I want to think more about it, but my current concern assaults my mind like an invading malware. Do I help my friend?
I glance at my quantum-link, the half-quantum, half-conventional computer on my wrist, and feel the pull of my game, Silent City, my other hobby. I wish I could join the imaginary world. It would be a quick escape, but then I’d be no closer to deciding.
“Fae,” I hear Sunny say. He waggles his little humanlike fingers at me.
I clear my head. “Yeah?”
Sunny pushes aside some gears and wires as he retracts his soldering gun. “Look, I built a little friend. It’s like me.” He lifts a six-inch chrome robot. “Its arms and legs are proportional to mine, and its eyes light up. And watch….”
He puts down a tiny robot, and it jogs around the carpet toward my old q-links on my bookshelf. My stomach tightens even though they’re outdated.
Sunny, always perceptive, notices my concern and motions his hand. The mini replica turns and jogs back to him. “What do you have to say, Rice?”
Rice? “What kind of name is that?”
“You like rice. Don’t interrupt,” says Sunny as he motions to his creation.
The little robot rotates to me and says, “Take me to your leader,” in an exact copy of my voice.
Diablo. That’s creepy…but impressive. “There is no one else like you, Sunny.”
He smiles. “Nor you, Fae. Why have you been distracted lately? You made rare errors the last time you played Silent City.”
My concerns settle back around me, darkening my mood. It’s time to face reality. I need to decide if I’m going to help my friend, Blaze. Maybe I can ask Barbra. “Do you think I can trust her?”
Sunny looks down at his robot. “What an unusual question.”
“Not your robot. I thought you were smarter than that.”
“Only as smart as you made me.”
My eyes go wide, and I look toward the door. “Shhh. Don’t ever talk about that.”
He looks away. “Sorry, but I am grateful.” He puts his robot and other parts into his backpack, takes out his gray, stuffed seal, Bean, and climbs onto the bed with his extendable arms.
I smile despite my difficult decision. “How come you still carry Bean?”
He holds his seal tighter as he shimmies over to me. “Why don’t you carry Qubit anymore?”
I glance at my stuffed bear. “The trials I’ve been through have aged me.”
“I don’t understand.”
I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter.” I turn to gaze into the corner, then pull my knees up and rest on them. Should I trust Barbra? She’s been kind and seems to care about me.
But I’ve seen what can go wrong when you trust someone. I can’t even believe I’m thinking about it. Trust. The word makes my stomach turn as I remember all the times it has failed me. But what choice do I have now?
Sunny puts his hand on mine. “You seem unhappy.”
I tilt my head to look at him. “No. I’m—”
“Fae? Did you hear that?” my foster mother, Barbra, calls from the kitchen.
“What?” I yell back. “The fireworks?”
“No. Never mind, but if you hear anything, let me know.”
That’s weird. “Okay.” I turn back to Sunny. “So…”
“Yes?” he asks.
“Do you think I can trust Barbra?”
He looks back, his glowing green eyes unblinking. “How does one determine that?”
“Don’t you know anything?”
He shrugs. “I don’t have the emotional intuition you have, but maybe I can still help. Let’s analyze the situation.”
“I can always count on you.”
“You’ve wanted to be close to someone for as long as I’ve been alive…someone human, that is.”
I want it more than anything. “People are like another species to me.”
“You’ve been spending more time with Barbra, and it seems positive. Just because you’ve had negative experiences in the past doesn’t mean they will continue.”
Negative. That’s an understatement. “Don’t get overly logical.”
“I was simply stating something accurate and important,” he says.
“Always very accurate. Almost robot-like.”
“Almost.”
“I need to figure this out soon,” I say, then sigh.
“You should take your time until you have enough data to make a decision.”
My stomach twists. “I don’t have much time.”
“You’re only seventeen. You should have another—”
I huff. “That’s not what I mean.”
“Perhaps if you were clearer.”
My friend Blaze’s plea for help slams back into my brain, like a hammer pounding a nail. I slump forward with the weight of it. Too many questions. Too much pressure. “Just watch this game footage.”
“You play a game?”
I roll my eyes. “You’re funny.”
“It seems as though my research of humor is paying off.”
I glance at my quantum-link and tell it, “Chim, access saved game footage 458.”
Holographic 3D buildings in varying states of ruin materialize between crumbling streets and sidewalks interspersed with trees. My tall, powerfully built avatar stands next to Blaze, my second in command. A bright green headband holds back her wavy dark hair, and an assault rifle is holstered on her back.
She looks at me, then away. Her full lips open and close, and then open again. “So…”
My avatar looks at the ground, saying nothing.
“We’ve had a lot of fun this last year,” she says.
My avatar nods. “We’re a good team.”
Blaze cracks a smile. “Remember that time you tricked RavenSuns into running back to their base just as they were about to win?”
“Fake heat signatures. It never gets old.”
“You saved me from de-leveling and losing my gear. That would’ve been cracked,” says Blaze.
“You’ve saved me enough times.”
She smiles, but then lowers her head and purses her lips. “I need something from you.”
My avatar squints at her. “Are you trying to trade for my K10 laser again?
