It took a good while for Tosca to mentally recover from the scolding. Shi wanted to work but Wu’s words cut deep. For an hour or so, the best Tosca could manage was sitting with the ball droid trying not to cry. Her previous excited planning took a backseat in her thoughts; too emotionally bruised to think properly.
The droid sat on her work station inside a circular cushion. Staring at the droid, Tosca felt the strange grooved patterns on its surface. They have to mean something. Nothing was made haphazardly, especially Mech Fortress droids. A simple explanation was most likely. She couldn’t think clearly about it; the scolding echoed fresh in her mind along with unspoken rebuttals.
A lot of what Doctor Wu said made since but other parts had to be exaggerated paranoia. She admitted to making a risky mistake but judging from the doctor, Tosca had just set a time bomb in the lab and Rubin’s Trail was already destroyed. AD7 could have everything she needed to go on a rampage covering the entire world with her machines. And of course, it was all Tosca’s fault for one careless mistake.
The assistant director was usually stiff, but was it really that important? Could AD7 do all that just by being near a droid? That was a little farfetched. Those words were never spoken. Knowing Wu, Tosca would have lost her job and any little respect of research circles in that moment. Instead, she kept her job but now it was time to get back to it.
Tosca had used the energy reading devices so often that they were now stored at her work station. Shaking her despair, she managed to work the devices and compare them to previous energy readings. As she suspected there was no change. No energy readings of any kind were recorded. Strange, she was certain she felt a calming vibe from the droid when she touched it.
Glancing at the clock, she saw that there was less than a fifth of an hour left in hour sixteen. The workday was ending and she hadn’t accomplished anything, again. She didn’t like it, but she decided to stay after to set up an experiment. At the very least, she could do that much.
Buckling down, Tosca prepared all the energy reading machines. She sat and started making notes of what she had observed about the droid before and things that could give some kind of response. Many of the observations were repeated elsewhere but it never hurt to post things again. Perhaps a view from a different angle would expose a small detail that ended up being important.
Shi wrote what she could but there wasn’t much. The droid was unresponsive to any stimuli; electrical, thermal, magical, or otherwise. Perhaps the correct combination of different energies would do something. Her emotional state dulled her excitement but it was a new path to follow. Still she made sure to plan out as much as she could before she lost her thoughts. Perhaps sometime next week, she could look on the notes again and gain a ground breaking insight.
As she was sketching out her first set of ideas, the lab was nearly empty. Tosca returned a few glances as the last few coworkers left. She was usually chatty but today, they knew to leave her alone.
However, one familiar shadow hung over her desk. With her weak performance today, she was surprised to see it. Still, it was always nice to see her.
“Tosca,” said a slightly apologetic voice, “You’re still here?”
Tosca turned around and, as expected, saw Adrianne standing near with Chaeri a few rows back looking down, arms crossed, and leaning against a lab table. She would never… ever dream of using their first names during work hours. However, it was no secret that the three were the best of friends since Tosca could remember.
“We’re going to the Ge’s across the valley. Wanna come?” Adrianne said eagerly without sounding too corny.
Tosca’s eyes darted between Adrianne and Chaeri noting their expressions. Adrianne had clearly heard about their “discussion.” Tosca and Chaeri both loved the Ge’s Noodles and Subs restaurant in the city across the valley. Adrianne had different tastes. However, as the Big Sister, it was her job to make peace between the two, again.
Though Tosca had no problems with this obvious attempt to keep the three of them together, she found other problems with the plans, “I’ve been wasting time since hour thirteen,” she turned back to her work station, “I have to get some work done today.”
“Don’t worry about that thing,” Chaeri said flatly from the distance, “It’ll still be there in the morning.”
Tosca flinched at hearing Cheari’s stone voice again so soon. There was a good chance that she was bribed into the dinner as well. ‘Ge’s Subs and Pastas’ was so very good. The original one in Bosstown was even better than the one in Rubin’s Trail. Flying in Silent Blur was always a dream. Besides, she was very hungry and Chaeri’s reasoning was unquestionable, this time. The droid never moved. It’ll be there when she comes back.
After a few moments thought, Tosca gave the only reply that made sense, “Fine, I’ll go.”