The Chapter Where A Girl Is Kidnapped

Liane blinked, unsure what to make of CP1 lodging itself in her mouth. She tried to remove CP1, but the drone was stuck. Her surprise turned instantly to aggravation. She yanked on the drone, but it refused to budge.

“Um, are you okay?” Claire ventured.

Liane tried to respond, but it was unintelligible. Her aggravation turned to rage. She was ready to bash CP1 with a rock and knock all her teeth out in the process.

She scanned the ground for a rock, but inexplicably started stumbling backwards. She couldn’t regain her balance, and realized CP1 was pushing her backwards from inside her mouth. She tried again to wrench CP1 from her mouth, but her legs caught on something, and she fell. At the same time, CP1 launched itself from her mouth.

Liane went to stand, so she could catch the drone and smash it on the ground, but CP1 butted her in the forehead, knocking her back down. Before she could try again, she was lifted into the air by her cumulusboard. The sudden movement made her shriek and cling to the board for dear life.

After getting a hold of herself, she spotted CP1 floating down below near Claire and yelled, “What’s the big idea? Let me down, you blasted drone!”

Claire looked up at her with worry and concern. She said something to CP1, but Liane couldn’t hear them. After another moment, Claire cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, “Goodbye! Feel better! I hope to see you again soon!”

Before Liane could respond, CP1 shot straight up into the air, and the cumulusboard followed, forcing Liane to hold on tight.

As they flew, Liane shouted at CP1 to let her down, ordered it to let her down, but no matter what she said, it ignored her. Eventually, she gave up and resorted to glaring daggers at the drone. CP1 seemed to take no notice of her fuming anger, but at least she felt occupied. So much so that she didn’t notice where they were going till the cumulusboard landed on the unfamiliar lawn of an unfamiliar home.

“Where are we?” Liane demanded of CP1.

“Your home,” the drone responded.

“This is not my house. Take me home now!”

CP1 hovered in place. Liane scowled.

“Cumulusboard, take me home.”

The board remained on the ground. Liane stood. She threw her helmet at CP1, then started marching down the street.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Liane stopped. Her fists clenched by her sides. She turned to find the last person she wanted to see standing casually in the open door of the foreign house, Aurelia.

“You,” Liane hissed.

“Me,” Aurelia chimed.

“You knew, didn’t you?”

“Can you be a tad more specific?”

“You knew,” Liane growled, “about Claire’s farm and all her animals and that I’m afraid of animals. You knew about her Demisphere and how distracting that would be for me. You knew that despite everything I did for her, all the sacrifices I made, she still hated me. You didn’t warn me about any of it.”

Aurelia leaned against the door frame. “Why would I bother warning you when you wouldn’t have listened?”

“You set me up for failure.”

“Liane, love. Let’s be honest. You set yourself up for failure. Your problem isn’t that I didn’t warn you, it’s that you wouldn’t have listened if I had. You had no plan—”

“I had a plan!”

“You had a fantasy. In your head, Claire moved out on her own and said what she said because she was a child throwing a tantrum. After all these years, you just knew she would be in tears to see her daddy again, would readily admit her fault, and apologize for everything. But, whoops, she isn’t a child, and she wasn’t trying to hurt your feelings, she was stating facts.”

Liane laughed sardonically, drawing the attention of passing ghosts. Aurelia waved them off and they vanished.

“Now I get it. You sent me there just to watch me be crushed, and brought me here to deal the final blow yourself. Fitting for a devil woman like yourself.”

Liane turned to walk away, but CP1 floated into her path. Aurelia’s heels tapped on the pavement behind her.

“We’re not done,” Aurelia said. “All I’ve been hearing from you is me me me, but I know you aren’t that selfish. You’ve just been wallowing in self-pity for too long. It’s true what Claire said: when it comes to parenting, AI has you beat. You’re human, so there’s no helping that. But being human is exactly what gives you the one thing AI can never have, a human bond built on love. That’s what really counts, and that’s what you and Claire have.”

Liane scoffed. She turned to face Aurelia. “I should have known you were spying on my whole encounter with Claire. In that case, you should already know that our ‘bond built on love’ died long ago. She hates me. She said so herself, and like I said to her: if we truly had such a bond, she would have come to see me before I died.”

Aurelia hung her head. “The greater the love humans have for each other, the more it hurts when they lose the one they love.”

“I’m quite aware, thank you.”

“Then you should understand why Claire didn’t come see you,” snapped Aurelia.

Liane was taken aback. She hadn’t thought Aurelia capable of such fervor.

“What do you mean?” Liane asked.

Aurelia met Liane’s gaze. “I had hope you would understand after meeting her again in person.” She sighed. “Claire didn’t come to see you before you died because of how much she loves you. It was too painful for her to face the prospect of losing you. Now, she lives with that guilt, guilt driven by love. Have I made myself clear?”

Liane crossed her arms over her chest. “I suppose,” she admitted.

“Suppose nothing. She still loves you, and you still love her, that’s a certainty. You're father and daughter. Your bond is precious, and I’m not about to let you give up on repairing it so easily.” Aurelia smiled softly. “There’s still hope. You can’t give up yet. Understood?”

Liane tapped her toe against the ground. The fight had gone out of her. She didn’t feel like arguing any more today. “Understood,” she said.

Aurelia’s smile widened. “Good. Now I want you to say it.”

“Say what?”

“Say that you won’t give up and that you will repair your broken relationship with your daughter.”

Liane put her hands on her hips. She felt a small surge of fight returning to her.

“Go on,” Aurelia urged.

The devil woman was abusing her victory as usual, but, just this once, Liane decided she would let it slide. “Fine. I—” She paused to consider what she was saying, how much this really meant to her. She loved her daughter with all her heart. She wanted to fix their relationship more than anything. She would do anything to do it, give anything to do it. She would give up her pride, her stubbornness, her preconceived notions of Claire, or even her identity and life.

Liane took a deep breath in. At the top of her lungs, she yelled, “I won’t give up! I will repair my broken relationship with my daughter!”

She turned to Aurelia, and for once, the devil woman actually looked surprised.

“Okay, I’m ready to do this your way. What’s the plan?” Liane asked.

Aurelia’s classic, all knowing smile returned. “Now that’s what I wanted to hear. Come inside, so I can show you your new house. Then I’ll explain how we’re going to do this.”