"You did help me," Amy said.
She did not tell her daughter how she had helped. She did not mention the consultant in the elevator who had tried to take a picture down her daughter's blouse. She did not think it necessary to inform her daughter that the man could no longer see. It had all happened so fast. One minute he was smiling down at her, talking about how reinforcing the polymer in her skin with carbon macromolecules would make them radiation resistant, and the next he was on his knees, blood squirting from between his fingers. It was the fifth time she'd caught him looking at her little girl that way. It was worth it.
Javier frowned. He sat up. He counted their number on his fingers. Then he looked over the platform. It was a long way down, even for him. “Didn’t I fall?”
Amy nodded. “You did fall. But I caught you.”
He looked again. “Powell?”
“He fell,” Amy said.
“We should leave,” Anza said. “I think the police are on their way.”
“Good thinking,” Amy said. “I know just the place.”
It wasn’t easy, cramming herself back into a body. The network connection was nice, of course, but the expansiveness, the weightlessness, the boundlessness, that was all gone. She could tune out the network much more effectively, now. It just wasn’t as interesting. And the process by which she got it made was equally difficult. It meant piloting Anza while her brother slept, and talking to a bunch of otaku, and asking for their help. First she had to write up a request for proposals, and then she had to review them, and then she had to have Anza interview the ones that made the cut, and then, via Anza, she had to give the winning team Xavier’s section of the diamond tree. It had a fractal code for the network connection on it, since the connection was a gift from the island itself. Amy couldn’t pilot the new body without it, nor could she access the other backups, or check in on the probes. It was very tiring, and dangerous for Anza, and Amy didn’t like using her that way.
But she did have some new plans for the new body. Most of them involved the bedroom of her new home.
Home was the top floor of an office tower that once belonged to the Self Defence Force. It was accessible only via arboreal leap. She had already placed an order for trees. Inside, it was all windows, floor to ceiling. The walls all slid along tracks, so you could create a room anywhere you liked. And the displays were nice and big. And the printers she’d bought were very quiet, and energy-efficient. At the moment, they were hard at work on some turrets, and some armour plating.
“Nice,” Javier said. His hand swung in hers. He stared at her, then at the snow falling outside, and then back at her. “When did you do all this?”
“I’m not sure,” Amy said. “I wrote a program to do it. Or the island did. I had to spoof some bank accounts. Apparently, I’m earning some nice equity with my purchase.”
Javier raised his eyebrows. “You’ve got a very MILF-y thing going on, right now. I kinda like it.”
“Dibs on the roof,” Xavier said.
“Don’t we have to get back to work?” Anza asked.
“Oh, shit,” Xavier murmured. He hopped over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Love you, Mom. Gotta go.”
“I’m very proud of the two of you for getting jobs!” Amy called, as they ran back for the stairwell.
When the door slammed behind them, and she watched them aim for the nearest building with unerring accuracy, she turned back to Javier. He cupped a hand around his ear. “You hear that?”
Amy shook her head. “You mean the printers? Because they’re doing something pretty important, and–”
“No, I do not mean the printers.” Javier bounced on his toes and then he was right there, right in front of her, and he was holding her face in his hands. “I mean the total lack of anybody here but us.”
She smiled. “Oh. That.”
“Yes. That.” The bedroom was the room she had focused on most. She had chosen colours she thought he would like, and bought architectural bougainvillea and wisteria, and printed a trellis in the wall and ceiling so that the plants could climb up as high as they liked. The room featured a smart futon that warmed and softened and even folded itself around you if you liked. There were more pillows and blankets than she knew what to do with. The room also had a rather fantastic view, and was south facing, so they’d get the most light possible.
Javier noticed exactly none of it. “Did you print this dress?” he asked.
Amy nodded. “Do you like it? I was a little late getting it together–”
“Take it off.”
She folded her arms. “First, I want to ask you something.”
Javier cursed foully in Spanish. “Not this again. Not now. Not after all the shit we've been through.”
She pulled back one of the pillows. Behind it was a box. A basket, really. And in the basket was the first item she had ever printed. An apple. When Javier saw it, his eyes narrowed.