Chapter 8

"Guys. Guys wake up!" I awoke to the sound of Kat's voice. She was shaking my shoulder and Sauli's in an effort to awaken us quicker. Sauli awoke from sleep mode and stretched his arms.

"Good morning Kat," he said. "Did you enjoy your rest?"

"Yeah," she responded quickly, "it was great. Now you two have got to get out of here and fast!"

"Why?" I asked as I put my hood down.

"Because," she said, "you have to hurry up and get in line with the rest of the work droids before anyone notices your absence."

"Oh no," said Sauli, "Adam this will be the second time we're late! What if they find out what we're doing? What if they have us reprogrammed or deactivated?!" I wrapped my arms around Sauli.

"Relax my love," I said, "We'll be ok, don't worry." Sauli smiled and kissed my neck.

"You won't be if you don't leave, right now!" Kat pushed Sauli and I out of her room. I didn't think she was that strong. "Bye! See you next week!" The door to her quarters slammed shut.

"Come on," I said grasping Sauli's hand. "We better hurry.

When we arrived in the Work Droid Resting Area, the droids were just starting to line up. "Oh good," I said, sighing in relief. "We've made it just in time." I let go of Sauli's hand before a camera could observe us. "Remember," I whispered to him, "we are not in love here. We are ignorant work androids." Sauli nodded and took his place in line behind me. We followed the others to the cafeteria and took our trays as usual. Sauli and I had to share since The Superior still had yet to make him one.

"Adam," Sauli whispered in my ear, "Remember what Ann said about the capsules. Be careful."
"I will Sauli." I responded. Our capsules fell on my tray and we took our seats. Tommy was sitting across from me and Sauli was sitting on the seat to my left.

"Good morning Adam," said Tommy. "And a good morning to you android 3002. I don't believe we've met yet."

"No," said Sauli, "We haven't." Sauli outstretched his hand for Tommy to shake it. "I'm Sauli. And you are?" Tommy grasped Sauli's hand and shook it firmly.
"I'm Tommy. Pleasure to meet you." Tommy released his grip on Sauli's hand and placed a few of his capsules into his mouth. Sauli looked at me. I could tell by his eyes that he was nervous. Under the table, I put my left hand onto his right. I was trying my best to comfort him.

"What do we do?" He whispered to me.

"Don't panic," I whispered, "Just place the capsules into your mouth, but don't really ingest them. When we leave for work, spit them into a napkin and throw it away. Understand?" Sauli nodded and placed a few capsules into his mouth. I did the same. Tommy proceeded to talk to us about yesterday's workday and how it was very productive. Sauli and I nodded and mmhmm'd at whatever he said, but we weren't really listening. He and I were focused on the clock and were impatiently waiting for the buzzer to ring. At last it did. Suddenly, I noticed one capsule was left on my tray. I picked it up kept it hidden in my fist. Tommy placed his tray above the trash disposal as usual and got back into line. Sauli did as I told him and spit his capsules into a napkin and disposed of them in the trash chute. I did the same. Before I got back into line, I looked at the tiny white capsule in my hand. I had to dispose of it, but I couldn't just throw it into the chute. The Superior's cameras would observe me. I clenched my fist tightly to crush the capsule. When I did so, a cloud of blue smoke emerged from my hand.

"What is this?" I thought to myself. The smoke disappeared as mysteriously as it arrived. Puzzled, I continued in line with the others and headed for the Diagnostics Room. As usual, I took my place at my station and Sauli took a seat on side bench. Two large droids were watching over him as he did so. He still didn't have a station, but I could see many work droids constructing one for him. The machine came down from the roof of our stations and began streaming the red light into my eyes. This time, I didn't hear any voices. I didn't even feel relaxed. All my thoughts were getting out of this machine and heading over towards the one I loved. A blinking red hollow message appeared from the side of my machine.

"ERROR," It read. "ERROR. DIAGNOSTICS FAILURE. TRANSFER INCOMPLETE. ERROR. ERROR." The message kept repeating the word 'ERROR' over and over. I was starting to get afraid. The doors to everyone else's stations opened, but mine did not. I began to panic. The two droids watching over Sauli turned and looked at me. I quickly whacked the machine in my station as hard as I could with my hand. The red laser light stopped and the machine returned to its compartment above my station. The door to my station opened. I quietly sighed with relief and followed the other droids to the work bridges. Sauli hurried behind me.

"What was that about?" He whispered to me.

"I don't know," I responded softly, "but whatever it was, I'm glad it's over with. That was a close one."