Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-07-29

Our reactor is up. Providing power to the airlock via microwave link. Good, that energized the communication nodes.

Their reactor is up. They're energizing non-vital buses. Station power should be fully restored in less than an hour.

Back to being one failure away from disaster.

I shouldn't complain. On my planet, a safety factor of zero is normal. Though I suppose it does slow down our scientific progress. In order to learn from your mistakes, you have to survive them.

Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-08-01

Hello, Nuclear Pulse Factory. I'm calling to let you know the station has restored power. There's no need for you to come over.

We must travel
to the station!
We must!

It was a near miss. The station has not been properly maintained. Humans in danger! We must travel to the station! We must bring the station up to code! Humans in danger!

Got it. We'll be underway soon to pick you up.

Mr. De Morel is a sneaky guy. My job is easier when I'm working for someone I can respect.

Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-08-03

This was Mr. De Morel's plan. A power outage is fairly safe. The existing air will last for days. Same with latent heat. The station has emergency power.

It does shut down life support, which he knew would trigger the bomb factory robots. With humans in danger, they are going to come here whether the union wants them or not.

When did you figure this out?

After we left the spa. Dashing naked through a darkened station while clinging tenaciously to a wet wolf for dear life, it gives you time to think.

Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-08-05

This will break the impasse. The union wants robots to be paid the same as human workers. Mr. De Morel wants to pay the robots less.

Now unless they work out an agreement, the robots are going to come over and work for free.

Yes. It's considered an honor to save humans from danger.

That's going to put the union in an odd place. Their first fight will be to convince the new workers they should accept pay.

Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-08-08

Our situation is stable, 1071-CCN.
We do not need you to supply auxiliary power.

Understood. Thank you.

P/N Junction. We have filed a flight plan
to the Nuclear Pulse Factory. Awaiting approval.

Uhhm, yeah. Give us fifteen minutes, 1071-CCN. Our systems are still coming back up.

Fifteen minutes. I can get your suit and my clothes from the spa in that amount of time. Oh, no I can't. The thumbprint scanner.

No worries. Like all properly prepared individuals, my biometrics are detachable.

Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-08-09

I'll be
back soon.

I'll hold
the fort.

The robots are about to get caught between the union and management. They need someone to look out for their interests. Someone like me.

I'm tempted to play this one straight. Less profit, but it will be worth it just to see how many heads explode back home when they find out all three parties trusted me as a negotiator.

Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-08-12

It's awkward returning to the place that I ran out of with
no clothes.

[!1.3][x1.2][=0.9] The convenient censer

However, I'm a professional. I know how to handle this. Smile, act normally and pretend that it never happened.

Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-08-14

Look who's back.

How's your captain? Did you make it to the ship in time?

We made
it with a minute to spare.

Now we have a new problem.
The robots at the nuclear pulse factory have gone into human safe mode. Sam and I need to provide transport before they start endangering themselves to get here.

Why aren't you in human safe mode?

Because I know humans are always in danger, it's just a matter of degree.

Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-08-17

We're waiting for our flight plan to be approved. That gave me time to come here and get my clothes and Sam's suit.

Sorry, it still smells of Sam.

I know that smell. I don't remember where, but I've definitely smelled that smell before.

I'm hungry all of a sudden. Join us for lunch?

Another time. I really need to go. There are a bunch of antsy robots in a nuclear pulse factory and I want to get there before they realize Orion Drives are a thing.

Project Orion (nuclear propulsion) - a project of manned nuclear-pulsed spacecraft for interplanetary and interstellar space exploration, developed in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s

Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-08-19

What do
you think?

She seems nice.

It's also apparent she's a real person.

Agreed.

I never once felt like I was talking
to code.

Of course. Do you think I'd let my son date an AI that couldn't pass a Turing test?