Chapter Thirty-Three

The next day, Dr. Bravermen agreed they could take Viktoriya home, and he would make regular visits to check on her progress.

At home, she reclined on the sofa. Her mom sat next to her and tried to offer her a sip of hot tea, but their girl simply pushed the cup away. A bit of the hot beverage spilled on her dad’s leg, and even though it burned a bit, he didn’t flinch—not wanting to disturb his daughter.

“Sweetie,” he whispered. “Talking about it may help, y’know?”

Viktoriya mumbled, the words inaudible.

He sighed.

The police showed up, and from what they explained, there was an Argosys invasion at the building, and Viktoriya had been stuck in the middle of it—they weren’t sure how she’d gotten there.

There was something about falling out of a tenth-floor window as well—but the story was so unclear, he couldn’t make any sense of it at all.

An officer reported that upon their arrival at the scene, an unauthorized dropship was taking off from the roof of another warehouse building near the location.

That could only mean one thing—Argosys was heading for TITAN.

But right now, he couldn’t be bothered to care. All that mattered was Viktoriya.

He touched Viktoriya’s CyberArm.

She flinched at the touch.

“Please, don’t.”

Dr. Bravermen stopped in, gave Viktoriya a thorough check, and decided everything was going well. A few of her ribs also suffered hairline cracks, but didn’t warrant any extraordinary corrections.

“I’ll return tomorrow evening to make sure everything is still satisfactory. I apologize for rushing out. I have one last stop to make.”

“Thank you, Juan, we really appr—”

“Think nothing of it. I’m glad she’s in great shape. G’nite.”

Viktoriya rested for over three hours, almost entirely immobile, content to just be stationary and not jostled around, back and forth, when she finally turned her head to her dad.

“Fix… CLEFF.” Viktoriya stammered.

Her dad sat straight up, the sound of his daughter’s voice music to his ears. “Could you repeat that, sweet girl?”

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Viktoriya stirred. She reached over to her side and lifted her jacket from the couch from where she left it the day before. She pulled the mainframe card out from the jacket’s inside pocket and handed it to her father.

Her body trembled, and her eyes focused on nothing but the blue and yellow wall beyond him she loved so dearly. Unfortunately for her that day, the wall offered no respite or fantastic journey for her.

“Fix CLEFF.”

He leaned closer, observing the board that she held in her hand.

“Is this—” he tried to ask.

“Yes,” she responded impatiently.

“Okay, okay. I’m heading to the lab to take a look.”

“Wait, can I… Can I come?”

“Hun, are you really okay enough to help with CLEFF? You should rest here so—”

“I want to come with you to your lab; I’ll stay on your couch. Can we please start now? I’m feeling better. I think the meds are doing their job.”

“Yeah, mine too.”

He slowly took her to the workshop. He knew better than to ask the many questions that were going on in his mind. After all, if he fixed CLEFF, he would have access to all the footage and get the answers he needed. There was no need to force the explanation out of their daughter, who looked like she had been through hell and back.

Eva scrambled down the stairs, making her way to the lab where they sat, working the mainboard. Hearing the father-daughter conversation, her mom stopped beside the door, supporting herself with the wall as she listened.

“So, you feel like sharing with me what happened? Only if you want to,” her dad asked.

“I…” Viktoriya stammered.

She raised her head to find her father still concentrating on fixing the body, using one of the micro-soldering irons to secure some wires to the board. She swallowed, not knowing how she was going to explain herself. What she had considered a harmless journey to help a friend had turned out to be much more dangerous than she had could have imagined. She wondered if her parents even knew Aura was that dangerous. Or at least the Argosys team she followed.

“You can tell me, Vik. If you want to,” he said calmly. If he was furious, he showed no sign of it. He was relaxed throughout the conversation.

“I wanted to talk to Aura,” Viktoriya finally said.

She waited for a reaction, but he did not give any. Instead, he patiently waited for her to continue her explanation.

“I thought maybe if I could talk to her, then I would know if all the awful things they said were true and how to help her,” she said. She felt like her father would understand her. He had not scolded her for leaving yet. He remained calm, concentrating on fixing CLEFF while she continued speaking.

Her mom was still listening to the conversation. It was not the words that their girl spoke that kept her standing there, feeling bad about herself, but more about how she said them. The way every word sounded like it was breaking her into a million pieces, the way trust is shattered when struck by betrayal.

“I… I wanted to know if she was okay,” Viktoriya continued, the lone tear that had appeared in her eyes now running down her chin. She leaned into her father’s arms, and he readily hugged her.

“It’s okay, honey. And look, we have another framework body for CLEFF. It is one of several we had for the same project. He’s going to be okay.”

Her mom heard the sobs from where she stood. A tear stung her eyes, but she patted them dry, then continued into the lab.

Viktoriya turned to look at her, releasing herself from her father’s warmth.

“I am sorry, Mom,” she muttered.

Her mom pulled her girl to herself.

“No, dear, I am the one that should be sorry,” she replied. She squeezed her, not wanting to let go while her dad continued working on CLEFF.

“So, you and CLEFF are getting along better now?” she smiled, placing her hand on her daughter’s cheek.

She saw that her mom’s smile did not touch her eyes, but she didn’t care right now. Any affirmation on a positive note was well received at that point.

“Yes. Yes, Mom, I love CLEFF.”

“I don’t know… what would become of me without him. I love him.”

“And after what happened, I know he loves me, too.”