For a moment, I feel as though I've been somewhere else doing something else. There's a noise piercing through my thoughts, making it impossible for me to remember. I turn my head, growling in annoyance as I try to find the source of the noise. This movement is enough to shake me out of my dream.

My eyes snap open and I flail my arm in the direction of the beeping. My hand passes through the hologram, and the clock shuts off. I lie still for a moment, trying to remember what my dream had been about, but it's no use. The more I think about it, the more the memory of it fades. I roll to the edge of the bed with a groan. I can tell I've slept later than I intended, although it's still not enough. Rho must have reset my clock again. I'll have to remember to scold her for it later.

I stand and turn on the lights. I move to the mirror and pull my shirt to the side, revealing my injured shoulder. It feels better than yesterday, although still not fully healed, which bothers me. Still, removing the bandage shows that the wound is closed. It's something.

I throw on some grey sweatpants and a shirt; the same standard issue clothing I've been wearing my whole life. I step out of my room and turn left, heading toward the conference room where I left Rho. Even though I slept in, no one else should be up for a while still. I want to take some time to go over the information we've gathered before getting the day started.

Rho appears over the table when I enter the room, standing next to a pot of coffee. She must have known this would be my first stop and made it in preparation. I can't help but think of it as a peace offering to apologize for the tampered alarm.

I grab a mug and pour a cup before acknowledging her. She walks around the table aimlessly, kicking her projected foot through papers. I watch her as I take a sip of the dark, bitter liquid, then set down the mug and clear my throat. When Rho turns to look at me, I freeze her to the spot with a glare.

"You messed with my alarm" I say. She shifts comfortably under my stare, and I cover up my desire to laugh with fake annoyance. "I told you to stop doing that."

"You got hurt yesterday" Rho says defensively. "I thought you needed your sleep."

"You know sleep isn't the problem here" I say, finally pulling my eyes away from the glowing form on the table.

"That doesn't change the fact that you need rest as much as anyone else, Silver." Rho's voice takes on an almost pleading quality. "You need to stop pushing yourself so hard."

I sigh. Sometimes it seems like she inherited the Alpha's mothering instincts, the way she worries about us. I suppose it's normal for her to care, though. She and I have shared a mind often enough that I sometimes wonder if she can read my thoughts. Still, I know she's wrong in this. No amount of sleep will fix my problems, and there's too much work to do for me to get the luxury of proper rest.

"What do we have?" I ask, hitting a button on the table to activate a floating hologram. The same files appear in the air; dead leads and clues too vague to do any good stare me in the face as I sip the coffee.

"Same as yesterday" Rho says matter-of-factly.

I growl slightly. I guess I had expected this. I managed to find us some allies yesterday, but that hasn't changed what's on this table. We're out of clues, and aside from seeing Gold yesterday there's been no sign of Dr. Han for weeks. I study the information for a few minutes. Like the last thousand times, fresh inspirations and astonishing breakthroughs utterly fail to appear.

I set the cup down a little harder than intended, causing some of the coffee to spill. Rho steps away from the slosh of liquid in disgust. "Careful" she says, watching the dark drink stain the pages around her.

"It's still a dead end" I say through gritted teeth.

"Why are you so angry?" Rho asks. "You knew the situation before you went to bed last night."

I run a hand through my still un-brushed hair, pulling a few strands away from my face. "I'm mad because I'm an idiot" I say. "I didn't make any progress yesterday, but I fooled myself into thinking that I had. I kept thinking that these new allies of ours would turn things around for us, but that's just stupid. They're not what we need."

"What do we need?" Rho asks cautiously.

I glare down at the newly stained papers. The phrase 'AI theory' is visible on one. "We need Epsilon" I finally answer. "The whole reason I went searching for those sim-troopers was to find him, but he wasn't there. So now we're back to square one."

"Don't see why you need Epsilon so much" Rho mutters.

I glance down at the AI, my anger fading slightly. She's been showing some very jealous tendencies lately. According to what I've read, this is normal for an AI once they become fully bonded to their host. Still, it worries me slightly. I know she's still not entirely stable, and the last thing I need is for her to start having jealous or possessive episodes like I've read about.

"You know I wouldn't replace you" I say, hoping I sound reassuring. "Epsilon is the Alpha's memories, and Alpha was copied from Project Freelancer's Director, Leonard Church. He and mom grew up together. He knew her better than anyone else. If anyone would know where to find her, it would have been him. The closest we're going to get is Epsilon."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it" Rho says grouchily. "I just don't like the idea of some other AI running around in my computers. I finally got this place set up the way I like it."

I roll my eyes. Rho is also a little territorial at times. I've worried at points if this added with her jealous moods could be a sign of rampancy, but she's too young for that. AIs usually don't go rampant until they've been active for six or seven years, and Rho's only been around for four. Still, she's not a full AI, so there's no real way to anticipate what will happen with her. I just hope she'll stick around for a good long time. She's a valuable ally and a good friend.

"At least you found Carbon" Rho says cheerily.

"Yeah" I agree, a smile edging onto my face as I start to clear away the wet papers. "There is that."

"The rest seem nice too" Rho adds. She steps around my hands as I dry off the table.

"They are" I say as I walk to the trash bin in the corner. "I didn't say they were bad people, just not what I was hoping for. I'm sure they'll help where they can." There are a few moments of silence between us as I clean the mess.

"I like them!" Rho announces enthusiastically. "I think having new people around will be good for everyone."

I give in and smile down at the AI. Rho smiles too, smug in the fact that she was able to cheer me up. She always tries to do this when I'm mad at myself. Unfortunately, she knows me well enough that it almost always works.

"Come on" I say, reaching down for the spot where she plugs into the table.

Rho's glowing body disappears as she prepares to be removed. I pull her out of the table and plug her into my head, stiffening for a disorienting couple of seconds. It's gotten easier since I've been using her more often, but the first few moments are still jarring for both of us.

Once Rho's settled in, she appears on my shoulder. "Where are we going?"

"To find the sim-troopers" I answer, turning off the holographic projectors as I leave the room. "They're still our best lead for finding Epsilon."

"But they said they don't know where he is" Rho points out.

"No, but they might have some idea of where he would go or what he's doing" I explain. "If they know why he left then we can use that to guess where he's gone."

"It'll still be just a guess" Rho says.

I sigh and turn in the direction of the living quarters. "That's the best we're going to get. At least it'll be a place to start, which is better than what we have now."