Eternal Winter

Lance laid a hand on Kalden. He was standing over a table with Kalden stretched across it. They were getting ready to pull Hyrum from Kalden.

“I’ve never done this before, so I don’t know how it will feel,” He told Kalden as he grabbed a large wire hanging from the ceiling. Lance pulled it down and directed it towards the back of Kalden’s head, where he fit the connections into a socket. Its eye began flickering as the connection was established. “This should be relatively clean, though. We’re just scooping Hyrum out of your hard drive.” Lance glanced at Angela, who was standing on the other side of Kalden. She gave him a crisp nod and Lance let out a breath. “Alright.” He pressed a key on the computer and a progress bar appeared. Angela and Lance stared at it, which eventually beeped as it hit one percent. Lance heaved a sigh as he fell into a chair.

“This might take a moment,” Angela said as she took another.

A shrill, constant beep alarmed and pierced through Lance’s snores. Angela woke immediately and stood up. Lance began stirring as she moved over to the computer, which read, “Upload Complete.” Kalden’s eye slowly stopped flickering, then flashed and it suddenly rose its head. Kalden looked around at them before resting back. A metallic sound, similar to a groan, came from it.

“[Oww.]” Lance and Angela stared at each other, then looked at Kalden, which looked back at them. “[What’s?]” Kalden said. Its voice sounded unnaturally metallic and rough. Lance recognized that it was his and Angela’s voices, heavily distorted and pieced together. “[You- can- hear- me?]” Kalden asked.

“Yeah- yeah we can hear you.” Angela stuttered.

“H-how is this possible? There is no way! Unless Hyrum’s presence was suppressing your ability to speak.” Lance realized.

“[I- don’t- know.]” Kalden said. The lights flickered and everyone looked up.

“Upload complete. Systems online. Welcome back, Sir.” Hyrum’s voice chirped.

“Hyrum!” Lance exclaimed.

“Hello, Sir,” Hyrum said.

“Hyrum! Great to hear your voice again!” Angela looked up and smiled.

“Hello, Mister Lance, and Miss Angela.” Hyrum said to them, “I have been reinstalled into the bunker’s systems and all routines are running at normal, after almost being deleted by Kalden.”

“[Your different.]” Kalden whined as an excuse. Angela laughed.

“You didn’t mean to, did you?” She cooed. Lance rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“I’m glad you’re back in one piece, Hyrum.” He said.

“Thank you, Sir.”

Lance lounged in the chair at the table, a half-filled cup of steaming hot chocolate sat in front of him, untouched morning rations sizzled next to it. It was early in the morning, two weeks after Kalden had woken up, and Lance was grateful for the quiet. After Kalden had woken up there was never quiet. It was as if there was a toddler there, never quiet and never able to get any sleep. Lance glanced up as Angela slid into the seat in front of him. She sat her mug on the table and raised her eyebrows at the uneaten food.

“You gonna eat that?” Lance sighed and pushed the plate towards her with one hand. She grabbed his fork and eagerly dug into the food.

“Hungry just a bit?” Lance smiled.

“Oh you don’t even know,” Angela said between mouthfuls. “These are so good.”

“They don’t quite have the taste that real food does.” Lance looked down as she shrugged. She watched him for a moment, then swallowed and reached over and put her hand over his. Lance looked down at it.

“I had a wife,” He blurted out. Angela tilted her head and pulled her hand away. “She died six years ago.” Angela’s eyebrows tilted down as she frowned.

“What was her name?” Lance grimaced.

“I don’t… I don’t remember. The doctors told me it was about how she died…”

“How did she die?”

“Assassination. A bullet that was meant for me. I had just come home from work. She was standing in the kitchen, a great big smile on her face. She walked towards me. She held up her arms to hug me then-” Lance’s voice caught. Angela raised her hand to her mouth. “Then, she was looking down at her dress. We both were. There was blood running down it. I tried to help. I tried to help her. I could have done more. I should have-”

“You couldn’t have stopped it,” Angela said in a comforting voice.

“But I could have! I could have done more. If I was paying attention I would have been able to stop it! I could have-” Lance said quickly.

“There’s nothing you could have done! It’s not your fault!” Angela said, taking his hand again. Lance looked away as he pulled his hand back.

“Yes, I could have. I should have done something. I should have made sure the house was safe.” Lance repeated over and over, shaking his head.

“No, you couldn’t. There was nothing you could have done.” Angela said, reaching over to rub his back.

“Stop, please,” Lance said quietly.

“Ok. But I’m here for you. Anything you need, I’ll do it.” Angela said in a soothing voice.

“I don’t need you!” Lance yelled, slamming his hands down. Angela jumped at his outburst. Lance unclenched his hands and looked down at his palms. “I- I have so much work to do.” He got up and walked into the workshop. Loud music drifted through the stairs, with the sound of machines working. Angela sighed and looked down at the half-eaten rations, regretting saying anything. She looked up at the clunking of metal coming from another room, announcing the presence of Kalden. He stood awkwardly at the door. They had recently discovered that the personality Lance had created was male, and it spoke mostly through Lance’s voice. Its vocabulary was much greater than what it had been a few weeks ago. He learned new words whenever they talked and he was learning new things very quickly. He always distorted their voices to make Kalden’s own unique, which Angela liked. She probably would go crazy if he only spoke in exact replicas of their voice. She smiled at Kalden as he stood awkwardly in the doorway.

“[What was that?]” He asked.

“What was what?” Angela asked, defaulting her voice as if she was talking to a toddler.

“[Your conversation was very emotional.]” He said as he stepped over and took Lance’s chair. [What’s wrong?]” His head tilted, the soft hum coming from his workings soothing her.

“Lance is just being difficult.” She sighed.

“[Nothing new.]” Kalden blinked.

“No… this is something different.” She put her elbow on the table and leaned on her chin. Kalden whirred in understanding, then raised his arm and imitated her gesture, before responding.

“[You wish to mate with him.]”

“What? No! Nonononono. That’s not-” Angela held up her hands as she blushed profusely.

“[Hmmm,]” Kalden hummed. “[I… do not understand.]” Angela shook her head, covering her face with her hands.

“That’s not what’s happening,” Angela says. “Lance is…” She trailed off as Alloura padded in, panting. She sauntered over to Angela to receive pets and scratches, then moved over and sniffed Kalden’s leg. She rubbed up against him affectionately, he raised his hands and made a noise of alarm.

“[What is this?]” Kalden exclaimed. Angela laughed.

“She likes you! Just pet her!” Kalden nervously reached down and roughly patted Alloura on the head. Alloura licked his hand and Kalden held the glistering metal up.

“[Why did you lick me? I am not food.]” Kalden said down to Alloura.

“Awww, that means she likes you.” Angela cooed. Kalden’s pistons whirred as he looked up at Angela.

“[Hmmmm,]” Alloura got bored of Kalden and waddled back over to Angela, where she jumped up on her lap.

“Oh! Why hello there!” Angela smiled happily as she stroked Alloura’s head. They sat in silence, Kalden watching Alloura with interest before turning his attention back to Angela.

“[What did you do before?]” Kalden asked.

“Before? Before what?” Angela looked up at Kalden. He looked down from her gaze.

“[Lance told me that this isn’t how it was. That there is more than just…]” He gestured around at the bunker. “[This.]”

“You mean before the winter? I was the top of my class everywhere, school, college, anywhere that gave you a grade.”

“[And before that?]” Kalden asked.

“Well… I was Lance’s girlfriend.” Angela blushed looking away.

“[What is a ‘girlfriend’]” He imitated her voice.

“A girlfriend is a female person who someone has a personal or sexual relationship with,” Lance said as he walked up the stairs. Kalden turned towards him and whirred in response.

“[Mating.]” He stated.

“Uh… Yeah, I guess so.” Lance said bluntly.

“[You were his ‘girlfriend’?]” Kalden asked, emphasizing the were, as he buzzed and turned his head towards Angela. “[Don’t humans stay together once mated?]”

“Yeah, most do. But others, like me and Lance, might realize that we aren’t the best for each other. So people might break up and move on to other people. Granted, even after they break up they may still talk to each other and have feelings for each other.” Angela explained.

“[So you two will mate again?]” Kalden asked, looking at the two of them.

They both looked away.

“No,” Lance said quietly. He turned and walked to the kitchen, coming back a few minutes later with some milk and more rations. He moved back down the stairs and closed the door to the workshop behind him. The music and heavy machinery started again.

“[Do you agree?]” Kalden asked.

“Yes.” She responded looking away. “I’m going to my room.”

“[Would you like to talk about it?]” Kalden asked, quickly getting up as she did.

“No. I’ve had therapy.” She responded sarcastically.

“[Just because you had therapy, doesn’t mean you can’t have more.]” Kalden responded. She glared at him then went to her room and slammed the door. Kalden jumped at the outburst, staring at the door. His inner workings spun and clicked as he processed, then looked down at Alloura.

“[Humans are strange.]”