I slowly begin to feel a little better. Focusing on something for Cassie and Corax instead of my own problems helps.

Cassie and I stay there for hours, just watching her slowly pluck and eat every cherry in range. Some of the birds come and perch with us, and I let their chattering wash over me. Apparently there's a lot of harmless drama here, and the birds don't let anything get past their watch.

Cassie slowly grows more sluggish as time passes, and she begins putting more and more weight on me.

"What's wrong?" I eventually ask.

"I ate too much." She says quietly.

"Are you ok? Do you need anything? How can I help?" The words rush out of me.

"I'm ok. I just need to stop eating." Her eyes flick to yet another small cherry. She reaches out and pops it into her mouth before she can stop herself.

"Maybe we should go back to the room."

"Maybe." She pushes herself off of me and jumps to the ground, only to hunch over and clutch at her stomach with a sharp gasp.

Corax immediately flies to her shoulder, and I climb down quickly.

"Do you need me to carry you?" I ask.

She shakes her head and slowly stands up straight, letting out a loud groan.

"I'm fine." She starts to walk back towards the compound, her hand still settled over her stomach. "I'm not going to let myself throw up."

I follow close beside her, offering my silent support if she needs it, and Corax keeps a close eye on her. I'm not sure what he's planning if she's about to be sick, but I guess he has something in mind.

The gates open for us, and she takes her time going up the stairs. When we finally reach our room, she slowly lowers herself onto the bed and lays down, spreading across the entire thing. She lets out a sigh and closes her eyes.

"Are you going to be ok?" I ask while eyeing a small port built into the wall just above the desk.

"Mm-hmm. I just need to let everything settle."

"Alright." I take a seat in the chair and pull my cord out of my backpack. "Please pull me out if she needs anything."

I wait for Corax to nod before plugging myself in.

The instant I connect my mind expands as a few extra processors get automatically assigned to me. Oh, these are so much more powerful than what I have. Two of them are more powerful than everything I have distributed throughout my body. Do they have blueprints in the library I could copy? It'd definitely be a good idea to get some upgrades for myself while I'm at it.

The digital world has two layers, a world of pure code, and a physical representation built atop it. I manifest myself in the Physical world, and find myself in an exact copy of our room when we first entered, although thankfully without any of us inside.

My body is weird, indistinct. The base is undeniably my physical body, but everything shifts randomly. I can't even keep track of the changes, one moment my body is normal, the next I'm a black cloud which recondenses into something similar to me, but wholly different.

It's easier if I just don't look.

I descend into the digital flow of information, and it's instantly far too overwhelming. I can access the entire layer of this network. I can see every person moving between files, feel every person doing a thousand operations every single moment. Numerous unused robot bodies are scattered around, and my mind demands I hop into one and return to a world that makes sense.

I can't stay in here.

With a single thought I instantly move myself in front of the library and emerge back in the Physical representation of the network. Other AI go about their day around me, their bodies even more diverse than the physical forms I saw. Most of them are confident, they know exactly what they are and their forms reflect that. People who are similar to me, with fractured, indistinct, unhealthy representations of themselves are rare, but I'm not alone. That's almost comforting.

Echos of people move around as well, AI moving around in the endless flow of information that runs just beneath this reality. They're only visible for singular moments before moving on, leaving a fading shadow of themselves behind.

I step into the library and find myself back in the same network I was in the first time I was here. It's far simpler in here, less overwhelming. I'm mostly isolated from the numerous others in here with me.

Finding their collection of endless blueprints only takes a moment. They have thousands of different processors, their blueprints freely accessible to take. Each and every one is labeled with their exact specifications in excruciating detail. I can get something that both generates less heat, and is faster than my current set! I won't have to worry about heat anymore! At least not in anything less than an extreme situation.

Stolen story; please report.

I'll need to add a few extra circuit boards to accept these processors' new form factor, but generating that in a way to accept my existing heat sinks and mounting hardware is easy. These new processors they hooked me up with are incredible, and the best part is that I don't have to worry about heat on those. I can run them at full power for as long as I want, but it only takes a moment for them to complete their task.

Could I modify my own cooling system to make it more efficient, and more importantly, safer? I'd love nothing more than to take the processors I'm connected to now with me. Undoubtedly yes, but not without drilling holes into my skin, and I really want to avoid messing with Kara's gift. What I have now is fine, especially with the more efficient processors I'm about to get.

Now for the important part. I step outside and dive into the pure digital world again. I can handle it for a moment. I quickly find the manufacturing plant and upload my small collection of blueprints and the tools I need.

Are used tools ok? A response comes instantly, gently depositing the question in my mind.

Of course. I send back.

I will have everything ready in six hours. The voice responds once again.

Thank you. That was shockingly easy. I unplug myself and return to the room. I barely spent a minute in there, and Cassie still hasn't moved.

Unplugging is rough, even after such a short period inside. My mind instantly reaches for the missing processors, trying to offload everything onto something that won't overheat me. It's ok, I'll have those upgrades tomorrow.

"I have a present for both of you tomorrow morning." I announce to the room.

"What? How?" Cassie asks.

"Ok, well, I have two presents for you actually, but can only give one now." I grab my tablet, dump all the books onto it, and hand it to her. "I downloaded a hundred books for you. They didn't have much lesbian romance, but I downloaded everything they have, and I'm going to make sure the next person looking for some has a lot more options."

"Thanks." She lets her hand fall back onto the bed. "I'm too sick to read."

I know her well enough at this point to know what she wants. I take a step over, sit on the edge of her bed, and begin to read for her.

She lets her eyes drift closed and my words lull her into a world of relaxation. We've both had a tough day, and she definitely needs it.

It's half an hour before she seems to start feeling better. She rolls over, resting her head on my thigh and throwing a hand across my lap. I reach over and grab the edge of the sheets, folding them over her.

I read to her for hours, watching the clock until I can go pick up everyone's presents. I can't help but be excited, Corax deserves far more than I could ever give him. And sure, I've given Cassie soup as a present before, but never something real like this. She deserves this too.

The moment six hours pass I do my best to extract myself from Cassie. Unfortunately, I could never escape without her noticing. Her eyes crack open, and her hand quickly moves to her knife.

"It's ok." I reach down to gently rub my fingers against her hair. It doesn't feel quite as intense with my skin in the way, but it's fine. A small sacrifice for feeling much better about myself. "I'll be right back. Corax, can you stay here with her?"

Corax gives a nod from the open window.

"Where are you going?" She mumbles and tries to climb out of bed.

"I'm going to go pick up your present."

"You better not get into trouble." She lets her head drop back onto the bed, but her shining eyes stay pinned to me.

"I won't. The only way I could be safer is if we were home with Vince and Ivy." I regret my words the moment they're out of my mouth. She doesn't need to be reminded they're still at Mara's trench, especially not this early in the morning.

"Good." She lazily looks at the position she fell asleep in, atop the comforter with it folded over her. She spends a moment correcting that, moving beneath the covers and grabbing a pillow to rest on.

"I'll bring you some cherries for breakfast." I whisper before I leave.

"Ugh, you fucking better not."

I run my fingers against the top of her head once again before leaving.

The hallway is abandoned, and I don't see anyone until I walk down the stairs and reach the center courtyard. The faces of both the humans and AI that lounge out here are already familiar, and a few of them give a smile and a wave as I pass. I give them one in return. I want to talk with them eventually, but right now I have a goal that can't wait.

The city isn't that large, it'll only take a few minutes to make my way down the main street and find the entrance to the manufacturing plant.

Without Cassie beside me, people barely even look at me. I'm just normal, just like anyone else walking down the street. It's almost uncomfortable, as if it's some trick to lull me into letting my guard down. I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually.

The entrance to the manufacturing plant is a massive, open garage door. On the inside is a small waiting room. The back wall is missing, allowing sight into the heart of the manufacturing plant.

It's incredible.

Is it just one person running this entire thing? There are no humanoid bodies inside, just large, mechanical arms dangling from a massive network of rails built into the ceiling. Every one of the arms moves together flawlessly, working and manipulating nearly a hundred machines and in-process, half constructed items. Every single arm, no matter how big, works delicately on even the smallest of objects.

"Blue, correct?" A familiar voice rings through the room.

"Uh, yes." I'm not sure exactly who I'm supposed to be talking to, I just say it out into the room.

"Excellent. One moment." One of the endless arms stops what it's doing and slides easily through the facility, contorting the whole way to not disturb other arms. It stops by a small shelving unit, slides out a small tray, and carefully moves it over to me. "Is this everything?" The voice asks.

On the tray sits a few servos, my processors, daughterboards, and enough tools to install everything. Every last piece is exactly how I designed it. If the AI hadn't asked if used tools were ok, I would have never guessed they were anything less than brand new.

"Yes, this is perfect, thank you." I start to carefully place everything into my backpack.

"If you have any issues with them, please don't hesitate to inform me." The voice says and the arm returns to their work.

"Ok."

I don't want to wake Cassie up by returning to the room, maybe now's a chance to get one more thing done. I head back to the main street, and towards a plain-looking building.

The hospital.

I can finally get my memories back.

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