Papa finally let me come into the fallen city with him. Andy, Carol, and Stephanie were coming with us. Andy was researching the building materials that had been used, Carol was comming along to see if she could find any trinkets, or things she thought would make interesting jewelry. And Stephanie, would never admit it, but was just coming to spend time with Papa.

Although, officially she was our nurse. The permit we were able to purchase let us go in for 31 days, but we weren't allowed to take anything out, somehow Carol always managed to get stuff out though.

After three weeks in the city, sleeping in different buildings every night, I was starting to get bored. You can only see 'the horrible Andronis' unmoving so many times before the thrill wears off. As we were settling in, I heard quick, rhythmic pulses.

It sounded like quick air blasts, followed by something spinning on a bad bearing. Before I could warn anyone, the doorway darkened, and the jet black frame of an Andronis filled the open doorway. The lenses of it's eyes reflected the last vestiges of the setting sun around their edges, making them look red.

The cylinders to move its body creaked, and the rods were covered in rust. Almost as though this one had been exposed to the elements and just woke up.

"Friend or Foe!" Papa shouted. The thing made a grand guesure, and Stephanie said that she didn't think it could hear. So I started writing in the sand.

When I asked it if it was sentient, it nodded, and for some reason everyone else moved away, as did it.

"Would you guys quit scaring it?" I shouted at them. This was the most exciting thing in my life since I turned 17, and was able to come with Papa. Of course, I knew the laws, before we left I would have to offer myself to it.

It left us later, once she could hear, and talk. The conversation was a lot easier at the end. She told us to barricade the door, when we woke up in the morning, the door was still there. When we opened it, she was standing next to the building, facing the rising sun.

I thought it was a beautiful sight, a being of an extinct race, walking on the face of the earth again, and she is watching the sun rise. I felt as though this moment was the start of a new era.

I pulled out my info-glass, and looked at her through it. And nearly wept. Her last name wasn't displayed, but it didn't have to be. The golden crown icon was in front of her name.

"Papa," I said putting the glass away, "no matter what happens, we have to protect her."

"I know Booger. And I may loose you because of this, but I agree, she must be kept safe. I want to know what she saw, those final seconds. But she is the first one to reawaken. You need to get started designing armor for her. Talk with her, learn how she moves, Andy and I will start looking for pistons in good shape, so she doesn't have to work so hard to move."

We spent the last week of our expedition finding parts for Ayla. At first she seemed disgusted that we were taking parts and giving them to her, or in a few cases replacing some of her parts with them.

About halfway through the last week, I felt as though she was feeling good, almost hopeful. The little thing in her chest didnt need oil as often, and was even quiet. She found a piece of white armor on one of the frames that was covering it. When she mounted it to herself, she seemed pleased.

It would be another three days before I would realize how bad things had been for her. But at that moment, she was just another facination to me.

The day finally came to leave, and when we told Ayla, she seemed more resolute about leaving. I had already told her about the Andronic Treaty, but I had left out the fact that I had to at least offer myself to her.

She made an official declaration. And claimed me. At that moment, all of her memories flooded into me, her pains, heartaches, joys, and finally her murder. She was alive when her boyfriend threw her paralyzed body into the wood chipper. I felt everything she had.

This was the downside to me being a spirit reader. I knew everything about those closest to me. And now, she was the closest. Both legally, and through spirit.

I felt more of a duty now to protect her secrets, than to help Papa.

now every time I looked at her, I saw the physical spirit of the woman she once was shrouding the frame of an Andronis. The Great Spirits played a joke on this woman, making a computer builder reincarnate, as a machine.