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Barney’s happy.
He is, truly.
He has a Grandma who may be a little... strange but who loves him dearly.
He has a dad who can now spend time with him since he was offered a job at the Bubble store that pays a lot more for less hours.
He has friends who, although they might seem very different, are actually very similar to him and boy do they have some good times. The five of them spend most afternoons, evenings, weekends and school holidays hanging out together, either just chilling or doing something more active, like working on the treehouse they’re building in the woods behind Savannah’s house. They know those woods like the back of their hands now.
So yeah, Barney’s happy; why wouldn’t he be?
He tries to ignore the way it feels like something is missing. Some vital part of his life.
His fingers fidget with the worn switch on his lamp, flicking it off then back on again.
Off.
On.
It’s been a year. That’s plenty of time. He should’ve moved on by now.
He tries not to think about the fact that his dad still hasn’t completely moved on from the death of his mum. He doesn’t like the implications that he really is-
The lamp clicks off sharply.
It clicks on.
He knows he ought to get used to the dark eventually. The light the lamp gives off isn’t the same anyways, it’s not as comforting as... well, it’s just not the same.
Barney clicks the light off and throws his duvet over his head with a tired sigh.
He clicks the light back on not long after.
Maybe he’ll get used to the dark some other day. It reminds him too much of what happened. He doesn’t want to be dramatic but he’s pretty sure that was the saddest day of his life, and the happiest at the same time.
Great now he’s welling up.
This is stupid. Noah and Rich were here not even an hour ago, having stayed over last night, and now here he is welling up because of how stupidly lonely he feels.
He considers ringing one of his friends just to talk for a bit but he decides against it; they need to sleep too.
Instead he rolls over and lets his pillow get damper as he cries himself to sleep.
A few days come and go and Barney almost forgets about how lonely he’d felt that night. Almost, because he still feels that way from time to time, in the quiet moments when his friends and family are busy and there’s no one else to talk to.
It’s in one of those quiet moments when his phone starts buzzing. It’s an unknown number. He almost doesn’t pick it up - he doesn’t feel like talking to another reporter today. Even though it’s been a year people still call him to ask for a quote or interview for an article or something. Honestly he’s not even sure how they get his number. Regardless something tells him he should pick up this time.
Maybe he just wants to hear a voice other than his own.
The quiet moments suck.
Whatever the reason he taps the green answer button and holds the phone up to his ear.
“Hey pal.” A familiar voice smiles softly down the line.
An excited grin spreads across Barney’s face. Marc! It’s been more than six months since he last spoke to the CEO of Bubble and he’s excited to hear what he’s ringing about this time. Last time they spoke Marc was telling him about his latest invention: ELEFANT.
“You and your family doing well?” Marc asks, brushing off the fact that Barney is still yet to reply. He sounds tired, though Barney guesses that makes sense. Although Marc will defend the decision to upgrade all B-Bots to include... new code... till his last breath even if in the end it wasn’t his call, there’s no denying that it’s made his job as CEO much more involved and difficult. After all he does now have to deal with the fact that his biggest selling product has little to no safety functions. Regardless of his tiredness though he always sounds happy when he rings, which is why Barney is feeling suspicious about the wariness in Marc’s voice. Sure, the excitement and happiness are there still, but it’s underpinned by a strange apprehension that Barney doesn’t think he’s ever heard from Marc before.
“Yeah we’re all doing well.” Barney responds slowly. “How are you? How’s things at Bubble HQ?”
“Things are good, things are good. Uh, ELEFANT is almost ready for launch. You and your friends are welcome to join us for the launch event of course.”
Barney hums softly in response. Marc’s mentioned before that he’d be happy to have them at the launch event, free of charge. It does sound nice, being able to speak to him in person after a year of phone calls, but Barney’s not sure he ever really wants to go back to Bubble HQ. Not after... everything that happened.
“Anyways, there’s uh, something else I was ringing you about.”
That apprehension is much more noticeable now.
“It’s uh, well. Look dude I don’t really know how to say this so I’m just gonna say it outright rather than dance around it okay?”
“Okay?”
“Cool, cool. So uh, we had our yearly check-up of the Cloud yesterday.”
Barney’s breath catches in his throat.
“Everything is working fine, thankfully. But uh, we did notice something... strange.”
Barney sits up straighter in bed. Distantly he can still hear his grandma moving around downstairs, cooking dinner, but the sound is all muffled. It’s fading away and all Barney can hear now is Marc’s even breathing and his own heartbeat.
“What-“ his throat is dry and he coughs, swallows, then tries again.
“What kind of something strange?”
“Barney, we think he’s in the Cloud. His conscience didn’t break up and split into every B-Bot in the world - it went into the Cloud.”
Marc sounds excited and nervous at the same time.
Barney takes a deep breath, squeezing his eyes shut.
“Marc, what does- how- he’s alive?”
“We think so yeah. It’s... tricky. A sentient AI has never been uploaded to a database like this before, hell Barns it never even existed before you guys! But from what we can tell he’s still in there. And I think you might be the key to waking him up.”
“Waking him up?”
The line goes silent for a moment, Marc’s probably working out how to phrase what he’s about to say.
“He’s in there but, his conscience is fragmented. But we think if you come to HQ, come down to the Cloud you might just be the thing needed for him to reassemble himself.”
“You think he can do that?” Barney asks, his heart beating three times as fast as it was earlier, a wild grin spreading across his face.
There’s silence, and his grin drops.
“I don’t know Barns.”
Marc sounds almost distraught.
“I don’t know but, don’t you think we should give it a go? Just in case.”
Barney lets out a long breath he didn’t know he was holding as he stands up from his bed and makes his way to his desk where his lunchbox is. Slowly he runs his fingers over the chrome sticker on the box.
“Yeah.” He chokes out, rubbing away tears. “Yeah we should.”
The Bubble-copter arrives after dinner. Barney hasn’t told his family why he’s going yet, just that Marc wants to show him something cool, but they can tell something is playing on his mind. They’d noticed whilst eating, when Barney had been far too quiet.
Donka had tried to get him talking, patting his hand with a smile and trying not to concentrate on the food he was pushing around his plate.
“Barney,” she’d smiled softly, “you want friends to come over soon? I make food so good they forget their mother!”
Barney had smiled a little at that, but he stayed quiet, trying to ignore the ticking of the clock on the wall that was slowly driving him insane, counting down the minutes until the Bubble-copter arrived. As soon as he’d heard the sound of the Bubble-copter approaching he’d jumped out of his chair and run outside, leaving a half-eaten meal behind him.
Now he’s 10,000 feet in the air and on his way to Bubble HQ. The rotary blades are loud and the noise-dampening headphones he’d been given for the flight are of little comfort. His stomach ties itself in knots as he sees the large building in the distance. The place brings back bad memories, but hope blossoms in his chest as he thinks about the good memory he might be on his way to make. Probably best not to be too hopeful though.
Marc is waiting outside the building when they touch down, clad in his familiar blue hoodie. As soon as the rotary blades have stopped he runs over, pulling Barney into a tight hug as soon as he steps out of the vehicle. When he pulls back he leaves one hand resting on Barney’s shoulder, a comforting weight in the face of why he’s here.
“Hey kid.” Marc grins, looking more excited than Barney’s ever seen him before. “It’s good to finally see you in person again!”
Barney nods, but it’s a subdued smile that he wears. Sure, he’s happy to see Marc, but the apprehension of what he’s here for is more prominent in his mind right now.
Marc’s smile drops and he squeezes Barney’s arm reassuringly.
“I know bud. I’m scared too, but it’s nothing compared to how you’re feeling right now.”
The two walk into the HQ building slowly, silently. In fact, not a single word is spoken until they step out of the elevator and stop in front of the doors that lead to the Cloud.
Marc stretches out one hand to the scanner beside the door but pauses before he can touch it.
“Are you sure you want to do this Barns? I- I can’t promise it’ll work.” He asks carefully.
It’s strange to feel that even with how much Marc wants this he’s willing to let Barney say no. And oh goodness does he want to. He wants to say no, to leave the Cloud and go back to Marc’s office and be shown ELEFANT. To forget about what happened and to move on.
Barney knows he can’t forget. He can’t move on, and especially not when there’s still a chance.
Tentatively he nods, and Marc opens the door.
It’s just the same as he remembers; huge walls of databases that create a near-maze of information all glowing a calming blue. The rest of the room is dark and he can’t make out where the ceiling is.
“I’m gonna- um.” Marc begins hesitantly “I’m gonna wait outside. Okay Barns?”
“Okay.” He replies, the first word he’s said since the building came in sight and his throat feels all tight and scratchy.
With a loud thud that reverberates throughout the room the doors close, leaving Barney alone with the glowing walls of information that maybe, just maybe, might house his friend. He can feel his heartbeat picking up already as he slowly makes his way towards the main console in the centre of the room. His stretches out his arm to the databases as he walks past, fingers not quite touching them as they skim over wires and sockets.
It’s eerily quiet.
The main console looms in front of him, a curved screen above hundreds of buttons. There’s only one button that he needs though, highlighted in yellow.
The light switch.
After all it’s how he found his friend last time he was here. Maybe it’ll work again.
With a hesitant hand he reaches out to rest his fingers on the switch, breath catching in his throat for a moment before a surge of courage overtakes him.
The switch clicks off.
It’s dark. So incredibly dark that Barney can’t even see his own hand in front of his face. His heart is racing, thumping against the cage of his ribs in its desperation. Shadowy figures flicker in the corner of his vision and he’s reminded of why he sleeps with his light on.
Nightmares never go away.
This was a bad idea.
“Marc!” Barney calls out, but the word dies on his tongue before he can say it.
Off to the left, near the top of one of the now dark databases, a tiny golden light glows. Then another. And another. An entire constellation of tiny golden lights that cast a soft glow over the dark room. A broken sob escapes Barney as crystalline tears start to run down his cheeks.
The lights are moving, getting faster and faster rushing towards the central console behind Barney. He watches in shock, awe and joy as they start to form together, each one making part of a bigger picture: two closed eyes and a mouth set in a firm line. Barney stares at the face that he recognises, waiting for the eyes to open, for it to wake up, to say something – anything!
Nothing happens.
The silence that Barney cracked with his sob remains unshattered, pressing down on him with a heavy weight. He pressed his hand to the screen, staring at the golden face that stays unchanged.
“Maybe it’s too late.” He says, voice barely higher than a whisper. “I just- I miss you so much. I miss you Ron.”
One of the eyes flickers.
“Absalom?”