My eyes must have grown wide, as I saw her smile then nod to me. Then she was piling more blankets on me.
{Are you going to be able to persuade them to allow us to stay here long enough? If-} I started.
{Primary command, third maturation level has been achieved. Now accessing control over corporeal enclosure.} The nanomites ‘said’.
{Perhaps we won’t be here that long after all.} I told Sheila as I started to reach out feeling all of my systems that were mostly shut down. {Now raising corporeal enclosure temperature. Advise all units to maintain heat shielding ’til further advisement.}
{Compliance control now in defensive positions.} The nanomites responded.
Within minutes I felt my temperature start to rise. Good I was actually starting to get more feeling back in my extremities.
A moment later Sheila walked to me kneeling beside me, she passed a hand over me nodding.
{You seem to be recovering far faster than I at first thought Roger. Might I suggest that you do not overtax your systems yet. You have just achieved the third critical mass.} Sheila’s thoughts ‘said’ to me.
I hadn’t noticed that I had actually nodded to Sheila. Suddenly, a thought hit me that caused a bit of worry in me.
{You said that I had been at it for almost eight hours? I remember that you told the Dean and the Department head, that we would only be a few hours. They aren’t going to allow us to go on that much longer are they?} My worried thoughts told Sheila.
{They will not interfere. I communicated to them that you, as a master Computer repair technician, my boss, had detected far more problems. Far more than we had at first anticipated, therefore we might be at this the rest of the day. I also informed them that
we’d contact them when we were finished.} Sheila responded with a little smirk crossing her lips.
I could only nod my head, I was glad that she was on my side. Then I thought of all that I had seen whilst I had been in her programs. It suddenly hit me like a sledge hammer, she really was in love with me! Nothing I had seen, indicated that this was a prearranged part of the program or any program. Then I also realized, that I myself was starting to feel a hell of a lot of emotion for her.
The tingling in all my extremities let me know that my body was starting to come back, good the sooner the better.
___________________________________________________________
Timur and Cathy were both trying to track where Sheila and I had gone. They both had hit a wall though they were both still at it. Finally, both of them frustrated, asked permission to meet with the other. Though neither thought the other was better than them, there were rare times they needed help.
Almost eight hours after Evelyn had met with me, the two met on neutral ground with both teams nearby. As they started to hesitantly exchange data both their faces started to light up. It appeared that they each had what the other had been missing.
Both started to get excited, they’d finally got a clear cut signal as to where Sheila had gone.
“Comrade!” Timur excitedly yelled, bringing both Ruslan and Evelyn to him and Cathy, at a run. “I believe that we have found them!” Cathy was nodding her agreement as she was adjusting the equipment.
“The both of you are sure?” Evelyn stated. “That is a heavily populated building.”
Both of the computer experts turned to look at both the leaders frowning. “We would not have told you if we weren’t certain.” Cathy said a little hotly.
“Da, comrade after all this time you doubt?” Timur said irritatedly.
Both Ruslan and Evelyn looked at each other, then the two sitting there. Finally, they threw their hands up.
Turning, they both started to bark orders causing both teams to load up. They were moving out within ten minutes. Less than thirty minutes later they were rolling up near the University of Alberta: Department of Computing Science.
Both leaders looked at their computer experts, they both stated that the machine was within the main computer lab. Though they weren’t getting any recognizable human signs, they were sure that I was here also. Suiting up they entered with as much stealth as possible.
_____________________________________________________
I was just starting to be able to sit up, my legs on the other hand were another thing.
“Roger, I can still carry you if need be, I can-.” Sheila suddenly stopped turning her head toward the hall way. “Warning! Warning! I am detecting the same heavily armed personnel that I did before. It appears that they are somehow tracking us again. I suggest we go before they are too close before engagement is necessary.”
“Damnit! I’ve just started to get most of my body back.” I only thought a moment then nodded, “Time to go.” Sheila nodded as she put me over her shoulder, then everything was a blur as she moved out.