02-19-2017, 12:45 AM
The next morning brought an unexpected message.
“I mean, I know what she does. She rescued me, for heaven’s sake… but to be just sitting here, while she’s in the thick of it…” Chip shuddered. “It just doesn’t feel right.”
“You’re worried because the boss woman doesn’t have back-up. That sound right?” Al3x’s avatar, an anthropomorphic dust devil, swept his hands wide. “She’ll be fine. She’s got the recall, and she’s a prime. Heck, she’s already died once.”
“You saw how restless her sleep was!” Chip yelled, striking the table and sending her water rippling. “It’s not even that though. She was in danger saving me, she was in danger saving my brother, and now she’s in danger saving someone else. I know that’s her job, but-”
Chip bit her lip, biting back what she was about to blurt out. Al3x was looking unimpressed.
“Carmelita’s going to be fine, you worrier. I’ve had a look at the service record she’s put on the servers, and if there’s only one set of crooks she let slip, and then only some of the time, then she’s got this in the bag stored in a barrel for shooting fish. Would you rather she just sit back, save only those you care about? Only help those who the risk is worth it for?”
Chip screamed in frustration.
“That’s not what I’m worried about! I’m worried about her because she’s hurt, I’m worried she’s not on top of her game!”
A pause.
Chip held her hands clamped over her mouth.
Al3x’s glowing eyes were wide.
She fled the room.
---
Chip had lunch in the lab for the third time, and laid her head down on the desk. After her accidental outburst, she had taken to sleeping in the dormitories rather than the control tower, and conversation between her and Al3x had dropped to simple requests for parts and confirmation they’d been made.
It wasn’t that she felt any animosity towards the AI. Though it hurt that he’d taken her words to indicate a certain selfishness inherent within her, she understood the conclusion he’d leapt to. What had prevented her from returning to how things had been was a deep seated uneasiness in her gut. She’d been pondering it between her long stretches of work that she’d been throwing herself into. It was how quickly she’d risen to her own defence, how easily she had let slip something personal that Carmelita had, if not shared in confidence, obviously not put on file. Chip had never considered herself thin-skinned or prone to bursts of emotion, and sometimes her part in the printing of rebel pamphlets had required her to walk steadily past Stormtroopers with bags full of dissident material without batting an eyelid. That Al3x seemed to be an exception to this trend was deeply unsettling.
Still, if there was one good thing to come out of this, it was that she had made progress in leaps and bounds on her current project. The quantum deployment beacon had been fitted and tested, the sensor ring and computing capabilities had all passed muster and the addition of electronic clamps and self-righting levers had solved the dangers of her creations falling over. The droid had taken shape, and now all she had to do was to get the blasted shield projector working.
Said projector was currently lying on the floor in fifteen pieces. It was the sixth prototype in as many hours.
“Oh come on!” Chip muttered to herself as the laptop nearby flashed red. “Again? What am I doing wrong?”
She looked up at the screen, swiping the parameters of the simulation and attempting to find a solution. As she cursed, an email notification popped up on screen. Chip opened the message from Carmelita.
“She wants a design for what.”
“I mean, I know what she does. She rescued me, for heaven’s sake… but to be just sitting here, while she’s in the thick of it…” Chip shuddered. “It just doesn’t feel right.”
“You’re worried because the boss woman doesn’t have back-up. That sound right?” Al3x’s avatar, an anthropomorphic dust devil, swept his hands wide. “She’ll be fine. She’s got the recall, and she’s a prime. Heck, she’s already died once.”
“You saw how restless her sleep was!” Chip yelled, striking the table and sending her water rippling. “It’s not even that though. She was in danger saving me, she was in danger saving my brother, and now she’s in danger saving someone else. I know that’s her job, but-”
Chip bit her lip, biting back what she was about to blurt out. Al3x was looking unimpressed.
“Carmelita’s going to be fine, you worrier. I’ve had a look at the service record she’s put on the servers, and if there’s only one set of crooks she let slip, and then only some of the time, then she’s got this in the bag stored in a barrel for shooting fish. Would you rather she just sit back, save only those you care about? Only help those who the risk is worth it for?”
Chip screamed in frustration.
“That’s not what I’m worried about! I’m worried about her because she’s hurt, I’m worried she’s not on top of her game!”
A pause.
Chip held her hands clamped over her mouth.
Al3x’s glowing eyes were wide.
She fled the room.
---
Chip had lunch in the lab for the third time, and laid her head down on the desk. After her accidental outburst, she had taken to sleeping in the dormitories rather than the control tower, and conversation between her and Al3x had dropped to simple requests for parts and confirmation they’d been made.
It wasn’t that she felt any animosity towards the AI. Though it hurt that he’d taken her words to indicate a certain selfishness inherent within her, she understood the conclusion he’d leapt to. What had prevented her from returning to how things had been was a deep seated uneasiness in her gut. She’d been pondering it between her long stretches of work that she’d been throwing herself into. It was how quickly she’d risen to her own defence, how easily she had let slip something personal that Carmelita had, if not shared in confidence, obviously not put on file. Chip had never considered herself thin-skinned or prone to bursts of emotion, and sometimes her part in the printing of rebel pamphlets had required her to walk steadily past Stormtroopers with bags full of dissident material without batting an eyelid. That Al3x seemed to be an exception to this trend was deeply unsettling.
Still, if there was one good thing to come out of this, it was that she had made progress in leaps and bounds on her current project. The quantum deployment beacon had been fitted and tested, the sensor ring and computing capabilities had all passed muster and the addition of electronic clamps and self-righting levers had solved the dangers of her creations falling over. The droid had taken shape, and now all she had to do was to get the blasted shield projector working.
Said projector was currently lying on the floor in fifteen pieces. It was the sixth prototype in as many hours.
“Oh come on!” Chip muttered to herself as the laptop nearby flashed red. “Again? What am I doing wrong?”
She looked up at the screen, swiping the parameters of the simulation and attempting to find a solution. As she cursed, an email notification popped up on screen. Chip opened the message from Carmelita.
“She wants a design for what.”