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Description
Renee sat in a comfortable chair, running her fingers over the tops of folders until she found her master’s name. She slid it out and sat it on the desk, ready for this week’s set of robot murders and robberies. Flicking to the back page, she found exactly the same thing as last week, nothing had been added. She searched the bottom of the page for something, anything, but didn’t find it. There was nothing to confirm termination, so she found no reason to panic. It was odd that he had no documented activity this last week, though. It worried her.
XL came in again, having served as her watchman, to report. “Your five-minute window is almost up. Everything’s clear, though.”
Renee looked up and smiled at him, putting away the file. “I’m finished anyway. Thanks, Hotbot.” She occasionally called him that when she was really pleased with the little machine. She stood up and walked out of the room with him, holding onto his arm playfully, as if he was her escort. “Tell me, do you ever have weird short-circuiting problems?”
He looked up for a second and thought about it. “Not often really. Why?”
“My eye’s been blowing fuses like crazy. It’s killing me.” She rolled her eye and nodded her head back and forth towards him.
“I think,” He glanced at the floor thoughtfully. “You should see the LGMs about it. The ones in the science bay I mean, not the medical wing.”
“I get that. Dad’s been talking about replacing it. I want to see if he can fit the original cover to a new one, though. And the same operating chip.”
“Why the original? A new cover might look nice. Maybe something less... red.” He looked up at her with a worrisome smile.
“Call it sentimental value.” She smiled tiredly at him. She felt kind of sorry he lived in this kind of fear of Nos, especially since it was her fault that the energy vampire was still alive. She bent over and hugged him quickly. “You know, I was made into a cyborg with this cover and I’ll die with this cover?”
“Not the most comforting analogy, but if it’s something sentimental you stick with it.” He kind of pushed her off before somebody saw, but he did it gently. She stood back up and nodded, rubbing at the side of the rim for that tiny little N. ‘You are mine.’ The words came back to her and she shook them off worriedly.
“Thanks for the pointers. If it does it again I’ll go talk to the green beans.” She nodded before planting a small kiss on his forehead.
“Glad to help.” He smiled dreamily. “Just a few more weeks till your dad graduates, and then he’ll be working full time.” XL informed her.
“Then I’m back to school. Next year I may do some interning since I’ll be out of school. Downtime and practice for college, really.” Renee said a little miserably. She liked seeing everyone because at least during the day she was free to run around. And the girl was learning stuff about mechanics she had never even wanted to know before. She had never known there were so many uses for a live chicken in robot anatomy. But that was the LGMs job, to work with what they had.
“Going to take a year off between high school and college?” He asked, taking context clues.
“Yup.” Renee patted him again. He was so loveable. “It’ll be good for my health. I might get a little more work off here anyway.” She wasn’t totally amped with the idea of spending an entire year here, but it would be good for the reputation and provide stress relief before she went to college. She could spend some time figuring out who she would be working with based on the records. Maybe the girl would learn to shoot a blaster, because she would definitely need it. She knew how to hold and fire one of the deadly guns, just wasn’t the best aim.
“It’ll be nice, if you could get an interning job with me.” He pointed out. “I need the help. No one likes filing and delivering, so it’s a gift to have gotten you around this summer.”
Renee giggled. She felt a little bit dumb, falling for a bot, but he was adorable. And fun, and just a little bit delightfully crazy. “No prob, Hotbot.”
~~~
Well, that was it, the eye needed replacing badly now. Renee had had another nightmare, this one an actual nightmare, and every single circuit had blown. She had just gotten ten thousand volts to the face from the reverse shock. The girl sat up, trying painfully to brush down her electrified hair. Her hand twitched awfully. She tried to remember the horrid dream but didn’t get anything. At least she was glad to not have to remember it, whatever it was.
It was nearly morning this time and Alan was about to get up when Renee bolted out of her bed. She didn’t scream or cry or anything was just terrified and shuddering all over. “Alright.” Alan looked at her, crossing his arms with worry and slight anger at himself for not deciding to fix this earlier. “We’re going to see the LGMs about getting an upgrade.” She felt stupid, having her father late for training to take her to the science bay and see about getting a new eye.
“I can take care of it myself…” She started, really wishing he hadn’t come.
“Nope. I don’t want anything to go wrong.” He said sharply.
She started to ask what could go wrong, but stopped herself. That would only start him rambling protectively. Instead she followed him worriedly down the hall.

Description
Renee sat in a comfortable chair, running her fingers over the tops of folders until she found her master’s name. She slid it out and sat it on the desk, ready for this week’s set of robot murders and robberies. Flicking to the back page, she found exactly the same thing as last week, nothing had been added. She searched the bottom of the page for something, anything, but didn’t find it. There was nothing to confirm termination, so she found no reason to panic. It was odd that he had no documented activity this last week, though. It worried her.
XL came in again, having served as her watchman, to report. “Your five-minute window is almost up. Everything’s clear, though.”
Renee looked up and smiled at him, putting away the file. “I’m finished anyway. Thanks, Hotbot.” She occasionally called him that when she was really pleased with the little machine. She stood up and walked out of the room with him, holding onto his arm playfully, as if he was her escort. “Tell me, do you ever have weird short-circuiting problems?”
He looked up for a second and thought about it. “Not often really. Why?”
“My eye’s been blowing fuses like crazy. It’s killing me.” She rolled her eye and nodded her head back and forth towards him.
“I think,” He glanced at the floor thoughtfully. “You should see the LGMs about it. The ones in the science bay I mean, not the medical wing.”
“I get that. Dad’s been talking about replacing it. I want to see if he can fit the original cover to a new one, though. And the same operating chip.”
“Why the original? A new cover might look nice. Maybe something less... red.” He looked up at her with a worrisome smile.
“Call it sentimental value.” She smiled tiredly at him. She felt kind of sorry he lived in this kind of fear of Nos, especially since it was her fault that the energy vampire was still alive. She bent over and hugged him quickly. “You know, I was made into a cyborg with this cover and I’ll die with this cover?”
“Not the most comforting analogy, but if it’s something sentimental you stick with it.” He kind of pushed her off before somebody saw, but he did it gently. She stood back up and nodded, rubbing at the side of the rim for that tiny little N. ‘You are mine.’ The words came back to her and she shook them off worriedly.
“Thanks for the pointers. If it does it again I’ll go talk to the green beans.” She nodded before planting a small kiss on his forehead.
“Glad to help.” He smiled dreamily. “Just a few more weeks till your dad graduates, and then he’ll be working full time.” XL informed her.
“Then I’m back to school. Next year I may do some interning since I’ll be out of school. Downtime and practice for college, really.” Renee said a little miserably. She liked seeing everyone because at least during the day she was free to run around. And the girl was learning stuff about mechanics she had never even wanted to know before. She had never known there were so many uses for a live chicken in robot anatomy. But that was the LGMs job, to work with what they had.
“Going to take a year off between high school and college?” He asked, taking context clues.
“Yup.” Renee patted him again. He was so loveable. “It’ll be good for my health. I might get a little more work off here anyway.” She wasn’t totally amped with the idea of spending an entire year here, but it would be good for the reputation and provide stress relief before she went to college. She could spend some time figuring out who she would be working with based on the records. Maybe the girl would learn to shoot a blaster, because she would definitely need it. She knew how to hold and fire one of the deadly guns, just wasn’t the best aim.
“It’ll be nice, if you could get an interning job with me.” He pointed out. “I need the help. No one likes filing and delivering, so it’s a gift to have gotten you around this summer.”
Renee giggled. She felt a little bit dumb, falling for a bot, but he was adorable. And fun, and just a little bit delightfully crazy. “No prob, Hotbot.”
~~~
Well, that was it, the eye needed replacing badly now. Renee had had another nightmare, this one an actual nightmare, and every single circuit had blown. She had just gotten ten thousand volts to the face from the reverse shock. The girl sat up, trying painfully to brush down her electrified hair. Her hand twitched awfully. She tried to remember the horrid dream but didn’t get anything. At least she was glad to not have to remember it, whatever it was.
It was nearly morning this time and Alan was about to get up when Renee bolted out of her bed. She didn’t scream or cry or anything was just terrified and shuddering all over. “Alright.” Alan looked at her, crossing his arms with worry and slight anger at himself for not deciding to fix this earlier. “We’re going to see the LGMs about getting an upgrade.” She felt stupid, having her father late for training to take her to the science bay and see about getting a new eye.
“I can take care of it myself…” She started, really wishing he hadn’t come.
“Nope. I don’t want anything to go wrong.” He said sharply.
She started to ask what could go wrong, but stopped herself. That would only start him rambling protectively. Instead she followed him worriedly down the hall.