Born of Silicon

We spend most of our collected scrap to help Blue, but it’s worth it. Lucas has a quick conversation with her that I don’t want to hear, and the four of us are forced to return to work. We still have a quota to meet.

I can’t believe how dumb I am. I should have known Blue would take fighting this way. I should have left her in the car, done anything really. She’s not Drew, why do I treat her like she is?

“Vince?” Ivy’s quiet voice brings me out of my thoughts. Somehow I’ve led everyone back to the car without realizing. “Focus on right now.”

“Right.” I take a deep breath before turning to everyone. They’re going to be looking to me, I have to be the strongest out of everyone. “Cassie, hop on the radio. Find out how late we can stay. And rest up, I don’t want you working with your rib.” She doesn’t wait for me to finish before heading to the car. I can see a small flinch with every step, the drugs are already wearing off.

“Ivy I want you on overwatch for both us and Blue. Find a place you can keep the both of us safe. Lucas you’re scrapping with me. We’re going to have to head out tonight at the latest. We need to work overtime to fill up the truck. Any questions?”

Nobody felt like talking. It’s not like I can blame them, it’s only my experience that keeps me moving. 

Every time I went to drop off scrap I expected Blue to be there, ready to pack it up. I guess it hasn’t fully sunk in yet. What are even her chances of still being here when we come back? 15%? Less? And even if she is still here, so what? She’s not going to be able to see us. In what world does being trapped alone help anyone get better?

I work twice as hard to keep the thoughts away. I don’t want to answer that last question. We’ll get home, talk to Silver and Sonia, maybe bring them here. They’ll know what to do. And if not? I’ll figure out something else. 

Cassie hops out of the car not long after we start working.

“Sounds like we’ve got a storm coming from the east. It’ll hit the city around dawn.”

“Ok. We need to cut it as close as possible. Lucas! Sounds like we’re working right up until midnight.”

I signal up to Ivy to keep her up to date. 

“Nothing like a 14 hour shift right after abandoning our friend.” Lucas responds with thinly veiled anger in his voice.

“If you come up with a solution I’d love to hear it.” I can’t exactly hide my feelings either. “The only person who might have an idea is Sonia.”

“I still don’t get why we can’t just tie her up and drop her in the truck. We can deal with the fallout later.”

“Lucas, she spent 40 years tied up. There’s not just going to be fallout, with the state she’s in now you’re going to drive her insane. There’s no coming back from something like that. She even once told Ivy she wouldn’t be able to handle that. And even if she does recover she’s going to hate us forever.”

“Oh yeah, how could I forget? Her hating us is our biggest worry right now. That’s way worse than her dying alone out here and getting scrapped for parts!” Lucas throws down the scrap in his hands and turns to me with his hands curled into tight fists.

“You want to stay here with Blue? Be my guest. I hope the scrapyard gets uncovered before you run out of oxygen or get shot.”

“And leaving Blue down there is ok?” 

“No! It’s not! None of this is ok!” I throw the scrap in my hand in an effort to calm down. Of course it doesn’t help. “This whole thing is fucked because I fucked up!” 

Lucas takes a step back in shock. I don’t think I’ve raised my voice since before he joined. God. I take a minute to compose myself before continuing. 

“I’m sorry for yelling but this is so far beyond any of our wheelhouses. I have no idea what to do. I can only hope that Sonia and Silver have some idea on how to fix this.”

“I’m sorry too. But we’re making the wrong choice.” Lucas returns to his work.

“You shouldn’t have to apologize for trying to stick up for our friend. I'll make this work, ok?”

“Alright.” He doesn’t believe me, but he doesn’t have a choice.

We resume our backbreaking work in the hot sun. Cassie brings us water and food whenever her pain isn’t too bad. If she’s up and moving around this much I’m hopeful her rib is only bruised instead of broken. Who knows though? I can’t count how many times she’s fought through what should be crippling pain. Equally though, I’ve seen her in tears from a papercut, so who knows how she’s feeling. It’s a little annoying but I could never be mad at her. 

I work straight through until the sun goes down whereas Lucas ends up taking breaks every few hours. I can’t let myself relax. 

Once it’s dark out, Cassie and Ivy have to literally force me to sit around our little stove for dinner. 

“Alright you two, I’m sitting.” I finally give in. They sit close on either side of me to ensure I don’t try and sneak back to work.

“Good. Now eat.” Ivy shoves a bowl of baked beans into my hands. 

“Look, I’m just not hungry. Let me get a few more hours of work and then we’ll see.”

“Like hell you aren’t. I slept most of today and I’m hungry. Take a bite.” Cassie chides me from next to me.

I just end up moving the beans around in the bowl. How am I supposed to be hungry at a time like this? I just don’t have the stomach for this kind of thing anymore.

“Any update on Blue?” I ask, already knowing the answer.

“She hasn’t moved. I told you to eat.” Ivy demands.

I take a half hearted spoonful of beans and force myself to take a bite. The second they’re inside me my hunger returns in full force. Within a minute my bowl is empty and I’m back for seconds. On any other day someone would have made some smart joke. But today we eat mostly in silence. 

It’s not long before I’m back to work and joined by Ivy. We’ve been together for long enough that she knows talking is the last thing I want. Instead, she supports me by just being close. Bless her, how did I ever deserve her?

It’s not long before we have to go. Before we head out I spend a moment by myself to check on Blue. She hasn’t moved a muscle since she sat down inside the bus. Or servo, I suppose.

“Blue.” I sigh to myself. “Sorry.” That’s about the long and short of it. There’s nothing more for me to say. She doesn’t even react to my presence. I turn to leave. On the way back I ran into Cassie and Ivy, headed to do the same thing I just did. 

The drive back to the compound is done in an uncomfortable silence. Even after so much work nobody can sleep. Cassie drives the entire trip, I’m not sure if Lucas or I could get home if we had to drive. Soon enough the faint glow of the electric blue dome peeks over the horizon, along with the morning sun. We arrive back in the compound about half an hour before the storm is scheduled to hit. We should have worked longer.

“Cassie, go see the doctor. I’m going to go talk with Silver. Everyone else, you're free to do whatever.”

“Yeah yeah. I know.” She yawns as she tells me. 

“Make sure you get some sleep at some point.” Ivy places her hand on my shoulder. “Ok?” She stares directly into my eyes. 

“I’ll try.”

Parking and heading inside is just a blur. The next thing I know I’m knocking on Silver’s door.

 “Come on in.” It’s been years since Silver actually slept, some kind of cybernetics they got before I met them. At least that always means they’re available, even at this ungodly hour. I take a deep breath before opening the door. “You look like hell.” They say in their matter of fact way.

“Don’t feel much better than I look. Blue went off the deep end.”

“Huh. Disappointing, but not unexpected. Did you at least recover the body? The kit we put in her was expensive.”

“She’s not dead, Silver. She shot Cassie in the armor, thought she killed her, and then hallucinated killing Ivy and I. We built her a shelter to hide in. I need your help bringing her back to sanity.”

“Hold up a sec. You left an insane AI alone at the junkyard? I give you a lot of leeway Vincent, but this? This is fucking stupid. Even for you.” They barely even look away from their computer as they speak.

“I’m aware. I don’t need you to tell me how dumb I am. It’s my fault this happened, and it’s my responsibility to bring her back. Now are you going to help me or not?”

“You have just as much experience as I do with them. And that experience doesn't expand much past killing.”

“Come on Silver, don’t give me that. I’ve seen you go toe to toe with them before. You’re really telling me you never once got a chance to talk with them?”

“What, exactly, do you think a hacker does?” They finally look up from their monitor. “I was too busy fighting mind rips, they aren’t exactly sociable. Hell, they’re barely sentient.”

“What about Clover then? Can’t you ask her?” There’s even less of a chance of that then Blue magically getting better herself, but I’m desperate for any ideas.

“You really think I still have contact with her?”

“I dunno. Wouldn’t be the biggest dirty little secret you’ve ever kept.” The instant it’s out of my mouth I regret it. I’m just too tired to take it back. Silver’s eyes flare to life with a cold fury. 

“You saw her system get destroyed with your own eyes.”

“She’s quantum. You know they don’t stay dead.”

“Some do. I think we’re done here. Soon as the storm passes, get back there. Bring Blue back dead or alive. If you can’t do that I’ll do it myself.” There’s only one way that would end.

“I’ll take care of it.” I slam the door on the way out. They hate it when I do that. It’s petty, but I feel like I’ve earned a little pettiness. I should have just gone to Sonia first. Guess I might as well grab some breakfast on the way, nothing good will come from yelling at her.

I walk into Sonia’s garage, sandwich in hand. She’s blaring some crappy garage metal song to help wake up.

“Sonia!” I yell at the top of my lungs to get her attention. 

The music turns off without her even pressing anything. That better be wired somehow. She keeps tinkering with whatever mess is on her workbench while she speaks.

“That’s me.”

“I need some AI advice.”

“At least it’s not dating advice this time,” she jokes. I’m too tired for this.

“Blue’s gone bonkers hallucinating. Tell me how to bring her back.” I’m not giving her the chance to wriggle out of answering by asking a question.

“I need more than that to go on.”

I spend a few minutes filling her in on all the details. About half way through she even stops working on her project to listen with her complete attention. By the time I wrap up she’s even looking at me. Guess my screw up is interesting enough for her to bother.

“You need to ground her, bring her back to reality.” Sonia says like it’s the simplest thing in the world.

“I could have guessed that. But how.” My patience is running a little short right now.

“Well isn’t that the million dollar question. If I could answer that I would have solved the whole war. You tell me, I barely know her.”

“I don’t really know her either. Not nearly as much as I should. I know what she hates but I literally couldn’t tell you a single thing she likes. Not sure she could either.”

“Guess she’s staying crazy then.” She says casually as she turns back to her workbench. 

How do I know so little about her? Well it’s kind of obvious isn’t it? I treated her as a replacement for Drew, not as her own person. There has to be someone who has an idea? Of course. I run to the infirmary.

“Cassie!” I pull back the curtain around her. One of our doctors is checking out her rib but I don’t really care. “Give us some space.”

“What the fuck? Vince?” She asks, startled by my sudden appearance.

The doctor gives me a side eye as he leaves, but knows better than to say anything. Once he’s gone I excitedly whisper to Cassie.

“We need something Blue likes to bring her back, something to bring her back to reality. You were the closest to her, what does she like?”

“Like hell I was close to her.”

“But all those nights you spent together on the roof?”

“We never talked. We just. Read.” Realization dawns on her face. “Poetry. She doesn't get it, it took her hours to finish a single poem. If you want to refocus her brain that’s your in.”

“God I love you Cassie.” I say, leaning down to give her a hug. I may have forgotten about her rib in my excitement.

“Ow! Fuck! Get out of here and let me rest.”

“Right! Sorry. I’m going to go tell Ivy and Lucas.”