"We should do something."

"Like what?" Cassie asks, trying to lounge casually on my bed.

"I don't know. Maybe they need help with surgery? Or do you think she'll be hungry when she gets back?"

"What? You don't trust the AI with a human arm glued to his torso?"

"No, it's not that. It's just, what if something goes wrong and I could have helped?"

"Blue." Cassie says seriously. "Do you know how many times she's been through surgery? Do you know how many modifications she has? I could stab her and she'd find a way to be fine. She's not going to let something as simple as replacing a single bone kill her"

"Ok, but-"

"Come here." Cassie reaches out and grabs my arm, pulling me onto the bed. She wraps herself around me, pulling me tightly into her. "They're going to be fine."

"But it's been so long already."

"Yeah, and surgery takes a while. It's not like you or my legs, you can't just unscrew a few screws and drop in a new hip."

"Yeah. Maybe we can do something to make her room more comfortable then? If it's going to take a while for her to recover."

"And how do you want to do that?" She asks.

"I don't know. We could go to pick up new furniture for her or something."

"Let's just relax, alright? You can take care of her after she's back and we know what she needs."

"Ok."

I just sit and let her hold me as the time ticks by. Her presence keeps any bad thoughts at bay, and makes things feel more manageable.

"Hey, good news. You should wipe your eyes." She says.

"Huh? Oh, I didn't realize I was crying." I sit up and quickly do as she says. Only a moment after, someone knocks gently on the door.

I rush to open it and am met with Vince and Ivy. She's in a wheelchair, dressed in fresh clean clothes.

"Hey Little Blue. We're all done."

"How did it go?" I can barely force the words out of my mouth, certain they'll only bring bad news.

"The guy's not quite as good as Sonia is, but he did alright. I'll be walking tomorrow, and running in a week."

"Really? Things weren't that bad then?" Cassie asks.

"No, she needed her entire hip bone replaced."

"You're going to be walking a day after that? Really?" Her voice is thick with disbelief.

"That's what the doctor said." Ivy shrugs.

"Alright, fuck it. More AI magic I guess."

"Something like that."

"I'm not sure what kind of technology could let someone heal that fast." Something with stem cells maybe? Although I'm not sure how they could ever work that fast. "I could probably find that information in the library though, if you think Sonia wants it."

"I'm sure they'd appreciate whatever keeps our people alive, If you think everyone is alright with you taking it, that is." Vince says.

"I think they are, but I'll make sure before I copy anything."

"Wait until we learn if we can leave or not." Ivy's eyes are deadly serious. "Don't push their hospitality while they can still arrest us."

"Right. I won't." That makes sense.

"Good! Now, how about we take a walk? Show us around the city?" She asks.

"Is that safe?"

"It's good publicity. Wheeling around a poor injured woman? Nobody's going to be able to say no to me."

"I know you know humans, but are you sure AI will see it that way?" Cassie asks. "I know you've seen the way some of them look at us, that fucking pity in their eyes."

"I'm not trying to work them. The ones who pity us will make us stay, the ones that hate us will make us go or lock us underground. We can focus on those groups individually later. We can work the mind rips now though, the old humans who remember injuries like these. We get their sympathy, and they'll listen to us."

"I can show you the cultural center if you want. It's full of books and art."

"Perfect." Ivy's eyes shine with excitement. "No better way to earn someone's respect than to take in their culture. Let's get going."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"How did you even get up here?" Cassie asks, pushing herself off the bed. "I really don't want to carry you again, and especially not with all the weight you just gained."

"Oh ha-ha." Ivy rolls her eyes obviously, although a smile shows on her face. "You must weigh a ton then."

"You're more steel than I am."

"And your girlfriend's more steel than either of us, but I'm sure you've never complained about her being on you."

"Shut up! We haven't even- shut up!"

"There's an elevator in the canteen." Vince says, entirely disregarding the two of them. "Come on, I'll show you." Vince backs Ivy out of the room and starts down the barren hallway.

Cassie and I follow closely behind the two of them, her face slowly growing redder with every step and her eyes pinned away from me.

"What's wrong?" I ask as quietly as physically possible, hopefully quiet enough that Ivy doesn't hear.

She just shakes her head slightly and reaches out to take my hand. I have no idea what to make of that. I understand she's embarrassed by what Ivy said, but I don't know what double meaning her words must have had.

She quickly recovers while we walk. A few deep breaths and the red in her face begins to fade.

The elevator is only a short walk away. The doors open up into a massive metal box, larger than our room. Even the biggest bodies I've seen could fit easily in here. All four of us stand easily inside with a ton of room to spare.

The door opens up into the cafeteria. Even this early in the morning, a few people are relaxing in here. A few fridges against the wall are stocked with food, and shelf-stable food is spread across a few counters.

"So we can just take whatever we want? For free?" A hint of disbelief comes through in Vince's voice, despite his efforts to hide it.

"Yeah. And if you want something special or hot, you can just request it. Turns out pizza is really fucking good." Cassie's embarrassment is thankfully seemingly gone, or at least hidden enough that I can't notice it.

"They have pizza." Vince mumbles to himself. "Alright. Tonight we're getting the greasiest pizza possible and some drinks."

"A little taste of the old world?" Ivy asks.

"Something like that. I wasn't old enough to eat pizza drunk before the world ended, but I always heard about it. Always seemed like I was missing out on some kind of foundational experience."

"Sounds like a good time. It's been too long since I saw either of you drunk." Cassie says.

"It's been too long since I was drunk too." Vince says. "I'm going to grab a bite before we go. Are you hungry?"

"I could eat." Ivy replies.

Vince leaves Ivy where she is to grab three fresh sandwiches from one of the fridges. He passes one to Ivy and Cassie, but hesitates before taking his first bite.

"I feel like I'm stealing." He says.

"Yeah. You'll get used to it." Cassie has no reservations about taking a bite. Although, she did react in a similar way the first time we ate here.

"You've seen their farm. They don't have a reason to charge for anything when you could just go pick all you want. Besides, they literally don't have a form of currency. Even if they wanted to charge, they couldn't." I explain.

"Still. At least I work for it in that case." After another moment, he takes his first, small bite. "That's really good."

Cassie takes a seat at a nearby table, and I wait for everyone to finish their food. I really wish I could experience it with them. It just looks so good, they enjoy it so much. Sure, there are things I can experience that they can't, but it'd be so nice to experience it with them. At least I can enjoy watching them eat, as long as I don't stare too much. It's nicer when I make what they enjoy, but it's fine.

It's only a few minutes before everyone finishes their meal and we begin to walk again. Outside the compound is as busy as ever, I can't imagine many AI care about the time of day. Corax still watches high above us, alongside the other birds in the city.

The ever present looks we get are the same as ever. People stare at Cassie, Vince, and Ivy with a massive spectrum of individual emotions, but give me nothing more than a casual glance. I'm not worried, between Corax and Ivy, nothing can surprise us. Not that I think anyone would try to hurt us, but I want to be prepared anyway, just in case.

I lead the way through the sparse crowd. At least the way people move here makes sense, as opposed to Vegas. Everyone walks on the right side of the main street and keeps enough space for people to slip through without slowing down. Those who aren't moving step into whatever small alcove they can find, out of the way of everyone else to talk, or just to watch.

From what I've seen, the cultural center is one of the busier buildings, but even then people rarely enter or leave. Without the need to eat or sleep, I imagine AI could spend days if not more inside, just relaxing and reading. Or at least I could.

We step inside, and I give Vince and Ivy a moment to take everything in. The building is divided in half. The entire left side is dedicated to physical books spread neatly across wooden shelves. Small nooks are spread through the place, cozy places to relax, each with a cord accessible to anyone who wants to explore it in the digital.

The right side is less interesting to me, but no less impressive. Screens hang along the walls, slowly switching between different art pieces. Sculptures in every form stand between them. I don't understand what most of them are trying to convey, but that's ok. I'm sure someone can get just as much out of them as I can with the books.

"A place like this has been so close all this time?" Vince asks.

"I couldn't believe it either." Cassie answers.

"Alright, I can see the desire in both your eyes." Ivy says. "Go find a book, we'll stay visible."

"Are you sure?" I ask. "We can help."

"No, no. You go get comfortable together. We'll go look at the art." Despite her ability to wheel herself around, she waits for Vince to move her.

"Well. I wouldn't complain about reading more together." I whisper quietly to Cassie.

"Alright. Come find us when you're ready to go." Cassie says, and I follow her deep into the endless shelves.

"What do you want to read?" I ask.

"I assume we're out of romance?" She asks.

"All the lesbian stuff, yeah."

"Fuck it, grab us some fantasy then."

"Alright." I plug myself into a nearby cord and go searching through the entire catalogue. People leave reviews in here, and it only takes a moment to skim through everything and to find something she might enjoy.

I return to the physical, grab the book off the shelf, and head towards where I know Cassie is. There's a couch hidden in the back, big enough for two people normally, sure, but also big enough for one person to lounge across it.

Cassie is standing beside it, waiting for me to get comfortable first. I lay across the couch, my back propped up by the armrest. Cassie sits atop of me, and I wrap my arms tightly around her. I can't help but bury my face in her neck for just a moment.

"Comfortable?" She asks.

"Very. Are you good?"

"Mm-hmm." Cassie holds the book up for both of us to see, and we begin to read together.

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