Jay and Lisa spent that evening in the pub. Jay ordered her usual food, while Lisa stuck to a vegetarian dish.
"So, any luck with a new wardrobe?" Asked Jay.
Lisa let out a little giggle. "Actually, there are a few new fashions coming out of the four legged variety- and no, it doesn't look like a table cloth."
"I find that really hard to believe," Said Jay.
"Believe it. Humans- for lack of a better word, are very inventive." Lisa giggled again. "I'm still not sure if I'm bothered mind. Still, I'm willing to explore it."
Jay drank the wine looking a little sadly at something. "I made a bit of a mistake today."
"A mistake? You? The slyest fox in town? How can that be?" Lisa looked curiously.
Jay sighed. "Well, you know with Anderson's gone... some of us have to do his work."
"You mean he actually did a day's job?" Lisa said raising an eyebrow.
Jay gave a little laugh at the joke, but wasn't really happy about it. What Toby said really hit the fox to her heart... She felt a little sorry for their boss's fate. Still, life had to go on... and they had a job to continue.
Lisa noticed Jay's look. "Oh come on, you know I'm kidding."
"Yeah... sorry. I guess I feel sorry for him."
"Well don't. Remember all the crap he put you through? Don't you recall last week you were nearly relegated to a desk job just for what you look like? Not to mention he is responsible for hiring someone to push Toby into the sunlight. He lied in court, he 'used' people and money... Or have you forgotten all that?"
Jay nodded. That was true... "Anyway... we have to deal with his absence. I gave most of the phone calls to Toby, given he's the manager. But..."
"But...?" Lisa leaned a little closer.
"But he said he rather have the time for his family then to do all that." Jay explained. Truth be told it did not make a lot of sense to the fox girl. More money would surly mean more to provide to a family? All she did was try to help... well good intentions and all...
Lisa looked perplexed at that as well. "Well... I don't mean to sound crass, but there is an opportunity here."
Jay tilted her head.
"Why don't you go for the top job instead?"
"I like being a news reporter," the fox girl replied. "This body doesn't feel right being too much behind a desk."
"Hm... Well, if Toby is not going to take it, and you're not going to take it... then maybe I'll have to go for it. I know I could do with an extra 50K a year." she giggled.
"Ha..." Jay smiled a bit. This was reverse psychology. "You know, 'maybe' I will shoot for that job after all... I should be able to do some of the management, and still be a news reporter... and get a big bonus out of it."
"That's my girl." Lisa winked. "And maybe, we'll throw a few parties."
Jay laughed a little more as they both drank. Though she still thought about Anderson. Poor thing... here they were, already diving up his salary assuming he probably wasn't going to come back. His office, his job, his salary... all just tidily distributed towards the rest of them. A tiny bit of guilt came to her again, but she squashed it down. Still...
"You know Lisa... this might sound a little crazy... but should we go see Anderson?"
"What?" Lisa asked flatly. "Tell me your joking..."
Jay thought a bit more about it. "Ha.. yeah.. your right. Anderson's fine. Forget I said anything."
Effie looked sadly to the daemon. She wished with all her heart she could do something for him.
"So... what is this workshop you have?" She asked the linux fairy.
"Ha... its beautiful. Every single tool of the trade. Every diagnostic program or building program you could need here. We have it all. I actually created version 1.0 of the digital fairy scanner," he winked.
"We both did," said the AI Vertigo flashing its orb light.
"Oh right..yeah. We both collaborated on it... of course its been tweaked on a lot since then. A testament to open software. I'd like to see it done privately that quickly."
The AI chuckled. "Give it time, private software will eventually enter our world... I believe someone is already charging for a compression algorithm."
Effie sighed a bit. "All this is.. really interesting. But... aren't you worried that someone in the real world... just has to pull a plug and we just... stop?" Or worse, thought the ME fairy... they could end up corrupted.
"We actually have programs watching for power fluctuations. If one happens, we have time to evacuate to other servers. Our daemon there, is actually monitoring many connections that way."
"But your treating him like a slave!" said Effie a bit upset.
The linux fairy looked shocked. "N-No! We have to keep his program active, or he just decompiles himself. It nearly happened once already. By interacting with people, there's a chance he might repair himself."
"We're not programs! We're people!" Effie said getting even more upset.
Dennis placed a hand onto Effie's shoulder. "It's okay Effie..." He knew how personal she was taking it.
"Look I'm sorry..." Janus said in the end. "Tell you what, let me show you some really cool things we've found on the net. It really isn't so bad here... Some of us even have jobs working for the government. They like having a few of us on their side," he winked.
Effie looked at Dennis then nodded. "Well... okay..." She sighed. She might as well see what else was here...
The Daemon efficiently approached. "Transfer to the workshop?"
"Yes please, all three of us," Replied Janus gesturing to Effie and Dennis.
The daemon stared for a long while at Effie... a program activated, and something appeared in his hand. "... flower? For... pretty girl?"
All the fairies looked in shock.
Effie took the flower carefully from the daemon... "T-thank.. you..."
The Daemon gave a vacant look to her, as it telephoned them to the workshop.
The space girl looked a wreck...
Her hair was unkempt, her eyes red and stinging with tears. Outside her door, she had thrown out every single book from the house. in a fit of anger she realised she had no use for them besides maybe firewood. They were all placed inside a large metal bin. All the newspapers, magazines... She found a match lighting it.
The paper took a while to catch fire but eventually it did... burning in a soft orange glow.
She took out a picture... she had found it hidden in the bookshelf. It was a photo of her old self as a young man... shaking the hands of someone when she got her first award in the media. She couldn't remember quite what she earned... but it catapulted her. how quickly she rose from the ranks...
She had a few other photos, of those key moments in her life. When she was congratulated for getting the job as a manager, and she swore to make her company succeed.
She tossed all the photos in the bin, letting them catch fire. Asiy! Asiy! She shouted seeing them gone... forever. Just like her.
Finally, she collapsed, still hovering foot of the ground. She tore at her green hair as it got in the way of her eyes, she scratched at the soft skin, twitching and writhing as if imagining it was her own body in those flames, as it consumed the books... editorials... things she had made in a previous life that meant nothing to her any more.
Finally she laughed... she just laughed at the insanity of it all. She lost everything... she even nearly caused a school to be destroyed, just because someone dangled hope to her. She was never returning back to normal.
She shivered as the wind picked up a bit more...
She realised very quickly...
...she couldn't live like this.
She had nobody... nothing.
This house... this place... this entire world, wasn't hers any more.
She looked up at the sky a little wistfully, through those tearful eyes. She had a memory when she was a small child. Whenever she was alone, the clouds were her friends... she would play games with them. Running with them, or seeing things in their shapes... she wasn't sure who told her that, but right now... she needed to be among friends.
She tensed up her legs, lifting herself in a straight line from her house...
... higher...
she did not stop accelerating.
Higher still... she did not look down.
She maintained her full acceleration, picking up speed very quickly. She had a deranged smile on her lips and let out an insane laugh as she used the strange force to maintain a constant acceleration. She felt the air start to cut into her body as she felt the need to streamline her form, like a reverse dive...
She still accelerated, saying in her mind a prayer to end this quick...
