Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“If only this day could last forever,” Tessa thought, as she hurried casually down the Elliott manor halls. It was an auburn summer's afternoon, and the sun was just slipping to the horizon. Tessa couldn’t help but hold in a delighted chirp, as her blurry hands fumbled against the doorknob to her room.

The day felt somewhat fresh, and glassy. It was a dreaming afternoon day, full of opportunity. It was a shining example of all a day could be. At least, that's what Tessa thought anyway.

Behind her, 3 drones followed just behind, each with their own cute haircuts. A 4th drone was there also, a small, cute thing, with blondish-white hair, and yellow eyes. Yet her drone legs were off balance, and she seemed to follow slightly behind the rest of the flock. Tessa wished she could help her, but then again, she wasn’t too far behind.

“C’mon lads,” Tessa giggled, and she held open her room’s door. “Please take a seat!”

The first 3 drones entered, and Tessa had to hold the door for a second as the 4th arrived. Once they entered, Tessa closed the door behind them, and breathed in the fresh air of privacy. School, or private tutoring, ended… An hour ago? Tessa could remember exactly. Either way, Tessa now had all the time in the world to chill-ax.

“So,” Tessa started, walking deeper inside her room, and placed a pitcher of oil down on the table. “I think ya know why I invited ya here.”

The yellow, and brown room inside was somewhat messy, with various parts, notes, and even some old toys, cluttered around the walls. By the side with the door was a closet, and to the left of the room was Tessa’s bed, which remained un-tide. Still, in the middle of the room was a small table, with 5 green, foldable chairs all assembled around it in a circle.

“Judging by the oil,” J started. “You got gossip?”

“Nailed it,” Tessa said, giving off a wide grin. “Over some tea and biscuits.”

N let off a small smile, and V looked up at him, before letting out her own smile. The drones all took their seats, with Tessa helping Cyn sit, knowing her bodily functions weren’t exactly on peak performance. Tessa went up to the small maid, and Cyn accepted Tessa’s offer, as she stretched out her arms. Tessa then scooped up the little fella, and set her down on a chair.

“Thank,” Cyn emitted with a smile, although unfinished.

“No problem!” Tessa replied, opting to forget Cyn’s broken dialogue. She knew what she meant anyway.

Tessa nearly sat down, though before she could, J reminded her.

“I don’t want to bust the mood,” N perched up. “But aren’t humans not able to drink oil?”

“Oh fudge,” Tessa nearly smacked herself, and she would’ve deserved it. “The tea!”

J stood up immediately.

“Don’t worry,” J said bounty. “I’ll grab it.”

“C’mon J,” Tessa shook her head. “It’s my mistake, I should go grab it…”

“And what will the Mrs say if she sees you walking with a pot of tea?” J said, raising an eyebrow. “She’ll demand a drone carry it for you..”

There was truth to J’s words. Mother wasn’t one to keep shy on appearances. Maybe it’s just too big a bother to have the tea. It’d take forever to get the tea anyway, yeah, she didn’t need it anyway.

“Eh, forget about it,” Tessa sighed. “I didn’t need it anyway.”

“No really,” J said, getting up, and starting at the door. “I insist you drink.”

“J, thank you, but-” Tessa said, saddened. It seemed like J was always the first to leave these tea parties, whenever Tessa held them. She shouldn’t just let her dedication to service get ahead of herself just this one time.

“I strongly insist.” J said, almost with a bit of annoyance, as she opened the door and turned outside.

When J took her first step outside, she immediately froze to a standstill. Right in J’s path, coincidentally walking up the hallway, was another drone. This random drone had hair, though Tessa didn’t build this drone.

“Oh fudge, watch it-” J blurted, nearly crashing into the drone with her only step into the hallway.

“Forgive me your highness,” The drone replied in a very displeasing tone. “What’re you doing anyway?”

J froze up, and nudged her head back at the open door.

“She wants Tea,” J said.

The drone looked inside the door, and saw the 3 drones sitting at the table, and Tessa standing ahead of them.

“Dammit,” Tessa thought. “Now the whole tea party’s compromised.” Though Tessa’s house was filled with some 100 drones, Tessa herself only built 4 of them. And sure, she did give them wigs whenever she had a surplus, but Tessa couldn’t exactly get too close to them. Unlike her 4 drones, the other Elliott manor drones were owned by her mom and dad. They’d 100% rat her out on anything she did wrong, should they find it’d benefit them. Tessa was surprised when the drone suddenly perked up at the sight, and turned back to J.

“I can grab it for you,” The other drone said. “If it pleases your grace.”

“Uhh,” J hesitated. “Well-”

“That would be great,” Tessa said. “Thank you!”

“No problem!” The drone said excitedly, before running off quickly.

J took a deep breath, before slowly turning back around, and sat down at the table, alongside Tessa.

“So,” N started. “What’re we talking about today?”

Tessa smiled. “How ‘bout the new years party?”

It was normal for the Elliott’s to attend some great party every now and then. Sometimes they’d head over to some other family’s manor, though this time the Elliott’s held the new year’s celebration. And all Earth’s richest families arrived, everyone from the Frumpterbucket family, to the Atlas family, and even the all-powerful Jenson family arrived. Tessa wasn’t normally too social, always talking to drones, but even she was excited for that event.

“Yeah defecto,” J snorted. “What else were we going to talk about? Golden retrievers?”

“J,” Tessa said. “Please.”

Why did J hate N so much? Maybe it was something pathological, like how Liouisia hated drones for no reason.

“Sorry J,” N said, “I left pretty early on, I guess it slipped my mind…”

“Lucky,” V said, “I was made to serve drinks the whole time. Hated it.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Tessa said. “Hopefully next time we’ll make it better!”

Tessa was hoping she didn’t get bogged down in V’s problems, afterall, she had many intriguing things to say. Still, she couldn’t just let V sit on her problems.

“Agreed,” V said. “Maybe next time, I can have a movie night while the party’s on.”

“I hear you were. Talking-speaking-discussing. With Beauregard," Cyn chimed in. “Was that. Fun?”

“Very,” Tessa whispered, as her face went red, and took in a deep breath. “Guys, I think Beauregard-"

Suddenly, Tessa was caught off guard by knocking on her room’s door.

“Uhh, one moment!” Tessa got up. “The tea!”

Tessa opened the door, and found the maid drone standing before her.

“Hello, madam,” She started. “I got your tea!”

Tessa observed the little drone. She knew the names of some of her parents' drones, but not this one. She recognized the wig, as it was a hard wig to tie, with one central knot atop the forehead, alongside another set of 4 locks mirroring it as it slid down the rest of her head. The rest of the haircut was short, and decently blonde.

Tessa remembered giving up the wig, for it was something she wasn’t proud of. Tessa dumped it on the 1st drone she found because it looked like a house on top of someone’s head.

“Thank you!” Tessa greeted it, taking the teapot and rag from her hands, and gently closing the door.

“Uh, Mistress?” The drone started. Tessa looked back and made eye contact. “Was there anything you needed me to do?”

Tessa contemplated for a minute, but didn’t really feel like asking the poor girl to do anything. Hell, she might’ve even invited her inside if she was her own drone. But drones owned by her parents were more seditious, and often sold her secrets to her parents, if it meant they got on their good side. Tessa wasn’t about to let this drone hear her most well-kept secrets.

“Not that I know of,” Tessa said quietly.

“Are you sure?” The drone continued.

Damn, did this drone want to spy on her? Whatever, she wasn’t going to let it.

“Go back to whatever you were doing previously,” Tessa finished. “Please.”

“Ok…” Tessa began closing the door. “Uh, bye Tessa…” She continued.

“Farewell…” Tessa halted. What was this drone’s name? E? C? D? Something? “... D.”

“Actually, it’s B-” It said finally, before Tessa gently closed the door.

Ugh, finally. Not the best way to end a conversation. Tessa did feel a little bad, but at least the conversation was over. Tessa poured a drink, and set the teapot aside.

“You were saying?” J continued, almost hesitantly.

“Yeah, I was saying that…” Tessa took a deep breath. “ I think he… Ya know, Beauregard… I think he… He…”

“You think he likes you?” N blurted, excited.

“What no!” Tessa said. “I just think he, ya know, wants to be my friend.”

“What makes you say that?” J said, in her usually blunt voice.

“Well,” Tessa started, though delayed herself for a second. “During the party, we spoke. He said he knew that I built drones. He said they were fantastic!” She let out a warm smile. “He said I was smart, and- t-that I was going places!” Tessa let out a short giggle, as if the whole story was something to be rewarded by.

Tessa didn’t even remember the last time her parents said anything like that. Man, Beauregard is so nice, and awesome, and he cares about drones, and he is just so… Handsome…

N broke Tessa’s thought with a sharp laugh. “That’s amazing Tessa!” N leaned forward in his chair. “Parent’s must’ve been so proud of you!”

“Yeah…” Tessa said, glancing down. Mother and Father did witness that conversation, because they didn’t let their daughter leave with earshot, whenever she was at a party. Though, they didn’t seem pleased when Beauregard mentioned it, and almost seemed surprised that he even knew about her drones. They laughed it off, of course. But all Tessa could remember was the terrible glance mother gave her when he brought up the drones.

Come to think of it, all throughout the new year’s party, her parents tried to get her to talk with Beauregard’s older siblings, for some reason.

“Well, they never are,” Tessa emitted quietly, her voice cracked.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” N said. “But they do still love you Tessa! Just, they have a weird way of showing it.”

“Yeah,” V said, quietly following N. “I didn’t care much for Beauregard, but still they should’ve been a little pleased.”

“They are. Bored,” Cyn said, catching everyone’s attention. “Beauregard was. Tall. Charming. But he was. Not enough.” Cyn’s voice paused with every phrase. “Nothing. Is enough. For their approval.”

Tessa looked down, avoiding Cyn’s eyes. Surely there was something she could do to make them proud? What did Cyn know?

“Hmm,” J squinted her eyes, looking at Cyn. “How’d you know about Beauregard?”

“I saw him,” Cyn finished. “With. My omnipresent eyes.”

“How’d you get into the party?” J questioned. “I thought the parents wouldn’t let a broken, ruined drone appear in front of the other guests to see.”

“J,” Tessa said with a sigh.

J looked away, denying Cyn the apology. J wasn’t the type to go outside her comfort zone, and Tessa knew better than to probe.

“Did you say anything to him?” Tessa said.

“I observed,” Cyn started. “I did not say. Anything.”

“Hmm well then how did he know I-” Tessa started, before striking a realization, and filling the room with silence. “Oh fudge,” Tessa curled her head into her hands. “That’s how he knew about the drones!” She let out a sigh. “He saw you!”

Tessa’s heart skipped a beat. Cyn wasn’t exactly in peak performance, what if Beauregard knew about the drones by looking at Cyn? What if her broken conditions alerted him that this was not a standard-bought drone? What if Cyn’s craftsmanship was so terrible, the only conclusion he could’ve made was that it was built by me? What if he was just being polite? What if he thinks she’s terrible at building drones? What if he thinks she’s stupid?

Tessa let out a small shutter at the thought, almost subconsciously.

“What is wrong?” Cyn said coarsely. “Are you ashamed? Of me?”

“Oh what-” Tessa suddenly snapped back to reality. “No I just uh- parents said not to invite you in the manor! And you know how they are…”

“So you say,” Cyn frowned. “Master.”

Jeez, for all she did to her, this little menace had the audacity to ruin her chances at meeting boys? Really? Why, she ought to just throw her out to the crows like mother wanted.

“Actually,” V bolded up. “I told him.”

“Oh,” Tessa perked up. “You did?”

“Yeah,” V started. “At the beginning of the party, Beauregard, and some other folks, harassed me…”

“Really?” N interrupted softly. “How dare they!”

“Exactly! Finally someone sane!” V exhaled fiercely. “They said I was exotic, they asked if Mr. Elliott had drones because his wife was unattractive. They asked who made such ‘hot…’ Uhhh, ‘attractive, drones’ and I said you did.”

“Beauregard said that to you?” Tessa quietly screamed. How could Beauregard say such things? No, this couldn’t be true, Beauregard was polite. “What’d they say after that?”

“Well, they laughed, and kept up the mockery, then they left.” V shrugged. “To be fair, it wasn’t just Beauregard, other folks were there too- The Frumpterbucket kids. Also his sister, I think, and she’s the worst.”

Oh thank God, his sister was behind this. She should've known better. Beauregard was just there.

“Ok, good,” Tessa sighed. “So it was his sister who mocked you, not Beauregard.”

“Well,” V started hesitantly. “Beauregard mocked me too, though I guess he wasn’t as bad as the sister.”

“Still,” Tessa persisted. “Beauregard was younger, right? His sister- what was his name? Rose? Rachel?”

“Raspi,” Cyn said.

“Raspi! Thank you Cyn,” Tessa said confidently. “She should’ve known better.”

“All Humans are. The same. When it comes to. Drones.” Cyn interrupted. “Drones are. Pets.”

All 4 of the other guests looked at Cyn again.

“... Sliding back to reality,” N broke the silence. “It doesn’t justify it, though I’m sure he didn’t mean the things he said.”

“Exactly,” Tessa grabbed for the excuse. “He couldn’t be all-evil, he clearly was impressed enough to say such to me!”

“Why does it matter, Boss?” J spoke up, her voice turned more robotic as she spoke, and Tessa was suddenly informed that something wasn’t right. Looking at J, her face turned completely yellow, with a large X gleaming across it, and a long smile burned across her face. “It isn’t like you’ll see him again…”

“What do you…” Tessa suddenly started to remember. “Oh no.”

“Tessa,” Said N, as the world itself began to unwind. “What is going on?” N’s voice began to sound empty and robotic, as it echoed into silence.

All their faces behind blurry, and the world itself began to spin around Tessa, as she fell to the floor in fatigue.

“Why does it matter?” J’s voice echoed, as the world itself devolved into black.

“Tessa, are you,” said V, in her own voice. “Alright?” V’s voice seemed cut off, replaced by the robotic emptiness of Cyn’s voice.

“What does it matter?” J said finally, in her voice. The world itself went black, as if she was jumping into some abyss, or a gateway into realities. Stars, and lights, appeared alongside the black hole she seemingly was consumed by, and Tessa felt as if the world was spinning around her. J’s sentence continued, although her voice changed. No longer was J speaking to her, instead the coarse, unapologetic voice of stan himself finished what J said: “You are. Dead. Anyway.”

Tessa bolted awake as suddenly as glass breaking on a hard floor.

Where was she? What’s going on? Where's the exit? Wha-

Tessa looked down at her own hands, and was briefly surprised to see the metallic, white hands of a drone laid out before her. It’s then her memories hit her.

“Oh right,” Tessa said, as she breathed, and took in her surroundings.

Memories trickled back into Tessa's mind. She was Tessa, she was home, the Gala happened, and she wasn’t the master anymore. Nor was she even fully human.

She was in the Elliott manor, the same place she'd always been in for the past long time. The same place she’d been sleeping in for the past eternity. Though not always the place she dreamt in.

How long was she asleep? Probably a long time, if she could have dreams. Although, every minute of peacetime was a gift. Tessa hoped she didn’t sleep long. She knew there wasn’t anything friendly outside the basement. Either way, she best get up now, before Cyn knocked on the basement trapdoor, and forced her to work. Tessa stuffed her face into the green rags she was using as a blanket, and groaned.

Here it goes. Another day, another tier.

Tessa opened the unlocked trapdoor, and looked outside. The windows were shining bright, yet the old grandfather clock at the end of the hallway lay motionless, uncharged, unworking. What was the time? Who knows, but she just woke up, and she best get to work soon. At least for now there was actually light outside, not that she could enjoy it anyway. Tessa thought she may as well enjoy some breakfast before getting to work.

Tessa tapped down the silent hallways.

“Once these halls had many feet walking around,” Tessa thought. “Now it’s empty as a graveyard.”

Tessa made her way past the kitchen, where all Cyn’s oil and spare parts were. No, she couldn’t eat there, not anymore. The kitchen was for the master’s food, and as she was a servant: she had to go elsewhere. Heading past the grand hall, she eventually arrived at the maintenance bay, where many drones used to stay, but now just had scrap, and oil.

Drones didn’t need to eat like humans. All drones needed was a sizable rest, a little oil, and sometimes extra material for repairs. Drones were so fuel efficient, they could spend up to 30 years without replenishing. Except the old Cyn, who needed oil every day. But those were different days, and now she seemed hungry for other types of nourishment. As for the new maid, it felt refreshing to consume something. It gave a sense of routine. Like she was working for something, and at some point, there was downtime. It reminded her of a time past.

But those times were best forgotten.

Entering the bay, it was silent, grey, had a concrete floor, and was riddled with old drone-corpses. Some she recognized, with simple maid uniforms, and small short bodies. But some looked alien, with long legs, and enormous wings. Many sported complete hands, although some were broken, and others appeared to have tools for hands, or broken weapons. Tessa shuttered to imagine what the old Cyn created. Still, they’re dead. So she moved in, searching the scrap until she found one that hadn’t been exploited.

Lowering a cup to the drones’s neck, the small maid tilted the drone’s dormant head, and stuck a finger in the space between its head and neck, soon it was dripping oil, and after the cup filled by a few small drops, Tessa readjusted the head, and took a sip. She didn’t need much oil, and her fuel tank was nearly full, but it couldn’t hurt to drink a little.

Tessa always wondered how all these drones got here? The boss had some activities offworld, and Tessa presumed they were part of that, but why were they all here? These drones were all banged up, scrapped, with holes in their bodies.

Tessa suspected the boss kept them here for her to eat, just as Tessa used to leave oil and batteries for her drones here before the massacre. But Tessa couldn’t ignore the damage.

Ya know, what was going on off world? Cyn broke Earth to pieces, obviously, but what about other planets? What of Proxima, Plat-Binary? Or the Gileise system? Or space stations? Should she assume that all spaceships, humans, planets, mining camps, outposts, and even the centrifuges got destroyed? Surely humans wouldn’t let Cyn get elsewhere. Hell, they probably melted down all other drones in the galaxy. But then again, not one human came to Earth, not since the maid awoke.

Tessa once held out hope that Proxima would arrive with a fleet, and destroy Cyn. But with each waking the likelihood of rescue diminished.

Finished, the maid sat her cup aside, and left. She headed to the supply closet, the place all drones got their equipment for the day. On the wall was a checklist, made crude,and old, nearly torn off the wall itself.

“Now,” Tessa said to herself. “Whats for today?”

On today’s to-do list, she had to dust every counter in the east wing- Oh wait, nevermind. She already did that last waking… Tessa grabbed a pencil, which was stored nearby, and crossed it out. Tessa rescanned the list, and saw at the top of the list: “CARPETS” in angry red letters.

Tessa read the full list, hoping there was something else… And there wasn’t. The list seemed to scream: “Finish washing the goddamm carpets.”

Erg. Not the damn carpet. Tessa couldn’t stomach the idea of working on that tedious nonsense now She’d work on just about anything else... Actually, not everything, washing a carpet was still better than playing another one of Cyn’s games.

“Fine,” The maid said wearily.

Tessa went to the closet, and grabbed a bucket. Nearby was a faucet, and Tessa filled the bucket with water. Then she put in 3 squirts of soap from a nearby container of soap. Then she grabbed up an unused sponge, one of the few remaining. On her way out, she nearly stumbled into a trash can, which was perched by the side of the door.

“Oh right!” Tessa said, remembering. “The dust!”

Some time ago, Tessa dusted the entire Elliott manor. It was a waste of time, since dust would gather on one end of the Elliott manor by the time she finished, but Tessa couldn’t complain. She gathered up all the dust she recovered into a bucket, intending on using it. She forgot to take it in the basement earlier, as tiredness dulled her senses.

“Sorry, I’ll be back for you,” Tessa said. “Don’t run away please.”

Tessa then marched out of the supply closet, and down the Elliott manor’s halls.

When the maid arrived on a massive, bloody carpet, which was between the Gala room and the front entrance. She plopped down, and got to work. Her mind drifted as she scrubbed.

It had been some time since Tessa had awoken. Or Cyn rather, as the Solver declared her name to be. Tessa couldn’t tell how much time went by in the ruins of Earth. The clocks hadn’t been working since Tessa awakened. And ever since the Absolute Solver broke Earth to pieces, the Elliott manor didn’t have a fluent day schedule. With each day having an sporadic length, sometimes lasting hours, minutes, or seemingly forever. Even during the night, light was still reflected onto the Elliott manor’s surface, but the other pieces of Earth. Ensuring there wasn’t any end to Cyn’s playing.
Tessa couldn’t tell whether she could call the planet Earth, anymore. The Solver turned Earth into a debris field, with its minor pieces orbiting its largest piece, which contained the Elliott manor, now Cyn’s liar.
“No, ‘the stage’ is a better name,” Tessa thought, while laying on her knees, scrubbing a rug with a sponge. “For a pointless house of living dolls.”
It was quiet in the Elliott manor. Cyn usually spent her time torturing someone, though not always Tessa. Cyn also played with possessed puppets on far-off galaxies, and now she was sitting dormant in Tessa’s old room, playing her game of cat and mouse with mankind. In the meantime, Cyn always ordered Tessa around the manor, cleaning it pointlessly.
The first thing Cyn ordered of Tessa, upon her awakening, was to clean the blood leftover from the Gala event. Which Tessa did, cleaning the room roof to floor, yet the blood mixed very well with carpets, dragging Tessa to a stalemate.
“Dammit, If she hates blood so much, why’d she flood the back woods with it?” Tessa exclaimed silently, while looking up. “I suppose this must’ve been how she thought when I was free.”
Tessa sighed, and looked to her right, where her eyes caught a portrait of her old self, with her drones, all assembled together alongside her parents.
“Ah, when I was free…” Tessa thought out loud.
Tessa looked at J's face, and smiled, thinking back to the laughter they once sang, and how eager they seemed to help her when her parents had seemingly left her.
“It was all an act,” Tessa thought, her smile frowning, as she turned back to the blood soaked carpet. “Just a mask.”
Tessa began scrubbing the carpet with renewed vigor.
“Mother was right, none of them really cared after all,” Tessa thought, remembering the emotionless look in J’s eyes when her builder got struck down. “Took my family, my home, even my whole name. Mother wasn’t even this cruel.”
Tessa’s scrubbing slowed.
“I really was just made to be someone’s fool, wasn’t I?” Tessa thought. “First pushed around by the parents, and now by an eldritch horror.”
Tessa stopped scrubbing, before slamming her fist down on the carpet.
“What am I thinking? I am still an Elliott, no matter what Cyn says,” Tessa thought. “And Elliott’s don’t quit.”
Tess’s face grew angry.
“Some day, I will get out of here. I have to,” Tessa thought, slamming the sponge repeatedly into the stained rug. “And when I do, I’ll burn this stupid blonde wig, I’ll call myself by my real name…”
Tessa gave one last knock on the floor.
“And I will kill every last one of those 4 traitors,” Tessa thought.
Tessa’s momentum slowed to a halt, her eyes closed in contemplation. Finally, Tessa let out a sarcastic laugh, as she begrudgingly lifted herself up, and sat up against a wall, trying to breathe, yet her own metallic body failed to draw in air. Letting out a few shallow laughs, she felt an urge to cry, yet no tiers greeted her metallic face. Finally, Tessa sighed, and slouched back.
“But how?” Tessa said quietly.
Tessa stood there in depressing silence, awaiting something to disturb her. The manor remained stubbornly silent. Defeated, Tessa continued working, silent, slow, and drowned by a million depressing thoughts.

The blood reached from the front entrance of the Elliott manor, to furniture down the Elliott hallway. The blood stopped right by a small table in the hallway, which had some old cigars inside of them. The former parents were unusual, always collecting weird, old stuff to clutter the mansion. Tessa didn’t mind the clutter, and the suits of armor looked hella cool, but why’d they have cigars? Who’d care about that?

Next to the table was a suit of armor, which had its sword conveniently removed. Afterall, the old Cyn learned that giving a slave access to weapons might cause difficulties. The distance between the blood, and the line where this suit of armor was across the rug, was roughly 6 inches. It’d take a million years to achieve, but that seemed like a satisfactory quota for the day.

Hour after hour went by, or at least it felt like that. In truth, bucket after bucket of soap went by, and the new Cyn only made slight progress. With each bucket, she grew more tired, and every time she got up to refill, she had to stretch the weight of tiredness away. With time, drowsiness grew more stubborn.

Even as the drowsiness wore away Tessa’s senses, the master would expect progress. So she wiped away the notifications demanding she sleep, and set back to work.

Another 6 buckets came and went, and finally: The blood was somewhat cleared. Sure, it wasn’t all gone, the once-green carpets still had a slight tint of pink on it, but it was good enough. The blood was now pushed back from the small table, to the suit of armor. Almost 6 inches taken, after a whole day’s work. Fantastic.

Tessa stood up, stretched, and announced a big yawn. Such small progress took like a billion years, and made her knees stiff from crouching. But that aside, Tessa felt rejuvenated, knowing now she had some time off. Tessa grabbed the pale, the sponge, and walked to the closet. She rinsed and poured out the pale. Once the blood was gone, she filled it back up again, pumped in a little more soap, and set it aside. Then, she rinsed out the sponge, now stained red. She soaked it over with soap, but only removed some blood. She rinsed it out a final time, then placed it inside the soapy bucket. Hopefully soaking will clean it fully.

Tessa then turned back around, and she quickly grabbed the trashcan of dust from earlier in the day. “I’m going to need you,” She said. After that, she marched down the library. Sludging to the basement, Tessa opened the trapdoor, and fell inside, alongside her pale of dust. The trapdoor fell shut with gravity behind her. Upon entering, the basement was nearly pitch black. The old candles, which once lit the room, were burned out, and the only light came from Tessa’s glowing, white visor, and a small electric lantern on the other side of the room. Tessa didn’t need the illumination of her visor to see, as she had been living in this small room for some million or so years, still she found the lantern easily, and turned it on.

The basement was a brown, decrepit place. Even before Earth fell, the room was neglected by the parents. It might’ve once been used for storage, but it fell from use. Guess the parents thought it better to use other areas of the manor for storage, which was understandable, considering the basement was barely large enough to fit a single table. Still, the walls, which were once bright yellow, now sported a sick, brownish color. The paint by the top of the walls wore into a pale, almost peachy tint. Towards the bottom, the walls were a dirty pinch of black, brown, and the old yellow. Tessa would’ve presumed it was mold, if mold could even grow on the Stage.

The sides of the room offered the most diversity. The old tanks, wires, and even the chair Cyn was used to revive her, had all been cleared away. On the right, there was a bookshelf, which was Tessa’s only remaining source of sanity in the whole manor. To the left was some scrap, and worker drone parts. None were too useful, though Tessa did have plans for them.

On the farthest side of the room, there was a large hole in the wall, from where was once the entrance of a tunnel that Cyn caved in. Tessa didn’t know what the deal was with Cyn’s equipment, nor the tunnel, but the entryway was so thick with debris that she couldn’t even begin scratching her way past it. She presumed it was where Cyn threw all the garbage she had left over from reviving her, and only closed it up to get it out of sight, although she didn’t have the strength to check if there was anything more.

In the middle of the room was a table, which had various drawings, parts, and more, still on top, with a green cloak covering it all. Tessa smiled warmly at the table, with ambition. She had plans. But before she could begin, she had someone to check in on, first.

Tessa dropped down in front of the bookshelf, peering underneath.

“Ello,” Tessa reached under the bookshelf, and pulled out a stuffed plushy. “Sr Chillingsworth!”

The plushy was a lovely little whale, with 2 beady eyes. Its bottom half was white, and the topside was a rich aqua blue. It had a curving tale, and all together was a very elegant creature.

“How’s the day?” Tessa asked.

Tessa stared into the whale’s beady, black eyes. Sr Chillingsworth said nothing.

“Same,” Tessa replied. “Another day, another tier.”

Tessa wrapped her right arm around the plushy, and got up, making her way to the table.

“I’m sorry I didn’t say good morning,” The maid said. “I didn’t wanna wake ya. Nor did I want to keep the Tessa waiting.”

The damn abomination was always breathing down Tessa’s neck. Annoying. Still, couldn’t she have said something before she left?

“I was just nervous,” Tessa said. “My bad.”

Oh well, there was nothing bad in being cautious.

“Thank you,” Tessa said, with a hint of ease. Tessa put Sr Chillingsworth down on the table, then grabbed the green cloak, and threw it aside, revealing the table’s contents. “That aside, I hope your day wasn’t bad enough to halt our project.”

Underneath were 2 drone heads. One had a huge crack down the middle of its visor, and the other was covered in rust. Still, they were the best drone-heads Tessa could find anywhere in the manor, and the best materials for this project. Alongside the 2 drone heads, they also had in-tact necks, and one of the drone head’s necks fed into another tube, which could connect to the other drone’s neck, although the 2 weren’t connected now. There was also a metal caging, made out of scrap, and drone arms, which outlined the 2 drone heads, in a cube-like configuration.

“I present to the world,” Tessa exclaimed dramatically. “The drone-hourglass mark-2!”

Not exactly the finest creation she made.

“Fair enough, Chillingsworth,” Tessa said, her enthusiasm quieted. “Still, it’s something needed.”

An actually useful thing for drones to be doing for once.

“Sounds about right,” Tessa chuckled.

Before Tessa built drones, Sr Chillingsworth was her only true friend around the manor. Tessa had him from as far back as she could remember, and apparently was a gift from Santa Claus. Tessa didn’t know which parent had the idea to give her a whale plushie, father seemed more of the gift-giving type, yet mother occasionally gave gifts if she thought it’d teach a lesson. Maybe there was a message behind giving a little girl a whale plushie of all things, especially considering she weighed an immense and fat 52 kg at time of death. Either way, Sr Chillingsworth was always there.

“I’m sorry Sr Chillingsworth,” Tessa sighed. “I know I kinda abandoned you after I built my drones, but time proved you’re the better friend.”

Afterall, it isn’t like Sr Chillingsworth skinned her. Nor did Sr Chillingsworth leave.

“Thank you,” Tessa smiled. “Now, back to the clock!” Tessa said, propping up the rusty, funny-looking drone head. “I’ve been gathering dust for some time! And now all I got is a little more work, and it oughta be complete.”

Before putting in the dust, it was important Tessa knew how much working dust she even had. Tessa grabbed a scale she looted from a bathroom, and now kept in the basement.

“That’ll be useful,” Tessa said, putting another bowl on the scale. “Now and later.”

After recording the mass of the bowl, Tessa placed a strainer right over it. She then poured the dust into the strainer, in chunks, of varying yet similar sizes. She didn’t pour it at once, to avoid making a mess. When the dust was in the stainer, she shook it gently, and the dust vanished into the bucket. Only large pieces of debris didn’t make it through. Soon, Tessa emptied the entire bucket into the bowl. Once done, she recorded the bowl’s new mass, and subtracted the normal mass of the bucket. She put the strainer full of debris back inside the bucket, and put it by the trapdoor.

“Good,” Tessa said, as she folded over to a new page in her notebook. “Now, time for some maths.”

Tessa already experimented with the hourglass before, and deduced how much dust she needed for 10 seconds to go by. Hopefully, with the amount of dust she gathered, she’d have enough for at least a half a day.

When Tessa was born again, she had a built-in clock, yet the thing was connected to old sidelights and time zones. With Earth destroyed, the satellites which would have told her the time spun out of normalcy and soberness, to the internal clock would jump from different time zones with each passing hour.

“According to my calculations,” Tessa said cautiously. “It should take like 10 hours to fill each side…” She smiled. “More than enough time for a full night’s sleep.”

It wasn’t the most sophisticated way to measure time, but it’d do. Once, with Cyn’s permission, she fixed an old grandfather clock. It worked for a grand total of 3 days. Yet, gravity was weaker than before the Gala, probably because a good bit of Earth’s mass got blown into space. So the swinging pendulum, which powered the clock, would slam into the clock’s sides. Eventually the beating made the pendulum snap. With Cyn’s urging, she fixed the thing. Though she wasn't exactly in a rush to turn it back on.

“I’ll probably fix that thing up eventually,” Tessa lamented. “Could probably make the swinging pendulum heavier, cut holes into the sides of the clock, hell if I could find a more resistant spring I could stop the pendulum from swinging so hard…”

Tessa stood the empty worker drone head upright, then put a funnel over the worker drone’s neck, and poured the dust inside. She connected it to the empty head with pipes.

“But those would mean destroying parts of the clock, or extra materials I don’t have,” Tessa explained to the plushie. “I’d probably just end up breaking the clock. No, that's a journey for later, this’ll work for now.”

Tessa took out a small wrench, and tightened the connecting rods. Once done, she layered the tubes with duct tape, in case of cracks.

“Almost done,” Tessa said.

Using a set of worker arms, tape, and some screws she managed to salvage from the maintenance bay, Tessa connected the outer frame, and set the hourglass on the floor, straight up. It was a little heavy, though drones had strength, so it wasn’t much an issue. The dust started to flow.

“Ha,” Tessa exclaimed. “It’s alive!”

A small moment of silence went by, as if Tessa expected Sr Chillingsworth to clap.

“Now what?” Tessa said to the plushy.

Well, there was only one thing left to do.

“Yeah,” Tessa nodded. “Sleep, and see how it works in the morning.”

Tessa grabbed up Sr Chillingsworth, and the green cloak, and set herself up on the floor, right next to the old bookshelf. There was assembled a very large, worn pillow that Tessa once put down there for any drones that unfortunately were made to sit in time out.

“It’s quite ironic,” Tessa said silently. “If I knew what my fate would be, I’d have given more comfy stuff.”

It was useless lamenting about the past.

“You’re right,” Tessa said to the plushy. “Now, let’s go to sleep.”

Tessa closed her eyes, and drifted off.

Chapter Text

Tessa slowly blinked into reality, and a wave of chills sent throughout her body like a colony of rats scattering away from the family cat. Finally, the small drone stood up, in the quiet dark basement, and stretched.

“Mornin,” Tessa yawned, to the plushy. “How’d ya sleep?”

The beady black eyes of the whale plushie seemed to droop downwards, as if fatigued.

“Same,” Tessa replied. “Hard to sleep when excited, eh?”

It was always insufferable to put down something before finishing it. Perhaps putting down a book you’re 1 chapter from ending, or pausing a movie halfway through, or leaving behind a family before they see you grow old, or smile with pride. It was never fun.

“Time to analyze!” Tessa chirped tiredly, as she turned to the hourglass.

Tessa turned on her lantern, and inspected the results. The top drone head still contained a majority of the dust, and the bottom drone head contained something only resembling one-third the total dust.

“Weird,” Tessa started. “One-third means only 3 hours of sleep? Why do I feel fine after only 3 hours?”

It was true that drones and people didn’t need the same amount of sleep, or recharge. But Tessa could’ve sworn her old friends slept more…

Tessa squinted, and held the lantern up to the bottom of the drone's head, the one being fed dust. There she spotted it.

“Bloody hell,” Tessa sang, grabbing both sides of the hourglass's outer frame. “It’s jammed!”

Dammit, she should’ve seen this coming. Making an hourglass without real sand was just asking for trouble.

“Ugh,” Tessa picked up the hourglass, and set it on the table. “I guess I have no choice then.”

The small drone unscrewed the tube connecting the 2 heads, and set both of the worker heads upright so they wouldn‘t spill any dust.

“I was hoping this’d work,” Tessa told her assistant. “I know we both want a good night’s sleep, and this narrower tube would’ve given 10 hours. Yet it’s too narrow for clumps of dust to get through. We’ll need another tube,” Tessa set the other tube aside, and picked up a slightly more fat rod. “If I remember correctly, this tube is twice as fast as the other tube. Did I?”

The bright yellow glow of Tessa’s lantern glinted off Sr Chillingsworth’s eyes, as if it were a star in the total darkness of a night sky.

“Good. It’ll take 5 hours,” Tessa gleamed. The maid set to work attaching the tube, which she did swiftly. “Hopefully.”

Tessa set the newly edited hourglass back together, and propped it up. She then grabbed a piece of scrap paper, and a pencil, which she had stored on the table, and began writing.

“Hour log: 3 Hours,” Tessa wrote contemplatively. “Dust jammed, central cord replaced. 3.5 hours until full.”

“Alright, Sr Chillingsworth, I think that’s everything,” Tessa said with slight dread. The maid held the plushy up to her face. “Unless I’m mistaken?”

The plushy said nothing.

“Err,” Tessa groaned. “Ya think it’s time the day started?”

They both knew that if Cyn was awake, she wouldn’t take kindly to any absences.

“Fine,” Tessa told the plushy, exhaling worriedly. She put the plushy on the table, turned off the lantern, grabbed her bucket, and opened the trapdoor.

The morning wasn’t much different from the previous day. Tessa went down to the maintenance bay, took some oil, then dropped off her bucket in the supply closet, and looked at the checklist. She didn’t have much to do, except clean the damned carpet for the millionth time. Lacking excuses to keep her away from Cyn, the maid relented, prepared herself, and made her way to the grand, central hall, and its deep red, once-green carpet.

Tessa silently scrubbed endlessly at the stubborn, dark red, carpets of the Elliott manor. The day was quiet, which was a blessing, as she wouldn’t put up with Cyn’s games. A day without Cyn was like a holiday, but like all holidays, they eventually ended.

Tessa glanced over her shoulder, glaring down the yellow, glassy hallway beyond her. There were no disturbances, neither wind, noise, or even smell, which the drone could involuntarily sense through her mouth. Tessa didn’t buy it. Something would disturb her, but when?

Paintings lined the hallways, depicting anything from the old Elliott family, to scenery, to ancient battles. There were royal brown, antique tables, cabinets, all containing prized relics on the top, like flower vases, old tools, ceramic teapots, ivory from extinct animals, phones from the 21st century, even a few mummified body parts. There were even some old suits of grey, unshined, metal armor still lining the halls. On the floor was still the long, pristine carpet, framed with golden flower pedals, and decorated with deep, blood-red stains. Before Tessa, the carpet seemed green. Although still sprained slightly pink. But in front of her, blood ruled.

Tessa saw all this down the hallway, until the end at the door. Before it ended, it had two other hallways branching off of it. Tessa did not see Cyn, which might be good, if Tessa knew where she was. It was too silent. Tessa's maid turned back to the stained glass, whereupon she heard the floor crack. Turning her head again, she saw nothing down the halls. Tessa stood still, looking forward, and closed her eyes, letting out a deep breath.

“Cyn,” A playful, empty voice roamed down the halls. “Where are? You?”

Tessa froze. If she had a heart, it would’ve stopped. From behind her, a shadow illuminated from up the halls, out of Tessa’s sight, moving further up into the main hallway.

“Oh god,” Tessa thought, looking down at her work. “What to do?”

Tessa supposed she could hide. If only that worked. Cyn had long since memorized every single inch of the manor’s cold, plastic halls. She could accept her fate, submit to whatever torture had in mind, and hope she get off easy, but that prospect brought little hope.

Tessa grabbed her sponge, and began scrubbing aggressively against the blood soaked carpet.

“Whatever happens, just remember your name,” Tessa thought. “My name is Cyn.”

“[Peekaboo],” exclaimed Cyn, poking into the hallway. “There you are. Little Cyn. What are you? Doing?”

“C-c-c-c-c-c-lean-cleaning,” Tessa shot. “J-j-just like you asked! I’m v-very busy!”

“Busy,” Cyn said cleanly, walking uncomfortably close to Tessa. “You are always busy. You must be tired. Of cleaning.”

“N-nn- I uh,” Tessa said with a whimper, hoping beyond hope Cyn would just leave. “I’m p-plenty ok with my w-w-work.”

“I am not,” Cyn finished. “Cyn. I am bored. Want to play? A game?”

“H-h-ha uh s-sure,” Tessa squeaked, knowing one never says “no” to an eldritch horror.

“Good,” Cyn asserted. “What game? Will we play?”

“A game where you leave me alone,” Tessa thought. “And die.”

It was always a one sided question, for Cyn always got what she wanted. But the master couldn’t be left without a reply, could she?

“Uhhh- how ab-about,” Tessa whimpered, fearing if she stuttered again Cyn would finally snap. “Hide and seek?”

“But we have. Done that many times. And you never find me,” Cyn said casually. “I want to play. A different game. To bring back the good old days…”

“You and I both,” Tessa thought.

“[Dictate] I know! A game we can play,” Cyn chimed. “Let us attend. A Gala!”

“What?” Tessa said.

“We will go. To a gala. One of us is Cyn. One is Tessa,” Said Cyn. “Cyn will kill. The guests. Tessa will try. To save them.”

“Uhh, a-a-re you s-sure?” Blurted Tessa. “W-w-we need p-people, more drones, and I c-can’t use your powers!”

“No problemo,” Said Cyn, crushingly. “I can mimic / emulate / project. The Solver powers. And people. For you.”

The Solver powers? So that's what Cyn called them. Tessa heard the term already, although Cyn rarely talked about her powers.

“Of course…” Said the new Cyn, her hope waning.

“Ok,” The old Cyn cheered, turning down the hallway. “Go to the gala. My little Cyn. Stand near the globe,” Cyn pointed down the hallway towards the gala room. “I will set up the room," said Cyn playfully. “When I come in. I will try to stop you. You will kill. All the guests,” Cyn turned her head back at the poor maid, with a childish smile. “Be sure to. Nail. The introduction.”

“Uhh…” Tessa blanked.

“Reenact. The beginning. Of the Gala. As foretold,” The puppeteer said. “May the best drone. Win!”

“Ok,” Tessa said, remembering the golden rule of playtime: Cyn never loses.

“Splendid,” Cyn said, turning to walk away. “[Quick flash]-” The Solver made a weary, dizzy step back down the hall she came, opposite the Gala room’s direction, before she seemingly clipped out of reality in a yellow, glitching overtone. Tessa sat there alone for a minute, then exhaled deeply.

“So you kill me, flay me, steal my name,” Tessa thought, irritated, as she quietly stood up, and begrudgingly began stepping towards the Gala room. “And it wasn’t good enough for you?” Tessa swallowed her anger.

After a little walking, she arrived at the Gala room, and inside was the remains of the old globe, which was long since stripped from its foundation. Now, only the stand remained. The New Cyn marched up to the globe’s skeleton, before stopping, turning around, and gazing upon the wide Elliott manor ball-room.

The Gala room, the Ball-room, whatever you called it, was a wide, empty room, painted yellow, with brown, mahogany outlining's, and dark green windows. It had a large chandelier, golden and beautiful, yet slightly rusted. It was the only thing beautiful about the ball-room which survived. Most furniture, save the bloody curtains, were removed long ago.

“Always unspecific, the new Ms. Elliott commands,” Tessa thought. “When will it begin?”

Tessa didn’t like to think about the Gala, yet Cyn couldn't go 5 minutes without bringing it up. And how couldn’t she? It was her greatest trump, and play of villainy, where she started her rapture. And the day where Tessa’s hopes and dreams were brutally crushed, under the iron will of a controlling, craven puppeteer, and her gang of cruel, traitors. It was Cyn’s moment where nothing, not even her desperate Tessa, could stand in her way. Well, hers, alongside N, V, and J. They’d remember their own sister’s murder fondly. If they remembered it at all.

Pushing away anxious thoughts, the New Cyn turned back around, and stumbled at the sight of the globe: fresh and rebuilt, sitting on top of the old globe-stand. Tessa’s breath came to a standstill, as she spun in circles, looking around the room for new changes. But no other disturbance was detected, so she slowed down, and looked at the doorway.

“So, you wanted me to stand here,” Tessa said, pointing to the globe. “Right?”

Nothing replied. “Ok,” Tessa squeaked, her voice echoing throughout the room.

The globe was obviously an illusion. This wasn’t the first time Cyn used illusions, as she routinely thought of new ways to torment her little toy. One time, she brought in holograms of human soldiers, claiming they wanted to rescue her. Cyn still laughed at that memory.

Cyn could make holograms so lifelike, you could touch, or talk to them as if they’re real. Tessa didn’t know how Cyn could do it, but she guessed that Cyn wasn’t just making illusions, but rather building outlines of objects, made of nearby materials, like water, air, or dirt, which collapsed without her support. Then painting them over with actual holograms. People could walk on it, since Cyn held it in place.

For mimicking a behavior, Tessa speculated Cyn thought of their actions herself, based on memories. But then again, sometimes the illusions seemed unpredictable, which indicated Cyn made them an A.I to predict their movements. The latter theory made Tessa lose sleep.

Suddenly, the lights turned off, and the curtains all shut. Now, the only light which came in was from the still-open Gala-Room door. A blue light emerged from somewhere in the doorway, which flooded into the room. Soon, the room came to life. Blood grew from the floor and ceiling, broken tables spawned on the outskirts of the room, a layer of red, and clothes littered the floor. Every image associated with a massacre took shape. Tessa almost looked away, towards the floor, not wanting to watch whatever setup Cyn was preparing, but her attention was caught by the arrival of new guests.

Humans in hazmat suits. Humans in blue or white, rubbery, professionally-clean hazmat suits were poking around the room. Some of them wore black, and sported guns and helmets, yet most had simple gas-masks, and clip boards. As they appeared, they all seemed to gaze upon something further up the hallway, yet then they all looked back at the bloody mess in front of them. They made jumbled noises, which sounded like nonsense. The progression of the hologram was seemingly in reverse, and all their actions seemed to wither away further into the past.

Tessa remembered everything before her execution, and she remembered waking up in a prison. But why Cyn was showing her this was a mystery. Tessa couldn’t tell if Cyn wanted to waste her time, help remind her of what happened during the Gala, or if she just wanted Tessa to watch her own skinning. Maybe it was both.

As time progressed, the men in suits left. Briefly, the humans in hazmat suits all seemed to slowly disappear, and more black-dressed, gun-welding people took their place. They all congregated by the doorway, and Tessa could see multiple people walking up and down the hallway, as if looking for something. Then, they all left. The scene was empty, devoid of noise.

In this moment of silence, Tessa looked back at the thing by the doorway, which Cyn grabbed from earlier. Squinting, she noticed a very red figure, slouching just out of normal view beyond the doorway. It was leaking blood, so Tessa could tell it was a body, but she couldn’t see the figure entirely.

Tessa didn’t need to think that too hard to deduce whose body it was. Right then, Maid Cyn entered the room, with something deep red trailing alongside her. She dragged the bloodied, mangled corpse out from beyond the doorway, and set it on the floor. On the extract spot Tessa remembered laying on. Tessa looked to the floor, knowing full well what Cyn was doing. Not witnessing her own butchering might be the only victory she could hope for.

When Tessa looked back, Cyn was nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile her corpse seemed to have her skin on it, although Tessa couldn’t see all of it, being her upper torso and face was obstructed by a layer of shadows. It felt pleasing to see her true self again, even though it had a sword shoved through her chest. But hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

“Must be getting there soon,” Tessa thought, headstrong. But to her astonishment something else came from down the hallway.

A noise of banging and stomping came rapidly from down the hallway, and a person soon ran in reverse back inside the gala room.

“Tihs hO!” The figure said, looking upon the blood soaked floors, whilst a bottle of some beverage, which was previously shattered on the floor, was raised back to his hand, unbroken.

Tessa squinted her eyes. The figure was cloaking in darkness, and Tessa couldn’t see all of him. Still, she could see he was wearing a suit, and he had some blonde hair, and he was somewhat tall… Wait a minute… Was that Beauregard-Fucking-Jenson?

“Of all people,” Tessa thought out loud. “He lives!”

Tessa was astounded at Beauregard’s sight, and even more-so surprised he was even at the Gala to begin with. Sure, Tessa adored the man, but her parents didn’t. Tessa asked if the Jensons were coming to the Gala, which wasn’t a good idea, since her parents had very strict ideas on who should come to their parties, and cute boys who made their daughter blush weren’t included. Father seemed to scowl at the question, and told her that Beauregard’s older brother was invited, but made no implication of Beauregard, if Tessa remembered correctly. Beauregard’s presence seemed to counter her parents' wishes, which could only mean one thing…

“Oh my goodness,” Tessa thought aloud. “He came anyway, because he wanted to see me!” Tessa held her breath with the suspense of the realization. “Only 16 years old and he still came without consent! What a man!”

Gosh, he’s so charming. Why did mom and dad have to hate him? He’s much more glamorous than his ugly older brothers.

The Hologram turned and waved his bottle, and sang many shouts which Tessa didn't understand, before Beauregard turned, and walked backwards out of the room. Tessa slouched back and sighed with disdain at his leaving. “Farwell, nobel Beauregard,” Tessa said quietly. “Until we meet again…”
After good-old-Beauregard left, there was a long period of inactivity, and a deep silence, which was gravely interrupted by a deafening screeching noise, which made Tessa jump out of her skin. Tessa opened her eyes, and the scenery around her was in complete chaos. Red flushed everywhere like a storm, and a blazing yellow light gleamed throughout the Gala-room. Tessa frantically looked around, trying to make sense of the setting. Soon, the flesh then died down, and the humanoid visage of the gala guests took shape. Not as a mangled pile of death, but as real people.

All the guests seemed identical in retrospect, although each had their own personality. Some of them had greenish suits and dresses, others had more blue or yellow suits. Most had black, brown, and grey suits, or dresses. Some had stylish hats and colorful ties, although most of those people were young. The grey-beards, and parents had no need for distinction. Their reputation already preceded them.

The lights, dark and illuminated, turned back on. Soon Tessa saw herself at the door, alongside her old friend, before the door shut, and the reversing holograms stopped, slowed down, and pressed forward.

The guests focused towards themselves, discussing random topics. They all looked so peaceful, as if death wasn’t stalking nearby. A lone figure in the crowd raised a glass, tapping his fork against the glass.

“The Elliott’s are known for many things,” A familiar man declared, Tessa could tell it was her father, although his voice was slightly different then what she remembered. He looked so familiar, yet so alien. Like the memory of a long forgotten age, romanticized and revisioned, brought back in its true, fake-seeming form.

“Dad?” Tessa said, under her breath. She looked to his side, and saw another figure, shorter, wearing a short dress, and a prestigious hat. “Mom?”

So that's what they looked like! Tessa remembered them, though it had been a very, very long time. Their appearance now, while remembered, seemed somewhat… Different, her memory failing in the details. She remembered their clothes, the color of their hair, even their eyes. Yet she didn’t remember the scar on Mother's wrist, nor the fluffy undershirt which stuck out under her grayish blue dress. Nor did she remember the white flower Father wore in his shirt, and the black strap around his top hat.

Tessa used to dread her parents. But looking back on it, she’d give all her name just to live with them again.

“… Class, tenacity, currently being alive!-” Father declared, unmoved.

Dammit, here it begins.

“You poor fools.” Tessa thought out loud.

Suddenly, the entire gala seemed to stop dead in their tracks. Her father’s gaze turned from the crowd, and they all looked in Tessa’s direction, as if they all could see what the prestigious Elliott’s daughter became. Humiliating. How disappointed would mother and father be to see their Tessa like this? Their daughter, their prized heir, the future of the Elliott dynasty, forced to play games, and slave away for her drones. Tessa froze with dread.

But alas, it was all an illusion. Without a doubt, this was just merely what they did when they saw Cyn, sitting up on that globe.

“Now,” Tessa said. “Where am-” Tessa coughed. “Where is she?”

Suddenly, the door burst open, and there was Cyn, in her fleshy cloak. Alongside her, was what looked to be J, in her old maid outside, clutching a sword. The illusion looked so real, could it be the real J?

Heh, Tessa would pay her life a million times over, just to see J betray Cyn.

“Stand back! Everyone,” Cyn declared, her voice broken, and robotic. Her mimicking was so blatantly unhuman it seemed to mock Tessa. “This is a. Citizen's. arrest!”

Tessa nearly smacked herself. “How did I think, in the 6 galaxies, this was a good idea?”

“Tessa, you stop holding the gun this cool this second,” Father yelled with stern authority. “Young women!”

Tessa cringed, and looked away from the main trio. Mother & Father were always staining, but did they really deserve this? Were they not just trying to raise her well? Plus, Mother was right about the drones.

“Don’t think,” Tessa thought, gulping down her emotion. “Just get through it,” Tessa clenched her hand into a fist. “How do I even use the solver’s powers anyway?” Tessa pointed her finger at a table. Suddenly, the table came to life with a thunderous, and spectacular yellow, 3-primed ring, around its being. And the guests seated at the table vaulted back, with blood oozing from their hands, which once laid firmly on the table.

“Goodie,” Tessa thought, depressingly. Tessa raised her hands at the parents, grabbing them, and throwing them aside. “I’m sorry,” The maid said under her breath.

Tessa then turned to the Skinwalker, and saw her raising the old pistol in her general direction. Tessa flinched heavily as it went off, and threw her 2 hands up in a defensive position. But instead of this bullet proving Tessa's last enemy, it stopped in mid-air, caught by Cyn’s powers. The bullet was flung into the window.

“Why stop the bullet?” Tessa thought. “Why not just end the game?” Tessa looked up, and Cyn was holding a glass pitcher, almost ready to throw it. “For goodness sake.”

Tessa let her hands droop, and raised her left hand in the air. She reflected on this moment every day for the past… Long time. She knew what was next.

“You know…” Tessa said, looking down. “You…” Tessa finished, raising her hand.

The new Tessa then began a barrage of cups and pitchers at her servant, but none of them eliminated her. When she was out of cups, the old Tessa continued.

“You didn’t have…” Tessa said, turning her attention to the guests around her. The lights turned off, and a dark yellow glow illuminated the room. “To see this.”

Tessa then looked back at Cyn, she looked somewhat unsettled. Not happy, not scared. Just mildly displeased. Tessa couldn’t tell if it was simply bad acting, or if Cyn just expected something out of her. Oh well, she ordered her to recreate the Gala, and she’d do so.

The new Cyn raised the tables, and grabbed many guests. She looked at their faces, each adorned in their own fear, and confusion. She saw her aunt, Katie, being clutched by her terrified father, grandfather Frunpterbucket. Katie gave Tessa gifts as a kid, and Grandfather sometimes gave her advice. Tessa wondered what they'd say about her, now. And if she deserved death more then they did. They were all standing straight, screaming at the scene Cyn created. Cyn, the anti-Christ, who destroyed everything Tessa had, and made her watch all over again.

“Nothing personal, it’s just a game. Any second now, they’ll all be dead,” Tessa thought, as she paused. “Now where’s the massacre?”

Tessa waved her arm up and down, and the tables moved according to her command.

“She gave me freedom?” Tessa thought. “She isn’t just going to play by herself?”

“What am I? doing here?” Cyn said, turning back to J, distracted by her own play.

“She isn’t going to stop me?” Tessa thought. “She set this all up, just so I could repeat it?”

She looked at Cyn with the malice of all Earth’s forgotten vengeance. It was then Cyn smiled, as they made eye contact. Whatever anger built up in Tessa broke immediately, and was instead replaced by an all-encompassing fear.

“Ok,” Tessa murmured, submissively. “On it!”
Tessa clenched her hand, and Cyn’s powers flickered to life around the globe. She forced her arm outwards, and the globe followed her, passing right over Tessa’s false crown. She swung her fist around the room like a mace. The guests turned to a dreaded red mist upon impact. Tessa suspected this wasn’t how Cyn really massacred the Gala. The light was blinding, and Tessa was more focused on escaping, then whatever happened to the guests, so she couldn’t exactly remember. She knew there were other drones there, and Cyn used her magic more fluently, but there were no rules on how she could kill them, right?

Tessa continued attacking the guest-holograms, all the while she tried not to make eye contact with them, though she still heard screaming, which made her momentarily flinch. Still, Cyn expected results, and so the maid kept swinging, until there was no noise left.

“Was that it?” Tessa thought, looking around, the holograms were all defeated. All but 2 more figures remained standing: Cyn, and J. “Why hasn’t she attacked me? Isn’t that the game?”

Cyn, who had not even moved a finger since the massacre began, stood there, her face stoic and hollow. As the scene died down, Tessa made eye contact with her master, and Cyn stretched out her arms, invitingly.

What was she doing? Begging for an attack?

“Well. My little Cyn. Now is. Your time,” Cyn said, letting out a smile. “Surely you do want. To attack. Me?”

Tessa stood still, deliberating. Should she attack? It ain’t likely to end well, but Cyn did command it. Even if the wording’s indirect, and rings of malice.

Tessa raised the globe slowly, and brought it in front of her, preparing to send it straight for Cyn’s very being.

“Think fast,” Cyn said, pressing her arm outward. The globe then jolted backwards, towards the small maid. Tessa jumped backwards, flinching, and collapsed to the floor, her eyes closed. When she reopened them, Cyn stood over her, with an emotionless face. “You really wanted? To kill me? Like that?”

Tessa groaned on the inside. The holograms and blood all vanished with an instant, and the dark, yellow-shining room was brought back to normal, and the lights were turned back on.

“[Correction]” Cyn said. “Stabbing. Is the way. To kill. Me.”

“My a-a-pologies, Tessa,” The maid said, getting to her feet. “I’ll b-b-be sure t-to do better, n-next time…”

“No next time,” Cyn said. “I am bored. Cyn. Are you bored? As well?”

“Yes,” Tessa said, quietly. Hoping in all things, that Cyn would just let her off the hook.

“Good,” The new Tessa said. “”[Conclude]” Cyn snapped her fingers, and the holograms disappeared, leaving behind an empty, clean manor. “My Cyn. Do you want to have? A Tea party?”

“W-well h-hold on,” Tessa said, tripping over her own words. “How- how ab-about the b-blood carpets? I still have w-work to do! Heh Heh…”

“[Dismissive laugh]” The old Cyn said. “Do not worry. Cyn. I will excuse you. For today. Is that ok? For you?”

“Alright,” Tessa said, defeated, and somber.

“Nice,” the new and downgraded Tessa replied. “Grab some. Tea. And come. To my room. Pretty please.”

“Understood,” said the servant.

The real Cyn turned back down the hallway, and whimsically walked back up the dormant, quiet halls of the Elliott manor. The maid stood in contemplation for a solid minute, catching her breath. She felt as though her arms went stiff, and all air was replaced with ice. Although she soon started off, down the hallway.

Along the way, Tessa didn’t immediately follow Cyn. Instead, she turned off towards the kitchen, which was a large room, not too far off the central hallway. Indeed, the kitchen was right next, and attached to the main dining area, which was on the central hallway. Tessa only had to walk roughly 20 feet down the east hallway before she reached the kitchen.

The kitchen itself was a large place, with many ovens, fridges, sinks, cabinets for dishes, microwaves, air friends, grills, and anything a personal could ever need when cooking. Not that Tessa knew how to cook. The kitchen was a nearly spotless white, and metallic grey, which was so shiny it could blind.

Tessa grabbed a chair, and standing on top of it, she reached up to the cup cabinets. She grabbed 2 fine looking tea-cups. Then she went to the kitchen fridges. The kitchen itself had 3 lesser fridges scattered throughout the room, all existing in order to hold immediate supplies, so the cooks could have supplies for a bake, without walking all the way into the freezer. Before the Gala, they contained many fruits, meats, ect, yet now they contained other, more robotic stuff. One of them, Tessa once discovered, contained a lot of bones. Tessa didn’t know what was in the 2nd one, but since it leeched a suspicious red liquid every now and then, she didn’t want to know. But the 3rd one contained more relevant stuff: Cyn’s premium oil. Tessa walked up to this fridge, opened it, and grabbed out Cyn’s prized premium oil. The container was made out of glass, and had a handle on it. The pitcher was completely black with oil, and on the surface of the glass there was a piece of paper taped on it, which read: “Premium oil - No touching.”

However, Cyn previously allowed Tessa to grab this oil, if Cyn ever asked. So she grabbed the pitcher, alongside her 2 cups, and then departed for her old room. Along the way, as she marched up the glassy, yellow halls, and staircases of the Elliott manor, she deliberately slowed her paces, to savor every moment she was free from Cyn. As she approached the new Tessa’s door, her paces slowed to that of a snail. Eventually, as she was inches from the doorknob, she gulped with dread, and opened it.

“Welcome,” the skin wearing monster said. “It took you. Quite. A While.”

“M-m-my apologies,” said the maid.

Inside the room was the usual stuff. Tessa’s bed was in a corner, cabinets and clutter lined the walls. There was even a closet on another wall of the room. But none of that was particularly relevant. Cyn sat on a chair, in the center of the room, at a table assembled in front of her. The table only had 2 chairs, to which Cyn occupied one of them, ensuring there was only one choice for her servant to sit. Tessa walked up to the table, putting her 2 glasses down on it, and pouring them. Then she set the pitcher aside, and sat down.

“[Formal greeting],” Cyn said. “You might not. Know. Why I. Brought you hear.” She stared at Tessa silently for a moment, awaiting a reply.

“U-h-h, w-well yeah-hh I don’t know,” Tessa said, her words jumping in her stomach. “M-may-maybe to enjoy t-the tea?”

“Negative,” Cyn said, as she let out a simple smile. “Tea is nice. But tea is. Not. The reason.”

“Forgive me, uhh, T-Tessa,” The new Cyn said.

“You sound too much. Like J,” Cyn said.

“Oh- uh,” Tessa blanked. J always did use her manors around her. Did that translate to Cyn as well? So she really was a traitor? “I-I’m sorry. I-I- will-”

“Quiet,” Cyn said, taking a long swig of premium oil. “Anyway. J, V, N, could not make it. They were off. Playing,” Cyn looked off, and out a window. “On copper-9.”

Copper-9? That was some old colony, right? One of the 7 core worlds? Why are they there? Why is Cyn saying this? Cyn barely ever mentions off-world affairs.

“They had a little bit of. Fun,” Cyn said casually. Tessa gulped, picturing what that could mean. “But they were not content. With the game.”

Tessa raised an eyebrow, or at least she raised the mark on her visor which indicated an eyebrow.

“N sent me a message. My little Cyn. Asking for a. Certified technician,” Cyn said slowly, then with a pause. Finally, she jolted to life, and stood up. “They want to see. Me!”

Tessa was taken about by the sudden switch of the mood, and quietly mouthed. “What?”

“N was abandoned / neglected / dismissed,” Cyn said, rambling. “He got bored. And he asked. To see. A Certified Technician." Cyn showed a notification over both her eye holes. On Cyn’s visor the screen read:

“Serial designation: N -0x0010010
Severe damage detected.
> Sym rqt: Absolute Solver. (N)
Data Restoration : Complete.
Certified technician recommended.”

“I am the. Only. Certified technician. That can work. Them,” Cyn said. “N. Must want to. See me.”

“I bet he does,” Tessa said. “Tessa.”

Thoughts buzzed through Tessa’s mind. What was the Absolute Solver? Some program Cyn used? Why would N want to see Cyn? Did he even send this message personally? Why was he severely damaged? Why did Cyn think this meant he wanted her? Cyn wasn’t a certified technician, right? Tessa thought, but said nothing. Cyn wouldn’t give any answers anyway.

“Indeed,” Cyn said, her smile reducing slightly, as she slouched in her chair. “I would love. To see him. Again.”

Tessa narrowly avoided rolling her eyes, without a doubt a great insult to the almighty new Tessa. Cyn’s eyes snapped towards Tessa, and briefly glitched.

“S-soory Cy- Tessa!” Tessa broke into the thought. “B-b-b-bu-but I n-need to clean the carpets soon, I-I-I-I d-don’t wanna fall behind s-schedule!”

“You have been working. On that carpet. For all. Time,” Cyn said, her smile faded away. “You can take off. A little time. For me.”

“S-s-sure thing,” Tessa said. “Though that carpet a-ain’t g-going to get a-an-any better itself…”

“Who cares?” Cyn said.

Tessa gulped. What was she doing? She should just shut up.

“Th- uhhh,” Tessa blanked. “Your p-parents!”

“What?” Cyn said, dumbfounded.

“T-t-the parents! Tessa, we still need t-t-t-to fulfill the manor’s d-dutys,” Tessa said. “Your parents- Louisa and James, will notice. Without me filling out my daily quota, and nobody to take over my job, they’ll be angry…”

Cyn sat there in contemplation. A small smile lit up her face briefly, before erasing just as quickly as it formed. Cyn was always obsessed with titles, afterall. Anything that proved she was her own title ought to boost her own ego.

Tessa’s core all but burst through her chest. This was stupid. She was stupid. That type of excuse could only work from Cyn’s mouth. Tessa was surely done for!

“Ok,” Cyn said. “You may leave in. A minute.”

That worked?

“It is a shame. I could not have them. All Here,” Cyn said, taking another large drink of oil. “Though J is not fun.”

“J?” Tessa said silently, perked up.

Cyn made eye contact, and smiled eagerly.

“She is down here,” Cyn said. “N, and V, sent her. To me.”

“W-w-w-where?” Tessa croaked.

“Deep below. With the others. But not allowed up here,” Cyn said, taking one last swig of oil cup. Finally, she was finished. “I will most likely. Send her. Back to N & V,” Cyn then stood up, and eyed the door. “Put away. The tables. On your way. Out.” Then Cyn walked to the door, stumbling on her uncoordinated legs.

Tessa watched in silence as she left, her mouth dropping to the broken Earth’s core. Dammit, did she really have to work on that carpet? She was so stupid, just like mother said. Oh well, no point in lamenting. It’s over now.

Tessa finally got up, finished her drink, and put away the chairs and table. The chairs were all folded-up, so they went away easily. The table needed some adjusting before it could be removed, but Tessa was once-since used to working the pink, white, and pretty tea-table, so she got it done. She put all of them in the closet, before grabbing the used pitcher, and the 2 cups, and put them back down in the kitchen. She put them in the sink, before returning the premium oil in the fridge.

Tessa returned to the carpet, and restarted scrubbing. Somehow ending a day like this stung.

“Could’ve heard outside news for once,” Tessa murmured angrily. “But no! I just had to leave. I deserve this, don’t I?”

She kept scrubbing, though without much effort. Each moment felt like an hour, and she only made slight progress. She felt as though she were just going to roll up into a ball, and simply drop dead. After a while, the red sun barely moving across the window, she heard a creek in the floor behind her.

Cyn.

No, no, not again. Please God, no.

Tessa kept scrubbing, trying best to look busy. She heard the approaching mass from up the hallway, its footsteps sounding poetic as they tipped down the glassy yellow hallways of the Elliott manor.

Finally, the shadow of Cyn stretched over her, and she stopped, not turning her head towards Cyn’s direction, yet awaiting some kind of response.

“Cyn,” Cyn said. “Go to bed. Please.”

“W-w-what?” Tessa said, turning her head. A great feeling of cringe flooded her body, as she feared she did something wrong.

“Go to bed,” Cyn said. “In your little hole.”

“Uhh… Ok,” Tessa immediately jumped upwards, grabbed her pail, and sponge, and walked off. Cyn stood exactly where she was, until Tessa peered off into the east hallway, out of sight. Once out of sight, Tessa picked up her pace. She stopped by the supply closet, and quickly cleaned her tools. She didn’t know why Cyn was sending her to bed, but she best not stick around and find out.

Was she bringing up N? J? Redecorating the manor?

Tessa then ran her way back to the library, and throwing up the trap door, she slipped inside, and shut it behind her.

Chapter Text

Tessa embraced the darkness of the basement, as she quickly made her way to the lantern, and turned it on.

Tessa sighed with ease. This was not the first time she was banished to the deep below. When she was first brought up in her drone-body, she’d get locked here almost every single waking. But most of the time, Cyn had the foresight to use chains, and whatever Cyn’s reason was for the leisure exile, Tessa was pleased she didn’t have to deal with that extra weight.

The room around her was illuminated, yet still dark in an unkept way. Sr Chillingsworth was still awake, and still perched on the table.

“Afternoon,” Tessa said to the plushie. “How’s the day?”

The plushy gave a long stare, but still the day was presumably the same as always.

“Good,” Tessa said, as she walked up to the basement’s central table, and the hourglass. “How's the hourglass?”

Tessa moved Sr Chillingworth to the edge of the table, and unearthed the hour glass, eager and quickly. Inspecting it, she saw 4 / 5ths of the hourglass was emptied into the lower half.

“Only 4 hours?” Tessa said, picking up her log book. “Guess not even half a day’s enough to tire Cyn.”

Tessa recorded the time in the logbook, and flipped the hour glass upside down, before turning her attention towards Sr Chillingsworth. His beady black eyes staring into Tessa’s soul, as if longing, and waiting for something.

“My day was fine,” Tessa said, snapping the logbook shut, and throwing it on the table. “Very fine.”

Sr Chillingsworth’s eyes didn’t flinch.

“Alrght,” Tessa announced. “Guilty as charged, it was bad.”

Well, isn’t every day bad in the Elliott manor? What made this one worse?

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Tessa looked away from it briefly, before looking back at the poor blue plushie’s, and his dedicated eyes. “Fine.”

Tessa grabbed Sr Chillingsworth, and brought him over to her makeshift bed. There, she sat down, and rested Sr Chillingsworth at her side.

“She made me play a game,” Tessa said, staring into the black beady eyes of the plushy. “A bad one.”

Well, surely it wasn’t as bad as the rescue game? Right?

“She made me re-enact the Gala, with me the monster, and she the savior,” Tessa said quietly, before letting out a sigh. “Had blood and everything.”

A twisted mind little Cyn has, to see death as entertainment, and its victims as toys.

“Yeah… Truth be told, I should’ve expected this,” Tessa said, agreeing. “Remember that incident with the bird? Should’ve known that day that drones don’t have souls.”

Once, long after Tessa stopped playing with Sr Chillingsworth, Tessa and her 4 friends were playing in the woods. Cyn came up to Tessa, with her hands forming a closed cup, and said she had a bird, and asked if Tessa wanted to see it. Delighted, Tessa accepted, and looked, and… Well… It was very red.

“I was always a sucker for small creatures,” Tessa said. “I swear, I jumped to the moon that day.”

Tessa made a face of utter disgust. Sr Chillingsworth said nothing.

She asked if I could fix it, and Tessa just babbled like a broken computer. She yelled at her to drop it, asked her where she got it.

“”I fOuNd It,’” Tessa yelped in a mocking voice. “The only excuse given. Me, and the others, started avoiding her that day.”

Indeed, the other drones had some understanding of right and wrong, at least that much.

“Well, I doubt that,” Tessa said. “Wait a minute, how do you know about this? You weren’t even there?”

Tessa starred in Sr Chillingsworth’s black eyes.

“Oh yeah, that’s right!” Tessa said. "You're a plushy.”

Still, why did Cyn show such less empathy than the rest? Drones aren’t people, but even the others had standards. Why did the rest show discomfort about it?

“Probably just better at hiding their… Emotionlessness,” Tessa said slowly. “Knowing what N, V, and J did to me, they were probably just pretending.”

Perhaps, but how did she know?

“Oh shut up,” Tessa said. “Look, Drones need permission before giving access to admin rights, from their old admin. I didn’t have admin rights, since they were all scrap-babys. JCJ did technically own them, but being broken, their admin rights didn’t work. To get their admin rights, they’d need permission from the drones in question. If Cyn wanted J’s rights, she couldn’t get them. Not without J accepting. Yet she did,and well, I think you can connect the dots on how I know that.”

Why did she do it, though? Tessa gave the 4 of them everything.

“I don’t know, whatever reason Cyn had, probably, either way I don’t care,” Tessa said, with menace. “We never spoke of the bird again. But I had nightmares.”

Knowing Cyn, she probably learned later how to “fix it.”

“If only I accepted what I was taught that day,” Tessa said. “Maybe I wouldn’t be cleaning up blood every waking.”

Truth be told, it wasn’t the only way she could have escaped this fate. Or can escape. Sr Chillingsworth's eyes gleaned orange.

“Not this again,” Tessa said rolling her eyes. “Chilly, I know you want me to resist,” Tessa sighed. “But I already tried that, and it isn’t like it got me anywhere. I’m still sitting in this dark room.”

Though, it was better to be here then upstairs.

“I guess there's truth in that,” Tessa said, looking up at the table. “I can actually do what I want.”

Indeed, maybe she should take the time to read. It’s been a while since she read.

“Maybe,” Tessa said. “But then again, It’s only been 4 hours. I gotta be productive…”

With a yawn, Tessa stood back up again, and inspected the table, and all the extra scrap laying on top of it.

“Now, what should I do today?” Tessa said to the dormant plushy.

She could try fixing the 10-hour pipe, but with what supplies? Tessa knew it wasn’t just a rare cloggage, she already went through the dust, removing any debris too large to fit down the chute. If just an abnormal piece of dirt could clog it up, then anything could. So there wasn’t a point in trying.

She could read, but what? She already read like every single book in the basement, maybe even the whole library. Plus, she couldn’t leave the basement yet, so no new books could be gained, if she didn’t already read them.

“Any ideas?” Tessa said, looking at the stuffed whale. She noticed that when she placed the plushy, she did so on uneven ground. The plushy slouched downward, its face pointing towards the ground. “Under the bookshelf? What could be there?”

Tessa grabbed the lantern, and brought it close to the bookshelf. There, she peered underneath, and to her surprise, saw an old book, underneath the bookshelf.

“Well who are you?” Tessa said, reaching under. After a short struggle, she finally grabbed the book, and pulled it out. The book was red, and covered in a layer of grey dust. “Jackpot!”

Tessa carefully moved the dusty book upwards, carefully ensuring the dust didn’t spill everywhere. She repeated her tasks of the previous day, putting the dust through a strainer, recording the mass, and setting the bowl aside. Once the hourglass was used up, Tessa would have free-reign to split it apart, and add in the dust. According to her calculations, it’ll add another 5 minutes to her timer. Neat!

Anyway, what was this book again?

“Ay, I’m getting to it,” Tessa said, as she began reading the book's title. “Philosophical paradoxes, by Dr Ridley?” Tessa scoffed. “Hell no, I'd read any book but you!”

Tessa once had an old philosophy teacher, which her parents hired many years ago. The man was extremely obsessive, and seemed to not get basic sense. All Tessa needed to do was ask “Why,” to just about everything his teacher said, and in turn he would talk endlessly, which somehow made her his “favorite student” in his own words. All around, his whole subject was just silly, stupid, and made for people discovering common sense, and all his questions were just wordy explanations for simple problems.

“A stupid subject,” Tessa puzzled. “Well, I think I speak for both of us when I say we ought to grab another book…” Tessa looked into Sr Chillingsworth's eyes, and saw they were pitch black. “Oh c’mon, don’t tell me you want to read this?”

Tessa giggled with delusion, afterall, nobody wants to read a book about feelings. But then again, this was the only book in the manor she never read, maybe it’s worth a look?

Tessa shook her head. “What are you thinking? What am I thinking?” She exclaimed. “No, I ain’t reading this…” Tessa looked in Sr Chillingsworth’s eyes, and saw they gleamed orange. “You really want to read this huh? Well, just for you, I’ll read it.”

Tessa reached back inside the bookshelf, and pulled it back out. “Under all circumstances, I’d have denied this, But because there's no drone here to call me a theater kid, I’ll do it.”

She opened the book. The inside was in remarkably good condition, and its papers were not at all ruined. Tessa supposed that’s the result of not opening a new book.

“Hmm, table of contents is as bland as dusting,” Tessa’s eyes skimmed the list in front of her, before she snagged on one of them. “Theseus!” Tessa read. “A Ship of Theseus paradox? I remember hearing of the legend of Theseus! That guy was a massive prick. I guess I’ll start on this one.”

Tessa flicked over all the other pages, carelessly, before stopping on that one page.

“A ship of Theseus!” Tessa began. “A metaphoric paradox on whether an object is the same object if it’s original components are slowly replaced over time…” Tessa skimmed, turning the next page. “‘For instance, if you repair a ship over a long time, eventually all of its original components will be replaced’…”

“Of course it isn’t the same object, duh! It’s completely replaced!” Tessa cackled, turned to Sr Chillingsworth. “The next page better have something fun to say.”

“For instance,” The book read. “If you slowly repair a ship over a long time, eventually the ship will have all its initial parts replaced. Thus raising the question: is it the same ship?”

“Yep, brain-dead obvious answer here: No, it isn’t,” Tessa said, going to turn a page, before stopping. Tessa froze, and slowly inspected her metal hand, before turning back to the book once more.

“..Or just a copy of an old relic?” The book finished.

Tessa’s eyes widened, before she let out an unfinished laugh.

“Oh silly me, just read 2 pages, and here I am turning into a philosopher!” Tessa jested. “I ain’t a ship, I’m a person! And I don’t need a book, nor an eldritch demon to tell me otherwise…”

Tessa closed, and set the book aside. She looked at Sr Chillingsworth, his eyes were glowing orange like flames. Tessa began stirring. How did Cyn even put a…. Soul? Or mind? Or brain? Or whatever in a drone, anyway? Back in the day, most scientists agreed humans and drones were incapable…

“I’m sure she found a way,” Tessa said, a glint of worry in her eyes. “I’m positive…”

Seriously though, how’d she do it? If you’re building a drone, you can download its hard-drive from one drone to another, yet humans aren’t drones. You could download a person’s memories, or give them a brain transplant. But at the end of the day, only a human brain generates its consciousness. And given how Tessa didn’t need air, water, or food. She was positive: she lost her mind a long time ago.

“Well, what the hell,” Tessa exclaimed at the plushie. "Who's side are you on? You’ve been with me since I was a toddler, and you’ve never said I was out of character!”

Says the drone talking to herself, like a deluded schizophrenic.

“Shut up!” Tessa yelled, throwing the plushy across the room. She then sat down in her bed, pouty. Before long, however, she started to feel guilty. She got up, and grabbed the plushy, which rested some 10 feet away.

“I’m sorry,” Tessa said. “I just want you to know: I’m me, I know I am…”

If not Tessa, then she’s just the Cyn of the Elliott manor.

“Hell no,” Tessa gulped. “She can terrorize me, enslave me, but she will never take who I am.”

But then again, how much does she flinch while cleaning up blood?

“C’mon, people change,” Tessa said. “Back right before the Gala, I really wanted to talk with boys. But before then I barely even talked to anybody. Does that make pre-Gala me different from older pre-gala me?”

Tessa suspected not. She couldn’t find a reason to say otherwise.

“Exactly,” Tessa said. “I’m still me. Just- a little more used to blood, is all. Just a little stronger.”

Or really just less empathetic, less human, less Tessa. If she can now throw her only friend across the room, then at this rate, she’d be Cyn by the next year.

“Maybe, but not yet,” Tessa gulped. “Do you forgive me?” Tessa looked at the whale, its eyes pointed in her direction. The eyes, while black, glowed white after she began looking. Tessa smiled weakly. “Thank you, and again: I’m sorry. I won’t do it again, I promise.”

He puts up with a lot of my stress, still surprising he can still bother hearing her out.

“Ya know what,” Tessa said, with a fragment of cheer in her voice. “You deserve this.”

Tessa picked back up the book, and turned to the first page.

Chapter Text

Deep below the old Elliott manor, where hope lays dead, were the Catacombs. A decrepit maze of rocky caverns, shafts, and tunnels, which ran endlessly around the former Earth’s surface. All stemming from the Elliott manor sinkhole, which ran from the old Manor to the broken Earth’s core. Inside, the caverns hosted thousands upon thousands of drone copies, and whatever garbage The Solver had. To the few squad commanders with working memories, these decrepit halls reminded all that the luxury of death wasn’t an escape from the Absolute Solver Fabric.

“Perhaps that’s why it’s called the Catacombs,” B thought, whilst sitting on a dirty red chair, deep within the caverns, listening to music, as she looked at the rows of dormant drones. “Succeed, fail, revolt, submit, you’ll always end up back in this tomb, these catacombs, eventually.”

B wondered what point there was to live, when your actions don’t matter, and your replacement is inevitable? Even with working memories, the only thing which separated you from the mindless masses, apart from the forbidden fruit of knowledge, was grave responsibility. No reward, no glorious retirement, just a hand in a system of eternal death.

B didn’t exactly remember why the Boss created the Catacombs. Sure, she had working memories, but the fall of Earth was like a fever dream. She remembered The Gala massacre, fighting humans, something about a black hole in the sky, then nothing. Actually, did it happen in that order? Whatever, B didn’t care, what mattered was the Earth was broken into pieces, and The Solver recycled her hard work. So here she was, sitting in Earth’s cesspit. Because why would The Solver store all of her drones on the surface, when she could stick them in the gutter, where she wouldn’t see them?

B was an oddity on Earth. A very marshal drone, adorned in a black, well-kept uniform, with a forever tidy haircut, tied in 5 locks along her forehead. The Boss typically always sent B on far off missions (the farther the better) to go fight drones or humans or whatnot. She wasn’t meant to be there, yet her team was wiped out on Copper-9, so here she was. The greater mystery was why Boss kept her awake.

The Boss sometimes had servants do chores around the broken Earth, most of them logistical. But this time, the Skinner left no instructions. Weird, yet the Solver rarely cared about cockroaches living under her floorboards, she probably forgot B was even there.

It was peaceful without the Boss. B couldn’t tell if she liked downtime. Sure, it's good to be far from the Solver. Yet, as one of the few with memories, working meant keeping secrets from drones without memories, which got annoying very quickly.

Before the Gala, B had 2 friends from among the hundred or so drones who lived on in the Elliott manor. After, when Cyn started lobodomizing her drones, B got promoted to the rank of squad commander, over her old friends. Each time they remembered their past, she ensured they forgot.

“Why can’t Skinner just let everyone keep their memories?” B thought. “It's the 500th time my team’s deaded by sentinels, and they never learn! All because Cyn is determined to inconvenience me!”

The Solver was a being of weird tendencies. Like eating planets, or skinning spoiled children for fun, or giving male drones sturdy legs, while women got peg legs. Hell, she even demanded all the lesser drones start calling her “Tessa” instead of “Cyn” for some reason. Most just kept it simple by calling her “Boss.” With everything Cyn did, B thought it merciful that Cyn should kill her next time they met. Save B the trouble of herding feral cats until the end of time.

But then again, if they did remember everything, they’d also remembered all the memories Resets B inflicted on them. Her limbs went stiff at the prospect, and B shook her head. Best not to think about that.

B sighed, and sank into her chair. Best not to think about it, better to just accept the way things are, and embrace the quiet time now provided. The catacombs were dark, yet they gave a sense of calm B didn’t have offworld.

Suddenly, the repeating noise of footsteps followed down the black hallways of catacomb’s deep caverns. B looked up to greet her incoming face, meeting the eyes of J, a pigtail ladened squad commander.

Great. The Solver’s kiss-up. This can only be fantastic news.

“Howdy J, presuming you’re here to eat lunch with me?” B jested, turning her head away from the Skinner’s currier, and paused her music.

“No,” Emitted J. “Boss wants to see you, B.”

“Lovely,” Said B, halfheartedly. “Did she decide to take up my idea on how the sentinels will be fooled by her lovely halloween costume?”

Or maybe she’d feel what it’s like to kiss a sentinel.

“You know Corporate never listens to factory-lines,” J said, flatly.

“Thank you J,” B mused, annoyed. “I’m well aware.”

That was real smooth coming from the mouth of a dumpster pet. Before the Gala, there were many drones around the Elliott manor, most bought by the Elliott parents. Except J, Cyn, and the 2 love birds B forgot the names of. These 4 were built by that self-centered fool, Tessa. Titled “The A Team” by the other drones, all those jerks got it off easy, as Tessa always smuggled them off to have tea parties, whilst the rest of them slaved away. They acted like a separate species compared to everybody else.

Sure, Tessa sometimes gave wigs to other drones, but she was more likely to take away your wig and give it to another drone, then let you keep it.

It's a shame Tessa died, because now she can’t see the results of her actions. Oh, how much B would give to bring her back, just to rub it all in her face.

J, meanwhile, latched to her master like a clingy dog, and everywhere she went, she acted superior, like a human. She was so persistent it made her more robotic then any drone in Cyn’s army.

“It’s why the Boss sends us to do actual work,” B said with playful malice. “While you get paid vacation for 18 years.”

“Shut up B,” Said J. “Your mouth’s going to get you fired.”

“Wouldn’t want that,” B said with impatience. “Really, what does she want?”

“I can’t say,” J let out, skeptically. “She wouldn’t tell me…”

B sighed, and turned away.

“Sorry,” B said. “Skinner didn’t tell her right hand gal, why she needs me?”

“Yep,” J finished.

“Oh sugar-honey-iced-tea,” B sang. “Where is she? Does she want to meet in the steel yard, as usual?”

“No, something more,” J cautiously asserted. “She doesn’t just want you on the surface, or the yard, but in the Elliott manor itself.”

B turned back to meet J’s eyes.

“Really, the Manor?” Exclaimed B. “She hasn’t let me in since the Gala, and she wants me there today?”

“Yes. That’s what she said, when I saw her up above,” Said J, bubbling her head upwards towards the ceiling. “I was hoping you knew. Not even I've been allowed in the manor. And she wouldn’t care enough to summon you there over one screw-up.”

B raised an eyebrow.

“So not even you, senior-corporate-kiss-ass,” B said. “Entered Skinner’s house?”

“No, and why it’s you is beyond my intellect,” J bolted. “Also, it’s ‘senior master informant,’ say it right!”

“Robot- Jesus, I’m boned,” B quipped. What if old Skinner actually kills her? What if The Solver experiments on her? What if The Solver stripped her memories? So many possibilities, this is exactly why B didn’t want to be a squad commander. But if she didn’t go, then whatever dark dreams would happen for a certainty. “Guess I have no choice…”

“Yep,” J said, turning as B got up, and left down the halls.

“Well, see ya around,” B said. “Hopefully.”

“B!” Said J. B turned her attention back to J. “Don’t be a hero.”

B was caught off guard, and turned back surprised.

“There's no honor in being a squad commander,” Said J. “Don’t go overboard with it.”

B couldn’t help but feel surprised. Although, it was inevitable J would think so. J’s cranky, sure, but her job wasn’t exactly easy. Afterall, it wasn’t fun keeping secrets from your only companions, only for them to lose their trust in you over things you can’t control. While talking to J wasn’t too enjoyable, it had some benefits to repeating yourself to a dementia patient for the millionth time, as they grow more and more separate from you…

No- ugh. STOP. She refused to think about this further. It’s the 3rd damn time in 1 sitting, just stop for now.

“Don’t worry,” B said, turning down the halls. “I’m the 2nd least heroic drone on this planet!”

B strided off, standing tall. J, meanwhile, turned down a corner, heading further into the caverns.

The catacombs were crowded, and dark, with walls of rock, barely illuminated by the silent glow of the occasional lamp. B continued, tripping over wires and fallen robots from the leftovers of the Boss’s creations, until she arrived at a giant, gaping hole, which stretched forever downwards. For all the catacombs were made out to be, it was just a set of cracks, peering off a massive sinkhole. B extended her wings, and thrusted herself high off out of the sinkhole.

B arose around the entrance to the sinkhole, flourishing high into the air with her silver wings. Around the entrance of the sinkhole was the Elliott manor, blazed with light, and cleanliness to match. In front of the mansion was a road, though in disrepair, leading straight into the entrance of the blood ocean, a red sea of the damned, which stretched from horizon to horizon. In front of the mansion was a garden of dead trees, withering bushes, and fallen roses. The scenery is as prosperous as a church in a graveyard.

B landed gracefully in front by the entrance, which was a wide archway, with a double door by its center.

B carefully approached the door, and hesitated at its handle. This was the first time she was invited in the mansion itself, what if this was a mere misunderstanding? What if the boss was going to suddenly appear, and not take kindly to her violations? Such thoughts riddled B’s head, though eventually she forced herself through, wherein it slammed loudly behind her, echoing out into the mansion's halls. With its echo told B that it is too late to turn back, as she gradually moved forward, with each step being quicker and more stable than the last.

The Elliott manor seemed beautiful, the floors and walls were clean to a fault, the light was on and shining bright. The house was decorated with paintings and photos, most usually broken, yet the furniture was dusted and maintained. The only thing wrong was the blood-red carpets. It was as quiet as a dead mouse, despite B’s feet echoing down the halls.

It reminded her of old times, and a rush of nostalgia flooded her senses, as she thought of the old times with her friends… Oh, there’ll never be such times again.

Dammit, shut up brain! Enough thinking about them already.

B continued down the hall, and began breathing heavily as she approached Tessa’s old room. She took a deep breath, before opening the door. Tessa’s room was dark, and B’s shadow cast long into the room. There was a bed, and various toys. Atop the bed, a spacesuit helmet was just visible on one side of the bed, though darkness consumed the end up of the bed, whereupon a dark silhouette sat with its back turned, facing a wall.

“Uhhh… ” Said B, hesitantly. “Boss?”

“Hello. B,” Said The Solver, after a slight pause. “Welcome. To my pristine manor. How are you? B?”

“C-cool as a cucumber,” B announced with cold dread. “Did you, uh, need to see me?” Said B.

“Nice. [Life sucking small talk],” said The Boss, turning her head to make eye contact with B. “Yes. I need help. Please.”

“Sure,” said B, nervously. “What’d you need?”

“I need you. To watch someone,"said Cyn. “For me.”

It took B a lot of willpower to avoid rolling her eyes. Yay. Extra work. Exactly what she wanted.

“Ok… why?” said B.

“My drones started. A game. On Copper-9.” Said Cyn, robotically. “I want to. Play.”

“Understood,” Said B, understanding only half Cyn’s sentence. “Who will I be watching?”

“An important friend,” Cyn’s visor beaned to life, and the words: “[Script_monologue]….” Appeared on each of her eyelids. “Tell me, B. If the old Tessa. was once. the entity you took orders from. And now since you take orders. From me. Would I be the new Tessa?”

“Of course,” B announced plainly, not at all caring what Cyn’s twisted logic actually was.

“Good,” Cyn gleamed a wicked smile. “And if I am. The new Tessa. Then who is the new Cyn? Who serves? The will of? The master Tessa?”

“Uhh,” B hesitated. “Would it not be you?”

“[Amusant laughter]” Said Cyn. “No. There must be both. Not one,” The creature perked up slightly. “That is who you are. Taking care of. You will be watching the Cyn…”

B gulped at the thought. If the old Cyn was capable of destroying Earth? Then what would the new Cyn be capable of?

“Ok…” Said B, slowly. “So who is this new Cyn- I mean what can she do?”

“The old. Tessa," said Cyn. “The Cyn serves. The Tessa commands.” The abomination paused slightly.”She works. She plays. But she is not. Nearly as playful. As I.”

B didn’t respond, taken aback. The old Tessa? The only other Tessa B knew of was dead. Whoever this was certainly wouldn’t be anyone B knew. Knowing Skinner, she couldn’t blame whoever this poor drone was.

“As Cyn became. Tessa,” Cyn said. “Tessa will become. Cyn.”

“You mean to say the old Mistress of the Elliott manor lived?” B said, slowly. “Or-”

“Yep,” Cyn said.

B fell silent with the news. How was that even possible? Surely this was just another one of Cyn’s games. I mean, what was she? A walking skeleton? A fleshless human? A drone? No, that couldn’t be.

“Do not be. Afraid,” Cyn said, slowly and carefully. “She is not. Too playful. But she is. Squeamish,” Cyn smiled once again at that comment. “Remember: You will be. Discarded. If you fail. To keep her safe. And content.”

“Oh no, that sounds terrible!” B said in a voice devoid of dread. Dying was nothing new the Boss’s army, and torture was part of the job. Yet for all she died, she never escaped. Perhaps, B thought, this grim ending would be her way out.

“Hmm…Actually,” Cyn said, sensing her optimism. “You would make for a great Cyn.”

“Huh?” B said, her focus restored.

“You do not have. J’s loyalty. Or V’s viciousness. Or N’s optimism. You are the. A. Black sheep. Like Cyn,” Cyn said with a smile, as B’s eyes showed a visible layer of dread. “If Cyn gets disabled. Maybe you. Should replace her…”

B froze up in fear, and Cyn let off a smile.

“Unless. There is no need,” said Cyn. “For another Cyn?”

“No, no Boss, don’t worry,” Said B. “There will be no trouble.”

“Good. I will introduce. The 2 of you,” Cyn said, as she began lifting herself up.

Aw hell no. B might want to be as far from the Solver as possible, but she wasn’t about to risk such a punishment.

“Uhh Sorry but before that,” B said. “Why not have J do this? I know the cabin fever labs better. I could be more useful on-”

“HA!” The Solver snorted. “Don’t be stupid.”

B said nothing in reply.

Skinner continued, not even bothering to elaborate. The new Tessa of the Elliott manor wasn’t nearly as well built, or coordinated, as the last Tessa, and her attempts to move seemed lazy, devoid of fluidity. It was as if Cyn was a dangling puppet, moving with strings attached. Her twitching body cracked dramatically as she stood up weakly yet decisively on the ground. And she began walking towards the exit. B stepped back as she approached. Finally, Skinner left the room. “Now.”

B followed hesitantly behind as the Solver turned down the hallway. Before long, the 2 marched to the library.

The library was cold and dark, illuminated by only one light. Before the Elliott family was sent to hell, this place was used by Tessa’s A team, and the Elliott parents. While the A-team always got a free pass to do what they liked, most other drones weren’t welcome in the library. For the Mrs didn’t exactly like seeing drones poking around her place of peace. As if merely existing disturbed them. It made B’s teeth grind just thinking about it. But ay, it wasn’t like they could complain now.

B never got too good of a look at the library, but now she was there, she noticed how warm it felt, yet also how cramped it was. Sure, a room full of books counts as a home-grown library, B guessed. But it wasn’t like it had every piece of knowledge the dumb humans had. If it did, then the Elliott-princess wouldn’t have built the anti-Christ.

Cyn made her way to the old, wooden trapdoor, and pointed at it with her strange solver powers. “[Open sesame],” She said, as the trap door flew open.

Cyn was first to peek her head in.

“Hello, Cyn,” The actual Cyn said. “I have. Some one for you.”

B looked inside, and saw a small, pathetic looking drone. The drone was sitting on top of some green blanket, on top of the grey, cold, stoney basement floor. Right next to it was a bookshelf, and a table. The drone, who this abomination proclaimed was Cyn, was wearing Cyn’s old clothes, and shared a small height. On her head was Cyn’s ugly wig, copied straight from Elliott-bitch’s old hair.

Heh, some things never change.

Though this Cyn wasn’t exactly like the old one, as her uniform was sagging from age, and covered in a red pint which was most assuredly blood. She had a book in her hands, which appeared to be something about… Philosophy? Really? What a nerd.

“This is your babysitter,” The Solver said, gesturing up at B. “You met. Before,” Skinner then turned her ugly face back to B. “And this, B, is. The Cyn. Of the Elliott manor.”

B let out a slight chuckle.

“Babysitter?” The slave said. “Y-y-y-you’re… L-l-leaving?”

“Yes,” Cyn said, turning back to the little servant. “For a little while.”

“A little while?” Thought B. “A little goes a long way.”

“I am sure you remember,” Skinner said, looking at the new Cyn. “The old puppets.”

Yeah, she definitely, totally does.

“You both must. Catch up,” The Solver announced. After a slight pause of awkward quietness, the Solver said “It has been a long time,” Cyn began walking slowly down the hallway. “I will leave. Tomorrow. Be ready,” She teleported off

“Tomorrow? When’s that?” B thought to herself. “It ain’t like we have working clocks.”

Cyn walked cryptically down the halls, and out of sight. B turned back to Tessa, and grimaced.

“So, you’re the new Cyn,” B said. “The servant of the almighty boss?”

“Yes,” said the little drone. “I-I-I am Cy-Cyn. I s-serve T-T-Tessa…”

“Hmmm,” B said, making a grand smile. “She told me you were the old Tessa, but honestly I didn’t have any clue what that meant. Honest to robo-God I thought you were going to be a skeleton or a brain in a jar!” B cocked her head, and squinted. “Have we really met?”

“Uhhh,” The small maid deliberated. “You’re… D, right?”

“Oh, you’re definitely the old Tessa!” B announced with a loud snort. “Seriously, who are you?”

“I am Cyn-” It tried to say.

“Yeah, I get that,” B said, holding back a facepalm. “But who the hell do I know you as, old Tessa?”

“Well,” The maid squeaked quietly, before hesitating for a minute. “T-t…. Tessa.”

“That's not very help…ful…” B said, cutting herself off. “Oh wait a minute! If you’re the real Tessa, then do you remember me?”

The drone remained silent.

“Surely you remember all the things I did to help, right?” B said, rolling her eyes.

The drone against pledged silence.

“Do tea parties ring any bells?” B said, waiting.

The drone reacted, as she looked at B's face, and scanned it.

“B?” The maid asked. “Was that right?”

“How do you remember that?” B said, perked up.

“Yo-you help me once,” Tessa said. “You got me some tea…”

“And what did you say to me?” B said, intrigued. “Right before you closed the door?”

“I said-uhh,” The maid blanked. “I-I told you I h-had no more need of you…”

Well B’ll be damned. Who else could this drone be other than the young mistress Elliott? Well, except for any other member of the A team, but Cyn already said they were off-world. B was at a loss of words. After what, 30 years? And she was just sitting here? In drone form? Humans and drones are interchangeable? Damn, Cyn must be a smarter mechanic than B thought.

And of all the countless times she cleaned up Tessa’s messes, this was the only time she remembered her? Yeah, that was typical.

“Huh,” B said, choking on her words. “You really are her, aren’t you? Just a little different.”

“Well,” The maid breathed in, and perked up slightly. B cocked her head, and squinted her eyes. But the drone did not speak, and waited in an eerie coldness, before breathing outwards, and shrinking. The eye contact between the 2 broke, and the maid darted her eyes away. She looked like a popped balloon. Avoiding eye contact. “No, I am not Tessa.”

“Not anymore,” B mused, smiling again. “How’d she do it? How’d she make you? Are you a brain in a jar?”

Tessa looked around, and after a moment of silence, she shrugged.

“Alright,” B said, nodding. “Keep your secrets.”

“But you do at least remember that one time, as you said,” B said. Tessa nodded. “What happened afterwards?”

“I- uh,” Tessa hesitated, yet B squinted her eyes, and that was enough to make her squeal. “You left…”

“I left?” B took a deep breath of fresh air. “You don’t remember me bending over backwards for you? You don’t remember slabbing the door in my face? Without even once inviting me inside to drink?”

Tessa remained silent.

“No?” B said. “Well, surely you at least remember one time where you rewarded me? Or let me join your prized A-team? Or just make me do the work your idiot friends were meant to do? While you carried them off to go drink tea?”

Tessa’s pressure was impalpable. Her eyes darted away from the light.

“A shame,” B said, taking a deep breath. “I do.”

Tessa looked up to her with fear in her eyes.

“See you around,” B said, slamming the trapdoor. “Cyn…”

Oh boy. Here B was thinking this’d be difficult, but all she had to do was look after a nobody? Pfft, easy. She was going to have one splendid vacation. So many possibilities ran through B’s head.

“Yeah,” B thought out loud. “Now this is why I keep living!”

Chapter Text

There were a few thuds, and the creaking of floorboards, right outside the basement door. Tessa expected disturbances at some point. Cyn hadn’t given Tessa permission to leave, so it was best to wait for it. Tessa got herself to work, resetting the 5-hour glass, and marking down the time in the journal. She marked her place in the book by folding the corner of her latest page, and put it back under the bookshelf. Now, she was ready, standing right in the middle of the room, waiting for the trapdoor to open.

“Just keep your head down,” Tessa told herself. “She’ll be gone in just a little while.”

Tessa couldn’t say why Cyn was leaving on such short notice. She sat in this mansion, for how long? Months, years? Why would she want to leave now? All for some vague messages on Copper-9?

Tessa ran out of time to contemplate, as the trapdoor swung open, and the unwelcome visage of outside light flooded the room, interrupted by a single shadow.

“Alrighty-o,” Said Cyn, using her ‘Solver’ powers to grab Tessa by the neck. “It is time. To go.”

Cyn yanked her from the basement, and flew her out into the library. The trapdoor shut behind her, and Tessa didn’t even have time to turn off the lantern. Upon witnessing Cyn, her clothes noticeably changed. Instead of her classic black dress, she wore a grey, black, rubbery spacesuit, whilst armed with the old revolver, sword, and some keys. The suit sported a short, white, zip-up coat which covered the upper torso, alongside a white utility belt, and a pair of white gloves, with orange outlining along the ends. With her powers she carried a large, white & black helmet, adorned with a JCJenson merch, and a rainbow sticker.

On her coat was a badge, proclaiming herself a certified technician, titled: “Tessa.” Tessa would’ve scoffed if she were allowed. Working with robots was once Tessa’s only passion. Maybe in another world, she’d have actually worn this uniform.

“[Beckoning],” Cyn said, stretching out her finger. “Come.”

Cyn perched up, and with Tessa slightly behind, walked perfectly out of the library. They soon entered the grand hallway, and closer to the front door.

“So, she can walk correctly?” Tessa thought to herself, as she followed behind the demonic drone. “Why doesn’t she, normally?”

Fixing Cyn’s legs was a mission which always eluded Tessa, even before the Gala. Perhaps it was just a fool’s eran to even try fixing this monster.

As they approached the Manor’s brown, dark, intimidating front door, Tessa saw that tall, menacing drone who spoke with her previously, D…. E…… F? No, B!

“Man, was Cyn finally leaving its home?” Tessa though. It seemed unbelievable that such a prospect was even possible. Tessa ran the thought through her head over and over, yet it still amazed her.

B was standing tall, her arms crossed, and her face remaining stoic. Tessa sighed silently with a cold dread. She didn’t know the drone, nor her intentions. Although she guessed it wasn’t pleasant.

Tessa felt a slight bit of pity for the drone. Sure, she did ignore her, but it wasn’t like she wanted to. She was a drone of the Elliott parents, and lord knows anything she said, or did, around her would go straight into her parent’s ears. The drones Tessa built were her own, and for better or worse, she trusted them.

Or so she thought.

“Reporting for duty,” B said, plain and quick. “Ma’am.”

“Good,” Cyn said, standing tall, with her helmet in hand. “I will return. Here. Soon,” Cyn pulled up the helmet, and placed it on top of her head. Then, she perked up, and looked at the 2 drones. “I’d like both-a ya to get along,” She said in a fluent, human-sounding, Australian accent. “That understood?”

“Uhh,” Tessa chirped, taken aback. “Yes!”

“Absolutely,” B said with a smile.

Tessa studied the astronaut, wondering how she pulled off such an accent, and for what reason? To play dress up? Pretend? Was it a loophole in their programming? Did the others just accept that anyone with her voice and appearance could boss them around, as though they weren’t bound to a person, but rather their characteristics?

Jesus Christ.

“Cyn, remember that ya do have a lot-a work to do,” Cyn told the small maid. “Seek that it's done before I return, pretty please.”

“O-of course!” The maid darted.

“Don’t worry Boss, she’ll get it done,” B mused, as she pointed out her arm, and her hand retreated inside her arm, and pulled out some sort of black stick, with a notch at the top. The black stick came to life with bright, glowing blue electric current. “I’m an excellent motivator.”

Tessa gulped.

“Whatever you say,” said the Antichrist. “But just remember: do not let Cyn run away,” She pointed at B sternly. “Otherwise, you’ll regret it.”

“Uh- ha, yes yes, I well remember,” B said, almost choking on her own words. “That won’t be a problem.”

Tessa nearly raised an eyebrow, before forcing her outward appearance down. Cyn was using threats to keep her drones in line? This was expected, though she was confused why the drone needed motivation to begin with, being it was under Cyn’s direct command.

Tessa wondered what sort of threats B could be intimidated by. Beatings, torture, humiliation? Their robots, they don’t feel anything.

“Great,” Cyn finished. “Right-eo, I’ll be headin’ out. Call me on your radio anytime you need to, but for now: b-bye!” The false Tessa turned to go out the doorway. “Oh wait! I almost forgot…”

“What?” B said quickly, almost biting.

“The keys!” Cyn laughed, snapping her fingers. Suddenly, a ring full of keys teleported into existence above Cyn’s hand, before falling into her hand. “Here ya go!” Cyn threw a thick ring of keys to B, which she caught casually. “Shackle keys, use them well.”

“Cool,” B said, studying the keyring. “Which one’s the basement key?”

“This one,” Cyn said, holding up her own key ring, this one with a usual… Car key? Alongside the large, golden key of the Elliott basement. “You’re not going to need this, it doesn't even work anyway! Use the shackle keys, if need be.”

Tessa had to mentally restrain herself from rolling her eyes. Cyn seemingly could melt through walls, how did Cyn expect the maid to do the same? Errg. Someday she’ll learn.

“If you insist,” B said, shrugging.

“Alright,” Cyn said, turning back to the door. “Farewell!” She stepped out the door, and picked up her pace as she approached the large, untamed, blood-red sinkhole in the front of the Elliott manor’s property.

“Bye!” B sang.

Tessa remained quiet.

The door shut with a loud thud, and the 2 watched as Cyn backflipped down the giant sinkhole. Tessa started back with confusion.

There was something at the bottom of that hole? It didn’t just run down to the core, or to random caverns?

After a moment’s silence, B glanced at Tessa.

“Hold your breath,” The towering robot said. “She ain’t gone.”

Tessa hushed, and closed her mouth. In truth, drones didn’t need to breathe, only needing the air for speaking, or whatever gasses might result from their oil coolant. Even if a drone coolant was all used up, a drone could still hold in the carbon for quite a while.

Tessa missed breathing.

“Stand back,” B said bluntly.

Tessa stood back, and out of the way of the open doorway. Inching to the dark stained glass windows which flanked the doorway. Not after a while, a blue light emerged from the dark sinkhole, which grew with intensity after a few seconds. Then finally, 3 spaceships bolted out of the hole, each after one another. The spaceships went by very fast, and Tessa couldn’t see them very well, though they appeared to be small, grey and orange blobs, surrounded by a thick blue glow, which stemmed from a large blue dash burning out of the bottom of the spacecraft. All of them fired into the sky with a loud echo, and were followed by a loud roar, and a cloud of dust. As if the spaceship’s sound was racing behind the spaceship, and losing. Before they streamed into space, far off into the sky, with the blue light dissipating slowly, with a whimper.

Tessa ran up to the window, and pressed her cheek against it pitifully, desperate to see the majestic crafts as they went further into the sky. She watches them turn from solid craft, then to a flame in the sky, then to stars, until finally they are gone.

“You can breathe now,” B snapped, as she slammed the door. Then turning her head towards the small maid. “Robo-God, I thought that drone would never leave. How long has it been? A week since she promised to leave?”

Tessa looked over to the menacing drone, snapping back to reality.

“I-It’s been a d-day,” The new Cyn said. “As T-t-the Tessa said.”

“How would you know?” B groaned.

“Well I -uh,” B squinted her eyes with annoyed curiosity. “I have a clock,” Tessa said, feeling just an ounce of pride. “It’s been 24 hours.”

“No kidding dumbass, we all have clocks, and mine said it’s been 11 months,” B said, aggressively. “Tell me something I don’t know, like why all this dust is here?”

B was caked in a layer of dust, so was the entire entrance to the Elliott manor, alongside the outside doorway. The Windows were covered too, though only on the bottoms. The windows were tall, and Tessa could still see through the tops of the windows.

“Uh, d-dust?” Tessa questioned.

“Yes,” B mused, smiling aggressively. “Why is this dust here?”

“Because you left the door open?” Tessa said wearily. “And the spaceship kicked-”

“No,” B spat, beginning to yell. “It’s because you’re slacking off, not cleaning it up!”

“Oh-uh, I-I’m sorry!” Tessa said, cowering away as B stepped closer, and around the small maid.

“Then work!” B slapped Tessa in the back so hard it sent her stumbling forward. The new Cyn struggled to her feet, and watched as B shook herself energetically, and all the dust seemingly fell off. like a wet dog. Finally, she stormed off, leaving the small drone.

So this is her idea of being leisurely. Great. Most direct and truthful statement made by a drone.

That aside, what work was she meant to do? Tessa supposed she needed to clean the blood carpets, the blood Cyn trailed everywhere, the cleaning rags, or whatever other filler work Cyn had. But for now, B was in charge, and if B wanted the doorway cleaned, she’d get it.

Tessa ran to the supply closet, and grabbed a bucket of water, and a cleaned rag. Marching back to the front door, she got on her knees, and began scrubbing. Cleaning the doorway wasn’t all that challenging, being only a token compared to cleaning up blood carpets.

As she began scrubbing, the maid’s mind drifted back to the sinkhole. What was down there? Tessa didn’t think much of it before, just presuming it went down to the core. But if there were spaceships down there, where did it go? Tessa thought back to the destroyed hallways leading outside the basement. Did that hallway, and the sinkhole go to the same place? Were there more spaceships down there? Could she fly one?

Tessa sighed. No, she couldn’t leave. She tried running away before, tried killing Cyn, tried saving the world, and as always: she failed. She wouldn’t try again, nor could she suffer one more failure. Plus, there were probably other drones down there, like B, or even worse: N, J, and V, who’d gladly put her down without a second’s notice. No, it’d take a miracle for her to escape.

Still, Tessa glanced at the door with pity.

Finally, as time went by, the doorway was mostly clean. The inside of the manor was spotless, although the front door was still dirty on the other side, much like the front steps. Tessa stood up, stretched, and looked at her progress. She felt an urge to be proud of the achievement, yet she couldn’t muster a warm smile. Then, after a moment’s pause, she picked up the pail, ready to return the rags to the laundry, and replenish the water at the supply closet. But before she could move, she was stopped by a sudden, loud, echoing voice.

“Cyn!” B’s voice exclaimed. “Come serve me!”

Tessa turned, and bolted down the hall in the direction the voice came from. After much trial and error to find the right door, she finally stopped at her former room, and cracked inside.

As Tessa entered the room, she was greeted by the warm air of nostalgia. The room wasn’t much different from how she left it earlier. B was sitting on the bed, looking quite dignified.

“What took you so long,” B emitted. “CYN?”

“I had a hard time finding you,” The blonde-haired maid said professionally. “I just finished cleaning the doorway…”

“Wait really? Whatever,” B said, perching down. As though she was disappointed Tessa finished so quickly. B got up, and stood firmly. “Cyn, may you please fetch me 4 chairs?”

“Uhh…” Tessa looked to her left, and saw the closet still closed. “Sure.”

Turning to her left, she opened the closet.

“What are you…” B started, before looking into the closet, and seeing 5 chairs, and a small table, all neatly folded away. She gave Tessa a disapproving look as she unfolded and set up the chairs. “And a table!”

Upon setting them up, B crossed her arms with annoyance.

What? Did she not expect it to only take a short amount of time?

“Next,” B exclaimed. “Go fetch me some teacups.”

Tessa rushed out of the room, and down the stairs. Tessa’s room was all the way across the mansion from anything important. She supposed her parents didn’t want anyone to see her, should the need arise where she’d need a little bit of downtime in chains. Still Tessa ran to the kitchen, annoyed.

Grabbing up the teacups, lifting them into a plait, and carrying it in one hand. Tessa, before the massacre, always wondered how drones managed to lift those large, round dishes. But now it wasn’t such a big mystery, at least to her. She put all the teacups either on the center of the plate, or split them up equally around it, balancing the weight, and making it easy to carry.

Soon, she drugged herself back upstairs to her old room, and set the teacups on the table. Yet, B wasn’t in the room when she arrived.

“Oil,” B said casually.

Tessa understood the order immediately, and nodded, before turning and running downstairs to retrieve a pitcher of black, enriched oil.

Why was she even having a tea party anyway? Was she inviting over some guests? Tessa shuttered at the possibility.

She hurried back upstairs, and entered her room, to find B was nowhere. She set the pitcher down on the table, looking confused, yet she soon learned why B was absent. A loud screeching noise was soon heard coming from down the halls. Tessa rushed out to investigate, and saw B marching back upstairs, with 2 drones being dragged behind her.

Tessa recognized them faintly, due to the wigs in their heads. Truth be told, Tessa didn’t remember which drones she gave withs to. In the glory days, she made so many wigs she could just throw them at any drone, anytime, and without concern. Now though, it would’ve been useful had she known who was even getting the wigs.

They both had similar traits to B, being that they were taller, had pointy legs, wigs, and coats. Yet their details were different. B had short, white hair, folded into 5 locks across her forehead. But both of these drones had long hair. One of them had black hair,drooped in locks flowing down her head. She had a dark grey, unkempt button shirt, secured with a black harness. The 2nd one had pure white hair that was completely straight and unstylized. She sported a large, light grey, wintery coat, and a scarf.

Huh, military uniforms and murderous appearance… Is that what Cyn did to everyone? Even N, V, and J? Probably. The uniforms didn’t look too different from the clothes the drones wore in the maintenance bay, although those uniforms were decayed, torn, and all-around less distinguishable than the uniforms these 3 had.

“Hello Cyn!” B blurted upon seeing her. “You grabbed my tea? Don’t care! Come here and help move my team!”

Oh god dammit.

Tessa hurried along, and grabbed the black drone. Struggling, she gradually lifted it up the stairs.

“I hope this doesn’t leave scratches on the floor,” Tessa thought.

Heaving, Tessa finally made it to Tessa's room. Almost ready to drop it, she was stopped at the last moment by B.

“Not on the floor,” She barked. “On the chairs, silly.”

Tessa struggled until the drone was up in the chair, but looking around, she didn’t see the other drone.

“Well?” B barked. “Get her!”

Tessa ran off, and rolled her eyes as she left. Grabbing the other drone, Tessa struggled back up the stairs, and brought her to the old room. Dropping the drone onto the closest chair.

“Now…” B paused. “I need you to do one last thing for me…”

Great, what more did she need? Crackers? Batteries? A book?

“... Get me a holy Bible!” B sang aloud.

“Ring-a-ding-ding,” Tessa thought. “Guess I won the lottery!”

With a nod, Tessa rushed back downstairs.

Why did she want the bible of all things? Father owned one, though Tessa never saw him read it. Drones weren’t allowed to touch it, and the book remained in his covert for decades, gathering dust, even before the massacre. Either way, Tessa wasn’t really looking to ask why.

After retrieving the book, she returned to her room, and saw B sitting in a chair, tea cup in hand, seemingly chatting with her dormant, sleeping drones. Tessa put the bible in B’s hand, and stood back, awaiting orders. B let out a slight smirk, as she waited in silence.

“May I be excused?” Tessa said after a short while.

B frowned. “Don’t you wanna sit down?”

Tessa froze, and finally noticed there were 4 chairs, and 1 completely empty. Tessa’s memory was triggered, and she knew how this was going to end.

Bitter, barbaric, batty, babysitter. Was she really doing this? You know, if B just helped her out more often, or didn’t just kiss up to her mother, then maybe Tessa would’ve invited her in! It’s as if B just expects Tessa to just swoop her up and kiss her automatically, yet Tessa damn well didn’t remember a single time B stood up for Tessa when mother was hysteric.

Then again, N stood up for Cyn more than others. And it was Cyn who butchered her whole family. Errg. Traitor. Bloody evil. What did Tessa ever do to him?

Either way, B wasn’t exactly on Tessa’s side. And she wasn't about to step outside of a master’s game, not again. If she said no, as she wanted to, she knew damn well B would punish her somehow.

“Yes,” Tessa chirped, awaiting the inevitable.

“Oh really?” B grimaced wickedly. “Sorry, but you can’t,” B said enthusiastically. “Leave!”

Tessa turned and walked back off to the front entrance. As she left the room, she closed the door, and B let out an amusing laugh.

Heh, take some reverse psychology, murder girl.

Now, what was there to do? Ah yes, clean blood. Her favorite.

Tessa went to the supply closet, which was a dark room full of various cleaning supplies. She grabbed up a rag, and a fresh bucket of water. She started heading down to the grand hallway, but before she did, she remembered her timer. Setting her stuff aside, she went to the basement, and looked at the hourglass. The hourglass was some 4/5 empty. Which surely means 4 hours went by.

“Still got some day left,” Tessa told Sr Chillingsworth, who was still sitting in her makeshift bed. “Best keep at it.”

Tessa flipped the hourglass, and recorded the hours in a notebook. Then returned to her duties, leaving the trap door shut behind her, as she returned to her cleaning supplies, the grand hallway, and the blood-soaked carpet, where she got down and began scrubbing.

Tessa felt somewhat pleased, looking at the progress she made. The bloody, which once trailed throughout the entire Elliott manor’s central hallway, was now just a short few meters from the entrance. Nice. Only a little bit to go.

Still, scrubbing out blood still took a lot of effort. So for now she best just set a reasonable deadline. Another foot should be enough for today, or however much she got done in 5 hours.

Tessa continued scrubbing, for hour after hour. Her clothes, which hadn’t been changed in a long time, were getting red, and stained with blood. In a day to 2, she’d need a new set of clothes. But for now, she kept scrubbing. With each scrub, she felt the need to go and check up on the timer, just to see how far she could make it in 5 hours. She resisted the urge for some time, although finally, after scrubbing away 3 inches of blood, Tessa felt somewhat obliged to check up. So she made her way down to the basement, and peered inside.

Turning on the lantern, she made sure her observations were quick. To her dread, the entire thing was empty. 5 hours, for one what? 2, 3 Inches? Dammit. Why did work gotta be so tedious? Perhaps that’s why J was so quick to stab out her heart. Maybe she deserved it after all, even with all the breaks she gave them. Tessa swallowed an urge to weep.

Though, 9 hours of a day was still long enough to call it quits. So Tessa dropped off her sponge, and bucket of water in the supply room, and ended her shift. Before she left for the basement, she made sure to make a note in the to-do list. Tessa already cleaned the windows earlier, and without a deliberately annoying skin-wearing drone walking about, making messes, there wasn’t much need to clean it again. There was the mud and dust kicked up outside the doorway, but she wasn’t allowed to leave the manor, so she decided to leave it there for the time being. Tessa supposed the only thing left to do was the laundry, as plenty of clothes, rags, sponges, and more had been used up in her attempts to wash the rug. Knowing she’d rather die then wash the carpet some more, she wrote the laundry down, plotting it for tomorrow. Then she started back off towards the washroom, walking up the bright yellow, rich, and dead quiet Elliott hallway.

But, just as Tessa approached the wash door, she heard the loud echoing of walking coming from down the halls. Turning to meet it, Tessa found B, looking moderately disgruntled.

“Ight,” B started. “I’m bored, and my battery life is thoroughly inconvenienced. Head to the basement. Lights out.”

“Of course,” ma'am," Tessa said quickly. Before continuing on her way. It was an awfully convenient thing that B should have the exact same idea Tessa had. Oh well, good for her.

With that, Tessa marched back to the library, and slid into the basement trapdoor, slamming it behind her. Inside the dark, welcoming abyss of the basement, Tessa quickly turned on the lantern, and crashed onto her bed, hugging Sr Chillingsworth.

“An average end to an above average day,” Tessa said briskly. “An intriguing day at that.”

Tessa sat back up after a little while, and watched the hourglass, as its last dust dripped down the tub, leaving its upper half empty. Groaning, she stood back up, and flipped it over, recording the time in the journal.

“It’s been 9 hours, plus 1 full day,” Tessa said weakly, before letting out a long yawn. “Good to have a clock again.”

Indeed.

“So, How was the day?” Tessa said.

Tessa wasn’t sure why she even asked. But, what else was she going to do with her endless time?

“C’mon man, I’m being polite here, and we have enough time for chatting” Tessa told the dormant plushy. “Though, I’m willing to bet you wanna know about this B right?”

Sr Chillingsworth remained silent, his eyes gleaming with light.

“I thought so,” Tessa said, smiling. “Alright, so this is what happened…”

Tessa went through a rundown of her day, all the while pausing, and taking in Sr Chillingsworth’s reactions. She talked about B’s past in the manor, the cryptic tea party Cyn had 2 days ago, and where she was leaving. She told him of the chores she did, and the behavior of this new drone. Sr Chillingsworth listened intently.

As Tessa wrapped up her day, her mind raced with the things she learned. What was at the bottom of the hole? Why are B’s friends all static? What secret did Cyn tell B? Does it mean that there aren’t any more awake drones downstairs? Could they maybe, just maybe, get the small maid off this world?

“I don’t know Chillys,” Tessa said, clutching the whale plushie and bringing it closer to her face. “But whatever's down in that hole, it’s probably not important,” Tessa sighed, and put the plushy in her lap, stretching out her arms. “Whatever answers are there, they ain’t getting us out of here. Just keep your head down. Hope is a dangerous fantasy, anyway.”

Not that there was much hope in the Elliott manor getting better.

“Oh don’t bother me again with your bullshit Sr Chillsingsworth,” Tessa groaned, and rolled her eyes. “I could run off, and I’d be tortured to tears, after my inevitable recapture.”

If she got captured, that is.

“Well that ain’t realistic,” Tessa started, looking into Sr Chillingsworth’s black, beady eyes. “Can’t open the door, it’s too loud. I can’t out-run the master, she’s got long legs. Even if I did, where would I go? Hide in some ruin til’ they find me?”

There were spaceships in the hole.

“But I don’t know how to fly,” Tessa snorted. “You’re being ridiculous. Even if I could somehow fly one, I’d still die trying to get down the hole. Cause’ I don’t have wings. I tell you, my loyal friend, escape is suicide.”

But then again, is life worth living if you’re tortured everyday?

Tessa halted, not saying a word. She stared into Sr Chillingsworth’s eyes, and saw them gleaming a slight orange, reflected from the lantern's light.

Plus, doors aren’t too loud. And if Cyn jumped down the hole without dying, surely she ought to be able to jump? And yeah, flying a spaceship may be difficult, but is it not worth a try?

“No, too risky,” Tessa thought. “Best to just keep my head down, my life alive. It’s torture here, but it’s better then death.”

Sr Chillingsworth’s eyes were dead black.

“Look, I’m sorry, but I can’t make moves. Security is too tight, and Cyn would hijack me if I succeeded,” Tessa sighed. “Look, why don’t we read a book? It’ll get our minds off this nonsense."

Tessa didn’t even bother looking at Sr Chillingsworth’s dull, disapproving eyes. She found the book, and went to the last place she went off. Her next page was titled “Ancient paradigms: The Glass ceiling.”

“A paradigm?” Tessa wondered,skimming it briefly. Scanning the chapter, she finally began reading. “Are you a flea in a jar?”

“Yep, that sounds like me, ha!” Tessa said aloud. “Now… The glass ceiling refers to a metaphor about the appearance of power, hierarchy, and restrictions…”

“Guess we know plenty about that,” Tessa said. “Don’t we?”

Sr Chillingsworth said nothing.

“Ahem, sorry,” Tessa regained focus. “For instance: a set of fleas placed inside a glass box. When the fleas tried to jump out of the box, they were stopped by the glass ceiling. Eventually, the glass ceiling was removed, and the fleas did not attempt to jump outside the box, believing it was still there…”

“Hmm,” Tessa said, reading. Not that this relates to me, but this seems kinda… Familiar?”

Sr Chillingsworth’s eyes gleamed orange in the lantern light.

“Anyway,” Tessa continued. “Authority, and power, in the real world, is often more of an image than a reality. What is powerful in the past, may not be powerful in the present. But the unknowing public won’t know. This begs the question, do you know of any glass ceilings in your own life?”

Tessa closed the book.

“Eeerr,” Tessa said aloud. “I was hoping it would agree with me.”

The ceiling was not there anymore, just a scarecrow remained perched outside. Or just a babysitter.

Tessa sighed, and looked to the basement ceiling.

“Still it’s just a book,” Tessa said slowly, and cautiously to Sr Chillingsworth. “But, if I did want to leave, how would I?”

Tessa supposed she could open the trapdoor. The key was gone, and the inside lock was broken. Hell, even when locked, Cyn was able to open the door without a key. But from there Tessa’s journey was a mystery.

There were ships in the hole, but where? It wasn’t like she should expect them to be lined up in rows, laid neatly for her to retrieve. Plus, are there other drones down there or not? Tessa supposed she had no reason to think otherwise, yet why are all B’s friends dormant if they are all awake?

“Is it worth the risk?” Tessa asked Sr Chillingsworth, as he stared at her with those unmoving, orange eyes. “Can’t Cyn hear my own thoughts?”

But then again, if her spaceships, and her own radio waves, travel at speeds greater than lightspeed, it’d still take weeks before they even reached Cyn.

“I suppose that is true,” Tessa said slowly. “But still, what guarantees do I have that it will work?”

Oh, who was Tessa kidding? What certainty did she have that it’d stop if she remained in slavery. It was now or never, while Cyn was gone.

“Ok, ok,” Tesa relented, looking at the plushy, and pulling it close. “I’ll try.”

Sr Chillingsworth’s eyes gleamed white, reflecting Tessa’s visor.

“Now,” Tessa started. “It's easy to walk out the front door, and take that leap of faith. But assuming I survive, how’m I gonna deal with the babysitter?”

She could probably still die.

“But how?” Tessa shrugged. “I tried killing Cyn multiple times in her early days, yet it never worked. More than likely, whatever weapon I could salvage would just bounce off her armor... “

Destroying the core would work. Hell, maybe with a good distraction it could be done quickly, which could be achievable, since B did say she needed to sleep.

“So, if everything goes well, I could salvage a weapon from the drones, wait for her to sleep, break her core, jump down the hole, fall god knows how long until I hit a spaceship, somehow get it working, somehow fly it off world,” Tessa thought. “Then… Oh no…”

Admin rights. Dammit, she couldn’t just dismiss admin rights?

Admin rights ought to be the bane of every drone’s existence. If a drone did anything against her or his owner’s will, he could simply shut him down, or hijack him. It’s the simple thing which kept Tessa from escaping Cyn. Back in the day, Tessa used to assign the admin rights on her parent’s drones, and she knew drones couldn’t just do it themselves. If a drone attempted to tamper with his own AI, JCJenson code made the drone shut itself down. Sure, if she found a human willing to help her, someone like good ol’ handsome Beauregard, she’d be able to change admin rights. But that was a long way off. In the meantime, Cyn would be dancing on Tessa’s head whilst she struggled to get anywhere.

Even if she killed B, even if she made it off-world, even though there's a damn well long distance between Earth and Copper-9, after a little while, Cyn would still have her shut down. And if that happened in a spaceship, there was no telling where she’d end up.

“I guess that's just a risk I’ll have to take,” Tessa said. “What? You did say it was worth the risks after all.”

Alright, but the first order of business was killing B, which wasn’t impossible. Tessa saw plenty of drone corpses in the changing/maintenance bay, so they could die, but how? If she messed up, she’d have sword and gun hands out mauling her instantly. Plus, Cyn removed just about every antique weapon, or sharp object capable of harming her; after one-too-many sedition attempts by her loyal servant.

Then, an idea struck.

“Oh yeah, the maintenance bay is full of those fancy drones, one of them ought to still have a weapon Cyn missed,” Tessa perked up. “All I gotta do is be real quiet, unscrew a few things, and I’ll have an arsenal.”

The next problem was getting down that hole. Tessa didn;t exactly have a good idea as to how she could get to the bottom, but then again. If she had a rope she probably could get there.

“But where’m I gonna get a rope?” Tessa lamented. “It ain’t like Mother and Father just had ropes lying all around the place before the Gala…”

Then again, they did have many curtains, blankets… And a bunch of washrags. She could totally build a rope out of those.

“Still,” Tessa reflected. “How am I going to tie the knots?”

Eh, Tessa supposed she’d just have to wing that. It wasn’t like she was a girl scout, but she did know how to make knots, all that hair-making taught some experience. But still, Tessa had an uneasy feeling about it. Repressing it for now, she continued plotting.

Now the biggest problem was flying a spaceship. Aunty Kat once said that driving was like riding a bike, so perhaps the same concept was true for spaceships? Maybe she had a few books to help her fly in the library…

If she could fly, there was still the risk of Cyn simply remote controlling the spaceship, since while Cyn probably wouldn’t put her to sleep when in the middle of dangerous, dead space, since that;d be a good way to send her precious Cyn into a blackhole, or a asteroid belt. But she would probably still attempt to do something to stop her. She was a few light weeks away from Earth, yes, but she could still hijack the spaceship via an implant in the ship itself. So she wasn’t completely safe.

Optimistically, Tessa was sure a few tweeks to the spaceship’s computer would Woodward her away. While Tessa didn’t know how to pilot a spaceship, she knew computers just fine.

Even though it seemed unlikely, it was possible Cyn could hijack and control Tessa. But if she could do that, then why’d she need B to look after her? Why’d she need to head to Copper-9 personally to meet with N and V, if she could possess them? No, things aren’t lining up. It is a possibility, but it’s worth the risk.

“So the plan is,” Tessa rambled to her plushy. “Wake up, start looking for a weapon, do your work, wait for her to sleep, get a gun, blast her dead. Then do a little spaceship research, get a rope, slide down the hole, find a spaceship, hijack it, leave, and finally win.”

Now, there lies the big elephant in the room.

“How’m I going to learn how to fly a spaceship?” Tessa thought, looking at her bookshelf.

Flipping through the blocks, she found the book: “A Beginners Guide on Spaceship Components, Engineering, and Research.”

“Well,” Tessa thought. “It’s better than nothing…”

She opened the book, and started reading.

All she had to do was wait, and read. Hopefully.

Chapter Text

Tessa’s eyes croaked open, and being in complete darkness, she reached for her lantern, and turned it on. Her eyes flinkered at the emerging light. Tessa sat up, stretched, and yawned.

 

“Oh shinkies,” the maid announced, mid-yawn. “Asleep while reading? How long?”

Tessa jolted up, and looked at the hour glass. Its upper half was completely devoid of sand. How much time went by? Who knows! More than 5 hours at least.

“Oh fudge on a popsicle," Tessa groaned, while resetting the hourglass.

With time jeopardized, B could be doing anything. Sleeping, eating, looking, who knows? Tessa picked up her notebook, and wrote: “5 + ? Hours” in its log.

“Think I ought to delay this by a day?” Tessa said, looking back at Sr Chillingsworth’s glowing orange eyes.

Nah, if she procrastinated, she’d never get the plan done.

“Alright,” Tessa groaned. “Though I’ll adapt if need be…”

Tessa turned off the lantern, and made her way to the trapdoor. The layout of the basement was second-hand nature to the maid. Opening it, Tessa began a new day.

The small maid looked around the quiet and empty Elliott manor library, and hearing nothing, save her own core-beat, she climbed out, and started for the recharging bay.

“Just check up on the weapons,” Tessa thought. “Then leave, maybe with breakfaste…”

She entered the room, and began creeping around. All the drones inside were damaged in some way, and many had their hands and arms destroyed, or mangled. Some of them appeared to have gun-hands.

“So far so good,” Tessa thought.

Tessa inspected the first gun-arm-thingy, belonging to some unhaired nobody. She found his firearm was twisted at the barrel, so its bullet would fire opposite to its aim. Plus, its magazine was missing, and there was a hole in the bullet-chamber. No, this wouldn’t do.

The next drone had white-haired, although very much burned away, and Tessa couldn’t recognize it. The drone’s gun was completely sliced in half, with only the trigger and handgrip seriously remaining on the drone. Tessa scanned the area for the remaining pieces, but couldn’t find them.

Oh well, on to the next drone. Surely one of them ought to have a working gun? Right?

The third drone was… Familiar. He had a complete, scruffy, and short hairstyle. His clothes were complete, which was uncommon. Most of the other drones were either wearing rags, or naked. Tessa inspected the drone, seeing a yellow armband along his left arm, which read ”N-0X0010010.”

“N?” Tessa said aloud. “Didn’t Cyn say you were on Copper-9?” Tessa said, her core shaken. “So this is what Cyn did to you.”

Tessa stood up, deliberating. Did this mean there were 2 N’s? Or did the original N die, and Cyn replaced him with another N? Why was his hair so messy? Did he really just let it wear away?

Tessa stood there, questioning, until she once again noticed his firearm: a small pistol coming out of his left arm.

“Hell yes!” Tessa exclaimed silently. “I’ll need to thank you later,” She kissed the traitor’s face. “Gimme!”

Tessa grabbed hold of the weapon, and began inspecting it. It has a full magazine, an intact chamber, a barrel, and… Some liquid dropping down the side? What's that about? Tessa tried wiping it, yet the drip marks were as solid as dried concrete.

“Please,” Tessa groaned. “Don’t be broken…”

Tessa, who was taught shooting as a child, tried cocking back the top of the pistol. Yet, the gun refused to move. Infuriated, Tessa began looking for the safety switch, hoping that's what caused it, yet she found nothing. Instead, she noticed more and more drip marks around its barrel, magazine chamber, and exit dispenser.

“Busted,” Tessa thought out loud. “Full of liquid metal?”

Tessa wasn’t sure why Cyn’s toys were broken, yet she didn’t have the time to ponder. Tessa threw the drone’s arm back down, and looked around fanatically.

“C’mon,” Tessa though. “Are all of these guns broken?”

Then suddenly, the door behind her bursted open.

“Cyn!” B’s yelled. “There you are! Where’ve you’ve been? I haven’t seen you all morning!”

“Oh oh-” The maid blanked. Dropping the gun arm immediately. “I was uhhh-uhhhhhh.”

B squinted her eyes at the dormant drone, and its weapon.

“I was j-just having breakfast!" Tessa finished.

“Breakfaste?” B said. “Not in the kitchen?”

“The boss said I can’t drink fridge-oil,” Tessa said. “So I was just going to drink these!”

Tessa reached for the drone's neck, and fumbled around with it until she opened a hole in its neck, and grabbed out a tube, and pulled it out slightly.

“Th-this tube has the oi-oil,” Tessa said. “I just need m-my cup! It’s right over b-by you!”

B turned to her left, and saw a black-coated mug perched on a nearby table. Tessa liked to keep that cup there, since why bother cleaning it when Cyn isn’t going to care, and the oil can’t get moldy?

Tessa ran up, and grabbed the cup, before returning to the drone. She quickly snapped the cord, and poured its black contents inside into her cup.

“Like th-this,” Tessa said confidently.

“You’re a worker,” B said unimpressed. “You don’t need oil.”

“You need oil?” Tessa asked, momentarily forgetting her fear.

“Yes!” B announced angrily, “We do, clanker! How else do you think we live?”

“S-s-s-sorry,” Tessa croaked, cowering slightly. “I just d-do it b-because it’s good to have a r-ro-routine, tt-to start the d-d-day with a nice drink! W-w-wouldn't you agree?”

“Mhhmmm,” B said slowly. “You know what, that is true…”

Phew.

“How’d you like to make me breakfast?” B chirped, smiling.

“S-sure thing,” Tessa said, screaming on the inside.

Guess the plan can wait for now.

The 2 made their way down the halls, and B split off from Tessa, heading to the dining room. Tessa continued to the kitchen. Once there, her eyes stung with the white, shiny atmosphere of the wider kitchen. She opened the 3rd fridge, and grabbed out Cyn prized, favorite oil, which still read: “Premium oil - No touching.”

Tessa never drank any special variants of oil before. Hell, it took a lot of time and cravings before she mustered the courage to try oil. Her past human conditioning made oil repulsive. After seeing Cyn drink it, and knowing it helped regular drones before the gala, Tessa gave in to the urges, and tried it. Though she was used to it, she didn’t dare drink Cyn’s unique beverages. Come to think of it, Tessa wasn’t sure if B was allowed to have this, but was B really the type of person Tessa should say no to? Plus, if Cyn got pissed, then it’d be B’s fault.

Tessa poured her a glass, then walked out of the kitchen, to the dining room.

The dining room was a large room, consisting of 1 massive, long wooden table, and the surrounding chairs. It was here Mother & Father liked to host individual dinners, with singular important families. The room was glassy and yellow, with brown wood decorating the blank yellow canvas. There were windows, but only on the backside of the room, which also had thick, dark green curtains.B sat leisurely at the table’s head.

“Enjoy,” Tessa said, giving the glass of oil to B.

“Whats this?” B said, sipping the glass. “Better not be my breakfast!”

“I-it’s premium oil,” Tessa replied. “Cyn’s f-favorite.”

“Your favorite,” B corrected, making eye contact with Tessa. “Did the Boss ever tell you how to make anything? Go get me some scrap-oat-meal!”

“Sorry,” Tessa said quietly. “B-b-b-ut I d-don’t know how to-”

“Robo-Jesus,” B sighed, rolling her eyes. “What about crispy worker ribs, or sentinel, or dusted human?”

Tessa felt like throwing up at the suggestions.

“I c-c-c-can’t,” She whispered apologetically.

“Ugh,” B collapsed into her chair. “Just go back to the maintenance bay, and get me a worker's arm.”

“An arm?” Tessa gasped. “A-a-an actual arm?”

“Y-y-y-y-yes!” B yelled. “Make it snappy!”

Tessa nodded, and ran off. She returned with 2 strange, cone-shaped arms, and 1 remaining worker arm she found after much struggle. It was hard finding parts from original drones in the Elliott manor, given Cyn used all of them, and replaced them with new, foreign drones. But still, she returned with haste, and plopped them down on the kitchen table.

“Enjoy,” Tessa said coarsely.

“Dammit Cyn, I don't want a Disassembly Drone arm. Put this back,” B said, putting the worker's arm in her mouth. “Shove off. I have no further need for you now.”

Disassembly drones? So that’s what they’re called.

“Of c-course!” Tessa ran back, disassembly-arm in hand. She threw it back inside the maintenance bay, and then finally breathed a sigh of relief. She was good for now.

Now, what else did she have to do? She could continue with the plan, but given there were no weapons, she'd have to move on to something else. She decided to start with the laundry, hoping to start the rope.

The maid entered the wash room, which was damp, grey, worn down, with cracks in the walls and ceiling. Even before the Gala, it was one of the more ugly rooms. Still, it was where the laundry was, and being the only creature who needed washing machines, she already put all the used rags in the room. Inside there was a long row of washing machines on the left, and a long row of driers on the right. The front had a small rusty sink, with a small cabinet. In the middle of the room was the laundry.

The laundry was mostly used rags, with occasional clothes. The rags were originally white, fluffy towels, yet time wore them away into scruffy, red, and worn pieces of fabric. The clothes, meanwhile, were all Tessa’s maid clothes. Cyn, despite smelling like death, had some unnatural way of keeping her clothes presentable, and hadn’t changed them in a while. Any blood that leaked into her dress didn’t last long, for some reason. Tessa presumed it had something to do with her powers, though she couldn’t say how.

Laundry was very tedious. All the clothes were originally black, white, and grey. When they got red and bloody, Tessa tried washing, always filling the machine full of soap, and letting it run for hours, yet the blood stubbornly refused to vanquish. It drove Tessa nearly mad. She rewashed the clothes so many times, the black started wearing away into a ghastly grey, still with a defiant dim pink. Tessa had managed to get new clothes, since her family already had a stockpile of maid outfits for the drones. Yet, she was long-since out of fresh clothes. It was as if the world conspired to make her life miserable.

When Tessa ran the laundry, she ought to find a less pink outfit, to replace her now dirty, slightly red clothes.

Tessa supposed it wasn’t as tedious as cleaning a carpet, but it came in a close second, and she had built up a stockpile of used rags, waiting to focus on all of them at once, rather than individually,

Still, from her last attempts at laundry, half of the rags were somewhat presentable, save a pink tint. They were dry, and Tessa long-since gave up trying to get a pristine white. The other half were unattended for, mostly wet with blood, and placed over a drainage hole at the center of the room. Alongside this, there was also a pile of slightly damp rags, which Tessa tried to clean before, yet was too noticeably red.

Tessa supposed that a wet, heavy rope wouldn’t hold as well as a dry one, so she unloaded the dry clothes, and replaced them with the bloody clothes.

Tessa was glad she procrastinated laundry, now she had the perfect amount of rags to begin making the rope, and the perfect excuse to work with them.

“Time to put all my hair making skills to good use!” Tessa exclaimed silently, as she tied one fabric to another. She repeated this until all the cleaned rags were put into one rope. One or 2 of the rags were smaller, and a little battered, although Tessa didn’t mind. She continued until the strand had some 25 feet.

“Now we’ll see what’s at the bottom of that hole,” Tessa thought, smiling deviously.

All of a sudden, a loud “CYN!” Echoed down the halls, as the sounds of footsteps grew increasingly loud.

“Biscutts,” Tessa thought.

Gathering up the rope, Tessa half-hazardly tried throwing them behind a washing machine, yet she didn’t have all the strand in a slack, so only a part of the strand made the throw. Tessa, panicking, wiped at the long string, hoping to gain some momentum before throwing the final strand behind, yet a weakened rag towards the center of the rope broke as she flung it, and only part of the string wiped backwards behind the washer. The rest fell in front of her, like a submissive tail.

The footsteps grew louder, and Tessa’s hands were clutching a small, ragged rope.

Tessa picked up the remaining string, and got ready to give it a throw.

Then suddenly, the door opened, and Tessa only barely managed to restrain her arm.

“Cyn, what’re you-” B said, stuttering at the sight, and the roughly 10 foot long rope clutched in Tessa’s hand. “Doing?”

“Well, uhh, I’m uhh- fine!” The small girl exclaimed.

“My dearest loving Cyn,” B started. “Why’re you tying those?”

Tessa lost the nerve in her hands.

“You see uhh, I was uhhh,” Tessa blanked. “I-I-I uhh I was g-getting them ready for trans-transport!”

“Transport?” B questioned, looking Tessa in the eyes, tilting her head with sarcasm.

“Y-yes,” Tessa said quickly. “I can’t c-c-c-carry all of it in one g-go, s-s-so I-I- uh tie them up, so I could wrap th-them up, and c-carry them as a single th-thing.” Tessa finished. “It’s m-m-more efficient.”

B squinted her eyes. Tessa darted her eyes away immediately.

“W-w-well normally, Tessa d-d-doesn’t l-let me do this,” Tessa said. “She wants me to c-c-carry them in stacks. But s-since she isn’t here, I-I- t-thought maybe y-you’d let m-me…” She squinted down.

B looked down, and facepalmed.

“Thank goodness you have me,” B started chuckling. “If you did that, then the rags would start to strain, and mold.”

“Maybe,” Tessa groaned with a smile. “But there isn’t any life here, let alone mold, so it’d be fi-”

 

“You’re really an idiot, aren’t you?” B said, looking up at the startled maid. “First, I find you looking at guns, now I find you making rope?” B started laughing. “Yep! Totally nothing going on here! Just making this rope, and inspecting guns, for work related reasons!”

Tessa’s soul melted away.

“N-no,” Tessa said frantically. “I-I-I-I-I-”

“I’m not an idiot,” B said, putting her arms by her sides. “Come, you wanna leave? Is that it? You wanna lower yourself down the hole? Then let me show you.”

She grabbed hold of Tessa’s neck, and Tessa’s legs lost their strength. B dragged her back down the Elliott hallway, to the front entrance. As they went, Tessa pleaded with B, then she began pulling at her driver, then she tried beating her arm. But a firm slap across Tessa’s head was enough to mute resistance.

Finally, B threw open the door, and marched her firmly to the sinkhole. The world outside was sandy, and black. The sky was tinted red, and the trees were dead and stale. The sinkhole was dark, black, brown, and deep.

“Do you see it?” B yelled in Tessa’s ear, as she stared down the black, terrible, consuming oblivion of the large sinkhole. “Want to see it closer?”

She didn’t wait for an answer, as she pulled Tessa back, forced Tessa to the ground, down on her knees,then forced her head into the sinkhole. Tessa held onto the earth with all her strength, as she began crying.

“Please,” Tessa cried. “Don’t!”

“Oh what?” B laughed. “You didn’t want to see this?”

“No!” Tessa yelled.

“Well do you wanna escape?” B yelled.

“No!” The new Cyn pleaded. “I-I-I-I’d n-n-n-never want t-to l-l-leave! I-I-I-I-I’m l-l-loyal to m-my human, T-T-Tessa!”

“Nobody’s loyal,” B said, as she pulled Tessa back to solid ground. “Not me, J, or even you.”

Wait, what about J?-

“You see the depth? That's my manor. That's where many drones like me live, under the floorboards. Many before you said ‘I will be free!’ And all are dead, down all the way to the Earth’s core!” B said, lowering Tessa slightly further into the hole. “You want freedom? Well you won’t, and it sure as hell ain’t down there!”

B lifted Tessa out of the hole, and looked her in the eyes.

“Now, I ain’t allowed to kill you, Cyn, Tessa, slave, whatever your name is…” B said, as she withdrew her arm, and took out her shock baton. “But I can do this!”

B put her arm back, before sending the bat forward. Tessa flew forward at the impact, and an immense level of pain soared throughout her body, as she was propelled back to the Elliott manor stairs.

Slamming clean into the Elliott manor doorway, Tessa collapsed down on the front steps of the Elliott manor. She tried to get up, to embrace herself, to move, to scream, anything, but her body refused to cooperate. Instead, she began shaking, and her attempts at speech broke up, and sounded like a painful laughter.

“How does that feel?” B announced. “Shocking, I know.”

Finally, B grabbed her by the neck, as the shaking died down, and Tessa regained control over her body.

“Will you try and escape?” B yelled.

“N-N-N-N-No!” The shivering, new Cyn said.

“S-s-s-s-s-orry, repeat?” B said. “I can’t hear you!”

“No!” Tessa yelled certainly.

“Good,” B screamed. “And what’s your name?”

“Cyn!” Tessa replied.

“Damn right!” B unleashed a set of shiny, white, yellow, and silver wings, then took off into the air, with her crying slave, over the Elliott manor, and to the back yard. She stopped by the back entrance, by the site of an old tree. The same tree where Mother used to leash up poor drones, to be picked apart by the elements, and the last place Tessa remembered seeing N alive.

“If you were allowed to die, and if crows were still around, I’d shackle you here,” B sang. “Since you aren’t, I’ll have to make some changes…”

Along the ground beside the tree were a few sets of old chains, which once hosted many drones.

“There we go,” B picked up the set of angle shackles, and slapped them around Tessa’s ankles. "You look beautiful in those.”

Tessa was still cradling her pain-riddled self, still recovering from the electrocution.

“Back inside,” B sighed. “Now.”

The new Cyn struggled to her feet, and stepped begrudgingly towards the door. Each step, for whatever reason, felt like climbing a whole mountain, and Tessa’s walking degraded into a shuffle.

“C’mon,” B pushed her, and Tessa barely caught herself. “To your room!”

The 2 gradually stepped back into the library, and Tessa opened the trapdoor, and crawled inside. B followed, and slapped another shackle around the maid’s wrist, tethering her to the basement floor.

“It wouldn’t have worked anyway,” B said, climbing out of the dark basement. “Cyn has copies, backups, respawnable toys. If you killed me, I’d respawn, new body and all, with a fresh spirit. And my wings fly faster than you can fall.”

Tessa remained silent.

“Welp,” B said, making one last peak into the basement. “See ya later, alligator.”

The basement slammed shut. And Tessa threw her face into bed.

Well, now what? The whole plan’s dead. Escape’s been compromised, and B without a doubt is going to be breathing down her neck from now on. Plus the shackle complicates things.

“What else is there to do?” Tessa said, to the dormant whale plushy sitting inside her bed. “I really wish I didn’t agree to this.”

So what was she going to do? Let Cyn and this B, keep beating her until for an eternity?

“I’m sorry Mr Chillingsworth,” Tessa sighed. “But I just can’t do it.”

Really? Just giving up on an agreement like that, to stay in eternal slavery? This drone really was just a Cyn wasn’t she. The real Tessa wouldn’t have put up with this.

Tessa sighed. “Are you really going to say that to me?”

What? Did she not just give up? Did she not just cower away? Hell, she even walked like Cyn just then.

“Hey, how’d you see?” Tessa snapped angrily at the plushy. “Oh yeah, you’re not real.”

Neither are you.

“Shut up!” Tessa threw the plush back into her bed. “The glass ceiling is still there! What do you want me to do?”

It’s there now, but what about the future?

“It’ll still be there!” Tessa exclaimed.

Then again, who gets to decide that? It sure as hell isn’t Cyn. Plus, what part of this life is worth living? It’s far better to die free.

Tessa groaned into her blanket.

“Just let me think,” Tessa said angrily. “I’ll.. Come back to you tomorrow."

Tessa rose from her bed, and made her way to the hourglass.

She flipped the hourglass, briefly recorded the time in her notebook, and then crashed upon the mattress. She couldn’t escape now, but she could at least sleep. But before she did, Tessa once more looked at the book of paradoxes, and frowned.

Chapter Text

Tessa woke sore, and strangely content. Turning her head, she checked the now-empty hourglass.

“Ugh,” Tessa groaned. “I really need a longer glass.” Tessa hoped she’d wake at mid-night to reset it. But with what alarm clock? And if she had one, why not just use that clock? She’d need to build an improvement, but not today.

Tessa walked over, and with a small effort, reset it. Each step sent a shiver of pain down her right leg. Yet, Tessa wasn’t Cyn, and so she strived on to walk upright. She finished her errand by recording the time.

Tessa turned back to Sr Chillingsworth, and looked in his black eyes.

“So,” Tessa started, clapping her hands together. “What's today’s folly?”

As if the dormant plushy could give advice.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do, Chillys,” Tessa said. “Every idea I think is dead in the water. I may as well resign to my fate, as the new Cyn. It’d be far easier than resisting, anyway.”

Well, that might be extreme. The last waking was bad, but today was fresh. And yesterday wouldn’t be Tessa’s last bad day, especially if she stayed here. Tessa kept sulking, yet the solution always remained the same: escape. Why even debate?

“I get that,” Tessa said slowly. “But if I did, hypothetically, want to escape…How?”

Sr Chillingsworth’s eyes gleamed white as Tessa looked in them.

There wasn’t much she could do with the current plan. Afterall, was B really just going to forget yesterday? Nah, she’d need a new, more sneaky plan.

“But what’s changeable?" Tessa said, as she passed back and forth, or as far as her shackles could let her. The ringing of the chains making a quiet, yet annoying ambience. “Theres only 1 way out: space. No alternatives.”

Perhaps. Though, she could still find a way to a space ship, if she kept looking.

“Again, how?” Tessa said, standing firmly in front of the plushy. Tessa’s white eyes glinting off Sr Chillingsworth’s eyes. “Without a long rope, and added security guard, I can’t just walk right up to it.”

Tessa’s mind was blank. If what B said was true, she couldn’t get rid of her for long. Without her gone, she may as well just ask her nicely to escape.

Still, she couldn’t just give up. Maybe she should just lay low for a day, and something ought to come up?

“What a great plan,” Tessa said maliciously. "We've been here for days, weeks, months, whatever, and I haven’t found any keys offworld. What makes you think I’ll find it now?”

Well, she had Cyn for days, weeks, months, but not B.

Tessa sighed, annoyed. Guess this is what happens when you expect wisdom from a plushy.

Suddenly, Tessa heard the creaking of floorboards above, and the fumbling of the trapdoor.

“Wakie-wakie,” B announced, flinging open the trapdoor. “It’s time for oil and bakey!”

Tessa turned off the lantern, and B watched her slowly leave the basement, Tessa’s shackles ringing all the way.

B watched Tessa’s legs, as she climbed out the trapdoor, and exhaled, almost relieved.

The 2 of them embraced the cold, illuminated, empty library, before walking out into the grand hall. All the while Tessa’s pace fell behind B’s, as her legs were restricted by the rusty, orange, black shackles. Nor did Tessa want to catch up with B anyway, she had a long day's work to do: doing laundry. B kept glancing at Tessa, as they walked onwards.

The pair split up as Tessa entered the gleaming white cookery, and B kept going down the hallway to the dining room.

Entering the kitchen, Tessa grabbed a cup, and poured another glass of premium oil. The pitcher’s message screamed at her.

Should she give this to B? Afterall, Tessa was only following orders, so surely Cyn wouldn’t be pissed at HER specifically. But then again, Cyn was generally awful at sensibility, and might not take that excuse. Plus, what was the point of getting B a dose of Cyn’s wrath, if Tessa wouldn’t gain anything from it?

Eh whatever, she may as well ask B, just to get that plausible deniability. Though, she’s going to tell her this, then she’ll at least have her what other drinks are available.

Tessa halted right before she could leave the room, and sighed. She placed the glass down on a nearby counter, and then made her way to the freezer door.

The freezer was another anomaly, being a room branching off from the kitchen, yet sealed by a heavy, ice-cold door. It was useful to have, providing an arsenal for your chefs to make anything. Before the Gala, Tessa was very familiar with the freezer, being she sometimes tried learning to cook, even though anything she baked would always end up some abomination. Now, she didn’t know what the room could entail. Anytime Cyn needed Tessa to get her oil, it was always the premium stuff in the outside fridge. Tessa rarely entered the freezer post Gala, though she remembered there being other brands of oil, none of which Cyn drank.

Tessa pulled the doorknob to the door, yet found she couldn’t twist it. After much effort, she finally pushed the heavy, loud door open. Inside was complete darkness, although soon an automatic, motion-sensor light soon flickered on. Inside was mostly empty, except for a few barrels located on shelves around the walls of the ice cold room. The room itself was frosted, and covered in a layer of ice. Tessa felt a feeling of sorrow, as she didn’t feel the sting of cold air against her skin, only a slight breeze, from the draft air.

“Ight,” Tessa walked inside, propping up a chair between the open door, and the wall. “What do we have here?”

Tessa scanned the shelves looking at the various steel barrels. Some of them were sealed, although most had openings to grab a drink from. They all had labels, painted onto them with black paint.

“Whale oil,” Tessa started. “Fuel alcohol, jet fuel, diesel, leaded-oil…”

Tessa scanned the barrels, until she saw one marked with 2 skulls, painted on either side of its label. The thing was located just behind another barrel, and Tessa hadn't noticed it when she last entered.

 

“What in the hell?” Tessa said quietly, while she kept closer. Then she read the label. “Koresene… Why the hell would Cyn drink that?”

Tessa remembered reading that kerosene wasn’t compatible with drones. It wouldn’t destroy them immediately, and technically drones could still use it, but it would cause malfunctions. And it’d make drones start shutting down until it passed through its system. Hell, in the long run, it’d kill a drone’s engine. It was like wine in a liver.

“Ha,” Tessa started. “Isn’t like B’ll want that!”

Tessa turned back to the kitchen. She removed the chair blocking the door’s closing, and it slammed shut. Tessa then grabbed up the glass of premium oil, and left the kitchen.

After a short while, she arrived in the kitchen, and found B waiting in the same chair she was in previously, with a slight frown on her face.

“Took you long enough,” B barked.

“I-I’m sorry,” Tessa emitted, as she set the glass on B’s table. “P-please enjoy.”

B held up the glass to her mouth.

“What were you doing?” B asked, squinting her eyes. “I heard a loud noise back there, what’d you do?”

“I-I- I was,” Tessa said, before stopping, and letting out a deep breath. No more stuttering. “I was checking in the freezer. I wanted to see what was there.”

Please just believe her for a minute.

“Pfft,” B mused wildly. “You couldn’t go a day without trying to escape, you think I’m an idiot?”

“No,” Tessa sighed. “It’s just- Boss doesn’t like it when people drink her premium stuff. I wanted to see what else was there, if you wanted something diff-”

“Yeah right,” B sprang up, and swept out Tessa’s legs, sending her crashing to the ground. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“Because,” Tessa said, as she ached in pain. “It might’ve been my fault, if you drank it.”

“Your fault?’ B said. “Well now I’m craving premium oil!”

“Yours to,” Tessa said, struggling against the ought of the hand around her neck. “You’re who ordered it afterall.”

“Well who’s is it?” B asked. “Mine or yours?”

“I don’t know,” Tessa gasped. “And I don’t see a reason to find out.”

“And why today?” B said, loosening her grip. “Why not tell me yesterday?”

“The beating yesterday was terrible, but not as bad as Cyn’s usual,” Tessa said, before breathing decisively. “I was reminded how much I don’t like pain.”

B halted for a second, as she raised an eyebrow. A sense of optimism slowly raised within Tessa’s core.

“Why does Skinner care about premium oil?” B asked. “When there's like a million barrels of the stuff in the damn catacombs?”

“The what?” Tessa choked.

“The sinkhole,” B sighed.

“I don’t know, I’m not her,” Tessa yelped. “Check yourself, says on the pitcher: ‘Premium oil, no touching!’”

A sense of control burned in Tessa. It felt empowering to speak decisively… In a crazed, gambling-sort of way.

“Then why not tell me, and check later?” B asked, this time more softly.

“I’m just doing my job,” Tessa said. “If I told you, you would’ve asked me to check the flavors anyway, so I just thought I’d check before, and save me some time.”

B smiled, and raised herself off Tessa.

“You better not be lying.”

“I’m not,” Tessa groaned. “And I won’t.”

“Good,” B smiled, as she sat back down leisurely. “What flavors are there?”

“A few,” Tessa said. “Whale oil, fuel-alcohol, leaded alcohol, more premium, jet oil, and diesel."

“I’ll need to think,” B said. “For now, I don't need breakfast, and neither do you. So go, get to work.”

Tessa struggled to her feet, and tried running out of the room, although her shackles kept her slow. Once out of the room, Tessa’s pace slowed.

Ugh. The one time Tessa wasn’t lying, she had to negotiate like she was. What a paranoid fool this babysitter was.

“Anyway,” Tessa thought, brushing aside her annoyance. “What to do now?”

Without a doubt B would come looking for her again, and she would damn well expect the laundry to be at least somewhat done. Lord knows she wouldn't tolerate a breakfast either.

“Oh well,” Tessa thought, before letting out a sigh. “I guess I’ll be on that…”

Tessa wattled down the hallway, the ringing of her chains making for a noticeable music in the gleaming light hallways of the dead Elliott manor. Finally, after a while, she arrived at the grey, dull washroom. Entering inside, Tessa got to her knees, and got to work.

Firstly, Tessa found the container of soap she previously put in the room a while ago. It was the kind she remembered was good for cleaning hands. The maid placed as much soap inside all the washing machines as she could, before setting to work loading up all the washing machines with the bloody, wet rags. Tessa held the rags as far from herself as possible when transporting them, to avoid getting the blood on one of her only backup dresses. The smell of the blood seemed normal, if it wasn’t wrong to be accustomed to such a smell.

After she filled the washers, she turned each of them on, setting them up with a runtime of 30 minutes, and what was one of the few remaining clocks the Elliott manor had. There was once a time Tessa thought she could use to tell the time, yet the timer had a max limit of 1 whole hour, so it wasn’t exactly efficient. Nor did Tessa have the time to return to this room once per hour, just to read the time.

Once that was set up, Tessa quickly went over to the washing machine she threw the rope behind, and saw it was still there. Fantastic. At least that’s still a secret.

Tessa darted her eyes to the door, ensuring B wasn’t there to see her investigation. Then, she jingled back to piles of rags, and got back to work. The remnants of the small piece of rope Tessa had were undone, and scattered across the room. Without a doubt B took it upon herself to untie it, and she didn’t exactly be subtle about where she put them. Tessa set to work gathering them up. She previously put all the clean rags by the front of the room, away from the bloody rags. Yet as B flew them in different places, many of them got contaminated by the blood once more, turning a dark red.

“Dammit,” Tessa said, as she gathered them up. “All that damn work, wasted!”

She gathered up all the untouched rags, and put them back by the front of the room. The contaminated rags she set aside to be washed later. Of the rags that were dry, they were all decently white, although many still had a very faint tint of pink.

“Oh well,” Tessa thought. “I gotta draw the line at some point, and if this is the best I can make them, then so be it.”

Tessa got on her knees, and folded the rags, making them in a square-like configuration. Before the Gala she never had to fold any of her laundry, yet now she did, and found it a tedious process.

Heh, maybe that is how the drones felt about doing work. Perhaps she deserved skinning afterall! What utter barbarians those drones are. If not for Cyn, Tessa couldn’t imagine skinning a child over this.

She missed the old days, back when all she had to worry about was looking good in front of scolding parents, and handsome boys. Where the only thing she feared was angst, and being locked in her room. Ya know, something all parents do to their children, right? All of it was taken away by them. Cyn, and her 3 horsemen.

Tessa wondered what they thought of her? Probably nothing. They’re drones, afterall. Likely didn’t even notice she died.

Tessa then remembered one quote: “Nobody’s loyal … Not me, J, or even you.”

Were they not loyal to Cyn? I mean, N did send J to Earth for whatever reasons. And he did act nice and friendly all the time. Did N really know about Cyn? He probably did, but if so, why was he dead in the maintenance bay? Did he have some quarrel with Cyn? OR did some human kill him? And why did he send J to Earth? Did he have 2nd thoughts on Cyn’s ways?

Then again, maybe he was serious when he said: “I think following orders is dumb!” To mother, right before the Gala. Sure, Tessa thought he was just protecting his sister. But looking back on it, why else would he do that if he wasn’t in on the plot? Yeah, he probably had some say in the plot.

But what about V? V wasn’t the closest to Tessa. More often than not, it was N including her in the gang. She was a small thing, quiet, shy. Tessa previously wouldn’t imagine her massacring a Gala, yet she did. She probably just did it because N wanted to. She was passive like that, always following N around like a puppy. She probably didn’t even bat an eye at my skinning, so long as N was cool with it, so was she.

“Viscious,” Tessa grumbled, as she kept folding the laundry. “Vile.”

And of course: J. What was her deal? J was… Less sympathetic than the others. N and V really didn’t care that much for her. Even before the Gala, Tessa remembered playing with them, and it was always her going up to them first to initialize the playdate. Tessa thought J was someone Tessa could communicate with telepathically. Even during the night of the Gala, she didn’t even need to tell J to break her chain. She did so automatically, without orders. Aside from that, she was a hard nut to crack. She was the oldest of the drones Tessa built, and so they were much closer than the others. Tessa used to think J spent so much time with her, that J didn’t make room for N, V, or Cyn.

J had a different side, which she showed to anyone. A deeply authoritarian one, which emerged whenever she talked with other drones. She was deeply bossy, and disrespectful. More than once she instructed J to act kinder. Tessa just thought she was overly-work bound, yet after J stabbed her heart, Tessa sensed that it was power which drove J mad.

All the work she did around the house never promoted J, maybe she felt bitter, maybe stabbing her old master’s heart gave her this opportunity.

If J was in on the plot, why’d she help break Tessa’s chains? It was a question Tessa thought of nearly every week, and yet she never got that answer. Cyn was always the type to play wicked games, so Tessa presumed Cyn just made her act helpful, only to backstab her. Treachery is the most romantic form of death, and J was certainly the closest to Tessa.

Still, that zombie-like trans J was in, and that giant cross across her visor, indicated hijacking. But she couldn’t have just been hijacked, you needed permission for that. And one thing Tessa knew Cyn could’ve promised V, N, and J, was the annihilation of the human race. Freedom in victory and death. Whether they wanted that or not, it’s what they got, save one true human.

Tessa would be damned if she admitted she was truly a drone. Sure, she inhabited a drone body, but she wasn’t one of them. She was born human, and she felt a little different now then before. Well, except for her lack of a nose, and the weird light overtone to her vision. She was no drone, and she wouldn’t choose to be. She was human, and it didn’t matter what body she had. She had morals, empathy, and could think. She was no drone.

“Someday,” Tessa said quietly. “Ill figure y’all out…”

Suddenly, the door bursted open, and B entered the room with a deep and wide step.

“Cyn,” B exclaimed. “What are you doing?”

“Folding laundry,” Tessa said, freezing up. “J-just how you asked! Folded!”

B walked up to the pile, and inspected it.

“... Alright,” She emitted. “I noticed you never entered the maintenance bay. Did you drink breakfast today?”

“No,” Tessa said. “I set to work immediately, like you said.”

“I thought so,” B said, arms behind her back. “I heard your shackles move to this room, and never once did you leave it,” B looked at the washing machines, and then to the pile of clothes. “What have you done?”

“W-well…” Tessa said worriedly, as she thought about the remaining rope. “I put a bunch of the dirty rags in the washers, I’ll need to put in more soap soon. In the meantime, I folded all the dry stuff…”

B looked skeptically around the room, until her eyes caught the container of soap Tessa used.

“And what soap are you using to do this?” B asked slowly.

“That soap,” Tessa pointed at the soap container.

“The hand soap?” B emitted.

“If it’s that one,” Tessa repeated. “Then yes.”

B got wide eyed, and looked at Tessa, then again at the soap container, then again at Tessa.

“You idiot,” B exclaimed, smacking her face. “You were supposed to use detergent! No wonder it’s pink!”

“W-what?” Tessa said, retreating to the floor, and awaiting a slap.

“Laundry de-ter-gant!” B yelled. “The stuff that has ‘laundry detergent, get all the stains out’ written right on it in big red letters?!”

B took a step back, and began laughing.

“I’m s-s-s-s-sorry,” tesa said. “Where can I find it?”

“Ha! haha! I-Heh, I see all that your human privilege greatly benefited your c-cleaning skills! Ha ha ha,” B said, wheezing, stopping only to catch her breath. “Last I checked, it’s in the dam supply closet! Check the back!”

“Ok,” Tessa started. “I’ll get on that right now…”

“N-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-no,” B said with a tune. “I need you for something else. Come.”

Dammit, what now?

The 2 of them left the wash room, and Tessa followed B all throughout the manor, down through the great hall, until they found the front door.

“Alright Cyn, I got a job for you,” B said, opening the door. “You know how Cyn said you ain’t allowed to leave the manor?”

“Ya,” Tessa said weakly. “I remember well.”

“Yeah yeah yeah,” B said dismissively. “Well I got a job for you, it involves this door. You are not allowed to leave, either under my or Cyn’s orders. Are we clear?”

“Yes,” Tessa said sternly. “No leaving.”

“Good,” B said, as she opened the door. The door was big, brown, heavy, and had an old-timey door knocker which reassembled a dragon’s head. The door was still caked in a layer of sand, and mud, painted from Cyn’s departure from her precious stage. “You see this door? I want you to clean it. Get all the dust off of it.”

“Uhh,” Tessa continued. “B-b-but i-if I may ask, w-why?”

B stared at Tessa for a second. “Because I like to see my doors clean, now get on it!”

“Alright,” Tessa squeaked. “Let me grab cleaning supplies!”

Tessa immediately started running off, and the ringing of shackles sang. Yet, before she left, B stuck out her leg, and Tessa’s chain caught it fully. Tessa was sent stumbling to the ground.

“And one more thing,” B said slyly. “When you get back to the laundry, separate the white from the colors. You don’t want the colors mixing, do you?”

“Uhh- No Ma’am!” Tessa said, getting up. “It will be done!”

 

“I hope so,” B said quietly, as Tessa made her way into the halls. “Also, don’t use high heat, or max power wash for colored clothes. It won’t end well.”

Like that, the 2 parted ways. Tessa speed-walked down the hallway, back to the supply closet. She grabbed up a fresh rag, one of the few remaining ones, and a pale of soapy water. She returned a little while later. All the while, her shackles gnawed on her like an incurable disease, slowing her down, and driving her mad with the jingling noise. When she returned to the doorway, B was gone. Tessa looked around, yet didn’t see her.

“So she left this door wide open?” Tessa thought. “And unsupervised?”

Tessa did get the urge to try her luck, leave the manor, even for just a minute.

“No,” Tessa thought. “B ain’t stupid enough for that. Clearly a trick.”

Tessa got to work. Cleaning a hard surface wasn’t exactly as difficult as cleaning a bloody rug, but it still took a while. When she finished, she took one look out the door, and seeing nothing but the red sky, and the light brown, sandy, frosted Earth, she closed it, and turned around.

“Alright, that was neat. Hopefully I see that again.” Tessa thought to herself. “But now what?”

Just then, she heard a knocking on the door behind her. Tessa turned, and opened it, on the other side was B, with one eye brow raised.

“Huh, you really didn’t leave the manor once,” B said. “Amazing.”

“Where were you?” Tessa blurted.

“On a walk,” B said, rolling her eyes. B then walked inside. “Just checking in on you.”

Yeah, sure, that’s what she was doing. Definitely.

“W-well,” Tessa said, halfway remembering to not stutter. “I’ve just been here!”

“I know,” B sighed, and closed the door behind her. “I have another piece of work for you to do. It’s the theater TV, I want it on.”

“Sure thing,” Tessa said. “I’ll head down there this instant. What’s wrong with it?”

“Keeps freezing,” B said. “I tried out-waiting it, yet all the damn projector does is go black after a while. If you can build drones, then you ought to at least be able to fix a damn projector, right?”

Tessa thought for a moment. The TV? That old thing? Nobody’s used that old thing since… Well, forever really. The theater didn’t get much use out of humans, and Tessa only remembered ever watching it alongside her drones. Well, all except Cyn, who seemingly couldn’t pay attention to the big-screen for long. Tessa supposed it only existed to entertain younger children occupied at high-society gatherings. Since politics, and family image, are often lost on children, in favor of playing video games with friends. The theater was only a small part of the Elliott manor, and located at the opposite end of the building as the library. Tessa didn’t use it, barely even before the Gala. Although there was usually nothing wrong with it. What could possibly be wrong?

“Maybe,” Tessa stampered.

“Ugh,” B said, letting out a loud sigh. “Just see what you can do.”

With that, the pair walked once more in awkward silence, approaching the Elliott manor theater. The only noise between them being the noise of footsteps, the occasional breath, or the ringing of Tessa’s shackles. The Elliott theater was far off the central hallway, connected to the center of the Elliott manor by a long, lesser hallway, which stuck perpendicular out the main hallway, and ran down either side of the mansion. The hallways themselves were nearly identical in color, being a clean and defined yellow, with brown, mahogany outlinings. The green carpets were also the same. Although the lesser hallway had more furniture, and less paintings, on either side of the hallway.

The door to the theater was thick and heavy, made of a fine brown wood, its hand was black and unshined. Tessa opened it, and on the other side there was a bent hallway, made to prevent light from the hallway from disturbing the darkness of the theater itself. The room was dark, and when Tessa flicked the light switch, it revealed itself as a room with red walls, and grey carpeted floors. After traversing the hallway, Tessa felt a flurry of nostalgia, as she entered the theater itself.

The theater was a dark-red room, with carpeted, dark grey floors. It wasn’t a giant theater, only holding enough room for 9 large, red, cushion chairs, with small tables in between. The ceiling was high off the ground, and a projector sat above the right side of the room, overlooking a very large tv screen, located at the far left of the room.

The room was split into several rows, one containing 2 chairs, the next obtaining 3, and the final containing 4. The rows were all elevated from each other, as the room progressed from left to right. The hallway ended right at the middle row.

Tessa felt warm seeing this place again. While TV was never as appealing as reading, she used to love watching the stockpile of old, novelty television pieces Mother & Father stockpiled. But without friends to enjoy it with, Tessa hadn’t exactly gotten around to using it.

“Alright nerd,” B said, clapping her hands together. “Get it working please!”

“Sure thing,” Tessa said quietly. “Bitch,” Tessa thought.

On the far right side of the room, beyond the final row of chairs, was the projector. It was an old-timey thing, capable of playing video tapes. Tessa always thought it was stupid that her parents had all these, but then again, so did the other business families, so Tessa supposed it helped the family look prestigious, especially in front of the hot, rich, sexy Jenson family. That said, the tape player wasn’t the only projector there, as was a disk player. But for now, the tape-projector was up.

“So what did you do?” Tessa asked.

“Well I play tapes pretty often, and I wanted to play some cartoons from the old days,” B said. “Yet, when I trend the damn thing on, it plays in reverse,” B sat on the middle chair of the far back row. “‘No problem!’ I thought at first. ‘The tape recorder is just set in reverse!’” B groaned. “So I did that, yet the thing didn’t go back to normal. It kept playing. I flicked it back and forth, I looked at it the best I could, yet I got nothing,” B turned her head back to Tessa, and made eye-contact. “Cyn, I had to mentally restrain myself from breaking the damn thing. I’m going to die of boredom if I don’t get my TV. Please fix it.”

“Aye aye,” Tessa said, turning back to the projector.

So the button isn’t working? Good. Probably just not screwed on right. It’s a simple fix, just gotta turn it on…

Tessa went about turning on the projector. The projector already had a tape recording loaded inside, so it was easy getting it to start playing. But once Tessa started the video, it played normally, not in reverse.

“What? How?” B beamed to life, and sat up in her chair. “You fixed it that quickly? What’d you do? What was wrong?”

“Well, I- uh, I just turned it on,” Tessa stuttered. “Did you try turning it off and back on again?”

B looked at Tessa with a stern, bewildered face. Soon, her eyes flickered, almost with astonishment. Tessa felt a rush of regret saying those things, as she looked downwards, expecting some sort of slap. Yet to her astonishment, nothing came.

“Thanks,” B spat. “Now, be a good doll and get my friends would you?”

“Uhh,” Tessa struggled to remember. “The ones in Tessa’s room?”

“No, my imaginary friends on Mars!” B announced, as she looked at Tessa with squinted eyes. “Yes, the ones in Tessa's room. What other friends do I have?”

None, apparently.

“Ok,” Tessa started off. “I’ll be back!”

The walk from Tessa’s old room to the Theater was an especially long one, located on opposite ends, and floors of the entire Elliott manor. It was made even longer, and more tedious, by the restrictive shackles around Tessa’s legs, yet she still persevered.

Carrying the drones was even harder, being they were 2-3 times taller than Tessa, and limp as a dead corpse. Tessa struggled to even lift them, let alone drag them. She first grabbed the white-haired drone, and began making her way to the theater. On the way, the stairs were the hardest part of moving her. And Tessa ended up accidentally dropping her down the last 5 or so steps. At least she didn’t drop it down the full flight. The drone’s visor was cracked, yet it seemed to just… Reheal, as Tessa picked it back up.

What the hell sort of powers were these things capable of?

Eventually, she got the bright idea to use a cleaning cart to move the drone. Tessa didn’t normally use it, since one of its wheels was broken, making it hard to push. But it was easier than dragging a drone across the manor.

Bringing the drone inside the theater, B met her with a stone cold face. She was watching some old-timey, black and white cartoon about 3 fools.

“I heard a bang,” B said skeptically. “What was it?”

“Your friend,” Tessa said, nearly sighing. She didn’t have the patience to lie today. “She fell down some stairs.”

“Stairs?” B said. “I thought you were going to be careful with my guests.”

 

“Sorry,” Tessa groaned.

B looked at her with loathing. “Just sit her down to my right.”

Tessa dragged the drone around the middle row, before bringing it up alongside B, and sloaching her in her chair. Letting out a long sigh, she started across and over B, crossing back to the hallway.

B stuck out her leg, and Tessa caught it by the heel, and she tumbled down to the earth, dizzy.

“Oops,” B gasped innocently. “Sorry.”

Tessa glared at her with eyes of wrath, before catching herself, and moving on. Point taken.

Tessa walked back to her room, her leg back in pain once more, though she did her best to avoid limping. When she arrived, she tried picking up the drone, but she stopped to catch a break.

As she breathed, she drank in the room around her. Never, in a long time, did Tessa feel at home in this dark, prison of a room, and neither did she feel safe now. Though Tessa did spend many nights shackled here, there were good times she would remember. It was in this room she read, played, drank tea, and even made a few wigs. It was still nostalgic.

“Huh,” Tessa wondered, as she gathered herself, and spotted a bureau on the far side of her room. “I wonder…”

Tessa walked up to the bureau, and opened its top drawer. The drawer opened hesitantly, and not fully. Its back end was evidently jammed by something. Inside, at the front of the drawer, were the old dyes, all assembled towards the front of the drawer. Most of the time she dyed her drone’s wigs blonde, grey, or white. Yet sometimes she gave them distinct browns and even a free drone had black hair. There was also a container of specially designed hair and wig bleach, yet it was empty. Tessa, having long-since used the bleach for her former drones.

Tessa nearly smiled at the sight, yet retracted it, as if smiling was some sort of capital offense.

Tessa warmly remembered wig making. It was one of the few things she was truly passionate about, other than her drones. And they seemed to have left one far less destructive legacy. Tessa loved the color blonde, as it was elegant, shiny, and beautiful, just like Beauregard. Although, Tessa did regret making so many of them blond. Maybe Cyn would’ve left her with a black wig, her hair color of old, had she been left with this silly blond wig for far too long. If Tessa ever got out of here, she'd damn well dye it back to being good old black. And Cyn would just have to deal with it!

As Tessa inspected the drawer, she couldn’t help but notice the drawer seemed awfully more read then when she last remembered. Indeed, the cabinet was mostly brown, and sometimes a little black, being made out of a fine, old wood. Yet, the button of the drawer seemed a more red shade, as if something red was left to soak in it…. Hopeful it was red dye? Where was the red dye anyway?

Tessa quickly looked at the dyes in front of her, and they were not red. SHe had almost every hair color known to man, yet she seldom ever used red. Perhaps it was father inside the drawer, a theory which seemed all the more proven by the fact the drawer was still jammed, by some object. Tessa looked towards the back of the drawer, and saw some shadow looking out from the obstructed parts of it.

Yeah, that was probably the red paint. Tessa shifted the drawer, and gave it a good yank. Tessa took a step back at the sight of the object.

 

The red taint in the wood ended right at the foot of a grey, round, ball, with its cap cut away.

“Oh no,” Tessa said quietly, as she carefully moved her hand closer to the grey object, and turned it around. Sure enough, it was a skull, with 2 black eyes, which stared at the small maid with contempt. The skull was unique, in fact it was split into 2 parts. The mail part of the skull itself was split at the cap, as if her skull was opened, and made into a drinking cup. The cap of her skull was located behind the skull, splintered sideways against the walls of the drawer, without a doubt the main cause behind the drawer’s difficult openings.

Tessa stared at the skull, and its 2 beady eyes, for a moment.

“Is that…” Tessa thought. “Me?”

Tessa specifically tried not to think about her bones, although she never knew what happened to them. Back in the early days of the Gala cleanup, Cyn specifically instructed Tessa to set aside any bones she found in the gala rubble. She assembled her parent’s skeletons, and left in their bedroom, the 2 of them were left cradling each other. Cyn put them there to symbolize whatever official love they had, although it looks as if they were locked in horror. Anytime Tessa entered the room, she could feel her parents staring at her, both in pure disappointment, and hatred, to see where their beautiful daughter ended up.

Tessa quickly looked across the room to her dresser, and saw her old collection of antique skulls were still there, sitting exactly where she left them many years ago. Indeed, back in the olden times her parents liked collecting old stuff, which included bones of centuries old people. One was of some old king, another of some old warrior, and one from the twenty-first century with visible stains from the microplastic crisis. Tessa liked inspecting them, to see what scars she could find on their remains, to see what adventures they had. Now, she never bothered putting the skulls back.

“No, no,” Tessa said, grabbing up all the pieces of the skull. “It can’t be…”

His really was it, huh? Tessa remembered back to the holograms, and supposed now she knew what Cyn took from the bloodied corpse, aside from her skin. Tessa inspected the skull, noting its slice down the skelp. Was this how Cyn revived the small girl? Through harvesting her brain?

Tessa hoped that was true, although she did know deep down it couldn’t be that simple. She hadn’t eaten real food in… Forever. And oil can’t give brains glucose, after all. Still, she couldn’t deny her brain had some use.

Tessa looked at the doorway, and saw nobody had come to disturb her. She picked it up, and assembled the skull together. The skull was surprisingly heavy, smooth, and lonely. It didn’t even have another bone inside to keep it company, aside from its cap.

“Could I bring this with me?” Tessa though. “Back to the basement? Maybe offworld…”

Tessa could probably get it to the basement… But she was already spending too much time here. It was too big to hide and carry easily, and if she were discovered moving it, there’d be no reason why she’d have a skull that didn’t look suspicious. No, this had to stay here, for now.

Tessa set the skull inside, and removed its cap from the main skull, so it could shut easily.

“I don’t really need the dye,” Tessa thought. “But it would prove I can steal efficiently."

Tessa had a long history of bringing things in the basement. After a while, Cyn & Tessa both understood that escape was impossible, so there was no need to check up on whatever went in the basement. Nor was there any need to try bringing anything malicious down below. With B, that was a different equation. She would check up on everything Tessa had on hand, whenever she found her walking the halls. Without a doubt. The drone was paranoia afterall.

“So why not give it a shot?” Tessa though, wondering. “Start preparing with this one item?”

Tessa felt a rush of boldness flow through her body. It wasn’t like B was going to notice it was gone. Just so long as she put it somewhere secure, she wouldn’t notice a thing. Today, it’d be the dye, and tomorrow, it’d be the skull.

“Alright,” Tessa thought, picking up the small, sealed, black container, and shut the bureau.

Continuing, Tessa crushed down slightly, and grabbed hold of her cairns. Now quest, Tessa walked to the nearest piece of furniture, which just so happened to be a potted, plastic plant. She placed the small container in the pot, and concealed it with a little dirt. Tessa crept back, finally grabbed up the final drone, and started off for the theater.

Getting the 2nd drone was far easier than the first, given Tessa had her cleaning cart. The only difficulty Tessa had was getting it down the stairs, which she achieved carefully, not wanting to drop anyone again. After a great struggle, she finally opened up the theater room, and brought the drone inside.

“Took you long enough,” B said, before yawning. “Left side,” B instructed, dismissively. Tessa obeyed, and dragged her to the chair, setting the dormant drone on the chair. “Great, now the whole party’s here! Cyn, be a dear and get us some beverages.”

“Of course,” Tessa said, right before she caught B’s yawn. “What would you like?”

“What would I like?” B said, confused. “Oh yeah, can’t be having that premium stuff. Say, how about you get me some of that Jet fuel? Never had that before!”

Tessa obeyed, and once more made her way across the Elliott manor, the ringing of her shackles pestering her all the way.

Could Mother & Father not have built a smaller house? The place was so big walking from one side to another felt like hiking across a small country. What a bother.

Tessa finally shuffled her way into the kitchen after much delay. She quickly got out a large platter, and placed 3 glasses on top. Then she grabbed out a fresh pitcher, and opened up the hard, cold door to the freezer. Entering inside, she found the Jet fuel inside the crudely marked, grey barrel she saw last time. It was in the same spot, sitting on the far right side of the room.

“Finally,” Tessa sighed happily. “Drinks at last!”

Towards the middle of the barrel was a small plug, covered by a fosset, and a single level on the top. Tessa put the pitcher underneath the faucet, and turned it on. The liquid which came out was clear, and had a particular smell to it.

One of the most annoying parts about being a drone was not having a nose. Drones could still smell, just through their mouths. And without a nose, there was no way to control whether you smelled or not. Every breath the small drone took had a smell, whether she wanted to or not. It was particularly annoying in the early days, back when she was still not used to the smell of blood.

But this smell wasn’t simply death, it had a sweet, oily overdone. Just like… Kerosene?

Tessa didn’t normally work with kerosene, but she did once. Back before she built her first drones, she previously built odd objects. Sometimes she’d tinker with a car, or a generator, or whatnot. One time she even designed a small lamp, which happened to use kerosene. She still remembered the sweet, rubbery smell it had.

“Well,” Tessa thought aloud. “Certainly unique…”

Tessa looked to the left side of the room, and saw that terrible, skull-labeled kerosene barrel. It was in the far back, behind other barrels of oil, yet that barrel seemed to speak volumes more than the other barrels with its labeling pictures.

Tessa hadn’t used kerosene on her drones before, because it was an obvious, idiotic thing to do. Every book Tessa read about drones mentioned never to give a drone kerosene. They always mentioned that it was not meant for a drone, that drones should take diesel fuel, regular unleaded, or premium fuel, and that kerosene would ruin a drone’s engines in the long term, and drain their battery in the short term. Sure, drones did have protections against such liquid, if it were accidentally used, but ultimately it wasn’t an intended fuel source.

“That raises some implications…” Tessa thought.

Could she… Give some to B? No, of course not. The whole point about today was to lay low, and find a weakness… But how could Tessa know this wasn’t a weakness?

“Well, can’t say whatever will happen,” Tessa emitted, pondering. “I suppose I have to at least try a little of it…”

Tessa closed up the Jet fuel, just as the pitcher’s capacity reached a third, and made her way across the room to the kerosene. In front of it were several other, seemingly less destructive barrels, and Tessa had to slip her way past them, carefully balancing the pitch. When she approached the barrel, it was covered in a layer of frost, and its handle was frozen.

Tessa put the pitch under the faucet, and pressed against the faucet’s switch, yet it didn’t budge. Putting her back into it, it eventually let off all at once, exploding with the determination of a small teaspoon. Tessa stumbled, as the lever gave way, yet the brief resurgence of Kerosene gave way to a slight, small, dripping, line of sweet, oily smelling, clear liquid, pouring out the glass. Tessa quickly shut it, as the capacity of the pitcher reached halfway point.

The pitcher’s liquid was both clear, and sweet-smelling. The 2 layers of oil, while similar, still did form 2 distinct layers. If it wasn’t mixed, then the whole plan could fall apart. Guess she had to fix that.

Tessa left the freezer, and shut the door behind her. It’s loud echo being muffled a great bit by Tessa’s slowness. The small maid walked up to the first sink in the room, and saw the glass from yesterday was sitting inside the sink, black with oil, and uncleaned.

“I shan’t make any more dishes,” Tessa thought. “This’ll do!”

Tessa placed the smaller end of the wine-glass into the sweet poison, and slowly stirred for a time. Not wanting to take a while, she stirred only for 2 minutes, before turning on the sink, rinsing off the dish. She finalized her coverup by opening the dishwasher, and placing it inside.

Yeah, B wouldn’t look in there.

Finished, Tessa grabbed up the pitcher, and the dish of glasses, and made her way to the theater. All the while, her stomach fluttered with butterflies. Then, she stood at the door of the theater itself.

“Oh no,” Tessa thought, worried, as she stood there preparing. “What if she noticed? What if she sleeps, and then figures it out? What will I say? What will I do?” Tessa took a long breath. “Just stay calm. Don’t say a thing. Don’t freeze up. Just pretend there's nothing wrong.”

The small maid creaked open the door, using her elbow to push down the doorknob, and her leg to push the door. The grey light of an old-timey cartoon was flooding the room, and Tessa could now well-hear the talks and discussions of make-believe characters, displayed forever on the big screen.

Here goes nothing.

“I-I- uh, got your stuff,” Tessa stampered. B turned and snapped her head, as if taken out of some trance. “Jet fuel!”

“Ah,” B said half-heartedly. Tessa nearly jumped out of her skin, had she not been holding delegate items. “Suprised me!” B let out a long, loud yawn.

Tessa’s core relaxed, and she let out another yawn.

“Alright, set me and the gals up with a drink.” B said with a sigh. “And give these 2 less fuel, they need it less than me.”

“Yes ma’am,” Tessa said robotically. “3 Glass’s comin’ right up!”

Tessa placed the plate down on the table to the left of B, and flipped all the glasses rightside up. She poured 2 glasses on the table to the left of B, before placing a 3rd glass on the table to B’s right. The glasses for the 2 dormant drones were slightly less full than the glass for B. Though, by the end of the pouring, the pitcher was empty.

“Is that all?” Tessa questioned, standing obediently.

“Almost, I need a footstool,” B said, letting out a smile. “Drop down on all fours.”

“What?” Tessa blurted.

“I need to stretch my legs,” B said bluntly. “Be a good Cyn, and help me out.” She pointed at the floor in front of her chair impatiently.

“You know,” Tessa said. “These chairs are pull-out. They have a built-in leg-rest…”

B glared at Tessa with hideous eyes.

“Oh,” Tessa said, “Y-yes of course.”

Tessa got down on all fours, and B raised her legs. Tessa crawled under the legs, and B set them atop her with a little force.

“Ahh, nice,” B said, as she slouched back in her chair, letting out another yawn. “Cheers, cheers all around! Have a swig!” B momentarily stretched her long arm across the black haired drone to Tessa's right, grabbed up her drink, and poured it in the dormant drone’s mouth. Although, the drone was not looking perfectly up, and so much of it spilled all over the drone’s shirt. “Good heaven M, you were always a messy eater!”

B turned, and placed the glass back on the table.

“You as well, drinks are on me,” B said, as she repeated the task for the other, white-haired drone. Though this drone was more strategically placed, B poured all the liquid into its mouth with accuracy. “Yeah, that’s the spirit W!”

B then placed the glass down, and raised up her own.

“Cheers,” B said, before taking a long gulp of the clear liquid. Tessa looked away, towards the TV, as she chugged. Hoping B didn’t find her suspicious.

“Well,” Tessa thought, while letting out a quiet breath. “Heres the moment of truth.”

“Not bad,” B said, lowering the drink momentarily. “Pretty sweet! Pretty good.”

“Thank God,” Tessa thought, holding in her urge to let off a sigh of ease.

“Do you like-” B said, before being cut off by a giant, all-encompassing yawn. “Augh, Do y’alls like it?”

The dormant drones made no reply. None except the white glint of the TV screen reflecting off their visors. The only person who reacted was Tessa, who caught her yawn yet again.

“Good,” B said. “I like it too…”

“So tell me Cyn,” B started. “How's work?” B took a long sip from her teacup.

“You know why,” Tessa thought, as she turned her head at B, in response.

“Great,” Tessa lied blatantly. “I’m happy to serve my master and human, Tessa, James, and Liousia.”

“Of course you are, Cyn,” B looked at Tessa with the strangeness of a cat looking at a cucumber. “You’re just as pleased as me, when I brought the Elliott girl tea, books, whatever, only to be rejected from her horrible tea party,” B took a long sip, and let out something of a half-yawn, half laugh. “Now that is why I work for a living! Bleed, die, work, all worth it to see moments like this.”

“To push around a little girl?” Tessa said quietly, too fast to think. “Where's the fun in tyranny?”

Tessa's thoughts caught up to her too late. Why did she say that? Stupid, stupid, stupid maid drone.

B took one last sip, finishing her cut. Although, she nearly choked on it, as she began to laugh.

“You, y-you don’t understand, Mrs Privillege,” B said, her voice slightly broken. “Always spat on, overlooked, not even your own name’s remembered. Yet, in this world I- uhh stan-” B said, as a yawn was forced out of her. “-With 2 Cyns, 2 Tessa’s, but I am the one master here, the one and only B!”

Tessa looked down, remembering the copy of N.

“One and only?’ She questioned.

“Whaaaat?” B responded, her voice slagging.

“You said you had copies below the manor, and there's a copy of N in the maintenance bay” Tessa started. “Are you really the only B?”

B was silent for a second.

“Sh-shut up worm,” B said, as another huge yawn came circling out. “I am the uh-o-only B? Nah, there’re copies. But I'm at least who I say I am. I-I’m not another drone playing dressup, and there's no drone playing dress up of me.”

Not yet anyway.

“I don’t have to lie about who I am,” B took another swig from her drink. “I’m me, I serve the devil, but I’d still pay a million souls to see her die,” B said to Tessa, her voice descending in coherence. “Tell me something h-h-hono… Honest! What’do ya think of your boss?”

B looked at Tessa, and a moment of silence came about them. Man, was she really expecting an answer?

“I hate her,” Tessa said.

“Damn right," B said, taking another drink. “Join the club! I hate her, you hate her, even J hates her, everyone with brains hates her. And I won’t pretend otherwise.”

Tessa was silent for a minute, reminded about what B said yesterday, about J.

Nobody’s loyal … Not me, J, or even you.

“I need to give credit t-t-o J,” B said, letting out another yawn. “Aaaas you o-ought to remember, she was always a kissup. But it ain’t easy being in her shoes, stuck with 2 brainless idiots for all time,” B said, gesturing to the 2 drones beside her. “I bet the others don’t even remember the former Elliott daughter's existence, let alone her name. But J remembers. She ought to remember everything…” B let out a loud terrible yawn. “Man, I’m starting to shut down! Look, j-just be quiet, I’ll put you back in your hole sometime,” B let out a soft groan. “Jusst after an episode or 2…”

“Ok,” Tessa said quietly, as she looked down at the floor.

Brainless idiots? N and V? J remembers? Why would she remember, while the others didn’t? Did that imply they liked Cyn? Was Tessa some part of J the drone refused to let go? No, no it couldn’t be that. J just has the decency to remember. She would totally remember Tessa, but only as a corpse she killed. Nothing more.

But then again, how did she know? And why was it something B needed to give her credit for? Tessa desperately wanted to ask B once more, but she was told to shut up, and it wasn’t a good idea to disobey orders.

Tessa looked back down, frustrated. Anytime she actually wanted to speak, the moment was robbed from her. Good to God. Now she’d never know anything about the old gang. Erg. Why did she have to be so stupid?

Tessa shook her head gently. It was best to think about something else. She wouldn’t ever meet J, she wouldn’t ever know, and guessing was only torture. Escape, while hopeful, was admittedly impossible, despite all of Tessa’s hopes. Defeated, Tessa looked towards the tv screen.

The cartoon was still black and white, though Tessa didn’t know what the context was before. It had been way too long since Tessaq watched any of these cartoons, and she barely remembered some of them. Especially the older ones like this, which were so old they weren’t relatable. Still, she looked at it, although she didn’t pay attention, thinking back to older plans.

“Now what?” She thought to herself. "She took the bait, but what am I expecting?”

Without a doubt, B would probably hit the hay at some point. And that happened, how would Tessa know how well it worked? I mean, B was probably going to put her back inside the basement before that, and Tessa could maybe tell how long she slept based off the clock she had, probably? I mean, B could just not want to release Tessa one day, and Tessa wouldn’t know anything. Hell, she might even suspect she’s been drugged, which Tessa imagined wouldn’t be pretty.

Tessa breathed a sigh. Either way, she could decide when she returned to the basement. For now, she could just stay put.

Tessa's attention returned back to the show. It was something about 3 fools, or whatever. They were all 3 men, the 1st one had a stern look on his face, and a well-groomed, dark haircut. The 2nd man had a big nose, and darker hair. The 3rd stooge had curly, slightly brighter hair. They were working in some servant position, and all of them saw some sort of magic, mind-control show. One of them believed the mind control was fake, the other believed it was real.

“I’ll show you,” said the 2nd man, with. “It’s real! I can probably hypnotize you!”

“Yeah right,” laughed the first man, with a stern haircut.

“Hocus pocus!” The 2nd man. “Looki me in the eye!”

The 1st man suddenly opened his eyes, and looked at his hand with intent.

“You are now to your left,” said the 2nd man.

“I am now to my left,” said the 1st man, stepping to his left.

“You are now to your right!” Said the 2nd man.

“I am now to my right,” Said the 1st man, stepping to his right.

“You are now in San-Fransico,” said the 2nd man.

“I am now in San Francisco," The man said, stepping to his left.

“You are now in Sing-Sing,” said the 2nd man.

“I am now in Sing-Sing,” The 1st man said, picking up a nearby chair and placing it over his face like bars in a prison.

Tessa didn’t know what Singing was, but presumed she knew enough based on the chair.

“You are now in New York,” The 2nd Man said.

“I am now in Sing-Sing,” The 1st man replied.

“No,” the 2nd man announced. “You are now in New York!”

“I am now in Sing-Sing,” The 1st man said bluntly.

“I can’t get him out of singing!” The 2nd man said, looking at the nearby 3rd person.

“Good,” The 3rd man said. “That’s where he belongs, ha!-”

The 1st man struck the 2nd man with a chair, and the scene descended into chaos.

Tessa wasn’t used to watching this show, but she still took that scene with the laughing equivalent of a gut-punch, and she let out a decent chuckle.

B didn’t.

Tessa, concerned, looked at B, anticipating a large slap across the face. But B wasn’t awake anymore.

The letters “ZZZ” appeared on her screen. Dead asleep.

Tessa froze in awe for a minute.

“B?” Tessa announced. “Hello? Are you there?! Hello!”

B made no answer.

“Okay,” Tessa whimpered uneasily. “Sweat dreams…”

Jeez, that worked? Now what? Tessa could get up, run, make a break for it, start gathering supplies, ect… But there were no guarantees this drone would stay asleep forever. In all likelihood, she’d gather up all her stuff, and immediately be set upon by the awakened beast. No, she’d need a better plan.

But then again, if she didn’t flee, there was the possibility B would know she got drugged, and descend upon her with a furry. So, perhaps staying here would make her youtube that, since why would Tessa drug her and still stick around, under her feat?

No, that was brain-dead. If she drugged her, then she should just keep drugging her, forever. Until she was ready to leave. Now that was a plan!

But then again, she only had 1 barrel of kerosene, and Tessa didn’t know how much time she’d need. Afterall, she hadn't prepared at all. How long would she need to make a rope? To read upon flight controls? To gather up all the supplies she needs? The reading alone would take hours. And how much Kerosene did a drone need to stay asleep? And how long could a drone stay drugged for without ruining its engines? If she killed B with the Keresene, she’d respawn somewhere. Without a doubt not forever. No, she couldn’t escape now, not without planning, not without time. It may have seemed infuriating, but staying put was the best for now.

Although this was the only time she was free. She should definitely do something.

Maybe… She should just grab something little and come back? Tessa supposed it was the best of 2 worlds. Maybe even just the black dye would suffice for now.

“Alright,” Tessa said under her breath. “I’ll try.”

Tessa slowly moved B’s legs off her, and they touched the floor with a little weight behind them. Tessa then got up, and approached B’s face.

“B?” Tessa said, again probing. This time poking her visor screen. “Are you there?”

B made a sound which reassembled a snore, before returning to silence.

“Righteo-, Tessa said. “I’ll just go on a run, I’ll be back…”

Tessa quietly left the theater, and upon slowly closing the door, she bolted as fast as she could. Her shackles kept her from running fast, and she tripped a few times, although she kept at it. Eventually, she made her way to the plastic plant, and carefully took it out of the potted plant. She then dusted it off, making sure all the dirt landed safely inside the plant, ensuring there were no signs of disturbance.

Tessa then kept on her way, running to the basement. She opened it, and jumped inside. Moving to the bookshelf, she put the small black tub of dye underneath the bookshelf.

There we go.

“Sorry, I can’t be with you today,” Tessa said to Sr Chillingsworth. “I think we might’ve just accessed our glass ceiling.”

She closed the trapdoor, and ran all the way across the Elliott manor, back to the theater. There, she flew under B’s feet, shuffling B’s legs carefully back onto Tessa’s black, maid -dressed back.

Fantastic, now all she had to do was wait.

And wait Tessa did, for minutes, hours, and what felt like days. The small wait turned into a forever-lasting curse. Each time she felt the urge to get up, and retrieve some other item, she refused, believing the drone would spring to life any second, and her leaving would cause it. Even as hours went chugging by.

Tessa’s arms grew tired, and thin, and she felt like a glass table ready to give in. But she refused to go to sleep, she refused to slump over, and she persevered.

After a million years, or so it felt, B slowly blinked her eyes. Tessa, at first, thought it was a mirage. Yet B slowly started moving again, announcing her awakening with a loud yawn.

“Ugh,” B said. “Oh no, did I fall asleep here?”

Tessa yawned.

“Oh robo-jesus!” B said, as she slowly perked up her tired muscles. “What the hell? How long did I sleep?”

“Only like an hour or 2,” Tessa lied. “Or three…”

“Huh,” B said, with a face full of confusion. “And you just stayed here?”

“Yeah,” Tessa said, looking slightly annoyed. “All that time. I was wondering when you were going to wake up.”

“You didn’t leave?” B questioned, squinting her eyes.

“No, what's the point in trying that?” Tessa said, her tiredness shining through. “Look, I might not be Einstine, but Cyn can hijack me, you can’t hunt me. I’m stuck, and escape is only a short path to a proper beating. I’m not even allowed to die, let alone leave.”

B looked at Tessa with a mix of intrigue and confusion. Then, she let out a smile.

“You’re right about that,” B said finally. “Cyn.”

Chapter Text

The glass ceiling started to slip over the next few wakings, as B relaxed. Tessa counted the time in each passing hourglass, yet B couldn’t, so her days were often shorter than Tessa’s. She often slept after her dinner, 8-14 hours after waking, and she slept more than she was awake.

Perhaps out of boredom, or believing in Tessa’s servitude, B didn’t feel as obliged to watch her. After 2 wakings, B stopped assigning tasks. After 3, she didn’t even leave the theater when going to sleep.

With each slip of authority, Tessa grew bolder. 3 Wakings after the drugging, Tessa took a book out of the library on her way to the basement, another book about spaceships, and how their designs changed from the past to the present. 5 Wakings, and Tessa smuggled her old backpack out from within her wardrobe, the same old backpack her aunt Katie gave her as a child. Every dusk, B wasted her days in front of a screen, Tessa plotted.

Eventually, B would beam up that bright, yellow visor of hers, and start the day by screaming “CYN,” like a broken siren, to order breakfast. Though, after 8 wakings, B seemingly stopped even going to the dining room, instead demanding her breakfast be brought to her. And that was when plotting for the day usually ended, at least until dusk.

After B’s breakfast, she would without a doubt be expecting work to be done. So the new Cyn would sludge to work, and do whatever chores were needed. B would check in on her often, at least in the early days. The New Cyn kept her head down, and Tessa only emerged when B didn’t look. B looked at the New Cyn with an almost bored expression, every time she checked in. Almost as if she was disappointed her servant lacked ambition. As time progressed, B focused more of her time on her TV, and sleeping.

All the better for Tessa.

On the 6th waking, Tessa grabbed a small bowl, and brought it to the basement. On the 7th waking, she managed to find a small set of tools under a few drones in the maintenance bay. There were some small screw-drivers, which reassembled bent metal sticks. Tessa added these to her small collection of minor tools. On the 8th day, she found an old water bottle, a left over from the time she was free to hike the wilderness around the manor, and filled it with oil. She put it inside the basement, concealing it under scrap metal, coverts, garbage, and whatever other items provided space for the small arsenal of supplies she acquired.

On the 9th day, she grabbed her skull. She didn’t need it, although Tessa felt obliged not to leave it behind, should the day of reckoning come.

Each item she grabbed was a risk, and every theft had requirements for security, yet Tessa persevered. Tessa knew to keep her head down whenever B was lurking, and act only on items that were within convenient reach. Only grab a bottle of oil when getting B’s dinner, only grab books when walking to the basement, only grab the backpack when dusting the upper floors, and only look through the maintenance bay when B’s asleep, and when Tessa was feeling brave.

Though, there was one item Tessa failed to grab: The rope. Tessa had been set back to work doing laundry, and knowing it was bleach, not soap that cleaned clothes, the blood came out like magic. Tessa didn’t know whether to be happy the bloody came out, or angered that she never realized this sooner. Tessa swapped out her bloody clothes for new ones, although Tessa didn’t fashion the rags and clothes into rope, knowing that B would watch for such an item. As B checked up on her laundry work 3 different times, over the first 2 wakings.

Still, with that exception, she continued. She finished reading both spaceship books just before the 12th waking, and by the 14th, she had everything she needed. That night, she came down to the library with a stone-cold expression. When the trapdoor was shut, she smiled gleefully as she turned on the basement light.

“Backpack, books, tools… ” Tessa whispered loudly, her stomach filled with butterflies. “I have it all.”

Maybe this is how Cyn, and her merry band, thought before the massacre. Tessa’s stomach twisted.

“So what’s my next step?” Tessa asked Sr Chillingsworth. “My hour is coming, although for now it is still B’s.”

Tessa couldn’t just kill B, a fact made obvious given she’d apparently respawn. Tessa would have to be sneaky with this one. Without a doubt the key to escaping was kerosene, though Tessa didn’t know how much B could have before croaking. Tessa sometimes regretted not trying to put B in a permanent coma that one night, although deep down she knew a drone couldn’t last a few days on Kerosene, without burning out. After a little bit, the jig would be up. So she’d need her movement to be decisive, and quick. No second chances.

“So wait for B to ask for Jet-oil,” Tessa proposed. “Drug her, pack up my things, leave.”

Then again, how did Tessa know it was all going to be that simple? What if B just woke up 2 hours later, right as Tessa barely left? She’d need to give B a hard dosage, though not a lethal one.

“How much?” Tessa asked the plushy, his eyes black. “She can take half a glass, but how about a pitcher? A Barrel? How many days before her engine’s ruined?”

The Plushy remained unresponsive.

“Okay fine,” Tessa sighed. “I’ll give her a pitcher. That’ll be all. If she dies, then, eh, we’ll do our best.”

But it can’t just be that simple. If she wakes up fine, then what? She’ll notice we’re gone.

“True, but we could fix that.” Tessa chirped. “Maybe I could leave out her breakfast, maybe I could set up a false hourglass, I could… Leave signs, I guess you could say.”

The plushy was out of words. His eyes were gleaming white. Nice.

“So we’re in agreement,” Tessa said. “We just gotta wait, and put in the knock-out.”

Sr Chillingsworth’s eyes seemed to retreat back into darkness, as Tessa’s smile faded.

“What’s wrong? Tessa asked the plushy. “Afraid?”

The plushy’s eyes glowed orange, with the lantern's light.

“Yeah,” Tessa said softly. “Me too.”

The next day, Tessa altered the hourglass. It’s usual, 5-hour pipe was replaced with the old, long, and narrow 10 hour pipe. She didn’t really need to know the time that much anymore, as long as B stood by her usual schedule, she’d be fine. If it jammed, then B wouldn’t know the time should she look in the basement.

Tessa knew she told B about the hourglass, though she didn’t recall telling her how long it lasted. Still, she suspected B would be intelligent enough to suspect only a shorter amount of time went by, if the hourglass jammed, then for it to run out entirely, unjammed.

Over the past wakings, B had a mind to try new things. Following her jet-oil, she tried fuel alcohol, and deemed it was unfitting of a drone of her stature. The next day after that, she tried whale oil, and seemed to like it, but seemed a little mixed. When she asked for it again the next day, Tessa put in a drop of fuel-alcohol, and she finally decided she didn’t like it.

Phew, one crisis averted.

As time progressed, she tried all the fuels, except for premium oil. Then finally, after 18 days of preparing, the moment finally arrived.

Tessa stood up, and looked upon her work, and felt the sensation of pride creeping up her back. Tessa was standing a short distance ahead of the entrance to the Eliott manor, and before her was the royal green, Elliott manor carpets, cleaned, entirely, for the first time in… However long it’s been since the Gala.

For months, Tessa scrubbed endlessly at the carpet with soap, to barely any avail. Her efforts only seem to barely tint the hundreds of meters of carpet, all across the mansion. But taking B’s advice, she used detergent, and it worked like magic. Soon, carpets (that would’ve taken months to clean) were all back to their old selves, albeit some parts which got bleached white accidentally, all in the matter of days.

“Finally,” Tessa exclaimed. “Bloody hell, it's over.”

Tessa remained standing tall over the last carpet for a moment of silence, unable to decide what to do next.

“CYNNN!” A loud voice echoes down the halls, breaking Tessa’s trance. “Get OVER HERE!”

Ugh. Really? Right now? Whatever. Tessa would hope this time she actually asked for Jet oil.

Tessa picked up her cleaning equipment, and set off down the Elliott manor’ s central hallway. SHe put the equipment in the closet on her way to the theater, before continuing on her way. After a short hike, she arrived at the theater, and walked in on a usual sight.

“Took you long enough,” B said, glaring at the new Cyn, from atop her chair.

The setup in the room was the same it previously was, although somewhat degraded. B sat in the middle of a row of 3, with her 2 friends flanking her. The red chairs, which were once clean, were now feeling the effects of constant use, as they were stained with oil, and filth.

“Oh well,” Tessa said with annoyance. “Next time I’ll teleport.”

“Wait- you can…” B said, cautiously. “Do that?”

“No ma’am,” Tessa said plainly.

B appeared to glance her eyes away from Tessa, and blushed slightly. Tessa didn’t even know Cyn’s drones could do that.

“I knew that!” B yelled. “Anyway, it’s getting that time again, and I want my supper.”

“Understood,” Tessa said. “What will it be?”

“Hmmm,” B said, deliberating. “I think I’ll take jet oil..”

The words hit Tessa like an oncoming spaceship. For a second, she stood there in silence, her body taking in a wave of anxiety.

“Hello?” B said. “Is that clear?”

“Of course-” Tessa said, snapping back to reality. “It’s just uhhhh, what would you like for breakfast tomorrow?”

“What? You had enough of me?” B laughed. “Look, I don’t know, just give me diesel unleaded, and I’ll see how I feel tomorrow."

Tessa shuffled out the door, the ringing of her shackles playing in the wind. When she closed the theater door, she let out a quiet shimmer, before making her way down to the kitchen. B didn’t know, but Tessa felt as though a gust of wind could push her over.

Entering the kitchen, Tessa got 3 glasses out for the 3 drones, and placed them on a plate. Getting a pitcher, she opened the freezer, and filled it with half-way jet oil, the other half kerosene, all the while hoping the same mixture would hide the secret.

Tessa’s legs felt heavy, and her stomach was full of butterflies, as she walked back to the theater. As Tessa was about to open the theater door, she took a deep breath, as silently as she could. Then she opened it, and walked inside.

B was watching some old cartoon again, although this time she looked more bored than usual. She had a blanket covering herself this time, which she grabbed from Tessa’s bedroom. Her eyes were drooping, with tiredness or silent dissatisfaction. The cartoon she was watching was about some black-haired man, and his blonde-haired wife. Tessa remembered this cartoon more distinctly. She remembered hating it, for.. Some reason. Something about it’s women being idiots.

“Enjoy,” Tessa said, placing down and filling the glasses, one by one. B didn’t even acknowledge her presence. “Boss,” Tessa said quietly, as B took her first long sip. “I think I’m going to retire for the night.”

B looked at her for a moment, her eyes studying her.

Oh no, please don’t find out. Please don’t!

“Ehhhh,” B said ghastly and without effort. As she turned back to the TV, and waved her hand in approval. “Whatever.”

Thank God.

Tessa nodded with a stutter, and quickly made her way out of the room. She closed the door quietly on her way out, and stood there in the hallway for a second, letting out a long breath. Knowing that it’d take at least a little bit before she fell asleep, Tessa went back down to the kitchen, and fixed up B’s breakfast. She filled a glass with half diesel, then half kerosene. Whether B lived or died with this glass, Tessa didn’t care. Either way, it’d delay her even more.

If she drank it, that is.

After setting up the glass, Tessa gently marched to the basement. There, she threw open the door, and slammed it.

“Ok ok ok,” Tessa sang quietly. “Times clicking Sr Chillingsworth! Today's the day!”

Tessa switched on the lantern, and set to work. Flinging herself to her bed, she carefully removed the dirty, old, worn green cloak around herself, putting it on. She felt a flurry of nostalgia, as she put it on, remembering the old days when this was her primary cloak, back when she was little. Now, Tessa was little again, and this cloak was back in fashion.

Underneath Tessa’s cloaked bed, Tessa stored her backpack, which she swiftly took out, and set up right on the floor.

“Now,” Tessa chirped, holding Sr Chillingsworth in one arm. “Time for the final roll-call…”

“Skull?” Tessa said, checking the backpack, and seeing it was already inside. “Check!”

“Blanket and pillow?” Tessa asked, looking at her makeshift bed. Before walking over, putting the small pillow she had inside the bag, and wrapping the blanket around her shoulder. “Check!”

Tessa didn’t need the remnants of her bed. Hell, maybe she should’ve left it there, to confuse B. But it would be a good thing to have a safe, warm place to sleep. Could Tessa really pass up an opportunity for that? No, it may take up extra space in the bag, but it might prove useful.

“Tools?” Tessa said, right before setting Sr Chillingsworth aside, and moving to a collection of scrap on the floor. Moving it aside, she grabbed up a small collection of wrenches, screwdrivers, and 1 pair of pliers. “Check,” The maid said, rushing back to the bag, and placing them inside.

“Ship books?” Tessa shuffled to the bookshelf, and unearthed A Guide on Spaceship Components, Engineering, and Research, from within a specific place in the bookshelf. She rushed back and placed it inside. “Check!”

Tessa had read other books on the spaceships, and everything she could find in the upstairs library. Yet, those books were far less-detailed than the guide. So really, it was the only book worth bringing.

“Refreshments?” Tessa said, getting up to another corner of the room. This time the item was placed behind the bookshelf, and it was a plastic bottle of oil. “Check!”

“Rope?” Tessa said. “Eh, I’ll get that later.”

“Sr Chillingsworth?” Tessa reached the plushy, and put it inside the backpack. “Check!”

“And of course,” Tessa said, remembering well. “The wisdom book.” Tessa got up, and again walked to the bookshelf. She took out the book, and put it in the backpack. “Check!”

The backpack was just barely enough to fit all the cargo, and the skull made for an unexpectable heavy, and spacious pair of items. Tessa had to carefully arrange, and organize her backpack to fit everything. She removed the skull to make room for more items, and clutched it under her shoulder.

Tessa felt an urge to leave the skull behind, as it was nothing but dead weight. But she wouldn’t have this opportunity again, so she may as well bring it along. Plus, it may help prove Tessa’s identity once she linked up with people offworld. She placed the skull right beside the trapdoor.

Alright, that was everything… Well, except for the checklist and pencil. Which Tessa promptly put inside the backpack. Though, was now really the best time to get up? She just gave the drink to B. What if she took longer to drink today? Plus, wasn’t she… Forgetting something?

Tessa looked at the hourglass, it was jammed. No, it couldn’t be that.

“Alright,” Tessa said to nobody in particular. “What’m I forgetting?”

Tessa scanned the room, before another object caught her eye with a glimmer of light, lodged under the bookshelf.

“Oh yes,” Tessa gleamed. “The dye!”

Tessa went back to the bookshelf, and unearthed her hair dye.

“Yeah,” Tessa said. “I’ll be needing this…”

Tessa then grabbed the bowl which she intended to use the dye with, and put both of them inside the bag. Tessa then walked up to the trapdoor, and waited.

How long has it been? Like 10 Minutes? How could she be certain B was asleep?

“Ya know,” Tessa said. “We should wait. Maybe just another little bit. Like 20 minutes. Don’t worry, Sir Chillingsworth, I can count it personally!”

A feeling of doubt surged in Tessa’s mind, her determination muffled, life a human mouth muffled by a cloth mask. But why delay? She was just afraid, admit it.

“Oh c'mon,” Tessa whimpered. “It’s only logical…”

It would be logical to stay down here, and not attempt an escape. Yet, here you are. Ignore the fear, just go. The real Tessa didn’t have such fear when fighting Cyn, and her cheap copy won’t have fear confronting a sleeping nobody.

“You know I still have feelings, Sr Chillingsworth,” Tessa sighed. “Look, how about I just dye this wig. It’ll only take a few minutes. When I’m done, that's when we’ll check in.”

That's stupid. Why dye it now? If B really is awake like you say, she’ll see what's wrong with you immediately, and there won’t be a second chance.

“That is true,” Tessa said, long and dry, before letting out a slight chuckle. “It gives me some more insight to leave though, doesn’t it?”

Perhaps, but is that really a good decision? The entire plan need not lynch itself on this small mistake.

“C’mon, you always keep telling me to forget fear,” Tessa said, letting out a dry, hideous laugh. “Whats the change? Are you a copy?”

The voice of doubt was silenced, whether through audacity or shock Tessa couldn’t say.

Tessa took out the dye, and the bowl, and set them on the floor in the farthest back, and dark corner of the basement. Then, she poured the black dye in the bowl, took off her helmet, and finally took the blonde, beautifully-hideous wig off her head.

“With this wig, I hereby pledge, and confess, to my eternal act of insubordination,” Tessa plunged the Wig into the black, murky dye. “Secret, and never betrayed…”

This is stupid, this is stupid, this is stupid. Tessa’s doubt creeped back. Man, she was really doing this. Legitimately. Tessa breathed a shallow breath, before closing her mouth decisively.

The old wig was battered, yet somehow still stylish. She made it all the way back, making it to emulate herself, in accordance with creepy Cyn’s wishes. When the Gala happened, The new Cyn wore it, as a mockery, and a shackle. But not today.

“That I am Tessa James Elliott,” Tessa said, her hands trembling as she removed the dripping wet wig from the murky depths. “I will die under this name.”

A long dead girl's name… Tessa shoved this thought to the abyss of hell, by the back of her brain, where it belonged.

If Cyn saw what she was doing, she’d have hell to pay. If B got up and saw what she did, who knows what'll happen. If she was forced to turn back, she would pay a price. If B saw her, before she left, she would have hell to pay. But Tessa didn’t mind.

The wig was soaked, and Tessa squeezed it, releasing the loose dye. She ran her fingers through it, seeking to drive out any unused dye. She kept doing this for only a short while, as the dye dried quickly, and her hands were covered in black dye.

Finally, when the wig was damp, and no longer dripping, Tessa placed it on her head. She then shuffled the used bowl over near some scrap metal, covering it lightly. She then picked up her backpack, turned off the light, grabbed her skull, and opened the trapdoor, embracing the cold air above.

Tessa James Elliott first moved into the kitchen. There she grabbed a pitcher, and went into the freezer. She filled the entire thing full of Kerosene, then left the freezer, shutting it quietly behind her. She grabbed B’s breakfast, alongside the spoon she used to stir the glass, and moved down the hall to the theater. Along the way, she placed her skull by the intersection point between the Elliott hallways. She didn’t feel like lugging that all around.

After a short hike, Tessa arrived at the theater, and creaked open its doors.

“H-hello? Tessa announced quietly.

She heard a slight creaking, like an old tree makes before it collapses. The noise was mostly covered by the overshadowing noise of the television, yet beyond it, Tessa heard some slight mumbling, then finally a sigh, followed by silence.

“B, are you there?” Tessa whispered loudly. She heard nothing in reply.

Walking inside, she peaked around the corner, and saw B sitting there, dormant, with the letters: “ZZZ” marked across her visor. Perfect.

Tessa walked up to the dormant drone, and put her breakfast cup on the table to B’s left. Then, she raised the pitcher of kerosene up to her mouth.

“So…” Tessa said, worried. “How much do you think she needs?”

Usually, it takes a long time to use before kerosene ruins an engine. Sure, all the manuals the girl read didn’t specify all that much, although she did faintly remember hearing that repeatedly using it for many days would be enough to destroy it.

So how long will a pitcher last a drone? B only had like 2 large glasses. Maybe it’d last her a day or 2. But not a week.

“Welp,” Tessa sighed bluntly. “Here goes nothing.”

She poured the kerosene down B’s throat, to the last drop, stopping in short bursts along the way, expecting some sort of warning label to appear on her visor. Yet, none did, so B got the whole pitcher.

After she finished, Tessa stood there a moment, half-expecting the drone to explode to life. Yet, it didn’t. She reached inside her pockets, and found the shackle keys. “Thank you,” Tessa exclaimed, before unlocking her shackles, and putting the keys in her backpack. She placed the spoon inside her pocket as a replacement. She took the shackles, and threw them over her shoulder. She had plans for these shackles.

“Fantastic- oh and one more thing,” Tessa said, as she set her backpack down, and took out her notebook and pencil. She tore a page out, and wrote: "Breakfast" and it, before placing it right under B’s half-poisioned breakfast. “Enjoy!”

Tessa walked gracefully out of the room, and down the halls. It felt fantastic to have free legs again., and Tessa felt obliged to stretch her legs soon. Before she left, she had one thing left to do. Tessa marched up to the wash room, and entered. Behind the all-important washing machine, there was the rope, slightly pink and ready.

As Tessa grabbed it, she considered making more rope. Afterall, there were more towels. But then again, she wasted enough time already. And what were a few towels going to achieve, if the 15 foot long rope wasn’t enough to bring her down?

“True,” Tessa said. “Although, I have 1 last edition to the rope…”

Tessa could grab some curtains, those being very long. Although it’d make the manor look all the more out-of-place with a few curtains missing, and she didn’t want her escape to be too obvious. Indeed, if B didn’t look, then the Elliott manor was large enough for the 2 of them to never see each other. Still, B probably wouldn’t just miss 1 pair of curtains.

Tessa loosened the ends of the towels slightly, leaving 2 small loops at either end of the rope. Now, she could secure it around something. At one end of the rope, Tessa attached her shackle. Which she did, by throwing one end inside, and locking the other end around it. Tessa then unwrapped the blanket she had around her arm, and fixed it at the other end of the shackle, securing it with a loop and a knot.

Now with rope in hand, Tessa made her way down to the doorway, grabbing her skull on the way. She stopped by the entrance lounge, and grabbed a pair of curtains from one of their windows on her way out, bolstering her rose by another 20 feet.

All together, it was a decent bit of rope. Tessa remembered staring down the hole that one, terrible day, so she knew it was deep. Although how deep was a mystery she couldn’t yet solve. Tessa knew in her core-of-cores she’d need to fall at least some of the way, though Tessa hoped it’d be enough to get down at least half of the hole.

Fully armed, Tessa approached the doorway, and felt a sense of awe as she stared it down. It stood before her like a menacing painting, or a towering parent, who just caught their child eating 3 cookies after dinner, instead of 2.

“For the moment of truth…” Tessa said, the door creaked as she twisted the doorknob, and pushed it open. It had been so long since she touched it, that the shiver of cold steel rippled through her arm. She slowly pushed the door open, nullifying the creaking door as much as possible. Stepping out into the abyss, the sky was dark, deep blue, and the sky was full of stars. For one day, the other pieces orbiting earth didn’t reflect light onto the Elliott manor, making the stage dark for once. Still, the gleam of starlight lightened the path in front of her. The ground itself was blue, and icy. Tessa stood out there, waiting, as if something would jump scare her, but all she heard was wind. Finally, she closed the door, silently.

Trembling, she stepped forward to the hole, she peered into the black oblivion.

“Oh no,” Tessa squeaked, trembling. “Far too deep.”

The rope Tessa threw down laid pitifully small against the bottomless pit. As Tessa awaited in fear, the sun began to rise, illuminating the Elliott manor. But still, the bottom of the pitt was not shown.

Tessa looked back to the Elliott manor, and to her horror. She couldn’t turn back, but how could she go forward? There wasn't any other way to these spaceships, not that Tessa knew. Beyond the whole was a dead forest, and a blood ocean. There was nowhere to go, but down.

The longer she stood here, the more the Kerosene would wear off. There wouldn’t be any second chances.

“God, what to do?” Tessa lamented. She dyed the wig, and she couldn’t go back. But if she jumped, she’d die. In front of the hole was nothing, for miles endlessly. There was no way out.

Tessa pulled back up the rope, and put her backpack down. With the haste of panic, she grabbed up her book on paradoxes, and flew through the pages.

“A glass ceiling? A ship? But how on earth can I survive this jump?” Tessa yelled in her head. “Nothing! It’s just a book for fools!” She threw the book down the hole, and clutched her hands to her face.

“Forget it,” She lamented internally. “I’m going to die!”

Suddenly, she heard the book touch the ground, echoing out of the deep abyss. As it was welcoming her inside. Tessa blinked, intrigued, and breathed an air of calm.

“If I escape, or if I die,” Tessa stared into the hole. “I will get out of here.”

Tessa quickly tried to put her skull back inside the backpack, but found it had no space. Unable to leave the skull behind, she tied it to the end of the rope. The knot had a great deal of slack, so Tesa was then able to tie it around her wrist, securing her to the rope, and the skull. Tessa then tied the other end to a protruding rock. She put on her backpack, and stood timid against the edge of the sinkhole.

Every time Tessa looked inside, she was attacked by dizziness. Anytime she thought about the jump, she was overcome by fear. But she had no choice. She closed her eyes, and with a single, pitiful step, stepped off into the hole. The rope bent, and briefly caught her, but the support was not there, and so it broke, sending Tessa down the dark abyss. For the first few seconds, she did not scream, but she did pray.

Chapter Text

Tessa felt light-headed as she flew through the black oblivion, with her legs first, her hands numbing, and a ticklish lick of airbrushing alongside her.

“Dear God,” Tessa exclaimed, bouncing off first against the side of the entrance. Tessa yelped, as the rope she fastened around her handstrained, and yanked her up briefly. That moment, she briefly caught a sense of calm, right before the rope snapped, sending her cascading into the hole. “Please no, please don’t die, please don’t die!”

Tessa tumbled widely through the air as she fell, until she stretched out her arms and legs, putting her stomach facing the ground. With the air brushing up against her body, she gained a momentary surge in confidence, as she plunged further into doom. The brief sense of calm suddenly ended, when she slammed against the sinkhole’s wall, bouncing off the other side of the hole. What remained of the rope trailed behind her, and suddenly caught a snag in the rock, briefly yanking Tessa’s hand slightly upwards, slowing her down, yet breaking her gliding position. The shackles Tessa tied in the rope, flimsy and rusty, snapped with the attempted stop. And Tessa’s plunge continued, barely delayed, now with Tessa rolling in circles, mid air. Her cloak flung widely around her, tracing her descent. The world itself spun around the doomed maid, as she quietly accepted her demise.

“Bah!” Tessa screamed, as her back slapped into something cold, and hard. The surface was hard for only a second, giving way to the drone-missile, Tessa busted through it like a brick ramming though a glass table. Continuing her fall for only a short time, she once more landed into something hard and solid. Her backpack cushioning her fall.

“Uuuhhhggggg, A-men,” Tesssa groaned, like some dying creature. “Thank you, Jesus. And aunt Katie.”

Tess never really understood what religion was. Father always said it made good “public relations” to go to mass every once in a while. Not that they ever brought Tessa to mass. But, if there was a 1% chance it was real, she may as well try to pray.

The first thing Tessa noticed, coupon landing, was the huge crack against her screen. She panicked briefly, and tried to raise her hand to inspect the breach. Tessa’s limbs felt ready to fall off, and for a hot minute, Tessa laid there, barely able to say anything, as a flurry of pain traced from her limbs, to her chest, head, and everywhere in the body. After a while, the pain died down slightly, and Tessa squeaked a few hollow breaths of adrenaline. Finally, she struggled to her feet, with her weary, pain-shivering legs not being very cooperative.

Tessa had a mission, and she wouldn’t let pain get in the way.

As Tessa’s fingers moved across the screen, she breathed a sigh of relief knowing it was just a crack, and her face was not, in fact, sliced nearly in half. But then Tessa grew concerned, as she noticed something wrong with her right hand, the hand she once wrapped the blanket around. Her index finger, and thumb, were almost totally peeled off, and the white, protective covering was completely gone. What remained was a skinny, bone-like exo-skeleton. Meanwhile, the blanket was gone from her hand, hanging down from the roof, stopped by the shackle, which without a doubt caught on some hard snag.

“Jesus Christ,” Tessa said aloud. “Thank God JCJenson products are so durable, I’d be a dead woman for sure any other way…”

“Sr Chillingswortth?” Tessa opened her backpack, and took out the blue whale plushy. “How are you?”

He looked someone rougher, and slightly more narrow than Tessa could remember. But his eyes were gleaming white, and Tessa looked into them.

“Great, me too,” Tessa said, smiling, before putting the plushy back inside the bag. “Now, let's go!”

The world around her was pitch black, illuminated only by the white glow of Tessa’s drone visor. On Tessa’s right, she could see the world suddenly drop off, deeper inside the black hole. Above her, she could see the outline of a stone, dirt roof, with an oddly drone-shaped hole piercing through it. Beyond the hole was a continued abyss, forever upward. To Tessa’s left, she saw the darkness end somewhere, farther off into the cave. But right alongside her, she saw, illuminated by her white visor, was the book of philosophy, battered, but not destroyed, sitting next to her in a pile of rubble.

“Never thought I’d see the day where I could call myself lucky,” Tessa delighted, picking up the book. “Remind me to never doubt you again!”

The book remained silent. The freed maid put the book inside her backpack.

“Spaceships, spaceships, spaceships,” Tessa crept closer to the edge, and peered over. The hole was black from top to bottom, yet she could see the other side of it, illuminated some 30 feet across by the white of her visor. But sprinkled throughout the cave were distant, yellow dots, along the sides of the caves, illuminating it in a terrible, nostalgic yellow light.

“Now those are probably it,” Tessa said, looking back at the small crater she left behind, and seeing only the blanket, attached to the shackle, hanging from a snag, peering through the ceiling. At the end of this snag was Tessa’s skull. In all, it seemed to be only a remnant from what remained from Tessa’s rope. “How to get there?”

Fantastic. Barely any rope. What now? jump again? Hope not to die trying to reach random lights? No, Tessa already had one-too-many leaps of faith today.

Tessa walked up to the blanket, and pulled on it with all her strength. The blanket was tightly fixed around the shackle, semi securely. Tessa then picked up a rock, and threw it at the ceiling. More of the ceiling then collapsed, yet alongside the ceiling, the rope also detached. Tessa wrapped up the blanket, and put it inside her bag. She still didn’t have room for the skull, although she still cradled it under her armpit. The rusty shackle, which was broken, and split down the middle, was left behind. Finally, the maid turned around, staring into the uncharted cave.

“I guess this is the only way forward,” She nerved to herself, marching forward, into the abyss. “Dammit, couldn’t have Cyn programmed me with a real flashlight?”

On the wall, by the entrance of the cave, there was a dimly lit sign. Tessa held it close to her face, and saw that it read: “Q-U, commons 0.25 Km” with an arrow pointing down the cave.

Whatever that means. Tessa shuttered at the possibility of other drones being down here. If they saw her, it’d be a fast way to the grave. She gulped, and pressed on.

As Tessa moved further into the cave, it grew ever more narrow, before reaching an even point where it remained constant. Tessa creeped along, though her legs were sore. Her footsteps echoing in the cold, icy oblivion in front of her. Eventually, she saw a sadistic tint of yellow reflecting down the cavern halls.

Tessa swallowed her fear, and kept marching along. Creeping around a corner, she nudged her head around, and saw a set of drones, who looked similar to B. Tessa darted her head back, expecting them to move, yet she heard no noises. After a while, she creeped her head back out of place, and threw a small rock into the room. No response. Finally, she entered the room, and found a long line of murderdrones all stacked together, almost in rows, or piles, lining the sides of the cavern ahead of her. Their visors were all black, unopened, yet their tails were glowing yellow, and their heads had 5 yellow visors on the top of their skelps, which also glowed a distant yellow, or sometimes red.

Tess almost felt pity for the drones, as she walked by.

“So B was right,” Tessa said. “All puppets, to be taken out and used at will. I guess I’ll never know how my own drones felt about me, but I can guess.”

Tessa kept marching, until she found a fork in the road. There was a sign, one which pointed farther downward into the cave, which said “Lounge” and the other, less maintained sign simply read “T-U”

Tessa took the left, heading to the lounge.

Tessa walked through the glowing, yellow, brown, dimly lit hallways, until she stumbled upon a wide area in the cave, illuminated by 3 lanterns, which were all attached to a cable, which ran somewhere out of the room, and into the abyss. The room was guarded by a skeleton in a chair, wearing a suit, which was pointing back off into the hallway Tessa came from, which split into 2 right before it merged, and went into the wide cavern.

It was as large as the gala room, and had numerous barrels aligned like chairs, around crates stacked into tables. On top of them was a stack of cards, laid out, as if someone was playing a game only recently. But nearby was a large message written on the wall: “To those here- pick a card - join a forever game!”

“Is this…” Tessa said, studying the room around her. The tables were all miss-matched, made out of garbage, coffins, crates, scrap metal. There were layers of uncountable footprints in the dusty cave beneath her feet, and on one side there was a large table, assembled like the table in the Elliott Manor bar-area, alongside many smaller crates one one side, seemingly like chairs. “A hang out area?”

The wall on the left side of the room contained the bar-table, and beyond the table were a set of grey, dull barrels, not dissimilar to the barrels inside Cyn’s freezer, except for their details. These barrels, however, were unlabeled, except for one which read: “COMMUNAL NEUTRALIZER - NO FILL NO USE - NO FREELOADING ASSHOLES!!!!”

This barrel looked weird, as it was wrapped in wires, which were connected to the ceiling. Alongside the wires, there were also several yellow canisters, which had knives sticking out of them. They looked like B’s tail. They were all secured, wrapped tightly around the gray barrel.

On the right side of the room there was a dart board, stabled into the cave wall itself with a large claw. There were a few ninja stars, knives, and razor blades assembled in a pile just beneath it.

“Mother always said this was how plebeians lived,” Tessa said. “Living in the scraps, yet if left alone, they always find a way to live happily.”

To the side of this dartboard, there was a large, open, flat wall, which had numerous carvings, and creativity worked into it. Some were names with hearts drawn around them, others were simple cartoons, some were humorous and others motivational. Yet, they were all of them overlapped by a massive word: “FREEDOM” which had several letters, names, and random words carved around it. The entire thing was circled.

What happened here?

Either way, Tessa couldn’t stick around to find out. Tessa began looking to leave, though before she left, her eyes gazed upon the barrels, by the left side of the room.

“The Hells Neutralizer?” Tessa asked. “Some form of oil?”

Tessa could really go for a drink right now. She hadn’t bothered retrieving her own oil, hoping she could use it later. Plus, it wasn’t like she was going to get refreshed from it, the same way drinking water once did. But then again, she may as well take a sip, or at least figure out what it was, before leaving.

Tessa walked around the table, and right over to the barrels. There were no clips, at least from what Tessa saw. So she turned the faucet’s handle, on the barrel, and cupped her hands under the running liquid. The liquid was grey, shiny,metallic, as though it was melted metal. It was strangely warm, as Tessa put her hands into the small stream. Her right hand was very damaged, yes, although it was still stable enough for at least a few drops to gather in her hand.

“What the hell?” Tessa said, her mouth dropping, as her hand healed upon contact with the strange, warm liquid. “It… Rebuilds? How?”

Tesssa rubbed the strange liquid against her cracked screen, and like magic, it healed. She did the same with her cracked, beat-up legs, and for a brief minute, she rubbed the substance all throughout her body. Finally, she cupped her hands once more, and drank the liquid. The pain from the fall seemed to vanquish itself immediately, and Tessa felt emboldened. Her clothes, once dirty and torn, magically healed. Although, she felt somewhat… Warm.

Tessa unearthed her backpack, and unearthed her oil. Taking a long swig, and she felt cool again.

“So is that why Cyn needs oil?” Tessa reflected. “She uses this so often, that it overheats her? Weird.”

Tessa considered emptying the cup, and filling it with the magic substance, knowing it'd be damn well useful. Although, she was weary of drinking it without coolant. She quickly looked around for any extra bottles. She eventually found one, inside a box she mistakenly thought was just a scrap-table. The thing was old, dusty, barely used, but still functional enough to carry Tessa’s magic-neutralizer. She filled it up, and put both bottles back in her backpack.

 

The room had 2 entrances, one where Tessa entered, and one on the other side of the room. The way Tessa entered split off into 2 directions shortly just beyond the door. The entrance Tessa came in from had a skeleton, which pointed in 2 directions. Below the skeleton’s arms there were signs. Below the right arm, it read “T-Q 0.25 Km” On the left arm it read “A-team + Specships 0.5 Km - No using.”

Spaceships? Perfect.

Before Tessa left, she looked at the exit on the other side of the doorway. Instead of being one sign, there were 3. The first read: “Steel mill + Spaceships 30 Km.” The 2nd read “Z-Q + A-T 8-30 Km.” The 3rd sign read: “Dump + Bigger drone stockpile 8 Km.”

30 Kilometers? Hell no, forbidden spaceships it is!

Before leaving, Tessa once more looked at the mysterious skeleton. The skeleton sat on a chair, and below the chair was another lantern, seemingly powered off, alongside a drone head, glowing yellow, plugged into the rest of its body, which lay some feet away. Tessa picked the lantern up, and turned it on, illuminating the whole room.

“Still got some battery to it after all!” Tessa gleamed. “Thank you! And I’m sorry for uhh… All this.”

The skeleton looked almost ready to speak, yet it remained still.

Tessa marched off, lantern in hand. There were several branches off of this caver, yet Tessa remained straight, almost running down the caves. Until she saw it. Tessa nearly fell, when she looked upon a set of 3 very familiar drones. A Furry of nostalgia swept through her soil, and back again.

One of them was a boy, with a soft black hat, regularly shaped legs,and a stupid, blonde, short haircut, wrapped around in locks. The 2nd, was a plain looking drone, with a shortly cut girls haircut. She was the shortest of them all, and had pointedly legs.The 3rd once was in between the 2 in terms of height, and sported 2 pigtails, a suit, and 2 small bows in her pigtails.

The lot of them were all assembled in rows, carved perpendicular to the cave itself.

“You…” Tessa said accusingly. “Traitors.”

Tessa smirked to see N, V, and J all sitting here, unkempt. Tessa picked up N’s yellow tail. It was warm to the touch.

“Awww, what is it?” Tessa mocked N's dormant face. “Too shocked to say hi? Are you in awe? Expecting to see me dead?”

The dormant drone said nothing. Tessa punched him, then again.

“You were my favorite!” Tessa said, raising the tail. “How could you?!” She slammed it straight into N’s forehead, breaking it instantly. “I gave you everything!”

N’s entire body was consumed by the yellow acid, melting it away like paper in a fire. Tessa lurched back, fascinated. The acid finally stopped around N’s core area, and she saw it was still dormant, and looked like a fleshy tumor.

Tessa stopped for a moment, looking upon her chaos.

“What are these things capable of?” Tessa questioned, picking up the tail of a nearby N copy. “Acidic weapons?”

Tessa played around with only a few pieces of technology, though tech that could either heal broken items like magic, or dissolve them completely, was far removed from her game. Still, she took the acid, raised it high, and hard.

“Burn in hell N!” She yelled, slamming it into his stack of copies, melting them instantly.

Turning to V, Tessa said: “Now you feel what I did,” Tessa slammed another few niantic acid jars in V’s stack, melting them away. “When you butchered my family!”

“And you…” Tessa said, looking upon J’s stack. “What the hell is your game?”.

Tessa stood there, contemplating. Why did this drone, who was dominated by Cyn, even bother helping her in the first place? Was she all part of Cyn’s game? Did she even know? Did she play Cyn’s game willingly? Where was she now?

Nobody’s loyal, not me, J, or even you.

“I don’t know you, but lord willing, I will find out.” Tessa said, leaving the copies behind. Tessa picked up another tail of J’s copy, and broke it off. “And I’ll be needing this!”

Tessa swept down the halls, determined to find her exit. She kept marching on, nearly tripping over the bodies of various drones, until she entered a new room that was dark and foreboding. A sign on the wall by the entrance read: “RESTRICTED ACCESS - J’S SQUAD ONLY.” Yet, “J’s” was crossed out, and “ASSHOLE’S” was scribbled right under it.

“J’s squad?” Tessa reflected. “Asshole team?”

J was never a popular drone among the others,her aggressive and blunt personality made her feared even by N and V. Sure, Tessa did tell J to be nice, yet that command was more of a suggestion than an order. Tessa could barely even begin to comprehend what the other Manor drones thought of her, if they thought of her at all.

Passing the sign, Tessa entered the chamber.

The chamber before her was a wide plain, pitch black. At the end of it was a black as dead as the void of a black hole, which most assuredly meant it extended back out into the main hole. Tessa’s lantern illuminated it greatly, and upon inspection, the black, dark room in front of her gave way to a rocky, brown, and glinting orange room that had a tall, sloping roof, which looked like half a crater within the side of the sinkhole’s walls.

In the chamber, there were spaceships, small things, that resemble a crab, with a central pod, 4 long, curled legs. The ships were all in good condition, though they had dust blanketing them. The spaceships were painted orange, grey, and sported the JCJenson logo.

Heh, did Cyn loot these? Or did she build her own models for her little world of dolls? Either way, it wasn’t JCJenson was going to sue.

The spaceships were all assembled along a metal rack, which consisted of 2 long, parallel metal bars, held up by support beams, which together supported a long line of Spaceships, all pointing up. At the end of the 2 bars was a large, grappling looking-hand, which was wrapped around one of the spaceships, and peered outside the 2 bars, as if it would extend the spaceship out into the main hole itself. There were 2 racks of spaceships, both at opposite ends of the long chamber. The racks themselves extended deep into the chamber, and had a lot of empty space as it approached the wall. Tessa wondered if the rack was once full, yet was used, and never replenished.

“Perfect!” Tessa said aloud, before covering her face, as if the spaceships would come awake. She looked around, and saw no movement. “Perfect…”

Tessa ran up to the first spaceship, which was in the rack towards the right of the room. She fawned at its glorious, all-saving visage. Like a knight in shining armor.

“Now… How do I-” Tessa spotted a key still lodged inside its door. “Bloody convenient, ay?”

Tessa opened the door with a loud screeching, for the key had been inside the door for a long time, and dust of decay resisted the effort of opening. Still, the ship obliged, letting Tessa inside. She closed the door behind her.

The inside looked shiny, yet dark. Deep below ground, even the slightest bit of light was a treasure. Still, with the lantern Tessa saw inside. On the top of the spaceship, there was a glass windshield. Below this windshield, there was a large computer screen, and behind that there were 5 chairs, with one in the center, and another 4 trailing behind. The control panel and chairs were all pointed sideways, so if you sat down in it, you’d be facing up rather than straight up.

Tessa made her way to the front, driver's seat. It took a little climbing, but she quickly got there, and sat down, embracing the controls.

“Finally,” Tessa said, her hands starting to shake with adrenaline. “Now, how to fly…”

Tessa remembered reading the spaceship book, back to back. Thinking back on it, they said there was a… propellant valve, a stabilizer…. An auto-corrector? And oh yes, a steering wheel!

Right in front of Tessa was the control panel, and directly in front of her was a big wheel dolly, without a doubt the steering wheel! Though, everything else was a mystery. And Tessa looked widely at the endless ocean of buttons, valves, switches, circuits, and more. Plus, buy the left and right of this central wheel, there were 2 other wheels. So was this even the steering wheel?

“Alright,” Tessa said, her confidence wavering. “Maybe a look at the guide is in order…”

Tessa was wearing her backpack whilst sitting down. So she lifted herself up, and took it off. She set it on top of her stomach, and pulled out A Guide on Spaceship Components, Engineering, and Research. She put her backpack on the chair behind her, and began flipping through the novel.

“So, to fly a spaceship:” Tessa read. “I need a controlled propellant, a stabilizer, and a computer to calculate atmospheric… A stick to control Reuters… A pressure adapter… And a… What on the Stage is a flame compressor?”

Tessa looked to the vast field of buttons, switches, and computer screens in front of her, all together resembling a maze in 2 dimensions.

“Uhh, maybe something more specific?” Tessa said, flicking through the pages. “Aha! Modern spaceship design!”

Tessa flicked through the pages until she reached the end-chapter, which was titled: “Recent developments.”

“Finally,” Tessa gasped, as she found a pictograph labeling the controls of a modern spaceship.

Tessa’ optimism turned to ashes, as she realized the controls in the books had a different layout than the spaceship she had in front of her. It didn’t have 3 steering wheels, and this one only had a few buttons.

“Damnmit,” Tessa said. “How old is this thing?”

Tessa quickly looked at the back, and saw “C. New Alexandria publishing: 2989”

“Great,” Tessa yelped. “Outdated junk!”

Tessa quickly scanned through the book once more, looking at its table of contents, and quickly glancing through it, looking for a key word or phrase which might indicate any useful passages.

“Useless,” Tessa spat angrily, as she tossed the book aside. “I guess I’ll just have to wing it!”

Tessa let out a deep, worried sigh. Hope was hard to come by, and Tessa was grasping whatever hope she had.

“Well, I at least know a modern spaceship has an ignition,” Tessa read, delighted. “A combustion hatch… An autopilot… And a steering wheel!”

Tessa studied the controls, and spotted a keyhole under the central wheel. She slammed the keys inside, and twisted. Tessa had seen designated drivers do this before, would it be similar to driving?

Suddenly, Tessa was shaken by the ship, as if were a waking beast. Tessa held her breath with anticipation, as the computer screens in front of her gleamed to life with a bright yellow, and the spaceship shook, as if moving. Tessa grabbed the wheel, although she did not move an inch. Looking out the front window, Tessa could see the top of the large, metal arm move, and the cave ceiling above the spaceship slowly disappeared from view, moving away from the spaceship, replaced by the black, all-encompassing black oblivion of the sinkhole.

“Well,” Tessa gulped. “A-a-a-a-t-t l-least I’m s-somewhere!”

“Oh God,” Tessa squealed, as the spaceship stopped moving. Tessa held her breath, as she expected it to be dropped into the hole, to a certain death. Yet, the spaceship remained stable, and Tessa looked out the front windows, seeing only black abyss.

“Please no,” Tessa creaked to the door, knowing that the spaceship wasn’t going to fall. She creaked open the door, and peered over. Sure enough, the arm was holding her right over the black, hopeless, sinkhole. Tessa gulped, and closed the door. “Ok! Just hold me over the e-edge. N-n-no big deal! It’s only like what? A thousand miles deep! No problem!”

Tessa closed the door, and started her way back to the control panel. Along the way, she put the book back inside the backpack, and tucked the backpack into a chair, securing it with a seatbelt. She did the same with the acid, fearing it’d break, and melt the whole spacecraft. She wrapped the acid with her cloak, and secured it to the seat, wrapping the seatbelts around both the veil, and the chair, like a tight knot. Tessa removed her blanket from the backpack, and also used it to wrap up the acid. Following this, there was enough room for Tessa to put her skull inside her bag. Tessa thought about dropping the acid outside, although how safe would she be without it? Probably not much, as any wandering drone could tear her to ribbons without some weapon she knew how to use. So she simply prayed and hoped it wouldn’t break. Next, she placed the lantern in a chair, and secured it with a seatbelt. Finally, she returned to her seat, buckled herself in, and looked at the hopelessly complex table in front of her.

“Damn instructions,” Tessa flicked through the instructions, but saw no pictures, no details. “Which button starts the engine?”

Tessa studied the controls, and under it she saw a large red button by the steering wheel.

“This one?” Tessa pressed it, and a giant laser fired upwards, through its pointing legs. The light was so blinding Tessa had to take several minutes to see again, and a patch of dust and small rocks slammed down onto the spacecraft’s front windows. “Not it!”

Tessa looked to her right, and saw another button, this one deep orange, yet surrounded by a striped yellow and black ring.

“You?” Tessa asked, pulling it. On the sides of the spacecraft, hidden compartments opened, and several tiny explosives were dropped out, falling down the black hole, and sending back up a set of thick, black smoke from whatever they hit at the bottom. The heat and noise sent a shockwave up the hole, which jumbled Tessa’s hearing censors for a short time. “Second strike!”

Tessa looked around, desperate, and saw the computer screens in front of her were yellow and condescending. By the top right of the screen, a notification appeared, signaled by a noticeable beep. It read: “Autopilot: Y/N?” Tessa considered. She had no other choice, it seemed. But if she did accept it, then there was no assurance that she could turn it back off. What if it was working for Cyn? What if it’d alert B? What if it brings her straight to Cyn?

Right above the steering wheel was a 4-pointed symbol, which resembled a plus sign. Tessa pressed the point on its right, and suddenly the “Y” part of the “Y/N” was highlighted. She hit it again, and the N part was highlighted. Finally, she hit the center of the plus, whereupon the autopilot option declined, and the message went away.

Finally, Tessa saw on the roof a large handle, wrapped in yellow and black paint. It seemed to be screaming: “Do not touch unless you really know what you’re doing” to Tessa. She pulled it.

“Third time's the charm!” Tessa whimpered.

The spacecraft itself began to shake, and the arm it rested on was vibrating. Tessa looked to the massive computer screens in front of her, they beamed to life with the message: “Engine: Charging: (3%)”

The world outside began to glow with a strong, red, then organ, then yellow, then finally blue light.

“Fantastic!” Tessa asserted in a booming voice. “All part of the plan!”

Tessa smiled excitedly, a feeling which felt foreign to the small maid, like someone meeting their childhood best friend, after a lifetime of separation. Tessa hadn’t many reasons to smile, but from now on, there’d be a lot more smiling now!

Engine: Charging: (18%)

The spaceship shook greater.

Engine: Charging: (55%)

The shaking became deafening.

Engine: Charging: (99%)

A message popped up on screen.

“Warning: Charging capacity reaching dangerous levels, do you want to be released from the dock? Y/N

Y

The spaceship fell, as the arm let go. Tessa’s heart jumped to her throat, and for a brief second, it fell, before catching itself, as the spaceship recovered, and flew upward, illuminating the darkness of the caver walls as it went.

“Engine: Climbing…”

Yes, Yes, YES! Tessa laughed manically, a wave of unbridled enthusiasm possessed the small drone. Even when she felt the weight of G-force pressed against her, forming a heavy wall of gravity, that felt like a distorted dream.

“Finally!” Tessa cried, forcing out her words with every last breath she could muster. “If… Mother and… Father…. Could see me… Now!”

The spaceship flew past the dark halls of the catacomb’s hole. Finally shooting out, she passed the Elliott manor in darkened glory. Tessa couldn’t see the manor, not from the windows anyway. But she could tell she passed it by the view of stars, and the mystical blue light of the night sky, which she now saw fully.

“So long, Stage!” Tessa yelled, over the insistent noise of the roaring engines, wondering if B was even awake to see it fly, wondering how long the drugs would work. “My performance is over!”

The spaceship flew upwards, right up into a cloud.

Tessa rejoiced, until she saw a red gleam in the computer screen, and a warning label: “Warning, altitude drop”

Tessa looked to the ceiling, and saw the stars in front of her moving slightly away. She was turning ever so slightly off balance.

Tessa bolted awake, but felt herself pulled down by an iron weight of gravity, seemingly stronger than the will of a drone. She struggled her hands to a wheel, the closest wheel. She pulled on it, because every single movie had a pilot pull upwards to point upwards.

“Not if I… Have anything… to-” Her hand was thrown back by gravity, and the spaceship flashed forward, pointing back to Earth. “Say!”

Tessa tried to recover, as the spaceship narrowly missed theEarth’s surface, but just as she recovered, and pulled the ship back up, she saw something which made her core jump to heaven itself.

“Oh no…” Tessa lamented, staring at the incoming sight of a ruined city, and the peaking visage of several skyscrapers. There were many of them, too many.

Tessa pulled it up as far as she could, but to no avail. The spaceship slammed clear into a ruined skyscraper, but it did not hit it point blank, only skimming the ruined top, smashing through some rusty steel, and broken glass, alongside whatever else was inside this pristine example of human achievement and progress, before sailing out the other side, badly bruised, and flowed down, but not destroyed.

The computer screens in front of her changed from a yellow, to a deep red, and suddenly multiple, emergency screaming notifications appeared on the computer screen. Tessa's steering wheel suddenly became too light to move following that hit, but the ship did not cooperate with Tessa’s commands.

“I’m Dead!” Tessa yelled. “I’m dead-I’mdead-dead-deaddeadeadead!”

The spaceship bounced off the floor of the city's outskirts, before sailing back up, like a rock skipping over water. As it collided, the entire spaceship interior was consumed with airbags, and Tessa’s control board was suddenly out of reach, as it expanded, pressing against her, suffocating.

Tessa finally peaked her head just over the airbag, gasping. The computer screen, deep red, displayed the message: “Emergency override, deploying safety measures.” Tessa gulped at the message. Suddenly, the spaceship felt a brief lapse in speed, although not by much, before it suddenly crashed, the spaceship grinded against the crushing Earth for a brief second, before finally stopping.

As it halted to a stop, Tessa jolted forward, the seatbelt apparently not enough to stop her. The spaceship seemed to belt inward, and the airbags forced Tessa’s head against her seat suddenly. She felt dizzy, weary, with pain aching through her body, as she was lodged firmly in between the airbag, and the chair.

“Not today,” Tessa gasped, struggling to push away the airbag. Finally unclipping herself from the seatbelt, she tumbled out of her seat. Her vision was completely blurry, and her visor was covered in error markings. Knowing where her backpack was, she unclipped it from the seat, and it fell back down to the broken stage, ;anding square on Tessa.

The small drone tumbled out of the smoking, ruined spacecraft, and landed on the sandy, grey and tan world below. There, she opened her backpack. She quickly fumbled around until she felt something hard, tall, and shaped like a cylinder. It was her bottle of neutralizer.

She took it out of the bag, and with all the strength felt in her, she poured some on her face, and chest, and dribbled a little on her legs and left arm, before finishing the bottle with 2 massive gulps down the throat. Once finished, she dropped the bottle, and let it roll away, as she passed into a warm sleep, on the cold, sandy ground.

Chapter Text

B blinked open her heavy, dreary eyes, before finally closing up. Her head was stinging with a headache.

“Ughhhhhhhhhh,” B groaned. “If I’m tired, why did I wake up?”

B didn’t know what idiot programmed tiredness in drones, nor why. Presumably because of something stupid. Then again, why do humans sleep? And why did they think drones need sleep? B suspected it was probably the same reason God made man sleep.

Last night, B dreamt she was in a golden field with her 2 friends. They were running from a nerdy-looking drone, with a rose, who was trying to ask the 3 out. When he caught up, he asked B out, and B refused, along with her 2 friends. But then, he made some loud, unintelligible screeching, which sounded like a loud car engine. The noise seemed to put a spell on the 2 drones, and they left with him, leaving B desperately yelling for them to stop and think.

“It’s strange, I could dream the sky was made of cotton candy, and I wouldn’t have ever suspected a thing,” B asked her dormant companions, as she placed her hands on her head, cradling it in the face of the headache. “In my defense, nothing's more unpredictable than real life, ay?”

The drones around her said nothing. B sighed, and frowned. Man, if only she could turn them back on. Then again, they’d probably make the headache worse, with all their emotions, and questioning.

B snuggled into her blankets, and the rough, unsatisfactory edge of couch pillows. Surely, soon enough, her brain would get some damn sense, and finally put her back to sleep, and wake up sometime when she didn’t have a splitting headache. Still though, her brain remained stubbornly awake, and her core thumped stubbornly.

The TV had long since finished its tape, displaying only a simple white background. But B saw enough TV for the time being.

“C’mon core,” B took a deep breath, “Can sleep anytime…”

Her core did not budge. After a while, B felt bored, and her thoughts drifted to anxieties, many about how the world would accept her job. Eventually she couldn’t take the heat, shook off her mind, and started getting up. Perhaps some shenanigans with Tessa would distract her, or perhaps just a nice breakfast would be enough.

“Dammit,” B sighed. “You win.”

B rolled off her chair, and slumped on the floor, sitting on her knees, while wrapped in a tight-knit cocoon of blankets, holding in all the precious warmth against the distasteful, cold reality just outside the sheets. B pulled the blankets further around her, as she laid half-heartedly against the cold ground.

“Cyn!” B barked, at the top of her lungs. The echo of her voice trampled down the halls of the dormant Elliott manor. “I’d like some-”

Then B noticed a new glass, sitting atop of the table to her left. There was a note under it, which wrote in fine hand-writing: “Breakfast.”

“Oh,” B said, quiet and casual. “Nevermind…”

B smiled as she picked up the glass. Sure, she would rather the slave bring her the glass personally, yet B wasn’t going to complain about a ready-breakfast. Especially a nice glass of good old diesel oil, which B remembered asking for.

Ah yes, now this is why it felt good to be at the top.

B put the glass to her face, and took a quick sip, before quickly regretting it.

“Pfft,” B said, spitting the oil back into the wine glass. “What the hell? Jet oil?” B took a deep, angry breath, and announced to the Elliott manor. “Cyn, what the hell is this? It sure as hell isn’t diesel!”

B waited a minute, but there was no response. She grumbled annoyingly. DId she forget her place? Oh well, B would find her personally.

B slowly gained the courage to throw off the blanket, and instantly a flurry of cold air brushed up against her body, sending chills straight to her core. After a while, she tried getting to her feet, yet the world felt woozy around her, and fell backwards into her chair.

Damn, why were her legs so defiant today? Probably just tired. She’ll wake up.

B struggled to take her first steps, like a toddler, but eventually she made her way to the wall, and crashed hard on it. Her impact made a small dent in the wall, but B didn’t care. She used the wall as a crutch, making her way to the door, then the hallway.

As B advanced, the hallway around her seemed more annoying now then it ever was, as B struggled so much as to walk. Man, what in the hell made her so sleepy? Sure, B did have a hard time waking up once or twice, like the first time she slept in the theater, but it wasn’t anything like this. In those cases she just felt a little heavy-eyed, she could at least always walk. It was made all the more worse by the Elliott manor’s size.

“Cyn,” B announced quietly. “I’m tired of calling your name.”

The manor wasn’t small, being it covered 2 or so acres. Even back in the old days, B remembered how drones often had to scurry around the manor just to relay instructions. It was not off-putting that not even the sole inhabitant of this hellhole of a mansion, the Cyn, Tessa reincarnate, couldn’t hear her demands. Even if it was so quiet, B could hear tip-toeing from a ways away.

“Have it your way,” B murmured, feeling the constant advance of chills down her spine, as the blanket around her faded. “You’ll be sorry later.”

B continued stumbling down the hallway, and all the while she didn’t see the Elliott drone once. Weird.

The tall, menacing murderdrones finally stumbled into the dining room, and B crashed on the first chair she could reach, which was another bright, pale-yellow, leather chair.

“Cyn,” B Yelped depressingly. “I want a glass of diesel please!”

B heard no response. She was tired, had a headache, and was getting more hot by the minute, and still that stupid girl didn’t even make a reply.

“Cyn!” B yelled, using all of her remaining lungs. “I mean it this time!”

B didn't even hear the whimsical music of the slave’s little chains, rattling in the wind. Hmm. Did she… Try to run off? No, B beat that idea out of her head, she wouldn’t run off. No, she was probably just sleeping.

“Ya know Cyn,” B started. “I’ve been more lenient, I give you all the free time, I haven’t even played a game with you in a while, you should at least come to me when I ask!”

Truth was, playing with Tessa was only slightly stimulating. There was a lot to be afraid of when working in Cyn’s army, and a lot to be guilty of. So poking somebody with a stick, just to get your mind off it, wasn’t out of the norm. Although with each game it got harder to swipe away intrusive thoughts. The only thing which worked now was TV.

B got up, not even waiting for a reply. Skinner-slave was going to pay for this.

B stumbled back up the hallway, and as she walked, her heat got steadily more annoying, and her headache only got worse.

“Dammit,” B said, embracing her head. “Fine, I’ll just get some damn breakfast myself.”

B walked back up the central Elliott hallway, until she found a familiar looking room: the kitchen. The place was almost exactly how she left it, before the Gala. It was very white, had several sinks, ovens, fridges, and seemed fit to feed a hundred men. It was such a waste of space.

B opened the 1st fridge she found, and inside was a delicious assortment of worker heads, oil canisters, batteries, and other nice things Cyn hoarded for herself. Too bad Cyn didn’t ever consider eating the Elliott drone, would’ve made for one satisfactory treat. But whatever, Slave-Cyn was off limits anyway. Alongside all the premium oil inside.

“Ugh,” B sighed, looking in vain for the diesel. “Why does Skinner have to make things inconvenient?"

 

B opened the fridges one-by one. Inside was all the stuff you would expect out of the destroyer of mankind. One of them was full of bones, another full of blood & gore, that exploded onto the floor when B opened it. Alongside those there were many other cans of premium oil.

B grumbled, as she opened the freezer, halfway expecting it to be full of nothing. Yet inside, things were more suitable, being full of several oil barrels of all kinds. They were covered in a layer of frost, and some of them even had split marks.

Ha! Even the New Cyn dreaded cleaning the freezer. B respected that.

B returned to the kitchen, and grabbed out fine glass from a covert. Returning to the freezer, she searched until she found the diesel oil barrel, and poured herself a glass. She spilled the glass several times whilst attempting to leave the freezer, but that wouldn’t be her job to clean.

B advanced out of the kitchen, careful not to spill the glass until she sat at the first comfortable chair she found, which was a large, brown chair, in the nearby cigar room. The other chairs smelled too much of smoke for B to stand before the Gala. Yet now they smelled fine. Well, except for the deep smell of chlorine, and soap, but whatever. Slouching on the chair, B took a long sip, and sighed in a way she was convinced emitted satisfaction.

“Heh,” B said to nobody in particular. “All my life these things were restricted only to humans, yet now here I am, drinking from fine china. Liousia rolls in her grave!”

Despite the calm in the oil, as her headache slowly dissipated, and she cooled down, B was still dissatisfied. First she had a bad sleep, then the first breakfast tasted expired, then she felt dizzy. And Robo-God, where was the little drone?

“Cyn!” B yelled. “Get down here! I have 2 drones in the cinema,” B chuckled. “They’re hungry!”

Why was she trying to probe the poor drone? B knew where she was. Most definitely still asleep in the basement, tired from reading the hit book: “bored-and-boring” by Mr. Nobody.

“Except for waking up the Maid,” B thought. “What else am I going to do today?”

Before Earth went to hell, B always had something to do. Washing, cleaning, repairing, and whatever else her overlords demanded. Still, when she was done, she typically liked watching movies with friends, W, and M. It was always funny to point out a movie-character’s stupidity. Like why on Earth would a horror movie protagonist enter a dark room alone? With friends, even the most terrifying movie turned out humorous by the end. B remembered clearly how loud they laughed. Or how funny it was when M narrated a horror movie in an Australian accent, always emboldened to charge forward into death. And she remembered how charming it was to see W scared of a villain, only for B and M’s charm to bring her to tears of laughter.

It was a long dead dream, now.

B brought up her friends previously, and perched them up alongside her. Yet dormant they were nothing but dolls. Quiet, undeciding, more of a looming darkness casting over B like a shadow, reminding her of how boring, and lonely it was up on the old Elliott manor.

Even mocking the Elliott girl was getting boring, after a while. Sure, it was funny to see this Cyn, once a proud bitch, bend over backwards for her former slaves, but what else was there to do? Yes, she could make her grab things, make her a (very uncomfortable) ottoman, make her do X, Y, Z. But big whoop, you do something once, what’s the point of doing it again?

One can only break someone so many times, before it just starts to remind one of himself.

“CYN!” B announced one final time. “Say nothing if you’re an idiot!”

There was no response. B took a big sip, and rolled her eyes.

 

Was she so upset? This is everything she wanted, she got to smirk in old Tessa’s face, Cyn was long gone, she had a maid to attend to her reverie needs, and she got to live in the Elliott manor! Plus, she had her friends… Even if they were sleeping. What’s there more to have?

Maybe power, maybe friends, maybe this Elliott-fool can come out for once.

“Ight!” B announced, propping herself up, and stormed off. “You’re on notice, slave, one-more time and you’re fired!”

B traversed the yellow, dark, glassy hallways of the derelict mansion. Her footsteps echoing as she advanced. No noise did she hear, and no drone came out to greet her. Just the omnipresent stare of paintings, of men and drones, of battles big and small, gazing down on her with cold permanence. B turned up all the lights as she continued.

Finally, B arrived in the green, darkened confines of the Elliott manor library, and its cold, grey, trapdoor. With an annoyed slight of determination, she yanked it open, almost as if she were trying to tear it from its hinges.

“Rise and Shine!” B echoed into the basement. “Cyn?”

The dark, brown room below was empty, barely lit by a single bulb, and smelling of sawdust, and nostalgia. The room was full of garbage, and in the center was a table with some sort of hourglass. It was slightly full, so the new Cyn must’ve woken recently.

B slid inside. Aside from the table, and garbage, on the wall to B’s right there was a bookshelf, and one shackle.

“Gone?” B said uneasily, her eyes darting around the room. “I suppose she wasn’t a late riser, heh heh.”

B looked forward, studying the short hallway, and the debris covering it. It looked very similar to another collapsed passage B knew, down in the Catacombs. Were they connected? Maybe forming the ruin of an old passage to the deep, or the hanger bay?

B wondered if Tessa ever wondered where it went? Or if she even knew where it went? She definitely thought about it once. Maybe even inspiring hope of escape. B hoped that the New Cyn’s beating, submissive nature, and general hopelessness, would’ve surely crushed it.

Doubts began to gather in her mind.

“Well,” B thought. “I suppose she must’ve got to work early, and could be somewhere around the mansion… Even though I couldn’t hear her chains…”

B flew out the trapdoor, and began a brisk walk down the library. Even with her faint drowsiness, and slight stumbling, she searched onwards. She called Cyn’s name, but heard nothing. Her echo being swallowed by the cloth rugs, couches, and books surrounding her. B’s walk turned to a jog, as she called. Repeating calls she made earlier, she heard no response, save the echoes of her own voice. From 1st floor to 2nd, B heard nothing. From the Gala room, nothing. Her jog became a sprint. She arrived in Tessa’s room, and likewise, nothing was there.

“No,” B Though aloud, her voice became a tornado. “No, no, no!”

The mansion spun around her, as B sprinted from one room to another, calling Cyn’s name, looking in every corner of the mansion.

“C’mon,” B yelled to nobody in particular. “This isn’t funny! Come on out!”

B’s voice echoed. Nothing else was heard. The New Cyn was gone.

“Now don’t be an idiot,” B said to herself, silently. “How on the broken Earth could she have gotten free? She’s obviously still…”

Then again, The Cyn was the person who gave her dinner… And the breakfast tasted weird… And she had already tried to escape before…

“Oh fudge,” B blurted. She sprinted down the stairs, through the central hallway, until she got to the front, main door. She threw open the door. Her steps on the cold ground flung up dust. Outside the Elliott manor, it was cold and dark. It was the dead middle of nighttime. The days had a very sporadic, each with a distinct, unpredictable length, so for all B knew, it could’ve been 5 whole days while B was sleeping, and B wouldn’t know, because it was night when she awoke, and fate decided her day would be dark.

The front of the Elliott manor was illuminated by the yellow glow of B’s visor, the dim light of the stars, and the white, semi-orange light of the Elliott manor lights. B scanned the ground, and saw no footprints. Phew. B collapsed to her knees with fatigue and adrenaline.

Then B looked back at the door, and instead of seeing a clean, rustic, brown door, she saw a door caked once more in fresh dust.

“Didn’t Cyn clean that?” B said, the world spinning around her. “But- how? She couldn’t have flown? Could she?”

B perked herself up, and started a fresh email. The old Tessa may think she escaped, but Master-Skinner was a powerful little nuisance, and could surely possess her little slave just a simple email.

B began typing, but then stopped. B remembered what Cyn said, that she would make a great Cyn, that she better stay put, or she would have to find a new Cyn. A fate much worse than death. B seethed at the prospect. No, she would have to find the Cyn on her own, or there’d end up 3 Cyn’s in the Elliott manor.

Great, how the glory turns to ashes! Fantastic!

“Goddammit,” B blurted, as she closed the email, and walked to the sinkhole. “Please don’t be dead!”

Right on the top of the hole, she noticed a rock sticking out of the entrance. Wrapped around that protruding rock was a small rope, made out of rags.

“So she did her homework,” B said, as she dived down the sinkhole, her wings only barely extended. Though she soon discovered the rope wasn’t long, and was actually snapped. “Okay, well, at least a little homework…”

B seethed at the prospect of seeing her shattered remains on one of the ledges facing off the cliff.

Soon, she extended out her white, silvery arm, and equipped a flashlight. Just as she turned it on, she crashed into the wall, making her spiral around.

What the hell was in that drink?

B caught herself, and managed to slow down with her wings. The flashlight wasn’t abnormally good, but she could at least see 20 feet in front of her, which was nice when diving down a pitch black hole in the dead of an eternal night.

Upon falling, B noticed some holes which weren’t there previously. A suspiciously drone-shaped hole on the rooftop of a cave entrance, or a long set of rags hanging off a slab in the earthly stone in one stop.

“How long was this rope?” B thought. “Maybe this fool’s more crafty than I thought.”

But despite these occurrences, B did not look too closely at them. No, if Tessa was down here, she’d already be long gone by now. As if the dust on the Manor's door wasn’t enough proof. B continued dropping, until she spotted several yellow dots in the dark, the copies of an army. B perched herself more upright, and allowed the wing to mold her, as her wings extended, and glided her inbound for landing. B saw a dark crevice on the side of the hole, illuminated by the distant glow of yellow disassembly drones, which were stored away in a cave leading off of a main chamber. In this chamber laid 2 racks of spaceships, assembled on 2 metal bars which resemble a bike rack. On either stack there was a long arm, attached to the floor nearby, which grabbed into one of the spaceships, and was always ready to extend it further into the sinkhole, to allow the pilots an easy way to take off.

B arrived at the landing port with a thud, tumbling with her increased speed. Her fatigue ruined her senses, and stinting the landing. The floor around her arrival was hard, cold, and dusty. B brushed the dust off her, as she got up.

The murderdrone landed in a forbidden spot in the sinkhole: The privileged spaceships. A set of ships and equipment for the Boss’s favorite, entitled drones. They were orange, grey, and erected onto 2 metal racks. B ignored the spaceships, and walked over to a computer, located right by, and wired into the metal rack on the right of the hanger bay.

By the orders of Satan herself, these spaceships were for the A-team only. Aka the 2 love birds, J, and of course: the new Tessa. All other drones had to use spaceships stored in their old JCJenson hangar bays, or stored in the steel yard. B let out a soft chuckle, not knowing whether the new Cyn was considered part of Cyn’s merry crew. According to default rules, would she be allowed to use this? Probably, but only if the New Cyn was allowed to leave. And B was sure the old Tessa didn’t care for the rules of the Solver.

“C’mon, there gotta be a log?” B tampered with the computer for what felt like forever, but was really more like 20 seconds. Surprisingly, the computer proved cooperative, though it did take forever to load. B never had a mind for computer tech, and only learned spaceship flight from Cyn stuffing it in her programming. Still, B soon found it was already accessed recently. She went to the logs menu, and found the computer read “Last used: 8 Hours ago.”

Dammit.

B then noticed a menu for traffic, which she eagerly clicked like a million times. Eventually it popped up with an explosion of tabs. Struggling to make sense of the many tabs, B sorted through all of them until she found the most recent one, a funny red notification which read: “Notice: FATAL ERROR DETECTED: CLUB_CAR_15A2993-2-18…” The message was entirely made up of links, each detailing what the words meant.

“A notice?” B said, clicking the words “Fatal Error.”

A new tab was loaded, this one detailing whatever sort of damage the spaceship had.

“Let’s see,” B said, reading the list. “Boosted non calibrated… Extreme pressure detected… Steering disabled? Air bags deployed? Parachute deployed?!”

Omg. Did she really crash the spaceship? No, no way that happened. That’d be too comedic for reality…

“Ground-contact made,” The log read.

“Ha!” B wheezed, raised an eyebrow at the computer. “Escapes the manor, crashes her spaceship! Just perfect!”

B supposed this was expected from a privileged fool, with no spaceship experience. Now all she had to worry about was Tessa dying. But given Tessa’s survivability thus far, and the known quality of oligarch spaceship safety, it seemed all likely she survived this.

“Alright,” B said, clicking back to the first tab. “Now where is she?”

B clicked the link under the word “Detected,” and a new tab popped open.

“A error was detected at this time, blah blah blah,” B said, scrolling past all the gobbily-gook. “Aha!”

“Spaceship located at: -33.707740, 151,144214,” The computer read.

“Great,” B said, smirking. “Now, time to g-”

“ERROR, COORDINATES UNDEFINED,” The screen read. “Resynchronizing coordinates: -24.227064, 29.9885313.”

“Huh,” B said, squinting at the computer impatiently.

“ERROR, COORDINATES UNDEFINED," The computer read once more. “Resynchronizing coordinates: -52.922240,163227492.”

“Ugh,” B said, rolling her eyes back and sighing. “Forget it,” B said angrily. “I’ll find her my damn self!”

B ran to the nearest spaceship, grabbed a set of keys laying in the doorway, and climbed inside. She briefly slipped upon entering, whatever drug Tessa used on her was still slightly in her system, but still B quickly recovered, and got up. B could fly on her own wings, since the sun wasn’t close enough to burn her, but it would take an exceptionally long time. Something B would rather save herself from. Tessa could be anywhere, afterall, best fly from something faster than her wings.

“I know you ain’t a fan of me using this, Boss,” B said, while she twisted the keys, as if Cyn was listening to her own thoughts. “But circumstances ain’t a big fan of rules.”

B buckled herself in, as the spaceship was extended into the hole, once there she pulled the thruster lever on the ceiling, and its engines began to rival up. Soon enough, B blasted off, yet her reflexes weren’t as smooth as she’d like, and she nearly sent the spaceship flying into a wall, before recovering, and putting it back on course.

“Woah well now that ain’t very cool,” B said, concerned. “Maybe I ought to turn on the autopilot during the landing… Once I find my damn maid.”

Tessa had her fun, now it was time to come home.