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[Neonivek]

Really? Why?

Other than to annoy Ziegler, which is a good reason in and of itself, as long as we still get our doctorate.

Because soft hands means that our robot wants to be expressive it wants to share experiences with others.

[Vgray]

"I like it," Professor Ziegler says. "It could repair other robots on the battlefield."

"Right, it'll have a screwdriver finger, a lockpicking finger, a mini-USB port finger…" You decline to mention the bottle opener, though you think that could be popular with soldiers, too. (+Military) Regardless, experience with a variety of different tools should prove useful in more than just military robots. You wonder if you could make a surgical robot with the same design. (++Grace)

"Fine," Ziegler says, waving away further explanation. "Carry on, then." He turns to leave. "I've got to go take a call from a New York Times reporter. Funny how journalists all copy each others' stories, but each garble the message in a unique way."

He makes it to the door, then turns and says, "Oh, one more thing. Do you think your robot can be ready by tomorrow? Someone from the Air Force will be in town, and I told her your robot might be ready to show off by then."

You feel your phone vibrating in your pocket. Hmm, bad timing. You resist the urge to check it while talking to your advisor. But it's probably someone with a better offer for what to do tonight.

1) "No, there's no way this robot will be done by tomorrow. Sorry."
2) "The robot will be done, but a demo will be out of the question. We need to test first."
3) "Of course."

Spoiler: Current Stats (click to show/hide)

Year: 2019

24-year-old Isaac Tesla
  Humanity: 81%
  Gender: male
  Fame: 0 (Who?)
  Wealth: 0 (Broke)
  Romance: none

Your robot

  Autonomy: 3 (Buggy)
  Military: 9 (In Beta)
  Empathy: 4 (Buggy)
  Grace: 2 (Buggy)

Relationships
  Professor Ziegler: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%

[FelixSparks]

2!

[Neonivek]

2!

+1

[choppy]

2!

+1

[Vgray]

Professor Ziegler grudgingly nods. "I can see the logic of that. Maybe we'll just send her a demo video. Then it only has to work once."

Professor Ziegler turns and walks out of the machine shop.

You find yourself unclenching your hands.

Who was calling you while Professor Ziegler was talking to you?

1) Elly Lao, a user experience designer and supportive friend.
2) Eiji Aomame, a manga artist and generally good guy.
3) My ambitious friend Josh Anderson, founder of the startup U.S. Robots.

[Gradiant]

3.

[FelixSparks]

I can go with 3.

[Vgray]

From the missed call, your phone is displaying Josh's profile photo. It's a picture of Josh and Elly from the freshman welcome week dance, seven years ago. Elly is wearing a red, Chinese dress with gold trim, her long, straight, black hair falling down to the epaulets. The flash is too bright in the picture, making Elly's pale skin look washed out. Josh is wearing his usual gray hoodie, not having bothered to dress up for the dance, and his arm is around Elly.

What is the story behind that picture?

1) I was in love with Josh's friend Elly—but my studies always came first in college.
2) I was in love with Josh, but I never knew how to be more than a friend to him.
3) I had agreed to be Josh's wingperson at the dance, and that's where he met Elly.
4) I was testing a music recognition algorithm when those two started bothering me.

[FelixSparks]

3! WINGMAN HO!

[Neonivek]

3! WINGMAN HO!

Did we somehow float into a Hollywood movie?

[choppy]

3! WINGMAN HO!

+1

[Vgray]

Yes, you and Josh did everything together—you made a great team. When Elly started talking to you, you thought at first, from her sense of style, that she was Josh's type— he liked his women to be snappy dressers, even though he always dressed down— and you introduced them. It turned out they had no chemistry but you all enjoyed each other's company, and the three of you became friends throughout college. You don't see them all that often now, but they're still your friends.

You notice that Josh also left you a text. Josh wants to meet for dinner at a burger joint in East Palo Alto. He says he wants to run some project ideas by you, to see if you're interested in working with his company on any of them.

It occurs to you that if you were working with Josh, you might be able to get funding for your education from him instead of Professor Ziegler's military grants.

You text back…

1) "Sounds great, see you then!"
2) "Afraid I can't tonight, sorry."
3) I don't reply—I'd prefer to pretend I missed the text.

Spoiler: Current Stats (click to show/hide)

Year: 2019

24-year-old Isaac Tesla
  Humanity: 81%
  Gender: male
  Fame: 0 (Who?)
  Wealth: 0 (Broke)
  Romance: none

Your robot

  Autonomy: 3 (Buggy)
  Military: 9 (In Beta)
  Empathy: 4 (Buggy)
  Grace: 2 (Buggy)

Relationships
  Professor Ziegler: 50%
  Elly (Good): 55%
  Josh (Good): 59%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%

[FelixSparks]

Hmmmm... 2. Let's not put all our eggs in one basket, yeah?

[Rolepgeek]

2. We're friends, after all, he'll understand; we're in college, after all, and that means we have to study/work, sometimes.