The last tear

Emma could not believe he had just broken up with her. All her world came tumbling down. Would she never see him again?

The unconsolable girl cried tears of anguish and helplessness. The boy she loved was going through something and she didn’t even know what it was. The blonde girl with red eyes from crying cursed at the world for separating them that way. She deemed it unfair. Why couldn’t she help the boy she loved? Why did he have to leave like her mother did all those years ago?

No. There was no time for crying. She could still stop him. And if not, he would at least have to tell her everything to her face.

Emma told AI-Juliet that she was running after him. She would not let him go like that. After all they had lived together… It wasn’t right.

They called a cab and told the driver the location of Nyco’s house. On the way there, Emma questioned the AI about what Nyco meant by him being "an abomination". The AI told Emma to put her E-Cube in ear mode and that it would talk to her directly since it was classified information. The driver should not hear what it was going to reveal.

AI-Juliet explained how Nyco was part of a Planet-Gazer initiative in which they took the genes of the best assets they had and made humans with the most advantageous characteristics. Emma was shocked.

“He was born in a water tank? All these years he thought his parents abandoned him and he didn’t even have real parents… He must feel so lost now. Oh God, let me see him before he leaves”, Emma wished.

They arrived at his apartment but he wasn’t there. The smart boy had predicted that they would go look for him and decided to go to the Planet-Gazer’s headquarters earlier. Emma and AI-Juliet decided they would look for him there.

The drive there was horrible. Emma pushed the driver to see if she would go faster but she refused. The desperate and frustrated girl tried calling Nyco but, just as she expected, he did not answer.

Her heart was beating like crazy. Would she also lose Nyco as she lost her mother? She could not fathom the idea. Emma looked at the drone next to her projecting her mother’s hologram. “Does it feel as I do? Is it suffering at the thought of losing Nyco or is it just a program imitating what my mom would actually feel?”. She could never know the answer but she was actually glad to have her by her side at that moment.

When they finally got to the front doors of the Planet-Gazer’s headquarters, they went running towards the entrance. Two Planet-Gazers grabbed Emma by the shoulders stopping her from getting inside. It was a restricted area after all. Another guard tried grabbing AI-Juliet but the drone just flew higher as the hologram walked past them. AI-Juliet looked back at Emma.

-Keep going! Stop Nyco!-, Emma shouted.

-I will-, it promised.

The AI did not remember where Alan’s office was since the inside of the headquarters was classified. The real Juliet had hardly left any information of where it was, therefore the engineers that made the AI and Mr. Litdawn had little information to insert. All the AI knew was that it took a while to get there, so the AI thought it should go to the most secluded offices. Juliet had complained about the whereabouts of Alan’s office in an email she had sent to Mr. Litdawn. Her memory was based on that information.

After flying through the base trying to find Nyco and Alan for half an hour, one Planet-Gazer jumped and grabbed the drone.

-What the hell is this?-, Camila asked as she flipped it over to see if she could find who it belonged to.

-Put me down, Camila-, AI-Juliet screamed. -I need to find someone. Let me down, please!-, it begged as it took the hologram out so she could see her form.

-... Juliet?!!-, the confused woman asked.

Nyco was still cleaning his nose from all the crying he had done. He had run out of tissues so he had no alternative but to clean himself in his sleeve. Alan was walking beside him trying to calm him down saying that breaking up with her girlfriend was the right thing to do.

-We Planet-Gazer’s are always risking our lives. It’s cruel to have someone worry about us. In a few years she will find someone, don’t worry. Girls have it pretty easy to find another partner. She will suffer for a few weeks and then go for the next one-, Alan indicated.
Nyco knew that wasn’t true. Emma would not be able to move on that fast. But he did hope she would eventually move on.

Alan got a sudden call on his E-Cube that he had in earphone mode. He answered the call with his hand as he kept guiding Nyco through the hallways.

-What is it?-, Alan asked.

-There’s a hologram here claiming it’s Juliet. Well, an AI based on her. It wants to talk to you.

-Mmmm. Very interesting. Ok, wait there. I’ll go and check this out-, Alan then hung up the call. -Ok Nyco, you keep going straight and then take a turn to the left. Wait for me in those armchairs over there.

-Ok-, Nyco agreed.

-Good boy-, Alan said.

Alan walked back and met up with Camila and the AI of Juliet.

-Well, well, well. I certainly didn’t expect to see you anymore-, he told AI-Juliet.

-What did you tell Nyco?-, AI-Juliet asked furiously.

-Oh come on. We haven’t seen each other in years. That’s how you are going to greet me?

-Cut it out, Alan. We’ve never actually met before-, the AI told him.

-Oh, so you know you are just a copy. And still you come here with that attitude. You really were special…

-Shut up. You promised me you would never go after Nyco. You promised!!!-, AI-Juliet had to hold her tears since she could not seem weak in front of him. AI-Juliet recalled all the emails the real Juliet had with Alan in which he promised he wouldn’t go after Nyco and tell him the truth. At least until Juliet felt he was ready to hear it. AI-Juliet felt furious.

-I promised the real Juliet. Not dollar store Juliet. But since your original self died. Well, why keep the promise? No matter how many copies of her she sends, the fact still remains the same, Nyco should be with us. It’s a waste to have him on Earth doing nothing.

-Let me talk to him… I… want to explain why I didn’t tell him the truth…

-Not a chance. He may change his mind if you do. I’ll make sure he doesn’t answer any of your calls or texts. You, Emma and his friends are nothing but distractions. Just stop meddling in his future from beyond the grave. Talk about attachment issues… Anyway… It’s time for me to go. I don’t have time to play with toys anymore-. Alan grabbed the drone and smashed it on the floor.

They handed Emma the broken pieces of the drone and gave her a ride home. She cried all the way to her house. She had lost her chance of talking with Nyco one last time.

Before getting into the portal that would take him to Saturn, Nyco asked Alan to give him a few minutes. The Planet-Gazer agreed.

Nyco walked up to a window and looked at Earth for one last time. He did not know when he would be back or if he would ever come back. A feeling of melancholy engulfed him. But he knew that feeling would pass too. He would one day become free of all that sorrow as his feelings fade in the wind.

-Goodbye Earth. Goodbye Emma. I wish you the best-, Nyco said looking through the window. Nyco walked slowly into the portal with heavy feet.

As the orange light of the portal covered his body, Nyco envisioned Emma’s smile and realised he would never see it again. That thought made him shed his last tear on Earth.