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“Are you sure I don’t need to come over and take of you?” N – or rather: N in the little box in the corner of Uzi’s vision – asked.
Uzi rolled her eyes – the little video call box rolled around as well -, quickly followed by a coughing fit. She couldn’t help but to feel endeared by her husband’s concerned look.
“I’ll be fine, N.” She assured, waving her hand in a dismissive manner. “It’s just – “
She started coughing again. She grabbed the bottle of vitamin coolant off the table and quickly took a large swig. She slammed the bottle down, wiping her mouth. “It’s nothing.”
“You caught a virus, Uzi.” N emphasized. “Just let me tell the guys there’s an emergency at home and-“
“N, you’re a leading figure in the Copper-9’s Planetary Security Force. You can’t just leave. Besides, it’s only for a few more hours ‘for your shift ends.” Uzi reminded him. She resisted the urge to giggle when she saw his sad expression. “I’m feeling fine, you big goof. I’ll be bright as snow in a couple of days, you’ll see.”
N stared her down, his expression frowned, but after a few moments he let out a relented sigh. “Okay, I’ll yield, but if you start to feel worse-“
“I’ll call, I promise.” Uzi giggled. “Now get back to work, honey.”
N smiled. “Okay. See you tonight.”
“Can’t wait.” Uzi replied, smiling brightly as she waited until N would end the video call. The moment the little box vanished from the corner of her vison, she let out a long groan and let herself fall backwards on the couch. Her processor felt like it was gonna pop out of her visor, the way it was aching. She didn’t like to lie to N, but he already could be such a worrywart on normal days – even if it was something she loved about him, the silly man. It was true she was gonna be fine in a couple of days, but she was far from feeling anything close to fine right now.
Honestly, she felt like crap.
It was a new type of virus that had been popping up with mostly the newer generations of Worker Drone frameworks. It wasn’t anything dangerous – in fact, it was pretty much harmless – but it would wreak havoc on a drone’s primary systems, like heating regulations, coolant regulators, fluctuating energy surges and involuntary steam discharge in the nasal sensors.
Basically, it was the Drone’s version of what humans would call ‘having a severe cold’. A patch was being developed to help combat this, but the effectiveness wasn’t anywhere near being perfect. It had 50-50 percent chance of catching on, and even then there was only a 30 percent change of successful deletion of the virus.
And it seemed that Uzi had all the bad luck with the patch she was given.
She groaned again, reaching behind her head to fluff up the pillow. The sound of the door opening and slamming shut caught her attention, followed by a grumbling female voice.
“-stupid homework, stupid TJ that won’t stop flirting with me, stupid-“
“Nix?!” Uzi called out. “Something wrong?”
“Mom?” the voice answered in surprise. A young female worker Drone peeked her head into the living room. Uzi and N’s 16-year old daughter: Nicole “Nix” Doorman. Her straight silver hair with streaks of dyed fuchsia reached to her shoulders and seemed to dance with every movement she made. She wore her favourite jacket – which coincidentally and “totally not by choice, dad” looked like a shorter version of her father’s trademark fur collar coat. She wore Uzi’s old necklace around her neck. Her warm amber eyes looked surprised at her mother, which quickly turned to concern when she noticed the state Uzi was in.
“Mom, what are you doing here? You look sick. Are you sick?” She let out a frightened gasp. “Am I gonna be sick? You’re not gonna die, right? Where’s dad? Is he coming home soon? Can you help me with my homework later?”
“Nix, calm down.” Uzi couldn’t but laugh at her daughter’s antics. “Gosh, I swear, you inherited too much of your father’s code. The two of you are so much alike sometimes.”
“Should I take that as a compliment or do I need to go ‘angsty teen mode’?” Nix asked, but the glint her visor betrayed her amusement.
“Take it as a compliment, I don’t have the energy to deal with moody teenagers anymore for today.” Uzi joked.
“So, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, just caught that new kiddie virus at work.” Uzi replied. “Got a bit to careless around the sick kids at the clinic and, well, you see what happened.” She rolled her eyes at her daughter’s concerned look. “You’re showing your fathers code again, sweetie. I’ll be fine in a couple of days.”
“You sure?” Nix asked, wringing her hands together. “I mean, you look like crap, mom.”
“Thank you for your brutal honesty and yes, I’m sure.” Uzi smiled reassuringly at her daughter. “My anti-virus software is a bit outdated, so it’s taking a bit more effort for to fight it.”
Nix took a step forward, but stopped herself. “Uh, it’s not contagious, right?”
“No, you’ll be safe, Nix.” Uzi reassured with a warm smile. “The clinic has given me their latest version of the med-patch, so at least we won’t- OOF.”
Nix had thrown herself into her mother’s arms, giving her a tight hug. Uzi smiled softly, caressing the young drone’s hair with one arm, while returning the hug with the other. “So, how was school?” Uzi asked. “Was it as bad as your grumbling made it seem?”
Nix let out a frustrated groan – Uzi immediately felt like she was looking at her younger self – slouching backwards on the couch. “Just the usual. Class felt like going on, like, forever; some classmates find it so funny when I’m eager to answer the teacher’s questions; and oh yeah, I called the teach ‘Auntie Liz’ again.”
“Well, she is your aunt, Nix.” Uzi shrugged. “Honorary or not. I’m sure Lizzy found it quite endearing. And what was I heard you say about TJ?”
“Like I said: ‘the usual’.”
Thad Junior, better known as TJ, was a young drone who went to the same school as Nix and had recently developed a bit of a unreciprocated crush on her. He was quite adamant to show her his affection, despite being a few years younger than Nix. It was actually somewhat cute. Uzi chuckled, which even intensified when her daughter shot her a look of betrayal. “Sorry, dear. Is that boy still so hung up on you?”
“Yeah, and no matter what I say, it won’t go through that thick cap of his that I am out of his age range.”
“You want me to talk to his father for you?”
Nix bounced her feet up and down, almost like she was considering the option. She let out a sigh. “Nah, it’s fine.” She answered. “TJ is annoying, but he’s a good kid. But he needs to realize that I don’t even…”
Uzi noticed how her daughter’s voice trailed off and the way she was kneading her jacket. “Nix?”
Nix sighed, giving her mom an exhausted look. “Being a teenager who’s still figuring herself out stuff is hard…”
Uzi smiled warmly at Nix, gently placing her hand on her daughter’s cheek. “Believe me, it is hard.” She pulled Nix against her, her core purring as the latter snuggled up against her mother. “But you got a good head on your shoulders and loving parents to help you whenever you need or want it. You’ll figure things out, Sparkplug.”
She gave her daughter a final squeeze and proceeded to shoo her off the couch, covering her mouth as she felt another series of cough bubble up. “Now, I need to rest and I believe I’ve heard you grumble something about homework as well?”
Nix’s shoulders dropped. “Yes, mom…”
“But before you do that, could you be a dear and heat me up some vegetable oil soup?” Uzi asked as she laid herself down on the couch.
“Sure thing, mom!” Nix answered enthusiastically with a salute – a near spitting image of N, Uzi noticed. She spun around and made her way to the kitchen.
“Oh, and could you add a shot of gasoline?” Uzi asked, grinning. “Don’t tell your dad, you know he doesn’t like it when I drink …without him.”
“’kay!”
“It’s un-“
“Under the cabinet with the family pictures, behind the box with Grandpa Khan’s lucky wrench, I know!” Nix froze, like someone who knew she had said a bit too much. “Oh ..cr-“
Uzi slowly sat up, her gaze slowly turning towards her daughter. “Nix, how do you know where your dad and I keep our liquor?”
Nix slowly turned around, a sheepish grin on her face and digital beads of sweat running down her visor. “Uh…”
“Answer your mother, Nicole V Doorman.” Uzi commanded sternly, but calmly.
“I …know …because ….I …tried some?”
“You what?!”
Nix squeaked. “Before you get mad, we only tried a shot of the bottle of Lighter Fluid Cider, and –“
“Who’s we?”
“Eep…me and Avery…”
“Avery too? Nix …” Uzi facepalmed, feeling a headache coming on. “When did this happen?”
“Okay, okay, it was a couple of weeks ago, when Aunties V and Liz were looking after me while you and dad were on your date but it was actually Avery who found it – I told them she shouldn’t be snooping around, but you know them - and they asked their mums if they could try it, and Auntie V said ‘sure, you’re old enough but only a little bit’, so actually you should be mad a her, and- and -and …
Uzi held up a hand, shutting Nix up. “Me and V are gonna have a serious conversation about this…” She took a deep breath. “Have you since then drunk it again?”
“No, I didn’t really like it.”
“And nothing of the harder stuff?”
“No, honestly!”
“Have you considered it?”
“…uh, once or twice?” Nix answered truthfully. “BUT I DIDN’T-“
“I believe you, I believe you.” Uzi quickly said. She crossed her arms, looking up at the ceiling with a sigh.
“Am I in trouble?” Nix asked nervously. “Please, don’t tell dad…he’s gonna give me those sad eyes he does whenever he’s disappointed in something.”
“Oh, believe me, your dad is gonna hear about this.” Uzi assured. She couldn’t help but smirk when she saw her daughter stammering and trying to come up with a reason why he shouldn’t know. She sighed. “However …considering V and Lizzy said you could and were present when it happened, and it was something light as that ….I’m just glad you didn’t go for the hard stuff.”
“Avery tried, but Auntie V caught her before she could take a sip.” She chuckled nervously. “She’s normally so …mellow. I didn’t know she could get angry like that….”
“Oh, she can….” Uzi gave her daughter a stern look. “Listen, you’re 16 years old, and I’m not gonna pretend I never did anything stupid at your age.”
“Yeah, I heard the story of how you and dad met, mom.”
“Really not the time for sass, missy.”
“Yes, mom. Sorry, mom.”
Uzi couldn’t help but grin. “What I’m saying is ….if you feel like trying something stupid …I rather you’d do it at home, where me and your father can keep an eye on things, than out there, okay?”
Nix smiled. “Okay, mom.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
“Attagirl.”
“Does that mean I could try some magnets?”
“Don’t push your luck, Nix.”
“Kidding, kidding.” Nix let out a sigh of relief, presenting her mother a wide smile. “How about making you that soup, eh? I mean, if you still want it….”
“That’d be great, Nix.” Uzi replied with a soft smile, which quickly turned to a stern expression. “And then: homework.”
“Yes, mom!” Nix disappeared into the kitchen, humming a cheerful song. That was another thing that showed she was truly N’s daughter as well: her ability to just …deal with certain situations quickly. A whole lot better adjusted than Uzi was at that age.
Uzi sighed and while Nix was busy in the kitchen, she opened up her internal texting app and started sending messages to N.
U: [N, you’ll need to come up with a few extra chores for Nix this weekend.]
N’s reply almost came immediately.
N: [Oh no, what did she do? Not the trash compactor again?]
U: [No, not that. I’ll tell you later, but I dealt with it for now. We’re gonna need to have a talk with V and Lizzy, though.]
N: [Oh, boy…]
U: [As for Nix, I already put the fear of robo-God in her, so try to go easy on her.]
N: [Uh-huh, of course you did. (sarcastic)]
Uzi giggled silently.
N: [Okay, see later. Give Nix my love, will you?]
U: [I will. Say ‘hi’ to Dad for me.]
N: [‘kay. Bye! ;-)]
U: [Dork]
N: [Short]
Hubby has left the chat.
Uzi bursted out in giggles, making a curious Nix pop her head out the kitchen. “What’s so funny?”
“Oh, just your dad.” Uzi replied, a sly grin forming on her face. “He sends you his love and says that you’re are in heap of trouble, young lady.”
By the smirk that was forming on Nix’s face, Uzi could tell she wasn’t buying it. She let out an exaggerated wail, falling on her knees and threw her hands up in the air. “Oh, why, cruel Robo-Jesus, have I both been blessed and cursed with attentive parents who want nothing but the best for me?”
“And the award for best performance goes to-“
The two ladies started laughing. Nix scrambled up, dusting off her legs. “Anyway, the soup is heating up on the stove and I’m gonna get started on my homework. It’s about “The rise and fall of JCJsenson” and its connection with Copper-9’s independence.”
“Oh, you better get started, then.” She shooed her away with a smile. “Go on, off with you.”
“Going!” Nix spun around and walked in the direction of her room. “Just yell if you need something!”
Uzi smiled warmly as she watched her daughter disappear from sight. She had no doubt that Nix would be better than herself and N combined. With a heavy sigh, she laid back down again, her head still aching.
She hated being sick. That virus could bite her.