“It’s not working.” An icy chill of nerves coiled in Eva’s stomach. Am I going to fail this exercise too?

The Sanctuary repeated the instructions, “Carefully remove Muthr’s head in a counterclockwise direction and place it here.”

“I think, perhaps, you should try turning the other way. It may work better,” Rovender said in a gentle tone.

Eva exhaled out the iciness that had seized her. Focused, she rotated Muthr’s head in the opposite direction. It turned smoothly and slid out of the torso. Eva stood, wavering at the added weight of the robot’s heavy head, and walked over to the large mechanized crab form. She set the head in the socket at the center of the crab body and locked it into place.

“Oeeah!” Rovender whistled as he stood next to Eva. “Do you have to remove your head as well to recharge your spirit?”

“Rovee! My head doesn’t come off!” Eva giggled, jabbing him playfully.

“Look!” Rovender pointed.

A warm amber glow returned to Muthr’s eyes. “Eva Nine!” the robot said. “My child, you are alive.”

CHAPTER 16: PUZZLE

I am so glad you escaped successfully,” Muthr said. She had numerous electrodes snaking from her head, giving her the appearance of a wire-haired Medusa. All of the electrodes’ cables were connected to a port on the Sanctuary’s central computer.

Eva was sitting in one of the empty glass tubs, her bare feet raised and her jackvest balled up behind her head like a pillow. She paused from sipping a container of blue-tinted drink. “What happened to you?” she asked.

With her new thick crablike appendages, Muthr grasped her headless original body and raised it. “Well, after you were gone, I was able to slip out of the kitchen through the chaos.” A giant plug descended from the ceiling, locked into the neck socket of the old body, and hoisted it up farther. “At that point the entire house was filled with smoke. Half of the Sanctuary caught fire when the holo-projector exploded.”

Eva watched a bundle of wires snake down from the top of the room, followed by directional lamps, which extended outward on mechanized arms.

Muthr attached the numerous probes to her old body and continued, “The intruder grabbed me in the haze and I struggled, toppling over the burning rubble. When I righted myself, I realized my cell hatch had popped open and my power cell had fallen out. With little reserve power I tried to get here, to this room. However, I realized I was covered in burning debris and aflame.”

“So you dove into the gymnasium pool to put the fire out,” Eva concluded. Wall-mounted arms emerged from hidden panels and began servicing Muthr’s original body.