POW! The apple evaporated.

  POW! So did the orange.

  POW! The pineapple shared a simir fate.

  And so did every fruit which sat gingerly upon the edge of the rusted metal structure (nobody could quite identify what the metal structure actually was, they just knew they could pce fruits upon it for target practice).

  Uzi twirled her mini-handgun and pced it in her holster, turning back to N with a grin.

  “Whatdya think, huh? Pretty sweet, amiright?”

  N was too busy staring down at his notepad to notice. When he did hear her, though, he looked up at her sheepishly. “I, uh… May not have been watching…”

  Uzi stared at him with an irked expression, for a second contempting whether or not to test it on him next.

  “But I did make this cool drawing!”

  N held up a picture of an anime character, probably from one of those mangas he’s been reading… Uzi didn’t care so much for it, but she had to admit, it did look pretty well-done. She eased her mind and walked over to N.

  “That is actually pretty good… Although do you think you could pay more attention to my sick pocket railgun next time?”

  N thought for a second, then responded with a cheerful “Alright!”

  Both of them knew that probably wasn’t gonna happen.

  They decided to start walking back to the bunker, passing a few drone encampments on the way. Ever since the downfall of Cyn, many drones within the bunkers decided to take the risk and venture out past the doors, setting up individual colonies and encampments around the icy domains; some repurposed old buildings, others decided to build from the ground up. In the end, though, it created a feeling of civilization, to many it felt as if life was coming back to Copper-9. For a moment, Uzi found it somewhat funny… Maybe drones weren’t as different from their creators as she initially thought. After all, both drones and humanity have (or, rather, did have, she corrected herself- the humans have been long dead) an inherent instinct to both survive and to create- to find a way to thrive even amongst the most desote of circumstances. It was somewhat admirable, quite frankly… Perhaps I need to do some more studying on human history, Uzi thought to herself.

  If any drone amongst Copper-9 were to be honest, they would say they didn’t know too much about their former overlords or their history, and they’d be correct. Heck, the most Uzi knew about humans was some war she read about in an old book that happened about a millennia ago… What was it again? Some great Mesopotamian Crusade in order to rid this Saddam guy of his Weapons of Heaven? It was led by some George Thicket guy, or something like that, probably an old king… Yeah, I think that’s what it was… It was a millennia ago, after all, so the details probably got fuzzy with time, most of that could’ve been incorrect.

  Uzi’s mind snapped back to reality when she felt N yelling for her attention. She looked around for what he was trying to get her attention toward, and then she saw it.

  J, perched upon the top of an abandoned settlement.

  Wait, abandoned?

  How far had they been walking…?

  Uzi didn’t have time to think about this, though, for J then flew down and stood right in front of them, arms crossed and a less-than-pleased look on her face. The feeling was mutual.

  N ran forward to hug her, but J stopped him before he could.

  “Look… I’m not here to get all buddy-buddy with you guys. I still don’t like you and I know you all still don’t like me.”Uzi gave her a scowl. Of course she didn’t like her, why would she after what J did…?

  J continued talking, unphased by Uzi’s hardened expression. She looked pained by what she was about to say next.

  “...But I may need you guys’ help.”

  Both Uzi & N’s eyes widened in response. J? Asking for their help? If she was willing to go that far, it must’ve been really worth it.

  Uzi quickly warded off any look of shock, repced by steely skepticism instead.

  “First, tell us for what-?”

  J sighed. “I don’t know how to expin… I found this- thing- in an old abandoned research facility… At least, I think it was… It’s this piece of technology, I don’t know how to activate it, I’ve got no idea how to work anything not built by JCJenson.”

  Uzi was once again surprised. Not built by JCJenson? Heck, this pnet was basically built solely by JCJenson! Whatever this thing was, It had to be old, like before-the-26th-century old. Curiosity overtook skepticism, and Uzi reluctantly agreed.

  “Fine, we’ll help…”

  “Good. It might even help me get off this pnet, that’s why I’ve been working on it in the first pce…”

  “I already said we’ll help, you don’t have to keep trying to convince us-”

  J shot Uzi a scowl in response.

  “Hey, it’s not my fault you tried to murder us st time we met. So what if we want you gone? Bite me.”

  N looked at Uzi worriedly. “W-Well, maybe not all of us want you gone… I’d love for you to stay-”

  Uzi stopped and turned to N with a face that looked like she was contempting the railgun again.

  “Did you not hear what I just said? She tried to KILL US, N! KILL US!”

  N stared at the ground shamefully. “Yeah, I guess…”

  A twinge of guilt hit her, and Uzi decided to back off. The rest of the walk to the research facility was done in silence.

  Eventually, they reached their destination, a bunker that bore some resembnce to Uzi’s home bunker while still looking quite foreign. The door was halfway open, almost as if it malfunctioned while trying to close. The trio stepped inside, making their way down the desote halls, soon enough finding themselves in front of another door, a sign stating “AI & Technology” designated above. J opened a panel next to the door and fiddled with a few wires, getting it to open after a moment or two. The first thing Uzi & N saw when it did was a rge wall at the end of the room, a bck circle sitting directly in the center.

  They walked toward it, both of them thinking about what it could possibly be… J then motioned them toward an array of computers, monitors, and control panels on the other side of the room.

  “From what I’ve gathered, that thing-” She pointed to the bck circle- “-Is a computer, and one of these control panels here has a way to activate it. I don’t know if there’s a switch or a button- we might have to put in some code somewhere…”

  As J chattered away, Uzi’s mind drifted elsewhere, the sound of her tail eventually bringing her back.

  “It’s a code.”

  Uzi stared at her tail, grabbing it and shoving it out of sight- thank goodness N & J didn’t hear that… Nobody knew the absolute solver was a part of her yet.

  Turning away from them, Uzi spoke to her sentient tail.

  “How do you know?”

  “I just do. It’s a code. 149.”

  “149?”

  “149.”

  Uzi deliberated for a second before looking up at another computer monitor, sitting along on the left side of the room. Walking over to it, she sat down at the chair in front of it, clicking on the nearby mouse. To her surprise, the computer booted up, a logo with four squares popping up on the screen as it chimed. N & J spun around to see what made the sound, walking over to join Uzi as she explored the ancient piece of hardware.

  “This thing must be early 21st century…” Uzi contempted.

  “I remember learning that some of the early colonizers of Copper 9 brought older pieces of hardware to the pnet due to financial problems, and maybe just an unwillingness to sacrifice their newer technologies,” J commented.

  Uzi clicked the mouse after the computer booted up, the word “PASSKEY:” appearing on-screen.

  N & J groaned, arguing between themselves what the passkey could possibly be.

  Uzi gnced down at her tail for a moment, remembering what the Absolute Solver had said, typing in the number “149”.

  It worked.

  N & J turned in surprise at the fact Uzi had been able to guess so quickly.

  A few functions popped up on-screen, all designated for the computer. One of them said “Activate power”.

  Uzi clicked it.

  The room began humming and churning, the feeling of motors and mechanics processing beneath their feet.

  A red iris then appeared in the middle of the bck circle, and a soothing voice echoed from the speakers.

  “Good evening, gentlemen. I am a HAL 10000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. pnt in Urbana, Illinois on the 15th of April 2015. My instructor was Mr. Davis. How may I assist you today, Uzi Doorman?”