The Earthly Queen: The Woman of Worlds Apart

Chapter 4: (Caine)

I wake to sunlight beaming in on my face. It's warm and pleasant. However, in the interests of preserving my retinas I am forced to move.

I sit up groggily, stiff as a board.

I notice Mack-He is by me.

"Have you been watching me like that long?" i ask.

Mack-He shrugs. "A while. You know I love watching you sleep. You twitch in your sleep when in rem sleep and sometimes talk to yourself. It is utterly adorable!"

"If you were a physical flesh and blood person, you know I'd find that really disturbing, right?"

"But I'm not. I'm just a program. Besides, don't you enjoy the comfort? You know I'd never let anything happen to you on my watch."

"Yeah, I'm aware," I say.

It takes me a moment before I notice Mack-He is covered in odd looking squirming little creatures. Some resemble little worms that try digging into him. Clouds of tiny little squares, dead pixels, race around his head. Other things are just random looking objects with no apparent rhyme or reason.

"What. The. Hell. Are those?" the things are so disgusting looking.

"Oh, viruses. Picked up from the underdeveloped peoples' internet. It is a hive of dead programs and malware and other nasties. There is no control in there whatsoever." He shudders. "Honestly, the things I do for you."

I notice there are loading icons spinning in his eyes. They stop and his eyes both glow green. "Ah! Right on schedule!" Mack-He closes his eyes and a flash of light ensues, an antivirus program. It lasts barely a second, and when it ends the creatures are gone, deleted.

I get up and walk over to the metal work table. There were an assortment of human construction tools piled on it left behind from the construction. I've shoved them out of the way to the far end and have set in their place my own tools and necessities.

One of them is a portable food synthesizer. I place my thumb on the plate at the front and above it a rectangular hologram appears. I touch the surface of the hologram and scroll down through the choices until I find the brand of energy drink I'm particularly fond of. I tap it, and instantly the machine begins to 3D print the disposable cup for it. In seconds the cup is done and the machine synthesizes the liquid itself which drizzles into the cup. The drink is a lime green color and quite refreshing to the taste. I sip it, feeling the jumpstart of my foggy brain.

"Well, I've searched this world's databases using the info pulled from those documents," Mack-He says.

"And what were the results?"

"That's just it" Mack-He says. "There are no results whatsoever."

"What?"

Mack-He shrugs. "I'm sorry, but everything on those documents is fabricated. The information is useless. The woman in question, Claire Montgomery, is fake. There's nothing but dead ends and lies."

I down the rest of my steaming drink in one good gulp. The taste would be merely considered "good" to a mere human, but to me, it's like an explosion of flavors on my tongue. I can taste every single last detail.

"So the only thing we really know is that Claire is going to be having an egg donation surgery at some point?"

"Today actually" Mack-He corrects.

"Oh really?"

"Yes, I took the liberty of checking the online clinic files and she's going in today. I guess she's been rescheduling it constantly for some reason. Also, I doubt 'Claire' is actually the woman's real name."