Melanie used Eddie's hand for support, pulling herself back into a standing position. She nodded a silent thanks to Eddie and released his hand, holding it out to her mother. Cassandra looked questioningly at the offered hand for a moment before accepting it, rising to face her daughter.

"So, what now?" Cassandra questioned.

"We talk like civilized human beings," Eddie suggested. "Perhaps, given sufficient time, you might remember what it's like being a family."

"You're not part of this!" Cassandra snapped, electricity flaring slightly from a few electrodes.

"True," Eddie admitted, undaunted by her open hostility. "That's exactly why you need me. An unbiased outsider can see clearly without the interference of obscuring emotions. I'm neither for or against anyone here; I only seek a peaceful resolution of benefit to all."

Cassandra's glowering expression looked carved from granite, but her eyes, mechanical and organic, turned toward Melanie.

"He saved my life," Melanie offered. "I trust him."

Cassandra said nothing, giving only a slight but firm nod.

***

Melanie, Eddie, and Cassandra followed Dalton to a tall building of red brick topped by conductive spires of gleaming copper. Draping the sides of the building like black vines, heavy cables linked the spires to the ground to channel the energy of any lightning strikes harmlessly away.

The citizens of Geargarde filling the streets around the group were all reacting differently. Many stared up at the cloud free sky for the first time since the town came under siege. Some citizens had their eyes closed, listening to a world free from the constant explosions of thunder. One thing Melanie noticed about the majority of them was they moved aside for the group, a few with nods of respect to Dalton, many with expressions she recognized as fear. She suspected the source was her mother as she'd been the one attacking the city, and the news of it must have traveled heavily by now, but she also considered the possibility the people were afraid of her as well. The people couldn't know how much like Cassandra Melanie might be and if she'd decide to harm Geargarde as well.

Fear was one of the few emotions she understood well enough for she'd seen it everywhere humans still lived. People were hunted by the undead and by the more savage of their own kind; their fear kept them alert and watchful. It kept them alive. Melanie had also found it made them unpredictable as fear frequently drove rational people to commit violent and unreasoning actions. Although she understood their fear, Melanie knew it made the citizens of Geargarde and unknown factor. Would they accept her and Cassandra, or would fear drive them to attack while they had the chance? Melanie didn't know, but she kept her eyes moving, keeping watch on her mother and the locals; a quick glance toward Eddie showed he was doing the same, and it reassured her to know she wasn't the only one considering the dangers.

Dalton opened the old-style front door of the building with its simple latch and hinges, swinging the metal partition to one side to allow them entrance. Inside, vibrant carpets covered the dark wood floorboards and muffled their steps.

"Don't take this the wrong way," Eddie commented. "But, this building seems a little primitive in the way of technology."

"That's because it is," Dalton confirmed. "This is the oldest building in Geargarde. It was the first building constructed when the town was founded and our resources were limited. Defenses were more important than anything else at the time. Since then, we've been able to modernize the other buildings. We kept this one unchanged to remind us of our roots and what we've overcome."

Eddie nodded approvingly.

Dalton opened another door inwards into a library. Leather bound books lined the walls in ten foot tall shelves of the same dark wood of the floor. Oil lamps flickered on the walls, securely held by brackets of brass to keep their flames far enough from the books to prevent accidental ignition. A plush sofa and several cushioned chairs of either burgundy or dark brown provided ample room for people to relax near the lamps and read comfortably for hours without interruption.

"Please be seated," Dalton invited.

Cassandra chose a chair in the corner, her posture rigid. Dalton took the chair nearest Cassandra, and Melanie noticed his back wasn't even touching the rear cushion as his muscles were tense as if expecting an attack at any moment and preparing to dive out of the way if necessary.

Looking toward Eddie, Melanie noticed the smile he usually carried was missing, his mouth a grim line. She wondered why it mattered to her if he sensed the threat hovering in the air like an early morning mist. Melanie considered the possibility it was due to having been fighting the undead for so long, it was good to have someone else on guard, but then she realized the truth of it. She'd seen so many people relax and miss threats when they shouldn't have, and their deaths had followed quickly after such an error. Eddie staying alert and watchful meant he would survive longer in the menacing place the world had become, and Melanie felt glad about it, although she didn't know why. She tried to push the thoughts aside, but they were insistent, elbowing their way through her crowded mind to reach the front.

Melanie sat in the seat to her mother's right, across from Dalton...across from her father, she corrected mentally. She kept her staff in hand but risked taking a moment to look at the man who'd once saved her life by mechanizing her. She'd never known what it was like to have a father, so it was yet another mystery to her how she should be feeling. She wondered if she should be feeling anything at all as it didn't affect her mission. Her eyes turned back to her mother, rage simmering beneath Cassandra's skin, and Melanie considered if emotions were worth having at all considering their effects.

"Perhaps we should begin with your disapproval of being altered," Eddie suggested, gesturing toward Cassandra. "Mechanical augmentation wasn't uncommon, even before the undead arrived. For what reason are you so opposed to the machinery required to keep you functioning?"

"Functioning?" Cassandra laughed without humor. "A good choice of words. It's not much different from being undead, function without life. It has the form but not the substance."

"In what way?" Eddie prompted. "You've raised a child and even cried at her misfortune when you found she too had been altered. You raged against Dalton. You chose to launch an attack on an entire city to reach the ones you felt had wronged you. In what ways are you lacking substance?"

Cassandra opened her mouth, taking a breath to speak, but no words came out. Eddie went on before Cassandra could gather her thoughts.

"Automata and the zombies are mindless things," Eddie told her. "You, and your daughter, have both proved with deliberate and willful intent you have active and determined minds, so much more than mere machines or lifeless constructs. The human body is an organic machine. Is a mechanical machine so much different?"

"Perhaps it isn't the form or even the life within it," Melanie suggested. All eyes turned toward her. "Perhaps it's the life she had, what she was going to have. It's not just the organic parts that are missing. It's the part of her life that would've been."

In the silence that followed everyone could hear the soft ticking of the mechanics inside Melanie's chest.