Page 17 of Escape Clause

“No.”

“Did she talk to you today?”

“Yes.”

“What did she say?”

“Good morning, Don Juan. Could you make me some breakfast, please? Thank you. This looks very nice. Could you show me the kitchen? Does this contraption bake? Would you show me how it works, please? How do you acquire food? Is there such a thing aswheatflour,sugar,yeast,cinnamon,butter,eggs, andbaking powderon—”

“What are those things?” Krogan’s translator did not compute.

“She said they are cooking ingredients to make bread, cakes, and sweet rolls.”

“She asked you to show her the kitchen and explain how the appliances worked?”

“Yes.”

She desired to prepare food? Could she have left the apartment to try to find the ingredients? “Did you tell her to order the cooking ingredients, and they are delivered to the apartment?”

“Yes. She asked if I could order flour, sugar, yeast, cinnamon, butter, eggs, and baking powder. I told her I could not because those items are not on the grocery registry.”

It wouldn’t make sense to go in search of those strange ingredients when she had to leave to get married.

He couldn’t imagine she would have ventured out on her own at all, given how nervous she’d been about vapping by herself. Because he was so busy, he ignored her trepidation.Fizzak. He could kick himself. Why hadn’t he picked her up? She was his wife!

Or would have been if he hadn’t been such a self-absorbed jerk.I’m responsible for this.

But where can she be?He’d never forgive himself if harm befell her.

“What else did she say?”

“Thank you for the information. Thank you for cleaning my dress. Do you know how I can acquire other clothing? How long—”

“What did you tell her about the clothes?”

“That I could not order any because you had not granted her permission to charge to the household account.”

Fizzak!He couldn’t believe how badly he’d messed up.“She has full permission to order anything she wants,” he said. “What else did she say?”

“How long have you served Krogan?”

“What did you tell her?”

“Ten years, six months, four days, twelve minutes, and sixteen seconds.”

Don One had been his first luxury purchase when he’d begun his rise to the top and moved into his first “nice” apartment in a lower-level unit. That was one of the reasons why he kept Don One as is and didn’t upgrade his programming or replace him with a newer model. He was sentimentally attached to the bot.

“Continue,” he said. “What else did she say?”

“What time does Krogan normally get home from work?”

“And you said?”

“You return at varying times, but the average time is eight fifty-one and forty-eight seconds.”

That late? He hadn’t realized, but other than last night, he couldn’t recall when he’d watched the sunset—his favorite time of the day. There were so many big, critical issues to deal with, there never seemed to be enough time.

“Anything else?”

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