The Truth

Astus came to a stop in the cracked parking lot of Blackwell’s Market in record time, according to Michael Wilson’s surprised remark. Lavinia got out of the cart, sore from the ride, and greeted Bernard as he came out of his market. If he was surprised to find her among the rest of his delivery, he didn’t show it. Despite Michael’s protestations, she helped unload the cart and bring everything into the market. Helping him was the decent thing to do, since he was letting her borrow her cart and the white stag leashed to its reins. It also meant they were back on the road to her house in only fifteen-ish minutes; another record, it seemed.

“… and he’s pretty receptive to vocal commands, too,” Michael said. “At least when he wants to be.”

Lavinia sat rigid next to Michael, her hands gripping the reins. “When he wants to be, right…”

She’d been in control of anything larger than a bicycle, but the brief driving lesson on the way to her home was going surprisingly well. Although, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Astus was the one in control regardless of how she handled the reins. At least he wasn’t fighting the relative stranger at the reins. If he stayed that calm, the trip to the factory could be manageable.

“I feel bad about stranding you,” she said. “You’re welcome to stay at my house until we get back.”

“Thanks, but you don’t need to do that. If a driver doesn’t report in at the nearest depot in thirty-six hours, the South-Central Caravan Corps. sends a recovery team to find their body,” he stated matter-of-factly despite the grim topic, like he was reading off from an instruction manual.

“O-Oh.” Lavinia blinked. “Well, that’s… nice of them.”

“If I’m being honest, I’m not sure how often that happens with how quiet this part of the country is. As long as you keep an eye out for the worse part of the roads, you should get your boy help no problem.”

“If the roads to the old factory are even still there,” she replied, letting it slip out absent-mindedly from her focus on the great stag and his reins.

“What factory?” Michael asked.

“What?”

“You said factory. Aren't you going to a hospital?”

“Oh, no, I said—I said—” Lavinia stopped and let out a shaky breath, and a torrent followed. “I can’t do it anymore, lying about Arlo. He’s a mecha. He’s the reason I asked you for any spare parts that might’ve come through your depot. And he was okay for months, but now he’s in danger and if we don’t get him to their old factory, he’ll…” She looked at Michael with tears in her eyes, “I know you’ve got an important job and you might not wanna loan me your cart for an old robot, but he’s so important to me.”

Michael sat there for a moment, staring at her with an appalled look.

“Ms. Lavinia, why on Earth would that make a difference?” he finally said. “Whether he’s human or mecha, he’s still sick and needs you. If this old cart—and Astus—can help you save him, then I want you to take it.”

Astus snorted as if to back his claim, and a smile broke through Lavinia’s despair. She turned away from the man and wiped the eyes with the back of her denim jacket’s sleeve. Even though they barely knew each other, having someone else to share her stress and dread of Arlo’s deteriorating state made a world of difference. Mae, her mother, Felix, and now Michael were in on the “secret,” and she realized too late how stupid it was to keep the truth about him concealed. It only hurt Arlo, and her too. She lied about the boy again, even knowing how much it’d upset him and made him doubt everything. It couldn’t happen anymore.

“Thanks…” she said. “I guess I just got so scared about the bad things people could do that I forgot all the good those same people could do too.”

“The folk around this way do seem like decent people,” Michael said, smiling at her.

Lavinia smiled too. Then she turned her attention back to the road and guiding Astus—she was going to need as much practice as possible.

A Promise

There would, potentially, come a time where visiting Ivy Tower Radio wouldn’t be an awkward experience for Lavinia. But as she stood off to the side, trying to not get in anybody’s way yet again, it was not that day. Mae was in the booth doing her thing, her interns were going all around doing whatever it takes to keep the place operating, and there was Lavinia waiting to talk to her. It always made her feel like a kid again, waiting to show her mom a new gadget she fixed while Georgette talked to a friend at their home.

If there was a single benefit to the wait, it’s that it gave Lavinia time to think about how to tell Mae about the trip. And why it was happening. With any luck, she could tell her without tearing up again, like with Michael. Lavinia’s face grew hot just thinking about breaking down in front of her like that.

“Did I forget about another lunch date?” Mae asked.

Lavinia jumped; thinking about the woman seemed to have spawned her. “No, no, that’s not why I’m here. I've just gotta talk to you about something.”

“Oh.” She frowned, “That’s a little ominous, but okay.”

“It’s nothing bad—well, nothing bad about us. I-If there is an us, I mean.”

Mae glanced around at her interns before turning back to her. “C’mon, let’s talk outside.”

A new dread gripped Lavinia as she followed behind Mae. All that time to think about what to say, and all that comes out is “I gotta talk to you,” followed by relationship talk—or if they even have a relationship. Once they stepped out of the radio station, Mae turned back to her.

“This is about Arlo, isn’t it?”

“What?” Lavinia said. “I didn’t—”

“C’mon, the only reason you’d look so gloomy is if something was wrong with him.” She took Lavinia’s hand and gazed up at her with tired eyes. “What happened?”

“Well, I was right about Mira… She removed his memories and part of his brain thing, and now the rest of it’s starting to crash.” She squeezed Mae’s hands, “We’ve got to take him to some old mecha factory way out and hope it’s got the tech to fix him.”

Mae blinked. “Wow. That’s… what the hell.”

“Yeah…”

“When do we leave?”

“H-Huh?” Lavinia asked.

“I’m not sending you out to who-knows-where with the psychotic girl who tried to lobotomize Arlo,” Mae said, her jaw tightening.

“Oh. I guess I hadn’t thought of that,” she admitted. “But I don’t wanna pull you away from here, you love Ivy Tower Radio. I’m also like, three times her size, and I’ll have Arlo with me. He had one scare so far, but he’s still able to move around and stuff.”

“I love this station, sure, but I also don’t want to lose you.”

Lavinia’s face flushed. “You don’t? I kinda thought you liked me, but…”

“Lavinia, we’re literally holding hands right now,” Mae said.

“I know! I just—” She blushed more, “You won’t lose me, I promise. We’re gonna go, fix Arlo, come back, and I’ll tell you all about it for your news segment.”

“It’d be nice to get something interesting to talk about for a change,” Mae said. Then she stood up on her toes and planted a kiss on Lavinia’s lips. “I’ll hold you to that promise.”

Lavinia stood there stunned, unaware even as Mae slipped back into Ivy Tower Radio. Her hand slowly rose up to her mouth where a stupid grin spread. For a fleeting moment, all her apprehension and anxiety melted away from the reverberating warmth of Mae’s lips. She turned and began the walk back to her home for the last time in what could be weeks, though even that fact couldn’t bring down her spirits.

“I want to go too,” a boy said, pulling her back down to Earth.

Turning, she found Felix waiting in almost the exact same spot she’d first met him about a week or so earlier. Had he learned to wait for her at that intersection? And always when she finished meeting Mae, now that she thought about it.

“Go where?” she asked.

“To wherever you’re going with Arlo.”

“How does everyone—”

“Because I went by your house to see him, and Arlo told me what happened and that you’re leaving somewhere to fix him.” Felix stepped up to her, “I want to go too, I want to help. But he didn’t want me to.”

“I can’t just take you, your parents would freak out,” Lavinia said.

“But I don’t have parents, I live by myself,” Felix protested.

“That doesn’t—Wait, you do?”

The boy nodded. “Well, except for Capri. It’s been that way for a long time.”

“I… I didn’t know that,” she said. “Arlo never said anything about it.”

“Because he doesn’t know either…”

She thought for a few moments as she looked down at Felix. He looked small—more so than normal—as he stood waiting for her decision. But he didn’t look like he was lying.

“Arlo’s probably worried about you, but I think you coming would help him out. If you do come, though, you’ve gotta do everything I say. And watch out for Mira.”

Felix frowned, a nervousness showing on his face, but he nodded. “Okay. I will.”

No Time to Waste

“I can carry a bag,” Arlo asserted. “I’m not that fragile.”

“I know, I know. But I don’t wanna push you too far when we haven’t even left home,” Lavinia replied.

Although the fading purse she’d given him to pack with was bulky, his few possessions left it relatively light. As far as she knew, he only owned a few pairs of clothes. And he was upright and walking around like normal again. It was almost enough to fool her into believing he was completely fine.

“Alright, I’ll let you carry it,” she said. “But that’s it, okay?”

Arlo took the purse and nodded, putting it over his shoulders and carrying it out the open door to the wagon. The house had been like that all morning, a bustle of activity as they packed up whatever necessities they might need for the trip.

“Do you need this stuff too, Ms. Lavinia?” Felix asked. She turned and found the boy struggling to hold up a canvas bag loaded with her special tools.

“Hm… Well, better to have something and not need it,” Lavinia said, taking it from his shaking arms.

She brought it over and slid it into a conveniently sized space in the back of the cart, filling in one of the few remaining gaps. Michael gave her a rough weight limit he’d figured out with Astus, and now with one extra kid, she figured they were getting close.

“Is there anything else we need?” Felix asked, following her over to the cart and Arlo.

“I think we’ve got about everything.” She unfolded a checklist, “The good thing about having two mechas on the journey is we don’t have to bring as much food or water. They wear the same clothes just about every day too.”

Arlo blushed a little. “I try to change consistently…”

He reached up to sit his bag into the cart with everything else. Instead, it fell to the ground three feet away. Arlo looked from the bag to the cart which only a moment ago seemed right in front of him. Lavinia rested her hand on his shoulder.

“We’d better get moving. Has anyone seen Mira?”

“She was in your workshop when I got those tools,” Felix said.

“Alright, I’ll get her. Can you help Arlo get into the cart?” she asked the boy, who nodded.

Lavinia passed Astus as grazed across her lawn with Capri riding on his antlers, the crow almost a welcome sight on the eyes against the stag’s alabaster pelt in the sunlight. She might even need to grab a pair of sunglasses before they head out. As she approached the open garage, Lavinia expected to find Mira digging through her travel bag for stuff to bring that they didn’t have room for. Instead, she heard her talking.

“… through this valley here. There used to be a single road in and out, and it should still be there,” the girl said.

“It might be, but no caravan driver ever passes through or near that region,” Michael replied. “We go where the people are, and there hasn’t been anyone living around there since… well, since Back Before. I’ve heard about scavengers setting up camps here and there, but nothing permanent.”

“I don’t care about permanent settlements. The only thing that matters is if your deer and cart can get there or not.”

“What’s going on in here?” Lavinia asked, walking in to find Michael and Mira peering over a large map spread over her worktable.

“Sure, just trying to figure out the best route to… wherever you’re going,” the man said.

“It’s northwest,” Mira added.

“Hrm…” Lavinia looked over the map, from the labeled Seventy-Seven to the northwest. The nearest way out was through the old ruins. “Well, the Builder’s fixed those ruins up good. Think we could go up that way?”

Michael frowned and glanced out of the garage. “Getting too close to Builders always spooked the caravan animals, so South-Central’s avoided them for years now. I don’t know how Astus might react if you try going right by one. There might be another—”

“Arlo!” Felix cried from outside. “Ms. Lavinia, something’s wrong!”

Lavinia hurried out, followed closely by Mira and Michael. A distraught Felix was beside Arlo, who sat curled up beside the cart with his hands clutching his head. The mecha rocked back and forth in a forceful jerking motion as an incomprehensible stream of ones and zeros escaped him.

“Hey, hey, can you hear me?” Lavinia asked as she dropped down beside him. “It’s me, Arlo, I’m right here.

The boy didn’t look at her, and only continued on, “01001001 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 00100111 01110100 00001010 01001001 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 00100111 01110100 00001010 01001101 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110011 01110100 01101111 01110000 00101100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01101000 01110101 01110010 01110100 01110011 00001010 01001101 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110011 01110100 01101111 01110000 00001010 01001001 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 00100111 01110100…”

Lavinia turned to Michael with pleading eyes that needed no words to make their intention known. He stepped up and took Arlo with her, lifting the boy up and setting him into the back of the cart.

“We have to get him to that factory as quick as possible…” she said.

He nodded. “I understand. Be careful with Astus near that Builder, he’s important to me, too.”