With the wrench in my hand, I knew what needed to be done. I used the screwdriver to pop apart one of the broken monitors and pulled out several wires, then used them to make a bridge between the two broken chargers. I put them back together and left two exposed wires stuck out for what I would need them for.

After a quick discussion with Amanda about what to do, we checked the monitors and saw the sentry droid was rolling slowly up the hallway. I nodded to Amanda and she picked up the chair and went to the door. I opened the door for her and she crept out with the chair and set it by the corner then came back into the room. I gave her the laser pistol and slipped out with the broken chargers in one hand and the wrench in the other.

I crawled under the chair and rolled over onto my back, then waited. The sentry robot stopped as it reached the end of the hallway. I didn't question why it stayed facing the wall, since I knew it detected sound and movement and wasn't based solely on sight. I very carefully inched forward under the chair and managed to get myself under the robot and between its wheels, without making more than a sliding sound that was lost in the background of the fire sounds that came from the Library.

Now the hard part. I thought and rested the modified chargers on my chest and slowly reached up with the wrench and both hands to the undercarriage of the robot. I loosened the first bolt on the access panel without a problem. When I reached for the second bolt, it wouldn't turn. I held in my sigh and braced myself as much as I could, then tapped the handle of the wrench with the palm of my hand as quietly as I could. It didn't move, so I pulled my hand back and whacked the handle as hard as I could. The bolt made a loud squeaking sound as it turned.

“Sound detected!” The robot sentry said in its harsh mechanical voice and started to turn around. I grabbed onto the undercarriage with one hand and pulled my legs in, so I wouldn't be run over by the wheel, and I turned the wrench as quickly as I could. The bolt squeaked with each turn, and the robot started to freak out.

“Sound detected! Warning! Unable to localize!” The sentry said and finished its three-hundred-and-sixty degree turn back to face the wall. “Initiating Defensive Protocols.”

I heard the chest cavity open as I finished with the second bolt, and the access panel opened. “Amanda! Duck!”

The portable laser cannon opened fire and tried to turn in another three-hundred-and-sixty degree arc, so I took the wrench and jammed it in the spokes of the wheel, and it stopped turning just as the laser cannon finished discharging into the monitor room.

“Amanda! Are you okay?” I asked and looked at the access panel.

“This door is heavy.” Amanda said and I glanced at the door. Part of the wall had been cut apart and destroyed one of the hinges, and since the door was heavy, it turned and twisted the other hinge and broke away from the door frame.

“I'll be there in a second.” I said and found the spots I needed to attach the wires I had added to the broken chargers. I used the screwdriver to get one of them on, then the sentry robot figured out that it could turn the other way. The wrench fell to the floor as the robot started to spin in the other direction, but it was too late. I attached the second wire and screwed it in, then hit the breaker.

“Warning! Tampering Detected!” The sentry robot said and stopped when it faced the Library down the hall. “Laser cannon misfire!” It said and when it tried to roll down the hallway, it stopped dead. “Overload! Overload!” It said and started to shake as a low whine came from it.

“Uh oh.” I said and scampered out from under it.

“Jack!” Amanda exclaimed and held a hand out to me.

I went to her and braced myself in the door frame of the monitor room and tried to lift the heavy security door. “Just... a little... more!”

Amanda grabbed onto my leg and pulled herself out from under the door and I dropped it.

“Let's go!” I said and grabbed her hand, then we ran as fast as we could down the hallway. We headed for the library, because if what I suspected was true, neither the security room nor the bedroom were far enough away from the robot. We reached the doorway of the library when the whine from the robot reached a high pitch. I pulled Amanda into my arms and jumped into the air as the robot exploded.

The laser cannon couldn't discharge normally, because I had routed the power through the two broken chargers. Since they were broken, so was the circuit needed. I had only thought to route the power away, though. I didn't expect it to overload and cause a self-destruct.

The robot, the security room and half of the bedroom were engulfed in a laser ball, and pieces of shrapnel flew out in all directions. Since the only place for them to go unimpeded was down the hallway, my back and legs were peppered in bits of metal. Amanda and I landed near the downstairs staircase and rolled over the edge of the non-existent handrail and tumbled down the stairs. We ended in a heap on the landing, with me on the bottom and Amanda cuddled into my chest.

“Oh, my god.” Amanda said and clung to me. “Jack! That was so close!”

“It was... a lot closer... than you think.” I panted in pain.

“J-Jack?” Amanda sat up and looked at me with concern on her face. “What's wrong?”

“I think... I was hit.” I said and smiled, and her eyes widened.

“Wh-where?” Amanda asked and tried to turn me onto my side, then she saw the large pool of blood on the carpet. “NO!”

“I'm fine.” I said and sighed. “I just need to... close my eyes... for a second.”

“Jack! No!” Amanda exclaimed and shook me. “Stay with me, Jack! STAY WITH ME!”

“I'll always... be with you, Amanda.” I said and took a breath, then another, and closed my eyes.

YOU HAVE DIED!

Reason: Self Sacrifice to save another.

Reward: Bonus Life (Any Game); Life Credits: +100

I opened my eyes and the scenario had faded and I was back in my virtual workspace.

“You idiot!” Amanda cried and hit me in the chest several times. “Why did you do that?!?”

“I couldn't let you be hurt. Not if I could help it.” I said and sat up. “Apparently, the game knew that and gave me a reward for it.”

“What?” Amanda checked the game feed and saw the popup I had received. “Why would it...” She shook her head. “Jack, you aren't planning on doing it again, are you?” She asked and wiped her eyes. “That was really scary.”

“We have 24 more batch files to try, don't we?” I asked and chuckled at her frown. “I'm sure we can only get through one or two more before Nurse Deloris shows up for my maintenance check.”

“Jack, do you really want to try them all?” Amanda asked me.

“I'm just seeing what kind of games people played all those years ago.” I said. “I have to say, though... the modern updates we added definitely made it a lot more exciting.”

“Destroying half the house and killing yourself is not exciting, Jack.” Amanda said and crossed her arms.

“Yes it was.” I said and cupped the side of her face. “I'm sorry I died on you, though. I thought we were going to make it on the first try.”

Amanda sighed and pat my hand on her face. “We did do really well for not having any idea what was going on.”

I nodded. “We make a great team.” I said and let her face go. “Do you want to try the next one?”

“No, but I don't want you to do it alone, either.” Amanda said and I laughed.

“Good enough.” I said and stood up, then helped her stand as well. I looked at the command window and chose the next file, can-do.bat, and pushed accept. The new scenario loaded and we were in a military HQ briefing room. Amanda and I sat down just in time, because the commander came into the room and slammed a thick folder of papers onto the desk at the front of the room.

“Now, listen up!” The commander said loudly. “You may be new recruits, but that doesn't mean we're going to go easy on you.” He said and looked at everyone, then turned to the wall display behind him. “As you can see, the enemy has established a beachhead right here on Sarcalm Sound.”

“Geez, is that even a real place?” One of the other soldiers asked, and several chuckles followed.

“It could be called 'Cat Piss Litter Box' and it wouldn't change the situation, recruit.” The commander said crossly. “Keep your questions to yourself until after the briefing.”

“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”

The commander nodded. “Here's the raw deal we've been dealt.” The commander said and started to explain the situation. I sat back in my chair and held a hand out to Amanda, and she took it without hesitation and smiled at me. The both of us always kicked ass in military simulations.

When the commander was done with the presentation, he turned back to face the recruits. “You know everything I do now. Do you think it's possible? Can you pull this off?”

“CAN DO!” The recruits yelled.

Two hours later, Amanda tapped my shoulder. “Jack, Nurse Deloris just entered the lobby of Sector A.”

“Dammit, already?” I asked. I looked at my fellow recruits in our temporary camp. “We were just about to launch the attack.” I looked back at Amanda. “Does this game have a pause function?”

“Just a second.” Amanda said and checked. “No, and the save function only applies to checkpoints as we pass them.”

I sighed. “Add both of those to the bugs and fixes file, please.”

“I already did.” Amanda said and smiled. “That's 86 items that need to be addressed so far.”

I chuckled. “Despite what we changed already, this program is a couple of hundred years old.” I said. “Playing through them lets us find all the things we can't see in the code.”

Amanda nodded. “I have to admit that this one is a lot more fun than the other two.”

I nodded as well. “We're going to lose the last half hour, but at least nothing really happened.” I said and brought up the menu, then chose the quit option. “We'll need...”

“It's already in the file.” Amanda said and grinned at me as the scenario faded and left us in my virtual workspace. “Verbal menu commands after a keyword.”

I chuckled gave her a quick hug, and she hugged me back. “You read my mind.” I said, then dropped my hands to her underarms and started to tickle her. “You're not supposed to read my mind!”

“Aha-ha-ha!” Amanda laughed as I tickled her. She squirmed and wriggled but didn't let me go. I stopped a few moments later and put my arms back around her.

“Thanks for sticking by me.”

“Like I have a choice.” Amanda said and looked up at me. “I... I know I'm bad sometimes... and I don't listen other times; but... I... I'm yours Jack. I will always be here and I... I'll never leave you alone.”

I raised my eyebrows at that last sentence. “You'll never leave me alone?”

“You know what I mean.” Amanda said.

“Yeah, I do.” I said and kissed her forehead. “I always need you, so it's a fair trade off.”

Amanda nodded and let me go, and I initiated the exit sequence for the immersion chamber. I stepped out of the room just as Nurse Deloris entered the apartment.

“Perfect timing.” I said to her. “As long as you don't mind some sweat.”

“I can give you a sponge bath if you need it.” Nurse Deloris said in a flat tone.

I examined her face and saw her puffy eyes and slightly sad expression. “If it won't be too much trouble, I'd appreciate it.”

Nurse Deloris went to the bathroom to get the supplies she would need.

“Jack, you can't make her work in the state she's in.” Alyssa said.

“Alyssa, she wants to keep busy.” I said, and she looked at me with a blank expression. “She wants a distraction from... well, you know what from.”

“Jack, you can't think that...”

“Strip and get on the bed.” Nurse Deloris said as she came out of the bathroom with the wash basin and supplies. I stripped and put towels down, then laid down on the bed. She washed me fully and thoroughly, dried me off, then did the maintenance check and cleaned my synthetic parts as well. Now that I had full functionality on my synthetic parts, I recorded everything she did so I could do it myself if she quit.

Nurse Deloris applied the lubricating fluid to seal my synthetic parts and passed me a new generic unitard. “I suggest staying out of the immersion chamber until tomorrow.”

“Why?” I asked and glanced at the portable maintenance kit.

“I think the immersion chair needs to be adjusted.” Nurse Deloris said and tapped my elbow joint. “You put extra strain on this elbow.”

I thought back over what Amanda and I did, and remembered straining to lift that heavy security door. “Wow, the feedback was even better than I thought.”

“Excuse me?”

“I'll make the adjustments myself after you leave.” I assured her.

“Jack, I... I might not...”

“I'm going to be too busy in the morning for another bath.” I said, and she looked at me with wide eyes. “In fact, I think I'll just go into lock-down starting tonight.”

“What?” Alyssa blinked her eyes at me. “Jack...”

“I've never tested the security system of this apartment fully.” I said. “Since I'll be busy with work anyways, it's the perfect time.”

Alyssa shook her head. “I can't...”

“Alyssa, since I won't be needing you to guard me tonight, why don't you have a girl's night out with Deloris?” I asked, and both women stared at me. “I know I can't really tell you what to do on your off time, since it was ordered by the colonel; but, if both of your boyfriends are too busy to spend time with you, why don't you spend the time with each other?”

The two women exchanged glances and then looked back at me.

“Jack...” Both women said at the same time.

“Now, now. No need to thank me.” I said and pat them on the shoulders. “I won't even dock your pay for goofing off, since it's official orders and all that.”

Both women made that little 'o' of surprise with their mouths.

“Hey, don't be so shocked that I'm thinking of someone other than myself.” I said and laughed. “Look, why not make it a full night? Give Cali and Evilin a call. I'm sure they'd like to hang out with you for a while.”

Neither woman moved, so I turned them around by their shoulders and eased them to the door.

“Have fun.” I said as my apartment door opened.

Alyssa and Nurse Deloris walked out into the hallway and turned around to look at me.

I leaned forward and kissed Alyssa on the lips. “Wherever you end up, make sure you don't completely wreck the place, okay?”

“I'll keep it under advisement.” Alyssa said, and I laughed.

“That's code for 'not a chance'.” I stepped back into the apartment, gave them a wave, and the door shut. I went over to the bed and cleaned up the mess from the bath and the maintenance check, put everything away, then sat down on the edge of the bed.

There was a knock on the door, and I checked the security feed for the hallway. No one was there, so I walked over to the connecting door between my apartment and the apartment next door and opened it.

“Jack.” Noreen said, and my eyes widened at the state she was in. She looked horrible. Her hair was matted and she didn't look like she had seen water in days.

“Noreen, what...”

“They're gone, Jack.” Noreen said and her face crumpled. “Sandra and Nathan.”

I didn't say anything as I opened my arms, and she fell into them and cried.