A small jamboree

Everyone was silent, crouched in a corner, reflecting on their just-ended talk with Priya. She finally related her plan to everyone, not without some complaints about the large number of spiders this web now had, but still complied with Angie’s and Savan’s request.

Siranis, who was an outsider from all the ploys, was the first to call in the insanity of what she proposed- “Take control of the Playground? Is she mad? I mean, I thought she was just trying to screw over the other CEOs in some weird ploy, but not this…” No one responded to his concerns, so he addressed the person who would be the most affected by this -'' What about you, uhm, clopy? If what she said is real, will you spend decades in each of our heads, trying to deprogram us? Are you sure about that?”

As Syna suspected, Priya only told half-truths, which infuriated her to the point where she felt the need to do something for Savan. With grinding teeth, she immediately connected herself to Sovereign and start to look for whatever the Brands uses to suppress the C.T.D even now. “ I now know that it’s a program, so at least I know what I must look for. There’s got to be something!”, she said while typing as madly and aggressively as possible.

Marc looked at her with pity, as he knew that if a CEO wasn’t able to find another solution on their own, then it was probably something a hacker couldn’t just fix on the spot. Savan, while they acknowledged Siranis’s concerns, something else was pressuring them. Angie, who up until then was the fireworks of the group, was sitting in silence, in front of Ingress, using the shiny metal exterior to reflect her face into it.

She turned around with tears in her eyes when she heard Savan getting closer, but quickly turned back to face the fake C.T.D. Priya finally told her the point of Ingress. A few moments later, she was the first to cut the tension.

-” I’ll no longer even have any semblance of humanity in me. She tricked me. I mean, I expected that, but this…that I am to become this”, she pointed with both of arms, repeatedly towards the robot in front of her.

-” Angie…”

-” No, getting some prosthetics and parts, and enhancements or whatever was supposed to be enough. Anything touched by the drugs, which we were pumped by them, was supposed to be replaceable”.

-” But it reached your brain…”

-” That was the deal! THIS! WAS! NOT! THE! DEAL!”, she screamed as loudly as she could, trashing and smashing the ground around Ingress, almost as if she hoped to crash it by mistake. “ That…was not the deal”, she finally whispered under a deluge of tears. Savan didn't know what else to do but embrace her tightly while throwing daggers toward Vivar. They commanded the C.T.D to call Priya now.

-----

-” Angie, Savan…”

-” Savan Forg!”, said assertively the clopy, to which Priya gave a weird smile as if they were proud of their response.

-” Of course, I’m sorry. Do you want to ask something of me?”

-” Yes, a few things. For how long did you know? About Angie? Why this, why play this…”

Priya sighted and was almost prepared to close the connection until Vivar intervened. “ Leave without giving them any answers and the plan is finished. Understood?”

She almost bit her entire lower lip in anger, especially since she never expected the C.T.D to side with his companion over her. “ Diaz, I thought we were supposed to be partners in all…”

-” You still call me by that name, believing that I'm still the old engineer. So did, all this time we worked together, thought that. But I never accepted it, Priya. The Defected me...the new me. I didn't accept it, ever since I regained consciousness, but Diaz died, for me. I died, and trying to reclaim that ghost is impossible now. It never was feasible. I was unsure until now, but I think I can accept that I’m Vivar, the partner of Savan Forg.”

The CEO paused in shock at his response and fiddled around with her arms, looking confused from right to left, trying to understand what was going on. After sharing a look with the C.T.D, she spoke:

-” Hmmmm…since the beginning. I knew that the atrophy got to her spine, and already touched a part of her brain since the start. So, to save her, I made Ingress”.

The last words wake Angie up from her trance enough to rush at the screen, yelling at the CEO- “ SAVE ME? SAVE ME? YOU CALL THIS SALVATION?!”

-” Yes, this is your only hope, little girl. I tried for years now to find a cure for the miners back home, but I failed, alright! I always failed at…”. She then stopped and her pristine face, with her smug smile and confident eyes was replaced by a face filled with regret and mournfulness. “ I was an L manager for your mining group, years before you were even born. Huh, I know right, the power of augmentations…But after rising through all types of positions, screwing over all types of people…friends, family…years spent in luxury and other pleasures…I one day remembered the mines. Just all of the sudden. “

Angie was still fuming, but something about her story made her nostalgic. Something she forgot for a long time ago- “ You're the woman who started to deliver foods and toys and other stuff to the commune. We used to call you Santa...I remember something…”

-” And I remembered you, my abandoned family, after so many…decades. I remembered, but not soon enough. I knew what the drugs were doing to you all, but while trying to ascend to the top, it just…slipped my mind. So I thought that by helping you I will make some kind of amends”. She took a sip from whatever beverage of day she used to wash it all way, again, and continued. " I asked them, you know. About who I should choose for the race. And they voted for you."

-" Who voted? Gabriel, Koh, Erica...who held a vote without me even knowing?"

-" All. They are in more advanced stages than you are...and they figured since you were the youngest of the older groups, the right choice was to give you a chance to find a cure for the ones that will come after you."

Even Syna stopped her key-mashing session, listening closely to Priya’s story, finally understanding why she treated her with such contempt before.

-” But nothing I tried to implement, to improve, to change made a difference or could get past them. So here I was, powerless while playing like a god. A failure. And their desire to keep everything as it, it’s…”

-” Killing the city”, added Syna and Savan simultaneously.

-” Yes. So, I decided that they could have it, but in return, the Playground will be given to any citizens that want it. Maybe this will finally wake them from their stagnation, maybe it will mobilize them, I don’t know what will happen afterward, but that is my dream. To create a place, away from their rot. So, back to you Angie. I failed to save you using the usual methods, but I will save you no matter what!”

-” By transforming me into a robot? There will be nothing left of me.”

-” Yes, there will be. Ingress is made using the same technology as Serviceman. Not as advanced, but the process will be the same, your mind will be transferred into Ingress. Please, have some faith in me. It's the least I could do.”

After she was done, Savan pointed out that this will make Angie a target since she technically won’t have a patient, but Priya, once again, gave them left them with a cryptic wink and just assured them she already has a replacement prepared. “ Don’t worry, I’ll leave it as a surprise because of two reasons. It might get leaked, and it will totally make you drop your faces, so I can't wait to see them.”

-----

Unsure about what to do next, and seeing them all just loiter around, Siranis thought of a way his people spent when dark thoughts clouded over them.

- “ Well…should we just hold a small party?” After which he pulled out from Finer's nutrients holding four bottles of drinks he stole from the last clinics. Angie just laughed at that, then opened her tool bag and pulled out three of her own. Syna blushed and turned her head a bit when Sovereign did the same with four other bottles.

Marc said in advance that his weren’t stolen, but just another gift from his father, which was obvious from the expensive brands he pulled out. “ He always knows what I like”, he added happily while looking at the bottles.

Savan was now a bit scared by their friends, imagining how this might a path to becoming a hooligan. They also blushed since they were the only ones that didn’t think that it was not ok to steal, and tried to get some support from Vivar, but to their shock, he was already pulling four bottles of his own. The knight then noticed Savan’s worried face but only shrugged and replied 

-“ What? It’s not like you would have done this. Besides, how do you think they found out where they were keeping this?”

The group made a big campfire and, following the C.T.D’s instructions, tried to fry and prepare some food from what they gathered and received (stoled) from the clinics. Syna and Siranis were the first to cheer for their jamboree, followed by Marc, Angie, and timidly, Savan. The clopy instantly got a bit red, but not from the booze, but because:

-“ I…never did something like this until now”, which made the rest silent.

-” Never?”, asked Angie.

-” For real”, added Siranis.

-” Well then, happy first night of drinking then!” shouted Syna, followed quickly by the others, and the C.T.Ds. While usually, they enjoyed the peaceful sounds of the night, today wasn't the time for that. So, the hacker used her magic fingers to connect hers and the others' WristComs to Sovereign and shuffle any songs each had downloaded into a playlist. Surprisingly even Savan had a few, even though they knew it was "illegal" to occupy the space of company devices.

-" Well now I'm curious as to what our worker bee listens to", said the hacker teasingly. To their surprise, the clopy had similar tastes in rock and pop songs. A combo of old and new, from the 500 years classics to the last bands from 250 years ago. Angie and Siranis shared a love for more grunge and metal troupes, while Marc had a vast collection of more fast-paced electronic music.

-" Huh, that's weird", added Siranis when he the list.

-" What do you mean?", asked the boy in return.

-" My sister listened to some of these all the time, so I think she would have liked to check the rest."

-" Huh...you don't say...". Both got quiet at her memory, but luckily for them, they were surrounded by gradually drunk people, so there was something else to distract them at any second.

They continued to talk and joke around about their tastes in music, moving on to memory gossip, which then quickly devolved into a work complaining competition. Savan didn’t know how to do that as well, but by remembering every little minor thing that annoyed them, and spilling each out, they managed to reach the same fervor of complaining as the rest.

-” And this one time a kid kicked the shins of another clopy! I was mortified when I saw them”.

-" People do that? Shit. What did you do?"

-” Ha, check this if you want to see something worse”, added Angie while lifting her sleeves behind the elbows. “ A rock slide crushed my joints, from both arms!”, she said in the weird, prideful way.

-” But nothing some Medgel can’t fix?”, asked Savan.

-” Ha, you also use that?”

-----

Siranis went on to tell them about his and Anna’s adventures running around from the security forces, and how they traded stolen parts to get around. 

-” My sister was a great lockpicker, actually”, he added sadly at some point. He then started to drunkenly cry, for a few minutes, while the rest could only pat him on the back.  But, not to spoil the mood entirely, he thought of a toast-“ We drink for her as well tonight, right?”

Marc was the first to stand up and violently hit his bottle to Siranis- “ For Anna!”, after which he chugged down the entire drink in one go. The others followed suit and did the same, returning to the party atmosphere from before.

They continued to celebrate and enjoy themselves until the following day, happy that they had at least one problem-free night.