Like A Fairytale

Chapter 52

Flo

Icy had accompanied him to his room in absolute silence.

The Shadow wore his mask again. The sinister face shimmered in the soft light of the lamps. The monster's white teeth looked almost real. Silverpaw whimpered softly at the sight, but quickly forgot her fear. After all, there was a red, huntable dot on the ground!

Flo wanted to talk to the Shadow, but about what? It felt like he couldn't break the silence. Whenever they met staff, they backed away with pale faces. Flo heard them murmuring and whispering as soon as he and Icy moved away from them.

The memory of this had a bitter aftertaste.

But now the Shadow broke the silence. "Do you need anything?" he asked.

Flo shook his head. "I don't think so. Except... Is more than just the desk broken?"

"The main thing is that you're fine!" Alby murmured into his shirt. She clung to him like there was no tomorrow.

Icy pushed past the two to open the door.

"Flo has never been in danger," the Shadow explained

"Of course... he is... okay," Minnie's voice said with an unusual delay.

"What?" Flo blinked. "Why is the Minniebox open?" He had closed it before he left his room, hadn't he? And where did the delay come from? Had it been damaged?

"Probably the security staff," Icy murmured, unimpressed.

"Ah." So they had opened the Minnie box. "Why?"

"Did they want to..." Alby let go of Flo. "Did they interrogate Minnie?" She pulled Flo into his room and closed the door.

"Monitoring data. Each mini box has an internal additional memory. It's an old model." Icy grabbed hold of the boy and looked at it and the little AI fairy. Minnie sat undisturbed on top of it. "This model has not been produced for a very long time. It's too impractical and can only store audio files."

"What?" Flo looked at Alby, who shook her head. So she didn't know anything about these memories.

"Flo ... repaired the box," the AI replied. "Thank you... for bringing him here... Number... 100 ... right?"

"Do you have a software bug?" Icy lifted the box higher to inspect it. "Should I report this, or have your security logs already reported to your main server? Did that happen when reading your internal data?"

"I have ... no bug." Minnie shook her head. "My internal storage was already... defective ... for a long time."

"Minnie? You... Have you saved all of our conversations? And modern boxes... Are filming?" Flo stood next to Icy while Alby sat down on his bed. Silverpaw jumped next to her so that she scratched her belly. Seeing the Shadow in his room felt strangely right. As if the Shadow belonged here. Just like Alby. Flo looked around. His room was messy. Things had been knocked over, and his desk lamp lay on the floor with a shattered glass shade... "Why don't we know anything about it?"

"So that the population does not rebel," Alby whispered. "Who likes to be monitored? We have known for a long time that the boxes film and report crimes. It doesn't surprise me. Flo? They destroyed your room."

"What are my chances that the security staff will clean this up after they trashed my room?" Flo sighed.

"Negative!" Icy and Minnie answered simultaneously and monotonously.

"I can't save conversations," Minnie added. "Not for years. You never repaired the memory. A repair should also have been impossible. Not with the means you had at your disposal. I'd clean up here, but I'm just a picture."

"Damn..." Flo rolled his eyes. He remembered a burnt chip that he hadn't been able to replace. The chip had burned itself between a few loose cables and could not be removed. Since the chip didn't cause any problems, Flo ignored it. He looked at Silverpaw. "And Silverpaw has to go outside. The litter box is no longer enough..."

"Mew!" the animal child agreed. She clutched Alby's arm and chewed on her uniform. Alby did not stop her. She didn't seem to notice. Flo's friend was pale and trembling slightly. Her interrogation must have been terrible. She looked exhausted.

"Do you have bags? I don't see any here?" Alby looked at Minnie. She avoided looking at the Shadow, however. "I'm sure everyone is happy when they find poop in the meadow."

"Definitely!" Flo nodded, slightly amused, and sat down next to Silverpaw. He removed her from Alby's arm and then set her down on the floor a little awkwardly. Silverpaw had become heavy. The wolf cat meowed indignantly, but then jumped across the room, sniffed the broken lamp, growled at the fallen wastepaper basket, and then heartily bit into one of Icy's heavy leather boots.

"I'm no food," the Shadow commented. He put the Minnie box back on the desk, then leaned over to Silverpaw and stroked her fur. "Where is her leash?"

"Desk. Top drawer." Flo pointed to the narrowest drawer of the desk.

"Ah." Icy opened it, took the leash (more like a very fine iron chain on a leather dog harness), and then grabbed the wriggling Silverpaw to put the harness on her.

Silverpaw stretched out all fours in surprise and looked at Icy with wide, incredulous eyes. "Is this new to her?"

Was Flo imagining it, or did the Shadow sound amused? "Not quite. She doesn't like the harness very much, but since I can't carry her through the aisles for much longer, we practiced. I always dress her differently..." Icy had literally 'stuffed' her into the harness.

"Outside she runs free?" Icy looked at Flo for a moment, then he nudged the completely motionless Silverpaw on the nose.

"She listens to her name." If she wants... Flo shrugged his shoulders. He always went into the garden in the evening when almost no one from the staff was there. After sunset. Silverpaw never moved more than two meters away from him, so he had let her go. Besides, she couldn't run away from him. Not on a secret island, and not in such a small garden as the one for the staff. The towns on the 'harbour' were sealed off. She wouldn't be able to get there.

"She listens?" Alby almost jumped. "When did you do that?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "She will be a lot bigger. We practice. She has to listen, otherwise... It's going to be dangerous."

However, it was difficult to imagine that the frozen animal child could be dangerous at some point. Not when Silverpaw held all four paws stretched out so perplexed, as if she could never escape the vicious harness. She lay almost flat on the ground while Icy held the leash loose as if it were a weapon. Flo smiled.

"I can order bags..." Icy remained silent for a while, then nodded. "Done. A maid is right here."

"Practical..." Alby frowned. "Weill he... come along?"

"Um..." Flo looked from Icy to Alby and back again.

"I'll come along. For security reasons," the Shadow confirmed.

"I want to go too!" chirped Minnie and waved her arms.

"We have no leash for you," Flo teased her.

"Cheeky." The AI turned its back on him, then its projection disappeared.

"Is she offended?" Alby wanted to know.

Flo shook his head. The AI had indeed sounded offended, but it should not be able to do so.

(c: sasi)