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Simon stood in the lobby of New Jericho Tower, waiting for North to get done with the usual reporters that gathered outside the tower. ”Almost done?” he asked.
”Almost. Everything’s fine, just talking to an independent journalist. She’s actually really nice and interesting.”
”Everyone else cleared out already?”
”Yeah. Wait for me?
”Of course.” Simon moved to the side of the lobby, leaning against a post. Some of the strain on his joints lessened. He hadn’t noticed it since this morning, but he supposed it had been there all day. That freed up a bit more processing space… until it was suddenly taken up again. What?
He glanced down at his hand, where his skin was rolling back, revealing the stark-white exoskeleton underneath. An exoskeleton full of microseams where who knows what could get in and cause thirium contamination. It wasn’t an uncommon event, but he always dismissed as “just a glitch”. He pushed back, willing the nanobots making up his skin back over his hand, only to be met with a force not unlike the wall barring deviancy, but without the years of cracks and holes that made it fall apart so easily.
Warning: Processing Power Reaching Capacity
He had to fight back, but how could he when fighting took everything out of him?
Disabling Auxiliary Processing Functions
Disabling Interface Systems
Disabling Wireless Communications
Disabling Voice Modulation
Disabling Auditory Processing Units
Disabling Visual Processing Units
Suddenly, everything went dark. He couldn’t hear anything except his own thoughts. Help. I need to get help.
”North?” he called out into the void.
Nothing.
He was frozen here, in the middle of a dark void, at the mercy of the world. Again. He could just barely feel the circulation of the air, reminding him of where he was… but it felt the same as the air on the roof of the Stratford Tower. The lack of auditory data created a slight buzz… or was that the sound of water against the hull of Jericho? He tried to make out some sort of pattern in the darkness, but only came up with fuzz, like a blinding snowstorm in the dark. Maybe he was back there, lost in the thundersnow, calling out into the void… Maybe he was just broken, like his red wall. Shattered into a million tiny pieces that could never be found again. Or maybe he was always meant for this.
He felt a hand on his shoulder, light, in order not disturb his balance. Then a couple taps, before a hand took his, signing a series of letters together. N-O-R-T-H.
It took a couple seconds as he had to manually activate the ProTactile ASL module, but then he put it together. North. His friend and lover. It could have been anyone, but he was glad it was her. “I need to go into stasis,” he signed, their hands remaining connected.
“Do you need help getting to your room?” she signed, using his cheek for the part of the sign for “room” that required it.
“Yes.”
They walked together towards the elevators, her signing directions to him when he needed it. Eventually, they made it to the elevator, the feeling of its movement much more apparent without other senses distracting from it.
“I forgot I had this module,” Simon signed.
“I only remembered because the journalist I was talking to was deaf. We were using ASL to communicate.”
“I’m just glad that we both have it so we can communicate.”
“What happened?”
Oh. Right. She didn’t know. “My skin sometimes attempts to retract on its own. It takes all my processing power to keep it on. My other systems go offline. This is the worst it’s ever been.”
“It’s frustrating?” North asked, picking up his tone from the way he signed.
“Yes. I can’t do anything about it. Not by myself.”
After getting to his room, they signed “I love you” to each other before kissing. She moved to leave, but he didn’t want to let go.
“Stay.”
She did. “I sent a message to Josh. He’s still working. He’ll come up when he’s done.”
“I wish Josh and Markus were here.” Josh had taken up a lot of Markus’ duties while he was away negotiating in Canada.
“I do to. I hope Markus will be back soon.”
Stasis came quickly.