Technical Difficulties

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 21, Post Number 507

-Motor City, outside Dr. Reid's laboratory, 11:00 A.M.-

Wearing her white Steel Matron t-shirt with black skirt and white tennis shoes and wearing her backpack of supplies, Victoria had driven her Centaur all the way to Dr. Reid's laboratory at the request of the doctor, who wanted to discuss the "project" with her. Victoria read between the lines and took that to mean that Dr. Reid wanted to discuss the state of Dr. DuGalle's prototype robot with her. The last time they had met Dr. Reid was working on restoring it to full functionality... Victoria had meant to ask about how the work was going, but various adventures had occupied the Sabertooth mage's attention. Hopefully today she would find out how work on the prototype was going.

Having arrived outside the doctor's laboratory without incident, Victoria parked it outside the laboratory garage and turned it off, then climbed off of the Centaur and walked over to the intercom grille positioned just to the right of the front door. She took off her backpack, fished out the note she had received which had the password that she needed to speak to let the doctor know it was her, and read the note to refresh her memory on what the password was.

The password was Asimov.

Once she had refreshed her memory, Victoria took the time to put the note back into the backpack and put her backpack on again before she pressed the intercom grille button.

"Password?" Dr. Reid asked.

"Asimov." Victoria gave the password.

"Great! I'll let you in shortly!" Dr. Reid said. Within two minutes Dr. Reid was standing in the doorway. She was wearing a pink t-shirt and khaki cargo shorts with brown work boots. She also looked like she was more than a little tired. Furthermore, the doctor's long blonde hair was frizzy like she had taken an electrical shock or two.

"Hi there, Victoria." Dr. Reid greeted Victoria.

"Uh, hi there Doctor Reid. Are you OK?" Victoria greeted the doctor and asked if she was OK. The doctor laughed a little before answering the question.

"I'm still alive, if that's what you mean." Dr. Reid answered dryly.

"Well, yeah. I can tell. But I was asking if you were OK." Victoria repeated her question. The blonde laughed weakly.

"I'm fine, thanks. I'm just a little tired." Dr. Reid finally gave the brunette a straight answer. Victoria saw that the doctor was telling the truth thanks to her special ability to read body language and discern the truth behind what people said to her.

"I have a lot of irons in the fire and I just don't have enough time in a day to do everything I need to do." Dr. Reid lamented to the brunette. Victoria analyzed the doctor's body language and learned that she was being truthful. Dr. Reid looked towards the Centaur parked in front of her garage and faced Victoria.

"If you'll wait out here a minute I'll open my garage and let you in that way so that you can park the Centaur somewhere safe." Dr. Reid informed Victoria. Victoria gave a thumbs-up with her right hand.

"Sure thing, Doctor. I'll wait for you on my Centaur." Victoria accepted the offer. The doctor wordlessly shut the door behind her and Victoria jogged over to the waiting Centaur, which she cranked up so that it would be ready to roll when the garage door was opened. About three minutes later the garage door was opened and Victoria slowly drove it into the garage. The door was shut behind her and the brunette was safely inside the doctor's garage.

-Inside the garage, 11:06 A.M.-

Victoria turned off the Centaur and climbed off of it, then walked towards the doctor, who was standing in front of the garage door button. Victoria stopped in front of her and spoke.

"In your note you said that you wanted to discuss the project with me. What's going on?" Victoria asked, using the code word Dr. Reid had employed in the note she had sent the Sabertooth mage. The doctor smiled weakly.

"Well, Victoria, I'll give it to you straight. While working on the project I've run into some... technical difficulties." Dr. Reid replied. Victoria did not like the sound of that. When someone said that it usually meant that something had gone seriously wrong.

"What kind of technical difficulties are we talking about here?" Victoria asked Dr. Reid. The doctor laughed nervously.

"It'd be easier to explain if I showed you what I'm talking about." Dr. Reid replied. Victoria did her best to keep a straight face instead of frowning. She was not liking where this was going.

[Post Word Count: 780]
[Total Word Count: 780/2,500]

Without further ado Dr. Reid strolled over to the back wall of the garage and walked past a blue barrel-looking robot with arms and legs sitting in the middle of the garage floor. The panel covering its chest had been removed and was sitting on the right side of the robot. Victoria wondered what it was, but she did not think to ask about it because she was more concerned about the status of Dr. DuGalle's robot. Victoria caught up with Dr. Reid just as the latter had typed in a code on a keypad and the back wall opened up to reveal the tall black-and-red robot standing off to the right side of the room. In the center sat something underneath a blue plastic tarp.

Dr. Reid walked over to the object underneath the tarp and grabbed the bottom left corner. She smiled at Victoria as the brunette stopped two meters away from the doctor.

"OK, I've got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?" Dr. Reid asked Victoria.

"I'd like the bad news first, please." Victoria answered truthfully.

"OK, bad news first. I'll give it to you straight, Victoria. I wasn't able to find anyone able or willing to help me restore Dr. DuGalle's prototype. I also couldn't find enough of the high-quality materials Dr. DuGalle used in the prototype. Furthermore, I've had other projects to work on, so the robot's pretty much as it was after the test we conducted in Fulci." Dr. Reid gave Victoria the bad news first. Victoria analyzed her body language and learned that she was being completely honest about the status of the prototype. The brunette was more than a little disappointed by that news. She was kind of hoping to have the imposing robot as a partner in her fight against Zupazu's Executioners, but that hope had been completely dashed.

"But here's the good news, Victoria. While I couldn't repair the original, I studied it thoroughly and made blueprints of it and all its features. I studied its weapon, its defensive shield system, its power system, everything. By using more readily available components and scaling down the features, I've managed to make something almost as good as my mentor's creation!" The doctor informed her. Victoria's face showed surprise. What could Dr. Reid make that could be as good as her mentor's prototype?

Dr. Reid pulled the tarp off of the object and revealed a short robot that was made just like Dr. DuGalle's creation. It had the same weapon, the same discs on one of its shoulders, and the same black-and-red color scheme. All it was missing was the height of the original.

"Say hello to my latest creation!" Dr. Reid introduced the smaller robot. Victoria blinked. The robot was so short that it came up to her knees. It was far from the imposing war machine that its inspiration was. Victoria looked at Dr. Reid, who was smiling from ear-to-ear, then looked at the robot, which was looking at her with its single blank eye.

"Um... hi there, Little Guy." Victoria greeted the robot to avoid hurting Dr. Reid's feelings. It did not move an inch.

"Whoops! I forgot to power it on!" Dr. Reid apologized with a red face. She quickly bent over and flipped a switch somewhere on its back. The single eye flashed red and the small robot came to life.

"OK, try greeting it again, Victoria." Dr. Reid urged Victoria. Victoria thought that this whole business was just a waste of time, but she decided to humor the doctor, if only because the latter had worked so hard on the small robot.

"Um... hi there, Little Guy." Victoria repeated her greeting to the robot, barely keeping the disappointment out of her voice. This time it raised its free hand in greeting.

"Hello." It greeted her in a surprisingly deep voice for such a small robot. Dr. Reid smiled at the brunette.

"I can tell that you're kinda disappointed that I couldn't fix the full-sized version." Dr. Reid said to Victoria.

"To be honest, I am." Victoria decided to admit it even if she ended up looking and sounding rude for doing so.

"I tried to fix the original, but I just couldn't manage to do it. Not by myself and not with the materials I had on hand. Even though it's not as good as the real deal, making the little guy was the best I could do for you." Dr. Reid apologized in a way that made the Sabertooth mage feel guilty for saying what she had. Victoria analyzed the doctor's body language to make sure that the doctor was not trying to cover up laziness with a story meant to make the brunette feel bad for saying anything negative about the small robot. Victoria learned that the doctor's story was true and the brunette's face turned red in embarrassment.

"It's OK, Doctor. I should be grateful for what you did for me. You didn't have to go to all the trouble of making a smaller model, but you did. I shouldn't have said what I did." Victoria meekly apologized for sounding like an ingrate. Dr. Reid laughed a little.

"Don't feel too bad, Victoria. My mentor made quite a work of art when he made that robot. My version won't be anywhere as good as the original." Dr. Reid tried to make Victoria feel a little better about candidly expressing her disappointment by downplaying the quality of her creation. The brunette, wanting to make it up to the doctor, decided to talk about the robot in a more positive light.

"You said that you managed to study and reproduce all of the features on Dr. DuGalle's model to use for the little guy, right?" Victoria asked the doctor while pointing towards the small robot with her right index finger. Dr. Reid nodded.

"It was really hard work, but I managed to reproduce everything that the original model has." She confirmed.

Dr. Reid's Creation:

[Post Word Count: 1,000]
[Total Word Count: 1,780/2,500]

At first Victoria had been sorely disappointed by the small robot, but now that she had had some time to think about what Dr. Reid had told her the brunette was actually sort of impressed with the little guy standing before her.

"So you're saying that the little guy's got an anti-vehicle cannon, a shield defense system, and everything else that the original model has?" Victoria repeated the doctor's assertion while looking at the robot. Dr. Reid nodded.

"Exactly. However, I had to make some concessions for its size." Dr. Reid admitted. Victoria was not sure what that meant.

"That means that I had to dial back the power of its weapon, its shield, and its power plant because if I didn't it'd either suffer from power supply issues or one of its components would short circuit and possibly explode." Dr. Reid explained what she had meant by making "concessions" for the robot's size. After the explanation Victoria was only mildly disappointed by that news. She was operating under the impression that it had all the power of Dr. DuGalle's prototype in a small package, but that ignorance showed how little the Sabertooth mage knew about technology.

"Oh. I see." Victoria said with only mild disappointment. Dr. Reid smiled.

"I can tell that you're still not sold on it, Victoria. But don't worry. With this little guy you'll find that big things can come in small packages!" Dr. Reid asserted and cited a common proverb to support that assertion before she patted the robot on top of its head. The small robot's camera eye glowed red and it flickered for a few moments while it spoke to the pair in a distorted voice.

"Warning! System power approaching ZEEEErrrrOOOOOooo..." It warned them before its upper half suddenly slumped over and its hands opened, releasing its gun. Moments after the gun hit the floor its arms dropped and hung limply, making it look like it was trying to touch its toes. Dr. Reid blushed in embarrassment and hurried behind its back, then dropped to one knee to try and fix it. Victoria winced in sympathy for the doctor.

"There's nothing to worry about, Victoria. Nothing at all! It'll be back up and running in a few moments!" Dr. Reid asserted while beginning to examine the small robot. Victoria did not buy that claim. She slowly walked over to the doctor and eventually reached her right side.

"Did it... did it just run out of power?" Victoria asked the doctor incredulously. The blonde scientist nodded.

"It did, Victoria. I think I used too weak a generator to power everything. I'll have to get another generator for it, but once I get it it'll be a simple fix." Dr. Reid assured Victoria that the problem was a simple one of using too weak a generator to power the robot and its systems. She also assured the Sabertooth mage that the solution was a simple matter of installing a more powerful generator. Victoria was pleased to hear that neither the problem nor the solution were too difficult for the doctor to handle.

"Do I need to go somewhere and get the generator for you?" Victoria asked Dr. Reid, offering to go get the part she needed to repair the doctor's creation if need be. The latter shook her head.

"No, Victoria. I've got the part I need on hand. I just need to take out the robot's current generator and install the new one. It won't be done in a day, though." Dr. Reid warned Victoria that replacing the robot's generator would take some time. Victoria was afraid to ask, but she had to know about how long it would take to replace the generator. The Sabertooth mage was kind of hoping to use the small robot in battle against Zupazu's Executioners and wanted to know how long she would have to wait until it was ready again.

"Before you ask, I'm estimating that it'll take three days to make the fix." Dr. Reid chimed in at the very moment Victoria opened her mouth to ask the question.

"All right then." Victoria replied. Now that she had gotten her answer, there was nothing left for the brunette to ask. Dr. Reid looked up at Victoria and spoke to her.

"I'll get going on the repairs immediately. Since there's nothing for you to do, you can go ahead and leave if you'd like. I'll let you know when the repair work is complete." Dr. Reid offered. Victoria quickly decided to take her up on that offer. Victoria had no knowledge of robotics and would only take up space if she stayed.

"OK then. I'll just get going. Thanks for letting me know about Dr. DuGalle's prototype and thanks for building the little guy for me." Victoria said that she would get going and thanked the doctor for all the work she had done so far. Dr. Reid stood up and walked out from behind her creation.

"It's no problem, Victoria. I'll open the garage door for you and let you out." Dr. Reid said while walking towards Victoria. The Sabertooth mage wordlessly followed her towards the garage door. If replacing the generator went off without a hitch and no other systems malfunctioned, in a few days she would have a little robotic helper to help her in her fight against Zupazu's Executioners.

[Post Word Count: 896]
[Total Word Count: 2,676/2,500]