Casey: Still writing?

Me: Yup.

Casey: Remember what to say...

Me: Yeah, I don't own Tomorrowland, guys.

In the same manner as she did yesterday, Casey took the monorail and the sound of the cool female voice reminded her to get off. The AA receptionist greeted her with the same expression and Casey once again knocked on the door of Laboratory 3C01.

'Hello, Miss Newton. I've set her out on the seat over there,' said Dr. Wilson, pointing over at an unconscious young girl lying in what resembled a dentist's chair surrounded by a mass of wires and holograms. 'She's ready switch on. Shall we do that now?'

'Sure,' Casey replied, slightly nervous at what was about to happen. She looks a bit weird wearing a hospital gown, Casey thought, after seeing her mostly in a t-shirt, jacket and pretty much casual clothing.

Dr. Wilson moved over to one of the holographic monitors and, at the press of a button, a voice said 'commencing activation'. Casey saw a bar on a monitor start to fill up with green, along with a percentage value gradually rising from 0% to 100%. There was a small buzzing noise before the bar became full and Dr. Wilson unplugged all the wires from the girl. Both of them stood there anxiously, waiting for something to happen.

However, within seconds the girl's eyelids flickered and she sat up straight, almost as if she woke up from a bad dream. She examined the environment around her, before settling her eyes on Dr. Wilson, and then Casey.

'Hello, Casey,' the girl said in a robotic voice that might have frightened many young children. The girl realised this and rubbed her throat. 'Sorry about that, just needed to calibrate my vocal box,' she said, back in her familiar voice.

'Uhh...' Casey wasn't sure how to reply. She was mostly startled that her old friend was back up and working again.

The girl tilted her head to the side. 'Are you okay, Casey Newton?'

'Yes, I- I'm good, thanks.' She was rather surprised that she was being asked if she was okay, rather than the other way round. 'Um, how are you feeling, Athena?' At that moment Casey realised she used a poor choice of words, but she thought Athena was developed enough to understand.

'I'm very fine, thank you.' After a brief pause, she then continued. 'Did you rebuild me?'

'Um, yeah.'

'Why?'

'Well, we found your code in Nix's archives, and I thought it would be nice to have you back.'

Athena nodded in response.

'It's also Frank's birthday today, and I wanted to surprise him.' Casey didn't mention that it was also to make up for her forgetting Frank's birthday last year.

Casey realised that Dr. Wilson was still standing next to her, watching the conversation. 'Where are my manners? Athena, this is Dr. Wilson, the very skilled biotechnologist who rebuilt you.' The two greeted each other.

'We should probably get going,' Casey said. 'Thanks so much for helping me with this.'

'No problem at all. Just doing my job,' Dr. Wilson replied with a smile.

Athena slid off of the chair, but immediately fell face-first onto the floor. Casey and Dr. Wilson both jumped, worrying that she might have broken herself, but Athena simply got up and said, 'just forgot how to walk. Found the program.'

Casey thanked Dr. Wilson again, and left the laboratory with Athena. Their journey along the corridor and down the elevator was silent besides Casey's instruction, 'level 1'.

Casey had so many questions to ask, but her curiosity was suppressed by the excitement of having her friend back. So she went with, 'what is it like to be rebuilt?'

Casey saw that Athena had some difficulty answering the question. Athena thought for a moment, before responding with, 'I'm not sure. I guess it's like shutting down, but with a painful self-destruction element. That reminds me: did destroying the Monitor work?'

'Yep. The Earth thankfully did not undergo a catastrophic apocalypse. We built new recruiters, opened the doors and invited new dreamers to help rebuild Tomorrowland.'

Athena saw this as they stepped outside. What had been a desolate, derelict place was now not only how it was before the 'incident', but even more modern.

'Let's go over to Frank's. He'll be astonished,' Casey said with a grin.

Author's Note: I know some people would like to see Athena grown up, but I chose to keep Athena as a young girl because it retains the chemistry and also adds in a humour aspect. I see no problem with age differences as long as she's not involved in a sexual relationship or anything, because inside she is actually mature and grown-up.