Chapter 8: To Sleep
Daemon sat against the base of her bed, rocking back and forth and singing softly to herself. Her new mama hadn�t woken up yet, but that was all right. She was sleeping now. Daemon had given her her very own bed. She hoped her mama thought it was comfortable. Whenever she woke up.
Daemon was tired too. Vice had helped her keep her mama from leaving, but it hadn�t helped since then. Maybe it was because she wouldn�t infect her mama. Vice had wanted her to, but everyone she infected became so very dull. It was all right for people she didn�t have to be around, but she didn�t want her new mama to be boring too. She had expected pain from Vice at the resistance, but it hadn�t happened. Maybe Vice had other ideas, but at any rate it had left her to drag her mama over to her bed and pull her into it all by herself. That had been hard, and she had dropped her mama a bit, once or twice. But she had done it at last, and now mama could sleep there, comfortably.
She paused, listening. The others were outside again, but they didn�t try to come in. That was fine. As long as they didn�t bother her, they could do whatever they liked. But she would let no one intterupt her time with her mama. Daemon clambered to her knees to peek into the platformed box that served as her bed. Her mama was so pretty and peaceful, just lying there, fast asleep. Daemon brushed her spidery fingers along the side of Dot�s face, then lowered herself back to the floor, content. Softly, she began to sing again.
CaMi was back at her perch on her desk, with a now slightly less distraught Bob leaning heavily against her shoulder and drowsing. CaMi made an impishly pained face at Matrix and AndrAIa. "If he really were my own child, he�d not be such a big fellow, I imagine." She directed the next remark to Matrix. "Though I suppose I should be grateful it�s not you needing to lean on me."
Matrix smiled sadly. "It�s hard for me, too, but..."
CaMi nodded, understanding. "We all grieve differently." She went silent for a moment, thoughtful. After a moment, she spoke carefully. "You all are right, I have been able to fight the infection...though let me tell you, sometimes it fights back like you wouldn�t believe. It gives me some contact with Daemon, however, and I can tell you that she�s not paying attention right now. I can�t imagine that you three...four would have come here for anything other than an attempt to get rid of Daemon...well, this is probably your chance. I thought there was nothing to be done, but with you here, and her distracted..."
AndrAIa chewed her lower lip for a moment. "CaMi...have you ever seen her?"
CaMi nodded, deep sadness in her navy-blue eyes. "I am one of the priveleged few, yes. Many of the others...they don�t know. Or they don�t care, if they�re fully infected. It puts a spin on the seek-and-destroy thing, doesn�t it?"
Matrix drummed his fingers on his leg nervously. "I don�t think I could kill a...a..."
"She was a data sprite, you know. A hacker entered her system and threw that monstrosity in. She was in the way." CaMi�s shoulders lifted and fell. Bob stirred slightly as the movement started to awaken him and CaMi froze, silent until he settled again. "Poor boy. He needs to sleep whenever it comes to him, I imagine."
AndrAIa nodded, then asked, "How do you know so much about Daemon?"
CaMi looked as if she might shrug again but thought better of it. "Research is my function. I teach literature at the Academy, mostly that dealing with mythological creatures from the User world...so when the Supercomputer first found out about Daemon, naturally they put me to work on her. But I�m afraid that by the time I had the information they needed, it was too late."
Footsteps suddenly echoed down the corridor outside, heavy booted footsteps. Everyone in the room froze as the steps grew nearer, nearly just outside the door. No one dared even breathe as the steps stopped in front of the door. The pause was excruciating, then finally the sound faded off back down the hall. CaMi let out a relieved sigh, then frowned. "This is not good. We�re not safe here for long. We need to make a plan /now/." She hopped off the desk to check the door, waking Bob by the very fact that she was no longer there to hold him up. "Time to wake up now, my boy."
Bob sat up again, propping his face in his hands. "Ugh, I feel like...what�s that place from your stories, little mother?"
"Greenville? Antarctica? Troy? Hell?"
"Hell. That�s the one. I feel like that."
CaMi finished checking the door�s security and stood in the middle of the small room, arms folded across her chest. "All right. Plan time."
Daemon paced her room a little bit, then stopped to catch her breath. She didn�t want to sit. Something was wrong. Her mama was still sleeping...that wasn�t right at all. She sighed softly and drifted back towards the bed. Scratching at her arm absently where Vice was itching her today, she gazed at her mama as she had done many times in the last few cycles. How lucky she was, to have such a pretty mama. Daemon leaned in for a closer look, but slipped a bit and had to brace herself by one hand against the bottom of the bed. She regained her balance and pulled back her fingers. A flash of unfamilar color caught her eye. She brought her hand up to her face, blinking. Something purple-red shone brightly against her white skin.
She knew what it was, it just took her a moment to remember. And when she did, a wash of fear followed the memory and she almost fell down...this had been her fault! It must have happened when she was pulling her mama to the bed...come to think of it, she had lost her grip a few times. But she also remembered that this sort of thing could not be allowed to continue, and frowning fiercely in concentration, she reached back into the bed and felt lightly along the side of Dot�s head. She flinched as she found the slowly energy-bleeding wound, drawing her hand back in distaste. It took another moment of processing to figure out what to do, but she finally tore a segment of her sleeve off, careful not to pull out any of Vice�s wires. As gently as she knew how, she tried to make the cloth stick to the hurt and stop the energy loss.
*Oh mama, I�m so sorry, I didn�t mean to...*
The cloth wasn�t really staying very well, but Daemon pressed on it again. Suddenly she heard a sharp gasp. She was so startled she jerked her hand back, then she hastily grabbed at the bandage again. She wasn�t going to let all her mama�s energy fall out, not now. Daemon watched closely, blue eyes wide as Dot�s eyelids flickered slightly, thin violet half-moons showing from under them. A small shudder went through Dot�s body as she regained consciousness. Daemon was elated.
Suddenly Dot�s eyes opened fully, and she tried to sit up. Daemon skittered away, startled, then darted back to make her mama lie down again.
*Stay like that.*
Dot was more than willing to comply, not because the virus had asked it of her but because the sharp pain in her head was nearly unbearable when she sat up. Perhaps under other circumstances she would�ve been on her feet demanding answers, scared, angry...but right now, nothing seemed to matter much.
Well, some things still managed to matter. "Bob...Enzo, AndrAIa..." she muttered through the pain. She needed them.
Daemon switched immediately from frightened and contrite to icy jealousy. *I have sent them away. You will stay with me now.*
Dot felt like this should have mattered more, but darkness was clouding in on her thoughts again. It hurt to stay awake. She felt a muted sadness at losing her loved ones again, but the darkness was so welcoming, would make everything all right...and she allowed herself to slip back into unconsciousness. Dimly she felt Daemon shaking the table on which she lay, and heard her thready angry wails. Dot thought she felt a bit regretful at leaving the poor child like that...but that was the last thought she had for a long time.