Issue 1 Downtime

God damn it. Don't even have the internet to amuse myself with... Cal, again, was laying awake for the... third night in a row? Probably that long. He stared up at the ceiling of his cabin, unblinking, wishing he could sleep and completely knowing that he wasn't even going to try to.

There was a knock at Cal's door.

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Lightshow: Can I come in?

Cal sat up.

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Cyberboy: Yeah.  Of course.  You know that.

The door opened and Taliyah stepped in, smiling softly.

"Not sleeping well?"

"Not sleeping at all," he said, leaning tiredly back against the wall, motioning for her to come on over.

Taliyah sat on the bed, "That bad?"

He sighed. "Yeah, kinda."

"Every time I lost focus when I was hooked into that damn computer... well, you saw me. It was just like... my brain just kind of evaporated into processes and subroutines and data trails. And yeah, I needed to do it. And I'd do it again. But..." He shook his head. "I'm being dumb, I know. I just... flip out every time I start to let myself drift off."

"If that ever happens again, I'll pull you out myself," Taliyah assures him.

He sighed, smiling a little. "Like I said, I know I'm being dumb."

Taliyah sighs, leaning against him, "You're not being dumb though. That's the problem."

"I was really scared you weren't ever coming back."

He slid his arm behind her, leaning back against her. "It... Y'know, this is where I should be giving some speech about how I knew I'd come back, but damned if I actually knew," he sighed. "Next time we hook in the android," he added with a weak chuckle.

"So that's what I get for not listening to you, right?" he agreed, chuckling weakly.

"Exactly," Taliyah says with a pout.

"Ohhhh, god. No pouting. Totally not fair using faces that make me unable to say the word 'no,'" he said with a grin.