Her eyes snapped up at him as she heard him stand. The granola bar was still on the floor in front of her, but she dared not take her eyes off him again. She watched, unblinking, as he unfolded, completely ungracefully, shaking and teetering as he stood to his full height, and then approached her. Her attention turned to Owen’s hand as he held it opt, open and empty. She watched it like it was a newspaper that she was willing the headline to change.
“I know you won’t hurt me....” Her voice was small, but Xi kept her hands to herself. Her mouth opened again to say something, but she closed it once more, head shaking softly. She sighed.
After a long moment she moved her eyes from his hand, back up to his face, hand twitching and eventually coming up to almost meet his.
“I like it when they call me Xi.” She winced again. “But they’re all dead.” Her breath caught in her chest, and she shook her head, pulling her hand back again, wrapping it around her stomach. She took two steps back, eyes wide as they watched the dirt floor.
“I didn’t mean to... I was so.... I-”
Owen lowered his hand back to his side and backed slowly to the backpack, sitting down again.
"You panicked... I saw the photos..." he said softly, going into the backpack once more. He tossed her another granola bar, and rubbed his hands together, as if chilly. It was nerves.
"Xi... nice to meet you Xi," he said softly, looking up at her. "Yes... they died... but you did what you were designed to do and besides... I am not dead, am I?" he said softly, grinning at her. The grin faltered slightly.
"Something went wrong, but it's over now... I hate to say it, but you may have a bigger problem, Xi..." he said gently, opening up the bag and taking out the laptop.
"You have a small nuclear fusion device in your neck, next to your spinal cord. My lab... well, they couldn't figure out how to make it stable... your neck may start to ache? I'm concerned that the device could be leaking radiation... if it gets too unstable..." he tailed off, already using too many words, rambling on without thought of Xi’s grasp on the subject. Her eyes had lifted again, but they were empty. He looked her in the eye. "Bang."
She didn’t react, only reached down and picked up both of the granola bars at her feet, wiping away at whatever had leaked out of her eyes. She kept against the wall as Owen sat back down.
Xi listened, eventually sinking down the wall to sit as well. She reached a hand to the back of her neck, nodding slightly.
“It started a little while ago...”
The granola bars were soon gone, wrappers tossed to the side.
“You’re going to fix that?”
She had let herself relax as much as she could manage, staring at the ground in front on Owen instead of him for now. Her attention changed once more, to the clothes that had been set aside. They moved softly, as if being tugged by a string towards her. But she must have given up after that, as they lay still and she stayed silent.
He sighed and raked a hand through his sandy hair. "Its already started? That's... Not good," he said calmly. He'd also spotted the guilt in her, although that confused him. She was supposed to lack human emotion. Perhaps Major Stone was wrong, perhaps she was defective. Either way, however, it gave him an idea... As cruel as it was.
"Xi, I will be honest - not something you’re used to I'm sure - but if that thing in the back of your neck explodes, then we are all dead. Me, you and everyone in the city..." He leant forward and tapped the laptop with a fingernail. "With this laptop, I can literally plug onto you - you have a small socket on the back of your neck, sweet. I can connect to the reactor and balance it. I can and I wil-" Owen trailed off as he looked at the clothes that moved toward her... Tiny little movement... Then stopped.
Owen put a hand on the pile of clothes. "Want me to chuck these to you? I don't want to slide them across the floor, Xi," he said, picking them up.
Through his speech she had stayed quiet and still, half listening to his elongated answer of ‘yes’ and half following his shadow as it moved slightly with his small movements. But when his tone changed she blinked, coming out of whatever other place she had been in.
“Huh?” She looked up, then nodded a little.
Her knees came up to her chest, and she looked back to the ground.
“What about after you fix it?” It took another moment to look back up to him.
“I’m going to be ended, aren’t I?” She lifted her eyes up to him, staring into his own eyes.
Maybe it wasn’t guilt at all, maybe she was just scared for her own life because of her actions.
"I'm going to put to chuck these too you, Xi... I won't come too close," with those words, Owen stood up and carefully tossed the pile of clothes so it landed beside her and quickly sat back down. She was like a frightened animal, not that he blamed her. Shed dealt with a lot, and Owen allowed himself to smile momentarily. She showed the ability to adapt in the field.
"Im going to turn around, okay?" He swiveled around so he couldn't see her.
"Ended? You mean terminated? No, Xi, No," he said reassuringly. "I had a visit from the Major Stone himself. They are think you're a success, Xi. They want you to come back to the lab, so they can tweak a few things,” Like that fear and guilt, he thought to himself, “and then you can start working out in the field," he said brightly, reassuringly.
"Listen, Xi... It'll take an hour or so for me to sort out the reactor. I could do it here and now, or I have a hotel room, about twenty minutes away. Two single beds. You can get a meal, have a hot bath and do this in comfort," he said and went to turn to her but apparently thought better of it.
"And, if I am losing, well... I hope you won't kill me but we both know if you try, there's not much I can do to stop you."