There was one person present who was not a robot. A little white bunny slipped around the feet of the robots and snuck under the boxes they were unloading. He zipped into the shuttle and then back out with a box in his paws. He looked around like a burglar escaping a house with his loot.
EB ran hard. To his great surprise, a hand grabbed the box before he could make it into the corridor.
Nova held up the box, EB still attached to the bottom, his little feet running in the air.
“NO, NO, NO! THIS IS MINE! LET IT GO!”
Shaking the bunny loose from the box, Nova looked at it. “This is your fourth attempt at getting a Ren Wear on this station?”
“You can’t do this to me! I haven’t seen my FaceX account in a week. I haven’t torched a newb on the forums since the last battle, and Genshin just released a new area and I haven’t even done my dailies in seven days! Just let me log in and play a little. PLEEEEESE!” EB had his little arms wrapped around Nova’s leg.
“No.”
EB zipped around and stood on the box in Nova’s hand, looking him in the eye. “Look, buddy, you know that I’ve helped you save this planet time after time. My people even reversed history for you once. I’ve always been willing to do more than my fair share. This is cruel and unusual punishment when I haven’t even committed a crime. Aren’t there laws against this kind of treatment? Huh? What about the ASPCA? They would call this animal abuse. And, lets not...”
“OKAY! stop, I don’t need a sermon about a toy.”
“If it is just a toy, then why can’t I use it?”
Nova let out a hard sigh, his eye twitching as he stared at EB, who still stood on the box in his hand. “Fine.”
“You mean it! YEEEEES!” EB snatched the box and hit the floor, but Nova grabbed it back up. “Hey, you said...”
“I said ‘fine’. That just means I’m willing to have this checked this out again.” Nova walked back toward the lift.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’m going to have one of these fully tested. See what it is up to.”
They entered the lift.
EB asked, “Why haven’t you already tested them? I would have thought you would have had your crack team of tech people dissecting these things like frogs in a highschool biology class. You know that is the grossest way to learn biology. I mean, do they expect humans to learn about human anatomy by looking at a frog? There are so many parts in humans. And the smell. YUCK. And... what was I talking about? Right, why haven’t you already tested these things?”
“You’re getting better at refocusing yourself.” Nova commented.
“Thanks.”
The doors opened out into the Operations center. Nova answered his question. “I have had them tested, multiple times. Each time, they seem innocuous.”
“Then why so strict? If you know they aren’t bad, why ban them?”
“They aren’t doing anything wrong, but there is still tech in them that is baffling, and I don’t like that. Besides, we still found where they were tracking all your activities while you use them.”
“Oh, pish tosh. All smart tech does that. Targeted ads are the wave of the future. I use them in candy sales. You mention chocolate around a smart phone and my marketing team are already sending you ads for the newest candies.”
“I don’t like anything collecting data on my people here at this station without my permission.”
“It’s just marketing.”
Nova said, “If that is the case, then maybe I will relent on some of this. But I have to be certain.”
“Okay. Be that way. You’ll find it’s okay.”
Nova waved over Gar. “Good morning. Anything to report?”
“Nothing special. Normal criminal activity the leagues and rangers are taking care of.”
“Good. Take this to engineering research, have them find out how the tracking tech works in it.” He handed the box to Gar.
Gar looked at it. “EB snuck another past you.”
EB muttered, “Almost.”
Nova said, “Yes, and this war has to end. So, tell them to find me some definitive data.”
Gar took the box and said, “Ren Tech was in the news again this morning.”
“More about the Ren Wear?”
“No, they just bought another media company.” Gar said. “I don’t know what that means, but they’ve been buying a lot of stuff recently.”
“They have.” Nova said.
“Hey, can you blame them?” EB said, “You expand or die. Why do you think I own seven candy companies?”
Gar said, “I thought you only owned five?”
“I bought up two more last year.”
“Get that down to tech,” Nova said, and Gar left them. “Robot 10915, I want a full report on all the business acquisitions of Ren Tech in the past year. No matter how small.”
“Understood.”
EB asked, “What are you doing?”
“Just keeping up. I don’t trust them, and when I don’t trust someone, I want to know as much about them and their actions as I can learn. Could be nothing.”
“Now who’s doing the data snooping?” EB’s tone was needling, and Nova returned that statement with an icy glare.
Arx arrived through the lift. “Good morning, sir.”
“Your shift in Ops isn’t for six hours.”
“I know. There’s a problem. I can’t find Adrianne.”
Nova said, “Such a sad case. She just hasn’t been the same since she lost her brother. Have you looked in the theater? She spends a lot of time watching movies.”
“I’m not looking for her, I’ve looked. She isn’t on the station.”
Nova’s sympathetic attitude shifted, “What? Have you checked with internal sensors?”
“I scanned the station three times. I even used the emergency sensor code so I could check the protected areas. There is no sign of her on the station.”
Nova pointed at a robot, “Planetary scan, search for student ID chip for student 424045.”
The robot worked and then said, “Student 424045 is currently in Africa. Geolocating...”
“Stop.” Nova let out a long sigh. “Justin.”
“What about Justin?” EB asked.
“He was heading back down to the planet to do one last scan for Antaeus’s remains. She must have found a way onto that shuttle.”
EB said, “It’s too soon. She can’t find bits and pieces of her brother. That would make her so sad.”
“I know. That’s why I told her she couldn’t go. Comm, get me in touch with Agent Justin.”
A communication window opened on the screen with the BADGE logo. In moments, Agent Justin’s face filled the screen.
“Agent Justin, reporting. We haven’t begun the full scan yet. I have nothing to report.”
“I’m not looking for a progress report. Adrianne found a way down with your team.”
Justin shook his head. “I don’t think so. No one reported seeing extra people in the group, and we accounted for everyone.”
“Her id chip is showing Africa, and she was present on the station yesterday before you left. I know, I talked to her. You need to talk to your team, every member. If anyone saw her, I want to know.”
“The student heroes are away for the moment. They’ll be back soon. When they get here, I will get a statement from everyone.”
“Good. And... let her know I’m not angry or going to punish her. I’m not happy either, but I understand. Make sure she understands that. Send her back up here as soon as you can.”
“Will do, sir. Agent Justin, out.”
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