This is the last Chapter I have pre-written, so I'm posting it now to maybe motivate myself into working on chapter 14, which I can already tell is going to be a pain in the butt to write. Wish me luck, haha. Enjoy Chapter 13. We return to Roxanne :)

Chapter 13: The Only One, No More

Everyone went silent when the two humans saw each other for the first time; the interaction was insanely interesting to everyone because before this moment, it was believed there was only one human in existence. The crowd held their breaths with extreme seriousness, treating the occurrence like one which would be talked about for ages to come – a historical event that would only happen once and they were privileged to be witnesses.

At first there was just a lot of standing and blinking and slacked jaws. Then, as if by some unspoken but mutual decision from both sides, Roxanne and Bernard began to walk towards each other with slow, careful steps. They both felt as if they were in a dream, and if they walked any faster, they would wake up in a world where they were the only one of their kind. They mirrored each other's actions perfectly, raising a hand and stretching it forward to touch what could only be an illusion.

Their figure tips met. Roxanne gave a small breathy sob, "You're real." Her eyes never left his face.

Bernard swallowed thickly. "Hoyew teya li royotos," he whispered in a native language of his planet. Roxanne's brows furrowed and she was slow to realize he was talking in the Wayarian language. She had learned how to speak Wayarian in shool; language was one of the few classes she actually excelled in. A long with Megarish, a language of the scirians and her native tongue, she was fluent in Wayarian, English, and had started to teach herself Spanish. She switched to Wayarian mode, and asked him to repeat himself, please, "Raddá raddá, eslepa?"

Bernard pressed his hand fully into hers with new excitement now that he knew they could actually

Communicate. He repeated himself louder, and Roxanne translated in her mind as he enunciated clearly, "You have the skin spots."

She had to think about that for a moment before replying. Skin spots…? "Skin spots! Freckles? You have freckles?"

He smiled widely, eyes more than slightly glassy. "Freckles? Is that what they're called?" He took his hand away to roll up the sleeve of the suit he was wearing. He revealed an arm with dense, stringy muscles, but it was what was on his skin which made Roxanne smile. They were few and far between, not nearly as many as on Roxanne's face and shoulders, but they were darker and undeniably there – freckles. "Povoirans don't get freckles!"

Roxanne's smile became consuming, "Neither do scirians!" She reached out to touch his arm and pressed her free hand to her mouth to suppress her giggles. "Hair- you have hair on your body. Scirians only grow hair on their face."

"Oh yes, and on my head too! The hair on my head is soft – is your hair soft? – Povoirans have course hair – can I feel your hair?" He took the hand she had rested on his arm and placed it on his golden waves of hair, and she allowed him to explore her own hair. "Wow." They said at the same time.

Bernard's hand ended up traveling down her face and neck. "You're skin is soft too. And squishy."

Roxanne's hand remained obsessing over Bernard's scalp, "You're head is small like mine."

Their hands came to rest on each other's shoulders. Overcome by joy, they brought one another into a tight embrace. Roxanne's eyes started to leak, "We're the same."

"I thought I was the only one. I thought – I thought I was the only one like me." He hugged her tighter and tighter until she didn't think she could breath, but she could care less. She burrowed her face into the crook of his neck and wept.

Back over by the crowd, Nigmadem watched on with a storm of emotion thundering in his chest. He should feel happy for her; he should feel so happy for her right now. Roxanne found another human like her. She wasn't the last of her species after all. She must feel so relieved right now, to know she's not truly alone in the universe. Yet for some reason, seeing Roxanne hug this male human without any inhibitions whatsoever made his chest tighten and stomach churn.

"Isn't it wonderful, sir?" Minion said, wiping a pretend tear from his glass dome, "Roxanne found another human! What are the odds there would be another human on Geoluperia, and that they would come here on Deciemesh? It must be destiny, eh, Sir?"

"The odds are exponential, Minion, with far too many variables to calculate in one minute, I'd need at least three minutes to calculate an estimation in my head. But…I'm not in the mood to figure that one out."

Minion stared at his master curiously. "Not in the mood? Since when are you not in the mood to do mental math? That's like one of your top ten favorite things to do! Or was it one of your top fifteen? Oh, well, it's one of your tops anyway. What's wrong?"

"There is nothing wrong Minion," He said, crossing his arms. "Now excuse me, I'm going to go retrieve Abraham. Roxanne's too distracted to realize he's fainted."

He walked to where Roxanne was pushed out by Vivinie and picked up the teddy bear, who was still frozen and ridged with blue eyes. He wondered what caused the robot to malfunction so badly. Oh well, he thought and shrugged, should be an easy fix. Nigmadem tucked the bear under his arm, and looked around at everyone still ogling Roxanne's moment. He'd be happier if they had more privacy, all of these on lookers made him feel weird. Then he noticed the way The Minds were looking at her.

The Minds were sent to represent the best of the planet and scirian society – they were the most logical and intelligent the world had to offer and so were assigned to govern and organize the people by the Masterminds. The Masterminds were four scirians that acted as kings and queens in their own way, each from the four hemispheres of the globe. The Minds wore shimmering black capes and tall arching collars that curved around their large heads like spoons. Their clothes pulsated with strips of glowing white. But the thing Nigma was noticing about them was their glare – their glare which was directed toward the only two humans around. He heard his knuckles pop as his hands formed fists at his sides; he glared back at the spoon-heads even though they had no idea he was even looking at them. What reason do they have for looking at them that way? Then he saw them turn to speak to one another, never taking their eyes away from the humans.

What are they saying? He tried to read their lips, but they were talking really fast, he could only make about a few of the words they were saying – "…impossible…the probability of…how old they are…our noses…to be done…" He groaned; he couldn't get a clue as to what they were going on about. All he knew is that they were upset about something, and it didn't sit well with him, it left him with a bad premonition.

After a while, The Minds put the event back in order. The welcome ceremony had been completely interrupted by the meeting of the humans, and after Roxanne and Bernard were finally separated, things picked up where they left off. Both Roxanne and Bernard were reluctant to let go of each other and practically had to be ripped apart – luckily they separated without povoiran assistance. Roxanne trembled as she stood next to Nigma at the front of the crowd. She was the unresponsive to everything he said or did to her, and he began to wonder if it was all just too much for her to handle.

Yanew stared at Bernard who was standing next to him, clasping and unclasping his hands, his stare never wandered away from Roxanne where she stood in the crowd. He couldn't concentrate on The Minds as they welcomed them all to Caelumar and hoped they would enjoy the learning opportunity they were honored to have. They went on and on about how they were encouraged to make friends and have fun so long as they refrained from using their natural abilities in ways that could be destructive – which meant no practicing such things as super strength or laser vision. They mentioned something about a tour and protocol and organization and there staying arrangements, and a whole bunch of other things they had already been briefed about on their home planet. He was only half listening.

"Bernard. Psst, Bernard." Come on now, I'm whispering loud enough for his weak ears to pick up. "Psst…! Bernard…! Little buddy, you okay?" Still he didn't react. Bernard's mind was too busy reeling to worry about any kind of activity outside of his own skull.

He had so many questions for the girl like him beginning with what her name was. Both were too invested in finding all the different ways they looked the same to think about things like names. He wanted to ask her if there were any others like them on this planet but she was just as surprised to see him as he was her, he guessed she was the only other one of their kind here. Did she know what their species was called? She knew about freckles, what else could he learn from her?

His thoughts were halted when something hard hit him in the shoulder. He turned to see Yanew had walked into him with his chest. "We're heading out to our living quarters, snap out of it and get moving!" Yanew hissed, giving him a restrained shove forward. Bernard started walking forward, but kept looking back to where the girl was. "You'll see her again, I promise, Bernard. We're just settling in."

"Wha-wha-where are they taking him? Where is he going?" Roxanne asked in a shaky voice. Nigmadem jumped, it was the first thing Roxanne had said since she came back to stand next to him. Her blue eyes were wide and she looked like she was ready to race after the human male. Nigma put a hand on her shoulder in case she actually decided to sprint – she was still trembling he noticed. "Roxanne, calm down. It's okay. Their just settling in, you'll see him again. You trust me?"

She swallowed dryly and nodded, but still wasn't looking his way. That wasn't good enough for him. He waved a blue hand in her face and snapped a few times, and finally resorted to grabbing her chin and turning her head himself. He waited for her to look him in the eyes. "Hey, I said do you trust me?" Roxanne met his green gaze for a moment, and nodded again, more confidently this time. "Yeah? Good. Then you'll trust me when I say you'll see him again, right?" She nodded again. "Good. Now let me walk you home."

Roxanne nodded a few times more like it was the only thing she knew how to do, and said, "Yes, um, good idea…" Nigma offered his hand and she accepted it, taking it weakly with her own. Minion lead the way through the thinning crowd while Nigma and Roxanne followed from behind, Nigma was relieved she was starting to get her wits back.

"Roxy!" Roxanne stiffened and Nigmadem turned to see Vivinie approaching with her followers, he noticed Felleta as one of them - Or, 'Felleta the fragile' as Roxanne had called her. Felleta kept looking back and forth from Roxanne and Vivinie and acting like she didn't want to be there. Vivinie just continued to smile and talk. "Oh, Roxy, that was beautiful. Simply beautiful; nearly brought a tear to my violet eyes. I can only imagine how you must be feeling right now."

Felleta tried to speak up then. "Excuse me, Vivinie…I think we should give her some space for a whi –"

"Felleta, what did I tell you about mumbling? It's so unbecoming." Vivinie cut her off, pretending not to hear, "Now, like I was saying –"

It was Nigmadem's turn to interject, "Yes, you were saying you could imagine now she felt. So you can imagine how Roxanne might want to be left alone to her thoughts for a while. Or did you forget she was able to think again?" The friendliness of his tone made it that much more aggressive sounding.

Vivinie stammered at him, and then smiled again. "But of course, Nigmadem. Those were my thoughts exactly." She addressed the back of Roxanne's head. "Have a peaceful rest of the day, Roxanne, and happy thinking." She waved good bye and headed in her own direction, Felleta followed with an apologetic glance back at Nigma and Roxanne. Nigma gave Felleta a quick smile of gratitude, her attempt at talking not going unnoticed by him.

When Nigma turned back to Roxanne he found her face was troubled and the hand he wasn't holding was balled up. He looked at her questioningly and she answered his question before he started to ask. "I don't like how nice she's being to me. It's not normal. It's…it's suspicious."

"You think so?" He asked, tilting his head. "You don't want her to be nice to you?"

She shook her smaller head, "At one point in time I wanted to be friends with her. I would still like her to be nice to me, but…not this kind of nice. I don't know. Something is off about it."

"There's something off about a lot of things." He mused, thinking back to how The Minds had looked at her. He decided not to mention it though. She had enough on her mind as it was. With a gentle tug at her hand, he reinitiated their walking. Minion, who had been watching the entire interaction closely, took the lead once more.

The journey back to the croscalator was silent, and when they crossed the street-which was busier than ever- Nigmadem realized he didn't know where Roxanne's home was. She unconsciously began to lead them to where she lived, her guiding him by his hand rather than vice versa. Minion made his way to the back and followed from behind. Nigma wasn't sure she even realized she was taking them to her place, her eyes were unfocused again and she seemed to be running on autopilot. Looking ahead and seeing the direction she was walking in, he figured out with a little bit of surprise what their destination was. "You live at the Life Center?" He asked as he stared at the place where all kinds of animals and life forms were placed in their own exhibits. My life, I hope she isn't on display!

Roxanne started and finally remembered he and Minion were still there. "Um, y-yes – Yes, this is where I've lived since infanthood." She said as Nigmadem started walking them toward the front entrance. The employees stationed there gave the group odd looks. "No, Nigma," She corrected with a small smile, "I don't go in that way. I live in the building to the side."

"Oh." He said, and then smiled, still looking at the front entrance. "Well, we should walk through there together sometime and look at the animals. Not that there isn't anything you haven't seen already, since you live here and all…" Nigma trailed off near the end lamely. Roxanne just giggled and her smile grew, "Well, I'm sure it will be a new experience to have someone to look around with."

When he brightened, Roxanne started to walk them toward the door to the apartment she stayed in with Nannarry. They slowed when they neared the door, and Roxanne turned to Nigma with warm eyes. "Thanks for walking me home." She said.

"You're welcome." When her eyes moved down to his arm, he remembered Abraham who he was still holding to his side. "Oh, right!" He handed her the frozen robot, "I picked him up for you when…you know. He seemed to have feinted or something. I could fix him for you. If you need help, that is." He added the last part quickly.

She took the teddy bear and studied him with calculating eyes, "That's okay, I can fix him. This wouldn't be the first time he's glitched." And I have a few questions for him when he wakes up. She tucked him under her arm and fiddled with the key-band around her wrist which would make the door open automatically for her. "So, good bye then, Nigmadem. Good bye, Minion."

"Good bye, Ms. Ritchi!"

"See you soon, Roxanne."

They watched the door slide back and forth and her disappear behind it.

Nigma stared at it for a moment and signed. Just as he was about to turn around and start heading away, he heard someone's angry voice from beyond the door. He met Minion's eyes and they share a look. And then Nigma took a step backward toward the door.

"Sir, you wouldn't." Minion admonished in a whisper.

Nigmadem took another step toward the door.

"Sir…! Sir, please, it wouldn't be right." The fish persisted fretfully.

Nigma made it back to the door and pressed his ear against it. It didn't open for him because he didn't have a key-band for it. He heard Minion groan and tap his metal fingers together, and then the fish gave into temptation and walked closer to join him in ease dropping.

"I thought I told you to stick to the back of the crowd." Nigma thought the voice must have belonged to Roxanne's mother- err, guardian.

"I did, but –" He heard Roxanne try to speak.

"Then why was your face broadcasted for everyone to see?"

"I didn't want to go to the front, I was forced –"

"This isn't good. This is not good."

"Nothing bad is going to happen!"

"This is awful, is what it is. It's horrible."

"Don't even mention the fact that I met another human."

"And he'll be in trouble too! I knew I should have made you stay here. And that boy should have stayed on Geoluperia!"

"How can you say that? What do you think is going to happen?"

"I'm not sure…but something – something is going to happen. So many people saw you, if – hey, where are you going? Don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you. Ritchi? Ritchi!"

Nigmadem and Minion heard the sound of footsteps going fainter as they became more distant, and the older woman's complains died off into a fit of violent coughs. The pair straightened up, looked at each other, and started walking away, whistling nonchalantly with their hands clasped behind their backs.

Roxanne walked away from Nannarry's paranoid ramblings and escaped to her room. She had a lot on her mind and had heard enough, and so chose to end the one-sided conversation early. After leaning on the door for a moment to relax, she went to sit on her bed and laid Abraham down in front of her flat on his back. His body was still ridged and his eyes were still a flat blue.

She knew how to fix him. When Abraham glitched like this the first time a few years back, she did a little research about him on her Earth Encyclopedia. She learned that Abraham was one of many teddy bears made by a franchise called F.B.B, Forever Buddy Bears. F.B.B's were robotic toys programmed to be a playmate for children. They came in all colors and were very popular back before the sun died. Abraham had simply been altered so that instead of being a playmate, he was programmed to be something like a parent or guardian. F.B.B's were known to freeze up when they thought about something too hard and couldn't figure it out, or thought about too many things at once. She supposed the trait had stayed with Abraham even after his alterations.

Roxanne rubbed her fingers over his tattered nose lightly for a moment before pressing down really hard on it with her middle finger. "Come on stupid button, budge…" She growled at the stubborn thing. Eventually, after some flustered stabbings with her fingers, something underneath his nose gave in with a 'click!'

Sighing, she sat back to watch him reboot. The robot's eyes flashed a few times before staying black and his arms and legs gyrated as his programming restarted. It was the same thing each time – flash, flex, and wake up. His eyes restored there usually glimmer of life when he finally regained consciousness. Abraham sat up, looked around, and then looked at Roxanne. "We have returned to your bedroom, Ms. Ritchi." He observed.

"That's right. The povoirans went off to settle in after being welcomed to the planet. But you missed all of that. Tell me, what is the last thing you remember?"

"You and I were taken to the front of the crowd."

"And after that?"

"I malfunctioned again, Ms. Ritchi."

"And why did you malfunction, Abraham?"

"I remembered."

"What did you remember?" She asked with narrowed eyes.

"I remembered it when I saw the other human with the povoirans."

"I didn't ask when, I asked what. What did you remember Abraham?" She bent down until she was eye level with him. "When you spotted the other human, you said you restored a memory about a brown eyed infant. What does that mean?"

Abraham's intuition told him he was in trouble. "I remembered one of the days when you and I were traveling to his planet. Another earth rocket crashed into ours. Within the rocket was another earthling. It was that rocket which caused ours to become stranded in the asteroid field."

"Robots don't just forget things like that, Abraham. You erased that memory." She accused, poking him in the head. "Why did you erase that?"

"According to my calculations at the time, there was a 90% likeliness the other infant would perish. I erased the memory so as not to hurt you. The infant was supposed to die, Ms. Ritchi."

"I don't believe this." Roxanne said holding her head in her hands. She got up to pace. "All of this time I thought I was the last human. All of this time. And you knew all along that wasn't true. All of this time wasted when another human was only on the next planet over. Ridiculous."

"I was only trying to protect you, Ms. Ritchi." He added quietly.

"It doesn't matter anymore. I know now. But, Abraham? The next time you see something as important as that, and you feel the need to delete it for my sake." She turned to glare at him, "how about you don't."