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“No!” I twisted my frame, dislodging Dr. Shaw’s grip on my shoulder. “She just needs a minute.”
“That’s not the problem.” Dr. Shaw whispered, her voice full of sympathy.
I spun around. Dr. Shaw stood there a scanner in her hand, tears in her eyes.
“Don’t,” I hissed. “Whatever it says, it’s wrong!”
She shook her head sadly, “My injection only stopped the reaction she was having to the formula, but it can’t reverse what was already done. The scanner is showing that parts of her brain sustained damage. I don’t know is she will ever wake up. I am so sor-”
“No! Don’t say another word.” My circuits couldn’t bear to hear it. Every piece and part of me rebelled at the thought I might never again see Poe’s beautiful smile or hear her tell me she loved me.
I caused this and I would fix it. I would fix Poe and everything would go back to the way it was supposed to be. My world would be right again. We would spend forever together.
“Poe will wake up,” I vowed. There was no other choice.
Chapter Thirty-Five
*Dax*
What had I done?I shook my head, staring down the hands that had caused this. The sound of Poe’s screams, the sight of her body convulsing, had been branded on my processors. The fact that she refused to wake was a nightmare I couldn’t think my way out of, my brilliance failing me when I needed it most.
It had been two weeks. Two weeks of test after test, of thinking up a thousand different ideas, still none had worked. The initial results on the scanner had been correct. Portions of Poe’s brain had suffered damaged. Despite trying to narrow down the cause, I still wasn’t sure if it had been the upgrade formula or the seizures responsible for the damage. It made forming a hypothesis difficult, and creating a treatment plan even harder.
What if I made a mistake? Got something else wrong? For the first time in my life, I doubted the programming in my head. The one thing I had always been able to count on, the one thing I used to boast about, felt useless when it came to saving my female.
I looked down at Poe’s still form on the exam table. I picked up a brush and ran it through her hair, making sure to keep it free of tangles. “I would carve the very CPU from my head, rip the mechanical heart from my chest, and tear free every circuit and wire if it would help to wake you.” The brush stilled in my hand. “Without you, my existence means nothing. I can’t lose you,” I cradled her face and kissed her cheek, “I can’t.”
My conversation with Poe was interrupted as Axios ventured into the lab, a look of concern on his face.
Axios rested his hand on my shoulder. “Dax, you need to take a break. I’ll sit with her,” he offered.
Crack. The brush handle snapped in my hand. “No.” I spun to face him. “I refuse to leave her.”
Axios sighed. “You are taxing your processors beyond capacity.
What good are you to Poe if you malfunction? I swear if anything changes, I will immediately inform you. Take a break, Science Model.”
The pieces of the brush handle flew from my hand to shatter against the wall. “No!” I snarled, shoving Axios away from me. I advanced, my hands clenched, a pounding in my ears that drowned out everything else. No one would make me leave Poe. I would burn my processors into nothing but dust before I left her side. My vision blurred.
“Dax!” A hazy figure appeared to step between Axios and myself. My hands shot out, gripping their arms, my fingers curled into their soft flesh.
“Dax, please.” A broken plea echoed in my ears. I knew that voice. My vision cleared and Dr. Shaw stood in front of me, my hands wrapped around her arms.
My arms dropped. “Oh god, mother, I am so sorry.”
