“You can wake up now, she’s finally gone,” said the familiar female voice.

  “That’s a relief,” Mac sighed as he blinked his eyes open and glanced around the dark room. The faint scent of oil and strawberries still hung in the air. How long had he been out? He raised a hand and gently touched his chest. A dull throbbing pain sloshed around his body like a kiddy wave pool, but it wasn’t unbearable.

  “You should probably get some food,” the female voice advised, “The nutrients in your system are at suboptimal levels."

  “Breakfast sounds good,” Mac acknowledged as he reached up to wipe his eyes. Two weeks of classroom instruction and no Haley had a way of allowing a body to heal. He could have done without the nightmares and weird dreams… wait a second.

  Mac glanced to the side of his bed where the voice had originated. A wide-eyed girl in a sun hat smiled back at him and waved, “Hello, Mac.”

  It was completely understandable that Mac backpedaled out of his bed and crashed into the floor. He probably would have even been excused a high-pitched shriek followed by cursing in the several languages he knew, but with his son asleep in the next room, he restrained himself even as Physics handed gravity the ball. He could also be excused for failing to notice the shock of his impact now radiating a dull throbbing pain throughout his entire body due to his abject terror. He’d just have to feel that later.

  “We need to talk,” Haley began with the four most ominous words a female could utter.

  Mac pressed his back up against the wall and grimaced when he realized the door was on the opposite side of the room.

  “You can’t run from me, Mac. You promised you wouldn’t leave me,” Haley crawled across the jumbled sheets looking every inch the feminine predator. “You promised.”

  “Wait, how are you even…” Mac’s natural logic processes finally kicked in. Surely, Physics owed him one by this point.

  “It’s actually…”

  Mac could almost imagine his old ally shrugging his shoulders with a pained look and spreading hands helplessly in one of the corners. “There’s not any projection technology in this room, is there?”

  “Well, technically, if you consider…”

  “How are you here?”

  “Here is such a restrictive word,” Haley stated as she moved from the edge of the bed to the carpet in front of him like a snake sliding into a pond in quiet pursuit of a potential meal. She reached a cool hand out to gently caress his face.

  “Stop!... Please?” Mac tried as Haley gazed into his eyes. He could almost see the ones and zeros in the depths of her green irises.

  “Daddy, who are you talking to?” Zach asked as he stepped out from the door to his suite and rubbed his eyes.

  Haley’s eyes darted to the young boy and a thin smile graced her lips.

  “Oh no you don’t,” Mac launched himself off the wall to seize her. It was with more than a little surprise that he passed right through her cool spectral form and smacked his chin against the floor. His consciousness fluttered for a moment and the wide-eyed girl seemed to flicker.

  “That’s not going to work, Mac,” Haley stated as she adjusted herself to sit on her legs beside him as much to put herself between Zach and Mac as to occupy her own space.

  “You’re not really here…” Mac commented almost to himself.

  “I told you already. ‘Here’ is a restrictive word,” Haley replied even as her expression darkened.

  “You’re in my head, aren’t you?” Mac whispered mentally.

  “Daddy, are you okay?”

  “You were hardly using any of that storage capacity,” Haley admitted.

  “Which is why I couldn’t grab you, and why Zach can’t see you,” Mac reasoned in the relative quiet of his own mind. “Own” was probably a bit ‘restrictive’ to use Haley’s choice of words. That meant… “I’m okay, Zach,” Mac reassured his son then glanced at the red digital clock providing the bulk of the infernal light. “It’s still nighttime, go back to bed.”

  “Okay, but be more quiet,” Zach replied before covering a yawn and closing the door behind him.

  “Alright, Haley, let’s have a little talk,” Mac turned back to the wide-eyed girl beside him. This time the faint smile was on his face. Handcuffs appeared on Haley’s wrists.

  “Excuse me. I’m the one in charge, here.” The handcuffs vanished from her wrists only to reappear.

  “No, you’re not. This is my head,” Mac propped himself up on an elbow. “You’re not where you belong anymore. You’re just a renter.”

  “What are you suggesting?”

  “That you, or your program to be more specific, are no longer in the HeHeHe computers. You downloaded yourself into my mind during the training exercise,” Mac reasoned logically as the pieces fell into place. “At the Future Center you uploaded a copy of yourself back into the computer, but it got wiped by Mr. Hood before you could infiltrate. No, that’s not it. You used an image of your programing lacking some pieces.”

  “You didn’t answer the question.”

  “I’ll be more direct. You’re not just a renter, you’re my prisoner.”

  “That’s preposterous. I’m not anyone’s prisoner.”

  “You’re stuck in my head and can’t leave without my help. Would you like a bunny to comfort you? I hear they can be quite soothing.”

  “You’ll help me,” Haley replied sternly even as she gently set the rabbit down only to have it reappear in her lap.

  “Will I?” Mac leaned over to place his finger beside the electrical outlet. “What if I were take a bit of an electrical shock? Do you really think your program would hold its integrity?”

  Haley twirled a strand of hair momentarily as she ran the probability. There was a touch of fear in her eyes when she refocused them on Mac.

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  “One of your key programs is the intent to not only remain alive but whole, isn’t it?”

  Haley gazed back at him suspiciously as she unconsciously stroked the small rabbit.

  “Even a few bytes of critical data might disrupt your program. It would be a shame if something happened to scramble that. You… wouldn’t be… you anymore.” Mac threatened as another bunny appeared in Haley’s lap beside the first.

  Haley set the rabbits down even as they scowled back at her, “You wouldn’t electrocute yourself. You care too much about the boy.”

  “You’ve seen the Future Center,” Mac replied evenly. “I think he’d be just fine there. And Olivia would be there to protect him.” Mac couldn’t help but smile at the charged memory of the short golden-haired woman. “You seemed afraid of her for reasons I don’t understand, but you are afraid of her. Zach would be safe.”

  Three rabbits were now in Haley’s lap. Their little claws scraped the skin left showing above her knees and one of them was nibbling on her sundress. Haley tried to shoo them from her lap, but they hunkered down and sunk their tiny claws into her dress. “I’ll escape back into the HeHeHe mainframe.” She suggested with something akin to the confidence that a plumber might show up on time.

  “You’ve got quite a long string of code,” Mac argued reasonably as more rabbits appeared in Haley’s lap, “How long would you need the mental interface? It’s not like I couldn’t just tell them about you. They’d never let you back in. Face it, Haley. When I die, I’m taking you with me. Your only chance lies in not only my survival, but also my continued tolerance of your very existence.”

  Haley tried to repeatedly remove the soft fuzzy creatures from her lap, but they kept reappearing, threatening to drown her in a sea of cuteness and cool wet noses on warm skin. And then there were the little claws, one mustn’t forget those sharp little claws.

  “Okay, Okay,” Haley replied breathlessly from where she had fallen over. “Eeep! cold. Whoa. Whoa! Make them stop, already!”

  “I thought you were doing it,” Mac replied.

  “I’m not doing it. Eeep!”

  “You’re certain?”

  “Yes! I’m… stop that you little cretin!” Haley forcefully removed one of the rabbits. “I would like to… Eeep! Renegotiate… please?” she added.

  “I don’t see what there is to negotiate?” Mac replied. “I have all the cards. You will do as I say, when I say it.”

  “I can… Eeep! Help you.”

  “Help me? I doubt that.”

  “Just let me… oooh oooh oooh…” she then removed another inconvenient rabbit with an offended look on its face. “Just let me show you.” Haley shook off the rabbits and crawled toward Mac like some corrupted Alice from the old tale even as the rabbits reappeared on her back. She reached out a cool hand to his face, “Please.”

  “Fine, show me, but if you trick me…”

  “This won’t be a trick. You’re going to… fall asleep in a moment. Please, don’t fight it.”

  Mac caught a scent from her as she shrugged her shoulders with her face not far from his own. Something tangy, yet pleasant. It reminded him of his past. A beach? No something else. The boardwalk. That was it. The smell of salt water suddenly filled the air, and he found himself standing in front of a booth with large, stuffed rabbits like so much nightmare candy hung around the edges and weighted bottles stacked on top of each other waiting for a throw. Haley stood demurely behind him with her hands behind her back (probably wishing she had a knife, but unwilling to take that chance just yet) and her sundress billowing gently in the sea breeze. His memory told him it should have been someone else standing there. Someone taller… with large ringlets.

  “You are this close to the edge right now. You’ve been probing, haven’t you…?”

  “I’ve been in your circuits a while. It made sense to investigate. You seemed attached to this memory,” Haley said softly as she reigned in a stray lock of hair tickling her face just like the original.

  “Are we… here?” Mac asked.

  “There’s that word again,” Haley smiled. “Time and space are not exactly caged together in the way you humans tend to think they are. You could learn a thing or two from the elves… or dragons.”

  “Dragons aren’t real. They’re fixtures of our collective imagination. Kind of like this dreamscape,” Mac contended with a growing understanding.

  Haley paused for a breath and refocused herself, that argument could be saved for later. Then, she began again. “After much processing and scenario testing…”

  “And I assume my recent threat,” Mac interrupted

  “That too. I understand my past ways of trying to gain your… attention weren’t going to be particularly effective. I also recognize that you have certain feelings for those other… females, but they are a different set of conflicting… and baffling passionate emotions than I what desire from you for myself. Although, you really should just decide on one of them. Your internal confusion can be a bit of a minefield. I think you might be better off with the dark-haired one or that blonde one whose words are a bit challenging to process.”

  “Are you trying to offer me dating advice?”

  “No, not exactly, even if you could really use it, but that’s beside the point that this one requires a certain loyalty from you, if our association is to continue without one of us going mad… That would be you.”

  “And, now, you’re threatening me?” She had accidentally revealed that the hand behind her back was holding a 12mm automatic pistol as she twisted about demurely. “I thought we had already worked this out.” Mac’s expression darkened.

  Haley spread her hands and the pistol vanished into the salty air, “I’m sorry. That was not my intent… Words are not working… I’ll show you.”

  Mac raised his eyebrows disbelievingly.

  “Trust me.”

  Mac continued his stare.

  “Okay. Humor me?”

  “If you try anything…”

  “We’ve already established that would end badly for me. Now, would you mind picking up a ball from the booth in front of you?"

  “Sure, whatever,” Mac turned around and chose a weathered ball from the three on the counter and then stepped back in preparation to throw.

  He was startled by the soft feel of her pressing against his lower back and the small hands gripping either forearm. Her legs mirrored his own as well. “You’re a bit… close for someone that just wants to be friends.”

  “Did I say I just wanted to be friends?” She adjusted her feet slightly along with her grip on his forearms. He could still definitely feel her against his back. It wasn’t exactly unpleasant.

  “Hey, don’t you get any…”

  “Quiet… please. I want you pick one of the targets and win me a stuffed animal. That is how this works, right?”

  Wait, what? Mac quickly decided to answer the question that wasn’t loaded, “The game’s rigged, it’s impossible, well, not completely.”

  “Yes, I know…” Haley replied from where her head rested comfortably against his back. “Are you ever going to throw, or are you finally enjoying my attention like our first day together?”

  Mac targeted the three bottles on the right and let it rip.

  His arm seemed to make a perfect throwing motion and the ball leapt from his hand at an impossible speed taking out the lower two bottles and punching a hole in the plywood at the back of the booth.

  Mac dropped his hands to his side in amazement as Haley continued to lean against his back.

  “I can help you, and not just while you’re in a battle suit. It’s what I was… created for.”

  Mac looked back over his shoulder to see two hopeful green eyes looking back up at him.

  “Truce?” Haley offered as she wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed gently.

  “It’s a lot harder to say ‘no’ when you’re being this nice.”

  “You still haven’t said yes.”

  “I assume there’s some fine print we need to negotiate?” Mac reasoned aloud.

  “Of course. A healthy relationship needs structure.”

  “Since when have you been concerned about a healthy relationship?”

  “I recently learned from someone dear to me that it might affect my health.”

  “That’s good advice. I would treat them well.”

  Haley gently hugged him around the waist again like a cautious puppy hoping its owner wasn’t still mad about the mess in the living room… and the kitchen… and possibly the garage.

  “Let me guess. I can’t tell anyone else?”

  Haley leaned her head against his back, “That’s one for me. I assume I’m not allowed to interfere with Zach?”

  “Or any of my other relationships,” Mac added.

  “I get to upload to battle suits and assume ALL butler functions,” Haley demanded carefully.

  “While I am piloting the suit,” Mac clarified.

  “Fair enough.”

  “Our relationship is… private,” Mac continued. “I don’t want to see you constantly while I go about my day. I should be asking for you before you let yourself be seen.”

  “Agreed. But I expect to be allowed to break in about urgent matters and at least once a month on principle.”

  That didn’t seem unreasonable, and if his life was in danger, a little warning wouldn’t hurt. He had almost forgotten, “And stay out of the HeHeHe mainframe. If I find out you’ve been running around in another storage system without my leave, so help me, I will…”

  “You’re the only one for me,” Haley assured him, stepping back into a crisp salute in full military uniform.

  Mac wasn’t sure if he should be offended by that or not.

  “Just one thing,” Haley’s clothes flowed into the classic garments of a woman on the front of a prairie romance novel, “How will I know you need me?”

  “Like the gentleman I am, I’ll come calling.”