All the research he did ended up revealing little, which by the very nature of what he did find revealed a lot. First off, the timelines didn’t quite match up, not if he continued to assume that the facility at the reservoir was always a water treatment facility.

  Back then, Parker had a different facility built for that exact purpose.

  In other words, when the author of the entries saw the boring machine leaving the highway, it was unlikely that the facility at the reservoir had even been built yet. That meant he had been looking at the wrong location.

  It was somewhat annoying that his idea had been so completely off the mark, but frankly, it was to be expected.

  With that in mind, he expanded his search and began to find many locations that were possibilities. At least, as good of a possibility as the first one had been. More research was needed to learn more about each location, at least that was what he initially thought.

  Then he came across a single mention of an old military weapons facility outside what were now the ruins of Elizabeth. The interesting thing was that at some point all mentions of it past that had been removed. He couldn’t find it on the maps or anything.

  At that distance, it was somewhat unlikely that whichever corporation had purchased the machine had used it to create a backdoor into the underfloors. As was more likely the case, they had simply used it to create their own underground facilities.

  No, what was more interesting was the precedent it set. While the majority of the boring machines had gone to other cities, towns, and states. Enough had been bought by corporations that there was no telling how vast and complicated their labs had become. Was it possible that they had created entire unseen cities underground, all fed by a complicated network of tunnels?

  Was it possible? Yes. Was it something that they had actually done even in some smaller, less ambitious form? Trace doubted it. Even the project beneath New Denver had resulted in the creation of at least one new mountain. The amount of dirt to accomplish what he was fantasizing about was unimaginable.

  Regardless, in the end, none of it truly mattered. Searching for the location of the facility where the boring machine had been used was a passing interest, nothing more. Though, he did now intend to go visit the site where the military installation had once been. His own curiosity wanted to know why it had been removed from the maps.

  In the end, he had other items that needed to be focused on. It was starting to get late, and he had a date with Ko the next day. He still needed to finish swapping out the thigh holster for his new gun and go through his usual enhanced learning modules as well. Unfortunately, actually putting a suppressor on the new pistol would need to wait until he could buy one. The one on the CD-10 was broken, and he hadn’t thought about keeping extras until that moment.

  ***

  When he woke the next morning, Deckard was still not answering his messages.

  With a mutter of annoyance, he started working on the android body, only to get interrupted a few minutes later. The CNC machine delivery had arrived, and the new 3D printer was right behind them. All he needed to do was open the warehouse doors and let them unload the large boxes on the massive freight elevator for later.

  However, before he could do anything with them, it was time for him to clean up and go pick up Ko. Right as he was about to leave, the warehouse doors still in the process of closing behind his car, one final delivery made its appearance. It was the package of learning modules Deckard had mentioned in his message that he had been able to order. Trace had no idea which ones they might be, only that there were a couple of them. Of course, he also wasn’t sure if that was an actual couple, or a loose couple.

  Regardless, he accepted the package and then stored it in the tiny backseat of his car for later.

  Ko was waiting for him when he drove up to her building a couple of minutes later. She was wearing dark khaki pants and a long-sleeved shirt underneath a heavy black jacket. Her breath was coming out in little puffs of steam on the cold November morning.

  She hopped into the car as soon as he pulled up, not even waiting for him to open the door for her.

  Trace turned up the heat and directed the vents toward her. “Why were you waiting outside? The door to your building is right there. Surely it’s warmer in there.”

  She scoffed. “Not at the moment. The heat is only working on the third and fourth floors. The repairs that were done seemed to have messed up the heating shafts on the other floors. I need to have them looked at later. I had to wheel Hannah up to the fourth floor so she could spend the night with me.”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Heating was one of the things he didn’t need to worry about at the warehouse just yet. The main level had come equipped with some decent heaters, while the basement had enough electronics running that generated some heat. For the moment that was enough, though soon he would need to get something more.

  “Still, I would have messaged you when I arrived.”

  Ko shrugged. “I was only waiting outside for a minute, so it was fine.” She hesitated, twisting her fingers together as though she wanted to say something difficult. “I’m…” She licked her lips and looked down at her lap. “I’m thinking of taking my mother out of the Siren’s Rush housing facility and bringing her home to live with me.”

  He blinked, his mouth opening and closing several times, before finally finding his voice. “I thought that wasn’t an option. Didn’t you say that she was never allowed to truly leave?”

  “I did,” She said softly, with a small nod. “At the time, I believed it to be the truth. However, the manager that Stick-Point introduced to me, Mister AdeKreed, took it upon himself to look into the matter. Thank you for initially speaking with Stick-Point for me, by the way. I really appreciate it, AdeKreed has been absolutely beyond helpful. Anyway, apparently, I am allowed to take my mother back, and become her legal guardian, if I become a certified mender, and have my own clinic.”

  Trace took a few moments to take that in, concentrating on the highway. There were several things he wanted to say on that particular matter, but he also knew he couldn’t. Family matters were a sensitive topic and not one that he was particularly well equipped to handle.

  At last, he lightly smacked the steering wheel and pressed the brake, pulling off to the side of the highway. “I don’t know how to say this delicately, so I’m just going to say it, and hope I explain myself well enough.”

  Ko narrowed her eyes at him and nodded once.

  “Okay, all I really wanted to ask is if you are ready to take on the sort of responsibility that your mother represents. I don’t mean that in a negative way or anything. I know you said that she is able to have a job of some sort and everything. What I’m worried about is lingering mental breakdown episodes or something,” He shook his head. “I admit, I don’t know enough about the problems she is still suffering from what happened back then.

  “We’ve never talked that in depth about her current state. We just talked about you trying to take on too much last night. Now, in addition to Hannah, you also want to introduce your mother to the mix. I just… I’m not saying don’t do it, she’s your family. I just want to make sure you understand what you are getting into and are ready for it.”

  Devko folded her arms defensively, guarding herself from the uncomfortable truth his questions had revealed. She truly was trying to do too much and taking on too many tasks.

  “I don’t know what I can do, if anything, but I’m here for you,” Trace said as he saw her begin to realize the truth anew.

  “Do-” Ko clenched her hands tight, bunching her jacket together in her fist. “Do you think I should bring her back, after all?” Her voice was soft, and the cyberware tuning of vocal cords managed to convey a scared frailty that he had never heard from her before.

  He exhaled and leaned his forehead against the steering wheel, thinking. “I can’t answer that, not really. I’ve only met your mother the one time. I can’t answer whether or not that was her normal condition, or if I merely met her at a really good time. That said… Yes, keeping in mind that you need to be moderate with how much you take on, I do think you should bring her home.”

  “Okay, let’s go then. I’ll talk to mom while we’re there and see what she thinks. Just in case though, I’ll ask AdeKreed to start the paperwork.”

  He nodded and eased the car back into traffic. “I guess we should start swapping things around, and make the fifth floor of the building into an apartment as well? Maybe one your mom and Hannah can share, or would it be better to split the floor into two separate apartments?”

  Both women needed supervision at times and having them live together might be a decent option. It would also help to take some of the pressure off Ko that having them around constantly would have brought.

  “It might be a little intrusive, but I can install some sensors and cameras on their floor as well, so you could keep an eye on them as needed.”

  His constant work on the different engineering and programming learning modules would make setting something like that up a breeze. It wouldn’t have been hard to begin with, the issue was the user interface, which would have to run through a program on the server normally.

  However, if he changed the protocols on the cameras to work over a simple old-school network connection, he could get it to work. She wouldn’t be able to view more than two cameras at a time on her NetConnect. Actually, he glanced over her neck. He’d forgotten that she was sporting the same model he had now. It actually had fairly high-end specs, so she might be able to get away with as many as five screens if he messed with the compression some. He would need to ask what her preferences were on that one.

  Ko massaged her neck, clearly unsure what to think about either suggestion. “If she accepts, then moving her to the fifth floor would indeed be a good idea.” She said slowly. “I suppose the same goes for Hannah. I hadn’t even thought about where she would live. As for them living together, I guess we’ll see how they get along first. And the cameras, maybe just in the main living areas?” She acquiesced after a moment’s thought.

  Trace slowed for their exit. “It’s up to you. I’m just suggesting possible ideas, nothing more. However, in this vein of what I’m hoping you consider to be good news, have you checked the balance of what you owe on the building this morning, by any chance?”

  Her green eyes flashed quickly as she pulled up the information. “Trace, What. Did. You. Do?” She asked, enunciating each word clearly.

  “Um, happy birthday?” He told her with what he hoped was a disarming grin.

  “My birthday isn’t until January,” Ko ground out. “I don’t understand. I can’t accept this! How did you manage to pay off the rest of what I owed on the building? I thought you were struggling for funds yourself?”

  “I was, somewhat, but Deckard came through right before he stopped responding to my messages.” Trace groused. “Apparently, our dear government hasn’t been doing what they were supposed to. He took it upon himself to correct that.”

  She laughed, covering her mouth. “He’s the one that caused all the police to become so active the last few days!”

  Trace nodded, chuckling along with her.

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