Page 25 of Cozy Prisons
As the bot did before, the three legs bent and it launched high into the air. It landed, steadied itself with a few steps, then jumped again. When it hit the top of its jump, all three legs flared out horizontally to the ground. The legs snapped back into place only a second before it landed back on the ground.
The bot went still, waiting for the next command, and Ula looked at her.
“That was amazing!” Nataly said, clapping and jumping up and down on her toes.
“Really?” Ula asked.
“Absolutely!” Nataly said. “It must've taken a lot of trial and error to figure out the timing. I’m so impressed!”
Ula beamed and patted one of Iffy’s legs. “You did really good, Iffy!”
“I think I have an idea of what you should do with Iffy next,” Nataly said. “I’m going to send you some data packets full of safety protocol programs. I want you to figure out which ones you should install and which ones would be useless for the bot.”
“Yes, I can do that!” Ula said. “I can do that today! Should I check with you before I install?”
“I want you to go over one program per day,” Nataly said. “Then, after seven days, you have to tell me which ones are useful, but you can only use them in a sandbox, okay?”
Thankfully Ula didn’t look disappointed. “I will!”
She ran to Illea and grabbed their hand. “Zaza, I need to go home!”
Illea looked over to Nataly. “Thank you for this. You always make Ula so happy.”
Nataly waved their praise off. “I can’t wait until she’s teaching me things!”
Illea gave her a last grateful look then let Ula pull them away with Iffy following behind.
“I guess the danger is over,” Daxus said, retreating back into her domicile. “I'm going to clean up the mess and assess the damage. I might need to get a dome patch.”
Nataly was going to tell him to leave it, but Rami was suddenly next to her. “Was he here all night?” she whispered.
“Uh, he was, I guess, technically, here all night,” Nataly said, feeling her face flush. “But we didn’t do anything. I think he slept on the floor.”
Rami raised an eyebrow. “You think?”
Nataly gave her an annoyed look. “I was asleep, okay? I didn’t get much sleep the night before, and after he brought me home yesterday I kinda crashed.”
Rami opened her mouth but Nataly slapped a hand over her lips.
“Leave it,” she ordered. “Or I’ll send Ula a singing program that never stops!”
Rami chuckled. “It’s left! I saw nothing and I know nothing.” She gave Nataly a little wave. “Have a nice day, bye!”
With that, she turned and walked away quickly.
Nataly shook her head and turned to find Daxus standing on her workbench, poking at her ceiling.
She could tell it was going to be a long day, but strangely, she didn’t care. As long as Daxus was with her, the anxiety seemed to remain at bay. She was going to enjoy this for as long as it lasted.
Chapter 9
Nataly
The moment Daxus left to get supplies to fix her ceiling and organize her domicile, she ran to the food preparation area for another cup of tea. Daxus had cut her off after two cups, claiming that too many stimulants were bad for humans.
For today she simply waited until he left. If he kept hanging around, she was going to have to explain to him that she drank as much tea as she wanted and he wasn’t allowed to tell her no.
Pulling the cup out of the reconstituter, she wrapped both hands around it, even though the outside wasn’t warm at all. The first sip made her sigh with happiness. The sludge she’d consumed before joining with the Talins was a memory she would happily forget. The tlash tea the Talins grew was the best she’d ever had.
