AUTHOR'S NOTE: Only one more chapter after this. I'm excited to finally finish this.

The Commander sat uncomfortably in the passenger seat chair, hands in his lap and looking straight on at the road ahead. His mind was racing, many thoughts popping in and out of his head all at once. He couldn't stop thinking about what Eaglebones had told him earlier. His heart felt like it was about to burst, pumping blood through his body so rapidly and with such force. He closed his eyes and tried to compose himself.

"You seem tense. Is something wrong?"

Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. There was no way he was going to calm himself down. He could only get close to a normal breathing rate and heartbeat when he pretended Jimmy wasn't there, and this fact didn't bode well in his mind.

"I'm fine," he stated coldly. Colder than intended, albeit.

The road dragged on in front of them, the roaring of the asphalt under them and the gentle bouncing and rocking of the vehicle doing nothing to take away from the unnerving silence of the night. The Commander took a deep breath. Breathing in, one Mississippi, two Mississippi, breathing out, one Mississippi, two Mississippi.

He decided he was ready to say something.

"Jimmy?"

The robot hummed inquiringly.

"Yes?"

The Commander chickened out. He decided mindless conversation was better for the moment. He hesitated for a moment, trying to think of a conversation starter that might leave him room to change his mind and speak up about what was eating him.

"What's it like being a robot?"

Jimmy shrugged.

"I don't know, Commander. What's it like being a human?"

The Commander didn't have an answer to that. The tram was at risk of devolving back into silence.

"Do you, like, have emotions and stuff?"

"Hmm..." Jimmy thought for a moment. "I feel what I'm programmed to. I analyze the situation and react in the way my software deems appropriate."

The Commander almost felt disappointed, a sigh noticeable in his tone.

"So like... all you feel is just the result of electric pulses?"

"Isn't that all emotions and thought are in the first place?"

The Commander opened his mouth to say something, but stopped before anything could come out. The robot was right. He slumped in his seat, thinking hard about everything all at once. It was tiring. He could feel it eating away at him.

He sighed. There was no way he could stall any longer. He turned his head away and spoke in a hushed voice that Jimmy could only barely hear over the roar of the vehicle.

"Hey, Jimmy?"

"Go ahead, I'm still listening."

"There's actually something I've been wanting to talk to you about all night. I've sorta been putting it off."

Jimmy looked genuinely curious. He turned his head slightly to look at the Commander.

"What's on your mind?"

The Commander took a deep breath. This was it. The hesitation in his voice caused Jimmy to lean slightly towards him, keeping one hand on the steering wheel, thinking that maybe it was something that the Commander wouldn't want to say too terribly loudly. The Commander decided not to stall anymore; he had a gnawing feeling that if he didn't say it now, he would never be able to say it again.

"When I was talking to Eaglebones earlier, he got me starting to think that maybe-"

He was interrupted when Jimmy's eyes suddenly shot open wide as the vehicle lurched unexpectedly, the robot whipping his head around to face forward. He let out a deafening scream, loud enough to startle the Commander, who jumped from being sharply pulled out of his thoughts and sat up with a start, darting his eyes back and forth in panic to try to figure out why Jimmy was freaking out so badly.

There was a horrible, chilling, deafening sound, followed by a horrible, chilling, deafening silence as the Commander blacked out.