Holly drew to a halt in the middle of the first floor walkway, causing James and Chris to stop in puzzlement. She turned her head slightly, as if hearing something beneath the bustle of the people flowing around them. "Just a moment," she said, her eyes glazing over and flashing lazily. The persocom turned around and pointed back along their path. "This way. We're moving the schedule around."
This didn't please her work partner. "No…. nooo, don't say that!" James moaned, wringing his hands.
"What's happening?" Chris asked, as they began retracing their way through the thronging masses.
"There's been a change of plans. You need to collect your persocom now." Holly explained. James swore under his breath, muttering to himself. Somewhat bizarrely, his normal cheerful demeanour had all but vanished.
"Why? What's the matter?" Chris pressed, slightly bewildered by the other man's irritation.
James scowled as he replied. "If I'm guessing right, we've a problem in Mechatronics." Holly nodded sympathetically and he swore again. "Ahh shit, I knew that part was out of spec. How many?"
"Thirty thousand, prepped and packed." Holly replied. She might have slapped him in the face, the way he looked at her then.
"What?! Thirty K? What the hell happened to the sample batch? Oh for-! I bloody told them and all! This is what I get for handing off that bloody project so soon!" the stocky man fell silent, took a deep breath and relaxed a little. When he next spoke, he sounded more like his usual self. "Never mind! Never mind. This is good for learning. OK Chris, so what's happened is an easily avoidable problem has been allowed to grow into something much bigger: Mechatronics have a production part on the factory floor not fit for purpose. Now they have to halt production and shuttle the goods off for rework. Unfortunately, this will absorb enough of the Spine's capacity that it won't be able to handle nonessential carriage without affecting the other factories. Not for several hours, probably."
Holly nodded, getting to the point. "This means your persocom's delivery has been expedited to clear the log. We'll need to make the collection quickly; the maintenance manager wants us in and out because there's going to be a rush of traffic round there before Mechatronics commandeer the Spine."
"Oh, I see... that sounds awful." Chris managed. Truth be told, he was trying to keep the excitement out of his voice. Getting to meet his persocom a few hours early was no bad thing, as far as he was concerned! It was hard to feel sympathetic for Mechatronics just then. It was even harder not to grin like a child about to skip dinner for ice cream. Holly raised an eyebrow at him, and he tried not to blush; his impassive expression wasn't fooling her, at least. He'd heard of persocoms with biometrics software before... that must be how she knew. If true, it was as much interesting as it was embarrassing to be so readable. Could she see through James just as easily? His mind wandered back to the cryptic words she'd said to him in the offices that morning.
Maintenance was located on the same level as the restaurant; it was one of the facilities taking up the space not swallowed by Neurolectrics in the inner circle. Its entranceway opened into a foyer of sorts; something of a large waiting room where corridors branched to and from the various maintenance facilities available, many relating to persocoms rather than the building itself. Of course, Holly had mentioned persocoms had everything they needed here. It was indeed busy; there was a lot of pedestrian traffic moving in and out of the space, and a queue was rapidly forming at the right-hand side of the foyer. It trailed out of a wide doorway labelled "Pickup and Drop-Off".
A few humans staffed the centre, patrolling the bustling floor. One approached them immediately, looking more than a little harassed.
"Can we help you?"
"We're only here for PIDO - just a collection," James said, waving the man away. That seemed to be what he was hoping for; he nodded gratefully and hurried away to attend to other arrivals.
They joined the back of the fast-moving queue. Stood in line, Chris couldn't help but turn his mind to his new persocom. Any moment now! What would it look like? What unit class? A miniature? He rather hoped so; a full sized unit would be all kinds of trouble. He lived in a tiny little flat… what if he had to take it home with him, like so many employees did theirs? It would be a while before he could move somewhere bigger. There was a pokey living room-kitchen combo, a toilet, and a bedroom... Where was it going to stay?
Voices were rising at the foyer entrance, people shouting to get out of the way; a persocom was half-limping, half-dragged through the busy passageway, her arms thrown over the shoulders of two men who hurried her across the room. She was trailing fluids from her leg, which appeared smashed below the hip, her clothes and skin torn and the substructures broken and twisted. Facility staff ran up to the men, grilling them for information and rushing her down one of the corridors as the crowd looked on and murmured in surprise.
"Holly?" James said quietly. Holly's eyes flashed.
"Mechatronics. Something broke free of the lathe."
"What the fuck are they using those for on today's order book?" James growled, losing his temper once again. "Don't tell me: It's the bloody part for rework, isn't it."
Holly nodded after a moment's concentration. "Yes. Apparently an attempt at a time-saving exercise."
"Right, then send a message to the floor supervisor, please. Someone endangered that persocom trying to save a few pointless minutes on their work order and they need a foot up their arse."
"Thirty other persocoms have just done the very same thing." Holly replied, as they followed the queue into the PIDO zone. It was not unlike a mail-room for a courier service, except the mail could apparently be anything from letters to enormous crates of goods that needed wheeling away. It looked a little out of place in a Maintenance department, as if it had been added as something of an afterthought.
"Well send another one then. And I need to talk to Arthur about this; let's sort Chris out with his unit and then could you put me through? Bloody morons," James huffed, still grumpy about Mechatronics. "…thanks, Holly."
"Will she be okay?" Chris asked with concern. Both James and Holly nodded reassuringly, taking him by surprise. He'd expected worse news after seeing the damage.
"Oh, completely. Don't worry, she'll be good as new within a few hours, I can promise you that." James said, about as encouragingly as could be possible with a voice so gruff with annoyance.
"Sometimes bad accidents happen in factories; that's the nature of the job. If it's a human involved, it's a big medical problem. If it's a persocom, we can usually fix them immediately, and everything will be okay. Please don't let this play on your mind." Holly added.
"It's just in this instance it shouldn't have happened in the first place; it was an unnecessary risk and that's unacceptable. We do not work that way here. We look after our people and our persocoms." James said firmly.
"You know, if you took on more responsibility you could make sure things like this didn't happen." Holly said tactfully, "The position is still available to you if you wanted. Arthur would authorise it in a heartbeat."
James rolled his eyes. "Not again, Holly. I don't want it, it's... boring. I like what I do just fine."
Her line of conversation shut down before it could begin, Holly sighed visibly. Ahead of them a counter could be seen, a persocom busily ferrying packages to and from a set of shelves and an allocated floorspace for large crates and boxes. Behind all that, there appeared to be a lift shuttling staff and goods between PIDO and the floor above. It didn't look like the Spine; the Spine only reached into Neurolectrics on this level, and besides, this looked like a freight elevator. Perhaps the Spine was adjacent to it upstairs, though. That must be how they moved packages in and out of the system.
Holly engaged in a silent exchange with the persocom behind the counter as they approached, and he wordlessly handed over a shoebox-sized brown package that Holly immediately passed to Chris. She smiled as if she could measure his excitement. If fact, she very probably could.
Chris handled the little box with utmost care. So… this was to be his persocom. A miniature unit, clearly. That would be perfect! He couldn't deny the euphoria of the moment was somewhat dulled by the last few minutes' events, but nonetheless that bubble of elation in his chest reappeared and began to grow.
"Let's get out of here." James grumbled, leading them away from the bustle and back out into the atrium walkway. He quickly calmed down as they put distance between themselves as the maintenance area; by the time they reached the atrium lifts he was smiling and chuckling as usual. Chris was beginning to think the man was a little bit volatile.
They travelled to the ground floor and led him to one of the reception rooms a few minutes' walk away. James stayed outside while Holly let Chris in. This room contained less chairs than the one he used that morning, and featured a long table with seating at the front which could have been used to host small talks or presentations in front of an audience.
"You may unbox your persocom now. We're going to leave you in here while you do that; the Mechatronics incident needs our attention for a moment." Holly indicated towards the table before heading outside. She popped her head back around the door a second later, flashing him an uncharacteristic grin, "Besides, it's much nicer to meet your new persocom in private! Nobody will disturb you. Come out when you're ready, we'll be nearby."
As quickly as that she closed the door, leaving the room covered in a thick blanket of silence. Chris looked down at the little box in his hands. Nondescript and made of plain cardboard, it bore nothing but a small NEIS logo in the corner. He walked to the table and gingerly set it down. It wasn't difficult to open at all, folding apart to reveal its spartan contents; just an instruction manual, and a little persocom underneath it, nestled into the foam packaging.
There was no force on Earth that could make Chris read through that instruction manual just then! He set it to one side and studied the persocom with fascination. She couldn't be so much as seven inches tall, even with the two shoulder-length ponytails of deep red hair growing out from behind her head. A comms panel with IO ports wound its way between her ears, cleverly made to look like a hairband nestled into her hair, and itself obscured by a little bell tied to it with a blue ribbon fashioned into a bow. She was swaddled in her only set of clothes; a deep blue t-shirt to complement the ribbon, under a short-sleeved green jacket and oversized earthen-coloured trousers which ended loosely draped around a small pair of boots.
Chris lifted her gently from the box; she had a definite weight to her that didn't give an impression of delicacy, but he held her as if she were made of blown glass, cupped in his hands just a few inches off the table surface. There was a tiny button behind her ear, hidden beneath her hair. Thinking he maybe should at least glance at the manual, he pressed it.
The little persocom stirred in his hands, eyes opening to reveal irises reminiscent of ruby gemstones. For the moment she did nothing but lay there, gazing blankly into the middle distance. Chris considered reaching for the manual again, but before he could make up his mind she leapt to her feet with a ferocious suddenness that made him jump. The little persocom scanned the room with curiosity before settling her attention on him. When she spoke, her voice was small and high-pitched, but not unpleasantly so; just as if were scaled to her size.
"Boot sequence completed. Good morning. I am your new NEIS Minito 530. Please recite the confirmation code found in your instruction manual to begin my configuration."
"Oh, uh… actually it's the afternoon." Chris said, looking up at the clock on the wall. "See?"
The little persocom followed his gaze. "Good afternoon! What time is it?"
Chris stared at her blankly, and she smiled back at him. She couldn't read an analogue clock? Ah, of course - there was no software configured yet. She must be minimally functional for the setup procedure.
"It's one thirty in the afternoon." he said.
"Okay! Please recite confirmation code." she repeated. Chris set her down carefully on the table where she stood waiting expectantly as he flicked through the manual.
"Page 337," the little persocom prompted. Chris nodded, flicking to the correct page.
"Seven-A-seven-three-B-B-one-nine-H-J-X-P-K" Chris read the code slowly, making sure to pronounce it clearly. This seemed to satisfy her.
"Accepted! Would you like to give me a name?" She looked up at him, gently bobbing up and down on her toes with bountiful energy. A name? What to name her? Chris began to panic. He was rubbish at this sort of thing! Oh, he'd had all day to prepare for choosing a name; why didn't he think up a few then? Her tiny little bell tinkled in time with the bobbing motion, like a metronome counting out the seconds.
Tiny… well, everything about her is small... ah, that will be cute!
"Titch!" he said, without a second thought.
"Thank you! My name is Titch." she said, beaming. Chris immediately wondered if he'd made the right decision. What would a typical person call their persocom? Should he have chosen a 'proper' human name? But hearing her repeat it cemented the idea; it seemed... right. That was all the thought he could spare on the matter; answering her first question had opened the floodgates, and the little persocom was already grilling him for more settings and data. He rattled out answers as best he could, skipping a few he didn't understand for later, when he'd have time to read that manual. Titch asked plenty of questions about him personally, which he had not expected. Presumably she would use that data in some way to make herself more useful. She also wanted to see his existing keychain unit; she grabbed at it eagerly when he dug it out of his pocket, snaking a cable out of her hairband and popping it in the data port. Lights behind her eyes flashed and flickered rapidly as she rifled hungrily through his data, the IO LED on his keychain unit cycling faster than he'd ever seen before.
After several minutes of interaction he had sated her curiosity. Titch clapped her little hands in celebration. "We're done! I have anticipated the optimal personality settings and will adopt them now. You may adjust these in detail later if you wish." With that she closed her eyes and appeared for a moment to be deep in thought.
When she opened them again, she simply looked at him happily with a small smile on her lips. Chris blinked, not entirely sure what he had expected. Maybe a big grin? Or a more dour expression? A sigh, or a playful giggle? Whatever he'd thought might happen, it wasn't this. Titch seemed the same as her pre-configured state. Perhaps the changes were just more subtle than he realised? He wasn't even sure what parameters there were to configure specifically, but there couldn't be many on a miniature unit. Just another thing on the long list of stuff he'd need to learn about proper persocoms.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"This is where I work." Chris said. It felt strangely good to say that; as if speaking the words finally bound them in truth.
"Great! What shall we do first?" Titch eagerly surveyed the room they were in. She pattered briskly around the table before eyeing him suspiciously. "There are no papers, documents, terminals or productivity equipment of any kind... Are you sure you work here?"
Chris laughed. "Well, not here specifically. This is a reception room. I don't know where I work exactly, yet. All I know is it's in this building!"
Titch frowned, apparently disappointed with herself. "I'm sorry, I can't locate that for you. Would you like me to try my radio gear?"
"Uh… sure?"
Titch nodded and her eyes flashed briefly as she changed some settings. "Hmm. Error: no valid settings found. Scanning for open access points." She squinted for a moment, and gasped in shock.
"Wo-ow! One moment please!" the lights behind her eyes danced rapidly. "There's so many!"
"Many…?"
"Persocoms!" Titch spread her arms in the air, turning and staring as if she could see them all around her.
"That makes sense!" Chris smiled. "This is where they make persocoms! I think we better go see James and Holly now." he reached for her box, remembering to stuff the manual in his pocket first.
"Okay!" Titch squeaked, seeing what he was doing and grabbing a wayward piece of foam padding that had fallen on the table. It was huge in her arms, but she hefted it through the lid well enough before Chris closed it down. He got up and dropped the box in the bin at the side of the room. When he went back to pick Titch up, he realised he wasn't really sure how to carry her. He just threw away her box, and besides she couldn't go in there awake, that was ridiculous… but she couldn't hope to walk alongside him either; she'd get stepped on, assuming she could even keep up! How did other people do it? It was one of those things people did every day, but never really gave much thought to. Like someone without children trying to figure out how on Earth they're supposed to hold a baby - another thing that terrified him! Only, a baby wasn't aware if you were screwing up or not...
Titch cocked her head to one side, a motion that made her bell tinkle gently while she regarded him quizzically. The way she so patiently observed his hesitation made his ears warm with embarrassment. He decided to carefully scoop her into his palm, and she happily adopted a sitting position there, holding on to his thumb.
Sure enough Chris found James and Holly nearby outside the reception room doors. James talked to her, but the voice responding was that of an older-sounding man. It seemed she had connected a call to someone; probably this "Arthur" they had mentioned before. James looked significantly happier than he had several minutes ago; apparently the situation was being resolved to his satisfaction.
The call finished as Chris approached and both of them turned to see him with his new persocom. James grinned warmly, and Holly's face practically lit up with joy.
"Well done mate, she looks like a good one!" James said. His own persocom leant forward, wearing the happiest expression Chris had seen on her yet and inspecting Titch closely. "Aw... she's adorable! Aren't you lucky, Chris! And what lovely eyes!" Holly cooed, her usual air of indifference melting away.
Titch looked around wildly, wide-eyed. Her little ponytails whipped from side to side as she took in the bustle of the huge atrium, and her bell jangled as she looked every which way. She seemed a little overwhelmed by all the new data, shrinking into Chris's hand.
"Look here, little one." Holly said soothingly. Titch stared at her, bringing her focus in with some effort. "That's it," Holly smiled, "I'm offering my UUID, can you see it?"
Titch concentrated for a moment, and having found her signal, nodded quietly.
"That's wonderful. Can we talk for a moment?"
Titch nodded again, and the lights behind their eyes began to dance together. Holly's expression shifted several times, from happiness, to surprise, to satisfaction, and back again. She murmured occasionally as they continued their digital discussion. "Oh… ah, some customisations I see… well that's to be expected, you're an S-Dev unit. Let's see now… You should take this… and that will be helpful too. Ah, very good. This will help as well."
Eventually their eyes stopped flickering. Holly stood up contentedly. Titch shook her head vigorously as if clearing her mind and burst into a cheerful grin.
"All done! It was very nice to meet you, Titch." Holly said. She laughed in delight when the tiny persocom extended her hand. When she extended her own in return, Titch gently shook the tip of her finger.
"Nice to meet you, Holly!" Titch squeaked.
Holly smiled and turned to Chris. "Oh, she's marvellous! Now, this persocom is company property. Please keep her safe and well. I've provided her with the software suites you need for your work and a map of the main complex. She has high-bandwidth WiODA which I've configured so you'll get good network service; that's not normal in her model size. Don't worry, the company foots the bill for it but you two are free to use it however you please. I would suggest you have her accompany you at all times during your first few months in the building, such that you don't get lost."
"T-thanks!" Chris said. Titch seemed far more comfortable now; she looked around the atrium with an air of familiarity, although he could tell its contents were still new and fascinating to her. Her deep red eyes flicked rapidly between every moving thing in sight.
"Don't hold her like that, you lemon!" James chuckled at the way Chris cupped her in his palm. He pointed at his shoulder. "Titch, up!"
The tiny persocom nodded, hopping to her feet. Before Chris could react she had leapt from his hand and scrambled up his arm to perch on his shoulder. He froze in shock, afraid she might fall, but she sat there happily, perfectly balanced and swinging her legs.
"She's not made of china; you don't need to coddle her." James advised him. "If you let her figure out the details she'll be no hassle to carry around with you."
"Wow. That's... really cool." Chris mumbled, unconsciously standing very still.
James rolled his eyes and grinned as he turned to leave. "Come on then, newbie. LOKI is waiting."
"Oh… right! Sorry!"
"Don't apologise, it was LOKI's decision to switch this around. The delay will be expected. Just be glad you missed the backache… heh, you get it? 'Cause the Spine, you know, all overloaded...? ...Come on, nobody?" James sighed as he took the lead. Taking an interest in Titch, Holly followed alongside Chris, who was trying his hardest not to walk as if he were participating in an egg-and-spoon race.
It wasn't easy; free to control her own locomotion, Titch was clambering all over him while they walked, her eyes sponging up every scene before her. He found it very difficult not to instinctively reach for her every time she moved, as if she were about to fall. She cooed with interest at the atrium and the people who passed them by.
As they neared the atrium's front reception desk, Chris began to notice many of the persocoms in the area were smiling and waving at him as they passed. Confused, he instinctively waved back at the next persocom to greet him; Mika, who giggled and and shook her head from behind the reception desk.
"Ah, Chris -" Holly tapped his arm, amusement in her voice. He realised it, then: the persocoms were actually focused on Titch. She was cheerfully pinging every single one in sight, waving as she introduced herself. Mika's laugh reached his ears again, and Chris immediately felt them burning.
"Greetings, Titch! Jolly nice to have you here!" a well-to-do voice called down from above. They looked up to see the Alphabet peering over the railing of the first atrium walkway. Chris winced as Titch shouted a retaliatory "Hi!" from beside his head. She paused mid-wave, her eyes flashing briefly, before she scrambled across the back of his neck to speak to Holly beside him.
"I have something to tell you!" she chirped. Chris cried out in alarm when she nimbly leapt free of his shoulder, clearing the distance to land on Holly's like some kind of two-legged cricket. Without missing a beat she leaned in and planted a tiny kiss on the bigger persocom's cheek. "That's from C!" she whispered, beaming.
Holly glared daggers at the incorrigible persocom on the walkway above. A and B recoiled as if she'd pointed a gun at them, but C just gazed back dreamily, looking for all the world as if he'd been able to plant that kiss himself.
"As I was about to say: I suggest you change her privacy settings as soon as you are able." Holly muttered, plucking a giggling Titch off her shoulder and handing her back to Chris.