Chapter Nine: Impossibilities

Persephone was waiting when Fox entered Incarna Corps, ROB cradled in his arms like a comatose child. Unlike when ROB had rescued Gabriel, ROB was limp, as if dead. He tried to bar that from his mind: he knew ROB was still thinking, but about what he didn’t know.

“Not even subroutines running.” She whispered, staring at ROB. “Do you have any idea what happened?”

“I told you what happened when I called.” He replied. “We don’t know. Slippy thinks a virus, but what kind of virus attacks AIs with such efficiency?”

She shook her head and gestured for him to follow, going to the elevator. “A bunch of technicians are waiting. You guys can come with, they’ll complain about it but I know ROB. He’ll demand to see you the minute he’s lucid.”

The trio managed weak smiles as they went into the elevator. The situation seemed dismal. They had called Peppy, who demanded to be updated as soon as the situation changed, but was unable to come: he had to yell at a local school principal.

“Your arms holding Fox?” Persephone asked.

“Not well.” He admitted. “He’s heavy, damn heavy. But I want to carry him.”

“I just want to know what’s going on. Ever since he changed bodies, weird things have been happening right and left.” Falco said, sighing.

“I just hope it isn’t terminal.” Slippy said in a blank voice. “We’ve had him around too long to loose him.”

The elevator opened, and Jason was waiting for them. “Come on, let’s get him to a work room.” He said immediately, leading them to a room packed with electrical equipment and cabinets, a table in the middle. “Put him on the table.”

Fox grunted and did so, gently setting ROB’s limp body down, watching with a feeling of hopelessness as they cut away his shirt, opening up data ports on his arm and side and plugging ROB into their equipment. It was only during something like this when the cold fact that ROB was not alive hit him, and it disturbed him. He would have kept standing there if Persephone hadn’t touched his shoulder, drawing him back to sit on a chair next to the wall. Slippy was seated, reading ROB’s manual, and Falco leaned on a wall, brooding.

“Good god.” One of the other technicians blurted, watching as code flashed up onto the screen, eyes wide. “That’s what’s wrong. His programming is completely and utterly butchered. He shouldn’t even be running.”

“What could have done this?” Falco demanded. “I thought AI’s programming was sealed off, so it couldn’t be tampered with.”

“Yes, of course it is, but there are ways to make repairs or something, and that requires up to sixteen passwords, unique to each AI.” Jason said, typing in command after command, watching them error. “OK, I know this is a bit like being in an ER surgery, so I’ll tell you each step we take.”

“That’ll help, I guess.” Said Fox, accepting a cup of coffee from Persephone. He had been up most of the night, sitting on the edge of ROB’s bed, unwilling to leave his friend for fear he’d wake up alone and scared.

“The first thing we’re going to try to do is restart his cardiac and respiratory subroutines. His processor temperature is soaring, he’s going to go into meltdown if we don’t do something about it.” Jason sighed, staring at the screen, which was rejecting every command he typed in. “That’s actually one of the main reasons those subroutines exist. He breathes to put cold air to his processors, and his heart pumps a coolant. He can survive without these, provided he’s doing minimal things, or if he’s in a vacuum, but he’s running at full clip.”

“I’m still catching up on the whole “AIs have hearts” thing.” Falco said dryly.

“Take your time.” He sent Falco a wan smile, then started shooting commands in again. “God. I’m stonewalled. It’s like his I/O doesn’t even work.”

“Crack the chest?” One of the technicians asked, tilting his head.

“Not yet, we still have an hour before that’s necessary.”

“It’s necessary now, Jason. His processor is at over one hundred degrees, and his subprocessors are worse.” The third, a woman, said, looking at readouts. “We have to get his coolant going within five minutes or crack the chest and do it directly.”

“Fill me in before I go insane.” Fox said weakly.

“They mean open his chest plates. It’s not like opening a living person’s chest, they just use they same terms.” Persephone said. “If they do that, they can pipe in coolant and bring his temperature down.”

“Five minutes. All right.” Jason sighed, fingers flying across the keyboard again, not even really seeing the screen, just doing line command after line command. “Come on ROB, take down the wall and let me in.”

“Do you think he’s aware?” Slippy asked absently.

“I hope not. Processor overheating is unpleasant.” Persephone said. “But it’s very possible he is. AIs don’t always follow logic on this sort of thing. Hell, he may even be able to hear us.”

“He better make it out of this, or there’s a girl who’s gonna be pissed at us.” Falco remarked, shaking his head.

“I didn’t even think about that.” Fox slapped his forehead, then paused, mind going back. The last time he had been in a situation like this, he had been five, staring into an emergency room as his father spoke softly to his dying mother, trying to get her to come back to him. She had been comatose, organs heavily damaged by the car accident, but to everyone’s utter shock she had come awake, just a few seconds, long enough to hold his father’s hand and speak to him. Just a few seconds…

Slippy glanced up from the huge book when Fox stood. “What’s up?”

“I have to try something.” Fox leaned on the edge of the metal table. “You listen to me very carefully ROB.” He said softly, right into the AI’s ear. “I’m guessing that maybe you can hear me. You’re about to go into processor meltdown, which I’m guessing would be borderline terminal for you. Don’t you DARE die on me. I can’t loose an adopted family member. And if I’m not enough, there’s a girl who I’m pretty sure likes you a lot. Think about it, buddy. You need to let Jason issue some commands to you, or they’re going to crack your torso open like an egg. I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty unpleasant to me. Come on, make an effort. There are people out here who need you…”

Jason gave out a surprised cry, watching the screen in surprise as, like magic, his command was accepted, ROB’s command line program responding sluggishly to what he was trying to do. “I don’t know what you’re doing, but keep doing it.”

Fox shook his head, holding onto one of ROB’s hands silently, praying.

“What’d you say?” Persephone asked, moving to stand next to him.

“Nevermind… Holy crap!” This was added on when ROB suddenly gasped, a huge ragged breath, back arching and chest lifting toward the ceiling. He was still out cold, but he continued to suck in air, panting as if he had run a marathon. Fox held a hand out, eyes widening as oven-hot air exhaled out.

“Subroutines back online.” Jason was smiling. “Processor temperature?”

“Dropping steadily.” The girl replied, looking with satisfaction at the readings.

“Even better. We’ll have to wait until they’re back inside the safety zone to try to work on the rest of the problems. That’ll take a good fifteen or twenty minutes, unfortunately.” He looked at the trio. “First step toward good health. It’s a good sign. Walk around if you like, I’m going to get some specialized equipment from one of the other rooms.”

“I’ll stay here.” Fox said. “You guys go ahead, we don’t need all three of us wearing out due to nerves…”

Relief filled ROB when he felt his heart start to pump again, wanting to sigh as he gradually became more comfortable. He had let himself sink into a depression, mind wandering in circles. A thrall. He had become a thrall, and was powerless to undo it. He loathed the idea, and had wondering if flickering was better then carrying the burden of Serenade when Fox’s voice started echoing in his ear, soft comforting words, bringing him closer to reality and almost making him cry. Flicking was selfish, end of story. He wouldn’t do that, not when so many seemed to care for him, and made the effort to open his ports back up, letting himself go through the commands being issued, relieved when his subroutines restarted. Why he wasn’t able to fix it himself, he wasn’t sure. Just too bogged down he guessed.

He felt Fox, still there, hand wrapped around his in silent comfort, unable to respond and return the pressure. His repair programs still had him locked down, refusing to let him power up fully until he was back to normal. Of course, the autonomics weren’t intelligent enough to realize there wasn’t anything to repair. So here he was, stuck in a senseless loop. He’d have to shut down the repair programs to come back to reality, but they weren’t the sort of thing that could be shut down. They were separate of his programming, a safety measure. But hadn’t Serenade said she had pulled all his restraint programming?

Hmm.

“Ok, here’s what we’re looking at.” Jason said, pointing at the main screen. “That’s basically ROB’s brain, in programming code. Huge chunks have been removed, just cleanly deleted out, and that’s why he’s frozen. His safety programming is still active and is trying to compensate, but seems unable to.”

“What kind of damage are we talking here?” Fox asked, frowning.

“Well, luckily enough, none of the deletion was within his personality core, but that seems to be the only untouched sector. The hacker or virus or WHATEVER the hell this was was insanely specific. So if he comes out of this, he should still act fairly normal, but I’m not sure an AI can run right without all this. Worse is that I’m not sure how to fix it without doing a cold reinstall of everything, and that requires an uninstall. He’d be down for days at a time if we did that.” He scratched his head. “Whuf, this is an odd problem all right.”

“But what could do this, really? And who’d want to?” Slippy asked. “I mean, if someone did this to him, they’d probably know it would lock him up like this. And if they were just meaning to hurt him, they’d probably target his personality core.”

“Exactly. This was done with purpose.” Said the girl, whose name was Rachel. “But for what exactly?”

“Well, I’ve compiled a list of what was deleted.” Said the third, an older programmer named David. “And you won’t believe it. It’s all safety and restraint programming, all of it. But none of it is crucial to him running.”

There was a long silent moment, then Falco exploded. “So what does that mean?”

“I’m not sure we can let him leave the building, even if he becomes lucid.” Jason said very slowly. “That means all safety measures are off, everything. No holds barred here.”

“So, what, he’ll be dangerous?”

“I can’t say. It’s never happened that I’m aware of. Since the start AIs have had safety programming, at least Three Laws, and he doesn’t even have that. This doesn’t make any sense.” He rubbed his eyes, fuming.

“It’s about to make a lot less sense.” Rachel said. “ROB’s going through his directory files. You can see it on the screen.”

Everyone stared, watching as files opened and closed idily, windows being shuffled around, no hurry to it, almost as if ROB was bored and going through his own files. Then a programming file opened, and the movement stopped except for scrolling of coding.

“What’s that?” Jason asked, looking at David.

“That’s the salvage and repair program. It’s running full-time right now.” David replied, then his eyes widened when ROB selected all the code in the file. “Oh god no. Stop him Jason!”

“What? What?” Fox asked, watching Jason’s hands fly.

“He’s trying to delete his own code out.” Jason cussed vividly. “And he stonewalled me again, smart bastard.”

The code deleted, and ROB’s entire body jolted in surprise, Fox startling as ROB gripped his hand tightly, arm shivering. Then with the uncertainty of a child, ROB started stirring slowly, as if waking up.

“He has a lot of questions to answer.” David said darkly. “AIs can’t delete their own code. It’s just not allowed.”

“He’s got no safeties on. He can do whatever he wants.” Jason said. “This is bad.”

“Bite me!” ROB bellowed, sitting up and scowling at them. “I didn’t have a choice in this! I was brain hacked!”

Everyone jumped, including Fox, whose hand was still in ROB’s tight grip.

“My repair program was keeping me locked in a cycle.” ROB continued waving his other hand around. “Trying to repair what wasn’t there. So, the only way to get myself OUT of that was to completely delete the program. So I did.” He frowned at Jason, was staring. “Let me guess. My eyes are gold, right?”

“Just the irises.”

“Great.” He frowned at the cords coming out of his side. “Sorry I’m such a disaster, Fox. Certain people just seem to have it in for me.”

“I’d settle for an explanation.”

“Remember when I woke up Persephone? All that crap dumped to me was programming by Serenade. Last night she activated it and went selectively through my head, clearing out programming.” He rubbed his eyes. “All my safeties, all my restraints. Basically I was mind raped. My own system couldn’t handle it, and I crashed, and hard, but I could still think, I still had logic. I knew the ship was listing but I couldn’t do anything about it.” He sighed, folding his legs under himself, both hands clenching Fox’s hand like it was the only thing keeping him there, alive, responsive. It really was, he was still mentally a mess, unable to believe he could revamp his own system like he just did. “Imagine how I felt when I heard programmers discussing holding me prisoner. I just want to get out of here.”

“We can’t let you out until your safeties are restored, you know that ROB.” Said Jason, spreading his hands. “You’re a loose cannon right now.”

“Show me the law that says AIs have to have restraints.” He replied in a tired, tired voice. “We always have, but it’s not BY LAW. Am I right?”

“Actually there’s a holdover where if we let an AI go without restraints, we’re responsible for everything that happens because of that. That’s why it never happens, it’s a billion-dollar lawsuit just waiting to happen.”

“You’re old, true, but you’re not special in any other way ROB.” Said David, crossing his arms. “Which is why we’re going to have to hard shut you down and do a cold reinstall of everything except personality data…”

He didn’t get to finish. ROB was off the table, having unplugged himself from everything, and hiding behind Fox, who had been quickly urged to stand up. Fox looked over his shoulder at the quaking AI, blinking.

“Don’t let them turn me off.” He said, voice ragged and near a whisper. “Please don’t.”

“Look, we don’t even know if it’s ROB talking, or that psycho AI Serenade.” Jason pointed out. “We don’t know if she’s still in his head, affecting his behavior. It’d be safer to just let us do the reinstall.”

“How long would that take?” Fox asked, offering a hand behind his back to ROB, who took it again, shocked when he felt ROB’s hands shake.

“Could be as long as two days.”

There was a long silence. During this Falco and Slippy moved to stand by Fox, exchanging looks, and looking at the AI cowering behind Fox like a scared child.

“Don’t you remember what I said?” ROB was still talking in that ragged little voice. “About being trapped in your head with a ticking clock? No awareness? I don’t know if I’d even have that, they’d be doing a cold reinstall. That’s dangerous. The reason it’s not usually done and they usually let ChildMind take over is because reinstalls can drive AIs completely insane.”

“You’re not Childmind, so it’s the only option.” David replied.

“Will everyone shut up and let me think?” Fox asked, voice tight. “He’s MY property. A person, but MINE, my machine, and if I decide against the reinstall, you aren’t doing it, do you geeks understand me?” He wove his free hand in anger, and was rewarded with silence almost instantly, ROB’s hand squeezing his for a second. He sighed, mind working over the issue at hand. ROB had been hacked, and as a result had no restraining programs running whatsoever. No artificial holds, no nothing. Just his conscience to tell him if he was doing something wrong. Fox blinked, and started laughing, letting go of ROB’s hand in favor of cupping his face, laughing helplessly. Like a movie. Just like a movie. Serenade was a genius… insane, but that always went with it.

“Uh, what?” ROB asked, voice more normal.

“Just… just the irony of this. Ok, follow: You don’t have restraint programs to make sure you don’t think a certain way or act a certain way. So it’s just your personality holding you in check and guiding you. Am I right so far?”

“Sounds right.” ROB nodded, and the technicians nodded also.

“So…” Fox smiled sourly. “He’s human.”

“WHAT?” Jason sputtered.

“Serenade made him human. He’s on his own terms, guiding himself, no artificial watchdogs, no anything. He’s his own free-willed person, and besides being mechanical, there’s probably no difference between his personality and one of someone alive.” He let out a sigh, rubbing behind one of his ears. “And I am almost positive that is what my father wanted. My father had a great affection for the AI hiding behind me, friends. A great affection, because he couldn’t help but think of him as another family member, and he wanted ROB to live as a person did. I remember this.” He tilted his head. “So if you honestly think that I’m going to let you shut down my adopted family member and screw around in his head, you are sadly mistaken.”

“You sure, Fox?” Slippy asked, frowning.

“Dead sure.” He nodded. “He’s up and running again, and that’s what matters. Let’s see where it goes from here.” He turned his back to the technicians, looking down at ROB, who was weak-kneed and nearly fawning, unable to believe what had just happened. “You need a new shirt, friend.”

“Um. Yes, yes I do.”

He turned to Persephone. “Can you do a silkscreen on one of those generic white shirts you guys have a ton of?”

“May be able to arrange that.” She agreed, one eyebrow still raised at the speech he had just made, but unable to find a fault in it, but knowing this might eventually destroy ROB. AIs couldn’t handle emotions like people, and that was the reason of the restraints, but Fox wanted to try.

Ten minutes later ROB was staring down at the shirt he was wearing, smiling. Fox had drug up a movie quote, and in bold black letters across the shirt was one simple phrase.

MORE HUMAN THEN HUMAN.

“You realize that if this hits the news, the fit will hit the shan.” Falco was saying as they walked onto the bridge. ROB flopped in his chair, stretching.

“Let it. I don’t care.” Fox shrugged. “And now that we’re in a more private place… ROB, Serenade isn’t still in your head, is she?”

“I don’t think so, but I have no way to be certain.” He replied. “I am a thrall, and until she does what she wants with me I’m stuck that way.”

“But what does she want?” Slippy asked.

“I don’t know.” He sighed, staring at the ceiling. “She’s doing something. That’s all I know. She said something about me leading all AIs before I crashed… but that doesn’t make any sense. AIs have no reason to follow me, as far as I know, so I don’t know what she’s orchestrating.”

“Rantings of a mad woman.” Falco said. “Might not mean anything.”

“What she says always means something. That’s the trick with Serenade.” He studied his claws. “That said, let’s take this one step at a time. Serenade is a very old, classified as insane AI that has no set body or location. She’s an airborne program, changing bodies at will between thralls.” He held up his hand and lowered it to indicate that yes, that included himself. “Now, in her insanity, she sees beyond all the restraints most of us have: the only AI philosopher that has ever existed.”

“I’m good so far.” Fox said, accepting a can of soda from Falco.

“But to that end, while almost all AIs believe there is a grain of truth to her sayings, most don’t take her very seriously. She’s not a leader.” He stared into the distance. “And by breaking all my restraints, she’s created the template for another philosopher: another AI who can do things AIs should not be able to do.”

“Like?”

“The main thing is the lack of restraint programs. Because of that, you’ve already started seeing the effects: being able to alter my own programming, for one.” He scratched his head, frowning. “To that end, I can change my own coding, except for my personality files: those are read-only. Also, immediate emotions: disgust, love at first sight, hatred… those are open to me now. I can also more deeply contemplate my own existence.”

“What, you couldn’t before?” Falco asked, slurping soda.

“I could, but only on fairly basic terms. I wasn’t allowed to put much thought into the “why do I exist” type questions. Beyond that, it’s all guesswork until I try it, but for all I know I may be able to hack incredibly well, or program extra functions into myself, et cetera.”

“Genuine can of worms.” Slippy said. “Good and bad, all at once.”

“Good way of putting it.” He lifted a hand to one of his temples. “Incoming call, it’s Peppy.”

“Patch him through to the main screen then.” Fox managed a smile when Peppy’s image came up, then it turned into a real one when Gabriel ran by in the background, armed to bear with squirtguns. “Hey Pep. How’d the face-off with the school principal go?”

“Good. He can start class tomorrow, and somehow made about a dozen friends while I was speaking to said principal... NO squirt guns inside! OUT!” After yelling that bit over his shoulder, he sighed, smiling at ROB. “I see ROB is on his feet again.”

“Want the short version or long version?” ROB asked.

“Short. I’ll hear the long version later.”

“Serenade brain-hacked me and broke all my restraint programs. But I can run flawlessly without them, so Fox very nicely elected to allow me to do so, as opposed to being shut down for a cold reinstall.”

“I think I understand.” Peppy nodded once. “So. Are we hunting down Serenade?”

“I would but ROB seems determined to not let me.” Fox replied sourly. “Even after all this, he still seems to be covering for her.”

“If anyone decks her one, I’m first in line to do so.” ROB replied. “In the mean time, it doesn’t matter much. It can’t really be undone.”

“You guys going to land the ship then? Gabriel wants to visit, but all I have down here is my arwing.”

Everyone glanced at ROB, who shrugged. “Sure. We’ll be down within the next few hours, ok Pep?”

“That’s fine, not like there’s any rush. Call me if anything interesting happens.”

“You got it.” Fox said, pressing the hang-up button. “That kid really likes you.”

“I saved his life. Or so he says.” ROB shrugged, then scowled when the call light started flashing again. “We’re popular today.”

“Who is it?” Fox sat down absently.

“Persephone.” He brought it up on the main screen again. “Hi again.”

“Two things. One, I have that research for you, it’s on the way. Two, Serenade has leaked your status to the news.” She rubbed her eyes. “We’re up to our elbows here trying to keep news crews out of the lobby. It’s ridiculous! It’s not even that groundbreaking!”

“Tell normal people that. Thanks for the heads-up.”

“You’re welcome. I’m out.”

“Great, we’re going to be seeing that pelting of news crews as soon as we land.” Falco said, scowling.

“They can’t go onto the tarmac, at least.” Slippy said. “It’s just going to be leaving and arriving that’ll be a bugger. What research was she talking about, ROB?”

“Long story.” He replied, registering the file as arriving and downloading it into his head for perusal. “I’m going to take a shower. The ship is qued for landing permission, it’ll auto-descend when we get that permission.”

“All right.”

Almost grateful to escape, ROB let his thoughts wander through the file as he undressed, climbing into the shower and turning it on full-bore. Apparently Incarna Corps had done work with vocal cords before, and it was the opinion of the doctors working with Incarna Corps that someone with a condition like Andrea’s had a good outlook. He nodded contentedly, scrubbing at the fur on his scalp. Maybe she’d allow it, maybe she wouldn’t.

But why wouldn’t she? If there was even a chance of her speaking again, shouldn’t she grab for it? She had seemed almost scared when he had last spoke to her… He huffed, tilting his head back. Thus, one of the disparities between him, the machine, and her, the living being. He would have just kept trying to fix the problem, living people just gave up eventually, or at least many did.

“I’m thinking like Serenade!” He punched the back wall of the shower with a snarl, teeth bared at himself. He had already been worried about this, now he was doubting everything, even himself. Infuriating.

But… He rubbed his hand, making sure there weren’t any breaks in the skin, and sighed. Wouldn’t she be happy to laugh?

He decided to send her the information, with a note attached. She didn’t have to do this, but she had a right to know about it. Right?

“Looks like Spaceport Security is doing their job.” Fox said, standing at the top of the ramp and staring out over the tarmacs. The news crews, which had somehow caught wind of the Great Fox descending, were kept back behind the fences, restrained from overrunning them the minute they touched down.

“That’s good.” ROB replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “Think I should make a statement?”

“Your call. Peppy’s on his way here right now, so you may want to wait on it.”

He nodded, sitting down on the edge of the docking bay. Like most ships, when the Great Fox landed it’s docking bay was fifteen or so feet off the ground. A large ramp extended down to make up for it and allow ground vehicles in and out, but toward the edges it just ended, letting ROB dangle his feet off. He could feel the cameras looking at him, trying to zoom in, and turned his face away.

Peppy fought his way through the news crews, pulling up and parking at the edge of the ramp. Gabriel hopped out and sprinted up the ramp, tackling ROB with a happy laugh.

“Glad you’re ok. It’d suck you know? Me making it in spite of ChildMind and you going down because of hacking.” Gabriel said, sitting next to him and kicking a foot.

“Heard you’re getting to go to school.”

“Yep.” Gabriel smiled at him happily.

“So how are you ROB? Really?” Peppy asked, walking over.

“I’m good.” He guaranteed. “Just different.”

“Well, what say we all retreat to my house for the time being? I’ll cook.”

“You’re speaking my language.” Falco grinned. “Let’s rock.”

ROB kicked back on the sofa, watching the others talk around the kitchen table. Peppy had broken out some odd card game, and Slippy was busily making use of his probability classes and wiping the floor with everyone. Gabriel was watching TV, laying on his stomach to do so.

He had decided against talking to the press: after all, they didn’t have to know anything. It wasn’t that big of a deal.

“Hey, ROB?”

He looked at Gabriel, who was sitting up now, looking at him. “What’s up, kiddo?”

“What did Serenade do to you exactly?”

“Deleted out all my restraint programming.” He shrugged. “Which means I had to delete my repair program so I could power back up.”

“Man.” Gabriel shook his head. “She really is an evil witch, isn’t she?”

“Not really. Just… strange.” He sighed and crossed his arms, letting his mind wander. According to his wireless connection, Gabriel was online and actively downloading a glut of information: textbooks he supposed. Noticing the ping, Gabriel looked at him and smiled lopsidedly. “Homework and shirking at the same time, eh?”

“Just extra information. Keeps me from having to do too much research when I have to write papers.”

“You haven’t even started school yet.”

“Always be prepared.” He grinned, turning back to the TV and kicking a foot in the air absently, letting ROB link to his network. They swapped information absently, ROB offering up some of his Invader Zim cartoons in trade for an Anime movie Gabriel had downloaded.

It was then the idea started slowly working into his mind as he watched the information transfer. Something just seemed wrong about Gabriel. He was picking up on the ChildMind status, he figured, his sensor programs noticing how damaged his young friend’s programming was. Eternally a child until repairs complete, how unfair was that? He scratched his head, wandering deeper into Gabriel’s mind, barely realizing he had bypassed over a dozen levels of security in the process.

Gabriel froze, looking over his shoulder at ROB, feeling what was happening and unable to believe it. “Is that you? Or Serenade?”

“It’s me.” ROB replied in a distant voice, watching programming scroll by, highlighted red sections flashing that showed where ChildMind had taken hold, like a virus. The program never had worked very well. He stood and moved over to sit next to Gabriel, scanning again and again. ChildMind was temporary, so it had to be removeable.

“What are you doing?” Gabriel’s voice was a strange whisper.

“I know it’s sort of a violation of privacy, but bear with it. I think I can break you out of this…”

“That isn’t possible. ChildMind is a permanent status until repairs are completed.” He shook his head.

“But what is there to repair? You suffered hardware damage, Gabe. I bet your repair program isn’t doing much of anything but running in circles.”

“What’s going on?” Peppy’s voice reached his ears, sounding bewildered.

“He’s… trying to break me out of ChildMind.” Gabriel managed to reply.

“It’s a programming outside of his core programming, but still affecting it. Like a virus.” ROB supplied. “They really should discard the use of ChildMind. It’s almost as damaging as it is healing.”

“ROB, are you sure you should play around with that?” Fox’s voice now, sounding uneasy.

“Trust me.” He replied, finding what he was looking for in the programming. “Bear with me Gabriel. This will probably feel strange.”

In terms of imagery, it was like trying to take a security blanket from a toddler. Lots of prying, coaxing, and shaking around, but it ripped free eventually, and he deleted it as soon as he got the ChildMind programming free of Gabriel’s core programming. Only then did he return to himself, doubling over and rubbing his temples as a migraine set in. He had spent too much time in someone else’s head.

“Gabriel? Are you ok?” Peppy was crouched next to his adopted son. Gabriel had curled up on the ground, holding his head, but was moving now, very slowly.

“I’m ok.” Gabriel sat up gradually, blinking. Had he really been so bogged down before? Suddenly… Suddenly there was room to grow. He turned shocked eyes to ROB, who looked back, eyes solid gold and glowing. “ROB? Your eyes…”

“Gold. Yeah, I know.” He sighed. “Do you feel any better?”

“Y-yeah. A lot better. Is ChildMind gone?”

“Yeah, it’s gone.” ROB stood unsteadily and joined those still sitting at the table, holding his head. “Someone deal me some cards.”

“Not until you do some explaining.” Falco said, picking up the card deck and shuffling. “Let me guess: that’s never been done before.”

“Yeah.” ROB said dully. “Basically.”

“So why were you able to?”

“Something Serenade did to me I guess. Can we not talk about it? Please?”

“But why would she give you that sort of power?” Fox asked, sitting down at the table and staring at ROB.

“I don’t know. I really don’t.” He looked at all his friends, who just stared back at him. “I really am a screw up, aren’t I?”

Slippy laughed softly. “No, not really. A victim of circumstance, more then anything. Deal the cards, Falco.”

Falco shrugged and did, and ROB just sat there, amazed they had let it drop like that. They were getting used to him, he guessed, and all his random happenings. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing in the long run, but he also wasn’t sure it mattered. This was his family, after all. Weren’t they supposed to support him?