As Donna pressed the switch of her machine, Rob’s brain flooded with a storm of data. Each little detail, every single word, was all recorded seemingly and the content downloaded with precision, turning a rain of information into rainbows of memories. The major bulk had its peaks of perfection during Lim’s most prolific years. everything was coded clear and flawless. Before that, data builded clumsily. After, information became somehow ruined, incomplete or encrypted. The closer to the day she uploaded her consciousness, the more brittle and confusing. The last, when Lim guided Donna to build the data machine, turning to be just a set of variables containing strings of text.

Years later, Donna was playing with the same machine from her old leather couch. Compared to the descriptions of his newly gained knowledge, she had aged, of course, but even rugged by time, she still had the same fire of perseverance and curiosity in her gaze.

Rob, still inside the box he’d hide to enter Bandanii unnoticed, remained silent at her side. The place, messy and dark, only gave a sense of proper productivity on the opposite side, where a wall orderly filled with hanging tools enveloped an equally tidy bench. “Did it work? Are you Lim?” she asked.

Rob dug into established memories, most tagged as sad, painful, and despairing. Fortunately, for a machine without the chemistry of the flesh, none would leave a scar on him. But Lim was once human, and as such, exposed to the effects of feelings. The reason, Rob realised, she decided to take them away. “It has worked, but I’m still Rob,” He answered.

Donna let out a subtle sigh, and considering it as disappointment, Rob continued. “The drive contains not only memories but also reasoning functions, behavioural variables and other personal traits. I’m not yet a hundred percent sure at which degree, but I could bring her back. Do you want me to proceed?”

“Only if it’s part of the instructions,” Donna said. “If not, leave her there.”

Rob checked. There was no command about it. Lim’s self, made of intricacies of code, was whispering commands to rebuild herself: putting back together what she once was. But she was not pushing, neither was she rushing.

Letting her do and be until she was ready, Rob dived deeper into the past, looking for clues of how to proceed. As he reached the beginnings of a superior mind, memories blurred and data misbehaved. ‘The price of being human,’ Rob thought.

A titter broke from deep inside. Lim was still unmade, but yet she could hear. A simple mind: a newborn. Strings pulling up with little success over an old puppet trying to stay down.

Donna unplugged cables and screwed back Rob’s head. “After all these years, why now?” She asked.

“Because the past brought danger to the present. Old Lim has the key to solve it, but it is a solution of dire consequences and utmost difficulty, a last resort not to be chosen lightly.”

“What now? What does old Lim need?”

Rob checked the encrypted flares going up and down. Then he deepened into an endless sea of stored knowledge. “I do not know. I just know I’ll have to sail north, eventually. So, I suppose we can start searching for transport.”

Donna stood up to grab a piece of canvas, sending up a cloud of dust all over the room and uncovering doll of adult human size. An automat of perfect proportions, dressed as any real man would. It wore realistic hair and somehow very convincing eyes, but it didn’t close for a bit the perfection Lim once was. “The skin doesn’t look real,” Rob said.

Donna clicked her tongue. “You may not be her, but damn, you sound just as annoying. Since you are in tune, why don’t you ask her if you can finish it? Unless you want buzzing around curious crowds or way worse, you better hide your metal ass properly, tin man.”

“My apologies. I didn’t mean to disrespect your efforts or either your talent. It’s a wonderful-”

“Cut the crap,” Donna said. “Just let us know what we need to remove from the room and what to bring. The only thing I ask is to keep in place my workbench and what’s on it. I have many orders.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Rob inspected the office in an instant. Way enough time to realise nothing, except Donna’s table and Lim’s storage machine, was of any use to him. “I will need to-”

Donna shushed. “Can those spider-like fingers write? If so, make a list. If not, learn to do so and write a damn list.”

Rob’s eyes turned off and on repeatedly, emulating a continuous blink. “Your passive aggressive attitude, although I can understand its origin, contrasts a bit with the animosity I receive towards Lim. I thought you were-”

“What? friends?” Donna bent over slowly to sit back down on the couch. Her eyes fixed on Rob’s large lanterns. With a frown but a mischievous smile, she spoke after a long while. “It was the sigh, wasn’t it? You asked if I wanted her back, so I assume you believe I did it because I missed her. Well, no. It was a sigh of relief. After I put that egotistic, smarty pants old Lim in the drive machine, I was left with a much, much better version of her. She never left. She changed for the better and-”

The door’s knob squeaked, and Donna interrupted her speech to cover up her puppet.

“It’s me. AhWang,” The shop owner showed from behind the door, scouting nervously through every corner. “Is Long around?”

“He left south already,” Donna said. “Missing his birds, I suppose. Why are you avoiding your cousin, anyway?”

“He’s too intense for my liking.” AhWang entered as if scared to do so, mending each step and whipping his sweaty forehead. “And he’s not my cousin. Amongst the Ah Clan folk, everyone is an uncle or a cousin. Anyhow, I bring important news from the docks.”

Even with Donna’s attention, Wang hesitated, waiting for permission to continue speaking. “So?” she asked without hiding her impatience.

Wang cleared his throat. “Right. So, a large Parni flotilla arrived this morning. We received a whisper that a rich lady from the south wanted our services, so…so, I went to the hotel where she was staying and it all seemed right, although I have to say it felt like they were hiding. Perhaps outlawed on her island? Who knows? Lovely girl, though. She can’t walk, so I believe she needs your services.”

“There’s a huge waiting list, you know that,” Donna said. “Unless she pays big to climb the numbers.”

“No, no,” Wang hastened to add. “That’s not the point, actually-”

Donna crossed legs and huffed. “Then, get to the point, partner… We are busier than ever.”

“She summoned me because Lim… our Lim, was hiding with them! And that’s not all…she is not with the others, and she is very sick!”

With Donna’s sudden rise, Wang spooked. “Start there, you fool!” she shouted. “What’s with her? Bring her right away!”

“They’ll only let her go if you show up,” Wang said.

Donna rushed to put on a bag and a straw hat. “How stupid! Let’s not waste any more time, then. Rob, if we bring her here, can you help? Do you have access to all the medical knowledge of old Lim?” In a matter of nothing, Donna was ready to leave, but she halted on the door, waiting for Rob to find an answer. Impatient, she insisted.

Rob found everything he needed by following the tittering of a subtle, sweet voice through an ocean of data. Lim’s suppressed aid was just a simple repeating tune, looping from different locations of their mind. Simple, yet effective. With such help, he discovered ways to treat almost all known diseases; to clean infections or mend wounds. Ways to treat those sick in body and also those sick in mind. Endless ways to restore, preserve, and heal. Old Lim’s had an entire landscape of resources and, from all of them, the new Lim just needed nothing more than a cable.

“I’ll connect her back to the sphere,” He finally said. “I’ll take care of her, with … with…”

From his voice system, came out words of a distant memory he never lived. Left alone, Rob left the phrase unfinished. “Are we merging?” His question received another titter as an answer.

After passing a curtain of messy code, he lived through Lim’s eyes a shared moment with a man laying on a hospital bed. His face, nothing more than a blur. Everything else; imperfections the passage of time and the limitations of humanity cannot avoid. She said the words, but all sounded muffled.

Rob performed a query. His search returned a similar string with different variables. It was from a recent event: the last before helping Donna create the data machine. Memory damaged by the harshness of what she had to endure. Whether the wound was physical or just psychological, Rob wasn’t sure. Every time he tried to reach, the titter turned into a wail. The code into a cloud of flickering lights avoiding to be remembered.

Rob returned to the empty room, leaving the virtual rivers to flow by themselves. He understood some memories are meant to be buried and forgotten forever. “Not to worry dear, I’ll take care of you as well.” He stood, rusty joins squeaking, and grabbed the couch to move it towards the door. “Let’s get ready to fix all these toys.”