Andrew awoke to the most beautiful sight he had ever seen, Linnie snuggled into him in a tent out next to a babbling creek. As he longingly gazed at her still sleeping form, he wondered how he had convinced such a wonderful person to even go on a date, much less spend a weekend in the woods with him. Either way he wasn’t going to jinx it. Instead, he laid there taking in her angelic form and basked in the knowledge that she had been dating him for a month as of tomorrow. The celebration of which was what prompted them to take this trip to Biyodhac Falls so they could explore the newly minted National Park and celebrate their newly minted love as well.

  While the trip didn’t start out well, she was late (her phone again), and then they had to turn around as he had forgotten the tent. While the first part of the day was stressful the second part was anything but. They had a nice leisurely hike down the river towards the falls talking about their lives, their dreams, and all the other things young couples talk about while believing that their relationship would always be without issue.

  There were mini-issues along the path, like when she had to help him remove needles when he sat on a cactus like plant and he had to grab her when she almost fell into the river, but through it all they just laughed and enjoyed the afternoon.

  The only semi conflict they had was where to camp. Andrew was hoping to grab the first primitive camping site they could find, as he was concerned that they’d lose the light and have to set up in the dark. Linnie on the other hand wanted to test their luck and see if they could get a campsite right next to the falls. In the end he couldn’t say no to her beauty and so they hiked on to the falls, passing campsite after campsite after campsite. Until they finally made it to the falls.

  The falls were everything he expected and more. They were a triplet of falls which shared a granite basin which was itself atleast 100 meters in diameter. What set it apart from any other triplet falls had ever even heard of was the fact that each crest came from a different water source and leapt from different heights. The largest fall was also the tallest falling from almost 300m, high enough that most of it’s water turned to mist before it found the basin. The second highest flow of the three was also the most spectacular, as it gushed out of a cave on the opposite side of the cliff face. Though it was the shortest of the three falls coming down from only 40 or so meters up the right cliff face it was also in some ways the most gorgeous as it cascaded down and spread across a moss and fern covered travertine wall. The middle falls was a stream that started fall about halfway between the two others and was the smallest flow of the three. The walls of the cliff were lightly covered with the occasional tree and many ferns which seemed to wave a greeting to them as they floated on the wind. Their combined basin looked like an oasis of life, grown from the water the falls provided. The rocky beach of it gave way to soft soil where the campsites were located. It was the most beautiful falls he had ever seen, but Andrew was distract from them by the most beautiful and distracting sight he had ever seen. A slightly sweat slightly dirty Linnie in the middle of the empty campsite beaming at him, her white teeth gleaming in the setting sun.

  “OMG!! I told you there’d be a spot, but I never dreamed it would be directly next to the falls! This is amazing! Where do you think everyone is though? There’s not a tent to be seen.”

  “I’m guessing everyone else shared my concern and missed out.”

  “I told you we shouldn’t play it safe!”

  He just smiled and took it all in.

  Once they’d setup their tent, they both worked together to make dinner before they took advantage of their solitude by going skinny dipping beneath the falls and then retiring to their tent and keeping each other up far too late into the night.

  Which was why Linnie was still asleep lying next to him, he on the other hand was woken up by the sounds of other hikers showing up to the falls. Mostly by some terrible person who though their life needed a soundtrack for everything and everyone else needed to hear it. As the person approached some terrible rap song boomed out and Andrew couldn’t sleep through it. He had intended to go out to talk to offender, but Linnie had trapped one of his arms under her. So, instead he sat there ignoring his sweating aching arm and admired her beauty and was inwardly thankful none of these people were here last night.

  When she finally rolled off his arm, he got up to stoke the embers from last night’s fire back to life again so he could make breakfast. Just as the eggs had finished cooking, Linnie started to emerge from the tent. She stopped when she looked around to see the other hikers and quickly popped her head back in, before emerging once more fully dressed.

  “Where did all these people come from, and why does that guy think we want to hear that crap?”

  “Because his parents didn’t teach him manners, I guess. Eggs?”

  “Oh god yes, I’m starving. Well, I guess it was too much to ask for this place to stay empty of people.”

  “Sadly so.”

  She sat next to him and snuggled in as they ate breakfast and talked about sweet nothings and stared at the falls. Once breakfast was done, the two of them got on their bathing suits before heading back to the falls. Linnie was in a tasteful one piece, but that didn’t stop the guys from gawking at her and so he walked with her arm in his through the crowd as if he were a triumphant peacock, proud she chose him.

  They swam playfully for a while before exiting the basin and laid down relaxing in the son.

  Their wonderful moment was interrupted when the music playing guy, his radio in his hand, approached them.

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  “Damn, girl you aren’t you them most stacked thing I have ever seen. Why don’t you come and hang with me tonight? I’ll show you a better time than that nerd.”

  Andrew and Linnie both tried to ignore it and enjoy their day, but the guy wouldn’t take the hint and came closer, the smell of alcohol and some trendy cologne only douchebags and teenage boys wore came wafting over them.

  “Damn, seriously girl you need a real man. I’ll make you feel things you never felt before.”

  As if out of a terrible gang show he grabbed his crouch for emphasis. Andrew stood up and approached the guy. The guy was fitter than Andrew, but Andrew had a few inches on the drunk.

  “Hey man, why don’t you go and enjoy your day and leave us alone.”

  “I am enjoying my day looking at your woman, got a problem with it?”

  Andrew, trying to control his urge to punch the guy in his smug mouth, took a deep breath. As he did not want to scare off his new girlfriend by making her think he was some thug.

  “She’s not interested.”

  “She can come over and tell me that herself, I’m guessing she doesn’t because she knows I’m right.”

  Linnie, not one to have her man do things for her got up and approached the man.

  “You need me to say it little man? Leave us alone and go enjoy that crap somewhere else!”

  When Linnie turned around to go back to the spot the drunk pulled his hand back to smack her on the butt, yet before his hand touched her Andrew gave in to his desire and laid the man out. As the man fell backwards Andrew grabbed his shirt and hit the man twice more in the ribs before depositing him on his knees gasping for breath in the water.

  “Well, that was anti climatic,” Andrew said to Linnie as he walked back up to her and offered her an arm.

  “You didn’t have to do that, but I do appreciate it.”

  “Maybe next time he thinks about sexually assaulting someone he’ll remember that and have some manners.”

  She smiled at him as they walked hand in hand, before her voice went robotic.

  “Integration complete, dwarven implant online. Link to Labyrinth established.”

  [Mr. Lather, is there anything you would like to know?]

  Any security risk with this new AI implant?

  [None that I’m aware of Mr. Lather. Though it appears that I am now able to access the dwarven internet through it and that might have security issues I am ignorant of.]

  Bob, you still with us?

  [Bob is still here but is choosing not to speak to you as it is very unhappy to have to share both your ocular cavity as well as my connections with this dwarven terror as it calls it.]

  Does this implant have a name?

  [Not at this time.]

  Should I name it?

  [A quick search on the Rinth, the short name given to their internet, shows that many dwarves do, but as it hasn’t grown a consciousness it would be only for your comfort. It will only respond to you through me or it’s ocular interface. Speaking of which are you ready to see what information it can display?]

  Andrew opened his eyes and with a mental agreement the new expanded interface appeared, but before he could focus on it, a horned head appeared in his vision. The text, Yelley, floating in his vision next to the surgeon. Yet his vision wasn’t even minimally blocked by it, the way it was when Ziggy used to display these messages and when he wondered more about it the knowledge of her from the Rinth was there as if he had always known it.

  “Wow, you’re not just great implant surgeon, I see now you’re literally one of the best in the realm.”

  “Let me give you a tip, don’t go believing everything you see on the Rinth. Though I have been voted 30years in a row as such by the Tribe, so it isn’t entirely wrong.

  You have a lot of stuff taking up space in your eye btw. I wouldn’t suggest any more eye related implants, not sure you could any way without drilling new holes into your skull. Honestly, with everything going on in there I was nervous I had disabled your implant in the process until your new one reported back that it was able to talk to your Ziggy.

  I’d expect they already told you that I not only installed your implant and healed you but also was able to connect your Ziggy with the new implant. Is that the human word for the new model of implant?”

  “Nope that’s the name I gave the AI in my kata implant.”

  “Is it conscience?” real concern clear on her face.

  “Not that I know of it but is getting more and more real feeling as it learns.”

  “We will need to test that, as there are laws which protect AIs that grow truly self-aware. Though we’ll have to figure out how to do that through the interface we put together. “

  “How did you manage that by the way?”

  “Carefully, as I was only going off articles written on how to manage a theoretical connection between your implants and ours. I was confident in the theory I went with, as it was the only one which was cowritten with a human implant expert. Their research was also done on a number of balanced planets like this one, as it was found that your tech could get minimal voltage on these worlds.”

  “Really, why would the energy balance matter?”

  “It’s suspected that they more closely mimic the energy environment in your home region of space. I digressed, Dr. Whatever his name was that I can’t pronounce, and his human colleague were spot on with their theory of how to turn pulses into the electrical signals and vice versa. While they were able to do a few proof of concepts they were never able to get one of your implants to fully power back on, so their testing was minimal. I am pleased to say they were correct and I was able to make the connection work. Though I suspect your two implants will work to improve this connection as time a goes on and I can’t wait to see how to do it. “

  “So why did yall do this all for me? Surely you don’t do this for every human who shows up with a working implant. “

  “Mr. Lather, you really are the only human who has been recorded having a working implant and even after seeing it myself I have no clue why. Though I suspect it has something to do with the modifications made to human implants in the last 150 years. Did others on your ship have working implants as well?”

  “It hasn’t been 150 in our region of space. Only 2, sorry it’s a bit of a sore subject for me as my wife was on the previous ship. As for your question, no only my implant seemed to be functioning and only after the control worm, Bob, integrated with my Kata.”

  “Yeah I saw that. The way it had organically fused with a few of your, Ziggy was it?” after a nod from Andrew she continued, “ Your Ziggy’s ports gave me confirmation that our proposed solution might actually function. As we planned to do the tech equivalent of it. I have to admit I was nervous doing such delicate work next to such a magical thing.”

  “Well from what I can tell you did an amazing job. Bob seems to be doing well, though unhappy to share space with a tech based item, but it will be ok”

  “I am honestly surprised everything in there is working together instead of their energies tearing them apart. Even watching them work together I couldn’t figure it out. Do you know why that might be?”

  “No clue. Though the reasoning might be why my kata works when nobody else’s does.”

  “Oh one other thing, I turned on the new implant’s healing to help mitigate the cancer cells which were starting to grow next to your human implant.”