Free Moho (Part One: Rise of a Symbol) by Persadia

but maybe it’s too late for her. Maybe she is past help.
    “Have you gone insane?” I yell at her.
    “No. I have gone sane. Hiding from yourself is insane,” Pax responds and seems very convinced.
    Then the lights go out again for another few seconds. I look over to Maya who signals me it really is time to go now.  She seems to have little interest in my argument with Pax. But who knows, she may simply want to know as little as possible and had therefore chosen to ignore us. Pax, on the other hand, ignores the flickering and continues.
    “But I’m here to help you. I only have your best interest at heart. Look, I will do it for you,” she says and stretches her arms up into the air, one Memorybubble in each hand. Then she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. She is going to let go. And then everybody will see what I did to her. Everybody will wonder why I did something so violent and then everybody will know who I am. And then The Spring will take my light.  I have to do something.
    “Pax, you’re right,” I hear myself saying. That gets her attention. She opens her eyes and looks at me. “But shouldn’t I release my Memorybubble myself? I feel like this would be an important first step for me.”
    She just stares at me, her face completely frozen. My heart is beating against my chest. I was trying to sound genuine but I can’t say if I pulled it off. My heart beats faster and faster. Then she lowers her hands. She appears relieved.
    “I knew you had it in you,” she says without any hint of what that means. “It will be difficult at first but I'll be with you.” And then she actually hands over my Memorybubble. I grab it immediately.
    She takes her Memorybubble in both hands and stretches her arms out over her head, just as she did before. Her raised eyebrows signal me to do the same, and so I do. The excitement of being this dangerously close to having my secret revealed is hard to endure but I hold on tightly to my Memorybubble with my sweaty hands. The light flickers again, leaving us in complete darkness one more time. We both take a deep breath and then she closes her eyes.
    “At the count of three,” she tells me, her eyes still closed. “One.”
    I turn my head towards Maya and beg her with my eyes to come to me.
    “Two.”
    I hold my Memorybubble behind Maya's back. She doesn’t seem to understand what is going on but she grabs it nonetheless. Then she leaves. Before it's too late and Pax notices my trick, I quickly stretch my empty arms into the air and pretend to have let go of the Memorybubble.
    “Freedom.”
    Pax actually lets go of hers which soars into the background and disappears into the sea of other Memorybubbles. I stand there for a moment, not knowing what to expect next. Then I hear Pax’s voice.
    “We did it Moho! We actually did it!” she screams and jumps up and down. Ah… the sweet feeling of relief. She actually believes I did it. Ridiculous.
    She looks at me and… it's weird… but for the first time since I met her last night, I see her. All the tension, fear, and pretense are gone. Suddenly she is real. I see her as the scared, complicated, flawed and yet somehow lovable human being she is. What is wrong with me? What have I done?
    Then I make it even weirder and hug her. She hugs me, too. We have an intimate, honest moment during which none of us is saying anything. I move my hands slowly up and down her back and feel how she moves her face closer against my neck. I feel her body on my body. She feels good.
    Then the inevitable happens. The Memorybubbles behind her move apart and three people in shiny white bodysuits walk straight towards us. Two of the Chasteners stretch out their arms, grab Pax and end our moment. The third one, Xerxes, turns towards Pax.
    “It has come to our attention that you are human,” he says.
    “Yes, I am. Human and proud,” Pax says happily. “And so is Moho.”
    “What do you have to say for yourself?” Xerxes asks me.
    “I