I came back to my senses and broke the kiss. “Thank you for helping me, Alyssa.” I said and looked at her surprised face. “I've got to get back into the office while it's still fresh in my mind.” I stood up and calmly walked from the room. Rusty followed me out and we both went into the office and the door shut behind me.

I sat down behind the desk, and recalled my dream from the beginning to the end. If I left it too long, it would degrade and disappear after only a few minutes, so I searched through it for anything that could be relevant; then it hit me. I typed in a few commands to bring up the last time the files were accessed on the computer.

It was the day my mother died.

Okay, my father didn't care if I existed or not; but, my mother loved me. I thought. If he accessed it on the day she died, then it has to be a phrase relating to her. I recalled my dream, and shook my head. I ignored the Jay references, since those were more fantasy than anything else... but, with my mother there...

I picked Rusty up and plugged his tail into the console. “Amanda, can you check the security files and see who it was that accessed the files last?”

“Sure, Jack.” Amanda said and scanned the files in milliseconds. “It was your mother.”

“WHAT?!?” I yelled. “How is that possible?” I asked her. “It was the day she died!”

“I can only tell you what the file logs say, Jack.” Amanda said. “I can't tell you the circumstances.”

I sat back and crossed my arms. If my father hadn't hated cameras in his private space so much... I sighed. “Oh, Mom.” I said, and a tear came to my eye. I remembered what she had always called me, even in my dreams, and I smiled as I wiped the tear away. “I'll always be your sweet little angel.”

“PASSCODE ACCEPTED.” A booming voice said. “SERVER UNLOCKED.”

“You've got to be kidding me!” I said and stood up as the floor opened up in front of the desk and the main server ascended to floor level. I walked around the desk and knelt in front of the ancient computer system. It was over 3 feet tall, 2 feet wide, and 3 feet thick; and it looked like a solid block of metal except for fan openings on the sides and back. “Oh, wow.” I said, then stood up to unplug Rusty from the desk console. “Amanda.”

Rusty hopped off the desk and walked around the old computer.

“There's no access port.” Amanda said.

I frowned and looked around it, and discovered she was right. There wasn't any way for anything to access what was on the computer.

“Now what?” Amanda asked.

“I'm not sure.” I said. “I've never seen anything like this before.”

“Try the console.” Amanda said. “Maybe it'll tell you how to access the information.”

I sat down at the desk again and looked at the computer monitor. Once again I typed several commands to see if there was something else on the network, now that the server was unlocked; but, there wasn't anything else.

“It's still not physically connected, just like Dennis the archive AI said.” I sighed. “All right, I'm smart. I can figure this out.” I said, then accessed the System. I looked up old and archaic computer systems, and found an obscure listing in the Heritage Museum. I shook my head as it showed all the physical wires required to connect the server to a functioning terminal. I saved the information in my personal storage, and looked up how to disconnect the power.

“Got it!” I said, and walked over to the old server. I hit a small release lever partially hidden on the edge of the case in the back, and the side panel popped off. Inside were more wires than I thought could fit in the available space, and I moved several bundles out of the way.

“Power... power... there it is.” I said, when I found the large switch. I flipped it, and the internal lights dimmed and went out. I went back to the console to see which connections to unhook, then went back to the server and unclipped a large power attachment. I memorized the configuration, then saw it was bolted to the floor. I ran out of the office and to the maintenance bay, grabbed several tools, and ran back. It took several minutes to get all of the bolts undone, and then the server was free. I was tempted to pick it up myself; but the thing looked extremely heavy and I'd only succeed in hurting myself if I tried.

“It can wait until morning.” I said, then jammed one of the tools I'd used into the gears of the platform, just in case it decided to retract without notifying me. “Rusty? Guard.”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Rusty barked and took up a position near the server to keep an eye out. I slid the side panel back into place and it looked like a solid piece of metal again.

“Goodnight.” I said to Rusty and Amanda, and left the office. I went back to my room and opened the door, to find Alyssa. She still sat on my bed, with the same surprised look on her face. “Hey, are you okay?” I asked her, and she looked at me.

“I... I'm fine.” Alyssa said.

“I'm going back to bed.” I said.

Alyssa nodded. “Go ahead.”

“I can't.” I said. “You're sitting on it.”

Alyssa looked down at it. “Right.” She said and moved back on the bed, then laid down and rolled over to put her face towards the wall. I wasn't sure what was going on with her; but I needed to get some sleep. I walked over to the bed and climbed onto it, and she didn't protest at all. I laid down on my back beside her, got comfortable, and she rolled over to put her head on my chest.

“Alyssa?” I said her name like a question, to see if she'd say anything.

“Goodnight.” Alyssa said, and I saw the back-light in her eyes go out and a very low whirring sound.

Huh. I thought. She's powered down her optics. I looked at her hair briefly, and ran a hand through it since it was right there in front of me. She didn't say anything at my touch, so I lifted my arms slightly and kind of hugged her.

“Goodnight.” I said, and after about ten minutes of silence, drifted off to sleep.

It felt like no time at all had passed when I was gently shaken awake.

“Hey, it's morning.” Alyssa said. “Wake up.”

I opened my eyes and looked at her. My arms were still draped over her back in a kind of hug.

“Let me sleep a little while longer.” I said and closed my eyes.

“How much longer do you want to lay around in bed?”

“Only five more hours or so.” I said, and she laughed.

“Come on.” Alyssa said and sat up. “You've got to work on getting that server out.”

“All right.” I said. “Who can I get to carry it?”

“One of the guys can handle it, if it's not too big.” Alyssa said.

“It's three feet by three feet by two feet.” I said and got up. “Maybe three hundred pounds.”

Alyssa stood up. “Even Evilin could carry that.” She said and did a kind of calisthenics and flexed her arms, legs, fingers, and neck. “Solid power links, full range of motion confirmed.” She said. “Let's go to the office.”

“Remember not to talk.” I reminded her and stepped towards my bedroom door. “I've already unbolted the server from the floor, so all we have to do is lift it out.”

“You WHAT?!?” Alyssa exclaimed. “When did you get it unlocked?”

“Last night before I went to bed.” I said, then laughed at her angry expression. “Don't be mad.”

“We could have left last night!” Alyssa said. “Before we... we...”

“Before we slept together.” I said and smiled.

“We did NOT!” Alyssa said. “All we did was sleep in the same bed!”

“That's what I said.”

“That's not what you meant!”

I stepped close to her. “After I kissed you last night... you seemed... receptive to my presence.”

Alyssa's face flushed red. “It's not... that's... I only...”

I put a hand on the side of her face, and her breathing sped up a little.

“It was nice to pretend for a while, wasn't it?” I asked her. “Like nothing else in the world existed, except for us. Right then. In that moment.”

Alyssa opened her mouth to say something, probably to protest my description; but, then she closed her mouth and very slightly nodded.

“Then that's all it'll be.” I said, and let my hand fall way from her face. “A brief moment in time where both of us just wanted someone to hold.”

Alyssa nodded again, and I turned and opened the bedroom door.

“After you.” I said and waved her out through the door. Alyssa walked past me and we went into my father's office. She saw the server that looked like a large metal block, and that Rusty guarded it.

“Be careful with this.” I said and walked around the other side of the server. “It's one of a kind.”

“I know-”

“UNAUTHORIZED VOICE PRINT DETECTED!” A booming voice said and the office door slammed shut.

“Ah, dammit!” I said as the platform the server was on started to quickly descend, despite the tool jammed in the gears. “Grab it!”

Alyssa grabbed her side and her fingers went through the metal casing and into the sides of the server. I managed to grab my side and lifted when she did, and the platform disappeared and the floor closed over. We put the server down next to the office desk and Rusty hopped up onto the desk to get his tail plugged into the console.

I hooked him in, and a minute later, my AI Amanda had hacked and reset the security again, and that opened the office door. I unplugged him and he hopped down to wait. I motioned to Alyssa, using military hand signals, to grab onto the server and carry it out of the office. I couldn't see the surprise on her face; but I assumed she had felt it because she hesitated briefly before doing what I asked.

We carried the server out of the office, and Rusty followed us as we went to the maintenance bay. Once there, we put it down and I looked it over.

“I think it's just superficial damage, but I won't know for sure until I take it apart to fix it.” I said.

“I'm sorry.” Alyssa said. “I don't know why I...”

“He makes you uncomfortable.” Crush said.

“He does not!” Alyssa said.

“I'm standing right here.” I said, and they kept ignoring me.

“She's not used to having people be nice to her.” Crush said. “Normal people, that is.”

“That's... not entirely true.” Alyssa said.

“Can you go and get the others?” I asked her. “I'll finish Crush's updates and we can get out of here.”

“I... okay. I'll be right back.” Alyssa said and left the maintenance bay at a quick walk.

“Yeah, she's got it bad all right.” Crush said. “She just left her assigned post.”

I chuckled and checked the diagnostic computer. “You're all set.” I said to Crush.

“Thanks.” Crush said and stood up. “Is that thing what we came for?”

“Yeah.”

“It doesn't look like much.” Crush said.

“It's not much.” I said. “Right now, anyways; but, when I get it home and open it up, though...”

“Hidden treasure?” Crush asked.

“Hopefully.” I said. “Hopefully.”

The others came in and gathered together to strap the server to Crush's back at his insistence, and we stepped out of the maintenance bay to get in the rover. We drove away after I locked up the house, and I left the best part of my childhood behind me again.