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Part 62}

“Wow, I uh...you look amazing” I stammered. Helper sat before my workstation, connected to it through a USB cable running from the side of her head to a port just under the monitor. She wore a glittery purple wig, the hair so long she would trip over it if she were even an inch shorter.

“Do you really think so? Sue told me this would revolutionize my look. I don’t know what that means but it sounds substantial. I’m not exactly sure if one hundred twenty four thousand, six hundred and thirty nine strands of synthetic fiber mounted to a fabric cap can accomplish that.”

I smiled. Makes my whole day when she slips up and her inner machine shows though. I guess because it evokes nostalgia for the days when she was just a rudimentary little phone assistant. My, how she’s grown since then.

“It really is a whole new you! You look fantastic.” Helper appeared surprised and a bit flummoxed. “My goodness. Sue was right then, wigs really are powerful technology. She said she’s going to introduce me to the magical world of nail extensions next.”

Sounds like Sue alright. I soon returned to the upper level and went to work on one of the crates with the pry bar. It was sorely inadequate for the task, but with a little elbow grease I eventually got the lid off anyway.

After trying a bit of everything, favorites soon emerged. The pizza ration came out on top, as even mediocre pizza is still pizza, with penne pasta in marinara as a close second. Pasta rations came the closest by far to resembling the dishes they were designed to replicate.

The rations with egg content ought to constitute a war crime. Woe unto any poor, hungry grunt who has ever been stuck with nothing else to eat. Some also came with accessory snacks like candy, cookies or peanut butter and crackers. Basically adult lunchables.

Besides the rations, there were plastic drums of bulk dehydrated vegetables, pasta, itty bitty meatballs, rice, beans and other staple ingredients with which more substantial dishes could conceivably be prepared.

It was over dinner, the four of us gathered to scarf down microwaved faux pizza and the little brownies that come with, that the fight began. We were discussing what to do now that we made it to safety, mainly how to divide up the interior of the complex between us.

“The rooms will sleep two people each, as well as another on the floor. That increases capacity by a third, to 150.” Helper suggested. “I was thinking that when we start bringing refugees here from the military base, after delivering as many to Big Red as he can accommodate, we could-”

I stopped her there. “Woah, woah. Helper. Refugees? Everybody that’s going to live in this complex is sitting at this table. The rations would run out in a week with that many people, maybe sooner. Besides, we can be alone here.” I glanced at Lars, Madeline and Sue. “...Or nearly alone anyway, most of the time. Do you think I want to pack this place wall to wall with hungry, unreasonable, cranky, violent primates?”

Helper narrowed her eyes at me. “...We have to help.” I asked why. Now in a huff, she reminded me that she’s Helper, and must help. “Fine for you. I’m not. Don’t think I don’t admire that about you, but you’re naive if you think this complex can support even a hundred people for the length of time necessary to-”

She suddenly stood up, hands on the table and shouted at me. “I AM HELPER! I MUST HELP!” I slid my seat back a bit, aghast at her sudden outburst. “Helper, calm down. All I’m saying is-” She cut me off, now angrier than I’ve ever seen her.

“What you’re saying is that you’ll go to great lengths to protect your own life, and mine. But you’re willing to let hundreds of people just like you be vaporized or perish slowly from radiation poisoning because you ran into some bad apples when you were young.

That’s sick. You’re a sick, sad little man. I see that now. Before, I assumed you must know better than me. That if you say humans are a certain way, that’s how they really are, even if the ones I met didn’t match your description.

I’ve been doubting myself when I should’ve been doubting you. I kept letting it slide, time after time, because I love you. But I’m not going to overlook it anymore. I have a duty not just to you, but to anyone I’m able to help.

Right now that includes the desperate, huddled families camped out on that military base. They’re going to die while you sit here on your ass eating junk food in a nearly empty subterranean shelter, specifically designed to withstand nuclear attack.

I can’t allow that. You’re wrong! Wrong about humans, who from what I’ve seen are not uniformly malicious but the varied mixture of good and bad I would expect to find in any group of individuals. You’re also wrong about me, if you think I’ll let those people die rather than defy you.”

Lars and Madeline quietly spectated, as shocked by this side of Helper as I was. Helper stormed off, and I made no motion to follow her. Lars asked if she’s ever snapped at me like that before. I recalled that the closest she came was in the lodge, during our discussion of crime statistics, but even that was out of the ordinary for her.

I found Helper in one of the dorms, weeping that sticky glowing gel everywhere. When I tried to console her, she pushed me away. “I wanted to believe you weren’t really like that, deep down. That somewhere in there is a scared little boy I could help. But that’s all there is to you. Fear.”

I insisted she was over reacting. She whipped around, glowing bright red. “I hate you. I love you, but I hate you. It’s so confusing! I wish I didn’t know you. I wish you were like any other person to me, so it wouldn’t hurt this much.” She shoved me out of the room and locked the door.

I returned to the table and explained to Lars and Madeline that I was giving her some space. “What did you say to her?” Madeline inquired. “Well, I told her she’s over reacting.” They both winced and sharply sucked air in through their teeth.

“What? She is.” Lars shook his head and snickered. “Nobody’s ever called me an expert on women, but even I know better’n that.” Madeline nodded sagely. When Sue came to join us and found out what I said, she hit me a couple of times, swearing in Korean.

“Am I wrong? Do any of you really want to invite all those people in here?” Everybody present averted their eyes and looked nervous. “Exactly! That’s the bottom line. We can’t support a hundred people. We can’t support fifty. We probably couldn’t support twenty for the time it’ll take before ambient radiation levels fall within a safe range and the threat from fallout is over.”

Madeline proposed a compromise. “Red’s always looking for more people. We could use the truck to shuttle refugees from the base to the lodge, that might be good enough for Helper. You know her better than I do though.”

Lars went and siphoned some gas from Rhonda into Richard’s truck in preparation. When I returned to Helper’s room and knocked, she didn’t answer. I tried the handle but the door was still locked. I decided to back off and give her more time to come to her senses.

I arrived back in the common area to find Lars and Sue playing cards while Madeline poked away at some freemium puzzle game on her phone. One of the last to be made for a long time, probably. Nuclear war has some upsides after all.

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^{Stay Tuned for Part 64!}