Chapter Two: The Techno Corner

'It's only the first day, and I'm already bored out of my mind. I'm probably going to be insane by the end of the month.'

Astra looked around the small computer shop for something to do besides counting the roof tiles. She had just started working in Cathy's shop that morning, and already she'd finished all of her work along with the backed-up jobs. She'd had no idea that the jobs would be so simple or that she'd be so bored. It seemed growing up around computers, studying for her license, and all of the extended studying she had done had put her way above simple computer repairs. But it wasn't as if she could tell Cathy about it and not sound ungrateful. 'She's being nice enough as is; giving me this position. Without Cathy I'd have no job at all.' She ignored the niggling little voice that reminded her that if she'd stayed with Zigfried, she would've already had the position of her dreams, not to mention a huge mansion to live in. She imagined herself programming the new holo-systems and running systems checks on Von Schroeder's entire mainframe. 'Not to mention all the new projects I could be working on; I'll bet Zigfried would have let me work on whatever my mind came up with. Oh, what was I thinking?' She was shaken from her daydreams by the door chime that signaled the arrival of a customer.

"Hello, welcome to the Techno Corner. How may I help...?"

Her voice trailed off as she finally saw the boy leaning heavily against the doorframe. He appeared to be in his early teens and had long, bushy, black hair and large, blue-gray eyes. Abruptly, he looked up at her.

"Umm…hi…"

Out of the front window, she could see a group of people running toward the store. The boy looked back at her, and, without another word, dove behind and underneath the counter.

"What are...?!"

Before she even finished her question, the door slammed open, and the group of people burst inside.

"Have you seen a boy about yea high? He's got long, black hair and grayish eyes."

The boy looked up at her with desperation showing in his face and shook his head vehemently.

"No, I haven't seen any little boys all day; the only thing I've seen is computers. Could I interest any of you in one? We've got great deals."

She gestured around them at the many computers and computer components for sale. The men and women looked at one another and left quickly, shutting the door behind them.

"They're gone now; you can come out."

The boy crawled out from under the counter and straightened his clothes before he looked up at her with a smile.

"Thanks for the help; I woulda never got away from them otherwise."

"Mind telling me why they're chasing you in the first place? You know, just as a thank you."

"I guess you deserve that much for hiding me. You see, they wanna know what my older brother's up to, and they figured they'd ask me. My brother told me not to ever go out alone, but I didn't listen; I guess I shoulda."

"Yes, you should have. Your brother's gotta be pretty important for so many reporters to be chasing after you."

He raised his eyebrow at her and gave her a strange look that she couldn't interpret.

"Yeah, nobody will ever leave him alone about anything."

Their conversation was interrupted by the door chime, and once again, Mokuba dove underneath the counter. 'He's got pretty good reflexes for a kid.'

"Good afternoon, ma'am, and welcome to the Techno Corner. May I help you with something?"

She tried to put the proper energy behind her words, but she knew she fell far short. She just couldn't help it. Running a shop wasn't what she was cut out for, nor was it what she wanted to be doing, and it showed.

"I certainly hope you can; my pc's been making funny noises for weeks, and now it won't even turn on. I need you to fix it by this afternoon; I'll be here at precisely six to pick it up."

The woman's haughty and commanding demeanor was pushing Astra over the edge; the only reason she hadn't snapped yet was the fact that there was a child listening to her every word. As it was, she clenched her teeth and nodded, taking down the woman's name and phone number. As soon as the woman was gone, the boy once again came out from under the counter.

"No offence, but you don't seem very good at talking to people."

"Trust me; usually I'm much better. I can make anyone think I like them, but today's been a really bad day; all I want to do is go home, take a bath, and then maybe call my best friend and complain about my life to him."

"Umm...ok…do you mind if I hang out around here for awhile? I wanna make sure those reporters are gone for sure."

"Sure, I don't mind. But I gotta get to work on this computer if I wanna have it done by six, especially since I don't even know what's wrong with it yet. Go ahead and make yourself comfortable."

The boy sat down in a chair next to her worktable as she attempted to diagnose the problem. 'Good thing Cathy won't be in today. I'd hate to have to explain this to her.'


Mokuba watched as the girl began to work on the pc. She hooked the computer up to a diagnostic machine and punched in some general data. A couple of minutes later, a machine across the room spat out a sheet of paper, and just as it did, the phone rang.

"Would you mind getting that for me?"

"Sure thing."

He scanned it as she answered the phone; it took him less than a minute to figure out the problem. 'Wonder how long it'll take for her to see it.' It had always been interesting, and amusing, to see how long it took for others to solve what were simple problems to him. He handed the sheet to her and sat down to watch. She scanned it for only a couple of minutes before she put it down with a smile. He watched in surprise as she swiftly repaired the computer. He hadn't thought an everyday, computer, repair-person would be able to see it and repair it so quickly. 'Now this is definitely interesting.'

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