Born of Silicon

I didn't realize just how much I missed Lucas. His eternal, excited presence helps ground everything while we play. No matter the game, no matter how anyone is doing, he's always excited and upbeat.

Ethan joins us not long after we start playing, and he's equally nice to be around. Him and Lucas just work so well together, constantly trying to make each other laugh, and succeeding more often than not. Their sheer joy is infectious.

We play for hours, jumping between different games. Corax and I can just memorize the instruction booklets in a few moments and jump straight in, making things easy.

Of course we can't spend as long as we want, because when can we ever? Just a few hours after sunrise, the worst possible news gets relayed to us.

"Blue. Mary is here." Silver announces. "I need all of you in my office now."

Of course she is. I put down my hand of cards and give everyone an apologetic look. I knew it would happen eventually, I just hoped we had more time.

Ivy doesn't hesitate to draw her pistol and do a quick check, her support coming through crystal clear.

"Thank you. I'll come down now." I say.

"Be quick about it."

"Sorry everyone." I quickly apologize.

"It's alright Little Blue." Vince stands up and places a comforting hand on my shoulder. "How do you want to handle this?"

Kara lounges on the bed, waiting for my answer.

"I'll take care of it. I think I know what I want. I just need you there for support." I say, mostly to Corax and Cassie.

"I'm not going to let her fuck with you." Cassie says firmly.

"I know. I'm not either." I keep my pistols on me and head towards the door. I'm not going to let her affect me as much as last time. After everything I've been through, she's barely anything.

Cassie slides in next to me as I head downstairs, and Vince, Ivy, Lucas, and Ethan follow close behind.

"Uh, Ethan, you should probably know what you're getting into." Vince whispers to him after checking the hallway is empty. "Remember the woman who chased us out early? This is her. Another AI runs this city, and really wants to talk to Blue. We're not sure how this whole thing will shake out, if you don't want to get dragged into this, it's probably for the best."

"Are you staying?" He asks Lucas.

"Of course."

"Then I'm staying too."

"Alright, if you're absolutely sure." Vince says.

Cassie squeezes my hand as we walk, but unfortunately has to let go at some unheard sound.

Though the inside of the building is pretty quiet, the small glimpse of the courtyard that I get through the open front doors is anything but. Everyone is shamelessly moving cover throughout the yard and taking shooting positions. Is Silver expecting this to go that poorly?

Oscar gives us a nod as we approach.

"She's already in there." He warns us.

"How does she seem?" Ivy asks.

"Not sure. Just tread lightly." His words are directed specifically at me.

"I'll try."

Oscar presses a button beneath his desk and the door quietly clicks. I take half a moment to clamp down on my mind before pulling the door open.

Silver, Clover, and Kara are behind the desk, silently watching. Mary sits just in front of us, and turns her head at the sound of the door opening.

She looks the same as last time. Gray hair, leathery skin, and those fucking eyes.

"Blue." Relief floods her face and she rushes to her feet, unable to stand up fully straight. I stiffen as she pulls me into a tight hug.

What's even happening? This isn't how I expected any of this to go.

"I'm so sorry about how I acted before. I promise, I can explain as soon as we go home."

"I am home." Anger floods my mind, and I just can't bring myself to contain it. "I've been through Hell and back to get here, we all have."

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Blue I-"

"I don't care." I cut her off. "I'm going to spend a week here helping my family get settled and relaxing with them, and nothing you can say can change my mind. Tell C-1 that if he has a problem with that, to go fuck himself. If not, I'll see him in a week."

"You already know about him?" Mary asks. "I'm sorry, we wanted it to be a surprise."

"I still don't care. I'll see you in a week, ok?"

"Fine." She huffs. "But before I go. I want to say I'm happy you're making friends, but you need to be careful about who you bring home. One AI is ok, and we can overlook a second, but-"

"I knew you for a few hours total forty years ago, where you gave me the worst experience I've ever had in my life to that point. I don't know how much more I can stress how little I care about what you think is best for me."

Kara quickly tilts her head in surprised approval.

"Miss Mary," Vince speaks up before she can respond. "As I'm sure you can see, we've all been under a lot of stress for months. I'm sure you know how prolonged stress affects people. We all just need some time to rest, and I'm sure we'll all be feeling much better after that. Why don't we end this meeting now before we say more things that we don't mean?"

"I think you're right." She reaches up to wipe away tears forming in her eyes. "I never wanted to hurt you."

I don't respond. Vince is trying to calm down the situation, I'm not going to ruin that.

"I'll see you in a week." She mumbles and squeezes by us, disappearing into the hallway.

My anger leaves with her, leaving my mind empty. Did I go too far? Does making her feel bad improve my life in any way? It doesn't make me feel better, and it definitely doesn't make things easier with her and C-1. I should have just shut up and let Vince and Ivy deal with her.

"She used your name." Ivy breaks the silence.

"And?"

"And nothing, just an observation." She says.

"Blue." Silver says seriously, their eyes drilling into me. "I'm not going to have a single colored hair by the time I'm done with you. I'll deal with the fallout of your actions. Ensure you're more level headed by this time next week. If the situation changes, and C-1 decides to act early, I expect you to be ready to placate him. You're all excused."

"Oh, wait, before we go!" Lucas interjects. "Since the breakfast rush just ended, can you ask John if we can use the kitchen for a little bit? We want to make something nice."

Silver closes their eyes and lets out a loud sigh.

"Lucas, I'm not sure now's the time." Ivy says.

"I've asked him to take an extended break." Silver says. "You have two hours."

"Thank you!"

"You're so lucky you're cute." Ivy shakes her head as she steps outside.

"I know!" He says happily. "Are you two going to come cook with us?"

"I think we'll have to pass." Vince says. "Someone needs to unload the car. Just come find us when you're done and we'll get back to our game."

"Sounds good!"

I follow mechanically behind Lucas as he leads the way towards the cafeteria. The place is thankfully abandoned, and the five of us head directly into the kitchen.

"I take it you're the reason I'm taking a break?" The chef glances over his shoulder before returning to washing his hands. "I'm glad all of you are back. The kitchen just got stocked two days ago, just don't eat me out of everything and note down what you use."

"Ay-ay!" Lucas says.

We all wait patiently while John dries off his hands, throws a backpack across one shoulder, and finally leaves us alone.

"Alright! What do you want to make?" Lucas asks.

"We've got to do something sweet." Cassie answers.

"Let me see what we have." I slowly make my way around the room, checking the available ingredients. I create a list of every single thing we have as I go, and cross check that list with every recipe I have.

While I make my slow loop around the kitchen, Cassie comes up next to me.

"Hey, good job standing up for yourself. Fucker deserved to hear what you said."

"I should have let everyone else handle it." The lack of milk is a problem, but people have added amendments to every recipe detailing what substitutions they tried and how it turned out. That expands our options by a lot.

"And what? Blow up next time we see her?" She asks. "No, you needed to get that out of you now."

"I guess." I finish my slow loop around the kitchen. The list of sweets we're able to make isn't long, there's just far less ingredients here compared to the AI city. The lack of sugar removes almost all options. The substitutions should make it possible to make something special though. "I have a recipe for a fruit cake that will work, assuming rehydrated fruits can be used like regular fruit."

"Really? You need to leave me that recipe book!" Lucas says.

"Maybe it'll finally let Lauren make something edible." Ethan jokes.

"Oh my god! Ok, listen to this. I went scrapping a few times with everyone while you guys were gone." Lucas says. "It was Lauren's turn to cook, and she was raving about some old family recipe she had. She starts making it, it looks good, it smells good, so I take a bite, and I think it's a prank! The single worst thing I've ever tasted!"

The both of them break out into laughter.

"And get this! He knew!" Lucas gently jabs a finger into Ethan's side. "He snuck an actual dinner to everyone else, and left just Lauren and I to finish the thing!"

"What did she make?" Cassie asks.

"I have no idea! She called them scrap chops? All I know is I never want to eat them again."

Cassie glances at me, raising her eyebrows in a silent question. What in the world would she be trying to ask for? Oh, wait, I think I can guess.

"You can tell the story."

"Ok, so. Blue and I were on our own for a bit. I'd been eating those protein bars for days, and I was fucking sick of them. We'd stopped by a town and got some leaves and roots, long story. Anyway, Blue ended up grinding up some of that to make a soup base and crumbled up a bar to surprise me with a hot meal."

"I was really worried about not using enough leaves and having it be bad." I add. "It was the first thing I'd ever made, and I was trying to follow your instructions."

"And that's very sweet, but oh my god it was like drinking a leaf!" She laughs. "And it only got stronger the closer I got to the bottom!"

"Funny." Corax adds.

Lucas and Ethan both burst out into laughter, and a smile even reaches my face. I'm so glad what felt like a massive mistake at the time has turned into just a funny moment.

"Don't worry though, she improved quickly. Now, where do we start on this cake of yours?"