Chapter 4 : Once Around the Bend
Scene : hallway of Middleton High School, 8:20 am
Ron is watching Kim shuffle her books between her backpack and her locker as she prepares for the school day.
"Do you think Global Justice was able to get all the charges against Wade dropped ?" Ron asked.
"Hard to say, Ron" she replied, "but if anyone has enough clout to do it, they would !"
Startled, she almost fumbled one of her school books when the Kimmunicator rang out its familiar four tones.
She quickly activated the screen - and there was Wade, beaming like a new father. "Hey guys ! Miss me ?"
"Wade ! You're back on-line !" Kim stated with a broad smile, "So I guess this means GJ came through ?"
"They sure did !" Wade replied, "Once Doctor Director explained just how much help I've been over the years, the Feds couldn't return my equipment fast enough !"
"No duh ! So, you ready to help with another sitch that just came up ?" Kim replied.
"Of course ! But, its going to take me some time to rummage through the backlog of messages that built up during my absence." Wade replied, "I'll have to check back with the posters to see how many of them still need help, and how many of them found some other solutions. And how serious the missions were. And to let them know that Team Possible is still available to help."
"Oh, right !" Ron noted after thinking for a moment, "If all someone got when they went to Kim's website was 'Site Not Found', they could think that KP and I weren't saving the world anymore !"
"Exactly !" Wade replied, "We lost our web presence for only a few days. But that can be enough time for people to start thinking we're not here.
So, what sort of help do you need Kim ? It may take me a few hours to get back to you though."
"Well, the Bebebots are back. And had some SERIOUS and MAJOR performance upgrades !" Kim answered.
"Like what ?"
"Arm mounted lasers, sonic blasters, and high quality combat tactics ! I almost didn't get out of their hive in one piece ! If Ron had been just a second slower sabotaging their machines ..." she replied with a shudder.
"Whoa ! Well, if they've spend that kind of effort, there's a good chance there is something I can track down." Wade replied, stroking his chin.
"Oh, speaking of tracking things down," Kim replied while pulling an invoice out of her pocket, "I took this from a crate in the Bebebot hive. SOMEHOW they're getting high tech materials delivered to them without anyone noticing."
"That could be enough !" Wade replied as he scanned the invoice Kim was holding up to the scanner in her Kimmunicator, "I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
"Thanks Wade !" Kim replied before turning the device off, grabbing her books and heading off to class.
"Maybe you should have asked him to look for where the Bebes are hiding now ?" Ron said, "I mean, if they're smart enough to give YOU serious trouble, I doubt they'd just stand around and let themselves get blown up !"
"Good point Ron." Kim replied with a sigh, "But first things first. Maybe once we figure out HOW they're having their supplies delivered to them, we can drop in. That's how we keep finding everyone else's lairs !"
Kim didn't really notice what happened in the next three classes, since she was preoccupied with Ron's statement.
"Where COULD a dozen or more robot women hide WITHOUT being noticed ?" Kim mused to herself, "It's not like they can blend in with the general population ! Where have they been all this time ? There must be holed up somewhere, for how else could they keep coming back after I destroyed them twice already ?
Underground in storm drains and sewers ? Not likely, since constant humidity isn't good for electronic devices.
Abandoned factories and warehouses ? Most likely, and they would be on Wade's list already. But that could be too obvious, even for them.
I guess I'll have to wait for Wade to do his cyber-magic on that invoice. Once the Bebes start having material delivered, we've got them !"
After the bell rang and class was dismissed, Kim headed off to her locker, but was distracted by a large crowd in front of the Music Room.
As she approached, she could hear a violin solo being played from inside the room.
Slipping through the crowd, she got close enough to the door to look inside to see what was going on.
It was Vina, but instead of playing her omni-vox, she was using a regular wooden violin.
"Excellent playing Miss Rossum." Mister Loundes the music teacher stated as she finished, "You only made six rather subtle errors."
"SIX errors ?" Kim thought to herself, "It didn't sound like she made any at all !"
"I've never played that composition before, sir," Vina replied, "and some of those progressions were rather tricky !"
"I know. That's why that piece is an excellent test of ability. You did quite well." he replied as he wrote a series of notes on the chalkboard, "You mentioned that you can also read and write musical notation, and compose music, right ?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Let's see what you can do with that." Mr Loundes stated, gesturing towards the chalkboard.
Vina walked over to the board. There were notes on the imprinted staff, but nothing else. No bars to show where one measure ended and the next began. No key signature. No treble or bass clef symbols. Just an expanse of notes.
Vina looked back and forth along the measure, humming quietly to herself as she tried to figure out how the piece before her was meant to sound.
She quickly wrote '3/4', the treble clef symbol, and two sharp symbols to indicate the key signature before dividing the composition into bars.
She hummed to herself a bit before writing natural symbols beside just two of the notes, and rubbing out the last note and replacing it with a different one.
"Congratulations, Miss Rossum." Mr Loundes replied with a bow, "You just passed my test for admission into this class."
Vina looked confused. "But I thought I already was enrolled here !"
"I've been burned a few times by transfer students with faked transcripts over the years," he replied, "I had to make sure you were as good as your transcripts said you were. You are. Would you be interested in joining our music club ?"
"Oh, yes ! I would !" Vina positively gushed.
"Good to hear. What instruments do you currently play ?" he continued after retrieving a clipboard and pen.
"Well, I started off with the piano, sir," Vina replied after recovering from a blush, "then moved on to violin and guitar."
"Ah yes, the classical instruments. What compositions are in your repertoire ?"
"I'm partial to complex compositions, sir." Vina replied, fidgeting with the violin in her hand, "So I've learned Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Pachelbel's Canon a 3 on a Ground In D, Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee, a few pieces by Grieg, and a few from more recent composers like Vangelis ..." she continued, playing a few bars from each composition as she mentioned them.
Before an offscreen male voice yelled "Play Freebird !"
To which Vina responded by picking up the eraser from the chalkboard and lobbing it at the offending male.
"Oo ! Sorry ! I was aiming for him !" she winced after a FEMALE voice yelped in surprise.
"And, FYI, since the triple guitar solo of Freebird is one of the hardest compositions of all time, I simply had to master it ! So I can play Freebird. Just not by myself ! Because its a triple guitar solo. And I'm just one person.
And you should only make that request at uncool concerts or of lame musicians. Of which I am not !"
Scene : lunchroom. Kim is sitting at a table with Monique and Ron, until Vina accidentally bumped into her.
"Sorry about that !" Vina blurted out before she noticed who it was.
Kim turned to look, and noticed that something was missing. "So, Lavinia, where's your omni-vox ? Leave it safe at home for a change ?"
Vina narrowed her eyes. "If you really must know, Kimberly Anne," she replied with all the condescension she could muster, "during school hours I'm to keep it in my new locker in the music room. Mister Loundes was so impressed by my ability that he pushed all my paperwork through personally."
"So you've been assigned a locker, and are officially a student here at Middleton then ?" Ron asked.
"Yes to both, Ron."
"By the way Lavinia, your sister's little trick didn't work." Kim stated.
"What trick are you referring to ?" Vina replied, starting to get really annoyed at being repeatedly called by her 'true' name.
"Having Wade's equipment impounded by the Feds. It didn't work."
Vina sighs. "Are you STILL going on about that like it was HER idea ? Listen - all Nina did was report Wade's ILLEGAL activities to the proper authorities; what to DO about it was THEIR decision, not her's. So, if you have a problem with the ways things turned out, please direct your complaints to the relevant law enforcement agencies."
"Oh, I already did !" Kim replied with a smirk.
"Whatever do you mean ?"
"Me and Ron have friends in several high level government agencies." Kim began, "Its one of the perks of frequently saving the world. And they have already taken care of it. Wade was back online as of this morning !"
"Hmmph ! How utterly dross and droll !" Vina replied, "I'm starting to see why Nina prefers working with computers and machines rather than people. Machines FOLLOW rules and laws. Why do people even BOTHER writing laws if they're just going to ignore them ?"
Kim turned her seat around to more comfortably argue with Vina. "'Machines FOLLOW rules and laws' ? HA ! I have it on personal experience that not all machines are law-abiding !"
"Really ? Did your hair dryer do a bad job ? Toaster burn your bread this morning ?" Vina replied in a tone of mock sympathy.
"No." Kim replied with clenched fists, "Over the weekend me and Ron tracked down a Bebebot hive. Bebebots are hive-minded female robots trying to take over the world. They tried to kill me ! Several times ! But me and Ron managed to stop them."
"Well goody for you two !" Vina replied flatly, "So how is any of that relevant to your little vendetta against me and my sister ?"
"I did a little research on my own over the weekend Lavinia," Kim smirked, "Does the phrase 'R.U.R.' mean anything to you ?"
Vina rolled her eyes before rubbing the bridge of her nose and answering with "R.U.R. 'Rossum's Universal Robots'. Written by the Czech playwright Karel Capek in 1920. Relevance ?"
"Your family name is what again ?"
Vina sighed. "The Three REALLY should have put a little more effort into finding a more normal and common surname for us instead of just randomly picking one from literature !" Vina groused to herself as her processors began compiling a list of appropriate responses.
"Oh great Asimov's ghost !" Vina exclaimed, "Are you actually implying that me and my sisters are, what was the word you used, 'Bebebots' ? Because our last name is Rossum ? That joke about my family's name was old, dead and buried ten years ago, Kimberly Anne. Thank you SO much for digging up its rancid carcass once again !"
"Ewww ! Gorchy turn of phrase there V !" Monique stated with a shudder, "Especially at lunch !"
"Sorry Mon !" Vina replied sheepishly to Monique to before turning to Kim. "You OBVIOUSLY haven't read R.U.R., or else you would've known that the Robots in that play are more like organic constructs than mechanical people. They are produced by pouring chemicals into kneading troughs and vats.
If you are going to make fun of someone's name," Vina replied in a snobbish tone as her secondary processors finally compiled a counter attack, "at LEAST know what you are talking about !
And from where I stand," said Vina as she began her mind game, "YOU have just as much chance of being considered artificial as I do, Kim !"
"Heh ?" replied Kim, Ron, and Monique.
"All those 'missions' you insist on going on ? How often do you succeed ?" Vina began, sounding both bored and snippy at the same time.
"Almost always." Kim replied warily, trying to figure out where Vina was going with this.
"Almost always ? Really ? And that faux modesty bit you keep using ? 'Oh, its no big !'" Vina stated in a ridiculously exaggerated imitation of Kim, "'Anyone could have repaired a nuclear reactor with a pencil, some yarn and a stick of gum !'
But, if anyone could have done it, how come you are the ONLY one who ever does so ? The ONLY one asked, or expected, to do so ?
You succeed at nearly everything you try. You master complex skills in less than a week. You outperform people with years - DECADES - of dedicated practice and experience. Doesn't that seem a wee bit odd to you ? Peculiar ? Unnatural ?" Vina continued, leaning forward with a smirk that would give a shark the willies.
"Just what are you getting at ?" Kim replied, eyes narrowed in rage.
"Nothing human should be that good at everything, Kimberly Anne." Vina replied, "Given your remarkable abilities, how can anyone be sure that YOU aren't some sort of advanced robot or genetic construct ?"
"WHAAAT ?!?!" Kim, Ron and Monique state as one.
"Your parents are a rocket scientist with vast experience in nano-technology, and a brain surgeon, right ?" Vina asked.
"Yeah. So ?"
"Perhaps they gave their beloved first born child some - enhancements ?" Vina stated cooly, "Such things are not unknown."
Kim's face turned as red as her hair as one eye twitched. "YOU. TAKE. THAT. BACK !!!"
"Or what ? You're going to use your sixteen styles of kung fu on me ?" Vina replies, flailing about with fake martial arts moves, almost hitting Tara and Bonnie, "Beat me to a pulp as an example of what happens to anyone that dares impede your brand of do-it-yourself justice ?"
Before Kim could attempt a reply, Vina continued with "If you're going to throw stones, Miss Possible, you shouldn't be living in a glass house !"
Kim stood there, stunned.
"Hey - if you can imply that my family are criminals based purely on our name and a series of events that YOU YOURSELF set in motion," Vina sniped, poking Kim with her finger, "then why can't I suggest that you are some sort of experiment based on equally insipid evidence ? Usual standards - like international laws - not apply to you ?"
The entire cafeteria became dead quiet after everyone close to scene retreated as far as they could.
Kim and Vina were now standing almost nose to nose, trying to stare each other down; the withering gaze from Kim's emerald green eyes gaining no ground against the venomous return gaze from Vina's pencil grey eyes.
"Is there a problem here ?" Mr Barkin spoke up, breaking up the contest.
"No. Not any more, sir." Vina replied coldly as Kim turned away with a barely stifled screech of rage.
Vina half-fainted into her chair once Kim's back was turned, as her 'breathing' and 'heart rate' began dropping to normal levels after her terrifying encounter.
"Are you okay V ?" Bonnie asked.
"I will be in a minute. Thanks for asking !" Vina replied as her regulators began redistributing power to non-stress configurations.
"Good. Although that was probably the coolest dressing down I've EVER seen," Bonnie stated, "I have to ask : ARE YOU NUTS ?!?! Kim beats up thugs, clones and robots as a hobby !"
"I know it was risky," Vina shrugged, "but I just got sick and tired of defending myself when I haven't even done anything ! There's only so much smugness I can take ! So I thought a counter attack would be more useful."
"Useful ? For what ?"
"Getting her off my case !" Vina replied after a few deep, cleansing breaths, "What is with her ? I always thought it was GET evidence first, THEN take legal action, but she's doing it backwards ! What's she going to do to next ? Ask Wade to do another illegal computer search ? Follow me around ? Break into my house ?" she continued, gesturing widely.
"Well," Bonnie said as she patted Vina's shoulder, "I've been dealing with Miss Perfect for years, and she's never done anything like that to me. I've gotten her torqued off many times and she's never tried anything seriously physical or direct.
But, then again, I've never seen her that angry before !" Bonnie finished with a shudder.
"Oh capacitors
!!!" Vina fretted to herself, "What have I done ?!
I just hope Tina was right about Kim !"
Scene : table where Kim, Ron and Monique are sitting
"Chill Kim !" Ron stated while sitting a safe distance away, "She was just playing with your head ! No one seriously thinks your a robot or a construct or anything creepy or weird like that !"
"I KNOW that Ron !" Kim growls, "But there's a real chance the Rossums are either Bebebots, or working for them !"
"Wow ! That's a pretty serious charge there KP !" Ron replies, "How do you figure that ?"
"Looking at them for one - did you notice they all have that same curl on their foreheads like the Bebebots do ? And the oldest one Nina looks EXACTLY like a Bebebot with a different hair color ?"
"Well, yeah, but that could be a coincidence." Ron replied, "More improbable stuff than that happens to us all the time."
"Well, yeah. But what about the timing ? A new student named ROSSUM transfers in ? Before we get a mission involving Bebebots ? And Wade is taken out of the loop just when we need him most ?"
"Well ..."
"And where does Nina work ? With Dr Renton - an expert in cyber-robotics !
The latest Bebebot weapon is a sonic blaster. What does Vina Rossum's omni-vox make, and what is she most interested in ? Sound, and controlling it ! Coincidences ?" Kim continued, counting off each point with her fingers.
"It - could be." Ron half-heartedly replied.
"If the Bebes were smart enough to upgrade their tactics and firepower, who knows what other ideas they came up with !"
"So, you think they made a few look human and sent them to Middleton to spy on you ?" Monique asked.
"Well, yeah ! Weird things like that happen to me all the time !" Kim answered, "For instance : who was the last student to transfer to Middleton ?"
Ron and Monique thought for a minute before Kim answered "Erik the synthodrone !"
"So, Kim, if you're so sure they're V.E.F.Rs, what are you going to do about them ?" Monique asked.
"V.E.F.Rs ?" Ron asked after unsuccessfully trying to decipher Monique-speak.
"Viciously Evil Female Robots, Ron !" Kim answered, "If I were CERTAIN the Rossums were 'bots, I'd send them to the scrap heap with all the other Bebebots; if I were CERTAIN they were human, I could just chalk all this up as weird coincidences and let it go.
But this not knowing for sure has me so frustrated !
Now, if there was only a way to figure out if the Rossums are Bebebots or not ..." Kim stated, fingers interlaced as she began to think.
"Tech scan ?" Ron offered.
"Too slow, and hard to explain away if I was wrong." Kim replied, "And Wade is kinda busy at the moment."
"How about a hypersonic emission ?" Ron tried again.
"That's even more blatant than a tech scan Ron !" Kim replied with an exasperated sigh, "Besides, given how fast they've been learning so far, I doubt that trick would work on them a third time."
"Well, yeah, but isn't the law 'innocent until proven guilty' ? You've been wrong before ..." Ron stated in an uncertain voice.
"Oh really ?" Kim replied icily, "Like when ?"
"Well, you thought Yori was working for Monkey Fist for a while there ..."
"Oh, that !" Kim replied, "That just PROVES my point that we need more information on the Rossums ! The only reason I thought Yori was working for Monkey Fist was because I didn't have enough information to think otherwise !"
"So, she was guilty until proven innocent then ?" Monique offered.
"Whose side are you on Monique ?" Kim replied in a shocked tone.
"Yours, Kim." Monique replied coolly, "I just don't want to see your 'take-charge' nature make you do something you'll regret. Remember the soccer coaching fiasco last year ?"
Kim glared at Monique for a moment before she realized that Monique was right.
"Sorry." Kim replied, "I guess this business with the upgraded Bebebots and Miss Charm over there has me a bit rattled." she continued, glaring at Vina.
"S'alright !" Monique replied, "No surprise for being tweaked though. Looks like V girl's got a black belt in verbal kung fu. I was NOT expecting that."
"Yeah. Me neither." Kim replied, "But I'd still like more information on them. Just to put my mind at rest of course ! All this is a little too weird, even for me.
Now, IF the Rossums were up to no good, there could be some evidence in their house, or on their computers. Now, if there was only some way to look around in there ...
Wait a minute ! Ron ! You and Vina are partners for this semester's science project, right ?"
"Uh, yeah. That's the way Mister Barkin assigned us, and ... oh, now wait a minute !" Ron answered before catching on.
"You and Rufus can look around a bit for me !" Kim continued, "After all, you have a reason to be there, and I don't !"
Ron looked about nervously as he tried to figure out how to answer. "On the one hand, if Kim is right, I'd be helping to save the world from evil robots," he thought to himself, "but, if she is wrong, I'd be snooping around a stranger's house for no really good reason. Kim's rarely wrong. But she HAS been wrong once or twice before. But if I don't do it, Kim might try something on her own ..."
"I'll see what I can do, KP." Ron replied glumly, "I'll ask, but Vina may not go along with it. I mean, after that argument you two just had, I may not be overly welcome."
"Well, you'll be a LOT more welcome over there than I'll ever be !" Kim replied, "You still have your Ronnunicator ?"
"I never leave home without it !" Ron replied before searching through his pockets. "Well, okay, maybe it's in my locker. But I do have it ! Why ?"
"It has the same capabilities as the Kimmunicator. Including the ability to do tech scans !"
"You sure that's not overkill there Kim ?" Monique asked, "I mean, a tech scan ? Girl, you sure that's legal ?"
"Well, it COULD be 'Nique. Depends on what we find !" Kim replied, "After all, we could be dealing with dangerous killer robot spies here !"
"Uh huhhh." Monique replied, sounding doubtful. "Well, good luck with that Kim. I think the less I know about your plans, the better."
Scene : hallway of Middleton High, less than a minute after the final bell had rung.
Ron carefully threaded his way through the milling students, working his way towards Vina's locker.
"Hey Vina ! Wait up !" he yelled to catch her attention before she finished packing her stuff to go home.
"What do you want, Ronald ?" she asked, giving him a sour look.
"Well, we have a science project to work on that's, you know, sort of due in a few weeks" he stammered out, not feeling too sure about this course of action, "and since I'm guessing that you have most of the stuff prepared at your house, and I, well, don't ..."
"Oh frell ! With all the drama of dealing with Kim, I forgot about that !" Vina fretted to herself, "Now what ? If I say no, that might look suspicious; but if I agree, Ron will be snooping around my house ! Ohhhhhh - Nina is NOT going to be happy about this !"
"Oh, you want to start work on our project then !" Vina replied with a forced smile and the most sincere 'not-stressed-out-of-her-gourd' tone she could muster, "I'll have to talk this over with my sisters, but I suppose you could come over around six or so. AFTER dinner. Trust me - you DON'T want to be there for that !"
"Why not ?" Ron asked, never one to miss a chance at a free meal, "Oh, right. Neither of your sisters knows how to cook."
"That - is putting it mildly." Vina replied, "So, I'll call you after I check in with Tina and Nina. You're in the phone book, right ?"
"Yeah. There aren't that many Stoppables in Middleton." Ron answered, "Uh, where do you live again ?"
"Why don't you ask your friend Wade ?" Vina replied haughtily before she turned to walk away, "I'm sure HE could tell you !"
Vina only had to wait a few minutes before Nina drove up.
"Uh, where's Tina ?" Vina asked as she got into the front passenger seat.
"She told me the advanced drawing class wanted a model for some very challenging poses." Nina replied as they started the drive home, "So she'll be there until her usual classes start. She should be home by eight tonight."
"Oh." Vina replied glumly, recalling that, as a student transferring in as a junior at Middleton Community College, Tina does odd jobs for quick cash every now and again. Either to maintain her cover as a college student, or just for laughs.
"You seem distressed, Vina. Have Miss Possible and her friends been harrassing you ?" Nina asked in a concerned tone.
"No. Not yet anyway." Vina stated quietly, which Nina replied to with a quizzical look.
Vina took a deep breath and announced "I have bad news, and horrible news."
Nina sighed before asking for the bad news.
"The bad news is I think I really, REALLY annoyed Kim." Vina began.
"What did you do ?" Nina asked with a cold tone and a colder gaze.
"Well, she was acting like it was your idea to impound Wade's equipment when it wasn't," Vina started, "and then she mentioned that she and Ron destroyed our cousin's base. As if that were a good thing. And noted that our family name is Rossum ..."
"She suspects that we are Bebebots ?!" Nina replied, quickly calculating the fastest routes out of town in case escape was necessary.
"Suspects, yes; certain enough to do something about it, no. Not yet."
Nina clenched her jaw and ground her teeth before asking Vina to continue relating the bad news.
"So, after her going on about our last name being Rossum, I sorta implied that she could just as easily be considered a robot or genetically modified, and that her parents were the sort that may have given her some unnatural enhancements ..."
Nina was very quiet for a few nerve wracking moments.
"Well, on one hand, I am a bit distressed that you would provoke our enemy in such a blatant manner." she finally stated, "But, on the other hand, I am pleased that you stood up for us. And in such a clever manner as well."
Vina was relieved and pleased with her sister's praise - until Nina asked about the horrible news.
"Well, uhm, Ron and I were assigned lab partners in science class last week, and Ron asked to come over to our house to work on our science project." Vina stated sheepishly, "Saying 'no' would look suspicious, so I kinda told him he could come over. AFTER I asked you, of course."
Nina looked rather angry for a few breaths, and then smiled. Which Vina found far more disturbing.
"I believe that we can subvert Miss Possible's attempt at subterfuge to further our own goals." Nina finally stated, "You do know the only reason Ron asked to work at OUR house was so that he could spy for Kim, right ?"
"Well, doi !" Vina replied with a snort, "Even Kim admits that Ron is a bit of a slacker. That he'd suddenly show some initiative after I insulted Kim and inflated her paranoia is too much of a coincidence to be credible.
So, what's the plan ? I thought you'd be upset at the thought of anyone that hangs around Kim snooping around our house !"
"I was. For a moment. Got over it." Nina replied with a dismissive gesture, "He can snoop all he likes, for we have nothing for him to find. And once he tells Kim that there is nothing odd going on ..."
".. she might get off our case !" Vina replied, getting the idea, "But what he somehow finds your secret lab ?"
Nina's brows knit in confusion. "Why would he be standing in the hallway closet with the door closed and the light off ?"
"I don't know !" Vina replied, "But it seems that strange and unusual things happen to him and Kim all the time. It's one of the reasons she'd even consider the idea that we're Bebebots valid in the first place. So there may be a slim chance he could somehow stumble across your lab."
"Then we still have nothing to worry about." Nina replied with a shrug, "I actually do work with Doctor Renton, so having my own little home laboratory is not too unusual or unexpected. Especially in Middleton. If he should ask why my lab is hidden so well, we can just say 'crime prevention' - if the criminals don't know we have advanced tech, they won't come to steal it."
Vina mulled it over as they pulled into their home driveway.
"Besides, its not like HE'D recognize any of my equipment as dangerous. You could probably tell him my nano-manipulator is a bun warmer or something, and he'd probably believe you." Nina stated with a slight chuckle.
"I'll ... be working some overtime at the Space Center's labs tonight; I have a few projects I should finish up before the next lab meeting." she continued.
"You're not going to hang around ? Just in case ?" Vina fretted.
"No. I would only be in the way here." Nina replied with a gentle smile, "But I have no doubt that your social skills are more than sufficient to accomplish the needed task V. Remember - give Ronald every chance to snoop around, but do not be blatant about it. What time did you tell him to be here ?"
"Six o'clock." Vina replied before looking at her watch. "Eeeeep ! An hour and forty minutes from now ! Oh, this place is a mess ! I've gotta straighten up ! Find sufficient snackage ! Find something to wear that's casual, but not slovenly !!" she exclaimed as the primal directive of all Bebebots - 'perfection in performance' - engaged and compelled her to become the Perfect Hostess.
