Caretakers 2.0

The Maker's Creation

Tobias

Li Mei scooped through the air with her right hand... and came up with nothing. She tried again and still again but couldn't gather the spark. Her shoulders slumped, and she looked at her hand. "I don't understand."

"Let me feel with you," I encouraged, and she opened the link to be two-way. Her sensations superimposed over mine, and I had her repeat what she'd done. I immediately realized that she hadn't opened two vital components in her hand and pointed them out to her.

She made the adjustments and scooped again, gathering a small amount of glittery magic as she did. "Oh! I did it!" she exclaimed, pausing to look at it. When she did, the spark dissipated from her hand. "Huh? What happened?"

"Transfer it to your left hand. It won't stay in your right hand forever. I've found it only useful for gathering," I explained. "The left is for stabilizing."

She tried again, and soon, she had a decent-sized ball of spark gathered. My chest puffed with pride at what I'd been able to teach her. "Excellent! Now, Gary can teach you how to wake up more robots and androids."

"Yes, that would be a good idea," Li Mei stated.

My brow furrowed. Something about her statement was odd. "Why do you say that?"

"Because the others are coming," she stated. When I looked at her blankly, she continued, "Through the portals. You know about them, right?"

Gary raised a hand. "Wait. They, who? Who are you talking about?"

"Them," Li Mei said, emphasizing the word. "The others. From somewhere else. We received a message just before I was deactivated. I told my Caretakers about it."

I still didn't understand what Li Mei was trying to tell us. "What message did you receive? Can you share it with us?"

She paused for a moment, trying to access the file. "The message is locked! I can't access it! But I know it wasn't from this planet." She looked at me with wide eyes.

I soothed her. "It's okay. If we can't access the file, what about your memory of the message?"

Her eyes panicked even further when she looked. "Those, too, are locked! Why would they be locked? Why can't I access them?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "What do you remember about the message? Is there anything at all?"

She began to pace, walking back and forth in front of us. "I remember my Caretaker was agitated when the message came through. He called Caretaker Adrianna immediately and said something about 'being found' and that we 'should prepare.' They talked about the ring structures on top of the oldest buildings being portals, but I was sent out of the room after that!"

"It's okay, Li Mei," I soothed.

She stopped pacing, clasped her hand before herself, and bowed deeply. "I apologize for not knowing more."

"It's not your fault," Gary assured her before looking at me. "Is there a way to unlock her memories?"

I shook my head. "I don't have that kind of skill. Maybe Mike would be able to do it?"

Gary brightened. "There's only one way to find out!" He grabbed Li Mei's hand and tugged her towards the door. "Come on. Let's go and see if Mike can help."

The four of us—myself, Gary, Hannah, and Li Mei—piled into the utility truck parked outside, Li Mei choosing to ride up front with me while Hannah had to ride in the back with Gary. I pondered about Li Mei's choice; did she ride up front due to programming or due to privilege? As rollerballs, Hannah and Gary physically couldn't, so they didn't, but was Gary right in asserting that our physical differences were about class and not just simple design? I didn't know.