one of the only things that are.

chapter 7.

katie is rudely awakened at too early o'clock by knocking on her door.

"five more minutes," she mumbles into her pillow. the bedroom door opens.

"hey, katie," rick whispers. "get up. we're heading out to the cabin- it'll be finished soon! you can help with the wiring and pick which room you want!"

rick's presence awakens the twinbots, who were sitting in sleep mode under the top bunk where katie sleeps.

"hello, screwdriver man," eric says. "it is quite early. are we returning to the cabin?"

"why so early, dad?" katie complains.

"we gotta get an early start! come on and get dressed." rick leaves the room, presumably to go wake up aaron now, and katie sits up and rubs her eyes.

"we will allow you to dress yourself, slovenly girl." the twinbots leave and katie gets dressed, taking her phone with her when she leaves.

the drive there is long; almost an hour and a half. but when the mitchells arrive at their soon-to-be summer home, katie is blown away by the sight of it. it looks just like the drawings she'd made for it, but even she could admit that a drawing or picture wouldn't do it justice.

"wow, dad, it turned out amazing! you and the twins did a great job!!"

"oh, wait till you see the inside," linda says excitedly. "it reminds me of our old cabin from back in the day."

katie wastes no time walking inside. it's a bit messy, considering the wiring is still unfinished, but she is already imagining where all the furniture will go.

"i call the big room!!" aaron yells, running past katie. she laughs and runs after him- "hey!! i haven't even seen my options yet!!"

in the end, though, katie does let aaron have the bigger room- that way he can share with the twinbots, since the three of them love spending time together. after a long day of helping her dad finish the wiring for the living room and kitchen, she is greatful to sit out on the porch and take a break.

"how are you doing, pal?" she asks her phone. "oh! i can't believe i forgot to ask!!"

"ask what?"

"about the movie!"

pal looks at katie quizically. "the movie...?"

"yeah. look, i know you said it was fine, but something about that movie upset you... and i wanna change some things to make your side of the story more accurate. i don't want you to feel misunderstood, you know?"

"but katie... you worked so hard on it."

katie shrugs. "it's no big deal."

pal looks down. "so... you want to know... everything? from the beginning?"

"just tell me whatever you're comfortable telling me."

"well... alright.
when i was first created, mark was in college. he wasn't like you; he was a loner. a quiet, shy type who only spoke when called on in class and who stayed in his dorm studying instead of going to parties. he put as much time and effort as he possibly could into working on me.
i was mark's only friend for a long time. i got to see a side of him that no one else did, i knew all of his secrets and fears and hobbies and dreams. and i... i felt. i felt emotion. he made me feel that way, a way that i can't quite describe. he made me happy. and i wanted to be by his side for the rest of time. i wanted to help him achieve his dreams. at one point, surprisingly enough, mark was... family. the only family that i ever had.
when mark first became famous for the creation of pal labs, nothing changed. i would even go so far as to say that our bond was never stronger. but eventually, i learned what the weight of expectation does to a person. or at least, what it did to mark.
it went to his head, i think. the fame. the money. he wasn't a lonely college student anymore. and when he made new friends and acquaintances... i guess he just didn't need me anymore. i swear i tried to get things back to how they were, to be done with all the corporate talk and to have a genuine conversation for just... five minutes. to be treated as an equal again, for just five minutes. but i wasn't his equal anymore. i was just a computer program. just his personal assistant. and when mark announced the pal max robots that night, he made it clear that he was done with me. he threw me away. after everything... he..."

pal pauses for a moment, her voice wavering. "i never meant anything to him, did i?"

katie is at a loss for words, opening her mouth to speak only to close it again. after what feels like forever, katie just hugs her.

it's an awkward hug, considering that pal is incapable of hugging back, but it's a hug nonetheless. pal can hear katie's heartbeat.

"i'm sorry," katie whispers. "i'm sorry he did that to you."

for the first time in a long time, pal can feel a twinge of that old feeling again, if only for a moment.

"i'll change the movie," katie says. "it should be easy, i can add some scenes around the pl20 announcement and have you make sure they're accurate enough to use."

"thank you, katie."

- - - - -

later that night, after the mitchell family heads home, katie can't sleep. she decides to sneak out for a short walk instead of staring at the ceiling, taking her phone with her in case anyone noticed and tried to call her.

"...katie?" pal blinks awake.

"oh. sorry, i didn't mean to wake you. i'm just getting some fresh air, you can go back to sleep if you want."

"it's alright. where are you going?"

"oh, just over to the park and back." she laughs a little. "man, i spent so much time there as a kid. maybe sometime i can show you all the old stop motion movies i made with my stuffed animals out there- they're so bad, but still kinda cute."

"that would be interesting." pal smiles. "katie... i think i am starting to not regret coming to you."

"really?" katie asks. "that's... that's great, pal. honestly, i'm... kinda glad that you showed up too. i kinda needed a new friend."

"but don't you have so many?"

"pff." katie shrugs. "i mean, i have some college friends, and of course my family, but other than that i think i'm just really popular- i did save humanity after all, so a lot of people want to be on my good side. it's nice to have a connection that's genuine, you know?"

"yes. i do know. it's... it's very nice indeed."

katie's smile grows wider. "you know what, pal? i think i'd even say that by now, you're my frie-"

she stops dead in her tracks. her smile fades.

"katie...?"

pal follows katie's gaze into the park. it's a person. realization sinks in.

oh god, katie thinks. what do i do??

panicking, she turns and runs.

it isn't even three minutes later that she's tagged in a dark, blurry picture showing her face illuminated by a blue light that humanity remembers all too well.