Chapter 5
What Happened To You?
"Hi, mom…"
A woman in her mid thirties stood in the doorway. She wore a light blue sundress, and most of her blonde locks were tied back in a low ponytail. A big, warm, motherly smile was on her lips, and her eyes almost sparkled at the sight of her son.
"Welcome home, Max!" she said, and moved into hug him.
But Max took a quick step backwards, keeping his hood down to cover his face all the time, as did Sally.
"Max? Oh, right! Not embarrassing you in front of your new friend. Sorry."
"It's okay, mom. Can we… can we just go inside, please? There is something we need to tell you and dad."
Susan cocked her head slightly, confused by the urgency in her son's voice, and there was something else to it; a soft, metallic reverb of sorts that she couldn't place. Her eyes were however drawn to the form of his friend, and despite wearing rather baggy clothes, Susan still noticed that they possessed female curves, and she connected the dots.
Or so she thought.
"Oh! Is it…? Yes. Yes, of course. Come in, both of you." Susan said, moving aside so they could enter, but she still took the opportunity to greet Sally. "Hi, I'm Susan, Max's mother. And you are?"
"Sally." she responded, keeping her head down as well.
"A pleasure to meet you, Sally. I'm so glad that Max made a… new friend at camp. Have a seat in one of the couches, and Carl and I will be with you both in a moment."
A few minutes later, Max and Sally sat in one couch, while Max's father, Carl, a tall man with short brown hair and beard dressed in a black shirt and jeans, sat in the opposite couch, and Susan placed down a tray with coffee, apple juice, and cookies on the coffee table between them. The curtains had all been pulled over the windows.
"So this is your new friend, Max?" Carl asked, leaning forward as Susan sat down next to him. "And what's with the hoods still being on? You haven't gotten yourself matching tattoos, or scars, have you?"
"Not… exactly." Max looked at Sally, then vented. "There's no easy way to say this, but…"
He vented again, then pulled back the hood, revealing his metallic form, and Sally did the same, and his parents went pale at the sight.
"Good heavens…" Susan gasped.
"Max, what has happened to you?" Carl asked, his eyes wide with shock and concern.
"This… this isn't a trick of some sort, is it?" Susan asked, her eyes scanning her child and his friend with great worry.
"We… we don't really know." Max said, lowering his head. For as much as he had run this scenario in his head all day, going over what he would say, how he would explain it, he just couldn't find the words any longer.
"It's my fault!" Sally blurted out, causing Max's head to snap towards her.
"Sally! That's not true!" he objected.
"But if I hadn't brought us to the lake last night, if I hadn't convinced you to swim with me, this would never had happened!"
"Both of you, calm down!" Susan said sharply, taking a breath before continuing. "Please, start from the beginning."
"Yes, now, there was a lake. At camp, I assume." Carl mused, trying to piece things together. "You went swimming, and then what happened?"
"We… we saw some strange light from the bottom." said Sally. "It was a bright blue, almost teal, and it came from a cave in the cliff side."
"It was the strangest thing." Max continued. "For some reason, we were… compelled to investigate, like mosquitoes drawn to your bug zapper, so we did. We swam down and into the cave, finding air inside, and a room that was like ripped from one of my sci-fi games."
"A room? Inside the rock? Was it carved out from the rock itself?" Carl asked.
"No, it was metallic, mechanical even, like part of a space ship." Max clarified "And that's where we found this large, crystal icosahedron."
"It was it that gave off the light, and what drew us there." Sally cut in. "We should have left as soon as we saw it floating there, but we didn't. We just… kept going."
"Then, it… well, it zapped us, turned us into this." Max looked at his mechanical hands. "I don't know how it happened, and not how I know this, but but this isn't skin deep… we're machines through and through…"
"Good God… how is this even possible?" Susan wondered.
"It shouldn't be!" said Sally, still struggling with her new reality. "This should never have been able to happen! It doesn't make sense! I…"
"Sally…" Max put his hand on hers.
"I'm sorry… I just… I haven't told my family yet, and I'm terrified over how they will react to me… I'm sorry…"
"You don't have to apologise, dear." Susan said in a soft voice. "No one can blame you for being upset over what has happened." She stood up and walked over, pulling Sally into a warm hug.
"You… you believe us?"
"Of course we do." Susan looked at Sally, then at Max. "Max may be a machine now, but he still radiates the same presence as before, so I know for a fact that he is my little baby boy, no matter how he looks. And if that is true for him, than it is true for you as well."
"It's hard not to when the evidence is sitting right in front of us." said Carl. "But I will not deny that it defies everything I thought I new about the world. Clearly, there is more to be learned."
"But what do we do about it, dad?" Max asked. "You're a scientist, sort of. Got any ideas?"
"Not much, I'm afraid." Carl held his chin, thinking. "This crystal is the key to it, that much is clear based on what you told us. It is what drew you in, and what transformed you. As Isaac Newton once said: to every action there is always opposed an equal reaction."
"Meaning?" Sally wondered.
"Honey, you're sci-babbling again." Susan said, giving her husband a knowing look.
"Right, sorry. It means, roughly, that if this could happen, it could also be possible to have it reversed, but we won't know for sure until we can study this crystal, and that's more than I can do by my lonesome. We will need professional help with such an endeavour."
"Yeah, but from whom?" Max asked. "What if the same happens to anyone that gets close to the crystal? I wouldn't be able to handle sending others to the same fate as us. And what if someone tries to misuse this?"
"He has some good points, Carl." Susan agreed. "Any help we might find needs to be trustworthy."
"Agreed, and capable of working remotely, I believe. I'll have to look into it. But for now, I guess we should just wait and see what happens while we try to figure things out."
"But what about Sally here?" Susan said, rubbing Sally's shoulder. "What about her family?"
"I… I told them that I… would be staying over with a new friend I had made." said Sally, still feeling both guilty and nervous about it all. "Max thought that you might be a bit more accepting about this, so we came here first, and he was right. But tomorrow, I have to go back home and face them. They need to know what happened to me. I'm… I'm just scared to do so…"
"Sally…" Max whispered, his hand squeezing hers.
"I'm sorry… I'm just so scared…" she sobbed.
"Hush, girl. It's alright." Susan said softly. "You're safe here with us now. We will find a way to deal with this."
"Yes, there has to be something that can be done, and we will do all we can to find whatever that is." said Carl.
"…thank you…"
"Now, let's get you all set up for staying the night here, and we will deal with your family tomorrow." Susan continued. "Unfortunately, we don't have a guest room, so we will have to figure out where you will be sleeping."
"You are all to kind. And I don't want to be a bother. I can crash on this couch."
"I don't think that's the best idea, Sally." said Max. "What if someone spots you through the windows?"
"He's right. Some neighbours are a bit too curious for their own good." said Carl, frowning at the fact that some didn't respect privacy.
"Then were should she sleep?" Susan wondered. "In the hallway? The garage?"
"She can stay in my room." said Max, earning him surprised looks from his parents and a thankful smile from Sally. "I mean, we did swim naked last night, so it's not like we've got anything to hide any longer. Besides, it's on the second floor, and my windows are always covered."
"We know. With how little sunlight you get there, some have wondered if you're a vampire." Carl chuckled. "Given the circumstances, I think that just might be the best option."
"Thank you, Max." Sally said softly.
"I'll make sure to put in an extra mattress and some pillows and a duvet for you, dear." Susan said as she stood up, giving Sally a few comforting pats on her shoulder. "While I do, Carl can order some food for us all."
"Don't mind if I do, but can they even eat food any more?" Carl looked at Max and Sally, hoping for an answer.
"I… I don't know…" Max looked at the various displays on his HUD. "I can see that I've used up some energy, but I don't know exactly what we run on now. For all I know, we can just hook up to a normal outlet."
"Even if that's the case, I am actually feeling hungry." said Sally. "I think. Maybe. I'm not sure."
"We might as well try." Max shrugged.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? You've seen what happens when melted cheese gets inside a computer." Carl said with a knowing frown.
"That was one time, dad! And I fixed it myself!" Max objected.
"That's true, but you still put that pizza slice on top of my computer."
"You're never gonna let that go, are you, pops?" Max vented.
"You can count on that." Carl chuckled. "So, whose up for pizza then, since we're on the subject?"
A little while later, a temporary sleeping spot has been arranged for Sally in Max's room, and pizza has been delivered to the household.
With tentative hands, Max took a slice of the cheese and ham pizza and brought it to his mouth. Taking a small bite out of it, he expected it to be completely tasteless.
"Well?" Sally wondered as he chewed it slowly and swallowed.
"That was… incredible! I've never tasted such good pizza!" he exclaimed, his optics flashing with excitement.
"You think?" his mother mused. "I think it tastes as they usually does from Luigi's. Not that they are bad or anything, but your reaction seems like a bit excessive."
"It must be my new taste-buds, or whatever I've got now. They must be more sensitive, or capable of picking up tastes that humans just can't register- hold on."
"Something wrong?" Carl asked worriedly, dreading that the food might cause his son harm in his new form.
"I'm getting readouts on that bite I took. Let's see… A complete index of all the ingredients, and a… an energy conversion ratio?"
"You lost me there, Max." said Sally. "More English, less nerd, please."
"Well, in layman's terms, our bodies can indeed convert food into energy. And I'm seeing no warning notices about it at all. Seems like it's safe for us to eat, and I can't tell you how happy that makes me!" Max quickly started eating the rest of his pizza slice, the first of many that evening. Two competing urges, one to eat as much and fast as possible because it was so good, and another to take it slow and savour every bite, fought for dominance in his mind.
And Sally soon felt the same after taking her first bite. At least there were some benefits of their new form.
It didn't take very long for the two teens turned machines to consume their respective pizzas, and with the long day they had had, they decided to retire for the night, going to Max's room, with Susan following them.
"I hope this will be enough for you, Sally." she said as she presented the improvised bed in the middle of the room.
"It's more than enough. Thank you so much, ma'am."
"Oh, please, just call me Susan, dear."
"If you say so."
"You know, when I saw that you were a girl, back when you both arrived, I honestly thought that Max had gotten himself not only a friend, but a girlfriend of all things. Boy was I wrong."
"Mom…" Max groaned.
"Well, you can't blame me for thinking that. You were being so secretive and strange, it was the only reason I could think of."
"Eh, fair point, I suppose." Max shrugged.
"Now, I won't bother either of you any longer, but if you need anything, anything at all, don't hesitate to ask, okay?"
"Thanks, we will, mom."
With a warm smile, Susan left the duo and closed the door.
Sitting down on the mattress, Sally looked around Max's room, taking it all in. He had shelves and display cases filled with video games, action figures, and models, and quite the impressive gaming set-up in one of the corners, with both a computer and a couple of consoles.
"You know, this is almost exactly what I imagined your room would look like." she said to Max.
"I'm glad I didn't disappoint you, Sally. And I'm sorry for my mom, she's very… well, mommy."
"Don't think for an instant that you need to apologise, Max. She's the sweetest woman I think I've ever met, and how she instantly took me in… you're really lucky to have a mother like her, and that's coming from someone who thought I had the best mom in the world. She might be down on second place now, actually." Sally giggled a little at the last statement, but her face fell soon after.
"I wonder how my mom will react to me…"
"To us, you mean. I'm going with you tomorrow, Sally."
"Thank you, but you really don't have to, Max. It's my family, and I will handle it."
"Are you sure? I will go with you if you want me to. Heck, I'm sure my parents would tag along as well, they could even drive us there and be support for us."
"Can we… just not talk about this tonight? Please? I'm already stressed enough, and it has been a very long day."
"You're right. We can talk more in the morning instead. Let's try and get some sleep."
"Right… How do we sleep? Do we even sleep at all?"
"...I don't know..."
Max's parents took it all surprisingly well, and now they have a place to stay for the time being. But Sally still needs to face her own family, and that is something that she clearly isn't looking forward to.