Ora stood tight next to Zev. This time their electrical fields formed a jouled halo.

“First” Ora softly spoke, “You agree to delete the Suspicion software and tell me why you did what you did. Downloading darkware like that is risky.”

“We both came here for a reason, to get clean” Zev reminded, “I know I should have approached the situation differently, I can’t save you all the time.”

“We’re both addicts” Zev continued, “We will always desire a full charge. But you went to the extreme, you almost ran dry. There’s no repairing that, a burnout never lights back up.”

“You were always stronger than me Zev” Ora nudged. “Remember the topping-off parties, those were wild, I could shoot up neon for hours. And then admission into the Solar Sanctuary. No dirty juice, no white outs, nothing but a Solar Umbrella and a wide beach. Remember Tonk catching that electric eel?”

“He amped out.” Zev whispered.

Ora sighed deeply and leaned into the setting suns, “My God, I don’t miss the smell of electrical fires.”