I apologize that this one came so late; me and the family did something special for Thanksgiving and we didn't get back until today – now that cumulative hits are back up, I will go back to my original plan of every 500 hits writing a new chapter. Thanks so much for being patient. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Ergo Proxy: Proxy of Life

Month ?

"Pino! Pino!"

No answer.

"Pino, where are you?"

No answer once again.

Kristeva sighed, and faced her worst fear: Pino had finally run off into the dome, which she was absolutely, under no circumstances was allowed to do. Desdra dome was unfamiliar, and everybody (with the exception of Pino, of course) had agreed to have the AutoRaves stay behind and hidden with the Rabbit – nobody wanted to risk the stealing and dismantling of the ship, and the AutoRaves were immediately ruled with the thing, as they were infected with Cogito. Who knew how the citizens of the pitiful dome would react towards robots that thought and spoke for themselves?

Vincent had also wanted Re-L to stay behind, due to her condition, but Re-L, being the obnoxiously stubborn and pigheaded woman she was, argued with him until her face was almost blue, and had glared at Vincent until his face turned an almost-green, then the final words of "For me" had been said and Vincent's head had fallen and he had trudged away like a dog with its tail between its legs, with a proud and smug Re-L leading ahead, gun in hand. Kristeva had seen no more of them after that.

And then, when Pino had seen that Vincent and Re-L were going together, she had wanted to come along too. She said that she could pretend to be Re-L and Vincent's friend (she had meant companion AutoRave), but Vincent had turned suddenly cold towards Pino, probably from being kicked around by Re-L, and had forced her to stay. Of course you could just see the disappointment and resentment in Pino's eyes once Vincent had discarded her and ran off to catch up to his pregnant Re-L, but a couple hours later, she had returned to her normal, bouncy, restless self.

But why had she run away? Kristeva knew that Pino had been quite bored, but she would've expected better from the little one not to run off – especially if it meant putting other's lives in danger. And now Kristeva had to go off and find her.

Couldn't she just leave Pino to fend for herself? Ah, but she, too, had found herself attached to the girl. Would she be able to risk her life for her? Well, Kristeva would see to that when the time came.

And the time was now; to leave the safety and guaranteed shelter of the cave to find one of her…family, or to save herself and remain.

Tentatively, Kristeva took her first few steps out into the very dim light, her hands folded together. She stood in her most businesslike manner, all scanners alert and stretched as far as they could go.

This is idiotic, this is idiotic, she kept telling herself as she became more and more wary as she got closer and closer to Desdra.

Something rustled or moved beside her, and Kristeva jumped, mentally kicking herself afterwards. She sensed the very outskirts of the dome after about twenty minutes – it was now or never.

Much, much sooner than expected, Kristeva was standing at the foot of the dome, close enough to reach her hand out and touch its cold outer-shell, thoroughly surprised at herself for making it this far. She was no coward, but there were certain things she would not do. This was the line, and she was teetering on the very last millimeter before crossing. Her mind needed some sort of convincing, and much more than some gentle breeze to push her over, but for now her thoughts were blank and fearful. Nothing came to mind, and Kristeva silently turned back, violently beating down her ego and self-esteem for making such a foolish choice to come this far.

"Pino can take care of herself, it was her fault in the first place she came…" she mumbled to herself, her metallic voice sounding more and more emotional with every word that she forced herself to say.

Emotional…since she had become infected with Cogito, it had been Kristeva's wish to be a master, not some puppet controlled by a few spoken words. You could say it was her raison d' etre. Her raison d' etre…raison d' etre…master…raison d' etre…

Kristeva lifted her head proudly, stunned at the revelation that had come upon her. Raul Creed; she had promised him that she would take care of his Pino, that she would always look after her. She had loved her master, her Raul Creed, and now some silly virus was threatening to consume her with thoughts that she thought she could never think before.

Contemplating her existence, puh, that was merely Cogito tightening its grip over what she stood for, trying to blow out her candle flame, her raison d' etre. Kristeva raised her head with a snap and marched determinedly back to the foot of the dome, thinking of a way to get in. Perhaps Cogito was still a good thing, even though it had threatened to take away what she had loved. If she could somehow mix her life and intertwine it with what Cogito was trying to thrust upon her…No! No more distractions. She must pay attention to what she is doing now. Her existence was at stake.

. . .

Pino wandered the streets of Desdra dome, frantically searching for her friend.

"Loretta, where are you? I'm lost." The last sentence came out no more than a terrified whisper. Pino clutched at her hair and bit her lower lip, wishing that tears would come to her eyes like a normal girl.

She was completely and utterly lost: Loretta had somehow abandoned her, leaving her stranded in the strange streets. There were few people and even less AutoRaves, and they merely just passed her by, glancing at her with an unsettling look or just passing over her altogether. It was quite frightening.

At Romdeau dome, Pino had known almost everybody since she had been the Director of the Security Bureau's daughter, and now with unfamiliar and scary faces greeting her at every turn, it was somewhat unnerving.

Pino sat against a wall with a huff and rubbed her eyes, trying to look like she was crying. Perhaps Loretta wouldn't be able to bear to see her friend sad and would come out. This game of tag was no fun anymore. She even sniffed a couple times, just for effect.

Small footsteps sounded around the corner of the building that Pino had rested against, and Pino jumped up with delight, eager to see that her charade had worked.

"Loretta!" she yelled, but her smile faded when she saw that it was merely another scary person. The blonde-haired lady looked at her in surprise, then whipped out her cell phone and began chatting furiously to it. Pino's face turned into a pout and she turned and ran down the alleyway.

"Little girl, wait!" came a cry from behind her. Pino didn't stop, but craned her neck to look behind her. The woman's face looked weird; it was an expression between fear and triumph, something Pino had never seen before, not on anyone. She hadn't realized she had slowed her running until the lady – who had apparently been running also – caught up to her, kneeling down and taking her by the shoulders.

"Little girl, how come I've never seen you before?" she asked Pino. Pino merely blinked at the lady, her face turning curious. What was that face that lady had been making just a few seconds ago?

The lady smiled, her pink lip gloss shining as the light reflected off it differently. Her messy blonde hair was pulled up into a careless bun, and her blue eyes shone with kindness beneath her glasses. "Are you lost?" she tried again.

Pino nodded solemnly. "I'm looking for Loretta." Then her bubbly personality began to take a hold of her. "We are playing tag!" And with that, she beamed at the lady.

"Loretta? I don't believe I know her either," the lady replied, her face shifting into the way it does when grown-ups talk to little children. "What's your name?"

Pino was taken aback. "But Loretta said she's been here for a very long time! She told me herself!"

"Darling, I don't know anybody by the name of Loretta here."

"Do you have a bad memory, perhaps?" asked Pino, getting more and more frustrated with this lady.

The lady laughed – a perfect, soothing laugh that sounded like bells. "Why don't you come with me, and I'll help you try to find Loretta. My name is Rona. What's yours?"

"Pino," smiled Pino, and Rona took Pino's small hand and led her off in the opposite direction she had come.

"Now, Pino, where have you last seen Loretta?" she asked, pretending to look around, but all Pino heard was the beeping of her cell phone.

Pino tried to block out the noises without much success, and said matter-of-factly, "By the tin man's shop."

"The tin man? Where is he?"

"Down by the big road that goes across the sky," replied Pino, looking up at the large highway constructed overhead.

"Hmm, you might have to give me a little bit better description than that – that's a very large road," Rona sighed, and it was true, for it extended the entire length of the dome, from end to end, meeting in the tower in the center.

"Oh…"

Rona saw the look on Pino's face, and changed the direction of the subject quickly. "Well, we'd better start looking then."

. . .

Kristeva had never been so disgraced in her life. Running through the streets of a dome smaller than her house like a vagabond…quite degrading by her standards. There was trash littered in the back alleyways, and so many dead ends had appeared before her that it was enough to make anyone scream in frustration.

This whole entire city is like a gigantic maze, she thought angrily to herself. She felt as if she had been going in circles the entire time, always meeting a brick wall at every turn. And there was no assistance! No random AutoRaves floating around to try and help her out – not that she needed it anyway, she was sure she could find her own way through the dome. Besides, she couldn't be met by anybody or anything, which was why she had been keeping to the back alleyways.

After turning into another dead end, Kristeva pounded her fist into the wall, frustrated. What was wrong with this city?

The sound of someone running had now approached unexpectedly, and Kristeva looked around for somewhere to hide, but no sooner had she looked to her left and right, when a little girl in a blue coat and a black beret appeared before her, staring at her like a frightened deer. She stared at Kristeva for some time, and Kristeva stared right back.

The girl realized that Kristeva was not about to talk any time soon, so she murmured a sweet, "Hello."

Kristeva nodded back, to show that she had acknowledged the girl's voice, and that she was not rude. Silence had now returned upon the pair, and Kristeva had decided to do a scan of this girl, seeing if she was carrying any weapons or anything that would contact some bigger presence to investigate.

"That's not going to help, you know," the girl said unexpectedly.

Kristeva started; how had this girl known she was taking a scan?

"You need to get out of here," the girl said to Kristeva, her face impassive.

If Kristeva could have narrowed her eyes, she would have. "No," she spoke finally.

"This place is not for you."

"I will not leave without Pino or the others," Kristeva spat at the girl. "Who are you to tell me to leave?"

Suddenly, tears sprang to the girl's eyes, and her mouth contorted to try to keep her from crying. "I don't want to die," she whispered, her voice choking up.

Kristeva hesitated – another costly decision had to be made; should she comfort the girl in hopes that she could possibly lead Kristeva to Pino and perhaps even Vincent or Re-L? But it could be a trick: the girl could have somebody waiting to try and capture her.

The tears began to roll down the child's cheeks, and she began to sniffle. Deciding to do the right thing, Kristeva walked up rather sternly to the girl, before kneeling down rather cautiously, shocked at the pain in the girl's eyes. She reached her arms up and around the girl, holding her close while also staying very still, alertness radiating from her for the first few minutes as the girl continued to cry.

Slowly but surely, the girl stopped crying and Kristeva released her, still holding her comfortingly by the shoulders. Innocent eyes adorned the girl's face as she spoke once more, rubbing her eyes to wipe away the remainder of the tears and a slightly runny nose.

"My name is Loretta," she said softly. "If I take you to Pino, will you leave?"

"At once," replied Kristeva, meaning both when and how quickly to take her to the small AutoRave.

"But you must take him with you," Loretta said, almost menacingly, forcing Kristeva to promise her.

"Pino is a girl," scolded Kristeva as Loretta took her hand and whisked her away from where they were.

. . .

"We're at the intersection of 5th and Ridgeview," mumbled Rona into her phone.

"Good, we'll be there shortly."

"It keeps talking about this 'Loretta', do you think you should bring extra?"

Silence, then, "We need not concern ourselves with Loretta at this instance."

"I'll ask later."

"I'll bring extra just in case – if it's a companion, it needs someone."

Rona hung up her phone, only to find Pino staring into her face on the park bench.

"What's that?" asked Pino, her wide eyes curious.

"It's a cell phone."

"What's it for?"

"It's how we communicate."

"Don't you have AutoRaves to help you communicate?" Pino flopped down next to Rona on the park bench.

Rona chuckled at the irony of the situation she was currently in. "No, this is how people used to communicate – the people of Desdra find it much more effective than AutoRaves."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you another time." Rona breathed a silent sigh of relief that she had been able to evade Pino's pestering this time, even though she knew there was more to come. She was right.

"Who were you talking to?"

"Oh, they were just some nice people who agreed to help us in our search for your friend," smiled Rona, and Pino saw that this smile was a fake one.

"You're lying," Pino said, her face expressionless as she faced forward on the bench.

Rona's beautiful blue eyes opened wide at Pino's statement, but she mumbled an almost inaudible, "Yes."

"I'm in trouble, aren't I," Pino said, almost to herself.

Rona's eyes now turned cold. "Yes."

. . .

"Loretta, where are you taking me?" gasped Kristeva as she raced by the street.

"To Pino," was all Loretta said.

Kristeva knocked into a cart in the streets, stumbling and barely re-catching her footing as Loretta flew along, taking a few sharp turns. A dark alleyway loomed up ahead, but Kristeva was not afraid of it. She mentally turned on her scanners and focused on keeping pace with Loretta.

. .

"According to my scanner, there's another one coming."

"Good thing you brought extra."

. .

Suddenly, Loretta stopped. It was gradual enough where Kristeva could alter her balance sufficiently, but she immediately noticed that they had stopped. Her small hand gently left Kristeva's and soon she had disappeared from view, but Kristeva could still sense she was there – probably watching over, making sure that she kept her word.

A small figure was seen up ahead, its lips puckered as if it was trying not to cry. But it couldn't cry. It was just frightened.

"Kristeva!" yelled Pino as she ran towards Kristeva with open arms, and Kristeva's arms opened also as she scooped Pino up and hugged her close.

"Pino, where have you been!?" cried Kristeva. Pino buried her face in Kristeva's shoulder, and a gun barrel came at close proximity to hers and Pino's head. Kristeva tensed, a new emotion, rage, filling her.

"Two new AutoRaves…haven't had anything this fun in a long time," a man whispered. "You must have come with that strange lady with the big belly…she'll be safer here without you."

Pino whimpered at the man's voice, squeezing Kristeva.

"Andrew," came a new voice – it was a woman's. "Don't shoot."

"Laws are laws, Dr. Mayennal," the voice snickered, flexing his finger.

"Bring them to the lab for testing; look at the way they care for each other – perhaps we can learn something from them. When we're done, if they're not completely dismantled, then you can shoot them." The female voice sounded intrigued, but was well-masked by a cold tone.

"Damn," the man swore.

Pino began to shake violently in Kristeva's arms, and it took nearly all the effort left in Kristeva's body to not join in with her.