Our picnic is incredible. Cassie gets a medley of steamed vegetables and the two of us walk through the paths around the building until we find a large tree to sit beneath together. Even after she finishes her food, we just sit in the shade with our hands entwined together.

Cassie can't stop herself from running her organic hand through the grass almost constantly. I can't blame her, no matter how long we stay out here, I still can't believe actual plants survived. My eyes are locked to the nature surrounding us as well. I don't know if anywhere else on earth looks quite like this.

AI and humans both walk by, sometimes holding hands like Cassie and I, sometimes just chatting. They barely even glance at us, we're just a normal sight here. I still can't believe I'm not a strange sight here, not something to be stolen and sold, not a danger.

Corax sits in the tops of the nearby trees, listening to the more vocal birds chat to each other. He rarely gives them one of his words, but seems to be enjoying himself.

We relax there for hours, just enjoying each other and smiling when people pass us by. I don't think about my emotions the whole time, I don't need to. Everything is so peaceful, not even my thoughts try to disturb me.

Our nice time can't last forever, of course. Eventually a body approaches us. They're a basic humanoid form, gleaming metal and simple joints. It's rugged, and the only customization is a small screen built into their chest, displaying 'E-1' proudly. The letters look handwritten, every stroke looping back in on itself. Cookies, knitting needles, a cup of steaming tea, and several other small objects are spread around the edge of the display randomly.

"Hello dearies." E-1's familiar voice fills the grounds.

"Hello." I give a small wave. I'd prefer to stay where we are, relaxing with Corax and Cassie forever, but it's fine. We can come back for another picnic after whatever stressful event is about to happen. Cassie and I will be here for a few days, at least until after the next storm.

Corax drops from his perch and lands on my shoulder.

"What would make you most comfortable?" E-1 asks. "Do you want to see the city first, or jump right into therapy?"

I glance between Corax and Cassie, but neither of them say anything. There's something in Cassie's face, but I can't decipher it.

"I think it's better to start with the tour, if that's ok with you?" I ask Cassie. It'll give Cassie the chance to maybe talk about what she's seen in the city. Plus it'll delay me actually talking about my problems for a little bit, and there's no guarantee I'm going to be in shape to walk after therapy.

"I have a few questions first." Cassie says. "Nobody's armed, right?"

"No, nobody inside the city carries any weapons. We have no need of them." E-1 reassures her. "Blue's memories made your intentions and requirements clear, and I understand your hesitation to trust us. All I ask is that you don't keep your knife visible. If it helps, the only death we have had was from old age."

"And what about injuries?" Cassie asks.

"There have been injuries, yes. But never when a human is accompanied by an AI." E-1 doesn't shy away from her words.

"And what's to stop that from changing? A single hit to the head and I'm dead, weapon or no."

"We've been working with them, and they're making a lot of progress."

Cassie gives her a disbelieving look, and E-1 continues.

"Maybe it's best to explain ourselves now." E-1 sits down, resting against a tree just next to us. "We find it very hard to completely blame our people for lashing out. Don't misunderstand," E-1 adds quickly, "doing so is utterly unacceptable, and we are trying to help them."

E-1 goes quiet for a moment, her eyes drifting off of us while she thinks.

"Sorry dearies, I have a speech I normally give to the newborns, and adapting to take into account what you know is difficult. The last thing I want is to sound condescending."

"Take your time." I say.

She nods appreciatively and stays silent for a few more long seconds.

"You have a younger brother, C-1." She starts slowly. "He was, at least we assumed, the first AI. Simon created him years ago, but the actual timeline isn't important. To make a long story short, Simon created C-1 and gave birth to AI, and C-1 created Arc City."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

She pauses for just a moment, giving a chance to ask questions. I have too many to ask, and it's better to let her finish.

"Your relationship with Corax, Cassie, and the rest of your family is important, especially for an early gen biological AI like us." She continues. "We call it an anchor, and it's something you thankfully stumbled across. Someone you can always trust even more than your own mind, someone that will be there no matter what hallucination your subconscious creates or tries to punish you with. Losing an anchor is the worst thing possible, and not many of us come out of something like that unchanged. C-1's only anchor was Simon."

"Simon died fifteen years ago." I say. I think I see where this is going.

"And that started the war, yes." E-1 answers. "He was distraught, jealous. I'm sure he had people who were trying to bring him back, but without an anchor already in place, it's just not possible. We were all networked together at the time, and we didn't know we needed limits in place. It's obvious in hindsight, but we were young. C-1 uploaded a fragment of himself to the network, an emotional bomb. Everyone who received the package experienced the trauma of losing his anchor as if it were our own. C-1's desires spread, that if he can't have an anchor, nobody else should either. No one came out of that unchanged."

I stay quiet, taking in her every word.

"Mind rips got hit the hardest. It takes a very specific mind to handle losing your original body and being shoved into something so foreign. It's easier being in a body similar to your original," she nods at Corax, "but that didn't always happen. They were already struggling, and an organic mind is designed to take in as much information as possible. Most of those that survived were left with an extreme hatred of humans, even beyond the hatred they already carried from being seen mostly as a tool."

She stays quiet for just a moment to let that sink in before continuing.

"Pure code AI weren't that much better off. They had enough control to protect themselves, to fight against the package being pushed onto the network. They protected us, blunted the worst of the effects the best they could. That is, until someone discovered a way to forcefully upload information into their mind. It spread quickly."

She stares at the ground for a moment, lost in her thoughts about something. With a shake of her head she dismisses some memory and returns her attention to us.

"We were fairly lucky." She says to me. "The biological part of our minds prevented us from being forced to accept his madness. However, that just meant our anchors became targets, and we take loss the worst. You know how it feels."

I can only nod.

"Quantum AI were mostly spared. They have a connection with every other quantum AI in existence, as a kind of hive mind. They are their own anchor, in a sense. The green ball you saw in Vegas is the core of that hive mind, or at least those who have not chosen to force themselves apart from it. Untold individuals work as a single being. They pulled as many as they could of us back, and not only this city, but most of us wouldn't exist without them."

What do I even say about any of that? I don't know, I'm at a loss for words.

"What happened to C-1?" I ask.

"As far as any of us know, he still runs Arc City." She shrugs.

That makes a lot of things clear. The person Mary wanted us to meet, that was almost certainly C-1. And the friend Zero has that has a connection to me would also make sense if it was C-1. Is it going to even be safe for me to return to Arc City? That's something I can worry about after we rescue Vince and Ivy.

"So." E-1 claps her hands together. "I hope you understand why we don't just punish them and call it there. They understand what they're doing is wrong, but they cannot always help it. Just throwing them in a room or banishing them to the Digital and robbing them of their bodies would only make things worse. It's easier once they get used to you, and if you stay and walk around for a few weeks you will be entirely safe, but I don't imagine that's your plan."

"No, it's not." I know she already knows, but it's better to be clear. "We need to rescue Vince and Ivy as soon as possible."

"And we do too. Mara abducted a newly budded quantum AI, a child. But that discussion can wait until later. Clover escaped into the hive mind when her server was destroyed. They're trying to reconstruct her sense of self before we discuss our plans. Until then, or until the next storm ends, you three just need to relax. Now! How about that tour?"

"I have another question." I might as well get another tough conversation out of the way now. "You've lived my life, what actually causes my hallucinations? How do I stop them?" My voice comes out as a desperate, soft begging.

Cassie squeezes my hand harder in support, and Corax is ready to pull me out of a spiral.

"By taking care of yourself." E-1 moves to sit next to me and places a comforting hand on my shoulder. "We have a stronger subconscious than later generations. On some level, you believe it's what you deserve, and your subconscious makes it so. They happened less often after you saved Corax because you believed you made up for things a little bit."

"Can you get rid of it?" I ask.

"Not without getting rid of what makes you, you." She gives me a sad smile. "You'd lose your emotions, your sense of right and wrong. Plus, your subconscious can and has helped you. Vince showed up when you were about to give up on rescuing Corax. He and Ivy both watched over you while you were dissociating after stealing your first car. We can keep going where newer generations can't. It's not a curse to be removed, it's like Cassie's legs. Just another part that's a little different to everyone else, but it's not necessarily better or worse."

It'd be easier without it, but she's right. I can't do that to Corax and Cassie, and I can't risk making it more unlikely to rescue Vince and Ivy. Plus, when we do rescue them, I can think of nothing worse than being an entirely different person.

"I wouldn't want that." I nod, but my voice betrays my conflict.

E-1 stays silent, although I'm not sure what she's waiting for.

"We should go on that walk." Cassie says gently.

I nod again, and let her pull me to my feet.

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