Page 2 of Furi

Parts limited; they had trouble getting the 4D printers to work that would provide the parts for themselves. A problem with the computer programming they couldn’t fix for all their smarts. Her father had had to get imaginative in ordering those. Explaining why he needed them became a a bit of a game. But he did it. Only too happy to help. But those parts were never quite right and they still couldn’t make it work but kept trying.

That burgening friendship soon provided rewards for all of them.

No one knew then just how important that relationship would become.

Slaves to this Earth Corp, it was logical that they would come looking for their property. Her father had dismissed that by saying they’d left them to space and they were free now. But she knew the Cyborgs struggled with that.

Her own ancestors had been part of that colonisation program from Old Earth creating new worlds and stories had been handed down. Her people had been lucky to make it too. Their ship had also had problems and people had died in stasis.

Ironically for Cyborgs who lived a human life many times over, it took them nearly four times as long to make it to safety than her ancestors, but their world was not their destination.

That was still out there somewhere.

None of them knowing what happened to it. Or the humans on it. If they made it at all.

It wasn’t logical but she knew the Cyborgs carried some guilt over not getting there. Not fulfilling their objective in their programming. The question had been raised time and time again, particularly with each failure to fix the craft.

They felt responsible and yet it wasn't their fault at all.

Although her world had no air surveillance, described to her as the ability to view the land from the sky, it seemed magical but even so, she knew her father had taken all the horses and oxen to help move the craft into their large, covered canyons. The Cyborgs having great strength and equipment to help in moving it to safety it had been easy to do. And there it had remained.

For all their technology, they were not spaceship engineers and decades of looking at every schematic they could access, their work limited to systems that they could still use, had not provided the answers to fix the problem once and for all. It seemed the computer that ran it all, had fundamental flaws. Rerouting wiring and connections only got them so far until they too became corrupted. And there was no option of a reboot.

Whatever that was….

They could fix the skin manually, the tares in it, the parts replaced that they had that were damaged or doing a jungle fix making it work (whatever that was) but what made it all function they couldn’t make work at all.

She was torn by that. Grateful that they were still with her, but knowing they wished to be doing their duty. Looking at them work, she knew there was no way she could do all this without them.

Not now.

Feeding Emily, she didn’t hear him arrive but then she never did. They all walked silently. A lesson they learned early. Make noise and it got you killed or your brother. Their creators taking no chances. Any who didn’t learn that quickly enough were soon terminated.

Holding in her shudder, she couldn’t bear to think of it. Turning to him he was doing that kinda smiling thing.

And grinned at seeing it, he was so bad at it. They tried hard to fit in but sometimes, but often it just didn't work. Like now. "Would you stop, that's terrible!" She sniggered.

"How are we to learn if we do not try?" 0504 asked her dead pan.

"Yes, I get it. You need to try. It is better. Kind of." She smiled at him as he saw right through her.

"We have been here a long time Betty. We know it is unlikely we can repair the computer damage. If we are to stay here, help you, we need to blend in. And you are alone now apart from Bud and Chan. You need a man, a family for this to go on."

Bud and Chan were what was left of old family retainers. Loyal men her father had known for years.Shrugging she smiled. “I have a family, Emily and you all.” She waved her hand at him as he did that staring thing. "I know, I know." And worried her lip. "It's not easy for me either. We can't expose you. You know others would be coming. Try to take you maybe. I might go to prison if they find out here, Dad never declared you as he should have, and like you say you’ve been here all this time and we never said."

"We will never allow that."

She nodded looking around. "I know but a war is not a good idea.” She sighed. “I think our time is running out."

"Our people will come." He told her reassuringly in that confident way of his and not for the first time. She wasn’t sure if he was trying to comfort her or himself. He said those words in time of stress like now. His logic telling him so. Looking up at him, he showed so little emotion, but she knew they had it. That was why they were trying to learn.

She really hoped so…. Before people found out….

The drunk, Beale, her father's old friend would be talking. He’d want drinks. Want to pay for it with information. What he had now could be the start of a firestorm to end it all.

She should have listened to 0504.

“I’m sorry, I know better than not to listen to you.” The baby finished drinking her milk she handed her to 0504 who naturally put her on his shoulder and started to rub her back to burp her.