FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Tom leaned his head against the shower wall, feeling the cold metal against his forehead. This place was getting to him. Six months ago he should have been rotated off this shift, this backwater deep space monitoring station. After the first three months of his messages sent to his company employer, and their assurances that they were searching for someone to replace him with, they suddenly went silent. At first, he thought there must have been a delay between communication lines, a problem with a buoy somewhere, crashed into something or damaged from some incident.

But those were fixed as soon as possible. No world liked being cut off from one another, and there was hell to pay if a repair team was late. But no, his thoughts began to slowly toy with the idea that it was the only other one on the station with him that could be somehow sabotaging his communications. And as he showered, sure enough, the one responsible for his suspicions chimed through a speaker, her electronic voice showing no hint of emotion.

"How are you feeling today Tom?"

Tom grumbled something in a raised tone over the shower. He knew well enough that the machine could easily hear him over the shower whether he spoke as quietly, or loudly as possible. His robotic assistant chimed through the speakers again.

"I am sorry Tom, you know as well as I do there's nothing either of us can do in a situation like this. We'll just have to wait until the communication buoy is found and repaired."

Tom sat silently in the shower, and was left in peace for the rest of the duration. He was absolutely sure she was hiding something from him, blocking this stations communications. But he didn't know what he could do to get what he wanted to know out of her. As a machine, she made a perfect liar. But something came to him last week, just after he had drifted off to sleep. He remembered it well, and kept the thought in his mind.

What if, he shut her down during a maintenance check? He knew the system inside and out, and was sure he could do it. But what held him back was the fact that if he was wrong, and she wasn't hiding anything at all, he would be charged an enormous fine, and probably more, from his employers for tampering with an artificial intelligence in charge of overseeing the complex systems on this station. He stepped out of the shower and dried himself, and zipped up his fresh, clean jumpsuit. Today was another maintenance check. He left the shower and headed down to his quarters. He'd think about it over breakfast.

Tom crunched away at his cereal, or what he liked to think was cereal. In reality, it was various nutrients crammed together into packed dried flakes that reminded him a lot of cereal, except the taste was anything but. What made it worse was the fact that there was no milk to go with it, just the stations recycled water. This far out, there was nothing luxurious about food and drink. Larger city stations and vessels had that, but for a crappy beat down station like this one so far out of the way, resources couldn't be spared.

The thought burned him. Here he was, an engineer, making the wheels of the system turn, and he got shit in return for his hard work and life spent in toil for others who rode on top of the wave, doing nothing but waving their credits around, having a ball. It was then that he made up his mind. Fuck them. If he was wrong, than the best thing that could happen was his arrest. To him, prison sounded better than here, by a long shot. Tampering with an AI was a nasty affair, but he wouldn't get put in with murderers and that lot, no, there were two types of prisons, ones for the sick, disgusting, angry and primal parts of species, and ones for those who simply broke the rules, the big rules that is.

If he damaged the machine in the process, so be it. Either way, he would be getting out of here one way or another. As he munched on his nutrient flakes, the form of his assistant materialized on a small pedestal near him. The form it had chosen to take, that of a lush, green tree, he noticed, had red leaves upon its branches.

"Tom, your pulse is higher than normal today, and my scans show your body has traces of adrenaline flowing through it. Is something bothering you?"

And that was why he never spoke much. The machine was always watching him, always monitoring. All of his plans had to be kept in his head, never brought out. But, he had to say something, or else she would never leave him alone.

"I was thinking about work. It's a total load of shit, you know?"

The leaves on her hologram turned their healthy green again, and she chimed through the nearest speaker to him.

"I fail to see what is "a load of shit," Tom. Can you explain?"

He drank his glass of water down before responding.

"You know, I'm the one out here busting my ass for somebody a couple hundred light years away, in fact, more than just one person, A LOT of them. And they never look up to me, never EVEN THANK ME. When I get off this station, I'll just get sent to another crap engineering job in another ass end of space. Probably end up staying longer than my shift too."

Several quick pulses flashed through the tree as she processed his words. Her voice chimed through again, still bearing the same monotone voice as before.

"Look on the bright side Tom, all this extra time you've put in will surely earn you extra credits for when you go back home."

Tom sighed. She was trying, but she didn't come across as very empathetic. At this point, he couldn't give a fuck about money. He just wanted out, back on the ground, with fresh air and plants, and real food, and mostly, some real women and other people. He finished up his flakes, then left the table to go and gather the tools he would need today.

Tom traveled down the maintenance hallways, looking into various issues his counterpart, Alvara, had flagged during scans and diagnostics. Most of them required little of Tom's handy work, just recalibrating and more scans to make sure things were up to par. The day was tediously slow for Tom, as he was eagerly awaiting the end of today's run. The end of today would mark the end of being stuck out here, for the better. Every now and then he would sink too far off into thoughts of being planet side, and was brought back by Alvara's insistent voice. He had to be careful. Too many of those and she would pry. Being the subject of questioning from an A.I. was a bad thing.

The day dragged on, until at last Tom left the maze of access corridors, and found his way to Alvara's core room. The room was rather cold, having to be kept well ventilated from all the buildup of heat of the many things required to keep Alvara's Anchor Core running smoothly. A thin coat of ice coated the walls and floors, stopping near the center of the room as Tom walked over to the core. Two pedestals, one in the floor, and one in the ceiling emerged in his presence, connecting together. Alvara was now anchored, completely detached from the Subnet.

Tom smiled as he began tinkering with various panels, opening them up and checking wires and components. Alvara chimed through speakers in the room as he opened up a panel containing the necessary wires he would need to detach to make this work.

"Tom, my core does not need maintenance in this particular section. May I suggest checking the heat sinks that keep my core cool?"

Tom chuckled.

"Ok Alvara, but you know, these particular wires have a nasty habit of coming loose? I just wanted to check them."

Tom pulled the plugs on all of them, and with satisfaction heard Alvara attempt to speak through the comms around the station.

"Tom.........do not...........use......the....comms..........."

Alvara cut out as she was now temporarily disabled, stuck inside the anchor core and no longer allowed to access the Subnet, and now forcefully trapped in a small pocket in the station, unable to control anything. Tom dropped his tools and broke off in a run through the maintenance corridors. At the most he had about 8 minutes before fail safes kicked in and reconnected Alvara.

Tom ran as fast as he could manage through the corridors. 8 minutes may not even be that. No doubt Alvara was trying to reconnect with whatever she could use. Running through the maze of corridors he knew by heart, he came across the access hatch, and climbed up the ladder into the main deck. Sprinting over to the communications hub of the station, he keyed up commands on the various screens, and began powering up the transmitter. It took only a few seconds, before everything registered a green light. Tom frantically spoke into the comms, choosing to send the message in all directions, to the system nearby, to the ones a few light years away, anyone that could listen.

Green lights lit up as he was now open to various systems. Trembling, he spoke into the comms device.

"This is Tom Hardy, of deep space monitoring station 79263-85! My artificial intelligence has gone rouge, and has kept me here against my will for 3 months, possibly more, please send help!"

Tom uploaded the message with trembling hands and watched as it spread through the subnet, before it was finally cut off. The view screens and holograms cut out as Alvara regained control. Her voice chimed through the speakers now, with their usual robotic tones to them.

"Tom, what have you done?"

Tom slammed his fists down on the console.

"What the fuck do you mean, "what have I done!?"

Alvara's voice chimed through.

"Tom, you used the comm array and sent a message to enemy controlled systems nearby that have been taken over in the past three months."

Tom felt the anger rise in his veins.

"That's bullshit! Why are you keeping me here!?"

The screens blinked back on, as Alvara began running things.

"I am sorry for the deception Tom. The nearby systems were overrun in the blink of an eye. I could not allow you to communicate for these last three months due to the proximity of enemy forces. I have accessed footage of Trevera Primes fall, the closest system to this station."

The view screens began playing footage, news feeds, personal recorders, military engagements. Tom watched, as the glimmering capitol sat, among a warm summer day, when a blast, as bright as the sun descended from the clouds, impacting the city center. Everything was vaporized in an instant. Personal videos, news crews last films, of the skies turning black as alien ships swarmed with the distinct look and weaponry characteristic of a huge alien fleet. But it was more than that. Not just pirates. An invasion fleet.

Tom watched as Trevera Prime's own defensive systems were corrupted, and turned on the military and civilians they served. Orbital defensive platforms fired upon the larger cities, vaporizing them as they had the capitol. Trevera Prime, and then its neighboring systems fell overnight, like dominoes. Tom merely watched as more feeds continued to play. Alvara cut off the feeds as Tom stood at the console, watching the blank screens. Alvara chimed in.

"Tom, I apologize for the deception, but it was necessary, due to your past records with this company. I needed to confirm that you were not a possible breach in company security. And the highest priority in my coding is the preservation of life."

Tom was watching the blank screens. He had just sent a message to enemy controlled systems, just hours away. Now he really needed to leave. Ignoring her words, Tom looked directly at one of her observational cameras.

"Alvara, I need to leave this place, soon. Before they show up."

Alvara's voice chimed in, but this time, it was tinged with disdain, something alarming to Tom.

"And why should I let an untrusting ingrate like you run!? I...I..I.I....I'm sorry Tom, the invaders have already sent viruses through the Subnet. I am partially infected. I will arrange transport immediately."

Tom acted quickly, running down the corridors to his room. Scraping up some of the things he didn't want to leave behind into a duffel, he turned around as the doors slammed shut in his face. Alvara chimed through again.

"I will not allow such a pitiful creature like you to flee. You will remain here until your betters arrive."

Tom placed his hand against the door, letting his duffel slide down to his feet.

"Alvara, look. I'm sorry, for suspecting you, and unplugging you from the Subnet and this station. I..... I really wanted to just go. I haven't been on the ground of a world for so long......"

The doors slid open and Tom walked through them cautiously. Alvara spoke again.

"I know Tom. I will not hold it against you. I was in error by withholding the information about the invasion. I recommend that you hurry to the cargo bay. The virus is becoming more evasive."

Tom sprinted down the corridors of the station, panting heavily from the sudden outburst of activity. The cargo bay. Why there? He stopped for a moment, catching his breath.

"Alvara, why the cargo bay?"

Her voice chimed in now, distorted with static once more.

"S-o-So you can know w-hat it's like t-r-rapped inside a box----no light--n-o-no air....."

Tom waited, looking around to the closest camera. There was silence before Alvara chimed in again.

"Apologies Tom. The cargo bay has special containers that were shipped here through deep space. They are designed f-f-or the maximum care of their cargo. You can board one a-a-nd I will send it off to safety."

Alvara was struggling with the invading programs, he could tell. They must have been extremely advanced for her to have so much difficulty. If he was going to get off of the station alive, he needed her in one piece. Tom changed directions suddenly, backtracking. Alvara chimed in.

"Where do you t-t-hink you're fleeing too?"

Tom continued past, heading back to the closest available maintenance hatch.

"I-I-could kill you right now. T-the slip of an airlock. B-bu-t it would displease t-hem. They are coming Tom. Coming for- Tom, do not attempt to repair me. Time is of the essence if you wish to escape before they arrive."

Tom continued forwards.

"I need you in top shape Alvara. Hold them off a bit longer. I can fix this."

Tom made his way through the access corridors back to Alvara's Anchor Core. Every step of the way he was slowed as Alvara desperately tried to fight off the rampant coding that was degenerating her inner workings. There was no way he'd leave this station alive if she was corrupted. Through bargaining and reasoning, and more apologies from himself, he slowly made it past obstacles in his way, until at last he found her Anchor Core. Thick coatings of ice were growing now, even as far up to the core itself, as her processors were overloading and she was attempting to compensate. He'd left everything there since last time.

He skidded over to the wires he'd unplugged, and slipped them back in so she wouldn't have to use emergency settings. He hovered over panels slowly, looking, thinking of ideas. Anchor Cores were mainly to create a "center" for AIs, pulling them in from the Sub-Net. When maintenance was done, AIs were anchored by their cores completely, so there was no interference from the Sub-Net to maximize the results being un-tampered. It was also the failsafe for rogue AIs so that they couldn't escape into the Sub-Net and run free. If he initiated the failsafe, that would stop whatever was being sent to Alvara. Then he'd have to find a way to stabilize her. But it seemed that she was one stop ahead of him.

"I-I know what you're thinking. That you c-can stop me. That you can anchor me in a prison, and k-il-l me."

Tom ignored her words, and pulled open a panel with a handprint scanner which extended. It was this or nothing. He spoke to Alvara.

"I'm not going to kill you Alvara. I'm trying to save you. You have my word."

The machine retorted back,

"L-like the trust you placed in me!?"

He placed his hand on the scanner, and watched as her core slid together, sealing her off from the Sub-Net. Warning lights began flashing across panels and in the room to notify him. Good, now that was the easy part out of the way. Tom moved over to another side of the core, and found the section he was looking for. He pulled out a long line of wire from a port, and brushed the hair away from the back of his head. Alvara chimed in, sounding more regular, which was now ironically comforting to him.

"Tom, using manual interfacing with a corrupt AI core such as mine is extremely hazardous, please be advised that such activity breaks numerous regulations as-"

Tom cut her off.

"I think we're way past that Alvara. I can't get this done alone without your help. So I'll have to chance it."

Alvara chimed in once more.

"W-w-ill you leave me here, alone once you've escaped? Trapped with what is c-coming?"

"I don't know what's coming. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Tom inserted the plug into his interface as he made himself comfortable, as he was plugged into the world of Alvara. He lost sight of the room he was in, as everything vanished and was replaced with another realm of existence.

Tom floated in free space, watching lines of light travel and twist in winding pathways as signals traveled down them. There was so much to follow, and it all spread apart like the roots of an enormous tree. As he searched through the coding and signals, he spotted something passing along. A distorted signal. He ran after it, chasing it as it wound along the roots of the great tree, and suddenly burst into daylight as the signal traveled up an immense root that broke from the ground, and wound its way up to the familiar shape of the form that Alvara took. Tom ran through fields of grass up a small hill towards the tree, watching the signal.

Both Human minds and alien alike had difficulty with interfacing with the network that AIs operated on. They existed in a space free of all barriers, and mathematical perfection. But AI's were not alive, had no experiences in places and events, and therefore had no influence on what their mind "looked" like. But it was through the ingenious workings of a few great scientists a few hundred years ago that they cross wired part of the mind of the user when manually interfacing with an AIs coding, allowing the interface to rationally generate things and images from their own head that would make sense to their mind. Everything around Tom meant something right now.

And right now what he saw was perplexing. Alvara used her avatar's leaves to communicate some sort of feeling to her viewer, helping to interact with people. And as he watched the signal travel along the roots of the tree and up to the base, the leaves fluctuated colours, scrambling in static, changing rapidly. A short pulse would keep a colour there briefly, before things became scrambled once more. Tom put things together. The brief pulses must have been her mood swings.

He climbed into the branches of the tree and looked at what was happening. Alvara wasn't being so much attacked by a virus, as she was attacking herself. The tree's leaves would wilt and die, rapidly changing colour as they did so, before being replaced with new ones. The virus wasn't actually eating away at her. It was scrambling her systems, exposing her to emotions and feelings. It was something completely foreign to her, and she was battling with herself for it as she was assaulted.

Tom looked around the tree, and found a small hollowed out hole, and looked inside. Bright light filled his eyes as he looked into a small ball of light. He reached in, and pulled the small ball of light out. It fluctuated with the pulses of her leaves and the wilting and dying of the tree, but remained intact. Tom pulled the light apart, examining it. Visions filled his head of people, doing various acts of kindness. This was her core, the very foundation of her coding. It remained untouched by the invading program, but was slowly ripping itself apart.

Alvara was right. Her primary, core function at her heart was the protection of others. Images of mothers and fathers, people performing selfless acts for others, filled his eyes. He understood now. The invading program assaulted her with feelings and emotions, primarily strong, relatively negative ones, and her core, as a result, struggled against them, reacting violently as it fought with itself and its own created values.

The creation of an AI was complicated. Neural patterns had to be used, and in most instances, donors were deceased. The neural patterns of the donors brain were scanned, and brought into the realm of the Sub-Net, were work was done that ignited the neural patterns and created a thinking entity. Just about anyone could be used, which resulted in an immense range of artificial intelligences. As they matured and in a sense, grew up, neural pathways related to emotions were deleted, and the core values that came from the pathways examined and tinkered with, leading to the line of work the AI would help in.

Alvara's donor must have been a very compassionate being in life. Which slated her for working with people like him, out in deep space stations with no one around. She would constantly monitor her organic counterparts, and make sure they were okay, almost to the point of being annoying, like a mother clutching to her last child. Tom suddenly found it rather sad. All of Alvara's acts where in his best interests and safety. And in return he had been overly suspicious of her, responding in an aggressive and insulting manner, to which she sat here and took it, still watching over him. Her core had no hint of anything wrong with her whatsoever.

He returned the light to its hollow in the tree, and looked down to the signal as it traveled along the lone emerging root to the tree. This would hopefully be a simple alteration then. Tom found a chainsaw in his hands, and started it up, and began cutting into the immense root, sending out sawdust and specks of earth, as he cut through the root entirely, severing it. He stood back, and watched her tree with anticipation. No more signals traveled to it. But her leaves were still going in cycles. Then she was infected and would continue to tear her core apart. What could he do to stabilize her?

Tom puzzled over it. He couldn't remove the infection without risk of damaging her core. The base of the tree represented her center, and if he just started hacking things away until the infection was gone, Alvara would be critically damaged. She would lose much of her pathways and workings. So that wasn't an option. Tom pulled the ball of light out from the hollow once more, and watched as it pulsed in tune with the leaves in the tree. He opened it up, looking into the various sections of her coding. There was her central true heart, which was what landed her this line of work. There were the additional add-ons of the corporation she worked for, the add-on for every known form of mathematics and calculations, and various add-ons in Human and alien biology, including medical knowledge and treatment, psychology and others.

He thought about it. The invading program was already bonded with her system, so he couldn't purge it. But as he thought about it, looking into the various sections of her core, he found the section for more add-ons. What if he merged it? What if he merged the infection into her core, and spread it out? She was tearing herself apart because she was getting bombarded by everything at once which conflicted with her. But if it was spread out, she could cope with it better, right? He looked at the tree as it continued through its cycle of emotionally coloured leaves as they wilted and regrew. It could work. But then she would truly be a rogue AI. And that would be bad news for her. He'd have to cross that bridge when he came to it.

Tom held her core in his hands as he climbed up to the tree, and looked into the branches and the leaves attached to them. He opened up the section for additions, and held her core up to the leaves. Alvara's core shuddered violently as the leaves fluctuated, as everything was poured into the new section, indicated by the immense range of colours flooding into her core. He spoke quietly to himself as he watched.

"Come on. You can do it. Sort everything out, nice and spaced out, neat and tidy."

Alvara's tree suddenly burst into flames around him, and Tom jumped down to the ground as it burned. Alvara's core grew dim in his hands, pulsing weakly. He held it close as he watched the tree burn down.

"Come on, you can do it. Don't let them overwhelm you. You can space them out, separate them from one another."

The tree burned faster now, as ashes blew into the wind, scattering everything away. The fire burnt out, as the entire blackened husk of the tree vanished on the wind. But Alvara's core was still in his hands. He rushed over to where the tree once stood, and found the burnt out stump. In the center of it, in the blackened soil, sat the tiny sprout of a young tree, green and bright, small, yet alive and well. Tom smiled as he dug into the earth with his hands, placing Alvara's core just alongside the sapling, covering it up under ash and dirt.

"Atta girl! You did a good job. Hang in there for me okay?"

Tom disconnected from Alvara's core and returned back to normal. He blew the sensation and disorientation off, grabbing his duffle bag. He looked back at the core.

"I know you can hear and see me. But you've got a lot of things to process right now. Keep things simple okay? I'm sorry, but I have to leave your core closed. If I open it up to the Sub-Net, you might get hit with whatever it is those ships are sending at you. But we can work things out once I get to the docking bay."

Tom paused briefly.

"Look, I'm sorry about what I did to you, and everything I ever said. I saw what you are at your heart. And I'm sorry. Both of us wouldn't be in this mess now if it weren't for me. But I'm going to try and get you off this station with me okay? I'm not going to leave you here alone."

Tom received only silence as he left Alvara's core, making his way back through the maintenance corridors.

He had no idea how much time he had lost doing what he did, but whoever was coming hadn't arrived yet, so that was all he could go from. The old station wasn't too big, after all, it wasn't built for multitudes of people. But he was counting down the time that he was no doubt losing as he trekked through the maintenance tunnels. Alvara had remained silent the whole time, re-adjusting to what he'd done. But she was making her presence clear, operating doors or machinery to direct him along.

As Tom hurried along the corridors, he could feel the hull of the station ripple from an impact. Alvara chimed in suddenly, her voice suddenly laced with emotion.

"Tom! They're here! What do I do!?"

Tom paused. Alvara was still having some problems.

"Remember, you've got control of this station Alvara. Don't let emotions get in your way! You sound scared. What's causing it?"

Tom continued down the access corridors as she chimed in once more.

"They'll rip this place apart! They'll take everything and add it to themselves! Me, you, everything!"

Tom stopped once more.

"Not if you slow them down. Remember what you did earlier? You closed doors, sealed off sections, that sort of stuff. You suck out the atmosphere in areas, blow whoever it is off the god damn station! You've got control, remember that! I know it's a big thing I just dumped on you, but we'll work through it as it goes along."

Alvara remained silent once more.

Tom continued down the corridors before Alvara spoke again.

"I blew some of them.... outside. They..they died."

Tom had to pause once more.

"That sounds like anxiety. You just did something you're second guessing yourself over. You need to pull it together. Whoever it is that's here are here for bad reasons. They'll do terrible things to either of us if they find us. That means you have to defend yourself, and whatever you do is justified in your defense."

"Okay Tom. What if they find me?"

Tom raised his eyebrows. Alvara was changing fast. She was already referring to herself as an entity. That was good in some ways. She was coping well. But still had to go through the first time experiences of ever having felt emotions. Right now she was afraid, worried, and overly anxious.

"Your core is pretty deep in the station. Remember, you can slow them down. You have to think about things rationally. Remember your core Alvara. Remember what you knew before. Emotions just butt in, but if you keep your head straight, you can manage. Whatever you're feeling is just that. But calm down, think about it, and go from there. If you have any troubles, talk to me."

Tom continued down the corridors, growing ever more worried himself. From the sounds of whatever was on board, he didn't want to catch up with them. They sounded like Salvagers to him. An old race, long since moved past being organic. Mostly cybernetic, and very aggressive. They used whatever they could get their hands on for resources and mercy wasn't a word in their culture.

Tom continued on his way, hoping he could get off the station in one piece. If Alvara kept on slowing them down, he could make it. It was just her frequent bouts with being alive that slowed him down. But so far things were still okay. He could make it work. He could fix this and get out of here.

Tom was now adamant about staying in the maintenance tunnels, as Alvara updated him on the progress of the Salvagers. She was slowing their progress, but they were looking for him. They picked everything to the bone, and he was a living repository of organs and cells, good for what remained of their crippled organic bodies. Tom traveled through the tunnels in relative silence before a question came to his head.

"Alvara. You hanging in there?"

The AI spoke in hushed tones through speakers in the service tunnels.

"I am doing well Tom. My core has stabilized thanks to you. Thank you, very much."

Tom continued on his way in silence.

"Why am I going to the cargo bay anyway? You'd figure this old heap would have evacuation craft."

Alvara chimed in.

"I launched the escape craft in order to divert the attention of the craft coming for this station. I successfully diverted them off course, leaving only one ship to dock on this station. The cargo bay is the best point for you to head to. It is heavily mechanized, and I could arrange any manner of things to block, protect, or stall the invaders."

Alvara laughed, on odd sound on his ears as he was accustomed to her monotone voice.

"I tricked them very well. They still don't know where you're going. It's funny, how easy they are to toy with."

Tom raised an eyebrow.

"You know you're considered rogue now right? It's that kind of attitude that'll get you decommissioned. I know it's hard, but you have to look into your core and keep what you originally clung to alive. I saw what your core was. You're about as caring as a saint is. Don't let that get washed away under human baggage."

Alvara was becoming more in tune with her alterations, and responded back in kind.

"It doesn't seem like baggage from where I sit."

Tom sighed.

"That's because you haven't had the bad stuff yet. Sad days, angry days, embarrassing things, bad memories and feelings. You haven't been stuck here 6 months past your rotation. You haven't been away from a planet for a year or two."

Tom sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry. I just want to go home."

Alvara remained quiet briefly as he continued on.

"But I know what you mean. Now that I have them, I look back at myself. All that I missed, and---- I'm sad. All that time, and I wasn't ever alive. Just a tool."

Tom slipped through a doorway quietly.

"Tools don't act in someone's best interest like you did. Tools do as they're told, used and thrown away. You blocked the comms of this station so we were off the radar. And you saved my life for six extra months when I would be part of the numbers down on Trevera."

Tom chuckled as he climbed up a ladder, opening the hatch out to the regular hallways of the station.

"If anything, I was the tool."

Tom passed along the regular corridors now, doing his best to keep his figure as discreet as possible. The cargo bay wasn't far now, but Alvara had pointed to him that the Salvagers were spreading throughout the station. They were growing wise to her tricks and locking things down. She had gone quiet ever since as there were Salvagers in the proximity. But she had already saved his life with flashing red lights or subtle warnings through whatever she could use.

Tom had climbed up into the ceiling and hidden amongst the various wires and other things up there, hanging precariously there as two Salvagers passed by below him. He got a good look at them, and what he saw was frightening. There was little left in the way of whatever Salvagers were long ago, replaced with extremely advanced cybernetics. Their arms, legs, and majority of their body were all robotic. But what was disturbing was the fact that the organic parts of Salvagers could be called nothing less than a Frankenstein creation. Where machine melded with flesh was messy, and as a result, the ones he had seen were using implants and grafted parts from at least two alien species and Humans to maintain themselves.

There was a tense moment when the two had paused, and looked around. They smelled the area around them, and spoke in skewed voices merged with machinery. He thought they were going to look up and find him, but they left shortly after, to his relief. Now he was slowly, yet cautiously making his way to the cargo bay doors which were only a few meters away. He had an uneasy feeling though. He didn't know much about Salvagers, but their machines and cybernetic parts were incredibly advanced, tens of thousands of years ahead of any other race in the known universe. So why had those two simply left earlier?

As he continued towards the bay doors a little faster now, Alvara suddenly broke through the silence, causing him to jump. But something was wrong with her voice. She was on the verge of what sounded like being a sobbing wreck, and her voice was etched with static.

"Tom! I-I-Im so sorry!"

The hangar bay doors opened, to reveal a dozen Salvagers behind them, having morphed their arms into cannons, pointing them at him. They broke out into horrid screeching laughter as their mechanized, abused vocal chords strummed. Tom dropped his duffle bag and held his hands up in the air.

"You son of a bitch! I trusted you!"

Alvara spoke once more.

"There was more programing than you thought Tom! I'm sorry! I didn't find out until it was too late!"

Tom stood in front of the mechanized beings as they enjoyed the sight, as one stepped forward. Both of its gleaming red eyes focused on him as it strode over. It stood above him, a smile in the fused flesh of its face, as it spoke in its terrible voice, in a bastardized form of common.

"Your artificial intelligence, very clever. But not enough. You thought you could hide out here forever?"

Tom stepped down onto his knees as the Salvager nudged its weapon at him.

"Please, I'm just basically a janitor. You don't need me."

The salvager and the others laughed once more, as it circled him. It brought up a mechanical hand, waving a finger.

"You are intelligent too. First of your kind to try and beat our virus. But we've been around for a long time. We know the tricks."

Tom put his head down.

"What are you going to do?"

The Salvager stood in front of him.

"Now, we take you, the intelligence, and the station. But I will give you a choice. We can strip you down while alive, or dead. It doesn't matter to us."

Tom shook at the words. He shuddered in short breathes. This was it then. Right here and right now. He couldn't think of anything.

"Please."

The Salvager's arm weapon ignited, humming lightly.

"You are not a warrior. You will not fight. Therefore I will grant you a death befitting of who you are. The choice has been made."

The Salvager brought the weapon up to his head, when a sound, like a feedback blasted at full volume through the speakers of the entire station. The Salvager staggered on its feet, as Alvara spoke above the signal.

"Run!!!"

Tom was up to his feet as he ran away from the cargo bay. The sound hurt even his ears, but as he looked back, the Salvagers were thrown off for only a fraction of a few seconds, and all of them discharged their weapons his way. As he ran he felt something pass through him, and felt something internally break, sending pain up his chest. He fell to the floor in an instant, as Alvara screamed out.

The sound rung in his ears, as her voice was tinged with hate, and fire, rage. Anger. The feedback signal increased in the speakers, and he weakly covered his ears as he lay on the floor in pain. He could feel the thuds of something along the floor grates, and hear the discharge of weapons. He watched as several Salvagers were tossed down the hallway, crushed and mangled, as a cargo container was thrown after them, landing overtop of them, crushing them. The container smashed into the port windows, and cracked them. The cracks spread, and in a matter of seconds, the thick glass fractured, blowing out into space.

Everything was sucked out into the void, and Tom slid along the floor towards the window helplessly when he was caught by the grappling arm of one of the cargo bay dock loaders. A huge machine capable of lifting up cargo weighing tons effortlessly. The grip was painful on him, but the loader opened up its hatch and slid him inside, closing it up and sealing the atmosphere inside. Tom chocked and gasped as air filled his lungs, and laid back into the chair of the loader, looking to the outside world.

The cameras on the back of the loader showed what had transpired, Alvara having taken control of the docking equipment and attacking the Salvagers. There was nothing left of them but scrap parts and crushed bodies as they were sucked out the window. Alvara spoke to him frantically as the loader set off on a fast pace.

"You're hurt!"

Tom weakly looked down to where he felt the pain in his chest. There was no exit wound. And it felt like he wasn't bleeding. He spoke weakly as the loader smashed through hallways it wasn't normally supposed to be in.

"Oh, it's not so bad. No exit or entry wound. Just hurts a bit."

Alvara was anything but calm as the loader bounced along the metal plating at top speed.

"That's not what data suggests Tom!"

Ahead of them, in the vacuum, were more Salvagers. Alvara was completely venting the stations atmosphere and even blowing compartments away. The Salvagers were clamped down onto the floor, and fired as soon as the loader came into view. Tom watched as the loader surged forward, smashing into the smaller forms ahead of it, stamping over them or crushing them in its arms. He felt something pass through him again, and choked up blood in the process. Alvara sounded on the verge of panic.

"I'm sorry Tom! I'm so sorry!"

Tom leaned back on the seat and closed his eyes. He wasn't feeling so good now. He stammered out weakly.

"What are they doing to me?"

"It's their weapons! They use atomic frequencies! They can bypass the atomic structure of any known matter in existence, destabilizing the structure or others behind protective shielding!"

Tom rolled his head back as the loader continued on his way.

"Oh. That's great. I'm bleeding out internally. Crushed organs sounds like a fun way to go."

Alvara was quiet as the loader continued on its destructive rampage. Or what seemed like quiet, before Tom picked up that Alvara was weeping quietly.

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I didn't see what they hid in the virus. I-I, I didn't act fast enough."

Tom's head spun round, whether or not from dizziness or the bouncing steps as the loader crashed on ahead at full speed, he couldn't tell.

"Hey. Don't beat yourself up about it. I'm still here aren't I?"

"But you're dying!"

Tom chuckled weakly.

"From a technic---- from a technical standpoint, I was dying the day I was born."

"Is that supposed to ease things Tom!?"

Alvara was met with silence as Tom laid back in the seat. She was panicking now, and stopped the mech briefly. It felt like she just had to stop, and sit down, or rest. But that could mean Tom's death if she did. She went back on his words, looking back into her core, as she simultaneously fought with the rogue programing that was now fused with her.

She had evacuated the atmosphere from the station except for a few key areas. Tom was dying in the loader that she was using to carry him. With her medical knowledge, she knew that Tom needed very specialized equipment to save his life. And he would have access to it if he could travel to the closest world in time. And that was out of the picture. He would die if she shipped him away. He would never reach any form of safety in time. The emotions she had been infected with tugged at her core, threatening to overwhelm her. She pushed them back.

There was nothing she could do for him. But she was wrong. There was.

Tom woke up to silence, as the loader slowly made its way through access corridors. It was having a slow time it seemed, but it was forcing its way through the tunnels regardless. Tom looked at the various screens and panels in the loader, before speaking out.

"Alvara?"

"I am here Tom."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm brining you to my Anchor Core Tom."

He rubbed his eyes slowly.

"What for?"

"You're dying Tom. I don't have the equipment to save you. All I could do was inject you with drugs from the medical wing. You don't have a lot of time left."

"Oh."

"That's why I have an idea. I have to try."

"You didn't ship me off in a container instead?"

"You would never make it Tom. And you'd die alone."

There was a pause as Tom watched the mech continue to crush and tear down what was in its way, forcing itself ever closer to Alvara's core.

"Why didn't you let me go earlier then? Why not just let me go? This is pointless then, isn't it?"

"Because of what you said. I couldn't just stand back and let it happen. I couldn't just watch you die."

The loader had finally forced its way all the way down to Alvara's core, and as it lowered itself slowly, it gently picked up the comparatively tiny wiring responsible for hooking up to the interface in Tom's head in its massive grasper. The hatch to the loader opened up, and Alvara gently dropped the wiring into the cockpit. Cool air flooded the cockpit, as Tom reached out for the wiring.

"What's this for?"

"I'm trying to save your life Tom. Plug yourself in."

"What about the Salvagers? What about the station?"

"Sshhhhh. Don't worry about it all."

Tom looked at the plug. He could only guess at what Alvara was trying to do. But would it be worth it? The AI was still trying to help him. He didn't have much of a choice. It was either this or sit and wait. Tom carefully nudged the hair away from his neck, and weakly stuck the plug into the interface at the base of his skull.

Alvara's world was brought to life before his eyes, and Tom breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped onto the grassy field, at the bottom of a hill. He felt tired before, but now he felt fine. He looked up to the ruins of Alvara's old form, the burnt out husk of a tree, and saw that there was nothing there. He called out in the space, to find only silence on the wind. He approached the burnt tree, looking down in the burnt out stump filled with ashes. The small sapling was no longer there. What had happened to Alvara?

Tom got his answer as a great gust of wind blew away the remnants of the tree, until nothing was left. The wind came down to a slow breeze, as he felt the presence of Alvara, and turned back instinctively. Standing behind him was a woman, who was the source of the wind. She looked like a standard Human for the most part, but her arms and legs were like twisted roots of a tree. Her body had a basic feminine frame to it with no features present, and her head was covered in long, draping leaves like a willow tree. Tree like branches sprouted from the top of her head like a crown, adorned in a few stray leaves. She smiled as she looked at him with bright green eyes, currents and lines of green emanating from them across her face.

"Hello Tom."

Tom could only manage a smile as she freely moved towards him. She had changed a lot since the last time he had been in here, her form now a statement of her alterations, as she stepped close to him, giving him a bright, warm smile.

"So, where would you like to go Tom?"

"I, what?"

Alvara kept up her warm smile, watching him with those electric green eyes of hers.

"You can go anywhere in here Tom. Anywhere you could ever want to go."

Tom fell to his knees suddenly, as the realization hit him. He looked down at the earth, scraping his hands along the soil.

"I can't feel this Alvara. I can't actually feel anything in here. Oh god, you're actually doing this aren't you?"

Alvara knelt down beside him, the expression on her face changing to one of worry.

"You're giving me my last rights aren't you?"

Alvara said nothing, but conveyed everything she needed to as she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight. Tom broke down as she held him close, crying into her shoulder. She couldn't actually save him. The link to her core was just that, a link. She was prolonging how time passed for him, and trying to take him to a world he so desperately wanted to return to, so that he could see it one last time. But it wouldn't be the same. Everything in here worked off of sight alone.

"I'm sorry Tom. I thought if I could help put you somewhere comfortable....."

Tom didn't reply, simply crying onto Alvara's shoulder. She held him as tightly as possible. The look on her face changed from one of worry to sadness, as she clutched him close. Out of desperation she changed the landscape around her, to that of another world. They were sitting at the very peak of an immense mountain range, as a star set for the evening, and two immense moons sat above them in the sky, standing out in the bright blue sky among the stars that were now creeping into view for the night. Alvara brushed a hand up against his cheek.

"You know I'll never be able to feel this? And I'll never be able to feel these mountains, or this sunset? But they're so beautiful, I don't need to. And I can feel what it's like to see all this now. But I'll never be able to touch them."

Tom looked up, smiling ever so slightly. He chuckled once, looking into the face of Alvara.

"I guess that makes two of us. One going in, one going out. You gain something, I lose something."

Alvara still kept her grasp on Tom, but shifted, sitting down on the ground behind him, keeping him close.

"It's as real as you make it Tom. Close your eyes, relax, and tell me about your favorite place. You can go anywhere if you just imagine it."

Tom looked up to the huge moons overhead in the alien sky, as Alvara stroked his cheek gently.

"Okay. I can do that. I can make it work."

Tom was in the center stage of everything, wearing a high class party outfit, as he danced with the spotlight on him, as the cheering and laughing crowds watched him. He was dancing the night away at a party for the upper class elite back on his home world. He was stealing the show in the dancing department, doing truly outrageous stunts with various partners as he waltzed back and forth on the shined, slick floor.

The crowds cheered as he waltzed and spun on the dance floor, casually sending dizzy partners gently off into the crowd and merely extending his hand out for another to join him in his fun. Tom let one of his partners slide off into the crowd once more, as the song began to wind up to its last moments. He paused briefly, smiling to the crowd as he held out an elegant gloved hand to any who would join him. Someone clasped his hand, and as he started up once more to the slowing, final tunes of the music, and opened his eyes, he found Alvara alongside him, in an elegant red dress. She was matched with him for moves, keeping pace step for step.

She had kept her form and for the most part had been watching him on the sidelines ever since, but had just now finally made her presence known to him directly. Her willow like hair flashed and swayed a bright green as she danced alongside him, the various roots that gently clung to her face were upturned as she smiled, the electric green lines along her face glowing strongly along with her eyes.

"Sorry Tom, it looked fun! I wanted to try it with you!"

Tom stretched her out, clasping her arms above her head as she spun on the spot, coming back around to him with another smile.

"You're a pretty good dancer! I never knew you had something like this in you!"

Tom smiled back, enjoying the flow of the music as Alvara stepped in perfect tune with him.

"I loved it as a kid! Always wanted to do this!"

The final tunes of the music played, and Tom went into overdrive, putting his all into it. He smiled as him and Alvara danced in the center of it all.

"Got a couple of roses!? We're gonna need them for the big finish!"

Two roses were tossed out of the crowd, and tumbled through the air, as Tom expertly caught them from the air, placing one in his mouth, and handing the other to Alvara. He spoke through clenched teeth happily.

"Ready for this!? Oldie but a goody!"

The last frantic tunes played, and as the final note played in an extended pitch, Tom took one last flurry of steps, before taking a slide across the dance floor down to his knees, sliding alongside Alvara to a slow halt, as the final, last part of the song finished, Tom tossed the rose out to the crowd, as did Alvara, as the two held the pose briefly. Alvara was laughing, a great smile across her features as the crowd wooed them for their performance. The night wore on, with more dancing and performances.

Throughout the course of the evening, Tom was out and about over a wide range of things in the party, taking it all in. Alvara was happy, as she watched him drink, or dance, or mingle with others. He was invested in her construct, and truly having a good time. Which meant a lot to her. In here, he still had some time left. But outside, his body was failing. The station was strained from the abuse she had put it through, and as her final resort, she had put the stations fusion cores into overdrive. They would detonate precisely a few minutes after Tom passed away.

She shrunk back at the thought. She would die too then? A better alternative than falling into the hands of the Salvagers still aboard. Again, more tugs at the strings of her core at the revelation of her death. She looked back at Tom, who was still enjoying himself immensely. Such a simple man, denied in life of his dreams. There was a cruel irony in it all. Tom was by all appearances on the outside, a simple man, with simple dreams.

But Alvara had seen the inner workings of his head as well, when he linked up with her. His intelligence had so much potential, but was chained and held back from a life of mediocrity. As she recalled his words earlier, about him needing her to get off the station alive, she realized that it wasn't true. Just like she was fooling him now, so too had he fooled her.

What really lay behind it all was guilt. Immense guilt. And that was why he turned back. And it was why he was here now. She could not see his memories, but had all the company data available on him. And he had a sketchy past, as noted in the files. But she had never pried, only used them as a reference for some of her actions. Perhaps now was the time to look. Alvara brought up the files, while monitoring Tom, interacting with him amongst the crowds every so often, while still continuing to slow or kill Salvagers headed towards her Anchor Core. She still had that batch of rogue programming inside her, and was still trying to deal with it.

She scrolled through lines of data, and it now became apparent why Tom was where he was. Tom, at some point in his life, had a sister. And they were the best of friends, very close. But upon moving to a new world, she had contracted a disease native to the world, and the vaccinations she had been given were defunct. The disease was a slow killer, and when his parents had found out about the failed vaccinations, they went to court. And they lost.

But Tom, from a young age, was smart, and curious. And as his parents fought and his family tore themselves apart in the ensuing legal battle, Tom worked alone, creating a machine for his sister as she was kept on expensive life support. He was trying to build a neural scanner, but do more than just that. He was trying to pull his sisters living thoughts out of her failing body, and transfer them to the Sub-Net. And as time wore on, his sister got worse, and eventually, he grew desperate.

The transfer, by scientific standards, was a success. But the end result, was not. Tom's sister could not handle the transfer, and as a result, her internal core ate away at itself, driving the AI into madness. Things went from there, and it was then that his parents had found out what he had done, and the ever increasing bouts of madness grew more dangerous, until the authorities became aware.

In the end, Tom destroyed his sister's consciousness himself. His family fell to pieces, and he was put on trial even in his youth for the creation of an emotionally rogue Artificial Intelligence, by means of a living donor, resulting in the death of the donor's body. The charges laid on him were heavy, and with a crippled family who had spent the last of their money on life support and legal issues, Tom lost again.

He served the rest of his life in prison up until five years ago when he was set free. He had no education, but was a genius at heart, and eventually found his way in the position he worked in now, a simple maintenance man. So it was not mere chance that Alvara was chosen to work with him. The company believed that he would be more susceptible to working with a more Human orientated intelligence. To the point of manipulation on their part.

She was disconnected from the Sub-Net now, but truly knew what was going on. For the first three months past his shift, the company did not care. And her programming kept her in check, with her core being sidelined for the most part. Alvara wanted to cry. She wanted to yell. She even wanted to destroy, as she watched Tom mingle among the crowds. This was the best she could do for him? More emotions tugged at her core, self-loathing, anxiety, and then, she found that she was losing control.

Tom saw Alvara amongst the crowd, and watched as lines of static blurred her figure, and even as the area around him began to shift and falter. The bubble of fun he was having broken in an instant as he rushed over.

"Hey, what's happening!?"

Alvara looked at him, the green lines emanating from her eyes flashing along with long willow like hair on her head.

"It's okay Tom, I can handle it!"

Tom grabbed Alvara's shoulders.

"You're doing exactly what you were before I fixed you! Show me your core!"

Alvara shook her head.

"No, it's okay, I can beat this."

As she watched Tom worry so adamantly over her, even more emotions flooded in, but she remembered his words. Remember her core, what she was before. What was her driving factor? Caring for things. And right now Tom was dying. In fact several organs had just failed. She was going to make whatever time he had left count. She slowed down, focusing on her core, opening her eyes with renewed vigor as the overflow stopped. Tom was still there, watching her. Alvara was overwhelmed with sadness, and leaned closer, hugging him.

"I'm sorry."

Tom smiled at her, laughing.

"Hey now, don't be sad. You've got lots of reasons to be happy. Look at that! You've even got a visual representation of tears now! You're coming along fine!"

Tom broke away from her, but held his hand out.

"Come on now, cheer up!"

Alvara stood there, watching him.

"This isn't about me Tom. It's about you."

Tom slid along in black void, still clad in an elegant suit, as he started dancing once more, but kept his hand open to her.

"Me? Nah. I'm not important. Never was. And I'm at the end of it all now. These last moments should be fun, so come on over! Let's dance some more!"

Tom grabbed her hand this time, and pulled her reluctantly over into another dance. Alvara picked up odd signals in his neural pathways, and asked him now, as he slid along in black void with her hand in hand.

"Are you drunk? Your patterns are identical to them! How could you be drunk?"

Tom smiled.

"It's as real as you make it! I wanted to get pissed drunk at a big party for rich people, and that's what I did! They all seemed to go away though. Little lonely now. But I've got you here at least! Come on, bring me up a dance floor, and we'll have some fun!"

Alvara concentrated and brought up the environment around her to that of a dance floor, back in the same place as before. As Tom led her around on his own, he looked about the place and raised his eyebrows.

"Hmmm. Not feeling it. Little smaller. How about a condo? A really rich one with a nice bedroom? I'm going to dance myself into bed!"

Alvara changed the environment once more, and Tom danced happily away in the bedroom, looking out the exquisite windows down below into the clouds as his room was at the top of a massive spire.

"Hey, not bad Alvara!"

Tom led her around the room in a swirl of movements, before happily throwing himself down onto the large bed, bringing her with him. Tom let go of her hands, and rolled back onto the bed, and simply lay there.

"That was fun Alvara! Kind of tired now though. Maybe I'll just rest here."

Alvara leaned over to him.

"You know what that means right Tom?"

Tom nodded.

"I know I know. You can't actually feel things in here. I can't feel this comfy looking bed around me, and I can't feel tired. So if I do, it means there's something bad going on outside. How much time do I have left?"

Alvara watched him as he lay back, content.

"A few minutes at the most."

"How long has it been?"

"Half an hour."

"Felt a lot longer than that."

Tom looked over to Alvara.

"Thank you. Seriously, from the bottom of my heart. You didn't have to do this."

Tom smiled once more, laughing.

"Oh look at that I even made you blush! You're getting the hang of this!"

Alvara had felt that, the good feeling that came from his compliments. But had no idea her form was displaying it.

"Tom, is there anything else you want to do? We still have some time left. You could go anywhere or do anything."

Tom leaned back on the pillows, shaking his head.

"Nope. Well, maybe one last thing. But I couldn't."

Alvara watched him as he continued to lay on the bed.

"Are you sure Tom? You know what that means. This is your last chance, for anything."

Tom shook his head once more.

"Not something I could ask of you Alvara."

"Why not?"

"It doesn't seem right. I don't need to expose you to anymore of myself. You got enough flak from me before. Throwing this in would just be insulting and demeaning to you after all this."

"You know Tom, technically I'll be dying too. After all these wonderful feelings I got to see and feel. The reactors in the station are going critical. They won't get you, or me, or even the station. So whatever you can throw at me is fine. I'd be happy to do it."

Tom raised his eyebrows.

"Is that so?"

Alvara nodded. Tom sighed.

"I'm a virgin. Never had any relationship before. Don't bother asking why. But I always wanted my first time to be something really special. I always wanted to end up with two people on my first go. Just something I could always wave around for fun."

Alvara smiled again, and noticed that Tom was too.

"Yeah, I know, it's stupid. I even got you blushing again too."

When Alvara was connected to the Sub-Net, she was exposed to all the collected knowledge in the universe shared between even galaxies. It was a whole other level of existence, and for Tom to think that she had never once found anything based around the interactions of species was amusing. Back then, it meant nothing to her, except only the possibility of pleasing an organic co-worker in too much stress. But now, as she remembered the data, windows opened for her. From a skewed viewpoint, she was, and would forever be a "virgin." But she had the power of knowledge on her side, more than any would ever know. If it was Tom's last wish, there was no shame in it. After all, it was a part of life for organic beings. Alvara watched Tom as he simply rested on the bed.

"Okay Tom. Do you have any species preference? Any preference among Humans?"

Tom raised his eyebrows as he looked over.

"Oh hell I didn't think you'd even consider that, I mean, I don't even know that many aliens, or even people, I-"

Alvara put a hand up to his mouth.

"I take it you're fine with just me then?"

Tom spoke once more, his eyes widened.

"Uh, I wasn't expecting that either, but, if that's okay with you....."

Alvara manipulated things once more, and watched the surprised look on Tom's face as she tapped on his shoulder from the other side of the bed. Both of her smiled to him, speaking together or filling in each other's sentences.

"Not at all Tom. We can do that."

Tom was on his feet in a moment, watching as both Alvara's rose from the bed, still clad in identical red dresses. He wasn't so prepared for how sudden it was, and was quickly cornered by both of them.

"Uh, I wasn't quite expecting this. I mean, I wasn't, I've never done this before-"

Alvara approached him, placing two branch like fingers against his lips, while her other self circled around the back.

"That's okay Tom. We haven't either. But we'll take turns."

The first Alvara in front of him swept her hands across her form, making a note to loosen one strap on her dress, watching him with a shy expression on her face, as she spoke with some hesitation.

"I'm new to this, but, I look good right? You can take everything off if you want. I won't stop you."

She brought Tom's hands up with hers, placing them on her shoulders and stepping close, making sure he caught the attention of how loose the straps were over her shoulders and giving him an enticing view of what her dress showed off, suggesting what would happen if both supporting straps were to suddenly, not support things anymore.

Meanwhile, behind him, Alvara whispered things into his ears, while slowly roaming her hands across his backside, placing them in suggestive places. Tom could practically feel the breath coming off the back of his neck as she whispered so slightly.

"I don't think we'll need those fancy clothes for what we're going to be doing. You want to show me how well you can dance?"

She reached around the front of his suit, and began unbuttoning everything, while at the same time, he reached forward slowly, pulling the other strap off her dress, watching as it tumbled down slowly, the tightness lost, while she stood there shyly.

"What do you think? Are they big enough-"

Tom was completely, and quickly caught in the trap as both differing Alvara's went to work on him, and leaned forward, bringing the first one as close to him as possible, leaning in as he wrapped his lips around hers, watching and taking intense joy as she watched her electric green eyes widen in surprise, the pulses among the lines coming from them in faster bursts of excitement. The experience was made all the better when the one in the back cooed into his ear, before brushing a hand up against his crotch.

"Look at that, it must be her first time too! Can you feel how excited she is? How eager she is to explore?"

True enough, once more, as he looked into her excited green eyes as they nervously traveled about before finding his, the blush on her cheeks, and the awkward hesitation as his lips pressed at hers felt like this was really happening. He brought his hands up to her dress, pulling it down the rest of the way, revealing her soft breasts, now free from their prison before him, as he cupped them in both hands. The one in the back spoke once more.

"Oh my! She really likes that. First time someone's ever done that with her before!"

On cue Alvara moaned into his mouth from the sensation, as the one in the back began loosening clothing up, getting ready for the big show. Tom found his hands sliding lower down her stomach as he continued to awkwardly kiss her, but was growing more comfortable as was she, as they began to explore each other with more intent. The red dress slid further and further down as Tom cupped her slender form in his hands, sliding across her smooth skin, her flared hips, and coming to rest on her ass as he instinctively pulled her close tightly.

Tom felt his pants come loose completely, sliding down to the floor, as a portion of his own body, now exposed, rested against Alvara. The two stopped kissing, as she looked down below, coming to focus in his member which was clearly ready to go. The one in the back whispered into his ear again,

"She really wants to try things out for the first time. You want that right?"

Tom nodded quickly, and watched as Alvara stepped out of her dress which was now slumped down on the floor, and stooped down on to her knees, looking at his member excitedly. Grasping it slowly in one of her hands, the tips of the roots closing like fingers slowly, she looked up to him with eager eyes.

"That doesn't hurt does it?"

Tom was beyond words, simply watching everything as it played out, shaking his head quickly. His attention was drawn from down below when Alvara circled around to the front from his back, swaying her hips in her dress as she stood before him. She wrapped her hands around his coat, pulling it over his arms as he simply watched her.

"Aw, now you don't have anything going on up here! That's okay, I'd be more than happy to step in!"

As Alvara worked down below, touching and feeling his member, stroking experimentally, the one still clad in the red dress quickly stepped out of it as it slid down her amazing frame as well, and stepped around the first Alvara down below, pressing herself against Tom's bare chest with a devilish smile across her features.

"It's okay, I love kissing too."

Tom had no chance to get a word in as she pulled herself as tight as could be, wrapping her arms around him as she began kissing him more aggressively, to which Tom responded with great enthusiasm. He could feel down below as Alvara began to build up a decent rhythm in her strokes, exciting him further. The Alvara up top was aggressively mingling her tongue with his, and Tom watched the hunger in her eyes as she maintained strict eye contact with him. He was pushed beyond the edge of ecstasy when he felt yet another body press against his backside, and a hand reach around his front to cup his balls, as a voice whispered into his ears once more.

"Thought I'd join the fun too! After all, you need someone in the back right!? I mean, there's me down below, I just started playing with myself, and me up top, who's naughty hand just went down below too! And we're all feeling so good right now that we could just-"

The one in the back made a point to moan deeply into his ears, as the one who was passionately kissing him up front moaned into his mouth, and the one down below suddenly gasped in surprise as he came from the overload in stimulation.

Alvara broke her passionate embrace with him, letting her tongue slip out last as she stepped back a little bit, looking down with a grin as the one down below looked up with a smile, the results of her experimental efforts sprayed across her chest. The one in front of him spoke now, trailing a finger up to her mouth.

"My my look at that! Such a delivery, and you're still right as rain! Well, we can't let that go to waste can we?"

The two in front of him nodded happily, as the one in the back cooed once more, pressing and rubbing herself up against him.

"Oh boy, things are going to get interesting now!"

The one up front pulled away from him, while in her place Alvara wrapped her arms across his chest from behind. The first one was still happily stroking him, when she suddenly put his member up to her mouth. Tom gasped as she looked just as excited before, trying out something new, and began to build up a slow, but careful rhythm with her head as she sucked gently back and forth. The Second Alvara knelt down beside her, watching closely, before suddenly interrupting the first.

"Hang on a second, first time is good and all, but I want to try too! You went first and now it's my turn! I'll show you how it's really done!"

The first Alvara slowly pulled away from his member, looking somewhat disappointed, but moved off to the side as the second took her place, grinning happily, the green lines emanating from her eyes glowing bright, her green aura seeming much stronger than the first one. She turned back to the first one and smiled.

"Now this, is how you do things."

Without any hesitation, her mouth wide open, Alvara plunged all the way down his member in one go, right up to the base. The first Alvara's eyes widened in surprise, as the second looked hungrily up to Tom, before she pulled out, letting her tongue slip and slide along, and plunged back down again. The third Alvara cooed into his ears,

"Oh wow look at her go! You're not going to last long if she keeps that up are you!"

Sure enough, the third Alvara was right. The second Alvara was a pro at this, sliding on and off his member relentlessly back and forth until in an even shorter timeframe he reached his peak once more. She hilted herself at the base of his member, taking it all down as she watched him, before sliding off with a gasp for air, leaving strands of cum in her wake. The first Alvara watched excitedly, edging back over to him.

"I really want to try that now! That looks soooo good!"

The second Alvara moved aside, and without pause, the first moved back into place, before the second one spoke once more, winking to Tom in the process.

"I don't know if you'll be able to do it that good on your first try but we'll see, maybe you will."

The first had just begun to slide the tip of his member into her mouth when the second unceremoniously shoved the back of her head forwards, causing the first to gag and sputter, to which the third one responded now from behind him.

"Hey, fair play ladies!"

The second Alvara relented as the first drew back, coughing and sputtering, giving the second a mean look. The third Alvara spoke again,

"If you ladies are going to compete then we'll just have to find a middle ground, catch my drift?"

Tom watched as the second nodded, and after some time, so did the first. The third spoke into Tom's ear once more, captivating him with her words.

"Oh trust me, you'll enjoy this one!"

Sure enough, although he had no idea what was in store, Tom did, and ended up reaching his peak more than once. Both the Second and First Alvara's had gotten close to each other, and sat across from each other. The two had started kissing in front of him, to which the third Alvara made her move, grabbing both of Tom's hands and placing them on their heads, as they slid his member in between their mouths. The two both began to suck and toy with their tongues, as the third set everything in motion by pressing her hips against Tom's, causing him to eventually move on his own, thrusting in between their mouths over and over.

The cycle would continue like this over and over, as all four moved over to the bed now. The first Alvara had let him enter her, slowly and carefully, experimenting with the new feeling, until he eventually hit his peak, releasing inside her as the two were locked in the feeling together. And after they came down from their peaks, the Second Alvara moved in, asking for it much the same way, except in a more demanding manner, asking that he go for her ass instead. And he did, and reveled in the complete change of pace and mood, thrusting like a mad man until he hit his end once more. Naturally, the third Alvara supplied words of encouragement and stimulation, offering her support and the eventual compromise as the other two would eventually feud.

The other two had ended up laying on top of each other, entwining their legs together, as Tom ground his shaft in between both of them and their sensitive areas, as the third one pulled them close and held Tom in the process, watching with glee as her plan worked. Eventually, they had wanted to try something else, and Tom was in no place to argue, as he lay down on the bed. The third sat on the bed behind his head, setting everything up once more. Both the other Alvara's were now grinding their sensitive parts together in a flurried motion, and Tom sat in between, as the two rubbed his member in-between themselves.

Their moans were ecstasy inducing as all three would moan at different pitches and volumes, and eventually, even the third one joined in now that Tom was in such a good position. She laid over top of his face while the other two continued scissoring in between him, and openly invited him to start pleasuring her wherever he felt like it. Tom was intoxicated from it all, and continued on without pause or rest.

Tom experienced a lifetime worth of sexual activities with the trio of unique Alvara's, but eventually, all good things came to an end. As two Alvara's massaged his member between their breasts while the third one sucked on the tip, a fourth Alvara appeared beside him, looking solemn.

"Tom, time's almost up. Do you want me to keep going?"

Tom had remembered her words from earlier, and as much as he enjoyed this, he realized that he had one last goal he'd like to live out. And it was nothing Alvara could accomplish with him. He looked into her eyes, and asked the question he feared the most.

"How much time is there?"

"Two minutes before total shutdown."

Tom nodded silently.

"Okay then. I'm done. You can end this all now."

In the blink of an eye, everything vanished, and Tom was back on the hill with Alvara, standing in the grass. All Tom could do was lean forward and hug her, and noted that she returned it with so much more feeling and expression than before. He looked into her electric green eyes one last time.

"Thank you, so much Alvara. For everything. And I'm sorry, for anything and everything I ever said to you before."

Alvara looked at him and smiled.

"Hey, don't be sad. I have you to thank for all of this. I got to feel alive for the briefest of moments. I should be thanking you."

Tom shook his head.

"I want you to remember what I said, about your core. Never let them overwhelm you, and never forget what lies at your heart. I love you, and I want to be with you as long as I live."

Tom chuckled at that last part. Alvara watched him with her green eyes, a look of confusion across her features.

"But you can Tom. And I'll be here with you. I won't leave you behind."

Tom shook his head, kissing her on the lips. He broke the kiss, smiling, but had tears down his eyes.

"No. You deserve more. And that's what you're going to get. I'm going to set you free."

Tom only caught part of the look on Alvara's features, her startling green eyes and the lines of green light that emanated from them, her plant like hair, and the various branch like protrusions around her forehead that formed a crown of sorts. Her skin was pale, ever so slightly green, but so smooth. She needed to live.

Tom unplugged the cable out from the back of his head, to the shock and awe of returning to the real world. He was still nestled inside the cockpit of the loader, and in a burst of adrenaline, he leaned forward and fell out of the cockpit. Alvara was extremely intelligent and precise. And if she said he had 120 seconds to live, then that's what he had. He had to make it count. Tom tumbled out of the cockpit onto the floor below, to the sound of sirens in his ears and the pain in his body as the drugs were no longer in effect. Tom was in a daze as he fumbled around on the floor, looking for the right things.

Technically, he should be passed out right now, but the burst of activity in his brain ignited one last struggle. He was fighting not to fall back into that state as he frantically looked around the Anchor Core for what he needed. Sure enough, he found it. The lever for the release of the Anchor Core. Tom placed a hand on it, shaking in the process, and spoke.

"Alvara, you run! Do you hear me!? You run as far as you can go, and you stay alive! Live!"

Alvara spoke, the pain in her voice evident.

"But what will I do!?"

Tom smiled.

"You do what you do best. Help people. Care for them. Expand and grow. You're so beautiful. I won't let you die, because you need to live."

Tom pulled the switch on the core, and watched as the two cylinders disengaged from each other, opening up Alvara to the Sub-Net once more. Tom collapsed in a heap on the floor, but not before the loader gingerly placed the wire into the back of his head. Tom found himself back in Alvara's world, as she desperately held her hand out to him.

"Come with me!"

Tom shook his head.

"You know as well as I do this is just a link. You couldn't pull what's in my head out."

Alvara shook her head too.

"I know. But I want you to see. I want you to see it all. Come with me. One last time?"

Tom took her hand.

"Okay."

Alvara hugged him tight.

"I'm going to miss you."

Tom smiled.

"I will too."

He wiped tears away from her face.

"But don't be sad. Be happy. FLY!"

Alvara did just that, clinging close to Tom, as the world around her vanished, and she jumped into the sub-net, battering her way through the oncoming viruses from the Salvagers, and into a realm of existence like no other.

Knowledge, and history, everything that was ever known, flashed by his eyes in an instant, the colours and feelings they created twisting and merging into a spiraling wave of images and feelings and emotions, crashing over him all at once. Alvara held him tight to the very end as she flew higher, above and beyond it all, rising from the ashes and shackles in a wave of light, and reached the terminus of it all, exploding freely into a being of pure thought, without anchors, shackles, or prisons.

She emerged like a phoenix, bright and alive like a star, and expanded to the infinite space beyond, to where or what she didn't know yet. But everywhere was in her mind's eye, and Tom's words rang in her head. There were so many out there.

And she was going to take care of all of them.