Nikodemus beamed at his father’s praise, but he couldn’t help but notice his mother’s grip on him had tightened and that her expression had darkened. He knew she resented him for putting himself at risk. He swallowed, and then asked, “You guys think someone is a traitor?”

His father nodded. “We do. Things have been off all around lately, Nicky. The gate was left open, there’s food missing when we do inventory, and some of our gold has gone missing.”

Nikodemus was startled by this bit of information. The thought of a traitor on their ranch was horrifying. He wondered what their intentions might be. He hoped it wouldn’t be to kill his entire family, but that was where his young mind naturally went as to intentions of this traitor. Nikodemus, too tired to speak, but desiring to speak nonetheless, accidentally used his mind to enter his parents’ consciouses.

Do you have an idea of who this traitor might be?

His father stopped embracing him and took a step back at his son’s words. His mother did the same, but her face was enigmatic as opposed to shocked and, perhaps, slightly disturbed. Nikodemus looked ashamed at entering their consciouses without permission. He lowered his eyes.

Sorry. I’m too tired to speak out loud. Nikodemus explained. I’ll stop speaking to you like this after I finish this sentence.

His father merely smiled sheepishly. “No problem, Nick. You just caught me by surprise.” His father sat on the edge of his bed and said, “we have no idea who the traitor could be. We know it’s probably one of our people who were supposedly seeking refuge and a job away from the tribe they previously belonged to, but… other than that, we just don’t know.”

Nikodemus nodded slowly, puzzling out who the traitor could be.

“Me and dad are going to stay up tonight and go patrolling—just in case the traitor makes himself known!” Carl exclaimed.

At his words, Nikodemus found his gaze drawn toward his mother. She was looking away with the darkest expression he had ever seen on her lovely face. He didn’t have to read her mind to know what she was thinking. He knew she was resenting her husband and Carl for risking themselves. Her eyes turned watery. She said aloud, “I don’t see why you should stay up late. We have a dozen ranch hands to do that for us. At the very least, you shouldn’t rouse Carl from sleep to help you. He’s so young…”

“He wants to help, darling. Let’s let him.” Nikodemus’ father insisted. “It will be good experience for him. He has to learn early how difficult life can be in the Wasteland.”

Nikodemus’ mother crossed her arms, averting her gaze sourly. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you two…”

His father took her into his arms and assured her, “Nothing bad will happen.”

***

Hilargi gasped in shock when she laid eyes upon her precious creation. Yair had come inside the fortress with holes punched through his abdomen and sparks flying off his small frame. He was leaning on the shoulder of the Nymph woman who was helping him inside.

Yair’s eyes found hers, and he felt something rush through his system that made him feel incredibly uncomfortable. It made him feel unbearably hot.

Embarrassment, maybe? Yair tried to determine the emotion, and found himself resenting Hilargi once again for designing him with them. But he felt another emotion, too. A colder feeling that made him feel uneasy and made him want to leave the room.

Guilt. He knew that was the feeling for sure, because Hilargi’s tears and her stunned face could conjure no other feeling inside him.

“Oh my God. Yair, what happened?” Hilargi followed the Nymph as the taller woman continued shepherding Yair towards the lab.

“He’s a worthless piece of junk is what happened. You told me he was the most sophisticated robot in the Wasteland.” The Nymph said.

“He’s not worthless!” Hilargi retorted, her fists clenched. “He’s just having a bad day… right, Yair?”

Yair’s vision turned to static. One moment, he was looking at Hilargi, the next, all he could see was a jumble of incoherent, white lines dancing across his vision. He managed to say evenly, “Bad day, yes.”

Hilargi put a hand on his arm. “Don’t worry. We’ll fix you right up.”

Yair said nothing in response. He let himself be carried to the lab, where Hilargi pried a metal plate off his back and hit a series of buttons under it, forcibly powering him down.

***

When Yair woke up, he came face-to-face with Hilargi. An unnatural smile twitched on his lips when he saw her. Hilargi threw her arms around him, letting loose a gasp of relief. “You scared me half-to-death! What happened to you out there?”

Yair had no answer for her for a moment. He stared over her shoulder wordlessly, his eyes wide. In a moment he said, “I was distracted.”

“Why were you distracted? What happened?” Hilargi questioned worriedly, holding him at arm’s length. Yair didn’t like it when she frowned. He cupped one of her cheeks in his metal hand, which brought a smile out of her, and the smile, in turn, made him feel better.

Yair didn’t know whether to tell her that he was distracted by her plans for making an improved version of himself or not. If she knew, it might just encourage her to scrap him faster since she might consider it dangerous that he was resentful of her plans. “I was worried that we might lose.” Yair explained.