a way to prevent the dirt from turning back to sand.”

  “I’ll show up a few times.” Cassie says. “No way I’d miss Lucas’ face.”

  “From the plants? Or the gas?” I ask.

  “Both.”

  “How about a movie then?” Lucas asks. “I can go get Ethan and we can have a double date.”

  “That sounds really nice.” I say. “I’ll make you guys something to eat.”

  Cassie, Lucas, Ethan, and I settle in for a nice night. I end up in Cassie’s arms, barely even paying attention to the movie. I’m focused first on cooking, and then on working. A small portion of my mind, however, is always dedicated to my family.

  Cassie ends up falling asleep during the movie, and I shift to hold her closely instead. Her eyes crack open, recognize me, and she melts into my arms.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Lucas and Ethan, on the other hand, both pay close attention to the movie, arm in arm, hand in hand. They quietly point out tiny details to each other, details that went entirely over my head.

  Even when the movie ends, that only makes their discussions about it flare to life. I just let them talk and idly listen.

  Most of my focus is dedicated to the tower, however. I work on setting up a small personal lab, manufacturing everything that Kismet thinks I could ever need to make my garden. Frankenstein helps when he has an idle moment, but almost all of his time is dedicated to helping those in need, or tutoring his hopeful replacements.

  Cassie and I eventually end up back in our room, and I enjoy my peaceful night.

  Over the next few days I fall into a comfortable routine, always aware of Kismet’s warnings to not become dependent on it. My personal projects are helping, and my family always keeps each day unique.

  My assistants and I even begin to rotate our jobs, to an extent at least. Monary hands me a section of cameras to watch, and they take over security in the more stable parts of my city. Frankenstein is the only one who doesn’t participate. His goal of becoming fully human once again keeps him always moving forward. And if he does stagnate, if he drops his goal and only lives to heal and help?

  “I could live with that.”

  A storm comes, and my citizens thankfully stay calm. Things have already become routine for them too. They go about their days, doing what needs done to keep the city running. The majority of people look more comfortable, and I know I’ve eased many of their stresses.

  The biggest thing that a few of them have told me is nice, is just the knowledge that a safety net exists. They know that, if something goes wrong, they won’t be forgotten or left to suffer.

  I announce the end of the storm and meet my family in the back of the already packed garage. Lucas, Ethan, Lauren, Hudson, and Liam are all there, hanging out around their prepared car.

  “Hey!” Lucas cuts off his conversation and waves us over when he sees us. “Glad you could stop by!”

  We pick our way through the busy garage. I have to use a sizable percentage of my personal processing power to dissect anyone’s words in this chaos, but that’s fine. I’m just glad I can.

  “We wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Vince yells back and steps forward, pulling him into a quick hug. “So where’s Silver sending you?”

  “Just to Denver.” Lauren responds for him. “Nothing too dangerous, not before we’re back in shape.”

  “Say hi to Blackwell for us then.”

  “Will do!” Lucas says.

  “And stay safe.” I say once again. “I can give you a few drones to help, if one of you can pilot them.”

  Liam raises his hand for just a moment to get my attention before signing a quick message.

  “I’ll take a few. I’ll need a wireless connection though.” His hands fly through the signs, trusting me to be able to keep up. I’m so glad I took the time to learn the language, and translating it is much easier than trying to listen to words in this chaos.

  “Ok, just give me one moment.” I return my attention back to the tower. I pull out a wireless card from one of my endless bodies, grab a motherboard it can be plugged into, and add a power supply to that, just in case he can’t power the board himself. I then pull out ten separate drones, tie the board on top of one of them, and send them out.

  The drones fly into the garage just a minute later and land atop their car, interrupting every conversation. The one carrying Liam’s gift lands directly in front of him.

  “Don’t feel like you need to take all of them if you can’t fit them.” I say. “I’d just rather offer too many than too few.”

  He grabs a wire from the base of his skull and plugs himself in. Just a moment later the drone in front of him lifts from the ground slowly and tentatively turns. It glides out of the garage before lifting into the air, out of sight. Well, out of sight for everyone else. I watch it shoot through the air, testing its limits. A grin spreads across his face in silent appreciation.

  “I’m sure those will help, thank you.” Hudson says and begins loading a few into the car. “And I’m sure we’ll make use of them.”

  “You’ve got a thousand of these things, right?” Lauren asks. “You’re not risking the city?”

  “One thousand and fourteen left. If those ten make a difference, we have way bigger issues.”

  “We appreciate it then.”

  A second drone lifts from the ground and exits the garage.

  “He’ll have figured it out before we arrive.” Lauren reassures us.

  “I think he already has.” The second drone joins the first, flying in formation, circling each other.

  I watch Liam dance with himself while everyone else idly chats, wasting our minutes together. Silver steps out of their office and into the courtyard, their presence alone demanding respect. They step into the mouth of the garage and kick a box to the center, taking their place atop it.

  Everyone slowly quiets down, and when the last person does, they begin to speak.

  “I want to start out by reminding everyone that there is no routine mission. We’ve seen time and time again how quickly things can go wrong, even in seemingly safe locations. If anyone has any doubts, any regrets, any bad feelings, nobody will think any less of you for staying. Does anyone have any doubts?”

  Interesting, every speaker in this building is hearing them at the exact same volume. How in the world is that possible? The puck could do that if they knew the blueprints to every speaker, but it’s impossible for them to have one.

  I stay quiet, as does everyone else.

  “Then I thank you, and I expect to see each and every one of you return. If the worst comes to pass, and I do not, may you rest easy knowing that your sacrifice will not be in vain. Please, stay careful, stay smart, stay safe.”

  Silver steps to the side and the first cars roll out of the garage, out of the compound, and out of my city.

  “We’ll see you before the next storm.” Vince says, patting Lucas on his shoulder. “Stay safe out there.”

  “We will!” Lucas responds. “We might stay a little longer if they need us though, but we’ll send a message!”

  “A few rangers are setting up an outpost in the skyscraper there.” I say. “If you need anything, just let them know. They can get a message to me instantly.”

  “Will do! See ya!” Lucas hops in the car, but pops his head back out the window. “Oh! Don’t make Vince wait up on me! Just take a recording of his story and show me when I’m back!”

  “I will.”

  The car in front of them pulls forward, and Lauren follows close behind. I watch them follow the caravan out onto my streets, and I’ll watch them from the tower cameras until they’re long past the horizon.

  Cassie lets out a loud sigh beside me.

  “What’s wrong?” I quickly ask.

  “I kind of miss it already.” She says. “I know your two outings fucking sucked, but they’re not all like that.”

  “I can try to figure something out. Although, unplugging from the city at this point would be… painful.” Infinite processing power ripped away from me. A thousand connections I’m always checking, always accessing, being suddenly silenced. I’m not sure I could handle that. “But maybe I could find a quantum willing to keep a tunnel open between them and here? That way I could access a body with you.”

  A small crackle exits Ivy’s speaker.

  “Well I’m not going to let you die on your own.” She glances to the side at Vince.

  “You’re all ridiculous.” A small smile forces its way onto his face, and he shakes his head at the floor. “Give me a month to recover first and we'll see if we can tag along with Lucas and his group sometime.”

  “Hell yeah!”

  “But only if Little Blue can figure out her thing!” He adds. “I wouldn’t want to go out without her. But for now, Little Blue, do you want to do me a favor?”

  “What is it?” I ask.

  “I’ve got a couple of recruits who are afraid of you.”

  I know I can’t force people to trust me, but that still hurts a little. At least I can try to help things here.

  “I’ll go talk to them.”

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