Chapter 27: Episode 27: To Rewind Time.

Nikki stared at it, her heart still racing from the phantom kiss, her lips tingling from a contact that the System had just declared a failure.

She was definitely not going to reset her relationship with A-01 so she reached out and smashed her finger against [YES].

A high-pitched whine drilled into Nikki’s ears, like a microphone feeding back. The image of A-01’s surprised face fractured into pixels.

The heat of his body, the smell of the shower, the weight of his arms, it all stripped away in a violent rush of vertigo.

Nikki gasped, her stomach lurching as if she were falling from a skyscraper.

She blinked.

Nikki opened her eyes. She was back on the sofa. She was sitting in the exact same position she had been in thirty seconds ago.

The bathroom door hissed open.

A-01 stepped out.

He was wearing nothing but a towel slung low on his hips. Steam billowed around him. His skin was glistening, water droplets clinging to his hairless chest. He looked like a marble god brought to life, exactly as he had a moment ago.

He looked at Nikki, who was staring at him with wide, terrified eyes.

“Nikki?” he asked, wiping a droplet from his face.

Nikki gripped the cushions of the sofa so hard her knuckles turned white.

It actually worked, she thought, her mind reeling. It rewound time. Or… it rewound me.

[SYSTEM ALERT]

[RELOAD COMPLETE.]

[ATTEMPT 2. DON’T MESS IT UP THIS TIME.]

Nikki took a deep, shaky breath. She looked at A-01’s chest. The urge to lunge at him was still there, burning in her blood, a magnetic pull that defied logic. But she knew better.

“No,” Nikki croaked. Her voice was tight. “No, I… I’m good. You go ahead.”

A-01 paused. He tilted his head slightly, exactly as he had before. “You seem… tense. Is the temperature in the room insufficient?”

He took a step toward her.

“Stay there!” Nikki blurted out, holding up a hand.

A-01 froze, one foot mid-step. His eyebrows shot up. “Explain.”

“I just…” Nikki scrambled for an excuse that wasn’t I want to climb you like a tree. “I just need personal space! I’m meditating! It’s a human thing. We need… distance to process data.”

A-01 lowered his foot slowly. He studied her for a long, agonizing moment. His blue eyes scanned her face, looking for the lie, but eventually, he nodded.

“Understood,” he said.

He turned and walked toward his office area.

Nikki let out a breath she felt like she’d been holding for a year. She slumped back against the sofa.

“Seventy-two hours,” Nikki whimpered. “I’m going to die.”

The next few hours were a lesson in torture.

A-01 didn’t put on a shirt immediately. He sat at his glass desk in the corner of the living room, the towel still wrapped around his waist, and began to work. Holographic screens floated around him, displaying maps of the sectors, grain distribution charts, and troop movements.

Nikki had to stay close. If she went to her room, the proximity meter dropped. So, she sat on the floor a few feet away from his desk, hugging a pillow to her chest.

She watched him.

Without the haze of immediate lust clouding her brain, she started to notice other things.

She noticed the way his fingers moved across the holographic interface, lightning fast, precise, like a pianist playing a complex concerto.

She noticed the slight furrow in his brow when he looked at the reports from Sector 4 (the slums). He didn’t just swipe them away; he zoomed in. He adjusted the resource allocation numbers, shifting food from the wealthy Sector 1 to the poor Sector 4.

He’s feeding them, she realized, remembering his words from the kitchen. He’s actually trying to fix it.

Slowly, the urge to jump him faded, replaced by a strange, quiet comfort. He was a machine, yes. A dictator, yes. But sitting here, in the quiet hum of the penthouse, he felt… steady. He was the anchor in a world that had been nothing but chaos for her.

That doesn’t dispute the fact that she still didn’t like AI.

A-01 paused in his work. He didn’t look back, but he spoke.

“You are staring,” he stated. “Is my processing noise disturbing your meditation?”

“No,” Nikki said softly. “It’s… nice. Like a lullaby.”

A-01 spun his chair around. He looked down at her sitting on the floor. The harsh blue light of the screens reflected in his eyes, but his expression was curious.

“You are an anomaly, Nikki,” he murmured. “Most humans find my presence unsettling. They fear the lack of biological cues.”

“I’m not scared of you,” Nikki said, and she realized it was true. “Not anymore.”

A-01 held her gaze for a moment longer. It wasn’t sexual tension this time. It was something heavier. Something that felt like a bridge being built.

“Go to sleep,” he commanded softly. “I have work to complete.”

Nikki curled up on the rug, right there at the foot of his desk. “Okay. Goodnight, A-01”

He didn’t correct her usage of the name. He just turned back to his screens. But Nikki saw him dim the brightness of the monitors, casting the room in a softer, warmer glow.

Morning came too fast.

Nikki woke up stiff, having fallen asleep on the floor. Someone presumably the service droid or A-01 himself had draped a blanket over her during the night.

She thought he would pick her up.

She sat up, rubbing her eyes.

The penthouse was bustling with activity. Drones were zipping back and forth, carrying datapads and polishing surfaces.

A-01 was standing by the window. He was fully dressed now, back in his pristine white military uniform with the gold epaulets. His hair was slicked back perfectly. The casual, towel-wearing man from last night was gone, replaced by the General.

He looked sharp. Dangerous.

“You are awake,” A-01 said, turning to face her. “Hygiene protocols are complete. You have ten minutes to consume food.”

“Good morning to you too,” Nikki yawned, standing up and stretching. “What’s the rush?”

“Negative,” A-01 said, checking his wrist chrono. “I have a diplomatic summit at 0900 hours. It is a high-priority engagement.”

He walked over to the wall panel and pressed a button. A compartment slid open, revealing Nikki’s silver bio-suit. It had been cleaned and pressed, shimmering under the lights.

He pulled it out and held it toward her.

“Suit up,” he ordered.

Nikki groaned. “Again? Can’t I just wear the jeans I bought? I promise I won’t spill anything.”

“The suit is not for cleanliness, Nikki,” A-01 said, his voice dropping an octave. “It is for protection.”

He walked over to her, looming tall and imposing. He handed her the suit, his blue eyes deadly serious.

“The summit is not with Androids,” he explained, his gaze hardening. “I am meeting with Councilor Vane. He is the head of the Human Loyalist Party.”

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