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Thanks to Malady for his help editing and for ideas.

Cover image from Unsplash

2.6

As it’s been a little while since I last posted any of this story, I’m going to give a “When we last saw our protagonist…”

From Chapter 2.5

“You’re not acting predictably,” Paula told me.

“I just lost my husband,” I exploded. “Would you care to explain what is predictable about that?”

She sat down, and her demeanor softened. “My bots aren’t able to predict how you’re going to react to things right now.”

Paula turned her attention from me to Carla. “Are you saying you can communicate directly to your bots?”

I was shocked as well. “How can you do that?” I asked. “I asked mine a question a couple of days ago, but I could only talk to them in a dream.”

Carla appeared uncomfortable. “I suppose it’s something that I learned while Amos was in control.”

I shrank away in fear. “Don’t touch me!” I screamed, terrified. “Get away from me!”

“What’s going on!?” Carla was very confused now.

“He’s still here! He killed John, and he’s still in you!” I tried to back away having no control over my actions.

Paula grabbed me as I flailed my arms at my little sister. “Perhaps you should leave and let her calm down,” I heard her say.

I was crying uncontrollably now, the pain of the last few days taking over.

And now on to 2.6...

While Carla left, Paula stayed beside me, and if looks could kill!

I knew she wanted to say something, so I just waited.

I was seated on my sofa, and Paula sat down beside me. “What gives, Rose?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked, hoping my voice would sound like I was innocent of anything.

It didn’t fool her. “Okay, little sister. Let me spell things out to you. You aren’t acting like yourself. You seem confused and unpredictable as Carla said, but that’s normal,. However, you don’t seem to be looking for a bond. That’s not normal. You should be desperate for one. You don’t even seem to be affected by men. If you put those things together, I have to ask. Is John really dead?”

I stared at Paula. “How can you ask that,” I ask in a small voice. “You know very well what happened to him!”

She shook her head. “I know what appeared to happen to him, but I’m questioning that.”

I stood up, furious! “Get out of here!” I shouted. “Just get out of here and don’t come back!”

She stayed where she was sitting. “No,” she said calmly. “You refused to leave me when I was down because of what happened to Carla. I’m not leaving you now. You’re my sister and I love you.”

I didn’t know what to do, so I contacted the one person I knew could help.

-=#=-

While I was fighting with my sister, her husband Marc was talking to Daddy and Mamma. My parents had designed some more bots that could relieve the strain of the holographic projections that were currently holding us to the downstairs section.

With the help of Vic and Trent, they came up with a novel approach to building the new ones. They connected a small holographic projector to a massive computer network. Hardwired, so no one could connect wirelessly.

When the projector was activated, it appeared as though nothing happened for a moment, then a cube of metal in an acrylic box, approximately a decimeter on each side, started to shimmer. Before long, the surface of the cube appeared as though it was eroding, and the air in front of itf started shimmering. Beside it, layer after layer of a sphere started forming,, as if it was coming from a 3D printer. Instead of a print head forming it, however, the shimmer seemed to be. It was much faster than a printer also, and within five minutes, a perfect sphere had replaced the cube.

When it was done, Daddy told Marc, “Go get your big projector and lets get on this.”

Marc left the room and in a few minutes, he returned. “I can’t find the projector, he told everyone. It’s just not there.”

-=#=-

In my house, I opened my eyes. “He says I need to tell you.”

“Who?” she asked suspiciously.

“John,” I answered simply.

She stared at me for a few moments, then asked, “Okay. What’s going on?”

I sighed. “John went downstairs to see if he could get Amos and bring him up here.”

For a moment, I thought Paula was going to bite my head off. “I’m sorry, Sis, but who did you clear this with?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to sound innocent.

“You realize that this wasn’t sanctioned by the command staff.”

I stared at her, not saying a thing.

Slowly, her face took on a very dark expression. “Was it Daddy, or Marc?”

I put my head down, and tried not to meet her eyes.

Paula slowly stood up, then grabbed my wrist.

“Oww!” I cried as she pulled me to my feet, then pulled me out of my house. It was raining outside. Pouring, actually, but that didn't phase her. I tried to pull my wrist out of her grip, but there wasn’t any way I could. She was very strong, and while my fingers were tough, they weren’t any match for her grip.

Finally, I gave up, and moved to her side, which was very uncomfortable. She had grabbed my right hand with hers, in my house, so I either walked backwards, or crossed my arm in front of me. I chose the latter.

In town, I tried to make it look like I wasn’t being pulled by my sister, but there wasn’t much I could do. It was quite apparent what was happening.

We entered Daddy’s lab, and Paula pushed me into a chair. My arm was sore!

My sister walked right up to Marc, who was explaining how he couldn’t find the large projector.

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with John, would it?”

Marc stopped talking and looked at his wife with confusion on his face. “Huh?”

“Rose told me what John’s doing.” She sounded pissed!

Now it was Daddy’s turn. “What’s going on?” He looked at me. “Rosie?”

Paula didn’t let me speak. “Apparently, John, Rose, and my husband decided that John should sneak off to the downstairs side to catch Amos and bring him upstairs.”

Daddy looked at me, then Marc, then back at me. “Is this true, Rose?”

No ‘Rosie’ this time. I sighed. “Yes. But we had a quarum! Three of the command team decided.”

“We needed to know!” Paula screamed at me. “You don’t go off half cocked, no matter what! The command team needs to work as a team!”

“What she said,” Daddy said quietly, indicating Paula. I could tell he was trying his best to keep calm.

“We couldn’t risk it,” I cried. “We were taking a chance with just we three knowing what was going on.”

I heard Marc sigh. He was clearly in hot water now too, and not just from his father-in-law, but also his wife.

“Sorry,” I murmured.

“That’s okay,” he said. He turned to Paula. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry we had to do this this way too.”

“We’ll just be in our lab,” Trent said as he and Vic made a strategic escape.

Nobody answered. We were just staring at each other.

Mamma was sitting beside me, and I felt her hand start to rub my neck. “How’s your wrist, Sweetie?”

If looks could kill, Mamma would have burst into flame. Paula gave her such a dirty look that I could almost feel the heat.

“I’ll live,” I said. “It’s getting better already.”

“Good,” Mamma said, then she stood up.

“Under the circumstances, I think the three acted in the best way they could,” she told Paula and Daddy.

Daddy shook his head as if trying to clear it of cobwebs. “And how do you figure that?”

“Well, Vern, it’s strange that I should be the one who agrees with them, but I’ve been in connection with Amos. So has Carla. They needed to keep this a secret. You,” she said pointing at Paula, “are the head of security, and you came in here, spitting nails, and told me what’s going on! You may have compromised your brother-in-law’s well-being.”

Paula stood her ground. “I trust you, Mother.”

“Why?”

Now, Paula was flummoxed. “Because you’re my mother.”

“And that means you should trust me?” Mamma asked, shaking her head. “I may be compromised – you really don’t know.”

“So why are you lecturing me on this?” Paula asked.

“Because. I understand their reasons, and I know I’m not compromised. You can’t take that chance. Especially as head of security.”

“We don’t know that anyone isn’t compromised.”

“True,” I said, “but we do know about Carla and Mamma.”

“You, shut up!” Paula turned on me. “Right now, you and Marc can go to hell! I’m not speaking to either of you!”

“Paula!” Mamma scolded. “There's no reason for that!”

“I beg to differ, Mother! Right now, I’ll have to trust her and John, but after this? I’m not speaking to either one again.”

“Oh. That’ll go good for the command staff,” I said, sarcastically.

“I said shut up!” Paula screamed again.

I stared at her, then turned and walked away. I walked out of the lab, and back to my house. I was pissed! John and I had done what we felt we had to. Marc had been reluctant, but he understood why we were doing it, so he helped. We really needed his help, and honestly, John wasn’t sure he could do it without Marc’s help.

I was pretty sure Paula was just mad because we didn’t include her. But Marc, her husband, was in on the plan and hadn’t told her, so it wasn’t our fault!

I sat down at my piano and started to play. The music that I played was hard and sounded angry. After a little while, it started to sound despondent. I missed John. I felt like I was all alone at the moment.

I wasn’t, though. I focused and my bots strengthened the bond to where I was able to communicate with John. I wished the bond could be permanently strong enough for direct communication, but I couldn’t distract him as he was working downstairs. Even my emotions could distract him, and we couldn’t risk that.

The bots hadn’t been programmed for this type of bonding between a couple, but when we were discussing things with the bots, they offered this function. I was shocked that they could do that, but it helped me when John was downstairs. I could sense his emotions and know if he was nervous about anything. Most of the time, I just sensed determination from him.

At the time, I felt the determination, and none of the anxiousness I felt at times, so I carefully ‘said’ his name.

Hi, Rose, he said.

I explained what had happened with Paula, and he responded: You know she’s just getting rid of frustration, don’t you?

Yes, but it still hurts.

Yeah, I can imagine. I suppose I’m persona non grata right now? he said, sounding somewhat amused.

I wouldn’t take any food from her right now, I told him. I was starting to feel a bit better.

Ahh… Rose; I wouldn’t ever take her food over yours.

That seemed to make the hurt and frustration go completely away. John had told me that no food was acceptable for consumption, except mine. I knew he wasn’t serious, but it made me feel special.

I smiled, and somehow, through the bond, he knew it. That’s better. Don’t worry about it, Hon. She’ll understand when she starts to think about things rationally.

I know. I just had to talk to you about it. Daddy’s mad about it too. I was starting to feel alone.

I could sense him nodding. I get it. How’s Mom feel about it? We’re kinda singling her out.

Interestingly, she backed us up. I’m sure it hurt her a bit, but she was the one being rational.

Good for her! I felt something change in John’s attention and I heard him say, Gotta go, Babe. Won’t be long now. Love ya!

And then, the bond went back to normal, and I was sitting back at my piano.

I stood up, and had a strange thought. What if we could communicate with bots as easily as we can communicate with other people? I sat back down, and wondered if that thought came from my bots or from my own mind? Thinking about it, I could see how it would be an advantage. If they could have their own body… No, that wouldn’t work. Then they couldn’t continue as our immune system. Or could they? What if they didn’t have a flesh and blood body, but holographic? If they were able to remain in a person, but control a holographic body when they needed to talk to people – I wondered if that would be possible. I figured it would be worthwhile to check into, but I’d let my sister cool down before I brought it up.