Cassie sleeps peacefully through the remainder of the day, through the night, and even late into the morning. Yesterday was rough, she needs it. Corax doesn't stay around though, he quickly hops out the always-open window to go be with his new friends, but I keep reading for her.

I still can't get over the fact that there's an entire flock of bird mind rips here, I just wish they didn't have to go through everything they did. Apparently birds were hugely popular in Arc City as pets amongst the rich. The dome was enough to keep them safely inside the city, and the place being so vertical gives them as many perches as they could ever want. They're not like dogs who need space to run around, but can't go barefoot on the hot sand without burning their feet. Apparently cats were also popular, but birds were just more food efficient.

As those birds aged, instead of letting them die, their owners mind ripped them. Poor creatures had no idea what was happening, and when their personalities inevitably changed, they were just left to fend for themselves, discarded like a broken toy. I'm just glad they have this place now, they all deserve it.

Cassie would have continued sleeping peacefully if not for a knock at the door. She wakes with a start and grabs me tightly for just a moment before relaxing. At least she's not reaching for her weapons anymore.

I climb out of the bed and check the peephole. Kismet and Clover stand in the hallway, alongside three more AI. Clover is looking just like she did yesterday, barely able to stay standing. Two of the other AI are identical, looking very much like any human, and wearing identical sand-colored clothes with brown hair atop their head. The third is far more interesting, they're making no effort to hide their artificial form. Their body is thick and bulky, a small server rack supported by four legs with two mechanical arms. An array of cameras covers their entire body, and their sides have massive fans running to keep everything cool.

I whisper everything to Cassie, who gives a nod and climbs out of bed, checking her knife out of habit. I head to the window and signal to Corax, who is sitting on a perch high up on the cavern wall. He jumps off the instant he sees me, and quickly races to my shoulder.

I grab the handle but nod to Cassie before pulling it open. She nods back and I open the door.

"We apologize for the interruption," Kismet says. "But the storm is ending, and we need to discuss plans. May we enter?"

"Sure." It's going to be really cramped, but everyone might fit? I step away and sit on the bed to try to give everyone space.

Kismet has to contort their entire body to fit through the door. Clover stumbles through behind them, and Kismet pulls out the chair at the table for them to collapse into. The twins and the server squeeze into the remaining space, barely able to close the door behind them.

"I'd like to start by introducing you to the people who will be coming with you. You three of course know Clover, and I'll let the others do their own introductions."

One of the twins step forward, taking a straight-backed stance and folding his arms behind his back.

"I'm Lance, and this is my twin, Robin. We're both mind rips, each of us individually with twenty five years of security and mercenary experience. Our altered forms have done nothing to impact our skill. We have met Vince before, and are looking forward to finally returning the favor we owe him."

"Do you know them?" I ask Cassie.

"No, but Vince doesn't talk about before he met me very often."

"He saved both of us fifteen years ago, but I doubt he remembers who we are. If you need someone to vouch for us, we can send the memories off to E-1."

"It's fine." She says. "Just glad to have someone else I know wants Vince back."

"I'm 180920462319, or Nimda if you prefer." The last AI says, and ends their explanation there.

"It's nice to meet all of you." I say. "I'm Blue, this is Corax, and Cassie." I'm sure all of them watched the meeting yesterday. I don't think I need to say any more.

"We hate to push this conversation along so hastily, but we need to discuss your plan." Kismet says. "As we alluded to yesterday, the child has been able to discern some information. Vince currently resides in a prison, which is suspended above the trench's waterline. With a single signal, the prison will be dropped into the water, and Vince will die. Ivy is in similar peril, she has a collar around her neck, which will explode from a single command. The child, with the full support of us, will be able to stall those signals."

"How?" Cassie immediately asks. "And how can you be sure?"

"The specifics would take too long to go into now. Nimda will be able to answer on the road, assuming you consent to let her come with you. The important part is that, due to bandwidth limitations, we cannot hold her off forever. Nimda, however, can, or at least long enough to begin phase two of your plan. It's what she's best at, and what her body is designed for."

"And what's our backup plan?" Cassie asks. "All that's great, but it's two single points of failure. If you or Nimda fail, then what?"

"Then I suppose Vince and Ivy die, and we are sorry for that." Kismet says simply. "However, I can guarantee neither of us will fail so completely. If Nimda is failing, you two will be there to offer backup." They say to Corax and I. "And if things have truly gone south, Clover, Lance, and Robin can join, leaving Cassie to finish the mission."

"Fucking great." Cassie mumbles.

"Our plan comes down to using and exploiting the device you recovered from Vegas." Kismet continues. "Before we discuss that, however, the virus you encountered was actually very helpful. Though the exploit was already known to us, the mechanism behind it is foreign, innovative. It revealed a new avenue of attack we have never explored. Christmas has created a payload that uses that mechanism, alongside a few backup exploits, to force changes to Mara's kernel. The only problem is that due to fundamental limitations we cannot avoid, the payload must be directly uploaded to her central mainframe. Each of you will be carrying a copy of that payload, so no matter how things go, as long as one of you reaches it, then we will succeed."

"Why can't you just upload the payload remotely?" I ask. "And what is implementing the flaw actually going to do?"

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Even using this exploit, forcing a payload into a mind rip is a difficult process, and normally requires orders of magnitude more processing power than the target to accomplish. Connecting directly to the mainframe will give us lower level access, reducing the computational requirements by enough to make it feasible. As for what the exploit will let us do, is to entirely lock her down. Having such low level access will give us the ability to prevent her from accessing anything outside of her core processors, essentially rendering her harmless. From there, wait for Nimda and the child to extract and physically destroy her mainframe. We want her dead."

"Alright, so we're on a time limit." Cassie says. "How do we find her mainframe?"

"The child has recovered a map." One of Kismet's arms reaches into an internal compartment and pulls out a tablet, as well as one small drive for each of us. "We've taken the liberty of creating a few suggested viable routes for you, but you're more than welcome to decide your final plan amongst yourselves."

I take the tablet, plug myself in, and offer the second port to Corax. Instead of reading everything, I just download all the data, wait for Corax to do the same, and pass the tablet to Cassie.

"The crux of each plan is the same, however. The device you handed us can be used to disable not only any bodies or machines Mara has control of, but also any heavily modified humans. It won't work on everyone, of course, but its existence should be enough to turn this operation from an impossibility, to something significantly more likely. If you press the button on top, it activates a complete area denial mode. I would recommend against using that. Instead, with a direct connection, its effects are capable of being aimed in a cone of arbitrary size. The specifics on how to use it is on the tablet. E-1 informed me you have more, which is good, seeing as we do not have the resources to replicate the technology on such a short schedule."

"Do we get any extra gear?" Cassie asks.

"You do. E-1 seemed convinced you would be most comfortable using your existing weapons. Despite believing that is a mistake, we will listen to her, to an extent. In the car you will find what can be described as 'reactive bullets'. They are solid enough to pierce armor, but when they detect flesh or electronics, a small charge in the bullet detonates, sending shrapnel through the target. Effective against both steel and flesh, armored or not. We've also added a kit for you, Cassie, with everything Lance and Robin could imagine you needing. In addition to that, Frankenstein has a present that needs some explanation." Another of Kismet's arms reaches into a compartment and pulls out a knife, the blade softly glowing blue, and a pair of circuit boards.

Cassie steps forward, gingerly taking it by the handle.

"I like my knife." She says.

"I have no doubt you do." Kismet says. "We just find it impractical, simplistic. This knife works similar to the harpoon Blue has used in the past. Stab it into any circuit board, and it will automatically integrate itself. From there, it passes data wirelessly to and from these chips." They nod to the small collection of electronics in their hand. "The signal uses the same technology as the small puck. In fact, it is the deconstructed and heavily modified form of the same puck you gave us."

"Isn't that dangerous?" I ask, taking the two circuit boards. "What's stopping someone from jamming the signal, or from hijacking the receiver to attack us directly?"

"I'm sure in the future that will be a concern, but the technology being unknown to us means it's unlikely to exist outside of Vegas where you found it. Even if it was available now, however, you're an AI. Those kinds of hacks are far more dangerous to humans and non-sentient machines who are incapable of reacting quickly, if at all. The chips have both an electronic, and physical off switch. If something goes wrong, simply turn it off, and the knife is still capable of slicing through steel on its own."

That's incredible. I glance at Cassie, just to make sure she's willing to use it. She gives a nod, and I retract a few skin plates on the side of my head. The chip uses a standard slot, and I have a few open. I slide it into place and close up my head again. I'll install it into Corax later, there's no need to do it right this moment.

"Do you have something we can test it on?" Cassie asks.

"Of course." Kismet's arms grab a simple circuit board and hold it out. The board has just a few traces running through it, hooked up to a single microcontroller. "Please, don't stab the processor. While it would work for this demonstration, we would like to recycle it."

Cassie doesn't hesitate to drive the knife into the board, careful to miss Kismet's hands. The second it connects, the board becomes just another part of my body. The delay from the wireless transmission is almost non-existent, as if I plugged myself directly into it. I send data over to my new processor, and it responds immediately with the correct answer.

"That works, thank you."

Casse pulls her knife out of the circuit board, and Kismet returns it to a compartment inside their body.

"And we have one final gift." Kismet continues. "Blue, we're aware of the risk of your coolant lines being ruptured, and the risk of Cassie's blood loss if shot. Active defensive measures that won't impact your cooling would require more power than you can provide, and in lieu of that, we've added in self adhesive and sealing patches. They can fix broken tubes and stop external bleeding. Plus, they may be useful for whatever shape you find Vince and Ivy in. That's all we can give you, unless you can think of anything else?"

"I have one last question." I say. "How are we getting to Mara's trench? We know a town on the way we can safely stay at, but it's 1,325 miles away, and from what Vince said, going faster than about 25 miles per hour risks the sand shredding our tires. If we have enough charge, we can reach it in 53 hours, which puts us at risk for the next storm. We can stop at Vegas, although I don't know how happy Zero will be if we arrive with four extra AI."

"We've considered that. Not everyone can fit in your car at the same time, so we are sending a second with you. Cassie is the only one who needs supplies, which means the second car will be almost entirely dedicated to carrying batteries. Your car has been loaded with spare parts, including tires, enough food and water for one, and enough for three to get back. If a tire deteriorates, simply replace it. Stay at 30 miles an hour and you'll be there in less than 45 hours, which is safe. Is there anything else?"

I shake my head and glance at Cassie and Corax.

"I'm sure we'll think of something when we get there, but no, I guess we're good." She says.

"Excellent. We hope for your success, and safe return. We will walk you to the airlock."

Kismet shuffles out of the room, and we follow close behind. The courtyard of the compound is full of curious faces watching us walk past.

"I know you have friends here." I say to Corax. "If you want to stay, you can. Ow!" A familiar pain blooms from my ear. Even more faces turn towards us from my outburst. "You could have just said no! But if you want to say goodbye for now, you should." Corax shoots off my shoulder, arriving at the wall of the cavern only a few seconds later. He's really taken to his new motor, and I'm excited to see if he or Cassie end up faster when she's completely used to her new leg joints.

Corax stays with his friends while we walk. Everyone is out of their houses, and cameras turn towards us as we walk. I guess news travels instantly when everyone is so connected, and I'm sure everyone knew what was happening the moment Kismet picked up Lance, Robin, and Nimda. Probably even before then, actually.

Everyone is thankfully careful to stay out of our way, leaving a comfortable aisle through the main road and to the edge of the city. Cassie stays close at my side, and I step over to let her have as much space from the people surrounding us as possible.

Kismet waits at the door we first entered the city through, and E-1 steps out of the crowd. She throws her arms tightly around me and squeezes, releasing a few seconds later and stepping back, keeping her hands on my shoulders.

"Stay safe deary. And make sure you remember what we talked about."

"I'll try." Some of the coping mechanisms she's told me about have helped a little the few times I've used them, but I'm not sure how much help they'll be when things go bad. Although I can get through anything, maybe they'll help bring me back.

The doors to the airlock slide open, and Kismet steps to the side. Corax lands easily on my shoulder, and we step inside.

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