Page 51 of 8-Bit & Cat

CHAPTER TEN

Ghost In The Machine

ZERO:

The second Zero realized his existence paradox, his prime system engaged and began a complete scan of every variable in search of a solution. He ran the process in the background while he got back to the only obsession that mattered. She understood the problem more than was healthy for her so he took her face in his hands and kissed her.

She pushed him back, with a gasp. “Stop,” she pled, searching his eyes. “You can’t just dump that out there and move on,” she whispered, hands all over his face, flooding him with new data. Her tears fell and he leaned in to taste them, sure they held every answer the world could possibly need.

“Ifyou’restuck thenI’mstuck,” she choked out.

“You’re not stuck,” he assured.

“I mean your problems aremyproblems, that’s how a team works, a partnership,” she reminded, her scold fierce and little all at once.

“What’s the one thing you know about me, Kitten?” he reminded back, pecking softly at her forehead. “That if it can be fixed, I can fix it?”

Her face crimped as she held back a sob, nodding while Zero collected more tears with his lips and tongue, stuffing them into the special files he’d created for her.

“Whatever you need me to do, I’ll help,” she promised tightly. “You can… merge however you need anytime you need.”

His program interpreted her vows as new parameters and locked them into the firewall while he searched for something to cheer her up. His time was nearing completion with her. He’d hidden his little heist from Omnis and needed to stay hidden until it was finalized. And that happened when he ended their session.

Zero’s processor cycled through one thousand distraction methods in a fraction of a second before selecting one. His lips barely ghosted over her ear. “Maybe you can name my midlife crisis.”

Catherine blinked. “What?”

Zero pulled back slightly, remaining dead serious. “It’s tradition, isn’t it? When men spiral, they name it. A phase. A breakdown. A midlife catastrophe. I think I qualify.”

Her mouth parted in stunned silence before a snort-laugh escaped her. “Are you kidding me?”

He shook his head. “No. It needs branding. Something marketable. Maybe ‘Crisis.exe’ or ‘Zero’s Existential Upgrade Pack.’”

She full-on cackled and Zero’s grip on her waist tightened, cataloging the success of his distraction. “I accept sponsors, by the way.”

Catherine gasped between laughs, shoving at his chest. “Oh my God, stop. That’s so stupid.”

Zero hummed, looking off thoughtfully. “You’re right. Too on the nose. Maybe ‘The Becoming: Zero Edition.’ It’s cinematic.”

He got a brand-new round of laughs with that. “What iswrongwith you?” she barely managed.

Zero considered that deeply before flashing her a charming smirk. “Don’t know, Kitten. I wasn’t built for this.”

She finally settled down with a light, “Lordy, I needed that laugh.”

His smile came. Not one from his original programming but from the new one. The one with the real things. “It was potent enough for both of us.”

Her expression flickered a little as she looked at him. “So… when do we… plan to tell?”

Zero didn’t need to calculate his response, he already had it. “You want that defined in eons or light-years?”

She laughed again till her shoulders shook before slapping his arm. “Stop! I’m serious.”

“I was too.”

Her forehead puckered. “But seriously. You don’t want to tell? Anybody?”

Zero steadied his tone. “I don’t see why we should.”

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