Marilyn sat still on her bed until she was sure her father was gone, and as soon as the elevator doors closed she rushed to the billiard room where she knew her mother's old science magazines were kept. ED-E beeped curiously behind her as Marilyn tucked the magazines tight under her arm and she almost hit her head against its round metal frame when she looked up.
"Let's go." She whispered and it followed close behind her as she slipped into the now vacant elevator.
Marilyn held the magazines close against her chest as her pulse beat in her ears. She waited as it took her back down through the empty tower where she knew Yes Man would be waiting. ED-E chirped at her quizzically and Marilyn set her shoulders before stepping out of the elevator and heading straight for Yes Man, who was still waiting patiently where she had left him.
"Oh, hi there!" Yes Man greeted and Marilyn dropped the magazines between them.
"Yes Man-" She began.
"How can I help?" Yes Man interrupted cheerfully.
"Yes Man, listen to me." Marilyn cut in. There wasn't much time and she felt her patience run thinner than it had before.
"Where is my mother?" She demanded.
She heard a whirring behind Yes Man's bright projected face and he was silent for a moment.
"Sorry, I don't think I know anything about that." He answered tentatively.
Marilyn crossed her arms over her narrow frame. "How did you know her?"
Yes Man whirred again. "I'll bet she's around here somewhere, she loved Vegas so much I doubt she'd leave!"
She sighed and picked up a magazine. Quickly she flipped it open to the page she had bookmarked on restoring a robots blocked memory the day before.
Marilyn pushed her long hair behind her ears and moved around Yes Man so she could see his control panel. With shaky hands she followed the instructions on the magazine and pushed the buttons there, testing difference sequences until Yes Man blinked twice and a loud buzzing came from within him.
"Her name was Joanne, and I met her in the year twenty-two eighty-one."
Marilyn's breath caught in her throat and her heart soared.
"Jo- Anne…" Marilyn murmured to herself, testing the way the word felt. She rolled back and forth of her heels as she tried the word again. "Jo-Anne…"
Her heart stretched as the name bumped through her mind. The new information was tugging at her and making her feel dizzy and overwhelmed. ED-E beeped happily beside her and bounced joyfully in the air.
Marilyn smiled slightly as hope tingled across her skin. "Do you know where my mother is?"
Yes Man whirred again, "She never told me where she was going, just that I should wait here for you."
"Are you sure?" Marilyn pushed hopefully. "Is there anything at all you remember?"
"If I knew more, I swear I'd be more than happy to tell you!"
Marilyn slumped down into a nearby seat and blinked away her frustrated tears.
"What was she like?" She asked once her anger and melancholy had subsided a bit.
"Well she was a real go-getter. She and her pal Cass caused quite an uproar in the Mojave."
"Cass?" Marilyn asked, as she had never heard anyone mention that name before. "Who's Cass?"
"Cass was her partner, they traveled together everywhere. She left the Strip right after Joanne did."
Marilyn bit the inside of her cheek and jiggled her foot. "Where is Cass now?"
"I don't know! I've been turned off for so long that she could have gone anywhere without me knowing about it." Yes Man answered. "She never stayed in one place for long. Maybe she took up caravanning again."
"How did you meet my mother?" She asked meekly, the lack of information she had earned was making her feel quite useless.
"I helped her take control of Vegas."
Marilyn leaned forward and put her elbows on the table. "But my dad controls Vegas, was it hers once?"
"Sure it was! She eventually shared power with Benny though, maybe the head trauma made things more difficult."
Marilyn blinked. "Head trauma?"
"It's a real miracle she survived, people say it changed her, but I think she was sane enough considering!"
"What are you talking about?" Marilyn asked with a frown.
"The gunshot of course." Yes Man responded cheerfully. "You know, when Benny intercepted her route and shot her for the platinum chip.
The robots voice quieted in her mind as she stared at him and swallowed.
"My dad shot her?" Marilyn said so quietly that she barely heard herself ask the question.
"He sure did! Twice actually, she had the scars to prove it."
"But why? Why would he do that?" She asked. Her limbs were growing heavier as the seconds continued to tick by.
"Power of course! You see both Benny and Joanne were fighting for control of Vegas and so they'd bump heads."
"He- he wouldn't do that." Marilyn began hopelessly. Her stomach sank as she began to realize that maybe he would.
"Don't be silly, its common knowledge! Ask anyone on the Strip and they'll give you the story."
Marilyn could do nothing but stare for a moment.
"You… you're sure?" She finally asked.
"Well to be honest that's one of the less aggressive things Benny's known for."
The ringing in Marilyn's ears remained as she slumped against the scratchy chair she sat in.
Images flashed in Marilyn's head of a woman lying in a grave as blood drained from her shattered head. She imagined her father standing over her body and laughing with dark, cold eyes as the woman's hair fanned out around her in a halo that turned crimson.
She didn't hear Yes Man as he spoke again, she didn't even hear ED-E beep at her repeatedly as she stood and walked to the elevator. ED-E tried to follow her, but she pressed the button for the suites and was gone before he could fly through the doors.
When Marilyn stepped out of the elevator the entire floor felt much smaller than it had before, and every wall seemed to pull itself closer to her with each step she took. The very fibers of the room were crawling toward her to crush her into dust, but she did nothing to fight the feeling as she threw herself into one of the old chairs in the billiard room.
She waited for a long time, and when her father finally entered the room she dug her nails into her palm and met his eyes.
"Why are you eyeballing me?" Benny asked when she continued to stare at him in silence. He slumped down in the chair across from her and drank strong smelling liquor from a sparkling glass.
Marilyn could tell he was having one of his bad days where his need for space was high and his fuse burned low, but Marilyn couldn't find it in herself to speak carefully.
"It's true isn't it? You shot mom." She accused, her words were sharp and full of disdain.
He looked up from his glass slowly, surprise danced within his eyes as he took another long drink.
"Who told you that?" He asked evenly. His words attempted to feign a question but their sharpness revealed the order behind them.
"You shot my mother." Marilyn repeated.
"Yeah? Says who? One of the drunks on the Strip?" He asked. Benny slammed his glass down hard on the nearby table and Marilyn tensed involuntarily.
"Stop believing every fib you hear, kid. You'll never survive in this world being so damn gullible."
Marilyn clenched her jaw until her muscles buzzed with pain. Her breath came in short, restrained puffs as she glowered at him.
"That's why she left isn't it?" She demanded.
"You're a class act. You know that? A real class act." Benny scoffed as he refused to meet her eyes.
"I asked you a question."
"Let it go, kid." Benny warned, his voice lowering dangerously.
"Tell me the truth!" Marilyn yelled.
"I said let it go." He advised her one last time. Benny's eyes turned just as dark as she had imagined them before when he stood over her mother.
Marilyn stood up so abruptly that her hand knocked against Benny's glass sitting on the table, and it shattered on the floor with a sobering crash. Mismatched shards of glass skipped across the worn red floor and littered the space around Benny's feet.
The dam broke, and Marilyn ignored his warning.
"It's your fault! She left because you hurt her!" Marilyn cried.
Benny's eye lit with fury and he sat forward abruptly. "Don't you dare tell me it was my fault!" He boomed.
"You're a monster!" She yelled, her blood rushing from her head to her toes with loud pulsing beats.
"I'm a monster?" Benny shouted with wild and infuriated eyes.
He stood and jabbed a sharp finger at Marilyn's trembling form.
"I got news for you kid, she was no angel either. She was no better than me!" He roared.
Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes and Marilyn clenched her fists. "Stop it!"
"She was more of a monster than I ever was, cutting anyone's throat to get her way. Couldn't trust her then and you couldn't trust her now!"
Marilyn shook her head and stepped away until she felt her back collide with the corner of the counter. It dug into her side but she was numb to the stab as her chest heaved and her brain pulsed.
"Shut up!" She cried as tears flooded down her cheeks.
He stood up and kicked the small pieces of glass at his feet. They glittered in the light as they flew and hit the wall.
"She left me without a word! She could have stayed here but she chose to leave, she cut and ran and she'd do it again. I was left all alone with you and I'm the one that's still here, not her, so don't you go judging me!"
Marilyn sobbed and held her hands over her ears. "I hate you!"
Benny didn't stop. He couldn't stop. Marilyn had struck his most vulnerable nerve. "She was crazy, and she always was crazy! It wasn't my fault she kept getting worse!"
Marilyn pressed her palms tighter and tighter against her head until the pressure made her skull feel like it may burst.
"Stop!" She yelled as she backed up until she felt her spine grate against the wall. Marilyn slid down to the floor and folded her legs in front of her. She squeezed her eyes tight and let out a scream.
From behind her closed eyes she could see the woman in her mind again. She watched blood drip from the hole in her head as she beat her fists against a wall, her pale skin turning red as she screamed with her.
When she finally opened her eyes again the yelling was over. Benny was gone and the room was empty.
Marilyn stared at the vacant chairs, the dusty books that lay on their sides, and the splintered glass that littered the floor. When she pushed herself onto her knees the fragments dug into her palms, but she ignored the pain and made her way to her room.
Marilyn's hands shook as she grabbed the only small backpack she had and slung it onto her bed. She filled the back with a change of clothes and the secret stash of fancy lads cakes that she had been keeping safe there. She thought for a moment, then with a nervous, shaky intake of breath Marilyn retrieved her fathers white engraved gun and slipped it into her bag between her clothes.
The room to Benny's door was closed, and Marilyn felt her chest bend as she stopped before her fathers door. She lifted a small hand to knock, but then thought better of it, and her hand fell to her side. Marilyn stood still for a while, unsure of what to do. Finally she went to her room quietly and retrieved a pen and sheet of paper.
"I'm sorry for hurting your feelings." Marilyn wrote as a tear slipped down her cheek. "Please don't follow me." She then folded the paper and left in on the floor beside the elevator.
When she returned to Yes Man and ED-E they were already waiting for her beside the door.
"Where are we headed?" Yes Man asked again.
Marilyn rubbed her swollen eyes and heaved in a shaky breath.
"You said Cass is a caravanner?" She asked softly.
"That's what she planned to do after your mother disappeared. Although it's been at least twelve years since I've seen her in these parts." He answered dutifully.
Marilyn sniffled and rubbed at her tear stained cheeks. ED-E bumped against her head and she patted it sadly.
"Would you know where to find her?" Marilyn questioned and Yes Man whirred softly.
"We'd have to ask around, she's most likely an independent caravan."
Marilyn frowned. "Is that a no?"
"I'm not programmed to say no! I'm here to help!"
She gazed out the large windows and stared at the towering mountains that stretched up to meet the moon, and she could feel her anxiety building by the second. Marilyn looked down at her feet.
"I need you to help me get to her." Marilyn said as she wiped her nose on her sleeve.
"Then let's get on the road!" Yes Man exclaimed and after a few seconds of silence Marilyn couldn't help but laugh colorlessly.
As the robots followed Marilyn to the elevator she glanced at the posters that hung from the walls and she felt a shiver down her spine.
She could feel their still eyes following her to the door, and she continued to feel them long after she exited the Strip.
