Cora was lying on her bed. She had tears in her crystal blue eyes. it was the middle of the night and she ignored everyone who thumped on her door. Cora was thinking hard. Something was going to happen to her and there was nothing she could do to stop it. her mum had tried to talk to her a few times, but she had ignored her. Cora grabbed her zPod, spinning through songs and trying to drown out all the talk. She was seventeen now. It had been a long time since anything interesting had happened to her, and considering her usual sarcastically tolerable attitude, crying was something new. She remembered everything. Good times bad times, there was something she had to tell someone about. It didn't matter who, just as long as it wasn't her parents. They had lost her once before, and she had lost them, and it wasn't happening again. Shut up Cora your making an idiot of yourself, she thought. She breathed in and out softly and wiped the tears away from her face. quickly she placed down her zPod and slipped off her bed. She sat at the dressing table to get rid of her smudged eyeliner.

"cora?" Cora felt her heart give a little kick when she heard Astro's soft voice. She felt her cheeks go red and yet said nothing.

"hey can I come in? Or are you reapplying your makeup?" he asked jokily. Cora sighed and quickly wiped off the eyeliner with a damp cloth. She clicked the open button and Astro gently pushed the door open. "your mum let me in," he explained. he saw Cora's face and almost immediately his face fell. By now Cora's face was looking normal again, as if she hadn't just had a completely uncalled for sob fest. But Astro knew her too well. He smiled to try and make her feel less vulnerable. Cora smiled up at him comfortably. Astro's face fell. He sat down next to her.

"what's the matter?" he asked caringly. Cora looked at him. She smiled insincerely.

"nothing's the matter, I'm fine," she lied, her face dropping as she stopped talking. Astro watched her, searching for her eyes. he just wanted to understand. Her face was pale with fright and shock but Cora didn't want to let that get to her. she pulled herself up and wandered to the opposite side of the room. Astro continued to watch her with growing concern. Cora sniffed and then laughed a bit.

"it's hard to believe isn't it? it's already been four years since we met," she whispered. "and you've never even told me how you feel about me," she said. Astro looked at her in confusion.

"why does that matter right now?" he asked from her bed. "what, did something happen?" he added in a worried tone. Cora stared into space for a few minutes. How on Earth could she tell him? She swallowed. A solemn look was on her face.

"Astro, you - i..." she felt the words in her throat, as soon as she said the words, Astro would freak out. And then Cora would actually have to talk about it with him. "I'm dying, Astro," she said, not even bothering to stop her tears anymore. Astro stared at her in complete shock. his eyes looked terrified and his hands were clenched in painfilled fists. He smiled briefly.

"no, your not dying," he denied, "that's not true," he said. Cora shuddered and bit her lips. She shook her head. she clenched her fists and stared at the floor.

"Astro," she cried quietly. "i have a terminal illness, something I can't pronounce," she sobbed.

"no! Cora that's not true!" Astro shouted at her, running over to her. He grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. Cora was just crying, unable to stop herself. Astro felt his heart beating a million times a minute. His eyes were sore and his throat was clogged with tears. "oh Cora," he broke off and just held her in his arms. He felt her shudder silently and knew she was fighting with herself whether to feel this vulnerable or to just runaway.

"my dad can fix you Cora, you'll see, he'll do what he did to me, you'll be the same as always," he tried. Cora pushed away from him. The very idea made her feel sick.

"It won't be the same, will it? not really," she said. Astro caught her eyes and just watched her. He knew she was right. "it'll never be the same," she said, walking purposefully over to him so she was only a breath's distance away from him. Astro stared into her royal blue eyes painfully, obviously trying to picture any kind of solution. Cora looked at him, desperately wanting to smash against him and never to let go. She wished there was a different way she could get through this. But she knew the only way she could get rid of this horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach would break both their hearts. she slapped him. Hard. She had her fists clenched uncomfortably, horrified that she had actually done it. "I'm gonna die and all your doing is trying to find me a replacement before I even go!" Cora cried at him. She ran to the window and bit her lip. She breathed in and out and then leapt out, running off. Astro felt his eyes water, his heart hurt. There was nothing he could do. She was right. Astro was trying to replace her, just like his father had tried to replace him. Astro collapsed on Cora's bed, sighing in frustration. He stared up at the ceiling, drowning in a sea of misery and confusion. A million thoughts collided in his brain. Confusion, shock, horror, terror, pain, every bad emotion buzzed round his head. nothing could be worse than what he just heard. his phone rang.

"Orrin? Yeah I'm coming," he said and hung up.

Cora ran. She had been running for who knows how long now. She had burning tears in her eyes. she would never be free. She couldn't believe that in the space of time since THAT incident four years ago, all of the orphans, her friends and "family" had broken apart, disappeared and even died. There was a weakness in Cora's nimble legs now. It was getting to her again. She didn't care. Cora continued to run as fast as she could. Sooner or later, she found herself in the trash heap of robots that people hadn't cleared up yet. It felt nostalgic here, and Cora slowed to a walk. She wandered around the dump for a while, trying to find somewhere to sit and think. Or even cry. She moved around a lot, just kicking around random pieces of scrap metal or jumping across old junk. Finally she found a place at the top of one of the piles, it was higher than some of the houses nearby, and yet, Cora still felt like she was at the bottom of the world. Tears fell down her face. she missed Astro already. Who cared though, he wanted her to be replaced, and that wasn't what she wanted. She felt wind whip at her face softly and peacefully, nothing was better on a warm morning like this. By now Cora could see the Sun just poking around the horizon, it would be morning soon. She had been running for longer than she thought. Suddenly behind her, Cora heard a loud scream and tumbling of metal. She flipped round and watched as a kid fell down the pile of junk. She didn't think, but Cora grabbed his wrist and pulled him up.

"you okay?" she asked, trying to see his face. when she did her eyes widened, "Zane?" she cried, falling backwards onto her butt. "but I thought, and you, and, and, what are you doing here?!" she stuttered. Zane looked at her in confusion. He was taller than before, and his hair had grown a bit longer, now a whippy fringe fell across his eyes.

"Cora? Are you feeling okay?" he asked. Cora blinked. This obviously wasn't too big of a discovery to him. She let her head fall into her hands and laughed in relief.

"Zane, Hamegg thinks your dead, the kids have a new leader, why did you just leave like that?" she sounded astounded. Zane sat down next to Cora. He shrugged and looked at the horizon. Cora watched him. He looked a lot more mature and adultlike now. Even though he was only seventeen there was a kind of knows-too-much feeling about him.

"I just, thought my life could be more than fixing robots for Hamegg. I decided I wanted to be an inventor myself, I can make anything I want now, not just what Hamegg wants," Zane explained. he pulled something from his backpack out and showed Cora a very small little piece of metal and a remote.

"you are looking at the future of GPS locaters, mine can go into stealth mode," he explained, clicking a button and the GPS disappeared, "and it can send messages into the carriers mind, just for fun. Plus it's environmentally friendly and never needs new batteries," he added with pride. Cora smiled at him.

"you always were a computer nerd, Zane," she teased, giving him a playful shove. "I'm gonna miss this place," she muttered. Zane blinked.

"what do you mean?" he asked. Cora looked at him and mentally swore.

"sorry, thinking out loud," she said. "it's nothing," she persisted when Zane gave her an "I don't believe you" look. Cora stood up and hopped down the junk pile flawlessly.

"if you ever want a place to stay, my family would be glad," she mumbled to him as she left.