Hey, I'm dropping the review-or-I'm-not-outting-out-the-next-chapter-thing because it sounds kinda bitchy. Oh well, anyway, thank you Akili-Chan and UKHoneyB for reviewing this story. You rock! I hope I got the names right.
Chapter 3 (A week after chapter 2)
Abigail sat at the console, directing Max through one of N'Tek's training programs that tested how well teams worked together. Berto stood directly behind the girl. A glass box had been built over the bio-feedback button so the button could only be pushed once someone opened the box. This was the button couldn't be accidentally pressed. Berto had told Max that what had happened the week before was due to a short circuit, and Abigail's name had not been mentioned at all. Kat, however, was not so easily convinced of the girl's innocence. The night of the incident, she had come to Berto when he was alone in the lab and Max had gone home.
"What really happened today?" she had asked him.
"Exactly what I said happened, there was a short circuit in the wire connecting to the bio-feedback button...why?"
"Berto, you're not a very good liar," she said, pulling up another swivel chair.
"What makes you think I'm lying?"
"Well, I noticed that when I talked to you before, you had said that Abigail was at the console and that you were down the hall. You wouldn't have left out that little piece of information unless there was some reason for it."
"Ok, fine. Just don't tell Max."
Kat whistled. She knew it wasn't very often that Berto kept secrets from his best friend. "I won't," she had promised.
"I was at the console, and when you guys were flying back, Abigail came in, and it turns out she's interested in this stuff," he had said, gesturing at the console, "anyway, I had some stuff to do, so I let her sit there and watch the monitor, figuring you guys didn't really need me at the minute. I was in the supply room when you called me. When I got back to the console, I saw that Abigail had..."
Kat looked at him expectedly.
"Accidentally," Berto strongly emphasized the word, "put her book on top of the bio-feedback button."
"Well, how come she didn't run and get you when Max started yelling? That's what she should've done."
Berto looked puzzled. "I guess she panicked and wasn't really thinking clearly at the time." He suddenly recalled that odd look on her face as she was watching the screen and listening to Max moaning. He quickly pushed the image out of his mind. She was just confused, he told himself.
Kat looked suspicious. "There's something weird about her, Berto. When she said she had already been here for almost a week already and I didn't know about it, my alarm bells went off."
"She said she's very quiet..."
"Berto, you know nothing gets past me in this building. Nothing."
The younger agent had to agree with her. Kat had an uncanny way of never being taken by surprise at N'Tek.
"Berto, I'll keep your promise and not tell Max about what really happened, but you have to promise me something too."
"Sure."
"Don't leave Abigail alone at the console again. At least until I figure out why I have such a weird feeling about her. Promise me that."
Berto nodded. "I promise."
Remembering the conversation, Berto now dismissed Kat's reaction to Abigail. He figured that Kat was probably just put off because she was no longer the only female agent on the team. Abigail's voice brought him back to the present moment.
"What do I do now, Berto?"
Berto had been teaching the girl how to work all the buttons and switches on the console. She was a quick learner, and a big help to him. She now also knew all about Max. At the moment Berto could see that this part of the training program was written for speed. Max could go turbo and run, but it was a waste of T-juice, and he could not run fast enough in normal mode. Berto pointed to a black button with a blue letter S on it.
"Press that button," he directed.
Abigail pressed the button and a joy stick came out of a panel in the console. The screen switched to a view from Shadow's windshield. Shadow, Max Steel's car, was currently in the garage at N'Tek.
"Use the joystick to direct Shadow to Max. Press the red button on top to make the car speed up, and take it off to make the car stop."
The girl tested the joystick out, watching the view change as Shadow faced the wall of the garage, and then the door. Then she carefully guided it out the door.
"Good job," said Berto, excited at how quickly she was able to understand things. "Now, that is where Max is," he said, pointing to a green blinking dot on another screen. "The red dot in the corner is where shadow is at the moment. Your job is to guide Shadow to Max, and avoid running people over."
Berto watched as Abigail guided Shadow to Max with shocking precision, not damaging so much as a mailbox on the side of the road.
"Nice work, Abby," Max Steel said. Not knowing that Abby was the true cause of the bio-feedback conflict last week, he had grown to liking Abigail, and called her Abby. Kat was the only member of Team Steel who hadn't seemed to have warmed up to the newest agent just yet. True to his word, Berto didn't leave Abigail alone at the console, but he was having more and more confidence in her as the days went by. Abby and Max finished the fake mission in seventeen minutes and three seconds, almost, but not quite, beating Berto's time of sixteen minutes flat. Berto laughed to himself. Kat was acting silly. If anyone should be feeling threatened by the newcomer, it should be him. Abigail, though skilled in computers, would most likely never become a field agent.
Later the next day, Berto and Abigail were working on Berto's mechanical dog, and had actually made progress. The dog now listened to six commands, although these were accompanied by odd patterns of head-spinning and barks. It was Abigail's idea to make a remote control, because voice commands sometimes didn't register clearly enough. It was also her idea to put an emergency self-destruct button on the controller.
"Why would we want Fido to self-destruct?" Berto asked, puzzled. "Usually he gets around to doing that on his own," he recalled the last fourteen models blowing themselves to bits and leaving scorch-marks on the floor tiles.
"Well, this one is a bit different from the other models. It's more advanced. We gave it so many commands that it might, well, overload and go crazy at some point. I think it would be safe to add a self-destruct button just in case something happened, and we couldn't stop it."
Berto hesitated, but he did see the logic in the girl's thinking. He let Abigail add the self-destruct button to the remote.
Chapter 3 (A week after chapter 2)
Abigail sat at the console, directing Max through one of N'Tek's training programs that tested how well teams worked together. Berto stood directly behind the girl. A glass box had been built over the bio-feedback button so the button could only be pushed once someone opened the box. This was the button couldn't be accidentally pressed. Berto had told Max that what had happened the week before was due to a short circuit, and Abigail's name had not been mentioned at all. Kat, however, was not so easily convinced of the girl's innocence. The night of the incident, she had come to Berto when he was alone in the lab and Max had gone home.
"What really happened today?" she had asked him.
"Exactly what I said happened, there was a short circuit in the wire connecting to the bio-feedback button...why?"
"Berto, you're not a very good liar," she said, pulling up another swivel chair.
"What makes you think I'm lying?"
"Well, I noticed that when I talked to you before, you had said that Abigail was at the console and that you were down the hall. You wouldn't have left out that little piece of information unless there was some reason for it."
"Ok, fine. Just don't tell Max."
Kat whistled. She knew it wasn't very often that Berto kept secrets from his best friend. "I won't," she had promised.
"I was at the console, and when you guys were flying back, Abigail came in, and it turns out she's interested in this stuff," he had said, gesturing at the console, "anyway, I had some stuff to do, so I let her sit there and watch the monitor, figuring you guys didn't really need me at the minute. I was in the supply room when you called me. When I got back to the console, I saw that Abigail had..."
Kat looked at him expectedly.
"Accidentally," Berto strongly emphasized the word, "put her book on top of the bio-feedback button."
"Well, how come she didn't run and get you when Max started yelling? That's what she should've done."
Berto looked puzzled. "I guess she panicked and wasn't really thinking clearly at the time." He suddenly recalled that odd look on her face as she was watching the screen and listening to Max moaning. He quickly pushed the image out of his mind. She was just confused, he told himself.
Kat looked suspicious. "There's something weird about her, Berto. When she said she had already been here for almost a week already and I didn't know about it, my alarm bells went off."
"She said she's very quiet..."
"Berto, you know nothing gets past me in this building. Nothing."
The younger agent had to agree with her. Kat had an uncanny way of never being taken by surprise at N'Tek.
"Berto, I'll keep your promise and not tell Max about what really happened, but you have to promise me something too."
"Sure."
"Don't leave Abigail alone at the console again. At least until I figure out why I have such a weird feeling about her. Promise me that."
Berto nodded. "I promise."
Remembering the conversation, Berto now dismissed Kat's reaction to Abigail. He figured that Kat was probably just put off because she was no longer the only female agent on the team. Abigail's voice brought him back to the present moment.
"What do I do now, Berto?"
Berto had been teaching the girl how to work all the buttons and switches on the console. She was a quick learner, and a big help to him. She now also knew all about Max. At the moment Berto could see that this part of the training program was written for speed. Max could go turbo and run, but it was a waste of T-juice, and he could not run fast enough in normal mode. Berto pointed to a black button with a blue letter S on it.
"Press that button," he directed.
Abigail pressed the button and a joy stick came out of a panel in the console. The screen switched to a view from Shadow's windshield. Shadow, Max Steel's car, was currently in the garage at N'Tek.
"Use the joystick to direct Shadow to Max. Press the red button on top to make the car speed up, and take it off to make the car stop."
The girl tested the joystick out, watching the view change as Shadow faced the wall of the garage, and then the door. Then she carefully guided it out the door.
"Good job," said Berto, excited at how quickly she was able to understand things. "Now, that is where Max is," he said, pointing to a green blinking dot on another screen. "The red dot in the corner is where shadow is at the moment. Your job is to guide Shadow to Max, and avoid running people over."
Berto watched as Abigail guided Shadow to Max with shocking precision, not damaging so much as a mailbox on the side of the road.
"Nice work, Abby," Max Steel said. Not knowing that Abby was the true cause of the bio-feedback conflict last week, he had grown to liking Abigail, and called her Abby. Kat was the only member of Team Steel who hadn't seemed to have warmed up to the newest agent just yet. True to his word, Berto didn't leave Abigail alone at the console, but he was having more and more confidence in her as the days went by. Abby and Max finished the fake mission in seventeen minutes and three seconds, almost, but not quite, beating Berto's time of sixteen minutes flat. Berto laughed to himself. Kat was acting silly. If anyone should be feeling threatened by the newcomer, it should be him. Abigail, though skilled in computers, would most likely never become a field agent.
Later the next day, Berto and Abigail were working on Berto's mechanical dog, and had actually made progress. The dog now listened to six commands, although these were accompanied by odd patterns of head-spinning and barks. It was Abigail's idea to make a remote control, because voice commands sometimes didn't register clearly enough. It was also her idea to put an emergency self-destruct button on the controller.
"Why would we want Fido to self-destruct?" Berto asked, puzzled. "Usually he gets around to doing that on his own," he recalled the last fourteen models blowing themselves to bits and leaving scorch-marks on the floor tiles.
"Well, this one is a bit different from the other models. It's more advanced. We gave it so many commands that it might, well, overload and go crazy at some point. I think it would be safe to add a self-destruct button just in case something happened, and we couldn't stop it."
Berto hesitated, but he did see the logic in the girl's thinking. He let Abigail add the self-destruct button to the remote.