DAISI Changes Everything

I just gaped at the monkey. If there'd been another evil one around, it would have killed me, because I was just standing there like an idiot.

"DAISI" she said again. "Not evil I." And damned if she didn't look not evil. She'd helped me fight off the monkeys and she was wounded - there was a hole in one of her hands. Paws?

Hands. They look like hands, though they don't bleed.

"I'm Clarissa," I said.

She muttered more about how she wasn't evil and how evil the evil ones were. She was holding her hand limply against her chest - it sure looked like it hurt. Do evil robot monkeys feel pain?

I looked over to the car. I could see Derek peeking his head up over the trunk to see what was happening. Fool - for all he knew, we were still battling monkeys. Someday he's going to get his head shot off.

"So, uh," I said. "Thanks for, you know." I pointed at the dead monkeys.

"Not evil I!" she said again. "Want Clarissa trust I. Not evil I." Well, you know how she talks. I looked at the gun she left me and I looked at her and I looked at the dead monkeys - and I sighed. Now what?

"Are you hurt?" I asked her. She told me that she'd heal, eventually, something about nanosomethings, but it would take time. Poor Daisi.

Then Derek crossed the street. "What's going on?"

Well, this was going to be awkward. "Honey, this is DAISI," I said. "She's the monkey who found me through the blog, the one who says she isn't evil."

"And you believe her?"

"She fought of the ones who were trying to kill me! And look, she's wounded." I knealt down beside Daisi and put my arm around her.

Derek shook his head at me but I just glared at him.

"Not evil I!" said Dasi again. I hope she has more to say than that.

"You believe her?" Derek asked me. "She's a MONKEY." Then he sort of loomed over Daisi. "Look, Daisi, thank you very much for your help just now. Believe me, I understand how much you helped us. If you hadn't shown up, we'd all be dead." Or worse, I thought, remembering how the monkeys were going to take me. "But. Clearly it's not safe for us to sit around talking all day, and we've got to go to the Con-" he broke off. "To a safe place. We can't stay in the basement any more, now that you know where it is. We need to leave. Thank you." And then he reached his hand down to me.

I just looked at his hand. "Come on, Clarissa. We need to go." I just put my arm tighter around Daisi. Maybe she's just a robot - but she got hurt helping me, and there's something about the look in her eyes - there was no way I was leaving her here.

"Wait here, Daisi," I said, and walked Derek a little ways away so that we could speak in private. In private? Probably Daisi has super-sensitive hearing and overheard every word but I had to try.

Well, I told Derek what I thought and he told me what he thought and at all times we were polite and respectful and did not shout and if I called him a fucking heartless bastard it was an accident and if he called me reckless and flakey, that was an accident, too. So then I was crying and his face was all red and then we heard Gretchen start to cry, too.

Derek took a deep breath, and pulled me into his arms. "I'm sorry," he said, and kissed the top of my head. "If this means this much to you - "

I nodded against his chest. "It does."

So we went back to Daisi and Derek picked her up and carried her back to the car. We couldn't very well take her to Mr. Kotter with us, and I wasn't willing to abandon her. But Daisi swore that the other monkeys had no idea where we were. Derek didn't believe her, but I did.

Derek finished fixing the flat tire, and then we headed back to the basement. As we went through the door, he pulled me aside. "I love you," he said, "but next time you decide you want a robot, you're getting a roomba." I pushed past him and into the basement to be with Daisi.