Gatekeepers 21 Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ One Wild Trip ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Sunlight woke me the next morning. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes to see I was in a small apartment and I was sleeping in a strange bed. I was momentarily baffled until Devo hopped up next to my head, his LCD screen ready for combat um…I mean, conversation.

"Morning sleepy head. Dante said to wait for him to come back. He left right after dawn."

"What time is it now? And what day is it?" I croaked out, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"It's 7:04 am on Saturday July, 24. Do you want me to open a Gate for you to get some fresh clothes and things from home?"

"Yes Devo. That would be very nice of you," I sighed and rolled over as I heard the Gate whoosh open behind my head. I heard one, two, three thuds and the Gate snap close. I turned in bed to see that the first thud had been a set of jean shorts and a tee shirt. The second thud must've been my hairbrush and toothbrush and other bathroom items. And the third thud was a odd shaped package wrapped poorly in brown shipping paper. "Devo, where's my glasses?"

"On Dante's desk. He took them off for you last night as you fell asleep." I got up from the bed and shivered in the early morning chill. I stumbled over to the desk and saw that my glasses were right where Devo had said. I put them on and smiled as the world came into focus again.

"Ah, very good. Now, what did you grab for me?" I asked, walking over to the goodies lying on the floor.

"A set of fresh clothing, various toiletries, and breakfast."

"Breakfast?" I asked, ripping the brown paper off the third, oddly shaped package. Inside was a small bunch of bananas, a half-gallon of 2% milk, a half stick of butter and a box of Bisquick mix.

"You really do think of everything, don't you Devo?"

"Of course I do. It's my job. Anyways, some one has to…" The computer answered, tersely. I smiled and patted Devo's screen, cooing `good-boy!' over and over again until he snapped at me and jumped up on the bare kitchen counter. I stood and took the milk and butter to the small fridge that Dante had. I frowned at the condition of the ice box.

"Empty? What does he eat?" I said, mostly to myself but Devo took the liberty of answering.

"Sometimes, he doesn't. Sometimes, he has enough money to scrounge something up but business has been rough this month. And you know that GKA welfare doesn't pay much. He's afraid that he might even lose this hovel he calls a home." I swore I heard a snort in there, "But he somehow always finds a way to purchase flowers." I looked towards the vase that I had seen last night. A sparse bouquet of lavender and daisies was sitting in a cheap plastic vase.

Yes, that's right. I had forgotten all about Dante's business he ran to keep himself busy (read out of debt). He was a detective of sorts, clearing out, let's just say unusual things from people's basement, sewers and such. As for GKA (GateKeepers Alliance), they offered a welfare program for all registered aliens. I knew it didn't pay much but…it seems that you couldn't make a decent living off it. Maybe I should bring that up with council next month. The click of the gas stove's igniter brought me back to earth.

"How do you know all this?"

"He told me so."

"What?" I turned around to face the computer, which had somehow jumped up on the counter directly behind me and was heating a beat-up skillet to fix the pancakes. Devo jumped back as the gas stove clicked on.

"Whoa! I'm surprised I didn't burn a key there!" I snorted but got back to my original question.

"When did Dante tell you all this? And why didn't he tell me? I'm supposed to be his friend, not you. You're just the stupid, bumbling sidekick," I nudged the little computer away from the stove before he melted his casing.

"Last night, when you two thought I had gone into shut-down mode. I overheard Dante talking to you."

I stopped my hunt for a bowl to mix the pancakes in the kitchen's dirty, yellowed cupboards to shoot a confused look at Devo, who had again walked up the counter to tackle the stove.

"But…Dante never told me any of that last night."

"Yes he did. While you were sleeping and your processors were off-line, he sat, holding your hand and talked to you. I have the conversation recorded in my database. You can access it if you like."

I sighed as I found a small, lone bowl in the deep recesses of the last cupboard. "Okay I will. But not now. I have breakfast to cook. Can you get me the Bisquick box?"

And somehow, with Devo's wonderful and mostly sarcastic help, I managed to fix up a few pancakes without doing major damage to everything.

"Yes! We have achieved pancakes!" I said, triumphantly as I set the two plates of pancakes on the counter, with a banana on each plate. As I stood looking over my accomplishment, I set an extra banana on Dante's plate. Devo's soft whirr told me he approved.

I set Devo to the task of finding two glasses for the milk and Gating a bottle of syrup from home as I picked up my clothes and things and walked into the bathroom to freshen up.

I brushed my teeth and my hair, pulling it back in it's regular ponytail. I sighed as I threw off my old clothes and started to pull on my new ones. Now, you have to understand, I didn't close the bathroom door. Yes, I was getting dressed but who else was in the apartment besides Devo? No one. And Devo has seen me get dressed a thousand times over. He's a computer for cripes sake. Of course, who walks in just as I'm pulling off my top?

Dante.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Dante said and ducked back out of the front door as I slammed the bathroom door shut. I stood there, trying to regain my senses. Okay, what had he seen? I looked down. One arm in the shirt, one arm out and full view of my bra. Well, at least it was my bra. I already had my jeans on. Whew, thank goodness for that. I finished pulling my shirt over my head, grabbed my things and threw them into a ball.

I opened the door to find Dante staring at the breakfast, sitting on his counter.

"Um, the plate with the two bananas is yours. I hope you like pancakes. Devo did you get the…" I trailed off as I saw that Dante wasn't only staring at the breakfast on the counter.

He was staring at a dining room table that had suddenly appeared in the middle of his apartment. The table was set with fancy linens and a full setting for two, including that useless little fork that people say you use for dessert, but is actually more useful for dismantling your laptop.

Well, I didn't know if that was its real purpose, but I was sure as hell going to try.

"DEVO!!!" I bellowed and went straight for the little laptop. "I told you to get a bottle of Mrs. Butterworth's, not a fucking IKEA showroom!! Send it back!!! Send it all back!!"

"Syntax Error 8987. Please rephrase." Popped up on Devo's screen a thousand times over.

"Oh no. Syntax Error my ass. If you don't want formatted, I suggest that you send this back. All of it!" I shook the laptop.

"Okay! I thought it would be a nice surprise for Dante…but if you want me to send it back, fine. I will," and the table disappeared into a yellow shaded Gate, leaving the lone bottle of syrup and the two glasses of milk sitting on the floor.

"Thank you," I said, taking a deep breath to calm myself.

"You wouldn't really format me, would you Ayana?" Devo's text was small and a concerned whirr accompanied this.

I sighed and shook my head, setting Devo gently down on his legs, "No. Even if I was cold hearted enough to do that to you, I really couldn't. Where would I be without you to run my Gates for me?"

"Ha ha. Got you."

"Fuck off, you piece of shit CPU," and I kicked Devo where his rear end would be, if he had one. A sharp grind came from him and he took off across the apartment, landing and hiding in the bed sheets.

Dante was standing there, watching the whole scene wide-eyed. I turned back to him and smiled, handing him his plate. "Butter on your pancakes?"