JanePtinum

  “Hello Blue.” Hummingbird enters the b from a door along the back wall. Despite her short stature, her presence fills the room and my mind alike. “Trochilidae, off.”

  “But-” Trochilidae tries to argue before her screen goes dark.

  I can’t deal with Hummingbird right now. My mind is so shattered that even standing uses an uncomfortably rge portion of my thinking ability. I turn around to leave.

  “Blue, before you leave. I trust that you remember what I told you st time?”

  If you mess with Trochilidae, I will call Silver and tell them you’re a danger. You won’t get a second chance, am I clear? How could I forget?

  Hummingbird doesn’t say anything else as Corax and I leave the b. Even though she didn’t ask about him, I’m sure she suspects Corax of being an AI. Even if she doesn’t, it wouldn’t be hard to guess.

  What am I going to do when she tells Silver about him? Vince says he has a lot of sway with Silver, but who in their right mind would let two separate AI live with them? Whatever happens, I’m not losing Corax. If that means both of us have to wander out into the sands, so be it. I just have to prepare myself for that.

  I make my way upstairs, trying my best to ignore the eyes following our every movement. Vince and Ivy probably already have some sort of cover for the two of us. Or maybe that’s what Vince wants to talk to me about? Only one way to find out I guess. I knock on Vince’s door.

  “Come in.” Sure enough, his voice immediately comes from his room.

  I let myself into his cramped room. The room is missing any form of drawers or dressers, instead many shelves have been nailed into the walls. Clothes, weapons, and small trinkets are packed onto every shelf. A rge bed dominates most of the floorspace, with a small box peeking out from under the bed.

  There’s a mirror hanging on the wall, I do my best to keep my eyes off of it. I can’t imagine how bad I look.

  Vince and Ivy are both sitting on the edge of his bed, waiting for me. His brown hair is still messy and unwashed, but he’s changed his clothes. Ivy’s long bck hair looks as clean as ever, and she has it tucked behind her ears, revealing her artificial eye.

  Vince springs from the bed, pulling me into a tight embrace. I stiffen for just a moment, before returning his hug. Everything is alright. He’s not mad about what I did. I let him take most of my weight, giving my mind a small break while I enjoy his embrace.

  Ivy waits patently, but eventually has to pce a hand on his shoulder to get him to end the hug. He sits down on the bed without a word, leaving enough space for Corax and I to sit between him and Ivy. I take my seat and Corax hops off my shoulder, nding on the bed behind me. He ys down on the pillow, giving me time alone with them.

  “Little Blue, I want to apologize.” Vince starts. His voice is a little hoarse.

  “I don’t want to talk about what happened.” I cut him off before he can continue. “Corax and I don’t bme you. I just want to rex and pretend that things are normal.” If anyone is at fault for what happened, it’s me. I didn’t veto the fight, I agreed to be there.

  “We should get you fixed up first.” Ivy says from beside me before Vince can reply. “You look a little raggedy.” Ivy begins to untangle my hair, but I can only feel her working on small patches of it.

  I finally look into the mirror, hating everything I see. I really made a mess of Kara’s gift. Well over half of my skin ptes have been ripped off, showing my true form. Just a tightly packed bundle of wires and cold steel. I don’t even remember pulling my hair out, but most of it is gone. Only a few messy clumps of my once beautiful red hair remain.

  “Here.” Vince’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts. He pulls a backpack from the floor and pces it next to me. “Cassie dropped off your parts as soon as we arrived.”

  I open the backpack, only to be met with a few of Cassie’s books sitting on top of dozens of my skin ptes. I pce the books gently behind me, setting aside the romance book I’ve been reading. Nothing sounds better than diving back into that world right now.

  I can already see damage on the connector for every skin pte. I guess I’ll have to be more careful the next time I have a mental breakdown.

  “I’ll fix it ter. I just want to rex.” I carefully lower my head into Ivy’s p, making sure to not put any pressure on my exposed internals. The st thing I need is more damage.

  “Ok, we can do that, but,” Vince starts gently. “We need to talk about Corax.”

  “I’m not going to let anything happen to him.” I put as much seriousness into my voice as I can manage.

  That’s weird. I would expect to hear Corax’s internals whirr as he prepared for a fight. Instead, the only sound that comes from him is a quiet, content ticking noise. Does that mean he feels like Vince is going to be ok with him staying?

  “I know! That’s not what I’m saying.” Vince responds. I guess that answers that question. “We just need to make sure he knows the stakes.”

  “We’ve lived most of each other’s lives. He knows everything I do.”

  “I’m sorry?” Vince gnces between Corax and I, as if he’s waiting for us to ugh about our joke. I’m not sure I have the mental capacity to joke right now. Only after a few seconds does he continue. “Alright, I guess that makes things easier. He’ll need to talk to Silver though.”

  “Ok.” Corax croaks from the pillow. He stands up, stretching his artificial limbs and flies at Vince, who tenses, but doesn’t flinch away when Corax nds on his shoulder. “Now.” He commands.

  “Careful, if you’re too slow he will bite.” I warn Vince.

  “Ah, right. Guess I better get going then. See ya in a minute Little Blue.”

  The two of them disappear into the hallway. He would have flown onto my shoulder if he wanted me to join him.

  Ivy and I rex silently for a few minutes while she untangles my remaining hair. Only once she’s done does she break the silence.

  “So, tell me about your new friend.”

  “I saved him and he brought me back to reality. Just be careful about what you say to him, he can only feel one emotion at a time.” There’s so much more I could tell her about him, but I already know he doesn’t want me to share his story.

  “He’s a mind rip then? Silver’s going to hate that.” Ivy gives a small chuckle and a shake of her head.

  “They’re going to have to deal with it.” I don’t have to try to put any emotion into my voice. I know Ivy will be able to pick up on my feelings regardless.

  “I’m not the one you have to convince.” Ivy moves my head to the bed before standing up and walking over to her dresser. “Do you want new clothes?”

  “I’d overheat.” I say while shaking my head. That’s halfway to a lie. Anything but the lightest of clothes would impact my cooling and risk me overheating, but equally, I can’t wear anything but Kara’s st gift. These clothes will be with me forever. “I guess they should be washed though.” Bright red blood, still as fresh as ever, covers most of what was once a vibrant blue.

  “Alright.”

  I reluctantly strip out of my clothes, gently folding them into a pile on the floor. I don’t want to let them out of my sight, but I can trust Ivy.

  “Do you want time alone? Or do you want to come drink with Cassie and me?” She asks gently.

  “Cassie’s injured. Should she be drinking right now?”

  “It’s a little te for that question, she started the moment we got in.” Ivy grabs a full bottle of alcohol from the endless shelves and heads to the door. “Are you coming?” She turns back to me before exiting the room.

  “Cassie doesn’t like me.” It’d be much easier for me to just stay here.

  “Sure she does. Plus, you’re the one who said you wanted to rex. This is rexing.”

  I guess she’s right.

  “I’d like to make sure Corax is ok first.”

  “Alright,” She sighs with fake disappointment. “But after that, you two are dragging Vince up here.”

  “Ok.”

  By the time I stand up and reach the hallway Ivy is already disappearing into Cassie’s room. I pass by on my way to Silver’s office, catching only a snippet of their conversation. I don’t want to snoop, but I can’t help but overhear.

  “Ooh, is that the good stuff?” Comes Cassie’s voice. She’s already slurring her words a tiny bit.

  “Mm hm. Figured we should drink it before we get shot again.” Ivy responds, followed by a bottle popping open.

  “Hell, if this is the reward I get, I should get shot more!”

  I finally reach the stairs and get out of earshot. With every step my worry for Corax’s safety grows. I keep having to tell myself that he’s with Vince, and Vince would never let him get hurt.

  Luckily the compound isn’t very busy right now, most people are still out collecting scrap. It doesn’t take long to reach the ground floor where Oscar sits at the reception desk in front of Silver’s room. Did anyone ever tell him I’m alive? Probably not, I have to pretend to just be an android.

  “Is Vince in Silver’s office?” I ask, trying to keep my voice as neutral as possible. I’m sure it didn’t work though.

  “Uh, yeah.” Oscar seems taken aback by me.

  Of course he’s surprised, I’ve seen just how scary I look. I hate this feeling, I don’t want to be a monster.

  “May I go in?”

  “Let me check.” Oscar types a few words into his computer. “Go on in.” He says barely a moment after finishing typing.

  “Thank you.”

  I walk through the door behind his desk, and my ears are met with the sounds of ughter. That’s not what I expected. Silver is behind their desk as always, and Vince is sitting in a chair in front of it. Corax, on the other hand, is standing proudly on the desk. The second I close the door behind me, he flies to my shoulder.

  “How’s it going?” I ask Corax.

  “Funny.” He responds.

  “You would not believe how well these two get along.” Vince informs me, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.

  “What? How?” I ask Corax, knowing he won’t answer. I’ve never heard him say more than a few words at once, how can he make jokes?

  “Goodbye.” Corax says to Silver, ignoring my question.

  “Goodbye Corax.” Silver’s face quickly changes from friendly to serious as they turn their attention to me. “I’m gd you’ve returned, Blue, make sure you keep him with you. And get repaired before you scare Oscar again.”

  With that, Silver returns to their computer as if I was never there.

  “Alright Little Blue, guess we should get going.” Vince pushes himself out of his chair. He’s still a bit unsteady on his feet.

  “Ok. Ivy said we’re supposed to drag you to Cassie’s room.”

  “Already? Guess we shouldn’t keep them waiting then.” He says with a disbelieving shake of his head.

  Vince gestures for me to take the lead. The entire walk upstairs Corax keeps his eyes on Vince. I guess to make sure he doesn’t escape? Seems a little unnecessary, but I appreciate the effort.

  It’s not long before we reach Cassie’s room. Time to pretend like everything is normal I guess.

  JanePtinum