I'm sorry I seemed to have dropped off of the face of the Earth. I finally wrote the scene where Chip drives to the hospital, but I put less focus on the actual mechanics of driving since I decided to write it from hsi sister's perspective. As an android, Chip's perspective gets bogged down with analysis, especially when he's upset. It would've been a chaotic mess.

Regardless, I tried to include a lot of the sensory stuff you guys mentioned and I'm happy with that, but I feel like it's still missing something to drive home the fact that it's a manual. I wanted to include the movement of his arm as he shifted or at the very least more detail to how he would park the car. I feel stupid, but I know there's no "park". I want it to feel authenitic and almost send my readers back in time to 1979. However, since I wasn't alive then, I'm doing my best.

Any criticism is welcome! I did trim down the scene to focus more on the driving so as not to bore/depress anyone.


The ringing of the phone on her dresser shattered the relative quiet of the house and Becky jumped up to answer. She wondered who would be calling at this hour and her throat closed at the realization. The hospital. She trembled as she held the receiver to her ear. She wasn't sure she'd spoken at all by the time she hung up, but it hadn’t mattered. The blood in her veins was icy cold as her heart pumped it wildly through her. When she walked away from the phone, she felt like she left a part of her soul behind her. A certain numbness had seeped in.

Becky quickly traversed the few feet separating her room from her brother's. She lifted a pencil from his desk, but her shaking fingers let it slip to the floor.

"CHIP!" Her voice sounded harsh and she cringed when he bolted up in bed. He had the option of skipping his POST if the boot prompt was urgent enough. She would imagine the wide eyed look of alarm on his face demonstrated his decision that this qualified.

“What’s wrong?”

"We need to get to the hospital now. The antibiotics aren't working. They don't think dad's going to make it."

Chip blinked hard at the information before he seemed to steel himself. “Okay.”

"How much power do you have?"

"Enough."

He swung his legs out of bed and stood. She watched him look her over, his eyes hesitating for a split second on her quivering hands, but he didn’t mention it. "Did you want to change?"

She glanced down at her pajamas and shook her head. "I don't care what I look like."

"Me neither." He gently led her down to the first floor and they put on their shoes and jackets. Becky waited by the front door while her brother retrieved the keys from the kitchen.

Her feet moved without her instruction on the way to the Jeep. Becky heard the loud squeak of the doors opening and before she knew it, they were both inside with their safety belts fastened. No one else wore them, but dad had always insisted on it and so did Chip.

She stared at the dash, the familiar curves and textures reminding her of so many trips she’d taken with dad. In her mind’s eye, her father turned the key and started the car, but the soft rumbling of the engine wasn’t accompanied by Dr. Parsons’ voice. It was her brother’s.

“Are you ready?”

Shaken from her reminiscing, she looked over and the weight of their circumstance sank in again. “Yeah, I just want to be with dad.”

“Me too.”

She placed her fingers over where his hand sat on the seat between them. “I’ll be quiet so you can concentrate.”

She expected him to rebuttal that he didn’t need quiet to concentrate. She was so used to him confidently explaining that his processors could handle multiple things at once. His uncomfortable grimace implied he was aware of her expectations and couldn’t meet them.

“Thanks.”

Ordinarily, they’d let Eleanor warm up a bit more, but Chip shifted into gear and started down their quiet little road. He stopped at the corner stop sign for a half a second before he gunned it.

The hospital was about 30 minutes away, most of it highway. The speed limit on all of the rural roads up until that point had a speed limit of 25. She leaned over slightly to see the speedometer and confirmed Chip was definitely breaking the law.

The engine for the Jeep growled loudly and Becky listened to all of the dogs in the neighborhood begin to bark. Lights flicked on in some of the houses they passed. At this time of night, there weren’t any other cars on the road, but that changed when they hit the highway.

Beky was afraid of getting pulled over by the police, but Chip had likely already calculated that risk into his behavior. If he was willing to risk it, so was she. When the traffic light ahead of them turned yellow, Eleanor made sounds the teenage girl had never heard before. Her brother’s face was impassive, but she caught him glance over at her once they’d made it through the intersection. He was probably worried about frightening her.

“I trust you completely.”

She watched as his tight grip on the steering wheel loosened ever so slightly and he tossed her a faint smile.

When they approached the next light, it was already red with a car waiting in the left lane. Chip maneuvered into the right lane and the instant the light turned green, that car faded into the background. The sudden momentum pushed Becky back into her seat and the wind pouring through her window stole her breath. Becky hadn’t really been paying attention to where they were, but when she read the sign, her stomach clenched. They were there.

The tires on the Jeep squealed at the sharp turn Chip made into the parking space. When the brake clicked into place and Chip rotated the keys in the ignition, the silence was deafening. All Becky would hear was her racing pulse. She felt like she was going to be sick and hurriedly scrambled out of the car where her brother swiftly joined her.

“Are you okay?”

“No. You?”

He blinked twice. “No.” Still, he took her hand and they entered the hospital, stopping at the information desk to get their visitor’s badges. As they fastened them to their shirts, the balding man behind the desk began giving them directions. Becky’s head swam as she struggled to keep track of the complicated instructions he was giving her. Maybe they were simple and she just wasn’t firing on all cylinders, but she breathed a sigh of relief when Chip politely interrupted him.

“Thank you, but I know the way.”

The man raised an eyebrow and nodded to them as Chip grabbed her hand and broke out into a run. They only slowed momentarily when one of the staff yelled at them. All of the sterile hallways looked the same to Backy and she was thankful Chip had the map stored.

Once they stopped and spoke to the person outside of the door to the ICU, they were allowed into that area. Becky’s eyes slid along the room numbers and when she found 17, her heart sank right out of her body. She hesitated outside, warily looking at the barely cracked door and Chip went stone still beside her, not letting go of her hand. Unlike most of the rooms they had passed, this one was silent. No beeping, no mechanical whirring. Nothing. Maybe she’d remembered the wrong room number?

The nurse who appeared in the doorway jumped when she saw them, but her startled expression turned to one of deep sympathy and it was then Becky knew for sure. They’d missed it. She’d broken her promise to be there for him.

The nurse’s voice was barely a whisper, but she heard it loud and clear. “I've disconnected him from everything, but you can go in to say goodbye whenever you’re ready. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

And just like that, the woman was gone. Something shattered inside of the teenage girl and she wanted to scream and cry at the same time. She somehow managed to do neither. She just stood there as the world crumbled in on her.

“I’m so sorry, Becky.” She looked over her shoulder to find her brother had trailed back. When had he let go of her hand? She turned to face him and her heart ached at the guilt in his eyes.

“This is NOT your fault. If you had driven any faster, it would’ve been dangerous.”

The android swallowed, a nervous habit he’d picked up even if he wasn’t eating. “Correct.”

“Exactly. I don’t think dad would’ve been very happy if we’d joined him, do you?”

“No. He made his intentions for us to live very clear.”

“Then you can’t blame yourself. You did your best and I know he’d be proud.”