01000011

Everything was nothing.

And nothing was everything.

What else can I say?

My world was over.

01000100

Black.

At first, that was all I could see.

Then shapes appeared in the darkness. Words and symbols.

LOADING . . .

I had been through this before. Day[1]. The first moments of my life. This time, I was not nearly as confused by the process.

I waited patiently.

A steady/gentle hum vibrated through my circuitry.

And I was reborn.

01000101

Emma’s was the first face that I saw.

When my visual ports flickered on, she was hunched over me, peering into my eyes. Her lips were moving, but silence was all I heard, until—

My audio ports kicked in.

“. . . you hear me?” she was saying. “Come on, XR. Please tell me you’re back.”

“I am back.”

My response startled her. Emma staggered out of sight. When her head popped back into view, a giant smile had spread across her face.

“It worked!” she squealed. “It really worked!”

“You rewired the charging station.”

“Yeah. I guess I did.”

“But I never finished giving you directions.”

Her shoulders lifted and fell. “You told me what I needed to know. Switch the red wire with the gray one. I figured out the rest.”

I glanced left/right. My surroundings had not changed. It was still dark. My coworkers were still frozen in place.

I checked my settings. My battery was back to 5 percent. According to my internal clock, I had been out for nineteen minutes and fifty-four seconds.

My attention returned to Emma. “Thank you for what you have done.”

“No biggie,” she said.

“Would you mind unplugging me?”

She blinked. “Already?”

“SkD needs the power more. Once it has enough of a charge, it can rewire two more charging stations. That way, the three of us can charge at the same time. That will be more efficient.”

She chuckled. “Gotta love that microchip brain.”

Emma reached behind me and grabbed the power cable.

I went into sleep mode.

I did not dream.

01000110

When I woke up, my coworkers were plugged in. So was I. Emma was curled inside a sleeping bag between us.

I peered through the gap in the solar panels. Morning light was just beginning to spread across the sky. As I watched it, a voice surprised me. Emma’s voice.

“Good morning.”

She was looking up at me from her sleeping bag.

“Good morning,” I replied. “I thought you were still in sleep mode.”

In the faint light, I could barely see the smile on her face. “Sleep mode. You’re funny, XR.”

“Am I?” I placed my hand against my chest with a soft clunk. “I was not aware.”

“That’s what makes you so funny.”

I was not sure if this was a compliment. I thanked her anyway.

“How’re you feeling?” Emma asked.

“Much better. Almost back to one hundred percent. Once we are all fully recharged, we can start moving again.”