"Swear to god, I was tightening some bolts in one of those old G1na bots, you know the ones where the leg joints make those funny creaky sounds when they're getting fucked in doggystyle, and it shot a bunch of coolant or lube or whatever the fuck all over me." The guy sitting at the large metal table leaned back in his chair, taking another inhumanly large bite of his sandwich. Bits of lettuce flew from his mouth when he opened it again. "I tell you, I do not get paid enough for this job." The man sitting next to him cuffed him roughly on his back, causing a chunk of ham to fly from his mouth onto the shiny tabletop
"You shitting me, Warner?" The second guy asked, an incredulous look on his face. Warner blinked at him, perplexed. "People pay a lot of money for that kind of thing!" The group of men burst into loud, raucous laughter. I watched the surface of my microwaved Nutra-soup (All the nutrients of a full dinner in one convenient bowl!) ripple as the vibrations of their boisterous conversation and slamming hands traveled across the table to the furthest spot away from them, where I was sitting. Closing my eyes, I rubbed my temples with a sigh, trying in vain to relieve my pounding headache. The guys I worked with were usually nice enough, but after a long, stressful morning of mechanical maintenance work, I just couldn't deal with them.
I downed the rest of my soup like a shot and slammed the paper bowl back down on my tray with a shudder (all the nutrients, none of the flavor). As I stood up to take my trash to the recycler, a guy from the group got my attention with a wave of his meaty hand.
"Hey, Kel," he called, and a few more guys in the group looked my way. "A few of us are gonna grab a couple of beers at that pub down the street after work, you coming?" After the day I'd been having, I'd rather eat nothing but Nutra-soup for the rest of my life, but I didn't want to tell them that. I had already skipped the last few "excursions" they had invited me on, and I didn't want them to think I was avoiding them on purpose, (which I was). It was already hard enough to gain respect as a female mechanic, so I didn't want to have to deal with my coworkers thinking I was a bitch who didn't like them as well. I blinked at the group a few times, my brain scrambling wildly for a plausible excuse.
"I, uh- well-" Suddenly, I was saved from my pathetic struggle by a figure that had just entered the break room. "Oh! Hi, Lyssa." The group of guys at the table turned around to follow my line of sight, their eyes landing on our severe-looking manager. She was hovering near the door, looking slightly out of place in our little blue-collar microcosm.
"Hello, Kel. Could I have a quick word with you?" I threw my garbage down the chute of the recycler and made my way over to her, thanking the universe for giving me an excuse to not answer the guys. Most of them went back to their lunches, behaving a little more properly now that a manager was in range, but I could tell that a few were eavesdropping.
"What's up?"
"I need you to run a diagnostics test on a bot after your shift today. Eno usually does the tests, but they're on leave right now." I stopped in my tracks. I wasn't used to working with the bots, I mostly worked on the machines that create them and keep them running.
"Oh, uh, well..." I stammered, and I could feel pairs of eyes from the group at the table boring into the back of my skull. "I don't have a lot of experience with the bots themselves, I mainly work with-"
"It's just a routine check, really, you're more than capable," she cut me off. "I can send you the bot's specs and the diagnostic guide once I get back to my office. It's one of those new REN 3.3 models, it's only a few months old." Someone at the table let out a low whistle.
"Man, have you seen those REN 3.3s?" One of them said to another in a low voice, but not low enough that Lyssa and I couldn't hear. "What I wouldn't give for an hour alone with one of those things, I would just-" his words were cut off by the guy next to him smacking him upside the head. He gave an indignant "Ow!" but stopped talking. Lyssa shot a reproachful look at the group, then leaned closer to me.
"Look, there's a reason I'm asking you, ok?" Her voice was low, her eyes still glaring at the men at the table "I know I can trust you with this." After a brief moment of hesitation, I nodded. Satisfied, she leaned back.
"It needs to be done tonight, she's scheduled tomorrow. Are you available after your shift? You'll be getting overtime, of course." I didn't answer immediately. Usually I tried my best to avoid working with the bots as much as possible, but this was a perfect excuse to get out of going out with the guys that was being handed to me on a silver platter. Plus, the extra cash from the overtime definitely wouldn't hurt.
"Ok, I can do that. Where do I need to go once I'm off?"
"Just drop by my office, I'll show you everything then. Thanks again, Kel, see you tonight." Without giving me a chance to reply, she turned on her heel and marched purposefully out of the breakroom. I stared at her back in stunned silence, watching her disappear around a corner at the end of the hallway.
"Man, are you lucky, Kel!" a voice blurted from behind me, jolting me from my stupor. I turned around to see the group of guys all staring at me. "I've sure as hell never gotten such a sweet deal from this company! Getting paid to examine an REN 3.3, my god!" The group descended into conversation about the bot model. I knew nothing about the REN 3.3s, as I didn't tend to keep up with advancements in the bot field and new model releases. All I knew was that I didn't wanna hear about it from these guys. I managed a weak smile.
"Well, I guess I can't make it to the pub tonight, then. Sorry guys, maybe next time?" A few of them nodded in acknowledgement, but they were mostly consumed by their conversation now. I slipped out of the room and started making my way back to the warehouse for the rest of my shift, trying to decide if I had just solved the problem of my evening or if I had made it much, much worse.
+++
I was lying on my back underneath the mechanism of a large bot-joint assembler, fiddling with the wires and bolts. The machine had been randomly breaking down recently, and I was checking for any corrosion or loose parts that could be the culprit. Lost in my work, I barely noticed the aches in my arms from holding my heavy tools in such an awkward position or the tangy scent of oil and grease stinging my nose. At least I had finally stopped thinking about the-
"Hey Kel!" A voice sounded from somewhere above me. I jumped in surprise, banging my forehead against the cold metal bottom of the machine.
"Ooh, sorry, that sounded like it hurt." I rolled my creeper out from under the machine and came face to face with Anders, Lyssa's assistant. He was carrying a tablet, which he handed to me as I sat upright, rubbing my forehead.
"Lyssa said this is the guide and the specs you needed." I unlocked the tablet and scrolled through the files, feeling much more at ease looking at the complicated schematics and diagrams. I enlarged the map of the full body mechanics into a hologram, reading some of the annotations as the model slowly rotated.
"Looks weird without a shell on," Anders commented, peering down at the stripped representation of the inner workings of the bot.
