After a few hours of working on the code, Theo told me that we would need a body to upload the code into. He said that it was necessary for a sentient being to have some type of barrier in order to relate to the outside world.

"We use our bodies and our senses to create the world around us my boy. Without it, the machine would lack the self-awareness necessary to be considered sentient." He explained.

He said that he still had an old prototype Assistant at his old house. I told him that I would be willing to retrieve the machine so that he could stay on the boat editing the code. He agreed that this would be the best course of action and set off back to the harbor. Theo told me that we were only thirty miles from shore and it would take about two hours to reach the harbor. Suddenly, I realized that my anxiety stemming from the fear of being lost at sea had completely dissipated. I had no choice but to completely trust Theo now. I knew that the next few days could be what that changes the course of history and I was glad to have this old man beside me. I now share his hope in creating a world where we are not afraid of following our dreams.

During our sail back to the harbor, Theo and I discuss how to contact those left who have not been corrupted by the medication. He tells me that he plans on sending out a broadcast to everyone in the world who wishes to join us once we have figured out a way to take down the Assistants. I tell him I cannot leave Lily alone to wither away and he agrees to let me get her before we commence with our plan. He informs me that he owns a large chunk of land in the midwest. Somehow I had already forgotten that he was one of the richest men in the world.

"The land," he says, "is uncorrupted by any surrounding towns or cities. I bought the property as a retreat for the employees of TyraTech, but since I left the company it has sat idle. I'm not sure how many people it can hold, but I believe it should be enough."

I can think of no other option and so, we agree on this as the location to start over. I couldn't help but tell him the irony in my dream of one day owning a ranch.

"Looks like your dream was meant to be my boy!" He said laughing as the boat began to pick up speed. His voice was growing harder to hear as the wind blew louder. I couldn't make out what he was saying anymore, but I think it was about how Mother Nature was on our side. I decided to go down into the cabin and look through his books. His arsenal contained books that I had never heard of. They were written in more languages than I thought existed. There were books on poetry, architecture, economics and even one about the migration of the American White Pelican. I decide to pick up the last book and skim through the pages. I see that Theo has written on every page, notes about the bird. "Migrates East to West" He wrote. The next page has a picture of a flock of pelicans migrating West over the Rockies and the note on the side of the page reads, "beautiful". Never have I thought of pelicans as beautiful, but as I sit staring at the picture I come to see that Theo may not be calling the aesthetic aspect of the bird beautiful, but the nature of it. The bird does not hesitate in its decision to migrate West for the Winter, but simply acts upon its instinct. This lack of hesitation is a result of the bird acting as one with the whole universe. I realize that most humans lack this ability to act in accordance with the nature of the world because of our foresight into the future. Our desires are soiled with hesitation of the possible negative outcome of the action and so we cannot act in accordance to our nature. Is that a benefit or a terrible flaw in the consciousness of human beings? The picture of the pelicans migrating reminds me that the fight for the survival of our species is an act of nature and that because of this, the whole universe is conspiring to see to our success. For now, this brings me a new wave of confidence in out plan.

"Up ahead my boy!" Theo shouts as he leans down into the cabin.

I run to the deck from the cabin and see Theo at the helm of the boat. The windbreaker he has on is fluttering like a plastic shopping bag in the wind. From where I am standing, I can't help but think he resembles a crazed drunken pirate, mumbling curse words directed at nothing in particular.

"The harbor's up ahead!" He yells.

Quickly, I run to help Theo prepare the boat for docking. I am dropped off, he will head back to the ocean to work on the code in isolation. This also minimized the chance of him being followed by someone Philip has sent. When we finally made it into the harbor, Theo gave me the address to his house. It was only about a twenty minute drive from the dock. He instructed me on how to find the room where he keeps the old Assistant and how to get into the property. He warned me that the house may be disorganized, since he is hardly there. I find this fact hard to believe since his boat is always in perfect order.

"My boy, help me with the knots!" He orders.

I find myself on the dock tying the knot to the cleat. It seemed to be more of an instinct that a thought. I paused for a moment and noticed Theo staring at me, laughing. I couldn't help but laugh as well. I hurried to finish the knot, because I was scared that this instinct might fade.

"What did I tell you my boy? You see, all it took was for you to stop thinking about how to tie the knot and just do the damn thing!" He said.

I thought back to the day I was on the boat with my Grandpa and how nervous I would get when he tried to quiz me on how to tie the knot. He wouldn't even let me attempt to tie the knot until I was able to first tell him how to do it. I now see that all that was needed was for me to stop wondering if I knew how to do it and instead just do it. I must have seen my Grandpa tie this knot a hundred times, but I was so afraid of failure that it prevented me from remembering how to do so. My unconscious brain must have been expert at tying the knot from all the times I watched, but was never in control when I tried. My ego was the only thing that was preventing me from succeeding and I see this now. Much like the pelican, when I act in accordance with nature I am destined to succeed.

"Very well my boy, once you retrieve the Assistant meet me back here. I'm guessing it will take you about an hour or two, like I said, the house is going to be pretty messy." He said.

"Does it matter which Assistant I grab?" I asked.

"There is going to quite a few, but I think the one with a TI stamped on the side of its head should do the trick." He told me.

Theo walked me up the dock, towards the parking lot and stopped at the bench where we had first met. I could see that the energy once drained from him and been restored ten fold. He was beaming with excitement.

"I wish you the best of luck Red. I'm not sure what force brought you here to this bench on that fateful day, but whatever it was I'm glad it did. Perhaps it was fate. You have brought hope back into my life and for that I am eternally grateful to you. We must remember that this plan has no other choice but to succeed and this will strengthen our resolve and our luck." He told me as he put his hand on my shoulder.

"Thank you for believing in me Theo. I'll be back here as soon as possible." I said.

As he began walking away, he mentioned that the TI stamped on the head of the Assistant contains a beacon that will send a signal to him. I said that I would press it only once I was on the dock. He told me that he would be just outside the harbor and able to be here in a matter of minutes. I said goodbye and walked back to my car with confidence that our plan was going to work.

I couldn't help but think about Lily in the midst of all this. I wondered how I was going to get her before we take the Assistants down. Would she even recover? I knew that I needed to at least give her a warning call to let her know what was going on. As I hear the phone ringing, I couldn't help but think about our first date. I knew that day that she was the only person that could ever put up with me. I recalled having to use the restroom at least five times during our dinner because I was so nervous. Luckily, she thought it was funny. She seemed to like everything about me that I wished I could have changed. I was anti-social and so, when we would be forced to go to a party, she would always draw people to her and away from me. She had a radiance about her, much like Theo, that was almost undefinable. There was something about the energy around them that let other people know that they were different than most. I still wonder what it was that made Lily choose to go out with me in the first place. For the first time in many years I begin to cry, but I have to hold back tears when I hear the phone pick up.

"Hello?" She mutters, sounding half asleep.

"Hey Lily, what are you doing? How are you feeling?" I ask her.

"Sleeping." I hear her say laboriously.

"Look, I don't have a lot of time to explain, but I just need you to be ready to leave by tonight. Something is going to happen and we are going to have to leave everything behind. I wish I could tell you more, but for right now you are going to have to just trust me." I say, holding back the tears that were forming once again.

"I don't understand what you're saying Red." She replied.

"I know, I'm sorry I'm not making sense. Look, just start packing a bag with clothes and some food okay? Do you think you could do that?" I asked her.

"Yeah, probably." She said, sounding like she was dozing off again.

"Okay Lily, I love you and will call you if anything changes, okay?" I say and hung up, not expecting her to say anything in response. As I put the phone down, I again start to tear up and decide there is no point in holding it back. I send out a prayer to who, or whatever is listening. I feel slightly embarrassed for doing this, but realize I have nothing to lose anymore. I think back to a conversation I once had with a professor of mine in college. He was a very religious man and spoke about God throughout most of our class. No one ever seemed to have a problem with it because he rarely graded any of our homework, or tests. All we had to do to pass was sit through his lecture about the infinite wisdom of God and how the universe works through him. There was one time when I had to protest to an idea that he was telling us. He began, "Even if you aren't sure about God, you should just act like you believe in him, just in-case. That way you are guaranteed to go to Heaven if it exists." I couldn't believe my ears and had to say something against this idea. I asked him if the requirement to get into Heaven was predicated only on the individual believing in God and he said that it was. I then asked him if his God was omnipotent and he told me that he believed he was. So, I told him, an all-powerful God must see the ruse in someone believing in him for the sole purpose of it being a safeguard to get into Heaven, should it exist. I tell him that I doubt this omnipotent God would allow this deceptive individual the access into Heaven, for he would know that this individual does not truly believe in him. He ended up failing me that semester.

My drive to Theo's house is filled with retrospection on my past. I can see the playgrounds that I used to roam around as a child. I think about my sister and all she had been through. Should I try and save her too? I remember my promise to go visit them and figure that this might be the last chance I get to. I hope that I can convince them into coming with us to our newfound save haven. The live about ten minutes out of the way and I get there with relatively no resistance. I see the old swing-set in the front yard and think back to the days I used to push Shannon in it. One of the ropes holding it to the tree is withered away and now it hangs crooked, with one side resting on the grand. How terrible it is that I have let this swing decay to such an extent.

"Who's there?" I hear after knocking on the door.

"Red." I answer quietly as to not wake up my mother.

Shannon approaches the door and appears to have not showered in some time. She looks through the window and squints as she looks at me. The last time we talked she told me that she wished to never see me again. All I could do was hope that the medication had made her forget this unpleasant encounter.

"Come in." She told me as she unlocked the door and walked to the couch.

"How are you doing Shannon?" I asked her.

"Fine." She said.

I sit down on the chair that my father used to inhabit for most of the day. It was a black armchair that he had boughten from an infomercial. He would always complain that it wasn't as comfortable as the commercial had made it seem, but never went through the hassle of returning it. The chair exuded an odor that brought back the memories of the day that he walked out on us. I remember going into Shannon's room that night. She had locked herself in the closet and my Mom couldn't get her to come out. I sat outside the closet door and told her that everything would be okay. We talked this way for a few hours before she finally opened the door. As she wiped away her tears, she hugged me. It was one of the few times I ever felt like a big brother.

"Well listen, I'll just cut to the chase, I think that you guys should come with me to the midwest. The world is going to change soon and I want you guys to be okay. I know it doesn't make sense and I wish there was another way, but I can't think of any. You are going to have to just trust me." I told her, wondering if I had sounded this vague on the phone with Lily.

"You aren't making sense." She told me, looking at the TV.

"Shannon, maybe it is time for you to leave Mom and start a new life. We are going to make a new society and change what was wrong with this one. You can start again and it can be different that how it was." I told her.

"I don't feel like talking about this right now." She said.

I left the room and decided to go upstairs to say goodbye to my Mom. I knew that she would be in no condition to come with us, but thought that it might be worth a shot. I hadn't seen her in almost a year and was scared of what I might find. I knocked on the door, but heard no response. I let myself in and found her laying on the bed. Although she was terribly thin, she didn't look sick. She was one of the few people I knew that wasn't on the medication. Most people probably would have thought that she was though, but she has been this way ever since my father left. In reality, she should have been one of the first people to take anti-depressants, but she had always hated the idea of taking a pill.

As I approach the bed, I thought back to how I would always sneak in here as a child. My father would always berate me for trying to sleep with them, but if I could wake only my Mom up, she would let me sneak under the covers on her side. Looking back, sometimes it felt like she was the best mom in the world.

"Mom?" I whisper as I try to gently put my hand on her back.

"Huh?" I hear her mumble as she rolls over to look at me. For a brief moment, I'm scared that she won't remember me. "Red." She says as she begins to smile.

"Hey Mom, how are you doing?" I ask her.

"Good sweetie, how are you?" She asks.

"I'm good Mom. I really missed you. I'm sorry it's been so long." I say.

"It hasn't been that long Red." She must be losing her memory.

"Well, anyways Mom, I came to tell you something. It is kind of hard to believe but the Assistants are coming offline. I am going out to the Midwest to try and start a new life there. I came by to see if you and Shannon would come with me." I told her not knowing what to expect.

I could see in her face that she understood what I was telling her. This was the most alert I had seen her in the past few years. I saw her smiling and noticed a tear going down her face. I couldn't recall the last time I saw my mom smile, it must have been at least ten years ago.

"What's wrong Mom?" I asked.

"Nothing Red, nothing at all. I've just never seen you so sure of who you are. You have always been doubtful and I know that I am to blame for a lot of that. I have always known you would achieve something great. I could see it in your hands when I first held you in my arms. But I'm sorry sweetie, I can't come with you on this journey." She said.

"Why not Mom?" I asked her as I held her hand.

"Because Red, my time is near. I'm sorry that I wasn't always there for you when you were younger. I am not sure I was fit to be a mother, but I am so happy you turned out to be who you are. I couldn't have asked for a better son. Please promise me to never doubt yourself again. Act with your gut and everything will work out, I promise. The Universe works in mysterious ways, trust in it and I will always be with you." She told me.

I sat up in the bed and dried away the tears that had come up. I realized that she was destined to die in this bed a long time ago. She looked at me, the way mothers are always supposed to and smiled one last time

"I love you Mom." I say as I reach the doorway.

"I love you too sweetie, I'll see you soon." She said.

I turned and walked out of the room. I headed downstairs to try one last time and convince Shannon to come with me.

"I don't know. I need to watch the news." She told me.

"Well, if you change your mind, give me a call in a day or two. I love you Shannon." I didn't give her a chance to respond. I decided that the best thing I could do is just hope that she wakes up clear-headed tomorrow and decides to join us. I left the house to carry on with our plan.