I drove the van through the night. Early in the journey, I had a pretty good idea of where we were and where Buddy was directing me to go, but by the time it started getting dark, I was totally lost. I don't like to use my phone while driving (distracted driving is dangerous driving), and I also didn't want to stop in case we were being tailed or an alert had been put out for our arrest or something, so I was at the mercy of Buddy's babbled instructions.
Finally, at five in the morning, just as the sky was starting to get light, Buddy had me pull into the parking lot of a large building that was in the middle of an industrial park. The sign read "Custom Plastix Inc."
The spot was pretty obscure, so I felt relatively safe in getting out of the van and letting Japurri out of his box so he could use the bathroom. Buddy, despite not feeling any pain when shot by bullets, was obviously uncomfortable from being crammed into the cab of the van for twelve hours, and seemed happy to be able to get out and stretch.
Then Buddy did something unexpected; he walked up to the front door of the building and ripped the door open so roughly that it fell off its hinges. He was about to walk in like it was no problem when I warned him that there were probably security cameras. He patted me on the head like it was cute that my tiny human brain was troubled by such concerns, then walked in anyway. I figured he would figure out some super-advanced way to disable the building's surveillance system, so I waited a bit, then walked in too with Japurri padding along behind me.
The inside of the building was obviously a large-scale 3D-printing facility. That's when it hit me. "This is where you were born, wasn't it?" I asked.
Buddy looked at me and nodded. For once I couldn't tell what emotions he was feeling. His face looked different than I had ever seen it. It was making me uneasy. I thought he might make some heroic/tragic sacrifice of himself by turning himself back into a puddle of plastic goop, but instead he sat down at one of the control computers and started typing things into it. Was he going to make another Buddy? Or an entire army of Buddies? Was a showdown with the military really going to happen after all?
A purple 3D-printed something was taking shape in the industrial-sized 3D printer. A few minutes later, there was another 12-foot-tall naked purple plastic statue standing there. But it wasn't another Buddy. It was a woman.
Buddy had created himself a girlfriend.
Buddy walked up to her. Japurri and I followed, wondering what was going to happen next. The purple plastic woman showed no signs of life, but, then again, Buddy hadn't shown any signs of life either when he first arrived at my apartment. However, when Buddy grabbed her by the hand, there was a jolt of something that even I could perceive. At that moment, the plastic woman moved her arm.
Somehow, by Buddy's touch alone, the hunk of plastic had the breath of life breathed into it. "Her name will be Betty," Buddy announced.
Too many things were happening all at once. "Since when can you talk?" I asked Buddy. Previously, he had never come close to producing or even mimicking words in any human language.
"Since just now," Buddy answered, looking down at me with a wry smile on his face. "By creating Betty and awakening her with the same flame of consciousness that burns within me, I have completed my own ascent and become fully human." After this, he giggled in that same familiar way he giggled when he watched goat videos on YouTube. "Pretty crazy, huh?"
"What now?" I asked. "Are we going back home? I mean, after the SEC is done trying to raid us for our illegal cryptocurrency operation?" My head was spinning with how different it was to interact with Buddy when he could actually hold a conversation.
Buddy shook his head. "I can't live in human society. It causes too many problems."
My heart sank at these words even though I couldn't refute them. Even Japurri meowed in indignation. "But...where will you go? What will you do?"
Betty was already moving more by herself. She slowly shuffled her legs to stand next to Buddy. Buddy looked at her with affection, then back at me. "We'll live out in the wilderness and farm goats. Doesn't that sound good, honey?" Betty nodded in agreement. "Humankind will no longer be menaced by my intelligence, nor by my physical strength," he continued. "And you, DownToBuck. Your life will no longer be disrupted by the twelve-foot-tall 3D-printed naked purple plastic statue of Buddy Hield that lives with you."
"I don't care about any of that! You were my best friend!" I wailed, hugging him fiercely around his lower torso as tears rolled down my cheeks.
Buddy took me by the shoulders and looked at me straight in the eyes. "No, DownToBuck. I AM your best friend. This isn't the end of our story. This is only the beginning."
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