(Charon)

I wake with my head against the table in the kitchen. Papers stick to the side of my face, as I pick myself up. Blinking, I wipe sleep from my eyes. Exhaustion must have gotten the best of me, because I have no idea when I fell asleep. Across from me, Dezbe also sleeps. Sun shining in, tells me that it is morning, and I know there is business to attend to.

Wasting no time, I rise and leave my home. It is still early, and the sun is low in the sky. Still, this cannot wait. Gob is needed, and I know Barrows is staying with him and Zack. I am still tired, and not highly alert. It does not matter. Right now, I can think of only one thing. I cannot let Dizzy down. Let Dezbe down. I cannot fail my family, and allow Cain to remain in a suspended state of sleep. That is how I've come to coping with it. By wrongly convincing myself, he is only in a stasis, and not truly dead. Truth be told, I do not know if he is alive, or not. The whirring we hear near him could be an indicator of a failsafe system, or a system failure. But I cannot let my daughter down. It kills me inside, to see her cry. She is my flesh and blood. The product of the love Dezbe and I have for one another. To know, I couldn't measure up to her standards of 'daddy can do no wrong' hurts more than I could have ever imagined.

I knock loudly on Gob's door, stifling a yawn and lighting a cigarette. The nicotine helps my body waken, if not impairs it a bit. The first cigarette of the day is always the hardest. It makes me lightheaded, disoriented, dizzy. As I stare at the sign above Gob's shop, he opens the door. I look down at him, and know like me, he has just woken up.

"What is it this early? Wait…are the kids alright?"

Gob's alert when he mentions the children. I take a drag of my cigarette, and sigh.

"I need your help, and I need Barrows. It is important, and immediate."

"Charon what's wrong? Everything okay?"

"Wake Barrows and bring Zack for all I care. I need you at the house."

He invites me in without further questioning. He notices the tone I use, and understands. I don't have to wait long, in the lobby of his shop, before Zack and Barrows come downstairs, followed by Gob. Barrows, knowing more about Cain than either of them, senses something is amiss.

"What went wrong?"

Barrows gruffs, and I put my cigarette out.

"Cain needs your help. A doctor, and a mechanic."

"A mechanic? Charon what the hell would you need a mechanic for if you need a doctor?"

Gob asks, as I try to rush them from the house. Eventually, I succeed, and they begin to follow me down the steel ramp and towards the hill of my house. The grass is wet beneath my boots, and I shake my head.

"Because you can rebuild and repair things, Gob."

"Yeah but, this has to do with Cain."

"And he may need rebuilding."

There's a silence, and I realize…the person I have raised and loved as a son his entire life, may most certainly be dead. The feeling of dread looms over me, as the sun vanishes behind a dark storm cloud. Barrows takes over the conversation, as I get lost within my own mind.

"Cain is…a highly evolved android. Putting it mildly, Gob."

"What? What? What the hell are you talkin' about? What?"

"Precisely what he says, Gob. Cain is an android. The short version, is that he was created by the people who trained me. Human organs, created by machines and programming, to create a person."

I tell him as we near my home. He's still trying to wrap his mind around it, while I grow impatient with details.

"Charon, why didn't you tell me? I…I don't even know what to say…Does Dezbe know? Dizzy?"

"They know, Gob. Understand, Cain is a man in his blood, organs, emotions and mind. But a machine made him. A machine runs him. His cells, instead, are programs, putting it mildly."

"I can't believe this…"
"And I need you to help him."

Gob can't wrap his mind around it. I lost my calm for a minute, and turn to face them.
"He needs Barrows to study him, and he needs you, Gob, to rebuild him if you can. I will not let my wife and daughter mourn if there if a chance to save him. If there is any possible solution to cure him, goddamnit I'm going to take it. I refuse to let my daughter, know what it feels like, to lose the one you love."

I tell Gob, and his face falls. He tries to connect the dots, as we stand outside my home. Silently, his mind works, and he looks at me.

"…I knew there was more to them, than they let on. Fuck. Of course I'll help you. I don't…want to see Dez or Dizzy sad, either. But you have to tell me why he won't wake up."

Barrows and I go into an explanation so Gob can understand, and Zack can know. If there's any extra knowledge he picked up in the Wasteland, and can use, it's best he knows the back story. They seem to follow, as we explain the chemical coding, binding Cain to Dizzy until one dies. Gob doesn't pass judgment, on Cain and Dizzy for their close relationship. Gob cares too much about them, to be angry or prejudiced about it. In reality, there is no real reason to be angry with them. Had they perhaps, been true siblings it would then be upsetting. But they're not, and Gob knows this. It eases the shock. It makes everything easier to swallow.

"I'll do what I can, Charon, but I'm no android builder. If I can't do anything, then promise me something?"

"What?"

I ask, as I open the door to my home, where Dezbe still sleeps.

"That you'll take him to Rivet City with Barrows. There are people there, who can fix him, if we can't."

"That was going to be my next move."

And it was. If Gob and Barrows could do nothing, I would take Cain to Rivet City. Because as long as that whirring is present, there is hope.

"I'm going to need some papers…"

Barrows says as he makes his way to the table, ignoring Dezbe, who soon wakes.

"Charon…what…what's going on?"

"Exactly what I told you would happen last night."

She looks at Gob, Zack, and Barrows. Nodding, Dezbe sits up so Barrows can look at the papers beneath her resting head. When he compiles a small pile of them, he nods at me.

"Where is he?"

I point upstairs, and lead them. As we reach Cain's bedroom, I knock the door lightly.

"Dizzy? Dizzy I'm coming in."

Inside, Dizzy sleeps. She has herself wrapped around Cain, and in her sleep, tears fall from her eyes. I squeeze the doorknob, as I see my daughter clinging to Cain, crying, and even in her sleep, hoping for a miracle. Hoping for something that…perhaps, may not come true.

"Dizzy."

I walk towards her, and shake her gently. She moans, but gives no protest to opening her eyes.

"Daddy…"

Reaching up, her arms warp around my shoulders. I hug her back, as she buries her face in my neck.

"I had...a dream but…it wasn't a dream, was it?"

"No, Dizzy. It wasn't."

Her grip around me tightens, and I hold back tears. I hate, to see her in this pain. I wanted to protect her from this. I wanted her, to never have to feel this way. It's my failure.

"Barrows and Gob are here to help, Dizzy. They're going to do everything they can."

Gob and Barrows murmur behind me, and I hear the shuffling of papers.
"I want to stay with you, dad."

I nod, and lift her up with ease. She grips my shoulders like she would as a child, and hides herself in my neck. In her mind, she is a child right now. I don't wish to treat her like one, but my instincts tell me, she needs it. She needs the gentleness and sensitivity one would give to a child.

"Alright."

Moving her as she holds me, I sit down at the end of the bed, making room for Barrows and Gob to do what they can. The first thing Barrows does is check Cain for eye stimulation. Opening his eyelids with his fingers, he looks to see if his pupils dilate or have any reaction to light.

He shakes his head, as he lets go of Cain's eyelids. I make sure Dizzy isn't watching as I hold her. She's smart, and would know…that…hope doesn't shine as brightly as it does, in the stories I would tell her, of princesses and princes. Gob looks over the papers Barrows gave him, his eyebrows furrowing, while Zack sits in the background, silent. Rain soon sprinkles the window, as Barrows checks for pulse, heartbeat, and other signs of life.

"…Nothing."

He shakes his head, letting Cain's wrist fall. I feel Dizzy move her tired head, and quickly start to stroke her hair. She can hear, but perhaps, I can keep her from seeing the hopeless looks.

"I want to see, dad."

"No, you don't."

With Gob's help, they remove Cain's wet and dirty jacket and shirt. The cuts that he suffered from…from something, illuminate his body. Looking at him, reminds me of myself. Not because he is what I would look like, but because he is just as scarred.

"Here, look."

Gob says, pointing to something on the piece of paper in his hand. Barrows looks at it, and they read it over.

"Hm…perhaps."

"Perhaps what?"

I ask them, eager for any shred of good news.

"Perhaps…no see here, that wouldn't work."

Any shred of good news is broken by the logic and common sense of Barrows. A small detail, overlooked by Gob. Dizzy pries herself from me, and turns around. She sees Cain, shirtless, wounded, laying there with no response to life. Her expression is blank, as she shakes her head.

"…Just admit there's no bringing him back."
"Dizzy, they just got here."

I argue, but she looks at me, with tears in her bloodshot eyes.

"It doesn't matter! There's no bringing him back! You're just trying to…trying to drag it out so me and mom don't feel this way! He's not coming back, dad! I've accepted it, so why can't you?"

I stare at her, at my daughter, as she bares her teeth in frustration and looks at me in sadness and anger. I remain calm, although seeing her like this, is agony.

"Because you have not accepted it, either, Dizzy."

"Yes I have!"

"Then why do you still cry?"

"Because! Because…because…"

She looks at Cain, and before I can stop her, jumps on him. She brings her hand down on his face, open, and the impact shatters my ears.

"Wake up! Goddamn it I need you! I need you, you stupid fuck! We're not supposed to be like mom and dad! You're never supposed to leave me! You're never supposed to leave! Wake up…wake up…wake up…"

She hits him, sobbing, until I can pull her off of him. Until Gob, Barrows, Zack, and myself can subdue her. She struggles and fights us, every step of the way. She gnashes her teeth, scratches, kicks, punches, and even bit my gloved hand. Her anger makes her stronger, and her conviction drives her. When we finally pry her away, and push her into a corner, the whirring of Cain's mechanical mind silences her, and she looks at him, with tears pouring down her face.

"…wake up…wake up…wake up…"

"Dizzy! Dizzy! Calm down!"

Zack yells, and she looks at him.

"I know! I know it hurts! I know you're angry but calm down! I know what it feels like…so…calm down…please."

Dizzy listens to Zack, we all do, and release Dizzy. She falls to the floor, a defeated pile of flesh and bone. I have to leave the room. I cannot…bear to see her in such distress.