About time for me to post a new chapter. Sorry for the delay; university business, I guess.
Lately, my chapters have been turning out shorter, I hope it doesn't ruin the fun of it.
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Chapter 7 – A Sequence of Surprises
As lunchtime ended for the guards, the Sligs left the Cafeteria to hang around for a bit, or to tend to their other duties, just like Logger, who was leaving the hall after he finished eating. The meal was the same as it was the previous day, and he ate in a calm manner, seeing that there were no Mudokons who got dragged into the kitchen as ingredients that day. Although when he mentioned this to Croe while eating, the Slig tried to reassure him that pieces of Mudokon clothing were rare in the guards’ meals. This decreased Logger’s appetite to some extent, but he carried on eating nonetheless. Finally, he said goodbye to Croe and left the Cafeteria to head back to the workshop.
On his way back to the platforms, he noticed some new posters on walls. He stopped at one of them to have a closer look. These posters were printed on the same cheap paper as the others, but these weren’t so yellowish and dirty. The picture was much alike the one he saw the previous day: the one which depicted the Mudokon Freg next to a floor waxer. The new one was nearly the same, except that Freg got replaced by another Mudokon. According to the title, he was the new Employee of the Year, and under the picture was the name ’Abe’. Logger remembered Croe saying that the new guy was blue instead of green. He couldn’t tell that from the picture, since it was a cheap monochrome photo, but he did seem a bit different from the other Mudokons. If the skin didn’t, then the stitched mouth reassured Logger of this.
After he finished examining the poster, he set off again. He didn’t want to hang around too much; those schematics might have already arrived. He was eager to start working on something which was related to the project itself. Guard duty was not that hard, appart from the monotony, but designing or creating a device was much more interesting. Not that Logger had too much experience in constructing mechanisms – some of tasks he had to do back at training included the creation of a small flashlight from scrap, and designing the aiming sight of a simple rifle. He and the other trainees learned the more advanced techniques only in theory. But the lack of experience didn’t reduce his morale – he hastened his pace towards the elevator.
Finding his way up to the Maintenance area, Logger hurried towards Room 1-3 and opened the door. The workshop was empty, just like when he left that morning. As he took few steps inside, he heard noises from the left where Phyl’s room was. It was like rapid clattering. Logger wondered what the source could be; it sounded bit like typing, but it was a lot more different from the sound he made while writing his logs on his laptop. More metallic, maybe.
An image of an armored Slig soared into Logger’s mind, bending over Phyl’s computer and reading sensitive information – possibly the schematics of their secret project. His fingers fiddled unconfortably on his pistol’s handle. Was it already time to test his new Mergson? In his imagination, he used to picture the first ’victim’ as an empty can or a mug – anything inanimate. While walking slowly towards the door, he reminded himself that, supposing that the intruder is indeed armored, he would need a rather accurate shot to render him unable to move. Logger felt the veins in his neck beating a bit harder than usual, and it started to get slightly hotter under his mask. He finally reached the door, and, luckily, the clatter didn’t stop, suggesting that his approach was inaudible. With his left hand, he slowly reached towards the control panel of the door, while raising the pistol in his right. As a final thought, he wished he had seen the layout of the room beforehand. He didn’t know where the computer was, so it would take a few moments to aim at the intruder, which is quite enough for a counterattack… After taking a last breath, he pushed the opening slider downwards, and the door slid open.
Inside the dimly lit room, Phyl let out a short squeak as he saw the Slig pointing his pistol at him with a shaking hand. A few seconds later, they both recognised eachother. Logger, still shaking a bit, lowered his pistol. "I’m… I’m sorry, Phyl… I thought…" As he looked up at the Vykker, he noticed his hands over the computer’s keyboard, ending in sharp claws… How stupid he was…
"What’s going on, Logger?" asked Phyl, utterly confused.
"I’m sorry… I heard this clattering, and I thought…"
"Clattering?" asked Phyl, raising his brow, then looked down at his hands. "Oh, I see now." He said, with a tone of understanding. "You thought there was someone else in here?" He asked Logger with a toothy grin.
"Yeah, something like that…" said Logger, still panting a bit.
"Don’t worry, I never leave my room without necessary security measures." Said the Vykker reassuringly. "Anyway, it’s good that you came, even in such a sudden manner." He beckoned Logger to come closer, who obliged. He was still upset, but relieved at the same time. Glad of the thought that he wasn’t of the quick-trigger type Sligs, he remained quiet and listened to Phyl.
"I have good news. I acquired the schematics through the Magog InfoNet. The sellers were quite happy that someone got interested in buying it, actually. It cost quite much, despite the fact that it’s a blueprint of a malfunctioning robot. Either way, it’s detailed enough, so we weren’t tricked." Phyl looked at the screen, and Logger followed his example. It displayed a mass of data about different aspects of the robot they were about to construct: material information, component lists, battery specifications, amperage levels, circuitry layouts and so on. A mixture of white letters and numbers on a dark blue background. To Logger, it seemed complicated, but Phyl seemed to be able to find his way through the maze of data. The Vykker scanned through the documentation with discernible admiration.
"Now then…" said Phyl after a few moments of silence. "For a start, I will analyse the schematics in detail, maybe I’ll see something which could be related to the malfunction. But I can see that you’re eager to help too, and that’s also why you came here in the first place, so…" He turned back to the screen for a second, then back to Logger, lost in thought. Finally, the Vykker looked down at the pistol in the Slig’s hand. "…What would you say if I gave you the task of designing a weapon for our robotic friend?"
"I… Me?" gasped Logger, taking a step backwards in surprise. "Designing a gun?" The promise of such an important task made him forget about the ’intruder’ incident. "But… We don’t even know whether the robot will work or not!"
"As I said, I will make sure that there will be no more malfunctions in the history of the RG series." Said Phyl. "Once the robot is finished, it will need some sort of weapon, seeing that its main purpose is to fulfill guard duty." After a few seconds, Phyl raised a brow. "Or do you find yourself unable to design one? I can manage such a task if you refuse…"
"No, of course I’ll do it!" said Logger suddenly. He was glad that he finally got something to do in the workshop – it should make guard duty more bearable.
"Good." Said Phyl with a smile. He turned back to the screen, looking at the properties of the robot. "Judging by the size of its frame, I would suggest a longer type of gun. It will have no difficulty in wielding one. Still, make sure that the gun will be neither too short nor too long – look, here are the measures of the upper limbs." He checked a table on the screen, then he started typing again, and after a few moments, a piece of paper came out from a printer nearby. He gave it to Logger. "Here’s everything you might need."
"Thanks." Said Logger, checking the paper. The data he needed was neatly organised on it. He looked up at Phyl. "I better go and start working on this, then."
"Right. If you need anything, ask me or Smokey – I guess he’ll be back soon." Said Phyl, casting a glance at a clock on the wall.
"OK. Later then." With that, Logger turned around and left Phyl’s room, with his pistol in one hand and the paper in the other.
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