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“The joy I feel knows no bounds,” Nurse Ratched said. “Huzzah.” Her screen changed to confetti falling around the words CONGRATULATIONS IT’S A GIRL.
“See?” Vic told them as they left the Old One behind. “Nothing to it.” “Yes,” Nurse Ratched said. “Absolutely nothing to it. I would be impressed except I do not find idiocy impressive. If I did, I would flirt with you.”
“Fear is superfluous,” Nurse Ratched said, falling in behind Vic as he led the way through the forest. “I am not scared of anything.” She paused. “Except for birds that want to nest inside me and lay their eggs in my gears. Evil birds. I will kill them all.”
“No,” Nurse Ratched said, rolling against him, pushing him toward the ground house. “You need to tell him the truth. I want to watch as you get scolded. It brings me something akin to joy to see you stare at the floor and give him flimsy excuses.” “You’re supposed to be on my side.” “I know,” she said. “I am a traitor. I feel terrible about it. I cannot wait.”
Simple, isn’t it? We were thinking too big, too grand. Sometimes, it’s the smallest things that can change everything when you least expect it.”
“It is not fine,” Nurse Ratched said. “Either you let Victor look at you, or I will drill you.” To make her point, her drill whirred loudly. Across her screen, the words YOU WON’T FEEL A THING scrolled.
“Not that I would murder. Engaging Empathy Protocol. Murder is bad, and I would feel bad, and I don’t want to feel bad because feelings are detrimental to my existence.”
I do not know if he can be repaired. I hope so, because I believe that I have a crush on him. Or I want to crush him. I am not sure which it is.” The words on her screen read RELATIONSHIPS ARE HARD.
“I love you,” Nurse Ratched said. “Ha, ha. That was another joke. I am not capable of love. It is not because I am former Medical Nurse Model Six-Ten-JQN Series Alpha. It is because I do not have a conscience and suffer extreme antisocial behavior. For example, I would be fine if we were to just toss this android in the garbage and forget about him even though we have spent days repairing him.” On her screen read the words HAVE A BLESSED DAY.
“You were made to bring happiness. You are alive in ways we are not. You are soft and fragile. But you are complex and disturbing and sometimes foolishly brilliant.
all beings deserve a chance to find out what life could be when they don’t have to serve others.”
“I fear everything,” Rambo said, setting the circuit board next to the heart. “Bandits. Bugs. Bananas, at least most of them.”
“Yes,” Nurse Ratched said. “Engaging Empathy Protocol. There, there. It is all right. When one door closes, you can still bust it down.
“You were hurt,” he said, words clipped. “Just because you had parts missing doesn’t mean you don’t deserve a chance.”
“Oh no,” Nurse Ratched said. “I think I am swooning. I also say ‘not yet’ when asked if I want to kill things. You are perfect.” Her screen showed two hands shaking in greeting. “I am no longer your mother. You will be my murder husband. Is there anyone here that can marry us?”
“I did most of the work, Gio,” Nurse Ratched said. “If there is to be any praise, please lavish it upon me. If instead you are angry and will seek to dole out punishment, please note that I had nothing to do with this because it was all Victor.”
“I d-don’t like you,” he told Rambo as they arrived back at the compound, the vacuum in the middle of babbling about anything and everything, as he sometimes did when he was nervous. Rambo paused for a moment, sensors lighting up before falling dark. “That’s okay. I like me. Gio says that self-worth isn’t measured by what others think, but what you think about yourself.”
Life could be beautiful that way, even as others did their level best to raze everything to the ground. Some devoted their lives to lifting each other up. Still others fired guns in deserts and schools, closed borders against those seeking shelter, enacted rules and laws intended to hurt the most vulnerable.
