Chapter 29: Teacher

“Wait. Hold on. You have a family? Well, I mean, other than me.” Lime asked.

“No. Only a sister. The rest are as good as dead.” Evan said.

“Oh. I’m guessing she isn’t alive anymore, though. If she was from back before you went into stasis…” said lime.

“No. She’s alive….” Evan said.

“Do you not like her?” Lime asked.

“The opposite, she’s family. It’s just the situation is a bit annoying.” Evan said.

“Even for you?” Lime asked.

“It’s… something to do with our bloodline. Our family. We can visit her, I guess. If you want to. I haven’t seen her in ages, literally. But I’d have to get a gift first… Ah!” Evan said.

“I’d like to meet your family.” Lime said.

“Sister. Just my sister.” Evan said.

“Where is she?” Lime asked.

“If I remember correctly… huh. Right about now she should be in Tokyo. Or at least, what used to be Tokyo.” Evan said.

“Why there? Now that I think about it, where are you guys from?” Lime asked.

“Oh. Good question. Japan or America. Little bit of Korea for my sister.” Evan said.

“Not what I expected. Alright, are we heading to Tokyo?” Lime asked.

“I gotta get a gift first, but yeah.” Evan said.

“You told me that already.” Lime said.

“Thought you would forget.” Said Evan.

“Hey! My memory is not that bad!” Lime said.

They went to a store.

“Hey, hun. I Always wondered. You know how they have those post apocalyptic movies where there’s zombies? How come we have a 7/11?” Lime asked.

“Ah. Well, there are zombies.” Evan said.

“I know. I’m asking why they can’t attack us.” Lime said.

“Oh. A large part of the people in charge were told about this disaster. That’s why we were able to prepare. We had a lot of help. And the reason we aren’t screwed, like in the zombie movies, is because I helped us prepare.” Evan said.

He bought an absolute shit ton of lollipops.

“Oh. You thought of everything, didn’t you?” Lime asked.

“No. I didn’t expect zombies, it’s just we were prepared enough that it wasn’t a problem. There are people out there though that are living like the people in the horror movies. You get stragglers every once in a while, right? They were out there, surviving. They probably have makeshift bases, too. Like the ones in the movies. They probably see this place as heaven.” Evan said.

“Is this the only base?” Lime asked.

“Oh, god no. You think you could fit 7billion people here? Yeah, there’s dozens of them. Hundreds, even.” Evan said.

“Then why don’t we just go out and look for survivors?” Lime asked.

“While I feel bad about it, it’s an unnecessary risk, in multiple ways. A lot of them are crazy. Some would come in to kill and try to take over. Bringing people like that in here ourselves? Idiotic. Not to mention the people we could lose looking for them, alone. You do realize that-... do you know what video games are?” Evan asked.

“We have played them together on multiple occasions. Dear, I think your memory may be the one that’s going.” Lime said.

“Alright, do you know the fallout games?” Evan asked.

“Yeah. Wait. Are You saying that there’s stuff like deathclaws or something? I was told about them in my guidebook, but I never saw any myself. I’ve heard they are very common in some places. I mean, I only fought against the weaker kind of monsters.” Lime said.

“So.. there are monsters?” Evan asked.

“Uh, yeah. here. The guidebook should list a large number of them.” Lime said, handing Evan her guidebook.

“Say, do you know why you got sent out to look for stuff where I was?” Evan asked.

“Ah. Yeah. Apparently there was an energy spike near there.” Lime said.

“Huh. Well, we have a lot to explore. Hmmm. Lime, do you know how to drive?” Evan asked.

“Yes. Of course.” Lime said.

Evan kissed her.

“Perfect!!” Evan said.

“Huh? What? Am I missing something?” Lime asked.

“Huh? Oh. No. By the way, do you like chocolate?” Evan asked.

“Yes, I love chocolate. Come to think of it, though, why did you get so many lollipops?” Lime asked.

“For sis.” Evan said.

“So.. she likes lollipops? What’s your sister like, anyhow?” Lime asked.

“Good question. She may have changed a bit, but last I saw her she was… a 15 year old. Or was it 13? Maybe 18. Ahh. I can’t remember exactly, but she was pretty young. I think. She probably looks a lot different. I’m not sure how her character developed, though. She was rather shy, though dramatic. Here, like try this. I made it myself.” Evan said, handing lime a chocolate.

“That’s delicious! So, it’s been a while, not counting the past few centuries? Wait. How is she still alive? Is she like you?” Lime asked, eating the chocolate.

“Yeah, she’s like us. Immortal.” Evan said.

“Huh? Us?” Lime asked

“Don’t worry about it, slip of the tongue.” Evan said.

“Huh. If she’s immortal, does she still look 15?” Lime asked.

“She’s probably closer to you in age and personality.” Evan said.

“Oh. You wanted me to drive, right? Which car?” Lime asked.

“None of those. Follow me.” Evan said.

“We are NOT taking a motorcycle.” Lime said.

“Figured. I wasn’t serious anyway. We’re taking this.” Evan said, gesturing to air.

“Yay?” Lime said.

Evan tapped the air.

It made a clunk.

“Oh! There’s something there!” Said lime.

“Yeah, here. I designed all this stuff from my idea of spy movie gadgets, plus a little extra touch.” Evan said, throwing her a box.

“What’s this?” Like asked.

“Contacts. It’s connected to an ai I set up from limetech.” Evan said.

“What?” Lime asked.

“He was limetechs mascot. Now he doesn’t even have a personality. Just functionality.” Evan said.

“Why do you sound creeped out, hun?” Lime asked.

“I can’t stand the machines I make that are male or have male voices. They always disturb me during experiments, talk over me because I made them a male personality setting, make annoying sounds, you get the idea. I dunno. Just don’t like ‘em. They become annoying guys. Things tend to explode, With them around.” Evan said.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“That makes… a bit more sense than I thought it would.” Said lime.

“Yeah, I did studies on my own reactions. Anne’s personality when Kane was with us was the only one I can really stand, but at least the others are tolerable. Because I put in personality settings and let the ai “grow” like a normal person, I can’t exactly control who they become.” Evan said.

“Why do you do that?” Lime asked.

“More ideas come from people talking to people, not people talking to machines.” Evan said.

“..Wait...you… so the ai you build are actual people?!? Darling, I’m not sure what to say!” Lime said.

“Yeah, they are pretty much the same as an actual person. Except they have a larger memory bank. They can also be pretty stupid and forgetful. I basically make digital life.” Evan said.

“And they don’t have a body. Right?” Lime asked.

“Well. It’s completely possible to make an artificial human body now, considering how convenient magic is. And it’s possible to transfer them over to it. So they actually can have a body, though generally, no, they do not.” Evan said.

“You made people?” Lime asked.

“It’s far less expensive and far more satisfying to do it the old fashioned way though.” Evan said, grinning.

“Speaking of, there’s not going to be very many places to rest are there?” Lime asked.

“In the car” Evan said.

“Not that kind of rest.” Lime said.

“Oh-OH! Ah. In that case, I got another wonderful surprise. I warped space. Tada. It’s pretty dang easy to make this actually.” Evan said.

“This is awesome.” Lime said, amazed.

“Yeah, it’s pretty large. About the same as a mansion. Of course, as reference, I had to include a pool. And a library. So you can use those if you want.” Evan said.

“Wait. Is this a doctor who reference?” Lime asked.

“Yeah. I mean, it is a pretty useful idea. Why not pay the place I got the idea from a little reference.” Evan said.

“Hey, there’s a ton of room left in here! Even if you brought in all of your wildest… fetishes…. there’s still a ton of room. And you listed…. quite a lot to me...from your….. research…..” Evan said, shivering.

“Wait. I’m conflicted about this. You said there’s enough room for them all right? Then can I have all of them?” Lime asked, excited.

“Oh dear lord. What have I done? Fine, I’ll make some stuff. I’m not making anything dangerous, though. None of the…What’s it called? The shock thing?” Evan asked.

“Electrocution? Yeah, I wanna try that!” Lime said.

“That. That’s the stuff I mean. It’s dangerous. I’m not letting you do that.” Evan said, crossing his arms in an X.

“Fine. Then what?” Lime asked.

“I… I've forgotten the rest. Write a list, I’ll make what is safe enough.” Evan said.

“If I was immortal, you wouldn’t hold back like that! Cmon! Pleeeease!” Lime said.

“You are acting like a-oh. Wait. Actually, yeah, no, I’ll make all of that stuff for you.” Evan said.

“You-you aren’t planning on actually killing me, right? That’s.. a bit too far.” Said lime, suddenly flustered.

“What? Of course not. You’re the one who likes that stuff. Jeez.” Evan said.

“Ah. True. But why did you suddenly agree? Did you finally get into it?” Lime asked.

“Uhm. I’m neither into or not into it. Rather, I’m into you. So... I guess so?” Evan said.

“Then why?” Lime asked again.

“Well. You actually are immortal. So why not. Oh hey look, nighttime’s over, lets gogogogo.” Said Evan.

“What was that last bit?” Lime asked. She hadn’t heard him clearly.

“Nothing. Let’s continue on to Tokyo.” Evan said.

Every morning we could see both Evan and lime driving the invisible car. Every day that passed, the larger the smile on lime.

“God. Why the heck are you so chipper?” Evan asked.

“Pfft! All I have to do is sit there and enjoy it. I can even pass out if I want.” Lime said.

“Why. Just why. Oh my god. How much longer?” Evan asked.

“I kinda wanna keep going.” Lime said.

“Yeah, I get that.” Said Evan.

“Actually, wait. Now that I think about it, I should have bruises, rope marks and indentations. My skin seems even softer than normal. That’s odd” lime said.

Evan flinched.

“Eh, guess I just got used to it. They were a pain anyhow.” Lime said.

Evan relaxed. Kinda.

“Oh. We still have two days. And according to this, no off road. We can auto pilot this for now!” Lime said.

“Where the hell are you getting this energy from.” Evan asked.

“Hmph. You like it.” Lime said.

“That’s...huh. Well, I guess I have an issue with it being exhausting. Can we just go to bed normally?” Evan asked.

“Hmmm...yeah, fine.” Lime said.

“Oh, thank god.” Evan said, passing out.

“What the heck. Shouldn’t I be more exhausted than him? Actually, rather, I feel quite good. More so than usual!” Lime said, stretching.

They got into the outskirts of the city. It was rubble, or more accurately, post-apocalyptic.

“Hey, lime. I have a question. How much longer till we arrive?” Evan asked, looking out the windshield.

“It says we should be hitting her in around a few sec- wait, hitting?” Lime said, double checking the GPS.

There was a thunk.

[We have arrived on your destination] The GPS said.

“Well, great. Now my sister is under the car. Great job lime.” Evan said, rolling his eyes.

“Ahhhhhh!!!!” Lime screamed.

“Jeez. It was a just test dummy. My sister has to be around here, though, if this is here.” Evan said.

“Yeah, I’m right here! I thought it was weird that I was being tracked. So it was you.” Teacher said, climbing over a pile of rubble, and into view. She waved at them.

“Hey, sis.” Evan said.

“Hey Evan, Whatsup. Ooohhhh. Got yourself a little girlfriend, have we?” Teacher teased, smirking at lime.

“Wife. I’m his wife. It’s nice to meet you, I’m lime.” Lime corrected her.

“Wait…. what?” Teacher asked.

Her lollipop fell out of her mouth.

Her long purple hair no longer seemed straight.

She looked out of sorts.

“W-wife? My brother… my dense, no room for love brother, got a wife… before me?” Teacher asked. She fell to the floor in shock.

“Yeah. Why do you seem so confused?” Evan asked.

“Why the hell would any of this make sense! This isn’t exactly rocket science, you know! It’s not that easy! Is this your “lime”, then?” Teacher said.

“Well, you got a bit more… upbeat.” Evan said.

“And bigger boobs, cool, right?” Teacher said.

“Big?” Lime asked.

“Shuddup. Anyways, lime. Is that your name, or is my brother selfishly calling you that?” Teacher asked.

“Um. It’s my nickname. I can summon limes.” Said lime.

She summoned a lime.

Teacher just stared at it for an entire minute

She got close enough to smell it, and kept staring

She occasionally switched from staring at the lime to staring at lime

“Wut.” She said, adjusting her glasses

“Sis. I brought lollipops. Let’s go sit down somewhere.” Evan said, sighing.

“Sweeeeeet.” Teacher said.

“You both look the same age. Sis, I’m not used to you looking like this. I can barely believe it’s you. Pardon my ruthlessness, but you used to look like a complete nerd. Now it just looks like you're trying to look like one.” Evan said.

“I miss the lab coat, though. I had one that fit, but it didn’t seem to match any of my clothes. I had to wear it without anything else. Not, uh… not the best moments of the past few centuries. Though.. not the most embarrassing, by far. Damn, look at you. You actually have a clean fitting lab coat. That looks pretty damn nice.” Teacher said.

“Lab coat? Oh! I was still wearing it. You know I prefer casual clothes, though.” Evan said.

“Oh, yeah? That reminds me. I got a recording of your announcement to the world. Those were some nice clothes. Speaking of, I’m glad you’re doing alright. I wasn’t, in all honesty, sure you were alive anymore.” Teacher said.

“Wait, what did he look like?” Lime asked, curious.

“Evan, can I show her? It’s actually pretty damn impressive. She is your wife, I think she would like to know a little about your past.” Teacher asked.

“Oh. That? Wait. That! Um. Ok, no, yeah, sure, that’s fine. It is a tad….unsettling….. to watch myself say it, though.” Evan said, blushing slightly.

Teacher brought up a holographic display and chose what looked like a dvd. She clicked on a file titled, ‘Evan, World Leader. A New Era: The Endless War.’

“Oh! He looks so handsome!” Lime said.

“I know, right. Oh! The thing he does at the end is my favorite.” Said teacher.

They watched till the end.

“Hot damn. That. Was. Sexy!” Lime said.

“Sexy? Evan, you got a pretty interesting wife here.” Teacher said.

“You don’t know the half of it!” Lime grinned. She looked at Evan greedily.

“Oh god, please, no, why!!!” Evan groaned.

“Pfft! So Lime is the one in charge between the two of you? I’ve never seen Evan willingly follow someone.” Teacher said.

“Hm? Ah. No, I follow him.” Lime said.

“Wait, what?” Teacher asked.

“She likes my commanding personality and gets.. carried away with that. I’m not sure. She forces me to make her listen to what I say. Does that make sense?” Evan asked.

“Wow. This Limes… a bit different from what I expected your lime to be. She’s what you chose to be the most important thing in existence and even above reality itself?” Teacher asked.

“She is.” Evan said, without hesitation.

“Ahem. Let’s move past this, actually…” lime said.

“Oh, we had business to attend to. Not family matters. Actually… sis, you wanna come with?” Evan asked.

“To Phil’s base? Sure. His, what is it now? Great great great whatever granddaughter is pretty cute. I haven't seen her in a while. And I haven’t talked to Kate much. Is she still there?” Teacher asked.

“Oh. I’m… actually not sure. I haven’t spoken with her, yet. Honestly, at this point, I kinda wanna just go see Kane.” Evan said.

“Wait. You haven’t visited him at all?” Teacher asked.

“Oh. No. I really wanted to, though.” Evan said.

“God, his goggles should still be in the workshop, take lime with you.” Teacher said, pulling up a holographic display with a gesture, and pressing a few buttons.

“Ah. Shit. Lime, just stay put.” Evan said. He scooped her up into his arms.

“Ha. It’s not all that bad anymore.” Teacher said.

“Wait, really?” Evan asked, hopefully.

“Nope. I lied. It’s the same.” Teacher grinned, pressing a giant green button that popped up.

“Da-“ Evan said, disappearing, with lime in his hands.

“I guess I’ll just drive his car back. It’s pretty cozy.” Teacher said.

This caused a whole string of issues. To put it simply, teacher found a lot of limes stuff in the room inside their car. Evan realized exactly how a normal person saw lime.

He wasn’t too surprised….