Time ceases to matter while I bawl into Cassie's chest. The leviathans fade away, but I can still feel them swimming around my mind.

  I try, and almost certainly fail, to stay quiet. I don’t know how thick the walls are, but I don’t have the ability to stop crying. The tears flow on their own, and a stream of data I’m helpless to stop streams from my mouth. I babble half constructed thoughts, desperately trying to expin to Cassie everything I’ve done and everything that’s going through my mind.

  Cassie awkwardly pulls me closer, unable to find any words to say. Or maybe she has tried, and I just don’t have space in my mind to comprehend it.

  My tear reserves run dry, but I’m nowhere near done trying to expel every emotion in my mind.

  A few wet drops of water sptter against my cheek. Cassie takes a deep, shuddering breath beneath me, and slowly exhales. A few more tears nd on me, but she forces herself to keep her breathing steady.

  The leviathans shrink a little bit with every nonsense expnation, but are far from gone. They feel far more manageable though.

  “I’m ok.” It takes me fifteen minutes to regain a sembnce of control over my emotions. I pull away from her, and look away while she wipes her face. “Thanks for letting me cry.”

  “Feel better?” She asks shakily.

  “Yeah. I feel much more like myself.” Unfortunately, feeling like myself means feeling like a wreck. But I guess it’s better than feeling nothing.

  “Yeah, you sound like it.”

  “Sorry I-”

  “Don’t even start. I get it, you’re fine.” Cassie says firmly. “All that’s behind us, just let it stay that way.”

  “I’ll try.” I finally look at her properly. She’s exhausted, the little sleep she’s gotten isn’t nearly enough for the stress she’s been through. Deep bags hang beneath her already half closed eyes and her functional arm hangs tiredly at her side. “You should get some sleep.”

  “I need to eat first.” She says.

  “Alright.” I dig through our small collection of supplies, and pull out a food bar and water. “Sorry it’s not the hot meal you wanted.”

  “It’s fine.” She gives me a small smile and takes the food. “Somehow the prison meal was better than these.”

  “I’ll get you something nice in the morning.”

  “Oh yeah?” She asks after forcing a bite down. “And how are you going to do that?”

  “I’ll fix their water purifier.”

  “I’m pretty sure it’s working fine.”

  “Then I guess I’ll have to break it first.” I shrug as casually as I can.

  Despite everything, I pull a small, genuine ugh out of Cassie.

  “I’m gd you’re back to normal.”

  “Me too.” I smile the best I can without my skin. I really hope I’m not too unsettling. I’m very gd there’s no mirror in here for me to find out.

  I sit on the bed beside Cassie while she eats, holding Corax comfortably in my p.

  “I think I’m going to read to him tonight, if that’s ok.” Even if he won’t be able to hear it, I still want to. Plus, I’m sure Cassie would appreciate it, even if she’s too prideful to say yes.

  “That’s fine.” She says, trying to hide her emotions and refusing to look at me. She focuses for just a moment on finishing her food. “We have a big day tomorrow, just don’t keep me up.”

  “I won’t.” She’s going to be asleep just a few minutes after I start reading. “What’s the pn for tomorrow?”

  “The people who run this pce don’t want us walking around with guns and body armor, so they’ve already agreed to a trade for those. Leah is going to meet us here in the morning to take us to their workshop, and we’ve got a few hours to fix ourselves. From there, we’re getting sent off with a smaller car, a full battery, medicine, a bit of food, some tools, a change of clothes, and some cash.”

  “Is Leah the woman who interviewed the two of us?”

  “Right. I guess she wouldn’t bother to introduce herself.” I can hear a twinge of anger at the edges of her voice. “Yeah, that’s Leah.”

  “I don’t like her. She almost shot me during the interrogation.” Just the memory sends ripples of fear through my mind. My own reaction feels foreign to me.

  I just accepted my death, what’s wrong with me?

  Don’t freak out. Acknowledge, rationalize, and move on. Cassie will be able to help me figure things out, talking is the best thing I can do right now.

  “She what?” Cassie clenches her fists.

  “I didn’t react, and that probably saved both of our lives. The only thing I cared about was how I failed you and Corax. I don’t know what's wrong with me”

  “Come here.” Cassie puts her water to the side and pulls me in roughly into her. She keeps my head pinned to the front of her shoulder and leans back, forcing me to follow. “Anyone would be fucked up in your situation. You’re doing a hell of a lot better than most people would.”

  “I don’t feel like I am.” I let myself rex into her a little bit. It feels nice to be here with someone, but I don’t want to put more weight on her than I have to. The st thing I want to do is accidentally hurt her again.

  “Trust me, you are. Can you imagine someone like Lucas handling what you’ve been through?”

  “I guess not.” I don’t know him all that well, but I’m sure Cassie knows best. “How do you think you’d handle it?”

  “Me? I’d be fine because I’m fucking great.”

  It’s her turn to pull a ugh out of me.

  “Yeah, you’re right.”

  “Will you get comfortable?” Cassie lets go of my head, only long enough to move my arm across her chest.

  “I don’t think it’s possible for me to be uncomfortable.” I say, but I don’t move my arm away from where she put it.

  “That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it.” She returns her hand back to my head. “Just shut up and rex. You need it.” I can feel her heartbeat speeding up through her shirt.

  “I can stop if you don’t like it.”

  “It’s fine.” She pushes my head a little more firmly into her.

  “Alright.” I let her push a little more of my weight onto her, and let my arm go limp across her. “Tell me if I’m too heavy.”

  “You’re fine.” Cassie rexes, sinking back into her pillow. Her eyes slowly drift closed, and her chest rises and falls from a single deep breath.

  Cassie’s presence seems to keep the leviathans at bay. They feel small, almost manageable right now. Trying to actually dismantle them is too dangerous right now though, I don’t want to ruin this.

  “This is nice.” I say.

  “I’m gd it’s helping.” Cassie responds reluctantly after a few seconds of silence.

  I pce Corax gently on Cassie’s chest, and begin to quietly recite her favorite book. I’m barely finished with the first chapter when Cassie’s head slowly falls to the side and her breathing, and her heartbeat along with it, slows. I don’t stop reading though, it gives me something to focus on throughout the night.

  Hours pass as I once again relive the book. It’s a nice escape from reality, not having to think about anything. It’d be better if I could read another book, but they’re all trapped in my almost certainly infected hard drives. Or maybe lost to the broken drive, it’s impossible to know.

  Almost ten hours pass before a knock on the door shocks Cassie back to life. She tries to throw me off her, and I move out of the way to give her space. Her hand shoots down to her hip, grasping for her knife or pistol for a few seconds, only to find them both missing. She panics for a few seconds before remembering where she is and forcing herself to calm down.

  She gnces at me, silently asking if I’m ready for whoever’s at the door to enter. I give a nod, and stand stiffly in the corner.

  “Come in.” Cassie yells loudly enough that the person on the other side can hear.

  The woman who interrogated us, Leah, pushes the door open, her hand resting casually on her pistol. She steps calmly inside the room, and closes the door behind her.

  “So.” Leah says slowly, and lets the word settle heavily over the room. “Any st secrets you feel the need to share?”

  I just have to wait for Cassie to respond. She doesn’t though, she just continues to stare at Leah.

  “Or maybe a story?” She looks directly at me with knowing eyes.

  Don’t respond, don't react, let Cassie take care of everything.

  “I don’t know what you’re implying.” Cassie says.

  “Don’t py this game. The room is bugged.”

  A leviathan turns towards me, a being of pure fear trying to swallow my mind whole. Of course it’s bugged, why couldn’t I control my emotions for long enough to check? Why am I the stupidest being on the pnet? Tears begin to run down my face once again.

  Despite the dread overwhelming my mind, a small thread still twists itself into a completed thought. The smallest hint of hope.

  “The AI who runs Vegas, Zero, knows who I am and where I am.” That’s far too close to a lie for me to be comfortable with. He does know who I am, although he doesn’t care. And he probably knows I stole information on Mara’s trench, and probably suspects I’m in roughly this direction.

  “Blue.” Cassie drops her hand into her hand and begins rubbing her temples. “Please shut up.” She heaves a big sigh and picks her head back up to look at Leah. “We’re very sorry for lying, but I hope you can understand why. We just want to get our repairs and to leave. That’s all.”

  “That’s a big secret to keep.” Leah muses. “One that might need a little favor.”

  “We’re more than willing to work with you.” Cassie says.

  “I’m very gd to hear that. I need a backdoor installed in my boss’ server.”

  The leviathan retreats just a small amount, still waiting for its moment to attack.

  If this room is bugged, that’s a brave thing to admit while being recorded. Or maybe she turned everything off before she came in? I guess that would make the most sense.

  “I should be able to do that if you can get me to an access point. Do you know what kind of security they have?” I finally reach up and wipe away my tears.

  “How do you expect me to know?” Leah asks.

  “Do you at least know if an AI lives in there? I really don’t want to enter another den.”

  “Not as far as I know.” She shrugs casually. “I guess it’s your problem to find out.”

  That’s not the confident answer I wanted to hear. I guess I need to prepare for one to be there, just in case.

  “Do you know how powerful the server is? How many processors, how much data it can handle? Anything you can give me makes me more likely to succeed, even just how big it physically is could help.”

  She only stares bnkly back at me.

  “Right, sorry.” Of course she doesn’t know. “I’ll just figure it out.”

  “We both need repairs before we do anything. I’m not sending Blue in when I can’t cover her back.” Cassie says before I can make more of a fool of myself.

  “Plus, I need Corax with me.”

  “Fuck, Blue.” Cassie hides her face in her hand once again.

  “And who is that?” Leah asks.

  “She was going to figure it out when I repaired him anyway. I’m not going to be able to pretend he’s just a drone.” I tell her. “Corax is the bird, a second AI.”

  “You two snuck a second AI in here? Honestly, I’m impressed. Guess we need to tighten up our security.” Leah says with a grin that drives a spike of fear into my mind. “Of course, that does mean you owe me a second favor.”

  “Blue, please just let me do the talking in the future.” Cassie mumbles angrily. “Fine, we’ll do whatever, within reason, but we’re not happy about it.”

  “Gd to hear it. Let’s get you two functional.”

  “I think you mean three.”

  JanePtinum