Page 9 of Uprooted

Aro

I’ve been assigned the northeast quadrant to prep for the arrival of the humans tomorrow.

The four sections spread out from the central hub which contains the mess hall and security ops.

Each of the zones have a similar layout with a lab, a recreational space, and sleeping units.

The gym, medbay, pool, and storage areas are scattered throughout the sectors.

“Don’t we have bots to do this sort of thing?” Tai mutters as we look over our tasks for the day.

I’m just glad to have something to do instead of sitting around and waiting for the humans to arrive.

A red alert pops up on my yuriOS. “I’m showing a malfunctioning cleaning bot. Come with me to check it out.”

“I really don’t want to go to the human quarters. Find me when you’re done,” Tai says .

“Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for that Anti-Human movement.” There’s a small vocal group of Tilaks that don't want humans here. No one takes them seriously. I’m not really sure they take themselves seriously.

“No, I honestly don’t care about the humans,” Tai says.

“Good. I better not catch you chanting ‘Stay True to the Blue,’” I say, mocking their ridiculous rally cry.

Tai chuckles. “The ‘Beat Feet, Pink Meat’ morons are an even bigger pain in my ass than the humans.” I can’t help but laugh.

“Those fuckers are so dumb. I swear I heard one of them say, ‘All Blue No Hue…mans.’”

We cut off our laughter before Rialto hears us. His office is just around the corner. He can’t catch us having too much fun or he’ll find more work for us.

“Are you doing Transpo tomorrow?” I ask.

“Yeah, don’t remind me. Where will you be?”

“I’ll be here at the cargo bay making sure it all goes smoothly. Don’t be a grumpy asshole when you pick them up tomorrow. It’s not their fault you don’t like to work,” I tell him. “If you show up with a porter full of terrified humans, I’m pulling rank and demoting you.”

We walk together to find the cleaning bot in question.

I locate it by sound. The cleaning bot has jammed itself between the bed and desk of one of the sleeping units.

I crouch down and gently pull it out. These little guys break easily, and it’s worth being careful with them so I don’t find myself on mopping duty in the future.

“I’m fine with them being here. I don’t see why we need to go to all this trouble. It’s annoying.”

“Let me get this straight. You're throwing a fit because it’s an inconvenience for you?”

“When you put it that way…” Tai fades off. He watches over my shoulder while I test out the omni-wheel on the bot. It’s not moving as smoothly as I’d like. The bot chirps and beeps happily while I slide open the shell to look inside.

“Just toss that one. I can go grab another from storage,” Tai says and moves towards the door. I pull out the carpet fibers that had jammed the brush roll and close it back up. I pat the bot’s lid and send it on its way.

“No need. It’s still good.”