Tomorrowland: Frank and Athena

Chapter 27 - Frank Plus Athena

Frank shuffled into his apartment, his day at school finally finished. It had been a relatively good day, as school days went, but he was glad it was over. He even managed to talk to a few kids where it felt like a normal conversation. He was hoping that, at last, the novelty of his celebrity was finally wearing off to some degree. To be fair, he thought he put forth more effort now, since he was feeling very lonely without Athena's company. Now that she was gone, he realized how much space she had filled in his life, and he felt it was time to fill it with others – preferably human.

He still thought about her constantly, but it didn't feel quite as obsessive as it had been. He idly wondered what she was doing. Did she think about him at all? Did a machine like her even have idle thoughts? He supposed she had to have some; she used to call him as much as he called her.

I need to stop thinking about her, he told himself firmly. He sighed and walked to the kitchen, where he made himself a sandwich for a snack, then walked back to his T-Net terminal to start his homework. He sat down at the desk, feeling tempted to open a certain drawer that held a certain picture, but managed to resist. He also had the holo-recording that he'd made the day she admitted she was a machine. Some day he might view it, but that incident was still too fresh. He was eternally grateful that she'd turned off the recording when she did.

He'd just managed to push her out of his head once again to start his homework when he noticed a message on his T-Net terminal. It was from Caroline, which just irritated him. While he didn't feel back to normal in any way, he was at least able to get through the day. He really didn't need any outside reminders right now. He generated enough thoughts of Athena on his own, thank you very much.

On the other hand, technically Caroline was his adult guardian to live in Tomorrowland as a minor, though he had a lot of independence. It wasn't reasonable to expect that he could avoid all contact with her. It was entirely possible that it wasn't Athena related. He was tempted to put off the message until later, but finally he sighed and touched the message to open it up. As he read it, all of his prior thoughts were forgotten as a chill went down his spine.

Hello Frank,

I know that you and Athena aren't presently spending time together. But I felt that you may want to know that she was recently severely damaged during a recruiting mission. Don't worry; it's repairable – physically, at least. I shouldn't tell you this, but Athena occasionally performs very dangerous missions, sometimes in hostile places. This last mission was an extraction of an extremely important person to the future of Plus Ultra, and thus the world, and some very powerful people wanted to prevent her. She was successful but it was closer than it should have been, and she came quite near to dying.

Athena hasn't talked too much about how it affected her. I suspect she's still trying to process the incident; she's never had such a near-terrible outcome. I believe it would make her feel better if you were to visit. I know it might seem strange that an animatronic would enjoy visitors or that it would help her, but as we've discussed, her mind is very complex and sophisticated. And though you and she have had your problems, you're very special to her.

I will understand if you're not in a mental place to see her. But if you could, please visit her in my lab as soon as you can.

Love,

Caroline

Frank read through the letter several times. Suddenly a few things were making sense. He'd already figured out that her frequent absences in the past were due to recruiting trips that she'd called "research," but the fact that Athena might also do more hazardous "extraction" missions was new. There was no doubt Athena was extremely strong; the bar she'd bent in the lab to prove she was a machine wasn't a trivial piece of metal, and she bent it like it was nothing. She was vastly overpowered if her purpose was just to talk to people and sell them on Plus Ultra. But if part of her purpose was to handle dangerous people...