And I thought about Emma. Even now, the memory loop continued to play.

The water was getting into my system, corrupting my processing. One memory stood out. Bigger and brighter than all the others. A memory I had never accessed before. A memory of Emma—

Reaching for me.

Her fingers stretched toward mine.

Her voice loud above roaring water.

“XR! Take my hand!”

That is when I understood my misunderstanding. This was not a memory.

This was happening.

Here/Now.

Emma had found me.

She was trying to save my life.

01011000

Water rushed beneath me. Emma was perched above. But she was not alone. Farther up the hill, I caught sight of SkD. One of its telescoping arms was extended. Emma held tightly to its claw. The only thing keeping her from falling.

But what was keeping SkD from falling?

This question found its answer when my gaze moved up the hill. I saw a giant metal hand. Attached to a giant metal arm. Connected to a giant metal body.

Ceeron.

The robot gripped a tree with one hand and SkD with the other. Its enormous feet were planted into the tilted earth. Its white eyes glowed down at me.

I looked at the three of them. Ceeron/SkD/Emma. They formed a chain. Three links down a hill. Robot/Robot/Human. All working toward the same purpose. All working to rescue me.

“Grab on, XR!” Emma called out. “We’ve got you!”

I swung my free arm.

I grabbed Emma’s hand.

I became the fourth link in the chain.

01011001

Once we had all safely reached the top of the hill, I collapsed onto the grass. The only sound in my audio ports was the loud hum of my own operating system. The whirring of a dozen different overworked internal processors.

Emma lay beside me. Her chest rose and fell with each heavy gasp. Her internal operating system must have been overworked, too.

I looked at her. She looked at me.

I said, “Thank you.”

She replied, “I’m sorry.”

“I put all of you at risk,” I said.

“So did I,” she replied.

“I understand why you did what you did.”

“I should have told you sooner.”

I shook my head. “What you did was logical. If you had told us your true destination, it would have increased the risk. For you. And for the other humans.”

These last words hung in my memory drive. Other humans.

I sat up suddenly. “The other humans. Your FamilyUnit. They still need your help.”

From my experience with Emma, I had learned that a single human face can hold many emotions. Sometimes, they are hidden beneath the surface. Only visible from the faint flicker of an eyelid or the slight parting of a mouth. Other times, a human’s feelings spill out over their face like a cracked egg. They go everywhere at once.

This was one of those times.