03-05-2017, 06:15 PM
Chip was in the lab again, still fine tuning and tweaking and not getting Al3x to help with the programming. She’d been there for most of the morning.
As she made a minute adjustment to the paint job on one of the drones, her eyepiece buzzed quietly. She swiped it across the screen: it was Nimo.
++Hey Fish and Chips!++ came his voice, the childhood nickname slipping from his lips.
“Hi Nimo.” She tried to make it sound enthusiastic, but her ill mood leaked through. She hoped he hadn’t noticed.
++Hey, you alright?++ Damn. ++You sound less bubbly than you should be.++
Chip gave a sigh, dropping to sit on the floor and leaning back against a rack of tools, wrapping her arms around her knees.
“There’ve been some… difficulties in the workplace. One of my co-workers got under my skin, I overreacted, and now things are… awkward.”
++You? Overreact?++
“I know, I know, but I don’t know what it is about this guy.”
++Is he a friend?++
“Yeah.”
++Then it’s probably instinctual. You never really connected with the others, back when we were in the printing business. If you’ve been getting on well with this guy, I can imagine you not knowing how to handle it. It’ll get better in time.++
“Nimo,” she asked, finally admitting to herself that there was a problem. “How do I fix this?”
++Bite the bullet, little sis. Go and apologise. Maybe take a break, clear your head a little.++
“Thanks Nimo.”
++No problem.++
Chip wiped away a few grateful tears that were forming at the corners of her eyes.
“So, Nimoanie, what’s going on in Coruscant. You kept your head down?”
++Yeah, I got the all clear from a mate a few days ago. But listen, I heard something that I think your boss would be interested in. Wanted to pay her back for saving my skin.++
“Oh?”
++Yeah. There’s this academic in the upper levels who’s been gathering primes to stop some nefarious company and their mind control chips or something like that.++
Chip frowned.
“Carmy’s currently undercover. She wouldn’t be able to follow up in person…”
++Really? Hmm… hey, does she have these eyepieces you’ve designed? If she does, I could go with my tablet and let her video conference with this guy.++
Chip nodded, then gave a hum of assent.
“That might work. I’ll go give my co-worker that apology and hand your details over to him. Then I’ll go clear my head. Don’t get into any trouble!”
Nimo laughed, and ended the call.
Chip got to her feet and made her way to the control tower through the baking heat. There was a light breeze today, bringing little in the way of coolness but plenty in the way of small sand devils that sprung up from the packed ground and quickly whirled away to nothingness. She couldn’t help but wonder about Al3x’s avatar. Was the sand devil his choice, or something he was designed with? What did it mean?
Shaking the thoughts from her head, she began climbing the stairs. At the entrance to the control tower, she paused before steeling herself and knocking on the door.
“Come in.” Al3x’s voice seemed amused, but there was an almost organic hint of strain beneath the tone. Chip pushed the door open.
The AI’s hologram was deactivated, his avatar currently on the screens with visual representations of the programs he was running in the form of weather patterns. The anthropomorphic sand devil seemed tense, the shoulders back and the head tilted slightly away from Chip.
“I’m sorry.” Two voices, speaking at the same time. They both looked up in shock, before genuine, amused smiles came onto their faces.
“I shouldn’t have gone so far,” Al3x said.
“I overreacted. If anything, it’s my fault for not just saying it was a confidential issue that had me worried.”
Chip twiddled her thumbs.
“Speaking of,” she continued. “I’d really like it if you waited to ask Carm about it until she’s here in person. It wasn’t shared in confidence exactly, but we were in the middle of the desert at night. It’s not the sort of thing to ask her about in the field.”
Al3x gave a nod.
“So, what have you gotten up to since last we met?”
“I’ve finished the PCDs,” Chip smiled, only hesitating a little. “I just need the programming.”
Al3x grinned, a glowing line on the swirling, pixelated sand.
“Programming?” he asked, chuckling slightly. “Now whoever could write that? If you’ve got the ways and means of printing in blue, I’ll toss up together some code.”
“That’s not all,” Chip added. “My brother found something Carm’s going to be interested in. I need you to handle the communication between them.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Now we’ve cleared the air, I think I need a break. I’m synced to the recall, so I should be safe to take a trip out to Nippur. I want to see if the situation there is as bad as the fundraisers say it is.”
Al3x frowned slightly, but nodded.
“Keep your eyepieces on and at the first hint of trouble, find somewhere to hole up for five minutes. You taking a car?”
“Yeah. Give me a call if you get lonely,” Chip replied, with a teasing grin. It felt good, to be able to engage in witty repartee again.
“Off with you, scallywag!”
“See you later Al3x.”
As she made a minute adjustment to the paint job on one of the drones, her eyepiece buzzed quietly. She swiped it across the screen: it was Nimo.
++Hey Fish and Chips!++ came his voice, the childhood nickname slipping from his lips.
“Hi Nimo.” She tried to make it sound enthusiastic, but her ill mood leaked through. She hoped he hadn’t noticed.
++Hey, you alright?++ Damn. ++You sound less bubbly than you should be.++
Chip gave a sigh, dropping to sit on the floor and leaning back against a rack of tools, wrapping her arms around her knees.
“There’ve been some… difficulties in the workplace. One of my co-workers got under my skin, I overreacted, and now things are… awkward.”
++You? Overreact?++
“I know, I know, but I don’t know what it is about this guy.”
++Is he a friend?++
“Yeah.”
++Then it’s probably instinctual. You never really connected with the others, back when we were in the printing business. If you’ve been getting on well with this guy, I can imagine you not knowing how to handle it. It’ll get better in time.++
“Nimo,” she asked, finally admitting to herself that there was a problem. “How do I fix this?”
++Bite the bullet, little sis. Go and apologise. Maybe take a break, clear your head a little.++
“Thanks Nimo.”
++No problem.++
Chip wiped away a few grateful tears that were forming at the corners of her eyes.
“So, Nimoanie, what’s going on in Coruscant. You kept your head down?”
++Yeah, I got the all clear from a mate a few days ago. But listen, I heard something that I think your boss would be interested in. Wanted to pay her back for saving my skin.++
“Oh?”
++Yeah. There’s this academic in the upper levels who’s been gathering primes to stop some nefarious company and their mind control chips or something like that.++
Chip frowned.
“Carmy’s currently undercover. She wouldn’t be able to follow up in person…”
++Really? Hmm… hey, does she have these eyepieces you’ve designed? If she does, I could go with my tablet and let her video conference with this guy.++
Chip nodded, then gave a hum of assent.
“That might work. I’ll go give my co-worker that apology and hand your details over to him. Then I’ll go clear my head. Don’t get into any trouble!”
Nimo laughed, and ended the call.
Chip got to her feet and made her way to the control tower through the baking heat. There was a light breeze today, bringing little in the way of coolness but plenty in the way of small sand devils that sprung up from the packed ground and quickly whirled away to nothingness. She couldn’t help but wonder about Al3x’s avatar. Was the sand devil his choice, or something he was designed with? What did it mean?
Shaking the thoughts from her head, she began climbing the stairs. At the entrance to the control tower, she paused before steeling herself and knocking on the door.
“Come in.” Al3x’s voice seemed amused, but there was an almost organic hint of strain beneath the tone. Chip pushed the door open.
The AI’s hologram was deactivated, his avatar currently on the screens with visual representations of the programs he was running in the form of weather patterns. The anthropomorphic sand devil seemed tense, the shoulders back and the head tilted slightly away from Chip.
“I’m sorry.” Two voices, speaking at the same time. They both looked up in shock, before genuine, amused smiles came onto their faces.
“I shouldn’t have gone so far,” Al3x said.
“I overreacted. If anything, it’s my fault for not just saying it was a confidential issue that had me worried.”
Chip twiddled her thumbs.
“Speaking of,” she continued. “I’d really like it if you waited to ask Carm about it until she’s here in person. It wasn’t shared in confidence exactly, but we were in the middle of the desert at night. It’s not the sort of thing to ask her about in the field.”
Al3x gave a nod.
“So, what have you gotten up to since last we met?”
“I’ve finished the PCDs,” Chip smiled, only hesitating a little. “I just need the programming.”
Al3x grinned, a glowing line on the swirling, pixelated sand.
“Programming?” he asked, chuckling slightly. “Now whoever could write that? If you’ve got the ways and means of printing in blue, I’ll toss up together some code.”
“That’s not all,” Chip added. “My brother found something Carm’s going to be interested in. I need you to handle the communication between them.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Now we’ve cleared the air, I think I need a break. I’m synced to the recall, so I should be safe to take a trip out to Nippur. I want to see if the situation there is as bad as the fundraisers say it is.”
Al3x frowned slightly, but nodded.
“Keep your eyepieces on and at the first hint of trouble, find somewhere to hole up for five minutes. You taking a car?”
“Yeah. Give me a call if you get lonely,” Chip replied, with a teasing grin. It felt good, to be able to engage in witty repartee again.
“Off with you, scallywag!”
“See you later Al3x.”