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Fish or Cut Bait

“Maybe we could take a look,” Rae mused. “Could be a Marauder base…”

“Aren’t you forgetting someone?” Violet asked, converting to robot form in a clatter of moving parts. “The other me and the other you are back at my house. That’s going to be one of the first places the Marauders will look.” She shook her head. “I don’t know why the other you let her go there. Unless she was as eager to stop existing as you seem to be.”

Rae sank down by the edge of the gorge. “Go on then. Go save them. Leave me here.”

“Are you really so eager to die?” Violet asked. She stepped forward and scooped Rae up.

“Hey, what—?” With a series of ratcheting pops, panels opened all along the front of the scooter robot’s body, arms, and legs. Microfilaments looped out and around Rae, pulling her inside the robot’s exoskeleton form, which closed around her.

“If you really want to give up so easily, I can just dissolve you down into fuel right here and now. The Marauders won’t get you, and I get a nice full tank. How about it?”

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