After things had calmed down a bit, Danni carried on eating, with Pete keeping her company.

“So, what’s it like kissing a freak”, Danni asked.

“Still feels like you to me…”, Pete said, putting his arm around her waist.

“Those bits still are me”, said Danni miserably. “There’s just a few problems upstairs. The owner’s left the building, you know…”

Sadly, Danni rested her head on Pete’s shoulder, the HAH collar glinting in the light like expensive jewellery.

“Can you still love a computer programme?”, she asked, her eyes still wet with tears.

“I’m willing to give it a try if you are”, said Pete, kissing her again. “As far as I’m concerned, you are still you.”

“You do realise that you are going to have to teach me about this relationship all over again, don’t you?”, Danni said, thoughtfully. “My memories, apart from today, stop six months ago.”

“Oh, good…”, said Pete, with a smile on his face. “Perhaps we can get the first date right this time, then…”

Despite herself, Danni giggled, and the pair wandered off down the corridor, to Pete’s living quarters.

Neither got much sleep that night…

Next morning, Danni woke up all ‘spaced out’ again.

“Damn, I feel dizzy”, she said. “I think mum said that means I need a charge. I wonder how often I’m going to have to do this…?”

Crawling out of bed, she threw on a long t-shirt dress and wandered off down the corridor to her mothers’ lab.

Angela was there, intently studying the monitors, so she didn’t hear Danni come in.

In the snarkiest voice she could manage, Danni said, “Oi! Special needs kid here needing a recharge!”

“Don’t be bitchy”, Angela said, not even looking up. “At least you haven’t lost your sense of humour…”

“Come over and sit on the bunk, here”, Angela continued. “I’ll plug you in…”

Sitting on the bunk, swinging her legs, Danni winced once as Angela plugged the cable in.

“How often do I have to do this?”, she asked.

“If you just needed to charge, you could do it anywhere”, said Angela. “It’s just a standard phone charger. Only drawback is the battery lasts about the same length of time, so you’ll need to be charged every day or so. As you can tell, it soon lets you know if you forget…”

“Only difference with this charging station”, she continued, before Danni could say anything, “is that it allows you access to the research centre’s main computers. This is for initial loading, but also for any debugging and software updates.”

“Oh, so that’s why I suddenly know everything on record about everybody here”, said Danni. “I was beginning to wonder. It’s weird the way the knowledge appears, I’m not aware of learning it, I just feel that I’ve always known it.”

“Please, Danni”, said Angela, “you must promise me that you’ll keep everything you learn confidential. We’ve got enough ethics issues with creating you as it is, never mind privacy ones.”

“Don’t worry”, said Danni, “I forget most of it as soon as I am disconnected, unless it has specifically been programmed into me (like my Engram file). Your secret office romance is safe with me…”, she giggled.

“What!”, cried Angela, bolting upright.

“Come on, it’s obvious. Everybody knew about it, even six months ago when I came last. You’re in love with Doctor Bailey.”

“But… but…”, said Angela, caught completely on the hop. At the same time, the Doctor came in to check up on Angela and Danni. Angela went bright red, and Danni chuckled and turned away.

“Busted…”, she said quietly.