Page 425 of Light Leech

“No, you don’t–”

“Too late. You can all wear black together to mourn me when you get home, but that won’t really change much of your fashion anyway. First, I don’t want you to have to see that painful look of revealing my death. That sucks and I’d rather do the cold ‘I’m dead’ message thing. Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything. Second, I need you locked in when you get back, du. The ‘Temple anomaly’ thing your buddies here had you on is taking place awfully close to Akna’s home in the Southern Rep–I mean South America. Gotta call it what she wants to, right? Anyway, you all need to jump right into that. I don’t want her to get hurt and our time is ticking. I’ll send over what they have on the situation. Make sure she’s okay. You plug?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

Her green ghost waved at me. Even though she could look like her perfected self in her projected image, she chose to keep the damaged and modded face of a half-machine girl. “Bye, Pet. Come visit me with Naoma sometime.”

She vanished.

I lingered, hoping that she would return to extend our conversation even a minute longer.

Minutes passed. Silence rang in my ears like an alarm.

She was in the system. Gone.

It was too easy to think that her sentimentality died with her body.

I chose to believe otherwise.

I chose to believe that part of her wanted to cry over our farewell.

Algorithm’s couldn’t cry.

I thought she could.

Chapter thirty-three

Science Friction

The flight back home was lonesome. I spent most of the way to Earth staring at the screen that showed our surroundings. I knew it wasn’t sentient, but I felt like space was the only thing large enough to grasp the totality of my ever expanding emotions. I knew it didn’t make sense, but I kept watching it. It was cathartic. It didn’t resolve any problems, but it let them feel heard.

I chose to sleep when I grew tired of thinking. I tried to turn on music and mindshows to pass the time, but I couldn’t focus. All I could do was think and shut my mind off.

Thinking availed me little more than compounding worries. It was a worthless endeavor without Akna and the rest of the imps at my side to sparse through the Correction’s drama in the south.

Naoma tried to message me a couple of times on the flight home, but our conversation was flat. We both avoided the substance of Ralia’s death and dropped the chat after both of us realized it was better to talk in person. Boyband sent me a couple of videos to waste my time with. Despite wanting to complain to him about them, they helped the final stretch home pass much faster.

I took the skyride home, thankful that no assassins or anything of the like had found me on my way back.

I stood before the monastery after walking home from the skytrack station.

The city was loud and the monastery was not the picturesque sanctuary of the Arabasian monasteries, but it was still a comforting site. It was our sanctuary. That was enough.

I opened the door, hoping to see Naoma first. I didn’t see Denji, and it wasn’t a somber Abbas, and it wasn’t a sarcastic Boyband.

“Have you come back?” David asked.

I crouched and rubbed my hand across the meat pillar’s back and over the mechanical ridges of his tech. David was less sweaty than usual, making the petting somewhat comforting.

I smiled. “Yeah, I’m back.”

“Back to kill me? Will you–”

“No, no, no!“ Boyband ran into view and scooped up the Beef3. “Zeg, Pet. He was doing so well, then you come back and he’s reverted to this?”

I smiled and let out a relieved laugh. I reached out and pulled him into a deep embrace as he held David under one arm. He slung the other around me. Had we not just lost one of our closest friends–her body at least–I was sure he would have pushed me away with a snide comment.

He held me tight. He sniffed. I didn’t bother him by pointing out his vulnerability like I would have in lighter circumstances.