Page 46 of Nerd Girl

“Does it blow stuff up?”

Fair question. “Robots didn’t do that back then.”

Sawyer cleared his throat with a less-than-subtle cough. “Robots have always done that.”

“Like Gundam,” Kurt said.

Sawyer pointed at him. “Exactly.”

I didn’t care that Sawyer was familiar with cartoon mecha or RF or RC, or anything that I enjoyed. There was no reason at all for me to even notice that he knew those things. “How about this—back then my robots didn’t blow stuff up.” On purpose. “But I do know how I would make that one into a fighter.” I shouldn’t have said that.

“Can we build it?” The excitement on Kurt’s face brightened the room.

I shook my head. “No. That would cost too much.” I gave Sawyer a look that dared him to challenge me on this one.

He clamped his mouth shut.

“Okay.” Kurt tended to understand the concept of too expensive. “Can we make landing gear for my plane now?”

A request I was prepared for. We’d been planning this for a few weeks, and I’d machined parts for him in my spare time. We weren’t just replacing the wheels, we were running the mechanics to the cockpit that would let Kurt raise and lower the gear from the pilot’s seat.

“Of course we can,” I said. “And Sawyer can help us make sure we don’t get any RF interference.” If he was going to stick around, he could either prove he was worthy of the invitation, or he could fail, and I’d come to the rescue. Either way was fine with me.

Sawyer gave a sloppy salute. “Yes ma’am.”

“Not like that.” Kurt’s voice was instantly stern. “Like this.” He showed Sawyer the proper way to salute.

“You two practice that. Make sure he gets it right,” I said to Kurt, then stepped away to grab the parts I’d made.

When I returned, Sawyer and Kurt were giving each other proper, firm salutes. They wouldn’t impress a drill sergeant, but they were close enough for civvies.

“At ease, soldier.” I set the parts on the table.

Kurt tried to fall into the at ease posture I’d taught him, but ended up giggling.

Sawyer picked up one of the wheels and turned it over several times as he examined it. “The precision on these is incredible. Where did you get them?”

I jerked my head at the CNC machine behind me. “I designed them. I made them.”

“Wow.” He sounded genuinely impressed.

“Hello— Whoa…” Aubrey called, and trailed off as she stepped into the room.

She glanced at Sawyer and then me.

I didn’t want to get into anything in front of Kurt or Sawyer, and I hoped the look I gave her conveyed that.

She twisted her mouth. Why?

I tilted my head. I’ll explain later.

“We still on for tonight?” Aubrey asked aloud.

“Always.” Tonight was DJ night at Joystick’s. Maddox ran the playlists because he had the most eclectic taste in music. He would pick a genre—country tonight—and play nothing but that all night. Aubrey and I loved it and went whenever we could.

The invitation was always open to our other friends too—Gage and anyone else who wanted to join us—but typically Alys was with Onyx, for Maddox, and Aubrey and I danced alone.

“What are you doing tonight?” Kurt asked. “Fighting robots?”

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