Despite finding a solution very quickly, Bernard and I spent hours discussing the logistics, examining the matter disassemblers, and doing the math to figure out how many months it would take to up the mess. Well, Bernard did.

  I brought down two trucks and half of my gathering crews to start the up. It was going to be slress, but I was starting to run low on points, so I didn’t want to i in something bigger right now. The disassemblers worked, that’s all we cared abht now.

  By the time we finished, I was pletely exhausted. Unfortunately, I couldn’t ght home. I had to stop halfway back, in one of the als, and have the bears pletely deinate everything.

  Washing down my armor when I’d been out in gas for several seds was easy. Washing down aire armored vehicle, inside and out, and a squad of bears that had been sitting in that shit for several hours? Slightly harder.

  I purchased the bears a bunch of pressure washers and some toxiralizing agents to make the process as quick as possible. It still took close to an hour.

  Once I finally got home, I shucked my armor, leaving it on the floor of the Kodiak, and stumbled into the residence like a zombie. Even though Jane was at the table, I shambled right past her and colpsed on the couch.

  “What happeo you?” Jane asked hesitantly.

  “Advanced lessons in applied math and chemistry,” I muttered as I buried my head into the pillows.

  “What?”

  “I went to the ke to help another samurai clear all those toxins. He was quite enthusiastid tried to expin how dangerous everything was and how long the up would take, but I didn’t absorb any of it.”

  Jane slowly rouhe coud sat in the easy chair across from me. “Didn’t you just go out to iigate some suspect evis? How did you end up w on ing up the water?”

  “ just got ba town, and I thought it would be a good time to go see him,” I replied. I probably should have turo face her, to be polite, but I was just too tired to move.

  “You couldn’t wait until tomorrow to do that?”

  “I donno, he was there today. Why would I wait?”

  “Because it was already early evening, and he wasn’t going anywhere?” Jane huffed. “Why do you keep pushing yourself so hard? I keep telling you to rex. Your projects will survive a couple hours without you.”

  “Do we have to discuss this now?” I moaned.

  “Yes, we do. If I don’t pin you down while you’re exhausted, you’ll just run off and find something to obsess over. You haven’t had to deal with any samurai emergencies ever since dealing with the cil, but you still work like everyone’s lives depend on it. ’t you just take it easy for a while?”

  “I don’t know how!” I admitted, leveraging myself up just long enough to turn my head towards Jane before colpsing bato the couch. “Before I became a samurai, I had to push myself twenty-four seven just to keep the kids alive. We couldn’t afford luxuries, clothes, or even to feed them every day, and I pushed myself as hard as to keep that bit of food in their mouths. Even though we live in a secure pce, where the kids have everything they need, I still feel that urgency. It’s hard to suppress nearly seventeen years of survival instincts.”

  “Well… learn! At least try. An and I both felt lost when you became a samurai, and we didn’t have anything to do, but we found ways to rex. Pace ourselves. You do it too. Just pick up a hobby. Reading, painting, video games, chessers, something other than w!”

  “There’s too much to do!” I whined.

  “You’re only w on projects that you started. They’re important, and I’m proud of you for improving the living ditions of the people around here, but the uy isn’t going to catch fire if you take an afternoon off!”

  “You don’t know that!”

  Jane’s eyes narrowed. “Really, Evelyn? You’re not even going to try? In that case I’ll have to appeal to a higher power.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, frowning.

  Jaood up and stepped towards the far side of the room. I couldn’t see where she went, but I could hear her. “Nyx, we o put restris on Evelyn’s projects going forward.”

  “Nyx, don’t you dare! You’re my AI!” I shouted as I pushed off the cou an attempt to run over. All I mao do was get one of my feet tangled in the cushions and send myself tumbling across the living room floor.

  “I may be your AI, but that doesn’t mean I have to follow your orders. I’m here as an assistant and friend, and I agree with Jane. You’ve been spending far too much time on your projects. Do you realize how difficult it is for you to exhaust yourself with all your enhas? You’ve been pulling twenty-hour days regurly,” the security bear in the er of the room expined in Nyx’s voice.

  I stared at the bear in fusion. “That ’t be right. I take breaks and e home when I’m tired.”

  “You should be doing more than taking the occasional break!” Jane snapped. “Spending half an hour with the kids, then w for aen hours is uable. Nyx, I suggest that Evelys locked out of the garage outside of w hours, except for emergencies. She should also be blocked from buying any samurai foods, unless she’s eating with the family. Maybe she’ll be more ined to e take breaks if she o attend meals in order to get fed.”

  “I survive without food,” I grumbled.

  “That’s not what you should take out of that statement,” Jane replied. “We’re doing this so you build some healthy habits, instead of w yourself to death.”

  “It’s for your own good,” Nyx added. “Spend some time with the family, go for a walk around the neighbourhood, wate TV, anything besides w. If you refuse to take things easier, I’ll lock down the Kodiaks too.”“You ’t do that!” I growled.

  “I absolutely . Like it or not, I’m the one in charge of the cybersecurity catalogs. I disable all the vehicles if I want,” Nyx replied.

  “Fine, I’ll take it easy for a while. I do that. Just watch me!” I decred as I just flopped down on the floor where I’d been sitting.

  “You get ba the couch, you know,” Jane said with a sigh. “You spend so much time running around taking care of people. I fet how much of a child you be when someories to make you do something you don’t want to.”

  “I’m tired,” I moaned.

  “We know. That’s the reason for the intervention,” Jatered. “You really o learn how to take care of yourself.”

  “The floor is cold.”

  Jane scoffed, but she still came over and hoisted me onto the couch a foot away. “You know, when you act like this, you remind me of when we were young. You were such a brat.”

  “That was a long time ago. I grew up,” I mumbled into my pillow.

  “No, you just became responsible long before you were ready too. You still have to grow up,” Jane whispered.

  “I don wanna.”

  “I hadn’t noticed,” she grunted as she pulled the b off the back of the couch, aly id it over me. “We’ll talk about this more tomorrow. Have a good sleep, you little overzealous gremlin.”

  I snored in response.